December 1965 600

THE MERCURYMEN
by C. C. MacAPP

THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT by ROBERT SILVERBERG

LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ by NORMAN KAGAN
WILLY LEY, ALGIS BUDRYS AND MANY OTHERS
1

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 ALL STORIES NEW

Galaxy 1$published In French and

Italian. The U. S. Edition It pub-
lished in Braille. This Edition Is
also published In Living Tape by
Services for the Blind, Ine., Dm
Moines, Iowa.

FREDERJK POHL
DECEMBER, 1965 • Vd. 24, No. 2 Editor
CONTENTS willy urr
Science Editor
NOVELETTES DIANE SULLIVAN
Associate Editor
THE MERCURYMEN 8 ROBERT M. GUINN
by C. C. MacApp Publisher
LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ 63 DAVID PERTON
by Norman Kagan Production Manager
THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 99 DAVE GEUER ASSOC.
Advertising
by Robert Silverberg
MAVIS FISHER
Subscription Mgr.
SHORT STORY
GALAXY MAGAZINE it published
"REPENT HARLEQUIN!" SAID bi-monthly by Galaxy Publishing
THE TICKTOCKMAN 135 Corporation. Main offices: 421
by Harlan Ellison Hudson Street, Hew York, N.Y.
10014. 60o per copy Subscrip-
SERIAL - Part Two tion: (12 copies) $6.00 per
year in the United States, Can-
THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 158
ada, Mexico, South and Cen-
by Fredarik Pohl tral America and U. S. Poses-
tions. Elsewhere $7.00. Second-
NON-FACT ARTICLE class postage paid at New
GALACTIC CONSUMER REPORTS NO. 1— York, N.Y. and at additional

Inexpensive Time Machines 55 mailing offices. Copyright New

York 1965 by Galaxy Publishing
by John Brunner
Corporation, Robert M. Guinn,

SCIENCE DEPARTMENT President. AH rights including

translations reserved. Ail ma-
FOR YOUR INFORMATION 88 terial submitted must be ac-
by Willy Ley companied by self-addressed
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FEATURES lisher assumes no responsibili-

EDITORIAL 4 ty for unsolicited material. All

by Frederik Pobl stories printed in Oils magazine

fiction and any similarity
GALAXY BOOKSHELF 147 sre
between characters and actual
by Algii Budrys
persons is coincidental.
FORECAST 54
Printed in the U.S.A.

TOE MERCURYMEN By The Guinn Co., Inc. N. Y.

Cover by PEDERSON froei
TiUe Re*. 0. $. Pst Off.
 TO THE STARS
"lichen Hal Clement was a Boy his time now is design space-
T
Scout patrol leader, which is ships.
several decades ago, one of the By “spaceships”, Dr. Robert
youngest Scouts in his troop was Enzmann does not mean Mariner
an under-age cub named Bob IV or even Apollo. By “space-
Enzmann. He was a science-fic- ships” he means what we mean
tion reader, of course. If he by spaceships —
you get into it,
hadn’t been, Hal Clement was, you take off, you look around and
and would have converted him. head for the nearest interesting
He liked to read stories about piece of planetary real estate, and
the conquest of space —
in those you get there in finite time, with
days of the 30s, a fantastic sub- enough reserve of fuel and sup-
ject, which most of the wise adult plies to look around, land, ex-
world was quite ready to dismiss and come back
plore, take off . . .

without a thought. or go on tosome other place.

But time passes, and in the You be hearing more of
will
couple of decades since that time Dr. Robert Enzmann. You may
Robert Enzmann grew up, stu- have heard more already, as a
died, traveled, learned . and
. . matter of fact, since while this
began to do something about con- issue of Galaxy is on the stands
quering space for himself. He ac- there willbe a conference on
quired degrees in geology, phy- planetology held in New York in
sics and engineering. He para- which Enzmann will take a lead-
chuted three times onto the ing part, and if it doesn’t make
Greenland ice cap; he lived for newspaper stories we will be
half a year at a time, with only much surprised. For what Enz-
his rifle to provide his meat and mann is after is not merely a
an occasional contact with a na- research program or a blueprint
tive for company, in the last for future decades. What he wants
wildernesses of Africa. Now he to do is build this ship man- — v^ '
u
makes his home in that lesser euverable, huge, nuclear-fueled
jungle around the city of — and to start doing it now.
Boston, and what he does with How immediate is “now”? *
4
 .

Why were these men great?

How does anyone — man or woman — achieve
greatness? Is it not by mastery of the powers
within ourselves ?
Know the mysterious world within you ! Attune
yourself to the wisdom of the ages! Grasp the
inner power of your mind Learn the secrets of a !

full and peaceful life!

Benjamin Franklin, statesman and inventor . .

Isaac Newton, discoverer of the Law of Gravita-

tion Francis Bacon, philosopher and scientist
. . .

. like many other learned and great men and

. .

women were Rosicrucians. The Rosicrucians

. . .

(NOT a religious organization) have been in

existence for centuries. Today, headquarters of
the Rosicrucians send over seven million pieces
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SJSe ROSICRUCIANS
San Jose (AMORC) California 95114, U.S.A.

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5
Well, says Dr. Enzmann, there
are a few engineering problems T o be sure, the technology that
makes this sort of space-
something new
that need to be worked out. Not ship possible is

basic science problems they’ve — and vast. Much of it represents

all been solved —
some as re- recent breakthroughs in a number
cently as within the past ninety of fields, and quite a lot of it is
days. But there is the organi- classified. It is even possible that
zational problem of assembling difficulties may turn up in the
the skills, the tools and the raw engineering which will change the
materials; the technical problem picture, perhaps radically. Fu-
of testing and linking them; and sion power stations looked a lot
above the financial problem of
all easier in 1949 than they did in
raising the funds necessary for 1959, and if they have recently
what is, after all, not quite as begun to look a little easier again
simple a project as building a it is by virtue of considerable
new city hall. The price tag knowledge, attained at consider-
would be something like two and able cost, that did not exist in
a half billion dollars — for the those early optimistic days.
one. Second and later ships
first But it is also sure that our
would come a little cheaper. And present space hardware has got
the time? to be a dead end. can with We
Twenty years from start to great difficulty and at immense
completion is and easy
a safe cost put together a plumber’s
schedule, says Enzmann; and if nightmare which will pump liquid
we got started right away there fuels into a chamber, bum them
should be no difficulty in com- off and lumberingly project itself
pleting it in five. into orbit; but no sensible man
In other words, if Enzmann is regards that solution to space
right —
and an impressive num- travel as economical or elegant.
ber of people are coming to think Enzmann’s ship may not be the
he is —
by the time the present last word, either. But it is par-
program calls for manned land- secs beyond anything that now
ings on the moon, we could have exists outside the pages of a sci-
a ship built that could make the ence-fiction magazine . . . and
round-trip to Pluto in a matter every sign indicates that we can
of a few weeks and that could
. . . start building it now.
keep right on going to the stars. —FREDERIK POHL

6
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7
The Mercurymen
i
'T'em was many kilostrides because nearly half the diameter
rootward from the last set- was filled with icy water and the
tlement, in a part of the stalk air was cold. Nevertheless, it was
that was not planted nor grazed not too cold for fish nor for

8
 . . » I

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^
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S^js»l£V' Jmr£
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devan
stretcheO
1Si
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nd they
, s\ww c.ml| 1r ..

fi»w*ore '

by C. C. MacAPP Their remote ancestors had conquered

Mercury — and now the hot planet
was ready to begin conquering them
Illustrated by MORROW

some of the quadrupeds, and he

loved to come here when he had
free time. stalk sections. He was watching
He lay concealed in the a wild tomcat fishing.
throat-like constriction between The luminous moss grew feeb-

9
ly here, and he could barely a vine-fruit, but it was tart and
make out the cat’s dark form he only swallowed a few bites;
Inching along the giant fronds they seldom ripened this far root-
at the water’s edge. He wondered ward. He thought he might do a
why tomcats would come this little hand-fishing himself far-
far (and even farther, he knew) ther along, where it was warmer.
when, in warmer but still unset- But then, he ought to be getting
tled parts of the vine, therewere back.
lizards and mice and birds to The kilostrides passed. The
hunt. Maybe they liked the dim sections were smaller, with much
light and the solitude, and the less water in them so he could
vastness of the sections. Person- walk nearer the bottom of the
ally, he found the size of the curve. The
luminosity brighten-
sections a little frightening. The ed. He
reached sections planted
one before him was a good two to rice; then, finally, one where
hundred strides in diameter, and grass grew almost halfway up
over half a kilostride long. the circumference. He smelled
Now the cat was out of sight goats ahead. At the next section-
entirely, but he kept his eyes on joint he had to let himself
the spot where he’d seen it last. through a netting.
There were no bird songs here; no As he skirted the grazing ani-
sound at all except a faint trick- mals, the herder, a young man a
ling of water somewhere. He few orbits older than he, called
pulled his goatskin hood closer out, “You better hustle, idler!
about his cheeks, and waited. The Elders have been looking for
There was a leap and a splash- you!”
ing. Then the cat’s dark form Tem grunted an acknowledge-
went bounding up the steep wall. ment and continued his casual
He caught just one glint of silver pace. As First Son of the Chief,
at its head as it disappeared into he didn’t feel he should let goat-
some hidden cavity. Presently he herders hasten him. Nevertheless,
heard eating sounds. when he was out of sight he walk-
After a while he gathered him- ed faster. He couldn’t imagine
self, squirmed free of the bulb- why the Elders would want him.
ous growths which, legend said, The first huts came into sight.
would swell to an airtight seal A little later a band of children
in case the section were seriously spotted him and came running,
punctured, and picked a way babbling and shrieking, each vy-
back along the near-vertical side ing to be bearer of the news.
of the next section. He plucked “Tem! The Chief is dying!”
10 GALAXY
'T'hey’d already bled the Chief
-*•
and given him fermented
rice, but even so, his face was
set against the agony and his
eyes were dull. It was the sick-
ness that strikes in the right side
of the belly. He raised his hand
feebly and took Tern’s. His voice
was weak, but calm. “I affirm
that you are my true First Son.
I invoke the Law of the Migra-
tion.” He let his hand drop and
closed his eyes against the pain.
Tern knelt, trying to find words.
How
was this possible? The
strongest and wisest of the vine
. .hardly into middle age
. . . .
He looked around at the Elders,
wanting someone to tell him it
wasn’t so; that this was some
cryptic charade, and that his
father would throw off the act
any instant and bound to his feet
with a guffaw. But he recognized
the Conclave of Death. Besides
the Elders, none of the vine was
present except six other first sons
who were older than Tern but
within the age limits for migra-
tion.
One of those, a man named
Buld, scowled and said harshly,
“Why does he not disown this
stripling, so we can elect a real
Leader?”
The dying man’s face only
tightened more, but one of the
Elders said, “Do not speak blas-
phemy!” Each of the Elders took
one step forward, signifying their
THE MERCURYMEN
intention of enforcing the Law if
necessary.Buld looked sullen, but
said no more.
Numbly, Tern got to his feet
and stood at his father’s head,
as the Conclave demanded. He
wished he could leave to find
his mother and comfort her, but
of course he could not; nor could
she join the Conclave.
From the Book Of Truths:
And within the menagerie, these
things shall ye take, lest the new
vine know them not: the fruits
and the grains, and the fishes that
swim and the fowls that fly, and
the things that creep, and the
tiny things and the things that
suckle their young . . .
II
Qince this was a season when
^ the sun was already retreat-
ing Brightward (everyone kept
looking apprehensively at the
corona above the horizon), the
migration could start as soon as
it was ready.
Tern had been Outside before,
of course, as part of his training,
but he’d only left the lock and
walked a few steps on the gravel
above the vine, and it hadn’t
seemed real. Now, ostensibly
overseeing preparations (though
the Elders’ who’d been on their
own migration to this vine, were
the actual experts), he had to
11
stay out here for twenty or thirty
kilopulses at a time, and Out-
side was all too real.
He was glad the suitmakers
had done a good job on his suit.
The face part was of the clearest
rubber possible, with very few
bubbles or white spots of undried
fit was good.
vine latex, and the
It was awkward moving, with
the weight of the backpack full
of air-freshening fungus pulling
him off balance. But they’d as-
sured him he’d get used to that.
They’d also promised the pleats
at knee and elbow joints would
stop sticking together when the
latex cured a little more.
He kept tilting his helmet to
look up at the Stars, though it
made him ill to think of such
emptiness above him. He could
believe the Stars were fantastical-
ly distant, all right, but were
they really Gods? And if so, were
they watching?
For that matter, he’d never
been quite dear in his mind
about the relation between sun
and Sunn. Was the sun Sunn’s
weapon? Or his dwelling? Or
what? Of course Sunn could
probably travel around anywhere
invisibly, even to Darkside;
though the Law didn’t say; and
asking such questions got you
admonitions instead of answers.
He turned and stared the way
they’d be going. That was anoth-
er confusing thing. The Law said
12
you must go in the direction of
your right hand as you stood fac-
ing Brightward. Clearly therewas
distance and ground to
there,
walk on, but was it a direction?
One was used to two directions —
rootward and leafward. Or, to
use other terms, darkward and
brightward. Anyway, they had to
go in this new ‘direction’, across
an unknown number of vines, un-
til they found an uninhabited
one fit to settle. The guess was
that it would be as much as four
hundred kilostrides. They could
go that far before the sun began
to return,if they didn’t lag.
He saw an Elder frowning at
him, and turned his attention to
the work.
T hey were bleeding air
the lock now, into big rubber
out of
bags; carrying those over and
squeezing the air into the men-
agerie. Big as that was —
with a
dozen wide carts under it the —
animals, and the human couple
who’d live in it to care for them,
would be cramped. Most of the
space was filled with the air-
freshening fungus. Still, they’d bo
more comfortable than he and
the others, living in suits with
only an occasional visit into the
resters.
The menagerie was the biggest
airbag, by far. There were small-
er one; air fresheners, the Testers,
and simple bags of spare air.
GALAXY
There were waterbags and bags and paused in the throat, in sud-
of food, and bags of liquid vine den despair. It was strange, he
latex for future use. There were thought, howit took things a
two carts loaded with great sheets while to Slowly, he started
hit.
of rubber, already cured, for con- down and he
to the right, until
structing the lock when they was walking in the grass beside
found their vine. There were the narrow lake. Near midsection
loads of rope, and the precious he turned right, through a fruit
tools. And seeds, of course. There orchard to where some huts nest-
was no assurance what would led on the curve of the vine.
have spread to a new vine. Neena’s father sat there, turn-
The lock was sagging now, into ing a roast over a small fire. He
the slanting tunnel that let it looked at Tern silently for a few
meet the vine at a good angle. It pulses, then said, “I’m sorry, lad,
was time for a shift to go in. He but you both knew what to ex-
walked over and helped push on pect.”
the big
end-plug until it gave Tem didn’t answer that. He
way and the remaining air gush- said, “Could I see her?”
ed out They trooped in, replaced Her father nodded rootward.
the plug and held it hard against “Two sections down, in the rice.”
its seating. Someone opened the

valve from the vine, and the lock he must have been expecting
began to fill again. Soon Tern’s S him, for she was working
suit lost its rigidity and hung near this end. He walked out and
upon him, and the end plug began gathering handfuls of the
would stay in place by itself. tall grain. It was not censorable
They pushed open the inner plug for them to work together and
and entered the vine, and filed talk.
down die ramp that had been They worked silently for a
built up to the lock. It was good while, then he said, “I could re-
to be able to look in any direction fuse to But then I’d be in
go.
and see solid walls around him Bottom Caste, and so would you
again. He began unlacing his suit. if you married me. We never
He met people, all wanting to really talked about it, did we?”
stop and talk, and excused him- She was calmer than he expect-
self politely. He was headed ed. “No, we didn’t. I suppose
down vine toward his home, but you’ll take up with my sister.
there was another stop to make I’ve seen the way you look at
first. her.”
He reached the right section He flushed. “I do not! She’s
THE MERCURYMEN 13
four or five orbits older than
am!”
She shrugged. “Anyway, I enty and one hundred orbits
guess you don’t really care much
about me, or you’d find some
way to take me along.”
He frowned at her. “What kind
of talk is that? Even if we dared
defy the Law, do you think the
Elders are blind?”
She glanced around and said
in a low voice, “I’m the same size
as my sister, and we look alike.
I don’t think any of the Elders
would know the difference if I
were in her suit”
He was so shocked he cringed,
half expecting Sunn to send a
meteor and destroy die section.
Slowly, he straightened. Really — el extended for a few strides,
in all his experience —
Sunn had
never punished anyone, preach-
ments notwithstanding. It was al-
ways the Elders who handed out
punishment. And there’d be no
way they could pursue the mi-
gration. He said unsteadily, “But
your sister . .
“I’ve already talked to her,”
she said, “and she’s willing. She’s
afraid to go anyway.”
Ill
nphe Elders gave the faint-
hearted no time to rebel.
The lock’s inner plug closed be-
hind the migration like the cut-
ting of an umbilical cord. Thirty-
nine men and forty-three women
14
I — all the healthy firstborn of the
vine whose ages fell between sev-
—
turned and gazed across the bleak
country.
The hardest thing to get used
to, Tem decided (after the suits
and the awful emptiness above
them) was the harsh lighting.
One compressed glare from the
sun’s corona lit the uneven rock,
leaving shadows so sharp-edged
and black it was hard not to
think they were bottomless holes.
The stars, dazzling as they were,
helped very little to light those
shadows.
Even where it was illuminated,
the ground was frightening. Grav-
where the vine’s growth had
shattered the rock; but beyond
lay the undulating plain, punc-
tuated here and there by hilb
or ringwalls, dotted with loose
rocks from the latter.
Another disturbing thing was
the silence. He could see lips
move, see people clap their glov-
ed hands together to soften the
gloves, and strained his ears for
the sounds. But inside his suit
he could hear too much his —
harsh breath, his blood pumping.
He could see bitterness in some
of the others’ faces. The Law did
seem inequitable, requiring that
the first generation bom in a new
vine supply the migration, on the
death of the first Chief. Why
GALAXY
couldn’t older vines send the mi- He decided they’d stood here
grations, if migrations were nec- feeling sorry for themselves long
essary? There was some vague enough. He gestured to the team
principle that a colony too long he’d chosen, and bent to pick up
in a vine might grow soft, but it a tow-rope of the menagerie. The
seemed to him that a generation others added their weight to his
or two might go by without that, and the menagerie began to move.
so that a vine could better afford When the team was pulling to-
to equip a migration. And why gether well, he turned his place
such long migrations? If fewer over to another man and walked
vanguard vines had to send them back along the column. The oth-
out, they wouldn’t have to leap- er carts were moving. One man
frog so far to find empty vines. on a tow-rope was limping, and
He could sympathize with the gestured that his suit was chaf-
bitterness, for he himself was ing him badly. Tern transferred
feeling for the first time really — him to a scouting squad that was
feeling it inside — how cruelly to move a little ahead. At least
they’d been thrust out; how un- the man could walk gingerly,
reachable the old vine was now. with no load to pull.
What brought it home to him He looked back to make sure
was the way he’d parted from there were no stragglers, then
his mother. She’d come to the walked forward along the col-
lock with a last present a new- — umn.
ly braided belt and scabbard
with his father’s knife — and nphey were able to travel fairly

she’d helped him on with his straight, with only short

suit. They hadn’t said much. halts to rest, for what he judged
He’d been almost gruff, because was ten kilopulses (though one’s
he was afraid she’d embrace him heart was a poor chronometer
with everyone looking and all. under this exertion). Then, glanc-
She’d surely known how he felt, ing back, he saw there was some
and she hadn’t done it; but he disturbance in the column. He
wouldn’t soon forget the look in started toward it.

her eyes or the little gesture of The man he’d charge of

left in
her hands as he looked back for that unit hurried to meet him,
the last time. If he’d really real- and they touched helmets so the
ized it was the last time — that small metal contact-plates would
he’d never hear of her again, or carry their voices. The man said,
know when she died — he’d have “One of the women insists she
certainly embraced her. has to visit the rester.”

THE MERCURYMEN 13
 Tem walked back with him
and discovered that the mis-
creant was Neena. He halted,
dismayed, then slowly advanced
and touched helmets with her.
“You must have been drinking
water! Didn’t your sister tell you
not to until you really needed
it?”
“I was thirsty,”
“and I didn’t think . .
He looked at her in exaspera-
tion. “Can’t you wait until we
camp?”
“No!”
He spun away from her, growl-
ing to himself. A fine start! The
vine still in sight, and he had to
make camp. Sullenly, he signal-
ed the order, and the column
closed up to the tight pattern
that would conserve warmth. At
least, they did it efficiently all
of them (except Neena) remem-
bered their teaching.
Buld took the opportunity to
criticize his leadership.
Before they started on, he de-
livered a lecture in
and he kept them moving faster
than he might have on the next
jaunt. After a while he could see
they were very tired and legiti-
mately needed to camp. But by
this time a large ringwall was
looming ahead. He decided to
keep on and camp just to bright-
ward of it.
Presently a long line of other
objects poked above the horizon.
16
He knew they were the leafages,
at section-joints, of a vine. He
hoped the lock, if any, wouldn’t
be in sight. There was danger
that individuals might sneak
away and try to enter a strange
vine, even at the cost of becom-
ing Bottom Caste among its in-
habitants. That was less likely
she pouted, now, of course, than it would be
.” later when people were really
discouraged or sick.
However, when the column
was already skirting the ring-
wall, he saw a chasm in their
path, stretching from the ring-
wall brightward. This was trou-
ble.
IV
Tie turned over responsibility
— * for making camp to a man
named Bannow, passed back
along thecolumn to see that
things were all right and to ex-
change glances with Neena, then
headed out to the ringwall.
pantomime; He climbed slowly, with fre-
quent rests, because one was
warned that if he used air too
fast he might grow foolish with-
out realizing it. The fungus
should be doing well, though,
with the light from the corona
falling directly on his backpack.
Long before he got to the top
he could see that the chasm went
as far as the horizon, but he kept
climbing because he wanted to
GALAXY
 a

see the country ahead. Again, he it had drawn close so it could

had the experience of sudden consume the old vine via small
realization. One moment, the localroots. It had consumed it,
scene was like a painting; then, leaving the ditch, something like
abruptly, he felt the vastness. two hundred strides across and
The ringwall was perhaps nearly as deep.
twenty kilostrides across. Inside, The new vine was only half-
it was hollow just as he’d heard grown (not inhabited, surely) but
them described. It was dark in it was his first good view of a
there, the light from the corona vine. Along the length, the thin
just hitting the top of the far layer of gravel was clearly dis-
wall, but as his eyes adjusted tinguishable from solid rock. The
he could see by Starlight that the leafages were great bursts of
floor was deeper than outside, spear-like growth, fanning out in
and smoother, though there were semicircles above each section-
a few small craters. Uncomfort- joint. Some, he knew, were fif-
able, he turned away. teen times the height of a man.
The column was neatly camp- They were said to shade the path
ed, a cluster of toys to bright- of the vine and, by evaporating
ward. It was queer to see only water, keep the vine’s temper-
their shadowed sides and a rim ature down when the sun struck
of corona light at the top of here. He’d seen a piece of one
each. He looked, hesitantly, at once, freshly brought in; eight
the corona. From up
here it inches in diameter, moist and
seemed definitely bigger and woody inside, covered outside
brighter, especially at the base. with hard, rough very white
The chasm went straight scales.
brightward, swerving once to He moved on a little way to
miss a smaller ringwall. Obvious- see farther ahead, and a spot of
was the bed of an old vine,
ly, it very bright light came into view
chopped off by this ringwall — on the horizon. It must be a high
comparatively recent meteor hit mountain peak, catching the sun.
—and left to die from there up. He considered. Theory said sun-
He couldn’t see the darkward of light reflected from a mountain
the but he knew the
ringwall, was safe, and wonderful for the
stalk would have sealed itself, fungus, and warm. This moun-
sent out feelers, found its way tain might be a hundred kilo-
around the new obstacle, and strides away; still, they had to
gone on, paralleling the old, go farther than that. It was a
shriveling stalk. He could see that little to brightward, but by the

THE MERCURYMEN 17
 —

time they got there the sun tions. However, was no

there
would have retreated farther. It movement and nothing
in sight,
would be a good place to camp that looked like camp, and
a
and freshen up everyone’s air, that was the best he could do.
and catch up on whatever else He started toward camp.
needed doing. Before he’d gone far he noticed
Besides, he wanted to see a that he was breathing hard, even
mountain. though he was going downhill.
He began to have trouble con-
rT''he land between, so far as trolling his limbs. Once, when
he could see, had no serious he jumped between boulders, he
There were ringwalls of
barriers. misjudged and fell hard.
various sizes, some simple hills, He hauled himself up painful-
a few cracks. He fixed those in ly. Nothing was broken, but he

hismind so he could avoid them. knew he’d overestimated his air,

This present chasm was the especially since his backpack was
thing to worry about now. It now turned away from the cor-
would take too long to build a ona. He wasn’t silly yet, but he
ramp across it, and the alterna- might not be far from it. And
tive of going back around the he realized with shock he’d —
—
ringwall and passing in its cold violated an elementary principle.
—
shadow wasn’t attractive. He’d come alone.
Could a way be cleared along He got down safely, but by
the base of the ringwall itself? A now his mind was very muggy
thought struck him. There must and his limbs alternated between
have been other migrations by aching and numbness. He con-
here, unless they’d all passed centrated on getting one leg
farther darkward. He went a ahead of the other, stopping now
little way down the slope, and and then to stand with his back
grinned with delight. There was to the corona, head down, almost
a path of a sort, where boulders falling asleep.
had been moved and holes filled He hardly knewhe’d reached
in. He was very lucky this time. camp until he stumbled into it.
Before continuing down, he He was vaguely aware of Buld
looked around for one more confronting him with a scowl,
thing. It was earlier in the sea- but couldn’t seem to keep his
son than the Traders appeared at mind even on that.
the vines, but no one knew where The next thing he knew Ban-
they came from, and legend said now and some others had a full
they sometimes attacked migra- airbag attached to the suit’s in-

18 GALAXY
take nipple, and an empty one That produced nods and one
on the exhaust, and were squeez- or two grins. Buld said, scowl-
ing ah through. His head cleared,
-
ing,“That was just a suggestion
though he was still very tired. to the Elders. What I wanted
Bannow told him, “You made was a grown-up Leader. Besides
a bad mistake sneaking Neena smuggling in a brat who doesn’t
into the migration. She raised a belong, this stripling has brought
fuss about your being gone so us too close to Brightside, and
long, and somebody recognized now he’s got us trapped so we
her.” have to go back around this ring-
wall. He’ll get us all killed before
V he’s through.”
Tern said, “You don’t know
how
T here was no way Tern could
have blocked a Council even
anything about
side is, or how far
Buld glared at him. “My father
far Bright -
we can go.”
if he’d tried. He called it as soon

as he’d refreshed himself. There was on the last migration too!”

were six of the maturest men,
beside himself.
The cumbersome touching of
helmets slowed things so he had
a chance to think. He listened
woodenly to Buld’s argument
“He wasn’t Leader,” Tern said,
“and no one voted for him for
Chief. I’m the only one who’s
really trained. As far as Neena’s
concerned; which is better a —
girl who wanted to come, or one

that since he’d broken the Law, who was afraid to?”
he was no longer fit to lead; and Buld and a couple of the oth-
that they’d better depose him. ers spoke of the Law again. Tern
He let them wait for his an- said, “If Sunn wants to punish
swer while he thought it out. me, he can do it right now. I’m
Buld’s argument was hypocriti- ready.” He stood up and walked
cal, but how to demonstrate? He a few paces away.
said, “Why is Buld so anxious One of the men presently came
to get rid of me? Does he want over to him, with a glance toward
to be Leader himself?” the corona, and said, “What
Buld declared he was think- about this chasm you’ve got us
ing of the migration. Tern said, up against?”
“Buld must have gained respect Tern went back and sat down.
for the Law quite suddenly. He thought he might get Buld to
When my father was dying, Buld stick his tongue out a little far-
wanted him to avoid the Law by ther. “What should we have
disowning me.” done?”
THE MERCURYMEN 19
 Buld said, “We should have rT~'hey took the path he’d seen,
camped farther back while some- finding only a few boulders
one scouted.” to move, then crossed over the
Tem said, “By the same rea- young vine. By now, everyone
soning, we’ll have to scout the understood that he’d outsmarted
other side now. Do you want the Buld, and he saw many grins.
job? You can take a partner and That was good for morale, he
some bags of air.” decided. So was the evidence
Buld glared. “We’ve all heard that another migration had
how a big meteor kills a vine, passed this way, sometime. Tem
and that’s obviously what’s hap- wondered how that one had made
pened here. Why do we have to out.
scout the other side?” He didn’t dare speak often to
“Well,” Tem said, “I wonder Neena, and though the other
how you know for sure that this women, misty-eyed, had adopted
meteor killed this vine. What if her, she was glum. As the march
the vine was already dead? We’d dragged on, so were others.
go all the way around and find But glumness wasn’t the worst.
we couldn’t pass on that sic! One yvoman, taking her turn in
either. Is that your idea of lead- the rester, refused to put her
ership?” suit back on and had to be forced
He was glad Buld wasn’t into it, screaming. She quic*
quick-witted. Buld flushed and later, but her face worried Tem
said, “Well, I would have found and he could feel the whole
out before.” column reacting. He made camp
Bannow looked at Tem keen- sooner than he might have, close
ly and said, “Can you get us to a vine, hoping that would
across without going around?” raise spirits a little.
“Of course,” Tem said cas- It turned out to be a mistake.
ually. While he was climbing a nearby
The vote was four to two in his ringwall to scout, the woman
favor. broke from camp and ran toward
Afterward, he was astonished the vine. Others pursued. He had
at how alert and shrewd he’d to stand helpless and watch the
been. Eloquence had never been whole thing from a distance. She
his strong point before. He de- threw herself down, clawing at
cided that it was because Buld the gravel. Then, before they
had been trying to take some- could reach her, she must have
thing away from him and he just deliberately undone the lacings
didn’t want to let go. of her suit.

20 GALAXY
 The suit went limp, and that nibbling it. It wasn’t supposed
was all. to be poison.
Sick, he started down without Some of the birds, confined so
finishing his scouting. He knew long, were pecking others to
now what he should have done. death. They had to be separated.
He should have given her some- He’d expected conflicts among
thing to carry, walked her until the people, but there were sur-
she was exhausted, and let her prisingly few. Presently, from h
leep. own behavior, he understoo 1

Another thing he’d been ne- why. He found himself withdraw-

glecting was religion. He’d have ing into the world of his sui
to appoint a preacher to talk paying less and less attentio
about Sunn. It looked as if a to other people. One thing par-
Leader had to know and under- ticularly struckhim. The right
stand almost everything. arm each suit was deeply
of
On the way down, he thought, pleated under the armpit, with
It might have been Neena. What an external grip so the gloved
if it had happened to Neena? left hand could pull down and
outward. That enabled the wear-
'T'hey crossed a number of er to get his right arm inside. He
vines before he saw a lock, noticed many right sleeves hang-
and that was in the distance. He ing empty before he realized he
made sure the column didn’t see was doing the same thing him-
it. self. Thereafter, he kept his arm
The mountain was
dazzling in the sleeve, unless he had to
getting nearer, and he made a bring it inside to eat, drink, or
point of how they’d rest up when scratch himself. It was odd. but
they got there, but some of the the sleeve somehow felt outside
migration seemed to find it the suit.
frightening rather than reassur-
ing. VI
The supplies, including the air,
crossed a few
were holding up pretty well, but
there was trouble in the menag- A fter
more
they’d
found what
vines, they
erie. Some of the goats got sick, was left an old migration
of
and one died, for no apparent Tem thought it was probably the
reason. Finally Tern discovered one that had built the path back
that some of the air-freshening there.
fungus was spreading into their There were no corpses in the
compartment, and they were sagging menagerie except those

THE MERCURYMEN 21
of cats, small birds, and
goats and larger fowl were gone.
There were several empty suits
lying around, and four that
weren’t empty. There were
waterbags, airbags, two resters,
some air-freshener carts and
some empty carts, all
apart, the wood shrunk and
warped, the rubber brittle and
cracked from Sunn knew how
many season’s
exposure. Tools,
rope, and
personal belongings
were scattered about. It looked
as if the survivors had taken
what they could carry, and just
walked. There was a vine within
ten kilostrides, but no lock
sight.
Maybethe Traders had gotten
them, or maybe Sunn had swal-
lowed them up.
The column wasn’t visibly
much moved by the relics, but
during the next camp a couple
—a man and wife who’d had to
leave two young children with
relatives —quietly killed them-
selves. They didn’t take the
simple way of just opening their
suits. They got knives inside, lay
down together, and stabbed
themselves.
That shook Tern worse than
anything so far. He made up his
mind to reach the sunlit moun-
tain in two marches if he pos-
sibly could, with one brief stop
between.
He pushed the column through
22
fish. The the first march, crossing two
closely spaced vines without even
slowing,camped briefly, and bul-
lied them on. The mountain was
awesome now; stretched diago-
nally ahead in one long blaze of
light.He could feel the warmth
falling of it already, and his eyes ached.
Nevertheless, his vision was ad-
justing amazingly, so he could
tolerate the light, though he
couldn’t look directly at it. The
ground was mountain-lit by now.
The corona was a faint ghost,
and so were the stars, though
space was black as ever.
He could see some of the
in people about to rebel at this
light, and that Buld was getting
ready for another try. Then he
found the ideal spot.
There was a large ringwall
some kilostrides from the moun-
tain, itself aglow with mountain-
light. Closer to the mountain,
and near this end, was a much
smaller one. He could go to
brightward of the smaller one,
for shade from the mountain,
and enjoy the twice-reflected,
tamer light from the big ringwall.
r-p'hey dragged to the spot and
made camp. The light was
stronger than any in a vine, but
comfortable. There was no more
hunching of shoulders against the
cold as one’s warmth leaked away
to the sky and to darkward. The
fungus fairly puffed out fresh
GALAXY
air, and the animals grew frisky.
They had the cleaned and ex-
posed carcass of the goat that
had died, and now Tem decided
they could build a small fire in
the menagerie and have fresh
meat for once. People revived
visibly.
By his count of vines,
might be close to half way
through their journey. Before
they left here, he’d have scouted
enough to make a closer guess.
The lower slope of the moun-
tain, below where the sunlight
hit, could be climbed, he thought,
to an elevation higher than ariy
ringwall he’d seen yet. So, as
soon as people were fed and rest-
ing he took Bannow and started
that way.
He got used to looking at the
mountain through a murky part
of his helmet, so the light was
cut down.
The mountain was probably
twenty kilostrides long, and half
that high at the peak. It was
really a long ridge, set at an
angle to the sun, and he had a
feeling it was
not very thick
through. It curved down at each
end, tapering into darkness.
The upper part of it was sheer
part way down now. Be-
cliff, lit
low the cliff, and barely visible
with one’s eyes dazzled so, was a
steep but even slope, apparently
of rock crumbled from the cliff
by the sun’s timeless hammer-
24
ing. Already Tem was perspiring.
He touched helmets with Bran-
now to say, “We’d better turn
from side to side so we won’t melt
our suits.”
\ ctually, it didn’t turn out to
be that bad. They had shad®
they from huge boulders, and could
hurry across open stretches; and
one could always turn his back-
pack to the cliff and let the fun-
gus soak up some of the light.
They kept on until they were
more than halfway up the rubble
slope, then the heat was finally
too great. They sat down in a
shadow.
Gradually Tern’s eyes adjust-
ed, but it was still disappointing
how little he could see of tire
country. Things close by were
brightly lit from the mountain,
and tended to dazzle his sight
Things farther away weren’t lit
much. He could see the two
close-spaced vines they’d crossed
(both squeezing around die ob-
stacle of the mountain) and some
ringwalls he remembered. In th®
other direction, beyond the far
end of the mountain, he thought
he could make out the leafages of
another vine, but he wasn’t sure.
He said to Bannow, "I guess
that ringwall would be a better
vantage point after all. Maybe
we can walk part way around It
and climb.
Bannow didn’t answer. Tem
GALAXY
drew aside and looked at him. didn’t see them. can go We
Bannow’s eyes were fixed down along this slope to the end of
the slope, and when Tem fol- the mountain and get into shad-
lowed the look he saw four ow. They may not see us at all;
suited figures, tiny in the dis- and even if they do, we’ll be out
tance moving toward the slope. of their reach, so probably they’ll
They were spread out widely, just wait.”
each carrying something in one “Then what?”
hand. A moment later he saw a “Well ... at the worst, we
fifth. He decided the things they might go clear around the moun-
were carrying were some of the tain and get back to camp from
sharpened stakes intended for the other end. I figure it

fastening the lock onto the new wouldn’t be more than sixty kil-
vine. In addition, the fifth one ostrides. If we’re very careful

dragged two airbags. with ourair, we might make it.”

Bannow started to rise, and Bannow looked very doubtful.

Tem pulled him back. Bannow “It’ll be cold on the other side.”
touched helmets. “It’s Buld and “Maybe not. The heat may go
his bunch! They intend to kill clear through. Anyway, it’s bet-
us!” ter than just sitting here, isn’t

“I know,” Tem said, trying to it?”

keep the trembling anger out of Bannow hesitated, but finally
his voice, “but let’s stay here for nodded.
a while and think.They can’t see They went carefully, seeking
us. Remember how it was looking shadows, but presently it be-
up?” came Buld had spotted
clear that
Bannow sat down. “But we’ve them. They kept on, rounded a
got to get around them and get bulge, and were in darkness.
back to camp!”
“How? If we climb down VII
they’ll see us, and move to in-
tercept. We’ll run out of air be-
fore they do. They’ve probably
N ow even the corona-light was
hidden. Gradually the stars
into brilliance, as if the
told the camp they were just grew
climbing that small ringwall or distant gods were drawing closer
something. We can’t expect any to watch.
help in time.” To Tern’s surprise, this side of
“Well,” Bannow demanded, the mountain was a gentle slope,
“what are we going to do?” with a surface much like level
“First of all, let’s act as if we ground. Below them was a small

THE MERCURYMEN 25
ringwall, ghostly in the Starlight.
He could feel his warmth leaking
away, so he turned a little up-
hill. If there were warmth com-
ing through the mountain, it
would be nearer the top.
They moved on slowly. Tem
was paying close attention to
the footing so he wouldn’t trip,
when a vaguely seen motion
ahead brought him to a startled
halt.
Bannow had seen it too. Tem
bent his head to touch helmets,
but said nothing. The movement
was not toward them, but up the
slope from below, crossing their
path. It was not a man, nor any
single creature, but a vast mov-
ing pack. As well as he could
make out in the dim light, the
individuals stood half as high
as a man and moved on many
legs,though they didn’t seem to
have horizontal bodies like cats
or goats. Finally he said, in a
cautious whisper, “Do you sup-
pose these are the things the
Book speaks of? The metal
things that crawl?”
Bannow’s voice was awed. “I
don’t know. Shall we turn back?”
"Let’s stand still for a while.”
The vanguard of the pack was
nearing the top. Suddenly a line
of light grew along the peak, to-
ward them, so bright and so
startling that Tem threw an arm
before his eyes. He felt Bannow
whirl away from him. He him-
26
selftook a step backward and
stumbled over Bannow, who’d
evidently tripped with the first
step.He jerked his head around
to look back. The line of light
was still advancing, and he
pushed himself erect to run, but
before he did he realized the line
was not aimed at him, but was
just growing along the peak. It
was not a solid line, he saw as it
came closer, but consisted of thin
upright sticks, like a row of
very bright, perfectly matched
firebrands. It was not straight,
but irregular, with dips and rises
and gaps.
Something brushed by him. He
flinched, but didn’t panic. Now
he was surrounded by the things,
which felt solid and heavy when
they bumped against him, but
paid him no attention. They
scuttled to the peak and aligned
themselves along it, thrusting up
fingers or feelers into the sun-
light, jostling for places in line,
crowding each other where there
were too many. Then there were
no more around him, but farther
along they still swept up.
Bannow got to his feet, pawing
at his suit. Tem moved close and
touched helmets. The man start-
ed, then said, “Sunn! They
walked right over me! I thought
. is my suit punctured? I can’t
. .
— I don’t hear any hiss . .
“You’re all right,” Tem told
him. The suit felt rigid as ever.
GALAXY
but there was a little roughness. wander at will. Could things be
“I guess they have very small learned from them that would
daws, if any.” He looked toward free men from dependence on
the peak. “They seem to eat the the vines? Could a man, or a
unlight, or drink it.” 8mall group, find an empty vine
nearby and make trips to study
A few stragglers were arriving, them?
to push their way into line. He turned to Bannow, and as
Tem moved after one, trying to he did he saw a line of lumin-
•ee it ous blobs moving up the slope
There was a central body, the toward them.
man’s head. A number
size of a He crouched, suppressing his
of legs, each as long as Tern’s impulse to run, but Bannow’s
arm but no thicker than a fin- nerve finally broke. The man
ger, grew from the body on all whirled and ran back the way
ides. These were flexible, and they’d come. Tem shouted use-
while about half of them clung lessly, then started after him
to the rocks, the rest were held The blobs of light suddenly re-
up so that two inches of the acted, moving to cut Bannow off.
tips were in sunlight. Bannow might have outrun
Now the things were motion- them, but instead he turned and
less except for an occasional ran up the slope. Tem, suddenly
shifting of stance or a wave of realizing the danger, ran as fast
an upthrust leg. They stretched as he could toward him.
along the mountain as far as He was too late. He saw Ban-
Tem could see in either direc- now’s helmet suddenly turn
tion. blinding bright as popped in-
it

A very strong urge gripped to sunlight. Bannow’s eyes stared

him to climb and get one quick for just an instant, then snapped
glimpse of the sun. He took a few shut. The man clapped both
steps before he caught himself. hands to his face, whirled, and
He looked at Bannow, then re- plunged down the slope. Tem
luctantly turned to go on. There saw him go headlong and slide.
was no time to investigate this Then the suit suddenly went
wonder now. limp.
Bannow drew alongside, want- He stopped, fighting nausea,
ing to talk, but Tem put off forgetting the blobs until a knot
touching helmets. These creat- of them gathered around Ban-
ures were apparently a form of now’s corpse. By then he could
Bfe that didn’t need air; could see they were men in suits, with
THE MERCURYMEN 27
very large backpacks that gave finally said,“You’re from a mi-
off the glow. Shortly, several sur- gration.Got yourselves in some
rounded Tern. He
thought of kind of trouble, and ran. Besten
looking for a rock to defend him- you not be so close-mouthed
self, but they didn’t act threat- about it. We won’t take you
ening, though two of them held back.”
tapered, sharp-tipped swords. Tem said indignantly, “It isn’t
One of them made incompre- that at all!”
hensible hand-signals, then, as The man scowled. “Well, we
Tem shook his head, pointed at can’t stand here jabbering. You
Tern’s helmet and his own, and can come with us, or die here.”
pantomimed bringing them to- He glanced at the two with
gether. Tem nodded and they swords, then turned and went
touched helmets. down the slope. The two armed
men waited motionless.
VIII Others had taken Bannow*!
suit off his body, and were carry-
ing the suit away. Tem started
T he man’s speech
slightly
was only
odd. “You from a toward the corpse, changed hk
vine near here, son? What are mind, and walked after th*
the two of you doing up here, spokesman.
anyway?” The line spread out again, so
Tem tried to get his voice it was hard to see anything but
working. “We — I
guess my the glowing backpacks. There
friend isn’t doing anything, any were about thirty, all told. A
more.” little way down one of them bent
The man shrugged. “Too bad. to pick up a thing and carried
But would have been besten if
it it in one arm. Tem saw legs
he didn’t panic.Why were the dangling, and realized it was one
two of you up here?” of the metal things, dead. An-
Tem hesitated. Maybe he other man found one, and so It
oughtn’t to tell them about the went all the way down the slope,
migration. “Some men were try- until each man was carrying two
ing to kill us. We
came to this or three. Finally the spokesman
side of the mountain to get turned back and handed Tem a
away.” pair to carry. They were fairly
The man looked thoughtful. heavy.
“Your vine very far?” Beyond the end of the slope,
“Well . . . quite a ways.” other figures moved about, ap-
The man studied his face and^ parently also gathering the dead

