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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24792-h.zip b/24792-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..af3c9b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/24792-h.zip diff --git a/24792-h/24792-h.htm b/24792-h/24792-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0425f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/24792-h/24792-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,899 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Alternate Plan, by Gerry Maddren + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1,h2 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + hr {width: 45%; margin: 1em auto; clear: both; visibility: hidden;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .trans1 {border: solid 1px; margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: justify;} + p.cap:first-letter {float: left; margin-right: .05em; padding-top: .05em; font-size: 300%; line-height: .8em;} + .dcap {text-transform: uppercase;} + .tease {margin: 3em auto; padding: 1em; font-style: italic; width: 25em; border-top: solid 2px; border-bottom: solid 2px; word-spacing: .3em;} + .theend {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 2em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Alternate Plan, by Gerry Maddren + +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: The Alternate Plan + +Author: Gerry Maddren + +Release Date: March 9, 2008 [EBook #24792] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ALTERNATE PLAN *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1><big>THE ALTERNATE PLAN</big></h1> + +<h2>By GERRY MADDREN</h2> + +<p class="tease">The operation was a very serious one and Bart Neely +was willing to put himself into Dr. Morton's hands. +But if things turned out badly, Bart was going to +teach them a lesson. He was going to refuse to die.</p> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Bart Neely</span> was fighting +the hypo. They'd slipped +that over on him. Now he had to +struggle to keep his brain ready +for plan B. The alternate plan. +He nodded feebly at his reflection +in the mirror over the white +enamel dresser. This throat-trouble +wasn't going to lick him. +He lay back on the cool white +pillow. Medical men always +thought theirs was the final answer; +well, psychologists like +himself knew there was a broader +view of man than the anatomical. +There was a vast region +of energy at man's disposal; +the switch to turn it on, located +in the brain.</p> + +<p>Rubber-soled shoes squished +across the bare floor as Dr. +Jonas Morton came into Bart's +room. His hair was hidden by a +sterile cap, his arms bare to well +above the elbows.</p> + +<p>Looks like a damned butcher, +thought Bart.</p> + +<p>"Bart, I want you to reconsider +the anesthetic. I think you +ought to be out for this one, +completely out." The doctor's +voice became a shade less professional. +"I don't tell you how +to run your perception experiments, +I think you ought to let +me judge what's best in the surgical +area."</p> + +<p>"No," Bart whispered hoarsely. +It was hell squeezing the +words out. Lifting his voice these +days was harder than lifting a +half-ton truck. "Must be conscious, +able to decide." Jonas +had to lean down to catch all the +words. "Not going to let you +take my voice while I'm unconscious +... helpless ..."</p> + +<p>Dr. Morton shook his head. +"You're the boss."</p> + +<p>"How soon?"</p> + +<p>"Twenty minutes." The professional +tone became pronounced +again. "Your wife's outside +waiting to see you. Don't get +emotional, I don't want your +endocrine system in an uproar." +The doctor stepped out into the +corridor.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Emotional. He mustn't think +about it. He might weaken, consent +to linger on, an invalid, just +to be with Vivian a few extra +years. Extra years of indignities +calculated to twist the man-woman +relationship into an ugly +distortion. How romantic it +would be, he and Vivian locked +in an embrace, the silky softness +of her hair falling across his +arm, the pressure of her fingers +on his back. And then, instead of +placing his mouth against her +ear and whispering the familiar +intimacies, he would switch on +the light, disengage himself so +that he could whip out a pad +and pencil and ...</p> + +<p>His heart +skipped at the sound pattern of +high heels on the corridor. Vivian, +Vivian. Her perfume pricked +his senses and it took effort to +shut out the emotional response. +"Remember the need for an +alternate plan," he reminded himself +fiercely and then looked up +into his wife's clear green eyes. +Without a word she bent down +and lay her face next to his. He +was struck with the warmth of +her. He gently pushed her head +away. "Vi." (My Lord, his eyes +were wet ... what a schoolboy +performance!) "Vi, you know I +don't want to go on here ... if +radical surgery is necessary. I +want you to remember me as a +whole man, not a ... dummy."</p> + +<p>"Bart, oh Bart." There was a +frown of apprehension on her +forehead. She sighed heavily +and whispered, "Can it make so +much difference when I love you +Bart?"