z NOVEMBER 195

<: 354
m ANC
SCIENCE FICTION
to
in
30

$
171

*i
 T3

SECRETS ENTRUSTED TO A FEW

THERE ARE some things that can not be generally told things you
ought to know. Great truths are dangerous to some but factors for
personal power and accomplishment in the hands oi those who under-
stand them. Behind the tales of the miracles and mysteries of the
ancients, lie centuries of their secret probing into nature's laws their
amazing discoveries of the hidden processes of man's mind, and the
mastery of life's problems. Once shrouded in mystery to avoid their
destruction by mass fear and ignorance, these facts remain a useful
heritage for the thousands of men and women who privately use them
in their homes today.

THIS FREE BOOK

The Bosicrncians (not a religious organisation), an age-old brotherhood oHearning,
have preserved this secret wisdom In their archives for centuries. They now invito
you to share the practical helpfulness of th&ir teaching's* Write today for a free copy
cl the) hook, "The Mastery oi Lite/' Within its pages may lie a new lite oi opportu-
nity for you, AckLxess: Scribe A.Y.L*

<3Be ROSICRUCIANS
(AMORC) SAN JOSE CALIFORNIA U. S- A.

Scribe: A.Y/L. The Rosicrucians (AMORC)

San Jose, California, U. S. A,
Please send copy of sealed booklet, "The Mastery of Life," which
1 5haH read as directed.

Mam*
 Ill 1*1*' M
J

rz-
A
*J-
Picture yourself
m
going pioces ^1

Vou'v* don* H f*e** Call U dayiireariilna; aptdat iitlis that brinf them bcUer >c*
Ifyou like, taut you've in sect* yourself and higher pay. It'a the men witAovt vainly
Hjhck job saving & &ad making d** mhm dfeaift* wswr come tme.
cUUnt - driving off U * smart uw car -* Waal are yov 9*ta to 46 about it? Jutt
faying your family I fine home wait and *bb? If y**t re*Hy vamt toia:4*4 t

Th<***s nothing wror* w*tK decama. Bt ygo Raa set the training y*m aeed r try-
fern about maims i^em tome traat Yw ing lit borne In your spare l)Me. Inietx*tJc*ii
<** 4* */, f/ yoV witting fa toy' Cwrespon*oice Schools offer you a cntitae
took around you. The men who are soina} In Just about any field you <bM, iMcg
pl*m are tit: Smnt4 jwea. Ti>ey*ve featmed 3WJ Ihe prtctkai piss the bedrock (acts aad
tey. No skimmlaB or jkfmpinjT And
yeuUl tw eartrtns rhlte yoo (eara, Student*
report ber iob* *&d *&or* p*y *it*& *
few month*
r*f* ov*t tie Its* of bicu Jo the o*t-
I pon bekar, Wdt oat tfee ea* tUt fe<i**t*
p most ti*
one last fcokl* the areat***
for you. Theji
ftrtttt* ma*
the cootwn, a4

I SMARTEST THINS HE 0B. WD 1 nail It today* AW

<** what I CS. cm
**
"I nRfHd th*t ttw ttalma" & btf t&ft i far pa. It mfe cV *uetp or ?oatc*ttl
betlw Joba. That** vtiD X <5*ri0fd to Uk batii's the.r>t5tej> if yoo mot feftpJacM)
| uh C. ft cwrw. nraJIttia with I. C. S. f
,

ww of ib imirtail thin** t *#r 4*4.

otift
%h$ pe*itios
?Umt SfltiOflw I fcold *
tfcj U
lattrir 40* to the 'know-how*
dorlr-* (rn my I, a I
"
^niaw 4* fe*6*tf." S* ffM Flw)tf *m WflHa>
. miv. I- C. 8. wafl WwwW i % Step |iy Mn a4aw f wrM**. r*a*f
| oso hfcji mj du
who win <tuay FREE BOOK
s
. f S SU&irt,
- lad.
|
g f sh* vdWaaV AfewliMy IrM. 5*ni cojwb btw 6

IHTEfiNATIONAL GORRESPObDENGE SCHOOLS

OX 13S*Wi,CJUHTOH tt KNNA.
lMiifprt>ftfhtT^
ART C!Wt.$TIWCTUJIl*t. QCt#m* ma*fa8wy fl StitfoMf? ( taitoHtlftt

Q
C*nmwtil
wacatir* MA
M "
gsssw
D art CawJQflin
CNOlliECftJftJQ
n ok (atMetrlac
OlWhttwUa
aCoauMRla*
Q Stttionnry Flriwf
flAOtO.TlVfVWOItt
8k*fe*tt&4 COMMUNICATION*
(MtaDnini VCff D Sumwint Miypiff M CCHAMkCAL 8CoJ#t)e
3 rnrtlon UuitnliM 0#w/AW aOmiflWn*.* C wiwiienr Offf iadto Opw**hKt
O CwtiMH PaoJi: AocMdtut D Kifbww ln<lawlff D MwftinlcpV C**h*a* O itdta S>fcke-fU
gAccoen*i C I^MM ****** gfwlia'/iai &to*wn<
OAen3t>LtthiK)t Ofc*?ihCofi*m*fioa totfwtrW &wryrii
a Avto-tht Tw*nkW D Sttltwt laaUawfui rffwai *M
a MW ftrty IAiUm OMMTIHA W*Jun^ tinfliat aiAltfKMO
D *lrcrt OtVtift* D Loti tftdnaac
D Matf-fin tatln St*;f-w* temwrtmt* Qfe*H*t!tTilOfa^B| OM^kwPit*raRtk
AVIATION D Prw*MiMJU^)MwiPW D DkUpwJ Dl*tfla OMtelfft QWf Brikw DC*******
D AwMtitiUl IfUtoMttUi M )Atfnrtttkw GW^iniof Onrftini p lirfwlf tettamwrtrfwi
tvwl <wW Mwwaiw w D t $tr*Hicii Draftina li-tim. Ihoo UncocOai
C3 Wipim Onrtiw D *&> aaf W Q TwW* fatfrtMwat
"
laiLotMa DCotte*
UM^Uf|CW**fl mr*t
0M.frM(W D Trwtwaa-HfliHi
tt*a www

o
pj
mM
.

O EhBtTlclBB O Shtti fbfi

8BttW aw***K
D CiwufiM Hi w EMrkal OraWm
MOMaTmnt
^rpNWhrww gatttkAaWaalUaU
*SW**"kUnt ra^artfUHrMaUat 8tMl-ala*ft
DaaaieClaTaaifeKW

ttr- 4Mt- Jtftt heart. AH la. jm

l HuataiwHiTimtt at tta> *aa<4 tanaa. Cwwftm rnkfaata wW
'

Caawitoa, lit, fcHrtwav GaaaM

NOVEMBER, 1953 Vol. 7, No. 2

GaUxy
SCIENCE FICTION
AIL ORIGINAL STORIES * NO REPRINTS!
CONTENTS
NOVELETS PAGE
KEEP YOUR SHAPE by Robert Sheckfey 5
THE BOOK by Mcboel Shaara 44

SHORT STORIES
MR. PRESIDENT by Stephen Arr 22
UNBEGOTTEN CHILD by Winston Marks 67
CLEAN BREAK by Roger Dee 82

BOOK-LENGTH SERIAL-lnttalliflirt 2
THE CAVES OF STEEL by Isaac Aaimv 98

SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
FOR YOUR INFORMATION by Willy Uy 35
FEATURES
EDITOR'S PAGE by H. L Gold 3
FORECAST 66.

GALAXY'S FIVE STAR SHEIF by Groff Conktin 77

Cover by EMSH Showing PLOTTING ROOM OF EARTH CENTER

*
ROBERT CUINN, Publisher

H. L GOtO, E^tor WIUY LEY. ScSenc* (Hfor EVELYN PAIGE, Asftittonf Editor

W. I. VAN D6R POIl, Art Director JOAN Do MARIO, Production Manager

GALAXY Science ficthm a published monthly by Galaxy Publishing Corporation- Main o*ces:
421 Hudson Street, New York 14, N. Y. 35c pet copy- Subscriptions: (12 copies) #$.50 per
and U.S. Possessions.
Ear in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South and Central America
uwhtrt $4.50. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office, New York, N, Y. Copyright,
1953, by Galaxy Publishing Corporation. Robert Guirm, president. All right*, includirig
translation, reserved. All material subjoined ust be accompanied bv self-addressed stamped
envelopes. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. Ail stories printed in
this magazine a fiction, and any sitrjiUrirjr between characters and acmat person* il coincidental.

MnM In tho U.S.A. by the Suinn Co*, Inc. TItl* H*> U.S. P#*. Off.
 THAT'S LIFE, ETC.
VjfTlTH a little practice, any- observation becomes easy to re-
** one can be a cliche expert. member and use. People are not
There is a choice of diplomas: likely to say; The tendency to
either a look of pained contempt dwell on past errors is an in-
or amused pity. Some sophisti- dication of emotional immaturity
cates own both. The ability to and must be rigorously checked
recognize a cliche and scorn it is by recognition of the fact that
a necessary passport to literate no amount of such regret can
circles. alter a prior experience. Not
Intolerance is justified, of when the same lesson can be A

course. Through incessant repe- put this clearly; Don't cry over
tition, cliches become mere au- spilled milk.
tomatic verbal responses to given Whoever first said It's not the
stimuli. heat; it's the humidity undoubt-
But there ought to be a post- edly made a first-rate scientific
graduate course, for few things observation and did so with the
are harder to manufacture than word-economy of a Newton or,
cliches. A successful cliche is for that matter, a Shakespeare.
(or was originally) the keenest The actual difference between
view of a subject and the most a cliche and a potential one is
concise way of expressing it. purely subject matter. Many
Psychology need
textbooks masterpieces of clarity and pithi-
chapters to state: What can't be ness don't well, make the grade
cured must be endured; take it because they're too specialized. A
(an insult or hurt) whence it statement must be usable often
comes; sticks and stones may and widely before it can qualify
break my bones, but names can as a cliche.
never hurt me; that's life; go Remember Poe's "The Pur-
fight City Hall; Here today, gone loined Letter"? He showed that
tomorrow; into every life a little the best place to hide something
rain must fall; this, too, shall is right out in full view, where
pass; every cloud has a silver if s sure to be overlooked. Well,
lining. a guaranteed way to take over
The troublenot the content
is an alien wprld is to inflict its
or phrasing of the clichexcept knowledge on it in the form of
that, if done with extreme acute- cliches. Finding a startling truth
niss and compression, the in a brilliant new simplification

THAT'S LIFE, ETC.

is a lot easier than peeling the ment might, Ontogeny re-
like
verdigris off an old one* capitulates phytogeny, have a
When a statement that quali- very restricted currency. Certain-
fies in every way somehow fails ly neither one fits broad daily
to clichedom in 400
achieve needs.
years, I suppose it never will. I The same* of course, is true
don't understand how Michel- of Mankind ia just emerging from
angelo's Only work can eliminate antiquity, which was said by
the traces of work escaped. It Bernard Berenson, octogenarian
was fortunate for me that it did philosopher and expert on Italian
not having been deafened to painting.
his lesson, I was able to apply "Oh, we are, are we?'* is a
it to my writing and editing. This good healthy first reaction, "And
editorial you're reading, for ex- how about all our scientific prog-
ample, is the fifth version I've ress? What other era in history
written, Whatever you may think can match it?"
of it, it's clearer and more read- Exactly. No other era can . , .

able than the first four, which is which is why many

people, per-
all Michelangelo was saying. haps the majority, blame our cur-
There are two other entrants rent problems on science. But no
that I'm anxious to share, though blame is called for if it's true
I know they won't ever be petri- that mankind is just emerging
fied intostandard speech. from antiquity.
One is by the late Supreme Our discoveries are not at fault
Court Justice Oliver Wendell We primitively use them as big-
Holmes Continuity with the past
: ger and more destructive bat-
is not a duty; it is only a neces- lhtae, our bomb shelters are
sity. larger shields, and radioactivity
Any number of civilizations and disease germs are only the
might have been saved from ex- present-day equivalent of plow-
tinction if they'd been relieved ing salt into the soil of Carthage
of mandatory veneration of the so nothing may ever grow there
past Literally, there's no future again. -

in ancestor worship. See what I mean? I needed

Holmes's injunction also has all this room to explain the con-

considerable personal value. Un- cept, A historian would devote

due attachment to one's own past a whole book to it,
can be equally ritualistic and Berenson made the point in six
equally disastrous. words,
As a possible clich, his state- H* L. GOLD

4 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 Only a raw as incndtbry

elastic as the Grom cavld

have a single rvh ot wor;

KEEP
YOUR
SHAPE
By ROBOT SHfCKUY

HhMtrofwi by VIDMEt

the Pilot slowed the peditions had set out to prepare

P1D ship almost to a stand-
and peered anxious-
this planet for invasion: and
still, vanished utterly, without a word,
ly at the green planet below. Pid hesitated only a moment,
Even without instruments, before starting irrevocably down.
there was no mistaking it Third There was no point in hovering
from its sun, it was the only and worrying. He and his two
planet in this system capable of crewmen were as ready now as
sustaining life. Peacefully it they would ever be. Their com-
swam beneath gauze of clouds.
its pact Displacers were stored in
It looked very innocent And body pouches, inactive but ready.
yet, twenty previous Grom ex- Pid wanted to say something

KEEP YOUR SHAPE

to his crew, but wasn't sure how vice of The Shapeless One !"
to put it Ger's body surfaces abruptly
The crew waited. Ilg the Ra- stopped flowing.
dioman had mes-
sent the final, "That's all/' Pid said, and
sage to the Grom planet Ger the flowed into his controls. The ship
Detector read sixteen dials at started down, so smoothly co-
once, and reported, "No sign of ordinated that Pid felt a glow of
alien activity/' His body sur- pride.
faces flowed carelessly. They were good workers, he
decided. He just couldn't expect
NOTICING the flow, Pid knew them to be as shape-conscious as
what to say to his crew. Ever a high- caste Pilot.Even the In-
since they had left Grom, shape- vasion Chief had told him that.
discipline had been disgustingly "Rd," the Invasion Chief had
lax. The Invasion Chief had said at their last interview, "we .

warned him; but still, he had to need this planet desperately."

do something about it. It was his "Yes, sir*" Pid had said, stand-
duty, since lower castes such as ing at full attention, never quiv-
Radiomen and Detectors were ering from Optimum Pilot's
notoriously prone to Shapeless- Shape.
ness. "One of you," the Chief said
"A lot of hopes are resting on heavily, "must get through and
this expedition," he began slowly. set up a Displacer near an atomic
"We're a long way from home power source. The army will be
now/* t
standing by at this end, ready to
Ger the Detector nodded. Ilg step through."
the Radioman flowed out of his "We'll do it, sir," Pid said.
prescribed shape and molded "This expedition has to suc-
himself comfortably to a wall. ceed/' the Chief said, and his
"However/' Pid said sternly, features blurred momentarily
"distance is no excuse for pro- from sheer fatigue. "In strictest
miscuous Shapelessness" confidence, there's considerable
Ilg flowed hastily back into unrest on Grom. The Miner caste
proper Radioman's shape. ison strike, for instance. They
"Exotic forms will undoubt- want a new digging shape. Say
edly be called for," Pid went on. the old one is inefficient."

"And for that we have a special Pid looked properly indignant.

dispensation. But rememberany The Mining Shape had been set
shape not assumed strictly in the down by the Ancients thou- fifty

line of duty is a foul, lawless de- sand years ago, together with the

GAIAXY SCIENCE FICTION

KEEP YOUR SHAPE
rest of the basic shapes. And now cure everything. So we're count-
these upstarts wanted to change ing on you, Pid."
it! "Yes, sir/' Pid said, with a glow
"That's not all," the Chief told of pride*
him. '/We've uncovered a new The Chief rose to end the in-
Cult of Shapelessness. Picked up terview. Then he changed his
almost eight thousand Groin, and mind and sat down again,
I don't know how many more "You'll have to watch your
we missed." crew," he said. "They're loyal,
Pid knew that Shapelessness no doubt, but low- caste. And you
was a lure of The Shapeless One, know the lower castes."
the greatest evil that the Grom Pid did indeed.
mind could conceive of. But why, "Ger, your Detector, is sus-
he wondered did so , many Grom pected of harboring Alterationist
fall for His lures? tendencies. He was once fined for
assuming a quasi-Hunter, shape,
THE Chief guessed his ques- Ilg has never had any definite
tion. "Fid," he sai<fe "I sup- charge brought against him. But
pose it's difficult for you to I hear that, he femains immobile
understand. Do you enjoy Pilot- for suspiciously long periods of
ing?" time. Possibly, he fancies him-
"Yes, sir/' Pid said simply. self a Thinker/'
*
Enjoy Piloting! It was his entire "But, sir/' Pid protested. "If
life! Without a ship, he was noth- they are even slightly tainted
ing. with Alterationism or Shapeless-
"Not all Grom way,"
feel that ness, why send them on this ex-
the Chief said. "I don't under- pedition?"
stand it either. All my ancestors The Chief hesitated before an-
have been Invasion Chiefs, back swering. "There are plenty of
to the beginning of time. So of Grom I could trust/' he said
course I want to be an Invasion slowly. "But those two have cer-
Chief. It's only natural, as well tain qualities of resourcefulness
as lawful But the lower castes and imagination that will be
don't feel that way/' The Chief needed on this expedition/* He
shook his body sadly. "I've told sighed. "I really don't understand
you this for a reason. We Grom why those qualities are usually
need more room. This unrest is linked with Shapelessness."
caused purely by crowding. All "Yes, Pid said.
sir,"

our psychologists say so. An- "Just watch them/'

other planet to expand into will "Yes, sir," Pid said again, and

8 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

saluted, realizing that the inter- The Pilot altered course. He had
view was at an end. In his body reached the lowest level of
pouch he felt the dormant Dis- clouds, barely a mile above the
place^ ready to transform the surface of the planet. Now his
enemy's power source into a ship looked like a fat, fleecy cum-
bridge across space for the Groin ulus.
hordes. And stillwas no sign of
there
"Good luck," the chief said. alarm. The unknown fate that
arr
I'm sure you'll need it." had overtaken twenty previous
expeditions' still had not showed
THE ship dropped silently to- itself.

ward the surface of the enemy Dusk crept across the face of
planet Ger the Detector analyzed the planet Pid maneuvered
as
the clouds below, and fed data near the atomic power installa-
into the Camouflage Unit. The tion. He avoided the surrounding
Unit went to work. Soon the ship homes and hovered over a clump
looked, to all outward appear- of woods.
ances, like a cirrus formation. Darkness fell, and the green
Pid allowed the ship to drift planet's lone moon was veiled in
slowly toward the surface of the clouds.
mystery planet. He was in Op* One cloud floated lower.
timum Pilot's Shape now, the And landed.
most efficient of the four shapes "Quick, everyone out!" Pid
alloted to the Pilot caste. Blind, shouted, detaching himself from
deaf and dumb, an extension of the ship's controls. He assumed
his controls, all his attention was * the Pilot's Shape best suited for
directed toward matching the ve- running, and faced out the hatch.
locities of the high-flying clouds, Ger and Ilg hurried after him.
staying among them, becoming a They stopped fifty yards from
part of them* the ship, and waited.
Ger remained rigidly in one of Inside the ship a little-used
the two shapes alloted to Detec- circuit closed. There was a silent
tors. He fed data into the Cam- shudder, and the ship began to
ouflage Unit, and the descending melt. Plastic metal
dissolved,
ship slowly altered into an alto- crumpled. Soon the ship was a
cumulus. great pile of junk, and still the
There was no sign of activity process went on. Big fragments
from the enemy planet. broke into smaller fragments, and
Ilg located an atomic power split, and split again.
source, and fed the data to Pid. Pid felt suddenly helpless,

KEEP YOUR* SHAPE

watching his ship scuttle itself. dioactives. That was another
He was a Pilot, of the Pilot caste. reason why this expedition was
His father had been a Pilot, and so important There was little
his father before him, stretching on any of
radioactive fuel left,
back to the hazy past when 'the the Grom worlds. Ages ago, the
Grom had first constructed ships. Grom had spent their store of
He had spent his entire child- radioactives in spreading through-
hood around ships, his entire out their neighboring worlds, oc-
manhood flying them. cupying the ones that they could
Now, shipless, he was naked in live on.
an alien world. Now, colonization barely kept
up with the mounting birthrate.
TN a few minutes there was only New worlds were constantly
* a mound of dust to show where needed.
the ship had been. The night wind This particular world, discov-
scattered it through the forest. ered in scouting expedition,
a
And then there was nothing at was needed. It suited the Grom
all. perfectly. But it was too far
They waited- Nothing hap- away. They didn't have enough
pened. The wind sighed and the fuel to mount a conquering space
trees creaked. Squirrels chirped, fleet.

and birds stirred in their nests. An Luckily, there was another

acorn fell to the ground way. A better way.
Pid heaved a sigh of relief and Over the centuries, the Grom
sat down. The twenty-first Grom scientists had developed the Dis-
expedition had landed safely. places A triumph of Identity
There was nothing to be done Engineering, the Displacer al-
until morning, so Pid began to lowed mass to be movd instan-
make plans. They had landed as taneously between any two linked
close to the atomic power installa- points.
tion as they dared. Now they One end was set up
Grom's at
would have to get closer. Some- sole atomic energy plant The
how, one of them had to get very other end had to be placed in
near the reactor room, in order to promixity to another atomic pow-
activate the Displacer. er source, and activated. Divert-
Difficult. But Pid felt certain ed power then flowed through
of success. After all, the Grom both ends, was modified, and
were strong on ingenuity. modified again.
Strong on ingenuity, he thought Then, through the miracle of
bitterly, but terribly short of ra- Identity Engineering, the Grom

10 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

could step through from planet to "Was/' Ger mumbled, writh-
planet; or pour through in a ing with embarrassment,
great, overwhelming wave. Pid remembered what the Chief
was quite simple.
It had told him. Ger certainly did
But twenty expeditions had have Hunter tendencies. He
failed to set up the Earth-end would have to watch him more
Displaces closely.
What had happened to them "We'll have no more of that,"
was not known. Pid said.
"Remember the lute
For no Grom ship had ever re- of Exotic Shapes is not sanc-
turned to tell. tioned. Be content with the shape
you were born to."
BEFORE dawn they crept Ger nodded, and melted back
through the woods, taking on into the underbrush. They moved
the coloration of the plants on.

around them. Their Displacers At the extreme edge of the

pulsed feebly, sensing the near- woods they could observe the
4

ness of atomic energy* atomic energy installation. Pid

t

A tiny, four-legged creature disguised himself as a clump of

darted in front of them. Instantly, shrubbery, and Ger formed him-
Ger grew four legs and a long, self into an old log. Ilg, after a

streamlined body and gave chase. moment's thought, became a

"Ger! Come back here!" Pid young oak..
howled at the Detector, throw- The installation was in the
ing caution to the winds. form of a long, low building, sur-
Ger overtook the animal and rounded by a metal fence. There
knocked it down. He tried to bite was a gate, and guards in front
it, but he had neglected to grow of it,

teeth. The animal jumped free, The Pid thought, was

first job,

and vanished into the under-
brush. Ger thrust out a set of
teeth and bunched his muscles
for another leap.
"Get!"
Reluctantly, the Detector turn-
ed away. He loped silently back
to Pid,
"I was hungry/' he said
"You were not" Pid said stern-
ly.
to get past that gate. He began
to consider ways and means..
From the fragmentary reports
of the survey parties, Pid knew
that, in some ways, this race of
Men were like the Grom. They
had pets, as the Grom did, and
homes and children, and a cul-
ture. The inhabitants were skilled
mechanically, as were the Grom.
But there were terrific differ-

KEEP YOUR SHAPE 11

ences, also. The Men were of expeditions must have tried it.
fixed and immutable form,. like And none of them came back."
stones or trees. And to compen- There was no arguing that. Ger
sate, their planet boasted a fan- flowed back into the shape of
tastic array of species, types and a log. "What, then?" he asked.
kinds. This was completely un- "Let me think," Pid said.
like Grom, which had only eight Another creature lurched past,
distinct forms of animal life. on four legs instead of two. Pid
And evidently, the wereMen recognized it as a Dog, a pet of
skilled at detecting invaders, Pid Man. He watched it carefully.
thought. He wished he knew how The Dog ambled to the gate,
the other expeditions had failed. head down, in no particular
It would make his job much hurry. It walked through, un-
easier. challenged, and lay down in the
grass.

MAN lurched past them on "H'm," Pid

A two incredibly stiff legs.
said.
They watched. One of the Men
Rigidity was evident in his every walked past, and touched the
move. Without looking, he hur- Dog on the head. The Dog stuck
ried past. out its tongue and rolled over on
"I know," Ger said, after the its side.

creature had moved away. "I'll "I can do that," Ger said ex-
disguise myself as a Man, walk citedly. He started to flow into
through the gate to .the reactor the shape of a Dog.
room, and activate my Dis- "No, wait," Pid said. "We'll
placer," spend the rest of the day think-
"You can't speak their lan- ing it over. This is too important
guage," Pid pointed out. to rush into."
"I won't speak at all. I'll ignore Ger subsided sulkily.
them. Look." Quickly Ger shaped "Come move back,"
on, let's

himself into a Man. Pid said. He and Ger started into

"That's not bad," Pid said. the woods. Then he remembered
Ger tried a few practice steps, 8ft
copying the bumpy walk of the "Ilg?"vhe called softly.
Man. There was no answer.
"But I'm afraid it won't work," "Ilg!"
Pid said. "What? Oh, yes," an oak tree
"It's perfectly logical," Ger said, and melted into a bush.
pointed out. "Sorry. What were you saying?"
"I know. Therefore the other "We're moving back," Pid said.

12 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

"Were you, by any chance, Comfort was not in the line of
Thinking?" duty, he reminded himself, and
"Oh, no" Ilg assured him. firmly took a Pilot's Shape.
"Just resting." But a Pilot's Shape wasn't
Pid let it go at that. There constructed for sleeping on damp,
was too much else to worry about. bumpy ground. Pid spent a rest-
less night, thinking of ships, and
wishing he were flying one.
THEY discussed it for the rest
He awoke morning tired
in the
of the day, hidden in the deep-
est part of the woods. The only and ill-tempered. He nudged Ger.
alternatives seemed to be Man "Let's get this over with," he

or Dog. A Tree couldn't walk said.

past the gates, since that was not Ger flowed gaily to his feet.
in the nature of trees. Nor could "Come on, Ilg," Pid said angri-
anything else, and escape notice. ly, looking around. "Wake up."
Going as a Man seemed too There was no reply.
risky. They decided that Ger "Ilg!" he called.
would sally out in the morning Still there was no reply.
as a Dog. "Help me
look for him," Pid
"Now get some sleep," Pid said. said to Ger. "He must be around
Obediently his two crewmen here somewhere."
flattened out, going immediately Together they tested every
Shapeless. But Pid had a more bush, tree, log and shrub in the
difficult time. vicinity. But none of them was
Everything looked too easy.
Why wasn't the atomic installa- Pid began to feci a cold panic
tion better guarded? Certainly run through him* What could
the Men must have learned some- have happened to the Radioman?
thing from the expeditions they "Perhaps he decided to go
had captured in the past. Or had through the gate on his own,"
they killed them without asking Ilg suggested.
any questions? Pid considered the possibility.
You couldn't tell what an alien It seemed unlikely. Ilg had never
would do. shown much initiative. He had
Was that open gate a trap? always been content to follow
Wearily he flowed into a com- orders.
fortable position on the lumpy They waited. But midday
ground. Then he pulled himself came, and there was still no
together hastily. sign of Ilg.
He had gone Shapeless! "We can't wait any longer,"

KEEP YOUR SHAPE 13

Pid and they started through
said, Pid shaped a pair of strong
the woods. Pid wondered if Ilg legs for himself, ready to dash if
had tried to get through the gates Ger was caught.
on his own. Those quiet types But the guard turned back to
often concealed a foolhardy his gate. Ger stopped running im-
streak. mediately, and strolled quietly
But there was nothing to show toward the main door of the
that Ilg had been successful. He building,
would have to assume that the Pid dissolved his legs with a
Radioman was dead, or captured sigh of relief and then tensed
. . .

by the Men. again.

That left two of them to
a Displacer.
tivate
And he still didn't know what
had happened to the other ex-
peditions.
ATturned the edge of the woods,
himself into a fac-
simile of a Dog. Pid inspected him
carefully.
"A little less tail/* he
Ger shortened his tail.
"More ears."
Ger lengthened his ears,
"Now even them up."
They became even*
Pid inspected the finished prod-
uct. As far as he could tell, Ger
was perfect, from the tip of his
tail to his wet, black nose.
"Good luck," Pid said.
'Thanks." Cautiously Ger
moved out of the woods, walking
in the lurching style of Dogs and
Men. At the gate the guard
to him. Pid held his breath,
Ger walked past the Man, ig-
noring him. The Man started to
walk over. Ger broke into a run.
ac- The main door was closed!
Pid hoped the Radioman
wouldn't try to open it. That
was not in the nature of Dogs.
As he watched, another Dog
came running toward Ger. Ger
Ger backed away from him. The Dog
approached and sniffed. Ger
sniffed back.
Then both of them ran around
said. the building.
That was clever, Pid thought.
There was bound to be a door
in the rear.
He glanced up at the afternoon
sun. As soon as the Displacer
was activated, the Groin armies
would begin to pour through. By
the time the Men recovered from
the shock, a million or more
Grom troops would be here,
weapons and all. With more fol-
lowing.
The day passed slowly, and
called nothing happened.
Nervously Pid watched the
front of the plant. It shouldn't be
taking so long, if Ger were suc-
cessful.

14 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 " "

Late into the night he waited. "I changed my mind," Ger told
Men walked in and out of the him. "You know, Pilot, I never
installation, and Dogs barked wanted to be a Detector."
around the gates. But Ger did "But you were born a Detec-
not appear. tor!"
Ger had failed. Ilg was gone. "That's true," Ger said. "But it
Only he was left doesn't help. I always wanted to
And still he didn't knQW what be a Hunter."
had happened. Pid shook his entire body in
annoyance. "You can't " he said,
T> Y morning, Pid was in com- very slowly, as one would explain
*-* plete despair. He knew that to a Gromling. "The Hunter
the twenty-first Grom expedition shape is forbidden to you."
to this planet was near the point "Not here it isn't," Ger said,
of complete failure. Now it was still wagging his tail.

all up to him. "Lefs have no more of this,"

He saw that workers were ar- Pid said angrily. "Get into that
riving in great number, rushing installation and set up your Dis-
through the gates. He decided to places Til try to overlook this
take advantage of the apparent heresy."
confusion, and started to shape "No," Ger said. "I don't want
himself into a Man. the Grom here. They'd ruin it

A Dog walked past the woods for the rest of us."

where he was hiding* "He's right," a nearby oak tree
"Hello," the Dog said. said.
It was Ger! "Ilg!" Pid gasped. "Where are
"What happened?" Pid asked, you?"
with a sigh of relief. "Why were
you so long? Couldn't you get BRANCHES stirred. "I'm right
in?" here," Ilg said "I've been
"I don't know,V Ger said, wag- Thinking."
ging his tail. "I didn't try." "But your caste
Pid was speechless. "Pilot," Ger said sadly, "why
"I went hunting," Ger said don't you wake up? Most of the
complacently. "This form is ideal people on Grom
are miserable.
for Hunting, you know. I went Only custom makes us take the
out the rear gate with another caste-shape of our ancestors."
Dog." "Pilot," Ilg said, "all Grom are
"But the expedition your born Shapeless!"
duty "And being born Shapeless, all

KEEP YOUR SHAPE 15

 ! "
Grom should have Freedom of
Shape," Ger said.
"Exactly," Ilg said. "But he'll
never understand. Now excuse
me. I want to Think." And the
oak tree was silent.
Pid laughed humorlessly. "The
Men will kill you off," he said.
"Just as they killed off all the
other expeditions."
"No one from Grom has been
killed," Ger told him. "The other
expeditions are right here."
"Alive?"
"Certainly. The Men don't even
know we exist. That Dog
Hunting with is a Grom from
the twelfth expedition. There are
hundreds of us here,
like it."
Pid tried to absorb it all. He
had always known that the lower
castes were lax in caste -conscious-
ness. But was preposterous!
this
This planet's secret menace was
freedom
"Join us, Pilot,"
"We've got a paradise here. Do
you know how many species there
are on this planet? An uncount-
able number! There's a shape to
suit every need I that terrified. Alien and repulsive
Pid ignored them. Traitors!
He'd do the job all by himself.
So Men were unaware of the
presence of the Grom. Getting
near the reactor might not be so
difficult after all. The
failed in their duty because they
were of the lower castes,
16
and Even the Pilots
irresponsible.
among them must have been
secretly sympathetic to the Cult
of Shapelessness the Chief had
mentioned, or the alien planet
could never have swayed them.
What shape to assume for his
attempt?
Pid considered.
A Dog might be best. Evidently
Dogs could wander pretty much
where they wished. If something
went wrong, Pid could change his
shape to meet the occasion.
"The Supreme Council will
I was take care of all of you," he
snarled, and shaped himself into
a small brown Dog. "I'm going to
Pilot. We set up the Displacer myself."
He studied himself for a mo-
ment, bared his teeth at Ger, and
loped toward the gate.
HE loped for about ten feet and
stopped in utter horror.
The smells rushed at him from
Ger said. all directions. Smells in a pro-
fusion and variety he had never
dreamed existed. Smells that
were harsh, sweet, sharp, heavy,
mysterious, overpowering. Smells
and inescapable, the odors of
Earth struck him like a blow.
He curled his lips and held his
breath. He ran on for a few steps,
and had to breathe again. He al-
others had most choked.
He tried to remold his Dog-
weak nostrils to be less sensitive. It
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
didn't work. It wouldn't, so long hadn't noticed his fiasco. They
as he kept the Dog-shape. An were looking in another direction,
attempt to modify his metabolism . a
. . Man?
didn't work either. Well, it was worth a try.

All this in the space of two i

or three seconds. He was rooted STUDYING the Men at the

in his tracks, fighting the smells, gate, Pid carefully shaped
wondering what to do. himself into a facsimile a syn-
Then the noises hit him. thesis, actually, embodying one
They were a constant and stag- characteristic of that, another of
gering roar, through which every this.
tiniest whisper of sound stood out He emerged from the side of
dearly and Sounds upon
distinct. the bush opposite the gate, on
soundsmore noise than he had his hands and knees. He sniffed
ever heard before at one time in the air, noting that the smells
his life* The woods behind him the Man-nostrils picked up
had suddenly become a mad- weren't unpleasant at all.In fact,
house. some of them were decidedly
Utterly confused, he lost con- otherwise. It had just been the
trol and became Shapeless. acuity of the Dog-nostrils, the
He half -ran, half -flowed into a number of smells they had de-
nearby bush. There he re-Shaped, tected and the near-brilliance
obliterating the offending Dog with which they had done so,
ears and nostrils with vicious that had shocked him.
strokes of his thoughts. Also, the sounds weren't half
The Dog-shape was out. Abso- so Only relatively
devastating.
lutely. Such appalling sharpness close sounds stood out All else
of might be line for a
senses was an undetailed whispering.
Hunter such as Ger he prob- Evidently, Pid thought, it had
ably gloried in them. But an- been a long time since Men had
other moment of such impressions been Hunters.
would have driven Pid the Pilot He tested his legs, standing up
mad. and taking a few clumsy steps.
What now? He lay in the bush Thud on ground. Drag
of foot
and thought about it, while grad- the other leg forward in a heavy
ually his mind threw off the last arc. Thud. Rocking from side to
effects of the di22ying sensory side, he marched back and forth
assault. behind the bush. His arms flapped
He looked at the gate. The as he sought balance. His head
Men standing there evidently wobbled on its neck, until he re-

KEEP YOUR SHAPE 17

membered to hold it up- Head up, important reactor.
eyes down, he missed seeing a A small shape was needed, A
small rock. His heel turned on it. fast one. An unobtrusive one.
He sat down, hard. He lay and thought.
The ankle hurt. Pid curled his The bush rustled above him.
Man-lips and crawled back into A small brown shape had flut-
the bush. tered down to light on a twig. It
The Man-shape was too un- hopped to another twig, twitter-
speakably clumsy. It was offen- ing. Then it fluttered off in a
sive to plod one step at a time. flash, and was gone.
Body held rigidly upright. Arms That, Pid thought, was it.

wobbling. There had been a de-

SPARROW that was not
a
luge of sense -impressions in the
Dog- shape; there was dull, stiff, A Sparrow rose from the bush
half- alive inadequacy to the a few moments later. An ob-
Man-shape. server would have seen it circle
Besides, it was dangerous, now the bush, diving, hedge hopping,
that Pid thought it over, as well even looping, as if practicing all
as distasteful. He couldn't con- manuevers possible to Sparrows.
trol it properly. It wouldn't look Pid tensed his shoulder mus-
right.Someone might question cles, inclined his wings. He
him. There was too much about slipped off to the right, ap-
Men he didn't couldn'tknow. proached the bush at what seemed
The planting of the Displacer breakneck speed, though he knew
was too important a thing for this was only because of his
him to fumble again. Only luck small size. At the last second he
had kept him from being seen lifted his tail. Not quite quickly
during the sensory onslaught. enough. He swooped up and over
The Displacer in his body the top of the bush, but his legs
pouch pulsed and tugged, urging brushed the top leaves, his beak
him to be on his way toward the went down, and he stumbled in
distant reactor room. air for a few feet back -forward.
Grimly, Pid let out the last He blinked beady eyes as if at
breath he had taken with his a challenge. Back toward the
Man-lungs, and dissolved the bush at a fine clip, again up and
lungs. over. This time cleanly.
What
shape to take? He chose a tree. Zoomed into its
Again he studied the gate, the network of branches, wove a web
Men standing beside it, the build- of flight, working his way around
ing beyond in which was the all- and around the trunk, over and

18 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION


under branches that flashed be- TE stiffened his wings and
fore him, through crotches with **** glided, regretfully putting
no more than a featherVbreath aside his desires to experiment
to spare. with this wonderful shape, at
At he rested on a low
last least for the present* After he
branch, and found himself chirp- planted the Displacer, he would
ing in delight. go off by himself for a while and
The tree extruded a feeler from do it a just little moresome-
the branch he sat on, and touched where where Ilg and Ger would
his
<(
wings and tail. not see him before the Grom
I nteresting," said the tree. Army arrived and the invasion
'Til have to try that shape some began.
time/1 He felt a tiny twinge of guilt,
Hg. as he circled. It was Evil to want
"Traitor," hissed Pid, growing to keep this alien flying shape
a mouthin his chest to hiss it, any longer than was absolutely
and then he did something that necessary to the performance, of
caused Ilg to exclaim in out- his duty- It was a device of the
rage. Shapeless One
Pid flew out of the woods. Over But what had Ilg said? All
the underbrush and across the Grom are bom Shapeless. It was
open space toward the gate. true. Grom children were amor-
This body would do the trick! phous, until old enough to be in-
This body would do anything! structed in the caste-shape of
He rose, in a matter of a few their ancestors.
Sparrow heartbeats, to an alti- Maybe wasn't too great a
it

tude of a hundred feet. From sin to alter your Shape, then

here the gate, the Men,
ing were small, sharp shapes
against a green-brown mat, Pid
found that he could see not only
with unaccustomed clarity, but
with a range of vision that aston-
ished him. To right and to left
he could see far into the hazy
blue of the sky, and the higher
he rose the farther he could see.
He rose higher.
The Displacer pulsed, remind*
ing him of the job he had to do.
the build- just once in a long while. After
all,one must be fully aware of
the nature of Evil in order to
meaningfully reject it.
He had fallen lower in circling.
The Displacer pulse had strength-
ened. For some reason it irritated
him. He drove higher on strong
wings, circled sgain. Air rushed
past him a smooth, whispering
flow, pierced by his beak, stream-
ing invisibly past his sharp eyes,
moving along his body in tiny

KEEP YOUR SHAPE 19



turbulences that moved his feath- was so near the reactor that he
ers against his skin. could do his job before the Men
It occurred to himor rather even knew he was about.
struck him with considerable He started to drop lower, and

force that he was satisfying a the Hawk struck,
longing of his Pilot Caste that
went far deeper than Piloting, TT had been above him. His first
He drove powerfully with his -*-
inkling of danger was the
wings, felt tonus across his back, sharp pain of talons in his back,
shot forward and up. He thought and the stunning blow of a beak
of the controls of his ship. He across his head.
imagined flowing into them, be- Dazed, he let his back go
coming part of them, as he had Shapeless, His body-substance

so often done and for the first flowed from the grasp of the tal-
time in his life the thought failed ons. He dropped a dozen feet and
to excite him* resumed Sparrow-shape, hearing
No machine could compare an astonished squawk from the
with this! attacker.
What he would give to have He banked, and looked up. The
wings of his own! Hawk was eying him.
. . . Get from my sight, Shape- Talons spread again. The
less One! sharp beak gaped. The Hawk
The Displacer must be planted, swooped.
activated. All Grom depended Pid had to fight as a Bird, nat-
on him. urally. He was
four hundred feet
He eyed the building, far be- above the ground.
low. He would pass over it- The So he became an impossibly
Displacer would him which
tell deadly Bird.
window to enter which window He grew to twice the size of the

BOOKS! BOOKS! BOOKS! Here's o DEAL-

FOR VAST ACTION
SEND TODAY FOR NEW CATALOG! I Ifyou enclose lOe to cover posts** and
handling, we'll sand along with jour
ABSOLUTELY FftEtl No obligation I free catalog
NOWJust the press our new 16-page Catalog No. 162,
off I A COMPLETE
bringing jour favorite authors of Sctence-Ftetton. Fantasy and
|
36,000 WOKO NOVEL
Weird adventures as near as your ratUoozl Jus* send your name by one of the famous science- Action
'

|
and addressyou'll by return mall . . . and we'll
get your copy authors of today,
keep you up on new titles as we're dolus for thousands of others! QUANTITY IS LIMITED
J
Bargain buys galore f Write to-day? I WJUff TO0AYJ
READERS' SERVICE BOOK CLUB
U9 E. San Fernando 8t. D*pt, 6-10 San Jeao 13, Calif.

