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diff --git a/31357.txt b/31357.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..98efc69 --- /dev/null +++ b/31357.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1006 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ultroom Error, by Gerald Allan Sohl + +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 Ultroom Error + +Author: Gerald Allan Sohl + +Release Date: February 22, 2010 [EBook #31357] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ULTROOM ERROR *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from Space Science Fiction May 1952. Extensive + research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this + publication was renewed. + + + [Illustration] + + + THE ULTROOM ERROR + + + _by_ JERRY SOHL + + + Smith admitted he had made an error involving a few + murders--and a few thousand years. He was entitled to a + sense of humor, though, even in the Ultroom! + + * * * * * + + + + + _HB73782. Ultroom error. Tendal 13. Arvid 6. Kanad transfer + out of 1609 complete, intact, but too near limit of 1,000 + days. Next Kanad transfer ready. 1951. Reginald, son of Mr. + and Mrs. Martin Laughton, 3495 Orland Drive, Marionville, + Illinois, U. S. A. Arrive his 378th day. TB73782._ + +Nancy Laughton sat on the blanket she had spread on the lawn in her +front yard, knitting a pair of booties for the PTA bazaar. +Occasionally she glanced at her son in the play pen, who was getting +his daily dose of sunshine. He was gurgling happily, examining a ball, +a cheese grater and a linen baby book, all with perfunctory interest. + +When she looked up again she noticed a man walking by--except he +turned up the walk and crossed the lawn to her. + +He was a little taller than her husband, had piercing blue eyes and a +rather amused set to his lips. + +"Hello, Nancy," he said. + +"Hello, Joe," she answered. It was her brother who lived in Kankakee. + +"I'm going to take the baby for a while," he said. + +"All right, Joe." + +He reached into the pen, picked up the baby. As he did so the baby's +knees hit the side of the play pen and young Laughton let out a +scream--half from hurt and half from sudden lack of confidence in his +new handler. But this did not deter Joe. He started off with the +child. + +Around the corner and after the man came a snarling mongrel dog, eyes +bright, teeth glinting in the sunlight. The man did not turn as the +dog threw himself at him, burying his teeth in his leg. Surprised, the +man dropped the screaming child on the lawn and turned to the dog. Joe +seemed off balance and he backed up confusedly in the face of the +snapping jaws. Then he suddenly turned and walked away, the dog at his +heels. + +"I tell you, the man said he was my brother and he made me think he +was," Nancy told her husband for the tenth time. "I don't even have a +brother." + +Martin Laughton sighed. "I can't understand why you believed him. It's +just--just plain nuts, Nancy!" + +"Don't you think I know it?" Nancy said tearfully. "I feel like I'm +going crazy. I can't say I dreamt it because there was Reggie with his +bleeding knees, squalling for all he was worth on the grass--Oh, I +don't even want to think about it." + +"We haven't lost Reggie, Nancy, remember that. Now why don't you try +to get some rest?" + +"You--you don't believe me at all, do you, Martin?" + +When her husband did not answer, her head sank to her arms on the +table and she sobbed. + +"Nancy, for heaven's sake, of course I believe you. I'm trying to +think it out, that's all. We should have called the police." + +Nancy shook her head in her arms. "They'd--never--believe me either," +she moaned. + +"I'd better go and make sure Reggie's all right." Martin got up out of +his chair and went to the stairs. + +"I'm going with you," Nancy said, hurriedly rising and coming over to +him. + +"We'll go up and look at him together." + +They found Reggie peacefully asleep in his crib in his room upstairs. +They checked the windows and tucked in the blankets. They paused in +the room for a moment and then Martin stole his arm around his wife +and led her to the door. + +"As I've said, sergeant, this fellow hypnotized my wife. He made her +think he was her brother. She doesn't even have a brother. Then he +tried to get away with the baby." Martin leaned down and patted the +dog. "It was Tiger here who scared him off." + +The police sergeant looked at the father, at Nancy and then at the +dog. He scribbled notes in his book. + +"Are you a rich man, Mr. Laughton?" he asked. + +"Not at all. The bank still owns most of the house. I have a few +hundred dollars, that's all." + +"What do you do?" + +"Office work, mostly. I'm a junior executive in an insurance company." + +"Any enemies?" + +"No ... Oh, I suppose I have a few people I don't get along with, like +anybody else. Nobody who'd do anything like this, though." + +The sergeant flipped his notebook closed. "You'd better keep your dog +inside and around the kid as much as possible. Keep your doors and +windows locked. I'll see that the prowl car keeps an eye on the house. +Call us if anything seems unusual or out of the way." + +Nancy had taken a sedative and was asleep by the time Martin finished +cleaning the .30-.30 rifle he used for deer hunting. He put it by the +stairs, ready for use, fully loaded, leaning it against the wall next +to the telephone stand. + + * * * * * + +The front door bell rang. He answered it. It was Dr. Stuart and +another man. + +"I came as soon as I could, Martin," the young doctor said, stepping +inside with the other man. "This is my new assistant, Dr. Tompkins." + +Martin and Tompkins shook hands. + +"The baby--?" Dr. Stuart asked. + +"Upstairs," Martin said. + +"You'd better get him, Dr. Tompkins, if we're to take him to the +hospital. I'll stay here with Mr. Laughton. How've you been, Martin?" + +"Fine." + +"How's everything at the office?" + +"Fine." + +"And your wife?" + +"She's fine, too." + +"Glad to hear it, Martin. Mighty glad. Say, by the way, there's that +bill you owe me. I think it's $32, isn't that right?" + +"Yes, I'd almost forgotten about it." + +"Why don't you be a good fellow and write a check for it? It's been +over a year, you know." + +"That's right. I'll get right at it." Martin went over to his desk, +opened it and started looking for his checkbook. Dr. Stuart stood by +him, making idle comment until Dr. Tompkins came down the stairs with +the sleeping baby cuddled against his shoulder. + +"Never mind the check, now, Martin. I see we're ready to go." He went +over to his assistant and took the baby. Together they walked out the +front door. + +"Good-bye," Martin said, going to the door. + +Then he was nearly bowled over by the discharge of the .30-.30. Dr. +Stuart crumpled to the ground, the baby falling to the lawn. Dr. +Tompkins whirled and there was a second shot. Dr. Tompkins pitched +forward on his face. + +The figure of a woman ran from the house, retrieved the now squalling +infant and ran back into the house. Once inside, Nancy slammed the +door, gave the baby to the stunned Martin and headed for the +telephone. + +"One of them was the same man!" she cried. + +Martin gasped, sinking into a chair with the baby. "I believed them," +he said slowly and uncomprehendingly. "They made me believe them!" + +"Those bodies," the sergeant said. "Would you mind pointing them out +to me, please?" + +"Aren't they--aren't they on the walk?" Mrs. Laughton asked. + +"There is nothing on the walk, Mrs. Laughton." + +"But there _must_ be! I tell you I shot these men who posed as +doctors. One of them was the same man who tried to take the baby this +afternoon. They hypnotized my husband--" + +"Yes, I know, Mrs. Laughton. We've been through that." The sergeant +went to the door and opened it. "Say, Homer, take another look around +the walk and the bushes. There's supposed to be two of them. Shot with +a .30-.30." + +He turned and picked up the gun and examined it again. "Ever shoot a +gun before, Mrs. Laughton?" + +"Many times. Martin and I used to go hunting together before we had +Reggie." + +The sergeant nodded. "You were taking an awful chance, shooting at a +guy carrying your baby, don't you think?" + +"I shot him in the legs. The other--the other turned and I shot him in +the chest. I could even see his eyes when he turned around. If I +hadn't pulled the trigger then ... I don't want to remember it." + +The patrolman pushed the door open. "There's no bodies out here but +there's some blood. Quite a lot of blood. A little to one side of the +walk." + +The policemen went out. + +"Thank God you woke up, Nancy," Martin said. "I'd have let them have +the baby." He reached over and smoothed the sleeping Reggie's hair. + +Nancy, who was rocking the boy, narrowed her eyes. + +"I wonder why they want our baby? He's just like any other baby. We +don't have any money. We couldn't pay a ransom." + +"Reggie's pretty cute, though," Martin said. "You will have to admit +that." + +Nancy smiled. Then she suddenly stopped rocking. + +"Martin!" + +He sat up quickly. + +"Where's Tiger?" + +Together they rose and walked around the room. They found him in a +corner, eyes open, tongue protruding. He was dead. + + * * * * * + +"If we keep Reggie in the house much longer he'll turn out to be a +hermit," Martin said at breakfast a month later. "He needs fresh air +and sunshine." + +"I'm not going to sit on the lawn alone with him, Martin. I just +can't, that's all. I'd be able to think of nothing but that day." + +"Still thinking about it? I think we'd have heard from them again if +they were coming back. They probably got somebody else's baby by this +time." Martin finished his coffee and rose to kiss her good-bye. "But +for safety's sake I guess you'd better keep that gun handy." + +The morning turned into a brilliant, sunshiny day. Puffs of clouds +moved slowly across the summer sky and a warm breeze rustled the +trees. It would be a crime to keep Reggie inside on a day like this, +Nancy thought. + +So she called Mrs. MacDougal, the next door