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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32412-h.zip b/32412-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3275726 --- /dev/null +++ b/32412-h.zip diff --git a/32412-h/32412-h.htm b/32412-h/32412-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e091b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/32412-h/32412-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1349 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Black Tide, by Arthur G. Stangland + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; background-color: #FFFFFF; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.tr {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 2em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} + +.img1 {border:solid 1px; } + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold; font-size:smaller;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-right: 0.25em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + + +/* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Black Tide, by Arthur G. Stangland + +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 Black Tide + +Author: Arthur G. Stangland + +Illustrator: Ed Valigursky + +Release Date: May 18, 2010 [EBook #32412] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK TIDE *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<p class="center">This etext was produced from IF Worlds of Science Fiction March 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.</p></div> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/cover.jpg" width="400" height="591" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p> </p> + +<h1>The BLACK TIDE</h1> +<p> </p> + +<h2>By Arthur G. Stangland</h2> +<p> </p> + +<h3>Illustrated by Ed Valigursky</h3> +<p> </p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Space in its far dark reaches can be fickle with a man; it +can shatter his dreams, fill him with fear and hate. It can +also cure a man—if he is strong enough.</i></p></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="19" height="40" /></div> +<p>t filled all the ebony depths of space. Twirling slowly in awesome +majesty, the meteor scintillated like a massive black diamond. And +with its onrush came a devastating sense of doom. He looked +everywhere. To the front, to the side, and below—there was no escape. +Transfixed, he stared at the great rock flashing in the fire of myriad +suns as it—</p> + +<p>Bill Staker, passenger rocket captain for Interplanetary Lines, came +fully awake in his New York hotel room. For a minute, he lay unmoving +on his bed, savoring the delicious sensation of weight. No queazy +stirring in the pit of his belly for lack of gravity, no forced +squinting because of muscular re-orientation.</p> + +<p>With a muttered curse he unwound himself from his covers and sat up. +For a moment he rested his head in his hands, thinking, only a +nightmare, thank God, only a nightmare.</p> + +<p>He lifted his head, and found cold sweat on his hands. Then sighing in +relief he swung his feet over the edge of his bed.</p> + +<p>A glance at the clock showed 10:45 p.m. Monday, June 10th, 2039. +Heavily, he clumped across the room in the peculiar flat-footed gait +of a spaceman accustomed to magnetic contact shoes. Cigarette in hand +he sank into a heavy chair, touched a button on the arm, then sat back +to watch the telescreen.</p> + +<p>It was a rehash of the day's news. In nasal tones a senator was +accusing the Republicrats of raising taxes. Then followed scenes from +a spectacular fire. Suddenly, Bill's drooping eyelids popped open.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/image_001.jpg" width="400" height="553" alt="The small meteor ripped through the Space Bird's +crew compartment, blinding the radar scope and severing communication +with Earth." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><i>The small meteor ripped through the</i> Space Bird's +<i>crew compartment, blinding the radar scope and severing communication +with Earth</i>.</span> +</div> + +<p>A commentator was saying, "... the two rockets of the Staker Space +Mining Company, ready for a scouting trip to the asteroid Beta +Quadrant."</p> + +<p>A close-up of Tom Staker followed. Tall, rangy, with blond hair like +straw in the wind. Bill laid his cigarette in a tray and with critical +interest leaned forward to look at his brother.</p> + +<p>"We figure to find uranium," Tom was saying, with a glance toward the +vertical rockets, "all through the Beta Quadrant. Our departure is +waiting on the return of my brother, Bill, from his Mars-to-Earth +run."