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WHAT’S THE SCORE?
A N EASY card game for very outcome of the game can be con-
young children is “Slapjack”. trolled completely — that chance
It isplayed with a 5 2 -card deck, has no part in and that all of
it,
but it doesn’t have much in com- its strategies can be learned and
mon with contract bridge or simply expressed —
is also about
poker. You take a deck of cards, the age at which he learns that
divide it more or less in half and he need not always consider the
turn the cards up one at a time. ordinances of Mommy and Daddy
Every time a jack turns up, the to be Divine Law.
players try to slap it. First player Slightly later, and considerably
to get his
round.
palm over it wins that more challenging, checkers gets
added to the list. In the Games
Tic-Tac-Toe represents a sec- Theory view of checkers it can be
ond stage in complexity. As a considered as a zero-sum game
game for young children it has with finite choices. That is, when
several merits, both as a way of one player wins, the other loses;
passing a rainy day and as a sort and the number of possible re-
of rough-hewn test of intelligence spK>nses to any move
is
or of maturity, since the age at easily Chess is still
calculated.
which the player learns that the more complex, for, although the
4 GALAXY
outcome is unquestionably con- good obsidian knife, or he gave
trollable, in practice the human up. Modern man, or so we like
mind not capable of memo-
is to think, has pretty well caught
rizing all of the possible moves the hang of the “chess” approach
and their consequences, so that to solving his problems. He is
the expert player falls back on still playing a game. But it is a
what is called “position evalua- larger game, in a different con-
tion.” The strategy of a Botvinnik text.
or a Capablanca is not aimed di- When we say that the jM'Ogress
rectly toward winning. It is aimed knowledge is meas-
of scientific
toward securing a board position ured by the enlargement of con-
and a favorable balance of forces texts, we are saying that we ad-
such that winning then becomes vance by learning truths which
inevitable. That may sound at are more general than the truths
firstblush like a distinction with- we knew before. We frame em-
out a difference; but in fact it is pirical “laws” —
the law of Con-
the difference between, say, the servation of Energy and some- —
single combat of medieval knights
and modern war.
body draws from them still other
laws (as did Carnot and the rest
It doesn’t much matter whether of the great mechanist-minded
you play chess poorly or well; if scientists) until some other
you try to play it at all, you are
. .
person, trying to understand
.
why
these laws should be so, frames a
a long way from Slapjack.
still more general law (as did Ein-
The history stein) and we find, by gosh, that
of man’s at-
our law isn’t really a law at
tempt to control his environ- first
ment —
by which we can include all. Energy can so be created
—
by transformation from matter;
everything from pulling a branch
and it can be destroyed by trans-
over himself in a rainstorm to
formation in the other direction.
the framing of the law of con-
servation of parity —
passes This does not mean that the
through an evolution rather like previous laws are false, thus de-
stroying the deductions made
the development of an indivi-
from them: Carnot’s model of a
dual’s mastery of games. Paleo-
man was in the Slapjack heat engine still works perfectly.
lithic
The laws are still true, in terms
period: If any feature of his en-
of the contexts then existing; but
vironment gave him trouble, he
rather now they are only special cases
whanged at it until one of two
within larger laws.
things happened. Either he sud-
You can, you compare
denly discovered he had a pretty if like,
WHAT'S THE SCORE? 5
thisenlargement of contexts with
a mastery of increasingly sophisti-
cated games. Slapjack to Tic-Tac-
Toe: from the planless fumbling
of primitive man
to the learned-
by-rote “medicine”, say, of Hippo-
crates. Tic-Tac-Toe to checkers:
from the Hippocratic empirical
remedies to the experimentation
and theorizing of Galen. Checkers
to chess: from Galen’s dissection
of corpses to antibiotics and the
analysis of DNA.
All this analogy and perhaps
is
a little strained, for nothing is
more deadly than to force conclu-
sions from an analogy. But per-
haps not just an analogy; for
it is
science is itself a sort of game.
rpHINK OF science as a game
board,and think of a very
large, very complex computer
across the board from us as our
Opponent.
The Opponent never cheats.
He plays according to our rules.
He plays the games we teach him.
If we are playing the game called
Chemistry, he will go pokerfaced
along with the rules —
all the
rules — including the rule that
elements cannot be transmuted
one to the other. If you want
one of the moves in the game to
be the change of uranium into
lead, you have to change the
game, to one variety or another
of the game called Physics. If
you are playing the game called
6 GALAXY
Euclidean geometry, the Oppo-
nent won’t let you trisect an an-
gle. Ifyou want to do that you
must switch to the game called
algebra, where you can trisect all
the angles you like with a simple
cubic equation. And behold! that
which was impossible, and which
everybody knew to be impossible,
and which was proved to be im-
possible ... is no longer impossi-
ble at all.
All you have to do is
the game.
It is thispoint that is so hard
to get across to the sort of closed
mind that says, “We know that
ESP is impossible” or “We have
proved that no material object
can be accelerated past the ve-
locity of light in a vacuum.” In
fact, we do not know anything
of the kind. We only know that
the rules of the games we’re play-
ing today say so; but we do not
know, and can only with difficulty
imagine, the rules of the games
we may play tomorrow.
That, of course, is the thing,
or one of the things, that science
fiction is all about.
A science-fiction story we must
admit is only a game, sugar-
coated with adventure, touched
with humor, scented with ro-
mance. Games they are but
who is to say that some day soon
we won’t be playing some of them
for keeps?
— FREDERIK POHL
change
THERE are some things that cannot organization) an age-old brotherhood
be generally tolA — things you ought to of learning, have preserved this secret
know. Great truths are dangerous to wisdom in their archives for centu-
some — but factors for personal power ries. They now invite you to share the
and accomplishment in the hands of practical helpfulness of their teachings.
those who understand them. Behind Write today for a free copy of the
the tales of the miracles and mysteries book, "The Mastery of Life.” Within
of the ancients, lie centuries of their its pages may lie a new life of oppor-
secret probing into nature’s laws —
tunity for you. Address: Scribe H.W.K.
their amazing discoveries of the hid-
send this coupon
den processes of man*s mind, and the
mastery of life’s problems. Once shroud- Scribe H.W.K.
The ROSICRUCIANS (AMORC)
i [
ed in mystery to avoid their destruc- 1
San Jose. California
[
I i
tion by mass fear and ignorance, these Please send me the /reebook, TAeAftfr/ery
facts remain a useful heritage for the of Ufe, which explains how I may learn to
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thousands of men and women who pri-
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use my faculties and powers of mind.
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vately use them in their homes toaay.
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The Rosicrucians (not a religious 1
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UBe Rosicrucians (AMORO SAN JOSE. CAUFORNIA. U.S A.
The world was divided between
the Men and the Monsters — I

but which were Monsters and lyrANKIND consisted of 128

people.
which were Men?
The sheer population pressure
of so vast a horde had long ago
filled over a dozen burrows.
Bands of the Male Society occu-

THE MEN pied the outermost four of these

interconnected corridors and pa-
trolled it with their full strength,
twenty-three young adult males

IN THE in the prime of courage and alert-

ness. They were stationed there
to take the first shock of any
danger to Mankind, they and

WALLS their band captains and the

youthful initiates who served
them.
Eric the Only was an initiate
in this powerful force. Today, he
was a student warrior, a fetcher
By WILLIAM TENN and a carrier for proven, seasoned
men. But tomorrow, tomorrow . .

This was his birthday. Tomor-

row, he would be sent forth to
y
Steal for Mankind. When he re-
Illustrated turned —and have no fear: Eric
by FINLAY was swift, Eric was clever, he
would return —
off might go the
loose loin cloths of boyhood to
be replaced by the tight loin
straps of a proud Male Society
warrior.
He would be free to raise his
voice and express his opinions in
the Councils of Mankind. He
could stare at the women when-

8 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 9

 ”

ever he liked, for as long as he how. A man could really strut some men have to do an awful
according to Mankind’s tradi-
liked, toapproach them even — with such a mate.
tions, unlucky. She was
probably lot of convincing. An awful lot,
He
found himself wandering to But she was the wife of a band
having a hard time finding a Eric-O.”
the end of his band’s burrow, still leader and far, far beyond him. The bounced
mate. But his own mother had ball of laughter
carrying the spear he was sharp- Her daughter, though, Selma the back, and forth again, heavier
been a redhead.
ening for his uncle. There, where Soft-Skinned, would probably be had been than before. Eric the Only felt
Yes, and his mother
a women’s burrow began, several flattered by his attentions. She
very unlucky indeed. his face turn bright red. How
members of the Female Society still wore her hair in a heavy
Even had been in-
his father dare remind him of his
they
were preparing food stolen from bun: it would be at least a year birth? On this day of all days?
fected with her terrible bad luck.
the Monster larder that very day. before the Female Society would Harriet the History-Teller Here he was about to prepare
Still,
Each spell had to be performed consider her an initiate and al-
was an important person in the himself to go forth and Steal for
properly, each incantation said low her to drape it about her tribe for one her age. Good-look- Mankind . . .

just right, or it would not be fit nakedness. No, far too young and He dropped the sharpening
ing too. And, above all, she didn’t
to eat. It might even be danger- unimportant for a man on the stone into his pouch and slid his
turn away from him. She smiled
ous. Mankind was indeed fortu- very verge of warrior status.
at him, openly now. He smiled right hand back along his uncle’s
nate: plenty of food, readily Another girl caught his eye. back. spear. “At least,” he said, slowly
available, and women who well She had been observing him for “Look at Eric!” he heard some- and definitely, “at least, my
understood the magical work of some time and smiling behind her one call out behind him. “He’s woman will stay convinced, Roy
preparing it for human consump- lashes, behind her demurely set
already searching mate.
for a the Runner. She won’t be always
tion. mouth. Harriet the History-Tel- Hey, Eric! You’ve not even wear- open to offers from every other
And such women — such ler, the oldest daughter of Rita
ing straps yet First comes the man in the tribe.”
splendid creatures! the Record-Keeper, who would stealing. Then comes the mating.” “You lousy little throwback!”
Sarah the Sickness-Healer, for one day succeed to her mother’s Eric spun around, bits of fan- Roy the Runner yelled. He
example, with her incredible office. Now there was a lovely, tasy still stuck to his lips. leaped away from the rest of the
knowledge of what food was fit slender girl, her hair completely The group of young men loung- band and into a crouch facing
and what was unfit, her only gar- unwound in testament to full ing against the wall of his band’s one hand.
Eric, his spear tense in
ment a cloud of hair that alter- womanhood and recognized pro- burrow were tossing laughter “You’re asking for a hole in the
nately screened and revealed her fessional status.
back and forth between them. belly!My woman’s had two lit-
hips and breasts, the largest in They were all adults: they had me, two big litters. What
ters off
all Mankind. There was a woman 'C’RIC had caught these covert, would you have given her, you
all made their Theft. Socially,
for you! Over five litters she had barely stated smiles from they were still his superiors. His dirty singleton?”
had, two of them of maximum her before; especially in the last had two but not
only recourse was cold dignity. “She’s litters,
size. few weeks, as the time for his “I know that,” he began. “There off you,” Eric the Only spat,
Eric watched as she turned a Theft approached. He knew that is no mating until — holding his spear out in the guard
yellow chunk of food around and if he were successful —and he “Until never for some people,” position. “If you’re the father,
around under the glow lamp had to be successful: don’t dare one of the young men broke in. then the chief’s blonde hair is
hanging from the ceiling of the think of an5Tthing but success! — He rattled his spear in his hand, contagious —
like measles.”
burrow, looking for she only she would look with favor on ad- carelessly, proudly. “After you Roy bellowed and jabbed his
knew what and recognizing it vances from him. Of course, Har- steal, you stillhave to convince spear forward. Eric parried it and
when she found it she only knew riet was a redhead, and therefore, a woman that you’re a man. And lunged in his turn. He missed as

10 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 11


his opponent leaped to one side.
They circled each other, cursing
and only for the
insulting, eyes
point of each other’s sjjears. The
other young men had scrambled
a distance down the burrow to
get out of their way.
POWERFUL
A arm suddenly
clamped Eric’s waist from
behind and lifted him off his feet.
He was kicked hard, so that he
stumbled a half-dozen steps and
fell. On his feet in a moment, the
spear still in his hand, he whirled,
ready to deal with
ponent.
this
He was mad enough
new
fight all Mankind.
But not Thomas the Trap-
Smasher. No, not that mad.
All the tension drained out of
him as he recognized the captain
of his band. He couldn’t fight
Thomas. His uncle. And the
greatest of all men. Guiltily, he
walked to the niche in the wall
where the band’s weapons were
stacked and slid his uncle’s spear
into its appointed place.
“What the hell’s the matter
with you, Roy?” Thomas was
asking behind him. “Fighting a
duel with an initiate? Where’s
your band spirit? That’s all we
need these days, to be cut down
from six effectives to five. Save
your spear for Strangers, or
if you feel vety brave for—
Monsters. But don’t show a point
our band’s burrow if you know
in
12
what’s good for you, hear me?”
“I wasn’t fighting a duel,” the
Runner mumbled, sheathing his
own spear. “The kid got above
himself. I was punishing him.”
“You punish with the haft of
the spear. And anyway, this is my
band and I do the punishing
around here. Now move on out,
all of you, and get ready for the
council. I’ll attend to the boy my-
self.”
They went off obediently with-
out looking back. The Trap-
Smasher’s band was famous for
op-
to
its discipline throughout the
length and breadth of Mankind.
A proud thing to be a member
of it. But to be called a boy in
front of the others! A boy, when
he was full-grown and ready to
begin stealing!
Although, come to think of it,
he’d rather be called a boy than
a singleton. A boy eventually be-
came a man, but a singleton
stayed a singleton forever. He put
the problem to his uncle who
was at the niche, inspecting the
band’s reserve pile of spears.
“Isn’t it possible —I mean,
is possible, isn’t it — that
father had some children by an-
other woman? You told me
was one of the best thieves we
ever had.”
— The captain of the band turned
to study him, folding his arms
across his chest so that biceps
swelled into greatness and power.
GALAXY
They glinted in the light of the
tiny lantern bound to his fore-
head, the glow lantern that only
fully accredited warriors might
wear. After a while, the older man
shook his head and said, very
gently:
“Eric, Eric, forget about
He was all of those things
boy.
and more. Your father was fa-
mous. Eric the Storeroom-Storm-
er, we called him, Eric the Laugh-
er at Locks, Eric the Roistering
Robber of all Mankind. He
taught me everything I know. But
he only married once. And if any
other woman ever played around
with him, she’s been careful to
keep it a secret. Now dress up
those spears. You’ve let them get
all sloppy. Butts together, that’s
the way, points up and even with
each other.”
l^UTIFULLY, Eric rearranged
L' the bundle of armament that
was his responsibility. He turned
to his uncle again, now examining
the knapsacks and canteens that
would be carried on the expedi-
it
tion. “Suppose there had been an-
my other woman. My
have had two, three, even four
father could
litters by different women. Extra-
he
large litters too. If we could prove
something like that, I wouldn’t
be a singleton any more. I would
not be Eric the Only.”
The Trap-Smasher sighed and
thought for a moment. Then he
THE MEN IN THE WALLS
pulled the spear from his back
sling and took Eric’s arm. He
drew the youth along the burrow
until they stood alone in the very
center of it. He looked carefully
at the exits at either end, making
certain that they were completely
it, alone before giving his reply in
an unusually low, guarded voice.
“We’d never be able to prove
anything like that. If you don’t
want to be Eric the Only, if you
want to be Eric the something-
else,well then, it’s up to you. You
have to make a good Theft.
That’s what you should be think-
ing about all the time now —
your Theft. Eric, which category
are you going to announce?”
He hadn’t thought about it
very much. “The usual one I
guess. The one that’s picked for
most initiations. First category.”
The older man brought his lips
together, looking dissatisfied.
“First category. Food. Well . .
.”
Eric felt he understood. “You
me — an
mean, for someone like
Only, who’s really got to make a
name for himself —
I ought to
announce like a real warrior? I
should say I’m going to steal in
the second category —
Articles
Useful to Mankind. Is that what
my father would have done?”
“Do you know what your fath-
er would have done?”
“No. What?” Eric demanded
eagerly.
“He’d have elected the third
13
category. That’swhat I’d be an- “That’s easy,” Eric chuckled. familiar verbal terrain. “Well, it’s “I — I guess so. I wouldn’t
nouncing these days, if I were “That’s the easiest question there what our ancestors knew. And know.”
what they did with it, I guess. “Well, I know. I know from
going through an initiation cere- is. A child could answer it:

mony. That’s what want you Knowhow is what you need be- plenty of battle experience. The
I to “Hit back at_ the Monsters,” he
fore you can make hydrogen thing to remember is that once
announce.” quoted. “Drive them from the
“Third category? Monster sou- if we can. Regain Earth
bombs or economic warfare or our ancestors were knocked down,
planet,
venirs? But no one’s elected the for Mankind, if we can. But guided missiles, any of those real- they stayed down. That means
third category in I don’t know above all, hit back at the Mon- ly big weapons like our ancestors their science and knowhow were
how many auld lang synes. Why not so much in the first place.

should I do it?”
Make them suffer as they’ve
sters.
made us suffer. Make them know
had.”
“Did those weapons do them And that means
” here he —
“Because this is more than just any good? Against the Monsters, turned his head and looked di-
an initiation ceremony. It could
we’re still here, we’re
Hit back at the Monsters.”
still fighting.
I mean. Did they stop the Mon- rectly into Eric’s eyes “that —
be the beginning of a new life for “Hit back at the Monsters. sters?” means the science of our ances-
Eric looked completely blank tors wasn’t worth one good damn
all of us.” Right. Now how have we been
Eric frowned. What could be doing that?” for a moment, then brightened. against the Monsters, and it

more than an initiation ceremony Eric the Only stared at his Oh! He knew the way now. He wouldn’t be worth one good
and his attainment of full thiev- uncle. That wasn’t the next ques- knew how to get back to the damn to us!”

ing manhood? tion in the catechism. He must catechism: Eric the Only turned pale. He
“There are things going on have heard incorrectly. His uncle “The suddenness of the attack, knew heresy when he heard it.

Mankind, these days,” Thomas

in
couldn’t have made a mistake in the — ”

the Trap-Smasher continued in a such a basic ritual. “Stop it!” his uncle ordered. ¥¥IS uncle patted him on the
strange, urgent voice. “Big things. “We will do that,” he went on “Don’t give me any of that gar- shoulder, drawing a deep
And you’re going to be a part of in the second reply, his voice bage! The suddenness of the at- breath as if he’d finally spat out
them. This Theft of yours — sliding into the singsong of child- tack, the treachery of the Mon- something extremely unpleasant.
if

you handle it right, if you do what hood lessons, “by regaining the sters —
does it sound like an ex- He leaned closer, eyes glittering
I tell you, it’s likely to blow the science and knowhow of our fore- planation to you? Honestly? If beneath the forehead glow lamp
lid off everything the chief has fathers.Man was once Lord of all our ancestors were really Lords of and his voice dropped to a fierce
been sitting on.” Creation: his science and know- Creation and had such great whisper.
“The chief?” Eric felt confused. how made him supreme. Science weapons, would the Monsters “Eric. When I asked you how
He was walking up a strange bur- and knowhow is what we need to have been able to conquer them? we’ve been hitting back at the
row now without a glow lamp. hit back at the Monsters.” I’ve led my band on dozens of Monsters, you told me what we
“Whats the chief got to do with “Now, Eric,” his tmcle asked raids, and I know the value of a ought to do. We haven’t been do-
my Theft?” gently. “Please tell me this. What surprise attack; but believe me, ing a single thing to bother them.
in hell is knowhow?” boy, only good for a flash
it’s We don’t know how to recon-
¥¥IS uncle examined both ends That was way off. They were a charge and a quick getaway if struct the ancestor-science, we
of the corridor again. “Eric, corridor’s length from the you’re facing a superior force. don’t have the tools or weapons
what’s the most important thing
full
normal progression of the cate- You can knock somebody down or knowhow — whatever that is
we, or you, or anyone, can do? chism now. when he doesn’t expect it But — but they wouldn’t do us a bit

What is our life all about? What

— “Knowhow is — knowhow is
if he really has more than you,

he won’t stay down. Right?”

of
cause
good even
they
if we had them. Be-
failed once. They
are we here for?” ” he stumbled over the un-

14 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 15

 i

failed completely and at their about him, though: everyone in ordinary robbery . . . they died dug burrow, Eric. All you have to

best. There’s just no point in try- the Male Society had he was — lor it!
never realized before
face through
have to be steady
is the council. You’ll
there, no mat-
ing to put them together again.” a great thief. But once he be- He had
And now Eric understood. He came my brother-in-law, I learned how odd it was that his parents ter what. You tell the chief that
understood why his imcle had had gone to Monster territory to- you’re undertaking the third
a lot from him. I learned about
whispered, why there had been locks, about the latest traps — gether, a man taking his wife and category.”
“But why the third?” Eric
so much strain in this conversa- and I learned about Alien-Sci- the woman taking her baby!
tion. Bloodshed was involved ence. He’d been an Alien-Science As he relaxed, his uncle re- asked. “Why does it have to be
here, bloodshed and death. man He converted your
for years. moved the gagging hand. “What Monster souvenirs?”
“Uncle Thomas,” he whispered, mother, and he converted me.” kind of Theft was it that my “Because that’s what we need.
in a voice that kept cracking de- Eric the Only backed away. parents died in?” And you stick to it, no matter
spite his efforts to keep it whole “No!” he called out wildly. “Not Thomas examined his face and what pressure they put on you.
and steady, “how long have you my father and mother! They were seemed satisfied. “The kind you’re Remember, an initiate has the
been an Alien-Science man? decent people —
when they were going after,” he said. “If you are right to decide what he’s going to
A
When did you leave Ancestor- killed a service was held in their your father’s son. If you’re man steal. man’s first Theft is his

Science?” name —they went to add to the

—
enough to continue the work he
Are you?”
own affair.”
“But, listen, uncle —
Thomasthe Trap-Smasher ca- science of our ancestors started.
ressed his spear before he an- Eric started to nod, then found There was a whistle from the
swered. He felt for it with a gen- ¥¥IS uncle jammed a powerful himself shrugging weakly, and end of the burrow. Thomas the
tle,wandering arm, almost uncon- hand over his mouth. finally just hung his head. He Trap-Smasher nodded in the di-

sciously, but both of them regis- “Shut up, you damn fool, or didn’t know what to say. His rection of the signal.
tered the fact that it was loose you’ll finish us both! Of course uncle — well, his uncle was his “The council’s beginning, boy.
and ready. His tremendous body, model and his leader, and he was We’ll talk later, on expedition.
your parents were decent people.
nude except for the straps about How do you think they were strong and wise and crafty. His Now remember this: stealing

his loins and the light spear-sling killed? Your mother was with father —
naturally, he wanted to from the third category is your
on his back, looked as if it were your father out in Monster terri- emulate his father and continue own idea, and all your own idea.
preparing to move whatever work he had started. Forget everything else we’ve
instantaneous- tory. Have you ever heard of a
ly in any direction. woman going along with her hus- But this was his initiation cere- talked about. If you hit any
He
stared again from one end mony, after all, and there would trouble with the chief. I’ll be
band on a Theft? And taking her
of the burrow to the other, his be enough danger merely in there. I’m your sponsor, after all.”
baby with her? Do you think it
forehead lamp reaching out to was an ordinary robbery of the proving his manhoood. For his He threw an arm about his
the branching darkness of the Monsters? They were Alien-sci- initiation ceremony to take on a confused nephew and walked to
exits. Eric stared with him. No task that had destroyed his fath- the end of the burrow where the
ence people, serving their faith
one was leaning tightly against a er, the greatest thief the tribe had other members of the band
as best they could. They died for
wall and listening. ever known, and a heretical, waited.
it.”
“How long? Since I got to blasphemous task at that II
Eric looked into his uncle’s . . . .

know your father. He was in an- eyes over the hand that covered “I’ll try. I don’t know if I can.”
other band; naturally we hadn’t the lower half of his face. Alien- “You can,” his uncle told him f^HE tribe had gathered in its
seen much of each other before science people serving their
. . .
heartily. “It’s been set up for you. central and largest burrow
he married my sister. I’d heard faith ... do you think it was an It will be like walking through a under the great, hanging glow

16 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 17

lamps that might be used in this an unmistakable resemblance to clearly. And it was vital to think “He is accepted as a candidate
place alone. Except for the few Franklin’s. His responses to the next
clearly. by the men. Now the women
sentinels on duty in the outlying Franklin clapped his hands, few questions had to be exactly must ask for proof, for only a
corridors, all of Mankind was three evenly spaced, flesh-heavy right. woman’s proof bestows full man-
here. It was an awesome sight to wallops. hood.”
part was over. And
The
behold. “In the name of our ancestors,” was asking the first:
chief The first
On the little hillock known as he said, “and the science with you apply
“Eric the Only, do it hadn’t been too bad. Eric
the Royal Mound, lolled Franklin which they ruled the Earth, I de- for full manhood?” turned to face the advancing
the Father of Many Thieves, clare this council op>ened. May it Eric breathed hard and leaders of the Female Society, Ot-
Chieftain of all Mankind. He end as one more step in the re- nodded. “I do.” tilie, the Chieftain’s First Wife,
alone of the cluster of warriors gaining of their science. Who “As a full man, what will be in the center. Now came the part
displayed heaviness of belly and asked for a council?” your value to Mankind?” that scared him. The women’s
flabbiness of arm —
for he alone “I did.” Thomas the Trap- “I will steal for Mankind what- part.
had the privilege of a sedentary Smasher moved out of his band ever it needs. I will defend Man- As was customary at such a
life. Beside the sternly muscled and stood before the chief. kind against all outsiders. I will moment, his uncle and sponsor
band leaders who formed his im- Franklin nodded, and went on increase the possessions and left him when the women came
mediate background, he looked with the next, formal question: knowledge of the Female Society forward. Thomas the Trap-
almost womanly; and yet one of “And your reason?” so that the Female Society can Smasher led his band to the war-
his many titles was simply The “As a band leader, I call at- increase the power and well-be- riors grouped about the Throne
Man. tention to a candidate for man- ing of Mankind.” Mound. There, with their col-
Yes, unquestionably The Man hood. A member of my band, a “And all this you swear to do?” leagues, they folded their arms
of Mankind was Franklin the spear-carrier for the required “And all this I swear to do.” across their chests and turned to
Father of Many Thieves. You time, and an accepted apprentice The Chief turned to Eric’s watch. A
man can only give proof
could tell it from the hushed, re- in the Male Society. My nephew, imcle. “As his sponsor, do you of his manhood while he is alone;
spectful attitudes of the subor- Eric the Only.” support his oath and swear that his friends cannot support him
dinate warriors who stood at a As his name was sung out, Eric he is to be trusted?” once the womenapproach.
distance from the mound. You shook himself. Half on his own With just the faintest hint of It was not going to be easy,
could tell it from the rippling in- volition and half in response to sarcasm in his voice, Thomas the Eric realized. He had hoped that
terest of the women as they stood the pushes he received from the Trap-Smasher replied: “Yes. I at least one of his uncle’s wives
on the other side of the great bur- other warriors, he stumbled up to support his oath and swear that would be among the three exam-
row, drawn up in the ranks of the his uncle and faced the chief. he is to be trusted.” iners: they were both kindly peo-
Female Society. You could tell it This, the most important moment There was a rattling moment, ple who liked him and had
from the nervousness and scorn of his life, was proving almost the barest second, when the talked to him much about the
with which the women were too much for him. So many peo- chief’s eyes locked with those of mysteries of women’s work. But
watched by their leader, Ottilie, ple in one place, accredited and the band leader. With all that he had drawn a trio of hard-faced
the Chieftain’s First Wife. And famous warriors, knowledgeable was on Eric’s mind at the mo- females who apparently intended
finally, you could tell it from the and attractive women, the chief ment, he noticed it. Then the to take him over the full course
faces of the children, standing in himself, all this after the shatter- chief looked away and pointed to before they passed him.
a distant, disorganized bunch. A ing revelations from his uncle — the women on the other side of Sarah the Sickness-Healer
clear majority of their faces bore he was finding it hard to think the burrow. opened the proceedings. She

18 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 19

circled him belligerently, hands
on hips, her great breasts rolling
to and fro like a pair of swollen
pendulums, her eyes glittering
with scorn.
“Eric the Only,” she intoned,
and then paused to grin, as if it
were a name impossible to be-
lieve, “Eric the Singleton, Eric the
one and only child of either his
mother or his father. Your par-
ents almost didn’t have enough
between them to make a solitary
child. Is there enough in you to
make a man?”
^^HERE was a snigger of ap-
preciation from the children
in the distance, and it was echoed
by a few growling laughs from
the vicinity of the Throne
Mound. Eric felt his face and
neck go red. He would have
fought any man to the death for
remarks like these. Any man at
all. But who could lift his hand
to a woman and be allowed to
live? Besides, one of the main
purposes of this exhibition was
to investigate his powers of self-
control.
“I think so,” he managed to
say after a long pause. “And I’m
willing to prove it.”
“Prove it, then!” the woman
snarled. Her right hand, holding
a long, sharp-pointed pin, shot to
his chest like a flung spear. Eric
made his muscles rigid and tried
to send his mind away. That, the
20
men had told him, was what you
had to do at this moment: it was
not you they were hurting, not
you at all. You, your rnind, your
knowledge of were
self, in an-
other part of the burrow entirely,
watching these painful things be-
ing done to someone else.
The pin sank into his chest
for a little distance, paused, came
out. It probed here, probed there;
finally it found a nerve in his
upper arm. There, guided by the
knowledge of the Sickness-Heal-
er, it bit and clawed at the deli-
cate area until Eric felt he would
grind his teeth to powder in the
effort not to cry out. His clenched
fists twisted agonizingly at the
ends of his arms in a paroxysm
of protest, but he kept his body
still. He didn’t cry out; he didn’t
move away; he didn’t raise a
hand to protect himself.
Sarah the Sickness-Healer
stepped back and considered him.
“There is no man here yet,” she
said grudgingly. “But perhaps
there is the beginnings of one.”
He could relax. The physical
test was over. There would be
another one, much later, after he
had completed his theft success-
fully; but that would be exclu-
sively by men as part of his proud
initiation ceremony. Under the
circumstances, he knew he would
be able to go through it almost
gaily.
Meanwhile, the women’s physi-
GALAXY
was over. That was the
cal test
important thing for now.
body gushed
sheer reaction, his
sweat which slid over the
forth
bloody cracks in his skin and
stung viciously. He felt the
water
down his back
pouring
himself not to go limp,
forced
prodded his mind into alertness.
“Did that hurt?” he was being
asked by Rita, the old crone of
was a
a Record-Keeper. There
solicitous smile on her forty-year-
old face, but he knew it was a
fake. A woman as old as that no
longer felt sorry for anybody. She
had too many aches and pains
and things generally wrong with
her to worry about other people’s
troubles.
“A little,” he said. “Not much.”
“The Monsters will hurt you
much more if they catch you
stealing from them, do you know
that? They will hurt you much
more than we ever could.”
“I know. But the stealing is
more important than the risk I’m
taking. The stealing is the most
important thing a man can do.”
the Record-Keeper
Rita nodded. “Because you steal
things Mankind needs in order to
live. You steal things that the Fe-
male Society can make into food,
clothing and weapons for Man-
kind, so that Mankind can live
and flourish.”
He saw the way, saw what was
THE MEN IN THE WALLS
expected of him. “No,” he contra-
In dicted her. “That’s not why we
steal. We live on what we steal,
but we do not steal just to go on
living.”
“Why?” she asked blandly, ^as
and if she didn’t know the answer bet-
ter than any other member of the
“Why do we steal? What is
tribe.
more important than survival?”
Here it was now. The cate-
chism.
“To hit back at the Monsters,”
he began. “To drive them from
the planet, if we can. Regain
Earth for Mankind, if we can.
But, above all, hit back at the
Monsters .”
. . .
He ploughed through the long
verbal ritual, pausing at the end
of each part, so that the Record-
Keeper could ask the proper
question and initiate the next se-
quence.
She tried to trip him once. She
reversed the order of the fifth
and sixth questions. Instead of
“What will we do with the Mon-
sters when we have regained the
Earth from them?” she asked,
“Why can’t we use the Mon-
sters’ own Alien-Science to fight
the Monsters?”
Carried along by mental habit,
Eric was well into the passage
beginning “We will keep them as
our ancestors kept all strange
animals, in a place called a zoo,
or we will drive them into our
burrows and force them to live
21
as ive have lived,” before he real-
ized the switch and stopped in
confusion. Then he got a grip on
himself, sought the right answer
in his memory with calmness, as
his uncle’s wives had schooled
him to do, and began again.
“There are three reasons why
we cannot ever use Alien-Sci-
up his
ence,” he recited, holding
hand with the thumb and little
finger closed. “Alien-Science is
non-human, Alien-Science is in-
human, Alien-Science is anti-hu-
man. First, since it is non-human,”
he closed his forefinger, “we can-
not use it because we can never
understand it. And because it is
inhuman, we would never want
to use it even if we could under-
stand it. And because it is anti-
human and can only be used to
hurt and damage Mankind, we
would not be able to use it so
long as we remain human our-
selves. Alien-Science is the op-
posite of Ancestor-Science in
every way, ugly instead of beauti-
ful, hurtful instead of helpful.
When we die, Alien-Science
would not bring us to the world
of our ancestors, but to another
world full of Monsters.”
A LL in all, went very well,
it
despite the trap into which
he had almost fallen.
But he couldn’t help remem-
bering the conversation with his
uncle in the other burrow. As his
22
mouth reeled off the
words and concepts, his mind
kept wondering how the two fit-
ted together. Hs uncle was Alien-
Science, and, according
uncle, so had been his parents.
Did that make them non-human,
inhuman, anti-human?
And what did it make him? He
knew his religious duty well: he
should at this moment be
all Mankind about his
horrible secret.
The whole subject was far too
complicated for someone with his
limited experience.
When he had completed the
lengthy catechism, Rita the Rec-
ord-Keeper said: “And this
what you say about the science
our ancestors. Now we will find
out what the science of our an-
cestors says about you.”
She signaled over her shoulder,
without turning her head, and
two young girls —
female appren-
tices — pulled forward the large
record machine which was the
very center of the tribe’s religious
life. They stepped back, both
smiling shyly and encouragingly
at Eric the Only.
He knew the smiles meant
tlemore than simple best wishes
from apprentices of one sex to
apprentices of the other, but even
that was quite a bit at the mo-
ment. It meant that he was much
closer to full status than they. It
meant that, in the opinion of im-
GALAXY
familiar
prejudiced, disinterested observ-
ers, hisexamination was proceed-
ing very well indeed.
Singleton, he thought fiercely
to his
to himself. I’ll show them
what a
singleton can do!
Rita the Record-Keeper turned
a knob at the top of the squat
machine and it began to hum.
She flung her arms up, quivering-
telling
ly apart, and all, warriors, women,
uncle’s
children, apprentices, even the
chief himself, all bowed
heads.
“Harken to the words of our
ancestors,” she chanted.
closely the spectacle of their great
achievements. When their end
is
was upon them, and they knew
of
that only we, their descendants,
might regain the Earth they had
lost, they made this machine for
the future generations of Man-
kind as a guide to the science that
had been and must
once
again.”
The old woman lowered her
arms. Simultaneously, heads went
up all over the burrow and stared
expectantly at the wall opposite
the record machine, waiting for
the magic message.
lit-
“Eric the Only,” Rita called,
spinning the dial on the left of
the machine with one hand and
stabbing at it randomly with the
forefinger of the other. “This is
the sequence in the science of our
ancestors that speaks for you
the appointed
alone. This is
THE MEN IN THE WALLS
vision under which you will live
and die.”
TTE stared at the wall, breath-
ing hard. Now he would find
out what his life was to be about
— now! His uncle’s vision at this
moment, years ago, had suggested
the nickname he came to bear:
the Trap)-Smasher. At the last
initiation ceremony, a youth had
called forth a sequence in which
their two enormous airborne vehicles
of the ancestors had collided.
They’d tried to cheer the boy
“Watch up, but he’d known his fate was
upon him. Sure enough, he had
been caught by a monster in the
middle of his Theft and dashed
to pieces against a wall.
Even then, Eric decided, he’d
rather have that kind of a se-
quence than the awful emptiness
of a blank vision. When, every
be once in a while, the machine went
on and showed nothing but a
blinding white rectangle, the
whole tribe knew that the youth
being examined had no possibility
manhood him at And
of in all.
the machine was never wrong. A
boy who’d drawn a blank vision
inevitably became more and
more effeminate as he grew older
without ever going out on his
Theft. He tended to shun the
company of warriors and to ask
the women for minor tasks to
perform. The machine of the an-
cestors looked at a boy and told
23
exactly what he was and what he
would become.
It had been great, that science
which had produced this machine,
no doubt about it. There was a
power source in it which was self-
contained, and which was sup-
posed to be like the power be-
hind all things. It would run al-
most forever, if the machine were
not tampered with — although
who could dream of tampering
with it? In its visions were locked,
not only the secrets of every in-
dividual human being, but enor-
mous mysteries which the whole
of Mankind had to solve before it
could work out its salvation
through the rituals and powers of
the ancestral science.
Now, however, there was only
one small part of Mankind that
concerned Eric. Himself. His fu-
ture. He waited, growing more
and more tense as the power hum
from the machine increased in
pitch. And suddenly there was a
grunt of awe from the entire bur-
row of people as a vision was
thrown upon the wall.
He hadn’t drawn a blank. That
was the most important thing. He
had been given an authentic an-
cestral vision.
“Scattergood’s does it again!”
a voice blared, as the picture pro-
jected on the wall showed people
coming from all directions, wear-
ing the strange body wrappings
of the ancestors. They rushed.
24
men, women, children, from the
four comers of the glittering
screen to some strange stmcture
in the center and disappeared
into its entrance. More and more
poured in, more and more kept
materializing at the edges and
scrambling toward the structure
in the center.
“Scattergood’s does it again!”
the vision yelled out at them.
“The sale of sales! The value of
values! Only at Scattergood’s
three stores tomorrow. Binocu-
lars, tape recorders, cameras, all
at tremendous reductions, many
below cost. Value, value, value!”
Now the vision showed only
objects. Strange, unfamiliar ob-
jects such as the ancestors used.
And at each object appeared, the
voice recited a charm over it.
Powerful and ancient magic this,
the forgotten lore of Ancestor-
Science,
“Krafft-Yahrmann Exposure
Meters, the best there is, you’ve
heard about them and now you
can buy them, the light meter
that’s an eye-opener, a price to fit
every pocketbook, eight dollars
and ninety-five cents, tomorrow
at Scattergood’s, absolutely only
one to a customer.
“Kyoto Automatic Eight-Milli-
meter Movie Cameras with an f
1.4 lens and an electric eye that
does all the focusing and gives
you a perfect exposure every
single time. As low as three dol-
GALAXY
I

lars a week. The supply is limited,
so hurry, hurry, hurry!”
'C’RIC watched the sequence un-
fold, his hands squeezing
each other, his eyes almost dis-
tended in reverence and concen-
tration. This was the clue to his
life, to what he might become.
This was the sequence that the
record machine of the ancestors,
turned on at random, had vouch-
safed as a prophecy of his future.
All knowledge was in that ma-
chine — and no possibility of
error.
But Eric was getting worried.
The vision was so strange. Some-
times there would be a vision
that baffled even the wisest
women. And that meant the
youth who had called it forth
would always be a puzzle, to him-
self and all of Mankind.
Let it not happen to him! O
ancestors,O science, O record
machine, let it not happen to
him!
Let him only have a clear and
definite vision so that his per-
sonality could be clear and defi-
nite for the rest of his life!
“Our special imported high-
power precision binoculars,” the
voice roared on as a man ap-
teen dollars and ninety-five cents, T WAS as Ottilie the Augur No, that was a little better, but
with case. 10 x 50, only fifteen I that she could pick out the it was dreadfully vague, almost
dollars and ninety-five cents, with one new-born babe in a litter of as bad as a blank vision.
case.You see further, you see three that had to be destroyed He stared past Ottilia’s writh-
clearer,you pay less. You always because, in some way or other, ing figure to where his uncle
pay less at Scattergood’s. Rock- it would one
day bring death to stood, surrounded by his band,
bottom prices! Skyscraper values! its people. It was as Ottilie the
a little Throne
to the left of the
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, Augur that, upon the death of Mound. Thomas the Trap-Smash-
er was watching Ottilie and grin-
at Scattergood’s annual week- the old chief, she had chosen
after-Hallowe’en Sale!” Franklin the Father of Many ning with all his teeth.
There was a click as the vision Thieves to take over the leader- What did he find so funny,
went off abruptly to be replaced ship of Mankind since he stimu- Eric wondered desperately? Was
by a white rectangle on the wall lated the most propitious omens. there nothing holy to him? Didn’t
of the burrow. Eric realized that In everything she had been right. he realize how important it was
this was all the clue there was to And now, once again it was as to Eric’s future that his vision be
be to his life. What did it mean? Ottilie the Augur that she threw readable, that he get a name to
Could it be interpreted? her arms over her head and be proud of? What was fimny in
Anxiously, now, he turned to twisted and swayed and moaned agony as she gave birth
Ottilia’s
Ottilie, the Chieftain’s First Wife. as she sought deep inside her- to Eric’s future?
He turned to her as everyone else self for the meaning of Eric’s vis- He realized that Ottilie was be-
in Mankind was now turning, ion, it was as Ottilie the Augur ginning to make coherent sounds.
Sarah the Sickness-Healer and and not as Ottilie the Chieftain’s He strained his ears to listen.
Rita the Record-Keeper amongst First Wife, for that she had been This, this was it. Who he really
them. only since Franklin had ascended was. Who he would be, for all his
Only Ottilie could read a vis- the Throne Mound. life.
ion, only short, squat, imperious The scratches and holes “Three times,” Ottilie mumbled
Ottilie. The Chieftain’s FirstWife gouged in his body by Sarah the in a voice that steadily grew
was her title of honor and her Sickness-Healer had begun to clearer and louder, “three times
latest title, but long before she ache badly, but Eric shrugged off our ancestors gave Eric his name.
had acquired that, long before theirannoyance. Could his vision Three repetitions they made.
even she had become Head of the be interpreted? And how would Three different ways they called
Female Society, she had been Ot- it be interpreted? on him to become what their
tilie the Augur, Ottilie the Omen- Whatever Ottilie saw in the science needed him to be. And
Teller, Ottilie who could walk in vision would stick to him for the all of you heard it, and I heard
her mind from the homey burrow rest of his life, much closer than it, and Eric heard it too.”

peared in the vision and brought of the present into the dark, the dried blood upon his arms Which, Eric puzzled, which
one of the strange objects up to labyrinthine corridors of the fu- and legs and chest. How could among the many strange magical
his eyes. “If we told you the man- ture, Ottilie who could read signs, you possibly interpret such a vis- statements had contained his
ufacturer’s name, you’d recognize Ottilie who could announce por- ion? Eric the Scattergood? That name and his life’s-work? He
it immediately. 7 x 50, only four- tents. was meaningless. Eric the Value? waited for the Augur to come out

26 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 27


with it. He had almost given up
breathing.
Her body relaxed now, her
hands hanging at her sides, Ottilie
was speaking to them in a sharp,
authoritative voice as she stared
at the wall of the burrow where
the vision had appeared.
“
‘A light meter that’s an eye-
opener,’ the ancestor-science
said,” she reminded them. “And
‘an electric eye that does all the
focusing.’ And ‘you see further,
you see clearer, you pay less,’ the
Record-Machine told us of Eric.
What the ancestors want of Eric
is unmistakable, what he must be
if we are to hit back at the Mon-
sters and regain the Earth which
is rightfully ours.”
^HANK the record machine,
thank each and every an-
cestor! At least the message had
been unmistakable. But what pre-
cisely had it been?
Ottilie the Augur, the Omen-
Teller, turned to face him now
where he stood apart from the
rest of eagerly-watching Man-
kind. He straightened up and
stood stiffly to learn his fate.
“Eric,” she said. “Eric the Only,
Eric the Singleton, you go out
now to make your Theft. If you
are successful and return alive,
you will become a man. And as
a man you will no longer be Eric
the Only, you will be Eric the
Eye. Eric the Eye, Eric the Es-
28
pier, Eric who seeks out the path
forMankind. Eric who hits back
Monsters with his eye, his
at the
open eye, his electric eye, his
further-seeing, clearer-seeing, less-
paying eye. For this is the
and all
of the ancestors,
have heard it.”
At last Eric could take a deep
breath, and he did so now, noisily,
in common with the whole of
Mankind who had been hanging
on Ottilie’s words. Eric the Eye
— that was what he was to be.
If he was successful and if
. . .
he lived.
Eric the Eye. Eric the Espier.
Now he knew about himself. It
was fixed, and for all time. It
was a good name to bear, a fine
personality to have. He had been
very fortunate.
Rita the Record-Keeper and
her daughter> Harriet the History-
Teller, rolled the record machine
back into its accustomed holy
place, the niche in the wall be-
hind the Throne Mound. Despite
the sacred quality of the act in
which she was engaged, the
younger woman could not take
her eyes off Eric. He was a person
of consequence now, or at least
would be when he returned.
Other young and mating-aged
women, he noticed, were looking
at him the same way.
He began to walk around in a
little circle before Mankind, and,
as he walked, he strutted.
GALAXY
waited until Ottilie, no longer the I will see them and give warn-
Augur now, no longer the Omen- ing of them in time.
Teller, but once more the Chief- I will walk at the head of the
tain’s First Wife — he waited un- line of warriors and see for them,
til she had returned to her
place And they shall be confident
word at the head of the Female Soci-
and they shall conquer —
of you ety, before he began to sing. For they have Eric the Espier
He threw back head and
his to lead the way and point the
spread out his arms and danced path!
proudly, stampingly, before Man-
kind. He spun around great
in QO he sang as he danced before
dizzying circles and leaped in the ^ Mankind, under the enor-
air and came down with wrench- mous glow lamps of its great cen-
ing spasmodic twists of his legs
and arms. And as he danced, he
tral burrow. He
sang of his mis-
sion in life as just a few short
sang. auld lang synes ago he had heard
He sang out of the pride that Roy the Runner, at his initiation,
racked his chest like a soul cough- sing of the fleetness and swiftness
ing, out of the majesty of the war- that he would soon be the master
rior-that-was-to-be, out of his sure of; as his Uncle Thomas had sung
knowledge of self. And he sang long before that of his coming
ability to detect and dismantle
his promise to his fellows:
1 am Eric the Eye, traps; as once his own father had
Eric the Open Eye, sung of the robberies he was to
Eric the Electric Eye, commit, of the storerooms he
Eric the Further - Seeing, would empty for the benefit of
Clearer-Seeing, Less-Paying Eye. Mankind. He sang and he leaped
Eric the Espier — and he whirled, and all the while
Eric who finds and points out the watching host of Mankind
the way. beat time with its feet and hands
Are you lost in a strange place? and played chorus in the litany
I will show you the path to of his triumph.
your home. Then came a loud grunt from
Does the burrow break off in Franklin the Father of Many
too many branches? Thieves. The noise stopped. Eric
I will pick out the best one and danced to a quivering halt, his
Mankind shall walk through in body wet all over, his limbs still
safety. trembling.
Are there enemies about, hid- “That is what is to be,” Frank-
den traps, unthought-of dangers? lin pointed out, “once the Theft
He
THE MEN IN THE WALLS 29
has been made. But a while. His great something going on in Mankind, looks on their faces as if they
first, first at Eric for
comes the Theft. Always before belly and fat arms quivered with something dangerous and un- were calculating highly complex
manhood comes the Theft. Now disbelief. savory. problems.
let us speak of your Theft.” “The third category, did you The chief obviously considered Even the children were re-
“I will go into the very home say? The third?” him an important factor in what- markably quiet. They served the
of the Monsters,” Eric announced Eric, thoroughly frightened ever difficulty had arisen. Usual- food over which the women had
proudly, his head thrown back now, nodded. ly, an initiate about to depart
on said charms much earlier, then
before the chief. “I will go into Franklin turned to Chief Wife a Theft was the focus of all con- scurried to their places and ate
their home alone, with no com- Ottilie. They both peered through versation as Mankind
ate in its with wide eyes aimed at their
panion but my own weapons, as a the ranks of Mankind to where central burrow, the women squat- elders.

ting on one side, the men on the All in all, Eric was distinctly
warrior should. I will steal from Thomas the Trap-Smasher stood
them, no matter what the danger, in the midst of his band, seem- other, the children at the far ends relieved when Franklin the Fa-

no matter what the threat. And ingly unconcerned by the sensa- where light was dim. But at this ther of Many
Thieves belched
what I steal, I will bring back for tion that had just been created. meal, the chief made only the commandingly, stretched, and
the use and enjoyment of Man- “What is this, Thomas?” the most necessary ritual remarks to lay back on the floor of the bur-
kind.” chief demanded, all ceremony Eric. His eyes kept wandering row. In a few minutes, he was
Franklin nodded and made the and formality gone from his from him to Thomas the Trap- asleep, snoring loudly.

formal reply. “That is good, and
it is spoken like a warrior. What
do you promise to steal from the
Monsters? For your first Theft
must be a promise made in ad-
vance and kept, kept exactly.”
Now they were at it. Eric
glanced at his uncle for support.
Thomas the Trap-Smasher was
staring off in a different direction.
speech. “What are you trying to Smasher. Night had officially begun.
pull? What’s this third category Once in a while, Franklin’s
stuff you’re up to?” eyes met those of Ottilie, his fa- IV
Thomas the Trap - Smasher vored and first wife, across the
turned a bland eye upon him. feast that had been spread the A T the end of the sleep period,
“What am I up to? I’m not up to length of the burrow. He seemed as soon as the chief had
a damn thing. The boy’s got a to be saying something to her, awakened and yawned, thus pro-
right to pick his category. If he although neither of them moved claiming the dawn, Thomas the
wants to steal in the third cate- their lips. Then they would nod Trap-Smasher’s band started on
gory, well, that’s his business. at each other and look back to its trip.