</p> + +<p>"But don't you see, Vi? It may +not be Bart Neely they wheel +back here after the operation." +He motioned for her to bend +closer for the sound of his voice +was becoming weaker. "In my +field I've seen a lot of crazy reactions +to loss of basic ability. +Personality reversals brought +about by loss of hearing, impotency, +or even the inability to +bear a child." He stroked the +back of her hand with his finger. +"Bart Neely without a voice-box +might be a stranger. I'm not +sure you'd like him. I don't think +I'd even like him."</p> + +<p>An intern backed into the +room followed by a gurney. Bart +shot a look at Vi. "This is plan +A."</p> + +<p>Vi's eyebrows arched in a +question.</p> + +<p>"Exploration and ..." he paused; +the nurse tucked a dark gray +blanket all around him. He raised +his thin white hand and crossed +two fingers ... "and we hope, a +negative biopsy."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>There was no pain. Whatever +the anesthetist had worked out +was doing nicely. The overhead +light, however, was giving him +a headache and the operating +room was damned cold. Jonas +and Holsclaw weren't talking +much, and what they did say +wasn't loud enough for Bart to +get. He studied their faces. "I'll +know by their faces," he assured +himself, "and if it's widespread +malignancy I'll proceed with +plan B."</p> + +<p>The sweat was heavy on Jonas' +forehead. The sterile mask hid +his nose and mouth, but his eyes, +behind the lenses of his glasses, +looked moist and tired. The surgeon's +gloved fingers manipulated, +probed, cut. Finally, he turned +to a waiting nurse.</p> + +<p>"Get this analyzed right +away." That was it, the tissue +... was it cancerous or not? +The atmosphere grew heavy. +Bart watched the second hand +on the large wall-clock swing +slowly around its perimeter, and +then around again and again. +The nurse reentered and spoke +softly to the doctor. The two +doctors whispered, explaining to +each other with hand motions +what they were going to do.</p> + +<p>This is it. Bart was certain. +Well, he'd fool the hell out of the +know-it-all doctors. He closed his +eyes and thought. The years he +had spent sharpening his perception, +his ability to transfer +his thoughts, were just the +groundwork for this greatest experiment +of all. He had transferred +thought waves in all +forms to all corners of this world +with the highest percentage of +accuracy. Now Plan B, the alternate +plan, was to transfer himself! +He was willing himself out +of his own body. He could feel +the perspiration trickle down his +arms with the effort. It had to +work. He had to cheat them out +of their mutilation. No, he +couldn't fail. He strained against +the confines of his body, burdening +his brain with thought, and +suddenly he was free. Bart wanted +to shriek with laughter. He'd +outwitted them. There stood +gray-faced Jonas working over +that shell, not even realizing that +it was an empty body. It was like +a television play or something; +everyone clustered around a poor +stiff on the operating table, repeating +the litany of the saw-bones. +"Scalpel ... sponge ... +clamps ..."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Bart mentally chuckled and +fluttered himself upwards; above +the square-shaped hospital with +its rows of tiny windows. Beyond +the polluted air of the city. +Up and up, until there was nothing +to look back on. Nothing.</p> + +<p>Now Bart perceived something +ahead. It appeared to be a body +of land. It looked marvelously +appealing, dark greens, bright +yellows, and all the shades in between. +He hurried forward, eager +to explore what lay ahead. +But as he drew closer, becoming +more excited over its possibilities, +he struck a cold hard surface +which repelled him. It was +like glass and through it Bart +could see a poorly defined figure +some distance away. Bart was +intrigued. This was a mental +barrier thrown up by the fellow +on the other side. Well, he'd give +the guy some competition. Bart +concentrated on cracking the +wall, building a visual picture of +the break-through in his mind.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>"It's useless. You can't enter +here."</p> + +<p>"Why do you oppose me?" +Bart tested the unseen wall, but +found no weakness in its structure.</p> + +<p>"We don't care for your sort."</p> + +<p>"Is that so. And how have you +classified me?"</p> + +<p>"As a coward. A suicide. A +man of meager resources."</p> + +<p>"I'm nothing of the kind. In +the first place, I did not commit +suicide." Bart wished he could +kick at the invisible wall. "I willed +myself away from an imperfect +shell. I severed the mind +from the body."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because I had cancer of the +larynx, and I'd never have been +able to talk again. I'd be less +than a man."</p> + +<p>"You are less than a man +now." There was a long period of +no exchange. Bart decided he had +not made himself clear. "I didn't +want to live without being able +to communicate with other men +and women."</p> + +<p>"Communicate. Communicate. +There are a million ways to +communicate. Michelangelo communicated, +Bach, Beethoven, yes, +Elvis Presley communicates. +Hemingway, Martha Graham, +actors, dancers, even a baby +communicates!"</p> + +<p>"But speech ..."