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diff --git a/30761.txt b/30761.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..852b65d --- /dev/null +++ b/30761.txt @@ -0,0 +1,792 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Minus Woman, by Russell Robert Winterbotham + +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 Minus Woman + +Author: Russell Robert Winterbotham + +Release Date: December 26, 2009 [EBook #30761] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MINUS WOMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + THE MINUS WOMAN + + _By + Russ Winterbotham_ + + + What made the mass of this tiny asteroid fluctuate in defiance of + all known physical laws? It was an impossible fact--but then, so was + the girl who they knew couldn't exist! + + +Red Brewer had plugged his electric razor into the lab circuit and he +was running it over his pink jowls while I tried to discover what was +haywire about the balance scales. + +"Have you noticed," Red said above the clatter of his shaver, "how much +less you have to shave on an asteroid?" + +"I still shave every day," I said. There was something definitely wrong +with the scales. The ten-gram weight didn't balance two five-gram +weights. Instead it weighed 7.5 grams. And then, suddenly, the cockeyed +scales would get ornery and the two five-gram weights would weigh 7.5 +grams and the ten-gram slug would weigh what it should. + +"I don't," said Red. "I shave once a week. Back on terra I shaved every +day, but not here. And I don't even have a beard to show for it." + +I didn't answer. There were tougher problems on my mind than whiskers, +but of course Red Brewer wouldn't understand them. He was good at +machinery, and with a camera, and for company on a lonely asteroid which +right now was 300,000,000 miles from the earth, but he certainly wasn't +a brain. + +"What do you make of it, Jay?" he asked. "Oh, Mr. Hayling, I'm speaking +to you." + +"Maybe it's your thyroid," I said. "Shut up." + +"I'm twenty-seven," said Red. "Too old to have thyroids." + +"You mean adenoids." + +Red growled and shut off the razor. He ran his hand over his face. "I've +got a face like a school-kid's," he said. "If there was only a girl on +this god-forsaken piece of rock to see it." + +There were no girls on Asteroid 57GM. This place didn't have anything +excepting a lonely shack with paper-thin walls made of special +heat-insulating material. There wasn't a blade of grass; not a puff of +wind; no soil for violets; not even a symmetrical shape, it was lopsided +like a beaten-up baseball. Or at least that was what I thought until +something happened to the balance scales. + +The idea of sending Jay Hayling, which is me, and ruddy Red Brewer to +Asteroid 57GM, was simply to check up on some figures which said that +this little 10-mile chunk of rock didn't have the right mass. Twice it +had been clocked on near passages to Jupiter and twice it had behaved +differently, as if it had suddenly lost some of its mass. So Red and I +had been sentenced to fifteen months alone in space on an asteroid just +to find out that somebody had made a mistake in arithmetic. + +The sonar equipment showed what kind of rock it was--iron and basalt. +And I'd made borings which checked. We'd tested the speed of escape +which was a good push so we had to be careful, and its force of gravity, +which wasn't much. And then I'd discovered that the balance in the lab +had a habit of being 25 per cent wrong one way or the other every time +I tried to use it. + +Red put away his razor and went through the little door leading to the +living quarters. The partition was crystal clear plastic so I could see +him pulling himself along by the hand rail toward the bookcase. I knew +he would presently find himself something to read while I worked. + + * * * * * + +We seldom walked in the laboratory. Our muscles, conditioned by +terrestrial gravity, were too strong for walking. We'd have bumped our +heads on the ceiling at every step and possibly we might even have +punched a hole in the roof, losing our air. So we sort of pulled +ourselves along by a system of hand rails on all of the anchored desks, +furniture and walls. It was like pulling yourself along the bottom of +the ocean by hanging onto rocks, since the air in the lab was dense +enough to support our almost weightless bodies. + +I checked the scales every way I could and finally gave up. I'd tackle +the problem again tomorrow. Maybe something on the asteroid, some +magnetic rock or something, threw it off. I washed my hands in the +laboratory sink and then, while I wiped them on a towel, glanced at Red, +who was lying on his bunk reading. For the first time I noticed how +skinny he was getting. Lack of exercise, I presumed. We were going to +have to do something to build up our muscles again. I supposed I had +lost weight just as much as he had. It would be tough to weigh ourselves +here, since we had only the balance in the laboratory. Spring scales +wouldn't work on the asteroid--we wouldn't have weighed enough to +register, even though our mass was probably about the same as an average +man's on earth. + +Red put the book aside, closed his eyes and smiled. My eyes fell on the +book for some reason. Then suddenly I saw a page flip over. I didn't +realize at first that this couldn't happen. + +There wasn't any draft in the place, I was sure of that. A draft would +mean a leak in the laboratory and alarms would tell us when that +happened. There was no motion, nothing to cause a page in the book to +turn. + +Another page turned and I was sure I wasn't dreaming. I pulled myself +over to the door, opened it a trifle. + +"Red!" I called softly. + +"Dollie!" He was dreaming. Dollie was one of the dozen or so