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diff --git a/old/30034.txt b/old/30034.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f92d0b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/30034.txt @@ -0,0 +1,837 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of I'll Kill You Tomorrow, by Helen Huber + +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: I'll Kill You Tomorrow + +Author: Helen Huber + +Illustrator: Kelly Freas + +Release Date: September 19, 2009 [EBook #30034] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK I'LL KILL YOU TOMORROW *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + _The entities were utterly, ambitiously evil; their + line of defense, apparently, was absolutely impregnable._ + + +I'll Kill You Tomorrow + +By Helen Huber + +Illustrated by Kelly Freas + + +It was not a sinister silence. No silence is sinister until it acquires +a background of understandable menace. Here there was only the night +quiet of Maternity, the silence of noiseless rubber heels on the +hospital corridor floor, the faint brush of starched white skirts +brushing through doorways into darkened and semi-darkened rooms. + +But there was something wrong with the silence in the "basket room" of +Maternity, the glass-walled room containing row on row, the tiny hopes +of tomorrow. The curtain was drawn across the window through which, +during visiting hours, peered the proud fathers who did the hoping. The +night-light was dim. + +The silence should not have been there. + +Lorry Kane, standing in the doorway, looked out over the rows of silent +baskets and felt her blonde hair tighten at the roots. The tightening +came from instinct, even before her brain had a chance to function, from +the instincts and training of a registered nurse. + +Thirty-odd babies grouped in one room and--_complete silence_. + +Not a single whimper. Not one tiny cry of protest against the annoying +phenomenon of birth. + +Thirty babies--_dead_? That was the thought that flashed, unbidden, into +Lorry's pretty head. The absurdity of it followed swiftly, and Lorry +moved on rubber soles between a line of baskets. She bent down and +explored with practiced fingers. + +A warm, living bundle in a white basket. + +The feeling of relief was genuine. Relief, even from an absurdity, is a +welcome thing. Lorry smiled and bent closer. + +Staring up at Lorry from the basket were two clear blue eyes. Two eyes, +steady and fixed in a round baby face. An immobile, pink baby face +housing two blue eyes that stared up into Lorry's with a quiet +concentration that was chilling. + +Lorry said, "What's the matter with you?" She spoke in a whisper and was +addressing herself. She'd gone short on sleep lately--the only way, +really, to get a few hours with Pete. Pete was an interne at General +Hospital, and the kind of a homely grinning carrot-top a girl like Lorry +could put into dreams as the center of a satisfactory future. + +But all this didn't justify a case of jitters in the "basket room." + +Lorry said. "Hi, short stuff," and lifted Baby Newcomb--Male, out of his +crib for a cuddling. + +Baby Newcomb didn't object. The blue eyes came closer. The week-old eyes +with the hundred-year-old look. Lorry laid the bundle over her shoulder +and smiled into the dimness. + +"You want to be president, Shorty?" Lorry felt the warmth of a new life, +felt the little body wriggle in snug contentment. "I wouldn't advise it. +Tough job." Baby Newcomb twisted in his blanket. Lorry stiffened. + +_Snug contentment?_ + +Lorry felt two tiny hands clutch and dig into her throat. Not just +pawing baby hands. Little fingers that reached and explored for the +windpipe. + +She uncuddled the soft bundle, held it out. There were the eyes. She +chilled. No imagination here. No spectre from lack of sleep. + +Ancient murder-hatred glowing in new-born eyes. + + * * * * * + +"Careful, you fool! You'll drop this body." A thin piping voice. A +shrill symphony in malevolence. + +Fear weakened Lorry. She found a chair and sat down. She held the boy +baby in her hands. Training would not allow her to drop Baby Newcomb. +Even if she had fainted, she would not have let go. + + * * * * * + +The shrill voice: "It was stupid of me. Very stupid." + +Lorry was cold, sick, mute. + +"Very stupid. These hands are too fragile. There are no muscles in the +arms. I couldn't have killed you." + +"Please--I ..." + +"Dreaming? No. I'm surprised at--well, at your surprise. You have a +trained mind. You should have learned, long ago, to trust your senses." + +"I don't understand." + +"Don't look at the doorway. Nobody's coming in. Look at me. Give me a +little attention and I'll explain." + +"Explain?" Lorry pulled her eyes down to the cherubic little face as she +parroted dully. + +"I'll begin by reminding you that there are more things in existence +than your obscene medical books tell you about." + +"Who are you? What are you?" + +"One of those things." + +"You're not a baby!" + +"Of course not. I'm ..." The beastly, brittle voice drifted into silence +as though halted by an intruding thought. Then the thought voiced--voiced +with a yearning at once pathetic and terrible: "It would be nice to kill +you. Someday I will. Someday I'll kill you if I can find you." + +"Why? Why?" Insane words in an insane world. But life had not stopped +even though madness had taken over. "Why?" + +The voice was matter-of-fact again. No more time for pleasant daydreams. +"I'm something your books didn't tell you about. Naturally you're +bewildered. Did you ever hear of a bodyless entity?" + +Lorry shuddered