neighbor. Mrs. MacDougal +was familiar with what had happened to the Laughtons and she agreed to +keep an eye on Nancy and Reggie and to call the police at the first +sign of trouble. + +With a fearful but determined heart Nancy moved the play pen and set +it up in the front yard. She spread a blanket for herself and put +Reggie in the pen. Her heart pounded all the while and she watched the +street for any strangers, ready to flee inside if need be. Reggie just +gurgled with delight at the change in environment. + + * * * * * + +This peaceful scene was disturbed by a speeding car in which two men +were riding. The car roared up the street, swerved toward the parkway, +tires screaming, bounced over the curb and sidewalk, straight toward +the child and mother. Reggie, attracted by the sudden noise, looked up +to see the approaching vehicle. His mother stood up, set her palms +against her cheeks and shrieked. + +The car came on, crunched over the play pen, killing the child. The +mother was hit and instantly killed, force of the blow snapping her +spine and tossing her against the house. The car plunged on into a +tree, hitting it a terrible blow, crumbling the car's forward end so +it looked like an accordion. The men were thrown from the machine. + +"We'll never be able to prosecute in this case," the states attorney +said. "At least not on a drunken driving basis." + +"I can't get over it," the chief of police said. "I've got at least +six men who will swear the man was drunk. He staggered, reeled and +gave the usual drunk talk. He reeked of whiskey." + +The prosecutor handed the report over the desk. "Here's the analysis. +Not a trace of alcohol. He couldn't have even had a smell of near +beer. Here's another report. This is his physical exam made not long +afterwards. The man was in perfect health. Only variations are he had +a scar on his leg where something, probably a dog, bit him once. And +then a scar on his chest. It looked like an old gunshot wound, they +said. Must have happened years ago." + +"That's odd. The man who accosted Mrs. Laughton in the afternoon was +bitten by their dog. Later that night she said she shot the same man +in the chest. Since the scars are healed it obviously couldn't be the +same man. But there's a real coincidence for you. And speaking of the +dogbite, the Laughton dog died that night. His menu evidently didn't +agree with him. Never did figure what killed him, actually." + +"Any record of treatment on the man she shot?" + +"The _men_. You'll remember, there were two. No, we never found a +trace of either. No doctor ever made a report of a gunshot wound that +night. No hospital had a case either--at least not within several +hundred miles--that night or several nights afterwards. Ever been shot +with .30-.30?" + +The state attorney shook his head. "I wouldn't be here if I had." + +"I'll say you wouldn't. The pair must have crawled away to die God +knows where." + +"Getting back to the man who ran over the child and killed Mrs. +Laughton. Why did he pretend to be drunk?" + +It was the chief's turn to shake his head. "Your guess is as good as +mine. There are a lot of angles to this case none of us understand. It +looks deliberate, but where's the motive?" + +"What does the man have to say?" + +"I was afraid you'd get to him," the chief said, his neck reddening. +"It's all been rather embarrassing to the department." He coughed +self-consciously. "He's proved a strange one, all right. He says his +name is John Smith and he's got cards to prove it, too--for example, a +social security card. It looks authentic, yet there's no such number +on file in Washington, so we've discovered. We've had him in jail for +a week and we've all taken turns questioning him. He laughs and admits +his guilt--in fact, he seems amused by most everything. Sometimes all +alone in his cell he'll start laughing for no apparent reason. It +gives you the creeps." + + * * * * * + +The states attorney leaned back in his chair. "Maybe it's a case for +an alienist." + +"One jump ahead of you. Dr. Stone thinks he's normal, but won't put +down any I.Q. Actually, he can't figure him out himself. Smith seems +to take delight in answering questions--sort of anticipates them and +has the answer ready before you're half through asking." + +"Well, if Dr. Stone says he's normal, that's enough for me." The +prosecutor was silent for a moment. Then, "How about the husband?" + +"Laughton? We're afraid to let him see him. All broken up. No telling +what kind of a rumpus he'd start--especially if Smith started his +funny business." + +"Guess you're right. Well, Mr. Smith won't think it's so funny when we +hang criminal negligence or manslaughter on him. By the way, you've +checked possible family connections?" + +"Nobody ever saw John Smith before. Even at the address on his +driver's license. And there's no duplicate of that in Springfield, in +case you're interested." + +The man who had laughingly told police his name was John Smith lay on +his cot in the county jail, his eyes closed, his arms folded