Eric licked his lips. Well, maybe What have I got to do with it?” Eric’s uncle. Eric, still officially surnamed
it wouldn’t be too bad. After all, The chief stared at him for a The rest of Mankind became the Only, carried the precious
a youth going off on his first few moments longer. Then he aware the strained atmos-
of loin straps of manhood in the

Theft had complete freedom of swung back to Eric and said phere: there was little of the food knapsack the women had
choice. shortly: “All right. You’ve chosen. usual laughter and gaiety of an provided for a possible journey
“I promise to make my theft in The third category it is. Now initiation feast. The Trap- of several days. They should re-
the third category,” he said, his let’s get on with the feast.” Smasher’s band had pulled in turn before the next sleep period,
voice trembling just a little. tightly all around him; most of but when one went on an expedi-
The results were much more SOMEHOW it was all spoiled them were not even bothering tion into Monster territory any-
than he had anticipated. Franklin ^ The to eat but sat watchful and alert. thing might happen.
the Father of Many Thieves
for Eric.
that preceded a Theft how
first
initiation feast
— Other band captains —
men like They stepped out in full mili-
yelped sharply. He leaped off the he had looked forward to it! But Stephen the Strong-Armed and tary formation, a long, straggling
Royal Mound and stood gaping he was apparently involved in Harold the Hurler —
had worried single file, each man barely in

30 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 31

 f

welcoming dance brought it to him, her eyes down- by Franklin look puny in com-
sight of the warrior immediately victorious, the
and light purple blushes on parison, he would prove that the
ahead. For the first time in his of the women as they threaded cast
skinher face and
of best hope for Mankind’s increase
military career, Eric was wearing their way through the tired ranks, the rosy
only one set of spears —
those giving you refreshment and tak- body. She had treated him the
lay in his loins and his loins alone.
And when the time came to se-
for himself. Extra weapons for ing from you the supplies that way a wife treats a husband, and
— only they could turn into usable many warriors —
Eric thought lectanother chief . . .

the band
plies —
as well as extra sup-
were on the back of a articles. Then, after you had gleefully —
many full warriors “Hey, you damned day-dream-
Runner
with their Thefts long behind ing singleton!” Roy the
new apprentice, a stripling who eaten and drunk and rested, your
was from the burrow
marched a distance behind Eric, own dance, the dance of the men, them had observed that Eric was calling

likely to join the ranks of the

ahead. “Will you wipe that haze
watching him with the same mix- where you sang and acted out
Male Society and the married out of your face and pay atten-
ture of fright and exhilaration for the tribe all the events of
men almost simultaneously. tion to signals? This is an expedi-
Eric himself had once accorded this particular expedition, the
Of course, with her unlucky tion to Monster territory, not a
all other warriors. dangers you had overcome, the
red hair, her bustling, domineer- stroll in the women’s quarters.
Ahead of Eric, momentarily splendid courage you had shown,
you? The band
ing mother, Harriet was not ex- Stay alert, will
disappearing as the dim corridor the strange and mysterious sights
actly the most marriageable girl captain’s sent down a call for
curved and branched, was Roy you had seen.
The you had seen! As
sights in Mankind. Still, there were you.”
the Runner, his long, loose-jointed
many full warriors who had not the chuckles ahead and
Amid
legs purposefully treading down Eric the Eye, he would probably
yet been able to persuade a behind him —
damn it, even the
the mileage. And all the way in be entitled to a solo dance any
time his band came across any- woman to mate with them, who new apprentice was laughing! —
the lead of the column, Eric
Oh, watched Franklin and his three Eric took a firmer grip on his
knew, was his uncle. Thomas the thing particularly curious.
wives with unconcealed hunger glow torch and sprinted for the
Trap-Smasher would be striding how high Eric the Eye would
and envy. How they would envy head of the column. As he passed
cautiously yet without any un- leap, how loudly, how proudly,
how melodiously, he would sing Eric, the newest warror of all, each man, he was asked the name
necessary waste of time, the large
when he mated the same night he of the girl he’d been thinking
glow lamp on his forehead con- of the wonders the expedition
returned from his theft! Call him about and pressed for interesting
stantly shifting from wall to wall had encountered!
Only, then! Call him singleton, details. Since he kept his mouth
of the uninhabited burrow and “Eric the Eye,”the women
“What a then! tightly shut, some of the warriors
then straight ahead, the heavy would murmur. fine, fine
They would have litter after hypothesized out loud. They were
spear in each brawny hand ready figure of a man! What a mate for
he and Harriet, large litters, painfully close to the truth.
for instant action, his mouth set some lucky woman!” litter,

ample litters, four, five, even six His uncle wasn’t much gentler
to call the warning behind him if
at a time. People would forget with him. “Eric the Eye!” the
danger materialized. TTARRIET the History-Teller
To be a man —
this was what this morning, for example, he’d ever been the product of a
singleton birth. Other women,
Trap-Smasher growled. “Eric the
Eyebrow, Eric the Closed Eye-
it was like! To go on expeditions before they started out. She had
mates of other warriors, would lash, you’ll be known as, if you
like this for the rest of one’s life, filled him with
his canteen for
wriggle to attract his attention as don’t wake up! Now stay abreast
glorious, adventure-charged ex- fresh water as he were already
if
they now_ wriggled when they of me and try to act like Eric the
peditions so that Mankind might an accredited man instead of an
caught the eye of Franklin the Eye. These are dangerous bur-
eat well and have weapons and initiate going out to face his ulti-
Father of Many Thieves. He rows and my vision isn’t as sharp
liveas Mankind should. And mate trial. Before the eyes of all
would make the litters fathered as yours. Besides, I have to fill
when you returned, triumphant. Mankind she had filled it and

32 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 33

 f
you in on a couple of things.” He handful of Mankind’s store of “Which one?” his uncle de- “It still works. Ancestor-sci-
turned. “Spread out a little far- artifacts. manded. ence, doesn’t it?” he pleaded.
ther back there,” he called out Where had the burrows come Eric unhesitatingly pointed the “Some of the tme?”
to the men behind him. “Spread from? Some said they had been right. “Everything works some of the
out! You should be a full spear- dug by the ancestors when they Thomas the Trap-Smasher time. Only Alien-science, though,
cast from the backside of the man had first begun to
back at the
hit nodded. “You have a good mem- works all of the time. It’s work-

in front of you. Let me see a real Monsters. Others claimed the ory,” he said as he bore in the ing for Aliens, for the Monsters.
strung-out column with plenty burrows had always been there, direction that Eric had indicated. It’s got to begin working for us.

of distance between each war- waiting for Mankind to find them “That’s half of being an Eye. The That’s where you come in.”
rior.” and be comfortable in them. other half is having a feeling, a He had to remember that his
In all directions the burrows knack, for the right way to go. uncle was an experienced cap-
Eric, he muttered, once the stretched. On and on they went, You have that too. I’ve noticed tain, a knowledgeable warrior.

maneuver had been com-
pleted: “Good. Gives us a chance
to talk without everyone in the
band hearing us. You can trust
my bunch, but still, why take
chances?”
Eric nodded, with no idea what
he was talking about. His uncle
had become slightly odd re-
cently. Well,he was still the best
band captain in all Mankind.
They marched along together,
interminably curving and branch-
ing and forking, dark and silent,
until human beings stamped into
them with glow lamp and glow
torch. These particular corridors,
Eric knew, led to Monster terri-
tory. He had been along them
many times as a humble spear
carrier when his uncle’s band had
been dispatched to bring back the
necessities of life for Mankind.
Other corridors went off to more
it on every expedition where Thomas the Trap-Smasher’s pro-
you’ve been along. That’s what tection and advice had brought
I told those women Rita, Ot-— him, a despised singleton, an
tilie — I told them what your orphaned child of parents that no
name had to be. Eric the Eye, I one dared even talk about, to his
told them. Find a vision for the present estate of almost full
kind that corresponds to it.” thieving status. It was very for-
tunate for him that neither of
He was so shocked that he
most came to a halt. “You
al- his uncle’s wives had yet pro-
duced a son which survived into
the initiate years. He still had a
picked my name? You told them
what kind of vision That’s .
— lot to learn from this man.
—
. .

the light from the strange glow- exotic and even more dangerous that’s I never heard of such “Now,” the Trap-Smasher was
ing substance on Eric’s torch and places. But were there any places a thing!” saying, his eyes still on the dimly
his uncle’s forehead spreading a which had no burrows? His uncle laughed. “It’s no dif- illuminated corridors ahead.
yellowish illumination some hun- What a thought! Even the ferent from Ottilie the Omen- “When we get to the Monster
dred feet ahead of them. On ei- Monsters lived in burrows, big Teller making a deal with Frank- burrows, you go in. You go in
ther side, underfoot, overhead, as they were reputed to be. But lin to have a vision showing him alone, of course.”

were the curved, featureless walls therewas a legend that Mankind as the new chief. He gets to be Well, of course, Eric thought.
of the burrow. From the center had once lived outside burrows, chief, she becomes the Chief- What other way was there to
of the corridor, where they outside the branching corridors. tain’s First Wife and automati- make your Theft? The first time
inarched, the walls looked soft Then what had they lived in? cally takes over the Female So- you stole for Mankind, you did
and spongy, but Eric knew what Just trying to work it out made ciety. and
Religion politics, it all alone, to prove your man-
tremendous labor was involved you dizzy. they’re always mixed up together hood, your courage, also the
in digging a niche or recess in They came to a place where these days, Eric. We’re not living amount of personal luck you en-
them. It took several strong men the burrow became two burrows, in the old times any more when joyed. It was not like a regular
at least two sleep periods to make each curving away from the other Ancestor-science was real and band theft —
or organized steal-

a niche large enough to hold a in opposite directions. holy and it worked.” ing of a large amount of goods

34 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 35

 '

that would last Mankind many the wall, letting it brush your What happens then?” Eric de- This enormous convenience
sleep-periods, almost a tenth of shoulder every couple of steps. manded eagerly. “How do I make might be counterbalanced, he
an auld lang syne. In a regular You run forty, fifty paces, and '

my Theft? Where do I find the would readily admit, by the dan-

band theft, assigned to each band you come to a great big thing, a third category?” gers associated with it —
although
in rotation, a warrior had to be structure, that’s almost touching Thomas the Trap*-Smasher the constant exposure to dangers
assured of the luck and skill of the wall. You turn left along seemed have trouble continu-
to and death in every form were
the warriors at his side. He had that, moving away from the wall, ing. Incredible he —
was actually part of Mankind’s greatness.
to know that each one of them but still not looking up, until you nervous! “There’ll be a Stranger They were great despite their
had made Theft and proved
his — pass an entrance in the structure. there. You tell him who you are, inferiortechnology. So what if
himself when completely alone. You don’t go in that first en- your name. He’ll do the rest.” they were primarily a source of
Stealing from the Monsters trance, Eric; you pass it by. raw materials to the more popu-
was dangerous enough under the About twenty, twenty-five paces his time Eric came to a full lous but less hardy burrows in
best of conditions. You wanted
only the cleverest, bravest, most
further on, there’ll be a second
entrance, a bigger one. You go
T stop. “A Stranger?” he asked the rear? How
long would the
weaponsmiths, the potters and
in complete amazement. “Some-
fortunate warriors along with in that one.” tanners and artificers of these
one who’s not of Mankind?”
you. “I go in that one,” Eric re- His uncle grabbed at his arm burrows be able to go on with
“Once you’re inside, stay close peated carefully, memorizing his and pulled him along. “Well, their buzzing, noisy industries
to the wall. Don’t look up at first uncle’s words. He was receiving you’ve seen Strangers before,” he once Mankind ceased to bring
or you’re likely to freeze right directions for his Theft, the most said with a weak laugh. “You them the basic substances —
where you are. Keep your eyes important act of his life! Every know there are others in the bur- food, cloth, metal — it had so

on the wall and move close to it.
Move fast.”
Nothing new here. Every ini-
tiate learned over and over again,
before he made his Theft, that
it was terribly dangerous to look
up when you first entered Mon-
ster territory. You had to keep
your eyes on the wall and move
in the protection of it, the wall
touching your shoulder as you
single thing his uncle told him rows besides Mankind. You know gloriously stolen from fear-filled
must be listened to carefully, that, don’tyou, boy?” Monster territory? No, Man-
must not be forgotten. Eric certainly did. kind was the bravest, greatest,
“You’ll be in something that From an early age he had ac- most important people in all the
looks like a burrow again, but companied his uncle and his un- burrows.
it’ll be darker, at first. The walls But that wasn’t the point,
cle’s band on warfare and trading still
will soak up light from your glow expeditions to the burrows a bit of it all.
lamp. After a while, the burrow further back. He knew that the point was that you had
The
will open out into a great big people in these burrows looked nothing more to do with Stran-
space, a real big and real dark gers than was absolutely neces-
down on the people in his, that
space. Y ou go on in a straight '

they were more plentiful than sary.They were Strangers. You

ran alongside it. Why this was so, line, looking over your shoulder his people, and led richer, safer were Mankind. You stayed
Eric had no idea, but that it was at the light from the entrance lives —
but he still couldn’t help proudly aloof from them at all
so he had long ago learned to and making sure it’s always di- feeling sorry for them. times.
repeat as a fact. rectly behind you. You’ll hit an- They were nothing but Stran- Trading with them well,—
“All right,” Thomas the Trap- other burrow, a low one this time. He was a member
gers, after all. you traded with them. Mankind
Smasher went on. “You turn right Turn right at the first fork as of Mankind. needed spear-points and sturdy
as you go in. Right, do you hear soon as you go in, and there you It wasn’t just that Mankind spear-shifts, knapsacks and loin-
me, Eric? You turn right, with- are.” lived in the front burrows, those straps, canteens and cooking ves-
out looking up, and run along “Where? Where will I be? closest to the Monster larder. sels. You needed these articles

36 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 37

 r

and got them in exchange for individual Stranger wandering

heavy backloads of shapeless, un-
processed stuff freshly stolen.
Mating with them —
well, of
course you mated with them. One
was always on the lookout for
extra women who could add to
the knowledge and technical
abilities of Mankind. But these
women became a well-adjusted
part of Mankind once they were
Mankind’s women
stolen, just as
were complete outsiders and
Strangers the moment they had
been carried off by a foreign raid-
ing party. And fighting with them,
warring with them —
next to
stealing from the Monsters, that
was the sweetest, most exciting
part of a warrior’s existence.
You traded with Strangers,
coldly, suspiciously, always alert
for a better bargain; you stole
Stranger women whenever you
could, gleefully, proudly, because
that diminished them and in-
creased the numbers and well-
being of Mankind; and you
fought Stranger men whenever
there was more to be gained that
way than by simple trading — a
apart from his people, you killed
him quickly and casually.
You certainly didn’t ask him
for advice on your Theft.
"I^RIC was still brooding on the
unprecedented nature of his
uncle’s instructions when they
came to the end of their journey,
a large, blind-alley burrow. There
was a line cut deep into the blank
wall here, a line that started at
the floor, went up almost to the
height of a man’s head, and then
curved down to the floor again.
The door to Monster territory.
Thomas the Trap-Smasher
waited for a moment, listening.
When his experienced ears had
detected no unusual noises in the
neighborhood, no hint of danger
on the other side, he cupped his
hands around his mouth, faced
back the way he had come, and
softly gave the ululating recogni-
tion-call of the band. The four
other warriors and the appren-
tice came up swiftly and grouped
themselves about him. Then, at
signal from their leader, all
|

and periodically they came upon squatted near the door. .

you as you lay in your burrow They ate first, rapidly and si-
|

unawares and fought you. lently, removing from their knap- i

But otherwise, for all normal sacks handfuls of food that the i

social purposes, they were taboo. women had prepared for them
Almost as taboo and not-to-be- and stuffing their mouths full, the j

related-to as the Monsters on beams from the glow lamps

the other side of Mankind’s bur- above their eyes darting inces- i

rows. When you came upon an santly back and forth along the

38 GALAXY
arched, empty corridor. This was whiteness appeared where the worth a damn. You scuttle into brush his right shoulder. He be-
the place of ultimate, awful dan- door had been. closest hiding-place and gan to rim, keeping his eyes
ger. This was the place where Monster territory. The strange, throw the light spear as far as down, touching the wall with his
anything might happen. alien light of Monster territory. you can. The Monster can’t dis- shoulder at regular intervals. He
Eric ate most sparingly of all Eric had seen many warriors dis- tinguish between you and the ran as fast as he possibly could,
as was an initiate
correct for appear into it to fulfill their man- spear. It will follow the spear.” urging his muscles fiercely on. As
about to emerge upon his Theft. hood tasks. Now it was his turn. Eric nodded mechanically, al- he ran, he counted the steps to
He knew he had to keep his though this too he had been told
'•
Holding his heavy spear at the himself.
springiness of body and watch- ready, uncle leaned for-
Eric’s many times, this too was a lesson Twenty paces. Where did the
fulness of mind at their highest ward into the whiteness. His body he knew by heart. His mouth was light come from? It was every-
possible pitch. He saw his uncle twisted as he looked up, down, so dry! He wished that it weren’t where; it glowed so; it was white,
nodding approvingly as he re- around, on both sides. He with- unmanly to beg for water at such white. Twenty-five paces. Touch
turned the bulk of his food to drew and came back into the moment. the wall with your shoulder.
the knapsack. burrow.
|

j
a
Thomas the Trap-Smasher Don’t — above everything —
The floor vibrated slightly un- “No new traps,” he said in a took his torch from him and don’t wander away from the wall.
^

derfoot; there was a regular,
rhythmic gurgling. Eric knew
that meant they were directly
over a length of Monster plumb-
ing: upon his return, before the
band homewards, Tho-
started
mas the Trap-Smasher would
make an opening in the plumbing
and they would refill their can-
teens. The water here, nearest to
Monster territory, was always
the sweetest and best.
Now his uncle got to his feet
and called Roy the Runner to
him. While the other warriors
watched, tense and still, the two
men walked to the curved line
and laid their ears against it.
soft voice.“The one I dismantled slipped a glow lamp about his Thirty paces. In light like this
last expedition is still up there i
forehead. Then he pushed him you had no need of the glow
on the wall. It hasn’t been re- i
through the doorway. “Go make lamp. It was almost too bright
paired. Now Eric. Here you go, your Theft, Eric,” he whispered. to see in. Thirty- five paces. The
boy.” “Come back a man.” floor was not like a burrow floor.
Eric rose and walked with him ;
It was flat and very hard. So was
to the doorway, remembering to V the wall. Flat and hard and
keep his eyes on the floor. You straight. Forty paces. Run and
was on the other side. He
e keep your eyes down. Run. Keep
can’t look up, he had been told
again and again, not right away, i
H was in Monster territory. touching the wall with your
shoulder. Move fast. But keep
not the first time you’re in Mon- He was surrounded by the strange
ster territory. If you do, you Monster light, the incredible your eyes down. Don’t look up.
freeze, you’re lost, you’re done Monster world. The burrows. Forty-five paces.
for completely. Mankind, everything familiar, He almost smashed into the
His uncle checked him care- lay behind him. structure he had been told about,
fully and fondly, making certain Panic rose from his stomach but his reflexes and the warnings
that his new loin straps were and into his throat like vomit. he had received swung him to the
tight, that his knapsack and back- Don’t look up. Eyes down, left and along it just in time. It

Satisfied, finally, they inserted sling were both in the right posi- eyes down or yotfre likely to was a different color than the
spear points into the door’s out- tion on his shoulders. He took where you are. Stay
freeze ri^ht wall, he noted, and a different-

line on either side and carefully a heavy spear from Eric’s right keep your eyes
close to the wall, textured material. Keep your
pried the slab back toward them. hand and replaced it with a light : on the wall and move along it. eyes down. Don’t look up. He
They laid it on the floor of the one from the back-sling. “If you’re Turn right and move along the came to an entrance, like the
corridor, very gently. seen by a Monster,” he whis-
j

wall. Move fast. beginning of a small burrow.

A shimmering blur of pure pered, “the heavy spear’s not Eric turned. He felt the wall Don’t go in that first entrance.

40 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 41

 Eric; you pass it by. He began to
count again as he ran. Twenty-
three paces more, and there was
another entrance, a much higher,
wider one. He darted inside. It’ll
be darker, at first. The walls will
soak up light from your glow
lamp.
Eric paused, gasping. He was
grateful for the sucking darkness.
After that terrible, alien white
light, the gloom was friendly,
reminiscent of the familiar bur-
rows now so horribly far away.
He could afford to take a
breath at this point, he knew. The
first, the worst part was over. He
wasn’t out in the open any more.
He had emerged into Mon-
He had run fast,
ster territory.
following instructions until
was safely under cover again.
was still alive.
The worst was over. Nothing
else would be as bad as this.
Monster territory. It lay be-
hind him, bathed in its own
culiar Now. Why not?
light.
Now, when he was in a place of
comparative safety. He could
take a chance. He wanted to take
a chance.
He turned, gingerly, fearfully.
He raised his eyes. He looked.
^^HE cry that tore from his lips
-* was completely involuntary
and frightened him almost as
much as what he saw. He shut
his eyes and threw himself down
42
L
and sideways. He lay where he
had fallen for a long while, al-
most paralyzed.
It couldn’t be. He hadn’t seen
Nothing was that high, nothing
it.
ran on and on for such incredi-
ble distances!
After a time, he opened his
eyes again, keeping them care-
fully focused on the dark near
him. The gloom in this covered
place had diminished somewhat
as his eyes had grown more ac-
customed to it. Yellowish light
from his glow lamp was providing
illumination now: he could make
out the walls, about as far apart
from each other as those in a bur-
row, but —unlike a burrow’s
walls —oddly straight and at
he right angles to the floor and ceil-
He ing. Far off there was an im-
mense patch of darkness. The
burrow will open out into a great
big space, a real big and real dark
space.
pe- What was this place, he
dered? What was it to the
sters?
He had to take another look
behind, into the open. One more
quick look. He was going to be
Eric the Eye. An Eye should be
able tb look at anything. He had
to take another look.
But guardedly, guardedly.
Eric turned again, opening his
eyes a little at a time. He clamped
his teeth together so as not to cry
out. Even so, he almost did.
GALAXY
shut his eyes quickly, waited,
then opened them again.
Bit by bit, effort by effort, he
found he was able to look into
the great open whiteness without
losing control of himself. It was
upsetting, overpowering, but if
he didn’t look too long at any
one time, he could stand it.
Distance. Enormous, elongated,
unbelievable distance. Space
upon space upon space — that
white light bathing it all. Space
far ahead, space on all sides,
space going on and on until it
seemed to have no end to it at
But there, fantastically far
all.
there was an end. There was
off,
a wall, a wall made by giants
that finally sealed off the tremen-
dous space. It rose hugely from
the flat, huge floor and disap-
peared somewhere far overhead.
And in between — once you
could stand to look at it this much
— in between, there were ob-
won- jects. Enormous objects, dwarfed
Mon- only by the greatness of the space
which surrounded them, enor-
mous, terribly alien objects. Ob-
jects like nothing you had ever
imagined.
1^0, that wasn’t quite true. That
' thing over there. Eric recog-
nized it.
A great, squat thing like a full
knapsack without the straps.
Since early boyhood, many was
He the time he had heard it de-
THE MEN IN THE WALLS
scribed by warriors back from an
expedition into Monster territory.
There was food in that sack
and the others like it. Enough
food in that one sack to feed the
entire population of Mankind for
unnumbered auld lang synes. A
different kind of food in each
sack.
No sp)ear point possessed by
Mankind would cut through the
fabric of its container, not near
the bottom where it was thickest.
Warriors had to climb about half-
way up the sack, Eric knew, be-
fore they could find a place thin
enough to carve themselves an
entrance. Then the lumps of food
would be lowered from man to
man all the way down the sack,
warriors clinging to precarious
handholds every few paces.
Once the pile on the floor was
great enough, they would clam-
ber down and fill their specially
large, food-expedition knapsacks.
Then back to the burrows and to
the women who alone possessed
the lore of determining whether
the food was fit for consumption
and of preparing it if it were.
That’s where he would be at
this moment, on that sack, cut-
ting a hole in it, if he’d chosen a
first category Theft like most
other youths. He’d be cutting a
hole, scooping out a handful of
food — any quantity, no matter
how small, was acceptable on an
initiatory Theft — and ie pre-
43
paring to go home to plaudits
from the women and acceptance
from the men. He’d be engaged
in a normal, socially-acceptable
endeavor.
Instead of which . . . cestors and their mysterious
He
found that he was able to
stare at the Monster room now
from under the cover of his hiding
place with only a slight feeling
of nausea. Well, that in itself was
an achievement. After
short time, here he was, able to
look around and estimate the na-
ture of Monster goods like the
most experienced warrior. He
couldn’t look up too high as yet,
but what warrior could?
Well and good, but this wasn’t
getting him anywhere. He didn’t
have a normal Theft to make.
His was third category. Monster
souvenirs.
Eric turned and faced the dark-
ness again. He walked rapidly
forward into the straight-walled
burrow, the glow-lamp on his
forehead lighting a yellow path.
Ahead of him, the great black
space grew steadily larger as he
pushed towards it.
Everything about his Theft,
his initiation intomanhood, was
extraordinary. Thomas the Trap-
Smasher telling the women about
his special talents, so that he
would be accorded a vision and
a name which would fit with
them. Visions were supposed to
come from the ancestors, through
44
the ancestor-science of the record man in all Mankind, so far as frightened, then he realized what
machine. Nobody was supposed Eric was concerned. Thomas the had happened. He hadn’t taken
to have the slightest idea in ad- Trap-Smasher could do no wrong. his bearings for a while: he must
vance of what the vision would But Thomas the Trap-Smasher have moved off at an angle.
be. That was all up to the an- was evidently leaning toward Groping along the wall with ex-
Alien-science was
Alien-science.- tended arms, he found the en-
plans for their descendants. wrong. But again, on the other trance to the low burrow at last.
hand, his parents, according to It was quite low —
he had to
^^ETAS it possible, was con- the Trap-Smasher, his father and bend his knees and duck his head
” ceivable, that all
it
visions his mother had been Alien-sci- as he went up to. It was an un-
and names were pre-arranged, encers. pleasantly narrow little corridor.
only a that the record machine was set Too much. There was just too But then there was an opening
in advance for every initiation? much to work out. There was on his right —
the fork his uncle
Where did that leave religion? too much he didn’t know. He’d had told him about —
and he
If that were so, how could you better concentrate on his Theft. turned into it with relief.
continue to believe in logic, in The strange burrow had come He had arrived.
cause and effect? to an end. The hairs rose on the There was a burst of light from
And having someone — a back of his neck as he walked a group of glow lamps. And there
Stranger, at that! —
help you into the great dark area and were Strangers, there were sev-
make your Theft. A Theft was sensed enormous black heights eral Strangers here. Three of
supposed to be purely and simply above him. He began to hurry, them — no, four —
no, five!
a test of your male potential; by turning every once in a while to They squatted in a corner of this
definition, it was something you make certain that he was staying large, square burrow, three of
did alone. i in a straight line with the light them talking earnestly, the other
But if you could accept the from the entrance. Here, his fore- two engaged in some incompre-
concept of pre-arranged visions, head glow lamp was almost no hensible task with materials that
why not pre-arranged Thefts? 1
use at all. He didn’t like this were mostly unfamiliar.
Eric shook his head. He was place. It felt almost like being
getting into very dark corridors
|
out in the open. A LL OF them leaped to their
mentally: his world was turning What, he wondered again fev- feet as he trotted in and
into sheer confusion. erishly, was this structure in the deployed instantly in a wide
But one thing he knew. Mak- world of the Monsters? What semi-circle facing him. Eric
ing an arrangement with a function did it have? He was wished desperately he had been
Stranger, as his uncle had done, not sure he wanted to know. holding two heavy spears instead
was definitely an act contrary to Eric was running by the time of the single light one. With two
all the laws and practices of he came to the end of the open heavy spears you had both a
Mankind. Thomas’s uncertain i
space. He hit the wall so hard shield and a dangerous offensive
speech had underlined that fact. that he was knocked over back- weapon. A light spear was good
It was — well, it was wron^. wards. for a single cast, and that was
Yet his uncle was the greatest For a moment, he was badly that.
GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 45
 He held it nevertheless in the
throwing position above his
shoulder and glared fiercely, as
a warrior of Mankind should. If
he had to throw, he decided, he
would spring to one side immedi-
ately afterward and try to pluck
the two heavy spears from his
backsling. But if they rushed him
right now — with odd, incised designs
“Who are you?” asked
strong-faced, middle-aged man
the center of the semi-circle, his
spear throbbing in an upraised
arm. “What’s your name
what’s your people?”
“Eric the Only,” Eric told him
quickly. Then he remembered
add: “I’m destined to be Eric the
Eye. Mypeople are Mankind.”
“He’s expected, one of us,” the
middle-aged man told the others
who immediately relaxed, slung
their spears and went back to
what they had been doing. ‘Wel-
come, Eric the Only of Mankind.
Put up your spear and sit with
us. Iam Arthur the Organizer.”
Eric gingerly dropped his
spear into the back-sling. He
studied the Stranger.
A man about as old as his
uncle and not nearly as hefty,
although well-muscled enough
for normal warlike purposes. He
wore the loin-straps of a full war-
rior, but —
as if these were not
enough honor for a man —
he
also wore straps laced about his
chest and across his shoulders.
46
though he was carrying no knap>-
sack. This was the fashion of
many Strangers, Eric knew, as
was the strap at the back of the
head that held the hair in a tight
tail away from the eyes instead
of letting it hang wild and free
as the hair of a warrior should.
And the straps were decorated
an-
a other weak and unmanlike
in Stranger fashion.
Who but Strangers, Eric
thought contemptuously, would
— group up so in an alien place
without setting sentries at either
end of their burrow? Truly Man-
to kind had good reason to despise
them!
But this man was a leader, he
realized, a bom leader, with an
even more self-assured air than
Thomas the Trap-Smasher, cap-
tain of the best band in all Man-
kind. He was studying Eric in
turn, with eyes that weighed
carefully and then, having de-
cided on the measure, made a
definite placement, fitting
permanently into this plan or
that plan. He looked like a man
whose head was full
plans, each one evolving inexor-
ably through action to a pre-
determined end.
He took Eric’s arm companion-
ably and led him to where the
others squatted and talked and
worked. This was no tribal bur-
row of any sort: it was quite ap-
parently a field headquarters — of the men working with the un-
and Arthur the Organizer was familiar materials muttered to
“You ask him
|
Commander-in-Chief. “I met your his neighbor. his
j
uncle,” he told Eric, “about a people, and he says, ‘Mankind.’
dozen auld lang synes ago, when Mankind!”
he came to us on a trading ex- The other man chuckled. “A
pedition —
back in our burrows, front-burrow tribe. What the hell
!
I mean. A fine man, your uncle, do you expect —
sophistication?
very progressive. He’s attended Each and every front-burrow
— our secret meetings regularly, tribe calls itself Mankind. As far
1 and there’s going to be an im- as these primitives are concerned,
portant place for him in the great the human race stops at their
burrows we will dig, in the new outermost burrow. Your tribe, my
world we are making. He re- tribe — you know what they call
minds me a lot of your father. us? Strangers. In their eyes,
But so do you, my boy, so do there’s not too much difference
you.” between us and the Monsters.”
“Did you know my father?” “That’s what I mean. They
don’t see us as fellow-men. They
;
Arthur the Organizer smiled
and nodded. “Very well. He
are narrow-minded savages. Who
needs them?”
could have been a great man. He Arthur the Organizer glanced
;
gave his life for the Cause. Who at Eric’s face. He turned sharply
among us will ever forget Eric to the man who had spoken last.
the — the —
Eric the Store- “I’ll tell you who needs them,
keeper or something, wasn’t it?” Walter,” he said. “The Cause
“The Storeroom-Stormer. His needs them. If the front-burrow
name was Eric the Storeroom- tribes are with us, it means our
Eric Stormer.” main lines of supply to Monster
“Yes, of course. Eric the Store- territory are kept op>en. But we
i
room-Stormer. An unforgettable need every fighter we can get,
of many name with us, and an unforget- no matter how primitive. Every
table man. But that’s another single tribe has to be with us if
story; we’ll talk about it some Alien-science is to be the domi-
other time. You’ll have to be get- nant religion of the burrows, if
ting back to your uncle very we’re to avoid the fiasco of the
soon.” He picked up a flat board last rising. We need front-bur-
covered with odd markings and row men for their hunting, forag-
studied it with his glow lamp. ing skills and back-burrow men
“How do you like that?” one We need
for their civilized skills.
GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 47
everybody in this thing, especially others seemed particularly con- people. Walter, what do you have will be the last time we meet
now.” cerned. He drew a deep breath for Eric’s tribe
—
for, uh, for before the rising. Tell him to
The man called Walter put and reslung his spear. How the Mankind?” bring them armed with every last
down his work and scowled at floor and the walls shook! What “I hate to give anything even spear they can carry.”
Eric dubiously. He seemed to be a fantastic, enormous creature halfway good to a front-burrow
totally unconvinced. that must be! tribe,” the squatting man mut- 'C’RIC nodded weakly. There
These arrogant back-burrow- As an apprentice warrior, he tered. “No matter how much you were so many complex, in-
ers with their ornamented straps had often stood with the rear- explain it to them, they always comprehensible things going on!
and unmilitary manners! Men guard on the other side of the use it wrong, they botch it up The world was a bigger, more
from different tribes sitting doorway to Monster territory every single time. Let’s see. This active place than he had ever
around and talking, when if — while the band went in to steal should be simple enough.” imagined.
they had any sense of propriety for Mankind. A few times there He rummaged in the pile of He watched Arthur the Or-
at all — they should be killing had been heavy, thumping noises strange stuff in front of him and ganizer add a mark to the flat
each other! • off in the distance, and the walls picked up a small, red, jelly-like board on which many symbols
Suddenly, the floor shook un- of the burrow had quivered blob. “All you do,” he explained, were scratched. This was another
der him. He almost fell. He slightly. But not like this. It had “is tear off a pinch with your Stranger practice made nec-—
staggered back and forth, trying never been remotely as awesome fingers. Just a pinch at a time, no essary, he knew, by the weak
to grab at the spears in his back- as this. more. Then spit on it and throw Stranger memory, so inferior to
sling. He finally got used to it, He raised his eyes to the it. After you spit on it, get it out that of Mankind.
managed to find a solid footing straight, flat ceiling of the bur- of your hands fast. Throw it as The Weapon-Seeker leaped up
in the upheaval. The spear he row above them. He remembered fast and as far as you can. Do and stopped him as he was about
held vibrated in his hand. the dark space further back you think you can remember to put the red blob into knapsack.
stretching up limitlessly. “And that?” “Nothing wet in there?” Walter
¥?ROM far away came a series this,” he said aloud. “This “Yes.” Eric took the red blob demanded, opening the bag and
of ear-splitting thumps. The structure we’re in. What is this to from him and stared at it in puz- rummaging about in Eric’s be-
swung their rhythm. them?” zlement. There was a strange, ir- longings. “No water? Remember,
floor to
“What is he cried, turning
it?” Arthur the Organizer shrugged. ritating odor: it made his nose get this stuff wet and you’re done
to Arthur. “What’s going on?” “A piece of Monster furniture. itch slightly. “But what happens? for.”