20 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 a
Hawk. He grew a foot-long beak sensual pleasure were endless!
with a double razor's edge/ He Freedom of Shape wasob-
grew talons like six inch scimi- viously, now that you thought on
tars. His eyes gleamed a red itthe Grom birthright. And the
challenge. caste-system was artificial ob-
The Hawk broke flight squal- viously, A device for political
ling in alarm. Frantically, tail and benefitobviously.
priestly
down and widespread, it thun- Go away, Shapeless One . . .

dered its wings and came to a
dead stop six feet from Pid.
Looking thoughtfully at Pid* it
allowed itself to phpnmet. It fell
a hundred feet, spread its wings,
stretched its neck and flew off so
hastily that its wings became
blurs.
Pid saw no reason to pursue it
Then, after a moment, he did,
He glided, keeping the Hawk
in sight, thoughts racing, feeling
the newness, the power, the won-
der of Freedom of Shape.
Freedom . .
He did not want to give it up*
The bird-shape was wondrous.
He would experiment with it.
Later, he might tire of it for a
time and assume another
crawling or running shape, or
even a swimming one. The possi-
bilities for excitement, for adven-
ture, for fulfilment and simple
this does not concern you.
He rose to a thousand feet, two
thousand, three. The Displaced
pulse grew feebler and finally
vanished.
At four thousand feet he re-
leased it and watched it spin
downward, vanish into a cloud.
Then he set out after the
Hawk, which was- now only a dot
on the horizon. He would find
out how the Hawk had broken
flight as it had
skidded on air
he wanted to do that too! There
were so many things he wanted to
learn about flying. In a week, he
thought, he should be able to
duplicate all the skill that mill-
enia had evolved into Birds. Then
his new life would really begin.
He became a torpedo-shape
with huge wings, and sped after
the Hawk.
ROBERT SHECKLEY

The city of the future,and no very distant future, will have no trolley poles or wires and no
botttft. All movements will be on rails by silent air motors or by horseless carriages, equally silent
All pavements will be asphalt. Unlimited light will be as cheap as unlimited water is today. No
coal wilt be delivered at private homes and no ashes taken from them. With no horses, no coal,
and no ashes, street dirt will be reduced to a minimum. With no factory fires and no kitchen
or furnace fires* the air will be as pure in the city as in the country. Trees will have a chance.
Mouses will be wanned and lighted as easily and cheaply as they are now supplied with water.
A chy will be a pretty nice place to live in when the first twenty years of the twentieth century
are passed.The Philadelphia Press, fttly, 18%,
Which century was that?

KEEP YOUR SHAPE ai

 Mr. President
By STEPHEN ARR

Me had been overwhelmingly elected.

Messages of sympathy poured in, but

they couldn't help . . . nothing could.

GEORGE WONG stood Thompson, one one hun-

billion
pale and by thesilent dred million for Miccio, and nine
video screen, listening to hundred million for Kau. These
the election fetums, a long-stem- results, added to the almost com-
med glass of champagne clutched plete returns from Earth and the
forgotten in his trembling right first fragmentary reports from
hand. Mars, clearly indicate a landslide
The announcer. droned on: " vote for Wongas the next Presi-
latest returns from Venus, with dent of the Solar Union. The two
half of the election districts re- billion votesfrom Ganymede and
porting, give three four
billion Callisto, which will be received
hundred and ninety-six million early tomorrow morning, cannot
votes for Wong, against one bil- appreciably affect the results. The
lion, four hundred million for battle for the twenty-five Vice-

Iflustrated by DICK FRANCIS

22 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

Presidents is less clean It is cer- toast to the blank video screen.
tain that Thompson, Miccio, Thompson, the man who was
Kau, Singh, and DuLavier will to be First Vice-President, silent-
all be among
those elected, but ly joined him.
in what order is not yet . . P "At least," Wong sighed, put-
Wong leaned, over and snapped ting his empty glass down on the
the video off. His shoulders sag- video, "I don't have a family.
ged. He leaned against the con- Look at poor Kau. At Miccio.
sole as though too tired to move, With wives and children, how
a slight, narrow-shouldered man they must have suffered when
with a very high forehead and they learned they had been draft-
thin receding black hair. His ed by the conventions . . Well, I
large, sad, almond-shaped eyes guess there's nothing else to do
and yellow-tinted skin indicated but to go to bed and wait until
that there was a good deal of they come for me in the morning.
Asiatic in the mixed blood that Good night, Michael."
flowed through his veins. "Good night, George,' Michael '

*Tm sorry, truly sorry" Thompson said. He turned to-

Michael Thompson said sympa- ward his own room. "I am sorry,"
thetically, placing a friendly arm he said again.
across the narrow shoulders of the
successful candidate. They
alone in the living 'room of the
.were WONG had already eaten
breakfast and was dressed
hotel suite in New Geneva, which in an inconspicuous tweed suit
they had shared for the cam- for the inauguration when the
paign, "The people chose well. chimes sounded, telling him that
After the wonderful job you did they were at the door. Slowly, he
in organizing the colonization of walked to the door and opened
Io and Europa, you were the logi- it
cal man. And then you do have "Good morning, Mr. Presi-
the fantastic ResponsibilityQuo- dent," the man outside said
tient of 9.6 out of 10. Anyway," cheerily, flashing his famous grin.
he added with a weary shrug, George Wong immediately recog-

"don't feel too bad it looks as nized Al Grimm, the man who
though Til be First Vice-Presi- had been personal secretary to
dent" sixty-three Presidents. He was
A brief ghost of a smile crossed one of the vast army of civil ser-
George Wong's face. "We who vants who kept the wheels of
are about to die salute you," he government turning smoothly un-
said, lifting his glass in a bitter til Presidents were able to make

MR. PRESIDENT 23
the decisions that would create Chief Justice Herz met them,
policy. dressed in a blue business suit,
"Good morning, Al,"George and after they shook hands he
Wong said. "I am afraid I'll have administered the oath.
to place myself completely in "Do you, George Wong," he
your hands for these first few asked, "swear to make every de-
days. Do we go to the Executive. cision you are asked to make as
Mansion for the inauguration President of the Solar Union for
now?*' the benefit of the people of the
"Yes, sir. Then, after your in- Union and in accord with what
auguration, to the office. Mes- you believe to be fair and just,
sages of condolence have been fully cognizant of the fact that
pouring in all night, but I don't the welfare of seventy-five billion
think you want to bother with citizens of the Union is dependent
them. However, I am afraid we on you?"
willhave to bring up some of the "I do," George Wong said,
problems that have arisen in the through a painfully dry throat
two weeks since President Rey- that would barely permit the
nolds left office." words to come out.
"How is he?" Wong asked. "I
knew him, you know. He taught THEY all shook hands again.
at Venus University at the same Then Al Grimm led the Presi-
time I did. He was a' fineman." dent across the grassy lawn, into
"I'm afraid he's no better," Al the mansion, and up to the office
said, shaking his head. "We're that had served over a thousand
doing all we can for him, but he Presidents. Wong
entered it ner-
won't even speak to his wife. You vously. It was a large plain room,
know how difficult it is." severely decorated. Tentatively,
"Yes, I know," Wong said. he slid into the chair behind the
They rode downstairs in silence huge steel desk,and began open-
and walked to the Presidential ing the drawers. He found them
Copter parked in the street in fully stocked with tapes, a re-
front of the house. A few guards corder, all the other necessities.
loitered in the vicinity, but there The desk and everything else in
were no crowds. They entered the room was brand new. There
the plush copter, which rose was no trace anywhere of his
smoothly Under its whirling predecessors, and he was relieved
blades and them over the
carried to find it so. The Psychology De-
city, landing finally on the lawn partment at work, he thought.
of the Executive Mansion. "While we are moving your

24 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

effects into the
Mr. President/* Al said from the
doorway, "I wonder if we could
start discussing the problem of
the Gnii their Ambassadors
. .
have presented an ultimatum,
and they demand an answer to-
day,"
QO soon,
^ thought Couldn't he have
just a few hours to get used to
his office, to wander through the
building, to explore
garden that he could see from his
barred window stretching out be-
hind the mansion?
For a second, he almost rebell-
ed but even as he thought of an-
; an
swering no, he realized that he
never would. The Psych Agents
had measured
Quotient at 9.6,
make mistakes.
"Of course," he answered with
forced enthusiasm. "Who do you
suggest Ithe matter
discuss
with? For that matter, who are
the Gnii?"
"I have the Manager -of De-
fense, the Manager of Trade, and
the Manager of Foreign Affairs
waiting in the anteroom. With
your permission, I'll call them in
and they'll explain the problem.
But first, if you would
order ; has already been ap-
. . it
proved by President Reyiiftds
and by all of the Managers con-
cerned."
MR, PRESIDENT
living, quarters, President Wong- took the paper.
It was an order sending a space
platoon, 5,000 warships and 500,-
000 men, to the system of Altair
A, to place themselves under the
command of the Grasvian fleet
for an attack against the system
of Altair D.
The President frowned. "What's
President Wong the story behind this?"
"As you know," Al explained
patiently* "there is an unwritten
agreement throughout the Galaxy
the green that if any system conquers too
many other systems, an inter-
system police force is formed to
cut the conqueror down. Since
for all practical purposes, there is
systems in the Gal-
infinity of
axy, and as each conqueror bor-
ders on more and more of them
his Responsibility as he grows larger in three-di-
and they didn't mensional expansion, unlike the
one-dimensional conquests that
used to occur on the surface of
planets, conquest of the Galaxy
is an obvious impossibility. How-
ever, the inhabitants of Altair D
seem to have embarked on a poli-
cy of reckless expansion that
could reach us in time."
"I see" President Wong said.
"How far away are they?"
"It will take the platoon six-
teen years to get to the rendez-
sign this vous. They will remain for ten
years, then return. Because of
the distance, we are not expected
to send more than this token
force."
25
 -

|>RSIDENT Wong looked at our trading planetoid from their

*- had already been
the order. It
signed by President Reynolds, by
the Managers of Defense and of
Foreign Affairs. After all, even
though forty-two years was a
loflg period of time to chop out
of a man's life, only 500,000 men
were involved, and it was the
duty of every citizen to give his
life for his planet if required.
With an impatient motion, he
rolled his thumbprint in the soft
plastic signature space, and held
it for a second as it hardened.
Then he threw the order into a
basket labeled outgoing corre-
spondence.
His first official duty com-
pleted, he should have felt ex-
hilerated but instead, nagging
; Manager of Trade.
thoughts of guilt tugged at his
brain.
system. They allege that the
planetoid is a security risk, in
that it could be used for remote
control bombing of any of their
planets. They threaten that if we
don't remove it voluntarily, they
will attack it, and their Ambas-
sadors are here in person to take
our reply to their ultimatum."
There was nothing unusual in
that, President Wong knew. Since
both spaceships and any other
known means of communication
traveled at the speed of light, it
was now more common to send
Ambassadors on important mis-
sions than to send messages*
"What do you think we should
do?" President Wong asked the
THINK we should them
tell

Whowere the inhabitants of i to go to hell" the Manager

Altair D, anyway? How did he of Trade replied, his heavy face
know that the police action was turning "After all, we
redder.
just? Shouldn't he get out the have a million trading planetoids
whole file and go over it?
out in the Galaxy if we retreat
But that would take days . . . here, we set a dangerous prece-
and there was the matter of the dent" -
Gnii, whoever they *vere. "1 see," Wong said, frowning,
The three managers entered. "I don't recall any alien trading
President Wong stood up and planetoids in our system,"
shook hands with them. They "Of course not, Mr. President/'
9
didn't waste time on other pre- Bail -the Manager cff Foreign Af-
liminaries, but rushed straight fairs a tall, lean, distinguished-
into business, looking gentleman with blue eyes
"The Gnii," the Manager of and 'iron-gray hair. "We don't
Trade, a large, red-faced man permit them, for much the same
said, "demand that we remove reason that the Gnii want them

26 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 a

removed from their system. Trad- aren't very far advanced/*

ing planetoids are usually only "Thirty-three years," Presi-
tolerated backward systems.
in dent Wong said frowning. "That
Apparently the Gnii no longer means a mixed crew with facilities
desire to be considered backward. for children. I am
that told
I, for one, think that we would be things often go wrong on that
making a mistake not to accede type of mission."
to their request" The Manager of Defense nod-
l<
Oh J
that's very fine, decent, ded. "They do," he agreed short-
sporting and all that/' the Mana- ly. "However, I have analyzed
ger of Trade said irritatediy. that problem in detail in my re-
"But have to worry about feed-
I port."
ing this overpopulated system of President Wong sighed* "If you
ours, which would starve if tt gentlemen will leave your reports
weren't for intersystem trade with me, I will make my decision
significant part of which is car- by tomorrow morning."
ried on through the planetoids/' Each of the Managers gave him
"Can we protect the threatened several rolls of tape. Those of the
planetoid?" President Wong ask- Manager of Trade felt by far the
ed the Manager of Defense, a heaviest. President Wong slipped
short, slim black man with flam- them into the racks in his upper
ing red hair. left-hand desk drawer.
The Manager of Defense con- "Ask the Gnii to come in," he
sidered his reply carefully. "Not said to Al.
if they are willing to pay a ter-
rific price to destroy it," he said A Lpushed a button on the arm
finally. "After all, it's thirty- *^ of his chair, and the door
three years away- While we can swung open. Four large spidery
send out a fleet immediately that creatures entered the room, fol-
would get there at the same time lowed bald man.
by a small
as the Ambassadors, and before Their round bodies were encased
they could mount an attack, we in plastic globes, in which a
hardly could send reinforcements whitish translucent gas swirled.
and replacements once the battle They walked over to the Presi-
is joined. But from the best in- dent's desk, and the leader ex-
formation available, I think that tended a hairy leg.
a small force of twenty or twenty- With an effort, President Wong
five thousand troops should be forced himself to take the leg
able to frighten the Gnii out of with his hand and pump it up
doing anything foolish. They and down. He noticed that the

MR. PRESIDENT 57
creature withdrew the leg as soon ite decision tomorrow," President
as it was decently possible, and Wong said. "Apologize for my not
smiled a bit as he concluded that being able to reply today, and
their aversion was mutual. point out that since it will take
The Qnii stepped back and be- him thirty-three years to get
gan waving his two front legs. home, one day will not make
"He asking for your reply to
is much difference."
his ultimatum," the small bald The bald waved his
interpreter
man interpreted. hands. The four Gnii went into a
"Tell him 111 give him a defin- small huddle, waving their spi-

lt GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

dery legs at each other. Theft the again. President Wong pumped
leader turned to the interpreter it The Gnii dropped his
once.
again and "spoke." hand and turned and left the
"They say that they agree," room, with the three others and
the interpreter said. "But they the interpreter filing after him.
want to emphasize that it is not you don't need me any
"If
because they fear the power of more," the Manager of Trade
the Solar System." watch, "I'll
said, glancing at his
The Gnii leader hesitated a go back to the Trade Bureau. I
moment, then extended his leg have a meeting with a number

MR. PRESIDENT 29
of the department heads/'
President Wong nodded tired-
ly. "I have the tapes. HI study all
your positions tonight"
npHE Manager of Trade and
-* the Manager of Foreign Af-
fairs rose and left the room. The
Manager of Defense stayed in
his seat.
you feel up to it/ Al said,
"If
1
"the Manager of Defense would
appreciate it if you would present
a Presidential citation to the re*
mains of the Third Company.
They were involved in a police
action in the system of Veganea,
and their morale is shattered. As
you know, the award is tradition-
al, as the speech. Here's the
is
text all you need do is read it/'
"All right," President Wong
said, taking the paper from ATa
hand and scanning it. There was
only one paragraph.
The door opened and four old
men entered, followed by an hon-
or guard of eight husky privates.
They approached the desk and
stood at President
attention,,
Wong looked up from the speech
and felt a wave of sudden nau-
sea. For a second, he was afraid
that he actually was going to be
sick. None of their old lined faces
was complete. The worst wound-
ed had less than half a face, and
that discolored by purple blotch-
es of radiation scar-tissue. He was
blind, and the others maneuvered
30
him into position before the desk.
"For the heroic parts which
you played in the Police Action
against Veganea^" Wong stum-
bled over the name, then contin-
ued hastily "I, the President of
the Solar Union, hereby . ,
."
"Rot/'said the blind one,
through toothless gums in a voice
that was only a hoarse whisper.
"Tell me, do you know where
Veganea is? Does anyone on
Earth know where Veganea is, or
care? How many men, Mr, Presi-
dent, how many men, young and
healthy, left for that police ac-
tion? Do you know?" His hoarse
voice rose. "Four came back . . .
but can any of you gentlemen
tell me how many left?"
"That's enough," the Manager
of Defense said. At his signal,
two of the honor guards gently
took hold of the veteran's arms
and walked him out of the room
along with the others,
"I order that he not be pun-
ished," Wong said sharply.
"He won't Manager of
be/* the
Defense said. "Do you take me
for a barbarian? I had hoped,
though, that your interest might
change their attitude. As you can
imagine, it's raising hell with the
morale of the recruits."
"By the way," the President
asked, "where is Veganea, and
how many men did we send
there?"
"It's about twenty -four years
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
way, near Vega. The action
started before iAy time and I
lon't know how many men were
involved probably not more than
h few million- The Police Action
<- tided successfully, but our ships
were in the first wave and were
wiped out."
THE President sat down weari-
ly. His hand strayed over to
the he had signed that
order
morning for a police action, then
drifted aimlessly away.
"What's next?" he asked Al.
He slipped a few energy pills into
his mouth as Al consulted his
book,
"There's the matter of the con-
version bomb," Al said. "The
Manager of Scientific Research
and the Manager of Defense
would like you to make a deci-
sion about it."
"The conversion bomb?" Presi-
dent Wong said, puzzled, "I've
never heard of it/
"It is highest level top secret/*
the Manager of Defense explain-
ed, "Instead of breaking down
atoms and releasing some energy
as in the standard fission weap-
ons, it converts matter entirely
into energy. Given the matter-
energy equation, the energy re-
leased by a small amount of
matter is fantastic."
Al had risen and gone to the
door. He returned with an old,
gray -haired, stoop-shouldered
MR. PRESIDENT
man. The President recognized
the famous Manager of Research,
The Manager launched imme-
diately into his argument without
preliminaries, "Mr- President,
while my department has finally
found a way to convert matter
directly into energy, I believe
that any use of this process would
be disastrous. First, there is ab-
solutely no safeguard that could
prevent a matter-conversion pow-
ered machine, used for peaceful
purposes, from being changed
into a lethal weapon by the sim-
plest of alterations. And
a as
weapon, the conversion bomb, un-
like atomic bombs, could not
only destroy planets but stars
with their entire systems. We all
know that the law of the Galaxy
is to prevent its domination by
any one system and given the
distances and populations in-
volved, that domination is ob-
viously impossible. But if we
began to construct conversion
bombs, and if word of it got out,
the whole Galaxy would rise
against us, all the way to the
3
Edge/
"But, Mr, President," the Man-
ager of Defense said calmly, "We
are not a unique people. If we
do not produce the conversion
bomb, you may rest assured that
someone else will- Maybe even
our friends, the Gnu. No system
has ever saved itself by refusing
to manufacture the best weapons
31
 ;

^ #

FIVE BIG SPECIAL CHRISTMAS OFFERS

1km jrfft that fcufs o yior
Please fill out all information on the easy, self-mailing, addressed envelope
opposite. Fold as indicated. Include your check. We
wiU take care of the rest.
This offer expires December 15, 1953.
> -" "/>

OFFER

1
OFFER
GAUXY SUBSCRIPTION

1 year-12
Big lssues-$3.00
2
FIRST
additional gift subscription
Each
Beyond Subscription
lor one year
.**** 6 Big taues-IUO
*'/*v#M
$2.85 Each additional subscription
of 6 Issues
m t
*xr-
* t
$1.35 Each *-
'sjvzr
t )f* * X.

GALAXY for one year- \ * *.M*

12 Big Issues U4.35
*&.,
V- BEYOND for 6 Big Issues)

Each additional combination

of this for OFFER
i

r-+ $4.25 . 4
GALAXY NOVELS
6 different
during the year-$1.50

OFFER Additional sets of six

5 during the year

Altogether Special Offer $1.35

First of this Combination

fialaxy 12 Beyend 6
And 6 Big Novels
$5.75 * * * -

Each additional gift of

this combination
Fill Out Envelope

$5.50
 >

available to it. As
Galaxy
for the problems that we didn't
difficult

rising against us if we have the want to throw at you on your
conversion bomb, let them! We first day in office."
will be able to defend ourselves A
ghost of a smile crept over
gainst any or all of them and the President's face, then disap-
blast their suns into novae." peared quickly. "It's all right, AL
"Until they have the bomb/' Go ahead and eat- I think I'll
the Manager of Scientific Re- just stay here and go over these
search interrupted "As you say, tapes/*
we are not a unique people/' As Al left, President Wong saw
"Gentlemen," the President the order for the police action on
said, standing up suddenly. "I feel his desk. He
picked it up to call
tired and dizzy. The idea of a Al to take it with him, but his
bomb that can wipe out systems eyes caught the words 500,000
is new to me. If you will leave men sixteen years, and a pic-
. . .

your tapes, I will study your ture of the terribly wounded vet-
arguments tonight, and we can erans '
flashed before his eyes.
resume this discussion tomor- Really, he would have to go
^
row. through the and find out files if

the expedition was necessary . , .

^l^HE two Managers rose im- Heopened the left-hand desk

-*-
mediately, shook hands with drawer and stared at the Gnii
the President, and left. They did tapes, but he didn't take any of
not speak to each other as they them out. It seemed like too much
went through the door, of an effort,
"Mr. President," Al said, "it's And then, the conversion bomb
seven o'clock. Will you join me was so much more important.
for dinner, sir?" He closed the first drawer and
President Wong slumped back opened the one with the con-
into his seat and stared dully at version bomb tapes.
Al, only half noticing his friendly But the Gnii had to be an-
grin. "What would you do about swered tomorrow the bomb
the Gnii, Al, if you were in my could wait. He slammed the
place?" he asked. drawer shut.
"I'm sorry, Al said, "but
sir," "Gnii," he muttered to himself
I really don't know. Better come and opened the other drawer.
along for some dinner. You've Then h$ noticed that he had
had a hard day, and you have put the police action order back
a harder one ahead of you to- into his outgoing basket. He
morrow. We saved a number of slammed the drawer with the Gnii

MR. PRESIDENT 33
 " "

tapes shut again and opened the the conversion bomb. Conversion,
drawer below it and pushed the conversion, conversation, bomb,
order inside, so that it wouldn't bomb, boom, BOOM. But that
be picked up by mistake before wasn't it either it was the Gnii,
he could check on it. they had to be answered by to-
"Five hundred thousand men morrow , Gnii,
Gnii, Gnu,

in here," he said as he closed the Gnuts, now in what drawer had

drawer. "Going to
he put the gnats? And why order
Where were they supposed to a police action against Gnats?
go? He couldn't remember. He Just convert every one of them
opened the drawer again and into spiders . . ,

looked at the order. To Altair D.

The name had no meaning for A L walked slowly down the
him. **- hall, his grin gone, his face
Now, let's see . . . oh, yes, the looking washed out. He turned
conversion bomb tape. into his own little office and
He
opened the drawer to take snapped on the communications
out the tapes, and remembered video.
that the Gnii ultimatum had to "First Vice-President Michael
be answered by tomorrow. Thompson," he said to the opera-
"Gnii, Gnu, Gnuts" he said, tor.
opening a drawer. It was the In a moment Thompson ap-
wrong one, and the tapes weren't peared on the screen.
w
there. Which tapes? "Mr. First Vice-President," Al
The door opened, and Presi- said in a tired voice, "may I
dent Wong looked up to see ATs suggest that you remain in the
smiling face peering in. Capital for the next few weeks?"
"I was passing by, sir," Al said, Even though he knew that it
"and I wondered if I couldn't was not polite, Al snapped off
talk you into supper
the set without waiting for a reply
"Get out!" the President shout- but not before he caught the
ed. if
white and frightened look on
The door closed softly. Thompson's face.
Now where was he? . . . Oh, yes, STEPHEN ABR

34 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 Information

By WILLY

IS ARTIFICIAL LIFE
POSSIBLE?
4

EARLY this year,

scientist,
a young
Stanley L. Mil-
ler of the University of
Chicago, made an important dis-
covery. Like many other scientific
discoveries, it was exciting to the
specialist who is aware of all the
background, but needs a consid-
erable amount of explanation for
a layman to realize its signifi-
cance.

FOR YOUR INFORMATIO 35


What happened was that Mr.
Miller tried to duplicate under
glass the conditions which prob-
ably prevailed on Earth some
two thousand million years ago.
At that time, cosmological theory
says, Earth's atmosphere must
have been entirely different from
what it is now. It was an atmos-
phere which every living thing of
today, with the exception of cer-
tain bacteria , would find poison-
ous.
Whenthe job of imitating the
surface of the Earth before life
began was done, was found
it
that some chemicals had formed
in the process. Not surprising in
except that the chemicals
itself,
were amino acids, which are the
building blocks of protein and
that is the basis of life.
ETS back for a moment
sit
*-* and draw a kind of book-
keeping balance. To begin with,
we have the undeniable fact that
lifedoes exist on Earth. Even half
a century ago, it was known that,
at some time in the past, life
could not possibly have existed
on Earth, for you can't have any-
thing living on what amounted to
a ball of lava. Therefore life on
'Earth must have started at some
relatively specific time. After you
had progressed so far in your rea-
soning, you had the simple theo-
retical choice of postulating that
it originated on Earth in some
36
manner from things we'd call
"non-living," or that interplane-
tary and interstellar space is full
of life spores which continuously
fall on every planet and either
perish or settle and multiply, if
conditions permit them to do so.
At a later dateover three dec-
ades intervening -physicists be-
gan to work out how the Earth's
surface must have looked after it
had cooled, deriving a picture
decidedly inimical to life, even
though the excessive heat was
gone. There would be no oxygen
in the primeval atmosphere; that
had all been oxidized away. There
would be ammonia, carbon diox-
ide, carbon monoxide, methane
gas and water, the latter in both
forms, vapor and liquid. There
would be, in addition to these
material things, energy, sunlight
with radiations of all wave*
lengths, from long radio waves
down to X-rays, and probably
electrical discharges.
When that environment was
produced in the laboratory, it
yielded amino acids!
Don't jump to conclusions at
this point* Amino acids are as
far removed from a complete,
large and complex protein mole-
cule as a pile of bricks is from a
finished house* And a finished
protein molecule., is a long-
though unknown distance from
a living cell. The experimenters
did not (as things are easily ex-
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

aggerated) make a living
in Chicago, but merely
stances which we now know
sub-sub-assemblies of a cell.
Nor can one extrapolate from
here on and say hopefully: Now
that they have succeeded in creat-
ing the sub -sub-assembly from
dead substances, next week (or
month, or year) they'll get a few
thousand amino acid molecules
together and make a protein
molecule. And the "week
month} or year) after that, they'll
get a living cell. Even so
But to make my thinking clear,
let's assume that somebody, in
the course of reproducing prim-
evil* Earth environment, does
obtain a living cell. There would
then be just two possibilities:
1. It did happen in the way in
which those amino acids hap-
pened. In that case, virtually the
whole of the secret of life would
still need to be investigated, be*
cause all we would know is
it happened (admittedly a good
deal) and we would still have to
find out how and why*
2. The researcher the knew all
factors involved before hand* in
which case the experiment would
only have been the proof of a
well-formulated and presumably
complicated theory of life.
TPTE don't have such a theory
" of life. In spite of a really
enormous amount of work per-
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
cell formed during the last seventy or
sub- eighty years, we have trouble
to be even defining life. At first a pure*
ly chemical definition was tried,
until it was realized that analyz-
ing protoplasm was like melting
down and analyzing a locomotive
to see why it works. Then fol-
lowed a long period in which not
the chemical nature, but the
chemical (and physical) actions
were taken to be the main cri-
(or terion.
A example was an or-
favorite
dinary eggor, rather, two of
them, one fertilized and the other
not They were obviously alike
chemically, yet one developed
into a chick and the other would
rot after a while. And "if some-
body objected and said that fer-
tilization therefore must have
introduced a chemical change,
you could point out some rather
incredible things researchers had
done with eggs, if not chicken
that eggs-
For the eggs of a sea urchin
could be "fertilized" by brushing
them with a medium-hard brush
under water, or by sticking a
needle into them gently, of
course. It worked with butterfly
eggs, too. Now all this could do
was to push some substance from
the outer layers into the interior.
The result was fertilization, de-
cidedly without introducing a
chemical change of the whole.
Well, all right, in which way
37

did a living thing act differently discussion has wandered far
from a dead substance? First of afield, from what amounted to
all, it would eat and grow, by attempts to find a chemical
taking in substance from outside formula for life, to the "intent"
its body. Crystals also grow, but of fighting gravity. But this is
they have to be in a solution of merely an indication of the fact
the same
chemical substance, that we are dealing with a very
while a living cell could digest complex problem which can be
and "assimilate" different sub- approached from many angles
stances. At the time, some phil- and somehow eludes a fine sharp
osophers objected that this was definition.
true not only of living beings. A
candle flame "assimilated" the TN the foregoing, a number of
wax/ That flames could grow and * parallels have been men-
multiply and that they -would tioned. A crystal will grow like
leave behind the "indigestible" a living cell, but only if it has
things which could not be as- the chemicals which constitute
similated, or only partly assimi- it to feed on. An autocatalyst can

lated, did not need any special go a step further. And a flame
and elaborate proof. At a later a purely chemical process and a
date, chemists came up with
very simple one at that not only
the so-called autocatalytic com- seems to assimilate, but also to
pounds, substances which can propagate.
also be said to "assimilate" other Granted that the example of
compounds. the flame is a superficial simi-
So the definition by "action," larity, don't the other two in-
even if well meant, could not dicate that there is no hard and
be phrased sharply enough to be fast borderline between living and
fully acceptable. A much more non-living things? And didn't
recent definition also works with Dr, Wendell M. Stanley of the
"action" and has been condensed Rockefeller Institute for Medical
as follows: Research in Princeton jump
A slab of beef is protein. A live across this line one and a half
animal is, too. Put them both on decades ago when he succeeded
a board and tilt it. The steak in crystallizing a virus (the virus
will follow the laws of gravity; which produces the so-called
the live animal will fight back. mosaic disease of the tobacco
Of course it may not succeed, plant) without killing it?
but it will try. For those who did not read
You will have noticed that this about it at that time, I'll briefly

38 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

explain that the crystals, to all suspect the latter. But either ex-
intents and purposes, appeared planation may be correct. X don't
to be as "dead" as beach sand or think anybody really knows yet.
ground glass. Yet when they were That, unfortunately, is the note
put on the leaf of a tobacco on which this little dissertation
plant, they caused the mosaic has to end; When it comes to
disease as if they had been sub- questions like the suspected
jected to no change of form. border area between living and
Naturally the conclusion was non-living matter, our knowledge
drawn that not only the tobacco is simply insufficient to pass
mosaic virus, but any virus be- judgment.
longed in that border area be- And the Chicago experiment?
tween living and dead matter. It has done two things. has It

Since then, we have learned one strengthened the supposition that

very important fact about viruses, life could originate on Earth
Besides differing from bacteria after the planet cooled- It has
in being much smaller, they are opened up a new avenue of re-
also much more specialized in search which looks promising.
their demands. A bacterium can In time, the dramatic experi-
force its way into the cells of a ment might lead us to an under-
bigger host and live there, or it standing of what life really is.
can live outside a cell- A virus And after we have succeeded in
needs the environment of a liv- understanding, the creation of
ing cell; in that it is reminiscent artificial life would probably be
of the crystals which can grow a process of extension protein
only in a very specific environ- molecule, cell* linked cells, and
ment. so forth, perhaps all the way up
Now the question is: Is a virus to synthetic human beings, the
actually such a borderline case "androids" of science fiction. But
which has not progressed all the the creating of amino acids is
way to the adaptability of truly only the beginning of that long
living matter? Or is a virus a climb, analogous to Franklin's
degenerated parasite which like kite to attract lightning and the
far larger and far more complex awesome complexity of modern
parasites high up in the ladder of electrical generation, power trans-
evolution has lost most of the mission and consumption.
adaptability once possessed for
it The experiment shows us that
the sake of the apparently easy it apparently can be done. If

life of a parasite? artificial life is created, however,

Personally, I feel inclined to it would just be the confirmation

FQR YOUR INFORMATION 39

of a theory that had been worked orbit of mighty Jupiter*
out beforehand. The brightness of No. 588
As you can see, we need the seemed to indicate that it was
theory first Only after we have fairly large for a planetoid, with
that can anybody state whether an estimated diameter of ISO
artificial life is a definite like- miles* Thediscoverer then named
lihood. Until then, it remains a it Achilles and the next problem
theoretical possibility, though a was to find out whether it was
good one, I believe. actually in the orbit of Jupiter.
It was Prof* Charlier of Lund
THE TROJAN PLANETS
ACHILLES, AGAMEMNON, NESTOR,
^.HECTOft.ODYSSEUS,
A S a result of a recent story HE1D 60.HEID61,
OBJECT AREMO
^*- involving the Trojan planets,
several readers inquire what they
are and whether they exist, and
another wants to know if there is
a minor planet named Agamem-
non and where it is located.
The story of the Trojan plan- JUPITER
ets began either in 1908 or in
1772, depending on your point
of view. On February 22, 1908,
Prof. Max Wolf discovered a
minor planet in a place in the
sky where none of the known PATftOCLUS, PftiAMUS,
minor planets (or planetoids) ANCHI9ES, &.NEAS, AJ AX,
DIQMEDES, TROILUS.
could be that night. Of course it
might also be a new comet, so Observatory who was the first ,to

it was provisionally and non- notice that the position of Achilles

committally labeled TG, Ob-
servations of TG over a period of
time made it likely that it was
not a comet and the observations
were mailed to Dr. Berberich in
Berlin, head of the special com-
puting section for minor planets.
It turned out to be planetoid No*
588 and Dr. Berberich announced
that it appeared to move in the
was some 55j/ degrees ahead of
Jupiter in its orbit.
That such a thing was possible
at all had been predicted quite
some time earlier, when Joseph
Louis Lagrange had published
an essay on "Three Bodies" in
space and how they would move
under the mutual gravitational
attraction. That had been in 1772

40 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

and Lagrange had found mathe-
matically that three bodies could
form a stable system if they were
arranged in the three corners of
an equilateral triangle. The tri-
angle, in this case, consisted of
the Sun, Jupiter and Achilles.
During the same year, planet-
oid No. 617 was found and
named Patroclus. It also formed
an equilateral triangle with the
Sun and with Jupiter, but in the
other direction, since Patroclus
trailed Jupiter in its orbit.
then turned out that another
it
new discovery, No. 624 (named
tance 483 million miles. That
is
is the distance of each group from
the Sun and of each group from
Jupiter and, of course, the dis-
tance of Jupiter from the Sun.
Because this is also a consider-
able distance from us, it is ob-
vious that each group must have
many more members than have
been named, for at that distance
we can find only comparatively
large bodies. It is very likely that
small ones, say a mile in diam-
And eter, move around in these clus-
ters. Agood deal of space debris
is* likely to be present, too.