</p> + +<p>A reporter asked Tom, "Private enterprise is unique in these days of +virtual monopolies. What's the story behind it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, our great-grandfather, George Staker, believed passionately in +private enterprise," Tom began. "Somewhere around 1952 or 1953 he +established a trust fund for his third generation descendants to +finance any project they think worthwhile. And he got an ironclad +guarantee from the government that the trust fund for private +enterprise would be honored in the future. You see, my ancestor was +quite a romanticist. In one of his books entitled 'The Philosophy of +Science' he says 'People of this dawning Atomic Age little realize +they are living in a vast dream. A dream that is slowly taking +objective shape. A tool here, a part there, a plan on some drafting +table. Men of ideas are pointing the way, structuring the inner dream +world of a generation. Even today's science fiction literature +contains important ideas for the dreams-become-reality of tomorrow.'" +Tom finished up, "With our Project Venture, Bill and I are going to +bring a dream into reality—making a little on the side, of course!"</p> + +<p>The commentator ended his interview with: "And so, we await with great +interest the carrying out of George Staker's dream, a man whose +Twentieth Century ideas of private enterprise have blown a breath of +fresh air into an age of dull dreams and little imagination."</p> + +<p>Bill Staker pressed the control button, darkening the screen. "Dream +boy. Tom, you damned fool." He got up and scuffed into the bathroom to +stare into the mirror. Twenty-five years old, and already lines were +grooving both sides of his nostrils. Tousled black hair like brush +hanging over a high bank, and ridged creases in his forehead. Little +lumps of flesh bulging over the corners of his mouth from constant +tension. The tension of outwitting space on each trip 'tween the +planets. But worst of all was the look in his gray eyes. The look that +never went away anymore. The look of a man who has spent too much time +staring into the enigma of the Universe and—thinking.</p> + +<p>"I'm scared—scared as hell!" he blurted at his reflection. "And if I +don't get hold of myself, I'm through—washed up!"</p> + +<p>Space was no place for a man with imagination—too much imagination. +You stared into the empty blackness here, you stared into the inky +blackness there, behind you the Earth a tiny pinpoint, the Earth that +meant rock solid footing, the caress of wind and land in all +directions. But out there in the aching void you raced for Mars like a +mouse scuttling across a lighted floor. Raced because of what you +couldn't see, couldn't fathom. Yet, you knew <i>It</i> was out there, +staring back inscrutably.</p> + +<p>He rubbed the flat of his hand across his right cheek, sighing from +emotional weariness. Then he scuffed back into the room. On the way he +collected a bottle of bourbon, mixer and glass, and dropped into the +big chair.</p> + +<p>As he worked on the bottle, all the anxiety and apprehension in him +faded. Once he stared at the bottom of his empty glass. Funny how a +guy could panic all of a sudden. He remembered it clearly now. Riding +into town yesterday from the rocket port, he started brooding over +details of Project Venture. Suddenly, an overwhelming black tide of +fear worse than he had ever experienced confronted him. Like a man on +the verge of insanity he licked his dry lips, staring about him and +feeling as if something strange and terrible were taking possession of +his mind. And in the middle of his spell a cloud blacker than space +itself started reaching for him. That was when he yelled to the +startled bus driver to let him out at this hotel. Maybe he could get +hold of himself here.</p> + +<p>Now, his arms sprawled over the sides of the heavy chair, he drifted +off into a snoring stupor.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="19" height="40" /></div> +<p>n the morning he awoke to a splitting headache. Somehow it helped to +hold his head between both hands and swear at it in a running mutter. +Finally he roused himself to go to the bathroom for a cold shower. +Afterward, donning his powder blue Captain's uniform, he went down to +breakfast.