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diff --git a/29735.txt b/29735.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d854b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/29735.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1072 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Martians Never Die, by Lucius Daniel + +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: Martians Never Die + +Author: Lucius Daniel + +Illustrator: Ed Emshwiller + +Release Date: August 19, 2009 [EBook #29735] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARTIANS NEVER DIE *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +martians never die + +By LUCIUS DANIEL + + + _It was a wonderful bodyguard: + no bark, no bite, no sting ... + just conversion of the enemy!_ + + +At three-fifteen, a young man walked into the circular brick building +and took a flattened package of cigarettes from his shirt pocket. + +"Mr. Stern?" he asked, throwing away the empty package. + +Stern looked with hard eyes at the youthful reporter. He recognized the +type. + +"So they're sending around cubs now," he said. + +"I'm no cub--I've been on the paper a whole year," the reporter +protested, and then stopped, realizing his annoyance had betrayed him. + +"Only a year. The first time they sent their best man." + +"This ain't the first time," said the young man, assuming a bored look. +"It's the fourth time, and next year I don't think anybody will come at +all. Why should they?" + +"Why, because they might be able to make it," Beryl spoke up. "Something +must have happened before." + +Stern watched the reporter drink in Beryl's loveliness. + +"Well, Mrs. Curtis," the young man said, "everyone has it figured out +that Dr. Curtis got stuck in the fourth dimension, or else lost, or +died, maybe. Even Einstein can't work out the stellar currents your +husband was depending on." + +"It's very simple," replied Beryl, "but I can't explain it intelligibly. +I wish you could have talked to Dr. Curtis." + +"Why is it that we have to come out here just once a year to wait for +him? Is that how the fourth dimension works?" + +"It's the only time when the stellar currents permit the trip back to +Earth. And it's _not_ the fourth dimension! Clyde was always irritated +when anyone would talk about his traveling to Mars in the fourth +dimension." + +"It's interdimensional," Stern put in. + +"And you're his broker?" asked the reporter, throwing his cigarette down +on the brick floor and stepping on it. "You're his old friend from +college days, handled his financial affairs, and helped him raise enough +money to build his machine?" + +"Yes," Stern replied, a little pompously. "It was through my efforts +that several wealthy men took an interest in the machine, so that Dr. +Curtis did not have to bear the entire expense himself." + +"Yeah, yeah," the reporter sighed. "I read an old story on it before I +came here. Now I'm out of cigarettes." He looked hopefully at Stern. + +Stern returned the look coldly. "There's a store where you can buy some +about three blocks down the road." + +"Is that the room where he's expected to materialize with his machine?" +The reporter pointed to an inner door. + +"Yes. Dr. Curtis wanted to be sure no one would be injured. This inner +circular room was built first; then he had the outer wall put up as an +added precaution. The circular passageway we're in leads all around the +old room, but this doorway is the only entrance." + +"And what are those holes in the top of the door for?" + +"If he returns, we can tell by the displaced air rushing out. Then the +door will open automatically." + +"And when is the return scheduled for?" asked the reporter. + +"Three-forty-seven and twenty-nine seconds." + +"If it happens," the reporter added skeptically. "And if it doesn't, we +have to wait another year." + +"Optimum conditions occur just once a year." + +"Well, I'm going out to get some cigarettes. I've got time ... and +probably nothing to wait for. I'll return though." + +He walked briskly through the outer door. + + * * * * * + +"This is the hardest part of the year, especially now. Suppose he did +come back," Beryl said plaintively. + +"You don't have to worry," Stern assured her. "Clyde himself said that +if he didn't come back the second year, he might not make it at all." +Stern opened his gold case now and offered Beryl a cigarette. + +She shook her head. "But he made two trial runs in it first and came +back." + +"That was for a short distance only--that is, a short distance +astronomically. Figuring for Mars was another story. Maybe he missed the +planet and ..." + +"Oh, don't! It's just not _knowing_ that I can't stand." + +"Well," he said drily, "we'll know in--" he stopped and looked at his +wristwatch--"in just about fifteen minutes." + +"I can't wait," she moaned. + +He put his arm around her. "Relax. Take it easy and stop worrying. It'll +just be like last time." + +"Not the last time at all. We hadn't--" + +"As soon as we are able to leave here," he said, drawing her close and +squeezing her gently, "I'll take steps to have him declared legally +dead. Then we'll get married." + +"That's not much of a proposal," she smiled. "But I guess I'll have to +accept you. You have Clyde's power of attorney." + +"And we'll be rich. Richer than ever. I'll be able to use some of my own +ideas about the investments. As a matter of fact, I have already." And +he frowned slightly. + +"We have enough," Beryl said quickly. "Don't try to speculate. You know +how Clyde felt about that." + +"But he spent so damned much on the machine. I had to make back those +expenses somehow." + +Steps sounded outside and they drew apart. The reporter came in with a +companion of about his own age. + +"Better wipe the lipstick off," he grinned. "It's almost time for +something to happen." + +Stern dabbed at his mouth angrily with his handkerchief. + +At first the sound was so soft that it could hardly be heard, but soon a +whistling grew until it became a threat to the eardrums. The reporters +looked at each other with glad, excited eyes. + +The whistling stopped abruptly and, slowly, the door opened. The +reporters rushed in immediately. + +Beryl gripped Stern's hand convulsively. "He's come back." + +"Yes, but that mustn't change our plans, Beryl dear." + +"But, Al ... Oh, why were we so foolish?" + +"Not foolish, dear. Not at all foolish. Now we have to go in." + +Inside the room was the large sphere of metalloy. It had lost its +original gleam and was stained and battered, standing silent, closed, +enigmatic. + +"Where's the door?" called the first reporter. + +The sphere rested on a number of metal stilts, reaching out from the +lower hemisphere, which held it about three feet from the floor, like a +great pincushion turned upside down. + +Slowly, a round section of the sphere's wall swung outward and steps +descended. As they touched the floor, both reporters, caught by the same +idea, sprinted for it and fought to see which would climb it first. + +"Wait!" shouted Stern. + +The reporters stopped their scuffling and followed Stern's gaze. + + * * * * * + +Something old and leathery and horrible was emerging from the circular +doorway. Several tentacles, like so many snakes, slid around the hand +rail which ran down the steps. Then, at the top, it paused. + +Stern felt an immediate and unreasoning hate for the thing, whatever it +was, a hate so strong that he forgot to feel fear. It seemed to him to +combine the repulsive qualities of a spider and a toad. The body, fat +and repugnant, was covered by a loose skin, dull and leathery, and the +fatness seemed to be pulled downward below the lower tentacles like an +insect's body, until it was wider at the bottom than at the top. + +Like a salt shaker, Stern thought. + +It turned its head--it had no neck; the loose skin of the body just +turned with it--and looked back inside the sphere. The head resembled a +toad's, but a long trident tongue slid in and out quickly, changing the +resemblance to that of a malformed snake. + +From the interior, Dr. Curtis appeared beside the creature and stood +there vaguely for a moment. Stern noticed that his clothes seemed just +as new as when he had left, but he had grown a long, untrimmed beard, +and his face had a vacant expression, as if he were hypnotized. + +The creature looked upward at Curtis, who was head and shoulders taller, +and its resemblance changed again in Stern's mind, so that now it looked +like a dog, at least in attitude. From its mouth came a low hissing +noise. + +[Illustration: Illustrated by WILLER] + +Curtis looked down at the dog-spider-toad, his eyes slowly beginning +to focus. The creature wiggled like a seal with a fish in sight, then +slid and bumped down the steps, with Curtis following him. + +"Clyde!" cried Beryl and rushed toward Curtis. + +The outstretched tentacles of the beast stopped her, but at a touch from +Curtis they fell away and Beryl was in his arms. + +Stern watched the scene sourly and with rage in his heart. Why hadn't +Clyde waited another year? Then nothing could have changed things. Now +he would lose not only Beryl, but the management of the money that was +left, and the marketing of new patents on the machine. Curtis did not +approve of speculation, especially when it lost money. + +"You've changed, Clyde," Beryl