“You’ve never heard a Mon- Something they use for some- What does it do?” “Mankind keeps its water in
ster walking before?” the Organ- thing or other. We’re in one of “That’s not your worry, boy,” canteens,” Eric explained irrita-
izer asked him unbelievingly. the open spaces they always leave Arthur the Organizer told him. bly. “We keep it here,” he pointed

“That’s right —
this is your in the bases of their furniture. “Your uncle will know when to
use it. You have your third cate-
to the sloshing
“not splashing
pouch at his hip,
around loosely
Theft, your first time out. It’s a Makes the furniture
Monster, boy. A Monster’s mov- easier to move
lighter,
around, I guess.” gory theft —
a Monster souvenir with our provisions.” He swung
ing around in the Monster larder, He listened for a moment as the that no one in your tribe has ever the full knapsack on his back
doing whatever Monsters do. thumps drifted further away and seen before. It should make them and stepped away with stiff dig-
sit up and take notice. And tell nity.
They have a right, you know,” then died out. “Let’s get down to
he added with a smile. “It’s their is Walter the
your uncle to bring his band to Arthur the Organizer accom-
larder. We’re just —
business. Eric, this
Weapon-Seeker. Walter my burrow three days —
three panied him to the end of the
visitors.”
Eric noticed that none of the
the
Weapon-Seeker of the Miximilian sleep-periods — from now. That burrow. “Don’t mind Walter,” he

48 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 49


whispered. always afraid
“He’s
that nobody but himself will be
able to use the Monster weapKsns
he digs up. He talks that way to
everyone. Now, suppose I re-
fresh your memory about the
way back. We don’t
get lost.”
“I won’t get lost,”
coldly. “I have a good memory,
and I know enough to perform a
simple reversal of the directions
on the way here. Besides, I am
Eric the Espier, Eric the Eye of
Mankind. I won’t get lost.”
He was rather proud of him-
self as he trotted away, without
turning his head. Let the Stran-
gers know what you think of
them. The snobs. The stuck-up
bastards.
But still, he felt damaged
somehow, made less as when
Roy the Runner had called him
a singleton before
band. And the last
had heard behind him
primitives: so damned
— made it no better.
He crossed the dark
space, still brooding, his
fixed on the patch of white
ahead, his mind engaged in a
completely unaccustomed exam-
ination of values. Mankind’s free
simplicity against the Stranger
multiplicity and intricacy. Man-
kind’s knowledge of basics, the
important foraging basics of day-
to-day life, against the Stranger
50
knowledge of so many things and
techniques he had never even
heard about. Surely Mankind’s
way was infinitely preferable, far
superior?
Then why did his uncle want
want you to to get mixed up with Stranger
politics, he wondered, as he
Eric said emerged from the structure? He
turned left and, passing the small
entrance he had ignored before,
sped for the wall which separated
him from the burrows. And why
did all these Strangers, evidently
each from a different tribe, agree
in the contempt with which they
held Mankind?
He had just turned right along
the wall, on the last stretch be-
fore the doorway, when the floor
shook again, jarring him out of
He bounced up and
his thoughts.
— down, frozen with fear where he
stood.
the entire He was out in the open while
comment he a Monster was abroad. A Mon-
— “These ster had come into the
touchy!” again.
open VI
eyes
light ^AR OFF in the dazzling dis-
^ tance, he caught sight of the
tremendously long gray body he
had heard about since childhood,
hgher than a hundred men stand-
ing on each other’s shoulders, the
thick gray legs each wider than
two hefty men standing chest to
chest. He caught just one wide-
GALAXY
I
glimpse of the towards the structure, gotten be-
eyed, fear-soluble
thing before he
went into com- tween it and the wall. There, un-
less he’d been seen as the Mon-
plete panic.
His panic was redeemed by a ster entered the larder, he could
he didn’t spring
single inhibition: have rested safely until it was
forward and run away from the possible to make his escape.
^all- But that was only because He had gone too far to turn
itwould have meant running di- back now. But run silently, he
rectly toward the Monster.
For reminded himself: run swiftly
one thoroughly insane moment, but make no noise, make no noise
however, he thought of trying to at all. According to the lessons
claw his way through the wall that the warriors taught, at this
against which his shoulders were distance Monster hearing was
pressed. more to be feared than Monster
Then —because it was the vision. Run silently. Run for your
direction he had been running in life.
he remembered the doorway. He reached the door. It had
He must be about thirty, thirty- been set back in place!
five paces from it. There lay In disbelief and utter horror
safety: his uncle, the band. Man- he stared at the curved line in
kind and the burrows —
the the wall that showed where the
blessed, closed-in, narrow bur- door had been replaced in its
rows! socket. But this was never done!
Eric leaped along the wall for This had never been heard of!
the doorway. He ran as he’d Eric beat frantically on the
never in his life run before, as door with his fists. Would his
larder he’d never imagined he could knuckles make enough noise to
run. penetrate the heavy slab? Or just
But even as he fled madly, al- enough to attract the Monster’s
most weeping at the effort he was attention?
making, a few sane thoughts — He twisted his head quickly
the result of long, tiresome drills —a look, a deliberately wasted
as an initiate —
organized them- moment, to estimate the close-
selves in his screaming mind. He ness of his danger. The Monster’s
had been closer to the structure legs moved so slowly: its speed
in which the Strangers were hid- would have been laughable if the
ing, the structure which Arthur very size of those legs didn’t
the Organizer explained was a serve to push it forward an in-
piece Monster furniture. He
of credible distance with each step.
should have turned the other way. And there was nothing laughable
\
THE MEN IN THE WALLS 51
in that long,narrow neck, almost Where was the Monster? How j^onster probably hadn’t noticed two full days had gone by. In the
as long as the rest of the body, close? How Close? you. was
chief’s absence, of course, this
and the malevolent, relatively Suddenly, the door fell over in- So the experienced
warriors measured by the sleep periods of
tiny head on the end of the neck. to the burrow, and Eric spilled men who had lived
the the band captain. Any band
said,
And those horrible pink things, painfully on top of it. He scram, through such an experience. would wait two days before giv-
all around the neck, just behind bled to his feet and darted down Five hundred. He reached five ing up and turning homeward.
the head — the corridor. hundred and, just to be on the And, Eric was positive, his uncle
It was much nearer than it He had no time to feel relief. safe side, still tense, still ready to would have waited a bit longer
had been just seconds ago, but His mind was repeating its les- run, counted another five hun- than that for him. He’d been away
whether it had noticed him and sons, reminding him what he had dred,up to the ultimate number for such a short time! Then what
was coming at him he had no to do next in such a situation. conceived by man, a full thou- had happened?
idea. Beat at the door with the Run a short distance down the sand. He crept to the doorway and
shaft of a spear? That should at- burrow. Then stop and wait on No hissing, no whistling sounds. peeped outside. There was almost
tract attention, that might be the balls of your feet, ready to No suggestion of danger. no dizziness this time. His eyes
heard. bolt. Get as much air into your He relaxed, and his muscles — adjusted quickly to the different
Yes, by the Monster too. lungs as possible. You may need suddenly set free —
gave way. scale of distance. The Monster
it. If you hear a hissing, whistling He fell to the floor of the burrow, was busy on the other side of the
I
'HERE was only one thing to sound, stop breathing and start whimpering with the release of larder. It had merely been cross-
do. He stepped a few paces running. Hold your breath for as tension. ing the room, then, not pursuing
back from the wall. Then he long as you can —
as long as you It was over. His Theft was and attacking. Apparently it
leaped forward, smashing his possibly can —
then suck an- over. He was a man. hadn’t noticed him at all.
shoulder into the door. He felt it other chestful of air and keep Fantastic. And with all the
give a little. Another try. running. Keep this up until you T¥E had been same place
in the noise he had made! All that rush-
The floor-shaking thumps of are far away. Far, far away. as a Monster, and lived ing back and forth, that battering-
the Monster’s steps were now so Eric waited, poised to run, his through it. He had met Strangers down of the door!
close as to be almost deafening. back to the doorway. and dealt with them as a repre- The Monster turned abruptly,
At any moment, a great gray foot Don’t look around —
just face sentative of Mankind. Such walked a few gigantic steps and
might come down and grind out the direction yot?ll have to run. things as he would have to tell hurled itself at the structure in
his life. Eric stepped back again, There’s only one thing you have his uncle! which Eric had met the Strangers.
forcing himself not to look up. to worry about, only one thing His uncle. Where was his The walls, the floor, ever5dhing,
Another another bruis-
leap, you have to listen for. A hissing, uncle?Where was the band? shook mightily in sympathy to
ing collision with the door. It had whistling sound. When you hear Suddenly fully aware of how the impact of the great organism
definitely moved. An indentation it, hold your breath and run. much was wrong, Eric scrambled as it wriggled a bit and became
showed all around it. He waited, his muscles con- to his feetand walked cautiously still.
Was he about to be stepped tracted for instant action. back to the open doorway. The Eric was startled until he
on —to be squashed? Time went by. He remembered burrow was empty. They hadn’t realized that the creature had
Eric put his hands on the door. to count. If you counted up to waited for him. done no more than lie down in
He pushed. Slowly, suckingly, it five hundred, slowly, and nothing But that was another incredi- the structure. It was a piece of
leftthe place out of which it had happened, you were likely to be ble thing! A band never gave an Monster furniture, after all.
been carved long ago. all right. You could assume the initiate up for lost until at least How had that felt to Arthur
52 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 53
the Organizer and Walter the have been an attack by a superior one of stealing for bands, societies, were the sur-
the important
Weapon-Seeker and the others force. The band had stood its their tribe’s needs.
roundings of human creatures.
hidden in the base? Eric grinned. ground for a while, sustained And another thing. Unless his It was awful to be alone. It
Those Strangers must be a little some losses, and then been forced uncle’s band had been wiped out was unthinkable.
less haughty, a little more sober to retreat.
to the very last
man —
a thought
at this moment.
Meanwhile, he had work to do,
things to find out.
But there were a few
which didn’t make sense. First,
things Eric rejected as highly improb-
ghle it —
the survivors were honor-
was very unusual for a war party bound, by their oath of manhood,
W ITHOUT bothering to eat,
though he was quite hungry
after his Theft, he began walking
He got his fingers under the of Strangers to come this close to after doing whatever the immedi- rapidly down the corridor. After
slab of door and tugged it upright. Monster territory. The burrows ate military situation required, a while, he broke into a trot. He
It was heavy! He pushed against which were inhabited by Man- from pursuit to retreat, to return wanted to get home as soon as
it,slowly, carefully, first one side kind, the natural goal of a war as soon as possible to the spot possible —to be among his own
and then the other, walking it party, were much further back. where an initiate was expected kind again.
back to the hole in the wall. A At this point, you would not ex- back from his Theft. No warrior He reached into his back-sling
final push, and it slid into place pect to find any group larger than would dare face the women if he and got a sp>ear for each hand.
tightly, only the thin, curved line a foraging expedition —
a Stran- failed to do this. A nervous business going
suggesting its existence. ger band at most. Possibly the attack had just through the corridors all by your-
Now he could look aroimd. His uncle’s men, fully armed, come. Possibly his uncle’s band They were so empty and so
There had been a fight here — operating under battle alert, was a short distance away, still
self.

quiet. They hadn’t seemed this

that much was certain.
bitter battle. Examining the area
closely, Eric saw unmistakable
signs of conflict.
A
broken spear shaft. Some
blood on the wall. Part of a tom
knapsack. No bodies, of course.
You were not likely to find bodies
after a battle. Any people of the
burrows knew that the one un-
avoidable imperative of victory
was to drag the bodies away and
dispose of them. No one might
ever leave dead enemies to rot
where they would foul the corri-
dors.
CO had been a battle. He
there
^ had been right —
his uncle
and his uncle’s band had not just
gone off and left him. There must
A brief, could easily cope with a single fighting their way from burrow’s
band of weavers, weaponsmiths end to burrow’s end; and, once
or traders from the decadent they had gotten clear of the
back burrows. They would have enemy, would make their way
driven them off, possibly taking back to him.
a few prisoners, and continued to No. In that case, he should be
wait for him.
able to hear the battle still going
That left only two possibilities. on. And the burrows were dread-
The unlikely war party —
a two fully still.
or three-band attack —
and, even Eric shivered. A warrior was
more unlikely, a band from an- meant to be abroad without
not
other fierce, front-burrow people. companions. He’d heard of tribe-
But front-burrowers rarely went less Strangers — once, as a child,
prowling at random near Monster he remembered enjoying the in-
territory. They would have their tricate execution of a man who’d
own door cut into it and would
been expelled from his own peo-
tend to feel hugely uncertain ple for some major crime and who
about one belonging to another had wandered pathetically into
people. They too would' head for the neighborhood of Mankind — the same enemy which had at-
the inhabited burrows if they but these people were hardly to
were on any business other than be considered human: tribes,
quiet when he’d been on expedi-
tion with the band. And so fear-
fully, frighteningly dim. Eric had
never before realized how much
difference there was between the
light you got from one forehead
glow-lamp and the usual band
complement of a half-dozen. He
found himself getting more and
more wary of the unexpected
shadows where the wall curved
sharply: he picked up speed as
he ran past the black hole of a
branching burrow.
At any one of those places, an
enemy could be waiting for him,
warned by the sound of his ap-
proaching footsteps. It could be
atacked his uncle’s band, a hand-
ful of cruel and murderous

54 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 55

Strangers, or a horde of them. It ship of Mankind and he would be stopped to put the door neatly Eric the Eye is coming back to
could be something worse. Ab-
'
Eric the Eye. Mankind!”
back in its socket? No.
ruptly he remembered legends of And there it was again: who Could it be explained by a Oddly, there was no returning
unmentiohable creatures who had been right, the Record Ma- sudden onslaught and the com- call of recognition. Eric didn’t
lurked in the empty burrows, chine or his uncle? The vision plete extermination of his uncle’s understand that. Had Mankind
creatures who fled before the ap- that named him had come from band? Then, before dragging the itself been attacked and driven
proach of a band of warriors, but the Record Machine, but his bodies away, the enemy would away from its burrow? A sentry
who would come noiselessly upon uncle claimed that this was reli. bave had time to put the door should respond to a familiar
a single man. Big creatures who gious claptrap. The vision had back. A doorway into Monster name. Something was very, in-
engulfed you. Tiny creatures been selected and his name pro- territory was a valuable human explicably wrong.
who came in their hundreds and posed to the women well in ad- resource, after all, valuable to Then he came around the last
nibbled you to pieces. Eric kept vance of the ceremony. And his Mankind and Strangers alike — curve and saw the sentry at the
jerking his head around to look uncle was an Alien-sciencer, in why jeopardize it by leaving it other end. Rather, he saw what
behind him at least he could
: touch with Strangers who were visible and op>en? at first looked like three sentries.
keep his doom from taking him also Alien-sciencers. . . But who
. or what could — — They were staring at him, and
by surprise. So many things had happened have been capable of such a sud- he recognized them. Stephen the
It was awful to be alone. in the last two days, Eric felt den onslaught, such a complete Strong-Armed and two members
And yet, in the midst of his So much of his world had shifted. extermination of the best-led of Stephen’s band. Evidently he
fears, hismind returned again and It was as if the walls of the bur- band in all Mankind? He’d have had arrived just at the moment
again to the problem of his uncle’s rows had moved outward and up- to get the answer from one of the when the sentry on duty was
disappearance. Eric could not ward until they resembled Mon- other band captains or possibly a about to be relieved. That would
believe anything serious had hap- ster territory more than human wise old crone in the Female account for Stephen and the
pened to him. Thomas the Trap- areas. Society. other man. But why hadn’t they
Smasher was a veteran of too Definitely within the bounda- replied to his shouts of identifi-
many bloody adventures, too "IJE WAS getting close now. riesof Mankind now, Eric forced cation?
many battles against unequal These corridors looked himself to slow to a Walk. He They stood there silently as he
odds. Then where had he gone? friendlier, more familiar. He would be coming upon a sentry came up, their spears still at the
And where had he taken the made himself run faster, although at any moment, and he had no ready, not going down in wel-
band? he was almost at the point of ex- desire at all to have a spear flung come. “Eric the Eye,” he repeated,
And why was there no sound haustion. He wanted to be home, through him. A sentry would re- puzzled. “I’ve made my Theft,
of him anywhere, no sign in all to be officially Eric the Eye, to act violently to a man dashing out but something happened to the
this infinity of gloomy, stretch- inform Mankind of what had of the darkness. rest — ”

ing,menace-filled tunnels? happened so that a rescue and “Eric the Only,” he called out, His voice trailed off, as Stephen

Fortunately, he was an Eye. He searching party could be sent out identifying with each
himself came up to him, his face grim,
knew the way back and sped for his uncle. step. “This the Only.”
is Eric his powerful muscles taut. The
desperately along it without the That doorway to Monster ter- Then he remembered his Theft band captain shoved a spear
slightest feeling of doubt. The ritory: who had replaced it? If proudly and changed the identi- point hard against Eric’s chest.
Record Machine was right: he a battle had been fought, and his fication. “Eric the Eye. This is “Don’t move,” he warned. “Bar-
would never be lost. Let him just uncle’s band had retreated, still Eric the Eye, the Espier, the ney. John. Tie him up. We’ve
get safely back to the companion- fighting, would the attacker have further-seeing, less-paying Eye.' caught the little rat!”

56 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 57

 VII
T¥IS spears taken from him, his
arms bound securely behind
his back by the thongs of his own
to be barely this side of death.
As he was jerked past, he ree
ognized them. They were the two’
wives of Thomas the Trap-Smash.|
er.
'

knapsack, Eric was pushed and Just wait until his uncle ^o!
prodded into the great central back! Someone would really pay
burrow of Mankind. for this, he thought, more in ah
The place was almost unrecog- solute amazement than horror. He
nizable. had the feeling that he must keep
Under the direction of Ottilie, the horror away at all costs. Once
the Chieftain’s First Wife, a let it in and it would soak through
horde of women — what seemed his thoughts right into the mem-
at first member-
like the entire ory he was trying to avoid.
ship of the Female Society — The place was full of armed
was setting up a platform in front men, running back and forth from
of the Royal Mound. With the their band captains to unknown
great scarcity of any building destinations in the outlying cor-
materials that Mankind suffered ridors. Between them and around
from, a construction of this sort them scuttled the children, fetch
was startling and unusual, yet ing and carrying raw materials
there was something about it that for the hard-working women,
awoke highly unpleasant memo- There was a steady buzz of com-j
ries in Eric’s mind. But he was mands in the air “Go to *. —
pulled from place to place too “Bring some more ”
.

“Hurryl
. .

—
fast and there were too many with the — ” .that mingled'
. .

other unprecedented things go- with the smell of many people

ing on for him to be able to whose pores were sweating ur-i
identify the memory properly. gency. And it wasn’t just sweat
Two women who were accred- that he smelled. Eric realized as|
ited members of the Female So- he was dragged before the Royall
ciety were not working under Mound. It was anger. The anger
Ottilie’s direction, he noticed. and fear of all Mankind.
Bound hand and foot, they were Franklin the Father of Many
lying against the far wall of the Thieves stood on the mound,
great central burrow. They were carrying unaccustomed spears in
both covered with blood and his fat hands, talking rapidly to
showed every sign of having un- a group of warriors, band captains
dergone prolonged and most and — yes, actually! — Strangers.
vicious torture. He judged them Even now, Eric found he could

58 GALAXY
still be astonished at this fantastic
development.
Strangers in the very midst of
Mankind! Walking around freely
and bearing arms!
As the chief caught sight of
Eric, his face broke into a loose-
skinned smile. He nudged a
Stranger beside him and pointed
at the prisoner.
“That’s him,” he said. “That’s
the nephew. The one that asked
for the third category Theft. Now
we’ve got them all.”
The Stranger didn’t smile. He
looked briefly at Eric and turned
away. “I’m glad you think so.
From our point of view, you’ve
just got one more.”
I^RANKLIN’S smile faded to
an uncertain grin. “Well, you
know what I mean. And the
damned fool came back by him-
saved us a lot of trouble,
self. It
I mean, didn’t it?” Receiving no
answer, he shrugged. He gestured
with flabby imperiousness at
Eric’s guards. “You know where
to put him. We’ll be ready for
them pretty soon.”
Again the p>oint of a spear
stabbed into Eric’s back, and he
was forced forward across the
central space to a small burrow
entrance. Before he could reach
it, however, he heard Franklin
the Father of Many Thieves call
out to Mankind: “There goes
Eric, my people. Eric the Only.
60
Now we’ve got the last of the
filthy gang!”
For a moment, the activity
stopf)ed and seemed to focus on
him. Eric
shivered as a low,
drawn-out grunt of viciousness
and hatred arose everywhere, but
most of all from the women.
Someone ran up to him. Harriet
the History-Teller. The girl’s face
was absolutely contorted. She
reached up to the crown of her
head and pulled out the long pin
held in place by a few knotted
scarlet hairs. About her face and
neck the hair danced like flames.
“You Alien - sciencer!” she
shrieked, driving the pin straight
at his eyes. “You filthy, filthy
Alien-sciencer!”
Eric whipped his head to one
side; she was back at him in a
moment. His guards leaped at
the girl and grappled with her,
but she was able to get in one
ripping slash that opened up al-
most all of his right cheek before
they drove her away.
“Leave something for the rest
of us,” one of his guards pleaded
the cause of reason as he strolled
back to Eric. “After all, he be-
longs to the whole of Mankind.”
“He does not!” she yelled. “He
belongs to me most of all. I was
going to mate with him when he
returned from his Theft, wasn’t I,
Mother?”
“There wasn’t Anything offi-
Eric heard Rita the Record-
cial,”
GALAXY
JCeeper admonishing as he tried
the flow of blood by
to stanch
bringing his shoulder up and
pressing it against the wound.
“There couldn’t be anything offi-
cial about it until
he’d achieved
manhood. So you’ll just have to
wait your turn, Harriet, darling.
You’ll have to wait until your
elders finished with him.
are
There’ll be plenty left for you.”
“There won’t be,” the girl
pouted. “I know what you’re
There won’t be hardly anything
left.”
Eric was shoved at the small
burrow entrance again. The mo-
ment he was inside it, one of his
guards planted a foot in his back,
knocking the breath out of him.
The kick propelled him forward,
staggering wildly for balance, un-
til he smashed into the opposite
wall. As he unable to use his
fell,
arms to cushion himself, he heard
laughter behind him in the great
central burrow. He rolled on his
side dizzily. There was a fresh
flow of blood coming down from
his cheek.
This wasn’t the homecoming
he’d imagined after his Theft
not in the slightest! What was
ing on?
He knew where he was. A tiny,
blind-alley burrow off Mankind’s
major meeting-place, a sort of lit-
tle vault used mostly for storage.
Excess food and goods stolen
from Monster territory were kept
THE MEN IN THE WALLS
here until there was enough ac-
cumulated for a trading expedi-
tion to the back burrows. Occa-
sionally, also, a male Stranger,
taken prisoner in battle, might be
held in this place until Mankind
found out if his tribe valued him
enough to pay anything substan-
tial for his recovery.
And if they didn’t . . .
^RIC remembered the unusual
like. structure that the women
had been building near the Royal
Mound —
and shivered. The
memory that he’d suppressed had
now come alive in his mind. And
itfitted with the way Harriet had
acted — and with what her
mother, Rita the Record-Keeper,
had said.
They couldn’t be planning that
for himf He was a member of
Mankind, almost a full warrior.
They didn’t even do that to
Strangers captured in battle —
not normal Strangers. A warrior
was always respected as a warrior.
At the worst, he deserved a de-
cent execution, quietly done. Ex-
cept for —
Except for —
— “TVo!” he screamed. “No\”
go- The single guard who’d been
left on duty at the entrance
turned around and regarded him
humorously.
“Oh, yes,” he said. “Oh, defi-
nitely yes! We’re going to have a
lot of fun with both of you, as
soon as the women say they’re
61
ready.” He nodded with ominous, '^''HE wounded man opened his Ancestor-science is threatened? I from theirknowledge of ancestor-
emphatic slowness and turned eyes and shuddered. He should have remembered.” science. Take that away from
back to miss none of the prepara- looked around stupidly as if he ‘What?” Eric begged. “What them, and they’d be ordinary
tions. had expected to find the walls should you have remembered?” women with no more magical
Both of you? For the first time, talking to him. And his powerful “That’s the way they put down abilities than was necessary to

Eric looked around the little stor- arms struggled with the knots that Alien-science in the other rising, tell edible food from Monster

age burrow. The place was almost held them firmly behind his back. long ago. A
chiefs a chief. He’s poison.
empty of goods, but off to one When he finally located Eric, he got more in common with another Grunting with pain, Thomas
side, in the light of his forehead smiled. chief — even a chief of Strangers the Trap-Smasher wormed his
glow-lamp (how proud he had It was a bad thing to do. Some- than with his own people. You way up to a sitting position
been when it had been bestowed one had also smashed in most of attack Ancestor - science, and against the wall. He kept shaking
on him at the doorway to Mon- his front teeth. you’re attacking their power as his head as if to jar recollection
ster territory!) he now saw an- “Hello, Eric,” he mumbled. chiefs. They’ll work together then. loose.
other man lying bound against “What a fight, eh? How did the They’ll give each other men, “They came up to us,” he said
the wall. rest of the band do? Anybody weapons, information. They’ll do heavily, “Stephen the Strong-
get
His uncle. away?” eversdhing they can against the Armed and his band came up to
Eric brought knees up and
his know. That’s what I’m
“I don’t common enemy. Against the only us just after you’d gone into Mon-
wriggled rapidly over to him. It asking you! I came back from my people who really want to hit ster territory. A band from Man-
was a painful business. His belly Theft —
you were gone the — back at the Monsters. I should kind with a message from the
—
and sides were not calloused and band was gone. I got here, and have remembered! Damn it all,” chief who suspected anything?
inured to the rough burrow floor everyone’s crazy! There are Stran- the Trap - Smasher groaned They might be coming to tell us
like his feet. But what did a few gers out there, walking around through his ruined mouth, “I saw that the home burrows were un-
scratches more or less matter any with weapons in our burrows. that the chief and Ottilie were der attack by Strangers. Stran-
more? Who are they?” suspicious. I should have realized gers!” He gave a barking laugh,
The Trap-Smasher was barely Thomas the Trap-Smasher’s how they were going to handle it. and some blood splashed out of
conscious. He had been severely eyes had slowly darkened. They They were going to call in Stran- his mouth. “They had Strangers
handled, and he looked almost as were fully in focus now, and long gers, exchange information and — with them, hidden all the way
bad as his wives. There was a threads of agony swam in them. unite against us!” behind in the corridors. Mobs
thick crust of dried blood on his “Strangers?” he asked in a low Eric stared at his uncle, dimly and mobs of Strangers.”
hair. The haft of a spear, Eric voice. “Yes, there were Strangers understanding. Just as there was
guessed, had all but cracked his fighting in Stephen the Strong- a secret organization of Alien- I^RIC began to visualize what
head open. And in several places Armed’s band. Fighting against sciencers that cut across tribal had happened.
on his body, his right shoulder, us. That chief of ours Franklin— boimdaries, so there was a tacit, “Then, when they were among
just above his left hip, deep in his — he got in touch with Strangers rarely-used understanding among us, when most of us had reslung
thigh, were the oozing craters of after we left. They compared the chiefs, based on the Ancestor- our spears, they hit us. Eric, they
serious spear wounds, raw and notes. They must have been work- science religion that was the main hit us real godd. They had us
unbandaged. ing together, been in touch with prop of their power. And the pow- so much by surprise that they
“Uncle Thomas,” Eric urged. each other, for a long time. Man- er of the leaders of the Female didn’t even need outside help. I
“What happened? Who did this kind, Strangers, what difference Society, come to think of it. All don’t think there was much left
to you?” does it make when their lousy special privileges were derived of us by the time the Strangers

62 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 63

came running up. I was do^n, hood, they’d given him all the body turn completely cold even would make the prisoner’s posi-
fighting with my bare hands, and mother love he ever remembered. before the Trap-Smasher spoke. tion clear. There would be a story
so was the rest of the band. The They’d cuffed him and caressed “You still won’t let yourself of some unforgivable sacrilege,
Strangers did the mopping up. I him and wiped his nose. They’d think about it? I don’t blame you, some particularly monstrous
didn’t see most of it. Somebody told him stories and taught him Eric. But it’s there. It’s being pre- crime that could be punished by
handed me one hell of a wallop the catechism of the ancestral pared for us outside.” nothing but complete anathema
— I never expected to wake up science. Neither had sons of his “What?” Eric demanded, al- and the revocation of all privi-
alive.” His voice got even lower age who had survived the various though a distant part of him had leges as a human being. The man
and huskier. “I’d have been lucky plagues and the Monster-inflicted already worked out the terrible had escaped the punishment be-
not to.” calamities that periodically swept answer and knew what it was. ing prepared for him. Do with
The Trap - Smasher’s chest through Mankind’s burrows. He’d ‘We’ve been declared outlaws, him as you people would
will, his

heaved: a strange, long noise been lucky. He’d received much Eric. They say we’re guilty of say. He no longer one of us;
is

came out of it. “They brought me of the care and affection that the ultimate sacrilege against he is the same as a Monster; he
back here. My wives —
they were their own sons might have en- Ancestor-Science. We don’t be- is something non-human so far

working on my wives. Those joyed. long to Mankind anymore ^you, — as we are concerned.
bitches from the Female Society Their fidelity to the Trap- me, family, my band. We’re
my Then a sort of holiday would
— Rita
Ottilie, —
this part of it Smasher had been a constant outside Mankind, outside the law, be declared. Out of thebits and

is their business —
they had my source of astonishment in Man- outside religion. And you know pieces of lumber stolen from
wives pegged out and they kind. It had cost them more than what happens to outlaws, Eric, Monster territory and set aside
worked on them in front of me. I the large, healthy litters for which don’t you? Anything goes. Any- by the women for this purpose,
was blanking out and coming to, the chief had a well proven ca- thing.” the members of the Female So-
blanking out and coming to; I was pacity: such eccentric, almost ciety would erect a structure
conscious while they — non-womanly behavior had in- VIII whose specifications had been
He dropped to a bloody mum- evitably denied them the high handed down from mother to
ver since early childhood, daughter for countless genera-
ble again, his head falling forward
loosely. His voice became clear
positions in the Female Society
they would otherwise have en-
E Eric remembered looking for- tions — all the way back to the

for a moment, but not entirely
rational.“They were good wom-
en,”he muttered. “Both of them.
Good, good girls. And they loved
me. They had their chance to be-
come more important. A dozen
times Franklin must have offered
to impregnate them, and they
turned him down every time.
They really loved me.”
Eric almost sobbed himself.
He’d had little to do with them
once he’d reached the age of the
warrior initiate, but in his child-
joyed.
And now they were dead or dy-
ing,and their surviving babies
had been apportioned to other
women whose importance would
thereby be substantially
creased.
“Tell me,” he asked his uncle.
“Why did the Female Society
killthem? What did they do that
was so awful?”
He saw that Thomas had lifted
his head again and was staring at
him. With pity. He felt his own
ward to ceremonies of this sort. ancestors who had built the
A Stranger would have been Record-Machines. It was called
caught by one of the warrior a Stage or a Theater, although
bands, and it would be deter- Eric had also heard it referred to
mined that he was an outlaw. as The Scaffold. In any case,
in- Nine times out of ten, such a man whatever its true name, most of
was easy enough to identify. No the details concerning it were
one but an outlaw, for example, part of the secret lore of the Fe-
would be wandering the burrows male Society and, as such, were
by himself, without a band or at no proper concern of males.
least a single companion to guard One thing about it, however,
his back. The tenth time, when everyone knew. On it would be
there was the slightest doubt, a enacted a moving religious dra-
request for ransom to his people ma: the ultimate triumph of hu-

64 GALAXY ^
THE MEN IN THE WALLS 65
manity over the wickedness of from the chief himself to the ing-
Men and women chased each symbol of all that was alien. One
the Monsters. youngest child capable of reciting other into the dimmer side corri- worried about their feelings no
For this, the central character dors;children whooped and yelled more than about those of the
the catechism of ancestral sci-
had to fulfill two requirements. ence, all climbed in their turn around the great central burrow; roaches scurrying madly about
He had to be an intelligent crea- upon the Stage —
or Theater — the few old folks went to sleep here in the storage burrow. One
ture, as the Monsters were, so or Scaffold — that the women ^th broad, reminiscent smiles
faces. Everyone felt
squashed them slowly or rapidly
— at one’s pleasure. What differ-
that he could be made to suffer had erected. All were thrilled to upon their
assome day Mankind meant the vent a portion of Mankind’s they had somehow struck back ence did it make? You didn’t
Monsters to suffer; and he had to vengeance upon the creature who at the Monsters.
Everyone felt a sympathize with roaches. You
be non-human, as the Monsters little like the lords of creation didn’t identify with them.
had been declared alien, as an
were, so that every drop of fear, earnest of what they would some their ancestors had been. But now that he was about to
resentment and hatred distilled Eric remembered the things he be squashed himself, he realized
Mon-
by the enormous swaggering
day do collectively to the
who had himself had done — the things that it did make a difference. He
aliens could be poured out upon
sters stolen their world.
Sarah the Sickness-Healer had he had seen others do —
on these was human. No matter what
his flesh without any inhibition of her turn early in the proceedings; occasions. A tremendous tic of Mankind and its leaders now de-
compunction or fellow-feeling. fear rippled through his body. He clared him to be, he was human.
thenceforth, she stood on the
For this purpose, outlaws were structure and carefully supervised had to draw his shoulders up to He felt human fears; he experi-
absolutely ideal, since all agreed the ceremony. It was her job to his neck in a tight hunch and enced a desperate human desire
that such disgusting creatures had see nobody went too far,
that tense the muscles of his arms and to live.
resigned their membership in the that everyone had a fair and ade- legs. Finally his nerves subsided. Then so had the others been.
human race. quate turn, and that even at the He could think again. Only he The outlaws whom he’d helped
end there was some life left in didn’t want to think. tear to pieces. Human. Com-
VjiTTiEN an outlaw was caught, the victim. Because then, at the
Those others, those outlaws in pletely human.
previous ceremonies of this sort They’d sat here, just as he did
work stopped in the bur-
rows, and Mankind’s warrior
end, the structure had to be com-
pletely burned— along with its
in auld lang synes long past
— now, they’d sat and waited for
bloody occupant — was it possible that they had ex- the festival and its agonies . .
bands were called home. It was a symbol
as
.

a great time, a joyous time, a
time of festival. Even the chil-
—
dren doing whatever they could
to prepare for the glorious event,
running errands for the laboring
women, fetching refreshment for
the stalwart, guarding men
even the children boasted to each
other of how they would express
their hatred upon this trapped
representative of the non-human,
this bound and shrieking pro-
tagonist of the utterly alien.
Everyone had
their chance. All,
perienced the same sick, be- Only twice in his memory had
of how the Monsters must even-
wildered dread while waiting for members of Mankind ever been
tually be turned into ash and be
blown away and vanish. the structure to be completed?
Had they trembled like this, had
declared outlaw. Both cases had
occurred a long time ago, before
“And Mankind will come into
they also wetness running
felt he’d even been a warrior-initiate.
its own,” she would chant, while
down their backs, had they felt Eric tried now to remember what
the charred fragments were
— kicked out of the burrow con- the same pleading squirm in their
intestines, the same anticipatory
they had been like as living peo-
ple. He wanted to reach out and
temptuously. “And the Monsters
twinges of soft, vulnerable flesh? feel companionship, some sort of
will be gone. They will be gone
companionship, even that of the
forever, and there will be nothing
upon all the wide Earth but Man- T^HE thought had never crossed dead. The dead were better than
his mind before. He’d seen this beaten, bloody man next to
kind.”
Afterwards, there was feasting, them as things completely out- him who had subsided into half-
side humanity, the compressed insane mumbles, his battered
there was dancing, there was sing-

66 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 67

head on his torn and wound-
scribbled chest.
What had they been like?
was no use. In the first case,
ory brought back only a picture
of a screaming hulk just before
the fire was lit. No recollection
of a man. No fellow-human in
Mankind. And in the second
case —
Eric sat bolt upright, straining
against his bonds. The second
man to be declared an outlaw had
escaped How he had done it Eric
!
had never found out: he remem-
bered only that a guard was se-
verely punished, and that bands
of warriors had sniffed for him
along far-distant corridors for a
long time afterward.
Escape. That was it. He had to
escape. Once declared an outlaw,
he could have no hope of mercy,
no remission of sentence. The re-
ligious overtones of the ceremony
being prepared were too highly
charged to be halted for anything
short of the disappearance of its
chief protagonist.
Yes, escape. But how? Even if
he could get free of the knots
which so expertly and so strongly
tied his hands behind his back,
he had no weapon to hand. The
guard at the entrance would
transfix him with a spear in a
moment. And if he failed, there
were others outside, almost the
entire warrior strength of the
people.
How? How? He forced himselj viously too far gone to be at
more Strangers, going the same all
to be calm, to go over every pos-
They were leaving, Eric useful.
It sible alternative in his mind. He
guessed, before the ceremony be- He was talking to himself in a
mem- knew there was not much time. steady, monotonous, argumenta-
gan. They probably had cere-
In a little while,- the structure
monies of their own to attend — tive mutter, his upper body
would be finished and the leaders
own people. slumping further and further
^th their
of the Female Society would across his own lap. Every once in
Walter the Weapon-Seeker,
come for him.
Arthur the Organizer were they — a while, the mutters would be
moment broken by a sharp, almost sur-
I^RIC began working on the
at this
storage
sitting in similar
burrows awaiting the prised moan as his wounds woke
knots behind him. He worked into a clearer consciousness of
same slow death? Eric doubted it.
without much hope. If he could themselves.
Somehow he couldn’t see these
get his hands loose, perhaps he Most other men in his condi-
men caught as easily as he and
might squirm his way carefully to tion, Eric judged, would have
his uncle had been. Arthur was
the entrance, leap up suddenly been dead by now. Only a body
too clever, he was certain of that,
and break into a run. So what if powerful the Trap-
and Walter, well, Walter would as as
they threw a spear through him Smasher’s could have lasted this
come up with some fantastic wea-
— wouldn’t that be better and
pon that no one had ever seen or long. And — who knew? — if
quicker than the other thing? they could escape, it was possible
heard of . . .
But they wouldn’t, he realized. Like the one he had in his that his uncle’s wounds, given
Not unless he were very lucky knapsack right now that red — care and rest, might heal.
and some warrior forgot to think
blob the Weapon-Seeker had If they could escape.
straight. In cases like this, when
given him!
it was a matter of keeping, not
Was it a weapon? He didn’t TNCLE THOMAS,” he said,
killing a prisoner, you aimed
the legs. There were at least
for
a
know. But even if it wasn’t, he ^ leaning toward him and
had the impression it could create whispering urgently. “I think I
dozen men Mankind with skill
in
some kind of surprise. “It should know a way out. I think I’ve fig-
great enough to bring him down make them sit up and take no- ured out a way to escape.”
even at twenty or twenty-five No response. The bloody head
tice,” Walter had said back in
paces. And another dozen who Monster territory. continued to talk in a low, tone-
might be able to catch him. He Any kind of surprise, any kind less voice to the lap. Mutter, mut-
was no Roy the Runner, after all. ter, mutter. Moan. Mutter, mut-
of upset and he might have a
Roy! He was dead and sew- diversion under cover of which he ter.
ered by now. He found himself “Your wives,” Eric said des-
and his uncle could escape.
regretting the fight he’d had with “Your wives. Don’t you
But that was the trouble. His perately.
Roy. your
uncle. With his hands bound as want to get revenge for
A Stranger passed by the stor- thoroughly as he could now as- wives?
age burrow entrance, glancing in That seemed be worth a
certain they were, he needed his to
with only a slight curiosity. He flicker. “My wives,” said the thick
uncle’s help to do anything at all.
was followed in a moment by two And the Trap-Smasher was ob- voice. “They were good women.
THE MEN IN THE WALLS 69

Real good women. They never something sharp. He looked
let
were
Franklin near them. They
real good women.” Then the
around feverishly. No, nothing. A
few tumbled bags of food over
flicker was over and the mutters which lazy roaches wandered.
returned. Nothing he could use to help him
“Escape!” Eric whispered.
get free.
“Don’t you want to escape?” His uncle was his only hope.
A coagulating line of
thin, Somehow he had to rouse the
blood dripped out of his uncle’s man, get through to him. He
slowly working jaws. There was squirmed up close, his mouth
no other answer. against the Trap-Smasher’s bat-
Eric looked towards the en- tered ear.
trance of the storage burrow. The “This is Eric, Eric the Only.
guard posted there was no longer Do you remember me. Uncle? I
turning from time to time to went on the Theft, Uncle Thom-
glance at the prisoners. The as, I went on the Theft with you.
structure outside was evidently Third category. Remember, I
nearing completion, and his in- asked for a third category
terest in the final preparations just like you told
had caused him to take a step or my Theft, I was
two away from the entrance. He made did just what you told
it. I it
was staring off to the left down me to do. I’m Eric the Eye now,
the great central burrow in abso- right? Tell me, am
lute fascination. Eye?”
Well, that was something. It Mutters, mumbles and moans.
gave them a chance. On the other The man seemed beyond
hand, it also meant that they had
bility.
scant moments left to their lives. “What Franklin? He
about
Any time now, the leaders of the can’t do this to us, can he. Uncle
Female Society would be coming Thomas? Don’t you want to es-
to drag them to the torture cere- cape? Don’t you want revenge on
mony. Franklin, on Ottilie, for what they
With his eyes oh the guard, did to your wives? Don’t you?
Eric leaned against the rough Don't you?”
burrow wall and began scraping He had to cut
the imprisoning knapsack thongs uncle’s confused mist of gathering
against the sharpest edges he delirium.
could find. It wouldn’t be fast In complete desperation, he
enough, he realized. If there were lowered his head and sank his
only a spear point in this place, teeth into a wounded shoulder.
70
”
othing, just the steady shouldn’t I ask about those other
N flow of argumentative gib- tribes?”
“Your grandmother was from
berish. And the thin blood drip-
another tribe, a real strange tribe
ping from the mouth.
in a faroff burrow. I remember
“I saw Arthur the Organizer.
hearing about it when I was a lit-
He said he’d known you for a
When did you meet tle boy.” Thomas the Trap-
long time.
him, Uncle Thomas? When did Smasher nodded to himself.
you first meet Arthur the Organ- “Your grandfather’s band went
on a long journey, the longest
izer?”
The head drooped lower, the they’d ever taken. And they
shouldersslumped further for- caught your grandmother and
brought her back.”
ward.
“Tell me about Alien-science. “My grandmother?” For the
moment, Eric forgot what was be-
What is Alien-science?” Eric was
almost gibbering himself now in ing prepared for him outside.
his frantic efforts to find a key He’d known there was some pecu-
theft, liar secret about his grandmother.
that would unlock his uncle’s
me to? I did mind. “Are Arthur the Organizer She had rarely been mentioned in
successful, I
and Walter the Weapon-Seeker Mankind. Up to now, he’d taken
for granted that this was be-
very important men among the
cause she’d had a son who was
Alien-sciencers? Are they the
I Eric the chiefs? What was the name of the terribly unlucky —
almost the
worst thing a person in the bur-
structure they were hiding in?
What is it to the Monsters? They rows could be. A one-child litter,
intelligi- after all, and being killed together
talked about other tribes, tribes I
with his wife in Monster territory.
never heard of. How many other
Very unlucky.
tribes are there? Are these other
tribes
—
46 ]%/fY grandmother was from
That was it. He had found the
key.He had gotten through. another tribe? Not from
Mankind?” He knew, of course,
Thomas the Trap -Smasher’s
that several of the women had
head came up waveringly, dim-
ness swirling in his eyes. “Other been captmed from other peoples
through his tribes. Funny that you should ask in neighboring burrows and had
about other tribes. That you the good fortune now to be con-
members of
should ask.” sidered full-fledged
“Why? What about them?” Mankind. Sometimes one of their
Eric fought to hold the key in own women would be lost this
place, to keep it turning. “Why way, when she strayed too far
GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 71
down an outlying burrow and Alien-sciencer,” he rambled on, them a band captain. I’ve given topic as if they were having a
of
stumbled into a band of Stranger mostly to himself. “Your grand- orders and taken them, given pleasant conversation after a fine,
warriors. If you stole a woman mother was the first Alien- them and taken them. I’ve never fullmeal.
from another people, after all, sciencer we ever had in Mankind. disobeyed an order. What I al- “Forget it! Get that stuff out.

you stole a substantial portion of
their knowledge. But he’d never
imagined — tribe of Alien-sciencers!”
“Dora the Dream-Singer.”
Thomas’s head waggled loosely:
he dribbled words mixed with red
saliva. “Did you know why your
grandmother was called the
Dream-Singer, Eric? The women
used to say that the things she
talked about happened only in
dreams, and that she couldn’t
talk straight like other people
I guess her tribe were all Alien-
sciencers. Imagine —
a whole
Eric groaned. This half-alive,
delirious man washis only hope
of escaping. This bloody wreck
who had once been the proudest,
most alert band captain of them
all.
He turned for another look at
the guard. The man was
staring down the length of the
— great central burrow. There was
ways say is how can you expect
to give orders if you don’t
— “It’s hard to describe,” the
“Now,” Eric told him, bringing
their backs together and hunch-
ing down so that his knapsack
would be just under his uncle’s
bound arms. “Reach in. Work
that mass of sticky stuff out. It’s
right on top. And hurry!”
Yes. Those were footsteps com-
still ingup outside. Several of them.
The leaders of the Female Soci-
ety,the chief, an escort of war-
Just get it out!”
other man’s voice wandered on.
“A long way off, their burrow is,
a long way off. You know the
Strangers call us front-burrow
people. You know that, don’t
you? The Strangers are back-
burrowers. Well, your grand-
mother’s people are the bottom-
most burrowers of all.”
Eric sensed his fingers closing
in the knapsack.

she could only sing about her
dreams. But she taught your
father a lot, and he was like her.
Women were a little afraid to
mate with him. My
sister was the
first to take a chance and
everyone said she deserved what
she got.”
Abruptly, Eric became con-
scious of a change in the sounds
outside the burrow. More quiet.
nothing to be heard now but a riors. And the guard, watching The three women who ruled the
terrifying silence, as if dozens of that deadly procession, was liable Female Society came into the
to remember his duties and turn
storage burrow. Ottilie the Omen-
pairs of eyes were glowing in an-
And footsteps
ticipation. were— back to the prisoners. Teller, Sarah the Sickness-Healer
and Rita the Record- Keeper.
not those footsteps? He had to “Hurry, he demanded. “I told
— find a way to make his uncle co- you to hurry, dammit! That’s an With them was the chief and two
band captains, heavily armed.
operate. order, too. Get it out fast. Fast!”
And, all this time, as the Trap-
66^^HOMAS the Trap-Smash- Smasher’s fumbling fingers wan- IX
er!” he said sharply, barely dered about in his knapsack, as
managing to keep his voice low. he listened with fright and im- i^TTILIE, the Chieftain’s First

Were they coming for him now? patience to the sounds of the ap- Wife, was in the lead. She
“Listen to me. This is an order!
“Uncle Thomas, listen! I have There’s something in my knap- proaching execution party — all stopped, just inside the entrance
an idea.Those Strangers — sack, a blob of sticky stuff. We’re this time, somewhere in his mind, to the burrow and the others
Walter, Arthur the Organizer — going to turn our backs to each there was wonderment at the came to a halt around her.
they gave me a Monster souvenir. other, and you’re going to reach orders he was rapping out to an “Look at them,” she jeered.
don’t know what but experienced band captain and the “They’re trying to free each
I it does, I in with your fingers and fish it
incredible authority he had man- other! And what do they plan to
can’t get at it. I’ll turn around. out. Do you hear me? That’s an
You try to reach down into my order — a warrior’s order!” aged to get into his voice. do if they get themselves untied?”
Franklin moved to her side and
knapsack with the tips of your His uncle nodded, completely “Now you’re wondering where
fingers and — docile. “I’ve been a warrior for your grandmother’s tribe have took a long, judicious look at the
The Trap-Smasher paid no at- over twenty auld lang synes,” he their burrow,” Thomas began two men squatting back to back.
suddenly, reverting to an earlier “They’ll try to escape,” he ex-
attention to him. “She was an mumbled, twisting around. “Six

72 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 73

plained, continuing his wife’s lashing saliva into it. And simul-
joke. “They’ll have their hands taneously he kicked at the bur-
free, they figure, and surely row floor with curved toes,
Thomas the Trap-Smasher and straightening his legs, jerking his
his nephew are a match, even thighs and body upward. Unable
bare-handed, for the best spear- to use his arms for balance, he
men in Mankind!’’ tottered erect and turned, sway-
And then Eric felt the search- ing, to face the leaders of
ing hands come up out of the people.
knapsack to which his own arms you spit on it, throw it
After
were tied. Something fell to the fast. As fast and as far as you can.
floor of the burrow. It made an “I don’t know what he’s doing,”
odd noise, halfway between a someone said, “but I don’t like it.
splash and a thud. He twisted Let me through.”
around for it immediately with Stephen the Strong-Armed
his mouth open, flexing his knees stepped ahead of the group and
in a tight crouch underneath his lifted a heavy spear, ready for
body. throwing.
“You’ve never seen anything Eric shut his eyes, bent his
like the burrows of your grand- head back on his neck and
far
mother’s people,” his uncle was took a deep, deep breath. Then
mumbling, as if what his hands he snapped his head forward, flip-
had just done was no concern of ping his tongue hard against the
the rest of him. “And neither have object in his mouth. He forced
I, though I’ve listened to the out his breath so abruptly that
tales.” the exhalation became a wild,
“He won’t last long now,” barking cough.
Sarah the Sickness-Healer com- The mass flew out of
soft little
mented. “We’ll have to have our his mouth, and he opened his
fun with the boy.” eyes to watch its course. For a
All you do, Walter the Weap- moment, he was unable to find it
on-Seeker had said, is tear off a an3Twhere; then he located it by
pinch with your fingers. Then spit the odd expression on Stephen’s
on it and throw it. Throw it as face and the fearful upward roll
fast and as far as you can. of his eyes.
He couldn’t use his fingers. But There was a little red splotch
he leaned down to the red blob in themiddle of the band cap-
and nipped off a piece with his tain’s forehead.
teeth. He brought his tongue What was supposed to happen,
against the strange soft substance. he wondered? He had followed
74 GALAXY
directions as well as he could
under the circumstances, but he
had no idea what the scarlet
stain, made loose and moist by
saliva, was supposed to ac-
his
complish. He watched it, hoping
and waiting.
his Then Stephen the Strong-
Armed brought his free hand up
slowly to wipe the stuff off.
stopped hoping. Nothing was
ing to happen.
Strangers, he had begun to
think despairingly, that’s what
comes of trusting Strangers — to his chest in an irregular
The
blast of sound was so
mendous that for a moment he
thought the roof of the burrow
had fallen in. He was slammed
backwards against the wall and
fell as if he’d been walloped with
a spear haft. He remembered
cough with which he’d expelled
the bit of red blob from his
mouth. Had there been a delayed
echo to his cough, a gigantic, ear-
splitting echo?
He lifted his head from the
floor finally, when the reverbera-
tions in the little storage burrow
had rumbled into a comparative
Someone was screaming.
silence.
Someone was screaming over and
over again.
It was Sarah. She was looking
at Stephen the Strong-Armed
from the rear. She had been
standing directly behind him.
Now she was staring at him and
THE MEN IN THE WALLS
screaming in sharp steady bursts.
Her mouth was open so wide
that it seemed she was about to
tear her jaws apart. And with each
scream she lifted her arm rigidly
and pointed to the back of Ste-
phen’s neck. She kept lifting her
arm and pointing as if she wanted
everyone present to know beyond
Eric the least doubt why and how she
go- came to be screaming.
Stephen the Strong-Armed had
no head. His body ended at the
neck, and flaps of skin fell down
wavy
pattern. A fountain of blood
tre- bubbled and spurted where his
head had been. His body still
stood upright, feet planted wide
apart in a good warrior’s stance,
one arm holding the spear ready
for action and the other con-
the gealed in its upward motion to
wipe the red blob away. It stood,
incredibly straight and tall and
alive.
Suddenly, it fell apart.
First the spear slid slowly for-
ward out of the right hand and
clattered to the floor. Then the
arms began to
fall loosely to the
sagging knees and the entire
great, brawny body slumped as
if its bones had left it. It dropped
aimlessly to the floor, an arm
poking out here, a leg twisting
out there, in a pattern as mean-
ingless as if an oddly shaped bag
of skin had been flung to one side
of the burrow.
75
 ”