</p> + +<p>He dawdled over crisp bacon and eggs, glanced at morning editions, and +all the while the ashes of last night's emotional holocaust drifted +through him. Drifted in fitful vagrant thoughts. He should have said +no that first day a year ago. The big law firm made a great to do over +the old document from his ancestor. Unique, they said. The chance of a +lifetime. And by the end of the first meeting Tom was all fired up. +Mining atomic power metals in the asteroid belt would bring the +biggest returns, he said. They would be the only ones allowed to +compete with the Asteroid Mining Corporation monopoly. And now Tom was +building up public excitement in the venture, as if it were a circus. +The damned fool. Why had he let his brother talk him into—</p> + +<p>Suddenly, his line of thought snapped, and he was acutely aware of +staring eyes.</p> + +<p>He looked to his left, then felt a warm flush technicolor his cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Christy!"</p> + +<p>Her blond curls making a soft halo around her jauntily raked hat, the +space hostess from his ship gave him a warm smile. She was adequately +stacked, Bill reflected, but there was levelheaded firmness and +resolution in her too. That was why she was hard to handle.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Bill."</p> + +<p>He didn't like the accusing gleam in her eye but he was glad to see +her.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Christy. Have some coffee." He held her hands a moment, +then eased her into the opposite chair.</p> + +<p>He tried disarming her with a show of great enthusiasm. But the way +she settled herself into the seat, all the while regarding him with +those clear penetrating blue eyes, told him she was going on no snipe +hunt.</p> + +<p>"When you kissed me goodbye at the port yesterday, Bill, you said you +were going directly to the field to be with Tom." It wasn't a +statement—it was an accusation.</p> + +<p>With an elaborate show of casualness he shrugged his shoulders. "Well, +I was fagged out from this last trip. Decided I'd do better getting a +full night's rest by myself at a hotel."</p> + +<p>The waiter brought her coffee, and she left it to cool. She folded her +long tapering fingers on the table, and a delicate lift to her fine +brows gave her an expression of sympathetic concern.</p> + +<p>Her smile was regretful. "Rocket men don't drink, Bill. You know it +too. Bad for muscular coordination."</p> + +<p>He said in some surprise, "You mean it's that loud?"</p> + +<p>"Uh-huh." Christy leaned forward. "What is it, Bill? You haven't been +yourself for weeks. You looked haggard yesterday and when you left the +ship you were almost running, as if trying to escape from something. +And now this strange avoidance of Tom. He got hold of me this morning +early, wanting to know where you were. And I guess it's pretty +important that he sees you, Bill. Seems there's been trouble at the +field."</p> + +<p>It was as if someone had prodded him in an agonizingly sore place and +he reacted instinctively. He let his knife clatter on his plate, aware +that he was dramatizing himself.</p> + +<p>"When I'm ready for a woman's sticking her nose into my affairs, I'll +send her a special invitation!"</p> + +<p>Christy's delicate nostrils flared, and her bosom rose and fell +rapidly. Then she seemed to get hold of herself. "I'm sorry if you got +that impression, Bill. I was only trying to help you both."</p> + +<p>Cherishing his irritation, Bill went on, "Seems to me you're bending +over backward helping Tom, playing messenger, private eye—"</p> + +<p>Christy broke in with a catch in her throat, "Oh, Bill, please! Let's +not quarrel as soon as we get back."</p> + +<p>Bill shoved his dishes aside, the tone of her voice reaching into him +to dampen down the fires of anger. Then he managed a slow faint grin.</p> + +<p>"Okay, Christy." He reached for the check, saying, "Well, if you can +stand my company, would you like to come along out to the field?"</p> + +<p>With her eyes glistening, she answered, "I'd love to."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="36" height="40" /></div> + +<p>he private rocket landing field of the Staker Space Mining Company +was an hour's drive north of the city. Three miles from the field they +made out the two gleaming snouts of the rockets pointing skyward. Then +as they approached the edge of the field, Bill turned off toward a two +story frame structure that served as office and warehouse.</p> + +<p>Bill said, "Might as well check to see if Tom is in the office +first."</p> + +<p>At the door Bill poked his head in and shouted up the stairwell, +"Hi—Tom?"</p> + +<p>A chair scraped, and footsteps sounded across the upstairs floor. +"Yeah—that you, Bill? C'mon up!"</p> + +<p>They found Tom at a desk before a wide window view of the field. On +the office walls hung big graphs of fuel consumption curves, +trajectory plots from Earth to the asteroid belt, ballistics +computations, oxygen consumption curves per unit metabolism per man.