Hector), was close to Achilles. The motions inside these clus-

Further observation showed that ters must be very interesting, but
Achilles and Patroclus were mem- we know comparatively little
bers of small clusters of planet- about them. We don't actually
oids, one group moving ahead of have to go there to find out. This
Jupiter and one behind it. They is one of the astronomical prob-
were all named after heroes of lems that could be solved by
the Trojan War, hence the gen- photographic observation from a
eral appellation of Trojan plan- space station.
ets. At any event, the Trojan plan-
The trailing group comprises ets are intriguingthough
as
seven known planetoids. The lacking the popular appeal as
leading group has five well-estab- the canals of Mars.
lished members, to which the
Germans have tentatively added ANY QUESTIONS? %

three that, for the moment, do What are . the oldest known
not yet bear classical names. fossils and how old are they?
Since they are moving in this Rita Eleitheriades
formation, the same set of figures {address withheld)
applies every one of them.
to New York City.
They all move with an orbital chronology
First let's get the
velocity of 8.1 miles per second, straight so that lack of ex-
need 1 1 .86 years to go around the planation does not lead to mis*
Sun once, and their average dis- understand ingg.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION 41

 Prior to our own era, we
had the Cenozoic Era, also
called the Tertiary Period or
the Age of Mammals, with a
total duration of about 60 mil-
lion years. Before that came
the Mesozoic Era, also called
the Age of Reptiles, with a total
duration of about 135 million
years, and, prior to that, the
Paleozic Era with a total dura-
tion of 355 million years. Be-
fore that* still going backward
there was the Proterozoic
Era and, before that, the Arche-
ozoic Era, each estimated to
have been 650 million years in
duration*
For quite a number of years
(but also quite a number of
years ago), students were
taught that a fossil from the
Archeozoic was known hemi-
spherical masses, from a few
inches to a few feet in diameter*
The name given was Eoxoon
canadense, but although this
means "the dawn animal from
Canada, 91 it was stated that they
had probably been colonies of
algae. But it is now believed
that Eozoon is not a fossil at
all. From the Proterozoic Era,
a few doubtful fossils are
known, one from Australia
(Protaledadia) and one from
the Grand Canyon (Beltina
dunae)) both believed to be
early arthropods.
"Arthropods," in case any*
42
body stumbles over the word,
is the summary designation of
crustaceans, insects, spiders,
scorpions, centipedes and milli-
pedes* Spicules of sponges
from the Proterozoic of Grand
Canyon are doubtful than
less
the supposed early arthropods,
and the trails of an otherwise
unknown wormlike animal
from the Proterozoic of Glacier
National Park are accepted.
The reason for the extreme
scarcity of fossils from the first
two Eras is twofold; One is the
extreme age of these periods
and the other is that most very
primitive animals and plants
do not have solid shells, bones
or other structures which can
fossilize*
With the first period (the
Cambrian Period) of the Paleo-
zoic Era, fossils become fre-
quent*
I have had some difficulty un-
derstanding what nebulae actu-
ally are. Are they composed of
stars, cosmic dust or what? In
connection with nebulae, I have
heard the terms "planetary,"
"diffuse," "dark," "galactic" and
"spiral" What do these terms
mean?
1
Jarrell Fontenote
1014 Neches Drive
Port Niches, Texas
Yes, the terminology is some-
what confusing*
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
 7
In Latin, word nebula
the subdivided into two types, el-

means "vapor59 or "smoke" liptical and spiral. The spirals

and nebulosus means wciond-
1." This word was chosen be-
rause the appearance of some
nebulae suggests vapor or
clouds. All nebulae are group-
ed as either "galactic" or "ex-
tragalactic," the former belong
to our own galaxy while the
extragalactic nebulae are other
galaxies.
The galactic nebulae are of
three types: dark, diffuge and
planetary.
Dark nebulae bear that name
because they show up dark
are then subdivided once more
into "normal spirals" and "bar-
red spirals19 and in each of
the two spiral types, astrono-
mers distinguish "early," "in-
termediate" and "late" forms*
Since the elliptical extragalac-
tics as well as the spirals are
galaxies likeour own, generally
speaking, their light is due to
the stars which compose them.
To round off the survey, I
have to add that a number of
"irregular" extragalactic nebu-
lae are known and that there
w

background of stars,
against a are many Q-type extragalactic
many of which they obscure. nebulae. Q-type means loo faint
Diffuse nebulae are of ir- to be classified properly.
regular outline and shape and WILLY LEY
are probably visible only be-
cause of the light of nearby
starswhich they reflect* At Your Newsstand Now
These two types* which might
be essentially the same under Galaxy Novel #1
different illumination, consist
of gas molecules and dust par*
tides. WELL OF
The planetary nebulae have
the most misleading name. THE WORLDS
They were originally called that
BY LEWIS PADGETT
because in the telescope they
show a disk like a planet, while
the stars show as points. They
are the gaseous envelopes of BEYUgJD
FANTASY FICTION
certain stars, round or nearly
round hi shape and sharply November 1953 Issue
defined.
The extragalactic nebulae are

GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION 43

44 GAIAXY SCIENCE FICTION
 A weird world cut off from the Universe,

if had universal wisdom; facing death at

every moment, it had the secret of peace/

By MICHAEL SHAARA

UK WU4fER
BEAUCLAIRE was given
his first ship at Sirius.
He was called up before
the Commandant in the slow heat
of the afternoon,and stood shuf-
fling with awkward delight upon
the shaggy carpet. He was
twenty-five years old, and two

THE BOOK 45
months out of the Academy. It "A few weeks ago/' the Com-
was a wonderful day, mandant said, "one of our ama-
The Commandant told Beau- teurs had a lens on the Hole,
claire to sit down, and sat look- just looking. He saw a glow. He
ing at him for a long while* The reported to us; we checked and
Commandant was an old man saw the same thing. There is a
with a face of many lines. He faint light coming out of the Hole
was old, was hot, was tired. He obviously, a sun, a star inside
was also very irritated. He had the cloud, just far enough in to
reached that
point of oldness be almost invisible. God knows
when talking to a young man is how long it's been there, but we
an irritation because they are so do know that there's never been
brightand certain and don't know a record of a light in the Hole.
anything and there is nothing Apparently this star orbited in
you can do about it. some time ago, and is now on its
"All right," the Commandant way out. It is just approaching
said, "there are a few things I the edge of the cloud. Do you
have to tell you. Do you know follow me?"
where you are going?" "Yes, sir," Beauclaire said.
"No, sir," Beauclaire said "Your job is this: You will
cheerfully. investigate that sun for livable
""All right," the Commandant planets and alien life. If you
said again, "1*11 tell you. You find anything
which is highly
are going to the Hole in Cygnus.
unlikely you are to decipher the
You've heard of it, I hope? Good, language and come right back, A
Then you know that the Hole Psych team will go out and de-
is a large dust cloudestimated termine the effects of a starless
diameter, ten light-years. We sky upon the alien culture ob-
have never gone into the Hole, viously, these people will never
for a number of reasons. It's too have seen the stars."
thick for light speeds, it's too
big* and Mapping Command rriHE Commandant leaned for-
ships are being spread thin. Also* -**
ward, intent now for the first
until now, we never thought there time.
was anything in the Hole worth "Now, an important job.
this is
looking at. So we have never gone There were no other linguists
into the Hole. Your ship will available , so wer passed over a
be the first." lot of good men to pick you.
"Yes, sir/' Beauclaire said, eyes Make no mistake about your
shining. qualifications. You are nothing

46 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

spectacular. But the ship
yours from now on, permanently.
Have you got that?"
The young man nodded,
ning from ear to ear*
"There is something else," the
Commandant said, and abruptly
he paused.
He gazed silently at Beauclaire
at the crisp gray uniform, the
baby-slick cheek and he thought
fleetingly and bitterly of the Hole
in Cygnus which he, an old man,
would never see. Then he told
himself sternly to leave off self-
pity. The important thing was
coming up, and he would have to
say it well, *
"Listen," he said. The tone of
his voice was very strong and
Beauclaire blinked. "You
be
will body. We're relieving him, yes,
because he is breaking down. He's
no good for us any more; he
grin- has no more nerve. He's lost the
feeling a man has to have to do
his job right."
The Commandant got up slow-
ly and walked around in front of
Beauclaire, looking into his eyes*
"When you Wyatt, treat
relieve
him with respect. He's been far-
ther and seen more than any man
you will ever meet. I want no
cracks and no pity for that man.
Because, listen, boy, sooner or
later the same thing will happen
to you* Why? Because it's too
big " the Commandant gestured
helplessly with spread hands
"it's all just too damn big. Space
are re- is never so big that it can't get

placing one of our oldest men. bigger. If you fly long enough,
One of our best men. His name it will finally get too big to make

is Billy
Wyatt He he has been any sense, and you'll start think-
with us a long time." The Com- ing. Yo\i*ll start thinking that it
mandant paused again, his fingers doesn't make sense. On that day,
toying with on his
the blotter we'll bring you back and put you
desk. "They have told you a lot into an office somewhere. If we
of stuff at the Academy, which leave you alone, you lose ships
is all very important. But I want and get good men killed there's
you to understand something nothing we can do when space
else:This Mapping Command is gets too big. That is what hap-
a weary businessfew men last pened to Wyatt, That is what
for any length of time and those 7
will happen, eventually, to you*
that do aren't much good in the Do you understand?"
end. You know that. Well, I want The young man nodded uncer-
you to be very careful when you tainly*
talk to Billy Wyatt; and I want "And that," the Commandant
you to listen to him, because he's said sadly, "is the lesson for
been around longer than any- today. Take your ship. Wyatt

THE BOOK 47
will go with you on this one trip,
to break you in. Pay attention to
what he has to say it will mean
something. There's one other
crewman, a man named Cooper.
You'll be flying with him now.
Keep your ears open and your
mouth shut, except for questions.
And don't take any chances.
That's all."
Beauclaire saluted and rose to
go.
"When you see Wyatt," the
Commandant said, "tell him I
won't be able to make it down
before you leave.Too busy. Got
papers to sign* Got more damn
papers than the chief has ulcers,"
The young man waited.
"That, .God help you, is all,"
said the Commandant.
WfYATT saw the letter when
* * the young man was still a
long way off. The white caught
his eye, and he watched idly for
a moment. And then he saw the
fresh green gear on the man's
back and the look on his face as
he came up the ladder, and Wyatt
stopped breathing. . Or a mental. One or the other,
He stood for a moment blink-
ing in the sun. Me? he thought
. . . me?
Beauclaire reached the
form and threw down his gear,
thinking that this was one hell
of a way to begin a career.
Wyatt nodded to him, but
didn't say anything. He accepted
48
the letter, opened and read it.
it
He was a short man, thick and
dark and very powerful- The
lines of his face did not change
as he read the letter.
"Well/* he said when he was
done, "thank you/*
There was a long wait, and
Wyatt said at last: "Is the Com-
mandant coming down?"
"No, sir. He said he was tied
up. He said to give you his best/'
"That's nice/* Wyatt said.
After that, neither of them
spoke. Wyatt showed the new
man to his room and wished him
good luck. Then he went back
to his cabin and sat down to
think.
After 28 years in the Mapping
Command, he had become neces-
sarily immune to surprise; he
could understand this at once, but
it would {>e some time before he
would react. Weil, well, he said
to himself; but he did not feel it.
Vaguely, flicking cigarettes onto
the floor, he wondered why. The
letter had not given a reason. He
had probably flunked a physical.
each good enough reason. He
was 47 years old, and this was a
rough business. Still, he felt
plat- strong and cautious, and he knew
he was not afraid. He felt good
for a long while yet but ob-
. . .
viously he was not.
Well, then, he thought, where
now?
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
 He considered that with inter- of dashlights from the panel, the
est.There was no particular place room was dark. Cooper was lying
for him to go. Really no place. far back in the pilot's seat, his
He had come into the business feet propped up on the panel.
easily and knowing
naturally, One shoe was off, and he was
what he wanted which was carefully pressing buttons with
simply to move and listen and his huge bare toes.The first thing
see. When he was young, it had Wyatt saw when he entered was
been adventure alone that drew the foot glowing luridly in the
him; now it was something else green light of the panel. Deep
he could not define, but a thing within the ship he could hear the
he knew he needed badly. He had hum of the dynamos starting and
to see, to watch and under-
, . - stopping.
stand. Wyatt grinned. From the play
It was ending, the long time of Coop's toes, and the attitude,
was ending. It didn't matter and the limp, forgotten pole of
what was wrong with him. The an arm which hung down loosely
point was that he was through. from the chair, it was obvious
The point was that he was going that Coop was drunk. In port,
home, to nowhere in particular. he was usually drunk. He was a
When evening came, he was lean, likable man with very few
still in his room. Eventually he'd cares and no manners at all,
been able to accept it all and which was typical of men in that
examine it and had de-
clearly, Command.
cided that there was nothing to "What say, Billy?" Coop mum-
do. If there was anything out in bled from deep in the seat.
space which he had not yet Wyatt sat down. "Where you
found, he would not be likely to been?"
need it. "In the port. Been drinkin' in
He left off sitting, and went up the goddam Hot!"
port.
to the control room. "Bring back any?"
Coop waved an arm floppily
COOPER was waiting for him. in no particular direction. "Look
Cooper was a tall, bearded, around."
scrawny man with a great temper The flasks lay heap by
in a
and a great heart and a small the door. Wyatt took one and
capacity for liquor He was sit- sat down again. The room was
ting all alone in the room when warm and green and silent. The
Wyatt entered. two men had been together long
Except for the pearl-green glow enough to be able to sit without

THE BOOK 49
speaking, and in the green glow
they waited, thinking. The first

pull Wyatt took was long and

numbing; he closed his eyes.
Coop did not move Not at all.

even his toes. When Wyatt had

begun to think he was asleep, he
said suddenly:
"Heard about the replace-
ment."
Wyatt looked at him.
"Found out this afternoon"
Coop said, "from the goddam
Commandant."
Wyatt closed his eyes again.
"Where you goin'?" Coop
asked.
Wyatt shrugged. "Plush job."
"You got any plans?"
Wyatt shook his head.
Coop swore moodily. "Never
let you alone," he muttered.
"Miserable bastards." He rose up
suddenly in the chair, pointing a
long matchstick finger into
Wyatt's face. "Listen, Billy," he
said with determination, "you
was a good man, you know that?
You was one hell of a good god-
dam man*
Wyatt took another long pull
and nodded, smiling.
"You said it," he said.

"I sailed with some good men,

some good men," Coop insisted,
stabbing shakily but emphatically
with his finger, "but you don't
take nothin' from nobody." _

"Here's to me, I'm true blue,"

Wyatt grinned.

50 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

THE BOOK 51
 :

/^OOP sank back in the chair, Now, more than ever, this re-
^ wanted you
satisfied* "I just placement thing was ridiculous;
should know. You been a good but for Coop's sake, Wyatt said
man." quickly
"Betcher sweet life/' Wyatt "Drop that, man. You'll be on
said. this ship in the boneyard. You
"So they throw you out. Me even look like this ship you got
they keep. You they throw out. a bright red bow."
They got no brains." When the tall man was dark
Wyatt lay back, letting the and silent, Wyatt said gently,
liquor take hold, receding with- "Coop. Easy. We leave at mid-
out pain into a quiet world. The night.Want me to take her up?"
ship was good to feel around "Naw. " Coop turned away
him, dark and throbbing like a abruptly, shaking his head.
living womb. Just like a womb } "Thell with you. Go die." He
he thought. If 8 a lot like a womb. sank back deeply in the seat, his
"Listen" Coop said thickly, gaunt face reflecting the green
rising from his chair. "I think glow from the panel. His next
I'll quit this racket. What the words were sad, and, to Wyatt,
hell I wanna stay in this racket very touching,
for?" "Hell, Billy," Coop said weari-
Wyatt looked up, startled. ly, "this am' no fun."
When Coop was drunk, he was Wyatt him take the ship up
let
never a little drunk. He was alone. There was no reason to
always far gone, and he could argue about it. Coop was drunk;
be very mean. Wyatt saw now his mind was unreachable-
that he was down deep and At midnight, the ship bucked
sinking; that the replacement was and heaved and leaped up into
& big thing to him, bigger than the sky. Wyatt hung tenuously
Wyatt had expected. In this to a stanchion by a port, watched
team, Wyatt had been the leader, the night lights recede and the
and it had seldom occurred to stars begin blooming. In a few
him that Coop really needed him. moments the last clouds were
He had never really thought past, and they were out in the
about it. But now he let himself long night, and the million mil-
realize that, Coop could
alone, lion speckled points of glittering
be very bad. Unless this new blue and red and silver burned
man was worth anything and once more with the mighty light
learned quickly, Coop would which was, to Wyatt, all that was
very likely get himself killed. real or had ever meant living. In

52 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

the great glare and the black he solitary man, and therefore it was
stood, as always, waiting for not him to be alone*
difficult for
something to happen, for the huge On a morning some weeks after
lonely beauty to resolve itself to the trip began, Wyatt came look-
a pattern and descend and be un- ing for him. His eyes twinkling,
derstood* Wyatt fished him up, grease*
It did not. It was just space, coated and embarrassed, out of a
an area in Which things existed, main dynamos.
shaft between the
in which mechanized substance Together they went up toward
moved. Wondering, waiting, Wy- the astrogation dome. And under
att regarded the Universe. The the great dome, beneath the mas-
stars looked icily back. sive crystal on the other
sheet
At last, almost completely side of which there was nothing
broken, Wyatt went to bed. for ever and ever, Beauclaire saw
a beauty which he was to remem-
OEAUCLAIRE'S first days ber as long as he lived.
-*-' passed very quickly. He spent They were nearing the Hole in
them in combing the ship, seeking Cygnus- On
the side which faces
her out in her deepest layers, the center of the Galaxy the Hole
watching and touching and lov- is almost flat, from top to bottom,
ing. The ship was to him like a like a wall. They were moving
woman; the first few days were in on the fiat side now, floating
his honeymoon. Because there is along some distance from the
no lonelier job that a man fcan wall, which was so huge and in-
have, it was nearly always this credible that Beauclaire was
way with men in the Command. struck dumb.
Wyatt and Cooper left him It began above him, light-years
pretty much alone. They did not high. It came down in a black,
come looking for him, and the away
folding, rushing silence, fell
few times that he did see them beneath him for millions upon
he could not help but feel their millions of miles, passed down be-
surprise and resentment. Wyatt yond sight so far away, so un-
was always polite. Cooper was believably far away and so vast,
not. Neither seemed to have any- that there could be nothing as
thing to say to Beauclaire, and big as this, and if he had not
he was wise enough to stay by seen the stars still blazing on
himself. Most of Beauclaire's life either side he would have had to
until now had been spent among believe that the wall was just out-
books and dust and dead, ancient side the glass, so close he could
languages. He was by nature a touch it. From all over the wall

THE BOOK 53

a haze reflected faintly, so that as that, Beauclaire thought, did
the wall stood out in ridges and not have to make sense.
folds from the great black of
up and
space. Beauclaire looked HpHEY reached the sun slowly.
then down, and then stood and *- The gas was not thick by any
gazed.
Earthly standards approximate-
After a while, Wyatt pointed ly one atom to every cubic mile
silently down. Beauclaire looked
of space but for a starship, any
in among the folds and saw it, the matter at all is too much. At
tiny yellow gleam toward which normal speeds, the ship would
they were moving. It was so small hit the gas like a wall. So they
against the massive cloud that came in slowly, swung in and
he lost it easily. around the large yellow sun.
Each time he took his eyes They saw one planet almost
away, he lost it, and had to immediately. While moving in to-
search for it again. ward that one they scanned for
not too far in," Wyatt
"It's others, found none at all-
said at last, breaking the silence. Space around them was abso-
"We'll move down the cloud to lutely strange; there was nothing
the nearest point, then we'll slow in the sky but a faint haze. They
down and move in. Should take a were in the cloud now, and of
couple of days." course could see no star. There
Beauclaire nodded. was nothing but the huge sun and
"Thought you'd like to see," the green gleaming dot of that
Wyatt said. one planet, and the endless haze.
"Thanks." Beauclaire was sift- From a good distance out, Wy-
cerely grateful. And then, unable att and Cooper ran through the
to contain himself,he shook his standard tests while Beauclaire
head with wonder. "My God!" he watched with grave delight. They
said. checked for radio signals, found
Wyatt smiled. "It's a big none. The spectrum of the planet
show." revealed strong oxygen and water-
Later, much later, Beauclaire vapor lines, surprisingly little
began remember what the
to The temperature, while
nitrogen.
Commandant had said about somewhat cool, was in the livable
Wyatt. But he could not under- range-
stand it at something
all. Siire, Itwas a habitable planet.
like the Hole was incomprehen- 'Jackpot!" Coop said cheer-
sible. It did not make any sense fully. "All that oxygen, bound to
but so what? A thing as beautiful be some kind of

54 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 Wyatt said nothing. He was
sitting in the pilot chair, his huge
hands on the controls, nursing
the ship around into the long
slow spiral which would take
them down. He was thinking of
many other things, many other
landings. He was remembering
the acid ocean at Lupus and the
rotting disease of Altair, all the
dark, vicious, unknowable things
he had approached, unsuspecting,
down the years.
... So many years, that now
he suddenly realized it was too
long, too long.
Cooper, grinning unconsciously
as he scanned with the telescope,
did not notice Wyatt's sudden
freeze.
was over all at once., Wyatf s
It
knuckles had gradually whitened
as he gripped the panel. Sweat
had formed on his face and run
down into his eyes, and he blink-
ed, and realized with a strange
numbness that he was soaking
wet all over. In that moment,
his hands froze and gripped the
panel, and he could not move
them.
was
It a hell of a thing to hap-
pen on a man's last trip,
thought. He would like to have
taken her down just this once.
He looking at his hands.
sat
Gradually, calmly, carefully, with
a cold will and a welling sad-
ness, he broke his hands away
from the panel.
THE BOOK
"Coop," he said, "take over/*
Coop glanced over and saw.
Wyatt's faqe was white and
hands in front of
glistening; his
him were wooden and strange.
"Sure," Coop said, after a very
long moment. "Sure."
Wyatt backed off, and Coop
slid into the seat.
"They got me just in time,"
Wyatt said, looking at his stiff,
still fingers. He looked up and
ran into Beauclaire's wide eyes,
and turned away from the open
pity. Coop was bending over the
panel, swallowing heavily.
"Well," Wyatt said. He was
beginning to cry. He walked
slowly from the room, his hands
held before him like old gray
things that had died.
^TiHE ship circled automatically
* throughout the night, while
its crew slept or tried to. In the
morning they were all forcefully
cheerful and began to work up an
interest.
There were people on the
planet. Because the people lived
in villages,, and had no cities and
no apparent science, Coop let the
he ship land.
It was unreal. For a long while,
none of them could get over the
feeling of unreality, Wyatt least
of all. He
stayed in the ship and
got briefly drunk, and then came
out as carefully efficient as ever.
Coop was gay and brittle. Only
55
Beauclaire saw the planet with eral new people wandered in from
any degree of clarity. And all the time to time, others were leaving,
while the people looked back. unconcerned. The only ones
From the very beginning it was among them who seemed at all
peculiar. excited were the children.
The people saw the ship pass- Beauclaire stood by the view-
ing overhead, yet curiously they screen, watching. Eventually
did not run. They gathered in Coop joined him, looking without
groups and watched. When the interest until he saw the women.
ship landed, a small band ofthem There was one particular girl
came out of the circling woods with shaded brown eyes and a
and hills and ringed the ship, body of Coop grinned
gentle hills.
and a few came up and touched it widely and turned up the mag-
calmly, ran fingers over smooth nification until the screen showed
steel sides. nothing but the girl. He was gaz-
The people were human. ing with appreciation and mak-
There was not, so far as Beau- ing side comments to Beauclaire
claire could a single signifi-
tell, when Wyatt came in.

cant difference. It was not really "Looka that, Billy," Coop

extraordinary similar conditions roared with delight, pointing.
will generallybreed similar races "Man, we have come home!"
but there was something about
these men and women which was WYATT smiled very tightly,
hard and powerful, and in a way changed the magnification
almost grand. quickly to cover the whole throng
They were magnificently built, around them.
rounded and bronzed. Their wo- "No trouble?"
men especially were remarkably "Nope," Coop said. "Airs
beautiful. They were wearing good, too. Thin, but practically
woven clothes of various colors, pure oxygen. Who's first to go
in simple savage fashions; but out?"
there was nothing at all savage "Me," Wyatt said, for obvious
about them. They did not shout reasons. He would not be missed.
or seem nervous or move around No one argued with him. Coop
very much, and nowhere among was smiling as Wyatt armed him-
them was there any sign of a self. Then he warned Wyatt to
weapon. Furthermore, they did leave that cute little brown-eyed
not seem to be particularly curi- doll alone.
ous. The ring aobut the ship Wyatt went out.
did not increase. Although sev- The air was clear and cool.

56 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

There was a faint breeze stirring
the leaves around him, and Wyatt
IN the morning Wyatt went out
alone, walk in the sun
to
listened momentarily to the far among the trees, and he found
bell-calls of birds. This would be the girl he had seen from the
the last time he would ever go ship. She was sitting alone by a
out like this, to walk upon an stream, her feet cooling and
unknown world. He waited for splashing in the clear water.
some time by the airlock before Wyatt sat down beside her.
he went forward. She looked up, unsurprised, out
The ring of people did not of eyes that were rich and grained
move as he approached, his hand like small pieces of beautiful
upraised in what the Mapping wood. Then she bowed, from the
Command had come to rely on as waist. Wyatt grinned and bowed
the universal gesture of peace. back.
He paused before a tall, mono- Unceremoniously he took off
lithic old man in & single sheath his boots and let his feet plunk
of green cloth. down into the water. It was
"Hello," he said aloud, and shockingly cold, and he whistled.
bowed his head slowly. The girl smiled at him. To his
From the ship, through the surprise, she began to hum softly.
wide-angle sights of a gun, Beau- It was a pretty tune that he was
claire watched breathlessly as able to follow, and after a mo-
Wyatt went through the panto- ment he picked up the harmony
mime of greeting. and hummed along with her. She
None of the tall people moved, laughed, and he laughed with her,
except the old man, who folded feeling very young.
his arms and looked openly Me Billy, he thought of saying,
amused. When pantomime
the and laughed again. He was
con-
was done, Wyatt bowed again. tent just to sit without saying
The old man broke into a broad anything. Even her body, which
grin, looked amiably around at was magnificent, did not move
the circle of people, and then him to anything but a quiet ad-
quite suddenly bowed to Wyatt, miration, and he regarded him-
One by one the people, grinning, selfwith wonder.
bowed. The girl picked up one of his
Wyatt turned and waved at the boots and examined it critically,
ship, and Beauclaire stood away clucking with interest. Her lovely
from his gun, smiling. eyes widened as she played with
It was a very fine way to be- the buckle. Wyatt showed her
gin. how the snaps worked and she

THE BOOK 57
was delighted and clapped her manner about these pople. Their
hands. behavior was decidedly unusual*
Wyatt brought other things out Although they did not differ in
of his pockets arid she examined any appreciable way from hu-
them all, one after the other. The man beings, they did not act
picture of him on his ID card very much like human beings in
was the only one which seemed that they were almost wholly
to puzzle her. She handled it and lacking a sense of awe, a sense of
looked at it, and then at him, and wonder. Only the children seemed
shook her head- Eventually she surprised that the ship had land-
frowned and gave it definitely ed, and only the children hung
back to him. He got the impres- around and inspected it. Almost
sion that she thought it was very all the others went off about their
bad art He chuckled.
regular business which seemed
The afternoon passed quickly,
to be farming and when Beau-
and the sun began to go down. claire tried learning the language,
They hummed some more and he found very few of the people
sang songs to each other which willing to spend time enough to
neither understood and both en- teach him.
joyed, and it did not occur to But they were always more or
Wyatt until much later how little and by making a pest
less polite,
curiosity they had felt- They did of himself he began to succeed.
not speak at all. She had no in- On another day when Wyatt
terest in his language or his name, came back from the brown- eyed
and, strangely, he felt all through girl, Beauclaire reported some
the afternoon that talking was un- progress.
necessary. It was a very rare day "It's a beautiful language/* he
spent between two people who said as Wyatt came in. "Amaz-
were not curious and did not ingly well-developed. It's some-
want anything from each other. thing like our Latin same type
The only words they said to each of construction, but much softer
other were goodbye. and more flexible. I've been trying
Wyatt, lost inside himself, to read their book,"
plodding, went back to the ship. Wyatt sat down thoughtfully
and lit a cigarette.
IN the first week, Beauclaire "Ex>k?" he said.
^ spent his every waking hour "Yes. They have a lot of books,
learning the language of the but everybody has this one par-
planet. From the very beginning
ticular book they keep it in a
he had felt an unsettling, peculiar place of honor in their houses.

58 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION


i ve tried to ask them what it h to stay alive. But these people
I think it's a bible of some kind just don't give a damn. The ship
;
>t they just won't bother to tell landed. You remember that? Out
jf
ne. of the sky come Gods like thun-
Wyatt shrugged, his mind drift- der"
ing away.
"I just don't understand them/' WYATT smiled. At another
Beauclaire said plaintively, glad time, any time in the
at
to have someone to talk to. "I past, he would have been very
lon't get them at all. They're much interested in this sort of
iuick they're bright, but they thing. But now he was not. He
liaven't the damnedest bit of curi- felt himself remote, sort of
osity about anything, not even and he, like these people, did not
each other. My God, they don't particularly give a damn.
even gossip!" But the problem bothered
Wyatt, contented, puffed quiet- Beauclaire, who was new and
ly. "Do you think not seeing the fresh and looking for reasons, and
stars has something to do with it also bothered Cooper.
it? Ought to have slowed down "Damn!" Coop grumbled as
the development of physics and he came stalking into the room,
math." "Here you are, Billy. I'm bored
Beauclaire shook his head. "No. stiff. Been all over this whole

It's very strange. There's some- crummy place lookin for you.
thing else. Have you noticed the Where you been?" He folded him-
way the ground seems to be sharp self into a chair, scratched his
and j agged almost everywhere black hair broodingly with long,
you chewed up as if
look, sort of sharp fingers. "Game o' cards?"
there was a war? Yet these peo- "Not just now, Coop," Wyatt
ple swear that they've never had said, lying back and resting*
a war within living memory, and Coop grunted. "Nothin to do,
they don't keep any history so nothin to do," he swiveled his
a man could really find out." eyes to Beauclaire. "How you
When Wyatt didn't say any- comin, son? How soon we leave
thing, he went on: this place? Like Sunday after-
"And I can't see the connection noon all the time."
about no Not with these
stars. Beauclaire was always ready to
people, I don't care if you can't talk about the problem. He out-
see the roof of the house you live lined it now
to Cooper again, and
in> you still have to have a cer- Wyatt, listening, grew very tired.
tain amount of curiosity in order There is just this one continent,

THE BOOK 59
Beauclaire said, and just one na- "You said it," Coop boomed.
tion, and everyone spoke the "I think they're all whacky."
same tongue. There was no gov- "But happy," Wyatt said sud-
ernment, no police, no law that denly. "You can see that they're
he could find. There was not happy."
even, as far as he could tell, a "Sure, they're happy," Coop
system of marriage. You couldn't chortled. "They're nuts. They
even call it a society, really, but got funny looks in their eyes.

dammit, it existed and Beau- Happiest guys I know are screwy

claire could not find a single trace as-

of rape or murder or violence of The sound which cut him off,

any kind. The people here, he which grew and blossomed and
said, just didn't give a damn. eventually explained everything,

*0 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

had begun a few seconds ago, monstrous noise of a world col-
too softly to be heard. Now sud- lapsing grew in the air and filled
denly, from a slight rushing the room, filled the men and
noise, it burst into an enormous, everything with one incredible,
thundering scream. crushing, grinding shock.
They leaped up together, hor- When it was over there was an-
rified,and an overwhelming, gi- other rushing sound, farther
gantic blast threw them to the away, and another, and two more
floor. tremendous explosions and
;

though all in all the noise lasted

rFlHE ground rocked, the ship for perhaps five seconds, it was
* fluttered
and settled crazily. the greatestany of them had
In that one long second, the ever heard, and the world beneath

THE BOOK 61

them continued to flutter, wound- village people was not
of the
ed and trembling, for several there any more.
minutes. He ran down into the smoke,
Wyatt was out of the ship,
first circling toward the woods and
shaking his head as he ran to get the stream where he had passed
back his hearing. To the west, an afternoon with the girl. For
over a long slight rise of green a while he lost himself in the
and yellow trees, a vast black smoke, stumbling over rocks and
cloud of smoke, several miles fallen trees.
long and very high, was rising Gradually the smoke lifted, and
and boiling. As he stared and he began running into some of
tried to steady his feet upon the the people. Now he wished that
shaking ground, he was able to he could speak the language.
gather himself enough to realize They were all wandering quiet-
what this was. ly away from the site of their
Meteors. village, none of them looking
He had heard meteors before, back* Wyatt could see a great i

long before, on a world of Alde- many dead as he moved, but he

baran. Now he could smell the
same sharp burning disaster^ and
feel the wind rushing wildly back
to the west, where the meteors
had struck and hurled the air
away.
In that moment Wyatt thought
of the girl, and although she
meant nothing to him at all
none of these people meant any-
thing in the least to him he be-
gan running as fast as he could
toward- the west*
Behind him, white-faced and
bewildered, came Beauclaire and
Cooper.
When Wyatt reached the top of
the rise, the great cloud covered
the whole valley before him. Fires
were burning in the crushed forest
to his right, and from the lay of
had no time to stop, no time to
wonder. It was twilight now, and
the sun was gone. He thanked
God that he had a flashlight
with him; long after night came,
lie was searching in the raw gash
where the first meteor had f allep.
He found the girl, dazed and
bleeding, in a cleft between two
rocks. He knelt and took her in
his arms. Gently, gratefully,
through the night and the fires
and past the broken and the
dead, he carried her back to the
ship.
had all become frighteningly
IT
clear to Beauclaire. He talked
with the people and began to
understand.
The meteors had been falling

the cloud he could tell that the since the beginning of time, so the

62 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

people said. Perhaps it was the
fault of the great dust- cloud
through which this planet was
moving; perhaps it was that this
had not always been a one-planet
system a number of other plan-
ets, broken and shredded by un-
known gravitational forces,
would provide enough meteors
for a very long time. And the air
of this planet being thin, there
was no real protection as there
was on Earth. So year after year
the meteors In unpredictable
fell.
places, at unknowable times, the
meteors fell, like stones from the
sling of God. They had been fall-
ing since the beginning of time.
So the people, the unconcerned
people, said.
And herewas Beauclaire's clue.
Terrified and shaken as he was t
Beauclaire was the kind of man
who saw reason in everything, He
followed this one to the end*
In the meantime, Wyatt nursed
the girl. She had not been badly
hurt, and recovered quickly. But
her family and friends were most-
ly dead now, and so she had no
reason to leave the ship.
Gradually Wyatt learned the
language. The girl's name was
ridiculous when spoken Eng- in
lish, so he called her Donna,
which was something like her real
name. She was, like all her peo-
ple,unconcerned about the mete-
ors and her dead. She was
extraordinarily cheerful. Her fea-
THE BOOK
tures were classic, her cheeks
slim and smiling, her teeth per-
fect. In the joy and whiteness of
her, Wyatt saw each day what
he had seen and known in his
mind on the day the meteors
fell. Love to him was something
new. He was not sure whether or
not he was in love, and he did
not care. He realized that he ,
needed this girl and was at home
with her, could rest with her and
talk with her, and watch her walk
and understand what beauty was;
and in the ship in those days a
great peace began to settle over
him.
When the girl was well again,
Beauclaire was in the middle of
translating the book the bible-
like book which all the people
seemed to treasure so much. As
his work progressed, a striking
change began to come over him.
He spent much time alone under
the sky, watching the soft ha2e
through which, very soon, the
stars would begin to shine*
He what he felt
tried to explain
to Wyatt, but Wyatt had no
+
time.
"But, Billy," Beauclaire said
"do you see what these
fervently,
people go through? Do you see
how they live?"
Wyatt nodded, but his eyes
were on the girl as she sat listen-
ing dreamily to a recording of
ancient music.
"They live every day waiting,"
63
Beauclaire said. "They have no young any more; he wanted to
idea what the meteors are. They rest, and upon the bosom of this
don't know that there is anything girl he had all the reason for any-
else in Universe but their
the thing and everything he needed.
planet and their sun. They think But Beauclaire was incoherent.
that's all there is. They don't It seemed to him that here on this
know why they're here but planet a great wrong was being
when the meteors keep falling done, and the more he thought of
like that, they have only one con* it .the more angry and confused

elusion." he became* He went off by him-

self and looked at the terrible

WfYATT turned from the girl wound on the face of the planet,
** smiling None of
absently* at all the sweet, lovely, fragrant
this could touch him. He had things which would never be
seen the order and beauty of again, and he ended by cursing
space, the incredible perfection the nature of things, as Wyatt
of the Universe, so often and so had done so many years before.
deeply that, like Beauclaire, he And then he went on with the
could not help but believe in a translation of the book. He came
Purpose, a grand final meaning. upon the final passage, still curs-
When his father had died of an ing inwardly, and reread it again
insect bite at Oberon he had be- and again. When the sun was
lieved in a purpose for that, and rising on a brilliant new morn-
had looked for it? When his first ing, he went back to the ship.

crewmate fell into the acid ocean
of Alcestis and the second died of
a horrible rot, Wyatt had seen
purpose, purpose; and each time
another man died, for no appar-
ent reason, on windless, evil use-
less worlds, the meaning of things
had become clearer and clearer,
and now in the end Wyatt was
approaching the truth, which was
perhaps that none of it mattered
at all.
It not matter
especially did
now. So many things had hap-
pened that he had lost the capaci-
ty to pay attention. He was not
"They had a man here once,"
he said to Wyatt, "who was as
good a writer as there ever was.
He wrote a book which these
people use as their Bible. It's like
our Bible sometimes, but mostly
it's just the opposite. It preaches
that a man shouldn't worship
anything. Would you like to hear
some of it?"
Wyatt had been pinned down
and he had to listen, feeling sorry
for Beauclaire, who had such a
long way His thoughts
to go.
were on Donna, who had gone
out alone to walk in the woods

64 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

and say goodbye to her world. soil shallreceive thee and in thy dark
bed thou shalt find such peace es is
Soon he would go cut and bring
thy portion.
her back to the ship, and she In thine armor, hear my
voice. In
would probably cry a little, but thine armor, hear. Whatsoever thou
doest, thy friend and thy brother and
she would come. She would come thy woman betray thee. Whatso-
shall
with him always, wherever he ever thou dost plant, the weeds and
went. the seasons shall spite thee. Whereso-
ever thou goest, the heavens shall fall
"I have translated this the best
upon thee. Though the nations shall
way I could/* Beauclaire said come unto thee in friendship thou art
curst. Know that the Gods ignore thee.
remember this. This
thickly, "but
Know that thou art Life, and that pain
man could write. He was Shake- shall forever come into thee, though
speare and Voltaire and all the thy years be without end and thy days
without sleep, even and forever. And
rest all at once. He could make
knowing this, in thine armor, thou
you feei I couldn't do a decent shalt rise up.
translation if I tried forever, but Red and full and glowing is thy
heart; a steel is forging within thy
please listen and try to get what breastt And what can hurt thee now?
he means. I've put it in the style In thy granite mansion, what can hurt
of Ecclesiastes because it's some- thee ever? Thou shalt only die. There-
fore seek not redemption nor forgive-
thing like that." ness for thy sins, for know that thou
"All right" Wyatt said. hast never sinned.
Let the Gods come unto fAee.