It continued to twitch for a blob —the Stranger, Walter, had Corridors filled with glow lamps. the spear went all the way down.
moment or two, as the bubbling said it was a weapon, but it didn’t Corridors and corridors and cor- His uncle was on his feet, stagger-
fountain of blood turned into a operate like any weapon he had ridors
— ing, but at least on his feet.
sluggishly flowing river. At last ever in his life heard of. Except For a moment, Eric con- Dragging the spear awkwardly,
it lay still, a motionless heap of possibly in the times of the an- sidered. The man would be a Eric urged and butted him out of
limbs and torso. Of the missing cestors: the ancestors were sup. heavy liability in fast travel. But the place. The great central bur-
head there was no trace any- posed to have had things which he couldn’t desert him. This was row was empty of people. Weap-
where. could blow an object apart and his last surviving relative, the ons, p)ots and miscellaneous pos-
leave no trace. But this was an only person who didn’t consider sessions lay strewn about where
CARAH the Sickness - Healer alien artifact, a possession of the him an outlaw and a thing. And, they had been dropped. The fin-
^ stopped screaming and turned, Monsters which Walter the shattered as he was, also still his ished structure of the Stage stood
shaking, to her companions. Their Weapon - Seeker had somehow captain. deserted in front of the royal
protruding eyes left the body on found and appropriated. What “Get up!” he said again. “Tho- mound. And some time before,
the floor. was it? How had it exploded the mas the Trap-Smasher, get up! the bodies of his uncle’s wives
Then they all reacted at once. head of Stephen the Strong- That’s an order, a warrior’s order. had evidently been removed.
They yelled madly, wildly, Armed? Get up!” The chief and the other leaders
fearfully, asif they were a chorus That was to be worked out an- As he’d hoped, his uncle re- had bolted to the left once they
and she the conductor. Still bel- other time. Meanwhile, he had sponded to the old command. He had clawed their way out of the
lowing, they made for the narrow his chance. It might not last long: managed to get his legs under his storage burrow. They had ap-
entrance behind them. They got he had no idea when the panic body, and strained against them, parently run past the scaffold
through in a pushing, punching might subside and a patrol of war- but it was no use. He didn’t have structure and picked up the rest
scramble that at one point looked riors be sent back to investigate. the energy to rise. of Mankind in their panic.
like a composite monster with He stepped carefully across the Eric turned right.
dozens of arms, legs and swinging, red stream flowing from the fallen ^ASTING apprehensive looks His uncle was a problem. Tho-
naked breasts. They carried the man’s neck. Squatting down in over his shoulder at the en- mas the Trap-Smasher kept com-
guard outside with them, and front of the dropped spear, he trance to the storage burrow, Eric ing to a bewildered halt. Again
with them, too, they carried their managed to get a grip on it with ran to the struggling man. Work- and again he began the story of
uncontrollable panic, screaming his bound hands and rose, holding ing backwards, he managed to his long-ago journey to the bur-
it into existence all along the it awkwardly behind him. get one end of the spear under rows of the strange, distant tribe.
great central burrow. No time to cut his bonds. Not the crook of his uncle’s arm. Eric had to push against him to
For a little while, Eric could here. Then, using his own hip as a ful- keep him moving.
hear feet pounding into the dis- “Uncle Thomas,” he called. crum, he levered hard at the Once they were in the outlying
tant corridors. Then there was “We can get away. We have a other end. corridors, he felt better. But not
quiet. There was quiet every- chance now. Come on, get up!” It was painful, slippery work, until they had made many turns,
where, except for Thomas the The wounded band captain since he couldn’t bring all of his passed dozens of branches and
Trap - Smasher’s interminable stared up at him without compre- muscles into play and it was diffi- were well into completely unin-
mumbling. hension. “ —
corridors like you’ve cult to see what he was doing. In habited burrows, did he feel he
Eric forced himself upright never seen or imagined,” he con- between efforts, he gasped out or- could stop and saw himself free
again. He was
unable to imagine tinued in a low monotone. “Glow ders to “Get up, get up, get up, of his bonds on the point of the
what had happened. That red lamps that aren’t on foreheads. damn you!” At last the end of spear. He did the same for his

76 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 77

 of its last resources. His eyes than to hitch the man’s arm up
uncle. Then, throwing the Trap- than they could find among hu-
were glazed and his strong over his shoulder again and to
Smasher’s left arm across his own man beings?
shoulders hung slack. He was a keep going in the direction of
shoulders and clutching him Very well then.The doorway I

somnambulist walking jerkily in Monster territory.

tightly about the waist, he started
off again. It was slow going: his
uncle was a heavy man, but the
more distance they could put be-
tween themselves and Mankind,
the better.
But distance where? Where
should they go? He pondered the
problem as they tottered
gether down the silent, branching
corridors. One place was as good
as another. There was nowhere
that they would be welcome. Just
keep going.
He may have muttered his
questions aloud. To his surprise,
Thomas the Trap-Smasher sud-
to Monster territory. They would
the direction of death. Once erect, the Trap-Smash-
have to come around in a wide
When they stopped to rest, er’s feet began walking again, but
arc through many corridors to get
Eric — after listening intently with a dragging, soggy quality
to it, but Eric knew the way. He
was Eric the Eye, after all, he told i
for any sounds of pursuit had — that became more and more pro-
washed his uncle’s wounds care- nounced. After a while, Eric had
himself: it was his business al-
j
fully with water from the can- to come to a halt: he had the
ways to know the way. .
teens and had bound the uglier feeling that he was hauling dead
But was it? He had not en- |
gashes with strips torn from a weight.
to- joyed the formal initiation into
knapsack. It was all he knew When he tried to lower his
manhood that was the usual after-
math of a successful Theft With-
how to do: warrior’s first aid. A uncle to the floor of the burrow,
woman’s advanced therapeutic he found that the body had be-
out that, perhaps he was still Eric | knowledge was needed for any- come almost completely limp.
the Only, still a boy and an ini-
thing more complicated. Thomas lay on his back, his eyes
tiate. No, he knew what he was.
Not that it would have made staring without curiosity at the
He was Eric the Outlaw, nothing
much difference by this rounded upon which his
very ceiling
else.
j time. The Trap-Smasher was too forehead glow-lamp outlined a
He was an outlaw, without a
bright circular patch.
far gone.
;

denly said in an entirely coherent home and a people. And, except

Eric felt desperate at the The heartbeat was very, very
dying man he pulled
'

but very weak voice: “The door- for the

thought of being left alone for- faint.
way to Monster territory, Eric. along, everyone’s hand was hence-
ever in the dark, uninhabited “Eric,” he heard a weak voice
Make for the doorway to Mon- forth against him.
corridors. He
tried to force water say. He raised his eyes from his
ster territory where you went to
and food upon his uncle.
bits of uncle’s chest and looked at the
make your Theft.” X The man’s head rolled back, painfully working mouth.
“Why?” Eric asked. “What can nourishment dribbling carelessly “Yes, uncle?”
we do there?” ^HOMAS the Trap-Smasher
down from both sides of his “I’m sorry —
— what
about I
There was no answer. His un- had been badly injured in
mouth. He was breathing lightly — no
got you into. I had right.
cle’s head fell forward on his the surprise attack that had
and very rapidly. His body had Your life — — your
after all life.
chest. He was evidently sliding wiped out his band. Ordinarily,
grown quite warm by the time You — my wives — band. the I
into a stupor
somehow, as long as
again. And
Eric’s
yet,
en-
he would have had his wounds
carefully dressed by the clever-
they stopped. led— death — everyone. I’m
j Eric himself ate ravenously: it sorry.”
circling arm pulled at his body, ness and accumulated experience
was his first meal in a long, long Eric fought hard to hold back
the man’s legs kept moving for- of Sarah the Sickness-Healer. Un-
while. He kept staring at his re- his tears. “It was for a reason.
ward. There was some residual der the circumstances, however,
cumbent uncle and trying to Uncle Thomas,” he said. “We had
stamina and a warrior’s deter- Sarah had done the reverse.
work out a line of action that a cause. It wasn’t just you. The
mination in him yet. Now, the strain of escape and would do some good. In the end, cause failed.”
Monster territory. Was there the forced headlong flight that
he had thought of nothing better There was a hideous cackle
j

more safety for them there now followed it had emptied his body

GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 79

78
 Eric located the fresh-water burrows. And that included, of
from the prone man. For a mo- pended in thoughts which were
pipe without much difficulty. course, the bodies of the dead.
ment, Eric thought it was a death agonizing.
There was a constant low rumb- Eric stripped his uncle’s body
rattle. Then he realized that it The energies which it de-
ling and gurgling underfoot, and of all useful gear as he had seen
had been a laugh, but such a manded were almost more than where it was most women do many Then
at the spot the times.
laugh as he had never heard be-
fore.
he was capable of at this point.
His uncle had been a heavy, well
pronounced —he found the slab he dragged it to the hole in the
in the floor cut at the cost of burrow floor and held it by one
“A cause?” the Trap-Smasher built man. Eric found that he
moment
infinite labor by some past gen- arm for a as the current
gasped. “A cause? Do you know had to stop at the end of almost sewage caught it. He re-
— do you —
know what— the every curving corridor and get
eration ofMankind. Near it, after
was lifted, was another,
of the
peated as much of the ceremony
cause was? I wanted— wanted his breath back.
the slab

The only —
much thicker pipe, large enough as he could remember, conclud-
to be chief. Chief. He finally arrived at the door-
to carry two men abreast. Like
only way could — do
I — it. way, grateful for the fact that
ing with the words: “And there-
fore, O ancestors, I beg you to
— the Strangers —
Alien-science his uncle had died so relatively
the other one, the hard stuff of
body member
Everyone — the
the burrow floor had been scraped receive the of this
a cause. killings close to it. He also felt he under-
Mankind, Thomas the Trap-
— wanted — be
I to to chief. stood why this had been sug-
away so that a joint lay exposed.
Opening the joint was another
of
Smasher, a warrior of the first
Chiei!” gested as their destination. Thom- rank, a band captain of renown
matter. Eric had seen it done
He went rigid as he coughed as the Trap-Smasher had known
many times by his elders, but this and the father of nine.”
out the last word. Then slowly, he had little time left. His nephew
was his own first attempt. It was There was usually another
like flesh turning into liquid, he
relaxed.
would have the responsibility of
sewering him. He had tried to
a tricky business of tugging a line or so —“Take him to you
heavy covering plate first right, and keep him with you until the
He was dead. make it as easy for Eric as pos- then left, and getting his fingers time when the Monsters have
sible by going the greater part of
under the rim and pulling at just been destroyed utterly and the
Tj^RIC stared body a long the distance on his own feet.
^ at the
time. It didn’t make any dif- There was a fresh-water pipe
the right moment. Earth is ours again. Then shall
you and he and all human beings
ference, he found. The numbness in the wallnear the doorway to ^HE joint opened at last, and who have ever lived rise from
in hismind remained. There was Monster territory. And wherever the sewers and joyously walk the
the incredible stink of Mon-
a great paralyzed spot in the there was a fresh-water pipe, the
sewage poured out as the surface of our world forever.” But
ster
center of his brain that was un- Monsters were likely to have Death this, after all, was a pure An-
liquid swirled darkly by.
able to think or to feel. laid a sewer pipe nearby. It was
had always been associated in cestor-science passage; and his
In the end, he shook himself, down probably, that the
this,
Eric’s mind with this stink, since uncle had died fighting Ancestor-
bent down and grabbed the body men killed in the battle with the pipe carried not only the science. What was the Alien-sci-
by the shoulders. Walking back- Stephen the Strong-Armed’s
Monster’s waste matter but also ence equivalent? And it likely
wards, he dragged it in the di- band had been disposed of much that of Mankind, collected from to be any more potent, any less
rection ofMonster territory. And it was down this that
earlier.
its burrows every week by the full of falsehood? In the end, Eric
Something he had to do. The Thomas had known his remains old women who were too feeble omitted those last two lines.
duty of anyone who lived in the must also go —
the closest point
for any other work. All that was He let go of the stiffening arm.
burrows when death occurred in at which his nephew could sewer
not alive or useful was carried to The body shotaway and down
his neighborhood. Now it filled him comparative safety.
in
the nearest Monster sewer pipe, the pipe. Thomas the Trap-
time and used up energies that This much, at least, he had Smasher was gone, he was gone
all that might decay and foul the
he might otherwise have ex- done for Eric’s benefit.
THE MEN IN THE WALLS 81
80 GALAXY
for all time, the way Eric for him. He would be
Not free.
r Q^jier. He could
things; he
no longer do
had to face the
aimlessly with his own
the enemy he had selected could
kind; and
reasoned now. He was dead and He laughed, bitterly and self- °j,ese
sewered, and that was that. consciously. He had to be Monsters. He wanted to face regard him with nothing more
free. '

them. than heavy oblivious contempt.

Eric closed the joint, pulled There was no choice: he was an them and destroy
down and stamped one of the roaches If he could ever for a moment
the slab it outlaw. It was like
into place. Eric walked a few steps and the storage burrow declaring find one usable weapon and one
in
He was completely alone. An who came in to vital area on which that weapon
put his hands on the door to war on a cook
outlaw who could expect nothing Monster territory. To shift
it out niake the evening
meal for Man- could be used . . .

from other human beings but of its socket was a hard job for kind. The
cook would roar with He hefted his two special ad-
death by slow torture. He had no one man. He strained and tore laughter at such a thought.
Who vantages grimly. Then Eric the
companions, no home, no beliefs he managed knew what went on in the mind Only, the Eye, the Outlaw, Eric
of any sort. His uncle’s last words
his fingers; finally
it. The door came away and he of a roach
—
and who cared? Yet the Self-Aware Individual Man,
still lay, in all their stern ugliness, deposited it carefully on the floor the roach would
enjoy two special stepped through the doorway in-
at the bottom of his mind. “I advantages. He had once and for to Monster territory.

wanted to — to be chief.”
of the burrow.
He stared at it for a while, all stopped
crawling greedily and — WILLIAM TENN
trying to figure out a way of
TT was bad enough to discover getting it back after he’d passed
that the religion on which he through the doorway. No, a
had been raised was a mere prop single man just couldn’t do that
to the power of the chieftainship, from the other side. He’d have
that the mysterious Female So- doorway open, an
ciety was completely unable to
see into a person’s future. But to
to leave the
incredible social crime.
Well, he couldn’t commit a
FORECAST
find out that his uncle’s thought- crime any more. He was beyond summer we printed what we said was going to be one of the
Last
ful antagonism to such nonsense all rules made by human com- best-liked science-fiction stories of the year -Jack Vance's The Dragon
was based on nothing more sub- and
and, by gosh, we were right; your letters were
-
munities. Ahead lay the glaring enthusiastic,
Masters
illustrations that went with it went
stantial than simple personal white light that he and his kind both the story and the fine Gaughan
ambition, an ambition murder- feared so much. Into this he right on to pick up best-of-the-year
nominations.
Star King, In
ously unscrupulous and willing to would go. Here, where there Next issue Vance is back with a big one called The
The Dragon Masters Vance had one world
under observation; here he
sacrificeanybody who trusted were no illusions to be found and
him — what was there left
well, no help to be expected, here he shows us the baroque and fascinating life of a galaxy,
color, brilliant with invention. You'll like this
bright with imagin-
one, too!
ative
to believein, to base a life upon? would make his solitary outlaw novel by Fritz Leiber, No Great
In the same issue a complete short
Had his father and mother home. Which will be somewhat
Magic, and as much more as the type will contain.
been any less gullible than the Behind him lay the dark, safe, slight change in
more than heretofore, by the way. Next issue will show a
most naive child in the burrows? intricate burrows. They were same price, but a dif-
format —
same overall size, same number of pages,
They had sacrificed themselves tunnels, Eric knew now, in the ferent method of printing and a slightly more compact type
-which will
— for what? For one super- walls that surrounded Monster make it a bigger bargain than ever. (As you know. Galaxy already contains
Men issue than
stition as opposed to another, for territory. lived in these both more pages and more actual words of science fiction per
the secret p>olitical maneuvers of walls, and shivered, and were ig- any other magazine in the world.) We'll tell you one thing for sure: this

this person as opposed to that. norant, and made fools of each issue you won't want to missi

82 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 83

 Two Great Science-Fiction Novels

by JACK WILLIAMSON
Author of The Humanoids, Darker Than You Think, etc.

TWO COMPLETE NOVELS

JACK WILLIAMSON
Author of THE HUMANOIDS

for
your
information
ASTPWMDWW KMNa PKtlOM

— BY WILLY LEY
THE LEGION OF TIME
He followed her through the ages, into a strange KING OF THE RATS
world of the future that might never come to
be . . .
T^R those who know Tchai-
AFTER WORLD'S END — kovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet
only from re.cords and have never
A story of courage and dazzling science-fiction
adventure in a strange world inhabited by strang-
seen it staged it may be neces-
erpeople . . .
sary to explain that there is a
Mouse King on stage. It has
NOW ON SALE AT ALL NEWSSTANDS many heads — mouse-heads, of

— The Sky Is Falling

• 50^
course — and for that reason it
If you missed Magabook No. 1 and Badge of doesn’t have much to do. But the
Infamy, two complete sf novels by Lester del Rey— send 50^ to choreographer’s problems are be-
Galaxy Publishing Co., 421 Hudson St., N. Y. 14, N. Y. side the point here, as is the fact
that the ballet is based on a
French rewrite of a story by

84 GALAX FOR YOUR INFORMATION 85

E. T. A. Hoffmann, he of the
Tales of Hoffmann.
What is to the point is that the
Mouse King of the ballet was a
Rat King in the original story,
and that there is a little known
fact ofNatural History hiding be-
hind the fantasy.
Quite a number of years ago,
at a Christmas party where the
hostess told me that she had
taken her children to see the
ballet, I tried to tell that fact,
but was interrupted with the re-
mark that this was “not a nice
story.” I just found out that
Richard Lydekker, who edited
the multi-volume Library of Nat-
ural History which was published
in New York in 1902, also did
not consider it a “nice story”, for
while he followed his original, Dr.
Alfred Brehm’s Tierleben, quite
faithfully, he left out the three
pages of the original which deal
with the Rat King.
A Rat King is not a separate
species. One is tempted to say “on
the contrary,” for it consists of a
number of rats which cannot be
separated.
The average number of rats
forming a “king” is twelve, but
largerand smaller numbers have
rally, since the tails
together.Being handicapped in
thismanner, the animals are not
very mobile and in a few cases a
dead and dried-out “king” has
been found. Evidently the rats
had starved to death. But in the
majority of the cases the “king”
when found was still
often was found because the
members composing it were
squealing with hunger.
A NUMBER of writers have
dismissed the Rat King as
“legendary” but that seems to be
due to a confusion, just as the
term Rat King itself is
confused — as I’ll explain short-
ly. There is a European legend
about a “king of the rats” which
is old enough to be untraceable
because its roots disappear in the
time before printing. But the
name was known to Konrad Ges-
ner, the great Swiss zoologist of
the sixteenth century. In his book
on the four-footed animals, which
was printed for the first time in
1555, he said in his chapter on
the rat —after remarking that
rats do not need to be described
because “to many they are better
known than is pleasing” that
are stuck This is a reference to the
legend which other writers ex-
panded, saying that the younger
rats steal red cloth to drape on
their king. Many a young Swiss
probably gripped his stick more
tightly when opening the door of
a long unused barn or basement.
alive. It There might be an enormous rat
inside, immobile because of age
and size, maybe, but still
equipped with long teeth and pos-
sibly defended by faithful retain-
ers.Of course no rat king of that
kind was ever found, though it
made fine material for fairy tales.
But once in a while peasant lads
somewhat would find the nearly immobile
assembly of rats with their tails
stuck together. Was that the rat
king’s throne? Or did the king of
the rats look different from the
fairy tales? In the end linguistic
usage decided that it was the Rat
King.
Two types of rats were com-
mon in Europe. In England they
are distinguished simply by the
color of their fur as Black
Brown rats. The latter goes under
the name of Norway Rat in some
books. Zoologists know that the,
incidentally larger, brown
— a fairly late
rat
immigrant to Europe.
who died in 1280. Whether they
arrived, presumably from the
East, a centdry or five centuries
before Albertus is something no-
body knows.
But the arrival of the brown
rat haseven been observed. The
German physician Peter Simon
Pallas, who explored Russia for
the Court in St. Petersburg, re-
ported that large numbers of
brown rats could be seen travel-
ing westward after an earthquake
in the area of the Caspian Sea.
The date was early autumn of
1727. The brown rat appeared in
East Prussia in 1750, in Paris in
1753, in South Germany in 1780
and in Switzerland in 1809. But
in the meantime brown rats from
the East Indies had reached Eng-
land by ship in 1732 and had
traveled from England to the
United States in 1755. The brown
rat is considerably larger than the
black rat, and more destructive
in the same ratio. It was only a
minor consolation that the first
and victims of the brown rat’s appe-
tite were usually the black rats.
A ROUND the year 1850, the
Denmark,
inhabitants
is

Germany and
of
Switzerland still
been found. The tails of the ani- “some say that the rat, in its old The same believed of the black
is referred to the two rats as “base-
mals are intertwined in such a age, grows enormously large [so
rat, but the date of immigration ment rats” and “attic rats”, the
manner that the individuals can- that it can no longer move was early. The first mention of smaller black rat (Mus rattus)
not pull free. The whole thing is around] and is fed by the young- the black rat can be found in the preferring the roof area, while the
about two feet in diameter. All er rats; it is called a Rat King works of Albert of Bollstadt, bet- larger brown rat (Mus decuman-
the heads point outward, natu- by our people.” ter known as Albertus Magnus, us) preferred the basements. By
86 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 87
the end of the nineteenth century
the brown rat had won out. The
black rat had become rare. And
the Reverend J. G. Wood, who
near the end of the nineteenth
century wrote a book called Ani-
mate Creation, was more than
slightly wrong in writing that the
“conquest had been brought
about not by war but by love”,
thinking that in interbreeding the
characteristics of the brown rat
had become dominant. It had
been war, plain and simple.
This excursion into the history
two kinds of rats has been
of the
necessary for a specific reason.
Whatever it is that causes a doz-
en or so rats to become a Rat
King affects the black rat only,
we can
as far as tell from old
descriptions. It does not seem to
touch the brown rat. And since
the black rat has become com-
paratively rare the chances for
forming Rat Kings have dimin-
ished too. This must be the
reason why there are no recent
reports.
But since the majority of these
reports are old how can we know
that they are true?
This is in itself a very valid
But fortunately we
suggestion.
have the documents of the equiv-
alent of a law suit involving a
Rat King.
On January 17, 1774, a young
man came to
the district office
of the government of the king of
88
Saxony in Leipzig with a com-
plaint. His name, he stated, was
Christian Kaiser and he was em-
ployed as a helper at the wind-
mill at Lindenau, a hamlet within
walking distance from Leipzig. A
week earlier he had found a live
Rat King consisting of 16 rats
whose tails were intertwined. He
had shown it to his master, the
miller Tobias Jaeger. The reason
why
he bothered the officials was
to complain about one Johann
Adam Fasshauer, a resident of
Lindenau. Said Johann Adam
Fasshauer had gone to the afore-
mentioned miller Tobias Jaeger
and persuaded him to hand over
the Rat King to said Fasshauer
because he wished to make a
painting of it. But in reality Fass-
hauer had exhibited the Rat
King, charging admission, and
petitioner was now petitioning
the officials to force said Fass-
hauer to return the Rat King, to
hand over the money he had
earned by its public exhibition
and also to pay the expenses for
the action of the officials.
Before committing themselves
on the legal steps to be taken the
officials made sure that there was
a Rat King.
They first questioned Christian
Kaiser under oath about details of
the capture. He told that hewas
working in the mill on January
12, 1774, when he heard a noise
near a staircase and saw several
GALAXY
rats looking out at him. Taking a
piece of firewood, he killed them,
and then took a ladder to see
whether there might be more rats
on a ledge, this time taking an
axe as a weapon. There he found
the Rat King. He pulled it off the
ledge, using the axe so that it
fell to the floor. He counted six-
teen rats, fifteen of them with
their tails “plaited together” and
the sixteenth sticking to the back
fur of one of the fifteen. Most of
them survived the fall from the
ledge and stayed alive for some
time. But though they attempted
to pull free of each other they did
not succeed.
rf^HE NEXT step of the officials
•*-
was to send a doctor to Lin-
denau. Then
the doctor wrote a
protocol, saying that he had ar-
rived in Lindenau and had been
led to a room in the Posthorn
Inn where he had found a Rat
King consisting of sixteen dead
rats.
“Fifteen of them,” the doctor
wrote, “had their tails knotted to-
gether into a large knot in such
a manner that most tails were
completely in the knot except for
a piece one or two inches in
length near their bodies.” He then
examined the rats in detail, and
summarized the result of his ex-
amination in the following four
points:
“( that the bodies, heads and
1)
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
feet of the rats had their natural
shapes,
“(2) that some of them had the
color of gray ashes, some were a
little darker and some almost
black,
“(3) that they measured more
than a span in length [this must
refer to the length of the head
and body without the tail; the
normal figure for a black rat is
about seven inches],
“(4) that the proportions of
their thickness to their length in-
dicated that they were under-
nourished rather than well nour-
ished.”
His conclusion was that “said
sixteen rats were not one organ-
ism which is called a Rat King
but sixteen individual rats of dif-
ferent size and coloration and (in
my opinion) different age and
sex.” As for the reason, he pointed
out that there had been a cold
sp>ell prior to the discovery. He
thought that the rats had huddled
together for warmth but that the
urine of other rats hiding at a
higher level had dripped down on
the interwined tails and had
frozen.
I am sorry that I can’t report
whether the decided that
officials
Johann Adam Fasshauer had to
return the Rat King to Christian
Kaiser along with the money he
had earned by its exhibition.
Since my source is a zoological
book, the legal consequences have
89
been neglected, but the point is
that afterall these legalities and
investigations the authenticity of
the fact involved cannot easily be
doubted. The good doctor’s ex-
planation of how the Rat King
came into being is admittedly
weak, but we still don’t know
what the actual reason is. Some
investigators have offered
later
might be the re-
the guess that it
sult of a disease of some kind
which is peculiar to the black rat.
AT ANY event, the Rat King
of Lindenau was not unique.
During December, 1822, two
Rat Kings were found by three
farm hands engaged in threshing
grain in the barn of the local
forester. The
place was the ham-
let of not quite ten
Dollstedt,
miles from the city of Gotha.
While doing their work, the men
heard the squealing of rats and
started a search, aided by the
forester’s helper. They finally
found that one of the main cross
beams had a six-inch-deep hollow
in its topside, evidently one that
the rats had gnawed. They saw
that this hollow was full of rats,
and they were somewhat sur-
prised that the rats made no at-
tempt to run away.
The men pushed the rats out,
and saw that one was a Rat King
of 28 rats and the other one, one
of 14 rats. Both sets were de-
scribed as consisting of fully
90
grown rats, quite clean but also quired it and went to a taxider- formed the zoologist Reeker, who
mist to have it preserved. The tried to acquire it for the Pro-
very hungry. Strangely enough
they are also described as having
taxidermist, naturally, cleaned it vincial Museum of Westphalia.
up so that one cannot tell wheth- But before Reeker could move,
been very docile, which probably
ei the intertwined tails were also the Zoological Institute of the
means that the rats were in an
held together by anything that University of Gottingen had se-
advanced state of weakness from
might act like glue. cured it for its own collection.
hunger.
After Mr. Deckers died, the It consisted of ten specimens
After the whole village had
specimen was donated to the lo- of the black rat. The director of
marveled at the find, the public
cal High School and examined by the Zoological Institute, Privy
spectacle ended by the execution
the school’s science teacher. Prof. Councillor Ehlers, wrote to Dr.
of both Rat Kings, the execution
Ahrend. Ahrend wrote that “Gun- Heck in reply to a question that
being carried out with the flails.
termann [the taxidermist] had he could not explain how such
Then two of the men took pitch-
cleaned the tails of the animals a thing could have happened and
forks and tried to pry the bodies
that the rat’s tails do not show
of the smaller assembly apart
carefully so that only their inter-
twined positions were preserved any visible pathological changes.
After much effort they succeeded
but just looking at the inter-
. . And he added that the Institute’s
in pulling out a few of the rats.
.
twined tails makes it clear that taxidermist considered it impos-
The forester himself looked at
even the smallest amount of a sible that this Rat King might
them and wrote down that the
sticky substance would render have been made by some prank-
tails had not been torn off in the
the animals inseparable.” sters.
process and even had their skin,
The latest case which I could Well, this is the story.
but they “showed the impressions
find in a quick survey was re- All the cases havetwo things in
of the other tails, just like leather
ported by the German zoologist common. always the black
It is
straps that had been plaited to-
Dr. Ludwig Heck, who later be- Mus which produces a
ratius
gether for a long time.”
came the director of the Zoologi- Rat King, and they have all been
A later case has the advantage cal Garden in Berlin. It refers to found during the coldest time of
of having been examined by a
a Rat King found in January, the year, in weather which would
man with scientific knowledge.
.make the animals huddle togeth-
1907, in the village of Capelle,
The Rat King was found on Feb-
near Hamm in Westphalia. The er for warmth.
ruary 2, 1880 by a drayman in a
local pastor, Wigger by name, in- — WILLY LEY
room of the abattoir of the city-
of Diisseldorf. It was a room
which was used for the storage of
skins and which was, for this rea-
son, not much frequented by peo-
THE NIGHT OF THE TROLLS
ple. The Rat King consisted of Gripping complete short science-fiction novel by Keith Laumer —
eight black rats, of which one was along with stories by Judith Merril, Philip K. Dick and many others —
killed when it was discovered.
The other seven lived for some In October WORLDS OF TOMORROW Now on sale
time. A Mr. Wilhelm Deckers ac-
GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 91
 F

^ONSIDER the horse. He

^ climbed up through the crev-
cliff of gems; the force
asses of a
which drove him was the love of
man.
Consider Mizzer, the resort
planet, where the dictator Colonel
Wedder reformed the culture so
violently that whatever had been
slovenly now became atrocious.
Consider Genevieve, so rich
that she was the prisoner of her

ON THE By CORDWAINER SMITH

own wealth, so beautiful that she
was the victim of her own beauty,
so intelligent that she knew there
was nothing, nothing to be done
about her fate.
by WOOD
Illustrated Consider Casher O’Neill, a
wanderer among the planets,
thirsting for justiceand yet hop-

GEM PLANET ing in his innermost thoughts that

“justice”
word
was not
for revenge.
just another

Consider Pontoppidan, that lit-

eral gem of a planet, where the
people were too rich and busy
to have good food, open air or
He sought help and a great gift much fun. All they had was dia-
of weaponry. What he found — monds, rubies, tourmalines and
emeralds.
but could not keep—was level Add these together and you
have one of the strangest stories
ever told from world to world.

TJ^HEN Casher O’Neill came to

™ Pontoppidan, he found
that the capital city was appropri-
ately called Andersen.

92 GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 93

 This was the second century of
the Rediscovery of Man. People
everywhere had taken up old
names, old languages, old cus-
toms, as fast as the robots and
the underpeople could retrieve
the data from the rubbish of for-
gotten starlanes or the subsurface
ruins of Manhome itself.
Casher knew this very well, to
his bitter cost. Re-acculturation
had brought him revolution and
exile. He came from, the dry,
beautiful planet of Mizzer. He
was himself the nephew of the
ruined ex-ruler, Kuraf, whose col-
lection of objectionable books
had at one time been unmatched
in the settled galaxy; he had
stood aside, half-assenting, when
the colonels Gibna and Wedder
took over the planet in the name
of reform; he had implored the
Instrumentality, vainly, for help
when Wedder became a tyrant;
and now he traveled among the
stars, looking for men or weapons
who might destroy Wedder and
make Kaheer again the luxurious,
happy city which it once had
been.
He felt that cause was
his
hopeless when he landed on Pon-
toppidan. The people were warm-
hearted, friendly, intelligent, but
they had no motives to fight for,
no weapons to fight with, no ene-
mies to fight against. They had
little public spirit, such as Casher
O’Neill had seen back on his na-
94
tive planet of Mizzer. They were
concerned about little things.
Indeed, at the time of his ar-
Pontoppidans were
rival, the
wildly excited about a horse.
A horse! Who worries about
one horse?
Casher O’Neill himself* said so.
“Why bother about a horse? We
have lots of them on Mizzer.
They are four-handed beings,
eight times the weight of a man,
with only one finger on each of
the four hands. The fingernail
very heavy and permits them to
run fast. That’s why our people
have them, for running.”
“Why run?” said the Heredi-
tary Dictator of Pontoppidan,
“Why ruri, when you can fly?
Don’t you have ornithopters?”
“We don’t run with them,” said
Casher indignantly. “We make
them run against each other and
then we pay prizes to the one
which runs fastest.”
“But then,” said Phillip Vin-
cent, the Hereditary Dictator,
“you get a very illogical situation.
When you have tried out these
four-fingered beings, you know
how fast each one goes. So what?
Why
bother?”
His niece interrupted. She was
a fragile little thing, smaller than
Casher O’Neill liked women to
be.She had clear gray eyes, well-
marked eyebrows, a very artificial
coiffeur of silver-blonde hair and
the most sensitive little mouth he
GALAXY
had ever seen. She conformed to
the local fashion by wearing some
kind of powder or face cream
which was flesh-pink in color but
which had overtones of lilac. On
a woman as old as twenty-two,
such a coloration would have
made the wearer look like an old
hag, but on Genevieve it was
pleasant, if rather startling. It
gave the effect of a happy child
playing grown-up and doing the
job joyfully and well. Casher
knew that it was hard to tell ages
is
these off-trail planets. Gene-
in
vieve might be' a grand dame in
her third or fourth rejuvenation.
He doubted it, on second
glance. What she said was sensi-
ble, young, and pert:
“But uncle, they’re animalsl”
“I know that,” he rumbled.
“But uncle, don’t you see it?”
“Stop saying ‘but uncle’ and
tell me what you mean,” growled
the Dictator, very fondly.
“Animals are always uncer-
tain.”
“Of course,” said the uncle.
“That makes it a game, uncle,”
said Genevieve. “They’re never
sure that any one of them would
do the same thing twice. Imagine
the excitement —the beautiful
big beings from earth running
around and around on their four
middle fingers, the big fingernails
making the gems jump loose from
the ground!”
“I’m not at all sure it’s that
ON THE GEM PLANET
way. Besides, Mizzer may be cov-
ered with something valuable,
such as earth or sand, instead of
gemstones like the ones we have
here on Pontoppidan. You know
your flower-pots with their rich,
warm, wet, soft earth?”
“Of course I do, uncle. And I
know what you paid for them.
You were very generous. And still
are,” she added diplomatically,
glancing quickly at Casher O’-
Neill to see how the familial piety
went across with the visitor.
“We’re not that rich on Mizzer.
It’s mostly sand, with farmland
along the Twelve Niles, our big
rivers.”
“I’ve seen pictures of rivers,”
said Genevieve. “Imagine living
on a whole world full of flowerpot
stuff!”
“You’re getting off the subject,
We were wondering why
darling.
anyone would bring one horse,
justone horse, to Pontoppidan. I
suppose you could race a horse
against himself, if you had a stop-
watch. But would it be fun?
Would you do that, young man?”
Casher O’Neill tried to be re-
spectful. “In my home we used
to have a lot of horses. I’ve seen
my uncle time them one by one.”
“Your uncle?” said the Dicta-
tor interestedly. “Who was your
uncle that he had all these four-
fingered ‘horses’ running around?
They’re all Earth animals and
very expensive.”
95
 you get out of it? There’s nothing isthe understatement of the year,
RASHER felt the coming of the refusing to take action against
much in my mind.” but he was a careful young man
blow he had met
low, slow Colonel Wedder, had given young “To make sure,” said the He- with a great deal at stake, so he
so many times before, right from Casher O’Neill an all-world travel reditary Dictator, “that you are said nothing.
the whole outside world into the pass —
something which a hun-
not too honest and sharp in your The Dictator looked at him
pit of his stomach. “My
uncle — dred lifetimes of savings could beliefs. If you’re positive that you shrewdly. He appreciated the
he stammered —
“my uncle I — not have purchased for the ordi- know what you might be
to do, value of Casher’s tactful silence.
thought you knew —
was the old nary man. (His obscene old uncle another Colonel Wedder, putting Genevieve tugged at his sleeve,
Dictator of Mizzer, Kuraf.” had gone off to Sunvale, on Ttiol- y6ur people through a dozen tor- but he frowned her interruption
Philip Vincent jumped to his le, the resort planet, to live out ments for a Utopia which never away.
feet, very lightly for so well- his years between the casiho and quite comes true. If you don’t
fleshed a man. The young mis- the beach.) Casher O’Neill held care at all, you might be like your i4TF,” said the Hereditary Dic-
tress, Genevieve, clutched at the the conscience of Mizzer in his uncle. He did no real harm. He tator, “if,” he repeated,
throat of her dress. hand. Only he, among the star just stole his planet blind and he “you pass two tests, I will give
“Kuraf!” cried the old Dictator. travelers, cared enough to fight had some extraordinary habits you a green ruby as big as my
“Kuraf! Weknow about him, for the freedom of the Twelve which got him talked about be- head. If my Committee will allow
even here. But you were sup- Niles. Here, now, in this room, tween the stars. He never killed me to do so.But I think I can
posed to be a Mizzer patriot, not there was a turning point. a man in his life, did he?” talk them around. One test is that
one of Kuraf’s people.” “I won’t give you anything,” “No, sir,” said Casher O’Neill, you let me peep all over your
“He doesn’t have any children said the Hereditary Dictator, but “he never did.” It relieved him to mind, to make sure that I am not
— ” Casher began to explain. he said it in a friendly voice. His tell the one little good thing about dealing with one more honest
“I should think not, not with niece started tugging at his sleeve. his uncle; there was so very, very fool. If you’re too honest, you’re
those habits!” snapped the old The older man went on. “Stop little which could be said in Ku- a fool and a danger .to mankind.
man. it, girl. I won’t give you anything, raf’s favor. I’ll give you a dinner and ship
“ — so I’m his nephew and his not if you’re part of that rotten
— “I don’t like slobbering old lib- you off-planet as fast as I can.
heir.But I’m not trying to put the not unless
lot of Kuraf’s, ertines like your uncle,” said And the other test is —
solve the
Dictatorship back, even though I “Anything, sir, anything, just so Philip Vincent, “but I don’t hate puzzle of this horse. The one
should be dictator. I just want to that I get help or weapons to go them either. They don’t hurt horse on Pontoppidan. Why is
get rid of Colonel Wedder. He home to the Twelve Niles!” other people much. As a matter the animal here? What should we
has ruined my people, and I am “All right, then. Unless you of actual they don’t hurt
fact, do with it? If it’s good to eat, how
looking for money or weapons or open your mind to me. I’m a good anyone themselves. They
but should we cook it? Or can we
help to make my home-world telepath myself.” waste though. Like
property, trade to some other world, like
free.” This was the point, Casher “Open my mind! Whatever these horses you have on Mizzer. your planet Mizzer, which seems
O’Neill knew, at which people for?” The incongruous indecency We’d never bring living beings to to set a value on horses?”
either started believing him or of it shocked Casher O’Neill. He’d this world of Pontoppidan, just to “Thank you, sir —
” said Cash-
did not. If they did not, there was had men and women and govern- play games with. And you know er O’Neill.
not much he could do about it. ments ask a lot of strange things we’re not poor. We’re no Old “But, uncle — ” said Genevieve.
If they did, he was sure to get from him, but no one before had North Australia, but we have a “Keep quiet, my darling, and
some sympathy. So far, no help. had the cold impudence to ask good income here.” let the young man speak,” said
Just sympathy. him to open his mind. “And why That, thought Casher O’Neill, the Dictator.
But the Instrumentality, while you?” he went on, “What would
ON THE GEM PLANET 97
96 GALAXY
 “— all I was going to ask, is,” but he smiled widely and indul. toabout two man-years per left to do, if he could fuss that
said Casher O’Neill, “what’s a gently as if he had heard that [jilo.
Here halftracks crunched much over a single horse. Per-
green ruby good for? I didn’t particular phrase before. way through gems as they haps he did was boss his niece
all
tjieir
even know they came green.” She stamped her foot. “And I ^ent to load up the frequent trad- and watch the robots load truck-
“That, young man, is a Pon- know about the horse, too. All vessels. loads of gems into sacks while the
ing
toppidan specialty. We have a about it.” The chairs were put in place. underpeople weighed them, listed
them and wrote out the bills for
geology based on ultra-heavy “Have you seen it?” The drinks arrived. The Heredi-
chemistry. This planet was once “No.” tary
Dictator had been momen- the customers.
a fragment from a giant planet “Have you talked to it?” tarily lost in a brown study, as
which imploded. The use is sim- “Horses don’t talk, uncle.” though he were wondering about
II
ple. With a green ruby you can “Most underpeople do,” he said. promise to Casher O’Neill. He
make a laser beam which will “This isn’t an underperson,
(jis

had even murmured to the

young ^HERE was no screen; this

boil away your city of Kaheer in
a single sweep. We don’t have
weapons here and we don’t be-
lieve in them, so I won’t give you
a weapon. You’ll have to travel
further to find a ship and to get
the apparatus for mounting your
green ruby. If I give
uncle. It’s a plain unmodified old man, “Our bargain stands? Never was a good machine.
Earth animal. It never did talk.” mind what my niece says.” Cash- The planet Pontoppidan came
“Then what do you know, my er had nodded vigorously. The into view, its airless brightness
honey?” The uncle was affection- old man had gone back to frown- giving strong hints of the mineral
ate, but there was the crackle of ing at the servants and did not riches which might be found.
impatience under his voice. relax until a tiger-man bounded Here and there enormous
“I taped it. The whole thing. into the room, carrying a tray domes, such as the one in which
it to you. The story of the horse of Pon- with acrobatic precision. The this palace was located, came in-

But you will be one more step toppidan. And I’ve edited it, too. chairs were already in place. to view.
along in your fight with Colonel I was going to show it to you this The father held his niece’s Genvieve’s own voice, girlish,
Wedder.” morning, but your staff sent that chair for her as a command that impulsive and yet didactic, rang
“Thank you, thank you, most young man in.” she sit down. He nodded Casher out with the story of her planet.
honorable sir!” cried Casher O’- Casher O’Neill looked his apol- O’Neill into a chair on the other It was as though she had pre-
Neill. ogies at Genevieve. side of himself. pared the picture not only for
“But uncle,” said Genevieve, She did not notice him. Her He commanded, “Dim the her own father, but for off-world
“you shouldn’t have picked those eyes were on her uncle. lights . .
.” visitors as well. (By Joan, that’s
two things because I know the “Since you’ve done this much, The room plunged into semi- it! thought Casher O’Neill. If they

answers.” we might as well see it.” He darkness. don’t raise much food here, out-
“You know about him,” said
all turned to the attendants. “Bring Without being told, the people side of the hydroponics, and don’t
the Hereditary
Dictator, “by chairs. And drinks. You know took their places immediately be- have any real People Places, they
some means of your own?” mine. The young lady will take hind the three main seats and the have to trade: that does mean
Genevieve flushed under her tea with lemon. Real tea. Will underpeople perched or sat on visitors, and many, many of
lilac-hued foundation cream. “I you have coffee, young man?” benches and tables behind them. them.)
know enough for us to know.” “You have coffee!” cried Cash- Very little was spoken. Casher The story was interesting but
“How do you know it, my darl- er O’Neill. As soon as he said it, O’Neill could sense that Pontop- the girl herself was more inter-
ing?” he Pontoppidan pidan was a well-run place. He esting. Her face shone in the
know,” said Genevieve.
“I just was a
felt like
rich
a fool.
planet. On most began to wonder if the Heredi- shifting light which the images —
Her uncle made no comment. worlds’ exchanges, coffee came tary Dictator had much real work a meter, perhaps a little more,