</p> + +<p>Christy looking at the rockets, said, "Gee, Tom, they look beautiful. +Like monsters straining their tethers."</p> + +<p>Tom looked up at the girl's profile, and to Bill who was watching, he +bore the look of a man savoring what he saw.</p> + +<p>"Yes, they are. That first one's mine, the <i>Space Bird</i>. The other is +Bill's, the <i>Space Dragon</i>."</p> + +<p>Bill cast a professional eye over the charts and graphs on the wall, +while far down in his subconscious a sharp twinge of jealousy +fulminated, tangling with his fears of space in a hybrid monstrosity. +Then like lava in a plugged volcano his obsession found a new outlet. +The fear of space now came up disguised as hatred for Tom.</p> + +<p>In an unusually calm voice Bill said, "Well, I see you have everything +just about completed."</p> + +<p>"Yeah," Tom glanced up with a significant look. "Someone else was +interested in those charts and graphs too the other day. Someone who +didn't bother to use the door."</p> + +<p>"What d'you mean—somebody break in?"</p> + +<p>Tom nodded. "Yep. Jimmied a window downstairs. But I don't think they +got anything, because the door to the office was still locked when the +watchman surprised them. They got away in the dark."</p> + +<p>Christy's eyes grew large and round. "Who do you suppose it was?"</p> + +<p>Hitching his long body erect, Tom said with a gesture of his right hand, +"Well, there's only one outfit interested in our destination—and that's +Asteroid Mining."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens," Christy said in great surprise. "You don't mean a big +corporation like that would stoop so low?"</p> + +<p>Tom smiled at her. "With a monopoly on power metals Asteroid has been +gouging the world. People have become resigned to the situation. But +if we can supply uranium ore cheaper there's going to be a clamor for +private enterprise again. Under the present system private enterprise +has been withering on the vine. This is our big chance and the public +is pulling for us."</p> + +<p>Bill's hold on his temper slipped another notch. "Yeah, I saw that +interview with the television news you had. Saw it last night." He +folded his arms across his chest. "If that's your conception of +winning support for our venture then you better take up circus +advertising."</p> + +<p>For a moment Tom looked like a man who's taken a bucket of ice water +in the face. Then his feet hit the floor. "Say, now, wait a minute, +Bill!" he said, half in anger. "Who d'you think's been shouldering the +big share of Project Venture—while you've hung on to your job and a +pretty salary?"</p> + +<p>"Didn't we agree you'd spend full time on the Project while I acted +as consultant between trips?" Bill shot back.</p> + +<p>"Yeah, I quit a fair job as first officer on a freighter to handle +it."</p> + +<p>"And you are guaranteed fair wages and a fat slice of any profits we +make," Bill snapped. "The thing I didn't like in that interview of +yours was that starry-eyed eyewash about our ancestor being a man of +vision, a philosopher and a dreamer. That's a helluva tag to put on +us—'The Dream Boys'! Good God!"</p> + +<p>Tom stood up, facing his brother in icy silence. Finally he said, "Is +that all you've got to offer—a lotta carping criticism?"</p> + +<p>The planes of Bill's cheeks flattened under the downward pull at his +mouth corners. The black ugly tide was running in him now and he could +not stop its sweep. His fear of space, the frantic will to escape from +it again, all the irritation and anger were deep currents and he was a +mere piece of flotsam tossing on the advancing wave of the black tide.</p> + +<p>He said, "No, damn you. I've got something else in my craw too. It's +Christy. I've seen the way you look at her, and I know that whenever +my back is turned you're doing your damnedest to break us up!"</p> + +<p>Tom's face turned gray and suddenly his eyes were wide open. Knots +stood out on the points of his jaws.</p> + +<p>In a strange half choked voice he said, "That's a blasted lie—and you +know it. It's an excuse to cover up for your own peculiar behavior +lately. I think—"</p> + +<p>Christy broke in with. "Bill—Tom, for heaven's sake stop it!" Her +beseeching eyes were glancing sharply from one to the other in growing +panic.</p> + +<p>Bill stood lightly on his feet, his fingers curling and uncurling into +balled fists.</p> + +<p>Tom went on, a bleak look in his eyes. "I think you've been in a soft +berth too long. The monopoly you work for has softened you, taken out +the guts a man needs to stand on his own feet—"</p> + +<p>Bill suddenly stiffened. His right shot out in a hard, sharp blow that +crashed against Tom's chin. Tom grunted, a surprised look in his eyes, +and sagged to the floor.