girls he +was always talking about in his sleep. + +I pulled myself to his side and punched him gently. Red woke up. "You're +a hell of a guy," he said. + +"Yes," I said. "You were dreaming about Dollie. But I saw something +happen here and I wanted you to see it too." I pointed at the book. The +pages were still now. Suddenly one of them flipped over. + +"Somebody, or something is reading your book," I said. + + * * * * * + +We didn't figure it out then and I wasn't even sure that I'd made the +right diagnosis, but things went on every day afterwards that left me +convinced there was something else living on this hunk of rock besides +Red and me. It didn't have mass, apparently, because we tried our best +to touch it. + +Once when it got to fooling around with the laboratory balance, Red and +I encircled the balance with our arms and then squeezed together without +feeling a thing. + +It wasn't energy, because we tried every instrument to detect +electricity, heat, light, and radio. But it was alive, because it moved. +It read books and monkeyed with the lab scales. + +And at last I decided that maybe _it_ had something to do with the +apparent discrepancy in the asteroid's change in mass. After that I had +a great deal to work on. + +Red began behaving queerly too. He swore that he was getting too small +for his clothing. His shoes, he said, were almost a size too large. I +was too busy to check, so I put it down as a loss in weight. + +We'd spent a year on the asteroid when we were due to pass Mars. So our +first anniversary was spent in checking our movements with a telescope, +a camera and a chronometer. We discovered our mass--or that of Asteroid +57GM--had depreciated another 25 per cent. It now had only half the mass +it was supposed to have. This was too much of an error for even a grade +school student. + +"I'll bet some astronomers back on earth will get redder than my hair +when we get home," Red said. + +I shook my head. "It hasn't anything to do with their observations," I +said. "It's what is happening now to you and me. We're losing mass +someway." + +There was only one way to check it and that was to weigh ourselves. So I +rigged up a rude sort of a balance by weighing out chunks of rock until +we had a mass equal to what we should weigh, placing them on a +teeter-totter arrangement I rigged up in the lab. + +"It'll be close enough to learn if we've lost half our mass," I said. + +Red showed a weight loss equal to about 20 pounds on earth. I had gained +a little weight. These figures were only relative, and dependent on +whether or not the rocks we'd used on the balance had lost mass also. +But something was wrong with Red and I decided to watch him carefully. + +"Your scales are cockeyed," Red said. "I feel fine. Never felt better, +in fact. Except that I'm lonesome ... not that I don't enjoy your +company, pal, ole pal, but I'd like Dollie's better." + +Something on the far side of the room caught my eye. It was along the +glass partition between the lab and the living room. It might have been +a reflection of some sort, because the sun was up and its beams were +coming right through the transparent roof at that moment. But for a +fleeting instant I thought I saw a figure there. A tall, shapely, +black-haired girl, dressed in a flowing robe of orange. The next instant +she was gone. + +I said I thought it might be a reflection, but I was pretty sure it +wasn't. "Red," I said. "We've got company." + +"Huh?" + +"I'm sure of it, Red. There's somebody else here besides us." + +"There's no one else. You're crazy." Red looked around the room. Then he +looked at me. His gaze was sharp and penetrating. + +"You can't see it now," I said. "But I'm sure I saw something. A woman. +Over there." I pointed to where I'd seen the thing that might have been +a reflection. + +"Maybe you'd better lie down, Jay. You've been working too hard. A year +out on this rock could make a man see King Solomon's harem." + +"No, Red," I said. "Those funny things we saw, your book pages turning; +the cockeyed balance; maybe your loss of weight. They aren't natural. +Something is here and what I just saw makes me think it's human and it's +trying to get in touch with us." + +Red's stomach muscles squeezed with laughter and he held onto a guard +rail to keep from being sent across the room by the exertion. + +"What I saw was a woman, Red," I went on. + +Red laughed out loud and hung on again. "I could use a babe," he said. +Suddenly he jerked. "Who hit me?" he asked. Across his face was a red +welt, the shape of a woman's hand. + + * * * * * + +We called them "manifestations" after that and Red called her his ghost +sweetheart, although the slap had convinced him it wasn't a ghost. Red's +getting slapped was the first indication that perhaps this thing did +have matter of some sort, but its ability to remain invisible made it +appear that the matter wasn't the ordinary kind. + +Finally I came up with some sort of an answer. It was just a crazy idea +and there was no way to prove that I was right. I tried to explain it to +Red, who didn't know much about atomic physics, but he seemed to get the +idea. + +"You see, Red, it could be _negative_ matter," I explained. + +"What's that?" + +"Well, you know what an electron is, I suppose, a negatively charged +sub-atomic particle?" + +Red nodded. + +"And a proton, which is positively charged?" + +Again he nodded. + +"Well, scientists have learned that there could be positive electrons, +as well as negative, and negative protons. In other words each +sub-atomic particle has a 'minus quantity' counterpart." + +"You're saying it, I'm believing it," said Red. "A guy's gotta believe +something." + +"Well, this leads to a great deal of speculation. If these minus +quantities got together they might form a minus matter." + +"You've got me in a hole, so I'm minus too." + +"You don't have to understand it, but try to imagine that two universes +could exist side by side, one minus, one plus, and that neither could be +aware of the other. Every star, every planet and every speck of matter +could have its counterpart, but neither would be aware of that +counterpart's existence." + +Red grinned and shook his head. "Crazy," he said. + +"Yes, crazy. But dig this, supposing that some sixth sense made it +possible for one of our minus counterparts to get in contact with us +through extra-sensory perception." + +"How'd they do it?" Red asked. + +"I don't know. We don't know how to do it, but it may be that our +scientific progress wouldn't keep abreast of each other. We might know +more than our minus counterparts in some fields, and they might know +more in others. But their special knowledge enabled them to bridge the +gap briefly--long enough to see us, and watch us--" + +"And read our books." Red nodded. + +"And perhaps learn our language--remember you got slapped." + +"I'll watch it," said Red. + +"There's no reason why the gap couldn't be bridged. Science and minds +have done a lot of things that looked impossible." + +We went to bed on that and all night long I dreamed of negative +universes, with suns like old Sol except that they shone black in bright +heavens and planets of space floating in vacuums of matter. Red must +have dreamed about it too, because he had a question over the dehydrated +ham and eggs the next morning. + +"Does that explain the loss in mass for this asteroid?" + +"I think it does. Either the method our minus counterparts have in +bridging the gap, or perhaps some sort of space warp that permits them +to do it. At any rate enough of the minus world has been projected +through to our side of the equation to displace the mass of this +planetoid. Our lab scales being haywire might be the result of a being's +nearness to it, or something." + +Red didn't digest it all, but I could see he was thinking. "I wonder +what all this has to do with my whiskers," he mused. + +We were busy making some further checks on the planetoid's mass later in +the day when Red got a glimpse of the vision I'd seen. Red didn't take +it quietly. He yelled loud and pointed. + +I turned just in time to see her fade away. It was the same woman, +dressed the same. But this time she had been a bit more than a vapor. + +Red forgot where he was and made a dive toward her. His body shot like a +bullet across the room, skimming over laboratory equipment, and his head +crashed solidly against the telescope. + +Red literally bounced back halfway again. Then a long thin arm seemed to +reach out of nowhere and seize him by the jacket and hold him long +enough to stop him. + +Red drifted down to the floor, knocked cold. + + * * * * * + +It had happened so swiftly that I hadn't had time to move. Now I pulled +myself toward Red. The arm was still there in space, and it had added a +shoulder, a rather pretty shoulder. Next there was a body, clothed in +the flowing orange cape, and finally a woman's head. It was the same +one--the minus woman. + +"It's true," I said. + +The woman seemed to understand. "Yes," she said. "All that you told Red +Brewer is true, Jay Hayling. For you, I am a minus woman. For me, you +are a minus man. But we have bridged the gap. For the first time in +eternity, plus and minus, positive and negative, can meet on even +terms." + +"Better not come too close," I said. + +"Nothing will happen," she replied. "We are now alike." She stooped +toward the fallen figure on the floor. "Help me with this child. He's +unconscious." + +"Child!" I said. "If he's a child, they grow 'em big in the minus +world." + +But as I lifted Jay off the floor I wondered if he was as big as I'd +always thought. It wasn't his weight. Nothing weighed very much on this +asteroid, but it was his frail body. He seemed to be a boy of sixteen, +rather than a man stationed 300,000,000 miles in space. + +I carried him out of the laboratory into the living quarters and placed +him on his bunk. I loosened his clothing, noting at the time that he had +been right about his garments not fitting him. + +"You've made him lose weight," I said. + +"What makes you think so?" the woman asked. + +"Because every screwy thing that has happened since we came here a year +ago must have an explanation." + +The woman smiled. "Don't think too harshly of me." She looked very solid +now. Her body had lost that tenuous look. She was no longer nebulous and +cloud-like. "Certain things were necessary in order for me to proceed +safely through the gap between the positive and negative worlds," she +explained. + +I looked at Red again. His face was smooth and I knew he hadn't shaved +in more than a week. "You've made him younger," I said. "Well, he +shouldn't kick at that." + +The woman nodded. "I turned the young man inside out. In a moment the +transition will be complete. You will be our next entrance to this +universe...." + +From Red's bunk came a wail. A bawl, like a tiny baby. A dying baby. + +Some people die of age. Red died an infant. As for the minus woman--she +was murdered on an asteroid. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Imagination Stories of Science and + Fantasy_ July 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 Project Gutenberg's The Minus Woman, by Russell Robert Winterbotham + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MINUS WOMAN *** + +***** This file should be named 30761.txt or 30761.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/7/6/30761/ + +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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