28 GALAXY
things.
were
Soon
carts
Tem saw that there
heaped with them.
Imitating others, he went to the
nearest cart and deposited the
two he had. No one gave him
any instructions, so he just
stood.
Presently they stopped looking
for the things and threw over
each cartload a rope net, tying
it securely. Someone looked at
Tem and pointed to a tow-rope.
He picked it up and pulled with
the others, wondering if they just
wanted to get some work out of
him before killing him.
It seemed a very long time
that he trudged, his hands on the
rope first cramping painfully,
then going numb. His feet grew
clumsy. He stumbled along,
knowing his air was bad. Finally
he must have fallen, for the next
thing he knew he was draped
face-down across a cart-load, and
tied on so he wouldn’t slide off.
The jolting ride went on for a
long time.
He realized that they were
clear into Darkside now.
Then they halted, and he man-
aged to raise his head and saw
another cliff, this one lit only by
starlight, and with no rubble at
its foot.
There were four tunnels in the
cliff, each with a clear-rubber
airlock. One of the locks was
open, and the carts were being
rolled in.
THE MERCURYMEN
D
more
he was, the lock fasci-
ull as
him. It was made
nated
than the ones
intricately
he knew, with hoops along its
length and pleats between. The
three not in use were folded
against the tunnel-mouths. His
mind worked at that. Why, they
must squeeze the air back into
the tunnels, instead of losing it!
He got a chance to observe
that, as his cart was in the next
batch that went in. The tunnel
itself seemed to be a second lock,
as it had a plug in its middle,
and another at its inward end.
When that was opened, light as
strong as a vine’s spilled in.
they unloaded him and
Inside,
laidhim on the floor, face up.
Someone began unlacing his suit.
A little pressure seeped out, then
hishelmet was pulled off and he
was breathing pure, rich air.
As soon as he could, he sat up
and stared around at things he
only gradually understood.
This was evidently a great
natural fissure, twisting back into
a mountain, but it had been
much reworked. Rock was hew-
ed away in At others,
places.
walls of squared stones, cemented
with latex, sealed openings or
supported ceilings.
A series of shelves hacked
from the walls were planted with
some kind of shrubs Tem didn’t
know. There was a stepped wall
down the middle of the fissure,
29
similarly planted. Luminous moss /'"'vskir was older than Tem,
grew on vertical surfaces and on blond, and large. He looked
the ceiling. Tem in the eye without expres-
The artificial wall where the sion, then walked around him
tunnels came in drew his awed studying his suit. Finally he said,
attention. There were great abut- “No marvel your air got bad. Is
ments supporting massive ma- this the besten you Vinies can
chinery —
more metal than he’d do?”
supposed existed. Some men Tem flushed. “I’ve trekked two
were turning a giant’s windlass, hundred kilostrides in it!”
slowly raising high a huge boul- showed a trace of
Oskir’s eyes
der that dangled on a rope as amusement. “With airbags and
thick as Tern’s thigh. At the big carts of freshener, and such.
other end of the wall, a similar What’s your name, and how old
boulder descended slowly, turn- are you?”
ing a heavy shaft to which were Tem started to blurt out an-
geared a dozen strange devices. grily thathe was a Chief’s first
Rods moved in and out of smooth son,but saw the futility of that.
round holes, with a hissing that He’d have a better chance of
could only be the intermittent escaping if they didn’t know he
escape of air under pressure. wanted to get back to his migra-
Great pulleys creaked as the tion. He said sullenly, “My
monstrous ropes snaked around name’s Tem. I’m seventy orbits.
them. And a half.”
Eventually he understood that The amusement flickered in
all this machinery operated the Oskir’s eyes again. “Tell you,
locks, squeezing air in and out. then. There’s roast goat over
The tunnel he’d come through there, and some milk. This ditch
opened again, and thelast of the is for bathing,and the way you
expedition came in. The man smell, besten you do that first.
who’d talked to Tem unfastened Hang your suit here.” He indi-
his helmet and removed it, look- cated a peg, then waved a hand
ed around checking men and toward a low dark tunnel. “We
carts, and finally glanced toward sleep in there. You’ll take the
Tem. He came over and said, pad nearest the inlet.” He turned
“I’m Hannult. I’ll want to talk and walked away.
to you later, but meanwhile I’ll Tem glared at him, then hung
take you to the Young Bachelors’ his suit on the peg, removed his
chamber and leave you with Os- underthings and stepped into file
kir. He’s boss there.’* water. It was tepid, and smelled

30 GALAXY
of some pungent herb. He scrub- For all he knew, these people
bed himself with a wad of coarse might hunt down the column and
vegetable fibre, got out, rubbed plunder it. He listened to the low
himself dry, started to dress, then hum of talk in the outer cham-
decided he’d better not. He ber. These were the Traders, of
dumped the clothes in the water course. At least they were hu-
to soak, and went over to eat. man, though they had odd ways
When he’d done that, he rinsed of living.
the clothes, wrung them and Eventually, from exhaustion,
spread them on the floor under he slept.
his suit.
Oskir and
erately ignoring
some others, delib-
him now, were
squatted in a circle, gambling
O skir woke him by toeing him
in the ribs. He rolled aside
He felt rest-
and got to his feet.
with odd-shaped stones. Five or ed, so some time must have pass-
six more worked on their suits ed. Oskir nodded toward the tun-
or tinkered with various things. nel.
There were about twenty in the In the outer chamber were all
group. the young men he’d seen before,
Tern ducked through the tun- plus two or three others. They
nel and found there was a spa- stood along the walls, with an
cious chamber beyond. There air of waiting.
was no luminous moss, but Oskir said, “Turn around.”
enough light came in so he could When Tem did so, Oskir hit him
see that the walls were cut into on the chin hard enough to
shelves and planted. The pads knock him down.
were spaced far apart, probably Tem came up like a cat, and
for ventilation. He lay down on didn’t forget to poke out his left
the first, wincing with lameness, fist before swinging his right, but
and tried to relax. somehow both punches bounced
Evidently these people didn’t off Oskir’s thick forearms. Oskir
intend to kill him, but would he hit him again. He staggered,
ever get a chance to escape? And caught his balance and tried to
if he did, what then? dodge in close. He got his left
He wondered what Buld had to Oskir’s cheek, but not solidly,
told the column. Possibly that and took a hard punch he didn’t
Tern and Bannow had deserted even see coming.
and surrendered to a vine. He After that it was one long ser-
wondered what would happen to ies of stunning blows. He fought
Neena. back as well as he could, but he
THE MERCURYMEN 31
was groggy and Oskir was too
strong, and too clever with his
fists.Tem went down repeatedly.
Each time, he hauled himself up,
until finally, after a punch that
didn’t feel any harder than the
rest, he found his legs wouldn’t
work. He had the will to get up,
and his mind was fairly clear, but
his limbs would only make un-
coordinated pawing motions.
They picked him up, dowsed
him in the bath water, and swab-
bed off his face. He was still
weak to stand but his
alone,
thoughts were remarkably clear,
if inclined to wander. He was
bleeding a little from the nose
and from a small cut in his upper
lip, but he knew he wasn’t badly
marred.
Most of the punches had
been clean ones to the chin. He
realized Oskir had deliberately
avoided messing him up.
He was almost strong enough
now to start swinging again, but
something in their attitude stop-
ped him. They were looking at
him with casual approval. Fin-
ally Oskir said, “I’m going to
parley besten I can Hannult let
you join.”
Tem
glared at him. “Oh? And
suppose I don’t want to?”
Oskir looked mildly surprised.
“What else can you do? You
spect we’d let you go back to a
vine, now that you’ve seen this
much?”
32
IX
A s the newest member of Os-
kir’s dormitory, Tem drew
the menial tasks. Every three
sleep-cycles (as marked by the
growth of moss along a measured
path) he had to bail the bath
water into bags and carry it
around to prescribed places to be
used for irrigation, then refill the
ditch from the nearest reservoir.
He had to sweep the floor, air
too the pads, ventilate the dormitory
by using fans, fetch food, bring
in fertilizer for the plants and
take garbage to the fertilizer fac-
tory. He smouldered, but held
his temper. Aside from his occu-
pations, he was treated as an
equal.
Oskir, who seemed to know ev-
erything, personally took charge
of his training.One big job was
to build a new suit for himself,
and he had to perform every bit
of the work to Oskir’s satisfac-
tion, even if it had to be done
over ten times. The backpack
was complicated. Instead of a
simple honeycomb of fungus, as
one alternated
in his old suit, this
layers of fungus with layers of
luminous moss, which gave
enough light to keep the fungus
working. There was also a better
way of feeding in nutrients, and
a better method of circulating the
air. It was twice as heavy as the
old pack.
GALAXY
 Equally fascinating was the He thought, now, that he should
jettison lock in the front of the have killed Buld right at the
suit, waist level. It had in-
at start. It wouldn’t have occurred
genious valves so it could be to him then, of course, but that
worked from either outside or in- seemed to be the logic of the
side. Using little bags for body thing. He could have found some
wastes, this made
possible to
it way to make it look like an acci-

live in the suit for a long time. dent.

There were also improvements
at the ankles and the soles,
in
which made for better climbing
and less danger from sharp rocks.
All in all, he was delighted, and
he nearly blurted out that such
suits would make travel between
vines easy. He caught himself in
time.
The cycles flowed past. His
despair about the migration dull-
ed a little, so he could live with
it.He was able to pretend he was
content here. He wasn’t quite ac-
cepted into the clique, but aside
from a certain amount of joking
about his Vinie origin, there was
no hazing. He was willing to let
things rest there.
Hesupposed the migration
would be close to finding its vine
now, if it hadn’t run into bad
trouble. He worried about Neena.
They might put her in Bottom
Caste, since she didn’t belong,
which would make her a virtual
servant to the whole vine. He
supposed Buld would get himself
| ejected Chief. That thought
brought up shaking hot anger;
and that was one feeling that
* didn’t grow dull.
He shuddered and put that
thought from his mind.
ome younger men were elevat-
S ed to Oskir’s group, and took
over the menial chores. Tern was
put to work in the shops where
the metal creatures were cut
apart and things made from the
metal.
He was a flunkey, but not the
only one, and the place was so
fascinating he didn’t mind. Some-
times he worked a hand bellows
that forced air into big rubber
bags, for the smiths to use with
their fires.
In the vines, small open fires
had been used for cooking, or to
cure rubber, but that was all.
These fires were even smaller,
and confined within stone boxes
through which thin jets of air
were blown. The flame came out
pointed and incredibly hot, and
would even melt iron.
The metal creature’s legs were
partly iron, but their body-cases
were of some other metal. They
were cut open, the insides were
taken out and sorted for various
metals, and the cases were ham-

THE MERCURYMEN 33
mered flat, then trimmed six- try out your suit. Hannult says
sided. The edges were heated besten we take you on a foray
soft and joined together. Finally, and see how you act.”
when a sheet of them was big
enough, it was hammered on nphere were about forty men
great anvils until it was very flat on the expedition, including
and smooth and the joints could Oskir, Tern, and half a dozen
hardly be seen. others of the dormitory. They
Also, using the fires and an- took eight medium-sized carts, a
vils, with some special tools, the few tools, some empty bags, and
smiths made all sorts of tools some extra air and water. They
and weapons. There were the headed deeper into Darkside, and
straight tapered swords he’d now there was something differ-
seen, and a variety of knives that ent about the ground. It was
made his own look crude. There darker and harder to see in the
were scissors; dainty ones for starlight, and slick at times. He
tailoring, large, long-handled had to walk carefully.
ones for cutting tough vegetation This suit held the warmth bet-
or even metal. ter; and, after a good twenty
One tool in particular took his kilostrides, he couldn’t feel any
•ye — a saw for cutting the hard deterioration of the air.
hulls of vines. They kept going almost in a
Once he helped carry some new straight line until a ringway lay
gardening tools to a branch of ahead. He studied it curiously.
the cave where grains were plant- Not only was it low in relation to
ed. For the first time, he saw its width, but it lacked the rug-
women of the cave close up. ged outlines he was used to.
They wore ordinary clothes and They reached the skirt and he
looked no different from vine found he was walking on gravel,
women. When he heard one among half-buried boulders. He
speak, he was sure she had come saw signs that people had been
from a vine.He wanted to talk here before, shoveling away the
to her, ask her how she’d come gravel, and that was apparently
here, but he didn’t get a chance. what they were going to do now.
He worked in the smithies and They laid out small-meshed
at other jobs until he knew most nets of strong cord, and he was
^
parts of the cave, and most of given a shovel and told to heap
their equipment. Then a time gravel on one of them. When it
came when Oskir told him, was fairly covered, four men took
“You’ll be getting a chance to hold of one side and four of the

34 GALAXY
other,and rolled the load bacx pie never talk about Sunn. The
and forth so that the fine stuff god Sunn, mean. You always
I
sifted through. They discarded try to explainhow things happen
the coarse stuff and started over. by themselves. Don’t you believe
As the fine material piled up, in Sunn?”
they shoveled it into the box- like Oskir pulled his helmet away
carts. and chewed on some dried meat
Tern’s curiosity overcame his for a while. Then he joined hel-
pride. During a rest period, he mets again. “There’s those talk
touched helmets with Oskir. about Sunn. I spect it’s how you
“What is this for?” feel inside. I never could see
“Dirt.” much proof one way or the other.
Tem flushed. “I mean, why Looks to me, if there’s a Sunn,
are we getting it here?” he put things so they run mostly
Oskir grinned. “Cause we don’t by themselves. Looks to me, peo-
want to take it away from Vin- ple are supposed to make their
ies.” In a moment he went on, own, not sit down and wait for
“If you just take rock that’s been some god to give it to them. He
burnt in the sun and crush it, put plenty, sept a man, don’t try.”
there ain’t muchen good in it. Tem drew back, uncomfort-
This is the besten for growing able. This might be blasphemy,
stuff, sept you can get goat ma- but it made more sense here Out-
nure or rotted rice or such. You side than in a vine. It would ex-
got to find a ringwall like this plain how a man like Buld could
one, in Darkside.” just take what he wanted, Law
“Oh,” Tem said. “What makes or no Law, if no one stopped
this one different?” him. And keep it, if no one took
Oskir shrugged. “My father it back.
told me it was because a meteor
was ice, not rock like most. It nphey filled seven of the carts,
went in a ways and exploded, and packed the tools and other
threw out this fine stuff. Times, things in the eighth cart or on
you’ll dig down a ways and it top of the dirt, and started
feels wet, a little. This is the Brightward. Judging from Han-
only one I been to. I can parley nult’s caution now sending —
jt^makes stuff grow, all right.” scouts, camping in cover there —
Tem digested that. Then, as must be some danger. Also, they
Oskir seemed in a talkative mood, seemed to be mapping, as Han-
he brought up something he’d nult kept making notes and
been wondering about. “You peo- sketches.

THE MERCURYMEN 35
 Finally, when the gossip was stay with the Traders until he
that they were nearly out of learned more, and at least knew
Darkside, they made camp on a where he was.
moist gravel patch that Oskir Oskir turned. Tem touched
said lay over the base of a vine. helmets and asked, “That dark
They were going to get water streak. Is that because it’s
here. While a pit was being dug, moist?”
Oskir took Tern to the nearest “A little. Those are reservoir
ringwall on sentry duty. sections of the vine.”
They left relays of men for Tem said, “What do you mean,
contact with camp, and moved reservoir sections? There’s water
around to brightward of the in every section, even up near
ringwall before climbing. From Brightside.”
the top, the corona was faintly “Sure,” Oskir said, “but these
visible, and Tem could see the here are full; no air space at all.
dark line of gravel where the vine They’re deeper under, too, so
ran up-country, though there they’re safer from meteors. If a
were no leafages here. He won- vine gets hit farther up, this
dered if a vine seeped water all water’ll stay here until a new vine
along its length. He turned to grows.”
ask Oskir, and found Oskir V “Oh.”
back to him. Oskir nodded up-country.
It occurred to him it would be “You can’t see the first leafages
very easy to pick up a rock and from here. spect it’d be about
I
hit Oskir on the head. The in- eighty kilostrides. That’s where
flated helmet was rigid, but the vines start to have air in diem,
would move easily, and (as Tem and come up near the surface.
knew from more than one tum- Hey. You tell me how the Vin-
ble) wouldn’t protect the skull. ies decide where to put their
He could roll the corpse down locks.”
inside the ringwall, where they’d
be a long time finding it. He
owed Oskir some lumps.
However, he found he didn’t
T em said, “The Law
You’re supposed to have at
below the
leafages
sets it.

least forty
want to kill Oskir. He’d repay the lock, but not more than eighty.
beating sometime, as a matter of That puts it in a comfortably
principle, but he didn’t really part of the vine.” He looked at
resent it. After all, that had been Oskir, then touched helmets
a matter of principle too; a duty again. “You ever been as far up
with Oskir. Anyway, he’d better as the locks?”

36 GALAXY
THE MERCURYMEN
 Oskir grinned. “I been on trad- See the real faint one, kind of
ing trips for the last nine orbits. yellow, right beside it? That’s
Last orbit I was clear to the the moon. It goes around Earth.
leaves.” You know about Earth?”
“What?” “Well .” Tem said.
. .

Hannult took me along.

“Sure. Oskir’s voice was soft. “That’s
Ten of us went.” where people come from in the
Tem said, “How did you stay first place. Some day, we’ll find
alive?” out how; then we’ll go see what
“We didn’t walk out in the happened to them. Maybe they’re
un, stupid. There’s ringwalls still there, but just need a little
and mountains, like here, for help of some kind.” He stood
shade. Besides, the leaves grow looking for a while. “I spect it
three times as high as here, and won’t be in my lifetime. No more
thick, and make a shade. Only of this parley, now. We’re sup-
thing is, the ground’s hot in posed to be up here on watch.”
places, We found one place you
could stand on a mountain and X
look at the sun through a thick
piece of rubber.” 'ITThen they got back to
Tem snorted. ’ ’ camp, the pit was thirty
Oskir said, “Your friend did, feet deep. They ate, rested brief-
didn’t he? Only thing, he didn’t ly,and joined the digging.
have enough rubber in front of Before long the hull of a vine
him. Course, you can only look showed. Now men brought a
for a couple of pulses, or the pipe, ten feet long, made of wood-
rubber melts.” en strips glued together, with an
Tem, the notion spinning in his iron tip honed to a slanted cut-
head, began to believe. “To go all ting edge. Hannult jabbed at the
the way to Brightside!” he mut- vine, twisted and pulled the pipe
tered. “And look at the sun!” free. An was thrust in
iron rod
Oskir chuckled. “You spect from the other end, to punch out
that’s something? Look here.” He the chunk of vine that had stuck
turned and pointed the way he’d in it. Hannult kept deepening the
been looking before. “See that hole until some water, bearing
bright star, right above the hor- chips and strings of latex, gushed^
izon?” out. Now the pipe was thrust
“Yes. That’s really bright.” clear in, and water swelled from
“You should see Venus when the tip.
it’s in the sky. This one’s Earth. They collected the water in

38 GALAXY
bags, but to Tern’s surprise they
didn’t seal them at first. They
dumped the water into the dirt-
laden carts. The water soaked in-
to the dirt, and the carts still
weren’t any fuller!
When all the was mud,
dirt
they did fill the bags and seal
them. Iron bars went over the
mud, and the bags were tied on
top.
The hole in the vine plugged
quickly when the pipe was re-
moved, and they filled in the pit
before leaving. There were traces
of mist here and there, just above
ground, and puddles that evap-
orated quickly.
Now they turned darkward
again, but angled away from the
vine, to the right If Tern had
his directions correct, they were
headed home.
VXT’hen they’d traveled about
* ' sixty kilostrides they met
the trouble Hannult had been
expecting.
They were nearing a large
ringwallwhen a scout who’d
climbed began signalling; turn-
it
ing his backpack toward them,
then away, in a complex se-
quence. He was relaying some-
thing from scouts farther abound
the crater.
Hannult sent two men running
ahead to find a hiding place, and
took the column straight to the
ringwall. Two other men back-
THE MERCURYMEN
tracked to make sure no telltale
debris had been dropped along
their path. Then Hannult talked
briefly with Oskir, who gathered
Tem and his other young men.
The column found its hidden
cove, and there was a hasty trans-
fer of good on the carts. The cart
with no mud in it was fitted out
with a few tools, one of the tap-
ping-pipes, a bag of air, and two
bags of water; along with some
food. Oskir’s bunch seized the
towropes and ran around toward
the dark side of the crater. They
were going all out, and Tern’s
lungs soon burned like fire. Even
this suit would never keep up, at
this rate.
Before long, though, they
slowed to a leisure pace. The
main column was getting ready
to go around the bright side if
that were clear, or hide if it
weren’t. Obviously, this single
cart was a decoy.
When they’d gone a little far-
Tem saw in the distance a
ther,
whole army of backpack glows
There must be over a hundred
Oskir held the casual pace, mov
ing darkward from the ringwall
Presently it was clear they’d been
sighted, for a dozen men broke
away from the army and ran to
intercept them. Oskir went on a
little way, then stopped so sud-
denly the cart almost overran
Tem. Then Oskir threw his
weight forward again, and so did
3*
tiieothers. The cart began to
bounce over the rock, headed
away from the strangers now.
Of course they couldn’t escape
with the cart, but Tern supposed
any time gained would be vital
to Hannult. Scouts climbing the
crater might pause to watch the
chase.
The pursuers were getting close
now. Oskir dropped the rope and
ran. The others went with him,
but Tem had no warning. He
stumbled and fell. By the time
he got to his feet the raiders
were nearly upon the cart They
were making derisive gestures,
apparently with no intention of
chasing anyone so long as they
got the cart and supplies.
^pem could still have fled, or
he might just have stood
there meekly, but something in
the face of the nearest stranger
reminded him of Buld. Shocking,
unexpected fury exploded with-
in him . He leaped to the cart and
grabbed the tapping pipe; spun it
so the point was toward the
stranger, and lunged. The man
stared for an instant, then twisted
frantically. The point raked along
his side, and for a split instant
Tem thought he’d punctured the
suit, but it only snagged and
pulled free, intact. He took a step
back, ready for another thrust,
but all the strangers had leaped
out of reach. Now each put an
arm behind him and pulled, from
somewhere, a sword. They spread
out to surround him. He gave
ground, darted to one side and
menaced a man, who drew back.
Beyond them he saw more men
leave the army, carrying long
spears that would out-reach him.
The local group pressed him back
slowly, gaining time.He felt very
foolish now. What had he ac-
complished? Well, at least, he
was being a good decoy, and that
was the intent. But he’d soon be
a dead one. His stomach felt as
if it were full of gravel.
Then a rock sailed past him
and made one of the strangers
duck. More came; obviously Os-
kir hadn’t run far. But throwing-
size rocks weren’t plentiful. Tem
hesitated. Shouldn’t he take this
second chance to run? After mak-
ing such a fool of himself, he was
ashamed of himself, he was
ashamed to have Oskir and the
others put themselves in danger.
But before he could make up
his mind, the strangers were sud-
denly retreating toward their own
army. Only one of them the —
one Tem had attacked —
stayed
for a moment. That one, keeping
the cart between himself and
Tem, ran forward and jabbed his
sword into first one, then the
other, bag of water. Then he
grinned at Tem, made an ob-
scene gesture, and ran after the
others.
GALAXY
 Bewildered as he was, Tern had considered a sport, not a hostila
wits enough to go to the cart and act, to capture carts out in th*
press a hand over the cuts in the open.
bags. Oskir arrived, furious, and Sport or not, when the cave
bumped helmets! ‘Tool! You sent out the first trading expedi-
might have gotten us all killed! tion of the season, a few hundred
Why didn’t you follow the kilopulses later, it was large and

plan?” well-armed. Even some of the

Tem thought about it He women went along to handle
could hardly explain. He said chores.
meekly, “Nobody told me any This was more like a migra-
plan.” tion than a foray. There were
Oskir glared, speechless. Then carts with air-fresheners, Testers,
the glare began to fade and final- extra air, extra water, and many
ly he was grinning. “Well, besten empty bags. There were took
we not stand here. Another and metal sheets, rods, and
in
army’s coming, or they wouldn’t bars, for trade; and bags of
have run like that. Likely rock salt mined in the cave. They
they’re loaded with plunder and also had a few woven fabrics to
the owners are chasing them. I offer, and some articles of wood,
spect you’d want to fight them, but these were just camouflage,
too.” to mask their dependence on the
vines.
XI Their own more sophisticated
tools, including the vine-tapping
'T'hey found Hannult before he pipes and the saws, were kept
reached the cave. He was de- out of sight, with the weapons.
lighted that they’d saved the cart To Tern’s disappointment, they
and supplies, and if he didn’t headed the opposite way from
way it had hap-
think well of the the migrations, slanting bright-
pened, he didn’t say so directly ward. When they’d gone a ways
to Tem. However, as soon as he found a chance to talk to
they were home Tem was put on Oskir.“That mountain where I
a crash program of learning the was picked up must be near
hand signals, also the backpack- here.”
signaling.He was told in blunt Oskir shook his head. “We
language that, while feuds of aren’t that far yet That’s just
varying deadliness existed be- about the end of our territory.”
tween tribes of Traders, this cave So they wouldn’t get to Tern’s
wanted none. Evidently it was old vine. He asked, “Do we trade
THE MERCURYMEN 41
 —
all the way out to the newest ness and unease they were hiding.
vines?” Hannult did the bargaining,
“No. The ten be-
last eight or standing outside the clearest spot
long to that bunch you tangled and gesticulating, as items were
with. The newest are too poor to brought up singly for display. He
trade much, anyway. That’s why put on a show of fierceness and
we never bother with migrations, weirdness. Tem, carrying an axe-
either. Sept sometimes we steal head to be shown, grimaced and
a girl or two.” made hostile gestures, and en-
joyed the Elders’ expressions.
rT''hey passed the mountain That earned him a scowl from
-* eventually, but now only the Oskir that was half grin.
very peak was lit, giving little When the Elders were con-
warmth or light. They turned vinced there’d be legitimate trad-
brightward to a large ringwall ing, the innerplug opened. Moss-
and made camp in a hidden light spilled out. A procession
niche. Oskir took Tem to one of came out, bearing bags of fruit
the Testers, handed him another and grain, cooked cooked
fish,
suit, and said, “You’re picked for fowl, and raw carcasses of goats.
the trading party. Go inside and There were a few small bags of
they’ll fix you up.” water, handled as if they were
There were two men inside who very precious. Larger bags con-
helped him out of his suit, then tained liquid vine latex, which
proceeded to smear his face with could be used as glue or for mak-
greasy stuff that stained it red. ing rubber.
A pair of goggles hid his eyes. Hannult accepted the edibles
Finally they helped him into the and the latex, and solemnly pur-
second and he was disgusted
suit, chased a small bag of water, as if
to find that it was his old one. itwere a great luxury. He con-
Later he saw that the whole cluded the trading with myster-
trading party —twenty men ious genuflections, and led the
were similarly made up and were party away by a roundabout
wearing Vinie suits. Then he un- path.
derstood. They didn’t want the As soon as they reached camp,
good suits seen. the women went to work on the
With two cartloads of goods, goat carcasses. The meat was cut
they approached the first vine. in strips and mauled with spike-
Two Elders were in the lock, pre- headed hammers, then laid out
tending to be making repairs. on the surface rock so the warmth
Tem grinned. He knew the eager- would speed drying. When it was
42 GALAXY
dry, it was powdered with a little ward and turned across country,
alt and sealed into small bags. crossing below the lock of each
Oskir said it would keep a long vine.
tone. He walked, rested, and walked,
until he lost all count of the
nphey worked back across the stops. He ate enough to keep up
vines, re-passing the high his strength, but drank sparingly.
mountain, gradually exchanging Gradually he slid into the fam-
the metalware for edibles and iliar half-daze, and had to make
latex, and some articles of wood. an effort to think at all. After a
It became obvious to Tern that while he realized the corona had
they wouldn’t get within two made its farthest retreat and was
hundred kilostrides of tfhe new- beginning to return.
est vine. He crossed yet another vine,
Nevertheless, he made prep- noting with vague puzzlement
arations. He found a chance to that its lock was below instead of
steal a saw and hide it. He got above him. Then something
several bags of the powdered snapped awake in his mind. This
meat, too, and some grain. Water was what he’d been looking for!
would be a problem. If he He shook himself awake, sipped
couldn’t steal a bag of the right a little water, and turned down
size, he might have to get it from the vine. Buld had been afraid
vines, which would take him far- of the corona, or had pretended
ther to darkward than he wanted to be. If he’d taken the column
to go. Tentatively, he took a darkward, his lock would be
small bag. down here.
Toward the end of the trading, When he was close to the lock
there was much sentry
duty. he stopped, with an odd reluct-
When sentries were being ance. The trek had become such
changed, he slipped away, got the a part of him, it was somehow
stuff he’d hidden and kept on wrong that it should be over. Yet
going. this was a new lock. The puffs
of latex where the stakes were
XII driven into the vine hadn’t col-
lapsed yet, nor had the vine be-
A fter crossing several vines, he gun to grow over its wounds.
nearly blundered into the He looked around at the scat-
foreign trading expedition, but tered debris, and recognized some
they didn’t see him. He detoured of it. Where was the menagerie?
round them, then moved dark- He stared back across country.
THE MERCURYMEN 43
Finally he saw one of the carts, quickly and he shoved the point
tilted, with one wheel missing, its in again and began sawing a
towropes sprawled where they’d straight line, holding his arm out
fallen. They hadn’t done much to one side to avoid the latex. The
salvaging; even precious rope lay stuff set very fast, and stuck hard,
around. The tunnel wasn’t nearly out here.
deep enough, so that the lock The cut sealed fast behind the
met the vine very near the top, saw, but it left a line of weak-
and at a bad angle. ness. He sawed three sides of a
At least, they were in a vine. rectangle enough to drop
big
They wouldn’t starve, though through, suit and all. Then he
they might get pretty lean if they paused to consider. If he sawed
had to live on vine-fruit. And he the fourth side, the plug might
hadn’t come here to commiserate. blow out and smash him like a
First of all, he had to get into the bug. If he left part of the fourth
vine, and this was no place to do side it might act as a hinge, so
it. He ate and drank a little the plug would just flap Back.
more, then squeezed the last of When he’d done that, he still
the water into his suit-reservoir. had to go around the old cut
He salvaged some rope and start- again. The plug blew out with
ed down the vine. awesome force, but the hinge
held. The saw was knocked from
^XThat he wanted was a section his hand and bent, but he wasn’t
* ' too cold to have been ex- hurt. Now the blast of air waa
plored yet, but not too far from incredible. Latex, draining from
the lock. He settled for the twen- capillaries,formed strings in a
tieth one down. virtual tube around it, whipping
He chose a spot twenty strides madly. The blast went on so long
below a leafage, and began scrap- he began to fear the whole vine
ing away the gravel. When he’d was emptying. At last, though, it
cleared a circle of hull, he jabbed slackened. Eventually, he could
the point of the saw in and twist- peer in.
ed. It was very hard cutting, but The section was full of mist,
he chipped out a hole and was but seemed to be clearing. The
finally able to thrust the saw luminous moss was still glowing,
through. Bits of vine blew out and though it might be dead now. He
thudded on his helmet, and he tied a rope around the hinge and
was spattered with strings of let it fall inside. He tugged at the
latex. The blast of air was like a flap, and it moved slowly.
solid thing. The hole plugged Eventually, to get it shut be-
44 GALAXY

hind him he had to tie another
,
rope around the free end and
atrain at it When it was closed
—with the ropes still dangling
it stayed. Oozing latex should seal
it fast, and the vine would soon
heal.
Hecut off one rope a few feet
down to tie on the end of the oth-
er. Together, they reached within
an easy drop of the bottom. He’d
cut a little too far from the leaf-
age, though, and had to drop in-
to water. He felt ice crumble be-
neath him, but the suit protected
him.
Now, if what he’d been told
about vines was correct, he was
in good shape. He climbed to-
ward the throat, where the bul-
bous growths had swollen shut
like a clenched fist. If they didn’t
open until capillaries filled the
section, he was in for a long wait
However, there was evidently,
as he’d been told, some other
mechanism or intelligence in the
vine. In not more than three
four kilopulses, the throat began
to open and air poured in. When
the blast lessened, he squeezed
through and started up the vine.
When water filled only a fourth
of the diameter, he got out of his
suit and hid it, taking part of his
food with him. The air was chilly,
but it felt wonderful to be out of
the suit.
He
found that the vine wasn’t
a completely barren one. There
THE MERCURYMEN
—
was and wild rice, and ilk-
grass,
sectsand lizards, and fish; things
that had come through the seed-
ing-shoot from some parent vine.
He saw no mammals, and no
birds.
He’d reached territory whew
he had to go cautiously, peering
into each section before entering
it, so he saw the seven people be-
fore they saw him.
XIII
'T'hey didn’t look well-fed, and
they didn’t look cheerful.
There were two married coup-
les and .three single men. Tem
had to think a moment to re-
member all their names.
Should he show himself? Why
not? He had to make contact
sometime, and these weren’t part
of Buld’s clique. He walked to-
ward them and called out, “Kliv!
Jellen!”
The seven of them whirled and
or peered toward him. Then Kliv’s
eyes went wide. “Tem!” One of
the women screamed. The whole
seven fell back.
Tem grinned at them. “Relax.
I’m not a ghost.”
Kliv was the first to accept
that. “Sunn!” he exclaimed, “I’ll
never doubt miracles again!
How—?”
Tem had already decided on a
story, or a hint of one. “Ours isn’t
the only migration that ever trav-
45
elled.” Let them do some guess- everything. We thought he’d
ing. probably kill us, because we
The others had come forward spoke against him, so we ran.
now. Jellen said wonderingly, He hasn’t come after us yet I
“You found another migration? guess he doesn’t really have to.”
But we thought Well, I see.
. . . “Did any of the grain get
Buld did lie, even though he through? And no goats.”
didn’t killyou and Bannow. He “Yes, but no goats.”
said they saw both of you vanish “You can live without goats,”
in bursts of flame near that Tern said. He refrained from say-
mountain. Some of us doubted it ing that, if the colony grew pros-
and wanted to go looking for you. perous, there might be ways of
It almost came to a fight right getting goats. “How many would
then, but they’d grabbed every- resist Buld if they had a chance?”
thing that could be used for a “I don’t know. Most of them
weapon. Anyway, we didn’t even resent him, but there’s not much
know what direction to look, fight in them. They just want to
so . .
forget the Outside.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Tern “How many will fight for
said. “How did things go after
Buld?”
that?”
“His clique, and two or three
“Bad. As soon as we were past more. Maybe nine all told.”
the mountain, he led us dark-
“Is there much fight in them ?”
ward. It was cold, and we made “Yes. They’re getting most of
poor time and used too much what eggs there are, and most of
air. Then we got into some tough
the meat we salvaged. They’ll
country and had to detour. We fight to stay on top.”
lost the menagerie, except for
“Well,” Tem said, “you haven’t
some of the fowl; and eleven much to lose. If you’ll follow me,
more people died on the way, well get rid of Buld and make
and six more escaped with some this a decent vine to live in.”
supplies. We think they surren- The two women showed dis-
dered to a vine.” tress. The men looked at each
Tern said, “Neena?” other. Finally Kliv said, “We’ll go
“She stayed with us.” Kliv with you if you can show us we
acted a little embarrassed. have a chance.”
“Well,” Tern asked, “Whafd
happened since? Why are the
seven of you here alone?” T em left the
and one
married couples
of the single men
Kliv said, “Buld has a grip on to improvise clubs from vine
46 GALAXY
fronds and to follow a few sec- Kliv got a hand on the bucket,
tions behind. He, Kliv, and Jellen then, as theman was on top of
started up the vine, scouting each him, swung it into the man’s
section before entering it. face, knocking him off balance.
Twelve sections up they found Fish spilled from the bucket.
two of Buld’s friends, fishing with Kliv wheeled and ran with what
a net. They were evidently there were left. The two grabbed their
as an outpost, as each had handy spears and came after him, bel-
a six-foot wooden staff, sharp- lowing. Now if they only didn’t
ened at each end, evidently made look up too soon Tern’s limbs
. . .

from a cart. They wore knives at felt weak and shakey.

their belts. Kliv leaped for one of the bul-

There were only a few clumps
of fronds along that side. Tern
said to Kliv, “Do you think you
could creep fairly close to them?”
“Maybe.”
“Pretend you’re trying to steal
bous growths, and from there to
a higher one. The first pursuer
jumped mightily, landed on a
growth, and struggled for bal-
ance as the stuff gave. His eyes
fell upon Jellen, who was tensed

their fish. Get them to chase you to spring, and he jerked his spear
this way.” around.
He and Jellen found places in Without conscious planning,
the convolutions of the throat, as Tern had already launched him-
far into the other section and as self. He arced down, missing the

high on the sides as possible. He man, but a murderous instinct

didn’t think Buld’s men would made him reach out with the saw.
be reckless enough to pursue It ripped awfully across the right

blindly through the throat, but if shoulder and the man went down,
he could get them close He . . . screaming. Tem landed, tumbled,
raised his head enough to peer trying not to cut himself on the
out. saw, then writhed to his feet and
Kliv was going on all fours. He faced the second man. But there
got within nine or ten strides be- was no fight left in that one. He
fore his cover played out. Then just stood, jaw hanging, spear
he leaped toward the bucket of adroop. Tem said, “Drop it!”

fish justa few steps behind the

men. 'T'hey bandaged the hurt one
The farther man glanced up as well as they could, then
and shouted. The nearer dropped got the fishnet and cut cords
the net and hurled himself to- from it to tie both men securely.
ward Kliv, reaching for his knife. They waited for their five friends

THE MERCURYMEN 47
to come up, left them the prison-
ers and one knife,and started on.
The next dozen people they
met (scattered along the vine,
fishing) were friendly or neutral.
Tem deliberately used the
shock of his reappearance,
commandeering instead of ask-
ing.He added two reliable men
to hisadvance squad. Since none
were armed, he sawed a few clubs
out of fronds and left his non-
combatants hacking out more
with a knife, with instructions to
hold the upper end of a certain
section. Then he climbed into
the throat to scout the section.
He hoisted himself to a growth,
and without warning confronted
two of Buld’s cronies starting
through.
He made a move as if to re-
treat, hoping to draw them after
him. However, after a moment
of gaping, one seized the other
and whispered urgently. They
both turned and ran. The quick-
witted one must have realized
Tem would have allies, and that
the thing to do was to get to
Buld immediately. Tem gestured
to his handful to follow him, and
leaped after the pair. He drew
ahead of his underfed comrades,
gaining a little on the quarry. At
the end of the section, he bound-
ed far up the curve to see wheth-
er they kept going.
They did.
There were several people in
48
this section, who straightened and
stared. Tem yelled for them to
intercept the two, but only one
moved, and the fugitives threat-
ened him off with their spears.
At least, though, the man joined
Tem.
Two sections later Tem saw
he’d lost the chase. He stopped in
the throat, watching the quarry
flee up the left-hand side of the
fairly wide lake. In their path
were about fifteen new huts, with
the bulk of the colonists working
around them or lounging. The
two shouted at the people, threat-
ening them with their spears. The
people listlessly allowed them-
selves to be herded toward the
other end of the section.
There was a smaller group of
huts there, partway up the curve.
Coming at a run were Buld and
four other men, all armed with
spears.
Tem ran down the slope,
shouting. The people looked back
and stopped. Buld’s pair prodded
them on, and now Buld was bel-
lowing at them. Most of the
people started on, staring back
over their shoulders. One man
broke away and ran toward Tem,
then several others. Tem heard
Neena scream, “Tem!” and saw
her start toward him. One of the
armed pair herded her back,
spear poised. She turned and
went with the others, face buried
in her hands.
GALAXY
'T'em counted eight men and
three women who’d escaped
and were running to him. He
scanned each face, and didn’t
think any of them were enemies.
That left about twenty, mostly
women, in Buld’s hands. Tern
went over things mentally. Not
counting his own two captives,
there were about thirty either
with him here, or behind him in
the vine. There were five or six
unaccounted for, who might be
farther up the vine.
The eleven who’d defied Buld
just now gathered around Tem.
He cut off their questions. “You,
and yoy. Take these women down
to where the others are. You
other six —
will you fight?”
They
all nodded.
Tem looked around. Kliv was
just coming through the throat.
A moment later Jellen and the
other three men appeared, pant-
ing for breath. Now Tem
eleven with him who’d
against Buld and six allies. But
Buld had hostages; and if he
could recruit a man or two among
them, he had plenty of knives and
spears.
Buld had the hostages herded
up near his own hut now, and his
men were busy tying some of
them so they couldn’t escape.
Tem watched with mounting
frustration. He
could hardly at-
tack now. Of course Buld couldn’t
afford to kill the hostages they
THE MERCURYMEN
—
were his security but what if
he killed one at a time? Or
threatened to torture them?
Could Tem pretend convinc-
ingly that he didn’t care what
happened to the hostages? No;
notif Buld put it to the test.
What if he just seized the vine,
moved up it and left Buld penned
up here? Again, Buld could use
the hostages.
What Tem had to do was work
on Buld’s nerves somehow, quick-
ly, before he had time to think.
Or, try to split away some of
Buld’s men.
There was the fact of Tern’s
sudden reappearance, which
must be mystifying and dismay-
ing to Buld. While that lasted,
could anything be done to amp-
lify it?
What if Tem acted like a ghost,
or something else supernatural?
Whatever he did, he ought to
had get out of this section, so Buld
fight, couldn’t threaten him with the
hostages. Should he go back down
the vine? Buld must be wonder-
ing what was down there.
Maybe he could act as if there
were something frightful down
there. Maybe he could even act
frightened himself.
Hphat began to feel promising.
He said to Kliv, “How many
people up the vine?Any of them
hostile?”
— Kliv said, “I don’t think so.
49
There are just a few, tending the people here. You can’t do any-
fowl.” thing.”
“How far up?” Tem looked as worried as he
“Well, the lock’s in the next could. “You’d better let them go.”
section, and there are a few huts He turned toward the throat
in the one beyond, then two sec- turned back irresolutely, and fi-
tions with fowl in them.” nally hurried into the throat. He
An idea began to stir. “The put one man where he could
lock’s in the next section? Where watch Buld and signal Tem if

are the suits, and the other Buld moved.

stuff?”
“Right under the lock.
just left everything there that
didn’t have use for.”
Tem thought hard. He turned
to Jellen. “Go back downvine and
get everyone here in a hurry. Act
as if there’s something terrible
coming up the vine. Look as
scared as you can, but don’t ex-
plain. Can you do that?”
“Yes, but—”
“I’ll explain later. Hurry!”
Jellen left. Tem took his other
ten to the far end, across the con-
striction from Buld, and made a
show of scouting the throat. Then
he waited, acting nervous, pay-
ing little attention to Buld but
staring downvine. Finally the rest
of his people came hurrying into
the section. He gestured them on,
posted his armed men between
them and Buld, got them all
through the throat
Buld called out, “What non-
sense are you up to now?”
Tem yelled, “You’d better
render while you can.”
Buld laughed. “I’ve got these
50
We XIV
we
V[o ramp up to the lock had
been started. Rope ladders
dangled the full distance, only a
little off the middle of the vine.
Equipment, including suits, lay
scattered about at the edge of the
lake. Tem glanced back at his
watchman, then chose two suits.
He told the people, “Carry the
rest of these upvine. Go at least
five sections before you stop, then
wait until I come.” As they star-
ed at him, he said harshly, “Hur-
ry!”
His own bunch stayed with
him, but he told them, “Help
Kliv and me into these suits,
then you go upvine too. Make
sure nobody comes back down.
We’re going to let the air out of
this section.” He smiled grimly
at their expressions and said, “I
know what I’m doing.”
They trotted off, and he and
sur- Kliv began the climb. When he
could just see the lookout he’d
left, he gestured to the man,
GALAXY
pointed upvine and held up five bring hostages, maybe he could
gloved fingers. The man left his be trapped anyway —it should

post and started through the sec- be possible to let enough air out
tion. Tem hoped he’d understand of the section to render everyone
and keep going. in it unconscious, without killing
The climb was long and nerve- them, then get the inner plug
wracking, with the ladders sway- back in place.
ing, and carrying the saw in one Time dragged. Kliv got up and
hand didn’t make it easier. Fi- paced in the lock, but Tem stay-
nally, though, Kliv reached the ed where he was, grimly. At last
crude platform hung below the Buld and another man trotted
lock, and reached down to give into sight, headed upvine.
Tem a hand.
The inner plug came unseated T)y the time Tem could see
easily, since there was still pres-
^ ' them, they were a third of
sure in the lock outside, main- the way into the section. He
tained by leakage. They wedged tensed. Should he spring the trap
it where it couldn’t swing shut, now, or wait? He didn’t know
and stepped out. how quickly the throat would
Getting the outer plug loose, close when air started to escape.
of course, would be beyond their Would they have time to get
strength, lacking levers to pry back? Would Buld glance up,
with. He looked for a thin spot and understand the significance
in the rubber, found one where of the open inner plug?
it bulged, and poked the saw at Buld stopped suddenly, eyes
it gingerly. He thought it would fixed on the spot where the suits
penetrate easily when the time had been. Tem leaped away from
came. the opening, shoved KHv to safe-
Now Kliv’s face showed under- ty, jabbed the saw into the thin
standing, and horror, but he spot. The rubber split, and tire
didn’t protest. They went to split ranhalfway around the
where they could peer obliquely lock. A mighty wind knocked
into the section, and waited. Tem down. His suit puffed sud-
He was gambling that Buld denly rigid. He crawled toward
would come scouting without be- the vine opening, but the wind
ing prudent enough to bring hos- shoved him aside. He hauled
tages. The man would suspect a himself clear of it, got to where
trap, of course, but he wouldn’t he could see in slantingly. Buld
be sure, and as time passed his and the other men were sprinting
nerves would get worse. If he did downvine. They went out of
THE MERCURYMEN 51
sight, and Tem strained his neck
to see farther, but could not.
He had to wait, not
whether they’d got clear or not,
for what seemed eternity. Mist
formed around him. He went to
touch helmets with Kliv, but the
wild air battering on his suit
drowned out their voices. Finally
he forced himself to sit down and
wait.
At long last the wind lessened,
and he could push his way to the
side of the opening and force his
head in.
The two men lay at the throat
where they’d collapsed, clawing
at the great growths. The
was squeezed tight.
He raised a hand to
Kliv, intending to say they
should get inside to the platform
and be ready to replace the inner
plug before all the air was gone.
But he hesitated, and Kliv star-
ed at him, obviously seeing his
indecision.
Tem tried to sort out the
dle in his own mind. He’d come
all way to kill Buld, hadn’t
this
he? wasn’t sure. A man’s mo-
He
tives seemed to be such myster-
ious things. He couldn’t feel the
slightest concern now whether
Buld, and the other man, died or
not.Maybe all he’d really wanted
was to regain his leadership and
prove that he was the better man.
A kilopulse longer, maybe less
than that, and the air in the sec-
52
tion would be too thin. Right
now, he could take Buld alive
knowing and let the colony decide what
to do with him. On the other
hand, Buld would always be a
threat to the colony. They’d have
to watch him constantly. If
they ., .
They?
he said to himself, I’d
Yes,
have known it long ago if I’d
stopped to think about it. I’m not
of this colony any more. I’m not
of the vines.
As long as he didn’t care one
way or another, why leave Buld
to worry the colony?Why even
throat bother them with the decision?
He stayed where he was and
beckon watched the bodies begin to puff.
When he was sure they were
dead, but before they got too
ugly, he motioned Kliv and they
crawled in to replace the plug.
XV
mud- \ soon as the first urgencies
s
were taken care of, he and
Neena strolled a few sections be-
low the lock. He had to assure
her several times that none of the
throats would suddenly squeeze
shut without reason, or with dia-
bolical reason, as they were pass-
ing through.
She said, “I didn’t take up
with anyone else, but I want te
tell you the truth. I did think
about it. There was one man who
GALAXY
 ”

paid special attention to me, and The bewilderment

in her eyes
I didn’t avoid him. I thought
— made him put an arm around her
She searched his face. He said shoulders. “Well?” he said, for
nothing, and she went on, “I was he daren’t waste much time.
sure you were dead, and I She drew back. “You mean,
thought they’d make me Bottom put on a suit again and go Out-
Caste because I didn’t belong; side? And leave everyone we
but if I married this man, they know?”
wouldn’t” “Maybe one or two others
He said casually, “Was it could go with us.”
Buld?” Suddenly she flushed.
She colored. “No. But it was “What’s gone wrong with you?
one of his friends.” Why can’t you be Chief and —
He said, “I don’t think anyone and live a normal life?”
would have blamed you. I “I’m not going to be Chief.
wouldn’t.” I’m sorry, Neena. I want you to
They walked in silence for a come with me, but I’m not going
while, then she said, “It does to stay.”
make things complicated, though. She wouldn’t talk for a while,
They’ll think ” —She stopped just sobbed and thrust his hands
and faced him. “I want to be away. Finally he said, “Do you
sure you don’t think it!” suppose you might feel different-
“Think what?” ly if you had some time to think
“That I just want to be the about it?”
Chief’s wife.” She pulled herself together.
He nearly smiled at that. “I “Would we be married and live
don’t think that. And they won’t, here while I think?”
because I’m not going to be This time he did smile. He
Chief.” couldn’t be angry with her; she’d
She stared at him. “What do been through more than any girl
you mean?” deserved in a lifetime. “Suppose
“Will you try to imagine it like I came back, in another orbit or
this? Suppose we went to another two. Would you want to talk
vine, the two of us, that was an about it again?”
easier trip from here. I don’t “I don’t know. You don’t seem
mean a deserted vine. There’d be to — to care about me at all. I
other people, and we wouldn’t be feel as if you were some I feel —
Bottom Caste, and we’d be com- as if I didn’t know you.”
fortable. We’d just be plain peo- He kissed her gently on the
ple. Would you come?” forehead and left. He didn’t look

THE MERCURYMEN 53
back and she didn’t call
him.
TTe hurried, for he had to get
A to his hidden suit before
anyone came looking for him. He
felt badly about her, but he had
to admit that his other feeling
was relief. People did change. He
wasn’t really Tern any more. He
didn t even remember, exactly,
after through the hole; but with some
arrangement he could do it. He’d
be on short rations for the trip.
And he’d have to talk fast, to
convince Oskir and Hannult he
hadn’t given any secrets away to
the Vinies.
Vaguely, he wondered if it were
quite normal for a young man to
walk away from a really pretty
girl like that . . .

what Tern had been like. But before he was out of the
His mind grew busy with vine,Neena was out of his mind.
schemes for getting back to the There was a whole worldful of
cave. There’d be difficulty leav- other things to be pondered. A
ing the vine by the way he’d en- whole skyful, in fact.
tered, without getting blown out — C. C. MacAPP

FORECAST
may not be the most widely traveled human
Science-fiction writers
beings alive, but they're pretty dose. Talking to some of our contributors
gives us a dizzying sense of what a small world it has indeed become. We
don't know of any science-fiction writer who has spent much time in Ant-
arctica, nor can we think of any who has been in mainland China
— re- —
cently but when you've said that you've said it all.