was saying as she hugged him. "What is +the matter--do you need a doctor?" + +"No, I don't want a doctor, but I have to get home," said Curtis. + +Stern felt anger again beating in his brain like heavy surf on a beach. +Curtis was sick. The least he could have done was die. Well, maybe he +still would. And if he didn't he could be helped to--Stern saw the beast +looking at him intently, malevolently. Its face might have looked almost +human, now that it was so close, if it had possessed eyebrows and hair. +As it was, its nose rose abruptly and flared into two really enormous +nostrils, but its mouth looked small and wrinkled, like that of an old +grandmother without any teeth. + +They turned to the doorway without noticing the absence of the +reporters, who had long since run off to telephone and get +photographers. + +Curtis walked slowly. He would stop for a moment, look about as if +expecting something entirely different, and then he would move forward +again. + +They all got into the car, Curtis and Beryl on the front seat, with +Beryl driving, and Stern and the creature in the rear. As Beryl drove, +Stern looked savagely at the back of Curtis's head, but he felt the +beast staring at him balefully. Could it be a mind reader? That was +ridiculous. How could anything that couldn't speak read a person's mind? + +He turned to study it. The Martian, if that was what it was, had only +six tentacles, three on each side. The lower ones were heavy and almost +as thick as legs. The upper ones were small and were obviously used as +hands, while it was possible that the middle ones could be used either +way. A series of suction cups or sucking pads were at the end of each +tentacle. With equipment like this, it could walk right up the side of a +building, except, perhaps, for the higher gravity of Earth. + +Stern could smell it now, a dry, desert smell, and that made it more +revolting than ever. They were born to hate each other. + + * * * * * + +When they got home, Beryl was all solicitousness. The way a woman is +when she has a man to impress, Stern thought. + +"Just sit right here in your old chair," she told Curtis, "and I'll call +a doctor. Then I'll put some water on to heat." But first she knelt by +his side and laid her head on his breast. "Oh, darling," she said with a +sob, "Why did you wait so long? I've missed you so." + +A very good act, Stern told himself bitterly, without believing it at +all. + +She got up and turned toward Stern. "Will you help me get some water on, +Al?" she asked. "I'm going to phone." + +He went into the kitchen. He knew where the kettle was, the +refrigerator, the mixings. He could hear her dialing, and then, before +he got the kettle on the burner, she came inside and closed the kitchen +door. + +"Clyde's sick and I have to take care of him," she said anxiously. + +It wasn't entirely the money, he confessed to himself now. He hated the +situation, but he had to give in--on the surface anyway. + +"Okay, let's forget the whole thing," he said. + +"Oh, Al dear, I knew you'd understand! I've got to go back now and try +the phone again. I got a busy signal." + +Stern followed her, still rankling at the way Curtis had forced Beryl to +live while he spent so generously on his own expensive interests. +Shortly after their marriage, he had built a home for Beryl and himself +in an exclusive suburb, on a hilly bit of land with a deep ravine at the +back. But it was small and Beryl had not even been allowed maids except +when they entertained, which was seldom. Soon he would change all that, +Stern told himself. They had not dared to while Clyde was away. + +In the modern living room, Curtis sprawled in his easy chair as though +he hadn't moved since they had placed him there. But his air of +abstraction seemed to have increased. Before him sat the beast, looking, +Stern thought, more like a dog than ever. Its head wasn't cocked to one +side, but that, less than its alien appearance, was the one thing to +spoil the illusion. + +Tires screeched in the driveway while Beryl was still at the telephone. +Stern went to the front door, closed it and put the chain bolt in +place. The back door would still be locked and they would hardly try to +force the screen windows. + +Heavy steps pounded up the front walk. "Did Dr. Curtis really get back?" +The first man shot out. The one who followed had a camera. + +"Dr. Curtis has returned," Stern spoke through the opening of the front +door which the chain permitted, "but his physical condition won't permit +questioning, at least until his doctor has seen him." + +"Did he really bring back a Martian? We want to see the Martian anyway." + +"We can't have