in silence. + +"You've heard of bodyless entities, of course--but you denied their +existence in your smug world of precise tidy detail. I'm a bodyless +entity. I'm one of a swarm. We come from a dimension your mind wouldn't +accept even if I explained it, so I'll save words. We of the swarm seek +unfoldment--fulfillment--even as you in your stupid, blind world. Do you +want to hear more?" + +"I ..." + +"You're a fool, but I enjoy practicing with these new vocal chords, just +as I enjoyed flexing the fingers and muscles. That's why I revealed +myself. We are, basically of course, parasites. In the dimension where +we exist in profusion, evolution has provided for us. There, we seek out +and move into a dimensional entity far more intelligent than yourself. +We destroy it in a way you wouldn't understand, and it is not important +that you should. In fact, I can't see what importance there is in your +existing at all." + +"You plan to--kill all these babies?" + +"Let me congratulate you. You've finally managed to voice an intelligent +question. The answer is, no. We aren't strong enough to kill them. We +dwelt in a far more delicate dimension than this one and all was in +proportion. That was our difficulty when we came here. We could find no +entities weak enough to take possession of until we came upon this +roomful of infants." + +"Then, if you're helpless ..." + +"What do we plan to do? That's quite simple. These material entities +will grow. We will remain attached--ingrained, so to speak. When the +bodies enlarge sufficiently ..." + +"_Thirty potential assassins...._" Lorry spoke again to herself, then +hurled the words back into her own mind as her sickness deepened. + +The shrill chirping: "What do you mean, potential? The word expresses a +doubt. Here there is none." The entity's chuckle sounded like a baby, +content over a full bottle. "Thirty certain assassins." + +"But why must you kill?" + +Lorry was sure the tiny shoulders shrugged. "Why? I don't know. I never +thought to wonder. Why must you join with a man and propagate some day? +Why do you feel sorry for what you term an unfortunate? Explain your +instincts and I'll explain mine." + +Lorry felt herself rising. Stiffly, she put Baby Newcomb back into his +basket. As she did so, a ripple of shrill, jerky laughter crackled +through the room. Lorry put her hands to her ears. "You know I can't say +anything. You'd keep quiet. They'd call me mad." + +"Precisely." + +Malicious laughter, like driven sleet, cut into her ears as she fled +from the room. + + * * * * * + +Peter Larchmont, M.D., was smoking a quick cigarette by an open +fire-escape door on the third floor. He turned as Lorry came down the +corridor, flipped his cigarette down into the alley and grinned. "Women +shouldn't float on rubber heels," he said. "A man should have warning." + +Lorry came close. "Kiss me. Kiss me--hard." + +Pete kissed her, then held her away. "You're trembling. Anticipation, +pet?" He looked into her face and the grin faded. "Lorry, what is it?" + +"Pete--Pete. I'm crazy. I've gone mad. Hold me." + +He could have laughed, but he had looked closely into her eyes and he +was a doctor. He didn't laugh. "Tell me. Just stand here. I'll hang onto +you and you tell me." + +"The babies--they've gone mad." She clung to him. "Not exactly that. +Something's taken them over. Something terrible. Oh, Pete! Nobody would +believe me." + +"I believe the end result," he said, quietly. "That's what I'm for, +angel. When you shake like this I'll always believe. But I'll have to +know more. And I'll hunt for an answer." + +"There isn't any answer, Pete. I _know_." + +"We'll still look. Tell me more, first." + +"There isn't any more." Her eyes widened as she stared into his with the +shock of a new thought. "Oh, Lord! One of them talked to me, but maybe +he--or it--won't talk to you. Then you'll never know for sure! You'll +think I'm ..." + +"Stop it. Quit predicting what I'll do. Let's go to the nursery." + +They went to the nursery and stayed there for three-quarters of an +hour. They left with the tinny laughter filling their minds--and the +last words of the monstrous entity. + +"We'll say no more, of course. Perhaps even this incident has been +indiscreet. But it's in the form of a celebration. Never before has a +whole swarm gotten through. Only a single entity on rare occasions." + +Pete leaned against the corridor wall and wiped his face with the sleeve +of his jacket. "We're the only ones who know," he said. + +"Or ever will know." Lorry pushed back a lock of his curly hair. She +wanted to kiss him, but this didn't seem to be the place or the time. + +"We can never tell anyone." + +"We'd look foolish." + +"We've got a horror on our hands and we can't pass it on." + +"What are we going to do?" Lorry asked. + +"I don't know. Let's recap a little. Got a cigarette?" + +They went to the fire door and dragged long and deep on two from Lorry's +pack. "They'll be quiet from now on. No more talking--just baby +squalls." + +"And thirty little assassins will go into thirty homes," Lorry said. +"All dressed in soft pink and blue, all filled with hatred. Waiting, +biding their time, growing more clever." She shuddered. + +"The electric chair will get them all, eventually." + +"But how many will they get in the meantime?" + +Pete put his arms around her and drew her close and whispered into her +ear. "There's nothing we can do--nothing." + +"We've got to do something." Lorry heard again the thin, brittle +laughter following her, taunting her. + +"It was a bad dream. It didn't happen. We'll just have to sleep