OEAUCLAIRE waited for a

" long moment, feeling this When it was' finished, Wyatt
deeply. When he read, his voice sat very still.

was warm and strong, and some- Beauclaire was looking at him
thing of his emotion came intently.

through. As Wyatt listened, he Wyatt nodded. "I see," he said.

found his attention attracted, and
then he felt the last traces of his
sadness and weariness fall away.
He nodded, smiling.
These are the words Beauclaire
had gathered from the Book;
Rise up smiling, and walk with me.
Rise up in the armor of thy body and
what shall pass shall make thee un-
afraid. Walk among the yellow hills,
for they belong to thee. Walk upon
grass and let thy feet descend into soft
soil; in the end when all has failed
thee the soil shall comfort thee, the
'They don't ask for anything,"
Beauclaire said. "No immortality,
no forgiveness, no happiness.
They take what comes and don't
wonder."
Wyatt smiled, rising. He look-
ed at Beauclaire for a long while,
trying to think of something to
say. But there was nothing to
say. If the young man could be-
lieve this, here and now, he would
save himself a long, long, pain-
ful journey. But Wyatt could not

THE BOOK 65
talk about it
not just yet. isa chord in Man which is pluck-
He reached out and clapped ed by the stars, which will rise
Beauclaire gently upon the shoul- upward and outward into infinity,
der. Then he the ship and
left as long as there is one man any-
walked out toward the yellow where and one lonely place to
hills, toward the girl and the love which he has not been. And there-
that was waiting. fore what does the meaning mat-
ter? We are built in this way, and
XTHAT will they do, Beau- so shall we live.
** asked himself, when
claire Beauclaire looked up into the
the stars come out? When there sky.
are other places to go, wilt these Dimly, faintly, like God's eye
people, too, begin to seek? peeking through the silvery haze,
They would. With sadness, he a single star had begun to shine.
knew that they would. For there MICHAEL SHAARA

Forecast
With Plainclothesman Baley in graver danger than ever, and the
Spacers holding the threat of retaliation over Earth's head, THE CAVES OF
STEEL by Isaac Asimov concludes next month with a chilling revelation . . .

and a blinding burst of hope. But what a bitterly paradoxical hope! The
hunt for a killer is always tense enough, but knowing that the fate of a
world depends on the solutionthe solution that must be exactly found and
sprung or it's worse than none at allwould daunt any man. Yet Baley is
inexorably forced to find and spring his solution in exactly the wrong way!

he keeps it to himself, he will be declassified, replaced by a robot,

If

and the Spacers will relentlessly move in. If he reveals it, the only result can
be chaos!
THE CAVES OF STEEL is a study of threat to a society; Alan Nourse's
THE DARK DOOR is a novelet-length analysis of pure distillate of personal
terror. Wise as you are to the methods of infiltration, you wouldn't believe
this oneit's too preposterous. But you'll meet and flee from it just the samel

chap whom Theodore Sturgeon calls MR* COS-

There's a fine, likable
TELLO, HERO ... a man who can't help worrying about every human being
on all the worlds and in the ships between them. It takes real heroism to be
willing to help people even if it has to be over their dead bodies!

66 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 "

c
CD

By WINSTON MARKS
O
CD If this was true, there ought

to be another edition of What

Every Yovng Girl Should Know!

Illustrated by VIDMER

HAT," she demand- my jacket pocket and tried to

ed, sitting bolt up- pat her hand, "Take it easy, Mrs.
right in the hospital Caffey
bed, "has happened to the medi- "It'sMiss Caffey, damn you,"
cal world? In Italy, they tell me she said snatching her hand
I have an abdominal tumor. In away, "and better I should have
Paris, it's cancer. And now you gone to an astrologer!"
fat-heads are trying to tell me "See here, now " I said, letting
I'm pregnant!" a stern note enter my voice.
I stuffed my stethoscope into "You came here requesting a ver-

UNBEGOTTEH CHILD 67
 */

>?

&?y%^
**

68 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 -

ification of the malignancy of same, permit me to congratulate

this growth. Our discovery of a you on your virginity/'
six month foetus is a fact, not "Thanks," she said, in a voice
an accusation." not untinged with pride.
"Look, Buster, I'm a thirty- "However," I went on, "in
six-year-old spinster. Like the spite of certain contra-indica-
joke goes, I haven't been married tions and irregularities of symp-
or anything. Also, I knew about toms such as the absence of
the birds and the bees before morning sickness and the like, I
you were emptying bedpans. would like to enlist your coopera-
Now you get off this subject
will tion in delivering yourself of an
of babies and find out whether infant within the next three
it's safe for me to start any con- months."
tinued stories?" "Dr. Foley, please under-
stand!" She threw her hands
SUCH from un-
protestations apart in despair. "I love children.
married mothers were not un- I would have an acre of them if

common, but Sara Caffey's cold I were married, or even in the

convictions were unshakable. She mood for any other alliance. But
sank back into her seven satin men just don't fit my frame of
pillows and sighed mightily. Her reference. And regardless of what
wide-spaced, intelligent eyes kind of a damned fool* I may
glared at me from a handsome, make myself in the future, I
of
if somewhat overly strong, face. haven't, to date Doctor, the kind
!

Creamy white shoulders swept of cooperation you ask for hasn't

gracefully into gradually darken- been known for two - thousand
ing neck skin and frankly tanned years,"
cheeks and broad forehead. Her I another tack. "Well,
tried
straight, slender nose was sun- since you arrived without a medi-
burned. cal history on your condition,
As resident physician for over would you tell us the name of
fifteen years, I had learned pa- your last doctor so we may write
tience in these matters. But the for a transcript?"
thought that this lovely creature w'Phillipe Sansome, ,in Paris.
expected me to believe that she The
<fil

was an unfulfilled old maid got
under my skin, particularly un-
der the circumstances
"Miss Caffey, I am a physi-
cian, not a philosopher. Just the
surgeon?"
She nodded. "And don't try to
explain that he misdiagnosed be-
cause he's hungry for surgical
fees. He didn't plan to operate.
In fact, that's why I left. He was

U N BEGOTTEN CHILD 69
trying some new cure of his own "Then what do you call the
that didn't set well with the staff sounds youVe just heard?" I said
there, and they got into such a in complete exasperation. %

squabble I figured I'd better re- "Gut rumble," she said. "Now
move the cause of it all before go along like a nice intern and
the dear old man lost his license." find me a passel of surgeons and
While she was speaking, I cas- let's have at this tumor, cancer,

ually drew back the covers and bubble-gum or what have you.
exposed her slightly swollen ab- I want out of here, fast as I can

domen. It, too, had a surprising mend."

coat of tan. I donned my stetho-
scope, moved the diaphragm TpHERE was no reason to keep
around until I had what I want- * the female news -correspon-
ed, and held it there. dent in bed, but she wouldn't Stir.
"Yes, I know of Dr. Sansome," She was confident that Phillipe
I told her, "We shall send a wire Sansome's findings would con-
at once for your case record. vince us. Three days passed with
Helps, you know. Now, if you no word from Paris. Then, on the
will just slip these into your fourth day, her medical history
>
arrived in the briefcase of the
She let me hang
the stetho- famous surgeon himself,
scope around her neck, and even "I flew," he apologized, "but it
brushed back her shining black took two days to detach myself.
hair so I could adjust the ear- Delighted to meet you, Dr. Fol-
pieces for her. ey. Your cable mentioned a Miss
"If Doctor Sansome had heard Sara Caffey, maternity patient.
that," I said, "he would have Is it possible?"
changed his mind." He was Frenchman,
large for a
She listened intently to the and his gauntness was com-
quick, light, foetal heartbeat for pounded by an obvious lack of
over a minute, and gradually a sleep. His black eyes bore into
faraway gleam lighted her eyes. mine as if to drag out what ap-
"Oh if you were only right," she peared to me to be a fairly mun-
said softly, "Here I've chased dane admission.
stories all over the globe half my "We her that," I said
call
life, and I'd have the biggest shrugging. "And as to her con-
story since the flood right here in dition, you may examine her
my own tummy!" yourself."
She lay back again. "But of "Sacre bleu!" His eyes rolled
course, you're wrong." up like bloodshot cue-balls. "She

70 GALAXY SCIENCIs FICTION

left us at her own insistence. willing to explain your interest in
Aside from ethics, we must not this case, will you not, Doctor?"
disturb her by my reappearance.
But I have a favor to ask. A giant TTE frowned, "I suppose I must
mountain of a fantastic favor. -1 * But you will believe little
Now that I have found her again, of it. My own staff agreed with
I must not lose her, certainly not, my diagnosis, but they violently
until" rejected my theory. Wait until
He grabbed pen and paper and they hear your diagnosis, doc-
moved his chair to my desk. He tor!" He
unzipped his briefcase.
wrote briefly. "Votta! These sim- "She probably protests that she
ple adjustments in her metabo- has a malignant tumor, not a
lismdiet, and just a few so baby," he remarked as he laid
petite injections. And may I re- thick sheafs of paper on my desk.
main here in the behind -ground, "You are so very right," I said.
incognito? I will help with other "Mademoiselle is magnificent,"
work atno cost, of course. I he observed, running slender,
will be an orderly, if you will. wrinkled hands through his sparse
But I must remain in tpuch. gray hair. "But her obstinacy
Close touch," will not avail against evolution.
I was a bit nonplussed. A man No more than we doctors* monu-
J
of Sansome s reputation! It was mental ignorance/'
like a United States Senator "Evolution? Explain, please."
pleading for the opportunity to "Here is the case history." He
scrub out the men's room at the drummed on it with his short-
House of Representatives. Just clipped nails. "In it, you mil find
the same, I wouldn't be stam- that Caffey came to us three
peded or overawed. Several pro- months ago with her body cavity
vocative explanations for the in the grasp of a small octopus
French doctor's concern came to of a soft form carcinoma. The
mind . Was he the repudiated
. . pain reached from pelvis to
father of Sara's unborn child? chest."
Or was he a practitioner of "Incredible!" I exclaimed.
artificial with a
insemination, Sansome spread his hand on
rather unfortunate error to his the record sheets. "Facts arg
credit? never incredible," he reminded
"Your request is unusual," I me gently. "What how-
follows,
said cautiously, "but not en- ever, will tax your credulity, and
tirely unreasonable. In order to I beg of you to allow me to im-

justify it, I am sure you will be pose an outrageous concept whose

UNBEGOTTEN CHILD 71
 :

only virtue appears to be its developing a sexual reproduc-

demonstrated validity."
"Proceed."
"In forty years of slicing away
tumerous growths, I had become
morbid at the dreadful incidence
of recurrence and the obscene
mortality rate. In spite of all our
techniques, these cancers have
increased with the persistence of
Nature herself.
"In a fit of prolonged depres-
sion brought on by a foolishly
strenuous research of
my mind stumbled into a stupid
preoccupation with a few isolated
cases of exogenic pregnancy. One
which fascinated me was the
young 17 -year-old boy from
tion,"
SANSOME'S statement so flab-
bergasted me that I looked at
him for signs of facetiousness or
His extreme fatigue
irrationality.
was evident but his calmness
and clarity of self-expression in
a foreign language indicated no
mental confusion. A hoax of such
magnitude was outside the realm
of possibility for a surgeon of his
histories, distinction.
The man was simply following
a blind alley of reasoning, set
off by his life-long frustration
of battling cancer.
mustered my patience and
I

whose lung a surgeon removed a drew him out, hoping he would

live three-month foetus. Some- find a contradiction in his own
how the obvious explanation re- theory.
fused to satisfy me. It was, of "This is a rather staggering no-
course, concluded that the foetus tion, Dr. Sansome," I said, "Have
was an undeveloped twin to the you been able to support it with
boy himself. additional evidence?"
"This could be so; but on what "Until Miss Caffey," he said,
facts was this assumption based? "frankly, no. Not the kind of
None. Only the absence of any evidence that is acceptable. But
other theory justified the con- the theory has much to defend it.
cept The surgeon had expected In your own Journal of the
to find a hard carcinoma. A. M. A., May 7, 1932, Dr. Maud
"And it came to me suddenly Slye published the first solid evi-
that he had found his cancer! dence that predisposition to
"My interpolation was this so-called malignant tumor is he*
Mankind is suffering an evolu- reditary- Is not a better
this
tionary change in his repro- characteristic of a true mutation,
ductive procedure. The high rather than of a disease?"
incidence of various tumors evi- "Perhaps," I said, "But how
dences Nature's experiments in does Mother Nature justify the

72 GAIAXY SCIENCE FICTION

desirability of a change from our
present father successful bisex-
ual system? And isn't she being
rather cruel in her methods?
Think of the millions she has
made suffer in her experiments,"
"Mother Nature" Sansome
pronounced positively, "is neither
kind nor cruel. She is manifestly
indifferent to all but the goal of
survival of the species. Our
lization has set out to thwart her
with increasingly more effective
methods of birth-control. In the
light of survival, Nature is
justified in trying to bring mil-
lions of frustrated, childless
mans to parenthood,
"M EANWHILE," he said, rif-
*** fling the case history of
Sara Caffey, "let us examine the
evidence at hand. Our patient
arrived in Paris positively can-
cerous. After ronfirrning
diagnosis, I proposed an unprec-
edented treatment based on my
theory. We know several body
conditions which promote the
rapid development of carcinoma,
such as excess alkalinity and high
blood sugar content and so forth.
Instead of trying to reduce these
and tumor, I reversed
fight the
the treatment and aided Miss
Caffey's body to support and en-
courage its growth to what I ore-
dieted would be a new maturity.
"And what happened?" He
thretifr up his hands. "In two
UNBEGOTTEN CHILD
months, the tendrils of the octo-
pus withdrew into the central
body of the tumor. The tendency
to spread in search for attenuated
nourishment was reversed with
the treatment. This alone was
an accomplishment, for it would
have made the growth operable
in a short time.
"Unfortunately, word of my
civi- unorthodox prescription reached
a jealous colleague, and he set off
such a quarrel at the Institute
that Miss Caffey packed up and
most left with the generous miscon-
ception that she was saving me
hu- from embarrassment. I had no
opportunity to assure her that
the Cancer Institute would de-
cide ultimately in my favor
which it shall when I return with
a photostat of a certain birth
certificate."
He smiled for the first time,
the and his charm was so powerful
that I sincerely wanted to believe
in him. I could see no use in
denying him his request, for his
prescriptions were of an innocu-
ous nature for a normally preg-
nant woman such as Sara Caffey.
I trusted that a normal birth of
a typical baby would finally dis-
suade him.
I extended my hand again,
"You are most welcome to stay
with us, doctor," I told him. "The
treatment you desire is within
reason, and I admire your tenac-
ity with your theory. I hope you
73
 t

will forgive me, however, if I plied anonymously. And she

say that I find your premises raised merry hell because we re-
rather tenuous. I feel that we fused to operate.
will witness a very normal birth, After two weeks, she threatened
and ultimately Miss Caffey will to leave. I was paged over the
find it to her peace of mind to P. A. and got to her room in
confess a secret marriage, or, at time to catch her trying to zip
most an alliance of which she up her skirt.
may be pathologically ashamed She looked at me impatiently*
at the moment." and then back to her abdomen.
Sansome grasped my hand with "Damned thing's getting out of
enthusiasm. "Bien! Tres bien!" hand,"
he exclaimed. "This is more gen- She had on an expensive tweed
erous even than I expected. Cer- suit, and the smart, powder-blue
tainly I do not expect a scientist cashmere coat I helped her into
of your station to swallow my made her look her role of dis-
theory at a gulp, Dr. Foley. I tinguished world traveler, syn-
will admit that my persistence dicated columnist and woman of
depends more than it should on parts.
intuition, But we shall see. I am She hunched her shoulders for-
grateful to you." And he kissed ward slightly, so the loose folds
me firmly on each cheek. of the coat concealed her pro-
truding middle.
A STUDY of Sansome's care- "Thanks," she said casually.
-** fully prepared case history "I'll write you a check and be

on Sara Caffey did disturb me a on my way/*

little. I ordered a thorough re-
examination, and was left with
some puzzling conclusions at the
apparent absence of tumorous
growth, malignant or otherwise.
Sara was enduring most of the
classic symptoms of typical preg-
nancy, and was enjoying Dr. San-
some's treatment hugely. She
guzzled the alkaline-producing
fruit juices, fortified
fully rationed dribbles
She nibbled contentedly at the
sweets which the Frenchman sup-
"Dr. Sansome will be disap-
pointed," I said casually.
"You heard from him?" she
asked with interest.
I nodded.
She put her hands on her hips.
"And you still persist with your
fatuous idea that I'm going to
have a baby?"
*
"Let us say," I evaded, "that
with care- we have adopted Dr. Sansome's
of gin. treatment on a wait-and-see
basis. You said yourself that he
refused to operate. We have defi-

74 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

nitely confirmed that much* Your have sounded pretty silly. It was
condition is still inoperable, but evident that she still wouldn't
you coming along fine."
are admit even to herself how and
"Well, now, why didn't you tell when it had happened.
me that before/* She threw off "Ever go on a good binge?" I
her coat and relieved the pres- suggested.
sure of her waist zipper with a "Not since I was sixteen," she
grateful sigh, "Now you're mak- exclaimed. "But could use one
I
ing sense. Send out for another right now. No, that might hurt
Spillane. go along with that.
I'll the baby." She folded her arms
But no more of this drivel about protectively around her middle.
transferring me to the maternity "I don't get it. I don't get it at
ward, see?" all. But the way it is"
if that's

A crooked, pleased smile wrinkled

TIEN nights later, she changed tears from her cheeks. "Leave
* her mind. I passed her room it to Sary to do things the
after a late emergency case. The unusual way."
door was open and I heard her She looked up at me. "Did
crying softly to herself. I stopped yon know I was the first white
in. Her bed lamp was on, and woman to interview a Rajah's
for a change she looked all harem eunuch?"
woman. "Looks like you have a real
I felt her pulse and asked, story this time," I said, playing
''What's the matter, Sara?" along with her.
"I'm going to have a baby!" "Yeah. But who in hell will
she sobbed. "I've been feeling write it?"
something peculiar for some time.
But tonight it kicked the hell OHILLIPE Sansome made
out of me." * himself eminently useful. He
"Want to talk about it?" I assisted in surgery every morn-
asked, holding her wrist.
still ing, refusing fees and pleading
She looked at me with genuine with everyone to maintain his
bafflement in her eyes. Her face anonymity. The staff was in on
was puckered up like a hurt the conspiracy, and the nurses
child's. "But it's so impossible, smiled indulgently at him behind
doctor. I'm sorry I talked to you his back. But Sansome was too
the way I have, but so help me, great a man to ridicule. The gen-
I'm a good girl." eral feeling was the same as mine.
I almost said, Well, these He was older than he thought,
things happen, but that would not in body, but in over-tired

UNBEGOTTEN CHILD 75
nerves and exhausted mind. None
contested his skill with the scal-
pel; but none gave ten cents
worth of oedence to his twist on
the theory of evolution.
As Sara's confinement proceed-
ed with conformity to
precise
my expectations, I thought San-
some would lose heart but he
didn't. He arranged to be present
in the delivery room with as
much interest as if we expected
a breach birth of a two-headed
panda.
I was unfortunately called to
Baltimore at the last minute. I
flew both ways, but my haste was
in vain. Sara gave birth while
I was still aloft.
I checked in with more excite-
HOLD IT!
We mean your collection of
GALAXY, naturally, which will
really dress up your library when
they're kept in our handsome
gold-stamped binders, instead of
just being allowed to accumulate.
Arranged according to date, easy
to hold, protected from rough
handling, your back issues of
GALAXY will give you continued
rereading pleasure . . . and in-
crease constantly in value. Each
binder holds six issues and costs
only $1,50 postpaid from Galaxy
Publishing Corp., 421 Hudson
Street, New York 14, N. Y.
76
ment than Vd thought possible.
I asked at the desk, "How's
Caffey."
"Fine. Gave birth an hour ago.
Beautiful girl"
little
I cjidn't wait for more. I dashed
upstairs to the maternity ward,
where Sara had finally consented
to be moved, and slipped into
her room.
She was tired, but conscious.
She smiled at me peculiarly.
"So it's a girl!" I exclaimed.
"Wait until I see Sansome. A
beautiful, healthy, normal baby!"
A hand tapped me softly on the
shoulder, and X turned to look
into Sansome's triumphant eyes.
"Without a navel," he said-
WINSTON MARKS
Current IS etc Books:
Science & Fantasy
Fiction
We carry a full line of all
current American science fic-
tion, as well as a large stock
of scarce out-of-print books in
this field. Back issues of sci-
ence fiction magazines
available.
STEPHEN'S BOOK SERVICE
45 ASTOR PLACf
New York 3, Now York
Open Monday Thru Soturdoy:
9:30 A.M. to i30 P.M. Open
Wednesday Evening* until 8:00 P.M.
(Phono GRomercy 3-5W0)
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
 GALAXY'S

Star Shelf
TO THE END OF TIME THE : their own society on an island
BEST OF OLAF STAPLEDON. in the Pacific.
Edited by BasilDavenport. The other four are Last and
Funk & Wagnalls Co., New York, First Men, Stapledon's weird and
1953. 790 pages, $5.00 wonderful dream of the distant
tomorrows of Man in the Uni~
f1HE science fiction event of verse; Star Maker, his vivid fan-
-* 1953, for American readers, is tasy of travels among different
the publication of this huge om- life-forms in our galaxy; Sirivs,
nibus of five science fantasies by a touching story of an intelligent
the late British writer Olaf dog and its reactions to the com-
Stapledon. For incomprehensible plexities of human civilization;
reasons, only one of the five and The Flames, a rather undis-
novels has ever been published tinguished short novel about a
before in the United States: Odd man in contact with the intelli-
John, the famous story of the gences that inhabit fire.
mutant homo superiors and their Olaf Stapledon was a man pos-
ill-fated attempt to establish sessed by the idea of Infinity,

* * * SHELF 77
an overwhelming pessimist, his
whole life colored by preoccupa-
tion with "the tragic disorder of
our whole terrestrial hive," as
he put it. This combination
of ma gnificently untrammeled
imagination and a persistent
sense of the futility
resulted in some of the most
trail science imaginings in fan-
tastic literature.
Furthermore, as Basil Daven-
port points out in his pleasant
Introduction, the novels are the
original source of many of the
current concepts in science fic-
tion. The fuller and more circum-
stantial development of many of
his ideas by other authors is not
reprehensible in the least-
the rapidly increasing bibli-
IN
ography of serious books on
space travel, this excellent vol-
ume has a special value for the
lay reader. It is the first popular
book on the subject to emphasize
the "condition of Man in space"
of life rather than the spaceship itself
off- and the engineering aspects of
space travel.
Heinz Haber is one of the
nation's foremost experts on
"space medicine" the physiology
and pathology of living things
subjected to the unprecedented
conditions encountered beyond
the Earth's thin envelope of
atmosphere. He is, therefore, al-
most uniquely competent to dis-
For cuss the problems of Man in e

one of Stapledon's major defects space, and in volume he

this
was that he was a very bad does so with authority and also
novelist. His books are melanges with a pleasant clarity of style
of often undeveloped science fic- that makes his material very
tion concepts and bombastic easy to absorb.
philosophizing. Today's writers For those who wan to know
frequently do the ideas they take not only what it will be like to
from Stapledon a real favor by travel in space, but also how
developing them more adequate- much we know about what it
iy. will be like, this book sum-
However, despite its many marizes an enormous amount of
faults, this is not a
definitely experimentation (mostly mili-
book to be missed. It belongs tary) on the effects of accelera-
with the science fiction classics, tion, weightlessness, lack of
oxygen, cosmic radiation, and all
MAN IN SPACE by Heinz the other problems of space flight
Haber. II lustra ted by Jerry including some most of us
Milord. Bobbs Merrill Co., Inc., never even dreamed of, such as
Indianapolis, 1953. 291 pages, the boiling of blood in the veins
$3.75 at low pressures.

79 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 Dr. Haber's final conclusion is next-to-the-last volume of which
that while none of the planets is reviewed below, are natural,
around our sun will support our since the Smith opus is unques-
existence, nor will they possess tionably one of the biggest pre-
any intelligent life of their own, sociological space-mellers in
nevertheless Man will definitely science fiction history.
"take to space" if only to prove Both engage in science
series
that he can. extrapolations that are> to say
Dr. Haber closes his book with the least, improbable; both are
a fine plea for the conservation galactic or more in scope; both
of our Earth's resources and the are tour de forces of the imagi-
continual improvement of its liv- nation. But Asimov's work, based
ing conditions, since "coloniza- as it is on fairly sound social
tion of the Solar System . . is . principles and the activities of
an utterly unrealistic Utopian t fairly normal human beings, has
idea." a pressing sense of reality that
I agree with Dr. Haber's con- Smith's fairy tales lack all the
servationist sentiments whole- way through.
heartedly. But somehow I don't This third volume contains the
think we know enough about our last two novellas Asimov has
own solar system or our future written on his subject: the story
in science to make dogmatic
as of the subjugation (by a member
a statement as the one quoted. of the Second Foundation) of the
Like those who once said heavier- Mule, that crippled mutant who
than-air -flight was impossible, nearly ruined Hari Seldon's psy-
Dr. Haber may eventually be cho-historical matrix the
for
proved wrong. hastening of the organization of
*
the Second Galactic Empire; and
SECOND FOUNDATION by the taleArkady Darrell,
of
Isaac Asimov. Gnome Press, Homir Munn, and the simple
New York, 1953, 210 pages, $2.75 Preem Palver, and how they
worked out the fragile plans of
TfTITH this volume, Asimov's the Second Foundationeers (mas-
** Foundation trilogy is com- ters of mental science) to set the
pleted. Together with its two pre- Galaxy on its correct track
ceding volumes, also published through the wildernesses of the
by Gnome, it comprises ^our first future-
great sociological space opera- For my a thorough-
taste, it is
Corn pa risons with E- E. Smith's ly satisfying and adult play of
six-volume Len&m&n series, the the scientific imagination.

* * * * * SHELF 79
SECOND STAGE LENSMAN the previous books in the series
by Edward . Smith, Ph.D. Fan- excellent for orientation in the
tasy Press, Reading, Pa., 1953. Smith fairyland.
307 pages, $3.00
AGAINST THE FALL OF
p^OR over 25 years, E. E. Smith NIGHT by Arthur C. Clarke.
*- has been the beloved of young Gnome Press, New York, 1953.
space opera addicts, for he is the 223 pages, $2.75
inventor and sole producer of in-
tergalactic melodrama on which A RTHUR Clarke, a man of
most of the later imitations have ** many facets^-he is the au-
been based. It is a real achieve- thor of the only Book of the
ment, this invention, something Month Club selection (non-
that will live on for years as a fiction) on space travel
has here
classic of science fiction juvenalia. written a charming fantasy of the
Of course, it is pretty dull go- far- distant future, designed for
ing for people who want
a bit boys and girls of all ages*
w

more than thud and blunder, ir- deals with the adventures of
It
resistable forces conquering im- young Alvin, a billion years from
movable objects, and a style now, and his efforts to get the
reminiscent of the balloons in remnants of mankind on this.
the s.f. comic strips. planet out of the lethargy that
In the present volume, Kim- near-immortality has given it.
ball Kinnison, dream boat, Sec- First he escapes from the
ond Stage Lensman and whatnot, "prison of Diaspar," the city of
and his mighty crew of assistants perfection where only initiative
of various shapes and planetary is dead, and finds the rich rural
origins are still hunting down the civilization Then, with
of Lys.
Evil Powers that are attacking the aid of some magical robots,
us from outside our Galaxy, and he uncovers a million-year-old
still failing to find the real vil- spaceship and takes off to find
lains, the Eddorians. They are what else is left alive in the
still ridding the Universe of Bos- Galaxy. The tale ends with a re-
konians instead, and a good assurance of mankind's renais-
thing, toothe vicious, sadistic sance.
drug-peddlers! And, in the end, It is a light, simple, fast-mov-
Kim acquires his Clarrissa in ing and often richly imaginative
holy matrimony at last! fantasy, a very pleasant time-
There is a foreword, too, that passer indeed.
gives the reader a synopsis of CROFF CONKL1N
80 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
 How a bout
Beyond ?
Have you read Galaxy's companion magazine?
In just three issues. Beyond has become the top fantasy fiction
magazine. Sales on number 2 issue jumped 34%, with issue num-
ber 3 showing every indication of the same meteoric leap. The
letters from our readers tell us why. Because for the first time, a
fantasy fiction magazine has been written for adults, by the tops
in this literary field.

Beyond is written to entertain you every issue is

packed with the type of stories that caused one of our readers
to say"I wish Beyond was published once a week."

Try it at our risk. Send

your subscription for six
in

issues. If you don't like the first issue, cancel your subscription and
we will return your money in full. Oh yes, you save 60? on this
subscription, or $1.20 on twelve issues.

Fill out the coupon below.

BEYOND Fantasy Fiction, 421 HUDSON ST., NEW YORK 14, N. Y.

Please start my subscription with the riext issue. Enclosed find $

Check which offer

6 ISSUES 1.50 D 12 ISSUES 3.00

($1.00 foreign Postage for each year)

Your Name

Address

CHy State
OFFER EXPIRES DECEMBER IS. 1953

GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION 81

 CLEAN
BREAK

By ROGER DEE

A veteran veterinarian might

hove vamoosed but Wails had

fo help any sick *

Illustrated by CONNELL

NOTHING more
ever happened
exciting
to Oliver
Watts than being reject-
ed by his draft board for a punc-
tured eardrum until, deferring as
usual to the superior judgment of
his Aunt Katisha and of Glenna
his elder and militantly spin-
ster sister he put away his life-
long dream and took up, at the
age of twenty-five, the practice of
veterinary medicine.
The relinquished dream was
Oliver's ambition , cherished since
childhood, to become some day a
hunter and trainer of jungle ani-
mals. It had been discouraged
firmly and at length by his Aunt
Katisha, who maintained that
the skin of the last male Watts

82 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

was not to be risked in a pur-
suit so perilous; and his Aunt
Katisha won. He would do far
better, Oliver realized finally, to
resign himself to the quiet sub-
urban life of Landsdale, Flori-
da, and to perpetuate the Watts
line by marrying some worthy
and practical local girl. The quiet
life, it developed, was that of a
D. V. M.; the worthy and prac-
tical girl, Miss Orella Simms of
Tampa, to whom he was now
engaged*
To
put it plainly, Oliver was
until the moment of his Great
Opportunity a good-humored
stooge with a cowlick and a sense
of responsibility, whose invari-
able cue was family obligation
and whose crowning virtue was
docility. He was maneuvered in-
to becoming a D. V. M. (though
to tell the truth the profession
suited him well enough, being
the nearest possible approach to
realizing his ambition) solely be-
cause the veterinary college in
Tampa was near enough to
Landsdale for commuting and
because his later practice could
be carried on under the guiding
aegis of his personal matriarchy.
The and vapid, Orella
virtuous,
Simms became his fiancee by the
same tactics and for the same
reasons.
Oliver had considered rebel-
lion, of course, but common
sense discouraged the idea. He
CLEAN BREAK
had no intimates outside his fam-
ily nor any experience with the
world beyond Landsdale and
Tampa, and his fledgling self-
confidence invariably bogged
down in a welter of introspective
apprehensions when he thought
of running away. Where would
he go, and to whom could he
turn in emergency?
Such was the character and
condition of Oliver Watts when
his newly undertaken practice of
veterinary medicine threw him
into the company of "Mr. Thom-
as Furnay" and of a girl whose
name, as nearly as it can be ren-
dered into English, was Perrl-
high-C-trill-and-A-above. Their
advent brought Oliver face to
face for the first time in his sed-
entary life with High Adventure
with adventure 50 high, as a
matter of fact, that it took him
literally and bodily out of this
humdrum world.
JTIHE initial was taken
step
A when Mr, Furnay, known to
Landsdale as a wealthy and ec-
centric old recluse who had re-
cently leased a walled property
on Federal Route 27 that had
once been the winter retreat of a
Prohibition- eragangster, was
driven by emergency to call upon
Oliver for professional service.
Mr. Furnay usually kept very
much to himself behind his iron-
grilled gates and his miles of
83
 <
stuccoed wall; but it happened I'll be happy to call later in
that in pursuit of his business the day/' Oliver said. He re-
(whose true nature would have moved the padded block that had
confounded Landsdale to its in- held Champ's jaws apart, and
sular core) he had just bought up narrowly missed losing a finger
the entire menagerie of an expir- as the infuriated chow snapped
ing circus billed as Skadarian at his hand. "My aunt and sister
Brothers, and it was the sudden are bringing my fiancee down
'

illness of one of his newly ac- from Tampa for dinner this eve-
quired animals that forced him ning, and I can't leave the clinic
to breach his isolation. until they get here. Someone
Mr. Furnay called at the Watts might call for his pet."
place in his town car, driven by a Mr. Furnay protested his ex-
small, dark and taciturn chauf- tremity of need. "The animal
feur named Bivins. He found Oli- sniffers periodic convulsions/' he

ver at work in his neatly ordered said. "It may be dangerously

clinic at the rear of the big house, ill!"

busily spooning cod -liver oil into Oliver unstrapped Champ from
a trussed and thoroughly out- his detention frame and dodged
raged chow named Champ, with practiced skill when the
have a sick animal," Mr.
"I chow tried to bite him on the
Furnay stated tersely. He was a thigh. He had
taken it for grant-
slight man with a moderately
ed having heard none of the
long and wrinkled face, a Pan- gossip concerning Mr. Furnay's
ama hat two sizes too large and a recent purchase of the Skadarian
voice that had, in spite of its ex- Brothers' menagerie that the
cellent diction, a jarring timbre sick animal in question was a
and definitely foreign flavor. dog or cat or perhaps a saddle
Oliver blinked, surprised and a horse, and the bald description
little dismayed that Fate should of symptoms startled him
its
have sent him so early in his ca- more than Champ's predictable
reer a known and patently cap- bid for revenge.
tious millionaire. Bivins, waiting "Convulsions? What sort of an-
in visored and putteed impassiv- imal is it, Mr. Furnay?"
ity to reopen the door for his "A polar bear," said Mr. Fur-
master, was silently impressive; nay.
the town car, parked on the "Polar bear V 9 echoed Oliver,
crushed shell driveway outside, and in his shock of surprise he
glittered splendidly in the late dropped a detaining strap and
afternoon sunshine: let Champ loose*

64 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 " a
fXVHE dog sprang
***
room without
a breath of
warning, as chows will and bit
Bivins* on the leg just above his
puttee. The chauffeur screamed
in a high and peculiarly raucous
voice and jerked away, jabber-
ing in a vowelless and totally
unfamiliar foreign tongue. Mr.
Furnay said something sharply
in the same grating language;
Bivins whipped out a handker-
chief, pressed it over the tear in
his whipcords and went quickly
out to the car.
Oliver collared
the snarling
Champ and returned him to his
cage, where the dog pressed bris-
tling against the bars and stared
at Mr. Furnay hungrily with
wicked, muddy eyes.
Mr.
Furnay's shocked voice
said, behind Oliver, "What a
ghastly world, where even the
pets . .
."
He
broke off sharply as Oliver
turned from the cage.
"I'm truly sorry, Mr. Furnay/'
Oliver apologized.
anything I can do ... a dressing
for Bivins' leg
Mr. Furnay gathered himself
with an effort. "It is nothing, a
scratch that will heal quickly.
But my
bear you will come to
see him at once?"
At another time, the thought
of absenting himself without due
notice to his Aunt Katisha and
Glenna would have
CLEAN BREAK
across the Oliver to refuse; but the present
moment called more for diplo-
macy than for convention. Better
to suffer matriarchal displeasure,
he thought, than to risk a dam-
age suit by a millionaire.
come
"I'll at once," Oliver said.
"I owe ypu that, I think, after
the fright Champ gave you."
And, belatedly, the realization
that he might handle a bear
great, live, lumbering bear!
surged up inside him to titillate
his old boyhood yearning. Per-
haps it was as well that his aunt
and sister were away; this chance
to exercise his natural skill at
dealing with animals was too
precious to decline.
"Of course I won't guarantee a
cure," Oliver said, qualifying his
promise, "because I've never di-
agnosed such a case. But I think
I can help your bear."
Oddly enough, he was almost
sure that he could. Oliver, in his
younger days, had read a great
deal on the care and treatment of
"If there's circus animals, and the symp-
toms in this instance had a fa-
miliar sound. Mr. Furnay's bear,
he thought, in all probability had
worms.
The Furnay town
car purred
away, leaving Oliver to marvel at
his own daring while he collected
the instruments and medicines he
might need.
In leaving the clinic he noted
.
prompted that Mr. Furnay's chauffeur had
35
86 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
dropped his handkerchief at the en in immaculate new whipcords,
doorway hurry to be gone
in his opened the sliding doors without
but Oliver by this time was in too a word.
great a hurry to stop and retrieve The vast inside of the remod-
it. was adequately lighted
eled stable
His Aunt Katisha might spoil by roof-windows and fluorescent
the whole adventure on the in- bulbs, but seemed dark for the
stant with a telephone call from moment after the glareof sun
Tampa. Bivins could wait. outside; there was a smell, fa-
miliar to every circus -goer, of
T^HE drive, after a day spent damp straw and animal dung,
* in the antiseptic confines of and a background stir of
restless
his clinic, was like a holiday purring and growling and pacing.
jaunt. Oliver gaped when his eyes di-
The late June sun was hot and lated enough to show him the
bright, the rows of suburban real extent of Mr. Furnay's me-

houses trim and clean as scrub- nagerie At the north

holdings.
bed children sunning themselves end of the building two towering
among color-splashed crotons and Indian elephants swayed on pick-
hibiscus and flaming poincianas. et, munching hay and shuffling