Dr. Curtis disturbed in any way until after his physician +has examined him," Stern said bluntly. + +"Is he in there?" + +"We'll give you a report when we're ready." + + * * * * * + +A second car pulled up to the house as Stern shut the front door, and +went to check the rear one. When he came back, flashes from the window +showed the cameraman was trying to take pictures through the glass. +Stern drew the shades. + +"Well, poor Schaughtowl, so you had to come with me," Curtis was saying +to the monster. + +The beast wiggled again as it had on the steps of the machine. A tail to +wag wasn't really necessary, Stern decided, when there was so much body +to wiggle. + +Schaughtowl, as Curtis addressed it, seemed to brighten in the darkened +room. + +"Poor, dear Schaughtowl," said Curtis gently. + +It was unmistakable now--the skin actually brightened and emitted a sort +of eerie, luminous glow. + +Curtis leaned over and put his hand on what would have been +Schaughtowl's neck. The loose skin writhed joyously, and, snakelike, the +whole body responded in rippling waves of emotion. + +"Gull Lup," the monster--said wasn't the right word, but it was not a +bark, growl, mew, cheep, squawk or snarl. Gulp was as close as Stern +could come, a dry and almost painful gulping noise that expressed +devotion in some totally foreign way that Stern found revolting. + +He realized that the phone had been ringing for some time. He +disconnected it, and then heard loud knocking. + +"It's Dr. Anderson," he heard a man's voice calling impatiently and +angrily. + +Cautiously, Stern opened the door, but his care was needless. With a few +testy remarks, the doctor quickly cleared a space about the door and +entered. + +He went at once to Curtis, with only a single shocked glance at +Schaughtowl. + +"Where the devil have you been and where in hell did you get that +thing?" he asked as he unbuttoned Curtis's coat and shirt. + +Since playing with his pet, Curtis seemed more awake. "I went to Mars," +he said. "They're incredibly advanced in ways we hardly guess. We're +entirely off the track. I just came back to explain how." + +"Your friend doesn't look very intelligent," the doctor answered, busy +with his stethoscope. + +"Animals like Schaughtowl are used for steeds or pets," said Curtis. +"The Ladonai are pretty much like mankind, only smaller." + +"Why did you stay so long?" + +"After I left, the Ladonai told me, they were going to shut off any +possible communication with Earth until we advance more. They think +we're at a very dangerous animal-like stage of development. Once I came +home, I knew I couldn't go back, so I wanted to learn as much as I could +before I left them." + +"Stand up for a minute," ordered the doctor. + +"Not right now," said Curtis. "I'm too tired." + +"You'd better get to bed, then." + +"I think not. It's merely caused by the difference in gravity and +heavier air. The Ladonai told me to expect it, but not to lie down. +After a while I'll try to take a short walk." + + * * * * * + +So Clyde wasn't going to die, after all, Stern thought. He had come home +with a message, and, remembering the determination of the man, Stern +knew he wouldn't die until he had given it. But he had to die. He would +die, and who was competent enough to know that it wasn't from the shock +of having come home to denser air and a heavier gravity? + +There were ways--an oxygen tube, for example. Pure oxygen to be inhaled +in his sleep by lungs accustomed to a rarified atmosphere, or stimulants +in his food so it would look like a little too much exertion on a heart +already overtaxed. There were ways. + +Stern's scalp tingled unpleasantly, and he saw the Martian looking at +him intently, coldly. In that moment Stern knew without question that +his mind was being read. Not his idea, perhaps, but his intent toward +Curtis. The Martian would have to be attended to first. + +"Is it true, Dr. Anderson? Will he be all right?" Beryl was sitting on +the arm of the chair next to Schaughtowl, and she was looking at Clyde +almost as adoringly as the Martian. A few hours had undone all that +Stern had managed to do in four years. + +If Stern had been uncertain, that alone would have decided him. + +"I think so," said the doctor. "He seems to be uncomfortable, rather +than in pain. I'll send you a prescription for his heart, if he breathes +too heavily. Be sure, though, not to give him more than one pill in +three hours." + +"Of course." Beryl was never that solicitous toward Stern. + +"And you'll be in quarantine here until the government decides what, if +any, diseases he and the Martian may have brought back with them." + +"None at all, Doctor." Curtis's