98 GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET ‘

99
from the floor —
reflected across
the room. Casher O’Neill thought
that he had never before seen a
woman who so peculiarly com-
bined intelligence and charm.
She was girl, girl, girl, all the way
through; but she was also very
smart and pleased with being
smart. It betokened a happy life.
He found himself glancing covert-
ly at her. Once he caught her
glancing, equally covertly, at him.
The darkness of the scene en-
abled them both to pass it off as
an accident without embarrass-
ment.
Her viewtape had come to the
story of the dipsies, enormous
canyons which lay like deep
gashes on the surface of the
planet. Some of the color views
were spectacular beyond belief.
Casher O’Neill, as the “appointed
one” of Mizzer, had had plenty of
time to wander through the non-
salacious parts of his uncle’s col-
lections, and he had seen pictures
of the most notable worlds.
Never had he seen anything
like this. One view showed a sun-
set against a six-kilometer cliff of
a material which looked like solid
emerald. The peculiar bright sun-
shine of Pontoppidan’s small,
penetrating, lilac-hued sun ran
like living water over the preci-
pice of gems. Even the reduced
image, one meter by one meter,
was enough to make him catch
his breath.
100
The bottom of the dipsy had!
vapor emerging in curious cylin-
drical columns which seemed to
erode as they reached two or
three times the height of a man.
The recorded voice of Genevieve
was explaining that the very thin
atmosphere of Pontoppidan
would not be breathable for an-
other 2,520 years, since the set-
tlers did not wish to squander
their resources on a luxury like
breathing when the whole planet
only had 60,000 inhabitants; they
would rather go on with masks
and use their wealth in other
ways. After all, it was not as
though they did not have their
domed cities, some of them many
kilometers in radius. Besides the
usual hydroponics, they had even
imported 7.2 hectares of garden
soil, 5.5 centimeters deep, togeth-
er with enough water to make the
gardens rich and fruitful. They
had bought worms, too, at the
price of eight carats of diamond
per living worm, in order to keep
the soil of the gardens loose and
living.
Genevieve’s transcribed voice
rang out with pride as she listed
these accomplishments of her
people, but a note of sadness
came in when she returned to
the subject of the dipsies. “ . .
and though we would like to live
in them and develop their at-
mospheres, we dare not. There is
too much escap)e of radioactivity.
GALAXY
The geysers themselves may or
ffiay not be
contaminated from
one hour to the next. So we just
look at them. Not one of them
has ever been settled, except for
the Hippy Dipsy, where the horse
came from. Watch this next pic-
ture.
The camera sheered up, up,
from the surface of the planet.
VVhere it had wandered among
mountains of diamonds and val-
leys of tourmalines, it now took
tothe blue-black of near, inner
space.One of the canyons showed
(from high altitude) the grotes-
que pattern of a human woman’s
hips and legs, though what might
have been the upper body was
lost in a confusion of broken hills
which ended in a bright almost-
iridescent plain to the North.
“That,” said the real Gene-
vieve, overriding her own voice
on the screen, “is the Hippy Dip-
sy. There, see the blue? That’s
the only lake on all of Pontoppi-
dan. And here we drop to the
hermit’s house.”
pASHER O’Neill almost
^ vertigo as the camera plum-
meted from off-planet into the
depths of that immense canyon.
The edges of the canyon almost
. seemed to move like lips with the
plunge, opening and folding in-
ward to swallow him up.
Suddenly they were beside a
beautiful little lake.
ON THE GEM PLANET
A small hut stood beside the
shore.
In the doorway there sat a
man, dead.
His body had been there a long
time; it was already mummified.
Genevieve’s recorded voice ex-
plained the matter: “. in Nor-
. .
up strilian law and custom, they told
him that his time had come. They
told him to go to the Dying
House, since he was no longer fit
to live. In Old North Australia,
they are so rich that they let
everyone live as long as he wants,
unless the old person can’t take
rejuvenation any more, even with
stroon, and unless he or she gets
to be a real pest to the living.
If that happens, they are invited
to go to the Dying House, where
they shriek and pant with deliri-
ous joy for weeks or days until
they finally die of an overload of
sheer happiness and excitement
.” There was a hesitation, even
. .
in the recording. “We never knew
why this man refused. He stood
off-planet and said that he had
seen views of the Hippy Dipsy.
felt He said it was the most beautiful
place on all the worlds, and that
he wanted to build a cabin there,
to live alone, except for his non-
human friend. We thought it was
some small pet. When we told
him that the Hippy Dipsy was
very dangerous, he said that this
did not matter in the least to him,
since he was old and dying any-
101

how. Then he offered to pay us
twelve times our planetary in-
come if we would lease
twelve hectares on the condition
of absolute privacy. No pictures,
no scanners, no help, no visitors.
Just solitude and scenery. His
name was Perino. My
grandfather asked for nothing
more, except the written transfer
of credit. When he paid it, Peri-
no even asked that he be left
alone after he was dead. Not even
a vault rocket so that he could
either orbit Pontoppidan forever
or start a very slow journey to no-
where, the way so many people
like it. So our first picture
this is
of him. We
took it when the light
went off in the People Room and
one of the tiger-men told us that
he was sure a human conscious-
ness had come to an end in the
Hippy Dipsy.
“And we never even thought
of the pet. After all, we had never
made a picture of him. This is
the way he arrived from Perino’s
shack.”
A ROBOT was shown in a con-
trol room, calling excitedly
in the old Common Tongue.
“People, people! Judgment
needed! Moving object coming
out of the Hippy Dipsy. Object
has improper shape. Not a cor-
rect object. Should not rise. Does
so anyhow. People, tell me, F>eo-
ple, tell me! Destroy or not des-
102
:
troy? This is an improper object. eyes. Two ridiculous ears stood picture spoke very distinctly
It should fall, not rise. Coming high, and a little tuft of golden “Give your name, age, species
him out of the Hippy Dipsy.” hair showed on the crest of the and authority for being on this
A firm click shut off the robot’s head between the ears. planet.” She spoke clearly and
chatter. A well-shaped woman The viewed scene was comical, with the utmost possible author-
took over. From the nature of too. The cat-woman was as ity.
her work and the lithe, smooth astonished as the viewers. It was The horse obviously heard her.
great- tread with which she walked, lucky that she had touched the His ears tipped forward. But his
Casher O’Neill suspected that emergency switch, so that she not reply was the same as before:
she was of cat origin, but there only saw the horse, but had re- W hay-yay-yay!
was nothing in her dress or in her corded herself and her own Casher O’Neill realized that he
manner to show that she was un- actions while bringing him into had followed the mood of the pic-
derpeople. view. ture and had seen the horse the
The woman in the picture .
Genevieve whisp>ered across way that the people on Pontop-
lighted a screen. the chest of the Hereditary Dic- pidan woud have seen him. On
She moved her hands in the tator: “Later we found he was a second thought, the horse was
air in front of her, like a blind palomino pony. That’s a very nothing special, by the standards
person feeling his way through special kind of horse. And Perino of the Twelve Niles or the Little
op>en day. had made him immortal, or al- Horse Market^ in the city of
The picture on the inner screen most immortal.” Kaheer. It was an old pony stal-
came to resolution. “Sh-h!” said her uncle. lion, no longer fit for breeding and
A face showed in it. The screen-within-the-screen probably not for riding either.
What a face! thought Casher showed the cat-woman waving The hair had whitened among the
O’Neill,and he heard the other her hands in the air some more. gold; the teeth were worn. The
people around him in the viewing The view broadened. animal showed many injuries
room. The horse had four hands and and burns. Its only use was to be
The horse! no legs, or four legs and no hands, killed, cut up and fed to the
Imagine a face like that of a whichever way you want to count racing dogs. But he said nothing
newborn cat, thought Casher. them. to the people around him. They
Mizzer is full of cats. But imagine The horse was fighting his way were still spellbound by the pic-
the face with a huge mouth, with up a narrow cleft of rubies which ture.
big yellow teeth —a nose long led out of the Hippy Dipsy. He The cat-woman repeated:
beyond imagination. Imagine panted heavily. The oxygen bot- “Your name isn’t Whayayay.
eyes which look friendly. In the tles on his sides swung wildly as Identify yourself properly; name
picture they were rolling back he clambered. He must have seen first.”
and forth with exertion, but even something, perhaps the image of The horse answered her with
there — when they did not feel the cat-woman, because he said a the same word in a higher key.
observed — there was nothing word: Apparently forgetting that she
hostile about the set of the eyes. Whay-yay-yay-yay-whay-yay! had recorded herself as well as
They were tame, companionable The cat-woman in the nearer the emergency screen, the cat-
GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 103
woman said, “I’ll call real people “I just discovered him a couple of
if you don’t answer! They’ll be minutes ago. He’s asking for help.
annoyed at being bothered.” Any idiot can see that, even if we
The horse rolled his eyes at her don’t know his language.”
and said nothing. The picture snapped off.
The cat-woman pressed an
emergency button on the side of ^
I
'HE next scene showed tiny
the room. One could not see the human figures working with
other communication screen searchlights at the top of an ini-

which lighted up, but her end of measurably high cliff. Here and
the conversation was plain. there, the beam of the searchlight
“I want an ornithopter. Big one. caught the cliff face; the trans-

Emergency.” lucent faceted material of the cliff

A mumble from the side screen. looked almost like rows of eerie
“To go to the Hippy Dipsy. windows, their lights snapping on
There’s an underperson there, and off, as the searchlight moved.
and he’s in so much trouble that Far down there was a red glow.
he won’t talk.” From the screen Fire came from inside the moun-
beside her, the horse seemed to tain.
have understood the sense of the Even with telescopic lenses the
message, if not the words, be- cameraman could not get the
cause he repeated: close-up of the glow. On one side
Whay-yay-whay-yay-yay! there was the figure of the hors^;
“See,” said the cat-woman to his four arms stretched at impos-
the person in the other screen, sible angles as he held himself
“that’s what he’s doing. It’s obvi- firm in the crevasse; on the other
ously an emergency.” side of the fire there were the
The voice from the other even tinier figures of men, labor-
screen came through, tinny and ing to fit some sort of sling to
remote by double recording: reach the horse.
“Fool, yourself, cat-woman! No- For some odd reason having to
body can an ornithopter into
fly do with the techniques of record-
a dipsy. Tell your silly friend to ing, the voices came through very
go back to the floor of the dipsy plainly, even the heavy, tired
and we’ll pick him up by space breathing of the old horse. Now
rocket.” and then he uttered one of the
Whay-yay-yay! said the horse special horse-words which seemed
impatiently. to be the limit of his vocabulary.
“He’s not my friend, said the He was obviously watching the
cat-woman with brisk annoyance. men, and was firmly persuaded of

104 GALAXY
their friendliness to him. His
large, tame, yellow eyes rolled
wildly in the light of the search-
light and every time the horse
looked down, he seemed to shud-
der.
Casher O’Neill found this en-
tirely understandable. The bot-
tom of the Hippy Dipsy was no-
where in the horse, even
sight;
with nothing more than the en-
larged fingernails of his middle
fingers to help him climb, had
managed to get about four of the
six kilometers’ height of the cliff
face behind him.
The voice of a tiger-man
sounded clearly from among the
shift of men, underpeople and ro-
bots who were struggling on the
face of the cliff.
“It’s a gamble, but not much
of a gamble. I weigh six hundred
kilos myself, and,do you know, I
don’t think I’ve ever had to use
my strength since I was a
full
kitten. I know that I can jump
across the fire and help that thing
be more comfortable. I can even
tie a rope around him so that he
won’t slip and fall after all the
work we’ve done. And the work
he’s done, too,” added the tiger-
man grimly. “Perhaps I can just
take him in my arms and jump
back with him. It will be perfectly
safe if you have a safety rope
around each of us. After all, I
never saw a less prehensile crea-
ture in my life. You can’t call
106
those fingers of his ‘fingers.’ They
look like little boxes of bone, de.
signed for running around and
not much good for anything else.”
There was a murmur of other
voices and then the command of
the supervisor. “Go ahead.”
No one was prepared for what
happened next.
The cameraman got the
man middle of his
right in the
frame, showing the attachment of
one rope around the tiger-man’s
broad waist. The tiger-man was
a modified type whom the au-
thorities had not bothered to put
into human cosmetic form. He
still had his ears on top of his
head, yellow and black fur over
his face, huge incisors overlapping
his lower jaw and enormous an-
tenna-like whiskers sticking out
from his moustache. He must
have been thoroughly modified
inside, however, because his tem-
perament was calm, friendly and
even a little humorous; he must
have had a carefully re-done
mouth, because the utterance of
human speech came to him
ly and without distortion.
He jumped — a mighty jump,
right through the top edges of the
flame.
Thehorse saw him.
Thehorse jumpjed too, almost
in the same moment, also through
the top of the flame, going the
other way.
The horse had feared the tiger-
GALAXY
man more than he did the cliff.
The horse landed right in the
group of workers. He tried not to
hurt them with his flailing limbs,
but he did knock one man a —
true man, at that — off the cliff.
The man’s scream faded as he
crashed into the impenetrable
darkness below.
tiger-
The robots were quick. Having
no emotions except on, off, and
hi^h, they did not get excited.
They had the horse trussed and,
before the true men and under-
people had ensured their footing,
they had signaled the crane oper-
ator at the top of the cliff. The
horse, his four arms swinging
limply, disappeared upward.
The tiger-man jumped back
through the flames to the nearer
ledge. The picture went off.
In the viewing room, the He-
reditary Dictator Philip Vincent
stood up. He stretched, looking
around.
Genevieve looked at Casher
O’Neill expectantly.
“That’s the story,” said the Dic-
tator mildly. “Now you solve it.”
clear-
“Where is the horse now?” said
Casher O’Neill.
“In the hospital, of course.
niece can take you to see him.”
Ill
A FTER A short, painful
very thorough peeping of his
own mind by the Hereditary Dic-
ON THE GEM PLANET
tator,Casher O’Neill and Gene-
vieve set off for the hospital in
which the horse was being kept in
bed. The people of Pontoppidan
had not known what else to do
with him, so they had placed
him under strong sedation and
were trying to feed him with
sugar-water compounds going di-
rectly into his veins. Genevieve
told Casher that the horse was
wasting away.
They walked to the hospital
over amethyst pebbles.
Instead of wearing his space-
suit, Casher wore a surface hel-
met which enriched his oxygen.
His hosts had not counted on his
getting spells of uncontrollable
itching from the sharply reduced
atmospheric pressure. He did not
dare mention the matter, because
he was still hoping to get the
green ruby as a weapon in his
private war for the liberation of
Twelve Niles from the rule
the
of Colonel Wedder. Whenever the
itching became less than excruci-
ating, he enjoyed the walk and
company of the slight, beauti-
the
ful girl who accompanied him
across the fields of jewels to the
My hospital. (In later years, he some-
times wondered what might have
happened. Was the itching a part
of his destiny, which saved him
for the freedom of the city of
and Kaheer and the planet Mizzer?
Might not the innocent brilliant
loveliness of the girl have other-
107
 asked Casher O’Neill, turning trustee for me. But I have never
wise tempted him to forswear his justly and never allow anyone to
away from the animal. been allowed to touch it or to
duty and stay forever on Pontop- getaway with stealing.”
asked “Could I ask you, sir, a foolish spend it. It’s all just planet busi-
pidan? ) “What do you do?”
question first?” ness.”
The girl wore a new kind of Casher O’Neill.
cosmetic for outdoor walking — “We cut thieves up in space, Surprised, Casher could only
say yes. ly.
The
“Now
doctor blinked respectful-
this horse, sir, if you
the edge of the atmo-
a warm peachhued powder which just at
“You’re an O’Neill. Your uncle willpardon my asking about your
let the natural pink of her cheeks
sphere. We have more manned
is Kuraf. How do you happen to name, is a very strange case.
boats in orbit than any other
show through. Her eyes, he saw, be called ‘Casher’?” Physiologically he is a pure earth
were a living, deep gray; her eye- planet I know of. Maybe Old
North Australia has more, but, “That’s simple,” laughed Cash- type. He is suited only for a vege-
lashes, long; her smile, innocently
er. “This is my young-man-name. table diet, but otherwise he is a
provocative beyond all ordinary then, nobody ever gets close
On Mizzer, everybody gets a very close relative of man. He
belief. It wonder that
was a the enough to Old North Australia to
baby name, which nobody uses. has a single stomach and a
Hereditary Dictator had not had come back alive and tell.”
They went on into the hospital. Then he gets a nickname. Then very large cone-shaped heart.
to stop duels and murders be-
That’s where the trouble is. The
he gets a young-man-name, based
tween young men vying for her
on some characteristic or some heart is in bad condition. He is
favor.
They reached the hospi-
finally
A RESPECTFUL chief surgeon
on keeping them in
insisted
friendly joke, until he picks out
his career. When he enters his
dying.”
“Dying?” cried Genevieve.
tal, just as Casher O’Neill thought the office and entertaining them
with tea and confectionery, when
profession, he picks out his own “That’s the sad, horrible part,”
he could stand it no longer and career name. If I liberate Mizzer said the doctor. “He is dying but
would have to ask Genevieve for they both wanted to go see the
common politeness pro- and overthrow Colonel Wedder, he cannot die. He could go on
some kind of help or carriage to horse;
I’ll have to think up a suitable like this for many years. Perino
pushing through.
get indoors and away from the hibited their
career name for myself.” wasted enough stroon on this ani-
frightful itching. Finally they got past the cere-
“But why ‘Casher,’ sir?” per- mal to make a planet immortal.
The building was underground. mony and into the room in which
the horse was kept.
sisted the doctor. Now the animal is worn out but
The entrance was sumptuous. “When I was a little boy and cannot die.”
Diamonds and rubies, the size of Close up, they could see how
people asked me what I wanted, Casher O’Neill let out a long,
building-bricks on Mizzer, had much he had suffered. There were
I always asked for cash. I guess low, ululating whistle.Everybody
been set to frame the doorway, cuts and abrasures over almost
that contrasted with my uncle’s in room jumped. He disre-
the
which was apparently enameled all of his body. One of his hooves

steel. Kuraf at his most lavish had

— the doctor told them that was
wastefulness, so they called me
Casher.”
garded them. It was the whistle
he had used near the stables, back
never wasted money on anything the correct name, hoof, for the
“But what is cash? One of your among the Twelve Niles, when he
like this door-frame. Genevieve big middle fingernail on which he
saw his glance. walked —
was split; the doctor crops?”
It was Casher’s time to look
wanted
The
to call a horse.
horse knew it. The large
did cost a lot of credits. We
“It had put a cadmium-silver bar
through The horse lifted his amazed. “Cash is money. Paper head lifted. The eyes rolled at
had to bring a blind artist all the it.
credits. People pass them back him so imploringly that he ex-
way from Olympia to paint that head when they entered, but he
more and forth when they buy things.” pected tears to fall from them,
enamel-work. The poor man. He saw that they were just
“Here on Pontoppidan, all the even though he was pretty sure
spent most of his time trying to people, not horsey people, so he
money belongs to me. All of it,” that horses could not lachrymate.
steal extra gem-stones when he put his head down, very patiently.
said Genevieve. “My uncle is He squatted on the floor, close
should have known that we pay “What’s the prospect, doctor?”

108 GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 109

to the horse’s head, with a hand
on its mane.
“Quick,” he murmured to the
surgeon. “Gret me a piece of sugar
and an underperson-telepath. The
underperson-telepath must not be
of carnivorous origin.”
'HE doctor looked stupid. He
^1
snapped “Sugar” at an as-
sistant buthe squatted down next
to Casher O’Neill and said, “You
will have to repeat that about an
underp>erson. This is not an un-
derperson hospital at all. We
have very few of them here. The
horse is here only by command
of His Excellency Philip 'Vincent,
who said that the horse of Perino
should be given the best of all
possible care. He even told me,”
said the doctor, “that if anything
wrong happened to this horse, I
would ride patrol for it for the
next eighty years. So I’ll do what
I can. Do you find me too talka-
tive? Some people do. What kind
of an underperson do you want?”
“I need,” said Casher, very
calmly, “a telepathic underperson,
both to find out what this horse
wants and to tell the horse that I
am here to help him. Horses are
vegetarians and they do not like
meat-eaters. Do you have a vege-
tarian
hospital?”
underperson around the
“We used to have some squir-
rel-men,” said the chief surgeon,
“but when we changed the air
no
circulatingsystem the squirrel,
men went away with the old
equipment. I think they went to
a mine. We have tiger-men, cat-
men, and my secretary is a wolf.”
“Oh, no!” said Casher O’Neill.
“Can you imagine a sick horse
confiding in a wolf?”
“It’s no more than you are do-
ing,” said the surgeon, very softly,
glancing up to see if Genevieve
were in hearing range, and ap-
parently judging that she was not.
“The Hereditary Dictators here
sometimes cut suspicious guests
to pieces on their way off the
planet. That is, unless the guests
are licensed, regular traders. You
are not. You might be a spy,
planning to rob us. How do I
know? I wouldn’t give a diamond
chip for your chances of being
alive next week. What do you
want to do about the horse? That
might please the Dictator. And
you might live.”
Casher O’Neill was so
gered by the confidence of the
surgeon that he squatted there
thinking about himself, not about
the patient. The horse licked him,
seemingly sensing that he needed
solace.
The surgeon had an idea.
“Horses and dogs used to go to-
gether, didn’t they,
old days of
back
Manhome, when
in
the people lived on planet
Earth?”
“Of course,” said Casher. “We
GALAXY
still run them together in hunts
on Mizzer, but under these new
laws of the Instrumentality we’ve
run out of underpieople-criminals
to hunt.”
“I have a good dog,” said the
chief surgeon. “She talks pretty
well, but she is so sympathetic
that she upsets the patients by
loving them too much. I have her
down in the second underbase-
ment tending the dish-sterilizing
machinery.”
“Bring her up,” said Casher in
a whisper.
He remembered that he did
not need to whisper about this, so
he stood up and spoke to Gene-
vieve : old underwoman be happy when
“They have found a good dog-
telepath who may reach through
to the mind of the horse. It may
give us the answer.”
She put her hand on his fore-
arm gently, with the approbatory
gesture of a princess. Her fingers
stag-
dug into his flesh. Was she wish-
ing him well against her uncle’s
habitual treachery, or was this
merely the impulse of a kind
young girl who knew nothing of
the way the world was run?
IV
he interview went extremely
the
all
T well.
The dog-woman was almost
perfectly humaniform. She looked
like a tired, cheerful, worn-out
ON THE GEM PLANET
oldwoman, not valuable enough
to be given the life-prolonging
santaclara drug called stroon.
Work had been her life and she
had had plenty of it. Casher
'O’Neillfelt a twinge of envy
when he realized that happiness
goes by the petty chances of life
and not by the large destiny. This
dog-woman, with her haggard
face and her stringy gray hair,
had more love, happiness and
sympathy than Kuraf had found
with his pleasures. Colonel Wed-
der with his powers, or himself
with his crusade. Why did life do
that? Was there no justice, ever?
Why should a worn-out worthless
he was not?
“Never mind,” she said, “you’ll
get over it and then you will be
happy.”
“Over what?” he said. “I didn’t
say anything.”
“I’m not going to say it,” she
retorted, meaning that she was
telepathic. “You’re a prisoner of
yourself. Some day you will es-
cape to unimportance and happi-
ness. You’re a good man. You’re
trying to save yourself, but you
really like this horse.”
“Of course I do,” said Casher
O’Neill. “He’s a brave old horse,
climbing out of that hell to get
back to people.”
When he said the word hell her
eyes widened, but she said noth-
ing. In his mind, he saw the sign
111

of a fish scrawled on a dark wall
and he felt her think at him, So
you too know something of the
“dark wonderful knowledge”
which is not yet to be revealed to
all mankind?
He thought a cross back at her
and then turned his thinking to
the horse, lest their telepathy be
monitored and strange punish-
ments await them both.
She spoke in words, “Shall we
link?”
“Link,” he said.
Genevieve stepped up.
clear-cut,
was
pretty,
alightwith
sensitive
excitement.
— could
“Could I I be cut in?”
“Why not?” said the dog-
woman, glancing at him. He nod-
ded. The three of them linked
hands and then the dog-woman
put her left hand on the forehead
of the old horse.
^T^HE sand splashed beneath
their feet as they ran toward
Kaheer. The delicious pressure of
a man’s body was on their backs.
The red sky of Mizzer gleamed
over them. There came the shout:
“I’m a horse, I’m a horse, I’m
a horse!”
“You’re from Mizzer,” thought
Casher O’Neill, “from Kaheer
self!”
“I don’t know names,” thought
the horse, “but you’re from my
land. The land, the good land.”
“What are you doing here?”
112
“You’re a dog,” thought the bye, wanderer! Good luck to you,”
“Dying,” thought the horse.
horse. “Goo-oo-oo-ood dog!” she said to Casher O’Neill. “You
“Dying for hundreds and thou-
“Right,” thought the happy old will remain miserable as long as
sands of sundowns. The old one
slattern,“and I can tell these you seek justice, but when you
brought me. No riding, no run-
people how to take care of you. give up, righteousness will come
ning, no people. Just the old one
Sleep now, and when you waken to you and you will be happy.
and the small ground. I have been
you will be on the way to happi- Don’t worry. You’re young and
dying since I came here.”
ness.” it won’t hurt you to suffer a few
Casher O’Neill got a glimpse
She thought the command more years. Youth is an extreme-
of Perino sitting and watching the
sleep so powerfully at the old ly curable disease, isn’t it?”
horse, unconscious of the cruelty
horse Casher O’Neill and
that She gave them a full curtsey,
and loneliness which he had in-
Genevieve both started to fall un- like one Lady of the Instrumen-
flicted on his large pet by making
conscious and had to be caught tality saying good-by to another.
it immortal and then giving it no
by the hospital attendants. Her wrinkled old face was up
work to do. lit
As they re-gathered their wits, with smiles, in which happiness
Her “Do you know what dying is?”
she was finishing her commands was mixed with a tiniest bit of
Thought the horse promptly:
face
“Certainly. No-horse.”
to the surgeon. “ —
and put about playful mockery.
“Do you know what life is?”
40% supplementary oxygen into “Don’t mind me, boss,” she
the air. He’ll have to have a real said to the surgeon. “Dishes, here
“Yes. Being a horse.”
person to ride him, but some of I come.” She swept out of the
“I’m not a horse,” thought
your orbiting sentries would rath-
Casher O’Neill, “but I am alive.” room.
er ride a horse up there than do “See what I mean?” said the
“Don’t complicate things,”
thought the horse at him, though
nothing. You can’t repair the surgeon. “She’s so horribly happy!
Casher realized it was his own
heart. Don’t try it. Hypnosis will How can anyone run a hospital
take care of the sand of Mizzer. ifa dishwasher gets all over the
mind and not the horse’s which
Just load his mind with one or place, making people happy?
supplied the words.
two of the drama-cubes packed We’d be out of jobs. Her ideas
“Do you want to die?”
“To no-horse? Yes, if this room,
full of desert adventure. Now, were good, though.”
don’t you worry about me. I’m They were. They worked.
forever, is the end of things.”
“What would you like better?”
not going to claim any credit, and Down to the last letter of the
I’m not going to give you any
thought - Genevieve, and her dog-woman’s instructions.
more suggestions. People-man,
thoughts were like a cascade of
you!” she laughed. “You can for- ''HERE was argument from
newly-minted silver coins falling ^
I
give us dogs anything, except for the council. Casher O’Neill
into all their minds: brilliant,
being right. It makes you feel in- went along to see them in session.
it- clean, bright, innocent.
ferior for a few minutes. Never One councillor, Bashnack, was
The answer was quick: “Dirt
mind. I’m going back downstairs particularly vociferous in object-
beneath my hooves, and wet air
to my dishes. I love them, I real- ing to any action concerning the
again, and a man on my back.”
ly do. Good-by, you pretty thing,”
The dog-woman interrupted: horse. “Sire,” he cried, “sire! We
she said to Genevieve. “And good- don’t even know the name of the
“Dear horse, you know me?”
GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 113
 r

animal! I must protest this action, the Honorable Genevieve as much, now that he is away from work to be human and it’s work
when we don’t know — ”
Eventual Title-holder of all Pon- the ordeal of loneliness which he which must be kept up, or it be-
“That we don’t,’’ assented toppidan. You are not going to fearedmore than death. After all, gins to fade. Gentlemen, the horse

Philip Vincent. “But what does a away with this, sire! areWe he has already had his great tri- judges us.

name have do with it?”

to
get
helpless before your power, but umph —
the climb up the cliff “Take the word, gentlemen.
“The horse has no identity, not we on advising you
will insist ^
— of gems, the jump
across the vol- ‘Civilization’ is itself a lady’s
“Hear! Hear!” cried several of canic vent, the rescue by people word. There were female writers
even the identity of an animal.
It is just a pile of meat left over the councillors, not the least dis- whom he wanted to find. The in a country called France who
horse has done so well that he made that word popular in the
from the estate of Perino. We mayed by the slight frown of the
should kill the horse and eat the Hereditary Dictator. isreally beyond us. We
can help third century before space travel.
“I will take the word,” said him, a little, or we we can hurt To be ‘civilized’ meant for people
meat ourselves. Or, if we do not
him, a little; beside the immen- to be tame, to be kind, to be
want to eat the meat, then we Philip Vincent himself.
Several had had their hands sity of his accomplishment, we polished. If we we
should sell it off-planet. There kill this horse,

are plenty of peoples around here
who would pay a pretty price for
genuine earth meat. Pay no at-
tention to me, sire! You are the
Hereditary Dictator and I am
nothing. I have no power, no
property, nothing. I am at your
mercy. All I can tell you is to
follow your own best interests. I
have only a voice. You cannot
reproach me for using my voice
when I am trying to help you,
sire, can you? That’s all I am
doing, helping you. If
any credits at all on
animalthis
you will be doing wrong, wrong,
wrong. We are not a rich planet.
We have to pay for expensive de-
raised, asking for the floor. One cannot really do very much either are wild. If we treat the horse
obstinate man kept his hand up way. gently, we
are tame. Gentlemen,
even when the Dictator an- “No, gentlemen, we are not I have only one witness and that
judging the case of the horse. We witness will utter only one word.
nounced his intention to speak.
are judging space. What happens Then you
Philip Vincent took note of him, shall vote and vote
too: to man when
he moves out into freely.”
“You can talk when am the Big Nothing? Do we leave There was 9 murmur around
I
through, if you want to.” Old Earth behind? Why did civil- the table at this announcement.
He looked calmly around the ization fall? Will it fall again? Is Philip Vincent obviously enjoyed
civilization a gun or a blaster or the excitement he had created.
room, smiled imperceptibly at his
niece, gave Casher O’Neill the a laser or a rocket? Is it even a He let them murmur on for a
briefest of nods, and then an- pianoforming ship or a pinlighter minute two before he
full or
at his work? You know as well as
nounced: slapped the table gently and
“Gentlemen, it’s not the horse I do, gentlemen, that civilization said, “Gentlemen, the witness.
you spend
which is on trial. It’s Pontoppi- is not what we can do. If it had Are you ready?”
dan. It’swe who are trying our- been, there would have been no There was a murmur of as-
selves. And before whom are we fall of Ancient Man. Even in the sent. Bashnack tried to say, “It’s
gentlemen? Dark Ages they had a few fusion a question of public funds!”
trying ourselves, still

Each of us before that most bombs, they could make some but his neighbors shushed him.
fenses just in order to stay alive. is

courts, his own con- small guided missiles and they The became
We cannot even afford to pay awful of table quiet. All faces
can go science. even had weapons like the Kas- turned toward the Hereditary
for air that our children
kaskia Effect, which we have Dictator.
out and play. And you want to
spend money on a horse which 4i¥F WE kill that horse, gentle- never been able to rediscover. “Gentlemen, the testimony.
men, we will not be doing The Dark Ages weren’t dark be- Genevieve, is this what you your-
cannot even talk! I tell you, sire,
cause people lost techniques or me
this council is going to vote the horse a great wrong. He is an self told to say? Is civilization
against you, just to protect your old animal, and I do not think
science. They were dark because always a woman’s choice first, and
people lost people. a lot of only later a man’s?”
own interests and the interests of that he will mind dying very It’s

114 GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 115

 “Yes,” said Genevieve, with a US to pieces before we got out.” catch it. I think I did myself, a fate to grow and to triumph. I
happy, open smile. He held her hands and looked little.” know it. I am good at these things.

The meeting broke up amid gently down into her face. At this “I understand you,” said
think I Ihave given you your weapon. I
laughter and applause. moment he did not feel the fierce, Genevieve softly. “Casher, good- am not tricking you. It is packed
aggressive, happy glow which an by and good, good luck to you. safely and you may leave with
V able young man feels in the pres- Hdy uncle exp>ects us.” it.”

ence of a beautiful and tender Together they went back into Casher O’Neill was breathing
L month later Casher O’Neill young woman. He felt something the palace. softly, believing it all, and trying
sat in a room in a medium- much stranger, softer, quieter — to think of words to thank the
size pianoforming liner.
were out of reach of Pontoppidan.
They an emotion very sweet to the
mind and restful to the nerves. It Another memory was
farewell to Philip Vincent,
the stout,powerful older man when
the dictator added. With a little
The Hereditary Dictator had not was the simple, clear compassion the Hereditary Dictator of Pon- laugh in his voice:
changed his mind and cut him of one person for another. He toppidan. The calm, clean-shaven, “Thank you, too, for saving me
down with green beams. Casher took a chance for her sake, be- ruddy, well-fleshed face looked at money. You’ve lived up to your
had strange memories, not bad cause the “dark knowledge” was him with benign regard. Casher name, Casher.”
ones for a young man. wonderful but very dangerous in O’Neill felt more respect for this “Saved you money?”
He remembered Genevieve the wrong hands. man when he realized that ruth- “The alfalfa. The horse wanted
weeping in the garden. He took both her beautiful lit- lessness often the price of
is alfalfa.”

“I’m romantic,” she cried, and tle hands in hers, so that she peace, and vigilance the price of “Oh, that idea!” said Casher
wiped her eyes on the sleeve of looked up at him and realized wealth. O’Neill. “It was obvious. I don’t

his cape. “Legally I’m the owner that he was not going to kiss her. “You’re a clever young man. A deserve much credit for that.”
of this planet, rich, powerful, free. Something about his stance made very clever young man. You may “I didn’t think of it,” said the
But I can’t leave here. I’m too her realize that she was being win back the power of your uncle Hereditary Dictator, “and my
important. I can’t marry whom I offered a more precious gift than Kuraf.” staff didn’t either. We’re not
want to marry. I’m too important. a sky-lit romantic kiss in a gar- “I don’t want that power!” stupid. That shows you are bright.

My uncle can’t do what he wants den. Besides, it was just touching cried Casher O’Neill. You realized that Perino must

to do —he’s Hereditary Dictator helmets. have advice for you,” said

and he always must do what the
He said to her, with passion
“I
Hereditary Dictator, “and it
have had a food converter to
keep the horse alive in the Hippy
the

Council decides after weeks of and kindness in his voice; .

is good advice or I would not be Dipsy. All we did was set it to
chatter. I can’t love you. You’re “You remember that dog- here to give it. I have learned the alfalfaand we saved ourselves
I"
a prince and a wanderer, with woman, the one who works with political arts well: otherwise I the cost of a shipload of horse
would not be alive. Do not refuse
I

travels and battles and justice the dishes in the hospital?” food twice a year. We’re glad to
and strange things ahead of you. “Of course. She was good and power. Just take it and use it save that credit. We’re well off
I can’t go. I’m too important. I’m bright and happy, and helped us wisely. Do not hide from your here, but we don’t like to waste
You may bow to me now,
I

too sweet! I’m too nice; I hate, all.” wicked uncle’s name. Obliterate things.
1

hate, hate myself sometimes. “Go work with her, now and it. Take the name yourself and and leave.”

Please, Casher, could you take a then. Ask her nothing. Tell her rule so well that, in a few decades, Casher O’Neill had done so,
flier and run away with me into nothing. Just work with her at no one will remember your uncle. with one last glance at the lovely
space?” her machines. Tell her I said so. Just you. You are young. You Genevieve, standing fragile and
“Your uncle’s lasers could cut Happiness is catching. You might can’t win now. But it is in your beautiful beside her uncle’s chair.

116 GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 117

TTIS LAST memory was very long lines of the Twelve Niles
recent. converged in the distance. He
He had paid two hundred galloped steadily and powerfully.
thousand credits for it, right on There were other horses nearby,
this liner. He had found the Stop- other riders, other things, but he
Captain, bored now that the ship himself was conscious only of the
was in flight and the Go-Captain beat of the hooves against the
had taken over. strong moist sand, the firmness of
“Can you get me a telepathic the appreciative rider upon his
fix on a horse?” back. Dimly, as in a hallucination,
“What’s a horse?” said the Go- Casher O’Neill could also see the
Captain. “Where is it? Do you little orbital ship in which the

want to pay for it?” old horse cantered in mid-air,

with an amused cadet sitting on
“A horse,” said Casher O’Neill
his back. Up there, with no
patiently, “is an unmodified earth
weight, the old worn-out heart
animal. Not underpeople. A big
one, but quite intelligent. This
would be good for many, many
years. Then he saw the horse’s
one is in orbit right around Pon-
And pay the usu- paradise again. The flash of
toppidan. I will
hooves threatened to overtake
al price.”
him, but he outran them all.
“A million Earth
the Stop-Captain.
“Ridiculous!” cried
credits,” said

O’Neill.
They settled on two hvmdred
thousand credits for a good fix
and ten thousand for the use of
the ship’s equipment even if there
were failure. It was not a failure.
The technician was a snake-man:
he was deft, cool, and superb at
his job. In only a few minutes he
passed the headset to Casher
O’Neill, saying politely, “This
it, I think.”
It was. He had
into the horse’s mind.
The endless sands of Mizzer
swam before Casher O’Neill. The
Casher
There was the expectation
stable at the end, a rubdown,
good succulent green food, and
of a
5 Star Shelf
the glimpse of a filly in the morn-
ing. t’DGAR RICE Burroughs bulks the beloved fairy tales, even from
too large in the fantasy-ad- the vantage point of our present
The horse of Pontoppidan felt
venture Hall of Fame to be read- pinnacle of scientific knowledge.
extremely wise. He had trusted
people — people, the source of ily crammed into the limited
space of a single column such as
Somehow, despite his frequently
embarrassing awkwardness of
all kindness, all cruelty, all power
among And
the people
the stars. this, especially since, after a hia- style and the quaintness of his
tus of a score of years, an -as- scientific background. Burroughs
had been good. The horse felt
tonishing number of publishers can still, to employ that over-
very much horse again. Casher
are eager to gamble good money worked phrase, evoke a “Sense
felt the oldbody course along the
is on the ability of his thundering of Wonder”.
river’s edge like a dream of
adventures to woo the blase While Ace Books continues its
power, like a completion of ser-
reached right youth of today. So here is a sec- policy of reissuing the old novels
vice, like an ultimate fulfilment
ond roundup of the Master. two per month in paperback, sev-
of companionship.
If the truth be known, I found eral other publishers have joined
— CORDWAINER SMITH it a most pleasant chore to reread them on the Burroughs band-

118 GALAXY SHELF 119

wagon. The most ambitious of THE LAND THAT TIME FOR. but contains sheer, headlong ad- was a wise one. The Arabian
these is Canaveral Press. They GOT. Canaveral Press. venture that is unusual even for Nights are corking good adven-
have already released eleven Canaveral is the only publisher an §RB thriller. ture stories in their own right.
hardcovers: four Pellucidar so far to reissuewhat must be
books, a couple of Martian novels considered the most noteworthy A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS. THE MONSTER MEN. Both
and a couple of the memorable of Burroughs’s singles. Both Canaveral Press and Ace Canaveral Press and Ace Books.
single shots: The Land That Time Because Burroughs wrote when Books. CANAVERAL AND Ace have
Forgot, The Cave Girl, The Mon- many areas of the world map re- TO A marked degree, it ap- both reissued the above with
ster Men and the first of the mained blank, he was always on pears as if Burroughs patterned Ace having an edge both in price
Venusian novels, Pirates of Ve- the lookout for an exotic, un- many of his stories after the and in artwork. The Canaveral
nus. known region in which to base a Arabian Nights. There are simi- editors exercised poor judgment
Thuvia, Maid of Mars, The story. Caprona, the mythical con- lar exotic environments, almost in their choice of Mahlon Blaine
Chessmen Mars and The Mas-
of tinent of compass-deflecting met- identical social structures, polyg- as illustrator for several of their
ter Mind of Mars —
fourth, fifth al that the eighteenth century amy (practiced only by the bad books. His delicate, unearthly
and sixth in the Martian series Italian navigator, Caproni, re- guys, of course); slavery is nor- pictures are eminently suited for
— all in a fine paperback vol-
are ported as lying deep in South mal, and precious jewels and gor- stories such as those of H. P.
ume issued by Dover Publica- Pacific waters, was a natural for geous silks and tapestries are Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith or
tions. It is surprising that Dover his choice of a locale in which to flaunted before the imaginative James Branch Cabell but not for
elected to start the series in the plant the seed of an intriguing eye of the reader. the muscular fantasy of Bur-
middle but, since only the first mystery. Also, Burroughs’s scientific roughs. There are rumors, how-
three, or John Carter, stories are Burroughs’s huge island, pro- marvels are seldom woven into ever, that these illustrations are
sequential, nothing is lost. The tected from external weather by the fabric of his cultures, as is to be redone by Frank Frazetta,
Dover editors also showed wis- high sheer cliffs, duplicates eons the way
with modern science fic- who, ironically, illustrated the
dom in including most of the orig- of evolution by geographical tion,but are exploited for their Ace edition of Monster Men and
inal artwork by J. Allen St. John, means. The low, steamy atmos- semi-magical shock value ... in who captures the essence of the
who was a whiz at depicting Bur- phere of the south is analogous much the same manner that the stories to far greater degree.
roughs’s muscular men, chaste to that of the reptilian eras and, powers of the Jinn were em- Although this book suffers from
and voluptuous women and mon- as the land gradually rises to the ployed to twist a plot in extra- some of Burroughs’s worst writing,
strous monsters. north, flora and fauna rise cor- ordinary fashion. there a lot of excitement
is still
A
surprise entry in the Bur- respondingly on the evolutionary The Burroughs stories abound in his tale of a subman who dis-
roughs Stakes is Ballantine scale. ERB utilizes this back- in abductions, and Fighting Man covers that he is really a super-
Books, who have announced their ground for a startling concept is no exception. Hadron of Has- man.
intention to reissue the entire His island humans evolve outside tor pursues the (polygamous) vil-
Martian series, one volume per the womb, traversing the island lains back to Jahar, a country TARZAN AT THE EARTH’S
month. Since there are ten books from south to north and rising whose cowardly ruler schemes to CORE. Ace Books, Dover Pub-
in the series,they will obviously from tadpole to full human es- conquer all of Barsoom through lications, Canaveral Press.
be well occupied for most of a tate. the (semi-magical) twin inven- DAVID INNES, Emperor of
year further plans depending
. . . The novel, one of the author’s tionsof the paint of invisibility Pellucidar, immured in the dun-
upon the degree of acceptance by longest, was written in the fiercely and the ray of disintegration. geons of Korsar, is in deep
their paying public. chauvinistic atmosphere of WW I Burroughs’s choice of a model trouble (no pun intended) and

120 GALAXY SHELF 121

Tarzan is summoned to the res-
cue. The relief expedition that he
isasked to join has constructed a
giant rigid dirigible of an ex-
tremely light and strong metal
that Tarzan had conveniently dis-
covered in some lost mines,
strong enough to contain a vac-
uum.
T.A.T.E.C. was written shortly
after the Italian dirigible, Norge,
had safely negotiated a passage
over the North Pole in the 1920’s
and at a time when rigid lighter-
than-air ships appeared to hold
the key to massive commercial
and military conquest of the air.
For convenience, and also to
exploit the contemporary lack of
contrariwise proof. Burroughs en-
visioned a polar opening through
which to insert his favorite hero
into the mixed-up ecology of the
inner world. The gigantic rep-
tilianand mammalian carnivores
of Pellucidar are far more suit-
able adversaries for Tarzan than
the badly overmatched denizens
of our modern jungles.
Burroughs, incidentally, ad-
vances the interesting theory, as
good as any, that the giant car-
nivores might have been the
THE CAVE GIRL. Canaveral Burroughs turned to Venus for
Press. inspiration after he had pretty Found at last! A
BURROUGHS MUST have writ- well exhausted the melodramatic famous "lost' book
ten this story with tongue in potential of Mars. His hero. Car-
cheek. He casts away his hero, a son Napier, out-did “Wrong-Way
by the master of
Bostonian with the unlikely name Corrigan” by a considerable science fiction . .
of Waldo Emerson Smith-Jones, stretch both in time and error by
on a tiny, unchartfed South Pa- aiming for Mars and reaching
cific island to face primitive cave- Venus. Despite his usual pen- DR. OX’S
people and a wild environment chant for coincidence and gratui-
more suited to the specialized tal-
ents of Tarzan.
tously fortuitous happenstances EXPERIMENT
(whew!), his power of invention by Jules Verne
Smith-Jones fumbles his way, in the realm of pure adventure
successfully of course, through a remains keen throughout the Available again after almost a hun-
Burroughs dred years— the astonishing story of
typical adventure Venusian series.
Dr. Ox’s mass experiment to prove
yarn, which is sufficient reason In addition to the above, Dover his unique theory: that oxygen is
for the ardent Burroughs fan to also plan to bring out coupled the prime source
have made this one of the scarcest volumes of other titles. of virtue, wit,
of collector’s items during recent Ballantine, of all the involved courage, talent,
and imagination!
dearth of Burroughs books. publishers, is releasing its vol-
umes in sequence, starting with A true science fic-
tion “find,” de-
PIRATES OF VENUS. Dover A Princess of Mars, the first in
signed in a de-
Publications, Canaveral Press, the series, and also the first Bur- lightfully unusual
Ace Books. roughs novel ever to be published format.
THREE PUBLISHERS have (he used the pseudonym, Norman Ulus, by William
all taken a crack at this Bur- Bean), and following it with The Pene du Bois. In-
roughs classic. Ace, in paperback, Gods of Mars, etc. tro. by Willy Ley.
Epilogue by Hu-
is of course the bargain of the It is surprising how the wheel
bertus Strughold.
lot. The hardcover edition, with has suddenly turned, thrusting Order your first
the powerful advantage of origi- Burroughs back into prominence edition copy!
nal illustrations by J. Allen St. after two decades of obscurity. He
John, is by Canaveral, while wrote a total of twenty-four Tar- THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Dover has coupled it with Lost zan books, ten Martian, four Ve- Dept. 420, Riverside, New Jersey

agents of their own destruction on Venus as a quality paperback nusian and five Pellucidarian Please send DR. OX’S EXPERIMENT
(62181) for free examination. After 10
on the outer crust by developing edition. The latter I haven’t yet novels, as well as a large number days 1 may return it and pay nothing. If
I keep it I will remit $3.95 plus shipping.
intelligence of high enough order seen, but Dover assures me that of single titles. It remains to be
Name
to enable them to hunt coopera- it is as well executed as its Three seen whether this huge legacy
Address
tively in concert, hastening the Martian Novels and will also con- of adventure will be allowed to
City/Zone State
extinction of their natural prey tain a selection of the original die for a second, and possibly
and themselves. St. John illustrations. final time. — FLOYD C. GALE SAVE SHIPPING!
coupon and
Enclose $3.95 with
WE pay all postage and han-
dling costs. Same free examination with

122 GALAXY SHELF

refund if not pleased.
 Those crazy kids
A DAY ON CHANDLER ELLIOTT

the roads
their parents!
— almost as bad DEATH HIGHWAY
I front seat with him, bucking this hicle. I can do nothing further
frame-up. He’s, so get-off-the-road, for you.”
Sept. 11, 1987
and he wasn’t letting this old “Appeal! Fix it! I can pay.”
(Earth time)
shyster pass him. He said non- And he sure can.
WANT a record of this to go chalant, “Look, Mr. Craik. I’m re- The old moke tightened his
r with the stereos I took. I’ve taining you to tight this biased, mouth: “I infer you made the

been in history! So I’ve snake-

vindictive judgement, not lecture money by methods tomatch your
hipped the dicto-type for “home-
me on it, to protect my rights.” driving record, not by grasp of
Craik mugged: “That assumes essentials. I’ll try again. This bi-
work.”
get o'ff the mark at this law- you’ve left me some rights to pro- ased, vindictive judgement was
I’ll

yer’s was there to get

office. I
tect, Mr. Blaire. You haven’t. handed down by the highest court
shown my Pop was a dust-eater. You permanently debarred
are your case can reach. Can you
from operation of any power ve- grasp that?”
Wotta laff! I was right up in the

GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 125

124

Pop came right back
great sportsfan he is, “Well, we
can contest those two-bit charges
I hadn’t time to fight when they
were made. I know they can’t de-
bar me finally on imcontested
stuff.”
The old guy looped down his
eyelids: “If you’d ever bothered
to appear in court yourself, or
even read the transcripts, you
would also know that all charges
lems.” Obviously he was including bungalows because kids
all live in
like the So, yes, my budding Big Shot,
his own. downstairs. An 5rway, LLL got
fall
he does. On triple probation, he
I p>erked up. Translation, a loud boff and lost all its de-
drove with such dashing irresp)on-
switch to a parallel time, might posits. Only Green kept squawk-
sibility that he sheared off three
guard-posts and barely
be good. ing about how hiway deaths
steel
Pop said, “That costs a for-
missed a group of children. He’ll
jumped from 87,000 in ’76, to
tune.” 116,000 in ’78; and he signed up
take what anyone calls him, and
Craik shrugged again: “It relatives and friends of “victims,”
thank them it wasn’t worse.” He
might cost less than your daunt- and soreheads who’d got bunged
swung back at Pop. “I took your
less career here.I’ll send my ac- up and couldn’t be sports about
case to pay off a favor to Sam
count.” He froze us out like trash. it, and natural-bom cranks and
Hardy. I consider I’ve paid in
And
the case is closed.”
scaredy-pants. You wouldn’t
full. C

have been contested. Apparently

you’ve been so cotton-wooled by
Pop kept
Mom took over:
a manly silence.
“But, Mr. Craik,
This ity, I
i
record being for poster-
better give the true facts
think people would vote to get
themselves traffic tickets. But in
which are already being sup- ’78, LLL won seats in Congress,
insurance and connections and how can my husband do business
pressed. Because I’ve boned up and more in ’80.
smart lawyers, you think you can without a car? A Plutomat repre-
sentative can’t walk up to a pros-
on them. So we stopped laughing and
brush off even child-murder.”
So, this LLL pest started in fought back. We sued a paper for
Pop bounced up, ready to pect’s door like a peddler. This
the Golden Age of Go. A
’75, a cartoon of Smurge with his
ditch themoke: “Why, you
”
. . . ! destroys my family’s livelihood.”
“Your husband should have bunch called the Regular Guys arms around a goony driver and
“Your failure was no thanks to
Mrs. had gotten the laws modemated a skeleton, saying, “My Buddies!”
you. Would you have to kill chil-
dren in actual fact to sober you?
considered
Blaire.”
that sooner,
— “safe and reasonable speed,” And the court ratted on us, and
nationwide. They backed Bucky upheld disgusting photos of
The commimity is not minded to My rad just boiled to hear her ^ it

who’d been framed in a crashes and libels that said more

let you try the experiment. This having to take the old honk-honk ^ Kooznik
speed-trap, and won in Supreme than “the car went out of con-
isn’t 1975, you know.” from minions of the law. I’ve
Court. They backed Senator trol.” So drivers got nervous and
never been much on girls because
I’d
The two-timing
been told to keep
old right-laner!
my muffler Mom is my ideal, and only my
Smurge for Vice President the — the “toll” climbed on.
prince who got a national speed Then, in ’84,. Green got in, and
cut, but there’s times when you young sister Judy comes in that
custom model. And I was just a law laughed into the wreckers by showed what a fanatic at the
surge or burst. I surged, “And
tacking on an amendment to wheel will do. Laws, laws, laws.
don’t we ever get to score? A skinny Teener, helpless to defend
bunch of mokes get him in a jam, the family honor. But I sneaked make the limit ninety and got — We said “They can’t arrest every-
a squeeze of her hand. him in. body.” Oh, no? Fines, confisca-
and a fresh cop calls us Flight of
the Stumblebum —
because we Pop said grimly, “Then these Well,
party, the Life
this low-octane
and Limb League
third tions, jail for thousands of
spectable people. And a Gestapo
re-

have a yellow ’n’ black zoom. fanatics have ruined me. I have
(Lily-Livered Limks, we called of Lily-white drivers’d sp)ot you
Does my Pop have to take that no place to go in this so-called
them) tried to buck the traffic. using the old elbow or boomin’
gravel?” Free World.”
Their candidate. Bob Green, had the amber, and you’d get a stink-
Craik looked at me like I was Craik shrugged: “Then find a
had a kid killed and had sort of ing card that you’d lost points.
a parking ticket. ‘Well, I suppose Parallel that will take you, and
blown his tires. Well, sure, like Twenty-five peints got you a fine
a lad should be loyal to his fath- get Translated, Mr. Blaire. That
Pop says, it’s too bad but we can’t and a goo-talk about “mental at-
er. Pity it’s not in a better cause. would solye everybody’s prob-

GALAXY DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY

126
t A 127
titudes”. Blah! What about guts guage) after some old prophet. off on this Jehu place himself the Vj^OTTA zump! Fifty light-
and skill and all that? Anyway, Plutomat’s granted me other day.” years? Gimme a yippee-cart
Well, we figured there’d soon planetary franchise. Izzat good or “Huh!” I thought. “7 wouldn’t on Thrill-Hill! No stars streaking
be enough people sore to give us is it?
trust that pussy-schnook much.” past, no roar, no icy chill. Just a
a comeback. So LLL claimed “And tape this, keeds! That But Pop took off with his rub- j utter in your gizzard and there

they’d saved 30,000 lives in ’85.
So what the heck, it wouldn’t
have been you anyway. But there
aren’t many real fighters like Pop,
and the Old Cause was driven to
the curb.
P had to drive home
humble because if they
caught him now, they’d jail him,
him, a free citizen. But he was
looking stern and unbowed, like
a guerrilla hero in Tri-Di.
So presently I said, “Pop, let’s
planet’s set up for adults. They’re
drivin’ fools, wonderful
most powerful zooms anywhere,
and, get this, nary a traffic law or
a traffic court on the planet.”
Judy puzzled: “But, Daddy
they must have some laws, like
real which side you drive on .” . .
Pop’s always indulged Judy.
“Well, honey, that’s rules; and
anyone with sense knows when
rules do and don’t matter. Like if
I drive on the left on an empty
street, whose business is it? See,
ber scorchin’: Plutomat contract.
roads, Translation permit, appointment
with the movers. The skids and
zees in my gang were cynical;
but I knew I’d get my own back,
and I just sat tight and soaked
up Jehuan by hypnophone.
Came The Day. A crew put up
a frame around our lot, higher
than the house, and into the
ground. I asked the foreman if it
marked out the block that was
going to be swapped with a block
of Jehu.
you were on a street like the old
one with the houses shuffled.
Even the crew to take down the
frame looked the same. But not
the guy who was there to wel-
come us; he had a lah-de-dah
coat with wide skirts and lace
like in Abe Washington’s time,
but he was a big, hard-looking
zow like a zoom-bike cop. His
zoom was a weirdy, too. Whee
enough like an import job and
done in this novelty one-tone fin-
ish, but no jem-krust trim, no

do it!” Judy, put deadheads off the road, “You aren’t as dumb as you swordfish roof-crest, no flared
Mogi chimed in, “Yes, Gail, if leave things to skill and experi- look, kid,” “which must
he said, bumpers; it wouldn’t have helped
you can’t work here, let’s at least ence and you’re safe. Their acci- be a consolation to your folks. eggo much. The only real
ask about it.” Mom’s real practi- dent-rate’s just about nil natu- — That’s what it does.” decoration was a leaping red ti-

cal under the hood. rally.” “Thanx,” I said and strolled ger on all panels. He said he was
Judy was keen too. At four- “Well, it sounds funny to me. off. Gee, I hate a fresh guy! to be our Patron, name of Thran-
teen, in Ye Good Olde Daze, You be careful.” Mom said. Sure, a butterfly-collector gar Glash.
she’d have been a zee already. “You been skull-scrubbed by could have had a field-day in my I gave him the old Hi-de-ho
Now, she’d have to wait two Triple-L, keed? You never come stomach, when the fresh foreman and he froze my fuel-line. But
years. out front unless you muscle into called all his gang out and began when Mom and Judy came out,

So Pop got into passing gear.
And just a week later he came
home with his hat cocked and his
heels clicking, and summoned us
all to the tridiroom. “Well, keeds,”
he said, “they sure picked on the
wrong man when they picked on
ol’ Buck Blaire.
openings, like fast That’s the se- countdown. Mom
and Judy were he swooned them with his bow-
cret of all big operators Cesar, — too bunny to come out, but Pop ingand oil-pressure. And when
Napoleon, Buck Blaire — split-sec- and I stood on the steps. I felt
revved up, then, like beating an-
Mom was disappointed at the
ond We’ve gotta take
decisions. view, he explained, “This is just
off in a cloud of clamshells, and other zoom around a curve, and the Terran suburb. Madam.
we can’t wait for a lecture course. at Minus Five I called to all the When I have advised you all on
But you can vote on it. Now. All skids in the crowd watching, our, ah, driving customs, you can
Biggest favor in favor of saying Nay, say Aye. “Here go the Regulars. We will the main city.”
visit

anyone ever did us. It seems Nobody? Carried! Oh, by the Return!” like that historical guy Pop scowled: “I was told you
world called Jehu (some
there’s a way, old Craik ain’t such a bad on tri-di. Pop just stood stern and drove by common sense.”
crackjaw gibberish in their lan- old moke after all. He tipped me unbowed. Glash gave him a lopsided

128 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 129

look: “True. But common sense somebody weaker or when an in- Pop scowled.He always says, going to rattle even me into
differs in different places, sir. nocent guy was killed or disabled. freedom oughta be free- fender-denting. It’s a good thing
the first
Shall we go in?” A woman bashed a man’s zoom,
dom from preach. Then he hit our Thunderbolt Twelve can ac-
So we did, and Pal Patron she fought. Fair enough. Like pal celerate out of anything these
back: “O-kay! Anything you jok-
Glash gave us the route-map. Thrangar said, “We’re all equal, lunks can mess up.”
ers can do, I can pass you.”
And had been mucho right
I eh? Well, there’s no chivalry be- “Ahh, you’ve been skull-
And I felt proud again.
about old Schnooks Craik! tween equals, only courtesy.” “True sporting spirit, sir. So, scrubbed by Triple-L. Let ’em
Sure, they had no traffic laws And you didn’t play up you
study our code and our manners
if try.”
or cops, no penalty points, no were outlaw and they’d ram you
in practice. Get your whippet and As for us, this town’s got noth-
fines, no nothing. Sure! Only just or run you off the road and you
join a school of arms. Then I’ll ing for Teeners. Whippet-school
this: If you merely annoyed an- had no comeback. All tied up introduce you to our Arena.” And could be fun. Whippets are like
other driver, much less bent his tighter ’n a sales contract.
he flourished himself out. a yippee-cart with a saddle in-
tin, he could challenge you to Finally Pop said, “I’ve been stead of a seat, to give you free
Back in the hall. Pop said
fight him. They fought in a pub- framed. I was lied into this.” action; not real fast because you
“Hullo!” and picked up a letter
“Really, sir? Our embassy pro-
lic arena, on a sort of yippee-cart
that must have come before we fight in a half-mile arena, but
called a whippet, with sort of vided no literature?” they turn like squirrels. But the
left Earth. Inside was a sheet of
You wore leather ar- Well, who reads literature? teacher red-lights any fun. He
bull-whips. letterhead, “Craik, Creak, Croak
mor, only the defender got less The real dope they’ll shove in and Crock,” and on it, in quotes: has moustaches like wind-swept
and darn little if he’d hurt or your face. Pop always says. And “When insolence outruneth fenders, and he’s worse than the
“ they hadn’t. So it was same as
killed someone. ‘Course,” Glash law, men customarily arm them- horn-yappers : “Do that over,
drawled, “even for blood-guilt, lying. Huh? selves to chastise offense on the young fool. Recover, recover,
the limit’s twenty minutes, and Pop said, “I was told this was your face opened. With
body of the offender. As the prov- you’ll get
sometimes a dashing player a free society.” No courtesy sans valor.” little-stuff brains don’t try to be
erb saith:
comes off with his life.” “My dear Blaire, a society is
Leon da Milhao. big stuff.” Spoils your nerve. I’m
“His 1-life?” Mom
said. “With free only to choose its rules. An The old speed-trap! He was beginning to catch on. Mom’s
whips?” aggressive race like yours, or But we’ll show slower, and she won’t drive on
giving us the razz.
“Oh, a very spirited weapon, mine, craves to domineer. You’ve the street nohow, even with the
him.
ma’am. I’ve dueled little, having got to control that itch from run-
been bred to courtesy but ” he
— ning wild in millions of free spir-
novice plates. Judy’s real sharp,
but Mom
won’t let her out either,
touched his cheek, which was in spite of her having natural-
all scarred
— left
“one keeps in prac-
its.”

“Yeh-yeh, sure. By common

II
born driving rights here.
tice with one-cheek affairs, in case sense. Now me . .
.”
Oct. 3, 1987 But Pop’s a wham, a natural.
one becomes seriously involved.”
So he gave us the layout, and
they had it set up like some game.
“Ah,
too, I trust.
yours,
But
you’ve just three systems that
naturally.
—everyone’s? No,
Mine
W ELL, we’ve started. At first
Pop was sore all the time,
like he was stuck behind a squad-
After lesson 3, he came striding
out: “See me clip the pro, keeds?
I think I’m gonna like this.”
Kids, gals, old gaffers, if you work: Public law, which irked “You’ll feel different if you
car. At dinner he’d burst out,
drove you were liable. No subs, you; posse law to hunt down
not for wives or kids or sweeties. pests which
—
” he flicked an eye-
“Ahhh, what yokels! Yap-yap with were risking a real cut, Gail.”

Only a Court of Honor appointed

one if a bully had fixed a fight on
—
brow “irked you even more; or
the horns every move you make,
yap-yap. Back-seat driving from
“Nyahhh! Steady nerve and ed-
ucated reflexes, that’s real safe-
a code of honor.”
other people’s back seats it’s — ty.”

130 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 131

 Well, on the way home, there’s
this traffic signaldown past our
house. You don’t have to stop,
just yield right-of-way which Pop
says makes sense, though the
other zoom’s gotta be half across
Pop to yield, but Jehuans
for
treat them real bunny. So, this
native zoom ahead of us dragged
down slow to make the corner
just as it changed, like mokes do.
Well, we should linger while he
played games? Pop whipped the
Stumblebum past and across the
guy’s front into our drive, spray-
in’ gravel, and pulled the foam-
ing steeds to their haunches. Ye
Olde High Style!
So here comes this Jehuan
stalking across the lawn, a skin-
ny guy in floppy green. He makes
a bow to Mom and Ju and a
stiff inch to Pop: “Sir, you drive
with novice plates.”
“A blind cop could see that.”
Pop said, “What about it?”
“Just this, sir. When you can
no longer hide behind them, you
will put your hog’s elbow in my
face again, and I will bleed your
insolence. I will watch for you,
believe me.”
“Don’t bother,” Pop said. “Gim-
me your address, and I’ll drive
up and down your block till you
come out —
if you do.”
So the guy gave him a card
and bowed himself off. Pop
looked after him, jingling his
pockets. “He’ll do to start on.”
132
tT^HEN Glash took us to the
Arena, in his zoom. I’ll say
this for Jehuans, when they go,
they Go; so when they do tangle,
it’s a dilly. We went down the
main drag in a stream of zooms
at sixty steady, with Glash giving
exhaust about the average being
twice the speed in any Earth
city, and how he never needed
to use his brakes. Sure, but in
two blocks I was antsy-pantsy
with that old bull-man urge-to-
surge, while Glash defaulted
chance after chance to Score.
So, out where you’d expect a
ball-park, was this Arena
Colossus of Rome. It wasn’t a
tenth full, but two guys were
looping and lashing, like at the
school only more exciting be-
cause they had open left cheeks.
But neither scored, and another
pair took over.
Glash looked bored and
interest too after five of these
quickies and only one guy cut.
But people kept trickling in, and
Glash said, “Ah! About time for
the main event. This high-ridin’
ass, y’know, ran down a child on
a back street. City’s been debatin’
how much leather he should get
for challenger’sparental negli-
gence. I hearonly a collar.
it’s
Minimum. A cut to the larynx
or big neck vessels ends a bout
without a sportin’ chance.”
Pop said real cool, “Well, what
chance does that give him?
GALAXY
“Say fifty to one. Challenger’s
a tough whip and deadly angry.”
Mom and Ju looked green.
They’ve stopped more than once
to view a crash but maybe they
figured deliberate gore was some-
thing else.
Mom said, “Well, I don’t think
the little should see this.”
girl
Glash made a fish-mouth: “I
cannot agree, madam. If a child
isn’t blooded young, it’ll play the
fool in emergencies.”
Just then, a referee came out
on a platform halfway down the
arena and the duellers appeared
like the at opposite ends with their sec-
onds and doctors, which they
have for serious fights.
People were piling in till
wasn’t standing room.
Myheart was going bu-bop
bu-bop.
Glash drawled, “Ha! They’ve
I lost made challenger bare his right
arm. That narrows the odds
somewhat. This should be a nota-
ble Drive.”
Yehr, and he’d fixed to have
us see the execution. Thanx!
Came a pistol-shot that yanked
the props out from my stomach.
The crowd gasped “Off!”
not a peep —
you could be
challenged yourself for a disturb-
ance. You could hear the motors
snarl, even the sand grunt at
swerves.
They didn’t come right in, like
in spite-fights. Defender swung
A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY
wide and then, when challenger
closed, whipped behind him on
two wheels and zipped down the
arena. And they kept on swing-
in’er big and snappin’er tight till
I began to think defender would
make it. Then a look at the big
arena clock showed only six min-
utes gone.
Challenger had lashed twice
and missed. Then, before I knew
it, he did a skid-curve and nicked
defender’s shoulder. Not much,
but the guy began to bleed, lost
his nerve and got two more in
two minutes.
He pulled himself together and
kept clear for a bit again. Then,
just half-time, he goofed. He’d
there got on challenger’s tail, and the
old scoring spirit surged, and he
took a crack at him. It only hit
leather, and a crack costs time.
Challenger veered, slam-braked,
swiped as the guy shot past and
scored an awful slice on his arm.
Well, that was it. Defender
dropped his whip and just
steered. But he was dazed and
losing blood. Challenger flicked
and flicked.
I got churned up. Here was
all
Then this guy, could see the arena, and
hear the whippets yarrr, and feel
his cuts. And if he didn’t do more
than he could do, in a couple of
minutes he wouldn’t know any-
thing.
Same time, challenger was
coming through like on mental
133
 Y

FM: “She’ll never pounce onto nounced he’d fixed a fight with ing an amber. But no Ju any- zoom at these Jehu speeds. She
the bed with me again. (Crack!) this guy who’d left his address. where. Mom
kept breathing, said,“The wu-woman was in the
Never have college and a wed- “Keep me in practice, like Garsh “The little Oh, the little
fool! middle, I swear. But she claims
ding. (Crack!) How many thou- says.” fool!” Then aloud, “She’s your she hadn’t room.”
sand of your smart tricks was Well, I guess he needs it. So father all over. Oh, if she’s gone Another woman was bad. Even
that worth? (Ca-rack!)’’ It made far, they could only yap>-yap in that car . .
.” against rules, men often go easy
me and dry.
sick when he double-parked at rush- Of course, Ju had. Pop’s fight on a girl; a woman, never. This
Defender played so crazy, he hour, or blocked a side-street, or had revved her up to thiry over zee claimed injury, and several
hung on for a bit, and I began motor-boated through puddles. the limit, and she’d gone to see. other drivers were mad enough
to wonder again, would he make Now, he’ll spend half his time in Like that, she was a suicide men- to swear anything. This wouldn’t
it. Six to go and my lungs were that arena. And some day he’ll ace. be any one-check deal.
tied bownot. Challenger
in a outsmart himself into a biggie. The police just shrugged over We were so razzed, we never
figure-8ed but reversed in the the phone: “Driving is private heard the whipj>et pull in.
second loop; defender saw a big Ill business, madam. We do not in- But I heard Pop clickety-
body-slash coming, just too late. terfere.” (Pop’s standby!) clacking up the path, and got to
He banked so tight, he toppled. Oct. 28, ’87. what could
So, without a car, the tridiroom door as he flipped
He kicked the ejector-lever and ^^HE day of his first duel. Pop we do? Mom
took a calmifier his hat onto the rack: “Well, well,
flung clear. came home .free-wheeling as and lay down. I sat on the front is this all the victor’s welcome?

Everybody stood up. a tomcat. Ju and I had the day steps and strewed cigarette butts. Where’s Mom and Judy?”
He spread-eagled, like in a off from school, but we weren’t At that, I didn’t see Judy com- Mompushed by me and stood
wreck I saw once, and
whip- his going. “No family,” Pop had said. ing till she turned up the walk, glaring at him. But Pop never
pet batted around spinning and “This new back-seat driving on foot. She was a mess, all did notice red lights much. He
scrabbling on its side. Challenger would put me off. I could feel it blowsy from crying. If she’d breezed on, “Yezzir! Ol’ Killer
cut around it so sharp, I thought from ’way up in the stands. Jone- crossed many streets, it was just Blaire clipped him, and him a
he’d tip too,and headed straight sie and I have arranged to back luck we didn’t have to whip thirty-fight veteran. And not a
for the guy. Defender tried to each other in these deals.” So he someone for running her down. mark on me. Reflexes, like I’ve
heave clear “My little honey!”
. . . had lunch and they took off on She blubbered, “Du-don’t start always told you. Now, how’s
. Ribs crack like wet sticks
. . . . . their whippets. ku-questions, pu-p/ease.” But about . .
.”

Nobody talked. Even Garsh I got myself into sporting bags Mom didn’t swallow that line Well, I’d seen it in boffies but
didn’t pump any pi-jaw. for an afternoon all to myself and shook her till her hair never expected to in real life.

But when we got home and with the zoom, and tip-toed down flopped. So she told. Mom smashed a vase-lamp on
Mom was hoping that now he to the garage. She was near the Arena, feel- his head and towered over him.
wouldn’t take so many chances. Well, the zoom was gone. That ing pretty high, when some moke “Well, that’s a mark on you now.
Pop said, “Look, keed, in this stalled me. Pop had his whippet. ahead slowed for a right turn, Reflex-brains!” and told him
. . .

life you take chances or live in Mom still wouldn’t drive a block like mokes do. Well, you don’t the score in about ten words, end-
a keg. You just gotta be equal to alone, or let Judy, to Ju’s perma- pass any faster, I guess, but a ing, “And I haven’t raised a sweet
them.” nent sulk. Maybe Mom and Ju Regular like Pop swings big left child to be disfigured because her
And the very day the novice . . .? Then I heard Mom upstairs, to show his Style and opinion of father’s a retarded Teener.”
plates came off the Stumblebum, and called,“Mom, where’s Ju?” mokes. So naturally Ju swung “Aw right, aw right! No reason
he came home whistling and an- Mom dashed down like beat- and bashed head-on into another to blow your tires at me. What’ve

134 G AL AX A DAY ON DEATH HIGI WAY 135

 /

/ done? We’ll fix it. I suppose Was she supposed not to learn night, for just about the first time Then I really began to get
you never thought of Clash?” off And he’d never get
him? in weeks. Lepidoptera in the viscera. The
She said, soft, “You fix it. You touched. far end looked five miles off with
call Clash, you and your steel Then this Slada’s deputies OOTH our leathers had Pop’s the stands curving around, and
nerves. I don’t believe you grasp came, big squaws with muscles charging-quarterback insignia the enemy whippet toy-size —
the situation yet.” in their calves, and tried to right- and Ju faked her 4 for my 3 on denture-pink and a red tornado
He slouched to the phone and lane Mom
because she’s custom- mine and fixed some of her on the panels. I’dwatched out-
I snaked up to the bedroom built and they were trucks. But slacks to fit me. side Slada’s house: She was mid-
phone extension. Well, Clash had Mom had evidently boned up on Came the day. I was to drive thirties but made up to look
a big pick-up for Judy, like they Jehu law, and beat the time the whippet to the Arena, while older, like mud on a moke’s wind-
all do, but he couldn’t fix the down from twelve to ten min- the others followed in the car — shield, as if she had more to hide
ticket. “Blaire, if defender could utes, and fixed Judy’s leather so Pop’s real expert at getting dead- than she really did. That kind’s
substitute, I’d go in for her my- she’d only have one arm exposed line repairs done. So, I sneaked always proving they’re just as
self. What was the woman’s in- besides her cheek, and sent them off in Ju’s slacks, with makeup good as ever, which is bad. An-
signia? Red tornado? Hah!
. . . off bow-legged. I felt real proud and a kerchief to hide my buzz- other muscly dame. With swords
Slada Coy, hard as they come of Mom then. cut, and parked in the entrance or something, I might have felt
. No, you fool! You mention
. .
But it wouldn’t help Ju. Five tunnel to Defenders’ End. And different about fighting a woman.
money, you’ll be outlawed . . . minutes would be too much. And right on tick, Ju came out of But this was like on the road
You’ve no damn right to be ig- a week before the fight, she Lady Defenders’ Dressing Room where she’d ditch you to show
norant of manners, sir.” I’ve podded into my room in her bath- and dodged around into the pub- her peerless skill. Maybe she was
never seen Pop so slowed down. robe and plopped on my bed: lic Ladies’ Room. I skulked after a moo-cow at home, but in a
Even Mom’s laid off him. “Oh Chuck, what’ll I do-oo-oo? her. We took adjoining booths, zoom her reality came out and
We’ll be put off the road here too and clothes came flying over the you could drive her into a board
Dec. 1, 1987. and Daddy’ll be ruined. Bu-bu- partition. And with three minutes with a hammer. So, I was going
T’VE NEVER lived through but I can’t fight that awful old to spare, we walked out again, to do all I could to her —if any.
-*•
such a grim month. Judy had woman. I couldn’t even steer.” one in slacks and one in leathers. At the pistol, I sure gave my
lessons daily, and then I’d prac- Well, I’d hoped for a break in We damped our mufflers
still pro a dust-bath. I wanted to get
tice her. No bon. She
was great the traffic; now I’d have to elbow — you never know who might be Slada off balance. She was just
in Arena
rehearsal, but in that one. I patted her shoulder: parked —
but Ju threw her arms flipping a cigarette butt — the
she’d She knew girls at
freeze. “Opey-dopey, kid. I’ll fix it.” around me and kissed me on the old Nonchalant Flair like she’d
school who’d been cut. She’d nev- She grabbed me: “How? Dad- open cheek. It made me feel do whipping in and out of lanes
er been really hurt in her life, dy can’t. Mr. Clash can’t.” pretty brave. Then she shooed with a kid doin’ Ben Hur on the
and got shivering sick just at the “I’m not much bigger’n you. In me ahead. seat beside her — when I was
idea. It sure dulled her polish; leathers, nobody’d know the dif- I mounted and rolled into the suddener than she’d expected.
and was more appealing
yet, she ference. I’ll fight her.” arena. A pro mechanic-doctor You know, when there’s a gap
to me, like when she was a brat “Oh, but Ghuckie, I beat you came with me and checked my two cars could pass in at a hum-
and I’d pick her up when her all the time at school.” stirrupsand ejector and stuff, ble speed, and you just head for
Toddle Typhoon dumped. “So who cares if my manly and said good luck, and stood the middle? The other guy’ll con-
It wasn’t fair. Pop’s a real beauty gets marked?” back. I’d cut things close, to cede! So did Slada, and nearly
hero-type adult to these Teeners. I bet we both slept well that avoid idle chat. dumped swerving. And I cleared

136 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 137

the end wall by about two feet, gain.) ’Cause I could read Earth braked so she had to swing to It —
or Give It. But I hung on
and her pro jumped. see? (No ya don’t, sister.)
traffic, pass me, and I clunked her. I and drove slow to Defenders’
Well, she was madded up at These jokers trained for scientific snake-hipped her both sides. I End, just as the gate went up.
being bluffed by any Young Gerl, hell. (Zwoooo, Brrrotherrr.) But crowded her from behind and
and began to show her old-hand I’d been trained dirty. when she swung away, there I SOMEHOW, I’d never figured
knowhow, to restore her confi- I wasn’t so proud of it now. was crowding her on the other how to get out of that jam.
dence. She’d wear me (Judy) But this was the time for it if amazing how much su-
side. It’s People were helping me down,
down till she could lay my ever. (Grrrrup.) Show ’em how premacy you can jam into a few patting my back, pulling at my
(Judy’s) face open good. (And it to really play Russian roulette, minutes. helmet. I bolted for the only pos-
could have been Judy.) And she and if a dumb little punk like Only I forgot she wasn’t a sible cover, that Ladies’ Dressing
sure played rough. me was champ at it, where was Regular or even a good old Earth Room. I expected a riot, but no-
the Glory? moke. And sometimes these body realized I was a Him. And
I could read her far So when she slowed on a turn, Jehuans go even Earth one bet- in my state of mind, the scenery
^ enough ahead to hold her I timed her to a hair, zoom across ter, when they’re losing a fight, didn’t matter. Then Mom
off. And all the time, something her bumper (like beating the and do a kamikaze crash. So grabbed me: “Darling! You’re all
was building up in me like those on a red). I’d have
cross-traffic when she threw her whip away right?”and started on the hel-
Civil War radio tubes that took cut her too but she braked so and opened her whippet out full, met. I had to bolt again, for the
hours to get hot. This stuff was hard she nearly went over her which is dangerous, I was too cubicle she’d come out of.
great for guys like Pop. (Zowrrr, wheel and I only clunked her terrified to be scared. Geez guys! But she caught on fast, and I
whacko.) Put ’em in here and ka-whack across the helmet. But Those last two minutes were the got another high-octane kiss all
let ’em slug it out. (Here she it sure shook her nerve again, longest hour I ever lived. We in the family. Hot coffee too. But
comes.) Or for old-time Indians and I got on her tail like a moke covered a good two miles in tight she kept saying, “Now, from now
and Vikings who’d kill anybody who can’t decide to pass, and loops, I swear. Then, twenty sec- on,Judy —
I mean Chuck no —
for kicks, including themselves. began clouting her, thunk, whap. onds to go, she swung too tight, more of your father’s nonsense.
(Zgrrrrunch, whack-crack.) But Not sportin’? Who cared! To cut that gooey pink thing toppled, Now promise!”
when those types got too gay, her cheek, I’d have had to pull and the ejector threw her, all in Well, all I wanted was to sit
people just abolished them. level; but a whip stings and one gasp. No time to brake. Left, with my hands between my
(Now what .?) So why should
. . bruises even through leather. And right — I could just feel that knees, but finally I hove up:
Judy get her arm crippled or her I just glorified! I couldn’t hate I’d hit her whippet and crash; “Look, Mom, I don’t need to
face ground in the sand? my own Pop, but I sure hated soft bump and snapping bones. promise. I’m sick of the adept
(Whoooom, oofie.) Or even me, her. Show the kids how, huh? I went between with my head stuff. Judy’ll promise anything
dammit? Then I gave her the Tech- and eyes scronched down. right now, but she’ll get yippee-
I’d planned just to steer and nique. Foo! Any Grampaw driv- I near rammed the wall before pills in her tank again because
try to bull through. But sudden- ing to work with his mind on his I realized neither crash nor bump she’s a born show-off. And as for
ly it burst on me: In three min- dyspepsia, can do it by force of had happened. Pop ...” I just shrugged.
utes, she hadn’t nearly touched habit to score three car-lengths Marshals came tearing out, “Well, if your father isn’t im-
me; and when I’d bluffed her at per block. She suddenly slowed zrowww. But Slada was already pressed now .
.” .

the start, she’d crumpled. to force me ahead, and I surged rolling over. My
muscles sort of I said, “Mom, the only cure
(Watchit!) And why could I and cut in front of her, like beat- melted: For once I’d gotten a for Pop is breaking his back or
read her? (Vrooom, missed a- ing a guy to a red light, and closeup of how it’d feel to Get going where he can’t drive.”

138 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 139

. L
 tator Parking, legged into the
car like forking over his cayuse,
whammed the door and roared
the engine, all in one snappy ac-
tion.He shot out of his stall with
one deft whirl of the wheel, fix-
ing to surge straight ahead out
of the lot.

Maybe if he hadn’t been so

mad, even he would have seen
the other car. But he felt it first,
a crash that knocked his hat off.
He and the other guy, with a
passenger, charged out to inspect
the slaughter.
Stumblebum had taken it on
the rear bumper, but the side of
the other looked like a discarded
candy-wrapper. Well Pop had
. . .

hit him. The only good feature

was that the other guy, though
big, was gray-haired with a high
complexion. Pop saw it too and,
“Well, Chuckle, I did check, wanted Slada to rechallenge. (I you whisk along. I’ll handle this.” after they’d all asked couldn’t
and there’s a place called Bolg- bet!) Nuts and bolts to both, Mom walked at him. “You’ll they look where they were going,
walk where Plutomat wants a halves. handle nothing. Get along to the he began the old Road Lawyer
man, and they have no roads to Outside, Mom gave the old el- car.” line: “Well, now. Mister, this isn’t
speak of, just bogs.” bow to a mob of reporters: He tempered: “What’s this? I an open street, y’know. How’m I
Well, we both knew Pop’d nev- “Stand back, there. The girl’s ex- thought we’d celebrate for my to back blind with you crashing
er ride in any such back seat. hausted. You can call tomorrow.” famous daughter. So you go
. . .
through full speed?”
Just then, Judy burst in. She’d And there, at the whippet, was home in an armored car if you The old guy went turkey-red;
gotten by as “Miss Blaire’s Sis- Pop. All month he’d been sulking like. Come on, Judy, you’re a “Why, look where you hit me!
ter”. And as we switched clothes as if the whole deal were a plot sport anyway. You and me, hey?” I was half way past you, sir.”
again, she reported that the fight to cramp his style. But now he But Ju was still scared, even “All right. Challenge if you
had been a sensation. (She’d had that quirk smirk like the guy if it was wearing off, and said like. My little girl just made a
watched, though Mom
wouldn’t.) in the ad: “Drive cautiously with “No!” in that spoiled-brat voice monkey of a better fighter than
Half the audience was wild over our Triple-Threat Modem Storm- he always thought was so cute. you’re likely to be.”
the greatest daredevil show in Trooperol.” He sneered like when some The old guy went beet-red. On
history, and half was honking The newshounds popped some moke elbows him in traffic, and Jehu, if an old guy doesn’t want
mad at my unsporting tactics and bulbs, and he said, “Okay, keeds. ^wung away, beat us out to Spec- to fight, he better drive real hum-

140 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 141

ble. His jaw stuttered, then he Planet Bolgwalk know any more about it than he for a day for your firm, say. Not
grabbed for his fender, and Dec. 3, 1987. does about a carburetor. But at healthy.”
slumped to the ground, and lay i^NLY we didn’t do anything half an hour to zero, Mr. Glash The inspector arriving at last
there grunting and not even pink. of the kind. arrived and Pop got onto his rear saved Pop answering that one.
A doc jumped to him. But the I didn’t even pump Judy on bumper. They were out by the Glash bowed with flourishes to
old guy’s passenger grabbed Pop what happened on that drive fence and Pop giving with the Mom and Judy, and slightly to
and jerked him around. He home; you owe your father some old Twenty Questions — why Pop. He drawled, “It’s been, ah,
looked like a lumberjack fore- fenders to hide behind. But when this, why that, with no break for interesting to know
you, as a
man, curly black hair, black- I came in. Mom said, “Chuck, answers — when up pranced this specimen of Earth Regu-
the, ah,
shaved chin, hot black eyes. He your father has taken a new job guy in a blue-and-white rig and lars. I trust you find Bolgwalk
snarled, “So now I flay you on and we’re translating again the hollered Pop’s name aloud. congenial.”
behalf of my father, bigmouth,” day after tomorrow.” So I went Pop winced. “Hey, tone it Then suddenly he turned to
Pop cased the gU5r’s horse- to borrow back some stuff and down. I can hear you. What’s all me. “From what I hear through,
power, and suddenly he looked see some guys, but wondering this?” ah, a contact at the Arena, you’ll
all flabby. He did wrench his why the overdrive. Theguy began reading a make a man yet, Charles. Get
shoulder loose and try the hard- Till I saw Pop. He’d been figur- paper which boiled down to a some education — and get rid of
boiled comeback: “If your father ing the percentages. demand that Pop desist from the one you have. Good luck.”
can’t keep his temper, 7’m not Next day he was clearing up running out on his honorable So we shook hands. Man!
liable by your code.” (Like he But he was home
at his office. duel. Pop looked like one of But who saw through my
says, what can you lose? And early fussing around like a pup these guys who, when they get game and didn’t squeal?
you often win.) in traffic, the frame-building
till in a crash, jump out of the car
The guy pushed his face an crew told him to go find a park- and run. He grabbed Glash. T^UNNY how Pop’s adjusted to
inch from Pop’s: “Code? Why ing-deck. Then indoors, making “Hey, this clown can’t stop me Bolgwalk; he fulfills his bull-
you hog-trough oaf, twenty wit- sure nobody’d forgotten ansrthing moving, can he?” man ego by betting on the plane-
nesses heard you insult him in a to hold us up come morning. Glash drawled, “This ‘clown’ is tary whiffle-ball games. He usu-
discussion of honor. They will Then out trying to bribe the Herald of the Courts of Honor. ally loses but it’s comparatively
strip your back and I, Slam Hol- crew to work overtime. Then, But, no, he can’t stop your mov- cheap. Judy could be on an aster-
licker, will hack it to the bones. when they said the inspector ing, as long as it’s off Jehu.” oid, for all she cares now, if it
If you ever drive again, you will wouldn’t clear it till morning Pop reinflated slightly. ‘Well, had boys on it. No cars but —
defer even to old men.”He swung an3Tway, phoning the inspector to not that I want to welsh on an they make out. Mom treats me
away without even bowing. bribe him. Honest, I thought he’d obligation. But Mrs. Blaire was real man-to-man.
Pop was pinned there till they boil his rad. so upset about the girl, and I had But now I’ve gotten over be-
got old Hollicker into an ambu- The old impetuous spirit got this offer. And you know how it ing a professional teener, I think
lance and towed away his car. him down at crack of dawn, too, is with big deals — split-second I’ll take Mr. Glash’s advice.
Then, Mom got in the driver’s burning toast and eggs till Mom decisions.” They say the High Vacuum
seat of our car, and Pop got in took the kitchen away from him. Glash fluttered his eyelids. Navy gives you wonderful train-
beside her without a peep, and Which gained us three hours to “Oh, yes, everyone knows. And ing. And you can take chances in
Judy in the back. So I went for stall around in while the crew as long as Hollicker feels he’s the line of duty . . . without
the whippet. It sure looks like finished the fence under his run you off Jehu he’ll be satis- scooping in civilians.
we’ll need that steely eye —
though he didn’t fied. But don’t come back, even — CHANDLER ELLIOTT
142 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 143
 CUGARDALE THREE miles,
^ the state highway sign said.
Dexter Foote turned into the
side road that the arrow indi-
cated.
He had no way of knowing it
at the time, butby his action he
condemned his new convertible
to a fate worse than death.
The side road meandered
down a long slope into a wooded
‘V' ‘
ii hUBm hollow where a breeze born of
cool bowers and shaded brooks

gg made the July afternoon heat

less oppressive. A quantity of the
pique that had been with him
ever since setting forth from the
city departed. There were worse
assignments, after all, than writ-
ing up a fallen star.
Abruptly he applied the brakes
and brought the convertible to a
screeching halt. His blue eyes
started from his boyish face.
Well they might. The two
Humpty Dumptyish creatures
squatting in the middle of the
road were as big as heavy tanks
and, judging from their “skin
tone,” were constructed of similar
material. They had arms like
jointed cranes and legs like artic-
ulated girders. Their scissors-like
mouths were slightly open, ex-
posing maws the hue of an open
hearth at tapping time. Either
they were all body and no head,
or all head and no body. Which-
ever was the case, they had both
eyes and ears. The former had

SWEET TOOTH 145


something of the aspect of peek
holes in a furnace door, while the
latter brought to mind lopsided
TV antennae.
As Dexter watched, the fore-
most of the two metallic mon-
sters advanced upon the convert-
ible and began licking the
chrome off the grill with a long,
tong-like tongue. Meanwhile, its
companion circled to the rear
and took a big bite out of the
trunk. There was an awesome
CRUNCH! and the convertible
gave a convulsive shudder.
At this point, Dexter got out
and ran. More accurately, he
jumped out and ran. A hundred
feet down the road, he stopped
and turned. He was just in time
to see monster No. 1 bite off the
right headlight. CRUNCH! Not
to be outdone, monster No. 2 bit
off the right taillight. CRUNCH-
CRUNCH! An acrid odor
fronted Dexter’s nostrils, and he
discerned a faint yellow haze
hovering about the convertible.
The rear wheels went in two
bites. The 250 HP. motor
quired three. CRUNCH-
CRUNCH-CRUNCH! The
holstery caught fire and began
to bum. A gout of flame shot up
as the gas tank exploded.
from discouraging the two mon-
sters, the resultant inferno mere-
ly served to whet their appetities.
CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH-
CRUNCH!
146
Dexter’s shoulders sagged, and
the spot next to his heart that the
convertible had shared with his
best girl gave a spasmodic
twinge. Removing his suitcoat
and slinging it over his shoulder,
he turned his back on the grisly
repast and set out sadly for
Sugardale.
He had not gone far before his
stalled thought-processes got into
gear again.
rriHE FALLING star he had
been assigned by his editor
to write up had been an unusu-
ally brilliant one according to the
report the paper had received.
Maybe its unusualness did not
stop there. Maybe it was some-
thing more than a mere meteor-
ite. Certainly the two monsters
could not be classified as local
woodland creatures.
af- All of which was fine as far as
copy was concerned. But it didn’t
bring his convertible back.
Presently he saw two sizable
deposits of slag at the side of the
re- road, and approaching them
more he discovered that
closely,
up- they were still warm. Could they
be the remains of a previously
devoured automobile? he won-
Far dered. What an ignominious fate
indeed to overtake a car! He
looked at the two deposits once
more before moving on. All he
could think of were two piles of
elephant dung.
GALAXY
L
”
A mile and half later, he fading shirtfront, and a beat-up
emerged in a small valley that sombrero sat atop the graying
sported a handful of houses, a head.
scattering of business places, a “Sheriff Jeremiah Smith at
church or two and a goodly num- your service,” he said calmly
ber of trees. A roadside sign in- when Dexter dashed up to him.
formed him that he had reached He took a sip from the schooner
his destination, that popula-
its of beer that saton the bar before
tion was 350, and that its speed him. “Got troubles, have you,
limit was 20 mph. The popula- young man?”
tion, however, was nowhere in “My
evidence, and the speed limit
car,” Dexter
driving along the road and
said. “I
—was
seemed silly in view of the ab- “Got ate up, did it? Well, it’s
sence of cars. not the first one to get ate up
A scared-looking housewife, around here.” Jeremiah Smith
upon whose door he knocked, faced the doorway that led to the
told him he’d probably find the lobby. “Mrs. Creasy, get this
local minion of the law at the young man a beer,” he called.
Sugardale Inn, “sucking up beer A plump middle-aged woman
the way he always is when he whose dark hair fell down over
should be out earning his mon- her eyes like a thicket came
ey.” The Inn turned out to be a into sight behind the bar. She
sagging three-story structure in flicked a cockroach off the drain-
desperate need of a paint-job. board with an expert forefinger,
There was a model A sedan drew Dexter a schooner and set
parked in front of it, the first it before him. Jeremiah Smith
automobile Dexter had seen. paid for it. “Drink her down,
Formerly the establishment had young man,” he said. “I know
provided a haven for weary how I’d feel if my car got ate up.”
travelers. Now it provided a Manfully, Dexter dispatched
haven for contented cockroaches. half the contents of the schooner,
Its fin de siecle bar was a col- after which he introduced him-
lector’s item, and standing at it, self and explained the nature of
one foot propped on the brass his mission to Sugardale. “I nev-
barrail, was a lone customer. He er figured on an3dhing like this,
was tall and and somewhere
thin, though,” he concluded.
in his sixties, and he was wear- “You must have made it
ing blue denim trousers and a through just before the road-
blue chambray shirt There was block was set up,” Jeremiah said.
a lackluster badge pinned on the “You were lucky.”
SWEET TOOTH 147
 Dexter started at him. “Lucky!
I lost my car.”
“Pshaw. What’s a
newspaper man when a
Story’s in the air? Take
newspaper fellow I saw on TV
Saturday night. He — ’’
“Big Stories went out long
ago,” Dexter said. “Newspaper-
men work for a living the same
as anybody else. Get back to my
car. Aren’t you going to do any-
thing about it?”
Jeremiah looked hurt. “I’ve al-
ready done everything I can do.
The minute I saw those tanks I
knew it was a job for the army,
and the state police agreed with
me. So we notified them, after
which we advised everybody to
down the road at a brisk pace, ing been badly trampled in the into the front seat beside him.
wound through woods, dales, pas- recent past. The road took them to the main
car to a tures and Dexter hadn’t
fields. He pointed out the signs to highway, and not long thereafter
Big the remotest idea where he was Jeremiah. “See how those sap- Jeremiah turned off the highway
this when at last Jeremiah pulled up lings are flattened? No human into another road —
a familiar
beside a grove larger and darker being did that. I’ll bet if we fol- road heralded by a familiar sign
than the others. lowed that trail, we’d come to the that said, SUGARDALE THREE
The old man squinted into the remains of the first car they con- MILES. Two slag deposits
lengthening shadows. “Seems to sumed. Whose car was it, by the marked spot where once
the
me them auto-eating tanks ought way?” Dexter’s proud convertible had
to make better reading than a “Mrs. Hopkins’s new Buick. stood. He gazed at them sadly
common ordinary falling star.” She’d just started out for the city as they passed.
Halfway out of the car, Dexter on one of her shopping trips. She
stared at him. “You mean to tell was so scared when she came SUDDENLY Jeremiah brought
me you don’t see the connec- running back into town her hair ^ the model A to a screeching
tion?” was standing straight out behind halt.The two desecrators of the
“What connection?” her head. Maybe, though, it was American Dream Incarnate were
Dexter got the rest of the way because she was running so fast.” in the midst of another repast.
out. “Between the automobile- Abruptly Jeremiah leaned for- The victim this time, judging
eaters and the spaceship, of ward and squinted at the ground. from the still-visible star and the

stay indoors and to keep their course.” “Looks almost like a big foot- O.D. color scheme, was an army
cars under lock and key. All we Jeremiah stared at him. “What print right there, don’t it.” He The grill and the motor
staff car.
can do now is wait.” Jeremiah spaceship?” straightened. “But if the darn were already gone, and half of
sighed. “Crazy, if you ask me. “Oh, never mind,” Dexter said. thing is a spaceship like you say, the roof was missing. Yellow
Tanks eating automobiles!’ >
“Show me the fallen star.” how come it buried itself?” haze enshrouded the sorry scene,
“I imagine,” Dexter said It was in a clearing deep in the “Because whoever or whatever and the countryside was resound-
thoughtfully. “that our diet woods. Or rather, the crater-like was piloting didn’t
it —
or could- ing to a series of horrendous
would give them pause too. hole it had made was. Peering n’t — decelerate enough for an CRUNCHES.
Where did this star of yours down into the hole, Dexter saw orthodox landing,” Dexter ex- “Do you think if I sort of
fall?” ,
the dark, pitted surface of what plained.“Lucky it hit the clear- zoomed by, we could make it?”
“In Ed Hallam’s north timber could very well have been an or- it had hit the trees, you’d
ing. If Jeremiah asked. “I hate to go all
lot. Take you there, if you like. dinary, if unusually large, mete- have had a forest fire on your the way around the other way.”
There’s not much to see, though orite. There was nothing that hands.” “I’m game if you are,” Dexter
— just a big hole in the ground.” suggested an opening of any Jeremiah looked worried. said.
Dexter finished his beer. “Come kind, but the opposite wall of the “Maybe we’d better be getting ZOOOOOOMMMMMMM!
on,” he said. crater did look as though some back to the road. I feel kind of The two monsters didn’t even
heavy object had been dragged guilty leaving my model A sit- look up.
'T’HE MOriEL A parked in — or had dragged itself — up to ting there all alone.” “You’d think my model A
front of the Inn turned out the level of the clearing. The Dexter followed him back wasn’t good enough for them,”
to be Jeremiah’s. They took off underbrush showed signs of hav- through the woods and climbed Jeremiah said peevishly.