Oliver whistled gaily as he turn- monotonously on padded, pon-

ed his little white-paneled call
truck off the highway and drove
between twin ranks of shedding
cabbage palms toward the iron
gates of the Furnay estate.
A
uniformed gateman who
might have been a twin to Bivins
admitted him, pointing out a
derous feet. A roped-off enclo-
sure held half a dozen giraffes
which nibbled in aristocratic de-
precation at feed-bins bracketed
high on the walls; and beyond
them three disdainful camels lay
on untidily folded legs, sneering
glassily at the world and at each

rambling white building that lay other.

behind the stuccoed mansion, and The east and west sides of the
shut the gate, Oliver parked his building were lined with rank
truck before the menagerie build- after rank of cages holding a

ing it had been a stable in the staggering miscellany of preda-
heyday of the Prohibition -era tors: great-maned lions with their
gangster, when it had held horses sleek green-eyed mistresses; rest-
or cases of contraband as occa- less tigers undulating their stripes
sion demanded and found Biv- back and forth and grinning in
ins waiting for him. sly, tusky boredom; chattering
Bivins, looking upset and sull- monkeys and chimpanzees; leop-

CLEAN BREAK 87
ards and cheetahs and a pair of a clear and musicalbut com-
surly black jaguars whose claw- pletely unintelligible voice that
scored hides indicated either a re- ranged, with a remarkably ope-
cent difference of opinion or a ratic effect, through two full
burst of conjugal affection. octaves.
The south end of the vast rcom Oliver stared. "I'm here to doc-
had been recently partitioned off, tor the sick bear," he said.
with a single heavy door break- "Oh, a native/ 9 the girl said in
ing the new wall at its center. English.
On either side of this door the Obviously she was trying to
bears held sway: shaggy griz- keep her voice within the tonal
black bears, cinnamon and
zlies, range of his own, but in spite of
brown; spectacled Andeans and the effort it trilled distractingly
sleek white polars padding silent- up and down the scale in a fash-
ly on tufted feet. ion that left Oliver smitten with a
The sick bear sulked in a cage sudden jand unfamiliar weakness
to himself, humped in an oddly of the knees*
doglike pose with his great head "May help?" she said.
I
hanging disconsolately. She might, Oliver replied. She
Oliver sized up the situation, could have had as readily, he
casting back to past reading for might have added, a pint of his
the proper procedure* blood.
4
T11 need a squeeze-cage and Many times while they worked,
a couple of cage boys to help finding a suitable squeeze-cage
immobilize the brute/' he said. and dragging it against the bear's
"Will you*' larger cage so that the two doors
He was startled, in turning, to coincided, Oliver found the prim
find that Bivins had not accom- and reproachful image of Miss
panied him into the building. He Orella Simms rising to remind
was not alone, however. The door him of his obligations; but for
at the center of the partitioning the first time in his life an obliga-
wall had opened while he spoke, tion was surprisingly easy to
and a slender blonde girl in the dismiss. His assistant's lively con-
briefest of white sunsuits was versation, which was largely un-
looking at him. informative though fascinatingly
musical, bemused him even to the
A PPARENTLY she had not point of shrugging off his Aunt
** expected Oliver, for there Katisha's certain disapproval.
was open interest in her clear The young lady, it seemed,
green eyes. She said something in came from a foreign country

88 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 "
m
#

whose name was utterly unpro- docssain, Tsammai" in a disap-

nounceable; Oliver gathered that pointed tone, gave Oliver a smile
she had not been long with Mr. that would have stunned a harem
Furnay, who was of another na- guard, and disappeared again
tionality, and that she was home- into her own territory.
sick for her native landfor its Oliver, being neither Chester-
"saffronsun on turquoise hills fieldnor eunuch, was left with
and umber sea," which could only the giddy sensation of a man
be poetic exaggeration or simple struggling to regain his. balance
unf amiliarity with color terms of after a sudden earth temblor.
a newly learned language and His client reoriented him
that she was as a consequence brusquely. "Treat my bear," Mr.
very lonely. Furnay said.
She was, incredibly, a trainer "I've been waiting for help,"
of animals. Oliver said defensively. "If youll
4
'Not of such snarling fierce send around your menagerie
ones as yours/ 9 she said, with a manager and a cage boy or
little shiver for the polar bear two"
watching them sullenly through "I have none," Mr. Furnay said
the bars, "but of my own gentle shortly."There are only the four
beasts, who are friends," of us here, and not one will ap-
Her name was a startling com- proach within touching distance
bination of soprano sounds that of a brute so vicious.*'
might have been written as Perrl- Oliver stared at him in aston-
high - C - trill - and - A - above, but ishment . . . Four of them meant
which Oliver was completely un- only Bivins, the gateman, the
able to manage. lovely blonde creature who called
"Would you mind," he asked, herself Perrl-high-C -trill- and -A-
greatly daring, "if I called you above and Mr. Furnay himself.
Pearl instead?" "But four inexperienced people
She would not. But apparently can't possibly look after a men-
Mr. Furnay would. agerie of this size!" Oliver pro-
tested. "Circus anim als aren't
rriHE millionaire, who had en- house pets, Mr. Furnay they're
-*-
tered the menagerie unheard, restless and temperamental, and
spoke sternly to the girl in his they need expert care. They bite
own raucous tongue and pointed and claw each other
a peremptory finger toward the "There will be more of us
door through which she had later," Mr. Furnay said morosely,
u
come. The girl murmured Ai "but I doubt that numbers will

CLEAN BREAK 89

help. Wehad not anticipated a
ferocity so appalling, and I fear
that my error may have proved
the ruin of an expensive project.
The native beasts were never so
fierce on other"
He broke off. "I am sorry.
will have to manage as best you
can alone."
And he left the menagerie with-
out looking back.
To deal tersely with subsequent
detail, Oliver didmanage alone
after a fashion and up to a point.
It was a simple matter, once he
found a four-foot length of con-
veniently loose board, to prod the
unhappy bear from his larger
prison to the smaller. The process
of immobilizing the brute by
winching the squee2e-cage tight
was elementary.
But in his casting-back Oliver
had overlooked two vitally
portant precautions: he'd forgot-
ten to secure the gear fastenings,
and he'd neglected to rope the
smaller cage to the larger.
The bear, startled by the prick
of the needle when Oliver gave
him a sizable injection of
butal, reacted with a frantic
struggling that reversed the action
of the unsecured winch and forced
the two cages apart. The door
burst open, sprung by the sud-
den pressure.
The bear stood free.
A considerable amount of legit-
imate excitement could be
90
jected into such a moment by
reporting that the bear, at last in
a position to revenge itself for
past indignities, leaped upon its
tormentor with a blood-freezing
roar and that Oliver, a fragile
You pygmy before that near-ton of
slavering fury, escaped only by
a hair or was annihilated on the
spot.
Neither circumstance devel-
oped, however, for the reason that
the bear was already feeling the
effects of the anesthetic given it
and wanted nothing so much as a
cool dark place where it might
collapse in privacy. And Oliver,
caught completely off guard, was
too stunned by the suddenness of
catastrophe to realize his own
possible danger.
What did happen was that
Perrl - high - C - trill - and -A- above
im- chose that particular moment to
open her door again and look out.
Her fortuitous timing altered
the situation on the instant; the
bear, bent only on escape and
seeing comparative gloom beyond
the door, charged not at Oliver
nem- but through the opening. And
Oliver, still too confused to think
past the necessity of retrieving his
error, ran after it, brandishing his
length of board and shouting
wildly.
rjiHE smaller area beyond the
partitionwas dimly lighted,
in- but to judge by its straw -covered
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
floor and faint animal smell was knelt beside Oliver to listen to
evidently a special division of Mr. his heartbeat, found that he was
Furnay's menagerie. The light alive and raised her voice in an
was too dim and the emergency urgent arpeggio that held in spite
too great to permit Oliver more of its operatic timbre a distinct
than a brief and incredulous note of command.
glimpse of the improbable beast In answer to her call the great
placidly munching hay in a
beast in the corner built some-
corner; his whole attention was thing on the order of a hippopota-
centered first on the fleeing bear mus but with unorthodox varia-
and then upon the prostrate form tions in that boasted six legs
it

of Perrl - high - C - trill - and - A- to either side and was covered

above, who had been violently
bowled over by the bear's rush.
"Pearl !" yelled Oliver, petrified
with horror.
The bear stood swaying upright
over her, threshing its tufted fore-
paws for balance and showing
yellow tusks in a grimace that
stemmed from drugged weakness
with close-curling, bright blue
wool trotted out of the shadows
and scooped up the unconscious
bear in its four powerful anterior
arms.
A word trom Perrl-high-C-
trill-and-A-above sent it into the
main menagerie quarters, where
it stuffed the limp bear into its

but which passed quite credit- old cage and trotted back to its
ably for a snarl of demoniac fury. mistress with a look of adoring
Obviously something had to be deference on its round face.
done. Oliver, galvanized by the The girl gave the creature
realization, came to the rescue a random trill of commenda-
with a promptness that amounted tion and, displaying surprising
to reflex action. strength for one so slight, herself
"Down, boy!" he said, and dragged the reviving Oliver back
dealt the bear a sharp blow across to the scene of his unfinished
the muzzle with his board. diagnosis. The order given her
The bear dealt Oliver a round- earlier by Mr. Furnay was not

house clout in return that forgotten, however, for she did

stretched him half -conscious be- not linger*
side Perrl - high - C - trill - and - A- "Not handsome, no," she mur-
above. Then, at precisely that mured, locking the partition door
moment of greatest dramatic im- behind her this time. "But O
pact, it shook its head dizzily and Personal Deity of Unmarried
passed out cold. Maidens, such headlong brav-
The girl scrambled up and ery!"

CLEAN BREAK 91
 :
/^|LIVER roused ten minutes to what actually had happened
^** later to find himself alone and by that time his conclusions
with a memory and
of nightmare had ^ taken a turn so fantastically
a sleeping bear that offered no improbable that he was lost again
resistance whatever when he fun- in a hopeless muddle of surmise.
neled a quantity of tetrachlore- He poured himself a glass of
thylene down its throat. milk in the kitchen (he pre-
He was still alone an hour later ferred coffee, but his Aunt Ka-
and still trying dizzily to sepa- tisha frowned on the habit) and
rate factfrom fancy, having tried took his grisly suspicions down
the partition door and found it to the clinic where he felt more
,

locked when the bear returned at ease than in the antixnacas-
to semi -consciousness and sub- sared austerity of the house.
mitted groggily to a follow-up There he mulled them over
dosage of purgative. again, and time was able to
Oliver would have liked to stay weave into the pattern the dis-
long enough to learn the results jointed impressions carried over
of his diagnosis and to see Perrl- from his period of semi -conscious-
high-C-trill-and-A~above if she ness and dismissed until now as
should reappear, but a glance at nightmare figments from the de-
his watch him with the
electrified lirium of shock. Their alignment
realization that he had been away with other evidence increased his
from his clinic for more than two conviction
hours and that his Aunt Katisha Mr. Furnay and
Manage,
and Glenna might by now have Oliver concluded with a cold
the state police beating the pal- thrill of horror, were not human
metto flats for his body. Accord- beings at all but monsters.
ingly he left the Furnay estate in
a great hurry, pausing at the gate HPHE pattern became even more
only long enough to leave word * disturbing when he considered
for Mr. Furnay that he would various stories of local saucer-
ring later in the evening to check sightings and fireballs, which
his patient's progress. linked themselves with chilling
was not until he had returned
It germanity to the events of the
home and found his Aunt Katisha day.
still out that his overworked First there had been Champ's
nerves, punished outrageously by instant distrust of Mr. Furnay
shocl violence and confusion, and Bivins, and his attempt to
composed themselves enough to route them for the aliens they
permit him a reasonable guess as were. There had been Bivins'

92 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION


anomalous scream when bitten train outlandish, half- remem-
a raucous sound certainly not bered brutes like the one behind

human and Mr. Furnay's grit- the
partition rather strained
tily inconsonant order, spoken in Oliver's talent for surmise, but at
no identifiable earthly tongue. the same time moved him to the
The isolation of the Furnay estate uneasy conviction that it was his
took on a sinister and significant duty to rescue her in turn.
logic, as did its understaffed con- The thought that he might al-
dition; there was the evident but ready be too late appalled him.
baffling reluctance of Mr. Furnay The slender blonde beauty of
and his myrmidons (with the not- Perrl - high - C - trill - and -A- above
able exception of the golden- was distractingly fresh in his
voiced Pearl) to approach even mind, the eager arpeggiation of
safely caged beasts, and the her voice an indelible memory.
greater mystery of why a man so Recalling the smile she had given
wild animals should
terrified of him in parting stirred an internal
have bought a menagerie in the warmth unguessed at before, an
first place. emotional ignition certainly never
Considering the part played by kindled by his fiancee or family.
Perrl-high-C-trill-and-A-above in
a scheme of things so fantastic ORELLA Stmms, Glenna, his

left Oliver more disturbed than Aunt Katisha!

ever, but for a different reason. Thought of his obligations
That she was unarguably as alien brought him back to reality with
as the others made her equally a jar; the appalling gulf between
mysterious, but connoted no share fact and fancy made clear to him
in whatever devious plot occupied with sudden and shocking clarity
the Furnay faction; a reexamina- the nonentity's role that had been
tion of Mr. Furnay's harshly dic- played, and must be played, all
tatorial attitude toward her, by Oliver Watts.
his life
coupled with Oliver's own uncer- He was the perennial romantic
tain memory of the moment introvert, dreaming impossible
when the had come to his
girl dreams compounded of escape
rescue, convinced him that she reading and frustration, grasping
was not ipso facto a member of timorously at any thread of ad-
the extraterrestrial cabal but was venture that might lead him to
its prisoner instead. forget for the moment the drab
Visualizing the probable fate monotone of his existence. His
of a beautiful girl held captive by mouth twisted wryly. There was,
aliens and forced by them to of course, no fantastic alien plot

CLEAN BREAK 93
 s

incubating on the Furnay estate, Glenna and Orella Simms. The

no sunsuited damsel in distress car drove away. Oliver, left alone
awaiting rescue at his inept in the growing dusk of evening
hands. He'd imagined the roman- to his miserable introspection,
tic aspects of the episodethe found wandering attention
his
"unearthly" tongue, the improb- returning unaccountably to the
able beast. No one required, or crumpled handkerchief, and drew
ever would require, anything of it closer for a better look.
Oliver Watts except his Aunt was only a harmless square
It
Katisha and Glenna, who de- of linen, smudged with dust and
manded obedience, and Orella spotted with blood from Bivins*
Simms, who expected conformity. chow-bitten legbut with his
As if on cue, the Watts family world sprang
closer look Oliver's
car swung off the highway and up and exploded with a shatter-
rolled down the crushed shell ing bang in his startled face*
driveway past the clinic. Oliver's The dust was quite ordinary,
Aunt Katisha got out, leaving but Bivins' blood was not.
Glenna and Orella Simms to It was green.
wait, and strode into the clinic He was never quite sure, later,
office. just what happened next. He re-
"I see you've managed to spoil tained a vague memory of roar-
another one," she said acidly, ing away in his Aunt Katisha's
pausing long enough to retrieve car through a reckless showering
the handkerchief Mr. Furnay's of crushed shell; sometimes he
chauffeur had lost earlier. "More- could recall the cool onrush of
over, 1 called twice this after- wind whipping his face and the
noon and found you gone. frantic dodging of approaching
Where?" headlamps on the highway. But
Oliver, as usual, weathered the in the main, his descent upon the
storm in silence. Somewhere Fumay estate was a blank.
near the end he managed to Only one fact stood out with
squeeze in the information that freezing excluding any
clarity,
he had treated a sick animal at thought of his Aunt Katisha's
the Furnay placea saddle horse, certain wrath or of Orella'
he said, lying automatically as maidenly reproaches: Perrl-high-
the lesser of two evils. C-trill-and-A-above was in Dead-
His aunt Katisha, her inquisi- ly Danger, and there was none
torial duty discharged, dropped but Oliver Watts to rescue her.
the discolored handkerchief point- There was a brief instant of
edly on Oliver's desk and rejoined lucidity as he approached the

94 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

Furnay gates through the cab-
bage palms and was forced to
choose a course of action.
The attendant certainly would
not admit him without orders
from Mr. Furnay, who as cer-
tainly would not give them; the
walls were much too high and
sheer for climbing; and to make
the need for haste even more
critical, it was only too obvious
that the Furnay gang was about
to depart.
A tremendous saucer-shaped
ship had landed by the menagerie
building, where it sat with circu-
lar peripheral ports aglow and
lines of bold enigmatic hiero-
glyphs fluorescing greenly on its
smooth undersurface. Jointed
metal figures scurried here and
there, chivvying the last of Mr.
Furnay's herbivores up a ramp
into the belly of the ship; the
predators, in cages drawn by
other sleek robot stevedores, fol-
lowed in orderly procession.
Oliver solved his problem
of entry by driving headlong
through the iron grillwork.
There was a raucous yelling
from the gateman, a monstrous
rending of metal and jangling of
broken glass. Aunt Katisha's car
slewed erratically down the Fur-
nay drive, turned over twice and
pitched Oliver out, stunned for
the second time that day, into the
greenish glow shed by the saucer-
ship's lights.
CLEAN BREAK
HE struggled back to awareness
to find his head pillowed on
something soft and wonderfully
comfortable. A circle of startled
faces, most of them dark fac-
similes of the putteed Bivins',
stared uncertainly down at him.
In the near foreground stood Mr.
Furnay, wringing his hands and
muttering grittily to himself in his
own dissonant tongue. Mr. Fur-
nay, seen now for the first time
without his too-large Panama, ex-
hibited instead of hair a crest of
downy blue feathers and pronged
antennae that vibrated softly in
the evening bree2e.
"Where is she?" Oliver de-
V
manded. He scrambled diz2ily to
his feet, and the circle of faces
melted backward hastily. "What
have you done with Pearl, you
monsters?"
Perrl - high - C - trill - and -A -
above, on whose lap Oliver's head
had been pillowed, stood up to
move between Oliver and the
Mr. Fur-
patently apprehensive
nay. She wore a light maroon
cape over her sunsuit against the
mild chill of evening, and could
not possibly have looked less like
a damsel in distress. She seemed,
as a matter of fact, quite happy.
"I hoped you would come to
see meagain before blastoff," she
said. Her voice skipped, tinkling
with pleasure, from octave to oc-
tave. "But so suddenly so dash-
ing, so impetuous!"
95
 "
"You're going away willingly?" BROTHERS' INTERSTELLAR
Oliver said dumbly. "Then CIRCUS, THE GALAXY'S
they're not forcing you're not a GREATEST, It is the best on the
prisoner after all?" circuit."
Her laugh was an arpeggiando Heindicated the circle of iden-
blending of surprise and amuse- tical Bivinsey, "These are the
ment "A prisoner of these Taam* Skrrff brothers, our owners. I,
mai? No. I am a performer in sir, am
business manager."
their company, hired by Xtll "But not always a good one,"

Mr. Furnay to train and exhibit one of the brothers said pointedly.
animals native to my own world." "This time he has bought an
"But I heard Furnay threaten entire menagerie of such fierce-
you in the menagerie building ness that our trainers cannot ex-
this afternoon! His tone
** hibit it. have to be sold to
It will
"The Tsammai tongue sounds some frontier -planet 200, and our
dreadful because it is all con- loss will be staggering."
sonants and not based on pitch It was left for Perrl-high-C-
and nuance as mine is," she said. trill-and-A-above to deal with the
"But the Tsammai themselves problem* which she did with uni-
are only tradesmen, and are very versal feminine practicality.

gentle. Xtll Mr. Furnay only "Oliver made your bear well,"
feared that I might say too much she pointed out. "And he is afraid
to you then, when it was import- of nothing nothing! Could he
ant that the natives should not not train his own fierce beasts as
suspect our identity,*' well as I train my gentle ones?"
"It is true," Mr. Furnay Oliver said, "Huh?"
nodded, sounding relieved. "We The Skrrff brothers, of course,
must avoid notice on such worlds implored Oliver on the spot to
as yours, which are too backward join them at any salary.
to appreciate the marvels of our Perrlhigh - C - trill - and - A -
-

show. We stop here only to scout above said demurely, in three oc-
for new and novel exhibits." taves and for all the world to
"Show!" Oliver echoed. "You hear; "And I'm lonely, Oliver!"
mean all this is is Oliver never had a chance.
"What else?" asked Mr. Fur-
nay. He pointed with his T IFE in Landsdale goes quietly
antennae to the fluorescent hiero- *-* on, the ripples made by
glyphs on the undersurface of the Oliver's departure long since
saucer-ship. "See, in our lingua smoothed away by the years.
galactica it reads r SKRRFF Miss Orella Simms has mar-

96 OALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

ried the Methodist minister who golden-haired daughter of four
was to have married her to named Perrl-high-C-trill-and-A-
Oliver. Aunt Katisha and Glenna sharp-above, and a tow-headed
have resigned
themselves to boy of two who has a cowlick
Oliver's escape and have taken like his father's and whose name
over the job of assisting Orella to is Butch.
superintend her husband's career, They are very happy and there
an occupation eminently satis- has been no talk between them,
factory to all because the placid though they are wealthy enough
cleric never dreams troublesome in galactic credits by now to have
dreams of adventure, as Oliver bought half a planet for a home,
did, to try their inatriarchial pa- of settling down to the quiet life.

tience. They are quite satisfied to leave

, . .But life is never dull for such consequential decisions to
Mr, and Mrs. Oliver
Watts, those who like change for the
whose breathtaking performances sake of change or who, unlike
currently electrify the thrill- Oliver, never know when they are
hungry cultures of a thousand well off.
worlds. They have traveled from One clean break to a lifetime,
Sirius to Saggitarius, and at this Oliver maintains, is enough.
writing have two children: a ROGER DEE

Remarkable as they ore, the Pyramids cannot compare with the \ncan
Road as a feat of ancient engineering. The road reaches from Ecuador to
Central Chile, a distance of 4,000 miles over the giant mountains and great
canyons of the Andes, crossing swift rivers, deserts and swamps. Twenty-five
feet wide, it rises by easy grades from valley to peak and down again,
slashing through rock barriers, supported by immense retaining walls, across
causeways as high as modern dams over deep ravines, spanning torrents
with magnificently anchored suspension bridges whose enormously thick
cables were spun of wool and fiber, tunneling through cliffs for astonishing
distances.

With its many side roads from the sea to the jungle, the mighty Incan
Road 10,000 milesyet, by flare and mirror signals, messages
totals fully
could be sent its entire length in four hours! Fish caught in the Pacific were
eaten 300 miles awqy only 24 hours laterthe railroad covering the same
distance now takes ten hours morel

Most incredible ofnot a single vehicle ever traveled the ancient

all,
road, for the Incas never invented the wheel!

CHAN BREAK v. 97
Baley had the world's worst headache

if he solved the murder case,

he might he killed; if he didn't,

Earth would be seized

and he and everybody else

would be replaced

by Spacer robots/

Illustrated by
EMSH

98 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 The Caves of Steel
By Isaac Asimov
Pari lot A 3-Part Serial

(planets of other suns, originally

colonized by Earthmen, but now
independent) have established a
mission in "Spacetown" just out-
side New York City, and are at-
tempting to modernize Earth's
ingrown economy by the intro-
duction of robot workers. The
people of Earth resent this, and
when Dr. Sarton, an important
"Spacer" is mysteriously mur-
dered, presumably by an Earth-
man, there arises the possibility
of an interstellar crisis.

Elijah Baley, detective, is in

charge of the investigation and
is forced to accept a Spacer ro-

bot, R. Daneel Olivaw, as his

partner. R. Daneel (R. stands for
robot*) is so perfectly constructed
that Baley mistakes him at first
SYNOPSIS for a human being.
Julius Enderby, New York
T?ARTH'S eight billion human City's Commissioner of Police,
j beings live in vast enclosed was actually at the scene of the
Citiesand are led on yeast and crime just after the time of the
hydroponic foods. Men from the murder. He impresses upon Baley
underpopulated "Outer Worlds" the fact that failure to solve the

THE CAVES OF STEEL 99

crime may bring about demands Earth's ancient ways before the
for an indemnity to the Outer growth of the great "caves of
Worlds, And may also hasten the enclosed Cities are
steel," as the
gradual replacement of the hu- sometimes known. Most Earth-
man members of the Police De- men h%ve Medievalist tendencies.
partment by specialized robots. Even the Police Commissioner,
Allowing R. Daneel to solve the for instance, wears old-fashioned
crime would be equally disas- glasses, despite the fact that they
trous. In either case, Baley tears may break at inconvenient mo-
"declassification" the loss oi all ments (as they did at the time of
special privileges, and reduction the murder in Spacetowh), leav-
to bare existence in the slum lev- ing him almost helpless.
els oi the City. He fears this des- Jessie returns unexpectedly and
perately, since his was father in great agitation. She has sus-
declassified and Baley remem- pected that R. Daneel is a robot.
bers bitterly his resultant un- When Baley confirms her guess,
happy and poverty-stricken she is terrified that there may be
childhood. ostracism or even outright anti-
Baley brings R. Daneel to his robot violence. She is rightif
apartment On the way there, robots can be made so perfectly,
they are brought face to face nobody's job and status are safe
with a threatening anti-robot riot any longer.
in the shoe department of a retail The next morning, Baley asks
store. It is R. Daneefs prompt for permission to travel to Space-
action that averts the danger. town. The Spacers take compli-
At home, Baley's wife, Jessie, cated precautions to make certain
and his son, Bentley, meet R. he does not bring in any infection
Daneel without knowing kis real with him. Inside Spacetown,
nature, (/essie's full name
Jez- is Baley accuses the Spacers of hav-
ebel, but as a result of an argu- ing presented Earth with a false
ment with her husband over the crime in order to make possible
character of the Biblical Jezebel, aggressive demands* He states
she no longer uses her full name.) that the apparent corpse, viewed
Jessie and Bentley leave in order by Commissioner himself,
the
that the two men may have pri- was actually a cleverly designed
vacy. robot, and that the pretended vic-
It is R< Daneefs theory that tim, Dr. Sarton, was still alive.
the murder is the work of the He was, in fact, the so-called
"Medievalists" a group of Earth- "robot* who masqueraded under
men who advocate a return to the name of R. Daneel Olivaw!

100 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 CHAPTER VIII
FTER making his accusation,
A more to them, many times over,
*% Baley was most conscious of
the thud of his own plilse. He
seemed to be living in a moment
of suspended time- R. Daneel's
expression was, as always, un-
readable. The Spacer, Dr. Han
Fastolfe, wore a look of well-
bred astonishment on his face.
It was Commissioner Julius
Enderby's reaction that most
concerned Baley. The trimensic
receiver out of which his face
stared did not allow perfect re-
production. There was always
that tiny flicker and that not-
quite-ideal resolution. Through
that imperfection and the further
masking of the Commissioner's
spectacles, Enderby's eyes were
completely unreadable*
Baley thought Don't go to
: of something you were told was
pieces on me, Julius. I need you.
He didn't really think that
Fastolfe would act in haste or
under emotional impulse. He had
read somewhere once that Spa-
cers had no religion, but substi-
tuted, instead, a cold and
phlegmatic intelkctualism raised
to the heights of a philosophy.
He believed that and counted on
it. They would make apoint of
acting slowly and then only on
the basis of reason.
If he were alone among them
and had said what he had said,
he was certain that he would
THE CAVES OF STEEL
never have returned to the City*
The Spacers 1 plans were worth
than the life of a City-dwelW.
Maybe they would present his
corpse to the Commissioner;
shake their heads and speak of
an Earthman conspiracy having
struck again. The Commissioner
would believe them. Ifhe hated
Spacers, it was a hatred based
on fear. He wouldn't dare dis-
believe them.
That was why he had to be an
actual witness of events a wit-
ness, moreover, safelyof out
reach of the Spacers' calculated
safety measures.
'T'HE Commissioner said chok-
-*- wrong.
ingly, "Lije, you're all
f
I saw Dr. Sarton s corpse"
"You saw the charred remnants
Dr. Sarton's corpse," retorted
Baley. He thought grimly of the
Commissioner's smashed glasses.
That had been an unexpected
break for the Spacers.
"No, no, Lije. I knew Dr. Sar-
ton well and his face was undam-
aged." The Commissioner put his
hand to his glasses uneasily, as
though he, too, remembered, and
added, "I looked at him closely,
very closely."
"How about this one, Commis-
sioner?" asked Baley, pointing to
R- Daneel again. "Doesn't he
resemble Dr. Sarton?"
101
 "Yes, the way a statue would."
"An expressionless attitude can
be assumed, Commissioner. Sup-
pose it was a robot you had seen
blasted to death. You say you
looked closely. Did you look
closely enough to see whether the
charred surface at the edge of
the blast was really organic tis-
sue or carbonization over fused
metal?"
The Commissioner looked re-
volted. He said, "You're being ri-
diculous."
Baley turned to the Spacer.
"Are you willing to have the body
exhumed for examination?"
Dr. Fastolfe smiled. "I would
have no objection, Mr. Baley, but
we do not bury our dead. Cre-
mation is a universal custom
among us."
"Very convenient."
"Tell me, Mr. Baley," said Dr.
Fastolfe, "just how did you ar-
rive at this very extraordinary
conclusion of yours?"
Baley thought; He isn't giving
up. He'll brazen it out, if he can.
He said, "There's more to imi-
tating a robot than just putting
on a frozen expression and adopt*
ing a stilted style of conversation.
The trouble with you men of the
Outer Worlds is that you're too
used to robots. You've gotten to
accept them almost as human be-
ings. On Earth, we're very con-
scious of what a robot is. R.
Daneel is too good a human to
102
be a robot. My impression
first
of him was that he was a Spacer.
It was quite an effort for me to
adjust myself to his statement
that he was a robot. And, of
course, the reason for that was
that he was a Spacer and wasn't
a robot."
R. Daneel interrupted without
any sign of self-consciousness.
"As I told you, partner Elijah, I
was designed to take a temporary
place in a human society. The re-
semblance to humanity is pur-
poseful."
"Even," asked Baley, "down
to the painstaking duplication of
organs which, in a robot, would
have no conceivable function?"
Enderby demanded suddenly,
"How did you find that out?"
Baley reddened. "I couldn't
'
help noticing in the in the Per-
sonal/
Enderby looked shocked.
FASTOLFE said, "Surely you
understand that a resemblance
must be complete if it is to be
useful-For our purposes, half-
measures are as bad as none at
all."
Baley asked abruptly, "May I
smoke?"
Three pipefuls in one day was
a ridiculous extravagance, but he
was riding a rolling torrent of
recklessness and needed the re-
lease of tobacco. After all, he was
talking back to Spacers. He was
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
 "
going to force their
their own throat.
Fastolfe said, 'Tm
I'd prefer that you didn't"
was a "preference" that had
It
the force of a command. Baley
felt that. Of course, he thought
angrily, Enderby didn't warn me
because he doesn't smoke himself,
but it follows. They don't smoke
on their hygienic Outer Worlds,
or drink, or have any human
vices. No wonder they accept ro-
bots in their damnedwhat did
R, Daneel call it?C/Fe society.
No wonder R. Daneel can play
the robot as well
They're all robots to begin with.
He said, "The too -complete
resemblance is just one point out
of many. There was a near-riot
in my section as
him home." He had
could bring himself neither to
say "R. Daneel" nor "Dr. Sar-
ton" aloud. "He was the one who
stopped the trouble and he did it
by pointing a blaster at the po-
tential rioters."
"Good Lord!" said Enderby.
"The report stated that it was
you
"I know, Commissioner* The
report was based on information
that I gave. want to have
I didn't
it on the record that a robot had
threatened to blast men and wo-
men."
"No, no, of course not." Ender-
by was visibly horrified.
THE CAVES OF STEEL
lies down ed forward to look at something
out of range of the trimensic re-
sorry, but ceiver. Baley could guess what
it was. The Commissioner was
checking the power gauge to see
if the transmitter was being tap*
ped.
"Is that a point in your argu-
ment?" asked Fastolfe.
"It certainly is. The First Law
of Robotics states that a robot
cannot harm a human being."
"But R. Daneel did no harm."
"True. He even stated after-
ward that he wouldn't have fired
under any circumstances. Still,
as he does. no robot I ever heard of could
have violated the spirit of the
First Law by threatening to blast
a human crowd, even if he had
no intention to do so."
I was taking "I see. Are you a robotics ex-
to point. He pert, Mr. Baley?"
"No, sir. But I've had a course
in general robotics and in posi-
tronjc analysis,"
"Very nice," said Fastolfe
agreeably, "but, you see, I am a
robotics expert, and I assure you
that the essence of the robot mind
lies ina completely literal inter-
pretation of the Universe. It rec-
ognizes no spirit in the First Law,
only the letter. The simple mod-
els you have on Earth may be
incapable of threatening a hu-
man. An advanced model such as
R. Daneel is another" matter. If
I gather the situation correctly,
He lean* Daneel's threat was necessary to
103
\
 "

prevent a riot. It was intended "Certainly. The question is,

then to prevent to human harm what did R. Daneel mean by us-

beings. He was obeying the First ing the term 'justice?*
Law, not defying it." "From the context of our con-
versation, he meant what you and
TJALEY squirmed inwardly, I and any human being would
**-* but maintained a tight ex- mean, but what no robot could
ternal calm. Hard as it would be, mean."
he would match this Spacer at "Why don't you ask him to de-
his own game. term?"
fine the
He said, "You may counter Baley turned to R. Daneel.
each point separately, but they
i
"What is your definition of jus-
add up just the same. Last eve- tice?"
ning, in our discussion of the so- "Justice is that which exists
called murder, this alleged robot when laws are enforced.' 1
all
claimed that he had been con- Fastolfe nodded. "A good defi-
verted into a detective by the in- nition for a Mr, Baley.
robot,
stallation of a new drive into his Justice is a very concrete term to
positronic circuits. A drive for him since it is based on law en-
77
justice, forcement, which is in turn based
vouch for that/' said Fas-
"I'll upon the existence of specific and
tolfe. "It was done to him three definite laws. There is nothyig
days ago under my own super- abstract about it. A human being
vision/* can recognize the fact that, on
"A drive for justice? Justice, the basis of an abstract moral
Dr. Fastolfe, is an abstraction. code, some laws may be bad ones
Only a human being can use the and their enforcement unjust.
term." What do you say, R. Daneel?"
"If you define 'justice' in such "An unjust law/ said R Dan-
9
f

a way that it is an abstraction, if eel, "is a contradiction in terms,"

you say that the rendering of
it is "To a robot it is, Mr. Baley*
each man his due, that it is ad- As you can see, you mustn't
hering to the right, or anything confuse your justice and R.
of the sort, I grant you your ar- Dancers."
gument, Mr. Baley. A human Baley faced R. Daneel sharply
understanding of abstractions and said, "You left my apart-
cannot as yet be built into a posi- ment last night."
tronic brain." R, Daneel replied, "I did. If
"You admit that, then as an my leaving disturbed your sleep,
expert in robotics?" I am sorry."