across +his chest. This gave him the appearance of being alert despite +reclining. Even as he lay, his mouth held a hint of a smile. + +Arvid 6--for John Smith _was_ Arvid 6--had lain in that position for +more than four hours, when suddenly he snapped his eyes open and +appeared to be listening. For a moment a look of concern crossed his +face and he swung his legs to the floor and sat there expectantly. +Arvid 6 knew Tendal 13 had materialized and was somewhere in the +building. + +Eventually there were some sounds from beyond the steel cell and +doorway. There was a clang when the outer doorway was opened and Arvid +6 rose from his cot. + +"Your lawyer's here to see you," the jailer said, indicating the man +with the brief case. "Ring the buzzer when you're through." The jailer +let the man in, locked the cell door and walked away. + +The man threw the brief case on the jail cot and stood glaring. + +"Your damned foolishness has gone far enough. I'm sick and tired of +it," he declared. "If you carry on any more we'll never get back to +the Ultroom!" + +"I'm sorry, Tendal," the man on the cot said. "I didn't think--" + +"You're absolutely right. You didn't think. Crashing that car into +that tree and killing that woman--that was the last straw. You don't +even deserve to get back to our era. You ought to be made to rot +here." + +"I'm _really_ sorry about that," Arvid 6 said. + + * * * * * + +"You know the instructions. Just because you work in the Ultroom don't +get to thinking human life doesn't have any value. We wouldn't be here +if it hadn't. But to unnecessarily kill--" The older man shook his +head. "You could have killed yourself as well and we'd never get the +job done. As it is, you almost totally obliterated me." Tendal 13 +paced the length of the cell and back again, gesturing as he talked. + +"It was only with the greatest effort I pulled myself back together +again. I doubt that you could have done it. And then all the while +you've been sitting here, probably enjoying yourself with your special +brand of humor I have grown to despise." + +"You didn't have to come along at all, you know," Arvid 6 said. + +"How well I know! How sorry I am that I ever did! It was only because +I was sorry for you, because someone older and more experienced than +you was needed. I volunteered. Imagine that! I volunteered! Tendal 13 +reaches the height of stupidity and volunteers to help Arvid 6 go back +6,000 years to bring Kanad back, to correct a mistake Arvid 6 made!" +He snorted. "I still can't believe I was ever that stupid. I only +prove it when I pinch myself and here I am. + +"Oh, you've been a joy to be with! First it was that hunt in ancient +Mycenae when you let the lion escape the hunters' quaint spears and we +were partly eaten by the lion in the bargain, although you dazzled the +hunters, deflecting their spears. And then your zest for drink when we +were with Octavian in Alexandria that led to everybody's amusement but +ours when we were ambushed by Anthony's men. And worst of all, that +English barmaid you became engrossed with at our last stop in 1609, +when her husband mistook me for you and you let him take me apart +piece by piece--" + +"All right, all right," Arvid 6 said. "I'll admit I've made some +mistakes. You're just not adventurous, that's all." + +"Shut up! For once you're going to listen to me. Our instructions +specifically stated we were to have as little as possible to do with +these people. But at every turn you've got us more and more enmeshed +with them. If that's adventure, you can have it." Tendal 13 sat down +wearily and sank his head in his hands. "It was you who conceived the +idea of taking Reggie right out of his play pen. 'Watch me take that +child right out from under its mother's nose' were your exact words. +And before I could stop you, you did. Only you forgot an important +factor in the equation--the dog, Tiger. And you nursed a dogbite most +of the afternoon before it healed. And then you took your spite out on +the poor thing by suggesting suffocation to it that night. + +"And speaking of that night, you remember we agreed I was to do the +talking. But no, you pulled a switch and captured Martin Laughton's +attention. 'I came as soon as I could, Martin,' you said. And suddenly +I played a very minor role. 'This is my new assistant, Dr. Tompkins,' +you said. And then what happened? I get shot in the legs and you get a +hole in your back. We were both nearly obliterated that time and we +didn't even come close to getting the child. + +"Still you wanted to run the whole show. 'I'm younger than you,' you +said. 'I'll take the wheel.' And the next thing I know I'm floating in +space halfway to nowhere with two broken legs, a spinal injury, +concussion and some of the finest bruises you ever saw." + + * * * * * + +"These twentieth century machines aren't what they ought to be," Arvid +6 said. + +"You never run out of excuses, do you, Arvid? Remember what you said +in the Ultroom when you pushed the lever clear over and transferred +Kanad back 6,000 years? 