148 GALAXY SWEET TOOTH 149

 “Count your blessings. Look, culean yank on the wheel. “Well, back of Jeremiah’s weather- hot-rod. We’ve got them under
there’s someone up ahead.” Dexter here seems to think that beaten neck. “I trust we’ll have constant surveillance, of course,
The “someone” turned out to our falling star is a spaceship and no trouble finding suitable ac- and what with all the under-
be a two-star general, a chicken that they landed in it, and I’m commodations in Sugardale, brush they trample it’s easy e-
colonel and an enlisted man. Jer- inclined to believe he’s right.” sheriff.” nough to track them. But we
emiah stopped, and the trio “After seeing the VEMs in per- “Mrs. Creasy’ll be glad to put can’t stop them. They eat our
climbed into the back seat. “Ate son, I’m inclined to believe he’s you up at the Inn, if that’s what gas grenades and our fragmenta-
your staff car, did they. Gen- right myself,” Colonel Mortby you mean,” Jeremiah said. tion grenades, and they’re imper-
eral?” he chuckled, taking off said. “I think that what we have vious to our tank killers and our
again. “Well, that’s the way it
goes.”
“The name,” said the general,
to do with here,” he went on pres-
ently, when the general made no
comment, “is a form of metal-
M rs. creasy
glad. Indeed,
was more than
from the way
she looked at the two officers and
antitank mines. A small A-bomb
would take care of them nicely,
but even assuming there’s an
whose middleaged face had a based life capable of generating the NCO through her thicket of area around here large enough
greenish cast, “is General Long- an internal temp)erature of at hair, you would have thought and isolated enough to permit us
combe, and I was on my way to least three thousand degrees they were the first roomers she’d to use an A-bomb, there’s no way
Sugardale to reconnoiter the sit- Fahrenheit. The acrid odor they had in months, discounting the of herding them into it.”
uation before committing any give off while ‘feasting’ probably cockroaches, of course. “It just so happens that there
troops to the area. This is my arises from a substance analo- The general said petulantly, is such an area,” Jeremiah Smith
aide. Colonel Mortby, and my gous to our gastric juices which “Let’s get down to business. said. “Tillson Valley —
about ten
driver. Sergeant Wilkins.” their heat-resistant stomachs sup>- Colonel. I want an armored com- miles south of here. You’d have
“Sheriff Smith at your service,” ply to accomplish ‘digestion,’ pany brought up immediately, to vacate Old Man Tillson, of
said Jeremiah. “This here’s Dex- only in this case ‘digestion’ con- and I want the fallen-star area course, but he’d be glad to go if
ter Foote, who came to Sugar- sists primarily in melting down put off limits at once. Have the you made it worth his while. He
dale to do a Big Story on our the metal they consume and in sheriff show you where it is.” He hasn’t grown a thing but weeds
falling star.” isolating its waste matter, after turned to Sergeant Wilkins. “Ser- anyway since he got his pension.
“Tell me about these VEMs of which the pure metal is repro- geant, get on the phone as soon Just sits around all day and
yours, sheriff,” General Long- cessed into ‘body tissue’ and the as the colonel gets off it, and ar- sucks up beer.”
combe said. waste matter is thrown off in the range my
for personal Cadillac “But there’s still no way of get-
Jeremiah twisted around. form of slag. I think we might go to be delivered here first thing.” ting the VEMs out there,” Gen-
“VEMs?” so far as to call them a couple of After phoning his paper, Dex- eral Longcombe objected.
“ “Tell me, general,” Dexter said,
‘Vehicle-Eating Monsters’,” animate open hearths.” ter headed for the dining room
Colonel Mortby interposed. He Dexter had turned around in and sat down beside General “have they eaten any of your
was a small man with a pleasant the front seat and was looking at Longcombe. “Anything new on jeeps or trucks or personnel car-
youthful face. “It’s standard army the colonel admiringly. “I think the VEMs, General?” he asked. riers?”
operating procedure to give an you’ve hit the nail right on the General Longcombe sighed. General Longcombe shook his
object a name before investigat- head, sir,” he said. There were shadows under his head. “They’ve had plenty of op-
ing it.” General Longcombe was scowl- eyes, and his cheeks showed signs portunity to, too.”
“Oh.” Jeremiah twisted back ing. “We’re here to survey the of saggihg. “They’re still in cir- “I have a theory,” Dexter said.
again, saved the model A from situation. Colonel, not to jump to culation. Scared the wits out of a The look that promptly settled
going into the ditch with a Her- conclusions.” He addressed the couple of teenagers and ate their on General Longcombe’s face

150 GALAXY SWEET TOOTH 151

made no bones about what he ual appeal. To return to our them at them first, did they General Longcombe offered no
thought of presumptuous young visitors from Planet X. Suppose not?” comment. He app>eared to be
reporters with theories. Colonel that all their lives they’ve been Colonel Mortby nodded. “I see deep in thought.
Mortby, however, was consider- eating metal in various but unin- what you mean. Sort of like “My car is in West Virginia,”
ably less biased. “It won’t do any spired ingot forms —
the metal- throwing candy to a baby. I’ll Colonel Mortby said.
harm to listen to what he’s got lic equivalents, let’s say, of beans buy your theory, Mr. Foote.” “My car was eaten,” Dexter
to say, sir,” he pointed out, “and and bread and hominy grits. Now “And now, if I may,” Dexter said.
it may even do some good. It’ll suppose they find their way to continued, “I’d like to propose a General Longcombe opened
be at least a day before the ship another planet where visual ap- means of getting rid of our un- his mouth. “My car —
” he began.

is excavated and even then we peal in metallic creation is a ma- wanted visitors from Planet X.” Sergeant Wilkins entered the
may not know any more about jor occupation, and suppose that General Longcombe sighed. room and saluted smartly. “The
the sort of life forms we’re deal- shortly after disembarking from “Very well, Mr. Foote. Go on.” general’s Cadillac has just ar-
ing with than we do now.” their spaceship they come upon “You mentioned earlier, sir, rived, sir,” he said.
a new convertible. Wouldn’t they that there was no way of herding
I^EXTER NEEDED no fur- react in the same way we would the VEMs into an isolated area. I^LD MAN Tillson co-operated
ther invitation. “I think it’s react if all our lives our diet had However, I think there is a way. readily enough, once he was
pretty clear by now,” he began, been confined to beans and bread Suppose we were to remove all assured that he would be in-
“that our two visitors from Plan- and hominy grits and we trav- of the automobiles from the vi- demnified not only for his ram-
et Xaren’t attracted by metal in eled to another planet, disem- cinity with the exception of one, shackle house but for the young
just any old form at all, but by barked and came upon a delicious and suppose we were to park mountain of beer bottles that
metal in the form of new, or near- birthday cake just begging to be that one in the middle of Tillson stood in his back yard, and the
ly new, automobiles. This strong- eaten? Wouldn’t they make pigs Valley as bait, with a remote- command post was moved forth-
ly suggests that their landing was of themselves and start looking controlled A-bomb underneath with to the lip of the valley.
unpremeditated, because if it had for more cakes?” it?” Jeremiah Smith was allowed to
been premeditated they would “But if it’s the ornate nature of “But how would they know go along as an observer, and
have come down in a section of our late-model cars that attracts that the bait was there?” Dexter was accorded a similar
the country where such metallic them, why did they eat the staff “Through association,” Dexter favor. By evening, everything
concoctions are in plentiful sup- car?” Colonel Mortby asked. said. “All the automobiles
of was The colonel’s Cad-
in place.
ply — near a city or a 'large “And why did they eat the teen- they’ve consumed thus far were illac,parked in the valley’s cen-
town, or close to a heavily trav- ager’s hot rod, and our gas and in operation shortly before they ter, had something of the aspect
eled throughway. fragmentation grenades?” began to eat them, so by now of a chrome-bedizened lamb rest-
“But what is it about these “I suggest,” Dexter said, “that they must have established an ing on an altar of crab grass, but-
new cars of ours that they find they ate the staff car because at vmconscious relationship between tercups and mustard weeds. Sur-
so irresistible? Let’s try an anal- the moment there weren’t any the sound of the motors and the rounding it were half a dozen
ogy. Suppose that one of us has other cars immediately available. taste of the metal. Therefore, if floodlights, suspended over it was
gone into a bakery to buy a As for the teenager’s hot rod, I we keep the bait idling and set a microphone, standing next to
birthday cake and that money is imagine itwas loaded down with up a P.A. system to amplify the itwas a pole supporting three
no object. Which cake is he most enough chrome accessories to sound, eventually they’ll hear it, P.A.speakers, and located sev-
likely tobuy? The answer is ob- sink a battleship. And as for the their mouths will salivate and eralhundred feet away was a
vious: the one with the most vis- grenades — your men threw they’ll come running.” TV camera. Beyond this imprqs-
152 GALAXY SWEET TOOTH 153
 ” ””

Old Man Tillson’s

sive display, ything that strikes their eye. “Monsters!” he screamed, “I’ll reaction with some kind of a
homestead could be discerned, They make contact with the au- blow you to Kingdom Come per- ray. I wonder . .
.” He shook his
and beyond the homestead rose thorities and then they go
first, sonally!” and stomped into the head wistfully. “What a weapon,
his mountainous collection of running across the countryside tent. though.”
beer bottles. and start grabbing up everyrthing Dexter and Jeremiah started He and Colonel Mortby and
Colonel Mortby came out of that strikes their eye.” to put on their cobalt-blue glas- the tech were standing by the
the command-post tent and Colonel Mortby grinned. ses.Abruptly thunder sounded, chrome-stripped carcass of the
walked over to where Dexter and “You’ve got a good point there, and a shadow darkened the land. Cadillac. Dexter and Jeremiah
Jeremiah were standing, looking Mr. Foote. Well, I’m going to see Looking skyward, Dexter saw had just come up. “My theory
down into the valley. He handed if I can’t grab forty winks or so it — turned out to be a little bit off-
each of them a pair of cobalt- — it’s been a trying day.” The ship. The saucer. Which- center,” Dexter said. “You see, I
blue glasses. “If you watch the “Me too,” Jeremiah said, head- ever word you cared to apply to overlooked the possibility that
blast, make sure you wear these,” ing for his model A. it. But whichever noun you our children aren’t necessarily
he said, raising his voice above Left alone, Dexter wedged a chose, you had to prefix it with the only galactic small fry who
the amplified purring of the Cad- flashlight in the fork of a little the adjective “gigantic,” for the run away from home and get
illac’s motor. “You’ll be glad to tree, sat down in its dim radi- ventral hatch alone, which had themselves in Dutch. My birth-
hear that the two VEMs are al- ance, got out pen and notebook, just yawned open, was large e- day-cake analogy still holds true,
ready on their way, Mr. Foote — and began his article. The Solid nough to accommodate the but I would have done better to
our walkie-talkie squad just Cheese Cadillac, he wrote, by Sugardale Methodist Church. have compared our late-model
called in. However, the creatures Dexter Foote . . . In the command-post tent, the automobiles to appetizing candy
move so slowly that they prob- Dawn found him dozing over general, as yet unaware of the bars, or Easter baskets filled with
ably won’t be here before dawn.” page 16. “There they are!” some- UFO’s presence, was giving the jelly beans and chocolate chick-
Dexter came out of a brown one shouted, jerking him awake. countdown in an anguished voice. ens.”
study. “One thing still bugs me,” “The filthy fiends!” “Two — The general regarded him
he said. “Why should two mem- The “someone” was General In the valley, the two .VEMs blankly. “I’m afraid I don’t fol-
bers of a race of extraterrestrials Longcombe. Joining him, Dexter were trying vainly to extricate low you at all, Mr. Foote.”
technically intelligent enough to saw the two VEMs. They were themselves from a huge metallic “Did you ever turn a pair of
build spaceships behave like a moving relentlessly across the net that had dropped over them. hungry kids loose in a candy
pair gluttonous savages the
of valley floor toward the helpless “One — store, sir?”
minute they land on another Cadillac. Jeremiah came up, rub- On the lip of the valley, Dex- Understanding came into Gen-
planet?” ing his eyes. Colonel Mortby ter Foote was grappling with an eral Longcombe’s eyes then, and
“But you explained that,” Jer- could be discerned through the insight. he turned and gazed sadly at his
emiah pointed out. “They just entrance of the command-post “Zero — chromeless Cadillac. “I wonder if
can’t resist eating American au- tent, leaning over a technician’s Pfft! . . . they have castor oil on Planet
tomobiles.” shoulder. X,” he said."
“I’m afraid I got carried away The two VEMs reached the 6iTT WASN’T a dud after all,” “I bet they have its equiva-
by my analogy. Civilized beings Cadillac and began licking off the General Longcombe said. lent,” grinned Dexter Foote.
simply don’t go running across chrome with their long, tong-like “They cancelled out the chain- — ROBERT F. YOUNG
the countryside the minute they tongues. General Longcombe
land, and start grabbing up ever- went wild. He waved his arms.

154 GALAXY SWEET TOOTH 155

 J

^ALHOUN regarded the com-

^ municator with something
like exasperation as his taped
voice repeated a standard ap-
proach-call for the twentieth time.
But no answer came, which had
become irritating a long time ago.
This was a new Med Service sec-
tor for Calhoun. He’d been as-
His work was healing the sick signed to another man’s tour of
— but this planet was already duty because the other man had
been taken down with romance.
dead! He’d gotten married, which ruled
him out for Med Ship duty. So

MED SHIP MAN By MURRAY LEINSTER

now Calhoun listened to his own
voice endlessly repeating a call
that should have been answered
immediately.
Murgatroyd the tormal
watched with beady, interested
Illustrated by ENSH eyes. The planet Maya lay off to
port of the Med Ship Esclipus
Twenty. Its almost circular disk
showed full size on a vision screen
beside the ship’s control board.
The image was absolutely clear
and vividly colored. There was an
ice cap in view. There were conti-
nents. There were seas. The cloud
system of a considerable cyclonic
disturbance could be noted off at
one side, and the continents
looked reasonably as they should,
and the seas were of that muddy,
indescribable tint which indicates
deep water.
Calhoun’s o\yn voice, taped an
hour earlier, sounded in a speaker

156 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 157

as it went again to the communi-
cator and then to the extremely
visible world a hundred thousand
miles away.
“Calling ground,” said Cal-
houn’s recorded voice. “Med Ship
Esclipus Twenty calling ground
to report arrival and ask coordi-
nates for landing. Our mass is
fifty standard tons. Repeat, five-
oh tons. Purpose of
landing,
planetary health inspection.”
^1 'HE recorded voice stopp>ed.
There was silence except for
the taped random noises which
kept the inside of the ship from
feeling like the inside of a tomb.
Murgatroyd said: “Chee?”
Calhoun said ironically, “Un-
doubtedly, Murgatroyd. Un-
doubtedly! Whoever’s on duty at
the spaceport stepped out for a
moment, or dropped dead, or did
something equally inconvenient.
We have to wait until he gets
back or somebody else takes
over.”
Murgatroyd said “Chee!” again
and began to lick his whiskers. He
knew that when Calhoun called
on the communicator, another
human voice should reply. Then
there should be conversation, and
shortly the force-fields of a land-
ing-grid should take hold of the
Med Ship and draw it planet-
ward. In time it ought to touch
ground in a spaceport with a gi-
gantic, silvery landing-grid rising
158
skyward all about it. Then there of half an hour, and never a word calls! We don’t get any scatter-
should be people greeting Cal- out of them!” signals either.We went down to
houn cordially and welcoming “We’ve been in twelve
orbit two diameters and couldn’t pick
Murgatroyd with smiles and pet- hours,” said the voice from empti- up a thing. And we have a pas-
ting. ness. “Calling all the while. No senger to land. He insists on it!”
“Calling ground,” said the re- answer. We don’t like it.”
corded voice yet again. “Med Calhoun flipped a switch that "OY ordinary, communications
Ship Esclipus Twenty — threw a vision screen into circuit between different placeson a
It went on through the formal with the ship’s electron telescop>e. planet’s surface use frequencies
notice of arrival. Murgatroyd A starfield appeared and shifted the ion-layers of the atmosphere
waited in pleasurable anticipa- wildly. Then a bright dot cen- either reflect or refract down past
tion. When the Med Ship arrived tered itself. He raised the magni- the horizon. But there is usually
humans gave him
at a port of call fication. The bright dot swelled some small leakage to space, and
sweets and cakes, and they and became a chubby commer- line-of-sight frequencies are gen-
thought it charming that he drank cial ship,with the false ports that erally abundant. It is one of the
coffee just like a human, only passengers like to believe they annoyances of a ship coming in
with more gusto. Aground, Mur- looked through when in space. to port that space near most
gatroyd moved zestfully in soci- Two relatively large cargo ports planets is usually full of local
ety while Calhoun worked. Cal- on each side showed that it car- signals.
houn’s work was conferences with ried heavy freight in addition to “I’ll check,” said Calhoun curt-
planetary health officials, politely passengers. It was one of those ly. “Stand by.”
receiving such information as workhorse intra-cluster ships that The Candida would have ar-
they thought important, and tact- distributed the freight and pas- rived off Maya as the Med Ship
fully telling them about the most sengers the long-haul liners had done, and called down as Cal-
recent developments in medical dumped off only at established houn had been doing. It was very
science as known to the Interstel- transshipping ports. probably a ship on schedule and
larMedical Service. Murgatroyd padded across the the grid operator at the spaceport
“Somebody,” said Calhoun Med Ship’s cabin and examined should have expected it. Space
darkly, “is going to catch the the image with a fine air of wis- commerce was important to any
devil for this!” dom. It did not mean anything to planet, comparing more or less
The communicator loudspeak- him, but tormals imitate human with the export-import business
er spoke abruptly. actions as parrots and parrakeets of an industrial nation in ancient
“Calling Med Ship,” said a imitate human speech. He said, times on Earth. Planets had elab-
voice. “Calling Med Ship Esclipus “Chee.’” as if making an observa- orate traffic-aid systems for the
T wenty! Liner Candida calling. tion of profound significance, then cargo-carriers which moved be-
Have you had an answer from went back to the cushion and tween solar systems as they’d
ground?” again curled up. once moved between continents
Calhoun blinked. Then he said “We don’t see anything wrong on Earth. Such traffic aids were
curtly; aground,” the liner’s voice com- very carefully maintained. Cer-
“Not yet. I’ve been calling all plained, “but they don’t answer tainly for a spaceport landing-
GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 159

grid not to respond to calls for
twelve hours running seemed
ominous.
“We’ve been wondering,” said
the Candida querulously, “if there
could be something radically
wrong below. Sickness, for ex-
ample.”
The word “sickness” was a sub-
more alarming word.
stitute for a
But a plague had nearly wiped
out the population of Dorset,
once upon a time, and the first
ships to arrive after had broken
it
out most incautiously went down
to ground, and so carried the
plague to their next two ports of
call. Nowadays quarantine regu-
lations were enforced very strict-
ly indeed.
try to find out what’s the
“I’ll
matter,” said Calhoun.
‘We’ve got a passenger,” re-
peated the Candida aggrievedly,
“who insists that we land him by
space-boat if we don’t make a
ship landing. He says he has im-
p)ortant business aground.”
Calhoun did not answer. The
rights of passengers were extrava-
gantly protected, these days. To
fail to deliver a passenger to his
destination entitled him to puni-
tive damages which no spaceline
could afford. So the Med Ship
would seem heaven-sent to the
Candida’s skipper. Calhoun could
relieve him of responsibility.
The telescope screen winked
and showed the surface of the
160
” ”
planet a hundred thousand miles The voice from the Candida portant.Every human-occupied
away. Calhoun glared at the said hopefully: world was supposed to have a
image on the port screen and “Can you authorize us to re- Med Ship visit at least once in
guided the telescope to the space- fuse to land our passenger for his four years to verify the state of
port city —
Maya City. He saw own protection? He’s raising the public health.
highways and blocks of buildings. devil! He insists that his business Med Ship men like Calhoun
He saw the spaceport and its demands that he be landed.” offered advice on public-health
landing-grid. He could see no A word from Calhoun as a Med problems. When something out of
motion, of course. Service man would protect the the ordinary turned up, the Med
He raised the magnification. spaceliner from a claim for dam- Service had a staff of researchers
He raised it again. Still no mo- ages. But Calhoun didn’t like the who hadn’t been wholly baffled
tion. He upped the magnification look of things. He realized, dis- yet. There were great ships which
until the lattice-pattern of the tastefully, he might find
that could carry the ultimate in labo-
telescope’s amplifying crystal be- practically anything down below. ratory equipment and specialized
gan to show. But at the ship’s He might find that he had to personnel to any place where
distance from the planet, a quarantine the planet and him- they were needed. Not less than
ground-car would represent only self with it. In such a case he’d a dozen inhabited worlds in this
the fortieth of a second of arc. need the Candida to carry word sector alone owed the survival of
There was atmosphere, too, with of the quarantine to other planets their populations to the Med Ser-
thermals; anything the size of a and thus to Med Service sector vice, and the number of those
ground-car simply couldn’t be headquarters. which couldn’t have been colo-
seen. “We’ve lost a lot of time,” in- nized without Med Service help
But the showed quite
city sisted the Candida. “Can you was legion.
clearly. Nothing massive had hap- authorize us — Calhoun reread the briefing.
pened to it. No large-scale physi- “Not yet,” said Calhoun. “I’ll Maya was one of four planets in
cal disaster had occurred. It sim- you when I land.” this general area whose life sys-
ply did not answer calls from
tell
“But — tems seemed to have had a com-
space. “I’m signing off for the mo- mon origin, suggesting that the
ment,” said Calhoun. “Stand by.” Arrhenius theory of space-travel-
ALHOUN FLIPPED off the He headed the little ship down- ing spores was true in some
screen. ward, and as it gathered velocity limited sense. A genus of ground-
“I think,” he said irritably into he went over the briefing sheets cover plants with motile stems
the communicator microphone, covering this particular world. and leaves and cannibalistic ten-
“I suspect I’ll have to make an He’d never touched ground here dencies was considered strong
emergency landing. It could be before. His occupation, of course, evidence of common origin.
something as trivial as a power was seeing to the dissemination The planet had been colonized
failure —
” but he knew that was of medical science as it developed for two centuries now, and pro-
wildly improbable —
“or it could under the Med Service. The Ser- duced organic compounds of
be —
anything. I’ll land on rock- vice itself was neither political great value from indigenous
ets and tell you what I find.” nor administrative. But it was im- plants, most of which were used
GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 161

in textile manufacture.
were no local endemic infections
to which men were susceptible.
A number of human-use crops
were grown. Cereals, grasses and
grains, however, could not be
grown because of the native
ground-cover motile-stem plants.
All wheat and cereal food had to
be imported, which fact severely
limited Maya’s population. There
were about two million people on
the planet, settled on a peninsula
in the Yucatan Sea and a small
area of mainland. Public-health
surveys had shown a great many
things about a great many sub-
jects . but there was no men-
. .
tion of anything to account for
the failure of the spaceport to
respond to arrival calls
space. Naturally!
The Med Ship drove on down,
and the planet revolved beneath
it.
As Maya’s sunlit hemisphere
enlarged, Calhoun kept the tele-
scope’s field wide. He saw cities,
and vast areas of cleared land
where native plants were grown
as raw materials for the organics’
manufacturies. He saw very little
true chlorophyll though.
green,
Mayan foliage tended to a dark
olive color.
A T FIFTY miles he was sure
that the city streets
empty even of ground-car traffic.
There was no spaceship aground
162
There in the landing-grid. There were
no ground-cars in motion on the
splendid, multiple-lane highways.
At thirty miles altitude there
were stillno signals in the atmo-
sphere, though when he tried
amplitude-modulation reception
he picked up static. But there
was no normally modulated sig- I
nal on the air at any frequency,
At twenty miles —
no. At fifteen
miles, broadcast power was avail-
able, which proved that the land-
ing-grid was working as usual,
tapping the upper atmosphere for
electric charges to furnish power
for all the planet’s needs.
From ten miles down to
ground-touch, Calhoun was busy.
It is not too difficult to land
from a ship on rockets, with reason-
ably level ground to land on. But
landing at a specific spot is some-
thing else. Calhoun juggled the
ship to descend inside the grid
itself. His rockets burned out pen-
cil-thin holes through the clay
and stone beneath the tarmac. He
cut them off.
Silence. Stillness. The Med
Ship’s outside microphones
picked up small noises of wind
blowing over the city. There was
no other sound at all.
— No. There was a singularly
deliberate clicking sound, not
loud and not fast. Perhaps a
were click — a double click —
every
two seconds. That was all.
Calhoun went into the airlock,
GALAXY
1
^ with Murgatroyd frisking a little
^
in the expectation of great social
success among the people of this
world. When Calhoun cracked the
outer airlock door he smelled
*
i
something. It was a faintly sour,
astringent odor that had the qual-
1
I ity of decay in it. But it was no
kind of decay he recognized.
f Again stillness and silence. No
I
traffic-noise; not even the almost
inaudible murmur that every city
Ij
has in all its ways at all hours.
I
The buildings looked as buildings
should look at daybreak, except
that the doors and windows were
open. It was somehow shocking.
j
I
A ruined city is dramatic. An
abandoned city is pathetic. This
^
was neither. It was something
•
i
new. It felt as if everybody had
1 walked away, out of sight, within
i
the past few minutes.
Calhoun headed for the space-
, port building with Murgatroyd
j
ambling puzzledly at his side.
;
Murgatroyd was disturbed. There
should be people here! They
should welcome Calhoun and ad-
mire him —
Murgatroyd and —
he should be a social lion with
all the sweets he could eat and
all the coffee he could put into
his expandable belly. But nothing
happened! Nothing at all.
“Chee?” he asked anxiously.
“They’ve gone away,” growled
Calhoun. “They probably left in
ground-cars. There’s not one in
sight.”
MED SHIP MAN
There wasn’t. Calhoun could
look out through the grid founda-
tions and see long, sunlit and ab-
solutely empty streets. He ar-
rived at the spaceport building.
There was — there had been —
a green area about the base of the
structure. There was not a living
plant left. Leaves were wilted and
limp. The remains had become
almost a jelly of collapsed stems
and blossoms of dark olive-green.
The plants were dead; but not
long enough to have dried up.
They might have wilted two or
three days before.
Calhoun went in the building.
The spaceport log lay open on a
desk. It recorded the arrival of
freight to be shipped away —
—
undoubtedly on the Candida
now uneasily in orbit somewhere
aloft. There was no sign of dis-
order. It was exactly as if the
people here had walked out to
look at something interesting, and
hadn’t come back.
Calhoun trudged out of the
spaceport and to the streets and
buildings of the city proper. It
was incredible! Doors were
opened or unlocked. Merchandise
in the shops lay on display, ex-
actly as it had been spread out
to interest customers. There was
no sign of confusion anywhere.
Even in a restaurant there were
dishes and flatware on the tables.
The food in the plates was stale,
as if three days old, but it hadn’t
163

yet begun to spoil. The appear-
ance of everything was as if
people at their meals had simply,
at some signal, gotten up and
walked out without any panic or
disturbance.
Calhoun made a wry face. He’d
remembered something. Among
the tales that had been carried
from Earth to the other worlds of
the galaxy there was a completely
unimportant mystery story which
164
people still sometimes tried to
write an ending to. It was the
story of an ancient sailing ship
called the Marie Celeste, which
was found drifting aimlessly in
the middle of the ocean. Tliere
was food on the cabin table, and
the galley stove was still warm.
There was no sign of any trouble,
or terror, or disturbance which
might cause the ship to be
abandoned. But there was not a
GALAXY
(
the century, Murgatroyd, I don’t
like this. I don’t like it a bit!”
II
N THE way back to the Med
O Ship, Calhoun stopped at an-
other place where, on a grass-
growing planet, there would have
been green sward. There were
Earth-type trees, and some native
ones, and between them there
should have been a lawn. The
trees were thriving, but the
ground-cover plants were col-
lapsed and rotting.
Calhoun picked up a bit of the
semi-slime and smelled it. It was
faintly sour, astringent, the same
smell he’d noticed when he
opened the airlock door. He
threw the stuff away and brushed
off his hands. Something had
killed the ground-cover plants
which had the habit of killing
Earth-type grass when planted
here.
He listened. Everywhere that
on board. Nobody had humans live, there are insects and
living soul
ever been able to contrive a be- birds and other tiny creatures
lievable explanation. which are essential parts of the
“Only,” said Calhoun to Mur- ecological system to which the
gatroyd, “this is on a larger scale. human race is adjusted. They
The people of this city walked have to be carried to and estab-
out about three days ago, and lished upon every new world that
didn’t come back. Maybe all the mankind hopes to occupy. But
people on the planet did the there was no sound of such living
same, since there’s not a com- creatures here.
municator in operation anywhere. It was probable that the bel-
To make the understatement of lowing roar of the Med Ship’s
MED SHIP MAN 165
emergency rockets was the only ond and a half, and went on again “where did they go? The ques- put the human colony on Maya
real noise the city had heard for half a second. tion’s really where could they go! on a peninsula.
since its people went away. Frowning, Calhoun raised his There were about eight hundred “They went east,” said Calhoun
The stillness bothered Murga- eyes to a very fine color photo- thousand people in this city. presently. He traced lines with
troyd. He said, “Chee!” in a sub- graph on the wall above the pow- There’d be cars for everyone, of his finger. “Three highways go
dued tone and stayed close to was a picture of the
er dials. It course, and two hundred thou- east; that’s the only way they
Calhoun. Calhoun shook his head. human-occupied part of Maya, sand cars would take everybody. could go quickly. They hadn’t
Then he said abruptly: taken four thousand miles out in But that’s a lot of ground-cars! been sure they’d have to go but
“Come along, Murgatroyd!” space. It had been enlarged to Put ’em two hundred feet apart they knew where to go when
He went back to the building four feet by six, and Maya City on a highway, and that’s twenty- they did. So when they got their
housing the grid controls. He could be seen as an irregular six cars to the mile on each lane. warning, they left. On three high-
didn’t look at the spaceport log group of squares and triangles Run them at a hundred miles an ways, to the east. And we’ll follow
this time. He went to the instru- measuring a little more than half hour on a twelve-lane road — them and ask what the hell they
ments recording the second func- an inch by three-quarters. The de- using all lanes one way and — ran away from. Nothing’s visible
tion of a landing-grid. In addition tail was perfect. It was possible that’s twenty-six hundred cars per here!”
to lifting up and letting down to see perfectly straight, infinitely lane per hour, and that’s thirty- He went back to the Med
ships of space, a landing-grid thin lines moving out from the one thousand . . . two highways Ship, Murgatroyd skipping with
drew down power from the ions city. They were multiple-lane make sixty-two . . . three high- him.
of the upper atmosphere and highways, mathematically ways . With two highways
. . As the airlock door closed be-
broadcast it. It provided all the straight from one city to another, they could empty the city in un- hind them, he heard a click from
energy that humans on a world and then mathematically straight der three hours, and with three the outside-microphone speakers.
could need. It was solar power, — though at a new angle until — highways close to two. Since He listened. It was a doubled
in a way, absorbed and stored by the next. Calhoun stared thought- there’s no sign of panic, that’s clicking, as of something turned
a layer of ions miles high, which fully at them. what they must have done. Must on and almost at once turned off
then could be drawn on and dis- “The people left the city in a have worked it out in advance, again. There was a two-second
tributed by the grid. During his hurry,” he told Murgatroyd, “and too. Maybe they’d done it before cycle, the same as that of the
descent Calhoun had noted that there was little confusion, if any. it happened whatever it was
. . . power drain. Something drawing
broadcast power was still avail- So they knew in advance that that happened.” six million kilowatts went on and
able. Now he looked at what the they might have to go. They were immediately off again every two
instruments said. ready for it. If they took any- TTE searched the photograph seconds. It made a sound in
The needle on the dial showing thing, they had it ready packed which was so much more de- speakers linked to outside micro-
power-drain moved slowly back in their cars. But they hadn’t tailed than a map. There were phones, but it didn’t make a noise
and forth. It was a rh5dhmic been sure they’d have to go be- mountains to the north of Maya in the air. The microphone clicks
movement, going from maximum cause they were going about their City, but only one highway led were induction; pick-up; like

to minimum power-use, and then businesses as usual. All the shops north. There were more moun- cross-talk on defective telephone
back again. Approximately six were open and people were eating tains to the west. One highway cables.
million kilowatts was being taken in restaurants, and so on.” went into them, but not through. Calhoun shrugged his shoul-
out of the broadcast every two Murgatroyd said, “C/iee!” as if To the south there was sea, which ders almost up to his ears. He
seconds for half of one second. curved aroxmd some three hun- went to the communicator,
Then the drain cut off for a sec-
in full agreement.
“Now,” demanded Calhoun, dred miles from Maya City and “Calling Candida —
” he began,

166 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 167

 and the answer almost leaped
down his throat.
“Candida to Med Ship.
in! Come in! What’s happened
down there?”
“The city’s deserted without
any sign of panic,” said Calhoun,
“and there’s power and nothing
seems to be broken down. But it’s
as if somebody had said, ‘Every-
body clear ouf and they did.
That doesn’t happen on a whim!
What’s your next port of call?”
The Candida’s voice told him,
hopefully.
“Take a report,” commanded
Calhoun. “Deliver it to the public
health office immediately you.
land. They’ll get it to Med Ser-
vice sector headquarters. I’m go-
ing to stay here and find out
what’s been going on.”
He dictated, growing irritated
as he did so because he couldn’t
explain what he reported. Some-
thing serious had taken place, but
there was no clue as to what it
was. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t
certainly a public health affair.
But any emergency the size of
this one involved public health
factors.
“I’m remaining aground to in-
vestigate,” finished Calhoun. “I
will report further when or if it
is Message ends.”
possible.
“What about our passenger?”
“To the devil with your pas-
senger!” said Calhoun peevishly.
“Do as you please!”
168
TTE CUT off the
and prepared
Come outside the ship. Presently he and
Murgatroyd went to look for
transportation. The Med Ship
couldn’t be used for a search op-
eration;
it carry enough
didn’t
rocket fuel. They’d have to use a
ground vehicle.
It was again shocking to note
that nothing had moved but sun
shadows. Again it seemed that
everybody had simply walked out
of some door or other and failed
to come back. Calhoun saw the
windows of jewelers’ shops.
Treasures lay unguarded in
plain view. He saw a florist’s
shop. Here there were earth-type
flowers apparently thriving, and
some strange beautiful flowers
with olive-green foliage which
throve as well as the Earth-
plants. There was a cage in which
a plant had grown, and that plant
was wilting and about to rot. But
a plant that had to be grown in
a cage . . . which
He found a ground-car agency,
perhaps for imported cars, per-
haps for those built on Maya. He
went in and from the cars on
display he chose one, an elaborate
sports car. He turned its key and
it hummed. He drove it carefully
out into the empty street, Murga-
troyd sitting interestedly beside
him.
“This is luxury, Murgatroyd,”
said Calhoun. “Also it’s grand
communicator theft. We medical characters
for activity can’t usually afford such things.
Or have an excuse to steal them.
But these are parlous times, so
we take a chance.”
“Cheer said Murgatroyd.
“We want to find a fugitive
population and ask what they
ran away from. As of the moment,
it seems that they ran away from
nothing. They may be pleased
know they can come back.”
Murgatroyd again said, “CheeP’
Calhoun drove through vacant
ways. It was somehow nerve-
racking. He felt as if someone
should pop out and say “Boo!” at
any instant. He discovered an
elevated highway and a ramp
leading up to it At a cloverleaf
he drove eastward, watching
sharply for any sign of life. There
was none.
He was nearly out of the city
when he felt the chest impact of
a sonic boom, and then heard a
trailing away growling sound
seemed to come
farther away as it died out.
was the result of something
traveling faster than sound, so
that the noise it made far away
had to catch up with the sound it
emitted nearby.
stared up. He saw a para-
He
chute blossom as a bare speck
against the blue. Then he heard
the even deeper-toned roaring
of a supersonic craft
skjrward. It could be
GALAXY MED SHIP MAN
liner’s lifeboat, descended into
atmosphere and going out again.
It was. It had left a parachute
behind, and now went back to
space to rendezvous with its
parent ship.
“That,” said Calhoun impa-
tiently, “will be the Candida’s pas-
senger. He was insistent enough.”
He scowled. The Candida’s
to voice had said its passenger de-
manded to be landed for business
reasons. And Calhoun had a prej-
udice against some kinds of busi-
ness men who would think their
own affairs more important than
anything else. Two standard
years before, he’d made a plane-
tary health inspection on Texia
II, in another galactic sector. It
was a llano planet and a single
giant business enterprise. Illimit-
sown with
able prairies had been
an Earth-type grass which de-
stroyed the native ground-cover
—the reverse —the ground-cover
of
here
situation and the entire
from planet was a monstrous range for
It beef cattle. Dotted about were gi-
gantic slaughterhouses, and cat-
tle in masses of tens of thousands
were shifted here and there by
ground-induction fields which
acted as fences. Ultimately the
cattle were driven by these same
induction fences to the slaughter
houses and actually into the
chutes where their throats were
climbing slit. Every imaginable fraction of
a space- a credit of profit was extracted
169
 I

from their carcasses, and Calhoim
had found it appalling.
He was not sentimental about
cattle, but the complete cold-
bloodedness of the entire opera-
tion sickened him. The same cold-
bloodedness was practised toward
the human employees who ran
the place. Their living quarters
were sub-marginal. The air stank
of cattle murder. Men worked
the Texia Company or they did
not work. If they did not work
they did not eat. If they worked
and ate, —Calhoun could see
nothing satisfying in being alive
on a world like that! His report
to Med Service had been biting.
He’d been prejudiced against
businessmen ever since.
T>UT A
^ parachute descended,
blowing away from the city.
It would land not too far from
the highway he followed. And it
didn’t occur to Calhoun not to
harness boimced. He didn’t know “No,” said Calhoun p>olitely. “I much of the Med Service! You
how to spill the air. The chute It’s deserted. I’m
just left there. pjeople try to meddle in things
dragged him. not going back. There’s nobody that are none of your business!”
Calhoun sp>ed ahead, swerved Calhoun did not answer. The
and ran into the chute. He
there.”
“But I’ve important bus — muddy man, clutching the attache
stoppjed the car and the chute The other man stared. “It’s de- case tightly, waded through the
stopp>ed with it. He got out. serted? But that’s impossible!” olive-green plants to the car and
The man lay in a hopieless “Quite,” agreed Calhoun, “but climbed in. Murgatroyd said cor-
tangle of cordage. He thrust un- it’s true. It’s abandoned. Unin- dially, “Chee-c/iee!” but Allison
skilfully at it. When Calhoun habited. Everybody’s left it. viewed him with distaste.
for came up he said suspiciously: There’s no one there at all.” “What’s this?”
“Have you a knife?” The man who called himself “He’s Murgatroyd,” said Cal-
Calhoun offered a knife, polite- Allison blinked unbelievingly. He houn. “He’s a tOTtnal. He’s Med
ly opjening its blade. The man swore. Then he raged profanely. service p>ersonneL”
slashed at the cords and freed But he was not bewildered by “I don’t like beasts,” said Alli-
himself, There was an attache the news. Which, upjon consider- son coldly.
case lashed to his chute harness. ation, was itself almost bewilder- “He’s much more iniportant to
He cut at those cords. The at- ing. But then his eyes grew me than you are,” said Calhoun,
tache case not only came clear, shrewd. He looked about him. “if the matter should come to a
but opened. It dumpjed out an “My name is Allison,” he re- test.”
incredible mass of brand new, p>eated, as if there were some sort Allison stared at him as if ex-
tightly packed interstellar credit
certificates. Calhoun could see
of magic the word. “Arthur
in
Allison. No matter what’s hap-
pjecting
did
him to cringe. Calhoun
not. Allison showed every
that the denominations were one pened, I’ve some business to do sign of being an important man
thousand and ten thousand cred- here. Where have the people who expjected his importance to
its. The man from the chute gone? I need to find them.” be recognized and catered to.

help the unknown chutist. He reached under his armpit and “I need to find them too,” said When Calhoun stirred impatient-
saw a small figure dangling be- drew out a blaster. Calhoun. “I’ll take you with me, ly he got into the car and
low the chute. He slowed the It was not a service weapon. It if you like.” growled a little. Calhoun took his
ground-car as he estimated where was elaborate, practically a toy. “You’ve heard of me.” It was place. The ground-car hummed.
the parachute would land. With a dour glance at Calhoun a statement, confidently made. It roseon the six columns of air
He was off the twelve-lane he put it in a side pocket and “Never,” said Calhoun politely. which took the place of wheels
highway and on a feeder road gathered up the scattered money. “If you’re not hurt, suppose you and slid across the field of dark-
when the chute was a hundred It was an enormous sum, but he get in the car? I’m as anxious as green plants, leaving the para-
feet high. He was racing across packed it back. He stood up. you are to find out what’s hap>- chute deflated across a number
a field of olive-green plants that “My name is he said
Allison,” pjened. I’m Med Service.” of rows, and a trail of crushed-
went all the way to the horizon in an authoritative voice. “Arthur down plants where it had moved.
when the parachute actually
touched ground. There was a con-
Allison. I’m
I’ll
much
ask you to take
obliged.
me to
Now
Maya ALLISON MOVED
car.
toward the It reached the highway again.
Calhoun ran the car up on the
siderable wind. The man in the City.” Med Service, eh? I don’t think highway’s shoulder, and then sud-