Two current wanderers are Cordwainer Smith and Jack Vance. Smith
has been doing field work in anthropology among the Maoris of the south-
west Pacific, Vance is working his way around the world in a westerly
direction at a pace which ought to get him back to California in a year
or two. In their travels both stopped briefly in Tahiti —
long enough to
finish a couple of short novels; and we're pleased to be able to say
we're going to be publishing both. Smith's is called Under Old Earth and
H will be in the next issue. Jack Vance's The Last Castle, will run shortly
thereafter. And besides their place of origin, both have one thing in com-
mon: each represents a very good writer at the top of his form. . . .

54 GALAXY
 I

Non-Fact Article

GALACTIC CONSUMER REPORTS No. 1 —

"Inexpensive Time Machines"

by JOHN BRUNNER

Newl This Galaxy service saves

you money and repair headaches

on every time machine you buy

Extract from GOOD BUY, year. However, with the rising

published by the Consolidated standard of galactic living, we
Galactic Federation of Consum- have been receiving many re-
ers’ Association, issue dated Jan- quests for assessments of pro-
uary 2329 ESY ( Earthside Stan- ducts selling in small quantities
dard Year) but individually representing a
considerable investment of credit.
Inexpensive Time Machines Testing such products is in line
with our basic aim —
the restora-
(Note: It has been our custom tion of galactic craftsmanship to
so far to confine our tests prin- its pristine peak — and the fol-
cipally to those items most com- lowing is the first of a series
monly purchased by our mem- which include inexpensive
will
bers— as a rough working guide, faster-than-light powerboats, so-
products of which more than ten lar pleasure-yachts, and do-it-
million items were sold in a yourself matter transmuters.)

55
Introduction travel is bidding fair to rival
Experiments with time travel space travel as a popular vaca-
on the Asimov-Notsodusti prin- tion pastime. We cannot toa
ciple were made on Logaia as strongly advise our member*
long ago as 2107, but a string of against accepting the claims of
spectacular accidents — too no- advertisers without question.
torious to be described in detail
here —led to legislation confin- Brands tested
ing its use to rare and extremely Most major home-appliance
costly government- authorized re- manufacturers offer time ma-
search trips. chines in their current catalogues,
About a century ago, however and we hope in due course to
(recent feedback has made the make a thorough survey of the
actual date so fluid as to be im- field.However, those offered at
possible of definition), a post- ten thousand credits or less are
humous discussion with Einstein most likely to sell in large num-
enabled Dr. Ajax Yak of the Uni- bers, so we decided to conduct
versity of Spica to formulate the testson two samples of each
fundamental equations of petri- model we found available below
fied field theory. The light shed that limit.
on the subject by his celebrated As always, we purchased the
postulate that yaktion and re- samples anonymously through
yaktion are equal and apposite regular trade channels.
so simplified time travel that the We bought two samples of
legislation was subsequently re- each of two models we found
pealed and a limited market was offered at discount rates below
opened for the private sale of our price ceiling (the WORLD-
time machines. LINE WANDERER and the
Acceptable standards for the CHRONOKINETOR); one each
safety and performance of these at regular and discount rates of
machines have been laid down two models whose basic price was
on Earth, Osiris, Confucius and under Cr. 10,000 (The SUPER
one or two other planets, and a SHIFTER and the TEMPORA
Galactic Standard is reportedly MUTANTUR); and two each of
in draft. Unfortunately, these do two models sold exclusively in
not have the force of law, and the discount market (the ANY-
we think they should —
for, as TIME HOPPER and the ETER-
all our members will have seen, NITY TWISTER— the latter,

cut-price time machines are now incidentally, being described as

being widely advertised and time “imported”).

56 GALAXY
 In order to complete a full Guarantees
range of tests on all models, None of the guarantees was
where necessary we bought re- wholly satisfactory. That offered
placements for samples that fail- with the WORLDLINE WAN-
ed during the course of our sur- DERER was almost acceptable,
vey. in that it provided assured re-
placement of any part revealing
Appearance and finish faults due to poor workmanship
In general all machines were during the first hundred hours
of satisfactory standard, although of subjective occupation, but the
one of the diamond instrument owner was obliged to make his
lights in the WORLDLINE own arrangements for the return
WANDERER had a flaw, while of the parts to the factory not —
the gold and platinum inlay used easy on a trip of any length.
for the floor of the SUPER Werecommend taking out a
SHIFTER was rated “cheap and policy for retemporation insur-
garish” by all but one of our ance; several companies offer
test panel. these at reasonable rates.
The inside doorhandles of the The guarantee supplied with
ANYTIME HOPPER came off the ETERNITY TWISTER ran
the first we used them and
time to four hundred and forty-eight
had be replaced. A 15-cm
to pages of small print, and requir-
length of 100-kv. wave-guide ed a computer evaluation to
tube fits the socket, and we make it comprehensible. It prov-
recommend this to be substi- ed to render the purchaser liable
tuted prior to using the machine, to suit by the importers of the
as waveguide tube of this calibre machine if he made any claim
is not easily available in many against them for any reason
popular historic periods. whatsoever, and we feel that this
The emergency kits of tools should not be signed and return-
and spares were adequate on all ed to the company before use, as
but the ETERNITY TWISTER, is stated.
where the ratiocinator proved
to be broken, the service manual Power source, drive and controls
was printed back-to-front in The WORLDLINE WAN-
Arabic (presumably a computer DERER had a built-in fusion
error at the factory), and the 47 plant, of high reliability and out-
spare transistors were found to put, although the cork of the
be lumps of contaminated poly- magnetic bottle failed frequently
strene. on both our samples and was dif-

GALACTIC CONSUMER REPORTS 57

ficult to replacewith the Mobius mechanic ought to be able to
wrench supplied, as the handle cure minor faults. (NB: Mech-
was too short. anics are not available earlier
All the others bar one had con- than 2304 except to users of the
ventional fission piles. Only the SUPER SHIFTER, whose par-
CHRONOKINETOR offered ent company has launched a
automatic dumping of exhausted training scheme for native labor
fuel rods —
the others had to be in a few popular vacation-zones
cleared manually. The makers of further back. A list of these
the TEMPORA MUTANTUR comes with the machine.)
operate an exchange service for The debatable exception to the
their rods, a good idea, but as foregoing was the ETERNITY
yet imperfect from the consum- TWISTER, on which we are un-
er’s viewpoint. One of our testers able to make a positive state-
was instructed to dispatch a con- ment, as the petrified field was
aignment of rods while visiting generated in a black box labelled
the standard target-area of 1779, “Not to be Opened”. Attempts to
and had to wait until 1811 for inspect the interior resulted in
the replacements owing to mis- messy, though not fatal, explo-
labelling of the package at the sions; we consider this a serious
factory. The single exception design fault
mentioned above was the ETER- The controls on the cheaper
NITY TWISTER, powered by machines, though stark, were
NiFe batteries supplemented by adequate, with fair accessibility.
a pedal-driven generator. The We faulted the CHRONOKIN-
importers claim that this provides ETOR because its three-vee dis-
an ideal source of exercise to plays make an annoying reflec-
toughen-up users on the way to tion in the master time-range
barbaric time-zones. Our testers dial and the pointer is difficult
followed the directions supplied, to see; the TEMPORA MU-
but all bar one (silver medallist TANTUR because it gave twice
for weight-lifting in the last Jo- as much space on the dashboard
vian Olympics) found it neces- to three-vee, piped music, sensi-
sary to rest up for a week or so show outputs and perfumolator
•n arrival. Several sustained se- switches as it did to the actual
vere muscle fatigue. controls; and the WORLDLINE
In five of the six machines, the WANDERER because the for-
drive mechanism was a recogniz- ward and reverse lever had been
able variant of the original Yak mislabelled at the factory on one
design, and any qualified service of our samples. Putting it over

GALAXY
for the first trial filled the test- On one sample of the ANY-
ing lab with a horde of noisy and TIME HOPPER, the field col-
Ill-dressed savages, later identi- lapsed to half-size during a test
fied as Mongols, who defied our jump to 1898, leaving the tester’s
best attempts to return them to head in that year and his feet in
the machine and eventually had the present. Repairs were speed-
to be deported under a govern- ily effected, but unfortunately
ment regulation forbidding un-
• an enterprising carnival operator
authorized entry to the present. discovered the tester’s isolated
The ETERNITY TWISTER upper portion and for some eight
had a good range of controls hours before rescue was effected
and instruments. Inspection, employed it as a novel target
however, revealed that four out in his sideshow. (This was of the
of a total of eighteen instruments type known as an “Aunt Sally”,
were not connected to anything. where spectators received prizes
One of the range-finding dials for their accuracy in hurling
on the ANYTIME HOPPER wooden balls at him.)
had to be read in a mirror, and The importers of the ETER-
we feel its pointer should ac- NITY TWISTER state in their
cordingly be made to rotate an- advertisements that the radius of
ti-clockwise to compensate. (The their machine’s field is “in ac-
makers claim that it can be read cordance with the relevant Stan-
directly, but if this was the inten- dards”. One of our samples
tion we think they should have measured 4.1 metres, but the
included a jar of liniment, suit- other never did better than 3.7
able for stiff necks. metres.
The WORLDLINE WAN-
Performance DERER and SUPER SHIFTER
As already mentioned, the Ga- expanded to 10 metres without
lactic Standard has not yet been difficulty, and we are recom-
published. We took the Confu- mending that this be made the
eian Standard as the basis for minimum for the Galactic Stan-
more stringent requirements of dard.
our tests, modifying it to the
Terrestrial Standard in respect of Next, we carried out tests to
excluded zones. determine range and accuracy.
First we measured the radius The method used involves set-
el the petrified field (CS and ting the controls at various read-
TS: five metres). All passed ex- ings from maximum on down,
cept two. then engaging maximum power
©ALACTIC CONSUMER REPORTS 59
ten times in succession at each
level. The CS lays down 5,000
Confucian years (about 4,762
ESY) as the shortest acceptable
range, with an accuracy erf plus
or minus 1 per cent.
All sustained this over limited
distances (below about 1,000
years). However, none were
isfactory on longer trips. In par-
one sample of the CHRO-
ticular,
NOKINETOR landed twice in
the Upper Pleistocene and the
other in the Triassic owing to
power surges. (We replaced the
pile-moderators and both per-
formed satisfactorily after that.)
The WORLDLINE WANDER-
ER had a repeatable extreme
11,421 ESY, well in excess of the
Standard, but at this high power-
level the cork kept coming out
of the bottle.
The ETERNITY TWISTER
recorded one maximum of 2,389
years, but this was not repeat-
able on either sample, and the
average for both was only 1 year
17 days. One sample refused to
go anywhere until the fuses had
been replaced with 5-cm. bus-
bars. On
the other, the insulation
burned out. Inspection revealed
that it consisted of badly tanned
animal hide. We substituted a
modem synthetic and it then
completed the test.
Finally, we turned to the ques-
tion of excluded time-zones,
60
here applied the TS rather than
the CS because it stipulates a
higher conformity with people’s
prejudices.
Some confusion exists as to the
reason for this requirement, so
a word of explanation may be in
order. It is often thought that the
sat- excluded zones are those highly
susceptible to paradox feedback,
where casual tourists might up-
set the chain of cause and effect.
It is true that these zones are
excluded, but not by us. They
are patrolled by armed temporal
police generally believed to be
based around 10,600, and there is
no question of tourists being able
of to get at them.
What we are now referring to
are the zones enclosing events in
the traditional description erf
which certain pressure-groups
have a vested interest. For ex-
ample: the wanderings of the
Children of Israel; the medita-
tion of Buddha under the bo-tree;
the Epiphany; the Sanctification
of Emily Dong; the Aspiration
of Bert Tuddle —
and so forth.
The Standard therefore lays
down that machines be fitted
with automatic cut-outs, pro-
grammed in accordance with var-
ious selected at the wish at
lists
the user. No machine can be
held to have passed the Standard
unless it operates without flaw in
the areas defined by at least one
and of these lists, of which there are
GALAXY
some two hundred. In fact, to se- rated. There are cut-outs, and on
cure as large a share of the mar- the surviving sample of those
ket as possible, the makers gen- tested they operate astonishingly
erally prefer to offer a basic set well —
all things considered.
of twenty or more, with the oth- However, their action is either
ers as optional extras at addi- absolutely arbitrary, or geared
tional cost to some exclusion-list not avail-
It would have been a prohib- able to the testing staff. It is
itivelylong job to try all the definite that this list does not
lists all the machines, so we
on match any of the regular Terres-
chose ten of the most popular trial requirements. Our testers
ones, ten in average demand, and meticulously visited every area
ten favored by minority groups. supposed to be inaccessible. An
Our report follows: indication of the seriousness of
WORLDLINE WANDERER: the fault; the unfortunate tester
Excellent for all Western Euro- assigned to check on the Aspira-
pean lists including Judeo-Chris- tion of Bert Tuddle returned to
tian, but poor on Asiatic and the present suffering from un-
only fairon the remainder. controllable hysteria, and his re-
SUPER SHIFTER: Good in port was delayed for three hours
all areas except Moslem — the while we tried to make him stop
Hegira cut-out failed on both laughing.
samples.
TEMPORA MUTANTUR: VALUE FOR CREDITS
Good, but unlikely to be favored Apart from the episode of the
by Neo-Pagans, as the list of op- invading Mongols, the WORLD-
tional extras does not mention LINE WANDERER — the most
the period of Julian the Apos- expensive machine tested —
per-
tate. formed well and met the various
CHRONOKINETOR: Excel- Standards applied. All the others,
lent for Hellenists (it is made by even though less costly, display-
a Greek firm), fair in all other ed faults which we regard as
areas. potentially dangerous. We there-
ANYTIME HOPPER: Good fore name as our Best Buy:
to fair in all areas, except that WORLDLINE WANDERER
when operating in accordance at Cr. 9,768.10 (recommended
with the Wesleyan list it proved Earthside retail price).
possible to witness the composi- Members prepared to sacrifice
tion of at least 7 hymns. some degree of performance for
ETERNITY TWISTER: Not other considerations may prefer

GALACTIC CONSUMER REPORTS 61

an alternative. The SUPER 2107. They were built to the de-
SHIFTER may appeal to some sign of a self-taught “scientist”
for its comfort, while
greater named Brong, who was left with
others —
perhaps those who get about thirty million of them on
bored very easily may select — his hands when time travel was
the TEMPORA MUTANTUR restricted by law. Taking advan-
for its wide range of entertain- tage of the recent repeal of these
ment facilities. do not, how-We regulations, the importers now
ever, feel that either should be marketing them bought his en-
bought without a good retempor- tire surplus at a price alleged to
ation policy. be Cr. 0.18 apiece. We have re-
ported this blatant profiteering
NOT RECOMMENDED to the Galactic Chamber erf
ETERNITY TWISTER at Cr' Commerce. Our opinion is that
3,125.50 (maximum discount even the purchase price of eigh-
found by our purchasing agents). teen centicredits is too high to
We became disturbed after the make them value for money. We
episode of the burning insulation consulted a scrapdealer and he
(see Performance above) and offered us Cr. 0.11.
sent samples of the animal hide
to be identified. When it was We
hope to report users’ ex-
stated to be Logaian lizardskin, periences in a future issue, and
we grew suspicious and carried shallbe glad to hear from mem-
out further inquiries. bers who have purchased any erf
It turns out that these ma- the foregoing products.
chines are being imported from — JOHN BRUNNER

The big news in If is

ROBERT A. HEINLEIN
One of science-fiction's all-time greats brings you hit
finest story in years— now running in If. Don't miss itl

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress

Tht thrilling new novel of the wars that liberated Lona!

Start it now in If —and watch for tho great novels by Keith Laumsr and
Roioi Brown, Algis Budryt and othors that will make 1966 best
it's yoarl

62 GALAXY
 cJLaUCj.ll ona

With
by
3 ranz
NORMAN KAGAN

illustrated by GIUNTA

Technological unemployment had

arrived. Man had nothing to do —
except to work harder than evert

Alienated Vote "I cannot vote

: I
tor any candidate or issue. None
of them seem to have anything
to do with the real problems of
our nation and my life. I think
there is something wrong with
our society which requires a
more fundamental change.”
— the so-called “ Kafka Ballot”
from the voting machines,
U. S. of A.
circa 1976 and after.
T Tis Tuesday had worked out
* ^ free, so Zirkle chose to
serve the machines. The mech-
anisms that had made most men
superfluous and egged the rest
on towards madness still re-
quired a few masters. The oper-
ator’s saddle of N.Y.M.’s device
paid ten dollars an hour, he’d
have been a fool to turn it down.

63
Though it was a pittance beside
the machine’s wage: twenty dol-
lars a moment. Phantom money;
the pay for a thousand unem-
ployed, unemployable souls in
the nation’s Emotionally Dis-
“I’ve got to go or I’ll be late,
Barbara. You know.”
“Can’t you stay. I’ll go out
and get us breakfast.”
“It’s forty bucks, kid listen.—
I’ll call you at twelve.”

turbed Areas. “It was my fault about last

Barbara stirred and mumbled night, Michael,” she said faint-
beside him; he kissed her small ly, then huskily. “I mean it. I
ft
happy face and pushed back the
long brown hair. She was won- “Okay, fine, but I really got-
derful in his bed; he looked at ta go.”
her long pale legs for a moment “All right, Michael.” She
and sighed, then covered them smiled lazily and pulled the cov-
and began to dress. He tried to ers up to her chin again half
think about the machine because pout, half invitation. Oh, boy,
to think about her would make down those stairs marry her next
him want to look at her and then week but let’s get going.
touch her and hold her and then
he’d never get out of here. What T^Vownstairs it was a cold-bright
a wonderful body! Bodies, bodies, November morning. Zirkle
ripe young flesh, ah! . . .
put his fists in his windbreaker
Better bodies than minds and against the brisk wind. The Vil-
words; she was so quiet to lage at this hour was shabby but
strangers, silent but provocative sane; brick and stone and con-
in pullover and jeans with her crete buildings that were human
long brown hair down behind sized, but the behemoths that
her. But what she thought. How hung their dead tons above ev-
to get along with her? She was eryone’s heads uptown. Zirkle
hypersensitive, and she knew she hardly saw them; self-obsessed,
was hypersensitive and ade- or Barbara-obsessed. He never
quate; they’d gone to bed on noticed the dead handbills in the
their second date to show he street, or sign that read “Elec-
cared for her and why are you tion Day hours; 8:00-1:00” be-
such a cold son-of-a-bitch, cold, side the large brass plate;
cold, I know but aren’t our “Computer Facility :Courant
bodies fun, our bodies, don’t Institute of Mathematical Sci-
think just bodies . . .
ences; New York Multiversity”.
“Michael?” she smiled up at With some Chock Full ’o Nuts
him. coffee warming his middle he

64 GALAXY
took the elevator up to the
chine room.
The brightly lit roorn
nearly silent. In the middle, of
course, was the big I.C.M. aleph-
sub-ninety; a dozen different
units connected beneath the
floor. At. one side a printer stut-
tered, tape drives raced and
paused, shivering in their vac-
uum columns. Here was the con-
trol board, studs and buttons
and little GO-boards of lights that
blinked and twinkled patterns.
Seated at it was the operator;
an expressionless man named
Kernan. A few other technicians,
shirt sleeved, unshaven, moved
silently about. The machine ran
around the clock except for
maintenance time; while Boeing
or G.M. didn’t have a problem,
Los Alamos could always pay for
some time. On the lintel of the
console was the brief legend;
I.C.M. is here to stay.
Zirkle asked the young man
what was running, to which Ker-
nan said briskly; “Randall’s re-
placing me —
you’re program-
ming for some kind of social
thing.”
Zirkle shrugged; five dollars
an hour was five dollars an hour.
He walked out of the Machine
Room past the Negress recep-
tionist and down the corridor to
the Programmer’s Library.
The pine-paneled, linoleum-
floored, air-conditioned halls of
66
ma- an I.C.M. installation always
made him think of a submarine,
was or a missile-launching site or
shelter. Always the funny ten-
sion, as if the ghosts of the mil-
lions that automation had re-
placed inhabited the machines,
as if the mechanisms had some-
how taken the spirit along with
the function of those useless
people. The Emotionally Dis-
turbed Areas were where zom-
bies dwelt. I.C.M is here to stay.
Zirkle thought about Barbara.
There she was in front of him;
beautiful and why shouldn’t die
be? And the old logic you —
think you can keep from getting
involved. It’s just more words
and mucous membranes, but all
of a sudden she only talks to you
and you ask why not, why not?
She’s so much fun and you nev-
er felt so good before, to be in-
volved in something . . .
H the
dozen men working in
alf a
bright room. Zirkle
spotted Randall and Dr. Progoff,
the Center’s boss, a big, bald
man who’d taken his Ph.D. in
pure number theory then switch-
ed into computers and applied
math. He was talking with a
thin, well-dressed faculty mem-
ber. “ —
sampling is all finished,
but how about the machine
time? It won’t make much sense
to finish the run after the real
results are in?”
GALAXY
 And then Zirkle remembered.
But was too late to register,
it
of course, and anyway it didn’t
matter, they were all the same,
if he voted he’d — “Well, it looks like you and I
“Vote for Franz!” the faculty
man said angrily. “What do you
expect, you’ve alienated
from everything, even
selves? That’s why I don’t want
you to
— ings. In the park and the shabby
“What difference does it
make?” grumbled the mathema-
tician. “The other results have
been out for days, and there’ll
be machines running right along
with the balloting.”
“I’m talking about self-fulfill-
ing prophecy —
the people silly
enough to want to have voted
for the winner, or uncaring
enough to want to have voted for
the winner, or uncaring enough
to let a machine do their oh, —
never mind, never mind, I’ll get
the decks and the University
authorization.”
“Fine,” said Progoff. “Oh, Zir-
kle, please go along with Profes-
sor Lerner here.When you come
back I want you to debug his
program and we’ll start it at, oh,
say eleven, when that neutrino
detection study thing is finish-
ed.”
Zirkle nodded, and followed
tlje thin man, who seemed to be
a sociologist, out to the eleva-
tors. They got on in silence, but
as the car started down the old-
LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ
er man said irritably; “Excuse
me, but are you planning to vote
today? Please don’t lie to me.”
“Oh, oh, yes sir.”
will be about the only ones that
do.”
them Outside the day was warming
them- up. Students in bright jackets or
coats moved towards the build-
streets around the university,
however, the inevitable idlers
had begun to cluster. A news-
stand caught his eye; AUTO-
MATION RIOTS, SUBWAY
VIOLENCE, HARLEM SIM-
MERS. But New York headlines
had read like that as far back
as he could remember.
“Idiots!” grumbled Lerner.
“But how can you blame them?
I don’t know what can be done,
that’s sure. There’s nothing for
’em to do.”
'y irkle thought about Barbara,
but asked, “I’ve been won-
dering about casting a Kafka
ballot, sir. It’s not that I feel
alienated from society, it’s just
that there doesn’t seem to be
much choice between ” (And —
I’d say: will you marry me? And
Barbara would say: no, but I
admire your taste.)
“No, no, never do that,” cried
Lerner, as they crossed the street.
“That’s the danger of the Kafka
ballot —
it short circuits think-
67
ing, people feel rotten so they a complete collapse of govern-
push the ‘Franz’ toggle. Original- ment morale. How could Con-
ly, the idea was to find out who gress act, how could the Presi-
just didn’t care to vote, and who dent do anything, when everyone
was truly disenchanted. It back- knows nobody really wants them
fired — it turned out everyone at all?”
is alienated and unhappy. And Zirkle shrugged, it was their
our system is now so complex, tough luck. He never trusted
so limited by the international those dirty politicians. Maybe
situation, so geared to accepting they could have a robot presi-
technical change, that we can’t dent?
make fundamental changes in it, “You know, there’s one thing
so —
more alienation, unhappi- that might apply. It’s in the U.S.
ness,and four years later more Constitution, but it’s never been
Kafka ballots.” used.” The two stood waiting for
The classes changed, and for the elevator, burdened down with
a few moments they were push- tapes and card decks. “If two
ed back along the corridor by a thirds of the State Legislatures
flood of students. The two man- ask for a Constitutional Conven-
aged to enter an elevator. As the tion, Congress has to call it
door closed Zirkle murmured, What the C.C. recommends is
“I see.” (Keep her in my room constitutional if three quarters
if I can. Physical contact, de- of the state legislatures approve.
pendence important. Story of the If things get bad enough, it

guy that sent his girl a love let- might happen. They could abol-
ter every day. So she married ish Presidency, cancel the
the
the mailman.) Civil Rights Laws, put controls
The doors opened, and Lemer on I.C.M. and scientists and en-
swung out and down the corri- gineers. My
God! They could
»
dor. A bearded student in a lab
•

smock got on, whistling; “Girls Lerner was silent until they
are like pianos —
upright or were back in the Computer
grand!” the newest song of teen Facility. “It’s possible, it’s pos-
favorite Beatle X, the Ghana sible,” he murmured. “The sta-
Wailer. tistics on crime, drug addiction,
Lemer unlocked the door to mental illness. They could —
his office. "Less than fifty mil- he gestured out at the park,
lion voted in the last election. where the crowd of idlers mixed
What happens if Franz gets a with the guitar-and-throngs set.
majority? What then? We’ll have “Look at ’em, punch-drunk, slap-

68 GALAXY
happy already, surrendered — watch the election returns when
they — I might be one of the the lounge’s ceiling speakers be-
last sociologists. There won’t be gan to rumble.
any society study.”
left to
“Ready to get started?” rum- II
bled Progoff behind him. The
big mathematiciansported a tt'T'his your International
ia
button with the legend; I.C.M. Computing Machines sci-
is here to stay. Lerner seemed ence reporter with our special
to take heart when he saw it. Election Day news summary,
“Surely, Dr. Progoff. I’d like Science in the News! Stand by
to speak with you for a moment . .Flash! N.A.S.A. scientists
.

or two first, however.” The two announce the Jove 67, the sixty-
of them went into Progoff’s of- seventh attempt to put a robot
fice. probe around the planet Jupiter,
“Mike?” said Randall, look- is completely successful. The
ing up from his flow charts and machine is circling the giant
systems manuals. “Come on, planet in an almost perfect or-
let’s take a break. I could use bit. Werner and his rocket team
it.” are jubilant. Unfortunately, the
“All right,” said the shaggy Jove 67’s telemetry system fail-
young man. He was feeling ed at power track, so we are re-
odd; he wanted his routine, his ceiving no data at all. But, as
console and card decks; Barbara Werner has pointed out, the in-
kept mixing into his thoughts. struments are going round and
Professional life should be an al- round perfectly! N.A.S.A. will
gorithmn. ask six billion dollars for twenty
The two young men went to more probes for Project Jove . . .

the Programmer’s Lounge for Congratulations are in order for

coffee. Zirkle liked Randall, a the two hundred Eastinghouse
skinny intense young man whose Science Talent Hunt Winners!
only vice was getting his friends The Bronx High School of Sci-
free gifts from the Book-of-the- ence has the most winners, as
Month, Record-of-the-Month, usual, including the first five;
Fruit-of-the-Month Clubs, etc., Ephraim Goldstein, Dennis Stein-
by using his professional knowl- ross, David Einsteinmann,
edge to alter their I.C.M. busi- Keither Auerstein, and Steiner
ness reply cards. Steinstein! Steiner Steinstein,
Randall was just asking Zirkle the number one man, has won a
to his friend’s apartment to five-year Accelerated Ph.D.

LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ 69

Scholarship to Cal Tech. Stein- why young people are reluctant
er’s winning entry was a study to work towards progress, free-
of the sex life of pigeons. dom and happiness by doing
“Grinning, the pimply, four- what I say as I.C.M. workers
eyed adolescent’s acknowledg- — said corporate executive Al-
’

ment was, ‘To Satan with Play- len Rosenberg. ‘Programming as

mates! Give me pigeons every the ideal occupation for modem
time!’ . . . Tragedy in an Emo- man!’ . . .

tionally Disturbed Area! Tragedy “Success Story! N.A.S.A. sci-

struck this week at the I.C.M.’s entists have just finished their
‘Cavalcade of Wisdom’, a travel- Progress Report to Congress on
ing exhibit touring America’s their Project Lucifer. The five
Emotionally Disturbed Areas. hundred million dollar Moon
According to the official report: Station, Project Lucifer, is the
The information booklets For- outgrowth of the 50 billion dol-

tran Fun and Your Exciting

is lar Project Cerberus, the tem-
Future as an I.CM. Program- porary moon station, which came
mer were distributed to the out of the five billion dollar Pro-
crowd. The Sing-a-Song-of-Sets ject Apollo moon landing. Justi-
and Binary Math Bonanza ex- fying Apollo, Cerberus and Luci-
hibitions were also deployed, fer, which do not seem to have

and an announcer exhorted the yielded much of practical value,

crowds to join I.C.M. He was N.A.S.A chief David Sarlin cried
answered with boos, cat-calls hotly. ‘You must believe in pure
and cries of ‘Give us real work!’ research —
all sorts of wonder-

‘Programming what? How to ful applications come from it in

blow us all up?’ and *Build your many different areas! Why, we
own Doomsday machines, Dr. might find a new cheap food
Strangelove!’ Several rocks were supply, or a way to help our
thrown at the exhibit. A fuscil- emotionally disturbed citizens.’

lade of rotten food and other Congressman Steadman

materials knocked down the an-
nouncer, whereupon the security
guards opened up on the dirty
non-incorporates with tear gas
and machine guns. Casualties
were heavy —
uh, ahem, I.C.M.
has decided to discontinue the
*Cavalcades of Wisdom’, at least
temporarily. ‘I can’t understand
asked
why the 500 billion should not
have been devoted to food re-
search or Disturbed Area Aid,
since this might result in great
advances for Dr. Sarlin’s vault-
ed space science. Dr. Sarlin did
not reply to this, but instead
asked for more money for Project
Coprofhile, an attempt to make

70 GALAXY
the moon habitable. ‘I don’t care a November noon, the streets
for the direction we’re taking,’ and park were filled with busi-
despaired Congressman Stead- ness people, students, and the
man .Automated president? A
. . inevitable unemployed. Some-
highly placed authority at Michi- times in the shiny corridors you
gan Multiversity revealed today forgot that New York City was
that — itselfone of the largest of the
E.D.A.s. Lerner’s introduction to
tt \ utomated president? Then the predictor program (to give
I.C.M. will really be here the debugger some common
to stay,” said Randall. “What’re sense) had noted there was pre-
you doing after lunch?” cious healthy, prosperous
little
“Huh? Working this after- ground the United States;
in
noon, Isuppose.” Zirkle was un- madness or poverty; Manhattan
easy, then recalled he had to or Appalachia; emotionally dis-
phone Barbara. turbed or economically depress-
Randall explained about the ed; the statistical chart looked
special election hours, and Zir- like a warped, engorged and
kle rejoiced; he’d spend the af- withered chessboard instead of a
ternoon with his girl. map; as if the logic of the plenty
“Voting?” machine had been sickened and
“No, I didn’t even register, I grown cancerous when applied
— maybe we’d better get back.” to men.
Their timing was good, a few He stood still, wondering what
minutes later Zirkle plunged in- to do, while the crowds surged
to thedebugging of Lemer’s around him. Their talk was no
prediction program. The actual comfort.
sequence was fairly short. Zirkle “I mean, the great thing about
couldn’t find any errors, though it is when you’re smoking you
he lengthened it slightly to save have this great feeling, like
some execution time. This was you’re really great, and when
the work he loved; to seize a you stop smoking doesn’t go
field of logical elements and pro- away. You still feel terrific
it
—
cesses; to order and pattern “So the guidance guy said; ‘I
them; then refine that pattern to kid you not I.C.M. is here to
the limits of logic and the ma- stay, a college degree is the least,
chine. He was a good program- and I’ll clue you in, there won’t
mer, but Barbara wasn’t home be any jobs for less than an
when he called. M.A., so you’d have to be really
Outside, in the pale warmth of crazy to ask for a leave of —
LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ 71
 “Sure, her and her roommate,
really emancipated women. If
she dares bring a boy in the
apartment the other one dams
the door, locks it, and gets on
the phone to her father. Same
thing the other way
— preen
(( VT othing to do so, we drove
^ around in his Cadillac and
asked these women for direc-
then grabbed their purses.
tions,
Feigenbaum wanted to beat this
little old lady to death with a
baseball bat, but I said — compete with steel and spacis-
“Listen, Louise, let’s face it,
we’re both seniors. It’s time to
stop going out with Negroes and
start going out with pre-dentis-
try majors.”
Maybe she went out for some-
thing, or to go to the john. Zir-
kle made his way through the
weary crowd across the Park.
“David, I don’t care, I want
to spend my whole life with you
and I know we can work hard
enough to have a healthy mar-
riage and bring up some healthy,
un-neurotic children.”
He tried to stay with the stu-
dents; they were twitchy but
cheerful. Nevertheless he found
it hard to avoid the others; busi-
ness people fearing for their jobs;
young men who’d never held any,
baffled behind beards and gui-
tars; worst of all those who could
not comprehend any other condi-
tion; the empty milling smiling
72
ones, many of them from minor-
ity groups,some of whom had
been on the dole for three gen-
erations.
At least here they had some-
thing to do; sing and laugh and
themselves on grass or
concrete; jeans and pullovers,
flannel shirts and short shorts; a
place to go, a system of behav-
ior, people to talk to. Only on
Lemer’s charts was this place
labeled “Failure Pool”, but how
many people could or cared to
tors? For this was The Great
New Fact of his world: most
people were superfluous.
Zirkle shrugged; Barbara was
enough concern. And yet the
problem held him. Down streets
thick with browsers and the
bored he sought faces touched
with courage or a private cheer,
but there was nothing, or per-
haps he’d grown unused to gaug-
ing other men; the machine
mages had little use for such
skills.
And Barbara wasn’t there. His
people success, his all-absorbing
triumph outside numbers, only
now he was beginning to see how
important; skirts, sweaters, jeans,
books and prints and Beatle X
records and that was all. The
room hovered silently around
him, suddenly smaller; the big
old drafting table they used for
studying, the couch that folded
GALAXY
out into a double bed, a bunch
of snapshots from this summer
taped to the wall.
He could go running about
now; the Co-Op, bookstore, li-
brary, three sorts of friends be-
coming one. But the relationship
was built on trust and self-trust;
pride and confidence shored it
up. To go racing around would
cancel it out, and besides, well,
she knew what was doing, if she
didn’t want any more of — but
he didn’t carry that through,
just left a note and was down
the stairs, out in the street where
people tumbled past, his feet at
random this Election Day, think-
ing about Kafka.

Ill

H e had read The Castle and

The Trial and remembered
them. He recalled the Land
Surveyor, K., in The Castle
hopelessly trying to reach the
Castle authorities, never even
really certain they existed. The
Trial'spoor hero was in an even
worse state; ignorant of the rea-
sons for his arrest; his captors
refusing to explain or name their
superiors, he spent the rest of
his life in court, fighting a charge
he never even knew. Kafka’s
world was a hideous, desolate,
incomprehensible place.
Yet Michael could see how
Kafka might mean a great deal
LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ
to some people; sometimes he
found himself baffled and en-
raged by organizations like N.Y.
M., or occasionally depressed by
his work to the point where it
all seemed meaningless. Aliena-
tion the feeling was called. Mod-
em life was too big and com-
plex; people couldn’t seem to
feel in touch with anything, they
had no place. With automation’s
plenty machines, even the goal,
duty and purpose of work was
gone. So people felt helpless,
small, and afraid. He wished he
could think about these things
another way, but the jargon of
sociology was all he knew; Bar-
bara and his courses required
nearly all his time. This was
perhaps his first walk outside
the campus this year.
On impulse, he stepped from
the sunlit street into a bar. Af-
ter his eyes had adjusted to the
dark narrow crowded room, he
began to casually study the oth-
er patrons. In a few minutes he
had them divided up.
The first sort might be ner-
vous, but they had energy and
vigor. They
stood up close to the
bar and talked or peered at the
overhead screen, or sat at tables
in the light. The others stood
alone or hung back in the gloom,
like the commoners of some
cupied land; sullen and sly,
waiting for their chance.
He supposed the split was be-
74
tween those with some goal or
and those
satisfactory existence,
on E.D.A. Relief or close to it
He turned his attention to the
screen.
“Let’sturn America into a
Fairyland!” a smiling young man
with long blond hair and pouting
lips cried, “Vote the Gay Tick-
et!
“Yes indeed, friends, we’re not
apologizing anymore. No indeed.
In fact, we sincerely believe ours
is not just an acceptable way of
life, but rather a desirable, noble,
and even preferable sort of exis-
tence. For one thing,” he chided,
“we’ve got the perfect solution
to the population explosion!”
A dim cheer, interspaced with
laughter and a few cat-calls,
went up in the bar.
“So remember, vote the Gay
Ticket, and life will be one long
camping trip. Elect our candi-
—
date he’s a homosex- JEWEL!”
Lemer’s introduction had men-
tioned the Homosexual Party. It
was to be expected. In a frag-
mented world where morality
had disappeared, where loyalties
were hard to come by and hard-
er to hold to, where work was
without purpose and impossible
to find anyway, people were
oc- desperate for any sort of mean-
ing. Even the schizophrenics,
desperate to belong, had their
own society with it’s clever
GALAXY
 ;

“Com’on Behind the Wall of He hunkered up his jacket

Glass.” and walked on into the wind.
He raised his Schiltz and swal- He was suddenly self-conscious
lowed it slowly. Somebody put about thinking about the Big
some money in the jukebox, and Problems for so long. Modern
the narrow old room shook to man; he philosophizes but
Beatle X’s “Girls Are Like doesn’t bother to vote.
Pianos —
Upright or Grand”. He knew when he began to
and set
Zirkle finished his drink think clever that he was running
itdown. The atmosphere of the out of brain. Where do you go
bar was thick, depressing. He from here? Most people were
went out into the afternoon. now really superfluous, useless
Ten blocks further north the really, some enormous
adrift in
monoliths towered all above him organization. The world was a
frozen explosions of brass and was a Trial, and why
Castle, life
steel and glass. Empty this af- can’t you get any further? Why
ternoon, hanging their dead tons can’t you think up something
above the street. Here were the Or-I-GIN-AL, stupid! He walk-
Administrations, the Channels, ed faster and faster.
the Records, The Home Offices
of automated America. Away o naturally they would get
and beyond the city were the S rid of the government. Franz
next step; the plenty machines, Kafka for President! Why not?
the behemoths — steel clean — The plenty machines satisfied
where people used to be. And people’s material needs, and so-
what were those people going to ciety was too fragmented, peo-
do now, those and these too, for ple too worldly wise to accept
paperpushing and cardpunching any ideas or enthusiasms. Con-
don’t really mean much. Let’s sider them now, the “goals” of
face it, friends, I.C.M. is most modem man:
definitely here to stay. —space exploration — but out-
And here wasa pebble in his side his science-fiction friends,
shoe, and he couldn’t fit it into he knew few enthusiasts. It was
an analogy in his train of another monolith, too big to like;
thought, it hurt a little so Mi- its heroes too well molded.

chael stood on one foot and let — impoverished nations real, —

it drop out, pygmied by the true, but their woes seemed too
giants’ whose sides bore the in- big and too old for single peo-
visible motto; I.C.M. is here to ple to enjoy abating. And that
stay. problem was finite, and you

LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ 75

must ask — is our way any hap- from his skill with the machines.
pier? To wonder making sure I.C.M.
if

— research
scientific an end-—
less frontier, perhaps, but why
bother after the ten thousandth
new element, the gigatillionith
law?
— improve our world so ev-
eryone lives forever, so people
have as many children as pos-
sible? Everyone can wander
around like this, wondering what
for?
He snapped back to the world
and ran pell-mell across
street to a Rexall to try to call
Barbara at the apartment.
answer. Her home out in Staten
Island. No answer. Her crazy
friend Sandra. No answer,
answer, no answer, and
pounded his fist softly against
the wooden wall of the phone
booth below the carved ex-
change:
Nietzschie: God is dead.
God: Nietzschie is dead.
You’re next!
Zirkle came out of the tele-
is here stay was enough
to
meaning was danger-
for a life
ous for someone with only that
for a purpose. Barbara had set
him free, or almost so. Proof:
— the impulse to call her.
She was so wonderful. He lov-
ed to spend his time with her.
And sex, yes, sex, sex, sex but
also it was to do things; girls
were really so nice, to kid around
or study across from her or eat
the lunch and then go up to sport
in their room. And she liked
No him, loved him. Oh, yes, Bar-
bara had set him free.
Oh, yeah, where was he? De-
no stroying the aspirations of his
he society. All was meaningless,
looked at in that funny harsh
way, scientific research was, by
order from The Castle, becoming
a programmer to qualify as a
Court Clerk in The Trial. I.C.M.
is here to stay, was a grunt, a
belch, as meaningful as their
old slogan Think. Think about
what? Are we better off since
I.C.M. is here to stay? So what?

phone booth slowly, bought a Sometimes, when he was a lit-

Milky Way, and started back
downtown. He tried to pick up
his thoughts once again but it
was difficult. He hadn’t thought
way before, and in a few
out this
moments realized why: Barbara.
Before her he’d gotten most of
his satisfaction and self-worth
tle kid, he thought the adults
were working on some sort of
grand project, some wonderous
task, which he would take a
part in when he grew up. Now
he was grown up, but there was
no project. So what to do now?
He walked over two blocks

76 GALAXY
 !

and down into the subway. Be- “Turn back to that,” said Ben-
hind him, the enormous build- net. The English major sat on
ings began to cast the enormous the arm of one of their big old
shadows over the avenues. The armchairs, swinging his leg back
wind grew colder and fiercer, and forth.
and raced up and down and “Fine,” said Michael. I.C.M.
around the giants. sponsored that show, and he
wanted a check on what he’d
IV been thinking about so much.
The television set roared:
andall’s room was a big loft "Good evening, ladies and gen-
an old warehouse. Zirkle
in tlemen, and welcome to Get
had aleardy met his roommates: That Degree! —
the television
Bennet, the quiet cheerful Eng- show that proves each week that
lish major; Oler, the crazy phy- every American without a col-
sics major who had to wait till lege degree is a —
the last term to learn he hated “A WORTHLESS, NO GOOD
physics, and now taught high- BUM!
school science to avoid the draft. “Yes, friends, Get That De-
But Oler was out this evening, gree! is brought to you by the
as was Barbara when he’d visit- International Computing Ma-
ed their apartment. chines Corporation, which also
The room was typically col- sponsors those other survey-top-
legiate, a big raw underheated ping (on our own surveys, that
dim dorm old wooden desks and
; is!), those other survey- topping
chairs, piles of clothing, piles of shows: This Will Be Your Life!
food, piles of books, piles of lab and This IS the You That Is!
equipment. Cots. An exotic li- “Worried about getting into
quor bottle collection. Chart of college, folks? You should be
the decomposition of a manifold. scared stiff! With the population
Swank’s “Flip Out Girl of the explosion, it is getting tougher
month.” Battered old T.V. that and tougher! Not enough teach-
Randall was tuning. ers, not enough classrooms, espe-
"Get That Degree!” said the cially at those highly rated pres-
device. tige schools! ! Remember that!
“Still too early for the re- Why, without a college degree,
turns,” said Randall, his voice without those four years and
muffled from where his slim that sheepskin, you won’t be
form was jack-knifed over the able to go to graduate or profes-
set. sional school! And without that,

LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ 77

 ”

you’re dead! No high paying job Scholarship to Cal Tech, a grad-

at a giant corporation! No pro- uate of the New York City
fessional status! Roaming the Bronx High School of Science,
streets like some kind of a bum! here he is folks —
Steiner Stein-
Without that college admission, stein!”
you might even be drafted, and The wizened, bespectacled
have some Commie blow your young man smiled insolently at
brains out! Obviously you’ve got the audience. “Nice of you to
to be admitted!” he paused, star- give me all this money,” he said

ing at his audience. coldly.