</p> + +<p>For a moment Bill stood over him, nostrils flaring, his whole body +tense and waiting. But Tom was too groggy to get up.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bill, how could you!" Christy cried out, dropping to her knees +beside Tom.</p> + +<p>Bill strode with measured step to the door. There he turned, and +looking back with a sneer, said, "Sweet dreams, Dream Boy!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="19" height="40" /></div> +<p>n a luxurious office of Asteroid Mining Corporation on the +twenty-third floor of a Manhattan skyscraper a furious official of the +corporation faced an uncomfortable underling.</p> + +<p>"I've heard of some pretty crude tricks in my time, Heilman, but +breaking into the Staker Company's office like a common house thief +takes the tin medal for low grade brains!" the official ranted, +pounding his desk. "I suppose you thought that was an excellent way to +advance yourself in the corporation, eh? Finesse, Heilman, finesse. +That's what it takes in matters like this. Asteroid Mining, before it +got the monopoly, stopped competition, but not by common +housebreaking—"</p> + +<p>"But—but I thought," Heilman explained lamely, "that we could get a +copy of their trajectory and then deal with them after they got out to +the quadrant. You know, fire a 'meteor' at them, blanket them with +radio jamming, ruin their radar sighting—"</p> + +<p>The official snorted and leaned disgustedly back in his leather chair. +"No, no you big dumb ox! You're retired from the team, benched. Now +you can sit on the sidelines and watch how the first string fix Staker +and Company."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="51" height="40" /></div> +<p>hen Bill asked for his key, the clerk handed him the key and a +faintly lavender tinted envelope.</p> + +<p>Mystified by the feminine handwriting, Bill sat in a lobby chair, and +tore open the jasmine scented envelope.</p> + +<p>The note was brief. It said, "Dear Captain Staker: Please call on me +at your earliest convenience, Apt. 5B. It is a matter of utmost +importance to both of us. Margo."</p> + +<p>Ever since leaving Tom's office, Bill's mind had been spinning about a +center of hatred and ugly rumination. But now the stimulus of the +jasmine fragrance struck a spark of adventure on the edge of his +churning mind. The tangential path led off into inviting mysterious +shadows and he was going to follow.</p> + +<p>The elevator stopped at the apartment floor of the hotel's north +Tower. In the softly lighted corridor his feet fell soundlessly on the +deep pile rug. He turned a corner, then walked up a short flight of +steps to the door of Apt. 5B.</p> + +<p>In response to his knock the door was opened by a vision in white +satin. She was startlingly beautiful. Dark heavy lashes, creamy skin, +white even teeth in a flashing smile, a lithe body poised with the +ease of a jungle cat. She was fulsome and high breasted, and as she +followed Bill's quick appraising glance, she seemed to smile knowingly +that all he saw was displayed to best advantage.</p> + +<p>Hat in hand Bill said, "I'm—I'm Captain Staker."</p> + +<p>With a throaty laugh that could have been carefully timed, she said, +"And I'm Margo. Come right in Captain."</p> + +<p>Bill walked onto a white rug, and unobtrusively took in the rich +furniture Twenty First Century Modern, the warm brown of the logarithm +ruled walls, paintings in the style of Van Gogh, sharply angled table +lamps, the gold drapes at the windows.</p> + +<p>"It was kind of you to come so promptly," Margo continued, settling +into a chair.</p> + +<p>Bill brought his glance back to her. "Well, frankly, I was curious to +know what a perfect stranger could have in common with me."</p> + +<p>She laughed indulgently. "Nasty of me, wasn't it?—taking advantage of +a human weakness." She gestured at Scotch and bourbon on the coffee +table. "I'll let you do us the honors, Captain. Bourbon for me."</p> + +<p>Presently, glass in hand and a spreading warmth in him, Bill fixed +the girl with a quizzical look. "Tell me, Margo, just what is this +matter of utmost importance to both of us?"</p> + +<p>She put her glass on the table, then sat back and Bill felt the full +impact of her dark lustrous eyes. "It's a business matter, Captain. +You've been recommended as a man of high purpose and dependability. As +the heir to my father's controlling interest in Intercontinental Lines +I am badly in need of a man with your experience to handle traffic +details."