it off." + +She put her cheek against his. The rising stubble of his beard scratched +her face. She was grateful for the rough touch of solid reality. + +Pete said, "The shock will wear out of our minds. Time will pass. After +a while, we won't believe it ourselves." + +"That's what I'm afraid of." + +"It's got to be that way." + +"We've got to do something." + +Pete lowered his arm wearily. "Yeah--we've got to do something. Where +there's nothing that can be done. What are we--miracle workers?" + +"We've got to do something." + +"Sure--finish out the watch and then get some sleep." + + * * * * * + +Lorry awoke with the lowering sun in her window. It was a blood red sun. +She picked up the phone by her bedside. "Room 307 Resident's extension." + +Pete answered drowsily. Lorry said, "Tell me--did I dream, or did it +really happen." + +"I was going to ask you the same thing. I guess it happened. What are +you doing?" + +"Lying in bed." + +"So am I. But two different beds. Things are done all wrong." + +"Want to take a chance and sneak over? I've got an illegal coffee pot." + +"Leave the door unlocked." + +Lorry put on the coffee. She showered and got into her slip. She was +brushing her hair when Pete came in. He looked at her and extended +beckoning, clutching fingers. "The hell with phantoms. Come here." + +After a couple of minutes, Lorry pulled away and poured the coffee. She +reached for her uniform. Pete said, "Don't put it on yet." + +"Too dangerous--leaving it off." + +He eyed her dreamily. "I'll dredge up will power. I'll also get scads of +fat rich clients. Then we'll get married so I can assault you legally." + +Lorry studied him. "You're not even listening to yourself. What is it, +Pete? What have you dreamed up?" + +"Okay. I've got an idea. You said something would have to be done." + +"What?" + +"A drastic cure for a drastic case. With maybe disaster as the end +product." + +"Tell me." + +"I'll tell you a little, but not too much." + +"Why not all?" + +"Because if we ever land in court. I want you to be able to say under +oath, 'He didn't tell me what he planned to do.'" + +"I don't like that." + +"I don't care if you like it or not. Tell me, what's the one basic thing +that stands out in your mind about these--entities?" + +"That they're ..." + +"Fragile?" + +"Yes--fragile." + +"Give me some more coffee." + + * * * * * + +Lorry demanded to know what was in Pete's mind. All she got was kissed, +and she did not see Pete again until eleven o'clock that night. He found +her in the corridor in Maternity and motioned her toward the nursery. He +carried a tray under a white towel. He said, "You watch the door. I'm +going inside. I'll be about a half an hour." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"You stay out here and mind your business. Your business will be to +steer any nosey party away. If you can't, make noise coming in." + +Doc Pete turned away and entered the nursery. Lorry stood at the +doorway, in the silence, under the brooding night-light, and prayed. + +Twenty-five minutes later, Pete came out. His face was white and drawn. +He looked like a man who had lately had a preview of Hell's inverted +pleasures. His hands trembled. The towel still covered the tray. He +said, "Watch them close. Don't move ten steps from here." He started +away--turned back. "All hell is scheduled to break loose in this +hospital shortly. Let's hope God remains in charge." + +Lorry saw the sick dread of his heart underneath his words. + + * * * * * + +It could have been a major scandal. An epidemic of measles on the +maternity floor of a modern hospital indicates the unforgivable medical +sin--carelessness. It was hushed up as much as possible, pending the +time when the top people could shake off the shock and recover their +wits. The ultimate recovery of thirty babies was a tribute to everyone +concerned. + +Wan, done-in, Doc Pete drank coffee in Lorry's room. Lorry gave him +three lumps of sugar and said, "But are you sure the sickness killed the +entities?" + +"Quite sure. Somehow they _knew_ when I made the injections. They +screamed. They knew they were done for." + +"It took courage. Tell me: why are you so strong, so brave? Why are you +so wonderful?" + +"Cut it out. I was scared stiff. If _one_ baby had died, I'd have gone +through life weighing the cure against the end. It isn't easy to risk +doing murder--however urgent the need." + +She leaned across and kissed him. "And you were all alone. You wouldn't +let me help. Was that fair?" + +He grinned, then sobered. "But I can't help remembering what that--that +invisible monster said: '_Never before has a whole swarm gotten through. +Only a single entity on rare occasions._' + +"I can't help wondering what happens to those single entities. I think +of the newspaper headlines I've seen: Child Kills Parents in Sleep. +Youth Slays Father. I'll probably always wonder--and I'll always +remember...." + +Lorry got up and crossed to him and put her arms around him. "Not +always," she whispered. "There will be times when I'll make you forget. +For a little while, anyhow." + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _If Worlds of Science Fiction_ November + 1953. 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 I'll Kill You Tomorrow, by Helen Huber + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK I'LL KILL YOU TOMORROW *** + +***** This file should be named 30034.txt or 30034.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/0/3/30034/ + +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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