“Later on in the show, we’ll “Now let’s meet the stupid un-
tellyou how to make sure of that educated bum! Leaving school at
thick admissions letter. No guar- young man did noth-
twelve, this
antees, of course, but a respect- ing but bum
from town to
able probability. In case you town, odd jobs, have as
take
miss it, be sure to write us at many girl friends and as much
Princeton, New Jersey, our fam- fun as he could, and learn to
ous address. Don’t forget our play the guitar. Three months
famous motto when planning ago, he won nationwide acclaim
tomorrow. Remember, ‘I.C.M. is for his fantastic song hit; ‘Girls
here to stay!’ Are Like Pianos — Upright or
“And now, let’s Get That De- Grand!’ Here he is, folks —
gree! On
our show tonight are Beatle X!”
four famous people you’ve prob- The cameras swung to the
ably all heard about, or will hear singer, a rough-looking youngster
about soon. And here they all with his big guitar slung on his
are — back. He smiled.
“Finally, representing author-
nphe cameras dropped away ity and tradition, with us are
from the announcer, focusing two members of the faculty of
on the stage behind him. Two New York Multiversity. First,
young men and two older ones Dr. Progoff of N.Y.M.’s Com-
waited quietly. puting Facility. Dr. Progoff?”
“Let’s with our young
start Zirkle’s boss stared at the
people,” said the excited an- cameras. “I want to wish both
nouncer. “Here, tonight, repre- boys the best of luck, but I have
senting higher education, is the special feelings for young Steiner
first prize winner in the Easting- Steinstein. America needs people
house Science Talent Hunt — like you, Steiner. The masses of
winning an Accelerated Ph.D. our population need skilled.

78 GALAXY
university-trained leaders like me explain that Get That De-
you.” Progoff paused. “The gree! is the finest in modern sci-

more science, the better, of entific entertainment, utilizing

course —
I.C.M. is here to stay,
ha-ha- so life gets so complicat-
ed we’ve got to have experts,
guys like you to boss the bums
— uh, ungifted 85% around.
hat’s off to you, Steiner Stein-
stein 1”
“Next,” cried the announcer,
“Lawrence Lemer,
Professor of Sociology at N.Y.M.
Dr. Lerner was one member of
the committee that proposed the
electronic genius and middle-
class morality to discover the
wonderful personal potentials of
our young folks. Yes, it’s the
My enormous capacities of your
youth for spontaniety, individu-
ality, creativity and originality
that interest us here at I.C.M.”
Assistant His voice became a monotone.
“Therefore, the two contestants
have spent the last three weeks
out ten thousand multiple-
filling

‘alienated vote’, and an expert choice and short- answer ques-

on our nation’s unfortunate tions, blacking in those little
Emotionally Disturbed Areas. I.C.M. spaces on a dozen tests —
Dr. Lerner?” personality, aptitude, achieve-
The cameras swung to Lerner’s ment, creativity, sociability —
strained features. He spoke slow- everything! The results were fed
ly- into one of our I.C.M. aleph-
“I’d rather not speak, if you’ll sub-ninties,and now, tonight, the
excuse me. It’s been a pleasure game will be resolved. Okay, pro-
to be here on your program but grammers, let’s see the results!
I’ve been involved in the elec- Steiner Steinstein first!”
tion; in fact I’ve a prediction A low hum mounted in pitch
program running down at the and rhythm, lights flashed on a
school, and I’m really exhaust- giant mock computer, a siren
ed.” screamed. Finally the music
“We all understand,” said the ceased, and the two
behind
announcer slowly. Then he young men a tremendous crystal
paused dramatically. panel glowed into life. The ca-
“Okay, now let’s all play Get meras closed on it. It read:
That DegreeP'
I.C.M. Profile ;

T he cameras panned in on the

announcer’s sweating, wild- This
Steiner Steinstein
brilliant
brilliant future
young man has a
ahead in Mod-
eyed face. “For those of you
ern Science. You will make
who’ve never seen our show, let many brilliant discoveries

LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ 79

 Steiner. Perhaps you will even might consider a career in the
improve me. Because you are U. S. Army, sometimes called
brilliant and make brilliant “the stupid man’s l.C.M.”. Or
discoveries, you will be happy. perhaps you are unsuited to an
You will meet and marry a bril- automated culture, and should
liant girl, and you will have move to another. Unfortunate-
many brilliant children. Love ly, there are no others.
and a brilliant life will be
yours. Everyone will love you, “Isn’t that terrific, folks,” the
you brilliant scientist you. It’s announcer cried out. “The l.C.M.
been a brilliant pleasure to computer has compared these
have you as a card deck, run- two very different, unique young
ning rough through my insides.
men, and discovered the winner
1 like your brilliant record, son.
and the loser. And the winner
“Isn’t that terrific folks! Isn’t is— Mr., but not for long,
he brilliant! Steiner Steinstein!”
“Now let’s see how our bum
made out. Programmers, let’s 'T~, here was an enormous burst
have the profile on our other and the orches-
of applause,
contestant, Beatle X!” tra played two full choruses of
“My Son, the Scientist”. Steiner
l.C.M. Profile: Beatle X (?) bowed modestly in the flame of
I don’t understand what this is the spotlight.
about. Is this a person? Oh, “Congratulations, Steiner! And
well, things look black for this for your prize, l.C.M. is happy
youngster. Though he’s had a
to award you a thousand-year
brief, ephemeral success, I see
post-doctoral fellowship at the
failure and disaster and doom
Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
ahead. His I. Q. is less than
140. He can’t program a com-
nology.
puter or do research. Bad, bad, “But what about our bum, our
bad. All he cares about is mak- loser, Beatle X? Yes, folks, what
ing money and having fun. He about the old Beatle?”
will probably never have any A purple spot turned the big
friends. He will always be de- shaggy youth’s face into a death
pressed. Gloom and doom. He mask, his guitar into a monster’s
can’t differential
solve equa-
hump. He stood, shoulders
him. He will die a
tions. I pity
slumped, in the somber cone of
long and painful death.
light, his baffled face staring at
Notice: l.C.M. results only
have a respectable probability the announcer.
and are not to be taken as the Suddenly, the spot turned
Word of God. Low scorers blinding white, as if it had be-

80 GALAXY
 ” ” ”

come a laser beamed to bum the and tired, help me, do what they
low-scorer out of existence, like say —
a moth in a torch. Another voice, gruff and bit-
“No folks, I.C.M. hasn’t for- ter. “This is your old family
gotten young X. For young Bea- doctor, Dr. McCaulley. You lis-
tle X still has a chance to Get ten to I.C.M., they have the
That Degree, even as you folks money and the power. Go to
in the audience.And he will get college, you need that degree,
it,our mass society needs train- you can’t get a job and the world
ed tools and machines. So he’ll doesn’t care, you’ll drop dead
do it, folks. He’d damn well bet- or go crazy like that, nothing
ter!’’ the announcer finished in matters —
a scream, his eyes bulging out. “This is your brother’s friend
He paused. Harold, Beatle. You remember
“Well, now,” the man said me, don’t you. I — I went crazy,
cheerily, “before the Beatle tells there wasn’t any work if you
us his decision, let’s have a few weren’t a professor, all we could
words from his friends and rela- do was hang around and get gov-
tives. Tell us, old folks, should ernment money and I wasn’t
young Beatle X Get That De- worth anything, it just didn’t
gree?” seem to matter to anybody or
The lights dimmed down me either, nothing to do and sad
again. On
phosphorescent a all the time, might as well but —
screen appeared an anonymous I.C.M. helped me, Preg, really
city of enormous size. The cam- they did, a hundred thousand
eras flung themselves at it, on endocrine treatments and I’m
closing in on a great weary all right now, I’m fine and you
apartment tower, filmed a little don’t want to go crazy, it’s no
with smog and filth. fun and bad, do what they say,
“This is your mother, Beatle,” save yourself before —
a thin voice quavered. “Please “Look at him, folks!” the
listen to me, dear. Go to their Master of Ceremonies chortled.
college if you possibly can. “I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t
Please, do me! You made
it for go for a Ph.D.!” And indeed the
money, but who knows what will young singer was shaking, one
happen, who can tell? The only shoulder twitching constantly as
way to be safe is to obey and if to let fall some terrible bur-

stay with the big corporations, den. His guitar had dropped from
they’re too big to hurt you — I his limp hand and rested at his
wasn’t, I can’t, I’m old and weak feet.

LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ 81


ennet,shaking with another
B emotion, strode to the tele-
vision set and switched channels.
More charts, counting boards,
and calm-faced men, one of
whom murmured; “The slowest
election in thirty years, only two
per cent of the returns in, but
our computer says it looks like
ft
Randall had grunted when
Bennet had switched stations,
but now he refocused his atten-
tion on the screen. The English
major and Zirkle exchanged a
slow look, but said nothing. Zir-
kle slumped wearily in his chair.
Another part of the same pic-
ture, Michael told himself. When
things get big they get compli-
cated, so you’ve got to have an
elite of experts (like himself),
with high, moral and good moti-
vation. Also, the program crude-
ly tried to counter the violent
anti-intellectualism of the alien-
ated, or at least blunt it. But as
the pressure gets higher, the sell
gets cruder, of course.
He glanced across at Bennet,
who was still smiling oddly.
“What’s so funny?” asked Zirkle
lightly.
“Nothing much. That pro-
gram, in a way. They talk about
the “Kafka Ballot.” Well, Get
That Degree is a Kafka joke.
They ought to call it Laugh
Along with Franz.”
Zirkle stared across at the oth-
82
”
er young man, but Bennet re-
turned his gaze evenly and kept
on smiling. He’d heard a lot of
odd notions, but Kafka as a
comedian? The writer of The
Castle and The Trial and “Met-
amorphasis”? Oh, well, the City
was an Emotionally Disturbed
Area, and college students, Eng-
lish majors especially . . .
“Listen, I want to get some
air,” said Bennet, getting up.
Zirkle nodded and followed him
downstairs.
Outside the street was wide
and empty, cold and clean and
bright under the lamps this
November night. The moon lay
full halfway up the sky, dull
orange. There was no wind, but
Zirkle buttoned his jacket and
both young men walked quickly,
Bennet working harder to keep
up with the husky, nerve-taunt-
ed math major. Zirkle kept his
hand in his knife pocket, for
New York City had become
quite dangerous after dark. Some
of his physics friends had built
themselves laser guns in the
labs.
“What did you mean about
that program being a big Kafka
joke?” Michael asked Bennet
truculently.
Bennet was silent for a mo-
ment. “You haven’t taken much
lit, have you? It’d take a while
to explain
—
“No,” said Zirkle, a little tight-
GALAXY
ly. “My major takes 42 points “Okay, so now I want you to
all by itself, and I’ve got a job forget science for a few minutes.
and my girl —
you met Barbara, Just get away from that point of
didn’t you?” He hesitated, ready view and take a look around
to plung off down a street to- you!”
ward home. But five minutes “Come on!”
more? What had Bennet meant? Bennett looked at him sincere-
“But anyhow I did read the two ly. “To a philosopher, science as
important books. Bleak, oppres- a way of looking at things, the
sive —
how can you call Kafka I.C.M. approach, is really pretty
funny?” limited. Consider some of the
basic questions. Nobody knows
ttT see,” said Bennet “You why he’s here on earth. No-
A didn’t read Amerika, did body knows why people are
you? Ummm, and in a survey here, or if they’re behaving in

course they try to simplify ev- the ‘right’ way. Nobody knows,
And after all, Kafka except in a very vague way,
erything.
really did have a lot to say about what’ll happen in the future —
the condition of alienation.” say a minute from now. You
“So?” don’t know what God is, or what

LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ 83

he wants, or why the universe physicists, those that automa-
is here.” tion unemploys feeling worthless,
“That’s philosophy — the ‘unintellectually gifted’ get-
“Sure it is. And I think I’ve ting frustrated. Peoplewho have
seen you with your girl enough chosen lives without pleasure or
know you
care at least a satisfaction — alienated people.”
to
tle about such questions
— lit-

“Well . . Zirkle’s tone was Ct/^vkay, take it easy on the

wary and weary in the street. '^'lecture,” Zirkle told the
He tried to see what was coming otheryoung man, although he
in Bennet’s eyes, but that game was becoming excited. Bennet
was useless, as he’d learned a didn’t explain everything, but
dozen years before. what he said made sense, more
“Well, what? What about sense than —
those questions and everyone— “Now what Kafka did as a
knows about them, and thinks writer was to play games with
about them, don’t kid yourself, those terrible fundamental ques-
smart guy. tions I was talking about what —
“Well,” Bennet continued sar- is life? Who is God?, and so on.

castically, then went on in a The terrible guilt we all some-

normal tone of voice, “Well, times feel and can’t explain is
most people today say so — like the accused’s crime in The
what. I get along all right, eat, Trial. The Land Surveyor in
drink, make —
love that’s enough The who can never reach
Castle
for me. I’ll leave stuff like that his superiors or find out what
alone. they want — well,if you’ve ever

“Scientists, engineers, the guys worked in a large organization

»
at I.C.M., have a few small an-
swers to the important questions, “Still, I don’t think he’s so
so naturally they think they funny —
have ’em all. And one way or “That’s because you’re think-
another, they’ve fitted the mod- ing as the Land Surveyor, not
em world around those answers. as the author. Kafka jokes by
“In the last few years, lots of fantastic exaggeration, like The
people haven’t been satisfied Trial that goes on for a man’s
with the first answer. They’ve whole life.”

tried to take up the second, but “Still I don’t see

—
for most of ’em, the ‘scientific “Did you ever read his “In-
world’ is unbearable students — vestigations of a Dog?” It’s all
going nuts trying to become about this dog philosopher, try-

84 GALAXY
ing to solve the Greatest Prob-
lem of Canine Philosophy: Will
the food still come down if
don’t keep watering the earth?
Only whenever he thinks he’s be-
ginning to get anywhere on the
solution, this other dog from
across the street comes to visit
him and gets him so excited he
can’t think afterwards about the
great problem for hours.
“You see, the dog hasn’t a
chance of solving the problem,
it’s an impossible problem, be-
cause the dog hasn’t the smallest
notion of what his real relation-
ship to his superiors (man and
the Universe) really is. Kafka’s
laughing at us, smiling at our
notions of what are the big prob-
lems, what God isand what he
wants, what are and aren’t dis-
tractions. It’s the cast of ‘Laugh
Along with Franz’. Like
silly show we just watched as
if a millionmore Steiner Stein-
steins could help each of us with
the problems of our lives.”
“Okay,” said Michael. “Sure,
sure, now I see, everyone so
grimly certain they have the
answer —
” He slackened the
pace a little. The streets were
deserted, the moon and stars
making them dimly luminous.
Across the dark nation, in a hun-
dred thousand voting booths,
Franz was roaring. “And the
Kafka ballot —
you think that’s
another joke? If no one has faith
LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ
in the government and every-
one’s depressed
—
dogs “I really don’t know,” the
English major confessed. “In a
way, to me, it is. But I don’t
know, I don’t want to apply my
philosophy that far. That prob-
lem is too big and strange and
real.”
Michael looked across at him,
but the other boy stayed silent.
resently they came around a
P corner and were back at the
apartment. Neither one cared to
speak anymore. They climbed
the stairs wearily. Zirkle stopped
just inside the door and said
good-by to the others.
“Hey, Michael, remember Ler-
ner’s program, the one you were
debugging this, morning?” ask-
ed Randall, his lean face peak-
that ing out from behind a massive
— old armchair. “Well, if I’m right,
they got the results back from
the multiversity and put them
on about twenty minutes ago.”
He gestured at the screen. “With
five per cent of the vote in, the
computers said the alienated
vote would be a plurality.”
“Well, I guess it’s still too
early to really tell,” said Zirkle
dully, knowing he lied. “I guess
I’ll be seeing you in class to-
morrow, Toby.”
“Right-o.”
“Nice talking to you, Ben-
net,” Zirkle said.
89
 “Anytime, Zirkle. Be
you.”
“Sure. G’by.”
Michael was out in the street
before he realized he should
have called ahead. He shrugged
and went on eagerly through
streets somehow wearier than
himself.He’d thought too much,
he could feel himself needing
Barbara, all the rest seemed
foolishness.
And what had came of it, any-
how? Beside the monoliths up-
town, and again watching Get
That Degree, he’d felt a pow-
erful impulse to switch his ma-
away from the machines
jor, get
perhaps even quit, school. But
he’d have to think of some real
alternates before he’d do any-
thing.
And all this new swim of ideas.
Maybe in stories people made
sudden definite took
decisions,
violent action. Not him. Oddly,
in the dynamic modem world,
with the greatest freedom of ac-
tion in history, everyone in ev-
eryway, became cautious, de-
muring, passive.
But what would happen when
Franz was elected.
Stupid! he told himself
Franz Kafka was running. The
president would be the real can-
didate with the greatest number
of votes. The alienated
wouldn’t be getting anything,
wouldn’t be saying anything.
86
seeing Or would they? Yes, he could
see it, Bennet had been too cau-
tious. The alienated voters were
casting the strongest ballot of all.
They were laughing along with
Franz.
'Tphe scientists, the government,
including both parties, the
big corporations and big univer-
sities. There was little choice
among them, for a vote or for a
life. Together, they’d created
automation and the Economical-
ly Depressed Areas, Get That
Degree! and the Emotionally
Disturbed Areas. Democrat or
Republican. I.C.M. or California
Multiversity, the differences
were only superficial.
Those who’d voted for Kafka
had taken a real stand, showed
their dissatisfaction with the
whole mess. The politicians
wouldn’t make long speeches
about apathy to the electorate;
instead, they’d have to defend
themselves to the millions who
were angry and frustrated and
said it.
More than that, they’d assert-
ed that they had personal prob-
lems of their own, concerns that
. . . were important to them alone
and to which the great social
structures were irrelevant.
The Kafka Ballot was no solu-
voters tion. But perhaps it was the first
step in a new approach. Automa-
tion and the Cold War, space
GALAXY
flight and over-population — of annoyance at him had set in,
modern problems were too big, but he didn’t let it come out
they could do little now but ter- that way. He embraced her pow-
rify and frustrate. The alienated erfully (a lot of that was need-
vote could give people a chance ed), and teased her anger into
to say how they felt; to relax, ardour, so her fury was exhaust-
to ‘laugh with Franz.” ed in amourous combat.
Zirkle thought of Judo. Some- Afterwards, staring up at the
times you won by relaxing. ceiling with Barbara slumbering
That was what the Kafka Bal- warmly beside him, Michael
lot was. A request for freedom, thought of what the machines
to let each person find his own had done. Perhaps the devices
answers in his own way. had not really made a mistake
Not that he had any, at least at all, but perhaps in some dark
not yet. aspect were aware . . .

But at least he had a clearer His fatigue explained such

eye. So he knew how important foolishness.
it was that Barbara should be “Kizme,” mumbled Barbara
waiting for him, and she was. in the darkness, and he did.
For nearly a minute after he Hovering on the threshold of
came in he simply watched her sleep, his arm around her, Mi-
in silent pleasure, smiling hap- chael wondered, as he would al-
pily. ways wonder, what it really was
In those seconds she tried to all about, what he really was
him about the letter that had
tell here for, and finally, what would
come for him at ten, how the happen tomorrow and after that.
machines had made a mistake He awoke before his girl the
about him, not recorded his reg- next day, to silence and gray-
istration, he had effec-
so that ness.
tively vanished from the school: His eyes touched his library
they’d cancelled his I.D., bursar of manuals and texts and tapes,
receipt, and class admission tick- and he hovered on depression.
ets, taken back his scholarship But then he looked at Barbara,
awards, and sent him a Draft and realized with a happy start
notice. And she’d been excited how nice it was to wake up next
and been running round for him to her.
all day, trying to get someone A while later, he was not
little
in authority to admit that he too unsettled to learn that Franz
existed. Kafka had been elected Presi-
She was tired and a reaction dent —NORMAN
KAGAN
LAUGH ALONG WITH FRANZ 87
for
your
information

BY WILLY LEY
THE HEALTHFULL
AROMATICK HERBE

M y mail consists not only of

letters, bills, announcements
and ads, it also offers a fair share
of news releases of all kinds. One
of these was a summary of statis-
tics on the connection of smoking
with lung cancer, nice statistics
that did not mention exhaust
fumes from motor vehicles even
once. Some tentative opinions,

88
both medical and legal, were ap- eral hundred years old has some
pended, requiring careful reading; horrible medical consequences yet
so careful in fact that I let my unknown — discoverer may
their
cigar go out while wading just be waiting for computer
through them. After re-lighting it time — but the meantime
in I

I sat back and remembered. learn things and write historical

The first World War lasted essays from time to time. And
from 1914-1918 —
which in terms one such essay, that has been in
of my own life spanned the ages the back of my mind for quite
from eight to twelve. Of course some time, happens to be about
I did not yet smoke myself then, tobacco.
but I remember the complaint’s There are four useful plants
of the adults, mainly those of my of American origin that have con-
own grandfather and his friends quered the world. They are the
and neighbors. These complaints potato, maize (or Indian com),
did not deal with the fact that the tomato (once suspected of
their sons and nephews and being poisonous, but what would
younger brothers were in the the Italians be doing without it?)
frontlines; that was a fate one and finally the “healthful aromat-
had to accept. The complaints ick herbe” tobacco. There are
were about the butter ration (one some countries, mainly around
ounce per adult per week) and the Mediterranean, where the
the impossibly bad quality of the potato plays a minor role. There
cigars and cigarettes —
if they are others, like northern Europe,
were available at all. One neigh- where maize is considered fine
bor of the do-it-yourself type an- poultry feed. Some countries,
nounced that mixing one third of mainly in Asia, do without
still

tobacco with one third of dried tomatos. But there is no country

willow leaves and one third of on this planet which has refused
walnut leaves produced a smok- tobacco. No other plant, or pro-
able mixture. Of course I now duct, has ever conquered the
know how lucky they all were world so quickly.
since animal fats like butter con- Of course there are several spe-
tribute to heart attacks and as cies of the tobacco plant. The
for smoking —
but you know one that produces nearly all the
that story. smoking tobacco for the western
world, bearing the botanical name
ne of my habits is that I am
O fond of old books and I now
Nicotiana tabacum, originally
grew in South America, Mexico
suspect that handling paper sev- and the West Indies. The North

FOR YOUR INFORMATION 89

American species is Nicotiana not only preserve the body, but
rustica which is not cultivated in if there are obstructions it breaks

North America any more, but in them up. By this means the na-
the Soviet Union and Asia minor. tives keep in excellent health,
It produces the kind of tobacco without any of the grievous di-
the Russians call makhorka. The seases which often inflict us in
best looking flowers are those of England.”
Nicotiana sylvestris, so this spe-
cies is cultivated for ornamental ncidentally, it is said that it

purposes. I was Thomas Hariot who

Contrary what you may
to taught Walter Raleigh to
Sir
have read somewhere there is no smoke, at any event Hariot
native species of Nicotiana in Af- smoked at an earlier date than
rica or anywhere else in the Raleigh. One wonders what hap-
world with a single exception: pened to them the first time
Nicotiana suaveolens and its rel- they tried. We have a classical
atives of North Australia. description of the results of a
When the Europeans came to first encounter with tobacco
the western hemisphere they smoke from the pen of the fa-
found the natives smoking. Few mous Swiss physician Conrad
of them, if any, were sufficiently Gesner of Zurich. Gesner, official
learned to know that inhaling the city physician, was then working
smoke of certain herbs was an on a book on plants, with special
old invention and that it just so attention to their medicinal val-
happened that it was not done ue. He wrote innumerable letters
in Europe at the time. To them to other learned men, asking for
smoking was something marvel- specimens and pictures of plants
ous that they had never seen or that did not grow in and near
even heard about. Of course they Zurich. One of his correspon-
tried it. dents, Occo by name, sent him a
The Spaniards that had gone tobacco leaf and while Gesner
to Cuba and Mexico tried the did not live to finish his book on
native cigars, consisting of to- plants, the report on his experi-
bacco leaves wrapped in a dry ments that he sent to Occo has
palm leaf. The English that had been preserved. The letter was
gone to Roanoke Island tried the written in 1563, the original lan-
pipe and one of them, the math- guage is Latin. In translation,
ematician Thomas Hariot (he re- the pertinent portion reads:
turned with Sir Francis Drake)
later wrote that “the fumes . . . The leaf which Funke receiv-

90 GALAXY
 ed from you has been sent to he seems to have been very much
me, I assume you got it from intrigued by it, both as a person
France. Since you did not give and as a physician.
its name and did not describe
Before going on with the his-
its effects original used
(the
tory of tobacco in Europe I have
the word I decided
“virtues”)
to add a few words about smok-
to test myself by chewing but
it

without swallowing the juice. ing before the discovery of Amer-

Even a small portion of the ica. The first and oldest witness
large leaf had such an effect is the Father of History, Hero-
that I was like drunk and stag- dotus, who reported that the Scy-
gered as if I triedto walk on thians carried red-hot stones into
deck of a ship that travelled a tent, sprinkled hemp seed over
rapidly down river. A second the glowing stones and enjoyed
and third try had the same re-
sult. Ithen recalled having read
inhaling the smoke. Roman le-

that an American herb is re-

ported to have a similar effect
but that the natives use it every
day for fumigation. I crumbled
a portion of the leaf and drop-
ped it onto glowing charcoal
and pulled the smoke into my
mouth by using a funnel. I felt
nothing unpleasant except a
sharp taste. The following day
I inhaled a large quantity of the
smoke and felt some
though than after chewing
less
the leaf. The
plant has a won-
derful power of producing a
kind of peaceful drunkenness
... I feel certain
the same plant which the French
have named Nicotiana after
theirambassador Nicot. If you
have a few more leaves please
send me some more so that I
can complete my investigation.
As far as is known Gesner
not receive additional leaves, but
he mentioned the effects of to-
bacco smoke several times later,
gionnaires became acquainted
with the smoking of hemp leaves
(hashish, marihuana) repeatedly
in history. Still another kind of
smoking is mentioned in a poem
of Spanish origin, dated 1276,
which states: “they say that lav-
ender has the virtue of dispelling
sleep and of giving strength to
those who inhale its smoke.” 1
vertigo,
VTo one man, of any specific
' nationality, introduced to-
bacco in Europe. Spaniards, Por-
tuguese, Frenchmen and English-
that it is men were all engaged in the New
World. All of them encountered
most of them started to
tobacco,
smoke and any number of un-
1) One of the German Herbals of the
sixteenth century menUons a use of
lavender that sounds more reason-
did able to us: "Take a vase of clay and
ut Into It layers of the blossoms of
£avendula and the leaves of Centl-
folia. Put Allspice among the leaves
and a little salt. In winter place the
vase on top of a hot stove and a
pleasant smell will pervade the room."

FOR YOUR INFORMATION 91

known sailors must have taken
seeds home. The historical prob-
lem is also complicated by two
facts of Nature. One is that to-
bacco seeds are small, an empty
inkhom used as a container
would hold enough seeds to seed
acres of it. The second is that the
plant itself is pretty, nobody
would plant tomato plants for
decoration, but tobacco plants
were and still are so used. When
Edmund Howes wrote in his
“Generali Chronicle of England”,
published in 1631, that: “Tobac-
co was first brought and made
known in England by Sir Iohn
Hawkins, about the yeare 1565,
but not used by Englishmen in
many yeeres after .” he just. .

summarized local tradition and One of the earliest published pictures of the
tobacco plant; from Monardes' Newts of the
that tradition was probably cor-
Now-found World e, printed in London in
rect. 1596.
The testimony of a Spanish
physician, Dr. Monardes of Se- ation. Now we use it to a greater
villa, printed in 1571 emphasizes extent for the sake of its virtues
this point too. “This herb com- than for its beauty . .
.” Since
monly called Tabaco is a very the came “quietly” and
plant
ancient herb known among the often, nobody troubled noting
Indians, chiefly those of New down dates, Dr. Monardes “a few
Spain. After taking possession of years ago” can mean six years or
these countries our Spaniards, be- twelve or even twenty. It hap-
ing instructed by the Indians, pens to be known that tobacco
availed themselves of this herb was grown in Portugal in 1558
. .A few years ago it was
. and from Portugal it came to
brought over to Spain, to adorn France.
gardens so that with its beauty it But the introduction into
would afford a pleasing sight, France came with a flourish and
rather than that its marvelous two people fought for the honor
virtues were taken into consider- of having introduced it. It is

92 GALAXY
mainly because of the fact that the prison garden, another that it
one man cried out in print “I did was cultivated in the Royal Gar-
it first” that we know
the details. den of Lisbon —
it probably grew
He was Andre Thevet, born at in both places.
Angouleme in 1502. He joined Nicot heard about its medicin-
the Franciscan order and accom- al value, started experimenting,
panied a French expedition to and after effecting some cures in
South America as ship’s chaplain Lisbon he dispatched leaves,
in 1555. He spent a total of seeds and instructions for use t»
three months at what is now Rio the king of France, Francois I,
de Janeiro, joined in a short ex- and the queen-mother Catherine
pedition to La Plata and then re- de Medici. The instructions were
turned to France where he wrote to use it as snuff. Francois I suf-
a book, published in 1557. Its fered from recurrent headache*
title was Les Singularitez de la and was “marvellously cured” by
France antarctique, autrement the use of snuff (sinus trouble?).
nommee Amerique, using the Catherine did not mind that to-
word “antarctic” quite loosely to bacco was referred to as herbe de
mean “south of the equator”. It la Reine, the queen’s herb, and
may be this book that Gesner tobacco culture in France started
had read. Thevet not only de- in 1560. In 1561 Nicot returned
scribed the cigars of the South to France and by 1570 botanists
American Indians, he also said referred to tobacco as Nicotiane.
that he had tried it himself and Frater Andre Thevet exploded
mentioned (from hearsay) that with indignation and wrote an-
tobacco was smoked in pipes in other book, published in 1575,
Canada. But he did not say (in claiming that he had brought to-
his book) that he brought sam- bacco seeds with him on his re-
ples of the leaves, or seeds, back turn from Brazil in 1556, that he
with him. had raised the plants and named
them herbe Angoulmoisine, a
'T'he other side of the story name derived from the name of
deals with Monsieur Jean his birthplace. And he com-
Nicot, bom in 1530 as the son of plained bitterly that “somebody
a notary public and sent to Paris who has not even made a voy-
for his education. Jean Nicot did age” attached his name to the
well in public life; in 1559 he was plant.
sent to Portugalas the French Well, it is perfectly clear what
ambassador. One version has it Nicot did, it is also certain that
that he saw the plant growing in Thevet was the first Frenchman
FOR YOUR INFORMATION 93
to write about tobacco. But most herbe called ‘Tabaco”, by an
French historians do not believe instrument formed like a little
his later claim that he raised it ladell, whereby it passeth from

in France. They are probably
justified, for the existence of the
plant on French
become known quickly,
among physicians.
the mouth into the hed and
stomach, is gretlie taken-up and
used in England, against Rew-
soil would have mes and some other diseases
at least
ingendred in the longes and
inward partes, and not without
effect The herbe is comonly
. . .

A s regards England Sir John of the height of a man, garnish-

Hawkins probably was the ed with great long leaves like
first to bring in seeds, at least the the paciens, bering seede the . . .

herbe it self yerely coming up

date fits in with the existence of
also of the shaking of the
places where Nicotiana rustica
seede. The colour of the floure
was grown soon after. The super- is carnation, resembling that of
ior Centraland South American lemmon in forme: the roote
Nicotiana tabacum came some- yellow, with many fiilettes, and
what later. Its first description, therto very small in comparison,
in England, that is, can be found if you respect the substauns of

in a work never printed. Its the herbe.

author was William Harrison who
died in 1593, the manuscript is This an eye-witness descrip-
is

preserved in the Diocesan Li- tabacum which

tion of Nicotiana
brary at Derry, Ireland. I am could come from the
not have
quoting the following passages Roanoke colony. Of course by
after Dr. Berthold Laufer who then it was grown in Portugal.
was curator of anthropology at Spain and France so that the
the Field Museum in Chicago, seeds that were planted in Eng-
now the Chicago Museum of land might not have cross the
Natural History. It is not known Atlantic.
to me whether Dr. Laufer made The early history of tobacco in
these excerpts himself or whether England is even more dramatic

excerpts from William Harrison’s than in France. In France it was

“English Chronology” have been merely a question of one man
published somewhere. At any claiming a priority he could not
event this is what Harrison wrote prove. In England the king him-
down under the heading 1573: self, James I, reached for the
goosequill to write A Counter-
In these daies the taking-in blaste to Tobacco, published in
of the smoke of the Indian 1604. 2

94 GALAXY
 this Savage custome. But the
pitieis, the poore wilde barbar-

ous men died, but that vile

barbarous custome is yet alive,
yea in fresh vigor . . .

James I, being king, could do

more than publish an energetic
condemnation. He could raise the
import tax and did. Under
Queen Elizabeth the import tax
had been two pence per pound,
James raised to 6 shillings and
10 pence, a mere 4000 per cent
increase. This nearly ruined the
Virginia colony that depended on
tobacco. Bermuda which tried to
live on tobacco growing, also
fared poorly. King James finally
solved his problem in a not un-
"The ApUh Art of Tatting", an illustration

from on early anti-tobacco pamphlet. Jant

usual manner, by creating a
fo make clear what the author felt, the monopoly. No tobacco imports
included the figure of an ape.
artist
were allowed, except from Vir-
ginia, and nobody was permitted
to sell tobacco, except those per-
Now to the corrupted base-
nesse of the first use of this sons who held a special royal
Tobacco, doeth very well agree warrant created for this purpose.
the foolish and groundlesse first The warrant could be obtained
entry thereof into this King- for a fee of 15 pounds and it
dome. It is not so long since the had to be renewed every year
first entry of this abuse amongst by payment of a like amount.
us here ... It was neither
brought in by King, great Con-
A fter the raising of the import
querour, nor learned Doctor of
Phisicke. With the report of a tax, which happened in 1604,
great discovery for a Conquest, and before the creation of the
some two or three Savage men, monopoly precisely twenty years
were brought in, together with later, tobacco was quite expen-
sive in London. It was sold by
1) The complete text can be found In
placing a silver coin on one scale
most large libraries under the title
English Reprints, compiled by Ed- and putting loose tobacco on the
ward Arber, London 1869.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION 95

 other until the scales balanced.
(Things haven’t changed too
much. I just found out that my
cigars, which cost a quarter a
piece, need two quarter coins to
balance on the postage scale.) In
spite of the high price business
was flourishing, as can be found
out from a book with the unlike-
ly title The Honestie of this Age,
Prooving by good circumstance
that the world was never honest
* till now, written by a “Servant
to the Kings most excellent
Maiestie” by the name of Bar-
nabee Rych. He said that in and
near London there are 7000
shops, by very conservative esti-
mate, that “doth vent Tobacco”
and that it would be “an ill cus-
tomed shoppe that taketh not
five shillings a day”. But he is
willing to be lenientand assume
that every tobacco shop sells only
2 shillings 6 pence worth per
day. “Let us reckon thus, 7000
halfe Crowns a day, amounteth
just to 319,375 poundes a yeare.
Summa totalis, All spent in
smoake
During the seventeenth century
quite a number of gentlemen
stated publicly that the tobacco
grown in England was inferior to
that grown in the colonies. That
statement would have made
sense if the English tobacco had
all been and
Nicotiana rustica
that of the American colonies
Nicotiana tabacum. But both
96
types were grown in England,
and Virginia grew Nicotiana rus-
tica only, as far as one can find
out. Hence one may suspect that
the gentlemen who made these
statements either tried to please
the king, or else that they had
holdings in the colonies.
Charles II who ruled from
1660 to 1685 simply forbade
planting of tobacco in England,
so as to favor the colonies. His
Justices of peace could order the
destruction of tobacco plants and
fine forty shillings for every rod
of ground where the plants grew.
(Herb gardens for medicinal pur-
poses were exempt.) The Justices
were also instructed to watch for
people cutting walnut leaves (!)
for adulterating tobacco. The fine
for cutting any kind of leaves for
this purpose was 5 shillings per
pound of leaves.
It is interesting that Charles
exempted herb gardens be-
II still
cause he must have grown up
with the barrage of pamphlets
that either praised the medicinal
value of tobacco to the sky or
“proved” that it had never done
anybody any good. James I, in
his Counterblaste had written
that the so-called virtues were
just basedon fashion and imita-
tion.“For such is the corruption
of envie bred in the brest of ev-
ery one, as we cannot be content
unlesse we imitate every thing
that our fellowesdoe, and so
GALAXY
proove our selves capable of ev-
ery thing whereof they are cap-
able . He went on to say:
. ter in a store, the word now
“If man smoke himself to
a means an inferior tobacco, a
death with it, O then some other
disease must beare the blame for
that fault.” An anonymous Eng-
lishman in 1602 had even gone so
far in condemnation of tobacco
that he put the lines
Better be chokt with Eng-
hemp, than poisoned
lish
with Indian Tobacco
on the title page of his pamphlet.
Charles II presumably had
concluded that tobacco might
have medicinal value since many
doctors said so. He wisely paid
attention to the financial aspects
only.
'TT'he introduction of tobacco on
the European continent was
unaccompanied by such turbu-
lence, presumably because
France was the pace setter and
if the king of France was in favor
of the new herb no lesser person
should have an opinion. Appar-
ently much tobacco was import-
ed into the Netherlands and
Lower Germany from the Iberian
peninsula in the form of “ropes”
of dry leaves which were packed
in baskets. Now the Spanish
word for basket is canastro and
forsome time the tobacco itself
was called canaster; the Germans
then shortened this to Knaster.
But while the generals of Fred-
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
erick the Great just meant pipe
tobacco when they bought Knas-
home-cured weed good only for
pipes and to be smoked outdoors.
In Italy everything went
peacefully too. The plant itself
was introduced, as a botanical
novelty, twice, in 1561 by Pros-
pero Cardinal Santa Croce who
had seen it in Portugal while on
a diplomatic mission, and once
by Nicolo Tomabuoni in about
1570 who saw it in Paris, also
while on a diplomatic mission.
Smoking was brought to Italy
by the Cardinal Crescenzio in
about 1610, he had learned it in
England. The Catholic Church
took a stand in the tobacco ques-
tion only once: Pope Urban VIII
threatened excommunication to
anyone who would smoke inside
a church.
In Russia, as usual, things
went from one extreme to the oth-
er. In 1634 the Grandduke of
Muscovy forbade the use and
sale of tobacco, on the grounds
that many subjects spent all their
money on tobacco and vodka
and, when drunk, set their houses
afire because of carelessness in
smoking. The penalty was slit-
ting of the nostrils, in minor
cases only a severe whipping.
However, the edict did not apply
to foreigners residing in Moscow,
the results of a law that applied
97
to some people, but not to all of and laws having been revoked by
them, easy to imagine. But the
is the Czar.
day was saved for Russian smok- Well, that is an outline of the
ers when Peter the Great as- conquest of the earth as per-
cended the throne in 1689. Pyotr formed by an American plant.
Alekseyevitch, to call him by his And I don’t even have to think
native name, had become a of a good ending for this column,
smoker in England. And he had because Lord Byron was kind
also learned of the monopoly enough to supply me with one:
decreed by James I. He was in- Divine in hookas, glorious in
terested in both aspects of the a pipe,
man,
case and, being a practical When tipp’d with amber,
made an agreement with the mellow, rich, and ripe;
Marquis of Carmarthen who act- Like other charmers, wooing
ed for an English company. The the caress,
English company got the right More dazzlingly when daring
to import 114 million pounds of in full dress;
tobacco into Russia every year. Yet thy true lovers more
The Czar received 28,000 pound admire by far
sterling, and the Russians were Thy naked beauties Give —
free to smoke, all earlier edicts me a cigar! —WILLY LEY

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98 GALAXY
THE WARRIORS
by ROBERT SILVERBERG

OF LIGHT
Illustrated by GAUGHAN

The Brotherhood provided men

with a morolity and a dream
—and a threat of doom, tool

I Acolyte Mondschein carried it a

littletoo far.
f Acolyte Third Level Chris- “After all,” one of his superiors
I topher Mondschein had a found it necessary to remind him,
weakness, it was that he wanted “your function in the Brother-
very badly to live forever. The hood is to look after the well-
yearning for everlasting life was being of others. Not to feather
a common enough human desire, your own nest. Acolyte Mond-
and not really reprehensible. But schein. Do I make that clear?”

99
 “Perfectly clear, Brother,” said Now he was not so sure.
Mondschein tautly. He felt ready He grasped the balcony rail
to explode with shame, guilt and and said low voice, “I want
in a
anger. “I see my error. I ask to help people, Brother. People
forgiveness.” in general and people in parti-
“It isn’t a matter of forgiveness, cular. I want to help them find
Acolyte Mondschein,” the older the way. And I want mankind to
man replied. “It’s a matter of realize its larger goals. As Vorst
understanding. I don’t give a says —
damn for forgiveness. What are “Spare me the scriptures,
your goals, Mondschein? What Mondschein.”
are you after?” “I’m only trying to show
The Acolyte hesitated a mo- you —
ment before answering both — “I know. Look, don’t you un-
because it was always good pol- derstand that you’ve got to move
icy to weigh one’s words before upward in orderly stages? You
saying anything to a higher mem- can’t go leapfrogging over your
ber of the Brotherhood, and be- superiors, Mondschein, no mat-
cause he knew he was on very ter how impatient you are to get
thin ice. He tugged nervously at to the top. Come into my office
the pleats of his robe and let his a moment.”
eyes wander through the Gothic “Yes, Brother Langholt. What-
magnificence of the chapel. ever you say.”
They stood on the balcony, Mondschein followed the older
lookingdown at the nave. No man along the balcony and into
servicewas in progress, but a the administrative wing of the
few worshippers occupied the chapel. The building was fairly
pews anyway, kneeling before the new, and strikingly handsome —
blue radiance of the small cobalt a far cry from the shabby slum-
reactor on the front dais. Itwas area storefronts of the first Vor-
the Nyack chapel of the Brother- ster chapels, a quarter of a cen-
hood of the Immanent Radiance, tury before. Langholt touched a
third largest in the New York bony hand to the stud, and the
area, and Mondschein had joined door of his office irised quickly.
it six months before, the day he They stepped through.
turned twenty-two. He had hop-
was gen-
ed, at the time, that it t was a small, austere room,
uine religious feeling that had I dark and somber, its ceiling
impelled him to pledge his for- groined in good Gothic manner.
tunes to the Vorsters. Bookshelves lined the side walls.

