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diff --git a/24792.txt b/24792.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd02e6d --- /dev/null +++ b/24792.txt @@ -0,0 +1,670 @@ +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: 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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