'My hand slipped.' As simple as that. 'My hand +slipped.' It was so simple everyone believed you. You were given no +real punishment. In a way it was a reward--at least to you--getting to +go back and rescue the life germ of Kanad out of each era he'd be born +in." + +Tendal 13 turned and looked steadily and directly at Arvid 6. "Do you +know what I think? I think you deliberately pushed the lever over as +far as it would go _just to see what would happen_. That's how simple +I think it was." + +Arvid 6 flushed, turned away and looked at the floor. + +"What crazy things have you been doing since I've been gone?" Tendal +13 asked. + +Arvid 6 sighed. "After what you just said I guess it wouldn't amuse +you, although it has me. They got to me right after the accident +before I had a chance to collect my wits, dematerialize or +anything--you said we shouldn't dematerialize in front of anybody." + +"That's right." + +"Well, I didn't know what to do. I could see they thought I was drunk, +so I was. But they had a blood sample before I could manufacture any +alcohol in my blood, although I implanted a memory in them that I +reeked of it." He laughed. "I fancy they're thoroughly confused." + +"And you're thoroughly amused, no doubt. Have they questioned you?" + +"At great length. They had a psychiatrist in to see me. He was a queer +fellow with the most stupid set of questions and tests I ever saw." + +"And you amused yourself with him." + +"I suppose you'd think so." + +"Who do you tell them you are?" + +"John Smith. A rather prevalent name here, I understand. I +manufactured a pasteboard called a social security card and a driver's +license--" + +"Never mind. It's easy to see you've been your own inimitable self. +Believe me, if I ever get back to the Ultroom I hope I never see you +again. And I hope I'll never leave there again though I'm rejuvenated +through a million years." + +"Was Kanad's life germ transferred all right this time?" + +Tendal 13 shook his head. "I haven't heard. The transfers are getting +more difficult all the time. In 1609, you'll remember, it was a case +of pneumonia for the two-year-old. A simple procedure. It wouldn't +work here. Medicine's too far along." He produced a notebook. "The +last jump was 342 years, a little more than average. The next ought to +be around 2250. Things will be more difficult than ever there, +probably." + +"Do you think Kanad will be angry about all this?" + +"How would you like to have to go through all those birth processes, +to have your life germ knocked from one era to the next?" + +"Frankly, I didn't think he'd go back so far." + +"If it had been anybody but Kanad nobody'd ever have thought of going +back after it. The life germ of the head of the whole galactic system +who came to the Ultroom to be transplanted to a younger body--and then +sending him back beyond his original birth date--" Tendal 13 got up +and commenced his pacing again. "Oh, I suppose Kanad's partly to +blame, wanting rejuvenating at only 300 years. Some have waited a +thousand or more or until their bones are like paper." + +"I just wonder how angry Kanad will be," Arvid muttered. + + _HB92167. Ultroom Error. Tendal 13. Arvid 6. Kanad transfer + out of 1951 complete. Next Kanad transfer ready. 2267. + Phullam 19, son of Orla 39 and Rhoda R, 22H Level M, + Hemisphere B, Quadrant 3, Sector I. Arrive his 329th Day._ + + _TB92167_ + + * * * * * + +Arvid 6 rose from the cot and the two men faced each other. + +"Before we leave, Arvid," Tendal 13 started to say. + +"I know, I know. You want me to let you handle everything." + +"Exactly. Is that too much to ask after all you've done?" + +"I guess I have made mistakes. From now on you be the boss. I'll do +whatever you say." + +"I hope I can count on that." Tendal 13 rang the jail buzzer. + +The jailer unlocked the cell door. + +"You remember the chief said it's all right to take him with me, +Matthews," Tendal 13 told the jailer. + +"Yes, I remember," the jailer said mechanically, letting them both out +of the cell. + +They walked together down the jail corridor. When they came to another +barred door the jailer fumbled with the keys and clumsily tried +several with no luck. + +Arvid 6, an amused set to his mouth and devilment in his eyes, watched +the jailer's expression as he walked through the bars of the door. He +laughed as he saw the jailer's eyes bulge. + +"Arvid!" + +Tendal 13 walked briskly through the door, snatched Arvid 6 by the +shoulders and shook him. + +The jailer watched stupified as the two men vanished in the middle of +a violent argument. + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ultroom Error, by Gerald Allan Sohl + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ULTROOM ERROR *** + +***** This file should be named 31357.txt or 31357.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/3/5/31357/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://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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