</p> + +<p>"Speech is the least dependable +method of all. Few people +can explain their love, their pain, +their innermost feelings in +words. And often a man speaks +his thoughts, and having spoken +them, finds he really thinks the +opposite. No, this is second-rate +expression and my opinion of you +has not been altered by your +feeble argument."</p> + +<p>The other fellow's thoughts +came over the wall, pounding +against Bart's sub-conscious. +"You consider yourself a man of +great intelligence," it went on, +"but your lack of imagination +makes you less than mediocre. +And as for your mind-power, +well, you see you cannot cross +my mental barrier."</p> + +<p>"That's not entirely conclusive. +There may be a catalyst here in +this area which works in conjunction +with your thought-processes +and not mine. You're +familiar with conditions here, +while I only know the earth."</p> + +<p>"You are hardly a challenge +to me. However, to satisfy you +that you have practically no control, +let us make a test on your +home ground."</p> + +<p>"All right. You propose the +test."</p> + +<p>"Let us see ... if you can re-enter +your former body while I +am willing you to stay here, on +the other side of that wall."</p> + +<p>"Ahah. You're trying to trick +me."</p> + +<p>"I knew before I proposed my +plan you would make exactly that +excuse in order to escape my +challenge. Even in excuses you +lacked imagination."</p> + +<p>"Okay, it's a deal." Bart was +mad. "Start concentrating. I'll +show you the power of my mind, +both now and after I resume +that shell." Bart was furious. He +tried to leave the place by the +wall. He seemed stuck. There +were waves like laughter vibrating +against the glass. Bart +strained and saw that he had +come away a little. He tried +again and again. There was a +little more distance gained. He +tried to build the picture of the +operating-room in his mind and +while he was doing this a flash +of Vivian exploded his mind. +With that quick image, he felt +himself free to drift downward.</p> + +<p>There indeed was the hospital. +Bart hurried to the operating-room, +hovering near the ceiling +light, watching the operating +team below.</p> + +<p>"He's gone, doctor." The anesthetist +looked at Jonas. "Respiration's +stopped altogether."</p> + +<p><i>No</i>, thought Bart. <i>Don't close +me out now.</i></p> + +<p>"Let's open the chest and massage +the heart."</p> + +<p><i>Yes. Yes.</i></p> + +<p>"I think it's futile, doctor."</p> + +<p>"We can try."</p> + +<p><i>Good old Jonas.</i> Bart floated +to the table and forced +himself into the shell which lay +white and unmoving under the +penetrating light from above. It +wasn't easy, Bart tried to move +the heavy hand, but it was quite +numb.</p> + +<p>"Not a thing. Might as well +quit."</p> + +<p><i>Holsclaw's in a hurry. Damn +him.</i></p> + +<p>"I'll massage a little longer."</p> + +<p>Bart pushed at the leaden eyelid. +No go. <i>Come on, come on.</i> +He felt a convulsive chill, a +throbbing in his head.</p> + +<p>"I'm getting a pulse." Jonas' +voice was excited.</p> + +<p>Bart knew there was a searing +pain in his throat, but shutting +it out of his consciousness was +the steady, thumping beat of his +own heart.</p> + +<p class="theend">THE END</p> + +<div class="trans1"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b><br /> +This etext was produced from <i>Amazing Science Fiction Stories</i> September +1958. 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.</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Alternate Plan, by Gerry Maddren + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ALTERNATE PLAN *** + +***** This file should be named 24792-h.htm or 24792-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/9/24792/ + +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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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: The Alternate Plan + +Author: Gerry Maddren + +Release Date: March 9, 2008 [EBook #24792] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ALTERNATE PLAN *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +THE ALTERNATE PLAN + +By GERRY MADDREN + + + _The operation was a very serious one and Bart Neely + was willing to put himself into Dr. Morton's hands. + But if things turned out badly, Bart was going to + teach them a lesson. He was going to refuse to die._ + + +Bart Neely was fighting the hypo. They'd slipped that over on him. Now +he had to struggle to keep his brain ready for plan B. The alternate +plan. He nodded feebly at his reflection in the mirror over the white +enamel dresser. This throat-trouble wasn't going to lick him. He lay +back on the cool white pillow. Medical men always thought theirs was the +final answer; well, psychologists like himself knew there was a broader +view of man than the anatomical. There was a vast region of energy at +man's disposal; the switch to turn it on, located in the brain. + +Rubber-soled shoes squished across the bare floor as Dr. Jonas Morton +came into Bart's room. His hair was hidden by a sterile cap, his arms +bare to well above the elbows. + +Looks like a damned butcher, thought Bart. + +"Bart, I want you to reconsider the anesthetic. I think you ought to be +out for this one, completely out." The doctor's voice became a shade +less professional. "I don't tell you how to run