170 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 171

1
denly checked. He’d noticed
something.
He stopped the car and got out.
Where the ploughed field ended,
and before the coated surface of
the highway began, there was a
space where on another world one
would expect to see green grass.
On this planet grass did not
grow; but there would normally
be some sort of self-planted vege-
tation where there was soil and
sunshine and moisture. There had
been such vegetation here, but
now there was only a thin, repel-
lent mass of slimy and decaying
foliage. Calhoun bent down to it.
It had a sour, faintly astringent
smell of decay. These were the
ground-cover plants of Maya of
which Calhoun had read. They
had motile stems, leaves and
flowers, and they had canniba-
listic tendencies. They were the
local weeds which made it im-
possible to grow grain for human
use upon this world.
And they were dead.
Calhoun straightened up and
returned to the car. Plants like
this were wilted at the base of the
spaceport building, and on an-
other place where there should
have been sward. Calhoun had
seen a large dead member of the
genus in a florist’s, that had been
growing in a cage before it died.
There was a singular coincidence
here: humans ran away from
something, and something caused
172
the death of a particular genus of
cannibal weeds.
It did not exactly add up to
anything in particular, and cer-
tainly wasn’t evidence for any-
thing at But Calhoun drove
all.
on vaguely puzzled mood.
in a
The germ of a guess was forming
in his mind. He couldn’t pretend
to himself that it was likely, but
it was surely no more unlikely
than most of a million human be-
ings abandoning their homes at
a moment’s notice.
Ill
^^HEY came to the turnoff for
a town called Tenochitlan,
some forty miles from Maya City.
Calhoun swung off the highway
to go through it.
Whoever had chosen the name
Maya
for this planet had been
interested in the legends of Yuca-
tan, back on Earth. There were
many instances of such hobbies
in a Med Ship’s list of ports of
call. Calhoun touched ground reg-
ularly on planets that had been
named for countries and towns
when men first roamed the stars,
and nostalgically christened their
discoveries with names suggested
by homesickness. There was a
Tralee, and a Dorset, and an Eire.
Colonists not infrequently took
their world’s given name as a pat-
tern and chose related names for
seas and peninsulas and moimtain
GALAXY
chains.On Texia the landing-grid
rose near a town called Corral
and the principal meat-packing
settlement was named Roundup.
Whatever the name Tenochit-
lan would have suggested, though,
was denied by the town itself. It
was a small, with a pleasing local
type of architecture. There were
shops and some factories, and.
many private
strictly homes,
some clustered close together and
others in the middles of consider-
able gardens. In those gardens
also there was wilt and decay
among the cannibal plants. There
was no grass, because the plants
prevented it, but now the motile
plants themselves were dead. Ex-
cept for the one class of killed
growing things, however, vegeta-
tion was luxuriant.
But the little city was deserted.
were empty, its houses
Its streets
untenanted. Some houses were
apparently locked up here,
though, and Calhoun saw three or
four shops whose stock im trade
had been covered over before the
owners departed. He guessed that
either thistown had been warned
earlier than the spaceport city, or
else they knew they had time to
get in motion before the highways
were filled with the cars from the
west.
Allison looked at the houses
with keen, evaluating eyes. He
did not seem to notice the ab-
sence of people. When Calhoun
MED SHIP MAN
swung back on the great road
beyond the little city, Allison re-
garded the endless fields of dark-
green plants with much the same
sort of interest.
“Interesting,” he said abruptly
when Tenochitlan fell behind and
dwindled to a speck. “Very inter-
esting! I’m interested in land.
Real property, that’s my business.
I’ve a land-owning corporation on
Thanet Three. I’ve some holdings
on Dorset, too, and elsewhere. It
just occurred to me: what’s all •
this land and the cities worth,
with the people all run away?”
“What,” asked Calhoun, “are
the people worth who’ve run?”
Allison paid no attention. He
looked shrewd. Thoughtful.
“I came here to buy land,” he
said. “I’d arranged to buy some
hundreds of square miles. I’d buy
more if the price were right. But
— as things are, it looks like the
price of land ought to go down
quite a bit. Quite a bit!”
“It depends,” said Calhoun, “on
whether there’s anybody left alive
to sell it to you, and what sort of
thing has happened.”
Allison looked at him sharply.
“Ridiculous!” he said authori-
tatively. “There’s no question of
their being alive!”
“They thought there might be,”
observed Calhoun. “That’s why
they ran away. They hoped
they’d be safe where they ran to.
I hope they are.”
173
 Allison ignored the comment. another. There was no sign of erinarians never had tormals for troyd displayed. They coincided
His eyes remained intent and any movement in its streets. It patients. They were invariably in with irregularities in Murga-
shrewd. He was not bewildered moved along the horizon to the robustuous good health. They troyd’s heartbeat, coming at ap-
by the flight of the people of left and rear. Presently it disap- contracted no infections from proximately two-second intervals.
Maya. His mind was busy with peared. other animals; they shared no The tautening of the muscles
contemplation of that flight from Half an hour later still, Murga- infections with anybody else. The lasted just about half a second.
the standpoint of a man of busi- troyd said: Med Service discovered that tor- “But I don’t feel it!” said Cal-
ness. “Chee!” mals possessed a dynamic immu- houn.
He stirred uneasily. A moment nity to germ and bacteria-caused Murgatroyd whimpered again
^1 'HE CAR went racing onward. later he said “Chee!” again. diseases. Even viruses injected and said, “Chee-chee!”
The endless fields of dark Calhoun turned his eyes from into their bloodstreams only pro- “What’s going on?” demanded
green rushed past to the rear. the road. Murgatroyd looked un- voked an immediate, overwhelm- Allison with the impatience of a
The highway was deserted, just happy. Calhoun ran his hand over ing development of antibodies, so very important man indeed. “If
three strips of surfaced road, the tormaVs furry body. Murga- that tormals couldn’t be given the beast’s sick, he’s sick! I’ve got
mathematically straight, going on troyd pressed against him. The any known disease. Which was of to find — ”

to the horizon. They went on by
tens and scores of miles, each
strip wide enough to allow four
ground-cars to nm side by side.
The highway was intended to
allow all the produce of all
fields to be taken to market or a
processing plant at the highest
possible sp>eed and in any imagin-
able quantity. The same roads
had allowed the cities to be de-
serted instantly the warning
whatever the warning was — ar-
rived.
Fifty miles beyond Tenochit-
lan there was a mile-long strip of
sheds containing agricultural ma-
chinery for crop culture and
trucks to carry the crops to mar-
ket. There was no sign of
about the machinery, nor in a
further hour’s run to westward.
Then there was a city visible
to the
by
left. But it was not served
this particular highway, but
car raced on. Murgatroyd whim-
pered a little. Calhoun’s hand felt
the little animal’s muscles tense
sharply, and then relax, and after
a little tense again. Murgatroyd
these said almost hysterically:
“Chee-chee-chee-cheel”
Calhoun stopped the car, but
Murgatroyd did not seem to be
relieved. Allison said impatiently,
“What’s the matter?”
— “That’s what I’m trying to find
out,” said Calhoun.
He felt Murgatroyd’s
The role of Murgatroyd
Med Ship Esclipus Twenty was
not only that of charming com-
panion in the long, isolated runs
in overdrive. Murgatroyd was a
life part of the Med Service. His tribe
had been discovered on a planet
in the Deneb sector, and men had
made pets of them, to the high
satisfaction of the tormals. Pres-
ently it was discovered that
infinitevalue to the Med Service.
Now every Med Ship that
could be supplied with a tormal
carried a small, affectionate,
whiskered member of the tribe.
Men liked them, and they adored
men. And when, as sometimes
happened, by mutation or the
simple enmity of nature, a new
kind of infection appeared in hu-
man society — why —
tormals
defeated it. They produced spe-
cific antibodies to destroy it. Men
pulse. analyzed the antibodies and syn-
in the thesized them, and they were
available to all the humans who
needed them. So a great many
millions of humans stayed alive,
because tormals were pleasant
little animals with a precious ge-
netic gift of good health.
I^ALHOUN LOOKED AT
^ sweep-second watch, timing
vet- the muscular spasms that Murga-
Calhoun ojjened his med kit
and went carefully through it
until he found what he needed.
He put a pill into Murgatroyd’s
mouth.
“Swallow it!” he commanded.
Murgatroyd resisted, but the
pill went down. Calhoun watched
him sharply. Murgatroyd’s diges-
tive system was delicate, but it
was dependable. Anything that
might be poisonous, Murgatroyd’s
stomach rejected instantly and
emphatically.
The pill stayed down.
“Look!” said Allison indignant-
ly. “I’ve got business to do! In
this attache case I have millions
of interstellar credits, in cash, to
pay down on purchases of land
and factories. I ought to make
some damned good deals! And I
his figure that that’s as important as
an3Tthing else you can think of!
It’s a damned sight more impor-

174 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 175

tant than a beast with a belly-
ache!”
Calhoun looked at him coldly.
“Do you own land on Texia?”
he asked.
Allison’s mouth dropped open.
Extreme suspicion and unease ap-
peared on his face. As a sign of
the unease, his hand went to the
side coat pocket in which he’d
put a blaster. He didn’t pluck it
out. Calhoun’s left fist swung
around^ and landed. He took Alli-
son’s elaborate pocket blaster and
threw it away among the monot-
onous rows of olive-green plants.
He returned to absorbed observa-
tion of Murgatroyd.
In five minutes the muscular
spasms diminished. In ten, Murg-
atroyd frisked. But he seemed to
think that Calhoun had done
something remarkable. In the
warmest of tones he said:
“Chee!”
“Very good,” said Calhoun.
“We’ll go ahead. I suspect you’ll
do as well as we do — for a
while.”
The car lifted the few inches
the air columns sustained it above
the ground. It went on, still to
the eastward. But Calhoun drove
more slowly now.
“Something was giving Murga-
troyd rhythmic muscular spasms,”
he said coldly. “I gave him medi-
cation to stop them. He’s more
sensitive than we are, so he re-
acted to a stimulus we haven’t
176
noticed yet. But I think we’ll no- , Service gadget linked together to mic intervals, the skin crawled on
tice it presently.” ‘
serve as cattle fences. They act
' the back of his hands. He glanced
Allison seemed to be dazed at ^
like though they’re pro-
fences, at Allison. Allison’s hands were
the affront given him. It appeared jected through the ground. Cattle tightly clenched.
to be unthinkable that anybody become uncomfortable when they “There’s a ground-induction
mighf lay hands on him. try to cross them. So they draw fence in action, all right,” said
“What the devil has that to do back. So men control them. They Calhoun calmly. “You notice? It’s
with me?” he demanded angrily. move them from place to place a cattle fence and we’re running
“And what did you hit me for? by changing the cattle fences, into it. If we were cattle, now,
You’re going to pay for this!” which are currents induced in the we’d turn around and move
“Until I do,” Calhoun told him, ground. The cattle have to keep away.”
“you’ll be quiet. And it does have moving or be punished by the “I don’t know what you’re talk-
the devil to do with you. There moving fence. They’re even ing about!” said Allison.
was a Med Service gadget once driven into the slaughterhouse But his hands stayed clenched.
—a tricky little device to pro- chutes by ground-induction fields! Calhoun slowed the car still more.
duce contraction of chosen mus- That’s the trick on Texia, where He began to feel, all over his
cles. It was useful for re-starting induction fields herd cattle. I body, that every muscle tended
stopped hearts without the need think it’s the trick on Maya, to twitch at the same time. It
of an operation. It regulated the where people are herded like cat- was a horrible sensation. His
beat of hearts that were too slow tle and driven out of their cities heart muscles tended to contract
or dangerously irregular. But so the value of their fields and too, simultaneously with the rest,
some businessman had a bright factories will drop, —
so a land but one’s heart has its own beat
idea and got a tame researcher to buyer can find bargains!” rate. Sometimes the normal beat
link that gadget to ground induc- “You’re insane!” snapped Alli- coincided with the twitch. Then
tion currents. ! suspect you know son. “I just landed on this planet! his heart pounded violently —
that businessman!” You saw me land! I don’t know so violently that it was painful.
“I don’t know what you’re talk- what happened before I got here! But equally often the imposed
ing about,” snapped Allison. But How could I?” contraction of the heart muscles
he was singularly tense. “You might have arranged it,” came just after a normal con-
“I do,” said Calhoim unpleas- said Calhoim. traction, and then it stayed tight-
antly. “I made
a public health in- ly knotted for half a second. It
spection on Texia a couple of A LLISON assumed an air of missed a beat, and the feeling was
years ago. The whole planet is a offended and superior digni- agony.
single, gigantic, cattle-raising en- ty. Calhoun drove the car onward No animal would have pressed
terprise. They don’t use metal at very much less than the head- forward in the face of such sen-
fences — the herds are too big to long pace he’d been keeping to. sations. It would have turned
be stopped by such things. They Presently he looked down at his back long ago. No animal. Not
don’t use cowboys —
they cost hands on the steering wheel. Now even Man.
money. On Texia they use and then the tendons to his fin- Calhoun stopped the car. He
ground-induction and the Med gers seemed to twitch. At rhyth- looked at Murgatroyd. Murga-
GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 177
troyd was completely himself. He cattle fence would have been very at such-and-such a speed, and it ought to let you take what this
looked inquiringly at Calhoun. mild. It would have been low- went so far and no farther. And damned thing would give you.
Calhoun nodded to him, but he power, causing just enough un- they would organize themselves But — here!”
spoke —
with some difficulty — easiness to be noticed. It would to apply this carefully worked Allison had panicked. The idea
to Allison. have moved from west to east, out information. of a cattle fence suggested dis-
“We’ll see — if this thing — slowly, and it would have reached It would not occur to any of comfort, of course, but it did not
builds up. You know that it’s the a certain spot and there faded them that they had learned how imply danger. The experience of
Texia — trick. A ground — in- out. And it would have been a to be driven like cattle. a cattle fence, designed for huge
duction unit set up —
here. It mystery and an uncomfortable hoofed beasts instead of men, was
drove people— like cattle. Now thing, and nobody would under- ^ALHOUN, of course, could terrifying. Allison gasp>ed. He
we’ve —run into it. —
It’s hold- stand it on Maya. In a week it only reason that this must made convulsive movements. Cal-
ing people — like cattle.” would almost be forgotten. But have happened. But nothing else houn himself moved erratically.
He panted. His chest muscles then there’d come a stronger dis- could have taken place. Perhaps For one and a half seconds out of
contracted with the rest, so that turbance. And it would travel there were more than three uses two, he could control his muscles.
his breathing was interfered with. down the length
like the first one; of the moving cattle fence to get For half a second at a time, he
But Murgatroyd, who’d been of the peninsula on which the the F>eople prepared to move past could not. But he poked a pill
made uneasy and uncomfortable colony lay, but stopping at the the known place at which it al- into Allison’s mouth.
before Calhoun noticed anything same spot as before, and then ways faded to nothingness. They “Swallow it!” he commanded.
wrong, was now bright and frisky. fading away to nothingness. And might have been days apart, or “Swallow!”
Medication had desensitized his this alsowould have seemed mys- weeks apart, or months. There The ground-car rested tranquil-
muscles to outside stimuli. He terious. But nobody would sus- might have been stronger mani- ly on the highway, which here
would be able to take a consider- pect humans of causing it. There festations followed by weaker went on for a mile and then
able electric shock without re- would be theorizing and much ones and then stronger ones again. dipped in a gentle incline and
sponding to it. questioning, but it would be con- But there was an inductive cat- then rose once more. The totally
But he could be killed by one sidered an unfamiliar natural tle fence across the highway here. level fields to right and left came
that was strong enough. event. Calhoun had driven into it. Every to an end here. Native trees grew,
Asavage anger filled Calhoun. Probably the third use of the two seconds the muscles of his trailing prejKisterously with long
Everything fitted together. Alli- cattle fence would be most dis- body tensed. Sometimes his heart fronds. Brushwood hid much of
son had put his hand convenient turbing. This time it would be missed a beat at the time that his the ground. That looked normal.
to his blaster when Calhoun men- acutely painful. But it would breathing stopped, and some- But the lower, ground-covering
tioned Texia. It meant that Cal- move into the cities and through times it pounded violently. It vegetation was wilted and rotting.
houn suspected what Allison them and past them, and it would seemed that the symptoms be- Allison choked upon the pellet.
knew to be true. A cattle-fence go down the peninsula to where came more and more unbearable. Calhoun forced a second upon
unit had been set up on Maya, it had stopped and faded on two He got out his med kit, with him. Murgatroyd looked inquis-
and it was holding —
like cattle previous occasions. hands that spasmodically jerked itively at first one and then the
— the people it had previously The p>eople of Maya would
be uncontrollably. He fumbled out other of the two men. He said:
driven —like cattle. Calhoun disturbed and scared. But they the same medication he’d given “Chee? Chee?”
could deduce with some precision considered that they knew it be- Murgatroyd. He took two of the Calhoun lay back in his seat,
exactly what had been done. The gan to the westward of Maya pellets. breathing carefully to keep alive.
first experience of Maya with the City,and moved toward the east “In reason,” he said coldly, “I But he couldn’t do anything

178 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 179

 IV

^ALHOUN was in very bad

shape when the sports car
came to the end of the highway.
First, all the multiple roadways
of the route that had brought him
here were joined by triple ribbons
of road-surface from the north.
For a space there were twenty-
four lanes available to traffic.

They flowed together, and then

about his heartbeat. The sun
shone brightly, though now it was
low, toward the horizon. There
were clouds in the reddened sky.
A gentle breeze blew. Everything,
to outward appearance, was
peaceful and tranquil and com-
monplace upon this small world.
But in the area that human be-
ings had taken over there were
cities which were still and silent
and deserted, and somewhere
somewhere! —
the population of
the planet waited uneasily for
— astounding.
But this was the greatest and
there were twelve. Here there was
evidence of an enormous traffic
concentration at some time now
past. Brush and small trees were
crushed and broken where cars
had been forced to travel off the
hard-surface roadways and
through undergrowth. The twelve
lanes dwindled to six, and the un-
paved area on either side showed
that innumerable cars had been
forced to travel off the highway
altogether. Then there were three
lanes, and then two, and finally
only a single ribbon of pavement
where no more than two cars
could run side by side. The dev-
astation on either hand was
All visible vegeta-
tion for half a mile to right and
frightened. They couldn’t return left was crushed and tangled.

the latest of a series of increas- worst of the torments. And it to their homes.They couldn’t go And then the narrow surfaced
ingly terrifying phenomena to hadn’t ended. It hadn’t dimin- anywhere. They hadn’t prepared road ceased to be completely
come to an end. Upto this time ished. After three days it con- for an emergency to last for days. curved around a hil-
straight. It
the strange, creeping, universal tinued at full strength at the They hadn’t brought supplies of lock —and here the ground was
had begun at ode place,
affliction place where previously it had food. no longer perfectly flat and —
and moved slowly to another, and stopped and died away. It began to look as if they were came to an end.
then diminished and ceased to be. The people of Maya were going to starve. o And Calhoun saw all the

180 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 181

L.

ground-cars of the planet gath-
ered and parked together.
There were no buildings. There
were no streets. There was noth-
ing of civilization but tens and
scores of thousands of ground-
cars. They were extraordinary to
look at,
fronts pointed
stopped at random, their
in all
their air-column tubes thrusting
into the ground so that there
might be trouble getting them
clear again.
Parked bumper to
closely placed lines, in theory
twenty-five thousand cars could
be parked on a square mile of
ground. But there were very
many times that number of cars
here, and some places were un-
suitable for parking, and there
were lanes placed at random and
there’d been no special effort to
put the maximum number
in the smallest place.
face transportation system of the
planet Maya spread out over
some fifty sprawling square miles.
Here, cars were crowded closely.
There, there was much room be-
tween them. But it seemed that
as far as one could see in the twi-
light there were glistening vehi-
cles gathered confusedly, so there
was nothing else to be seen but
an occasional large tree rising
from among them.
Calhoun came to the end of
the surfaced road. He’d waited
for the pellets he’d taken and
182
likely that he’d have found sav- fered at all. He’d had half as
given to Allison to have the effect
they’d had on Murgatroyd. That age disorder. But he arrived at much of the medication as Cal-
sundown three days after the houn himself, and his body weight
had come about. He’d driven on.
But the strength of the inductor flight from the cities. There was was only a tenth of Calhoun’s.
He’d made out all right. Now he
field had increased to the intol- no food to speak of, and water
was drastically short, and the fu- looked expectantly at what be-
erable. When he stopped the
came a jammed mass of crowd-
gitives were only beginning to
sports car he showed the effects
suspect that they would never be ing men about the vehicle that
directions,
of what he’d been through.
Figures on foot converged able to leave this place —
and had come through the invisible
that they might die here. barrier across the highway. They
upon him instantly. There were
Men left the growing crowd hoped desperately for news to
eager calls.
about the sports car to find indi- produce hope. But Murgatroyd
“It’s stopped? You got
,
viduals who could give orders. waited zestfully for somebody to
through? We can go back?” welcome him and offer him cakes
bumper in Calhoun shook his head. It Calhoun stayed in the car, resting
from the unbearable strain he’d and sweets, and undoubtedly
was just past sunset and many
undergone. The ground-inductor presently a cup of coffee.
brilliant colorings showed in the
cattle fencehad been ten miles But nobody did.
western sky, but they couldn’t
deep. One mile was not bad. Only It was a long time before there
put color into Calhoun’s face. His
Murgatroyd had noticed it. After was a stirring at the edge of the
cheeks were grayish and his eyes
crowd. Night had fully fallen
were deep)-sunk, and he looked two miles Calhoun and Allison
suffered; but the medication then, and for miles and miles in
like someone in the last stages of
strengthened them to take it. But all directions lights in the ground
exhaustion. He said heavily:
Maya’s inhabitants
We came there’d been a long, long way in cars of
“It’s still there.
the center of the induction-field glowed brightly. They drew upon
of cars through. I’m Med Service. Have
broadcast power, naturally, for
you got a government here? I in which existence was pure tor-
So the sur-
ment. Calhoun’s muscles defied theirmotors and their lights. Off
need to talk to somebody who can
him for part of every two-second to one sidesomeone shouted. Cal-
give orders.”
cycle, and his heart and lungs houn turned on his headlights for
seemed constantly about to give a guide. More shoutings. A knot
TF he’d asked two days earlier
up even the pretense of working. of men struggled to get through
there would have been no
In that part of the cattle-fence the crowd. With difficulty, pres-
answer, because the fugitives
field, he’d hardly dared drive ently, they reached the car.
were only waiting for a disaster
faster than a crawl, in order to “They say you got through,”
to come to an end. One day earli-
keep control of the car when his panted a tall man, “but you can’t
er, he might have found men with
authority busily trying to arrange own body was uncontrollable. get back. They say — ”
But presently the field strength Calhoun roused himself. Alli-
for drinking water for something
lessened and ultimately ended. son, beside him, stirred. The tall
like two millions of people, in the
Now Murgatroyd looked cor- man panted again;
entire absence of wells or pumps
dially at the figures who clustered “I’m the planetary president.
or ways of making either. And if
about the car. He’d hardly suf- What can we do?”
he’d been a day later, it is rather
GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 183
 !

“First,
tiredly.
listen,” said Calhoun off thepower broadcast ourselves!
We’ve got to do something im-
creeping disaster before which
they’d all fled, —
it was not a
ALLISON’S
He was
teeth
a business
chattered.
man and
He’d had a little rest. Not mediately. The whole planet’s up now he’d thought
to as one.
natural catastrophe, but an arti-
much, but some. The actual work here. There’s no food! There’s no ficial one! Men had made it! He’d made decisions in offices,

he’d done in driving three hun- water! Something has to be done They’d been herded here and with attorneys and secretaries
dred-odd miles from Maya City before we
begin to die!” their wives and children were and clerks to make the decisions
was trivial. But the continuous, “But,” said Calhoun, “if you cut hungry because of something men practical and safe, without any
and lately violent, spasms of his off the power you’ll die
anyway! had done! concern for any consequences
heart and breathing muscles had You’ve got a couple of million A low-pitched, buzzing, hum- other than financial ones.
been exhausting. He heard Mur- people here, and you’re a hundred ming sound came from the crowd He saw possible consequences
gatroyd say ingratiatingly, “Chee- miles from food. Without power about the sports car. For the mo- to himself, here and now. He’d
chee-chee-chee,” and put his hand you couldn’t get to food or bring ment, nobody asked what could landed on Maya
because he con-
on the little animal to quiet him. it here. Cut the power and you’re be the motive for men to do what sidered the matter too important
“The thing you ran away still stranded here. Without pow- had been done. Pure fury filled to trust to anybody else. Even
from,” said Calhoun with effort, er you’ll die' as soon as with it.” the mob. Calhoun leaned closer riding with Calhoun on the way
“is a type of ground-induction There was a sound from the to Allison. here, he’d only been elated and
field using broadcast power from listening men around. It was “I wouldn’t get out of the car astonished at the success of the
the grid. It’s used on Texia to partly a growl and partly a groan. if I were you,” he said in a low intended coup. He’d raised his
confine cattle to their pastures “I’ve just found this out,” said tone. “I certainly wouldn’t try to aim. For a while he’d believed
and to move them where they’re Calhoun. “I didn’t know until the buy any real property at a low that he’d end as the sole proprie-
wanted to be. But it was designed last ten miles exactly what the price!” tor of the colony on Maya, with
for cattle. It’s a cattle fence. It situation was, and I had to come Allison shivered. There was a every plant growing for his profit,
could kill humans.” here to be sure. Now I need some vast, vast stirring as the explana- and every factory earning money
people to help me. It won’t be tion passed from man to man. for him, and every inhabitant his
XJE WENT on, his voice gain- pleasant. I may have enough Figures moved away in the dark- employee. It had been the most
ing strength and steadiness medication to get a dozen people ness. Lighted car windows winked grandiose possible dream. The de-
as he spoke. He explained, pre- back through. It’ll be safer if I as they moved through the ob- tails and the maneuvers needed
cisely, how a
ground-induction take only six. Get a doctor to scurity. The population of Maya to complete it flowed into his
field was projectedin a line at a pick me six men. Good heart was spread out over very many mind.
right angle to its source. It could action. Sound lungs. Two square miles of what had been But now his teeth chattered. At
should
be moved by adjustments of the be electronics engineers. The wilderness, and there was no ten words from Calhoun he Would
apparatus by which it was pro- others should be good shots. If elaborate communication system literally be torn to pieces by the
jected. you get them ready. I’ll give them by which information could be raging men about him. His at-
“But — but uses broad-
if it the same stuff that got us through. spread quickly. But long before tache case with millions of credits
cast power,” the planetary presi- It’s desensitizing medication, but dawn there’d be nobody who in cash —
it would be proof of

dent said urgently, “then if the it will do only so much. And try didn’t know that they’d fled from whatever Calhoun chose to say.
power broadcast is cut off it has and find some weapons for them.” a man-made danger and were Allison knew terror down to the
to stop! If you got through it Voices murmured all around. held here like cattle, behind a bottom of his soul. But he dared
coming here, tell us how to get Men hastily explained to other cattle fence, apparently aban- not move from Calhoun’s side,
through going back and we’ll cut men what Calhoun had said. The doned to die. even though a single sentence in

184 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 185

 the calmest of voices would de- joining twelve-lane highways had tered, and stopped, and chattered his carup to eighty miles an hour.
stroy him, and he’d never faced shrunk. Behind him, other head- again, and at long last he panted The other cars followed faithful-
actual, understood, physical dan- moved into line. Calhoun’s
lights despairingly: ly. To
a hundred. They did not
ger before. car moved away into the dark- “Are you going to let the thing drop behind. The car hummed
Presently men came, one by
one, to take orders from Calhoun.
ness. The others followed. kill me?” through the night at top speed —
Brilliant stars shone overhead. Calhoun stopped. The cars be- a hundred and twenty, a hundred
They were able-bodied and grim- A cluster of thousands of suns, a hind him stopped. He gave Alli- and miles an hour. The
thirty
faced men. Two were electronics hundred light-years away, made son two pellets and took two him- three other cars’ headlights faith-
engineers, as he’d specified. One a center of illumination that gave self. With Murgatroyd insistently fully kept pace with him.
was a policeman. There were two Maya’s night the quality of a accompanying him, he went along Allison, said desperately,
mechanics and a doctor who was
also amateur tennis champion of
vivid if diffused moonlight. The the cars which trailed him. He “Look! I —
don’t understand
cars went on. Presently Calhoun made sure the six men
he’d asked what’s happened. You talk as if
the planet. Calhoun doled out to felt the twitchings of minor mus-
for took their pellets and that I’d planned all this. I did have —
them the pellets that reduced the
sensitiveness of muscles to exter-
cular spasms. He was riding into they had an adequate effect. He advance notice of a a research —
the field which had been first de- went back to the sports car. project here. But it shouldn’t
nally applied stimuli. He gave in- vised for purposes remote from Allison whimpered a little have held the people there for
structions. They’d go as far into the herding of cattle or humans, when he and Murgatroyd got days! Something went wrong! I
the cattle fence as they could but applied to the first use on the back in. only believed that people would
reasonably endure. Then they’d planet Texia, and now applied to
“I thought,” said Calhoun con- want to leave Maya. I’d only
swallow the pellets and let them the second here.
versationally, “that you might try planned to buy as much acreage
act. Then they’d go on. His stock The road became two, and to take off by yourself, just now. as I could, and control of as many
of pellets was limited. He could then four, and then eight lanes
It would solve a problem for me. factories as possible. That’s all! It
give three to each man. wide. Then
four lanes swirled off Of course it wouldn’t solve any was business! Only business!”
Murgatroyd squirmed disap- to one and the remaining
side,
for you. But I don’t think your Calhoun did not answer. Alli-
pointedly as this briefing went on. four presently doubled, and then
problems have any solution, now.” son might be telling the truth.
Obviously, he wasn’t to make a widened again, and it was the
He started the car up again. It Some businessmen would think it
social success here. He wasan- twelve-lane turnpike that had moved forward. The other cars only intelligent to frighten people
noyed, and he needed more space. brought Calhoun here from Maya trailed dutifully. They went on into selling their holdings below
Calhoun tossed Allison’s attache City.
through the starlit night. Calhoun true value. Something of the sort
case behind the seats. Allison was
noted that the effect of the cattle happened every day in stock ex-
too terrified to protest. It still did T>UT the rhythmic interference fence was less than it had been changes. But the people of Maya
not increase the space left on the with his body grew stronger. before. The first desensitizing could have died!
front seat between Calhoun and Allison had spoken not one single pellets had not wholly lost their For that matter, they still
Allison. word while Calhoun conferred effect when he added to it. But might. They couldn’t return to
Four humming ground cars with the people of Maya beyond he kept his speed low until he their homes and food so long as
lifted eight inches off the ground the highway. His teeth chattered was certain the other drivers had broadcast power kept the cattle-
and hovered there on columns as they started back. He didn’t endured the anguish of passing fence in existence. But they could
of rushing air. Calhoun took the attempt to speak during the be- through the cattle-fence field. not return to their homes and
lead. His headlights moved down ginning of the ride through the Presently he was confident that food supplies if the power broad-
the single-lane road to which two cattle-fence field. His teeth chat- the cattle field was past. He sent cast was cut off, either.

186 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 187

L
 ”

Over all the night surface of
the world of Maya there was light
only on one highway at one spot,
and a multitude of smaller, lesser
lights where the j>eople of Maya
waited to find out whether they
the photograph in the spaceport
building showed. A large highway
went into those mountains for a
limited distance only.
A ground-inductor projector
field always formed at a right
Calhoun made an abrupt grunt-
ing noise. Phrasing the thing that
needed to be done was practically
a blueprint of how to do it. Sim-
ple! He’d need the two electronics
engineers, of course.
fore others of what you’ve ac-
cused me personally. You seem to
think that ! planned a criminal
act. That the action I know of
—
the research project I’d heard of
But that — that it became —
that it got

would live or die. angle to the projector which was would be the trick . . .
out of hand is likely. But I am
He drove on at a hundred entirely in the clear. I did noth-
its source. It could be adjusted
V — the process was analogous to thrity miles an hour with his lips ing in which I did not have the
focusing —
to come into actual setwrily. The three other cars advice of counsel. I am legally
My
lawyers —
^ALHOUN considered coldly. being at any distance desired, and came behind him. Murgatroyd unassailable.
^ They were beyond what had the distance could be changed. To watched the way ahead. Mile
ii^^HAT’S none of business,”
been the farthest small city on drive the p)eople of Maya City after mile, half-minute after half-
the multiple highway. They eastward, the projector of a cattle minute, the headlights cast bril- Calhoun told him. “I’m a
would go on past now-starlit fence — about which they would liantly blinding beams before the medical man. I landed here in the
middle of what seemed to be a
fields of plants native to Maya, know nothing; it would be totally cars. Murgatroyd grew bored. He
passing many places where trucks strange and completely mysteri- said, “Chee!” in a discontented serious public health situation. I
loaded with the plants climbed up ous — the projector of the cattle fashion and tried to curl up be- went to see what had happ>ened.
haven’t the
to the roadway and headed fence would need to be west of tween Allison and Calhoun. There I’ve found out. I still

the factories which made

for
use of the people to be driven. Logically, wasn’t room. He crawled over the answer, —not the whole answer
them. The fields ran for scores of it would belong in the mountains. seat-back. He moved about, back an3Tway. But the human popula-
miles along the highway’s length. Practically, it would be con- There were rustling sounds.
there. tion of Maya is in a state of some
They reached out beyond the ho- cealed. Drawing on broadcast He down. Presently there
settled privation, not to say danger. I
rizon, —perhaps scores of miles power to do its work, there would was Undoubtedly he had
silence. hope to end it. But I’ve nothing
do with anybody’s guilt or in-
in that direction, too. There were be no large power source needed draped his furry tail across his to
thousands upon thousands of to give it the six million kilowatts nose and gone soundly off to nocence of crime or criminal in-

square miles devoted to the grow- it required. should be quite

It sleep. tent or anything else.”
ing of the dark-green vegetation easy to hide beyond any quick Allison spoke suddenly. He’d swallowed. Then he
Allison
which supplied the raw materials or easy discovery. Hunting it out had time to think, but he had no said with smooth confidence:
for Maya’s space exports. Some might require weeks of searching. practice in various ways of think- “But you could cause me in-
hundred-odd miles ahead, the But the people beyond the end ing. convenience. I would appreciate
small town of Tenochitlan lay of the highway couldn’t wait. “How much money' have you it ifyou would —
would ” —
huddled in the light of the distant They had no food, and holes got?” he asked. “Cover up what you’ve done?”
star-cluster' Beyond that, more scrabbled down to ground-water “Not much,” said Calhoun. asked Calhoun. .
highway and Maya City. Beyond by men digging with their bare “Why?” “No! I’ve done nothing wrong.
that — hands simply would not be ade- “I —haven’t done anything il- But you could simply use dis-
Calhoun reasoned that the pro- quate. The cattle fence had to be legal,” said Allison, with an un- cretion. I landed by parachute to
jector to make the induction cat- cut off immediately —
while the convincing air of confidence, “but complete some business deals I’d
tle fence would be beyond Maya broadcast of power had to be con- I could be put to some inconveni- arranged months ago. I will go
City, somewhere in the mountains tinued. ence if you were to accuse me be- through with them. I will leave on

188 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 189

the next ship. That’s perfectly
open and above board. Strictly
business. But you could make a
^ an unpleasing public image
of me. Yet I have done nothing
any other business man wouldn’t
do! I did happen to know of a
research project — He seemed much more
Calhoun without
“I think,” said
heat, you sent men here
“that
with a cattle-fence device from
Texia to frighten the p>eople on
Maya. They wouldn’t know what
was going on. They’d be scared;
they’d want to get away. So you’d
be able to buy up practically all
the colony for the equivalent of
peanuts. I can’t prove that,” he
conceded, “but that’s my opinion.
But you want me not to state it.
Is that right?”
“Exactly!” said
Allison.
been shaken to the core,
managed the tone and the
a dignified man of business dis-
cussing an unpleasant subject
with fine candor. “I assure you
you are mistaken. You agree that
you can’t prove your suspicions.
If you can’t prove them, you
shouldn’t state them. That is sim-
ple ethics. You agree to that!”
Calhoun looked at him curi-
ously.
“Are you waiting for me
you my price?”
“I’m waiting,” said Allison re-
provingly, “for you to agree not
a person of some influence. I
could do a great deal to your
benefit. I’dbe glad — opened a window and
“Are you working around to
guess at a price I’ll take?” asked
Calhoun with the same air of
curiosity.
than indignant, and much more
amused than curious. Allison
sweated suddenly. Calhoun didn’t
appear to be bribable. But Allison
knew desperation.
“If you want to put it
— yes,” he said harshly.
name your own figure. I
“I won’t say a word about you,”
said Calhoun. “I won’t
The characters who’re op>erating
your cattle fence will do all the
talking that’s necessary. Things
— except
He’d all fit together,
but he item. They’ve been dropping into
air of place all the while we’ve been
driving down this road.”
“I said you can name your own
figure!” Allison’s voice was shrill.
“I mean it! Any figure! Any!”
Calhoun shrugged.
“What would a Med Ship man
do with money? Forget it!”
He drove on. The highway
turnoff to Tenochitlan appeared.
Calhoun went steadily past
to tell The other connection with the
road through the town apjjeared.
He left it behind.
Allison’s teeth chattered again.
utes later. Calhoun slowed and
the other cars closed up. He
called:
“We want to go to the landing-
grid first. Somebody lead
way!”
A went past and guided
curious
car
the rest assuredly to a ramp down
from the now-elevated road, and
through utterly dark streets,
which some were narrow and
winding, and came out abruptly
where the landing-grid rose sky-
that way ward. At the bottom its massive
“You can girders looked huge and Cyclo-
mean it!” pean in the starlight, but the
higher courses looked like silver
need to. lace against the stars.
They went to the control
Calhoun got out.
building.
for one Murgatroyd hopped out after
him, dust clinging to his fur.
shook himself, and a ten-thou-
sand-credit interstellar credit cer-
tificate fell to the ground. Murga-
troyd had made a soft place for
sleeping out of the contents of
Allison’s attache case. It was as-
suredly the most expensive if not
the most comfortable sleeping
cushion a tormal ever had. Allison
sat still as if numbed. He did not
it. even pick up the certificate.
“I need you two electronics
men,” said Calhoun. Then he said
apologetically to the others,
only figured out something on the
come daybreak. But now I doubt
it.I do suggest, though, that you
turn off the car headlights and
get set to do some shooting if
the anybody turns up. I don’t know
whether they will or not.”
He led the way inside. He
turned on lights. He went to the
place where dials showed the
of amount of power actually being
used of the enormous amount
available. Those dials now
showed an extremely small power
drain, considering that the cities
of a planet depended on the grid.
But the cities were dark and emp-
ty of people. The demand needle
wavered back and forth, rhyth-
mically. Every two seconds the
demand for power went up by
six million kilowatts,
The demand
approxi-
lasted for
mately.
He half a second, and stopped. For a
second and a half the power in
use was reduced by six million
kilowatts. During this period only
automatic pumps and ventilators
and freezing equipment drew on
the broadcast power for energy.
Then the six-million-kilowatt de-
mand came again for half a sec-
ond.
“The cattle fence,” said Cal-
houn, “works for half a second
out of every two seconds. It’s in-
termittent or it would simply
“I paralyze animals that wandered
Or people. Being intermit-
into it.

to cause me embarrassment. I The Maya them out instead.

buildings of City be- way here. I’d believed we might tent, it drives
won’t be ungrateful. After all, I’m gan to appear, some twenty min- have to take some drastic action. There’ll be tools and parts for

190 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 191

equipment here, in case some- wouldn’t have thought of that!” the east. It was more than prob- strangers who were living where
thing needs repair. I want you to He bit into a stale sandwich able that ground cars could run the cattle-fence projector was set
make something new.” and went outside. Allison sat on current supplied for one and a up . They can go into the
. .

The two electronics technicians limply, despairingly, in his seat half seconds out of every two. jungles where there’s nothing to
asked questions. in the car.
They might run but they eat, or they can give themselves
,
jerkily,
“Weneed,” said Calhoun, “an “The cattle fence is going off,” would run. up.”
interrupter that will cut off the said Calhoun without triumph. He moved toward the door of
power broadcast for the half-sec- “The people of the city will prob- ALF AN HOUR later, the the control building once more.
ond the ground-induction field is ably begin to get here around power drawn Allison said desperately:
amount of
suppKJsed to be on. Then it should sunrise.” have hidden their
from the broadcast began to rise “They’ll
turn on the broadcast power for “I — I did nothing legally smoothly and gradually. It could equipment. You’ll never be able
the second and a half the cattle wrong!” said Allison, dry- mean only that cars were begin- to find it!”
fence is supposed to be off. That throated. “Nothing! They’d have ning to move. Calhoun shook head in the
will stop the cattle-fence effect, to prove that I knew what the — minutes later still,
Forty-five starlight.
his

and think a ground car should

I consequences of the research proj- Calhoun heard stirrings outside. “Anything that can fly can spot
be able to work with power that’s ect would be. That couldn’t be He went out. The two men on in minutes. Even on the
it
available for three half-seconds proved! It couldn’t! So I’ve done guard gazed off into the city. ground one can walk almost
out of four.” nothing legally wrong .” . .
Something moved was a
there. It straight to it. You see, something
The electronics men blinked at Calhoun went inside, observing ground-car, running slowly and happened they didn’t count on.
him. Then they grinned and set that the doctor who was also ten- without lights. Calhoun said un- That’s why they’ve left it turned
to work. Calhoun went exploring. nischampion, and the policeman disturbedly: on at full power. The earlier,
He found a lunch box in a desk who’d come to help him, were “Whoever was running the cat- teasing uses of the cattle fence
with three very stale sandwiches keeping keen eyes on the city and tle fence found out their gadget were low-power. Annoying, to
in it. He offered them around. the foundations of the grid and wasn’t working. Their lights and uncomfortable the
start with,
It appeared that nobody all other places from which They came to see
flickered, too. second time, and maybe some-
wanted to eat while their families trouble might come. what was the matter at the land- what painful the third. But the
— at the end of the highway — There was a fine atmosphere ing-grid. But they’ve seen the last time it was full power.”
were still hungry. of achievement in the power-con- lighted windows. Got your He shrugged. He didn’t feel
The electronics men called on trol room. The power itself did blasters handy?” like a long oration. But it was
the two mechanics to help build not pass through these instru- obvious. Something had killed
But the unlighted car turned
something. They explained ab- ments, but relays here controlled and raced away. Calhoun only the plants of a certain genus of
sorbedly to Calhoun that they buried massive conductors which shrugged. which small species were weeds
were making a cutoff which supplied the world with power. that destroyed Earth-type grasses.
“They haven’t a prayer,” he
would adjust to any sudden six- And one of the relays had been said. “We’ll take over their ap- The ground-cover plants and —
million-kilowatt demand, no mat- modified. When the cattle-fence paratus as soon as it’s light. It’ll the larger ones, like the one Cal-
ter what time interval was in- projector closed its circuit, the be too big to destroy, and there’ll houn had seen decaying in a
volved. A change in the tempo of power went off. When the ground- shop which had had to
be fingerprints and such to iden- florist’s
the cattle-fence cycle wouldn’t inductor went off, the power went tify them as the men who ran it. be grown in a cage the ground- —
bring it back on. on. There was no longer a barrier And they’re not natives. When cover plants had motile stems
“That’s fine!” said Calhoun. “I across the highways leading to the police start to look for the and leaves and blossoms. They

192 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 193

were cannibals. They could move Wheat can be grown here now,
their stems to reach, and their
leaves to enclose, and their flow-
ers to devour other plants, even
perhaps small animals. The point,
whenever and as much as the
people please. It should make
this a pretty prosperous planet,
not having to import all its
DON'T CLIP
though, was that they had some
limited power of motion. Earth-
style sensitive vines and flycatch-
er plants had primitive muscular
tissues. The local ground-cover
bread.”

ground cars of the inhabit-

ants of Maya
to arrive at sunrise.
City did begin
Within an
THE COUPON-
- if you want to keep your copy
of Galaxy intact for permanent possession!*
devotee
Why mutilate a good thing? But, by the same token ... if you’re
plants had them too. And the cat- hour after daybreak, very savage- ought to subscribe.
enough to want to keep your copies in mint condition, you
tle-fence field made those tissues ly intent persons found the pro- one thing, you get your copies earlier. For another, you re
You really ought to. For
contract spasmodically. Powerful- jector and turned it off. sure you'll get them! Sometimes newsstands run
out -the mail never does.
By noon there was still some plain sheet of paper
ly. Violently. Repeatedly. Until (And you can just put your name and address on a
you mean...
they died of exhaustion. The full- anger on the faces of the people and mail it to us, at the address below. We'll know what
power cattle-fence field had ex- of Maya, but there’d been little provided you enclose your check!)
terminated Mayan ground-cover or no damage, and life took up
In the past few years Galaxy has
published the finest stories
plants all the way to the end of its normal course again. Murga-
by the finest writers in the field
— Bester, Heinlein, Pohl,
the east-bound highway. And troyd appreciated the fact that
inevitably — and very conveni- thingswent back to normal. For
Asimov, Sturgeon, Leiber and nearly everyone else.
ently —also up to the exact spot him it was normal to be wel- In the next few years it will go right on, with stories that are
where the cattle-fence field had comed and petted when the Med just as good ... or better.

begun to be projected. There Ship Esclipus Twenty touched won’t. Just subcribe
Don’t miss any issue of Galaxy. You can make sure you
would be an arrow-shaped nar- ground. It was normal for him to
today.
rowing of the wiped-out ground- move zestfully in admiring hu-
cover plants where the cattle-field man society, and to drink coffee on the other hand, your habit is to read them once and
*(lf,

had been projected. It would nar- go on to something new — please — feel free to use the
with great gusto.
coupon! It's for your convenience, not ours.)
row to a point which pointed pre- And while Murgatroyd moved
cisely to the cattle-fence project- in human society, enjoying him-
or.
“Your friends,” said Calhoun,
self hugely, Calhoun went about
his business. Which, of course,
m
(SO' additional
“willprobably give themselves up was conferences with planetary GALAXY Publishing Corp., 421 Hudson Street, New York 14, N. Y.
per 6 issues
and ask for mercy. There’s not health officials, politely receiving , .

New Giant 196-page Galaxy

I

Enter my subscription for the

much else they can do.” such information as they thought
Then he said: important, and tactfully telling (U. S. Edition only) for:

“They might even get it. D’you them about the most recent de- 6 Issues @ $2.50 12 Issues @ $4.50 24 Issues @ $8.50
know, there’s an interesting side velopments in medical science.
effect of the cattle fence. It kills What else was a Med Ship
the plants that have kept earth- man for?
type grasses from growing here. — MURRAY LEINSTER
194 GALAXY
 Sealed, 1- to r.: Bennett Cerf, Faith Baldwin, Bergen Evans, Bruce Cation, Photo by Philippe Halsman
Mignon G. Eberhart, John Caples, J. D. RatclifT
Standing;Mark Wiseman, Max Shulman, Rudolf Flesch, Red Smith. Rod Serling

12 famous authors start a

new kind of writing school
If you have writing talent worth developing, on each assignment completed by a student
here’s an opportunity never before available: . revising, correcting, and advising.
. .

Twelve of America’s most famous authors The Famous Writers School is less than
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Bruce Catton; best-selling novelist Faith signed a revealing Talent Test. The coupon
Baldwin; humorist Max
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famed sportswriter Red Smith; Rudolf Flesch, be graded without charge or obligation by
top authority on readable writing; noted lan- one of the School’s instructors. If your Test
guage expert Prof. Bergen Evans; famous indicates writing talent, you are then eligible
mystery novelist Mignon G. Eberhart; J. D. to enroll in the School, You are, however, un-
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top ad men John Caples and Mark Wiseman.
These famous authors have developed a
Famous Writers School
Dept. 6307, Westport, Connecticut
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Miss
professional writers. Under the supervision Street
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