104 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION


"Where did you go?"
"To the Men's Personal."
For a moment, Baley was stag-
gered. It was the answer he had
already decided was the truth,
but he had not expected it to be
the answer R. Daneel would give.
He a little of his certainty
felt
oozing away. The Commissioner
was watching, his lensed eyes
from one to the other
flickering
as they spoke. Baley couldn't
back down now, no matter what
sophistries they used against him.
He said, reaching my sec-
"On
tion, he insisted on entering the
Personal with me. His excuse was
a poor one. During the night, he
left to visit Personal again, as he
has just admitted. If he were a
man, I'd say he had every reason
and right to do so. Obviously.
As a robot, however, the trip was
purposeless. The conclusion can
only be that he is a man."
FASTOLFE nodded, seeming
not in the least put out. "This
is most interesting. Suppose we
ask Daneel why he made his trip
to the Personal last night/*
Commissioner Enderby leaned
forward. "Please, Dr. Fastolfe,
it is not proper to
?*
"You need not be concerned.
Commissioner," said Fastolfe, his
thin lips curving back in some-
thing that looked like a smile, but
wasn't. "I am certain that Dan-
eel's answer will not offend your
THE CAVES OF STEEL
sensibilities or those of Mr. Bal-
ey. Won't you tell us, Daneel?"
R. Daneel said, "Elijah's wife,
Jessie, left the apartment last
night on friendly terms with me.
It was apparent that she had no
reason for thinking me to be oth-
er than human. She returned to
the apartment knowing I was a
robot. Quite evidently, the in-
formation to that effect exists
outside the apartment. It follow-
ed that my conversation with
Elijah last night had been over-
heard. In no other way could the
secret of my true nature have be-
come common knowledge.
"Elijah told me that the apart-
ments were well-insulated. Fur-
thermore, we spoke together in
low voices. Elijah is known as a
policeman. If a conspiracy exists
within the City sufficiently well-
organized to have planned the
murder of Dr. Sarton, it may well
have been aware that Elijah had
been placed in charge of the mur-
der investigation. It would fall
within the realm of possibility
then, even of probability, that his
apartment had been spy-beamed.
"I searched the apartment as
well as I could after Elijah and
Jessie had gone to bed, but
could find no transmitter. This
complicated matters. A focused
duo-beam could do the trick even
in the absence of a transmitter,
but that requires ratHer elaborate
equipment.
105
 "Analysis of the situation led
to the following conclusion. The
one place where a City-dweller
can do almost anything without
being disturbed or questioned is
in the Personals. He could even
set up a duo-beam there, for the
custom of absolute privacy in
the Personals is very strong and
other men would not even look at
him. The Section Personal is
quite close to Elijah's apartment,
so that the distance factor is not
important. A suitcase model
could be used. I went to the Per-
sonal to investigate."
"And what did you find?' ask-
ed Baley quickly,
"Nothing, Elijah, No sign of a
duo-beam."
Dr. Fastolfe said "Well, Mr.
? "You were
Baley, does this sound reason-
able to you?"
* ALEY'S uncertainty was
" now. He said, "Reasonable as
far as it goes, perhaps, but it
stops short of perfection by a
of a way. What he doesn't
is that my
wife told me where
she got the information and
when. She learned he was a robot
shortly after she left the house.
Even then, the rumor had been
circulating for hours. So the fact
that he was a robot could not
have leaked out through spying
on our last evening's conversa-
tion."
"Nevertheless/* said Dr. Fas-
106
action last night of go-
tolfe, "his
ing to the Personal stands ex*
1
plained, I think/
"But something is brought u]
that not explained," retorti
is
Baley. "How did the news gi
out that there was a Spacer robot
in the City? As far as I know,
only two of us knew about the.
deal, Commissioner Enderby ai
myself, and we told no one. Com
rnissioner, did anyone else in
Department know?"
"No,*' saidEnderby anxiously]
"Not even the Mayor. Only
and Dr. Fastolfe."
1
"And //' added Baley, point-
ing,
"I?" asked R. Daneel. "I wi
with you at all times, Elijah/
1
not! I was in
Personal for half an hour or mot
before we went to my apartmeftl
During that time, we two W<
gone completely out of contact wi'
one another. It was then that y<
got in touch with your group 11
hell the City/'
know "What group? asked Fastotfe
And "what group?" echo*
Commissioner Enderby almi
simultaneously*
Baley rose from his chair an*
turned to the trimensic receiver;
"Commissioner, I want you
listen closely to this. A murdi
is reported. By a curious coin*
cidence, it happens just as yoil^
are entering Spacetown to keepl
an appointment with the mur>$
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTIO
dered man. You are shown the able to report a murder. They
corpse of something supposed to want riots. They want an assault
be human, but the corpse has on Spacetown. The worse things
since been disposed of and is not get, the better the incidentThen
available for close examination, Spacer ships can come down and
"The Spacers insist an Earth - occupy the Cities of Earth."
man did the killing, even though
the only way they can make such |"VR. FASTOLFE said mildly,
an accusation stick is to suppose -*-' "We had an excuse to do just
that a City man had left the City that during the Barrier riots of
and cut cross-country to Space- twenty-five years ago."
town alone and at night. You **You weren't ready then. You
know damn well how unlikely are now." Baley*s heart was
that is. pounding madly.
"Next they send a supposed "This is quite a complicated
robot into the City; in fact, they Mr.
plot you're attributing to us,
insist on sending him. The first Baley. If we wanted to occupy
thing the robot does is to threaten Earth, we could do so in much
a crowd of human beings with a simpler fashion."
blaster. The second
to set in
is "Maybe not, Dr. Fastolfe. Your
motion the rumor that there is so-called robot told me that pub-
u Spacer robot in the City. The lic opinion about Earth by nois
rumor is so specific that Jessie means unified on your Outer
told me it was known that he was Worlds. I think he was telling the
working with the police. That truth at that time, anyway. May-
means that before long it will be be an outright occupation would
known that it was the robot who not sit well with the people at
handled the blaster. Maybe even home. Maybe an incident is an
now, the rumor is spreading absolute necessity. A good shock-
across the yeast vat country and ing incident.**
down the Long Island hydroponic "Like a murder, eh? Is that it?
plants that there's a killer robot You'll admit it would have to be
on the loose." a pretended murder. You won't
"This is impossible? Impossi- suggest, I hope, that we'd really
ble!" groaned Enderby. kill one of ourselves for the sake

"It's exactly what's happening, of an incident."

Commissioner, Don't you see it? "You built a robot to look like
There's a conspiracy in the City, Dr. Sarton, blasted the robot,
all right, but it's run from Space- and showed the remains to Com-
town. The Spacers want to be missioner Enderby."

THE CAVES OF 5TEEI 107

 "And then" said Dr. Fastolfe, "Stick to the point, Mr. Baley. i

"having used R. Daneel to im- What if R. Daneel is R. Daneel?

personate Dr. Sarton in the false Would you have any further
murder, we have to use Dr. Sar- basis for this completely melo-
ton to impersonate R. Daneel in dramatic and implausible^
the false investigation of the false interstellar plot you have con-
murder." structed?"
"Exactly. I am telling you this "If he is a robot! I say he is
in the presence of a witness who human. I say no other conclusion ^
I

isnot here in the flesh and whom is possible/' I

you cannot blast out of existence "Yet you haven't investigated

and who is important enough to the problem, Mr. Baley," said
be believed by the City govern- Fastolfe. "To differentiate a ro-
j

ment and by Washington itself. bot, even a very humanoid robot*'

We will be prepared for you and from a human being, it isn't
we know what your intentions necessary to make elaborately J
are* If necessary,our government shaky deductions from little
will report directly to your peo- things he says or does. For in
ple, expose the situation for ex- stance, have you tried sticking
actly what it is. I doubt if this pin into R. Daneel?"
sort of interstellar trickery will
be tolerated." BALEY'S mouth fell opes
Fastolfe shook his head. "Real- "What's that?"
ly* you have the most astonishing "It's a simple experimenl
notions. Suppose now that R. There are others perhaps m
Daneel is really R
Daneel, that quite so simple. His skin and h;
he is actually a robot. Wouldn't look real, but have you tried
the corpse that Commissioner looking at them under adequate)
Enderby saw really be Dr, Sar- magnification? Then again, h
ton? It would be scarcely reason- seems to breathe, particularl;
able to believe that the corpse when he is using air to talk, bul
was another robot Commis-
still have you noticed that his breath-
sioner Enderby witness R* Daneel ing is irregular, that minutes ma;
under construction and can vouch go by during which he has n<
for the fact only one existed." breath at all? You might even
"If it comes to that," said Bal- have trapped some of his expired'
ey stubbornly, "the Commission- air and measured the carbon di;
er is not a robotics expert. You oxide content. You might ha 1

might have had a dozen such ro- tried to draw a sample of b!<
bots/' You might have tried to deto

1 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTIO

a pulse in his wrist, or
beat under his shirt.
what mean, Mr, Baley?"
I Baley could scarcely hear the
"That's just talk," said Baley
uneasily. "I'm not going to be
bluffed. I might have tried any
of those things, but do you sup-
pose this alleged robot would
have let me use a hypodermic on
him, or a stethoscope or a micro-
scope?"
"I sec your point " said Fas-
tolfe.
He looked at R. Daneel and
gestured slightly,
R. Daneel touched the cuff of
his right shirt sleeve
diamagnetic seam slipped open
the entire length of his arm. A
smooth, sinewy and entirely hu-
man limb lay exposed. Its short
bronze hairs, both in quantity
and distribution, were exactly
what one would expect of a hu-
man being.
Baley said, "So?"
R. Daneel squeezed the ball of
his right middle finger with the
thumb and forefinger of his left
hand. Just as the sleeve had
separated when the diamagnetic
field of its seam had been
rupted* so the arm itself
along the center.
Under a thin layer of fleshlike
material was the dull blue-gray
of stainless -steel rods, cords and
joints.
"Would you care to examine
Daneel's workings more
THE CAVES OF STEEl
a heart- Mr. Baley?" asked Dr. Fastolfe
Do you see politely.
remark for the buzzing in his
ears and the Commissioner's sud-
den hysterical laughter.
CHAPTER IX
THE minutes passed and the
buzzing grew louder and
drowned out the laughter. The
Dome and everything it con-
tained and Baley's time-sense all
wavered.
He found himself sitting in an
and the unchanged position, but with a
definite feeling of lost time. The
Commissioner was gone; the tri-
mensic receiver was milky and
opaque; and R. Daneel sat at his
side, pinching up the skin of
Baley's bared upper arm. Baley
could see, just beneath the skin,
the thin dark outline of a hypo-
sliver. Itvanished as he watched,
spreading away into the inter-
cellular fluid, from that into the
bloodstream and the neighboring
cells, and then into all the cells
of his body.
inter- "Do you feel better, partner
opened Elijah?" asked R. Daneel.
Baley did. He rolled down his
sleeve and looked about. Dr.
Fastolfe sat where he had been,
a small smile softening the home-
liness of his face.
"Did I black out?" Baley
closely, asked.
109
 Dr. Fastolfe said, "You re- Baley grimly. "I think our busi
ceived a sizable shock, I'm n ess is done."
afraid/" He lifted himself erect, feelin
It came back quite clearly. like an old man
very suddenly.
Baley seized R. Cancel's arm, Too old to start over again. He
forced up the sleeve as far as it needed no deep insight to foresee
would go, exposing the wrist. that prospect.
The robot's flesh felt soft to his The Commissioner would be|
fingers,but underneath was the half-frightened and half-furious.
hardness of something more than He would face Baley whitelyj
bone, , taking his glasses off to wipej
R. Daneel let his arm rest them every fifteen seconds. His
easily the plainclothesman'S
in soft voice (Julius Enderby almost
grip. Baley stared Bt it, pinching never shouted) would explain
j

the skin along the median line.
Was there a faint seam?
It was logical that there should
be. Arobot, covered with syn-
and deliberately made
thetic skin,
to look human, could not be re-
paired the ordinary fashion.
in,
A chest plate could not be un-
riveted. A
skull could not be
hinged up and outward. Instead,
the various parts of the mechan-
ical body would have to be put
together along a line of micro-
magnetic fields. An arm, a head,
an entire body must fall
the proper touch, then come to-
gether again when repaired.
Baley looked up. ''Where's the
Commissioner?" he mumbled, hot
with mortification.
"Pressing business" said Dr.
Fastolfe, "I encouraged him to
leave, I'm afraid. I assured him
we would take care of you/'
"You've taken care of me quite
nicely already, thank you." said
carefully that the Spacers had
been mortally offended.
"You can't talk to Spacers that,
way, Lije. I warned you. If they
were Earthmen, it would be dif-
ferent. I'd say yes, chance it.
Run the risk. Smoke them out*
But Spacers! You might havi
consulted me, I know them in
side and out/'
WHAT would Baley be abl.
to say? That Enderby wai
exactly the man he couldn't tell,
open at That the project was one
tremendous risk and Enderby
man of tremendous caution. Thi
it had been Enderby himself whi
had pointed out the supremi
dangers of either outright failui
or of the wrong kind of succe:
That the one way of defeatini
declassification was to show thi
the guilt lay in Spacetown itsel!
Enderby would say, "There']
have to be a report on this, Liji

110 GAIAXY SCIENCE FICTIO

and all sorts of repercussions.
The Spacers will demand your
removal from the case and it'll
have to be that way. You under-
stand that, don't you? But I'll
protect you as far as I can, Lije."
Baley knew that would be ex-
actly true. The Commissioner
would protect him, but only as
far as he could
not to the point,
for instance of infuriating an
already angry Mayor.
He could hear the Mayor, too.
"Damn it, Enderby, who's run-
ning the City? Why was an un-
authorized robot allowed inside?
And just what the devil did this
Baley"
If it came to a decision be-
tween Baley's future in the De-
partment and the Commissioner's
own, what possible choice could
Baley expect? He could find no
reasonable way of blaming En-
derby.
The least he could expect was
demotion and that was bad
enough. The mere act of living in
a modern City insured the bare
possibility of existence, even for
those entirely declassified.
bare that possibility was, he
only too well.
It was the addition of
that brought the little
more comfortable seat
better cut of meat there,
erwait in line at the other place.
To the philosophical mind, these
items might seem scarcely worth
THS CAVES OF STEEL
any great trouble to acquire.
Yet no one, however philo-
sophical, could give
those up
privileges, once acquired, with-
out a pang. That was the point.
What a trifling addition to the
convenience of the apartment a
wash-basin was when, for thirty
years, the trip to Personals had
been an automatic and unregard-
ed one. How useless it was even
as a device to prove "status"
when it was considered the height
of ill-form to parade "status."
4
Yet were the wash-basin to be
removed, how humiliating and
unbearable would each trip to
Personals be! How yearningly at-
tractive the memory of the bed-
room shave! How filled with a
sense of lost luxury!
TT was fashionable for modern
.
**-
political writers to look back
with smug disapproval at the
"Fiscalism" of Medieval times,
when economy had been based
on money. The competitive strug-
gle for existence, they said, was
brutal. No truly complex society
How could survive the eternal "fight*
knew for the buck." (Scholars had
varying interpretations of the
status word "buck/' but there was no
things: a dispute over the meaning as a
here, a whole.)
a short- By contrast, modern "Civism"
was praised as efficient and en*
lightened*
Maybe so. There were histor-
111
 i-,

ical novels both in the romantic made a special point of asking

and the sensational tradition and the Commissioner that you be re-
the Medievalists thought "Fiscal- tained. I believe he will co-
ism" had bred such things as in- operate."
dividualism and initiative, Baley sat down, not entirely
Baley wondered sickly if ever voluntarily. He said sharply,
a man fought harder for that "Why?"
buck, whatever it was, than a Dr. Fastolfe crossed his legs
City-dweller fought to keep from and sighed. "Mr. Baley, in gen-
losing his Sunday night option on eral I have met two kinds of
a chicken drumsticka real- City-dwellers, rioters and poli-
flesh drumstick from a once- ticians. Your Commissioner is
living bird. useful to us, but he is a politician.
Baley thought: Not me so He handles us, if you know what
much. There's Jessie and Ben. I mean. You came here and bold-
Dr. Fastolfe's voice broke in ly accused us of tremendous
upon his thoughts. "Mr. Baley, crimes and tried to prove your
do you hear me?" case. I found it a hopeful de-
Baley blinked. "Yes?" How velopment."
long had he been standing there "How hopeful?" asked Baley
like a frozen fool? sardonically.
"Won't you sit down, Hav-
sir? "Hopeful enough. You are*
ing attended to the matter on someone I can deal with frankly.
your mind, you may now be in- Last night, Mr. Baley, R. Daneel
terested in the films we took of reported to me by shielded sub-
'
the scene of the crime." ether. Some things about you in-
"No, thank you. I have busi- terested me very much. For
ness in the City." instance, there was the point con-
"Surely the ease oi Dr. Sarton cerning the nature of the book-.:
comes first." films in your apartment."
"Not with me. imagine I'm
I "What about them?"
off the case already." Suddenly, "A good many dealt with his-
he boiled over. "Damn it, why torical and archeological subjects.
didn't you prove R. Daneel was It makes it appear that you arc
a robot right away? Why did interested in human society and
you let me make a fool of my- that you know a little about its
self?" evolution."
"My dear Mr. Baley, I was in- "Even policemen can spend
terested in your deductions. As their free time on book-films, if
for your being off the case, I they choose."
I
112 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTIO
"/VUITE," agreed Dr. Fastolfe. to deal with and no intermediate
"I'm glad of your choice of hosts, suchas mosquitoes to
\J
viewing matter. It will help me spread malaria, snails to spread
in what I am trying to do. In schistosomiasis. Disease agents
the first place, I want to explain, were wiped out and symbiotic
or try to, the exclusivism of the bacteria allowed to grow. The
men of the Outer Worlds. We Outer Worlds became disease-
live here inSpacetown; we don't free. Naturally, as time went on,

enter the City; we mingle with entrance requirements for immi-

you City-dwellers only in a very grant Earthmen were made more
rigidly limited fashion. I sit here and more rigorous, since less and
now with filters in my nostrils, less could the Outer Worlds re-
gloves on my hands, and a fixed sist disease."
determination to come no closer "You've never been sick, Dr.
to you than I can help. Why do Fastolfe?"
you suppose that is?" "Not with a parasitic disease.
Baley said, 'There's no point We are all liable to degenerative
in guessing." Let him talk now. diseases,but I have never had a
"If you guessed as some of cold. If I were to contract one,
your people do, you would say I might die of it, having built
that it was because we despised up no resistance to it whatsoever.
the men of Earth and refused to Those of us who come here run
lose caste by allowing their shad- a great risk. Earth is riddled with
ow to fall upon us. That is not diseases to which we have no de-
so. The medical examination you fense, no natural defense. You
went through, as well as the yourself are carrying the germs
cleansing procedures, were not of almost every known disease.
matters of ritual They were dic- You are not aware of it, since
tated by necessity." you keep them under control at
"Disease?" almost all times through the anti-
"Yes, disease. The Earthmen bodies your body has developed
who colonized the Outer Worlds over the years. We lack the anti-
found themselves on planets en- bodies. Do you wonder that I
tirely free of terrestrial bacteria come no closer to you? Believe
and viruses. They brought in me, Mr. Baley, I act aloof only
their own, of course, but they in self-defense."
also brought with them the lat- Baley said, "If tftis is so, why
est medical and microbiological isn't the fact made known on
techniques. They had a small Earth? I mean not just
that it is
community of micro-organisms queasiness on your part, but a

THE CAVES OF STEEL 113

defense against an actual phys- upon remains that
us, the fact
ical danger/' for one of us to enter the City
The Spacer shook his head, is the equivalent of a death sen-

"We are few, Mr. Baley, and are tence. It is why Dr. Sarton initi-
disliked as anyway-
foreigners ated his project of humanoid
We maintain our own safety on robots. They were substitute men,
the basis of a rather shaky pres- designed to enter the City instead
tige as a superior class of being. of us"
We cannot afford to lose face by "R. Daneel explained it to me,"
admitting that we are afraid to "Do you disapprove?"
approach an Earthman. Not, at "Look," said Baley, "since
least, until there is a better un- we're talking to one another so
derstanding between Earthmen freely, let me ask a question in
and Spacers/* simple words. Why have you
"There won't be on the present Spacers come to Earth anyway?
terms. It's your supposed su- Why don't you leave us alone?"
periority that wethey hate you Dr. Fastolfe said, with obvious
for/' surprise, "Are you satisfied with
"It isa dilemma. Don't think life on Earth?"
we aren't aware of it." We
i
get along."

"Does the Commissioner know Yes, but how long will that
of this?" continue? Your population goes
"We have never explained it to up continuously; the available
him flatly, as I have just done calories meet the needs only as a
to you. He may guess it, however. result of greater and greater
He is quite an intelligent man." effort. Earth is up a blind alley."
"If he guessed it, he might have "We get along," Baley repeat-
told me," Baley said reflectively. ed stubbornly.
"Barely. A City like New York
T\R. Fastolfe lifted his eye- must spend every ounce of effort
--' brows. "If he had, then you getting water in and waste out.
wouldn't have considered the The nuclear power plants are
possibility of R. Daneel being a kept going by uranium supplies
human Spacer. Is that it?" that are constantly more difficult
Baley shrugged slightly. to obtain even from the other
But Dr. Fastolfe went on, planets of the Solar System, and
"That's quite true, you know. the supply needed goes up stead-
Putting the psychological diffi- ily. The life of the City depends
culties to one side, the terrible every moment on the arrival of
effect of the noise and crowds wood-pulp for the yeast vats and

114 GALAXY SCIENCE F1CTIO

minerals for the hydroponic T> ALEY moved restlessly in his
plants. Air must be circulated un- " chair. "I've heard all this be-
ceasingly. The balance is a very fore.The Medievalists want an
delicate one in a hundred direc- end to Cities. They want us to
tions,and growing more delicate get back to the soil and to nat-
each year. What would happen to ural agriculture. Well, they're
New York if the tremendous flow mad; we There are too
can't.
of input and outgo were to be many of us and you can't go
interrupted for even a single backward in history, only for-
hour?" ward. Of course, if emigration to
"It never has been" Baley the Outer Worlds were not re-
"
was on the defensive. stricted
"
"Which is no security for the "You know why it must be
future. In primitive times, in- "Then we have to go on as we '

dividual population centers were
virtually self-supporting, living
on the produce of neighboring
farms. Nothing but immediate
disaster, a flood or a pestilence
or crop failure, could harm them-
As the centers grew and tech-
nology improved, localized dis-
asters could be overcome by
drawing on help from distant
centers, but at the cost of making
even larger areas interdependent.
?f
are.
"What about emigration to new
worlds? There are a hundred bil-
lion stars in the Galaxy. It is
estimated that there are a hun-
dred million planets that can be
inhabited."
"That's ridiculous."
"Why?" asked Dr. Fastolfe,
with vehemence- "Why is the sug-
gestion ridiculous? Thirty of the
fifty Outer Worlds including my,

In Medieval times, the open native Aurora, were directly col-

cities, even the largest, could sub- onized by Earthmen. Is coloniza-
sist on food stores and on emer- tion no longer possible?'*
gency supplies of all sorts for a "Well*
week at least. When New York "If no longer possible,
it is it
first became a City, it could have is because of the development of
lived on itself for a day. Now it City culture on Earth, Before
cannot do so for an hour. A dis- the Cities, human life on Earth
aster that would have been un- wasn't so specialized that men
comfortable ten thousand years couldn't break loose and start all
ago and merely serious a thou- over on a raw world. They did it
**and years ago and acute a hun- thirty times. But now Earthmen
dred years ago would now be are so enwombed in their im-
fatal" prisoning caves of steel that they

THE CAVES OF STEEL 115

 "

dare not leave. You, Mr. Baley, (who throughout the conversa-
won't even believe that a City- tion had been listening in stolid
dweller is capable of crossing silence), as though he were seek-
country to get to Spacetown. ing confirmation.
Crossing space to get to a new
world must represent impossibil-
ity squared to you. City civiliza-
HE said,
sible?"
"How is that pos-

!"
tion is ruining Earth "In underpopulated so-
an
Baley said angrily, "And if it ciety," replied Dr. Fastolfe, "it is
does, how
does that concern you practical to concentrate research
people? It's our problem" on the aging process. In a world
"I know how you feel. It is not such as yours, a lengthened life
pleasant to listen to the preach- expectancy would be disastrous.
ing of a stranger. Yet I wish your You couldn't afford the resulting
people could preach to us for we, rise in population. On Aurora,
too, have a problem
one that is there is room for tricentenarians.
analogous to yours." Then, of course, a long life be-
Baley smiled crookedly, "Over- comes doubly and triply precious.
population?" If you were to die now, you would
"Analogous, not identical* Ours lose perhaps forty years of your
is underpopulation. How old do life, probably less. If I were to

you think I am?" die, I would a hundred and

lose
The Earthman considered for fifty years, probably more. In a
a moment and then deliberately culture such as ours, then, in-
"
overestimated. "Sixty, I'd say dividual life is of prime import-
"A hundred and sixty, you ance. Our birth rate is low and
should say." population increase is rigidly
w'What!" controlled. We maintain a defi-
<il
A hundred
and sixty -three nite robot man ratio designed to
next birthday, to be exact, and maintain the individual in the
I'm using the standard Earth greatest comfort. Logically, de-
year as the unit If I'm fortunate, veloping children are carefully
if I take care of myself, most screened for physical and mental
of all, if I catch no disease on defects before being allowed to
Earth, I may
double that age- mature."
People on Aurora have been Baley interrupted. "You mean
known to live over three hundred you kill them if they don't
and fifty years. And life expect- "If they don't measure upu
ancy is still increasing." Quite painlessly, I assure you.
Baley looked to R. Daneel The notion shocks you. But the'

116 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

Earthman's uncontrolled breed- "All right, we're coming to the
ing shocks us just as much." point. How is Spacetown helping
"We're controlled, Dr, Fastolfe. matters?"
Each family is allowed only so "In trying to introduce robots
many children." here on Earth, we're doing our
Dr. Fastolfe smiled tolerantly. best to upset the balance of your
"So many of any kind of chil- City economy/'
dren; not so many healthy chil- "That's your way of helping?"
dren." B a ley's lips quivered, "You mean
"Who's to judge?" you're creating a growing group
"That's rather complicated and of displaced and declassified men
not to be answered in a sentence. on purpose?"
Some day we may talk it over." "Not out of cruelty or callous-
"Well, Where's yout problem? ness, believe me. A group of dis-
You sound satisfied with your placed men, as you call them, are
society." what we need to serve as a nu-
"It is stable. That's the trouble. cleus for colonization. Your
It is too stable." ancient America was discovered
by ships fitted out with men from
T> ALEY said, "Nothing pleases the prisons. Don't you see that
*-* you. Our civilization is too the City's womb has failed the
close to the ragged edge of chaos, displaced man? He has nothing
according to you, and your own to lose and worlds to gain by
isn't close enough." leaving Earth."
"It is possible to be too stable. "But it isn't working/' Baley
No Outer World has colonized frowned thoughtfully.
a new planet in two and a half "No, it isn't," said Dr. Fastolfe,
centuries. There is no prospect for sadly. "There is something
colonization in tlfe future. Our wrong. The resentment of the
lives in the Outer Worlds are too Earthman robot blocks
for the
long to risk and too comfortable things. Yet those very robots can
to upset." accompany humans, smooth the
"You've come to Earth, You difficulties of initial adjustment
risk disease/' to a raw world, make colonization
"There are some of us ?
Mr. practical."
Baley, who feel that the future "Then what? More Outer
of the human race is even worth Worlds?"
the possible loss of an extended "No. The Outer Worlds were
lifetime. Too few of us, I km established before the Cities had
sorry to say/' spread over Earth. The new col-

THE CAVES OF STEEL 117

onies will be built by humans detailed one. Think about it."
who have the City background Abruptly the Spacer rose to his
plus the beginnings of a C/Fe feet. "I have spent more time
culture. It will be a synthesis. A with you than I intended. In
carbon iron symbiosis. As it fact, more time than our health
stands now, Earth's own struc- ordinances allow. You will ex-
ture must go ricketing down in cuse me?"
the near future, the OuterWorlds
will slowly degenerate and decay WITH R. Daneel, Baley left
in a somewhat further future, but the dome. Sunlight, at a
the new colonies will be a new different angle, somewhat yellow-
and healthy strain, combining er,washed down upon them once
the best of both cultures. By their again. Baley wondered uneasily
reaction upon the older worlds, whether sunlight might not seem
including Earth, we ourselves different on another world. Less
may gain new life." harsh and brazen, perhaps. More
"I don't know. It's all very acceptable.
vague, Dr. Fastolfe." Another world? The homely
"A dream, yes, but a sharply Spacer with the prominent ears

118 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION


had filledmind with queer
his
imaginings. Did the doctors of
Aurora once look at the child
Fastolfe and wonder if he ought
to be allowed to mature? Wasn't
he too ugly? Or did their criteria
include physical appearance at
all? When did ugliness become a
deformity and what deformi-
ties
But when the sunlight van-
ished and they entered the first
door that led to the Personal,
the mood became harder to main-
tain*
Baley shook his head with ex-
asperation* Forcing Earthmen to
emigrate, to set up a new
ciety! It was nonsense! What
were these Spacers really after?
He thought about it and came
to no conclusion*
Slowly, their squad-car rolled
down the vehicular lane. Reality
was surging all about Baley. His
blaster was a warm and comfort-
able weight against his hip.
noiseand vibrant life of the City
were just as warm, just as com-
fortable.
For a moment, as the City
closed in, his nose tingled to a
slight and fugitive pungence.
He thought wonderingly: The
City smells,
He thought of the twenty mil-
lion humanbeings crammed into
the steel walls of the great cave
and for the first time in his life
he smelled them with nostrils that
THE CAYE5 OF STEEL
had been washed clean by out*
door air.
He thought; Would it be dif-
ferent on another world? Less
people and more aircleaner?
But the afternoon roar of the
City was all around them, the
smell faded and was gone and
he felt a little ashamed of him-
self.
He the drive-rod in slowly
let
and tapped a larger share of the
beamed power. The squad-car
accelerated sharply as it slanted
down into the empty Motor-
way.
"Daneel," he said.
so- "Yes, Elijah?"
"Why was Dr. Fastolfe telling
me all that?"
"We are not here just to solve
a murder, but to save Spacetown
and, with it, the future of the
human face."
Baley said drily, "I think he'd
have been better off if he'd let
The me see the scene of the crime
and interview the men who first
found the body."
"I doubt if you could have
added anything, Elijah. We have
been quite thorough/*
"Have you? You've got noth-
ing. Not a clue. Not a suspect,"
"No, you are right. The an-
swer must be in the City. To be
accurate, though, we did have one
suspect."
"What? You said nothing of
this before."
119
 "I did not feel it to be neces-
sary, Elijah. Surely it is obvious
to you that one suspect auto-
matically existed."
ii'
In the devil's name,
who?"
The one Earthman who was
on the scene. Commissioner
"
Julius Enderby
CHAPTER X
rpiHE squad-car veered to one
-*- halted against the con-
side,
crete wall of the Motorway, With
the humming of motor stop-
its
ped, the silence was dead and
thick.
Baley looked at the robot next
to him and asked in an incongru-
ously quiet voice, "What did you
say 7"
Time stretched while
waited for an answer. A small
and lonesome vibration rose and
reached a minor peak, then faded.
It was the sound of another
squad-car t boring its way past
them on some unknown errand,
perhaps a mile away. Or else it
was a fire-car hurrying along to-
ward its own appointment with
combustion.
A
detached portion of Baley's
mind wondered if any one man
any longer knew all the Motor-
ways that twisted about in New
York City's bowels. At no time
in the day of night could the
entire Motorway system be com-
pletely empty, and yet there must
120
be individual passages that no
man had entered in years. With
sudden, devastating clarity, he
remeirfbered a short story he had
viewed as a youngster.
It concerned the Motorways of
London and began, quietly
enough, with a murder. The mur-
derer fled toward a prearranged
hideout in the corner of a Motor-
way in whose dust his own shoe-
prints had been the only
disturbance for a century. In that
abandoned hole, he could wait in
complete safety till the search
died.
But he took a wrong turning
and in the silence and loneness
of those twisting corridors he
swore a blaspheming oath that
he would yet teach his haven.
Baley From that time on, no turning
was right. He wandered through
an unending maze from the
Brighton sector on the Channel
toNorwich and from Coventry to
Canterbury. He burrowed end-
lessly beneath the great City of
London from end to end of its
sprawl across the southeastern
corner of Medieval England. His
clothes were rags and his shoes
ribbons, his strength wore down
but never left him. He was tired,
tired, yet unable to stop.
Sometimes he heard the sound
of passing cars, but they were
always in the next corridor, and
however fast he rushed (for he
would gladly have given himself
OAIAXY SCIENCE FICTION
 "

up by then), the corridors he established. For one thing, there

reached were always empty. was no blaster in his possession.
Sometimes he saw an exit far There could not very well be one.
ahead that would lead to the He had entered Spacetown in the
City's life and breath, but it al- usual fashion and you know
ways glimmered farther away as blasters are removed as a matter
he approached until he would of course/'

turn and it would be gone. "Was the murder, weapon
Occasionally, Londoners on found at all?"
official business through the un- "No, Elijah. Every blaster in
derground would see a misty fig* Spacetown was examined and
ure limping silently toward them, none had been fired for weeks."
a semi-transparent arm lifted in "Then whoever had committed
pleading, a mouth open and mov- the murder had either hidden the
ing, but soundless. As it ap- weapon so well

proached, it would waver and have been hidden
"It could not
vanish. anywhere in Spacetown."
It was a story that had lost Baley said impatiently, "I'm
the attributes of ordinary fiction trying to consider all possibilities.
and had entered the realm of It was either hidden or it was
folklore. The "Wandering Lon- carried away ,by the murderer
doner" had become a familiar when he left."
phrase to all the world. "Exactly."
In the depths of New York "And if you admit only the
City, Baley remembered the second possibility, then the Com-
story and stirred uneasily. missioner is cleared."
"Yes. As a precaution, of
RDANEEL spoke arid there course* he wag cerebroanalyzed."
was a small echo to his "He was what?"
voice. He said, "We may be over- "The interpretation of the elec-
heard/' tromagnetic fields of the living
"Down here? Not a chance. brain cells."
Now what was that you said "Oh," said Baley, unenlight-
about the Commissioner?*' ened. "And what does that tell
"He was on the scene, Elijah. you ?"
He is a City-dweller. He was us information con-
"It gives
inevitably a suspect." cerning the temperamental and
"Was? You mean he isn't a emotional makeup of an individ-
suspect now?" ual. In the case of Commissioner
"His innocence was quickly Enderby, it told us that he was

THE CAVES OF STEEL 121

 !

incapable of killing Dr. Sarton," lay in his ability to get along

44'
I could have told you that/'
44'
It is better to have objective
information. Naturally, our peo-
ple in Spacetown allowed them-
selves to be cere bro analyzed as
well."
"All incapable, I suppose/'
**Beyond question. That is why
we know that the murderer
be a City-dweller."
"Well, then, all we have to do
is put the whole City through
your cute little process."
"It would not be very prac-
tical, Elijah. There might be mil-
lions temperamentally capable of
the deed/'
"Millions," grunted Baley,
thinking of the crowds that long
ago day who had screamed
the "dirty Spacers," and
the threatening and slobbering
crowds outside the shoe store the
night before.
He thought: Poor Julius. A
suspect
He could hear the Commis-
sioner's voice describing the
period after the discovery of the
body: "It was brutal, brutal."
No wonder he had broken his
glasses in shock and dismay. No
wonder he did not want to re-
turn to Spacetown. "I hate
them," he had ground out be-
tween his teeth.
Poor Julius, The man who
could handle Spacers. The man
whose greatest value to the City
with them. How much had that
contributed to his rapid promo-
tions?
No wonder the Commissioner
had wanted Baley to take over.
Good old loyal, close-mouthed
Baley. College chum! He would
keep quiet if he found out about
must that little incident. Baley won-
dered how cerebroanalysis was
done. He imagined huge elec-
trodes, busy pantographs skid-
ding inklines across graphed
paper.
Poor Julius. He must already
be seeing himself at the end of
his career with a forced letter of
resignation in the hands of the
Mayor.
at The squad-car slanted up into
of the sub-levels of City Hall.
T was 14:30 when Baley ar-
*-
rived back at his desk.The
Commissioner was out, R. Sam-
my, grinning his mechanical grin,
did not know where the Com-
missioner was.
Baley spent some time think-
ing. The fact that he was hungry
didn't register.
At 15:20 R. Sammy came to
his desk and said, "The Com-
missioner is now, Lije."
in
Baley said, "Thanks."
For once he listened to R.
Sammy without being annoyed.
R- Sammy, after all, was a kind
of relation to R- Daneel, and R.

122
*
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
Darnel obviously wasn't a per- surprised that he could be so
sonor thing, ratherto get an- casual about but there it was.
it,

noyed with. Baley wondered how He said, "Look, Commissioner.

it would be on a new planet with I want to have a two-man apart-
men and robots starting even ment assigned to Daneel and my-
about a City culture. He con- self. I'm not taking him home
sidered the situation quite dis- tonight."
passionately- "What's all this?"
The Commissioner was going "The news is out that he's a
through some documents as robot. Remember? Maybe noth-
Baley entered, stopping occa- ing will happen, but if there is
sionally to make notations. a don't want
riot, I my family
He "That was a giant-
said, in the middle of it."
size blooper you pulled out in "Nonsense, Lije. I've had the
Spacetown/* thing checked. There's no such
rumor in the City."
FOR a moment, Baley felt puz- "Jessie got the story some-
zled. Then it hit him with where. Commissioner."
shocking Jehoshaphat,
impact. "Well, there's no organized
how had he forgotten the verbal rumor. Nothing dangerous. I've
duel with Fastolfe! been checking this ever since I
His long face took on a lugu- got off the trimensic at Fastolfe's
brious expression of chagrin. dome, which was why I left. I
"I'll say I did, Commissioner. had to track it down fast. There's
I'm sorry.* Doris Gillid's report. She went
Enderby looked up. His expres- through a dozen Women's Per-
sion was keen and his eyes sonals in different parts of the
glanced through their
firmly City, You know Doris. She's a
glass barriers. He seemed more competent girl. Well, nothing
himself than at any time these showed anywhere. Not a thing."
thirty hours. He said, "Fastolfe "Then how did Jessie get the
didn't seem to mind, so well for- rumor?"
get Unpredictable, these Spac-
it. "It can be explained. R. Daneel
ers. You don't deserve your luck, made a display of himself in
Lije. Next time, talk it over with the shoe store. Did he really pull
me before you make like a sub- a blaster, Lije, or were you
ether hero.** stretching the facts a little just
Baley nodded. He had tried a a little, perhaps?"
grandstand stunt and it hadn't "He really pulled one. Pointed
worked. Okay. He was a little it, too."