your perception +experiments, I think you ought to let me judge what's best in the +surgical area." + +"No," Bart whispered hoarsely. It was hell squeezing the words out. +Lifting his voice these days was harder than lifting a half-ton truck. +"Must be conscious, able to decide." Jonas had to lean down to catch all +the words. "Not going to let you take my voice while I'm unconscious ... +helpless ..." + +Dr. Morton shook his head. "You're the boss." + +"How soon?" + +"Twenty minutes." The professional tone became pronounced again. "Your +wife's outside waiting to see you. Don't get emotional, I don't want +your endocrine system in an uproar." The doctor stepped out into the +corridor. + + * * * * * + +Emotional. He mustn't think about it. He might weaken, consent to linger +on, an invalid, just to be with Vivian a few extra years. Extra years of +indignities calculated to twist the man-woman relationship into an ugly +distortion. How romantic it would be, he and Vivian locked in an +embrace, the silky softness of her hair falling across his arm, the +pressure of her fingers on his back. And then, instead of placing his +mouth against her ear and whispering the familiar intimacies, he would +switch on the light, disengage himself so that he could whip out a pad +and pencil and ... + +His heart skipped at the sound pattern of high heels on the corridor. +Vivian, Vivian. Her perfume pricked his senses and it took effort to +shut out the emotional response. "Remember the need for an alternate +plan," he reminded himself fiercely and then looked up into his wife's +clear green eyes. Without a word she bent down and lay her face next to +his. He was struck with the warmth of her. He gently pushed her head +away. "Vi." (My Lord, his eyes were wet ... what a schoolboy +performance!) "Vi, you know I don't want to go on here ... if radical +surgery is necessary. I want you to remember me as a whole man, not +a ... dummy." + +"Bart, oh Bart." There was a frown of apprehension on her forehead. She +sighed heavily and whispered, "Can it make so much difference when I +love you Bart?" + +"But don't you see, Vi? It may not be Bart Neely they wheel back here +after the operation." He motioned for her to bend closer for the sound +of his voice was becoming weaker. "In my field I've seen a lot of crazy +reactions to loss of basic ability. Personality reversals brought about +by loss of hearing, impotency, or even the inability to bear a child." +He stroked the back of her hand with his finger. "Bart Neely without a +voice-box might be a stranger. I'm not sure you'd like him. I don't +think I'd even like him." + +An intern backed into the room followed by a gurney. Bart shot a look at +Vi. "This is plan A." + +Vi's eyebrows arched in a question. + +"Exploration and ..." he paused; the nurse tucked a dark gray blanket +all around him. He raised his thin white hand and crossed two fingers ... +"and we hope, a negative biopsy." + + * * * * * + +There was no pain. Whatever the anesthetist had worked out was doing +nicely. The overhead light, however, was giving him a headache and the +operating room was damned cold. Jonas and Holsclaw weren't talking +much, and what they did say wasn't loud enough for Bart to get. He +studied their faces. "I'll know by their faces," he assured himself, +"and if it's widespread malignancy I'll proceed with plan B." + +The sweat was heavy on Jonas' forehead. The sterile mask hid his nose +and mouth, but his eyes, behind the lenses of his glasses, looked moist +and tired. The surgeon's gloved fingers manipulated, probed, cut. +Finally, he turned to a waiting nurse. + +"Get this analyzed right away." That was it, the tissue ... was it +cancerous or not? The atmosphere grew heavy. Bart watched the second +hand on the large wall-clock swing slowly around its perimeter, and then +around again and again. The nurse reentered and spoke softly to the +doctor. The two doctors whispered, explaining to each other with hand +motions what they were going to do. + +This is it. Bart was certain. Well, he'd fool the hell out of the +know-it-all doctors. He closed his eyes and thought. The years he had +spent sharpening his perception, his ability to transfer his thoughts, +were just the groundwork for this greatest experiment of all. He had +transferred thought waves in all forms to all corners of this world with +the highest percentage of accuracy. Now Plan B, the alternate plan, was +to transfer himself! He was willing himself out of his own body. He +could feel the perspiration trickle down his arms with the effort. It +had to work. He had to cheat them out of their mutilation. No, he +couldn't fail. He strained against the confines of his body, burdening +his brain with thought, and suddenly he was free. Bart wanted to shriek +with laughter. He'd outwitted them. There stood gray-faced Jonas working +over that shell, not even realizing that it was an empty body. It was +like a television play or something; everyone clustered around a poor +stiff on the operating table, repeating the litany of the saw-bones. +"Scalpel ... sponge ... clamps ..." + + * * * * * + +Bart mentally chuckled and fluttered himself upwards; above the +square-shaped hospital with its rows of tiny windows. Beyond the +polluted air of the city. Up and