100 GALAXY
 The desk was a polished ebony ing blast of scorn. Instead, he
slab on which there glowed a found the older man smiling
miniature blue light, the Brother- gently.
hood’s symbol. Mondschein saw “Why did you want to go to
something else on the desk: the Santa Fe, Mondschein?”
letter he had written to District “To take part in the research
Supervisor Kirby, requesting a there. And the —
the breeding
transfer to the Brotherhood’s program.”
genetic center at Santa Fe. “You’re not an esper.”
Mondschein reddened. He red- “Perhaps I’ve got latent genes,
dened easily; his cheeks were though. Or at least maybe some
plump and given to blushing. He manipulation could be managed
was a man of slightly more than so my genes would be important
medium height, a little on the to the pool. Sir, you’ve got to
fleshy side, with dark coarse hair understand that I wasn’t being
and close-set, earnest features. purely selfish about this. I want
Mondschein felt absurdly imma- to contribute to the larger ef-
ture by comparison with the fort.”
gaunt, ascetic-looking man more “You can contribute, Mond-
than twice his age who was giv- schein, by doing your mainte-
ing him this dressing-down. nance work, by prayer, by seek-
Langholt said, “As you see, ing converts. If it’s in the cards
we’ve got your letter to Super- for you to be called to Santa Fe,
visor Kirby.” you’ll be called in due time.
“Sir, that letter was confiden- Don’t you think there are others
tial. I—” much older than you who’d like
“There are no confidential let- to go there? Myself? Brother
ters in this order, Mondschein! Ashton? Supervisor Kirby him-
It happens that Supervisor Kirby self? You walk
in off the street,
turned this letter over to me so speak, and after a few
to
himself. As you can see, he’s add- months you want a ticket to
ed a memorandum.” utopia. Sorry. You can’t have
Mondschein took the letter. A one that easily, Acolyte Mond-
brief note had been scrawled schein.”
across its upper left corner: “What shall I do now?”
“He’s awfully in a hurry, isn’t
he? Take him down a couple of (( T)urify yourself. Rid yourself
pegs. R. K.” of pride and ambition.
The acolyte put the letter Get down and pray. Do your
down and waited for the wither- daily work. Don’t look for rapid

THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 101

preferment. It’s the best way not “Thank you, Brother,” Mond-
to get what you want.” schein muttered.
“Perhaps if I applied for mis- His knees felt a little shaky as
sionary service,” Mondschein he made his way from the room
suggested. “To join the group and took the spiral slideshaft
going to Venus — downward into the chapel pro-
Langholt sighed. “There you per. All things considered, he
go again! Curb your ambition, knew he had got off lightly.
Mondschein!” There could have been a public
“I meant it as a penance.” reprimand. There could have
“Of course. You imagine that been a transfer to some not
those missionaries are likely to very desirable place, like Pat-
become martyrs. You also imag- agonia or the Aleutians. They
ine that if by some fluke you might even have separated him
go to Venus and don’t get skin- from the Brotherhood entirely.
ned alive, you’ll come back here It had been a massive mistake
as a man of great influence in to go over Langholt’s head,
the Brotherhood, who’ll be sent Mondschein agreed. But how
to Santa Fe like a warrior going could a man help it? To die a
to Valhalla. Mondschein. Mond- littleevery day, while in Santa
schein, you’re so transparent! Fe they were choosing the ones
You’re verging on heresy, Mond- who would live forever — it was
schein, when you refuse to ac- intolerable to be on the outside.
cept your lot.” Mondschein’s spirit sank at the
“Sir, I’ve never had any traffic awareness that now he had al-
with the heretics. I — most certainly cut himself off
“I’m not accusing you of any- from Santa Fe for good.
thing,” Langholt said heavily.
“I’m simply warning you that T Te slipped into a rear pew and
you’re heading in an unhealthy stared solemnly toward the
direction. I fear for you. Look cobalt-60 cube on the altar.
—” He thrust the incriminating Let the Blue Fire engulf me,
letter to Kirby into a disposal he begged. Let me rise purified
unit, where it flamed and was and cleansed.
gone instantly. “I’ll forget that Sometimes, kneeling before the
thiswhole episode ever happen- altar, Mondschein had felt the
ed.But don’t you forget it. Walk ghostly flicker of a spiritual ex-
more humbly, Mondschein. Walk perience. That was the most he
more humbly, I say. Now go and ever felt, for, though he was an
pray. Dismissed.” acolyte of the Brotherhood of the

102 GALAXY
Immanent Radiance, and was a Mondschein looked to the al-
second-generation member of the tar. The Blue Fire flickered as
cult at that,Mondschein was not though to mock him by going
a religious man. Let others have out altogether. Oppressed by the
ecstasies before the altar, he Gothic gloom, Mondschein
thought. Mondsr/uein knew the sprang to his feet and rushed out
cult for what it was: a front op- into the open air.
eration masking an elaborate
program of genetic research. Or II
so it seemed to him, though there
were times when he had his T Te was a conspicuous figure,
doubts which was the front and in his indigo robe and monk-
which the underlying reality. So ish hood. People stared at him
many others appeared to derive as though he had some superna-
spiritual benefits from the Broth- tural power. They did not look
erhood — while he had no closely enough to see that he
proof that the laboratories at was only an acolyte, and, though
Santa Fe were accomplishing many of them were Vorsters
anything at all. themselves, they never managed
He closed his eyes. His head to understand that the Brother-
sank forward on his breast. He hood had no truck with the su-
visualized spinning in
electrons pernatural. Mondschein did not
their orbits. He silently repeated have a high regard for the intelli-
the Electromagnetic Litany, call- gence of laymen.
ing off the stations of the spec- He stepped aboard the slide-
trum. walk. The city loomed around
He thought of Christopher him, towers of travertine that
Mondschein living through the took on a greasy cast in the dy-
ages. A stab of yearning sliced ing reddish glow of a March
through him while he was still afternoon. New York City had
telling off the middling frequen- spread up the Hudson like a
cies. Long before he got to the plague, and skyscrapers were
softer X-rays, he was in a sweat marching across the Adiron-
of frustration, sick with the fear dacks; Nyack, here, had long
of dying. Sixty, seventy more since been engulfed by the me-
years and his number was up, tropolis. The air was cool. There
while at Santa Fe — was a smoky tang in it; probably
Help me. Help me. Help me. a fire raging in a forest pre-
Somebody help me. I don’t serve, thought Mondschein dark-
want to diet ly. He saw death on all sides.

104 GALAXY
 His modest apartment was five
blocks from the chapel. He lived
alone. Acolytes needed a waiver
to marry, and were forbidden to
have transient liaisons. Celibacy
did not weigh heavily on Mond-
schein yet, though he had hoped
to shed it when he was transfer-
red to Santa Fe. There was talk
of lovely,' willing young female
acolytes at Santa Fe. Surely not
all the breeding experiments were
done through artificial insemina-
tion, Mondschein hoped.
No matter now. He could for-
get Santa Fe. His impulsive let-
ter to Supervisor Kirby had
smashed everything.
Now he was trapped forever
cm the lower rungs of the Vors-
ter ladder. In due course they
would take him into the Brother-
hood, and he would wear a
slightly different robe and grow
a beard, perhaps, and preside
over services, and minister to the
needs of his congregation.
Fine. The Brotherhood was the
fastest-growing religious move-
ment on Earth, and surely it was
a noble work to serve in the
cause.
But a man without a re-
ligious vocation would not be
happy presiding over a chapel,
and Mondschein had no calling
at all. He had sought to fulfill
his own ends by enrolling as an
acolyte, and now he saw the er-
ror of that ambition.
THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT
Tie was caught. Just another
-* * Vorster
Brother, now. There
were thousands of chapels all
over the world. Membership in
the Brotherhood was something
like five hundred million today.
Not bad, in a single generation.
The older religions were suffer-
ing. The Vorsters had something
to offer that the others did not:
the comforts of science, the as-
surance that beyond the spiritual
ministry there was another that
served the Oneness by probing
into the deepest mysteries. A
dollar contributed to a local Vor-
ster chapel might help pay for
the development of a method to
assure immortality, personal im-
mortality, right in the here and
now flesh and blood world.
That was the pitch, and it
worked well. Oh, there were imi-
tators, lesser cults, some of them
rather successful in their small
way. There was even a Vorster
heresy now, the Harmonists, the
peddlers of the Transcendent
Harmony, an offshoot of the par-
ent cult. Mondschein had chosen
the Vorsters, and he had a lin-
gering loyalty to them, for he
had been raised as a worshipper
of the Blue Fire. But —
“Sorry. Million pardons.”
Someone jostled him on the
slidewalk. Mondschein felt a hand
slap against his back, dealing
him a hard jolt that almost
knocked him down. Staggering a
105
 bit. he recovered and saw a probable subminiaturization —
broad-shouldered man in a sim- Mondschein did not bother to
ple blue business tunic moving search for it.

swiftly away. Clumsy idiot,

Mondschein thought. There’s e said, “Who are you?”
room for everyone on the walk. “Never mind that. Just go
What’s his hellish hurry? to the station and you’ll be met.”
Monschein adjusted his robes “I’m in my robes.”
and his dignity. A soft voice “We’ll handle that, too,” came
said, “Don’t go into your apart- the calm response.
ment, Mondschein. Just keep Mondschein nibbled his lip.
moving. There’s a quickboat He was not supposed to leave
waiting for you at the Tarry- the immediate vicinity of his
town station.” chapel without permission from
No one was near him. “Who a superior, but there was no time
said that?” he demanded tense- for that now, and in any event
ly- he had no intention of bucking
“Please relax and cooperate. the bureaucracy so soon after his
You aren’t going to be harmed. rebuke. He would take his
This is for your benefit, Mond- chances.
schein.” The sidewalk sped him ahead.
He looked around. The nearest Soon the Tarrytown station
person was an elderly woman, drew near. Mondschein’s stom-
fifty feet behind him on the ach roiled with tension. He could
slidewalk, who quickly threw him smell the acrid fumes of quick-
a simpering smile as though ask- boat fuel. The chill wind cut
ing for a blessing. Who had through his robes, so that his
spoken? For one wild moment shivering was not entirely from
Mondschein thought that he had uneasiness. He stepped from the
turned into a telepath, some la- slidewalk and entered the sta-
tent power breaking through in tion, a gleaming yellowish-green
a delayed maturity. But no; it dome with lambent plastic walls.
had been a voice, not a thought- It was not particularly crowded.
message. Mondschein understood. The commuters from downtown
The stumbling man must have had not yet begun to arrive, and
planted a two-way Ear on him the outward bound rush would
with that slap on the back. A come later in the day, at the din-
tiny metallic transponding pla- ner hour.
que, perhaps half a dozen mole- Figures approached him. The
cules thick, some miracle of im- voice coming from the device on

106 GALAXY
his back said, “Don’t stare at wrapper fell away. Mondschein
them, but just follow behind found himself holding the green
them casually.” robe of a Harmonist Brother.
Mondschein obeyed. There
were three of them, two men and rT''he heretics? What in the
a angular-faced woman.
slim, world —
They led him on a sauntering “Put it on, Mondschein.”
stroll past the chattering news- “I can’t If I’m seen in it
—
fax booth, past the bootblack “You won’t be. Put it on. We’ll
stands, past the row of storage guard your own robe until you
lockers. One of the men, short get back.”
and square-headed with thick, He felt like a puppet. Shrug-
stubby yellow hair, slapped his ging out of his robe, he put it
palm against a locker to open on a hook while he donned the
it. He drew out a bulky package unfamiliar uniform. It fit well.
and tucked it under one arm. As There was something clipped to
he cut diagonally across the sta- the inner surface: a thermoplas-
tion toward the men’s wash- tic mask, Mondschein realized.
room, the voice said to Mond- He was grateful for that. Unfold-
schein, “Wait thirty seconds and ing it, he pressed it to his face

follow him.” and held it there until it took

The acolyte pretended to study hold. The mask would disguise
tiie newsfax ticker. He did not his features just enough so that
feel enthusiastic about his pre- he need not fear recognition.
sent predicament, but he sensed Carefully, Mondschein put hl»
that it would be useless and pos- own robe within the wrapper
sibly harmful to resist. When the and sealed it.
thirty seconds were up, he mov- “Leave it on the seat,” he wa»
ed toward the washroom. The told.
scanner decided that he was suit- “I don’t dare. If it’s lost how
ably male, and the ADMIT sign will I ever explain?”
flashed. Mondschein entered. “It will not be lost, Mond-
“Third booth,” the voice mur- schein. Hurry, now. The quick-
mured. boat’s about to leave.”
The blond man was not in Unhappily, Mondschein step-
sight. Mondschein entered the ped from the booth. He viewed
booth and found the package himself in the mirror. His face,
from the locker propped on the normally plump, now looked
seat. On an order, he picked it gross: bulging cheeks, stubbly
up and opened the clasps. The jowls, moist and thickened lips.

THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 107

Unnatural dark circles rimmed The quickboat sparkled in the

his eyes as though he had ca- floodlit station, graceful, elegant,

roused for a week. The green
robe was strange, too. Wearing
the outfit of heresy made him
feel closer to his own organiza-
tion than ever before.
The slim woman came forward
as he emerged into the waiting
room. Her cheekbones were like
knife blades, and her eyelids had
been surgically replaced by shut-
ters of fine platinum foil. It was
an outmoded fashion of the pre-
vious generation; Mondschein
could remember his mother com-
ing from the cosmetic surgeon’s
officewith her face transformed
into a grotesque mask. No one
did that any more. This woman
had to be at least forty, Mond-
schein thought, though she look-
ed much younger.
“Eternal harmony, Brother.”
Mondschein fumbled for the
proper Harmonist response. Im-
provising, he said, “May the
Oneness smile upon you.”
“I’m grateful for your blessing.
its skin a burnished bluish-green.
As they filed aboard, Mond-
schein asked the woman, “Where
are we going?”
“Rome,” she said.
Ill
IV /Tondschein’s eyes were wide
as the monuments of anti-
quity flashed by. The Forum, the
Colosseum, the Theater of Mar-
cellus, the gaudy Victor Emanuel
Monument, the Mussolini Col-
—
umn their route took them
through the heart of the ancient
city. He saw, also, the blue glow
of a Vorster chapel as he whiz-
zed down the Via dei Fori Im-
periali, and that struck him as
harshly incongruous here in this
city of an older religion. The
Brotherhood had a solid foothold
here, though. When Gregory
XVIII appeared in the window
at his Vatican palace, he could
still draw a crowd of hundreds

Your ticket’s in order, Brother. of thousands of cheering Rom-

Will you come with me?” ans, but many of those same
She was his guide, he realized. Romans would melt from the
He had shed the Ear with his square after viewing the Pope
own robe. Queasily, hehoped he and head for the nearest chapel
would get see that garment
to of the Brotherhood.
again before long. He followed Evidently the Harmonists were
the slim woman to the loading making headway here too, Mond-
They might be taking
platform. schein thought. But he kept his
him anywhere —
Chicago, Hon- peace as the car sped northward
olulu, Montreal — out of the city.

108 GALAXY
 “This is the Via Flaminia,” his
guide announced. “The old route
was followed when the electronic
roadbed was installed. They have
a deep sense of tradition here.’’
“I’m sure they do,” said Mond-
schein wearily. It was mid-eve-
ning by his time, and he had had
nothing to eat but a snack aboard
the quickboat. The ninety-min-
ute journey had dumped him in
Rome in the hours before dawn.
A wintry mist hung over
city; spring was late.
schein’s face itched fiercelybe-
neath his mask. Fear chilled his
fingers.
They halted in front of a drab
brick building somewhere a few
dozen miles north of Rome.
Mondschein’s face itched fiercely
beneath his mask. Fear chilled
his fingers.
They halted drab
in front of a
brick building somewhere a few
dozen miles north of Rome.
Mondschein shivered as he hur-
ried within. The woman with
platinum eyelids led him up the
stairs and into a warm, brightly
fit room occupied by three men
in green Harmonist robes. That
confirmed it, Mondschein
thought; I’m in a den of here-
tics.
nphey did not offer their names.
One was and squat,
short
with a sallow face and a bulbous
nose. One was tall and spectrally
THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT
thin, arms and legs like a spid-
er’s limbs. The third was unre-
markable, with pale skin and nar-
row, bland eyes. The squat one
was the oldest, and seemed to be
in charge.
Without preamble he said, “So
they turned you down, did they?”
“How—”
“Never mind how. We’ve been
watching you, Mondschein. We
hoped you’d make it. We want
the a man in Santa Fe just as much
Mond- as you want to be there.”
“Are you Harmonists?”
“Yes. What about some wine,
Mondschein?”
The acolyte shrugged. The tall
heretic gestured, and the slim
woman, who had not left the
room, came forward with a flask
of golden wine. Mondschein ac-
cepted a glass, thinking dourly
that it was almost certainly
drugged. The wine was chilled
and faintly sweet, like a mid-
dling-dry Graves. The other*
took wine with him.
“What do you want with me?"
Mondschein asked.
“Your help,” said the squat
war going on, and
one. “There’s a
we want you to join our side.”
“I don’t know of any wars.”
“A war between darkness and
light,” said the tall heretic in a
mild voice. “We are the warriors
of light. Don’t think we’re fanat-
ics, Mondschein. Actually, we’re
quite reasonable men.”
109
 “Perhaps you know,” said the “Not really. We appreciate the
third of the Harmonists, “that uses of power. We simply feel
our creed is derived from yours. that the movement’s become
We the teachings of
respect sidetracked in irrelevancies. Pow-
Vorst and we
follow most of his own sake has become
er for its
ways. In we regard our-
fact, more important than power for
selves as closer to the original the sake of larger goals.”
teachings than the present hier- The one said, “The Vors-
tall
archy of the Brotherhood. We’re ter high commandquibbles about
a purifying body. Every religion political appointments and agi-
needs its reformers.” tates for changes in the income
Mondschein sipped his wine. tax structure. It’s wasting time
He allowed his eyes to twinkle and energy fooling around with
maliciously as he remarked, domestic affairs. Meanwhile the
“Usually it takes a thousand movement’s drawn a total blank
years for the reformers to put in on Mars and Venus not one—
their appearance. This is only chapel among the colonists, not
2095. The Brotherhood’s hardly even a start there, total rejection.
thirty years old.” And where are the great results
of the esper breeding program?
'"T''he squat heretic nodded. “The Where are the dramatic new
pace of our times is a fast leaps?”
one. It took the Christians three “It’s only the second genera-
hundred years to get political tion,” Mondschein said. “You
control of Rome — from the time have to be patient.” He smiled
of Augustus to that of Constan- at that — counselling patience to
tine. The Vorsters didn’t need others — and added, “I think the
that long. You know the story: Brotherhood is heading in the
there are Brotherhood men in right direction.”
every legislative body in the “We don’t, obviously,” said the
world. In some
countries they’ve pale one. “When we failed to re-
organized their own political par- form from within, we had to
ties. don’t need to tell
I you leave and begin our own cam-
about the financial growth.” paign, parallel to the original
“And you purifiers urge a re- one. The long-range goals are
turn to the old, simple ways of the same. Personal immortality
thirty years ago?” Mondschein through bodily regeneration. And
asked. “The ramshackle build- full development of extra-sen-
ings, the persecutions, and all the sory powers, leading to new
rest? Is that it?” methods of communication and

110 GALAXY
transportation. That’s what we The heretic leaned forward and
want —not the right to decide said quietly, “We’ll offer you a
local tax issues.” tenth-level post in our organiza-
Mondschein said, “First you tion. You’d have to wait fifteen
get control of the governments. years to get that high in the
Then you concentrate on the Brotherhood. We’re a much
long-range goals.” smaller operation; you can rise
“Not necessary,” snapped the in our hierarchy much faster
squat Harmonist. “Direct action than where you are. An ambit-
is what we’re interested in. We’re ious man like you could be very
confident of success, too. One close to the top before he was
way or another, we’ll achieve our fifty.”
purposes.” “But what good is it?” Mond-
schein asked. “To get close to
'T~'he slim woman gave Mond- the top in the second-best hier-
schein more wine. He tried archy?”
to shake her away, but she in- “Ah, but we won’t be second
sisted on filling his glass, and best! Not with the information
he drank. Then he said, “I pre- you’ll provide for us. That will
sume you didn’t waft me off to allow us to grow. Millions of
Rome just to tell me
your opin- people will desert the Brother-
ion of the Brotherhood. What do hood for us when they see what
you want from me?” we have to offer — all that they
“Suppose we were to get you have, plus our own values. We’ll
transferred to Santa Fe,” the expand rapidly. And you’ll have
squat one said. a position of high rank, because
Mondschein sat bolt upright. you threw your lot in with us at
His hand tightened on the wane- the beginning.”
glass, nearly breaking it. Mondschein saw the logic of
“How could you do that?” that.The Brotherhood was swol-
“Suppose we could. Would you len already, wealthy, powerful,
be willing to obtain certain in- topheavy with entrenched bu-
formation from the laboratories reaucrats. There was no room
there and transmit it to us?” for advancement there. But if he
“Spy for you?” were to transfer his allegiance to
“You could call it that.” a small but dynamic group with
“It sounds ugly,” Mondschein ambitions that rivaled his own —
said. “It won’t work,” he said sadly.
“You’d have a reward for it.” “Why?”
“It better be a good one.” “Assuming you can wangle me
THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 111
into Santa Fe, I’ll be screened by ing itself. For all the assurances

espers long before I get there. to the contrary, he might well be

They’ll know I’m coming as a detected long before he got into
spy and they’ll screen me out. those secret laboratories at Santa
My memories of this conversa- Fe, and it would not go happily
tion will give me away.” for him afterward.
The squat man smiled broad- The Brotherhood had its way
ly. “Why do you think you’ll re- of punishing those who betrayed
member this conversation? We it. Behind the benevolence was a
have our espers too, Acolyte certain streak of necessary cruel-
Mondschein!” ty. Mondschein had heard the
stories the one about the region-
:

IV al supervisor in the Philippines

who had let himself be beguiled
nphe room in which Christopher into providing minutes of the
-* Mondschein found himself high councils to certain anti-
was eerily empty. It was a per- Vorsterite police officials.
fect square, probably built within Perhaps it was apocryphal.
a tolerance of hundredths of a Mondschein had heard that the
millimeter, and there was noth- man had been taken to Santa Fe
ing at all in but Mondschein
it to undergo the loss of his pain-
himself. No no win-
furniture, receptors. A pleasant fate, never
dows, not so much
as a cobweb. to feel pain again? Hardly. Pain
Shifting his weight uncomfort- was the measure of safety. With-
ably from foot to foot, he stared out pain, how did one know
up at the high ceiling, searching whether something was too hot
without success for the source of or too cold to touch? A thousand
the steady, even illumination. He little injuries resulted: burns,
did not know what city he was cuts, abrasions. The body eroded
in. They had taken him out of away. A finger here, a nose
Rome just as the sun was rising, there, an eyeball, a swatch of
and he might be in Jakarta now, skin — why, someone could de-
or Benares, or perhaps Akron. vour his own tongue and not
He had profound misgivings realize it.

about all this. The Harmonists

had assured him that there would A yT ondschein shuddered. The
-L’-*-
be no risks, but Mondschein was seamless wall in front of
not so sure. The Brotherhood had him abruptly telescoped and a
not attained its eminence with- man entered the room. The wall
out developing ways of protect- closed behind him.

112 GALAXY
 “Are you the esper?” Mond- like the idea of being locked in
schein blurted nervously. a windowless room with a psy-
The mannodded. He was chotic esper.
without unusual features. His And what if the esper had a
face had a vaguely Eurasian cast, malicious streak? What if, in-
Mondschein imagined. His lips stead of simply inducing selec-
were thin, his hair glossily dark, tive amnesia in Mondschein, he
his complexion almost olive. decided to make wholesale alter-
There was something of a fragile ations in his memory patterns?
look to him. It might happen that —
“Lie down on the floor,” the “You can get up now,” the
esper said in a soft, furry voice. esper said brusquely. “It’s done.”
“Please relax. You are afraid of “What’s done?” Mondschein
me, and you should not be asked.
afraid.” The esper laughed triumphant-
Mondschein gave it a try. He ly. “You don’t need to know,

settled on the yielding, rubbery fool. It’s done, that’s all.”

floor and put his hands by his The wall opened a second
sides. time. The esper left. Mondschein
The esper sank into the stood up, feeling strangely emp-
lotus position in one corner of ty, wondering somberly where
the room, not looking at Mond- he was and what was happen-
schein. The acolyte waited un- ing to him. He had been going
certainly. home on the slidewalk, and a
He had seen a few espers be- man had jostled him, and then —
fore. There were a good many A slim woman with improb-
of them now; after years of able cheekbones and eyelids of
doubt and confusion, their traits glittering platinum foil said,
had been isolated and recognized “Come this way, please.”
more than a hundred years ago, “Why should I?”
and a fair amount of deliberate “Trust me. Come this way.”
esper-to-esper mating had in-
creased their number. The tal- TV Tondschein sighed and let her
ents were still unpredictable, lead him down a narrow
though. Most of the espers had corridor into another room,
little control over their abilities. brightly painted and lit. A cof-
They were unstable individuals, fin-sized metal tank stood in one
besides, generally high-strung, corner of the room. Mondschein
often lapsing into psychosis un- recognized it, of course. It was
der stress. Mondschein did not a sensory deprivation chamber, a

THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 113

Nothing Chamber, in which one dreams, guilts, lusts, and ideas
floated in a warm nutrient bath, that constituted the mind of
sight and hearing cut off, grav- Christopher Mondschein was
pull negated. The Nothing
ity’s temporarily dissolved.
Chamber was an instrument for In time, he woke. They took
total relaxation. It could also him from the Chamber he was—
have more sinister uses: a man wobbly on his legs, and they had
who spent too much time in a to steady him —
and gave him
Nothing Chamber became pli- his clothing. His robe, he notic-
ant, easily indoctrinated. ed, was the wrong color: green,
“Strip and get in,” the woman the heretic color. How had that
said. happened? Was he being forcibly
“And if I don’t?” impressed into the Harmonist
“You will.” movement? He knew better than
“How long a setting?” to ask questions. They were put-
“Two and a half hours.” ting a thermoplastic mask on his
“Too long,” Mondschein said. face, now. I’m to travel incog-
“Sorry. don’t feel that tense.
I nito, it seems.
Will you show me the way out In a short while Mondschein
of here?” was at a quickboat station. He
The woman beckoned. A ro- was appalled to see Arabic let-
bot rolled into the room, blunt- tering on the signs. Cairo, he
nosed, painted an ugly dull wondered? Algiers? Ankara?
black. Mondschein had never Mecca?
wrestled with a robot and he did
not intend to try it now. The rT''hey had reserved a private
woman indicated the Nothing compartment for him. The
Chamber once more. woman with the altered eyelids
This is some sort of dream, sat with him during the swift
Mondschein told himself. A very flight. Several times, Mondschein
bad dream. attempted to ask questions, but
He began to strip. The Noth- she gave him no reply other
ing Chamber hummed its readi- than a shrug.
ness. Mondschein stepped into The quickboat landed at the
it and allowed it to engulf him. Tarrytown station. Familiar ter-
He could not see. He could not ritory at last. A timesign told
hear. A tube fed him air. Mond- Mondschein that this was Wed-
schein slipped into total passiv- nesday, March 13, 2095, 0705
ity, into a fetal comfort. The hours Eastern Standard Time. It
bundle of ambitions, conflicts. had been late Tuesday after-

114 GALAXY
noon, he remembered distinctly, there, nor that he had wom a
when he crept home in disgrace green robe and a themoplastic
from the chapel after getting his mask on from a coun-
his flight
comeuppance over the matter of try where Arabic was the main
a transfer to Santa Fe. Say, 1630 language, nor that he had been
Somewhere he had lost all
hours. in any other country at all, nor
ofTuesday night and a chunk of for that matter that he had step-
Wednesday morning, about fif- ped bewildered from a Nothing
teen hours in all. Chamber not too many hours
As they entered the main wait- ago.
ing room, the slim woman at his He now believed that he had
side whispered, “Go into the spent a comfortable night at
washroom. Third booth. Change home, in his own modest dwell-
your clothes.” ing. He was not sure what he
Greatly troubled, Mondschein was doing at the Tarrytown
obeyed. There was a package quickboat station at this hour of
resting on the seat. He opened the morning, but that was only
it and found that it contained a minor mystery and not worth
his indigo acolyte’s robe. Hur- detailed exploration.
riedly he peeled off the green Finding himself unusually hun-
robe and donned his own. Re- gry, Mondschein bought a hearty
membering the face-mask, he breakfast at the food console on
stripped that off too and flushed the lower level of the station. He
it away. He packed up the green bolted it briskly. By eight, he
robe and, not knowing what else was at the Nyack chapel of the
to do with it, left it in the booth. Brotherhood of the Immanent
As he came out, a dark-haired Radiance, ready to aid in the
man of middle years approached morning service.
him, holding out his hand. Brother Langholt greeted him
“Acolyte Mondschein!” warmly. "Did yesterday’s little
“Yes?” Mondschein said, not talk upset you too much, Mond-
recognizing him, but taking the schein?”
hand anyway. "I’m settling down now.”
“Did you sleep well?” “Good, good. You mustn’t let
“I —
yes,” Mondschein said. your ambitions engulf you,
“Very well.” There was an ex- Mondschein. Everything comes
change of glances, and suddenly in due time. Will you check the
Mondschein did not remember gamma level on the reactor,
why he had gone into the wash- now?”
room, nor what he had done in “Certainly, Brother.”

THE WARRIORS Of UGHT 115

 Mondschein stepped toward the fice. Supervisor Kirby stood
altar.The Blue Fire seemed like against the bookshelf on the left.
a beacon of security in an un- He was a man enough like
certain world. The acolyte re- Langholt to be his brother. Both
moved the gamma detector from were tall, lean men in early
its case and set about his morn- middle age, with something of an
ing tasks. ascetic look about them.
Mondschein had never seen the
V Supervisor at such close range
before.The story was that Kir-
rT''he message summoning him by had been a U.N. man, pretty
to Santa Fe arrived three high in the international bureau-
weeks later. It landed on the cracy, until his conversion fif-
Nyack chapel like a thunderbolt, teen or twenty years ago. Now
striking down through layer af- he was a key man in the hier-
ter layer of authority before it archy, possibly one of the dozen
finally reached the lowly ac- most important in the entire or-
olyte. ganization. His hair was clipped
One of Mondschein’s fellow short and his eyes were an odd
acolytes brought him the news, shade of green. Mondschein had
in an indirect way. “You’re difficulty meeting those eyes.
wanted in Brother Langholt’s of- Facing Kirby in the flesh, he
fice, Chris. Supervisor Kirby’s wondered how he had ever
there.” found the nerve to write that
Mondschein felt alarm. “What letter to him, requesting a trans-
is it? I haven’t done anything fer to the Santa Fe labs.
wrong —not that I know of, any- Kirby smiled faintly. “Mond-
way.” schein?”
“I don’t thinly you’re in “Yes, sir.”
trouble. It’s something big, “Call me Brother, Mond-
Chris. They’re all shaken up. It’s schein. Brother Langholt here
some kind of order out of San- has said some good things about
ta Fe.” Mondschein received a you.”
curious stare. “What I think they He has? Mondschein thought
said was that you’re being in surprise.
shipped out there on a trans- Langholt said, “I’ve told the
fer.” Supervisor that you’re ambitious,
“Very funny,” Mondschein eager, and enthusiastic. I’ve also
said. pointed out that you’ve got those
He hurried to Langholt’s of- qualities to an excessive degree,
116 GALAXY
 THE ELECTROMAGNETIC LITANY
Stations of the Spectrum

And there is light, before and beyond our vision, for which we
give thanks.

And there is heat, for which we are humble.

And there is power, for which we count ourselves blessed.

Blessed be Balmer, who gave us our wavelengths. Blessed be

Bohr, who brought us understanding. Blessed be Lyman, who saw
beyond sight.

Tell us now the stations of the spectrum.

Blessed be long radio waves, which oscillate slowly.

Blessed be broadcast waves, for which we thank Hertz.

Blessed be short waves, linkers of mankind, and blessed be mic-

rowaves.

Blessed be infrared, bearer of nourishing heat.

Blessed be visible light, magnificent in angstroms. (On high

holidays only: Blessed be red, sacred to Doppler. Blessed be orange.
Blessed be yellow, hallowed by Fraunhofer's gaze. Blessed be green.
Blessed be blue for its hydrogen line. Blessed be indigo. Blessed be
violet, flourishing with energy.)

Blessed be ultraviolet, with the richness of the sun.

Blessed be X-rays, sacred to Roentgen, the prober within.

Blessed be the gamma, in all its power, blessed be the highest

of frequencies.

We give thanks for Planck. We

give thanks for Einstein. We
give thanks in the highest for Maxwell.

In the strength of the spectrum, the quantum and the holy

angstrom, peacel

THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 117

in some ways. Perhaps you’ll
learn some moderation at Santa
Fe.”
Stunned, Mondschein said,
“Brother Langholt, I thought my
application for a transfer
been turned down.”
T^irby nodded. “It’sbeen op-
ened again. We need some
control subjects, you see. Non-
espers. A few dozen acolytes
have been requisitioned, and the
computer tossed your name up.
You fit the needs. I take it you
still want to go to Santa Fe?”
—
“Of course, sir Brother Kir-
by.”
“Good. You’ll have a week to
wrap up your affairs here.” The
green eyes were suddenly pierc-
ing. “I hope you’ll prove useful
out there, Brother Mondschein.”
Mondschein could not make
up his mind whether he was be-
ing sent to Santa Fe as a belated
yielding to his request, or to get
rid of him at Nyack. It seemed
incomprehensible to him that
Langholt would approve the
transfer after having rejected it
so scathingly a few weeks before.
But the Vorster high ones moved
in mysterious ways, Mondschein
decided. He accepted the puz-
good grace, ask-
zling decision in
ingno questions. When his week
was up, he knelt in the Nyack
chapel one last time, said good-
by to Brother Langholt, and
118
went to the quickboat station for
the noon flight westward.
He was in Santa Fe by mid-
morning. The station there, he
noticed, was thronged with blue-
had robed ones, more than he had
ever seen in a public place at
any one time. Mondschein wait-
ed at the station, eyeing the im-
mensity of the New Mexican
landscape uneasily. The sky was
a strangely bright shade of blue,
and visibility seemed unlimited.
Miles away Mondschein saw
bare sandstone mountains rising.
A tawny desert dotted with gray-
ish-green sagebrush surrounded
the station. Mondschein had
never seen so much open space
before.
“Brother Mondschein?” a pud-
gy acolyte asked.
“That’s right.”
“I’m Brother Capodimonte.
I’m your escort. Got your lug-
gage? Good. Let’s go, then.”
A teardrop was parked in
back. Capodimonte took Mond-
schein’s lone suitcase and racked
it. He was about forty, Mond-
schein guessed. A little old to be
an acolyte. A bulged
roll of fat
over his collar at the back of
his neck.
They entered the teardrop.
Capodimonte activated it and it
shot away.
“First time here?” he asked.
“Yes,” Mondschein said. “I’m
impressed by the countryside.”
GALAXY
<*Tt’s marvelous stuff, isn’t it? higher than three or four stories
Life-enhancing. You get a anywhere. Even at this distance,
sense of space here. And of his- Mondschein could make out the
tory. Prehistoric ruins
scattered dusky reddish-brown of adobe.
all over the place. After you’re “I expected it to be much
perhaps we can go up to
settled, bigger,” Mondschein said.
FrijolesCanyon for a look at the “Zoning. Historical monument
cave dwellings. Does that kind and all that. They’ve kept it

of thing interest you, Mond- pretty well as it was a hundred

schein?”
“I don’t know much about it,”
he admitted. “But I’ll be glad to
look anyway.”
“What’s your specialty?”
“Nucleonics,” Mondschein
said. “I'm a furnace-tender.”
“I was an anthropologist until
I joined the Brotherhood. I
spend my spare time out at the
pueblos. It’s good to step back
into the past occasionally. Espe-
cially out here, when you see the
future erupting with such speed
all around you.”
“They’re really making prog-
ress, are they?”
Capodimonte nodded. “Com-
ing along quite well, they tdl
me. Of course, I’m not an in-
sider. Insiders don’t get to leave
the center much. But from what
I hear, they’re accomplishing
great things. Look out there.
—
Brother that’s the city of Santa
Fe we’re passing right now.”
Mondschein looked. Quaint
was the word that occurred to
him. The city was small, both in
area and in the size of its build-
ings, which seemed to
years ago. No new construction’s
allowed.”
Mondschein frowned. “What
about the laboratory center,
though?”
“Oh, that’s not really in Santa
Fe. Santa Fe’s just the nearest
big city. We’re actually about
forty miles north,” said Capodi-
monte. “Up near the Picuris
country. Still plenty of Indians
there, you know.”
'T'hey were beginning to climb,
now. The teardrop surged
up hillside roads, and the vege-
tation began to change, the
twisted, gnarled junipers and
pinyon pines giving way to dark
stands of Douglas fir and pon-
derosas. Mondschein still found
it hard to believe that he was
soon to arrive at the genetic cen-
ter. It goes to show, he told
himself. The only way to get
anywhere in the world was to
stand up and yell.
He had yelled. They had
—
scolded him for it but they had
sent him to Santa Fe anyhow.
be no To live forever! To surrender

THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 119

his body to the experimenters dozens of buildings —
dormitor-
who were learning how to re- ies, laboratories, other structures
place cell with cell, how to gen- of less obvious purpose. The en-
erate organs, how to restore tire enterprise was underwritten
youth. Mondschein knew what by the contributions of the faith-
they were working on here. Of ful, who gave according to their

course, there were risks, but what means, a dollar here, a thousand
of that? At the very worst, he’d dollars there.
—
die but in the ordinary scheme The center was heart and core
of that would happen
events of the Vorster operation. Here
anyway. On the other hand, he the research was carried out that
might be one of the chosen, one served to improve the lives of
of the elect. Vorsters everywhere. The essence
A
gate loomed before them. of the Brotherhood’s appeal was
Sunlight gleamed furiously from that it offered not merely spirit-
the metal shield. ual counselling —
which the old
“We’re here,” Capodimonte religions could provide just as
announced. well —but also the most ad-
The gate began to open. vanced scientific benefits. Vor-
Mondschein said, “Won’t I be ster hospitals existed now in ev-
given some kind of esper scan- ery major population center. Vor-
ning before they let me in?” ster medics were at the forefront
Capodimonte laughed. “Broth- of their profession. The Brother-
er Mondschein, you’ve been get- hood of the Immanent Radiance
ting a scanning for the last fif- healed both body and soul.
teen minutes. If there were any And, as the Brotherhood did
reason to turn you back, that not attempt to conceal, the
gate wouldn’t be opening now. greater goal of the organization
Relax. And welcome. You’ve was the conquest of death. Not
made it.” merely the overthrow of disease,
but the downfall of age itself.
VI Even before the Vorster move-
ment had begun, men had been

T he official name of the place

was the Noel Vorst Center
making great progress in that di-
rection. The mean life expect-
ancy was up to eighty-odd now,
for the Biological Sciences. It
sprawled over some fifteen about ninety in some countries.
square miles of plateau country, That was why the Earth teemed
every last inch of it ringed by a with people despite the stringent
well-bugged fence. Within were birth-control regulations that

120 GALAXY
 — —
—

were effect
in almost every- would have
ulation crisis; ships
where. Close to eleven billion to leave Earthday and night for
people, now, and the birth rate, hundreds of years in order to
though dropping sharply, was transport enough people to the
still greater than the death rate. colonies to make a dent in the
The Vorsters hoped to push multitudes on the home world,
the life expectancy still higher, and that was economically im-
for those who wanted longer possible.
lives. A hundred, a hundred But if the extrasolar worlds
twenty, a hundred fifty years could be reached, and if they
that was the immediate goal. did not need to be expensively
Why not two hundred, three terraformed before they could be
hundred, a thousand later on? occupied, and if some new rea-
“Give us ever-lasting life,” the sonably economical means of
multitudes cried, and flocked to transportation could be devised
the chapels to make sure they “That’s a lot of ifs,” Mond-
were among the elect. schein said.
Of course, that prolongation of Capodimonte nodded. “I don’t
life would make the population deny that. But that’s no reason
problem all the more complex. not to try.”
The Brotherhood was aware of “You seriously think that
that. It had other goals designed there’ll be a way to shoot peo-
to alleviate that problem. To ple off to the stars on esper
open the galaxy to man —that power?” Mondschein asked.
was the real aim. “You don’t think that that’s a
wild and fantastic dream?”
nphe colonization of the uni- Smiling, Capodimonte said,
verse by humankind had al- “Wild and fantastic dreams keep
ready begun, several generations men moving around. Chasing
before Noel Vorst founded his Prester John, chasing the North-
movement Mars and Venus both west Passage, chasing unicorns
had been settled, in differing well, this is our unicorn, Mond-
ways. Neither planet had been schein. Why all the skepticism?
hospitable to man to begin with; Look about you. Don’t you see
soMars had been changed to ac- what’s going on?”
commodate man, and man had Mondschein had been at the
been changed to survive on Ven- research center for a week, now.
us. Both colonies were thriving He still did not know his way
now. Yet little had been accom- around the place with any de-
plished toward solving the pop- gree of confidence, but he had

THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 121

learned a great deal. He knew,
for example, that an entire town
of espers had been built on the
far side of the dry wash that cut
the center in half. Six thousand
people lived there, none of them
older than forty, all of them
breeding like rabbits. Fertility
Row, they called the place. It
had special government dispen-
sation for unlimited childbear-
ing. Some of the families had
five or six children.

T hat was the slow way of

evolving a new kind of man.
Take a bunch of people with un-
usual talents, throw them into a
closed environment, letthem pick
their own mates and multiply
 himself. Neither did most of
those he had contact with tech- —
nicians, mainly. But they could
speculate, and they did, far into
the night.
What interested Mondschein,
far more than the experiments
in esper genetics, was the work
on lifespan prolongation. Here,
too, the Vorsters were building
on an established body of tech-
nique. The organ banks provided
replacements for most forms of
bodily tissue; lungs, eyes, hearts,
intestines, pancreases, kidneys,
all could be implanted now, us-
ing the irradiation techniques to
destroy the graft-rejecting im-
mune reaction. But such piece-
meal rejuvenation was not true
the genetic pool — well, that was immortality. The Vorsters sought
one way. Another was to work a way to make the cells of the
directlyon the germ plasm. They body regenerate lost tissue, so
were doing that here too, in a that the impulse toward contin-
variety of ways. Tectogenetic ued life came from within, not
microsurgery, polynuclear mold- through external grafts.
ing, DNA manipulation they — Mondschein did his bit. Like
were trying everything. Cut and most of the bottom-grade people
carve the genes, push the at the center, he was required to
chromosomes around, get the surrender a morsel of flesh every
tiny replicators to produce some- few days as experimental mate-
thing slightly different from what rial. The biopsies were a nuis-
had gone before —that was .the ance, but they were part of the
aim. routine. He was a regular con-
How well was it working? That tributor to the sperm bank, too.
was hard to tell, so far. It would As a non-esper, he was a good
take five or six generations to control subject for the work going
evaluate the results. Mond- on. How did you find the gene
schein, as a mere acolyte, did not for teleportation? For telepathy?
have the equipment to judge for For any of the paranormal phen-
THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 123

omena that were lumped under
the blanket term of “esp?”
Mondschein cooperated. He
played his humble part in the
great campaign, aware that he
was no more than an infantry-
man in the struggle. He went
from laboratory to laboratory,
submitting to tests and needles,
and when he was not taking part
in such enterprises he carried
out his own specialty, which was
to serve as a maintenance man
on the nuclear power plant that
ran the entire center.
was quite a different life
t compulsion take hold.
I from that in the Nyack
chapel. No members of the pub-
lic came here —
no worshippers
and it was easy to forget that he
was part of a religious move-
ment They held services here
regularly, of course, but there
was a professionalism about the
worship that made it all seem
rather perfunctory. Without some
laymen in the house, it was hard
to remain really dedicated
the cult of the Blue Fire.
more rarefied
In this climate,
Mondschein felt some of
seething impatience ebb away.
Now he no longer could dream
of going to Santa Fe, for he was
there, on the spot, part of the
experiments. Now he could only
wait, and tick off the moments
of progress, and hope.
He made new friends. He
124
— ” a
veloped new interests. He went
with Capodimonte to see the an-
cient ruins, and he went hunting
in the Picuris Range with a
lanky acolyte named Weber, and
he joined the choral society and
sang a lusty tenor.
He was happy here.
He did not know, of course,
that he was here as a spy for
heretics. All that had been deftly
erased from his memory. In its
place had been left a triggering
mechanism, which went off one
night in early September, and ab-
ruptly Mondschein felt a strange
It was the night of the Mesop
Sacrament, a feast that heralded
the autumn solstice. Mondschein,
wearing his blue robe, stood be-
tween Capodimonte and Weber
in the chapel, watching the re-
actor glare on the altar, listen-
ing to the voice intoning, “ The
world turns and the configuta-
tions change. There is a quan-
tum jump in the lives of men,
to when doubts and fears are left
behind and certainty is born.
There is a flash as of light —
his surge of inward radiation, a
sense of Oneness with —
Mondschein stiffened. They
were Vorst’s words, words he
had heard an infinity of times, so
familiar to him that they had
cut grooves in his brain. Yet now
he seemed to be hearing them tor
de- the first time. When the words
GALAXY
“a sense of Oneness” were pro- cended. Shivering a little, Mond-
nounced Mondschein gasped, schein made his way through the
gripped the seat in front of him, No guards
streets of the center.
nearly doubled up in agony. He were on duty; there was no one
felt a sensation as of a blazing to fear, in this carefully selected,
knife twisting in his bowels. rigorously scanned colony of the
“Are you all right?” Capodi- faithful. Somewhere a watchful
monte whispered. esper might be awake, seeking
Mondschein nodded. “Just — to detect hostile thoughts, but
cramps — Mondschein was emanating noth-
He forced himself to straighten ing that might seem hostile. He
up. But he was not all right, he did not know where he was go-
knew. Something was wrong, and ing, nor what he was about to
he did not know what. He was do. The forces that drove him
possessed. He was no longer his welled from deep within his
own master. Willy-nilly, he beyond the fumbling reach
brain,
would obey an inner command of any esper. They guided his
whose nature he did not at the motor responses, not his cere-
moment know, but which he bral centers.
sensed would be revealed to him He came to one of the infor-
at the proper time, and which he mation-retrieval centers, a stub-
would not resist. by brick building with a blank
windowless facade. Pressing his
VII hand against the doorscanner,
Mondschein waited to be identi-
even hours later, at the dark- fied; in a moment, his pattern
S est hour of night, Mond- was checked against the master
schein knew that the time had list of personnel, and he was ad-
come. mitted.
He woke, sweat-soaked, and There flowered in his brain
slipped into his robe. The dor- the knowledge of what he had
mitory was silent. He left his come to find: a holographic
room, glided quietly down the camera.
hall, entered the dropshaft. Mo- They kept such equipment on
ments later he emerged in the the second level. Mondschein
plaza fronting the dormitory went to the storeroom, opened a
buildings. cabinet, removed a compact ob-
The night was cold. Here on ject six inches square. Unhur-
the plateau, the day’s warmth riedly, he left the building, slid-
fled swiftly once darkness des- ing the camera into his sleeve.

THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 125

 Crossing another plaza, Mond-
schein approached Lab XXIa,
the longevity building. He had
been there during the day, to
give a biopsy. Now he moved
quickly through the irising door-
way, down a level into the base-
ment, entered the small room
just to his left. A rack of photo-
micrographs lay on a workbench
along the rear wall. Mondschein
touched a knuckle to the scan-
ner-activator, and a conveyor
belt dumped the photomicro-
graphs into the hopper of a pro-
jector.They began to appear in
the objective of the viewer.
He moved through the labora-
tory, photographing everything
that might be ofsome use. The
camera could take hundreds of
shots without recharging. Mond-
schein thumbed it again and
again. Within two hours he had
made a three-dimensional record
of virtually the entire laboratory.
Shivering a little, he stepped
out into the morning chill. Dawn
was breaking. Mondschein put
the camera back where he had
found it, after removing the cap-
sule of holographic plates. They
were tiny; the whole capsule was
not much bigger than a thumb-
nail. He slidit into his breast

A aimed his camera

/T ondschein pocket and returned to the dor-
and made a hologram of mitory.
each photomicrograph as it ap- The moment his head touched
peared. It was quick work. The the pillow, he forgot that he
camera’s laser beam flicked out, had left his room at all that
bouncing off the subjects, re- night.
bounding and intersecting a sec- In the morning, Mondschein
ond beam at 45°. The holograms said to Capodimonte, “Let’s go
would be unrecognizable without to Frijoles today.”
the proper equipment for view- “You’re really getting the bug,
ing; only a second laser beam, aren’t you?” Capodimonte said,
set at the same angle as the one grinning.
with which the holograms had Mondschein shrugged. “It’s
been taken, could transform the just a passing mood. I want to
unrecognizable patterns of inter- look at ruins, that’s all.”
secting circles on the plates into “We could go to Puye, then.
images. Those images, Mond- You haven’t been there. It’s pret-
schein knew, would be three-di- ty impressive, and quite differ-
”
mensional and of extraordinar- ent from
ily fine resolution. But he did not “No. Frijoles,” Mondschein
stop to ponder on the use to said. “All right?”
which they might be put. They got a permit to leave the

126 GALAXY
center —
it wasn’t too difficult standing what he was doing,
for lower-grade technicians to Mondschein drew the tiny cap-
go —
out and in the early part from his pocket
sule of holograms
of the afternoon they headed and placed it in an inconspic-
westward toward the Indian uous comer of the lefthandmost
ruins. The teardrop hummed niche. He spent another moment
along the road to Los Alamos, a looking around the kiva, and
secret scientific city of an earlier emerged.
era, but they turned left into Capodimonte was sitting on
Bandelier National Monument the soft white rock at the base
before they reached Los Alamos, of the cliff, looking up at the
and bumped down an old asphalt high reddish wall on the far side
road for a dozen miles until they of the canyon. Mondschein said,

came to the main center of the “Feel like taking a real hike to-
park. day?”
“Where to? Frijolito Ruin?”
was never very crowded here,
t “No,” Mondschein said. He
I but now, with summer over, pointed to the top of the canyon
the place was all but deserted. wall. “Out toward Yapashi. Or
The two acolytes strolled down to the Stone Lions.”
the main path, past the circular “That’s a dozen miles,” Cap-
canyon -bottom pueblo ruin odimonte said. “And we hiked
known as Tyuonyi, carved from there in the middle of July. I’m
blocks of volcanic tuff, and up not up to it again, Chris.”
the winding little road that took “Let’s go back, then.”
them to the cave dwellings. “You don’t need to get
When they reached the kiva, the angry,” Capodimonte said.

hollowed -out chamber that once “Look, we can

go to Ceremonial
had been a ceremonial room for Cave instead. That’s only a short
prehistoric Indians, Mondschein hike. Enough’s enough, Chris.”
said, “Wait a minute. I want to “All right,” Mondschein said.

have a look.” “Ceremonial Cave it is.”

He scrambled up the wooden He set the pace for the hike,
ladder and pulled himself into and it was a brisk one. They had
the kiva. Its walls were black- not gone a quarter of a mile be-
ened by the smoke of ancient fore the pudgy Capodimonte
fires. Niches lined the wall where was out of breath. Grimly,
once had been stored objects of Mondschein forged on, Capodi-
the highest ritual importance. monte straggling after him. They
Calmly and without really under- reached the ruin, viewed it brief-

THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 127

ly, and turned back. When they “See anything you want to
came to park headquarters, Cap- buy?” he asked.
odimonte said that he wanted to “No,” Mondschein said. “Let’s
rest a while, to have a snack be- mm »
go.
fore returning to the research Capodimonte drove. Mond-
center. schein eyed the scenery as it
“Go ahead," Mondschein said. whizzed past, and drifted into
“I’ll browse in the curio shop.” deep contemplation. Why did I
come here today, he wondered?
TTe waited until Capodimonte He had no idea. He did not re-
was out of sight. Then, en- member a thing —not a single de-
tering the curio shop, Mond- tail of his espionage. The erasure
schein went to the communi- had been complete.
booth. A number popped into his
brain, planted there hypnotically VIII
months before as he lay slum-
bering in the Nothing Chamber. nphey came for him a week
He put money in the slot and later, at midnight. A pon-
punched out the number. derous robot rumbled into his
“Eternal Harmony,” a voice room without warning and took
answered. up a station beside his bed, the
“This is Mondschein. Let me huge grips ready to seize him if
talk to anybody in Section Thir- he bolted. Accompanying the
teen.” robot was a hatchet-faced little
“One moment, please.” man named Magnus, one of the
Mondschein waited. His mind supervising Brothers of the cen-
feltblank. He was a sleep-walk- ter.
er now. “What’s happening?” Mond-
A purring, breathy voice said, schein asked.
“Go ahead, Mondschein. Give “Get dressed, spy. Come for
us the details." interrogation.”
With great economy of words “I’m no spy. There’s a mis-
Mondschein told where he had take, Brother Magnus.”
hidden the capsule of holograms. “Save the arguments, Mond-
The purring voice thanked him. schein. Up. Get up. Don’t at-
Mondschein broke the contact tempt any violence.”
and stepped from the booth. A Mondschein was mystified.
few moments later, Capodimonte But he knew better than to de-
entered the curio shop, looking bate the matter with Magnus,
fed and rested. especially with eight hundred

128 GALAXY
 ”

pounds of lightning-fast metallic “Fear.Hatred. Defiance.”

intelligence in the room. Puzzled, “How about disloyalty?”
the acolyte quit his bed and “His highest loyalty is to him-
•lipped on a robe. He followed self,” the esper said, clasping her
Magnus out. In the hallway, hands complacently over her
others appeared and stared at belly.
him. There were guarded whis- “Has he betrayed us?” Mag-
pers. nus demanded.
Ten minutes later, Mond- “No. I don’t see anything that
schein, found himself in a cir- says he has.”
cular room on the fifth floor of Mondschein said, “If I could
the research center’s main ad- ask the meaning of —
ministration building, surrounded “Quite,” Magnus said wither-
by more Brotherhood brass than ingly.
he had ever expected to see in Another of the supervisors
one room. There were eight of said, “The evidence is incontro-
diem, all high in councils. A vertible. Perhaps the girl’s mak-
knot of tension coiled in Mond- ing a mistake.”
schein’s belly. “Scan him
more closely,”
“The esper’s here,” someone Magnus directed. “Go back, day
muttered. by day, through his memory.
They had sent a girl, no more Don’t miss a thing. You know
than pasty-faced and
sixteen, what you’re looking for.”
plain. Her was flecked with
skin
small red blotches. Her eyes T)affled, Mondschein looked in
were alert, unpleasantly gleam- ^ appeal at the steely faces
ing, never still. Mondschein de- about him. The girl seemed to
spised her on sight, and he tried be gloating. Stinking voyeur, he
desperately to keep the emotion thought. Have a good scan!
under rein, knowing that she The girl said thinly, “He
could seal his fate with a word. thinks I’m going to enjoy this.
It was no use: she detected his He ought to try swimming
contempt for her the moment she through a cesspool some time, if
came into the room, and the he wants to know what it’s like.”
fleshy lips moved in a quick “Scan him,” Magnus said. “It’s
twitching smile. She drew her late and we may have many
dumpy body erect. questions to answer.”
Supervisor Magnus “This
said, She nodded. Mondschein wait-
is the man. What do you read ed for some sensation telling him
in him?” that his memories were being

THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 129

 ”

probed, some feeling as of in- Nothing Chamber for ninety-six

visible fingers going through his consecutive hours. He realized
brain. There was no such aware- that he might find out very
ness. Long moments passed in shortly just how apocryphal
silence, and then the girl looked those stories were.
up in triumph. Magnus said, “For your infor-
“The night of March 13’s been mation, Mondschein, someone
erased.” broke into the longevity lab and
“Can you get beneath the shot the whole place up with a
erasure?” Magnus asked. holograph. It was a very neat
“Impossible. It’s an expert job. job, except that we’ve got an
They’ve cut the whole night right alarm system in there, and you
out of him. And they’ve loaded happened to trip it.”
him with countermnemonics all
the way down the track. He < < Cir, I swear, I never set foot
doesn’t know a thing about what ^ inside —
he’s been up to,” the girl said. “Save it,Mondschein. The
The Supervisors exchanged morning after, we ran a neutron
glances. Mondschein felt perspir- activation analysis in there, just
ation soaking through his robe. as a matter of routine. We turn-
The smell of stung his nostrils.
it ed up traces of tungsten and
A muscle throbbed in his cheek, molybdenum that brushed off
and his forehead itched murder- you while you were taking those
ously, but he did not move. holograms. They match your
“She can go,” Magnus said. skin pattern. It took us a while
With the esper out of the room, to track them to you. There’s no
the atmosphere grew a little less doubt — same neutron pattern on
tense, but Mondschein did not the camera, on the lab equip-
relax. In a bleak, hopeless way, ment, and on your hand. You
he felt that he had been tried were sent in here as a spy,
and condemned in advance for whether you know it or not.”
a crime whose nature he did not Another supervisor said, “Kir-
even know. He thought of some by’s here.”
of the perhaps apocryphal stories “I’d like to know what he’s got
of Brotherhood vindictiveness: to say about this,” Magnus mut-
the man with the pain centers tered darkly.
removed, the esper staked out to Mondschein saw the lean, long-
endure an overload, the loboto- limbed figure of Reynolds Kirby
mized biologist, the renegade su- enter the room. His thin lips
pervisor who was left in a were clamped tightly together.

130 GALAXY
He seemed to have aged at least stared in even greater hostility at
ten years since Mondschein had Magnus. At length he said, "I
seen him in Langholt’s office. can’t take responsibility for ship-
Magnus whirled and said with ping this man here. It happens
open irritation, “Here’s your that he wrote to me in February,
man, Kirby. What do you think asking to be transferred out of
of him now?” normal chapel duties and sent
“He’s not my man,” said Kir- here. He was going over the
by. heads of his local administrators,
“You approved his transfer so I sent the letter back suggest-

here,” Magnus snapped. “Maybe ing that he be disciplined a little.

we ought to run a scan on you, A few weeks later I received in-
eh? Somebody worked a loaded structions that he be transferred
bomb into this place, and the out here. I was startled, to say
bomb’s gone off. He handed a the least, but I approved them.
whole laboratory away.” That’s all I know about him.”
“Maybe not,” Kirby said.
“Maybe he’s still got the data on AyTagnus extended a forefinger
him somewhere?” and tapped the air. “Wait
“He was out of the center the one moment, Kirby. You’re a
day after the laboratory was en- Supervisor. Who gives you in-
tered. He and another acolyte structions anyway? How can you
went to visit some ancient Indian be pressured into making a trans-
ruins. It’s a safe bet that he dis- fer when you’re in high author-
posed of the holograms while he ity?”
was out there.” “The instructions came from
“Have you tracked the cour- higher authority.”
ier?” Kirby asked. “I find that hard to believe,”
“We’re getting away from the Magnus said.
point,” said Magnus. “The point Mondschein sat stock still, en-
is that this man came to the thralled by this battle between
center on your recommendation. Supervisors despite his own pre-
You picked him out of nowhere dicament. He had never under-
and put him here. What we’d all stood how he had managed to get
like to know is where you found that transfer, and now it began
him and why you sent him here. to seem as though no one else
Eh?” understood it, either.
Kirby’s fleshless face worked Kirby said, “The instructions
wordlessly for a moment. He came from a source I’m reluctant
glowered at Mondschein, then to name.”
THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT 131
 “Covering up for yourself, Kir- He was as puzzled as they
by?” were. He would gladly have con-
“You’re taking liberties with fessed the most heinous of sins;
my patience, Supervisor Mag- in fact, several times during the
nus,” said Kirby tightly. long interrogation he did con-
“I want to know who put this fess, simply to have it over with,
spy among us.” but the espers read his motives
Kirby took a deep breath. “All plainly and laughed his con-
right,” he said. “I’ll tell you. All fessions to scorn. Somehow, he
of you be my witness to this. The knew, he had fallen into the
order came from Vorst. Noel hands of the enemies of the
Vorst called me and said he Brotherhood, and had concluded
wanted this man sent here. Vorst a pact with them, a pact which
sent him. Vorst! What do you he had fulfilled. But he had no
make of that?” inner knowledge of any of that
Whole segments of his memory
IX were gone, and that was terrify-
ing to him.
rT~'hey were not finished inter- Mondschein knew that he was
rogating Mondschein. Waves They would not let him
finished.
of espers worked him over, trying remain at Santa Fe, naturally.
to get beneath the erasure, with- His dream of being on hand
out success. Organic methods when immortality was achieved
were employed too: Mondschein now was ended. They would cast
was shot full of truth serums old him out with flaming swords, and
and new, everything from sodium he would wither and grow old,
pentothal on up, and batteries of cursing his lost opportunity. That
hard-faced brothers questioned is, if they did not kill him out-

him rigorously. Mondschein let right, or work some subtle form

them strip his soul bare, so that of slow destruction on him.
every bit of nastiness, every self- A light December snow was
seeking moment, everything that fallingon the day that Supervi-
made him a human being stood sor Kirby came to tell him his
out in bold relief. They found fate.
nothing useful. Nor did a four- “You can go, Mondschein,”
hour immersion in a Nothing the tall man said somberly.
Chamber yield results: Mond- “Go? Where?”
schein was too wobbly-brained to “Wherever you like. Your case
be able to answer questions for has been decided. You’re guilty,
three days afterward. but there’s reasonable doubt of

132 GALAXY
your volition. You’re being ex-
pelled from the Brotherhood, but
otherwise no action will be taken
against you.”
“Does that mean I’m expelled
from the church as a communi-
cant too?”
“Not necessarily. That’s up to
you. If you want to come to wor-
riiip, we won’t deny our comfort
to you,” Kirby said. “But there’s
no possibility of your holding a
position within the church.
You’ve been tampered with, and
we can’t take further chances
with you. I’m sorry, Mond-
ichein.”
Mondschein was sorry too, but
They would not
relieved as well.
take revenge on him. He would
lose nothing but his chance at
life everlasting — and perhaps he
might even retain that, just as
any other common worshipper
did.
He had forfeited, of
his chance to rise in the Vorster
hierarchy. But there was another
hierarchy too, Mondschein
thought, where a man might
move more swiftly.
The Brotherhood took him to
the city of Santa Fe proper, gave
him some money, and turned
him loose. Mondschein headed
immediately for the nearest
chapel of the Transcendent Har-
mony, which turned out to be in
Albuquerque, twenty minutes
away.
THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT
< <'\X7'e’ve been expecting you,”
Y ' a Harmonist in flowing
green robes told him. “I’ve got
instructions to contact my su-
periors the moment you show
up.”
Mondschein was not surprised
at that. Nor was he greatly as-
tonished to be told, a short while
later, that he was to leave by
quickboat for Rome right away.
The Harmonists would pay his
expenses, he was informed.
A slim woman with surgi -ally
altered eyelids met him at the
station in Rome. She did not
look familiar to him, but she
smiled at him as though they
were old friends. She conveyed
him to a house on the Via Fla-
minia, a few dozen miles north
of Rome, where a squat-sallow-
faced Harmonist Brother with a
bulbous nose awaited him.
“Welcome,” the Harmonist
course, said. “Do you remember me?”
“No, I —
yes. Yes/”
Recollection flooded back, diz-
zying him, staggering him. There
had been three heretics in the
room that other time, not just
one, and they had given him
wine, and promised him a place
in the Harmonist hierarchy, and
he had agreed to let himself be
smuggled into Santa Fe, a sol-
dier in the great crusade, a war-
rior of light, a Harmonist spy.
“You did very well, Mond-
schein,” the heretic said une-
133
tuously. “We didn’t think you’d world and likely martyrdom no, —
be caught so fast, but we weren’t he had never expected anything
sure of all their detection meth- like that.
ods. We could only guard against Faust didn't expect toe trou-
the espers, and we did a fair bles either, Mondschein thought
enough job of that. At any rate, coldly.
the information you provided He said, “What kind of trick
was extremely useful.” is this? You’ve got no right to
“And you’ll keep' your end of ask me to become a missionary!”
the bargain? I’m to get a tenth- “We offered you a tenth-level
level job?” Harmonist said quietly.
job,” the
“Of course. You didn’t think “The option of choosing what
we’d cheat you, did you? You’ll it would be in remained
division
have a three-month indoctrina- with us.”
tion course, so you can attain Mondschein was silent, though
insight into our movement. Then there was a fierce throbbing in
you’llassume your new duties in his skull. He
could walk out —
our organization. Which would and be nothing. Or he could sub-
you prefer, Mondschein Mars — mit, and be — what?
or Venus?” Dead in six weeks, as likely as
“Mars or Venus? I don’t fol- not.
low you.” "I’ll take it,” he said. His
“We’re going to attach you to words sounded like a cage clang-
our missionary division. You’ll be ing shut.
leaving Earth by next summer, The Harmonist nodded. “I
to carry on our work in one of thought you would,” he said.
the colonies. You’re free to He turned to leave, then paus-
choose the one you prefer.” ed.
Mondschein was aghast. He He asked curiously, “Did you
had never bargained for this. really think you could name
Selling out to these heretics, only your own position —
spy?”
to get shipped off to an alien — ROBERT SILVERBERG

134 GALAXY
 "Repent Harlequin!"
said the Ticktockman
by HARLAN ELLISON

"Repent, Harlequin I" said

the Ticktockman . . . but the
time for repentance was past

'T'here are always those who such as these even are commonly
-* ask, what is it all about? For esteemed good citizens. Others as —
those who need to ask, for those most legislators, politicians, lawyers,
who need points sharply made, ministers, and office-holders — serve
the state chiefly with their heads;
who need to know “where it’s
and, as they rarely make any moral
at”, this:
distinctions, they are as likely to
“The mass of men serve the state
serve the Devil, without intending it,
thus, not as men mainly, but as
machines, with their bodies. They
as God. A very few, as heroes, pa-
triots, martyrs, reformers in the
are the standing army, and the mi-
great sense, and men, serve the state
litia, jailors, constables, possee co-
with their consciences also, and so
mitatus, etc. In most cases there is
necessarily resist it for the most part;
no free exercise whatever of the
and they are commonly treated as
judgment or of the moral sense; but
enemies by it.”
they put themselves on a level with
wood and earth and stones; and
—
Henry David Thoreau,
“Civil Disobedience”
wooden men can perhaps be manu-
factured that will serve the purpose
as well. Such command no more re-
That is the heart of it. Now
spect than men of straw or a lump begin in the middle, and later
of dirt. They have the same sort of learn the beginning. The end will
worth only as horses and dogs. Yet take care of itself.

135
TJecause it was the very world ed to form and to ritual, niceties,
-*-* it was, the very world they proprieties. But down below, ah,
had allowed it to become, for down below,where the people
months his activities did not always needed their saints and
come to the alarmed attention of sinners, their bread and circuses,
The Ones Who Kept the Ma- their heroes and villains, he was
chine Functioning Smoothly, the considered a Bolivar; a Napo-
ones who poured the very best leon; a Robin Hood; a Dick
butter over the cams and main- Bong (Ace of Aces); a Jesus; a
springs of the culture. Not until Jomo Kenyatta.
it had become obvious that And at the top —
where, like
somehow, someway, he had be- socially attuned Shipwreck Kel-
come a notoriety, a celebrity, lys, every tremor and vibration
perhaps even a hero for what threatens to dislodge the wealthy,
Officialdom inescapably tagged powerful and titled from their
“an emotionally disturbed seg- flagpoles —
he was considered a
ment of the populace,” did they menace; a heretic; a rebel; a dis-
•turn it over to the Ticktockman grace; a peril. He was known
and his legal machinery. But by down the line, to the very heart-
then, because it was the very meat but the important re-
core,
world it was, and they had no actions were high above and far
way to predict he would happen below. At the very top, at the
— possibly a strain of disease very bottom.
long-defunct, now, suddenly re- So his file was turned over,
born in a system where immunity along with his time-card and his
had been forgotten, had lapsed cardioplate, to the office of the
— he had been allowed to be- Ticktockman.
come too real. Now he had form The Ticktockman: very much
and substance. over six feet tall, often silent, a
He had become a personality, soft purring man when things
something they had filtered out went timewise.
of the system many decades ago. Even in the cubicles of the
But there it was, and there he hierarchy, where fear was gen-
was, a very definitely imposing erated, seldom suffered, he was
personality. In certain middle- called the Ticktockman. But no
class circles it was thought dis- one called him that to his mask.
gusting. Vulgar ostentation. An- You don’t call a man a hated
archistic. Shameful. In others, name, not when that man, behind
there was only sniggering, those hismask, is capable of revoking
strata where thought is subjugat- the minutes, the hours, the days

136 GALAXY
and nights, the years of your life.
He was called the Master Time-
keeper to his mask.
“This is what he is,” said the
Ticktockman with genuine soft-
ness, “but not who he is. This
time-card I’m holding in my left
hand has a name on it, but it is
the name of what he is, not who
he is. This cardioplate here in
my right hand is also named, but
not whom named, merely what
named. Before I can exercise
proper revocation I have to know
who this what is.”
To his staff, all the ferrets, all
the loggers, all the finks, all the
commex, even the mineez, he
said, “Who is this Harlequin?”
He was not purring smoothly.
Timewise, it was jangle.
However, it was the longest
single speech they had ever heard
him utter at one time —
the staff,
the ferrets, the loggers, the finks,
the commex, but not the mineez,
who usually weren’t around to
know, in any case. But even they
scurried to find out — the walk was stopped automati-
Who is the Harlequin?
TTigh above the third level of
the city, he crouched on the
humming aluminum-frame plat-
form of the air-boat (foof!
boat, indeed! swizzleskid is what
itwas, with a tow-rack jerry-rig-
ged) and stared down at the
neat Mondrian arrangement
the buildings.
Somewhere nearby, he could
hear the metronomic left-right-
left of the 2:47 P.M. shift, enter-
ing the Timkin roller-bearing
plant in their sneakers. A minute
later, precisely,he heard the soft-
er of the 5:00
right-left-right
A.M. formation going home.
An elfish grin spread across his
tanned features, and his dimples
appeared for a moment. Then,
scratching at his thatch of au-
burn hair, he shrugged within his
motley, as though girding him-
self for what came next, and threw
the joystick forward, and bent
into the wind as the air-boat
dropped. He skimmed over a
slidewalk, purposely dropping a
few feet to crease the tassels of
the ladies of fashion, and — in-
serting thumbs in large ears — he
stuck out his tongue, rolled his
eyes and went wugga-wugga-
wugga. One pedestrian skittered
and tumbled, sending parcels
every which way, another wet her-
self, a third keeled slantwise and
cally by the servitors till she
could be resucitated. It was a
minor diversion.
Then he swirled away on a
vagrant breeze and was gone. Hi-
air- ho.
As he rounded the cornice of
the Time-Motion Study Building,
he saw the shift, just boarding
of the slidewalk. With practiced mo-
tion and an absolute conserva-

"REPENT, HARLEQUIN1" SAID THE TICKTOCKMAN 137

 .

tion of movement, they sidestep- childhood and holidays, coming

ped up onto the slowstrip and down in a steady rain, a solid
(in a chorus line reminiscent of wash, a torrent of color and
a Busby Berkeley film of the an- sweetness out of the sky from
tediluvian 1930’s) advanced above, and entering a universe
across the strips ostrich-walking of sanity and metronomic order
till they were lined up on the with quite-mad coo coo newness.
expresstrip. Jelly beans!
Once more, in anticipation, the
elfin grin spread, and there was nphe shift workers howled and
a tooth missing back there on the laughed and were pelted,
left side. He
dipped, skimmed, and broke ranks, and the jelly
and swooped over them. And beans managed to work their way
then, scrunching about on the into the mechanism of the slide-
air-boat, he released the holding walks; after which there was a
pins that fastened shut the ends hideous scraping as the sound of
of the home-made pouring a million fingernails rasped down
troughs that kept his cargo from a quarter of a million black'
dumping prematurely. And as he boards, followed by a coughing
pulled the trough-pins, the air- and a sputtering. And then the
boat slid over the factory work- slidewalks all stopped and every-
ers and one hundred and fifty one was dumped thisawayand-
thousand dollars worth of jelly thataway in a jackstraw tumble,
beans cascaded down on the ex- and still laughing and popping
presstrip. little jelly-bean eggs of childish

Jelly beans! Millions and bil- color into their mouths. It was
lions of purples and yellows and a holiday, and a jollity, an abso-
greens and licorice and grape and lute insanity, a giggle. But . .

raspberry and mint and round The shift was delayed seven
and smooth and crunchy outside minutes.
and soft-mealy inside and sugary They did not get home for
and bouncing jouncing tumbling seven minutes.
clittering clattering skittering fell The master schedule was
on the heads and shoulders and thrown off by seven minutes.
hardhats and carapaces of the Quotas were delayed by inop-
Timkin workers, tinkling on the erative slidewaKrs for aeven min-
sidewalk and bouncing away and utes.
rolling about underfoot and fill- He had tapped the first domino
ing the sky on their way down in the line, and one after anoth-
with all the colors of joy and er, the others had fallen.

136 GALAXY
 : :

The System had been seven
minutes’ worth of disrupted. It
was a tiny matter, hardly worthy
of note. But in a society where
tile single driving force was or-
der and unity and promptness
and clocklike precision and atten-
tion to the clock, reverence of the
gods of the passage of time, it
was a disaster of major impor-
tance.
So he was ordered to appear
and fifty thousand dollars worth
of jelly beans? (They knew it
would have cost that much, be-
cause they had a team of Situa-
tion Analysts pulled off another
assignment, and rushed to the
slidewalk scene to sweep up and
count the candies, and produce
findings, which disrupted their
schedules and threw their entire
branch at least a day behind.)
Jelly beans! Jelly beans?
. . .

before the Ticktockman. Now wait a second a second —

It was broadcast across every accounted for —
no one has man-
channel of the communications ufactured jelly beans for over a
web. He was ordered to be there hundred years.
at 7:00 dammit on time. And That’s another good question.
they waited, and they waited. But More than likely it will never be
he didn’t show up till almost ten- answered to your complete satis-
thirty, at which time he merely faction. But then, how many
sang a little song about moon- questions ever are?
light in a place no one had ever
heard of, called Vermont, and
vanished again. But they had all
been waiting since seven, and it
T he middle you know. Here
the beginning. How it starts
is

Adesk pad. Day for day, and

wrecked hell with their schedules. turn each day. 9:00 open the—
So the question remained: Who mail. 9:45 —
appointment with
is the Harlequin? planning commission board. 10:30
But the unasked question — discuss installation progress
(more important of the two) was charts with J. L. 11:15 pray —
how did we get into this position, for rain. 12:00 —
lunch. And so
where a laughing, irresponsible it goes.
japer of jabberwocky and jive “I’m sorry, Miss Grant, but
could disrupt our entire economic the time for interviews was set
and cultural life with a hundred at 2:30, and it’s almost five now.
and fifty thousand dollars worth I’m sorry you’re late, but those
of jelly beans? are the rules. You’ll have to wait
Jelly for God’s sake beans! till next year to submit applica-

This is madness! Where did he tion for this college again.” And
get the money to buy a hundred so it goes.

"REPENT, HARLEQUIN!" SAID THE TICKTOCKMAN 139

 “I couldn’t wait, Fred.
be at Pierre Cartain’s by 3:00,
and you said you’d meet me un-
der the clock in the terminal at
2:45, and you weren’t there, so I
had to go on. You’re always late,
Fred. If you’d been there, we
could have sewed it up together,
but as it was, well, I took the
order alone . And so it goes.
. the system will not function if we
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Atterley:
in reference to your son Gerold’s
constant tardiness,
we will have to suspend him
from school unless some more
reliable method can be instituted
guaranteeing he will arrive at his
classes on time. Granted he is an
exemplary student, and his marks
are high, his constant flouting of
the schedules of this school make
itimpractical to maintain him in
a system where the other children
•eem capable of getting where
they are supposed to be on time
mnd so it goes.
YOU CANNOT VOTE UN-
LESS YOU APPEAR AT 8:45
A.M.
“I don’t care if
good, I need it Thursday!”
CHECK-OUT TIME
P.M.
“You got here late.
taken. Sorry.”
YOUR SALARY HAS BEEN
DOCKED FOR TWENTY
MINUTES TIME LOST.
“God, what time
gotta run!”
140
I had to And to it goes. And so it goes.
And so it goes. And so it goes
goes goes goes goes tick tock tick
tock tick tock and one day we no
longer let time serve us, we serve
time and we are slaves of the
schedule, worshippers of the sun’s
passing, bound into a life pre-
dicated on restrictions because
don’t keep the schedule tight.
Until it becomes more than a
I am afraid minor inconvenience to be late.
It becomes a sin. Then a crime.
EFFECTIVE 15 JULY 2389,
12:00:00 midnight, the office of
the Master Timekeeper will re-
quire that all citizens to submit
their time-cards and cardioplates
for processing. In accordance with
Statute 555-7 -SGH-999 govern-
ing the revocation of time per
capita,all cardioplates will be
keyed to the individual holder
and —
What they had done was de-
vise a method of curtailing the
amount of life a person could
have. If he was ten minutes late,
the script is he lost ten minutes of his life.
An hour was proportionately
IS 2:00 worth more revocation. If some-
one was consistently tardy, he
The job’s might find himself, on a Sunday
night, receiving a communique
from the Master Timekeeper that
his time had run out, and he
would be “turned off” at high
is it, I’ve noon on Monday, please straight-
en your affairs, sir.
GALAXY
 And so, by this simple scien- “I’m —
” he stopped, and clap-
tific expedient (utilizing a scien- ped the jester’s hat onto his au-
tific process held dearly secret burn thatch with a tiny tingling
by the Ticktockman’s office) the of bells.He rose, rinsed out his
system was maintained. It was coffee-bulb at the tap, and put it
tiie only expedient thing to do. into the drier for a moment. “I
It was, after all, patriotic. The have to go.”
schedules had to be met. After She didn’t answer. The faxbox
all, there was a war on! was purring, and she pulled a
But wasn’t there always? sheet out, read it, threw it to-
ward him on the counter. “It’s
44XJ0W that is really disgust- about you. Of course. You’re ri-
' ing,” the Harlequin said, diculous.”
when pretty Alice showed him He read it quickly. It said the
the wanted “Disgusting
poster. Ticktockman was trying to locate
and highly improbable. After all, him. He didn’t care, he was going
this isn’t the days of desperadoes. out to be late again. At the door,
A wanted poster!” dredging for an exit line, he
“You know,” Alice noted, “you hurled back petulantly, “Well,
speak with a great deal of in- you speak with inflection, tooF'
flection.” Alice rolled her pretty eyes
“I’m sorry,” said the Harlequin heavenward. “You’re ridiculous.”
humbly. The Harlequin stalked out, slam-
“No need to be sorry. You’re ming the door, which sighed shut
always saying ‘I’m sorry’. You softly, and locked itself.

have such massive guilt, Everett, There was a gentle knock, and
it’s really very sad.” Alice got up with an exhalation
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, then of exasperated breath, and open-
pursed his lips so the dimples ed the door. He stood there. “I’ll
appeared momentarily. He hadn’t be back about ten-thirty, okay?”
wanted to say that at all. “I have She pulled a rueful face. “Why
to go out again. I have to do do you tell me that? Why? You
something.” know you’ll be late! You know
Aliceslammed her coffee-bulb it! You’re always late, so why do
down on the counter. “Oh for you tell me these dumb things?”
God’s sake, Everett, can’t you She closed the door.
stay home just one night! Must On the other side, the Harle-
you always be out in that ghastly quin nodded to himself. She’s
clown suit, running around an- right. She’s always right. Fll be
noying people?” late. I’m always late.

“REPENT, HARLEQUIN!" SAID THE TICKTOCKMAN 141

 He shrugged again, and went
off to be late once more.
TTe had fired off the firecrack-
er rockets that said: I will
attend the 115th annual Inter-
national Medical Association In-
vocation at 8:00 P.M. precisely.
I do hope you will join me.
The words had burned in the
sky, and of course the authorities
were there, lying in wait for him.
They assumed, naturally, that he
would be late. He arrived twenty
minutes early, while they were
setting up the spiderwebs to trap
and hold him, and blowing a
large bullhorn, he frightened and
unnerved them so that their own
moisturized encirclement webs
sucked closed, and they were
hauled up, kicking and shrieking,
high above the amphitheater’s
floor. The Harlequin laughed and
laughed, and apologized profuse-
ly. The physicians, gathered in
solemn conclave, roared with
laughter, and accepted the Har-
lequin’s apologies with exagger-
ated bowing and posturing, and a
merry time was had by all, who
thought the Harlequin was a re-
gular foofaraw in fancy pants;
all, that is, but the authorities,
who had been sent out by the
office of the Ticktockman, who
hung there like so much
dockside
cargo, hauled up above the floor
unseemly fashion,
of the amphitheater in a most
142
(In another part of the same
city where the Harlequin carried
on his “activities”, totally unre-
lated in every way to what con-
cerns here, save that it illustrates
the Ticktockman’s power and
import, a man named Marshall
Delahanty received his turn-off
notice from the Ticktockman’s
office. His wife received the no-
from the gray-suited
tification
minee who delivered it, with the
traditional “look of sorrow” plas-
tered hideously across his face.
She knew what it was, even with-
out unsealing it. It was a billet-
doux of immediate recognition to
everyone these days. She gasped,
and held it as though it were a
glass slide tingled with botulism,
and prayed it was not for her.
Let it be for Marsh, she thought,
brutally, realistically, or one of
the kids, but not for me, please
dear God, not for me. And then
she opened it, and it was for
Marsh, and she was at one and
the same time Horrified and re-
lieved. The next trooper in the
line had caught the bullet.
“Marshall,” she screamed, “Mar-
shall! Termination, Marshall!
OhmiGod, Marshall, whattl we
do, whattl we do, Marshall, omi-
godmarshall .” and in their
. .
home that night was the sound
of tearing paper and fear, and
the stink of madness went up the
flue and there was nothing, ab-
solutely nothing they could do.
GALAXY
 (But Marshall Delahanty tried “Why let them order you
to run. And early the next day, about? Why let them tell you t*
when turn-off time came, he was hurry and scurry like ants or
deep in the forest two hundred maggots? Take your time! Saun-
miles away, and the offices of the ter a while! Enjoy the sunshine,
Ticktockman blanked his cardio- enjoy the breeze, let life carry
plate, and Marshall Delahanty you at your own pace! Don’t be
keeled over, running, and his slaves of time, it’s a helluva way
heart stopped, and the blood to die, slowly, by degrees. Down
driedup on its way to his brain, with the Ticktockman!”
and he was dead that’s all. One Who’s the nut? most of the
light went out on his sector map shoppers wanted to know. Who’s
in the office of the Master Time- the nut oh wow I’m gonna be
keeper, while notification was late I gotta run . . .

entered for fax reproduction, and And the construction gang on

Georgette Delahanty’s name was
entered on the dole roles till she
could re-marry. Which is the end
of the footnote, and all the point
that need be made, except don’t
laugh, because that is what would
happen to the Harlequin if ever
the Ticktockman found out his
real name. It isn’t funny.)
nphe shopping level of the city
was thronged with the Thurs-
day-colors of the buyers. Women
in canary yellow chitons and men
in pseudo -Tyrolean outfits that
were jade and leather and fit
very tightly, save for the balloon
pants.
When the Harlequin appeared
on the still-being-constructed
shell of the new Efficiency Shop-
ping Center, his bullhorn to his
elfishly laughing lips, everyone
pointed and stared. He berated
them.
the Shopping Center received an
urgent order from the office of
the Master Timekeeper that the
dangerous criminal known as the
Harlequin was atop their spire,
and their aid was urgently need-
ed inapprehending him. The
work crew said no, they would
lose time on their construction
schedule, but the Ticktockman
managed to pull the proper
threads of governmental webbing,
and they were told to cease work
and catch that nitwit up there
on the spire with the bullhorn. So
a dozen and more burly workers
began climbing into their con-
struction platforms, releasing the
a-grav plates, and rising toward
the Harlequin.
After the debacle (in which,
through the Harlequin’s attention
to personal safety, no one was
seriously injured), the workers
tried to re-assemble and assault

"REPENT, HARLEQUIN!" SAID THE TICKTOCKMAN 143

him again. But it was too late. used treachery. They used Raoul
He had vanished. It had attract- Mitgong, but he didn’t help
ed quite a crowd, however, and much. They used applied phy-
the shopping cycle was thrown sics. They used techniques of
off by simply hours. The pur- criminology.
chasing needs of the system were And what the hell : they caught
therefore falling behind, and so him.
measures were taken to acceler- After all, his name was Ever-
ate the cycle for the rest of the ett C. Marm, and he wasn’t
day, but it got bogged down and much to begin with, except a man
speeded up and they sold too who had no sense of time.
many floatvalves and not nearly
enough
that the
wegglers,
popli
which meant
ratio was off,
UD epent, Harlequin !” said the
Ticktockman.
which made it necessary to rush “Get stuffed!” the Harlequin
cases and cases of spoiling replied, sneering.
Smash-O to stores that usually “You’ve been late a total of
needed a case only every three sixty-three years, five months,
or four hours The shipments three weeks, two days, twelve
were bollixed, the trans-ship- hours, forty-one minutes, fifty-
ments were mis-routed, and in nine seconds, point oh three six
the end, even the swizzleskid in- one one one microseconds. You’ve
dustries felt it used up everything you can, and
“Don’t come back till you have more. I’m going to turn you off.”
him!” the Ticktockman said, very “Scare someone else. I’d rath-
quietly, very sincerely, extremely er be dead than live in a dumb
dangerously. world with a bogey man like
They used dogs. They used you.”
probes. They used cardioplate “It’s my job.”
crossoffs. They used teepers. “You’re full of it. You’re a ty-
They used bribery. They used rant. You have no right to order
stiktytes. They used intimida- people around and kill them if
tion. They used torment. They they show up late.”
used torture. They used finks. “You can’t adjust. You can’t
They used cops. They used fit in.”
search & seizure. They used fal- “Unstrap me and I’ll fit my
laron. They used betterment in- fist into your mouth.”
centive. They used fingerprints. “You’re a non-conformist.”
They used Bertillon. They used “That didn’t used to be a fel-
cunning. They used guils. They ony.”

144 GALAXY
 “It is now. Live in the world bright-eyed, and not at all brain-
around you.” washed, and he said he had been
hate
“I it. It’s a terrible wrong, that it was a good, a very
world.” good thing indeed, to belong, and
“Not everyone thinks so. Most be right on time hip-ho and
people enjoy order.” away we go, and everyone stared
“I don’t, and most of the peo- up at him on the public screens
ple I know don’t.” that covered an entire city block,
“That’s not true. How do you and they said to themselves, well,
think we caught you?” you see, he was just a nut after
“I’m not interested,” said the all, and if that’s the way the
Harlequin.” system is run, then let’s do it
“A girl named pretty Alice told that way, because it doesn’t pay
us who you were.” to fight city hall, or in this case,
“That’s a lie.” the Ticktockman. So Everett C.
“It’s true. You unnerve her. Marm was destroyed, which was
She wants to belong, she wants a loss, because of what Thoreau
to conform, I’m going to tum said earlier, but you can’t make
you off.” an omelette without breaking a
“Then do it already, and stop few eggs, and in every revolution,
arguing with me.” a few die who shouldn’t, but
“I’m not going to turn you they have to, because that’s the
off.” way it happens, and if you make
“You’re an idiot!” only a little change, then it seems
“Repent, Harlequin,” said the to be worthwhile. Or, to make
Ticktockman. the point lucidly:
“Get stuffed.”
So they sent him to Coventry. ttTTh, excuse me, sir, I, uh,
And in Coventry they worked ^
don’t know how to uh, to
him over. It was just like what tellyou this, but you were three
they did to Winston Smith in minutes late. The schedule is a
1984, which was a book none of little, uh, bit off.”
them knew about. But the tech- He grinned sheepishly.
niques are really quite ancient, “That’s ridiculous!” murmured
and so they did it to Everett C. the Ticktockman behind his
Marm, and one day quite a long mask. “Check your watch.” And
time later, the Harlequin appear- then he went into his office, going
ed on the communications web, mrmee, mrmee, mrmee, mrmee.
appearing elfish and dimpled and —HARLAN ELLISON

“REPENT, HARLEQUIN!" SAID THE TICKTOCKMAN 145

 Worlds of

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^^Tiat sane man would be a dogmatically sure of what will
writer? Consider that he has sell and is often in a position to

to please himself; he may claim influence everything from cover

he does not care what he writes design to content. The distributor
or how, but he must write to sell, is in turn marginally conscious
and that elementary need alone of the retailer — the storekeeper
operates to shape his choice of in whose power it lies to bury a
word-arrangements. He may magazine behind a stack of com-
claim that he does not care if he petitors, or to return a bundle un-
sells . but you can see where
. . opened, unsold.
that leads. The writer who But us assume that the
let
doesn’t care is the least free of writer’s words, however shaped
all writers, and often a suffering by conscious and unconscious
slave to his own notions of ex- modifications at all these levels,
cellence. have been published, sold, and
Then he has to get past an are now held before a reader’s
editor, who is in turn conscious of eyes.
his publisher. To an at least ap- Can the reader read? What in-
propriate degree, and often to a fluences in his life have made
point of paranoia, the three of certain words compellingly signi-
them are conscious of what they ficant to him? Never mind the
believe the reader wants. In many twelve-year-old who has stum-
cases, there is the background in- bled across his first unabridged
fluence of the distributor, who is dictionary, and the certifiable

147
maniac who underscores the ing of which is an apparently uni-
words he likes in the publications versal tendency to call one very
he likes; these are the extreme clangorous sf novel ‘‘Rouge
cases. But they are significant; Moon.” (A man who wanted me
you cannot tell me that an in- to hirehim once devoted three
dividual sufficiently word-con- single-spaced pages to telling me
scious to read for pleasure has what a great book that was, and
not developed a complex tangle not once in some twenty detailed
of reflexes triggered by words. references to its title and specific
This tangle is not the same as scenes therein did he even acci-
anyone and therefore no
else’s, dentally tumble to the fact that
reader reads what the writer has the publisher had called it Rogue
written. Moon. Yet he wanted the job
Not only are words an arbitrary very badly.)
code with less than perfect ac- And then, poor chap, the writer
curacy, so are letters only arbi- has gotten his work out into print,
trary marks on paper. I can read and at least some of his readers
German, for instance —
but not — as frail, as tangled inside —
in the quasimedieval characters are critics. Critics think they
of the 1930’s. Some groups of let- know everything went onthat
ters are difficult for people to in the writer’s mind, and where
read accurately —
if your name he did not say what he intended
is Bulger, Swensen, Poul Ander- to say. They correct his arrange-
son, Frederik Pohl, Fredric ments for him before he even
Brown or Frederic Wakeman, or makes them, and then they write
if you are quite accustomed to essays about them.
receiving mail addressed to Algis I, fortunately, am a book re-

Burdys, you know exactly what viewer. I only know all about
I mean. If you have a name that book produc-
editing, publishing,
ends in “s,” or if you will observe and the differ-
tion, distribution
home-made signs selling toma- ence between making and missing
toes or chili-and-beans, you will the distributor’s tie (not an item
quickly note what can be done of accessory apparel, in this
with a possessive apostrophe in case). I would not dream of tell-

reckless hands. People have cer- ing you what goes on in the mind
tain predispositions when deci- of any specific writer. I have some
phering the code we call language understanding of what goes on
— in fact,we mis-call it, for in in my own mind, of course, when
this case we are discussing litera- I am being a writer, and would

tion — one of the more infuriat- be remiss if I did not ascribe my

148 GALAXY
habits and prejudices to the peo- own terms. They vary less than
ple whose books I review. All this that from the tone and approach
I write down,and send off to my taken in his earliest work. That
editor, who marks it up and sends includes some of the best fan-
it to his printer, who hands it tasy Unknown ever published,
to his composing room foreman, as well as a considerable canon
etc., etc., and after a while you of robot stories which began with
get it, complete with occasional the poignant and gentle “Helen
typographical errors and idio- O’Loy” at almost the same time,
syncratic editing, and you under- to the week, when Eando Bin-
stand it, don’t you? der’s “I, Robot” (the lurching,
hollow short story, not Isaac
A X ortals and Monsters (Bal- Asimov’s later series eventually
lantine #U2236, 50c, paper collected under that name) was
original) is the third collection of demonstrating the uses of bathos.
short stories by Lester del Rey, Finally, the entire body of del
Robots and Changelings, also Rey’s work differs less from other
from Ballantine, having inter- kinds of stories he has done un-
vened between this one and . . . der other names than it does
And Some Were Human. These from most of the science fiction
are storieswritten since 1950; that has appeared during that
their sources are diverse. Of the time.
twelve pieces here, five are from From the beginning of his ca-
Galaxy; three are from Astround- reer to date, del Rey has remain-
ing, and the rest from other ed his own individual. He has
sources including The Magazine listened respectfully to various
of Fantasy and Science Fiction. editorial dicta, thoughtfully con-
In other words, del Rey’s work sidered the requirements of his
has adapted itself to the require- market, chosen the editors he will
ments of every major market in work for and then has sat down
the past twenty-five years of this to write his story so that it came
field. out a del Rey story, of a piece
Or has it? Generally speaking, with del Rey and with what del
there are no basic differences in Rey feels. In the last analysis,
the essential natures of these he writes for himself, and for his
stories; it is impossible to guess readers. Consequently, he has
where each first appeared simply lasted longer, and done more good
on the basis of its text. They work, than hundreds of practi-
vary a little bit —
not much — tionerswho have come charging
in their degree of success on their over the horizon.