THE CAVES OF STEEL 123


COMMISSIONER Enderby
shook his head.' "All right.
Someone recognized him. As a
robot, I mean."
"Hold on," said Baley indig-
nantly. "You can't tell
robot."
"Why not?"
"Could you? I couldn't."
"We're no experts. Suppose
there was a technician out of the
Westchester robot factories in the
crowd, a man who has spent his
life building and designing ro-
bots. He notices something queer
about R. Daneel. Maybe in the
way he talks or holds himself.
He speculates about it. Maybe
he tells his wife. She tells a few
friends. Then it dies because peo-
ple don't believe it. Only it got
to Jessie before it died."
"Maybe," said Baley doubt-
fully. "But how about an assign-
ment to a bachelor room for two,
anyway?"
The Commissioner shrugged,
lifted the intercom. After a while,
he said, "Section Q-27 is all they
can do. It's not a very good
neighborhood."
"It'll do," said Baley.
"Where's R. Daneel now, by
the way?"
"He's at our record files, try-
ing to collect information on
Medievalist agitators."
"But there are millions!"
"I know, but it keeps him
happy."
124
"
Baley was nearly at the door
when he turned, half on impulse,
and said, "Commissioner, did Dr.
Sarton ever talk to you about
Spacetown's program? I mean
he's a about introducing the C/Fe cul-
ture?"
"The what?"
"Introducing robots."
"Occasionally."
"Did he ever explain what
Spacetown's purpose was?"
"Oh, improve health, raise the
standard of living. The usual
stuff. I nodded my head and all
that. It's just a matter of humor-
ing them and hoping they'll keep
their ideas within reason. Maybe
some day
Baley waited, but Enderby
didn't say what particular maybe
some day might bring.
Baley said, "Did he ever men-
tion anything to you about emi-
gration?"
"Emigration? Never! Letting
an Earthman into an Outer
World is like finding a diamond
asteroid in the rings of Saturn."
"I mean emigration to new
worlds."
But the Commissioner
an-
swered that one with a simple
stare of incredulous horror.
Baley said with sudden blunt-
ness, "What's cerebroanalysis,
Commissioner? Ever hear of it?"
The Commissioner's round face
showed only polite interest. "No.
What's it supposed to be?"
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
 "Nothing. Just picked it up." who might belong to a Medieval-
Baley left the office and at ist organization, Elijah."
his desk continued thinking. Cer- Baley shook his head. "Can't
tainly the Commissioner wasn't be. It's too small."
that good an actor. "But there are over a million
names here!"
AT 16:05, Baley called Jessie "Listen, Daneel. Almost all
** and told her he wouldn't be Earthmen are Medievalists in
home that night or probably any one way or another. Look at the
night for a while. Commissioner's "
he almost
"Lije, there trouble?" she
is said "spectacles," then remem-
asked anxiously. "Are you in bered that Earthmen must stick
danger?" together, the Commissioner's face
"A policeman always in a
is must be protected in the figura-
certain amount of danger," he ex- tive as well as the literal sense
plained lightly. It didn't satisfy '
'eye -ornaments."
her. "Yes," said R. Daneel, "I had
"Where will you be staying?" noticed them, but thought it per-
He didn't tell her. "If you're haps indelicate to refer to them.
going to be lonely tonight," he I have not seen such ornaments
said, "stay at your mother's." on other City-dwellers."
He broke the connection abrupt- "It is a very old-fashioned sort
ly, which was probably just as of thing."
well. "Does it serve a purpose of
At he made a call to
16:20, any sort?"
Washington. It took a long time "Usually. Daneel, how did you
to reach the man he wanted and get your list?"
an almost equally long time to "A machine did it for me. Ap-
convince him he ought to make parently, one sets it for a par-
an air-trip to New York the next ticular type of offense and it
day. By 16:40, he had succeeded. does the rest. I let it scan all
At 16:55, the Commissioner disorderly conduct cases involv-
left, passing him with an uncer- ing robots over the jpast twenty-
tain smile. The day shift departed five years. Another machine
en masse. The skeleton night scanned all City Newspapers for
shift made its way in and greeted those who made unfavorable
him in varied tones of surprise. statements concerning robots or
R. Daneel came to his desk men of the Outer Worlds. It is
with a thick sheaf of papers. amazing what can be done in
"This is a list of men and women three hours. The machine even

THE CAVES OF STEEL 125

eliminated the names of non- it, and Iwant you with me when
survivors from the lists," I eat. And you can't sit there

"You are amazed ? Surely and not eat without attracting

you've computers
got on the attention."
Outer Worlds." "Very well/' said R
Daneel.
"Very advanced ones. But "I shall be glad toeatwith
none are as massive and complex you."
as the ones here. You must re-
member, of course, that even the SECTION were the
kitchens
largest Outer World scarcely has same all over the City. What's
the population of one of your more, Baley had been in Wash-
Cities and so extreme complexity ington, Toronto, Buenos Aires,
is not necessary." London, Canton and Durban in
"Have you ever been on line of duty, and they had been
Aurora?" the same there, too. Perhaps it
"No," said R. Daneel. "I was had been different in Medieval
assembled here on Earth." times when languages and diets
"Then how do you know about had varied. Nowadays,
yeast
Outer World computers?" products were identical every-
"My data store was drawn where; and English might not be
from Dr. Sarton." the "English" of Shakespeare or
"I see. Can you eat, Daneel?" Churchill, but it was the final
"I am nuclear-powered. I had potpourri that was current over
thought you were aware of that." all the continents and, with some

"I didn't ask if you needed to modification, on the Outer

eat. I asked if you covld eat Worlds as well.
put food in your mouth, chew it Language and dietary aside,
and swallow it. I should think there were the deeper similari-
that would be important in seem- ties. There was always that par-

ing to be a man." ticular odor, indefinable but

"I see your point. Yes, I can completely ... characteristic, of
perform the mechanical opera- "kitchen." There was
the waiting
tions of chewing and swallowing. triple line moving slowly in, con-
Naturally, would eventually
I verging at the door and splitting
have to remove the merely mac- up again; right, left, center.
erated food from what you might There was the rumble of human-
call my stomach." ity, speaking and moving, and
"All right. You can do that the sharper clatter of plastic on
in the privacy of our room to- plastic. There was the gleam of
night. I've missed lunch, damn simulated wood, highly polished;

126 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTIO

 - "

highlights on glass; long tables; fore she'd married Baley, had ex-
the touch of steam in the air. plained it once to him.
Baley inched forward as the "It upsets things completely,
line moved. With all possible throws off consumption figures
staggering of meal hours, a wait and inventory estimates. It means
of at least ten minutes was al- special checks. You have to
most unavoidable. He said to R. match slips with the different
all
Daneel in sudden curiosity, "Can Section kitchens to make sure
you smile?" the balance isn't too unbalanced,
R. Daneel had been gazing at if you know what I mean. There's

the interior of the kitchen with a separate balance sheet to be

cool absorption. He turned and
smiled. That is, his lips curled
back and the skin about either
end folded, Only the mouth
smiled, however. The rest of the
robot's face was unchanged.
Baley looked away. "Don't
bother. It doesn't do a thing for
you."
They were at
the entrance.
Person after person thrust a metal
food -tag through the appropriate
slot and had it scanned. Click
click~-click~
A smoothly running kitchen
could allow the entrance of two
hundred persons a minute, the
tags of each one being fully
scanned to prevent kitchen- jump-
ing, meal -jumping and ration
stretching. But that was at
maximum efficiency, which was
lost when any one person requir-
ed special treatment, like step-
ping to the manual window, as
Baley and R. Daneel did, in order
to thrust a special permit pass at
A
the official in charge.
Jessie, an assistant dietitian be-
made out each week. Then if
anything goes wrong and you're
overdrawn, it's always your fault.
It's never the fault of the City for
passing out special tickets to
everybody and his kid sister. Oh,
no. And when we have to say
that free choice suspended for
is
the meal, don't the people in line
make a fuss! It's always the
fault of the people behind the
counter
17"NOWING this, Baley under-
"* stood the dry and poisonous
look he received from the woman
behind the window. She made a
few hurried notes. Home Section,
occupation* reason for meal dis-
placement ("official business," a
very irritating reason, but irre-
futable). Then she folded the slip
and pushed it into a slot. A com-
puter seized it, devoured the
contents and digested the in-
formation.
Finished with Baley, she turn-
ed to R. Daneel.
Baley jumped in hurriedly. He

THE CAVES OF STEEL 127

said, "My friend is out-of-City." R. Daneel said, "I amunder
The woman looked finally the impression that most of your
and completely outraged. "Home people eat regularly in kitchens
City, please,*' she asked through such as these."
clamped teeth. "Yes. Of course, it's rather
Baley intercepted for Daneel gruesome eating in a strange
once again. "All records are to be kitchen. There's no one you
credited to the Police Depart- know. In your own kitchen, you
ment. No details necessary. Offi- have your own seat and you're
cial business." with your family and your
The woman brought down a friends. Especially when you're
pad of slips with an angry slam young, mealtimes are the bright
and filled data in dark-
in the spot of the day." Baley smiled
light code with savage pressure in brief reminiscence.
of the first two fingers of her Table DF was apparently re-
right hand. served for transients. Those al-
"How long will you be eating ready seated watched their plates
here?" and did not talk with one an-
"Till further notice," said other. They looked with sneak-
Baley. ing envy at the laughing crowds.
"Press here." There is no one so uncom-
Baley had a short qualm as R. fortable, thought Baley, as the
Daneel's even fingers with their man eating out-of- Section. Be it

glistening nails down-

pushed ever so humble, the old saying
ward. Surely they wouldn't have went, there's no place like home-
forgotten to supply him with kitchen. Even the food tastes
fingerprints. better, nomatter how many
The woman took the blank chemists are ready to swear it to
away and fed it into the ma- be no different from the food in
chine near her elbow, 'It belched Johannesburg,
nothing back and Baley breathed
more easily.
She gave them little metal tags
HER. Daneel
down on a
sat
took one
stool and
next to
that were in the bright red that him.
meant "temporary." "No free choice," said Baley,
She said, "No free choices. "so just close the switch there
We're short this week. Take table and wait."
DF." It took two minutes. A disc
They made their way toward slid back in the table top and a
DF. dish lifted.

128 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 "Mashed zymoveal
potatoes, "If you mean stare directly
sauce and stewed apricots. Oh, at him, well, sure- That's only
well/* Baley said. common sense, isn't it? A man
A fork and two slices of whole has a right to his privacy. Or-
yeast bread appeared in a recess dinary conversation is all right,
just in front of the low railing but you don't gape at a man
that went down the long center while he's chewing."
of the table. "I see. Why is it, then, that I
R. Daneel said in a low voice, count eight people watching us
"You may help yourself to my very closely?"
serving, you wish/*
if Baley put down his fork. He
For a moment, Baley was looked about as though he were
scandalized. Then he remember- searching for the salt-pinch dis-
ed and mumbled, "That would penser.
be bad manners. Go on, eat." "I see nothing at all out of the
Baley ate industriously, but ordinary."
without enjoyment. He flicked an But he said without convic-
it

occasional glance at R. Danell. tion. The mob of diners was only

The robot ate with precise mo- a vast conglomeration of stran-
tions of his jaws. Too precise. gers to him. And when R. Daneel
It didn't look quite natural. turned his impersonal brown eyes
Strange, now that Baley knew upon him, Baley suspected un-
R. Daneel was actually a robot, comfortably that those were not
all sorts of little disparities eyes he saw, but photographic
showed up such as no
clearly, scanners.
movement of an Adam's apple "I am quite certain," said R.
when R. Daneel swallowed. Yet Daneel calmly.
Baley didn't mind so much* Was "Well, what of it? It's crude
he getting used to the creature? behavior, but what does it
Suppose people started afresh on proVe?"

a new world how that ran "I cannot say, Elijah. Is it
through his mind ever since Dr, coincidence that six of the watch-
Fastolfe had put it there sup- ers were in the crowd outside
pose Bentley, for instance, were the shoe store last night?"
to leave Earth, could he get so
he wouldn't mind working and CHAPTER XI
living alongside robots? .

R. Daneel said, "Elijah, is it IJE Baley's grip tightened on

bad manners to watch another L his fork.
man while he is eating?" "Are you sure?" he demanded,

THE CAVES OF STEE1 129


and immediately realized the use- or both before too long a time
lessness of the question. You had passed. That they had within
don't a computer if it is
ask twenty-four hours was not sur-
sure of the answer it disgorges; prising, They might have done
not even a computer with arms so in less time if Baley's day
and legs and face. "Are they had not been spent mainly in
close to us?" Spacetown and along the Motor-
"Not very. They are scattered." way.
Baley returned to his meal, his R. Daneel had finished his
fork moving mechanically. Be- meal. He sat quietly waiting, his
hind the frown on his long face, perfect hands resting lightly on
his mind worked furiously. the end of the table.
Suppose the incident last night "Had we not better do some-
had been organized by a group thing?" he asked.
of ant i- robot fanatics men who "We're safe here in the kitch-
had studied robots with the in- en," said Baley, "Now leave this
tensity born of deep hostility. to me. Please-"
One of them might have recog- Baley looked about him cau-
nized R. Daneel for what he was, tiously and it was as though he
(The Commissioner had sug- saw a kitchen for the first time*
gested that, in a way. Damn it, What was the capacity of an
there were surprising depths to average kitchen? About 2200.
that man.) This one was larger than aver-
Even if they had been unable age.
to act in an organized manner Suppose the cry "Robot!"
at the spur of the moment, they were tossed among the thousands
would still have been able to plan like a
for the future. If they could He was at a loss for a com-
recognize a robot such as R. parison.
Daneel, they could certainly
SPONTANEOUS
realize that Baley himself was a
police officer. A police officer in A flare
riot could
anywhere; in the kitch-
the unusual company of a hu- ens as easily as in the corridors
manoid robot would very likely or in the elevators. More easily,
be a responsible man in the or- perhaps. There was a lack of in-
ganization. hibition at mealtimes, a sense of
It followed then that observers horseplay that could degenerate
at City Hall (or perhaps agents into something more serious at a
within City Hall) would be trifle.

bound to spot Baley, R, Daneel, But a planned riot would be

110 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION


different.Here in the kitchen* "They won't get too close* Not
the agitators would themselves here."
be caught in a mob-filled room.
Hundreds would certainly die T> ALEY looked through the,
and they themselves might easily
be among them.
" steamy haze and the noise
and with incongruous sharpness
No, a safe riot would have to thought of a visit to the City Zoo
be planned in the avenues of the with Ben six or seven years ago.
City, in some relatively narrow It had been the boy's first visit
passageway. There would be and he had been excited. After
time for the quick, prepared fade- all, he had never actually seen
away along the side passage or a cat or a dog or a bird before.
the unobtrusive step onto an Even Baley himself, who had seen
Localway that would
escalating it a dozen times before, was not
move them to a higher level and immune to its fascination.
disappearance. was feeding time in the
It
Baley felt trapped. There were sparrow cage and an attendant
probably others waiting outside. was dumping cracked oats into
Baley and R. Daneel were to be a long trough. Human beings had
followed to a proper point and grown used to yeast substitutes,
the fuse would be set off. but animals, more conservative
R. Daneel said, "Why not ar- in their way, insisted on real
rest them?" grain.
"That would only start the The sparrows flocked down in
trouble sooner. You know their what seemed like hundreds.
faces, don't you?" Wing to with an ear-
wing,
"I am not capable of forget- splitting twitter, they lined the
ting." trough
"Then we'll nab them another That was it, the picture that
time. Follow me. Do exactly as came to Baley'smind as he look-
I do," ed back at the kitchen he was
He turned his dish care-
rose, leaving.Sparrows at the trough.
fully upside down, centering it The thought repelled him.
on the movable disc on which it He
thought: Jehoshaphat, there
had risen. He put his fork back must be a better way.
in its recess. R. Daneel, watching, But what better way? What
did the same. The dishes and was wrong with this way? It
utensils dropped out of sight. had never bothered him before.
R, Daneel said, "They are get- He said abruptly to R. Daneel
ting up, too." "Ready, Daneel?"
/'
THE CAVES OF STEEL 131
 "I am ready, Elijah." pressways themselves, and hurtle
They left the kitchen and bad form
off the other side. It is
escape was now flatly up to to avoid them completely and
Baley. also bad form to linger on them.
The attraction of the game is
rj^HERE is a game that young- not easy for an adult to under-
-* sters know "running
called stand, particularly for an adult
the strips." Its rules vary from who has never himself been a
City to City, but the essentials teen-age strip -runner. The play-
are eternal. Its object is to get ers are roughly treated by legiti-
from point A to point B via the mate travelers into whose path
City's rapid transit system in they find themselves inevitably
such a way that the "leader" flying. They are persecuted by
manages to lose as many of his the police and punished by their
followers as possible. A leader parents, denounced in the schools
who arrives atthe destination and on the sub-etherics. No year
alone is skillful indeed, as is a passed without four or five
its
follower who refuses to be shaken. teen-agers killed at the game; its
The game is usually conduct- dozens hurt; its cases of injured
ed during the evening rush-hour innocent bystanders.
when the increased flow of com- Yet nothing could be done to
muters makes it more hazardous wipe out the strip-running gangs.
and complicated. The leader sets The greater the danger, the more
off, running up and down the the strip -runners had that most
accelerating strips. He
does his valuable of all prizes, honor in
best to do the unexpected, stand- the eyes of their fellows. A
suc-
ing on a strip as long as possible, cessfulone might well swagger;
then leaping off suddenly in either a well-known leader was cock-
direction. He will run quickly of- the -walk,
through several strips, then re- Elijah Baley, for instance, re-
main waiting once more. membered with satisfaction even
Pity the follower who incau- now that he had been a strip-
tiously careens forward one strip runner once. He had led a gang
too far. Before he has caught his of twenty from the Concourse
mistake, unless he is extraor- Sector to the borders of Queens,
dinarily nimble, he has driven crossing three Expressways. In
past the leader or fallen behind. two tireless and relentless hours,
To increase the complexity of he had shaken off some of the
the task tenfold, a leader will most agile followers of the Bronx,
board the Localways or the Ex- and arrived at the destination

132 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

point alone. They had talked thrill and his breath grew more
about that run for months. rapid.
Baley hadn't run the strips for He had
forgot the one time he
over twenty years, but he remem- caught Ben at the game* He had
bered some of the tricks. What lectured him interminably and
he had lost in agility, he made threatened to have him* put un-
up in the fact that he was a der police surveillance.
policeman. No one but another Lightly, quickly, at double the
policeman as experienced as him- "safe" rate, he went up the
self could possibly know where strips. He leaned forward sharp-
almost every metal-bordered al- ly against the acceleration. The
ley began and ended. Local way was humming past.
For a moment, it looked as
TTE walked away from the though he would mount, but sud-
"" kitchen briskly, but not too denly he was fading backward,
rapidly. Each moment he expect- backward, dodging through the
ed the cry of "Robot! Robot!" crowd to left and right as it thick-
to ring out behind him. He count- ened on the slower strips.
ed the steps until he felt the fi/st He stopped and let himself be
accelerating strip moving under carried along at a mere fifteen
him. miles an hour,
He stopped- for a moment, "How many are with us, Dan-
while R. Daneel moved smoothly eel?"
up beside him* "Only one, Elijah." The robot
"Are they still behind us, was at his side, unruffled, un-
Daneel?" breathing,
"Yes. They are moving closer." "He must have been a good
"That won't last," said Baley one in his day, too, but he won't
confidently. He looked at the last either."
strips stretching to either side, He looked about quickly-
with their humancargo whipping Where were they now? B-22nd
to his left more and more rapid- Street flashed by.
ly as their distance from him in- He judged his steps carefully.
creased. He had felt the strips Up the strips, smoothly and
beneath his feet many times a a swing onto the Local-
steadily,
day almost all the days of his way platform and a quick wrig-
life,but he had not bent his gle to the other side.
knees in anticipation of running Off he went and down
the de-
them in seven thousand days and celerating strips in a complicated
more. He felt the old familiar pattern so that his feet met the

THE CAVES OF STEEL 133

 V-joint strips of an Expressway
at the exact point of cross-over.
Without rhythm, he was
loss of
accelerating again, then up and
over an Expressway.
"Is he with us, Daneel?"
"Not one in sight, Elijah:'
"Good. What a strip-runner
you would have been, Daneel!"
Off onto another Localway in
a whirl and down the strips with
a clatter to a doorway, large and
official in appearance. A guard
*
rose to his feet.
Baley flashed his identification.
"Official business."
They were inside.
"Power plant," said Baley
curtly. "This covers our tracks
completely."

OALEY had been in power

--* plants before, including this
one. Familiarity did not lessen
his feeling ofuncomfortable awe.
His father had held an important
job in such a plant before a
robot specialist replaced him.
There was the surrounding
hum of the tremendous genera-
tors hidden in the central well of
the plant; the faint sharpness of
ozone in the the grim and si-
air,

lent threat of the red lines that

marked the limits beyond which
no one could pass without pro-
tective clothing.
Somewhere in the plant Baley
had no idea just where a pound
of fissionable material was con-

134 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

sumed each day. Every so often, on his human companion. "You
the radioactive fission products, are my partner, Elijah. It is well
the so-called "hot ash" was that you know my weaknesses
forced by air pressure through and Shortcomings."
leaden pipes to distant caverns Baley cleared his throat and
ten miles out in the ocean and a had nothing more to add to the
half-mile below the ocean floor. subject.
Baley sometimes wondered what "Out in this direction," he said
would happen when the caverns a moment later, "and we're a
were filled. quarter of a mile from our apart-
He said to R. Daneel with sud- ment."
den gruffness, "Stay away from
the red lines." Then he added was a grim lower-class flat.

"But I suppose it
IT
sheepishly, One small room and two beds.
doesn't matter to you.'* Two fold-in chairs and a closet
"Is a question of radioactivi-
it A built-in sub-etheric screen that
ty?" asked Daneel. allowed no manual adjustment,
"Yes." and would be working only at
"Then it does matter to me. stated hours, but would be work-
Gamma radiation destroys the ing then. No wash-basin and no
delicate balance of a positronic facilities for cooking or even boil-
brain. It would affect me much ing water. A small trash -disposal
sooner than it would affect you." pipe was in one corner of the
"You mean it would kill you?" room, an ugly, unadorned, un-
"I would require a new posi- pleasantly functional object.
tronic brain. Since no two can Baley shrugged. "1 guess we
be alike, I would be a new in- can stand it."
dividual. The Daneel you now R. Daneel walked to the trash-
speak to would, in a manner of disposal pipe. His shirt unseamed
speaking, be dead." at a touch, revealing a smooth
Baley looked at the other and, to all appearances, well-
doubtfully. "I never knew that. muscled chest.
Up these ramps." "What are you doing?" asked
"The point isn't stressed. Baley.
Spacetown wishes to convince "Getting rid of the food I in-
Earthmen of the usefulness of gested. If I were to leave it, it

such as myself, not of our weak- would spoil and I would attract
nesses." displeasure."
"Then why tell me?" R. Daneel placed two fingers
R. Daneel turned his eyes full carefully under one nipple and

THf CAVES OF STEEL 135

\
 "

his chestopened longitudinally. the sharp scarlet sliver of the

He reached In and from a welter door signal.
of gleaming metal withdrew a
translucent sac, partly distended. BALEY rose silently to his feet
He opened it while Baley watch- and unlimbered his blaster.
ed with a kind of horror. The door signal flashed once
R, Daneel hesitated. He said, mort.
"The .food is completely un- He moved silently to the door,
changed. I do not salivate or put his thumb on the blaster
digest. It was drawn in through contact and threw the switch
the gullet by suction, you know. that activated the one-way trans-
It isas edible as if it were put parency patch. It was small and
through any other kind of ma- had a distorting effect, but it was
chine." good enough to show Baley's
4
Thaf s all right," said Baley youngster, Ben, outside the door.
gently. "You just get rid of it." Baley flung the door open,
R. Daneel's food sac was of snatched brutally at Ben's wrist
fluorocarbon plastic, Baley de- as the boy raised his hand to
cided. At least the food did not signal a third time and pulled
cling to it. It came out smoothly him in.
and was placed little by little The look and bewil-
of fright
into the pipe. A
waste of good derment faded only slowly from
food at that, he thought. Ben's eyes as he leaned breath-
He sat down on one bed and lessly against the wall toward
removed his shirt. He said, "I which he had been hurled. He
suggest an early start tomorrow." rubbed his wrist.
"For a specific reason?" "Dad!" he said. "You didn't
"The location of this apart- have to grab me like that."
ment isn't known to our friends Baley was staring through the
yet. At least, I hope not. If we view-patch of the closed door.
leave early, we are that much As nearly as he could tell, the
safer. Once in City Hall, we will corridorwas empty.
have to decide whether our part- "Did you see anyone out there,
nership is still practical." Ben?"
"You think perhaps not?"it is "No. Gee, dad, I just came to
Baley shrugged and said dour- see if you were all right."
ly, "We can't go through this sort "Why shouldn't I be all right?"
of thing every day," "I don't know. It was Mom.
"But it seems to me
She was crying and all like that.
R Daneel was interrupted by She said I had to find you. If I

136 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 "

didn't she said she would go her- understand, Daneel. Among us,
selfand then she didn't know it isnot customary for a man to
what would happen. She made send his young son into possible
me go, Dad," danger, even if it is logical to do
Baley said, "How did you find so."
me? Did your mother know "Danger!" squeaked Ben in a
11
where I was? sort of horrified pleasure. "What's
"No, she didn't. I called up going on, Dad? Huh, Dad?"
your office." "This isn't any of your busi-
"And they told you?" ness, understand? I want you in
Ben looked startled at his bed when I get back. You hear
father's vehemence. me?"
"Sure. Weren't they supposed "Aw, gosh. You
could tell a
to?" fellow. I won't say anything."
Baley and Daneel looked at "In bed!"
one another. "Aw, yeast!"
Baley rose heavily to his feet.
"Where's your mother now, Ben? HITCHING his jacket back,
At the apartment?" Baley stood at the floor
"No, we went to Grandma's for Cummuno, his blaster butt ready
dinner and stayed there. I'm for snatching. He spoke his per-
supposed to go back there now. sonal number into the mouthpiece
I mean as long as you're all right, and waited while a computer fif-
Dad," teen miles away checked it to
"You'll stay here. Daneel, did make sure the call was permis-
you notice the exact location of sible. It was a very short wait,
the floor Communo?" since a plainsclothesman had no
The robot said, "Yes. Do you limit on the number of his busi-
intend leaving the room to use ness calls. He spoke the code
it?" number of his mother-in-law's
T>.
I've got to* I have to get in apartment.
touch with Jessie." The small screen at the base
"Might I suggest that it would of the instrument lit up and her
be more logical to let Bentley face looked out at him.
do that? It is a form of risk and He said in a low voice, "Moth-
he is less valuable." put Jessie on,"
Baley stared: "Why, you er,

Jessiemust have been waiting

He thought: Jehoshaphat, what for him. She appeared at once.
am I getting angry about? He Baley looked at her face and then
went on more calmly, "You don't darkened the screen deliberately.

THE CAVES OF STSEt 137

 "All right, Jessie. Ben's here. ed, by the way, in the queer glass
Now what's the matter?" His Bentley wears close to his eyes, '

eyes roved from side to side com Do all Earthmen wear them?"
tinuously, watching. "Just some," said Baley ab-
"Are you all right? You aren't sently. "I don't, for instance."
in trouble?" "For what reason is it worn?"
. "I'm obviously all right, Jessie. Baley was too absorbed with
Now stop it" his own thoughts to answer. His
"Oh, Lije, I've been so wor- own uneasy thoughts.
ried." The were out, but Baley
lights
"What about?" remained wakeful. He was dimly
"You know. Your friend." aware of Ben's breathing as it
"There'll be no trouble. Vm grew dep and regular. When he
keeping Ben with me tonight and turned his head, he became con-
you go to bed. Good-by, dear." scious of R, Daneel, sitting in a
Hebroke the connection and chair with grave immobility, fac-
waited for two breaths before ing the door.
starting back. His face was gray Then he fell asleep. '">

with apprehension and fear. He dreamed was falling

Jessie \

Ben was standing in the middle into the fission chamber of a

room when Baley returned.
of the nuclear power plant. She held out
One of his contact lenses was her arms to him, shrieking, but
neatly pocketed in a little suc- he could only stand frozenly just
tion cup. The other was still in outside a scarlet line and watch
his eye. her distorted figure as it fell,
Ben "Gosh, Dad, isn't
said, growing smaller until it was only
there any water in the place? a dot.
Mr. Olivaw says I can't go to He could only watch her in
the Personal." the dream, knowing that it was
"You can't. Put that thing he himself who had pushed her.
back in your eye, Ben. It won't
hurt you to sleep with them for CHAPTER XII
one night."
"All right." Ben obeyed and P^LIJAH BALEY looked up as
climbed into bed. "Boy, what a " Commissioner Julius Ender-
mattress P by entered the office. He nodded
Baley said to R. Daneel, "I wearily.
suppose you won't mind sitting The Commissioner looked at
Up. the clock. "Don't tell me you've
"Of course not. I was interest- been here all night."

138 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 Baley said.
"I won't," to see you right now, Lije. He
The Commissioner asked in a says right now."
low voice, "Any trouble last "Jehoshaphat " said Baley an-
night?" grily. Tm
going. I'm going/' He
"No." got up from his desk, headed for
4(1>.
I've been thinking that I the office and R. Sammy was
might be minimizing the danger silent.
of riots. If there's anything to" Baley said as he entered,
"For God's sake, Commission- "Damn it, Commissioner, don't
er, if anything happened, I'd tell send that thing after me, will
you. There was no trouble of any you?"
sort." The Commissioner was tap-
"All right." The Commissioner ping the paper before him,
moved away, closing the door "There's a record of a call you
that marked off the unusual pri- made to a Dr Gerrigel at Wash-
f

' 1
vacy that went with his exalted ington by insulated beam,
position. "That's right."
Baley looked after him and "There's no record of the con-
thought: He slept last night. versation, naturally, since it was
Baley hadn't. He bent to the insulated. What's it all about?"
routine report he was trying to "I'm after background infor-
write as a cover-up for the real mation."
activities of the last two days, "He's a roboticist, isn't he?" .

but the words he had tapped out "Yes."

by finger-touch blurred and
danced. Slowly, he became aware
of an object standing by his desk.
It was R. Sammy. Baley
thought: Julius's private me-
chanical flunky. It pays to be a
Commissioner.
IJ, Sammy through his
said
fatuous grin "The Commissioner
f "What's your objection?"
wants to see you, Lije."
'He just saw me. Tell him Til
be in later."
"What's the point? What kind
of information are you after?"
'Tm not sure, Commissioner.
I just have a feeling that in a
case like this, information on
robots might help."
"I wouldn't Lijc I don't think
it's wise."
"The fewer tjie people ivho
know about all this, the better."
"I'll tell him as little as I can."

"He says right now." "I still don't think it's wise."
"I heard you. Go away." "Are you ordering me not to
The robot backed away, say- see him, Commissioner?"
ing, "The Commissioner wants "No, no! Do as you see fit.

THE CAVES OF STEEL 139

 ,;

You're heading this investigation * from that of the card as a whole.

Only-" The electric field passing through
11
"Only what? the card was therefore distorted {

The Commissioner shook his and, in response, the three -by -

head. "Nothing. Where is he? six screen above the decoder was
You know who I mean/' filled with words. Words which, \

"Dancers still at the files." uncoded, would have filled sev- >

The Commissioner paused a eral sheets standard report-

of ;

long moment. "We're not making paper. Words, furthermore, which

'

much progress, you know." could not possibly be interpreted

"We're not making any. That's without an official police decoder.
why Fin calling in Dr. Gerrigel." Baley read through the materi-
"All right," said the Commis- al stolidly. The first person was
sioner,but he didn't look as Francis Clousarr, age 33 at time
though he really thought it was of arrest two years before; cause
all right, of arrest, inciting em-
to riot;
ployee at New York Yeast; home ,

RDANEEL was at Daley's address; parentage; hair, eyes,]

# desk when the plainclothes- distinguishing marks, educational j
man returned. history, employment history, psy-.;j
"Well, and what have you choanalytic profile, physical pro-
got?" Baley asked gruffly, file, reference to tri- photo in the

"I have completed my first rogues' gallery.

rather hasty search through the "You checked the photo-
files, partner Elijah. I believe I graph?" asked Baley.
have located two people whose "Yes, Elijah." R. Daneel spoke
5
descriptions tally with two of patiently.
those who tried to track us last The second person was Ger-
night and who, moreover, were hard Paul. Baley glanced at the
at the shoe store during the for- material on that card and said,
1
mer incident/ "This is all no good."
"Let's see/' "I am sure that cannot be so.
R. Daneel placed the stamp- If there is an organization of
size cards before Baley. They Earthrnen capable of the crime
were mottled with the small dots we are investigating, these are
that served as code. The robot members. Should they not be
also produced a portable decoder questioned?"
and put one of the cards into a "We'd get nothing out of
slot. The dots possessed electrical them."
conduction properties different "They were there, both at the

140 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

shoe store and in the kitchen.
They cannot deny it."
"Just being there's no crime.
Besides which, they can say they
weren't there. How can
they're lying?"
"I saw them."
"That's no proof," said Baley
savagely. "No court, if
came to that, would believe that
you could remember two faces in
a blur of a million."
"It is obvious that / can."
"Sure. Tellthem what you are.
As soon as you do that, you're
no witness. Your kind have no
status in any court of law on
Earth."
R. Daneel said, "I
then, that you have changed your
mind."
"What do you mean?" Baley
scowled at him.
"Yesterday, in the kitchen, you
said there was no need to arrest
them. You said that as long as I
remembered their faces, we could
arrest them at any time."
"Well, I didn't think it
It can'tbe dorfe."
"Not even for psychological
reasons? They would not know
we had no legal proof of their
complicity in conspiracy."
Baley said tensely; "Look, I am
expecting Dr. Gerrigel of Wash-
ington in half an hour.
mind waiting till he's been here
and gone? Do you mind?"
"I will wait," said R. Daneel.
THE CAVES OF STEEL
ANTHONY GERRIGEL was
a precise and very polite
man of middle height, who look-
ed from being one of the most
far
we prove erudite roboticists on Earth. He
was nearly twenty minutes late
and quite apologetic about it.
Baley, white with an anger born
it ever of apprehension, shrugged off the
apologies gracelessly. He checked
his reservation on Conference
Room D, repeated his instruc-
tions that they were not to be
disturbed for an hour and led Dr.
Gerrigel and R. Daneel down the
corridor, up a ramp, and through
a. door that led to one of the
spy-beam-insulated chambers.
take it, Before sitting down, Baley lis-
tened to the soft burr of the
pulsometer in his hand, waiting
for any fading of the steady
sound which would indicate a
break, even a small one, in the
insulation. He turned it on the
ceiling, floor, and, with particu-
lar care, on the door. There was
no break.
through. Dr. Gerrigel smiled a little. He
looked like a man who never
smiled more than a little. He was
dressed with a neatness that could
only be described as fussy. His
iron-gray was smoothed
hair
carefully back and his face look-
ed pink and freshly washed. He
Do you sat with prim stiffness.
He said to Baley > "You make
this seem very formidable."
"It's important, Doctor. Any-
141
thing we say here, of course, is "Oh, I've done it before. Since
top secret and the City will ex- they built the Baltimore -Phila-
pect you to forget it all when you delphia tunnel, it's quite simple."
leave." Baley looked at his
Baley had never
watch.
The little smile on the roboti-
SOmade was.
it

the trip himself, but he

cist's winked away. "Let me
face was aware that it was possible.
explain why I am late." The mat- Washington, Baltimore, Phila-
ter obviously weighed upon him. delphia, and New York had
"I decided not to go by air. I get grown, in the last two centuries,
airsick." to the point where all nearly
, "That's too bad," said Baley. touched. The Four City Area was
He put away the pulsometer, almost the official name for the
after checking its standard set- entire stretch of coast and there
tings to make last -minute certain were a considerable number of
that there was nothing wrong people who favored administra-
with it, and sat down. tive consolidation and the for-
"Not exactly airsick, but ner- mation of a single super -City,
vous. A
mild agoraphobia. It*s Baley disagreed. New York City,
nothing particularly abnormal, by itself was almost too large to!
but it's there. So I took the Ex- be handled by a centralized gov-'
pressways." ernment. A larger City with over'
Baley felt a sudden sharp in- fifty million population would
terest. "Agoraphobia?" break down under its own weight.
"I make it sound worse than "The trouble was," Dr. Gerri-
it is,"the roboticist said at once. gel was saying, "that I missed a
"It's just the sensation you get connection in Chester Sector, 1

in a plane. Have you ever been Philadelphia, and lost time. That
in one, Mr. Baley?" and a little difficulty in getting a
"Several times." transient room assignment ended;
"Then you must know what I by making me late."
mean. It's that feeling of being "Don't worry about it, doctor.
surrounded by nothing; of being What you say, though, is inter-

separated from from empty air esting. In view of your dislike
by a mere inch of metal. It's very for planes, how would you feel
uncomfortable." about going outside City limits
"So you took the Expressway." on foot?"
"Yes." "For what reason?" He looked
"All the way from Washington startled.
to New York?" "I'm not suggesting that you

142 OALAXY SCIENCE FICTION


really should. I want to know
how the notion strikes you, that's
all."
"It strikes me very unpleas*
antly."
"Suppose you had to leave the
City at night and walk cross-
country for half a mile or more."
"I_I don't think I could be
persuaded to."
"No matter how important the
necessity?"
"If it were to save
those of my family, I might try
it." He looked embarrassed.
"May I ask the point of these
questions, Mr. Baley?"
"1*11 tell you. A serious crime
has been committed, a particular-
ly disturbing murder, I'm not at
liberty to give you the details.
There is a theory, however, that
the murderer, in order to commit
the crime, did just what we were
discussing
he crossed open
country at night and alone. I was
just wondering what kind of man
could do that."
Dr. Gerrigel shuddered. "No
one I know. Certainly not I. Of
course, among millions, I suppose
you could find a few such indi-
viduals."
"But you wouldn't say
a very likely thing for a
being to do."
"No. Not at all likely."
"In fact, if there's any other
explanation for the crime, any
other conceivable explanation, it
THE CAVES OF STEEL
"
should definitely be considered."
Dr. Gerrigel looked more un-
comfortable than ever as he sat
upright with his well-kept hands
precisely folded in his lap. "Do
you have an alternate explana-
tion in mind?"
"Yes. It occurs to me that a
robot, for instance, would have
no difficulty at all in crossing
open country."
my life or
DR. GERRIGEL stood up.
"Oh, my dear sir!"
"What's wrong?" asked Baley.
"You mean a robot may have
committed the crime?"
"Why not?"
"Murder? Of a human being?"
"Yes. Please sit down, Doctor."
"Mr. Baley, there are two acts
involved: walking cross-country
and murder. A human
being
could commit the murder, but
would find difficulty in crossing
open country. A robot could cross
open country easily, but the mur-
der would be completely impos-
sible. going to replace
If you're
an unlikely theory by% an impos-
sible one
"Impossible is a strong word."
"You've heard of the First Law
it was of Robotics, Mr. Baley?"
human "Sure. I can even quote it: A
robot may not injure a human
being, or, through inaction, allow
a human being to come to harm."
Baley suddenly pointed a finger
at the roboticist- "Why can't a
143

robot be built without the First
Law? What's so sacred about it?"
"If you even know a little
about robotics, you must know
the gigantic task involved, both
mathematically and electronical-
ly i in building a positronic brain."
"I have an idea," said Baley.
He remembered well his visit to a
robot factory once in line of duty.
He had seen the library of book-
films; long ones, each of which
contained the mathematical a-
nalysis of a single type of posi-
tronic brain. It took more than
an hour for the average film to be
viewed at standard scanning
speed, condensed though its
symbolisms were. And no two
brains were alike even when pre-
pared according to the most rigid
specifications. That, Baley under-
stood, was a consequence of
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Princi-
ple. This meant that each film
had to be supplemented by ap-
pendices involving possible varia-
tions.
It was a job, all right, Baley
wouldn't deny that.
Dr. Gerrigel said, "Well, then,
you must understand that a de-
sign for a new type of positronic
brain, even one where only minor
innovations are involved, is not
the matter of a night's work. It
usually requires the entire re-
search staff of a factory and takes
anywhere up to a year. Even this
would not be enough if it were
144
"
not that the basic theory of such
circuits has already been stand-
ardized. The basic theory in-
volves the Three Laws of Robot-
ics: the First Law, which you've
quoted; the Second Law, which
states 'A robot must obey the
orders given it by human beings
except where such orders would
conflict with the First Law,' and
the Third Law, which states 'A
robot must protect its own exist-
ence as long as such protection
does not conflict with the First or
Second Law/ Do you under-
stand?"
RDANEEL, who, to all ap-
pearances, had been follow-
ing the conversation with close
attention,broke in. "If you will
excuse me, Elijah, I would like
to see if I follow Dr. Gerrigel.
What you imply, sir, is that any
attempt to build a robot, the
workings of whose positronic
brain is not oriented about the
Three Laws, would require first
the setting up of a new basic
theory and that this, in turn,
would take many years."
The roboticist looked grati-
fied. "That is exactly what I
mean, Mr.
Baley said, "This is Daneel
Olivaw, Dr. Gerrigel"
"Good day, Mr. Olivaw." Dr.
Gerrigel shook Daneel's hand. He
went on, "It is my estimation that
it would take fifty years to de-
GALAXY SCIENCE MCTIO
velop the basic theory of a non- "And a robot with a First Law
Asenion positronic brain that built in could not kill a man."
is, one which the basic assump-
in "Never, Unless the killings
tions of the Three Laws are dis- were completely accidental or
allowedand bring it to the unless it were necessary to save
point where robots similar to the lives of two or more men. In
modern models could be con- either case, the positronic conflict
structed." would ruin the brain beyond re-
"And has never been
this covery."
done?" asked Baley. "We've been "All this represents the situa-
building robots for thousands of tion on Earth. Right?"
years. In all that time, hasn't "Yes. Certainly,"
anybody or any group had fifty "What about the Outer
years to spare?" Worlds?" Baley demanded.
"Certainly," said the roboti-
cist, "but it is not the sort of
SOME ofsDr. Gerrigel's self-
work a roboticist would care to assurance seemed to ooze
do." away. "Oh, dear, Mr. Baley, I
"I find that hard to believe. couldn't say of my own knowl-
Human curiosity will undertake edge, but I'm sure that if non-
anything." Asenion positronic brains were
"It hasn't undertaken the non- ever designed or if the mathe-
Asenion robot. The human race, matical theory were worked out,
Mr. Baley, has a strong Franken- we'd hear of it."
stein complex." "Would we? Well, let me fol-
"A what?" low up another thought in my
"That's a popular name de- mind, Dr. Gerrigel. I hope you
rived from a Medieval novel de- don't mind."
scribing a robot that turned "No. Not at all." He looked
against' its creator. I never read helplessly first at Baley, then at
the novel myself. However, that's R. Daneel. "After all, if it is as
beside the point. What I wish to important as you say, I'm glad
say is that robots without the to do all I can."
First Law are simply not built." "Thank you, Doctor. My ques-
"And no theory for it even ex- tion is, why humanoid robots?
ists?" I've been taking them for granted
"Not to my knowledge, and all my life, but it occurs to me
my knowledge" he smiled self- that I don't know the reason for
consciously
a
"is rather exten- their existence. Why should a
sive. robot look like a man?"

