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diff --git a/22875.txt b/22875.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..baf5a59 --- /dev/null +++ b/22875.txt @@ -0,0 +1,718 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Circus, by Alan Edward Nourse + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Circus + +Author: Alan Edward Nourse + +Release Date: October 3, 2007 [EBook #22875] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CIRCUS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _The Counterfeit Man More Science + Fiction Stories by Alan E. Nourse_ published in 1963. Extensive + research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on + this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical + errors have been corrected without note. + + + + +Circus + + + + +"Just suppose," said Morgan, "that I _did_ believe you. Just for +argument." He glanced up at the man across the restaurant table. "Where +would we go from here?" + +The man shifted uneasily in his seat. He was silent, staring down at his +plate. Not a strange-looking man, Morgan thought. Rather ordinary, in +fact. A plain face, nose a little too long, fingers a little too dainty, +a suit that doesn't quite seem to fit, but all in all, a perfectly +ordinary looking man. + +Maybe _too_ ordinary, Morgan thought. + +Finally the man looked up. His eyes were dark, with a hunted look in +their depths that chilled Morgan a little. "Where do we go? I don't +know. I've tried to think it out, and I get nowhere. But you've _got_ to +believe me, Morgan. I'm lost, I mean it. If I can't get help, I don't +know where it's going to end." + +"I'll tell you where it's going to end," said Morgan. "It's going to end +in a hospital. A mental hospital. They'll lock you up and they'll lose +the key somewhere." He poured himself another cup of coffee and sipped +it, scalding hot. "And that," he added, "will be that." + + * * * * * + +The place was dark and almost empty. Overhead, a rotary fan swished +patiently. The man across from Morgan ran a hand through his dark hair. +"There must be some other way," he said. "There has to be." + +"All right, let's start from the beginning again," Morgan said. "Maybe +we can pin something down a little better. You say your name is +Parks--right?" + +The man nodded. "Jefferson Haldeman Parks, if that helps any. Haldeman +was my mother's maiden name." + +"All right. And you got into town on Friday--right?" + +Parks nodded. + +"Fine. Now go through the whole story again. What happened first?" + +The man thought for a minute. "As I said, first there was a fall. About +twenty feet. I didn't break any bones, but I was shaken up and limping. +The fall was near the highway going to the George Washington Bridge. I +got over to the highway and tried to flag down a ride." + +"How did you feel? I mean, was there anything strange that you noticed?" + +"_Strange!_" Parks' eyes widened. "I--I was speechless. At first I +hadn't noticed too much--I was concerned with the fall, and whether I +was hurt or not. I didn't really think about much else until I hobbled +up to that highway and saw those cars coming. Then I could hardly +believe my eyes. I thought I was crazy. But a car stopped and asked me +if I was going into the city, and I knew I wasn't crazy." + +Morgan's mouth took a grim line. "You understood the language?" + +"Oh, yes. I don't see how I could have, but I did. We talked all the way +into New York--nothing very important, but we understood each other. His +speech had an odd sound, but--" + +Morgan nodded. "I know, I noticed. What did you do when you got to New +York?" + +"Well, obviously, I needed money. I had gold coin. There had been no way +of knowing if it would be useful, but I'd taken it on chance. I tried to +use it at a newsstand first, and the man wouldn't touch it. Asked me if +I thought I was the U.S. Treasury or something. When he saw that I was +serious, he sent me to a money lender, a hock shop, I think he called +it. So I found a place--" + +"Let me see the coins." + +Parks dropped two small gold discs on the table. They were perfectly +smooth and perfectly round, tapered by wear to a thin blunt edge. There +was no design on them, and no printing. Morgan looked up at the man +sharply. "What did you get for these?" + +Parks shrugged. "Too little, I suspect. Two dollars for the small one, +five for the larger." + +"You should have gone to a bank." + +"I know that now. I didn't then. Naturally, I assumed that with +everything else so similar, principles of business would also be +similar." + +Morgan sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Well, then what?" + +Parks poured some more coffee. His face was very pale, Morgan thought, +and his hands trembled as he raised the cup to his lips. Fright? Maybe. +Hard to tell. The man put down the cup and rubbed his forehead with the +back of his hand. "First, I went to the mayor's office," he said. "I +kept trying to think what anyone at home would do in my place. That +seemed a good bet. I asked a policeman where it was, and then I went +there." + +"But you didn't get to see him." + +"No. I saw a secretary. She said the mayor was in conference, and that I +would have to have an appointment. She let me speak to another man, one +of the mayor's assistants." + +"And you told him?" + +"No. I wanted to see the mayor himself. I thought that was the best +thing to do. I waited for a couple of hours, until another assistant +came along and told me flatly that the mayor wouldn't see me unless I +stated my business first." He drew in a deep breath. "So I stated it. +And then I was gently but firmly ushered back into the street again." + +"They didn't believe you," said Morgan. + +"Not for a minute. They laughed in my face." + +Morgan nodded. "I'm beginning to get the pattern. So what did you do +next?" + +"Next I tried the police. I got the same treatment there, only they +weren't so gentle. They wouldn't listen either. They muttered something +about cranks and their crazy notions, and when they asked me where I +lived, they thought I was--what did they call it?--a wise guy! Told me +to get out and not come back with any more wild stories." + +"I see," said Morgan. + +Jefferson Parks finished his last bite of pie and pushed the plate away. +"By then I didn't know quite what to do. I'd been prepared for almost +anything excepting this. It was frightening. I tried to rationalize it, +and then I quit trying. It wasn't that I attracted attention, or +anything like that, quite the contrary. Nobody even looked at me, unless +I said something to them. I began to look for things that were +_different_, things that I could show them, and say, see, this proves +that I'm telling the truth, look at it--" He looked up helplessly. + +"And what did you find?" + +"Nothing. Oh, little things, insignificant little things. Your +calendars, for instance. Naturally, I couldn't understand your frame of +reference. And the coinage, you stamp your coins; we don't. And +cigarettes. We don't have any such thing as tobacco." The man gave a +short laugh. "And your house dogs! We have little animals that look more +like rabbits than poodles. But there was nothing any more significant +than that. Absolutely nothing." + +"Except yourself," Morgan said. + +"Ah, yes. I thought that over carefully. I looked for differences, +obvious ones. I couldn't find any. You can see that, just looking at me. +So I searched for more subtle things. Skin texture, fingerprints, bone +structure, body proportion. I still couldn't find anything. Then I went +to a doctor." + +Morgan's eyebrows lifted. "Good," he said. + +Parks shrugged tiredly. "Not really. He examined me. He practically took +me apart. I carefully refrained from saying anything about who I was or +where I came from; just said I wanted a complete physical examination, +and let him go to it. He was thorough, and when he finished he patted me +on the back and said, 'Parks, you've got nothing to worry about. You're +as fine, strapping a specimen of a healthy human being as I've ever +seen.' And that was that." Parks laughed bitterly. "I guess I was +supposed to be happy with the verdict, and instead I was ready to knock +him down. It was idiotic, it defied reason, it was infuriating." + +Morgan nodded sourly. "Because you're not a human being," he said. + +"That's right. I'm not a human being at all." + + * * * * * + +"How did you happen to pick this planet, or this sun?" Morgan asked +curiously. "There must have been a million others to choose from." + +Parks unbuttoned his collar and rubbed his stubbled chin unhappily. "I +didn't make the choice. Neither did anyone else. Travel by warp is a +little different from travel by the rocket you fiction writers make so +much of. With a rocket vehicle you pick your destination, make your +calculations, and off you go. The warp is blind flying, strictly blind. +We send an unmanned scanner ahead. It probes around more or less +hit-or-miss until it locates something, somewhere, that looks habitable. +When it spots a likely looking place, we keep a tight beam on it and +send through a manned scout." He grinned sourly. "Like me. If it looks +good to the scout, he signals back, and they leave the warp anchored for +a sort of permanent gateway until we can get a transport beam built. But +we can't control the directional and dimensional scope of the warp. +There are an infinity of ways it can go, until we have a guide beam +transmitting from the other side. Then we can just scan a segment of +space with the warp, and the scanner picks up the beam." + +He shook his head wearily. "We're new at it, Morgan. We've only tried a +few dozen runs. We're not too far ahead of you in technology. We've been +using rocket