voice was markedly more slurred, and he +stared intently with unblinking eyes at the blank wall. + +"Well, that's something we can't tell yet. Well have to keep out the +press and television men, anyway, because of your health. If I'm not +detained, I'll be back tomorrow morning. Call me if there's any change." + +On his way out, the physician was besieged by reporters and +photographers, baulked of better subjects. Shortly after the doctor's +departure, police sirens came screaming up. The men waiting around the +house were moved outside the gate and a guard was set at every entrance. + + * * * * * + +Later, a messenger came, was interrogated by the police sergeant who +took a small package from him and brought it to the house. + +"Medicine," the sergeant said, handing it gingerly to Stern. "You can't +leave here without permission." And he walked hurriedly away. + +This might be the answer. Stern had a good idea of what the doctor had +prescribed--something he'd said, for the heart. It must have been pretty +powerful, too, for the doctor to warn against an overdose. Two at once +might do it, or another two a little later. + +But there was Schaughtowl. + +"Al," said Beryl, "stay with Clyde while I fix something for him to +eat." + +She was more beautiful than ever. Emotions, he thought wryly, become a +woman; they thrive on them. In a few minutes a woman could change like +this. It was enough to make a man lose faith in the sex. + +"Certainly," he said easily. + +Curtis seemed to sleep with wide open eyes gazing blankly at the far +wall. Schaughtowl sat motionless before him, watchful as a dog, yet +still like a snake or spider patiently waiting. Didn't the beast ever +sleep? + +A drink was what Stern needed. He went to the closet and poured a double +brandy. He sipped it slowly. As delicious fire ran down his gullet and +warmed his stomach, he felt his tension ease and a sense of confidence +pervade his mind. + +He needn't worry. He was always successful, except that once with the +stocks. And he had calm nerves. + +There were guards out in front now in khaki uniform; the Governor must +have called out a company of the National Guard. Stern noticed some +state police, too. The house was well guarded on the three sides +surrounded by a neat, white picket fence. In the back, the severe drop +into the ravine made guards there unnecessary. + +It was dark before Dr. Curtis moved. Beryl was watching him; she had +little to say to Stern now. + +"How about some broth, dear?" she asked Curtis immediately. + +Slowly, Clyde's eyes focused on her. He smiled. "Let's try it." + +He let Beryl feed him, sitting on a stool beside his chair and being +unnecessarily motherly and coddling about it. + +For a while after he had eaten, Clyde sat in his chair, looking at Beryl +with his new and oddly gentle smile. It seemed to activate some hidden +response in her, for she glowed with tenderness. + +"I suppose," Curtis slurred, "I ought to try to walk now." + +"Let me help." Stern rose and crossed the room. + +The Martian rustled like snakes in the weeds, and hissed. + +Beryl said without suspicion, "Thank you, Al. I knew you'd do whatever +you could for Clyde." And she rested her hand trustingly on his arm. + +What was past was past, not to be wept over, not to be regretted. + +"Like to walk out in the back for the air?" Stern asked. "The breeze is +coming from that direction." + +"That will do very well," said Curtis, obviously not caring a bit. + + * * * * * + +Stern helped Curtis from his chair and supported him under the arm. They +went out the back door, the Martian slithering after them. It was cooler +in the garden. Stern felt a renewed surge of self-confidence. + +"The stars--" Curtis stopped to look upward. + +The night was almost cloudless and there was no moon. The house hid any +view of the crowds and the guards holding them back. They were alone in +the dark. + +Curtis started forward again, with the Martian scraping along behind. It +would never let Curtis out of its sight as long as it lived; that much +was clear to Stern. + +He guided Curtis to a seat close to the ravine, a favorite spot. Always +the Martian was a step--or a slither--behind, and when Curtis sat down, +Schaughtowl sat between his beloved master and the precipitous drop. + +Stern picked up a rock from the rock garden and tossed it into the +ravine. The Martian did not take his eyes off Curtis. Stern picked up a +larger rock, a sharp, pointed one. He was behind the Martian and Curtis +was looking away unseeingly into the night. + +It was simple, really, and well executed. The beast's skull bashed in +easily, being merely thin bones for a thin atmosphere and