THE CAVES OF STEEL 145

 Dr. Gerrigel smiled a little. technology is based on the hu-
"The early literature of robotics man form. An automobile, for
is riddled with heated arguments instance, has controls meant to
over that very matter. If. you be manipulated by human kands
would like a very good reference and feet of a certain average size
to the polemics among the func- and shape, attached to the body
tionalists and antifunctionalists, by limbs of a certain average
I can recommend Hanford's His- length and jointsof a certain
tory of Robotics- Mathematics is type. Even simple objects like
kept to a minimum. I think you'd chairs and tables or knives and
find it very interesting/* forks are designed to meet such
"I'll look it up," said Baley requirements. It is easier to have
patiently. "Meanwhile, could you robots imitate the human shape
give me an idea?" than to redesign radically so
"The decision was made on the much of our civilization."
basis of economics. Look here, "That makes sense. Now isn't

Mr. Baley, if you were supervis- it true, Doctor, that the roboti-
ing a farm, would you care to cists of the Outer World manu-
buy a tractor, a reaper, a harrow, facture robots that are much
a milker, an automobile, and so more humanoid than our own?"
on, each with a positronic brain; "I believe so."
or would you rather have ordin- "Could they manufacture a ro-
ary un-brained machinery with bot so humanoid that it would
a single positronic robot to run pass as human under ordinary
them all? The second alternative, conditions?"
incidentally, only a
represents
fiftieth or a hundredth the ex- TAR. GERRIGEL lifted his
pense." *-* eyebrows and considered
"But why the human form?" that. "It would be terribly ex-
Baley persisted, pensive, I doubt that the return
'Because it is the most success- could be profitable enough to
ful generalized form in all nature. make the attempt worth the ef-
We are not a specialized animal, fort/'
Mr. Baley, except for our ner- "Do you suppose," went on
vous systems and a few odd Baley remorselessly, "that they
items. If you want a design ca- could make a robot that would
pable of doing a great many dif- fool you into thinking it was hu-
ferent things, you could do no man?"
better than to imitate the human The roboticist tittered. "Oh,
form. Besides that, our entire my dear Mr. Baley. I doubt that.

146 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION


Really. There's more to a robot
than just his appear"
Dr. Gerrigel froze in the mid-
dle of the word. Slowly, he turn-
ed to R. Daneel, and his pink
face went very pale.
"Dear met" he whispered. "Oh,
dear me!"
He reached out one hand and
touched R. Daneel's cheek gin-
gerly. R. Daneel did not move
away, but gazed at the roboticist
calmly,
"Dear me," said Dr. Gerrigel,
with what was almost a sob in his
voice, "you are a robot."
"It took you a long time to
realize that," said Baley drily.
"I wasn't expecting it. I never
saw one like this. Outer World
manufacture?"
"Yes."
"It's obvious now. The Way he
holds himself. The manner of his
speaking. It is not a perfect imi-
tation, Mr. Baley,"
"It's pretty good, though, isn't
it?"
"Oh, it's marvelous. I doubt
that anyone could recognize the
imposture at sight. I am very
grateful to you for having me
brought face to face with him.
May I exatnine him?" The ro-
boticist was on his feet, eager,
Baley put out a hand. "Please,
Doctor. In a moment. First, the
matter of the murder, you know."
"Is that real, then?" Dr. Gem-
gel was bitterly disappointed and
THE CAVES Of STIIt
" !
showed it. "I thought perhaps
that was just a trick to keep my
mind engaged and to see how
long Icould be fooled by
"It is not a trick, Dr. Gerrigel.
Tell me now, in constructing a
robot as humanoid as this one,
with the deliberate purpose of
having it pass as human, is it not
necessary to make its brain pos-
sess properties as close to those
of the human brain as possible?"
"Certainly."
"Very Couldn't such a
well.
humanoid brain lack the First
Law? Perhaps it is left out acci-
dentally. You say the theory is
unknown. The very fact that it
is unknown means that the con-
structors might set up a brain
without the First Law. ThejP
would not know what to avoid."
GERRIGEL was shaking his'
head vigorously. "Oh, no
Impossible! A robot without the
First Law? It can't be done!"
"Are you sure? We can test
the Second Law, of course. Dan-
eel, let me have your blaster,"
Baley's eyes never left the ro-
bot. His own fist, well to one side,
gripped his own blaster tightly.
R, Daneel said calmly, "Here
it is, Elijah," and held it out,
butt-first,
Baley said, "A plainclothes-
man must never abandon his
blaster* A robot has ho choice
1
but to obey a human/
147
 "Except, Mr. Baley," said Dr. view, held its barrel firmly in
Gerrigel, "when obedience in- the robot's direction.
volves breaking the First Law." "In your food sac, Daneel!"
"Do you know, Doctor, that
Daneel drew his blaster on an CHAPTER XIII
unarmed group of men and wo-
men and threatened to shoot?" THE roboticist, whose glance
"But I did not shoot," R. E>an- had been alternating wildly
eel stated. between the plainclothesman and
"Granted, but the threat was the robot, let it come to rest upon
unusual in itself, wasn't it, Doc- the human being.
tor?" "What is all this?"he bleated.
Dr. Gerrigel bit his lip. "I'd "I've asked you here for an au-
need to know the exact circum- thoritative analysis of this robot,"
stances to judge. It does sound said Baley. "I can arrange to
unusual, I admit." have you use the laboratories of
"Consider this, then. R. Daneel the City Bureau of Standards. If
was on the scene at the time of you need any piece of equipment
the murder, and if you omit the they don't have, I'll get it for
possibility of an Earthman hav- you. What I want is a quick and
ing moved across open country, definite answer, and hang the
carrying weapon with him,
a expense and trouble."
only Daneel of all the persons on Dr. Gerrigel tittered nervously
the scene could have hidden the and said, "My dear Mr. Baley,
weapon." I won't need a laboratory."
"Hidden the weapon?" asked "Why not?" asked Baley ap-
Dr. Gerrigel. "I don't follow prehensively, muscles tense.
you." "It's not difficult to test the

"Let me explain. The scene of First Law. I've never had to, but
the murder was searched minute- it's simple enough."
ly and the blaster that did the Baley pulled through his
air in
killing was not found. Yet 'it mouth and let it out slowly. "Are
could not have vanished like you saying that you can test him
smoke. There is only one place here?"
it could have been; only one place "Yes, of course. If I were a
they would not have thought to Doctor of Medicine and had to
look." test a patient's blood sugar,
"Where, Elijah?" asked R. measure his basal metabolic
Daneel. rate, his cortical function, or
Baley brought his blaster into check his genes to pinpoint a

148 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

congenital malfunction, I'd need
elaborate equipment. On the
other hand, I could learn if he
was blind by merely passing my
hand before his eyes and test
whether he was dead by feeling
for his pulse.
"What I'm getting at is
the more important and funda-
mental the property being tested,
the simpler the needed equip-
ment. It's the same in a robot.
The First Law is fundamental.
It affects everything. If it were
absent, the robot could not react
properly in at least two dozen
obvious ways."
As he spoke, he took out a
THE CAVES OF STEEL
flat,black object which expanded
into a small book-viewer. He in-
serted a well-worn spool into the
receptacle. He then took out a
stopwatch and a series of white
plastic slivers that fitted together
to form something that looked
that like a slide-rule with three inde-
pendent movable scales. The no-
tations upon it struck no chord
of familiarity to Baley.
Dr. Gerrigel tapped his book-
viewer and smiled a little, as
though the prospect of a bit of
field work cheered him.
He said, "It's my Handbook of
Robotics. I never go anywhere
without it. It's like part of me."
149
 ?

He put the eyepiece of the and to say, "Would you touch

viewer to his eyes and his finger the tip of my middle finger with
dealt delicately with the controls. the tip of the third finger of your
The viewer whirred and stopped, left hand?"
whirred and stopped. Daneel did that promptly and
"Built-in index," the roboti- easily.
cist said proudly, his voice muf- In fifteen minutes, Dr. Gerri-
fled because the viewer covered gel was finished. He used his
his mouth* "I constructed it my- slide-rule for a last silent calcu-
self. It saves a great deal of lation, then disassembled it with
time. But that's not the point a series of snaps. He put away
now, is it? Let's see. Umm> won't his stopwatch, withdrew the
you move your chair near me, Handbook from the viewer and
Daneel?" collapsed the machine.
R. Daneel did so. During the "Is that all?" said Baley,
he had
roboticist's preparations, frowning.
watched closely and unemotion- "That's all."
ally. "But it's ridiculous. You've
Baley shifted his blaster to asked nothing that pertains to the
keep aiming at the robot. FirstLaw."
"Mr. Baley, when a doctor hits

WHAT followed confused and your knee with a little rubber

mallet, don't you accept the fact
disappointed him. Dr. Ger-
rigel proceeded to ask questions that it gives information con-
and perform actions that seemed cerning the presence or absence
without meaning, punctuated by of some degenerative nerve dis-
references to his triple slide-rule ease? When he looks closely at
and occasionally to the viewer your eyes and considers the re-
itself.
action of your iris to light, are
At one time, he asked, "If I you surprised that he can tell you
have two cousins, five years about your possible addiction to
apart in age, and the younger is the use of certain alkaloids?"
a girl, what sex it the older w Baley said, "Well, what's your
Daneel answered, "It is im- decision?"
possible to say on the informa- "Daneel is fully equipped with
tion given." the First Law!" The roboticist
Dr. Gerrigel's only response, jerked his head in a sharp affirm-
aside from a glance at his stop- ative.
watch, was to extend his right "You can't be right," said
hand as far as he could sideways Baley flatly.

150 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 "Are you teaching me my job?" said Baley. "R, Daneel did point
The little smile had turned to an a blaster at a crowd of human be-
indignant glare. ings. I was there. Granted that
"I don't mean you're incom- he didn't shoot, wouldn't the
petent," said Baley. He put out First Law still have forced him
a pleading hand. "But
large, into a kind of neurosis? It didn't,
couldn't you be mistaken? You've you know. He was perfectly
said yourself nobody knows any- normal afterward/'
thing about the theory of non- The roboticist put a hesitant
Asenion robots. A blind man hand to his chin. "That is anoma-
could read by using Braille or a lous/'
sound -scriber. Couldn't you, in "Not at all/' said R. Daneel
all honesty, say that a man had suddenly. "Partner Elijah, would
eyes because he knew the con- you look at the blaster that you
tents of a certain book-film, and took from me?"
be mistaken?" Baley looked down upon the
blaster he held cradled in his left
JT1HE grew genial
roboticist hand.
* again. "I see your point. But "Break open the charge cham-
a blind man
could not read ber," urged R- Daneel. "Inspect
by use of his eyes and that is it/'

what I was testing, if I may use Baley weighed his chances,

the analogy. Take my word for then slowly put his own blaster
it, regardless of what a non- on the table beside him. With a
Asenion robot could or could not quick movement, he opened the
do, it is certain that R. Daneel is robot's blaster.
equipped with the First Law." empty," he said blankly.
"It's
"Couldn't he have falsified his "There is no charge in it,"
answers?" agreed R. Daneel. "If you will
"A human brain, or any mam- look closer, you will see that the
malian brain, cannot be complete- blaster has no ignition-bud and
ly analyzed by any mathematical cannot be used."
discipline now known. The robot Baley said, "You held an un-
brain is completely analyzable, charged blaster on the crowd?"
or it could not be constructed. "I had to have a blaster or fail
We know
exactly what the re- in my role as plainclothesman,"
sponses to given stimuli must be. said R. Daneel, "yet to carry a
Therefore, no robot can falsify charged and usable blaster might
answers/' have made it possible for me to
"Then let's get down to cases," hurt a human being by accident,

THE CAVES OF STEEL 1S1

a thing which is, of course, un- he would not listen. If he heard
thinkable. It did not occur to me them, he couldn't help but an-
to explain that to a detective be- swer them and he didn't want to
cause I thought it was obvious. face the answers.
I still believe it is." "Lije! Lije!" A hand shook
Baley stared bleakly at the Haley's shoulder roughly.
useless blaster in his hand and Baley stirred and said, "What's
said in a low voice, "I think that's up, Phil?"
all, Dr. GerrigeL Thank you for Philip Norfis, Plainclothesman
your help/' C-5, sat down, put his hands on
his knees and leaned forward,
"DALEY sent out for lunch, but peering at Baley's face. "What
U when it came (yeast-nut cake happened to you? Been living on
arid a rather extravagant slice of knockout drops lately? You were
fried chicken on cracker) he sitting there with your eyes open
could only stare at it. and near as I could make out,
Round and round went the cur- you were dead."
rents of his mind. The immediate He rubbed his thinning, pale
past stretched behind him like a blond hair, and his close-set eyes
misty improbable dream, dating appraised Baley's cooling lunch
back to the moment he had step- greedily. "Chicken!" he said. "It's
ped into Julius Enderby's office getting so you can't get it without
and found himself suddenly im- a doctor's prescription."
mersed in a nightmare of murder "Take some" offered Baley
and robotics. listlessly.

Jehoshaphat, it had begun only Decorum won out and Norris

fifty hours before!
Persistently, he had sought the
solution in Space town. Twice he
had accused R. Daneel, once of
being a human being in disguise,
and once as an admitted and
actual robot; each time as a mur-
said, "Oh, well, I'm going out to
eat in a minute. Say, what's do-
ing with the Commish?"
"What?"
Norris attempted a casual at-
titude, but his hands were rest-
less. "You know what I mean.
x

derer. Twice the accusation had
been broken.
Against his will, he was being
forced to turn his suspicions to
the City, and since last night he
dared not. Certain questions bat-
tered at his conscious mind, but
You've been living with him ever
since he got back. What's up? A
promotion in the works?"
Baley frowned and felt reality
return somewhat at the touch of
office politics. Norris had approx-
imately his own seniority and he

152 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION


was bound to watch assiduously
for any sign of official preference.
Baley said, "No promotion.
And if it's the Commissioner
you're wanting, I wish I could
give him to you!"
"Don't get tne wrong, Lije. I
don't care if you get promoted.
I just mean that if you've got
any pull with the Commtsh, how
about using 't for the kid?"
Baley didn't have to ask what
kid. Vincent Barrett, the young-
ster who had been moved out of
his job to make room for R.
Sammy, was shuffling up from
an unnoticed corner of the room.
A skull-cap turned uncomfort-
ably in his hands and the skin
over his high cheek-bones creased
as he tried to smile,
"Hello, Mr. Baley."
"Oh, hello, Vince. How're you
doing?"
"Not so good, Mr. Baley,"
^TINCE was looking about hun-
* grily. Baley thought: He
looks lost, half -deaddeclassi-
fied.
Then, savagely, his lips almost
twisting with the force of his
emotion, he thought: But what
does he want from me?
He said, "Fin sorry, kid." What
else was there to say?
"I keep thinking," said the boy.
"Maybe something has come up,"
Norris moved close and spoke
into Baley's ear. "Someone's got
THE CAVES OF STEEL
;
to stop this! They're going to
push out Chenlow now,"
"What?"
"Haven't you heard?"
"No, I haven't. Damn it, he's
a C-3. He's got ten years behind
him."
"I know. But a machine with
tegs can do his work* Who's
next, now?"
Young Vince Barrett was ob-
livious to the whispers. He said
out of the depths of his own
thinking, "Mr. Baley?"
"Yes, Vince?"
"You know what they say?
They say Lyrane Millane, the
dancer, is really a robot."
"That's silly."
They say they can make
"Is it?
robots look j ust like humans
give them a special plastic skin,
sort of,"
Baley thought guiltily of R.
Daneel and found no words. He
shook his head.
The boy said, "Do you suppose
anyone will mind if I just walk
around? It makes me feel better
to see the old place."
"Go ahead, kid "
The youngster wandered off.
Baley and Norris watched him
go.
Norris said, "Maybe the Medi-
evalists are right. The hell with
robots. Old Earth has a better
future without them."
Baley muttered, "Eight billion
people and the uranium run-
153
ning out! What's better about always available for use, while
it?" the ocean bottoms would repre-
"What if the uranium does run sent more land for exploitation;
out? We'll import it. Or we'll more room to live. Even carbon
discover other nuclear processes. and oxygen could be maintained
We can use sun power and that's and increased on Earth through
good for billions of years. We utilization of methane at-
the
can build space stations inside mosphere of Titan and the frozen
Mercury's orbit to act as energy oxygen of Umbriel.
accumulators. We'll transmit en- Earth's population could reach
ergy to Earth by direct beam." a trillion or two. Why not? There
This project was not new ^o was a time when the current
Baley. The speculative fringe of population of eight billion would
science had been playing with it have been considered impossible*
for a hundred and fifty years at Even a population of a single
least- What was holding it up billion would have been unthink-
was the impossibility, so far, of able a couple of thousand years
projecting a beam tight enough ago. There had always been
to reach so many million miles prophets of Malthusian doom in
without total dissipation. Baley every generation since Medieval
said as much. days and they had always been
Norris argued, "When it's nec- proven wrong.
essary, it'll be done." What would Fastolfe say? A
world of a trillion? Surely! But
BALEY thought of an Earth they would be dependent on im-
of unlimited energy. Popula- ported air and water and an
tion could continue to increase; energy supply from complicated
the yeast farms could expand; storehouses millions of miles
hydroponic culture intensify. En- away. Earth would be, and re-
ergy was the only thing needed. main, staring over the edge of
The raw could be
minerals disaster if any single part of the
brought in from the uninhabited program failed. Disruption for
rocks of the System. If ever water only one hour would be catas-
became a bottleneck, more could trophic now. What wouldbe it

be brought in from the moons of then? A minute? A second? Less?

Jupiter. For that matter, the Baley said, "I think it would
oceans could be frozen and be easier to ship off some of the
dragged out into space where they surplus population." It was more
could circle Earth as moonlets an answer to the picture he had
of ice. There they would be, conjured up than to anything

154 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

Norris had just been saying. That was precisely what Baley
"Who'd have us?" said Norris longed to do but he rose and
7

with bitter lightness. led the way into Enderby's office.

"Any uninhabited planet.*' The robot said, "Partner Eli-
Norris rose, patted Baley on jah, since last night, you are not
the shoulder. "Lije, you eat your yourself. There is a definite al-
chicken, and recover. You inmt teration in your mental aura."
be living on knockout pills/' A horrible thought sprang into
Baley watched him leave with Daley's mind. "Are you tele-
a humorless twist to his mouth. pathic?" -
Norris would spread the news "No, of course not," said R.
and it would be weeks before Daneel.
the office comedians would lay Haley's panic ebbed. "Then
off. But at least it got him off what the devil do you mean
the subject of young Vince, or about my mental aura?"
robots, or declassification. "It is difficult to explain. You
He sighed as he put a fork into will recall that I was originally
the now-cold and somewhat designed to study human psy-
soggy chicken. chology for our people back in
Spacetown."
A S Baley finished the last of "I know. You were adjusted to
** the yeast-nut, R. Daneel left detective work by the simple in-
his own desk (assigned him that stallation ofa justice -desire cir-
morning) and approached. cuit." Baley did not try to keep
Baley eyed him uncomfortably. the sarcasm out of his voice,
"Well?" "Exactly, Elijah. But my orig-
R. Daneel said, "The Commis- inal design remains essentially
sioner is not in his office and it unaltered. I was constructed for
is not known when he'll be back. the purpose of cerebroanalysis."
I've told R. Sammy we will use "For analyzing brain waves?"
itand that he was to allow no ''Why, yes. It can be done by
one but the Commissioner to en- field-measurements without the
ter." necessity of direct electrode con-
"What are we going to use it proper receiver exists.
tact, if the
for?" My mind is such a receiver. Is
"Greater privacy, I'm sure you that principle not applied on
agree that we must plan our next Earth?"
move. After alit you do not in- Baley didn't know. He ignored
tend to abandon the investiga- the question and said cautiously,
tion, do you?" "If you measure the bra in- waves,

THE CAVES OF STEEL 15 5

.
what do you get out of it?"
"Not thoughts, Elijah. I get a
glimpse of emotion and, most of
all, I can analyze temperament,
the underlying drives and atti-
tudes* of a man. For instance, it
was I who was able to ascertain
that Commissioner Enderby was
incapable of killing a man under
the circumstances ofthe time of
the murder."
"And they eliminated him
suspect on your say-so."
"It was safeenough to do so.
I am a very delicate machine in
that respect."
Again a thought struck Baley.
"Wait! Commissioner Enderby
didn't know he was being cere-
broanalyzed, did he?"
"There was no need to hurt his
feelings."
"I mean you just stood there
and looked at him. No electrodes.
No needles and graphs."
"Certainly not. I am a self-
contained unit."
Baley bit his lower lip in anger
and chagrin. It had been the one
remaining inconsistency, the one
loophole through which a last
stab might be made to pin the
crime on Spacetown.
RDANEEL had stated that
the Commissioner had been
cereb reanalyzed. One hour later,
the Commissioner himself had>
with apparent candor, denied any
knowledge of the term. Certainly
15*
no man could have undergone the
shattering experience of electro-
encephalographic measurements
by electrode and graph under the
suspicion of murder without an
unmistakable impression of what
cerebroanalysis must be.
But now that discrepancy had
evaporated. The Commissioner
had been cerebroanalyzed and
had never known it. R. Daneel
as a told the truth; so had the Com-
missioner.
"Well," said Baley sharply,
"what does cerebroanalysis tell
you about me?"
"You are disturbed."
"That's a great discovery, isn't
it? You're damn right I'm dis-
turbed."
"Specifically, though, your dis-
turbance is due to a clash be-
tween motivations within you. On
the one hand, your devotion to
the principles of your profession
urges you to look deeply into this
conspiracy of Earthmen who lay
siege to us last night. Another
motivation, equally strong, forces
you in the opposite direction.
This much is apparent in the
electric field of your cerebral
cells."
"My cerebral cells, yeasr!"
snapped Baley. "Look, I'll tell
you why there's no point in in-
vestigating your so-called con-
spiracy. It has nothing to do with
the murder. I thought it might
have. I'll admit that. Yesterday,
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
 in the kitchen, I thought
in danger. But what happened?
They followed us out, were quick-
ly lost on the strips and that was
that. That was not the action of
well-organized and desperatemen.
"My own son found out where
we were staying easily enough.
He Department He
called the
didn't even have to identify him-
self. Our alleged conspirators
could have done the same if they
had really wanted to get us."
we were not accept your statements at
face value."
"What do you mean?"
"Your conversion to this view
is too sudden. There are certain
discrepancies, too. You arranged
the appointment with Dr. Ger-
rigel hours before the evening
meal. You did not know of my
food sac then and could not have
suspected me as the murderer.
Why did you call him?"
"I suspected you even then."

/
"Didn't they?" "And last night you talked in
"Obviously not. If they had your sleep."
wanted riots, they could have
started one at the shoe counter, BALEY'S eyes widened. "What
and yet they backed out tamely did say?"
I
enough before one man and a "Merely the one word 'Jessie*
blaster. One robot, and a blaster several times. I believe you were
which they must have known you referring to your wife."
would be unable to fire* They're Baley let his tight muscles
Medievalists, harmless crackpots. loosen. He said shakily, "I had a
You wouldn't know that, but I nightmare. Do you know what
should have/ And I would have, that is?"
if it weren't for the fact that this "I do not know by personal
whole business ha* me thinking experience, of course. The dic-
in idiotic melodramatic terms. tionary definition is that it is a
l tell you I know the type
i(
bad dream."
of people that become Medieval- "And do you know what a
ists. They're people who find life dream is?"
too hard for them here and get "Again, the dictionary defini-
lost in an ideal world of the past tion only. It is an illusion of
that never really existed. If you reality experienced during the
could cerebroanalyze a move- temporary suspension of con-
ment as you do an individual, you scious thought which you call
would find they are no more ca- sleep."
pable of murder than Julius En- "Sometimes the illusions can
derby himself." seem damned real. Well, I dream-
R. Daneel said slowly, "I can- ed my wife was in danger. I

THE CAVES OF STEEl 157


called her name. That happens.
You can take my word for it."
"I am only too glad to do so.
But it brings up a thought. How
did Jessie find out I was a robot?"
B a ley's forehead went moist
again. "We're not going into that
again, are we? The rumor
"I am sorry to interrupt, part-
ner Elijah, but there no rumor.
is
If there were, the City would be
alive with unrest today. I
checked reports coming into the
Department and there simply is
no rumor. Therefore, how did
your wife find out?"
" Jehoshaphat What are you
! Jessie
trying to say? Do you think my
wife is one of the members of
of this"
"I do, Elijah."
Baley gripped his hands
gether tightly, "Well, she isn't,
and we won't discuss that point
any further,"
"This not like you, Elijah.
is
In the course of duty, you ac-
cused me of murder twice."
"And is this your way
ting even?"
"I am not sure I understand
what you mean by the phrase. I
approve your readiness to suspect
me. You had your reasons. They
were wrong, but they might have
been right. Equally strong evi-
dence points to your wife."
"As a murderess? Jessie
wouldn't hurt her worst enemy.
She couldn't set foot outside the
158
"
City. She couldn't Why, if you
were flesh and blood, I'd M
merely say that she is a
"I
member of the conspiracy. I say
that she should be questioned."
"Not on whatever it is you call
your life. Now listen to me. The
Medievalists aren't after our
blood. It's not the way they do
things. But they are trying to get
you out of the City. And they're
have trying to do it by a kind of psy-
chological attack. They're trying
to make life unpleasant for you
and for me, since I'm with you.
They could easily have found out
was my and it was
wife,
an obvious move for them to let
the news leak to her. She's like
any other human being. She
doesn't like robots. She wouldn't
to- want me to associate with one,
especially she thought it in-
if
volved danger, and surely they
would imply that. I tell you it
worked. She begged all night to
have me abandon the case or to
get you out of the City some-
of get- how."
"Presumably," said R- Daneel,
"you have a very strong urge to
protect your wife against ques-
tioning. It seems obvious to me
that you are constructing this line
of argument without really be-
lieving it."
"What the hell do you think
you are?" yelled Baley. "You're
not a detective! You're a cere-
broanalysis machine like the elec-
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
 "

troencephalographs we have in could only mean that she felt that

this building!You've got arms,
legs, a head and can talk, but
you're not one inch more than
that machine Putting a lousy cir-
! sie, that would not be the case,
cuit into you doesn't make you a
detective, so you keep your
mouth shut and let me do the
figuring out!"
.The robot said quietly, think
it would be better if you lowered
your voice, Elijah. Granted that
I am not a detective in the sense
that you are, I would
tp bring one small item to your
attention."
"I'm not interested."
"If I am wrong, you
me so, and do np harm.
it will
It is only this. Last night you
left our room to call Jessie by
corridor phone. I suggested that
your son go in your place. You
told me it was not the custom
among Earthmen for a father to
send his son into danger. Is
custom for a mother to do so?"
"No, of cour " began Baley,
and stopped.
"You see my point " said R.
Daneel. "Ordinarily, if Jessie
feared for your safety and wished
to warn you, she would risk her
own not send her son. The
life,
fact that she did send Bentlejf
CONCLUDED NEXT MONTH
he would be safe while she herself
would not. If the conspiracy con-
sisted of people unknown to Jes-
or at least she would have no
reason to think it to be the case*
On the other hand, if she were a
member of the conspiracy, she
**%
would know she would know,
Elijah that she would be watch-
ed for and recognized whereas
Bentley might get through un-
still like noticed."
"Wait now," said Baley, sick
at heart. "That's feather-fine
reasoning, but
will tell The signalon the Commission-
er's desk started flickering mad-
ly.R. Daneel waited for Baley to
answer, but the man could only
stare at it helplessly. The robot
closed contact,
"What is it?"
R. Sammy's slurring voice
it the said, "There a lady here who
is
wishes to see Lije. I told her he
wf busy, but she will not go
away. She says her name is
Jessie."
"Let her in " said R. Daneel
calmly, and his brown eyes rose
unemotionally to meet the pan-
icky glare of Baley's.
ISAAC ASIMOV

THE CAVES OF STEEL 159

 Best Reading Time for a Dime
THE WHOLE FAMILY WILL ENJOY IT!

# Fiction by America's top writers

Health articles by
leading authorities

Sold only at your druggist

and coils only

160 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

 .

^ Top
m

(Continveafrom Bo<k Covr)

WI5T OF THE SUN- frttdwciip-

Science- fiction Thrillers

t*
* - *-_

WjP*
Send No Money Mail
l fj tf

Postcard
tluii on 1*nrk cover. Imagine Any of thiwe full-size, full-
'A

THI ASTOUNDING 5C1INCI- Iciiftth new S^tonee-Fioticn Books

FICTION ANTHOLOGY-
Mure thim a xrort! of t>ot tales
from a dozen years i>f Astound In*
Hclence- Fiction Magazine.
OMNIBUS OF SCIENCE FICTION
43 top storle* o* start hmr In-
verttjoiw ... of vMUors from Outer
tfnace ... of Far Traveling
Adventure In Dimeivwion
Worlds of Tomorrow.
THf MIXED MEN, by A.
Vogt ONE of the million plan-
ets In space Is Inhabits!. Your Job
ta to find out *riV6 one and eon*
tact these "humans" Hut they're
ready with every trick In inter-
stellar science to STOP ViMJI
PLAYER PIANO, by Kurt
Von ne gut,
Jr* -
In the
Kleetroiilev, machine* Ha-t-reritthtity.
And when one man
rebels,
conducted by ... a
his trial
machine?
ia
THE LONG LOUD
SILENCE, by
Wilson Tucker You are a
"contaminated" from a black
pJMue bomb, ami Healed off from
civilization
trapped in
lire netr society?
yours for only 81. A J7.UU to $9.00 valuel
Wo make this amaziiiR offer to introduce
you to the new .Srwin'C-Ki^itm Book Club.
This Club bring** you the cream of the
now .Hrience-fiction masterpieces for only
. .
SI. 00 (plus few cents shipping charges)
. . . even though they cost 82, 30, 834)8 and up
firt2 pases. in the original publishers' editions!
V Van
No t)v0S or Complicated fcoles
Each month our Editors select the No, 1
title from all the new science-fiction booki. But
you take only the hooka you want aa few
as four a yrar. Yon receive descriptions of each
selretion in advance, and you may reject any
Ace of
hook you please. No dues, no fees.
even
T&kft advantage of this amazing offer now!
Just friffk any 3 hooks you want at only $1
for alt three! Von need send no money simply
mail postcard below. This offer may havn to
be withdrawn at any time, so mail poflteard
Do at.
a primt- now to 5eS*nt*-Fctiori Book
riirjit
CAt-1 1, Garden tiff, M. T.
Club,

WHICH 3 D0 Y0U WANT p o R 0NLY $ 1?

5CISHCI-FICTION BOOK CLUB
B*pt GAL-l i, Garden City, New Yrlr
t

Please rush me tlie 5 books I have checked below, ha toy ift IkkiKn ami nrst selection. You
will bill mo only SI (pjua few centaahlppliiK charK0 for all three, arul miroll me as k member of
die Helence-Flctlon Pooh Hub. Kvisry month Mend me the < lub'Hfree bulletin, "Tiittwt to rome,"
nc that 1 may deckle whether or nut I wWi to receive the coming monthly selection described
therein. For each liook 1 accept. 1 ulll pay only $1 plus a tew cents shipping charge. 1 do not have
to take a book every month <imly Tour UuHiik each year 1 am a inemiwr) and 1 may resign at
any time after accepting four .selections.

D ANTHOLOGY OF SCIENCE FICTION OMNIBUS OF SCIENCE FICTION

MAIL THIS D THE LONG, LOUD SILENCE D PLAYER PIANO
POSTCARD MEN
U THE MIXED D WEST OF THE SUN
AT ONCE
FECIAL NO-RISK GUARANTEE?
am.] this membership
i; no\
will be cancelled!
delights, T may mum aU booka ha 7 daya, pay nothing
NO
POSTAGE
Nurae
NEEDED {Please Print)

Addrefi

City Zone. . fltaw

Selection mice in Canada $2.10 pins ehippine. Address 100 Bond a*., Toronio t. (Good Only in
U.S. artiCAhadal
 ,* #;
"***mm&? :

"
YOURSELF
MAGINE
:":

'/Ifff^J**^"^
IMAGIKE yourself one of this .small Iwiud of And there enough oxygen? What will you
is
2 1st Century earth scientists four . . . eat and drink? Which of the four men will
men and two girls . , "shipwrecked" on an be the fathers of the two girls' children'.'
unknown planet HUiom of mites from ttatlh! You'll thrill to every page of this daring
Your rocket ship has hurtled through Might oflmuglnation! Yet "WEST OF THE
space for ELEVEN YEARS! Then the ship SUN" is only ONEof the exciting hooks
EXPLODES destroying almost ALL of
. . .
offered to new members of the SCIENCE-
your precious supplies. You are stranded in EIOTION BOOK CLUB Read about the
a strange new world. others on the Inside cover. then PICK
. .

Around you are hundreds of small two- ANY 3 FOR ONLY SI on this great offer!
legged creatures
each carrying a barbed
SPEAR I Hovering over the meadow are
nt bat-like creatures with horrible wolf-
tn-ads. ready to tear you limb from limit!

BUSINESS REPLY CARD

No Postage Stamp Necessary if Mailed in the United Stoles

At POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY

SCIENCE-FICTION BOOK CLUB, Depl. GAL-11

Tear Out and
Mail Postcard
GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK forYour 3
Books

See Otner Side

 .

Please enter Special Gift Subscriptions

to the following, and send gift card announcement.

NfliM J.LIJ. . __ .J . I L II..., Offer No. Prlc

FIRST FOLD IN
-,. . -rat
AcWrtii
<

v Stale

1 -

Nro Offer Ho. Price

iruiri>rji.. n>.. r m jjjii.

Addrtst

ity State ...

I
Noma. . Offer No. Pric*

Address ***"I"B"IB

1
1 1
1 1 1 1 - 1 1 1, i i ii.i i*i.fiiitiitii L"M1 V * * *J

ty Stole ..

I
Nonne. Offer No. Price

I I I W L

AdJ res$

Cit, State

I Offar No.
Name... Price

Address

QIk ... Stat e.

FIHST FOLO IN

I
r^ome .. Offer No. rice

AtU ress

ify State

Total
a
c
 If^^HlU

,j;
fe :

'ft^:

GALAXY PUBLISHING CORP,

l HUDSON HUB

NEW WR H Y.