vehicles just like yours for over a century. That's fine +for a solar system, but it's not much good for the stars. When the warp +principle was discovered, it looked like the answer. But something went +wrong, the scanner picked up this planet, and I was coming through, and +then something blew. Next thing I knew I was falling. When I tried to +make contact again, the scanner was gone!" + +"And you found things here the same as back home," said Morgan. + +"The same! Your planet and mine are practically twins. Similar cities, +similar technology, everything. The people are the same, with precisely +the same anatomy and physiology, the same sort of laws, the same +institutions, even compatible languages. Can't you see the importance of +it? This planet is on the other side of the universe from mine, with the +first intelligent life we've yet encountered anywhere. But when I try to +tell your people that I'm a native of another star system, _they won't +believe me_!" + +"Why should they?" asked Morgan. "You look like a human being. You talk +like one. You eat like one. You act like one. What you're asking them to +believe is utterly incredible." + +"_But it's true._" + +Morgan shrugged. "So it's true. I won't argue with you. But as I asked +before, even if I _did_ believe you, what do you expect _me_ to do about +it? Why pick _me_, of all the people you've seen?" + +There was a desperate light in Parks' eyes. "I was tired, tired of being +laughed at, tired of having people looking at me as though I'd lost my +wits when I tried to tell them the truth. You were here, you were alone, +so I started talking. And then I found out you wrote stories." He looked +up eagerly. "I've got to get back, Morgan, somehow. My life is there, +my family. And think what it would mean to both of our worlds--contact +with another intelligent race! Combine our knowledges, our technologies, +and we could explore the galaxy!" + +He leaned forward, his thin face intense. "I need money and I need help. +I know some of the mathematics of the warp principle, know some of the +design, some of the power and wiring principles. You have engineers +here, technologists, physicists. They could fill in what I don't know +and build a guide beam. But they won't do it if they don't believe me. +Your government won't listen to me, they won't appropriate any money." + +"Of course they won't. They've got a war or two on their hands, they +have public welfare, and atomic bombs, and rockets to the moon to sink +their money into." Morgan stared at the man. "But what can _I_ do?" + +"You can _write_! That's what you can do. You can tell the world about +me, you can tell exactly what has happened. I know how public interest +can be aroused in my world. It must be the same in yours." + +Morgan didn't move. He just stared. "How many people have you talked +to?" he asked. + +"A dozen, a hundred, maybe a thousand." + +"And how many believed you?" + +"None." + +"You mean _nobody_ would believe you?" + +"_Not one soul._ Until I talked to you." + +And then Morgan was laughing, laughing bitterly, tears rolling down his +cheeks. "And I'm the one man who couldn't help you if my life depended +on it," he gasped. + +"You believe me?" + +Morgan nodded sadly. "I believe you. Yes. I think your warp brought you +through to a parallel universe of your own planet, not to another star, +but I think you're telling the truth." + +"Then you _can_ help me." + +"I'm afraid not." + +"Why not?" + +"Because I'd be worse than no help at all." + +Jefferson Parks gripped the table, his knuckles white. "Why?" he cried +hoarsely. "If you believe me, why can't you help me?" + +Morgan pointed to the magazine lying on the table. "I write, yes," he +said sadly. "Ever read stories like this before?" + +Parks picked up the magazine, glanced at the bright cover. "I barely +looked at it." + +"You should look more closely. I have a story in this issue. The readers +thought it was very interesting," Morgan grinned. "Go ahead, look at +it." + +The stranger from the stars leafed through the magazine, stopped at a +page that carried Roger Morgan's name. His eyes caught the first +paragraph and he turned white. He set the magazine down with a trembling +hand. "I see," he said, and the life was gone out of his voice. He +spread the pages viciously, read the lines again. + +The paragraph said: + + "Just suppose," said Martin, "that I _did_ believe you. Just for + argument." He glanced up at the man across the table. "Where do we + go from here?" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Circus, by Alan Edward Nourse + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CIRCUS *** + +***** This file should be named 22875.txt or 22875.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/8/7/22875/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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