</p> + +<p>Bill lifted a brow. "Intercontinental Lines? Never heard of it. +Exclusively airline traffic on Earth?"</p> + +<p>"It's a new company formed under monopoly regulations. Of course, I +realize you're a spaceman, but staying on Earth would have its +compensations. You can name your own salary."</p> + +<p>Bill leaned forward and mixed another drink. This was something +unexpected and pretty tempting too. No more fighting his fear of +space. He downed the drink in a few gulps, then stood up.</p> + +<p>"Well, I—I'd like to think things over," he said with hesitation, +walking slowly to the window.</p> + +<p>Margo followed, saying, "I don't mean to rush you, Bill—yet the +situation needs your experienced hand."</p> + +<p>"I know, but my brother and I are all set to make a scouting trip to +Beta Quadrant."</p> + +<p>Margo leaned against the window drapes, smiling with frank admiration. +"I know you are. How in the world you can take off from Earth and hit +a target far out in space is beyond me. Is it something like firing +artillery?"</p> + +<p>The warm glow already suffusing Bill's senses took on added lustre +when he looked into her questioning eyes. Expansively, he began +drawing diagrams, and explaining the elements of space navigation.</p> + +<p>"Now here's the trajectory my brother and I are planning to use," he +went on, drawing a complex curve with loading figures and fuel +consumption and point of contact with the Beta Quadrant.</p> + +<p>When he paused once, Margo touched the gold sunburst emblem on his +arm. "That's fascinating, Bill, but making a trip like yours is all a +gamble. I'm not offering you a gamble. I'm offering you a sure thing."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I realize that." Bill got to his feet. "But just the same I want +to think your proposition over, Margo."</p> + +<p>She leaned toward him putting her hands on his lapels. "Bill, don't +risk your neck out there in space. I need you desperately in the +company."</p> + +<p>Suddenly, Bill was electrically aware of cool, smooth arms sliding up +and around his neck and her soft red mouth within fragrance distance.</p> + +<p>And he was exquisitely aware of the full soft length of her pressing +against him. The scent of jasmine reached him with bewitching stealth. +That was when he closed the gap to her mouth in a sudden rush.</p> + +<p>Bill came out of a whirling state of pure feeling to hear the +visiphone buzzing insistently.</p> + +<p>"The phone," he mumbled.</p> + +<p>Margo opened her eyes dreamily, then comprehended. She walked over to +the phone, picked up the receiver.</p> + +<p>After a moment she turned around looking at him questioningly. "It's +for you, Bill."</p> + +<p>He took the phone and said, "Captain Staker speaking."</p> + +<p>The desk clerk said, "A gentleman to see you, sir. Shall I send him to +Apt. 5B?"</p> + +<p>"No," Bill answered. "I'll be down to my room in a few moments and see +him there."</p> + +<p>He turned to Margo. "I guess business comes before idyll, Margo. I've +got to go."</p> + +<p>Her lustrous dark eyes searched his face intently. "How long must I +wait for an answer, Bill?"</p> + +<p>"Can you wait until Thursday—three days?" Time enough to thresh +things out with Tom.</p> + +<p>"I guess I can," Margo said, touching him with an inviting glance, +"but do I have to wait that long before I see you again?"</p> + +<p>Bill grinned and shook his head in wonder. "My lord, what persistence! +I got an idea any visiting would not be entirely social. Somewhere +along the line business would rear its shaggy head. Okay, how about +dinner at the Wedgewood Room tomorrow night?"</p> + +<p>"Wonderful!"</p> + +<p>Later at his own floor to his surprise he found Tom pacing the +corridor. In a strained voice he said, "The clerk said a gentleman—"</p> + +<p>Tom came back in a conciliatory tone, "And I don't fit the +description, eh? Well, anyway, Bill, we got things to talk over. How +about it?"</p> + +<p>Bill shrugged noncommittally, unlocked his door and the two entered. +Perched on the arm of a chair, Bill lighted a cigarette and pulled +deeply of it.</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it?" He glanced coolly at his brother sitting with his +left leg dangling over the arm of his chair.</p> + +<p>Tom cleared his throat and said, "I—er, came to see how we're +stacking up, Bill. After all we got a big show on our hands and the +whole world is waiting for the curtain to go up. But we can't be +squabbling between ourselves when we go on stage. Let's settle matters +now and get on with our job—after all we both got a lot at stake in +the company."</p> + +<p>Bill studied the end of his cigarette a long moment. "I guess you +might as well count me out, Tom. I'm quitting the show."