GALAXY BOOKSHELF 149

 His touch as a storyteller
quiet. The typical del
acter an individual who is try-
is
ing to do the decent thing to the
best of his ability. The
Rey story problem is that of a
good and faithful being trying to
understand a complex situation
which prevents his immediately
knowing the decent thing to do.
When he writes a story whose
problem becomes apparent only
in the last
paragraphs, this is fre-
quently the nature of his “trick”
ending —
the mood is not shock
but sorrow; the payoff is not in
some irrevocable destruction
this personality but
er’s realization that even a de-
cent individual must pay the
price of ignorance.
Normally, del Rey even then
leaves an opening for the prota-
gonist to grow and go on in, and
even his worst losers retrieve
something —
call it dignity.
The few exceptions to this gen-
is own course, suffering foolishness
Rey char- but not fools, ignoring the ignor-
ant but not ignorance. In a society
of other-directed people, twist-
typical del ing and turning toward today’s
chosen practicality, the truly
proud and independent man is a
marvel to behold. When he
chooses to create, his creations
cannot help but take on some of
that attribute, and in turn give
us our chance to assimilate as
much of it as we can. At the very
least, what his stories offer is a
refreshing change. It is up to the
reader to provide whatever it is
of that needs refreshing and is still
in the read- not beyond it.
In this particular collection, the
story which most clearly spells
this out is “Return Engagement,”
a blend of science fiction and fan-
tasy which not only takes man-
kind’s present general desolation
as its problem but then offers an
explanation and a solution which
is completely valid on its own

eral rule are noteworthy for two terms. These three extremely dif-
things ;the Willfully vicious thing ficult things are done with eco-
they have done to merit their nomy and a skill to which del
eventual punishment, and that Rey does not draw your atten-
punishment, which is nothing so tion. Others have tried to accom-
simple as being shot in the gut plish as much within a novel, and
with a blaster —
when it arrives, failed.
it is gray, chilling spiritual desola- For contrast, there’s “And it

tion. Comes Out Here.” a lightheart-

I believe reason for all
the ed time-paradox story. As it hap-
these qualities is a simple one. pens, the hero’s plans could not
Del Rey’s world runs deeper and possibly have worked out if the
clearer than most, following its future society for which he is in
150 GALAXY
part responsible were not truly, that turns of technique are to be
ultrahumanly decent. learned for the purpose of clear-
"Instinct” is one of the finest ing away all signs of technique
robot stories ever written. It is between story and reader. There
the epitome of everything del is plainly nothing in his code
Rey does in this sub-genre, from that says the result must be
its characterizations of the ro- bland. This is a book you will
bots’ diverse and sophisticated not regret buying.
personalities to his understand-
ing of what a robot, even a highly A nd now we are going to con-
educated and apparently fully sider a book you should not
human robot, must be and do. buy. It is time we had an example
But perhaps I’m leading you which is made horrible not by the
to think of this author as a sweet, lack of intelligence but the lack
kindly chap with a little twinkle of application; in short, a book
in his eye and an attitude that with decent people in it, represen-
stands four square with the tradi- ting the work of some people I
tions of hearth and home. That know are decent, which is never-
impression will be seriously un- theless indecent.
dermined not only by the blurbs Robert Silverberg is the self-
Ballantine has applied to this contained, cerebral and charming
package but by such stories as man to whom the del Rey col-
"Seat of Judgment” and “Lady of lection described above
is dedi-
Space,” as well as by much in cated. He knows
the science-
the remaining selections. The fiction field and a great many
thing that makes his stories so other things to exhaustion, and
good the same thing that makes
is he writes and sells a minimum of
his public personality so striking fifty thousand words call — it

that no editorial staff has been the equivalent of a commerial

able to resist sketching it in their novel —
each week, using a pla-
descriptive copy. He sees very toon of pseudonyms who are the
few things the way most people major factors in a great many dif-
do. He sees them clearly, and he ferent markets for commercial
says so. You will be amazed writing. He is in the business of
how deep these gentle stories giving value for money, and he is
cut. There is no writer in this an outstanding success at that.
field who is more steadfast in Stillquite young, he was a prom-
practicing the rule that fiction inent fiction fan in the early
is first of all entertainment, nor 1950s and then turned to this
one who believes more strongly professional field first before ex-
GALAXY BOOKSHELF 151
ponding his career onward. He
(till appears in the magazines
frequently enough to maintain
the appearance of a full-time
career. In actual fact, of course,
every word he now sells here is
an interruption in his main
schedule, and in many senses a
labor of love.
Chilton has now brought out a and a zoo ship piloted by humans
collection of his earliest stories
under the titleTo Worlds Be-
yond ($3.95) with a foreward by
Isaac Asimov and a very good
brief introduction by the author.
(The book is coincidentally, ded-
icated to Lester and Evelyn del
Rey.) There are nine stories al-
together in this 170-page volume,
all from the years 1956 through
’59. Chilton, which includes many
juveniles in its program, does not
ay that this is another one, but
I think it’s realistic to consider
that these selections, four from
Imagination and Super-Science
with the remainder from As-
tounding, Galaxy and Infinity,
have been chosen with an eye
toward that market. The tone of
the selling copy on the jacket
flap is appropriately gee whiz.
Of the stories, “The Old Man”
and “Misfit” are rather bad, and
“Collecting Team” is not much
better. As a class, they share the
attribute of each being about
one simple idea which gets very
little in the way of development
«r — although two of these are
152
supposed to be “surprise” stories
— suspense. Respectively they
describe —but do not tell an
adult enough about —
a space-
ship captain who is superan-
nuated at the age of nineteen, a
man who must find his wife on
a high-gravity world whose ac-
climated humans despise him,
which finds itself trapped on a
planet which turns out to be a
zoo maintained by aliens. As a
class, these stories end where the
writers Silverberg was reading as
a fan would have begun them.
“Double Dare” the Galaxy
selection —
“Certainty” and
“Mind for Business”, represent
some rather good work in a direct
line of descent from the gimmick-
anecdotes Astounding has already
enjoyed. As a class, these are
stories which are difficult to do
markedly well, but which by
their nature cannot be raised be-
yond the level of anecdote.
Finally,we have “The Over-
lord’s Thumb,” “New Men For
Mars” and ‘“Ozymandas,” in that
rising order of adult quality. All
of them represent some attempt
to grapple with real problems.
The first concerns itself with the
day when an unwittingly guilty
Earthman may stand accused in
an alien court —
an event which
is bound to occur sooner or later
— and we have a choice of pull-
ing him out by force majeur or
GALAXY
letting him take his chances people who most attrac-
are not
with a code of justice we do not tive to societyon Earth will get
subscribe to. Silverberg makes the all the for work on
subsidies
humanistic choice —
lets him be Mars, and that this will prove to
found guilty and take his punish- be a serious error. But in this
ment — but vitiates his own point 1957 story, he takes too long to
by having the punishment turn decide he’s made his point; the
out to be something the convict reader is well ahead of him, es-
himself can overcome by physical pecially since the story is written
force. Furthermore, the premise in the time-honored manner
is not essentially science fictional; (with the protagonist loving the
the locale is simply Hungary or slick colony at once) which tells
East Germany written differ- all of us who have read more
ently since the aliens are totally than three pulp stories that
humanoid. something Will Happen to
“New Men For Mars” is about Change His Mind.
two rival colonies on that planet. “Ozymandias” is a fair story,
One of them, under official spon- wry and convincing in its char-
sorship, is a completely terra- acterizations. An exploration
formed dome populated by ed- team, half scientific and half
ucated and sophisticated people military, finds a totally desolated
who cannot exist unprotected but once civilized planet. On it,

when away from it. The other, a the scientists discover an intel-
private venture of which the ligent robot who quickly learns
official bodies are hostile, is their speech and is able to tell
nothing like as flossy and is pop- them the complete history of
ulated almost exclusively by this otherwise bare desert world
transplanted Andean tin miners and the high-level culture whose
who have little to recommend home it was. The scientists, al-
them except for their native ready by their ship’s
irritated
ability to live in a thin, cold at- militarycommander, keep their
mosphere. Silverberg demon- tremendous archeological dis-
strates rather honestly and con- covery to themselves.
clusively that education and This piece of action, which is
admirable personalities can be a moot likelihood in real life, has
left for later, and that even the to be supported with exact char-
fractional advantage of not having acterization and motivation in
to run quite so fast for an air suit any story that proposes to use it
is the crucial one. I’m afraid he’s believably. Silverberg is not
right in postulating that the known for bothering very much
GALAXY BOOKSHELF 153
in precisely those areas of tech- This book is interesting !>
nique. But he does here, because cause is represents precisely tfct
he absolutely must, and proves kind of thing that happens when
that when he must, he can do it a publisher produces a bocfc
well. He does something of the only because he wants to do •
same for the military people, who book. I find it impossible to bo-
now discover Ozymandias the ro- lieve he wanted to do this par-
bot for themselves and seize him ticular book. The tone of A#
for their purposes, since the ro- jacket copy is adolescent; tho
bot can also reel off the specs Asimov introduction, on the othsr
for all the super-weapons which hand sounds like some of Isaac's
wasted this world in the first marvelous party conversation,
place. But having gone that far, full of personal asides and bounce,
he ends with a cliche having — utterly charming and, in this con-
seized the robot and his infor- text, irrelevant. On the other
mation, the military will now go hand, each story is preceded by
home and start the escalation of a useful, restrainedly short and
events which will inevitably de- uneffusive blurb which serve*
stroy Earth as this planet was to give pattern and cohesion to
destroyed. Or so, at least, believe the selection of stories, which are
the scientists who have been our very well balanced against each
viewpoint characters all along, other. On the fourth hand, we ar#
and who now slump into inef- told three times (once in Asimov’s
fectuality with a bitterness and a introduction, twice by Chilton’s
kind of damp
resignation which blurb writers) that Silverberg’s
seem repugnant to me as an wife is beautiful. She is — in fact,

adult and are not likely to do she looks as if she had been
anything more than that for painted by Degas —
but this in-
adolescents. In a way, it would formation is of no relevance to
be almost better if Silverberg your reading of these stories,
had not bothered to do one part nor did we really need to know,
of this story so well. Well, no. He three times, that she is an elec-
was right to do it — good work tronics engineer, especially since
is never wasted, and is going to there is no specially detailed
have its cumulative effect on a electronics in any of these stories.
writer’s later endeavors. But con- Ultimately, a prize must go to
sidering this particular story as the art director for producing a
a thing in the immediate
itself, jacket so stark that he could
result is a heightening of dis- rescue himself only by empha-
appointment. sizing the R
in “worlds,” thus in-

154 GALAXY
dicating only that he was unable that has been on the ascendant
to start over from scratch; to the since William Golding wrote The
assistant editor who put in a full Lord of The Fliee and Nigel
and precise acknowledgement of Dennis did Cards of Identity.
previous copyright —
in the place It is die new Gothic fantasy,
where he forgot to supply a drawing for its effects not cm
table of contents (there is none, the superstitious lore of Tran-
anywhere the book); and to
in sylvanian peasants but on the
the jacket blurb writers, again, up-to-date explorations of the
who were so strained for some-
human psyche, which is of course
thing to say that they felt moved another thing entirely.
to tell us Robert Silverberg is
The Cook, as a matter of fact,
known “Bob, to his science
as
owes a great deal to the ten-
fiction fans around the world.”
year-old Cards of Identity. That
With these advertisements for
book began with a mysterious
carelessness, schilophrenia and
but purposeful stranger’s delib-
editorial boredom all over the
erately getting a stately old
book, who in the world can be
English family so confused as to
expected to invest four dollars
work? its identity that it willynilly,
in its author’s
step by step lost its hold on the
real situation, became convinced

R andom
item,
House has a curious
The Cook, which is a
that it was the domestic staff of
the manor and thus permitted the
novel worth its $4.95 and is by- stranger to move in as lord of the
lined Harry Kressing, which is manor and celebrated his acces-
pointedly acknowledged to be a sion with an enormous levee at
pseudonym. which the actual owners of course
The Cook may be read as labored night and day as the ser-
fantasy —
it being carefully vants of this cuckoo’s invited
picked out in threads of allegory sycophants. The book went on
and symbolism —
or as science from there, working all this out in
fiction, if one allows that gas- considerable filigree; The Cook,
tronomy is a science. My feeling which is not as elaborate iTl any

is that it is —at least as must so particular but is therefore more

as the brand of sociology which convincing, stops at that point,
has made so many words in this with the party going on ad per-
field. petuum and Conrad, who began
What the book really is is an as the cadaverous new cook,
exercise in the sort of writing grown monstrously fat and mar-
GALAXY BOOK SHELF 155
ned to the equally elephantine
daughter of the house.
It may not seem possible to
you — if you haven’t read Cards
— that such a story could be
believed even for a minute. It
can, as The Cook demonstrates.
With steps so unobtrusive that he
seems fairly sympathetic at first,
Conrad Venn settles into the iso-
lated rural community as the
newly hired servant of one of the
two leading families. With at
first impressive and then terri-
fying competence he then be-
comes sole master of all he sur-
veys simply by being more
capable and less good-hearted
than anyone else. Some of Kres-
sing’s best characters are
members of the misfortunate
Hill family, who are childishly,
shyly eager to win his favor and
approval. If at any time they had
remembered who they were sup-
posed to be, or had felt at ease
in the roles they were originally
intended by birth and
pressure to play, Venn could not
have done anything with them.
But they are not at ease. They are
conscious of an inferior sophisti-
cation, of their questionable but
immutable drive to climb higher
in social position even though
they feel unworthy of the place
they already occupy. The alle-
gory is on a very real problem
which England has been facing
156
since before World War II and
which has become extremely im-
portant since then; its application
is rather more broad than that.
In effect, Kressing may be said
to have boiled Cards of Identity
down to its essentials, making it
unnecessary for you to dig out a
copy of the earlier book unless
you take enjoyment from grace-
ful, elaborate writing. I do not
see that he has contributed any-
thing to the story, beyond a good
and less fanciful prose and a few
starkly individual scenes, not all
of which hold up except as al-
legory. The scene in which Con-
rad drives away a rival cook,
Brogg, is genuinely horripilating.
the
But then you stop to wonder how
a Brogg so resourceless came to
be a Brogg so highly placed as
to merit Conrad’s attention . . .
especially in view of the fact
that Brogg almost literally gives
Conrad the weapon and the in-
structions which enable Conrad
social to undo him. And Kressing goes
on to throw in some pretty broad
hints that Venn is Satan which —
takes some of the push out of
the story —
and to sketch in a
number of scenes he might have
taken more time on. But if you
like this kind of story at all, or
if you have so far not had an
opportunity to try one, you will
not find a better in the immediate
offing. — ALGIS BUDRYS
GALAXY
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157
PART TWO SERIAL

THE AGE OF

THE PUSSYFOOT
by FREDERIK POHL

Illustrated by WOOD

He sought a place in this wondrous

world of tomorrow and found it
. . .

working for Man's deadliest enemyl

IX of picture of what the Sirians

were, and what they were doing
T? arrester could have carried on on Earth.
* his new duties anywhere. As it turned out, they were
But he didn’t want to, he want- neither tourists nor diplomats.
ed to return to the nest; and They were prisoners.
there in his room he wrestled Some thirty years earlier the
with the joymaker and the view- first human vessels had made
wall and emerged with some sort contact with the outposts of the

158
 WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE —
HU name was Forrester, and he had been burned to death.

But not permanently ... for the medical science of six centurios of progress had
learned how to freeze a man at the instant of dying, hold him in the slow, dreamless
calm of the liquid helium chambers . and bring him back to Ufa with all hb mortal
. .

wwunds healed and hb body as strong and healthy as it had ever been. He might die
•gain — but the same science that had brought him back to life could do it again,
end again.

He was, in fact, immortal. And so was all the world. Brave worldl thought Forrester,
•mazed and delighted, and set out to enjoy his new life; and within hours of waking
first day in the new life, he was killed again.
eg, on his

Why? It had been senseless —

an unprovoked beating. He was put back together
•gain and turned loose; but he was out of money, and needed a job; and the fine new
world no longer looked so fine.

But Forrester had friends to help him —a girl, Adne; her two children; a few others.
H»ey showed him how to apply for a job; he did; he got it — and discovered that
bb new employer was an alien from a planet of the star Sirius, sworn enemy of
everything on Earth!

Sirian civilization — a civilization structure, and it certainly was

much like human in the quality not Man’s. But he avoided the
of its technology, quite inhuman proliferation of questions and
in the appearance of its mem- stuck to the straight line of the
bers and in their social organiza- firstencounter with the Sirians.
tion. The human exploring party, The Earth ship was loaded for
investigating an extrasolarian bear. Having found bear, it push-
planet, had encountered a Sirian ed all the buttons. The com-
ship nosing about a ringlike mander may or may not have
structure orbiting that planet. been given discretion about the
Forrester, having learned that chances of alien contact and
much, had already discovered what to do when and if it hap-
some enormous gaps in his pened. He wasted no time in
knowledge. Why hadn’t some- contemplating choices, though.
body said something to him Everything the Earth ship own-
about men exploring extrasolar ed lashed out at the squat, un-
space?Where was this system? even Sirian vessel lasers and —
And what was the orbital ring? shells, rockets and energy-emit-
It puzzled and confused Forres- ting decoys to confuse and dis-
ter; evidently it was not a Sirian rupt its instruments. The Sirians

THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 159

didn’t have a chance. Bar a few possible that the Sirians would
who were found still alive in not attack even if they discov-
space tanks — their equivalent of ered Earth —
but it was certain
suits —
they all died with their that they wouldn’t if they didn’t.
ship. Second, the Sirians now in cap-
The Earthmen brought them tivity could never go home.
warily aboard, then turned tail Third — Earth prepared for the
and fled for home. (Years later attack they hoped would not
a remote-operated probe cau- come.
tiously returned to look at the So the Sirians were spread
scene. They discovered
that even across the face of the Earth, one
the wreckage of the Sirian ship to a city. They were provided
was gone, apparently retrieved with large subsidies, good living
by Someone. Whereupon the quarters, everything they could
probes fled too.) want except the freedom to
Fourteen Sirians had survived leave and the company of their
the attack. Eleven of them were kind. Every one of them was
still alive and on Earth. monitored —
not with a mere joy-
Forrester, watching the pic- maker. Transponders linked to
ture-story of the Sirians spread the central computing nets were
across his view-wall while the surgically built into their very
joymaker stolidly the recited nervous systems. Their where-
facts of their could not
exile, abouts was on record at every
help a twinge of sympathy. Thir- moment. They were informed as
ty years of imprisonment! They to the areas forbidden to them —
must be getting old now. Did rocket landing grounds, nuclear
they hope? Did they despair? power stations, a dozen other
Were their wives and kiddies classes of installations. If they
waiting back in the nest, or ignored the warning, they were
hatching-pond, or burrow? reminded. If they failed to heed
The joymaker did not say, it the reminder, they got a searing
only said that the Sirians had jolt of pain to the central ner-
been thoroughly studied, endless- vous system to emphasize it. If
ly debated —
and released. Re- that did not stop them, or if for
leased to house arrest. any reason their transponders
The Parliament of Ridings had lost contact with the central com-
passed laws about the Sirians. puter, they would be destroyed
First, it was from that moment at once. Three of them already
cardinal policy to avoid contact had been.
with their home planet. It was At that moment the mellow

160 GALAXY
 ” ”

chime sounded, the view-wall tively, **I guess I can start with
flickeredand changed its picture when I was bom. It was the 19th
and Forrester was face to face of March, 1936. My father was
with his employer. an architect, but at that time hs
was working as a project super-
t was just like the picture he visor for the W.P.A. My —
I had seen befofe. Maybe it “You will tell me about W.P.
was the same Sirian. But it was A.,” interrupted the Sirian.
looking at him now, or seemed “It was a government agency
to be, though it was hard to tell designed to relieve unemploy-
with the dozens of tiny eyes that ment during the depression. You
rimmed its upper parts, and it see, at that time there were
spoke to him. period cyclic imbalances in the
“Your name,” it said in hollow, economy —
unaccented English, “is Charles “You will not lecture me,” in-
Dalgleish Forrester and you terrupted the Sirian, “and will
work for me and you call me S explain terms for which letters
Four.” W.P.A. are function of entity.”
It sounded like a robot talking. Dashed, Forrester tried to put
More like a robot than the joy- in concrete terms the business
maker itself. of the New Deal’s work relief
“Right, S Four,” said Forres- programs. Only concrete terms
ter. would do. The Sirian was dis-
“You tell me about yourself.” tinctly not interested in Forres-
It sounded like a reasonable ter’s digressionsinto economic
request. “All right,S Four. theory. Probably he liked his
Where do you want me to be- own But he seem-
theories better.
gin?” ed interested in, or at least did
“You tell me about yourself.” not interrupt, a couple of jokes
The tentacles were rippling about leaf -raking and falling
slowly, the circlet of tiny eyes down when someone kicked the
winking at random like the lights broom a W.P.A. worker was
on a computer. He had been leaning on. The Sirian listened
wrong about the sound of the impassively, the girdle of eyes
voice, Forrester decided. It was twinkling, for half an hour by
more like a dubbed-in foreign the clock; then said, cutting
film on the Late Show. Back through Forrester’s description of
when there were foreign films. a high-school graduation, “You
And Late Shows. will tell me more at another
“Well,” said Forrester rumina- time,” and was gone.

THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 161

 ”
And Forrester was well enough
pleased. He had never talked to
a Sirian before.
lthough the children were ro-
A mantically thrilled, Adnedid
not approve. Not in the least.
“Dear Charles,” she said reason-
ably, “They’re the enemy. Peo-
ple will say you are doing an evil
thing.”
“If they’re so dangerous, why
aren’t they in concentration
ramps?”
“Charles! You’re acting kami-
kaze again!”
“Or why isn’t there a law
against working for them?”
She sighed and nibbled what
looked like a candied violet, re-
garding him with fond concern.
“Oh, Charles. Human society is
not merely a matter of law. You
have to remember principle.
There are certain standards of
what is good and what is bad,
and civilized people comply with
them.”
Forrester grumbled. “Yes, I
understand that. It’s good when
anybody jumps on me. It’s bad
when I try to do anything about
it.”
“Kamikaze, Charles! I’m sim-
ply trying to point out to you
that Taiko —
for instance — particularly
would pay you at least as much
as this filthy Sirian for a socially
useful job — tion in grudgingly; he could not
“Sweat Taiko!” shouted For-
162
rester, making her laugh with
his malaprop anger. "I’m going
to do this by myself!”
So Adne left him there on
friendly terms, but she left him
nonetheless; had an engagement
in connection with her employ-
ment, she said, and Forrester did
not know enough about her job
to question it. He hadn’t found
an opportunity to ask what her
“crawling” date had been, nor did
he see a chance to bring up her
suggestion about picking a name.
She volunteered nothing, and he
was just as well pleased.
Besides, he wanted to talk
more with the children
With their help he was learn-
ing more about the Sirian than
the Sirian would be able to learn
about him. The kids frothed with
information. It wasn’t difficult
to master all the facts they had
on tap, for there were not many
real facts about Sirians to learn.
All the hostages on Earth were
of the same sex, for example, but
there was a good deal of argu-
ment about what that sex was.
Nor was their family structure
at all clear. Whatever their re-
lationships on the planet from
which they came, none of them
had ever given any signs of being
depressed over be-
ing separated from the near and
dear. Forrester took the informa-
help thinking there should have
GALAXY
4E AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT
 ”

been more of it. He said, “Do The boy shrugged, cocked aa

you mean to tell me that the eye thoughtfully at Forrester,
only time we’ve ever seen them then leaned forward. He spoke
is this one time when we wiped into his junior joymaker and
out their exploring party?” touched a button on his teaching
“Oh, no, Charles!” The boy desk.
was indulgent with him. “We At once the cluttered chil-
long-range spied their home plan- dren’s room disappeared, and
et once, too. But that’s danger- they were surrounded by a wall
ous. Anyway, that’s what they of hot, swirling gray and incan-
say; so they stopped it. If it was descent orange. It cleared . . .

up to me I would have kept it And at once Forrester and the

up.” two children were seated in the
“And like in the chromosphere bridge of a spaceship. The toys
of Mira Ceti,” added the girl. were gone, the furnishing replac-
“The what?” ed by bright metal instruments
The boy chortled. “Oh, yeah. and flickering, whistling gauges.
That was a fun one! We had it And outside crystal panels surg-
on our class evaluation trip.” ed the devastating chromosphere
“Sweat!” cried the girl excited- of a sun.
ly. “Say! Maybe Forrester would
like to go with us if we do it orrester shrank back instinc-
again. I'd like to!” F tively from the heat before
Forrester felt
a sensation of he realized that there was none.
committing himself to more than It was illusion. But it was per-
he liked. He said uncertainly, fect.
“Well, sure. But I don’t have “By God!” he cried admiring-
much time right now. I mean, “How does that work?”
these are my working hours — ly.
“Sweat. I don’t know,” scoffed
“Oh, sweat, Charles,” said the the boy. “That’s ninth-phase
boy impatiently, “it doesn’t take stuff. Ask your joymaker.”
time. I mean, you don’t go any- “Well, machine? How about
where in space. It’s a construct.” it?”
“Only it was kind of real, too,” The calm voice of the joy-
added the girl. maker replied at once, “The phe-
“But it’s all just tapes now,” nomenon you are currently in-
explained the boy helpfully. specting, Man Forrester, is a
“Show him!” crowed the girl photic projection on a vibratory
excitedly. “Mira Ceti! Please, curtain. An interference effect
Tunt, you promised!" produces a virtual image on the

164 GALAXY
 ”

surface of an optical sphere with and shudder of their ship as it

the nexus of yourself and your responded to the boy at the con-
three companions as its geo- trols. Clearly they were part of

metric center. This particular a squadron on some adventur-

construct is an edited and sim- ous, unspecified mission. Forres-
plified reproduction of scansion ter saw nothing that resembled a
of a Sirian exploration vessel in
— Sirian — saw nothing at all, in
a stellar atmosphere, to wit fact, but the serpents and coils
“That’s enough,” interrupted of gas through which they hurt-
Forrester. “I liked the kid’s an- led. But he was conscious of il-

swer better.” lusory vessels around them. A

But the boy said tautly, spatter of command signals came
“Knock it off, Charles. We’re through the speaker as other
tarting! See, there’s this Sirian “ships” talked back and forth.
high-thermal scout vessel and A panel showed their position in
we’re about to run into it.” plan and elevation as they swam
A harsh male voice rasped: through the stripped-atom gases
“Tractor ship Gimmel! Your of Mira Ceti’s ocean of fire. For-
wingmate has an engine disfunc- rester ventured to say: “Uh,
tion! Prepare to lock, grapple Tunt. What am I supposed to be
and evacuate crew!” doing again?”
“Are!” cried the boy. “Start “Just use your eyes!” the boy
search procedures, Tunt! Keep hissed, attention riveted to the
a watch, Charles!” His hands controls. “Don’t mix me up,
flashed over the keyboard it — man!” But his sister was shriek-
had not been there a moment ing:
before, but it was operative; “I see it! I see it, Tunt! Look
when he energized a circuit, their over there!”
make-believe “ship” responded. “Oh, sweat,” he groaned in de-
He put it through a turn; the spair. “Will you ever learn to
“virtual” sun-ship heeled sharply make a report?”
and sped through fountains of She gulped. “I mean, wing-
flaming gas. mate sighted, vector oh-seven-oh,
Forrester could not repress his I guess. Depression um not — —
admiration at the perfection of much.”
was there,
the illusion. Everything “Prepare to grapple!” roared
everything but the heat and the the boy.
feeling of motion —
and gazing Through the incandescent
at the images around him, For- sworl a fat slug of a ship ap-
rester could almost feel the surge peared, vanished and appeared

THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 165

again. It was black against the desk. “Tunt,” he grumbled, “you
blinding brilliance of its sur- should know better. Don’t you
roundings. Black on its metal see the tally? We were late lock-
skin, black in its ports, black ing up. There was a crew of
even at the tail where a rocket three there, and two of them are
exhaust discharged dark gases scored dead and .we never
. .

into the brightness around them. even got to see the Sirian at all.”
The rocket cut off as a labored “I’m sorry, Tunt. I’ll look bet-
voice gasped through the speak- ter next time,” the little girl said
er: “Hurry it up, Gimmel! We repentantly.
can’t holdout much longer!” “Oh, it’s not you.” He glared
They jockeyed close to the past her at and said
Forrester
stranded “ship”, buffeted this bitterly, “They norms for set the
way and that by the flaming gas. a three-person mission. As if he
Forrester stared open-mouthed. was any help.”
There was the ship, derelict and
And beyond it, swim-
helpless. 'T'houghtfully Forrester picked
ming faintly toward them up the mace of his joymaker,
through the chromosphere, some- selected a button, pointed it at
thing that was bright even in this the base of his skull, just behind
explosion of radiation, something the ear, and squirted. He was
that loomed enormous and fear- not sure he had picked the right
some . . . joy- juice for the occasion; what
“Holy God,” he cried, “it’s a he wanted was something that
Sirian!” would make him tranquil, happy
And the whole picture shiver- and smart. What he got was
ed and winked away. more like a euphoriac, but it

They were back in the chil- would serve.

dren’s room. For a moment For- He said humbly, “I’m sorry I

rester was almost blind; then his messed it up for you.”

strained optic centers began to “Not your fault. Should have
register again. He saw the view- known better than to take you,
walls. the furnishings, the chil- anyway.”
dren’s familiar faces. The expe- “But I wish we’d seen the Sir-
dition was over. ian,” said the little girl wistfully.
“Fun?” demanded the girl, “I think I did. A big, bright
jumping up and down. “Wasn’t ship? Coming toward us?”
it, Charles? Wasn’t it fun?” The boy revived. “Really?
But her brother was staring Well, maybe that’s not so bad,
disgustedly at a readout on his then. You hear that, monitor?”

166 GALAXY
He listened to a — to Forrester to take the pre-briefing over
— inaudible voice from his teach- when we’re older.”
ing machine, then grinned. "We The little girl hung her head.
got a tentative conditional,” he “I was sad,” she said defensive-
said happily. “Take it again next ly. “But there’s other things we
week, Tunt. For record.” can do, Charles. Would you like
“Oh, wonderful!” to see the coconut on the Moon?"
Forrester cleared his throat. “The what?”
“Would you mind telling me ex- “Oh, sweat. Well just show
actlywhat it was we just did?" you.” The boy scratched his ear
he asked. thoughtfully, then spoke to his
The boy put on his patient junior joymaker. The view-walls
expression. “It was a simulated clouded once again.
mission against the Sirian explor- “It’s supposed to be another

ing party in the chomosphere of artifact like the one the Sirians

Mira Ceti. I thought you knew
that.Basically a real observa-
tion,but with the contact be-
tween our ships and theirs var-
iably emended.”
“Oh. Uh-huh.”
The boy looked quizzically
him. He said, “The thing
were searching for in Mira Ceti’s
atmosphere,” he said over his
shoulder, manipulating his teach-
ing machine as he spoke. “Don’t
know much about it, really. It's
not Sirian. It’s also not ours.
at Nobody knows whose they are,
is, really, but there are lots of them

Charles, we get graded on these around —

and the Sirians don’t
simulations. But it’s all right; it seem to know any more about
didn’t hurt us.” them than we do. They’re old.
“Sure.” Forrester could feel And this is the nearest one.”

the beginnings of an idea assert-

ing themselves. No
doubt it was 'T'he view-walls cleared to show
the spray from the joymaker, but
-* the lunar Farside. They were
— “Could you do the same near the terminator line, with
trick with some other things crystalline white peaks and cra-
about the Sirians? So I could get ters before them, the jet black
a better look at them? Maybe of a lunar night to one side.

the original encounter, for in- They were looking down into the
stance?” shallow cup of a crater where
“Neg.” The boy glared at his figures were moving.
sister. “It’s Tunt’s fault, of “This is just tape,” the boy
course. She cried when the Sir- said. “No participation. Just look
ians got killed. We have to wait as long’s you want to.”

THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 167

 ”

There was a clump of pres- terhad grasped the fact that the
sure huts in the crater. Perhaps more he knew, the more he was
they were laboratories or housing going to realize how little that
for scientists, or for whoever it knowledge was.
was that was studying the “arti- Astonishingly enough, it had
fact” in the center of the screen not really occurred to him before
— or perhaps had been studying this that a lot of things had been
it once, and given
it up. happening to the human race
did indeed look like a coco-
It while he was lying deep in the
nut. As much as it looked like liquid-helium baths of the West
anything. Side Facility. It was like a story
It was shaggy, and rather egg- in a magazine. You turn a page.
shaped. Its tendrils of what- — Ten years have passed; but you
ever they were —
were not or- know perfectly well that they
ganic, Forrester thought. At least weren’t important; because if
they were almost glassy in their they were, the author would have
brightness, reflecting and refract- told you about them.
ing the in a spray of
sunlight But far more than ten years
color. By
the scale of the huts it had passed. And they were im-
appeared to be about the size of portant, all right. And there was
a locomotive. no Author to fill in the gaps in
“It’s empty, Charles,” volun- his knowledge.
teered the girl. “They all are.”
“But what are they?” X
The girl giggled. “If you find
make /An
out, tell us.
twelfth-phase for sure!”
They’ll

But the boy said kindly, “Now

us
^ the third day of
Forrester had been six days
out of the freezer. He felt as
his job

you know as much as anybody though it had been a million.

does.” But he was learning. Yes, he

“But the Sirians must
— told himself —
gravely gratula-
“Oh, no, Charles. The Sirians tory —
he was doing all his home-
are late arrivals. Like us. And work, and it was only a question
that thing’s been there just the of time until all answers were
way now, for no less than
it is revealed to him and he took his
a couple gigayears.”He switched proper place in this freemasonry
off the scene. “Well,” he said of heroes.
brightly. “Anything else you Meanwhile working for the
want know?”
to Sirian was not at all disagree-
There was indeed. But Forres- able. The social pressure against

168 GALAXY
Mb Job came only from Adne,
and he had seen very little of
her since that first day. He miss-
ed her; but he had other things
on his mind. The Sirian — it
agreed to allow Forrester to think
of it as a male, although it did
not concur the diagnosis and
would not explain further was —
curious, insatiable but patient
When Forrester could not answer
questions it permitted him to
take time to look them up. Its
orientation, surprisingly enough,
was all to the past It volunteer-
ed an explanation —
well, a sort
of explanation. In its view, it
said, the present state of any
phenomenon was a mere obvious
derivative of some prior state;
and it was the prior states of
mankind that it wanted to know
about.
It crossed Forrester’s mind that
if he were a war captive on a
planet of alien enemies, the sort
of knowledge that he would try
to acquire would have more to
do with arms and defense strate-
gies. But he was not a Sirian,
and he had decided not to both-
er trying to think like one. That
was obviously beyond his pow-
ers. So he answered questions
about Madison Avenue ad agen-
cies and the angst that surround-
ed a World Series, and every day
called up his bank to verify that
his day’s salary had been depos-
ited.
THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT
It had finally penetrated to
Forrester that money was still
money. His quarter of a million
dollars would have bought him —
had and in fact, had bought him —
something very like a quarter of
a million dollars’ worth of goods
and services, even by 20th cen-
tury standards. It was not die
dollar that had been inflated. It
was the standard of fiving.
There were so many things
now buy
that a dollar could . . .
And he had been buying quanti-
ties of them.
He could even, he discovered,
have managed to live out his life
on that quarter of a million dol-
lars— just as he could have in
1967, say —
provided he had liv-
ed at a 1967 level. No robot ser-
vants. No extensive medical ser-
vices — above all, no use of the
freezer facilities and their con-
comitant organ banks, prostheses
antientropic chemical flushings
and so forth. If he had eaten no
costly custom-prepared foods,
had not traveled, had acquired
no expensive gadgets ... if he
had, to be exact, lived exactly
the life of a 20th century peas-
ant, he could have made it last.
But not now. It was gone now.
All gone except for a few tens
of thousands left in the account
at the Nineteenth Chromatic,
plus what the Sirian paid to his
account every day. It was about
enough to pay his standard joy-
169
 ”

maker fees for a couple of weeks, cularand quite unpleasant way,

maybe. If he was careful. he was on his way to becoming
Forrester was resigned to it, the most important man in the
though. He didn’t mind it parti- world.
cularly —
at least, he didn’t mind
his bankruptcy, since it lay with- \X7'hat mostly confused For-
in his power to work and make rester about his Sirian em-
more money than he had ever ployer was that the creature
dreamed of anyway. What he seemed preoccupied. Forrester
minded very much was the fact even asked his joymaker about
that he had been a joke — him it.

and his quarter of a million dol- “Can you clarify your ques-
lars. And he minded most of all tion, Man Forrester? What ia
the fact that Adne had shared there about the behavior of Al-
in that joke. phard Four Zero-zero Trimate
Because dimly, like a faint, which puzzles you?”
pre-dawn glow in the desert, he “Just call him ‘the Sirian’, will
could see the foretaste of a time you? Anyway, he has a funny
when Adne could be very im- way of talking.”
portant to him. “Perhaps that lies in my com-
Was already very important to putation, Man Forrester. Tho
him, he thought wryly. At least Sirian language is and
tenseless
in a potential sort of way. He quasi-Boolean. I have taken the
wondered again what she had liberty of translating it into ap-
meant about that business of proximately 20th-century Eng-
choosing a name and why, he
. . . lish modes of speech, but if yon
suddenly thought, she had not wish I can give you a more
called him. eral rendering, or
— lib-

But what was important to “No, it’s not that. He seems

him, Forrester realised, was not
necessarily important to anyone
else.For now, he was a sort of
apprentice to Hfe. For now, he
would wait, and work, and learn.
For now he would not push his
luck.
Forrester had learned modesty,
ifhe had learned nothing else.
At that point Forrester had not
yet discovered that, in one parti-
to have something on his mind.”
There was a pause of a sec-
ond or two. Even Forrester knew
enough to remark this occurrence;
for the computer facilities to
hesitate or search for an answer
meant that the problem was
something remarkable. But all
the joymaker said was: “Can you
give me an instance, Man For-
rester?”

170 GALAXY
 “Not really. Well, he has m t* come visit it in its quarters.
doing some odd things. Is it rigbt And as far as he was able to tell
for him to want to hypnotic* it showed no interest in the fate
me?” of dozen -odd compatriots
its
Pause again. Then the joymak- also in exile on Earth.
er said, “I cannot say, Man For- “You explain common - law
rester. But I advise you to be marriage.” And gamely Forrester
cautious.” tried to describe to a Sirian the
Well, cautious he was, Forres- drives of sexual impulse and fam-
ter reflected. But he was also ily needs which had brought
puzzled. about a formal institution to
The Sirian did not repeat its regularize irregular conduct.
suggestion of hypnotizing Forres- “There exist trading stamps!”
ter — “to secure in depth refer- boomed the hollow, empty voice;
ents, plus buried traumas of and Forrester did his best to
former time” —
but it was hard clarify the complexities of retail
had
to figure out. It capriciously supermarket sales. “You have or
him talking about the 20th cen- have not violated legislative
tury at one time, explaining the compulsion programs,” stated the
Arian-Athanasian wars of two Sirian; and that was the most
and a half millenia before at an- prolonged session of all. Try as
other.(But not until Forrester he would, Forrester could not
had begged time out to research seem to get across the idea of a
the heresies involved in the dis- personal ethic —
of laws that on*
tinction between the words “ho- did not violate, because they
moousian” and “homoiousian” — were morally right, and laws that
without, however, really getting everyone violated if they po*-
the problem straight.) It kindly sibly could, because they were
volunteered to assume his joy- morally irrelevant.
maker as part of his expenses. He found himself feeling sorry
It refused to allow him to charge for the Sirian. Its homework was
it for travel expenses on a trip even more arduous than his own.
to the deepest vaults of Shoggo, But Forrester’s homework
where he was looking up records could not be neglected. He or-
of the abandoned pressure-dome dered his joymaker to display
settlements on Saturn. “Capri- the records of the long-range re-
cious” was the word. connaissance of the Sirian plan-
It occurred to Forrester that et.

the Sirian might simply be lone- He had been thinking of the

some. But it rejected his offer Sirians as a paper tiger, but h*

THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 171

 ”

saw fangs.Englobed by fortress- a standard low-cost breakfast (it

es, with fast and mighty vessels of was, as a matter of fact, far tast-
war flitting about like wasps, the ierthan his hand-hewn specials),
whole Sirian system was a vast checked his messages and started
network of armament. There to work.
were a dozen planets in all, two With some pride in his exper-
of them in Trojan orbit with tise he commanded the joymaker
Sirius B, the rest normal satel- to select and mark a course to
lites of the great white star. All the buried vastnesses of the
were inhabited. All were de- American Documentation Insti-
fended. tute. The green-glowing arrows
Earth’s reconnaissance drones sprang to life at his feet. He fol-
had been lucky enough or un- — lowed them out the door, into
lucky enough —
to find them- a sort of elevator cab (but it

selves observing and taping what moved laterally as well as up and

seemed to be war games. The down), out the cab, in another
Sirians took their war games building, through a foyer clat-
seriously. Edited and compress- tering with old-fashioned punch-
ed, they showed a waste of crea- card sorters, into a vault where
ture and armament which only a his employer had shown a cer-
massive war effort could justify. tain interest in some centuries-
A hundred of the great ships old records.
were damaged, some destroyed. His joymaker said abruptly,
A fleet of them converged on an “You will inform me about the
icy satellite of one of the out- term ‘space race’.”
lying planets . . . and the satel- Forrester took his eyes from
lite was melted into glowing slag. the old microfilm viewer. “Hel-
There was no more after that. lo, Sirian Four,” he said. “I’m
Clearly the operators of the busy looking up the beginnings
drones had felt that enough was of the Ned Lud Society, as you
enough. It was less dangerous to asked me. It’s pretty interesting,
leave the Sirians unwatched than too.Did you know they used to
to run the risk of attracting at- break up computers and
—
tention with the drones. “You will discontinue Ned Lud
Forrester did not offer again to Society research and state mo-
visit the Sirian in his quarters. tives which led two areas of this
planet to compete in reaching the
/^>.n the seventh day of his new Moon.”
life, Forrester arose to the “All right. In a minute. Just
promptings of his bed, ordered let me finish what I’m doing.”
172 GALAXY
 ”

There was no answer. Forres- reasonable request of employer,

ter shrugged and returned to the to wit, research questions con-
viewer. The Luddites appeared cerning early U.S. and U.S.S.R.
to have taken themselves a great space probe motivation.”
deal more seriously when they Forrester squawked: “Wait a
first started: where Taiko pos- minute! That sounds like — you
tured and coaxed, his predeces- mean —
hey! I’m fired!”
sors had done the Carrie Nation “Man
Forrester,” said the joy-
bit with the axes, chopping up maker, “that is correct. You are
computing machines with the fired.”
war-cry, “Men for men’s jobs!
Machines for bookkeeping!” A fter the first shock had worn
As he read he forgot about the off, Forrester was not parti-
call from his employer. Then — cularly sorry, although his feel-
“Man Forrester!” cried his joy- ings were hurt. He had thought
maker. “I have two urgent no- he was doing as good a job as
tices of intention for you!” could be done. Considering the
It was the master computing job. Considering theemployer.
center this time, not the deep, Nevertheless, it had had its
remote, echoless voice of the disadvantages, including the
Sirian. Forrester groaned. “Not barely polite remarks Adne had
again!” been passing about working for
“Heinzlichen Jura de Syrtis the enemy. So with a light heart
Major — Forrester dismissed the Sirian
“I knew it,” Forrester mutter- from his mind and informed the
ed. joymaker he wanted another job.
“ —
states that he has reacti- Quite rapidly he had one:
vated his hunting permit. You Standby machine monitor for the
are notified, Man Forrester, so great sub-lake fusion generating
please be guided accordingly.” station under Lake Michigan. It
“I’m guided, I’m guided. What paid very well,and the work
is the other one?” was easy.
“Man Forrester, it is from Al- It was not for twenty-four
phard Four Zero-zero Trimate,” hours that Forrester discovered
said the joymaker; then, un- that the premium pay was due
bending slightly, “or, as you call to the fact that at unpredictable
him, Sirian Four: A notice to intervals severe radiation damage
terminate employment. Guaran- was encountered. His predeces-
tees are met and notice paid. sor in the job — in fact, all of
Reason: Failure to comply with his predecessors — were now
THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 173
 ” ” ” ” ”

blocks of low -temperature mat- “No, I shouldn’t. But I’m go-

ter in the great lakeside freez- ing to.”
ers, awaiting a discovery of a “Man Forrester! I must warn
better technique for flushing the you —
radioactive poisons out of their “Look. If I read the plaque on
cells; and the joymaker candidly the surface right, this particular
informed him that their probable installation has been in service
wait for thawing and restoration, for like a hundred and eighty
which depended on the pace at years. I bet the cybernetic con-
which certain basic biophysical trols haven’t failed once in all
discoveries were likely to be that time. Right?”
made, was estimated to be of the “You are quite correct, Man
order of magnitude of two thous- Forrester. Nevertheless —
and years. “Nevertheless my foot. I’m go-
Forrester blew his top. ing.” The elevator door opened;
“Thanks!” he grated. “I quit! he entered: it closed behind him.