light +gravitation. A push sent it over the edge of the ravine. + +Curtis sat unnoticing, and the traffic jam out front created more than +enough confusion to drown out any noise from the creature's fall. + +Stern's palm stung. He realized that, before the Martian had pitched +over the ravine, a suction pad had for a moment caught at his hand. It +had done the beast no good, though. + +Curiously, the Martian had not guarded itself, only Curtis. Sitting with +its back to Stern had really invited attack. The mind-reading ability +was just something that Stern had nervously imagined. + +The police would not be able to tell his rock from any other. The heavy +body, its ungainly movement and thin bones would explain everything. +Besides, there was no motive for killing the Martian and what penalty +could there be? It couldn't be called murder. + +Stern looked at the palm of his right hand, the one that had held the +rock. It stung a little, but in the darkness he couldn't see it. A +stinger of some kind, like a bee, probably. The hell with it--couldn't +be fatal or Curtis would have warned them about it. + +The Martian had been walking by the ravine and had clumsily fallen in. +He would report it after he had got Curtis back into the house. + +Curtis was easy to arouse and didn't seem to miss Schaughtowl. Stern +maneuvered him to the living room, where he sank into a chair and fell +into his mood of abstraction. + +Beryl must be in the kitchen cleaning up, Stern supposed. Perhaps he had +better put some kind of germicide on his palm, just to ward off +infection. + + * * * * * + +He looked at Curtis relaxed in the chair. Clyde suddenly appeared oddly +boyish to him, hardly different than he had been in college days. For a +moment Stern felt again the adolescent admiration and fellowship he had +felt so strongly then. Don't be stupid, he told himself angrily. This +man had the money and the woman that had almost belonged to him. + + * * * * * + +Moving slowly, Stern deliciously savored the aroma of his triumph. On +the table was the bottle. Clyde would be easy, unsuspecting, kindly. + +It wouldn't be safe to marry Beryl right away, but there could never be +any suspicion. + +No need to hurry. For a moment he wanted to watch Curtis. He wondered +what kind of pictures Clyde was seeing on the blank wall. Martian +landscapes? The strange Ladonai? Too bad he hadn't stayed on Mars. Stern +couldn't help having a friendly feeling for his old college chum, pity, +too, for what must happen to him soon. + +This was no way to kill anyone! + +He was growing old and soft! + +Nevertheless, Curtis _did_ have a noble and striking face. Funny he had +never noticed it before. It seemed to glow with an uncanny peace. + +Unnoticed, the numbness crept from Stern's palm along his right arm, and +a prickly sensation appeared in his right leg. + +It was funny to read a person's thoughts like this. Love flowed from +Curtis like the warm glow from a burning candle. A sort of halo had +formed from the light above his head. + +Symbolic. + +From Curtis came wave after wave of love. He could feel it pulsating +toward him, and he felt his own heart turn over, answer it. Yes, Curtis +was noble. + +Stern sank cross-legged on the floor beside Curtis and gazed at him. The +prickly sensation had ascended from his leg up through his chest and to +his neck. But it didn't matter. Now, for a last time, he could feel the +spell of that perfect friendship--before the end. + +What end? Why should there be any end to this eternal moment? + +Curtis noticed him now. Those half-closed eyes were strangely +penetrating. They looked him through. + +"Well, Al," he said, "so you killed Schaughtowl?" + +Stern looked at the kindly, godlike face and loved it. + +Killed whom? + +"Poor Al," Curtis said. He leaned over and laid his hand on the back of +Stern's neck, fondling it much as one would a dog. "Poor old Al." + +Stern's heart leaped in joy. This was ecstasy. It must be expressed. It +demanded expression. If he had possessed a tail, he would have wagged +it. Perhaps there was a word for that bliss. There was, and with immense +satisfaction he spoke it. + +"Gull Lup," he said. + + --LUCIUS DANIEL + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Galaxy Science Fiction_ April 1952. + 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 Martians Never Die, by Lucius Daniel + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARTIANS NEVER DIE *** + +***** This file should be named 29735.txt or 29735.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/7/3/29735/ + +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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