up, until there was nothing to look +back on. Nothing. + +Now Bart perceived something ahead. It appeared to be a body of land. It +looked marvelously appealing, dark greens, bright yellows, and all the +shades in between. He hurried forward, eager to explore what lay ahead. +But as he drew closer, becoming more excited over its possibilities, he +struck a cold hard surface which repelled him. It was like glass and +through it Bart could see a poorly defined figure some distance away. +Bart was intrigued. This was a mental barrier thrown up by the fellow on +the other side. Well, he'd give the guy some competition. Bart +concentrated on cracking the wall, building a visual picture of the +break-through in his mind. + + * * * * * + +"It's useless. You can't enter here." + +"Why do you oppose me?" Bart tested the unseen wall, but found no +weakness in its structure. + +"We don't care for your sort." + +"Is that so. And how have you classified me?" + +"As a coward. A suicide. A man of meager resources." + +"I'm nothing of the kind. In the first place, I did not commit suicide." +Bart wished he could kick at the invisible wall. "I willed myself away +from an imperfect shell. I severed the mind from the body." + +"Why?" + +"Because I had cancer of the larynx, and I'd never have been able to +talk again. I'd be less than a man." + +"You are less than a man now." There was a long period of no exchange. +Bart decided he had not made himself clear. "I didn't want to live +without being able to communicate with other men and women." + +"Communicate. Communicate. There are a million ways to communicate. +Michelangelo communicated, Bach, Beethoven, yes, Elvis Presley +communicates. Hemingway, Martha Graham, actors, dancers, even a baby +communicates!" + +"But speech ..." + +"Speech is the least dependable method of all. Few people can explain +their love, their pain, their innermost feelings in words. And often a +man speaks his thoughts, and having spoken them, finds he really thinks +the opposite. No, this is second-rate expression and my opinion of you +has not been altered by your feeble argument." + +The other fellow's thoughts came over the wall, pounding against Bart's +sub-conscious. "You consider yourself a man of great intelligence," it +went on, "but your lack of imagination makes you less than mediocre. And +as for your mind-power, well, you see you cannot cross my mental +barrier." + +"That's not entirely conclusive. There may be a catalyst here in this +area which works in conjunction with your thought-processes and not +mine. You're familiar with conditions here, while I only know the +earth." + +"You are hardly a challenge to me. However, to satisfy you that you have +practically no control, let us make a test on your home ground." + +"All right. You propose the test." + +"Let us see ... if you can re-enter your former body while I am willing +you to stay here, on the other side of that wall." + +"Ahah. You're trying to trick me." + +"I knew before I proposed my plan you would make exactly that excuse in +order to escape my challenge. Even in excuses you lacked imagination." + +"Okay, it's a deal." Bart was mad. "Start concentrating. I'll show you +the power of my mind, both now and after I resume that shell." Bart was +furious. He tried to leave the place by the wall. He seemed stuck. There +were waves like laughter vibrating against the glass. Bart strained and +saw that he had come away a little. He tried again and again. There was +a little more distance gained. He tried to build the picture of the +operating-room in his mind and while he was doing this a flash of Vivian +exploded his mind. With that quick image, he felt himself free to drift +downward. + +There indeed was the hospital. Bart hurried to the operating-room, +hovering near the ceiling light, watching the operating team below. + +"He's gone, doctor." The anesthetist looked at Jonas. "Respiration's +stopped altogether." + +_No_, thought Bart. _Don't close me out now._ + +"Let's open the chest and massage the heart." + +_Yes. Yes._ + +"I think it's futile, doctor." + +"We can try." + +_Good old Jonas._ Bart floated to the table and forced himself into the +shell which lay white and unmoving under the penetrating light from +above. It wasn't easy, Bart tried to move the heavy hand, but it was +quite numb. + +"Not a thing. Might as well quit." + +_Holsclaw's in a hurry. Damn him._ + +"I'll massage a little longer." + +Bart pushed at the leaden eyelid. No go. _Come on, come on._ He felt a +convulsive chill, a throbbing in his head. + +"I'm getting a pulse." Jonas' voice was excited. + +Bart knew there was a searing pain in his throat, but shutting it out of +his consciousness was the steady, thumping beat of his own heart. + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Amazing Science Fiction Stories_ + September 1958. 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. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Alternate Plan, by Gerry Maddren + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ALTERNATE PLAN *** + +***** This file should be named 24792.txt or 24792.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/9/24792/ + +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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