What the devil do they need a “Man Forrester! You are en-
human being down here for?” dangering —
“In the event of cybernetic “Oh, shut up. There’s no dan-
failure,” said the machine ger. Worst that would happen
promptly, “an organic overseer would be that it might stop
may retain the potential of voice working for a while. So power
connection with the central com- from the city would come from
puting facility, proving an the other generators until it got
emergency capability — fixed, right?”
“It was only a rhetorical ques- “Yes, Man Forrester, but the
tion. Forget it. Say,” said Forres- danger —
ter, punching the elevator button “You argue too much. Over
that would bring him up to the and out,” said Forrester. “Oh,
breather platform at the lake’s except one thing. Find me an-
surface and thence back to the other job.”
city, “why didn’t you tell me this
job would kill me?” ut the joymaker didn’t.
“Man Forrester,” said the ma- Time passed, and it still

chine gravely, “you did not ask didn’t. It didn’t speak to him at
me. Excuse me, Man Forrester, all.

but you have summoned an ele- Back in room, Forrester

vator. Your relief is not due for
three hours. You should not
leave your station unattended.”
174
his
demanded of the joymaker:
“Come on, what’s the matter?
You computers don’t have hu-
GALAXY
man emotions, do you? If I hurt pying their minds when he came
your feelings I’m sorry.” in, they were giving him their
But there was no answer. The whole attention now.
joymaker did not speak. The He said uncomfortably, “So
view-walls would not light up. what I want to know is, what
The dinner he ordered did not went wrong?”
appear. "Find out!” cried Mim. “Hur-
The room was dead. ry, Tunt! Poor Charles!” She
Forrester conquered his pride gazed at him with compassion
and went to Adne Bensen’s apart- and horror, as at a leper.
ment. She was not there, but the The boy knew what practical
children let him in. He said, steps to take —
at least, he knew
“Kids, I’ve got a problem. I seem enough to be able to find out
to have blown a fuse or some- what Forrester had done wrong.
thing in my joymaker.” Through his pedagogical joy-
They were staring at him, be- maker the boy queried the cen-
mused. After a moment Forres- tral computing facilities, listened
ter realized he had blundered in with eyes wide to the inaudible
on something. “What is it, Tunt? response and turned to stare
Another club meeting? How again at Forrester.
about it, Mim?” “Charles! Great sweat! You
They burst out laughing. For- quit your job without notice!”
rester said angrily, “All right. I “Well, sure I did,” said For-
didn’t come here for laughs, but rester. He shifted uneasily in his
what’s the joke?” seat.
“You called me Tunt!” the “All right,” he said, to break
boy laughed. the silence. “I did the wrong
His sister him.
giggled with thing huh? I guess I was has-
“And that’s not the worst, Tunt. ty.”
He called me Mim! Charles, “Hasty!”
don’t you know anything?" "Stupid,” Forrester amended.
“I know I’m in trouble,” For- “I’m sorry.”
rester said stiffly. “My joymaker “Sorry!”
doesn’t work any more.” “If you just keep repeating
Now were round-
their stares everything I say,” said Forres-
eyed and
open-mouthed. “Oh, ter,“you might drive me crazy,
Charles!" Obviously the magni- but you won’t be exactly helping
tude of the catastrophe had ov- me. I goofed. All right. I admit
erwhelmed their defenses. What- it.”

ever it was that had been occu- The boy said, “Yes, Charles,

THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 175

 .

but didn’t you know you for- “So how do I do that?”

feited your salary? And you The two children looked at
didn’t have anything much else, each other helplessly.
you know. A couple -bucks K “Isn’t there anything I can
sequestrated for the freezers, but do?”
not much loose cash. And so “Well, sure, Charles. Sweat,
you’re ” —
The boy hesitated, there’s got to be! Get another
forming the words with his lips. job, I guess.”
“You’re broke,” he whispered. “But the joymaker wouldn’t
getme one.”
f those were not the most “Sweat!” the boy gazed
I frightening words Forrester thoughtfully at his joymaker,
had ever heard, they certainly picked it up, shook it, then put
were well up in the running. it down again. “That’s bad. May-

Broke? In this age of incredible be when Mim comes home she

plenty and high-velocity spend- can help you.”
ing? He might as well be dead “Really? Do you think she’ll
again. He sank back in his chair help?”
and the little girl sprang help- “Well, no. I mean, I don’t
fully forward and ordered him a think she’d know how.”
drink. Forrester took a grateful “Then what do I do?”
swallow and waited for it to hit The boy looked worried and a
him. little scared. Forrester was pretty
It didn’t hit him. It was, of sure he looked the same way
course, the best the girl could himself. Certainly that was how
get forhim on her own joymak- he felt.

er, it had
and about as much Of course, he told himself,
kick as lemon pop. Hara might help him once more;
He put it down carefully and certainly he’d had the practice.
said : “See if I’ve got this straight. Or Taiko might be sportsman
I didn’t pay my bills, so they enough to get over his snub and
turned off the joymaker. Right?” reopen the invitation to work for
“Well, I guess you could say the Luddites.
that.” But he was pretty sure that
“All right.” Forrester nodded. neither of these possibilities re-
“So the first thing I have to do presented any very hopeful facts.
is reestablish my credit. Get The little girl wandered
some money.” thoughtfully away, not looking at
“Right, Charles!” cried the Forrester, and began muttering
girl. “That’ll fix everything up!” into her joymaker —
back to the

176 GALAXY
THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 177
game he had interrupted, For- The girl looked up from her
rester thought with totally un- joymaker, her face flushed with
justified bitterness. He knew it excitement. “Me, Charles?”
was unjustified.These were only “Yeah. Didn’t I hear you men-
children, and he had no right to tion my name just now?”
expect them to handle adult “Sure, Charles. I was propos-

problems that at least one adult ing you membership in our

for
— himself —
couldn’t handle at club. You know, we told you
all. The boy said suddenly, “Oh, about it.”
one other thing, Charles. Mim “Nice of you,” said Forrester
says Heinzie’s out after you bitterly. “Has it got a dining
again.” room?”
“Don’t know
I it.” But it “Oh, not that kind of a
it’s

didn’t seem much of a threat, club, Charles. You don’t under-

compared with the disaster of in- stand. The club will help you.
solvency. Already they’ve made a sugges-
“Well, you see, you’ve got a tion.”
problem there,” the boy said. “If He looked skeptical. “Is that
you don’t have your joymaker going to help?”
you won’t have any warning “Sweat, yes! Listen. Tars Tar-
when he’s around. And also kas just said: ‘Let him seek in
there’s something about the DR the dead sea bottoms and the
equipment you might not know. ancient cities. Let him join the
”
You have to have some credit haunted hosts of old Jasoom.’
rating or they won’t freeze you Forrester puzzled over the
at all if you’re killed. You know. message drearily. “It doesn’t
There’s always the chance that mean anything to me,” he said.
you’ll do something that annuls “Of course it does! Clear as
the bond so Heinzie, or whoever, the crawlers on the Farside coco-
might protest payment then — nut, don’t you see? He thinks
they’d be in trouble. I mean, you ought to hide out with the
they don’t want to get stuck with Forgotten Men!”
a stiff that can’t pay up.”
“I appreciate their difficulty.” XI
“I just thought you’d like to
know.” t was only ten minutes walking
“Oh, you were right.” For- I from the children’s home to
rester’s glance wandered. “Mim the great under-building plazas
— whatever your name is. You! and warrens where the Forgotten
What are you doing?” Men lived. But Forrester had no
178 GALAXY
 ”
guide this time, nor was there a
joymaker to display green arrows
to guide him, and it took him an
hour. He dodged across an ave-
nue of grass between
hovercraft, his life in his
and emerged under a hundred-
story tower where a man came
humbly toward him. He looked
vaguely familiar.
“Stranger,” the man
ly pleading, “Ah’ve had a tumble
lahf. It all startedwhen the
mahns closed and my wahf Mur-
ry got sick
— come down here, take one look
“Buddy,” said Forrester, “have
you got a wrong number.”
The man stepped back a pace
and looked him up and down.
He was tall, lean and dark, his
face patient and intelligent.
“Aren’t you the fella Ah pan-
handled with those two little
kids?” he said accusingly. “Gave
me fifty bucks, Ah think.”
“You remember good. But that
was when I had money; now I’m
broke.” Forrester looked around
at the tall buildings and the
greensward. They did not seem
hospitable. “I’d be obliged to
you,” he added, “if you’d tell
me where I can sleep tonight.”
The man glanced warily
around, as if suspicious of some
kind of a trick, then grinned and
stuck his hand out. “Welcome to
the club,” he said. “Name’s
Whitlow. Jurry Whitlow.
happened?”
THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT
“I got fired,” said Forrester.
Jerry Whitlow commiserated,
“Could happen to anybody, Ah
guess. You know, Ah noticed you
roaring didn’t have a joymaker, but Ah
hands, didn’t think much about it. Fig-
ured, sweat, he’s just a damn
greenhorn, prob’ly forgot to take
it with him. But you got to get
yourself one raht away.”
said, soft- “Why?”
“Whah Sweat, man! Don’t
you know you’re fur game for
anybody on the hunt? They
around and they see you’re bust-
ed —
hell, man, you wouldn’t
last out the day.” He unclipped
his own joymaker —
or what For-
resterhad taken to be a joy-
maker —
and proudly handed it
over. “Fake, see? But it looks
lahk the real thing. Fool any-
body. Fooled you, Ah bet.”
It had, as a matter of fact.
But actually, Forrester saw with
surprise, it wouldn’t fool anyone
at all, not at close range. It was
far too light to be a joymaker,
apparently whittled out of some
organic plastic and painted in
the patterns of a joymaker. “Of
course, it don’t work.” Whitlow
grinned. “But on the other hand
Ah don’t have to pay rent on it.
Keeps ’em off pretty good. Didn’t
have that, one of these perverts
that get they kicks from total
What death’d come down here and tag
me the first thing.”
179
 ”

Gently he pulled it out of For- through under-building mazes

rester’s hand and looked at him and footbridges Forrester had not
calculatingly. “Now, you got to even seen, his mouth going all
get one just lahk it and, damn, the while. Mostly it was the
you hit lucky
tahm. Theah’s
first story of his life:
a fellow two houses over makes “ — laid off at the mahns when
them to sell. Friend o’ mahn. Ah Ah was sixteen. Out of work,
bet he’ll give you one for hell! — Chuck, and me with a family to
Maybe little as a hundred dol- support. Well, we made out,
lars!” Forrester started to open kahnd of, until mah wahf Murry
his mouth. “Maybe even eighty! got sick and we had to go on
. . . Seventy-fahv?” the relief. So a gov-ment man
“Whit,” said Forrester simply, came around and put me on the
“I haven’t got a dime.” Aydult Retraining and gave me
“Sweat!” Whitlow was awed. tests and, Chrahst, Chuck, you
Then he shrugged. “Well, hell, know Ah scored so hah Ah just
Ah guess we can’t let you get about broke the scales. So then
killed for a lousy fifteen bucks. Ah went back to school and —
Ah’ll get you fixed up on spec.” He stopped and glanced ap-
“Fifteen?” prehensively overhead. They
Whitlow grinned. “That’s with- were between buildings, under a
out mah commission. Come on tiny square of open sky. He
with me, boy. You got some grabbed Forrester and dragged
ropes to learn!” him swiftly back into the cellar
where the joymaker-maker had
'T'he Forgotten Men lived on kept his shop.
the castoffs of the great “Watch out!” he whispered
world overhead, but it did not fiercely. “They’s a reporter up
seem to Forrester that they lived there!”
badly. Jerry Whitlow was not The word meant nothing to
fat, but he was obviously not Forrester, but the tone carried
starving, either. His clothes were the message. He ran one way,
clean and good repair, his
in Whitlow the other. The joymak-
attitude Why, thought
relaxed. er’s shop had been in a sort of
Forrester, might even turn out
it vermiform appendix to the
that I’ll like it here, once I learn plumbing of an apartment-com-
my way around . . . plex, where some installation had
Whitlow was a first-rate teach- been designed into the plans, was
er. even though he never stopped outmoded, removed and the—
talking. He conducted Forrester space left vacant. The little man
180 GALAXY
who sold the joymakers occu- He wondered wistfully what
pied a sort of triplex apartment had become of all the furnish-
— three rooms on three levels — ings and gadgets he had bought
and out of it and around it ran, so recklessly for the apartment
forsome reason, a net of empty he no longer owned. Shouldn’t
four-foot tunnels.Down one of there be some sort of trade-in
them Whitlow fled. Down anoth- allowance?
er ran Forrester. But if there was, he did not
was dark. The footing was
It have the skill to claim it. Nor
uneven. But Forrester hurried did he own a working joymaker
down it, stooped over to avoid to help him with instructions. He
banging his head, until tire black- wondered if Hara would help
ness was total and he fell to the him out at this last juncture,
rough floor, gasping. and resolved to go looking for
He still did not know what he the doctor. After all, it was in a
had been running from, but way Hara’s responsibility that
Whitlow’s fear was contagious. he was in this predicament . . .

And it reawakened a hundred old “No,” said Forrester in the

pains; until this moment he had darkness, aloud and very clearly.
almost forgotten the beating he It wasn’t Hara’s responsibility
had taken the first day out of the at all.

freezer,but the exertion made It was his own.

every dwindling ache start up If there was one thing that he
again. had learned in his two hours as
He had now been a Forgotten a Forgotten Man, it was that
Man for exactly two hours. there were no responsibilities any
Time passed, and the silence more that were not his own. This
was as total as the darkness. was not a world where a protec-
Whatever it was that Whitlow tive state provided for its peo-
had feared, it did not seem to ple.
be pursuing here. It would take was a world of the in-
It
a human stoat to pursue a hu- dividual; he was the captain of
man rabbit in this warren, he his fate, the master of his soul —
thought; and in the darkness And the prisoner of his fail-
maybe even would
the rabbit ings.
develop claws. It had been bad By the time he heard Whitlow
enough when all he had to fear cautiously calling his name, For-
was the crazy Martian. Now . . . rester had come to terms with
He sighed, and turned over on the fact thathe was all alone
the rough, cast-stone floor. in a cold and uncaring world.
THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 181
 ”
/Cautiously they tiptoed out of
^ the pipes, across a hoverway
and under a huge building that
was supported on a thousand el-
liptical pillars, set in beds of
grass. What light kept the grass
growing came from concealed
fixtures in the ten acres of roof
over their heads.
Whitlow, regaining the appear-
ance of confidence, led the way
to one particular pillar that held
a door, marked in glittering red
letters: Emergency Exit.
poshed it open, shoved Forrester
inside and closed it behind them.
“Whew,” he said cheerfully.
“That was close, but we’re all
r*ht now. You beginning to get
hungry?”
Forrester had been about to
ask questions, but that totally
diverted his attention. “Yes/”
Whitlow grinned. “Figured,”
he said. “Well, Ah’ve got just the
thing for you, prob’ly. Ah’ve got
a steady clahent in this building,
fellow who used to work with me
at the Labs, back before. He’s on
diet programming now, see, and
he always manages to slip me
something out of the expurimen-
tal allowance. So let’s see
— for
He rummaged in a cupboard,
and emerged with a pair of ther-
mal-covered hot dishes. They
opened to a touch and displayed
a steaming, fragrant dinner for
two. “Damn, he done better than
ever! Looks lahk smoked oysters
182
Milanese! Sink your teeth in
this. Chuck. Ah guarantee you
won’t do better at the Senate of
the Twelve Apostles!”
While he wolfed down the
food, Forrester glanced about
him to discover what sort of
place he was in. It seemed to be
an air-raid access to the under-
ground park from the building
above, no longer used because
since the beginning of the Sirian
threat complete new facilities
He had been excavated at the five-
hundred-foot subterranean level.
But this little forgotten vestige
of a completely stocked shelter
remained, and as no one else had
any use for it Whitlow had tak-
en it for his own. It was tempera-
ture controlled; it had lights and
plumbing; and, as Forrester had
already seen, it was provided
with food storage facilities. All
Whitlow had to do was furnish
the food. Forrester leaned back,
relaxed, trying to summon up the
energy to eat a chocolate mousse
and half-listening to Whitlow’s
stream of talk; “ — so then when
Ah got out of M. Ah. T. they
weren’t vurry many jobs open
coal-mahning engineers, of
course. So Ah went back and
took mah master’s in solid-state
electornics. Then Bell Labs sent
they recruiter up to scout our
prospects and he made me this
offer, and Ah went into the Labs
at nahn thousand to start. Sweat,
GALAXY
 ” ” ”

man, things looked good. Murry out of the way of the assassins,
was puttin’ on weight and the too.”
kids were fahn. But Ah’d had “Stands to reason, don’t it?”
this little cough for some tahm, “I don’t know what stands to
and — reason,” Forrester said humbly.
“Whit,” said Forrester, “hold He was beginning to wish he had
off on that a minute, will you? not been so quick to follow the
I want to ask you something. advice of Adne’s children, so re-
Why did we hide from that re- luctant to wait and expose him-
porter?” self to more of Adne’s gentle
Whitlow looked startled. “Ah’m scorn. He felt a quick surge of
sorry,” he apologized after a anger.
minute. “Ah keep forgetting what How dare the world treat his
a greenhorn you are. You don’t life so lightly!
know about these reporters.” But had not been for this
if it

“No, I don’t.” world he would not have a life

“Well, all you have to know
is seeing one of them’s poison.
Whah, that’s lahk a vulture ho-
vering over a hill. You just know
they’s going to be a corpse down
below. See, they’ve got this Free-
dom of the Press thing, so when
anybody takes out a killing lah-
at all; would have stayed dead
with a lungful of smoke and fire,
centuries before, his body now
no more than a soft place in the
ground. He leaned back and let
himself be lulled by Whitlow’s
continuing story of his own ad-
ventures :

cense he got to tell the reporters “ —

so then Ah went to the
raht away. And he’s got to fahl comp’ny doctor and he told me
a complete plan of action, see, Ah had it, all raht. The Big C.
so the reporters can be raht there Well! Scared! But we had this
when theblood starts flahing, comp’ny freezer plan at the Labs
because they tape it all and they and Ah reported in to the medics.
put it on the view-walls. Specially ‘Sheeoot,’ they said. ‘Lung can-
if the killer’s in one of the tour- cer, hey? Well, you lay raht
naments. Fella from the Nation- down here and we’ll freeze your
al Open was here last week and, bones —
God, they was reporters hanging Relaxing, half listening, For-
out of every cloud — rester found himself getting
“I think I understand,” said drowsy. It had been a very
Forrester. “You mean if you can strange day, he thought; but
keep out of the way of the re- then he stopped thinking and fell
porters, you can probably keep asleep.

THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 183

 n order to live successfully as
I a panhandler, you had to ex-
ercise special care in picking
your “clients”, Whitlow said. The
worst thing you could do was
guess wrong. There was always
the chance you might sidle up to
somebody and hit him for a
touch —
and then find out that
he was some jet-set happy-boy
looking for an economical mur-
der to commit, one that might
get him out of the problem of
paying for the victim’s repairs
an one with double thrills, since
'
there was always the chance that
the victim would stay dead.
To avoid that you had to
study each prospective mark
carefully. No one came down
here on business. The best ones
were the rubberneck tourists.
They usually came in pairs; and
of any two, the one who was
being shown around could safely
be figured for a greenhorn — weapons. And it had seen him.
himself too fresh out of the
freezers, or back from the star-
ways, to be eager for murder as
yet. The problem there was to
make an accurate assessment of
the one who was doing the
showing. “That’s whah Ah pick-
ed you, Chuck. Ah wasn’t wor-
ried about the little boy. Though
you can be vurry surprised.”
And of course, everything they
did was more or less illegal, so
you had to watch out for the
coppers.
184
The coppers would not trouble
you unless they saw you actually
breaking the law or unless you
were wanted for something. Then
they would trouble you very
much indeed. Forrester’s first
contact with one of the coppers
came as he was on the point at
bracing a woman alone, Whitlow
hiding behind a flowering Hlac
bush and coaching him in whis-
pers. “See thur, Chuck, what sh«
did? Threw away a cigarette
butt. Well, that’s ten to one she’s
Nahnteen Eighty or earlier, so
go get ’er, boy!” But Forrester
had taken no more than a single
step before Whitlow’s piercing
whistle stopped him: "Copper!"
The copper was seven feet tall,
uniformed in blue, swinging what
looked like a nightstick but was
not. Forrester had been warned:
It was a sort of joymaker, full
of anesthetic sprays and projectile
It strolled right up to them,
swinging the stick. It stopped
and looked Whitlow in the eyes,
right through the lilac blooms.
“Good morning, Man Whitlow,”
it said courteously and moved
on to Forrester. It stared silently
into his eyes. Then: “Nice day,
Man Forrester,” it said, and
moved away.
“How’d he know?” gasped
Forrester.
“Retina pattern. Don’t worry
about it; if he wanted you for
GALAXY
anything he’d have you by now.
Just give him a minute to get
out of saht.”
The woman prospect was gone
then. But there were plenty of
others.
Keeping out of the way of
coppers, trying to learn Whit-
low’s skills at estimating the po-
tentials of a mark, Forrester
found that the time passed. Nor
was it the most disagreeable way
he had spent a day. The weather
was warm and dry, the growing
plants were scented, the people
he hit up were no worse than the
average run. Forrester took five
dollars from a pretty girl in a
sort of mirror-bright bikini, fifty
from a man who had brought
his pet animal — it was a
silk-furred monkey — down
the under-building park to run
free, and seemed to accept For-
rester’s touch as a form of rent
for the use of the premises. For-
rester paid back Whitlow’s out-
lay for the fake joymaker and
found himself with cash money
in his pocket. As he could see
no particular need for spending
much of it, he began to feel
solvent again.
Then Whitlow’s hawk
brightened and he whispered
tautly: “Eeow! Look over thur,
will you? We’ve got ourselfs a
lahv one now!”
On the fringe of a bed of tall
gladioli a man had stepped out
oi a hovercar and dismissed it.
He seemed young, although you
couldn’t really tell. He moved
idly across the grass, like a sight-
seer. His gait was peculiar, and
he wore an expression of grave
joy as he minced toward them.
“Look how he walks!” exulted
Whitlow.
“I am looking. What about it?”
“Whah, Chuck, he’s out of
low-gee! Thur’s a fella just back
from a long trip if Ah ever saw
one, and probly loaded with pay.
Sic ’im!”
Forrester accepted Whitlow’s
diagnosis unquestioningly. He
marched up to the spaceman and
said clearly: “My name is Char-
les D. Forrester, and due to my
little ignorance of the customs of this
to time I’ve lost all my money and
have no work. If you could pos-
sibly spare me some cash I would
be deeply indebted to you.”
Whitlow appeared magically
at his elbow. “That goes for me
too, boss,” he said sorrowfully.
“We both in pretty bad trouble.
If you could be kahnd enough
to help us now we’d be eternally
grateful.”
The man stopped, his hands
eyes in his pockets, neither surprised
nor disturbed. He turned to face
them with grave interest. “Sorry
to hear that, gentlemen,” he said.
“What seems to be your prob-
lem, sir?”
“Mahn? Well, it’s just about

THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 185

 ”

lahk Forrester here. Mah name’s The restaurant was a hangout

Whitlow, Jurry Whitlow. It starts for Forgotten —
Men and For-
way back when Ah was first- gotten Women. It was something
born, working in the mahns in like a private home, something
West Virginia. They closed like an automat. You had full
down, and — joymaker service in it, but in
The spaceman was not only order to make it work you had
polite but patient. He listened at- to feed money into a slot. The
tentively through all of Whit- prices caused Forrester’s scalp
low’s long story, and to as much to prickle, but he reassured him-
of Forrester’s as Forrester self that he was just learning the
thought worth telling. He com- ropes and experience was worth
miserated with them, wrote their paying for; so at Whitlow’s sug-
names down and promised to gestion they started with a squirt
look for them again if he ever of joy apiece (fifty dollars a
came back this way. He was, in shot), then cocktails (forty), then
short, an ideal prospect not — a clear, filling soup (twenty-
only a spaceman, but one of the five), then more drinks, and
rotating crews who manned the about then Forrester began to
right-angle communications sat- lose count. He remembered
ellites that whirled out around something that looked like meat
the sun at ninety degrees to the but wasn’t it —
seemed to be
ecliptic, furnishing interference- coated with a sort of vanilla
free radio relay facilities for the fudge, though it was bloody in-
whole solar system. The job paid side —
and then they began
well, but that was only part of drinking in earnest.
it. Because of the energy budget They were not alone. The
for matching orbits with the place was crowded. Whitlow
right- angle satellites,crews the seemed to know everyone there,
were relieved only at six-month an assembly that hailed from
intervals, and came back with a seven continents, six centuries
fortune in their pockets and a and one or two extraterrestrial
mad hunger for company; and planets and moons.
Whitlow and Forrester walked There was a huge red-faced
away from him with two thous- man named Kevin O’Rourke na
and dollars apiece. Solis Lacis who gave Forrester a
That night they ate their din- shock until they exchanged
ner in a restaurant. Over Whit- names, for he remembered Hein-
low’s protests Forrester insisted zie the Assassin. The reason was
on standing treat. good, when Forrester found it

186 GALAXY
out: They were both Martians.
O’Rourke, however, was a poet.
As a matter of principle he re-
fused to accept the bribes of
what he called the iron-headed
state. Probing, Forrester discov-
ered that he was talking about
foundation grants, which were
available to poets in almost any
quantity; but O’Rourke spurned
them all. He had been briefly
involved with the Ned Lud So-
ciety —
but they were as bad as
the iron-heads, he declared. All
Earth was a disaster area. Let
the Sirians take it away! “So
why don’t you go back to Mars?”
Forrester inquired, politely
enough; but the Martian took it
as an insult, glowered and lum-
bered away across the room.
“Don’ worry ’bout heem,” said
the pretty little dark girl who
had somehow come to be leaning
against Forrester’s shoulder,
helping him drink his drink. “He
be back. Certainement."
There was a certain United
Nations quality to the gathering,
Forrester was discovering. Apart
from a few odd-balls like the
Martian poet, the bulk of the
Forgotten Men seemed to come
from nearly his own time. Had
the hardest time fitting in, he
supposed —
and the hardest time
earning money.
But it was not always that
The tiny dark girl, for instance,
had originally been a ballet
dancer from Czechoslovakia, shot
as a Chinese Bolshevik counter-
revolutionary in 1991, frozen at
great peril by the Khrushchevite
underground, revived, killed sev-
en times since in one way or an-
other and revived each time. Her
reasons for hiding out with the
Forgotten Men had nothing to
do with money —
she was load-
ed, Whitlow whispered, had made
a collection of gold and gems
from admirers in a dozen coun-
tries over the centuries, and
owned them with their pyramid-
ing value now. But one of her
assassinations had produced
some cell changes in the brain,
and now she awoke each time
convinced that Stalinist agents
lurked abroad, waiting for her.
She did not exactly fear them.
She objected to the idea of being
killed somewhat as Forrester, in
the old days, had objected to
going to the dentist: You didn’t
really worry about it, but you
were pretty sure it would be un-
pleasant. As someone who had
seen each of seven centuries,
Forrester found her fascinating —
and she was beautiful as well.
But she quickly became so drunk
her reminiscences stopped mak-
ing sense.
He got up for another drink
and found himself lurching
slightly. Only slightly, he was
sure; but somehow when he got
the drink it spilled all over a

THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 187

lean, old, nearly bald man who “But he was talking in Ital-
grinnedand nodded and said, ian.”
"Tenga dura, signore! E pred- 1‘Sure, Chuck. He can’t leam
oso!” raht, that’s what he’s doing here.
“You’re right,” said Forrester, You know, they ain’t many jobs
and sat down beside him. Whit- for a fella that can’t talk lahk
low had pointed him out as they the rest of us.”
entered, as a sort of curiosity; The Martian lurched past
he had actually been bom before them, his head twisted sidewise
Forrester himself. He had been toward diem. Whether he had
a hundred and seven years old been listening or not Forrester
when, in 1988, he had died of an could not say, but he was de-
embolism. The embolism could claiming: “Talk like de rest. Live
have been repaired at once, but like de rest. Life for de state for
the ravages of age could not. Not de state knows what’s best.”
then. After six centuries in the The whole party was coming
dreamless liquid-helium sleep his to life, thought Forrester, flush-
original stake had multiplied to ed and happy. A small man in
the point where the trustees of a green ruff —
it seemed to be

the freezer had decided to revive an imitation of the Sirian colora-

him; but there had been only tion — cried: “And what’s best?
money enough to give him opera- Adolf Berle asked it half a mill-
tional youth. Not much had been enium ago: ‘What does a corpor-
done cosmetically; and it had ation want?’ And the state has
taken everything he had. “I bet become a corporation!”
you’ve had an interesting life,” The balletdancer hiccoughed
Forrester told him solemnly, fin- and opened glazed and angry
ishing what remained in his eyes. “Stalinist!” she hissed, and
glass. returned to sleep; and Forrester
The man gave him a grave dug deep for hundred-dollar
nod. “Signore,” he said, “dur- and fed them to the joy-
bills,

ante la vita mia prima del morte,
era un uomo grande! Nel tempo
del Duce — ah! Un maggiore del
esercito, io, e dappertutto le
ne mon mi dispiace!”
Whitlow patted the old man
on the shoulder and led Forrester
away. ‘Tore-brain damage,” he
whispered.
188
maker slots for more drinks all
around.
don- TT'orrester was perfectly aware
that he was rapidly deplet-
ing his last thousand dollars. In
a way, it pleased him. He was
drunk enough, euphoric enough,
to lettomorrow face toworrow’s
GALAXY
fears. However badly the next You got to buy drinks yet” As
day began, it could not be worse Whitlow cooled off Forrester
than this one had been. He saw turned to inspect him; something
advantages even in being a For- had been on his mind.
gotten Man: You could spend “You,” he said. “How come
yourself into pennilessness, but you talk like that?”
not into bankruptcy; you could “Like what, ‘like dat ? Y«o
1

never go into debt, since you tink dere’s something funny

had no credit to begin with. Wise about de way I talk?”
Tars Tarkas! Excellent kids, to “Yeah, matter of fact. Why?"
have found him such fine ad- But something had occurred
vice! “Eat!” he cried, shaking off to the Martian. He snapped hit
Whitlow’s cautionary whisper. fingers. “Wait a minute! For-
“Drink! Be merry! For tomor- rester, is dat what you said your
row we die, again!” name was?”
“Domani morire!" shrilled the “That’s right. But we’re talk-
old Italian, uptilting his glass of ing about you —
heaven-knows-how-costly grappa “You should learn not to in-
that Forrester had provided for terrupt dat way,” reproved Kevin
him, and Forrester returned the O’Rourke na Solic Lacis. “What
toast. I want to tell you is dis. Dere’s
“Listen, Chuck,” said Whitlow a Sirian been around looking for
uneasily. “You better take it you.”
slow. We
don’t get a mark lahk “Sirian? One of the green fel-
that space fella every day.” lows?” Fuzzily Forrester tried to
“Whit, Don’t be a
shut up. concentrate, but it was not much
grandma, will you?” fun. “You mean S Four?”
“Well, it’s your money. But “How de hell would I know his
don’t blame me if you’re broke number? He came around in one
again tomorrow.” of dem pressure-cloaks, but I
Forrester smiled and said could tell he was a Sirian. I saw
clearly, “You make me sick.” plenty of dem.”
“Now, cut it out raht there!” “Probably wants to sue me for
blazed Whitlow. “Whur’d you be breach of contract,” Forrester
if it wasn’t for me? God damn, said bitterly. “He’s welcome;
Ah don’t have to take this kind there’s plenty of others.”
of—” “No, I don’t tink so, be-
But the Martian with the Irish cause —
name interrupted them. “Hey, “Cut it out,” interrupted For-
you fellows! Dat’s enough, dere. rester. “You know, I hate the

THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 189

 way you Martians keep changing Whitlow had warned him about
the subject. What I want to that, too. There were no auto-
know is why you all talk like nomic monitoring devices on the
that. This other one that wants public joymaker*, Whitlow had
to kill me, he had the same said. He would have to decide
Kraut accent, but in his case it for himself when he had enough,
figured. But you talk the same because the joymaker would not
way and you’re Irish, right?” stop service at the point of no
Kevin O’Rourke stared at him return —
not as long as the mon-
disapprovingly. “Forrester, you’re ey held out.
drunk. What de hell’s ‘Irish’?” Apparently it had held out too
long.

H ow long the
Forrester did not know. He
party lasted He shook his head miserably.
The movement sent cascades of
pain down the back of his skull.
remembered a long harangue in
which the drunken ballet dancer Something bad had happened.
was trying to explain to him that He tried half-heartedly to recall
the accent was
Martian, not it, but that would come to his
all

German; something to do with memory was a mosaic of mass

600 -millibar oxy-helium air, terror. Something had broken up
which got them out of the habit the party with drunken men and
of hearing certain frequencies. He women racing around in terror,
had a clear memory of reaching even the Italian and the baller-
into his pocket one time and ina rousing themselves enough to
coming up empty; and a fuzzy, flee. But what?

frightening recollection of some- He was not sure; and suspect-

thing bad that had happened. ed that he would rather not re-
~
But it was all hazy and dis- member, not just now.
tant, and it came back to him He lurched to the end of the
only in random patches. tunnel, climbed down metal
What he knew for sure was steps and pushed a door aside.
that when he woke up the next He stood gazing out over the
morning he was back in the plantings, in a warm breeze in
rough-hewn tunnel next to the which he took no pleasure at all.
joymaker shop. How he had got- It was daylight and, except for a
ten there he had no idea. And distant swish of hovercar traffic
he was alone. there was no sound of anyone
Except, that is, for the grand- around.
daddy of all hangovers. It was too soon to judge, on
He dimly remembered that the basis of less than twenty-four

190 GALAXY
hours’ experience. And no doubt The crazy Martian? Some other
his troubles were all his own enemy? He didn’t know, and
fault. But Forrester was ready didn’t care to learn.
to concede that life with the But the aircraft was not after
Forgotten Men was not his place him.
m this new world either.
If he had any place at all. t hesitated above him, and For-
But as he was alive, he had no I rester saw a face looking out
choice but to go on living. Forres- — a face which he recognized,
ter turned and walked
sighed, although not complete with an
into the ruby metal arms of a identity as yet. The eyes looked
copper. “Man Forrester,” it said, at him thoughtfully.
staring into his eyes, “good morn- Then it dipped and slid away,
ing and I have a message for and landed.
you.” - It landed across the hoverway,
“Nothing I want to hear,” said and the man got out. He was
Forrester. “Let go.” carrying something that looked
“As to that,” said the copper, like a whip.
“I do not know, Man Forrester, Around the pylons of the taper-
but the message is as follows: ing bright yellow building across
Will you care to accept re-em- the hoverway Forrester saw
ployment by Sirian Four?” Whitlow walking toward him. So
“No!” shouted Forrester. “My did the man from the aircraft.
God, no!” He was waiting for Whitlow. He
The copper said courteously, stood there, politely poised, while
“Thank you, Man Forrester,” Whitlow ambled across the
and strolled away. grass, and turned and saw him.
Forrester stood glowering after Whitlow never had a chance to
it. Re-employment! He’d rather run.
work for a cobra. Much rather; The thing that looked like a
a cobra was at least from the whip was a whip. The man seem-
right planet, and if it struck it ed to shake it gently, and its tip
would kill only a single man, not hissed out to touch Whitlow, and
a world; and at that moment, curled around his neck, and flung
looking up for what seemed to him violently to the ground.
him no particular reason, a The man pulled back with the
glimpse caught out of the comer whip, an expression of eager
of the eye, perhaps a shadow, pleasure on his friendly face; and
Forrester saw a flyer overhead. Forrester recognized him. It was
He froze, turned, started to run. their benefactor, the spaceman

THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 191

back from his right-angle flight. XVI
Over the whush of the hovercars
Forrester could hear Whitlow 'JT'onrester laughed to himself,
•cream. Whitlow tried frantically -T staring down at the bright
to get up, still screaming, and golden countryside below him.
was slashed to earth again; tried The from behind him
voice
again, and shook as the whip said, “Dear Charles, you’re an
flicked blood from his neck; tried idiot.”
again, and was thrown down; and He turned, grinning. “Because
stopped trying. I’m laughing, Adne? It’s just
Forrester turned and ran, as that it was such a stupid mis-
fast he he could run. take.”
He was sobbing. I have a right “Oh, it was all of that,” she
to be, he thought, half crazed. agreed. She still stayed inside
No one could watch a friend that foolish space suit. It nettled
whipped to death unmoved, even Forrester. It was bad enough that
if death were only temporary. he could have been so panicky
And for Whitlow it would not be and confused as to think her a
temporary, for he was a Forgot- Sirian, but at least she could
ten Man, without hope. Like For- come out and sit beside him on
rester. this flight they were taking to
He stopped. — to —
There ahead of him was anoth- “I forget where we’re going,”
er flyer, and outside it was some- he said apologetically. He closed
thing that glistened and shone. his eyes and rubbed them. He
It looked a little like an atom- must have had an even worst
bomb cloud, a little like an ice- hangover than he thought.
cream cone made of glittering “Sweat, sweet! You can’t re-
chrome. It rested on ducted jets member anything.”
that swept it across a bed of “I wish you’d come out and
storm -tossed poppies toward For- talk to me.”
rester, fast, so fast that he could “Talk?” Her laugh was gently
only stare at it. For inside it, be- mocking.
hind an inset band of crystal, “All right, I wish you’d come
was a ring of staring bright green out and —
eyes. “Charles! How fast you’re get-
Itwas a Sirian. His Sirian. And ting over your kamikaze ways!
it was reaching out to touch him A week ago you wouldn’t have
with something that glittered and talked like that.”
stung. “I wouldn’t?” Forrester con-

192 GALAXY
tern plated the thought. He was him with something like a hypo?
honestly puzzled; he couldn’t Even thought that Adne was not
redly remember what he would Adne, but one of the aliens from
have talked like a week ago. He Sirius, menacing Earth?
sighed and leaned back, staring But it was all too complex for
into Adne’s lovely, bright green him to sort out, and he was
eyes. dizzy and sick. He saw only flash-
He felt dizzy, sick and extreme- es, heard only bursts of sound.
ly confused. He wondered if his The whir of the flyer’s rotors;
mind was breaking down — not and a metallic whining of gears
that it would have been any as a port was opened. Why was
wonder if it were. Certainly he a port opened? What was he do-
had been through enough. He felt ing standing here on the ground,
tired. He felt both sleepy and on a hot, baked flat place of
taut; like an insomniac; sitting parched dead grass? Why was
there, watching Adne’s expression Adne getting into it? He heard
behind the band of crystal in her the rotors again, and looked out;
wild spacesuit, he was almost they were still flying over the
fainting from fatigue. Or some- endless fields of food for the
thing like fatigue. Little bolts of cities. But it was queerly night.
pain struck at the base of the He turned to ask Adne, but she
skull, muscle spasms knotted his was hiding from him. “Damn
neck muscles. His eyes were grit- you!” he cried. Or sobbed, or
ty and sore. But when he closed perhaps both; but she didn’t
them they sprang open again; answer. He flung himself petu-
he felt a flush of strength into lantly down on the seat. His head
his body, and sat up —and was was splitting with pain. “Damn
at once dizzyingly weary again. you,” he whispered, and slept.
It was confusing. It was also
frightening. He found minutes '\X7'hen he woke up the flyer
’ ’
passing that he had not marked; was standing at the side of
looked to see Adne regarding the hoverway. As near as he
him, looked again and she was could tell, it was the exact spot
somewhere else, bending over from which he had taken off.
something in her conical suit; He staggered to his feet.
but he had not seen her move. “Adne?” he called.
He thought objectively: I’m hav- But there was no answer, and
ing delusions. It had been going in a way he had not expected
on for some time. Had he not one. He remembered parts of
thought Adne was trying to stab what had happened. It had been
THE AGE OF THE PUSSYFOOT 193

confusing. It had lasted a long
time — it seemed to be day
again.
was very strange that he had
It
dreamed so complex and point-
less a dream. Of course, that was
assuming it was a dream. But
even waking, there seemed to be
no point to the whole experience;
he could not think what should
come next for him, and wander-
ed out of the flyer.
When he was standing on the
grassy border of the hoverway
he realized he was also ravenous-
ly hungry.
Strangely, the practical prob-
lem that presented was almost a
relief. He searched his pockets,
to see what might be left of the
largesse from his friend, the whip-
murderer.
Nothing.
But he had expected that, and
he did what he knew he had been
going to do all along. He headed
for Adne’s condominium.
Of course, she might not have
been in, or she might not have
admitted him. But she was. And
she did. She didn’t act too happy
about it, though. “All right,” she
said, “come on in.”
He sat down, ill at ease,
that besides being hungry, and
hungover, he was also far from
clean. He cast about in his mind
for something that would give
her a chance to invite him to eat.
TO BE CONCLUDED
194
”
“I had a funny experience,” he
said.
She grunted over her shoulder,
fingering her joymaker and
watching the view-wall.
“I thought you were with me
on a trip yesterday,” he said.
“You weren’t, were you?”
“Charles, will you shut up a
minute?” Her attention was on
the walL It glowed into life and
showed a scene of dried, seared
grasses, and a place where some-
thing heavy had ground into the
earth; while a voice was saying
insonorous mourning:
“—
escaped orbital patrols and
must be assumed to be on its
way to Sirius itself. No informa-
tion is available as to how
the Sirian managed to avoid
the built-in electronic defenses
against escape. There must have
been human complicity to carry
the alien to the site of the disused
space vessel, but no joymaker
monitors have registered any
such event. The implications, of
course —
Adne turned to him, her face
blank. “Sweat!” she cried.
“That’s terrible.
“What did you want to ask
aware me?”
“Oh, nothing. Something about
whether or not you were with me
yesterday,” said Forrester, “but
I don’t have to. It wasn’t you. I
know who it was now.”
GALAXY
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FINAGLE SAYS —
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The designs shown above arc the only ones we offer 1

Order from GALAXY 421 Hudson Street, New York 14, N. Y.

 $40,000 First Year
we
V Security-Prestige-
“In our first calendar year
did a gross of S40,000. Without
constant help from the Duraclean
borne office such growth never s Rross. Kor
(he tint time
d Ubl' l,s, ‘

l?5|
would have been possible.” sot security —without t
20 ,e,rs 1 "

M. L. Illinois job. I gross

‘ M 50 an hour on
'
f»«»ry
(he job.”
H-
^ Ohio
$2,880 in One Month
$360 Job Finished
in one day
saK'-.-sttsaSsw “I did the Sorority House in one
J. F. A. Texas day for $360. This business is in
its infancy.”

$116 for 6 Hours Work H. L. B. Texas

“I have done hotels, studios, restaurants and

churches. That is where the big money is. Example:
One Saturday, $210 in 11 hours. Monday, $116 FREE BOOK
tells how these people and —
in6 hours. I have also contracted to clean 80,000 hundreds of others—got started in this Big
square feet of carpet for a store for $4,000.” Money business. Send for your copy now.
G. F. Wisconsin

Let me give you the same

start I gave these men!
||
In one way, the big earnings reported
here might bo called exceptional. In
another way, there is nothing excep-
tional about them. That'a because any
man who will follow instructiona and
willing to work at his own Duraclean
business should be able to do as well
under similar conditions.
Each of thy men quoted here had tal-
ents and abilities different from those of
alb the rest. But each had one thing in
common— desire to win )>ersonal inde-
pendence in a business of his own. And
each man took five identical steps to
reach his goal.
1. Each one read an announcement such
as you are reading now. 2. He wrote
for complete information. 3. He read the
literature we sent him. 4. He gained
new confidence in himself and the belief
that he could succeed with lJuraclean.
5. He accepted our offer to help him get
started. Later, he wrote to tell us about
his success.
In each case, remember, the first step
was to write to Duraclean for informa-
tion. If you would like to own a business
of your own, why don’t you do as these
men did— right now.
When I hear from you, I will send you
facts about the Duraclean Franchise
The Duraclean home service business
has been tried and tested. The market
for Duraclean Service is tremendous—
and growing. The methods that lend to
is success have been clearly charted. When
an ambitious man follows these meth-
ods, success is the logical result.
Some Franchise businesses require
investments as high as $50,000. With
ours, you can get started for a few hun-
dred dollars and we finance the balance.
Monthly payments are so small that the
profits on less than one day’s service can
cover your payment for the entire
month. Even with this small investment
and operating as a one man business,
your ]>otential is $250.00 a week net
profit. With two men working for you
35 hours a week, you should gross a
profit of $420.00. Allowing 20% for
advertising and incidentals, the net
would amount to $336.00.
The most important part of Duraclean
home service is cleaning rugs,* carpets
and upholstered furniture by a revolu-
tionary modern process known as the
“Absorption Method.” You do the
work right in the customer’s premises.
No harsh scrubbing with motor-driven
brushes. No soaking. Instead, an aer-
ated foam loosens the dirt and holds it
was removed by old fashioned machine
scrubbing.
If you are tired of working for others
or of jumping from one proposition to
—
another if you have a real yearning
for independence in a business of your
—
own then send for “The Duraclean
Route to Succea8.“ There is no obliga-
tion —no chargo. No salesmen will call
to high pressure you. Send for the book
now. Read it. Then if you want to take
the next step toward independence, you
can write to me and let mo give you the
same help I’ve given so many other suc-
cessful men.
U President
DURACLEAN COMPANY
5 33D Duraclean Building, Deerfield, III. 6001
GRANT MAUK, Pmktont
5 23 DDuraclean Bldg., Deerfield, III. 6001
Dear Mr. Mauk:
Please mail a copy of your Free Book that
tells how I can get a Duraclean Franchlsa
started in spere time without giving up my
present Income. No charge. No obligation.
And no salosman is to call on mo.
Name
. .

that will open your eyes. You will see in su8|»enaion until removed. A test con-
Addicts
why a Franchise business such as ours ducted by an impartial laboratory
makes success for the individual the rule showed that the modern Absorption
rather than the exception. Method removed twice as much dirt as City SUlf Tip Cods