</p> + +<p>Furrows appeared above Tom's brows. "Quitting! And after all you've +put into the venture? Bill, have you gone nuts?" He stopped a moment. +Then he said, "Oh, I guess I see the light. Christy, eh? Well, Bill, +honest—and I really mean this—you can have all the profits of the +trip if I'm guilty of trying to take Christy away from you. You've got +the wrong slant on things."</p> + +<p>Bill shrugged, saying, "It's not that—and I still am not +convinced—it's just that I'm considering another proposition."</p> + +<p>Tom got to his feet in agitation, looking down at Bill incredulously. +"My God, Bill, you sure have changed! What about all those bull +sessions we had reading and rereading the George Staker philosophy of +free enterprise? The world needs an object lesson to show how far it +has strayed from those first wonderful days of the Atomic Age. We are +heirs, Bill by special franchise, Old George saw the shape of things +to come pretty clearly, and it's up to us to carry out his vision of +things as they should be."</p> + +<p>Bill ground out his cigarette in a tray. His underlip crowded out +stubbornly. "I'm not going."</p> + +<p>For a moment Tom stared hard at Bill, and a heavy singing silence lay +between them. Then Tom strode to the door and opened it. "All right, +Bill—you and I are through!"</p> + +<p>The door slammed. For awhile Bill sat looking at it, wondering why the +slammed door reminded him of looking at his reflection in the bathroom +mirror and telling himself "I'm scared—scared as hell. And if I don't +get hold of myself, I'm through—washed up!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="36" height="40" /></div> + +<p>he next day when he was busily dressing, the ultrafax popped out the +breakfast edition.</p> + +<p>"<i>Space Bird</i> takes off for Beta Quadrant. Tom Staker gambles all."</p> + +<p>Bill stared at the pictures of the rocket climbing savagely at the +head of a column of fire. The crazy, stubborn fool. Going it alone, +risking his neck and everybody else's aboard. Well, let him go out +there and break his blasted neck on the Asteroid Belt.</p> + +<p>For the next three days Bill saw much of Margo. She was the most +exciting thing he had ever discovered, and he indulged her laughingly +when she took to speaking of his position in Intercontinental Lines as +an accomplished fact.</p> + +<p>On the third day he took Margo to lunch, a Margo with shining eyes, +for this was Bill's day of decision. She had done her work well.</p> + +<p>He ordered for them, and added, "Also a bottle of champagne."</p> + +<p>The waiter brought the champagne first. There was no doubt on Margo's +features what this was about, even though it had always been "if", +"maybe" "possibly" in Bill's discussions with her about the new job.</p> + +<p>In the midst of picking up his glass and proposing a toast, "Here's to +my new—" Bill stopped. The ultrafax had popped out a sheet. Carefully +putting the glass down, he said, "That's a special bulletin."</p> + +<p>Picking it up he read aloud, "Staker Rocket in serious trouble. Home +field reports damage by small meteor. Crew on emergency air bottles. +Mysterious emanations blind radar scope and disrupt communication with +Earth."</p> + +<p>Tom—and the others, out there fighting for their lives against +suffocation and intense cold. Their quarrel seemed like the antics of +teenagers now. He had to get out to the field, see if he could help.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?" Margo was watching him intently, the +knuckles of her small hands white.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to the field."</p> + +<p>"But—but what about that toast you were making to your new—job, +that's what you were going to say, wasn't it?" Her eyes were intense +spots of jet.</p> + +<p>"I guess that'll have to wait, Margo," he told her. "I can't stand by +when Tom needs help."</p> + +<p>Margo clutched his hands convulsively. "Bill, don't take a rocket up +or you'll die in the same trap he's dying in!" The words rushed out as +if through a trapdoor she could not control.</p> + +<p>Bill glanced at her with sharp, new interest. "How do you know it's a +trap, and how do you know he's going to die?"</p> + +<p>Tears began to well up in her large eyes. "All I can tell you is don't +go out there, Bill. I don't want to lose you—now."</p> + +<p>Dawning realization filled Bill with horror. "Margo—Margo, for God's +sake, what kind of a game have you been playing with me!"</p> + +<p>Margo's shoulders sagged, and she began to sob out her story. "Bill, +please, please believe me. I love you. That was not my part of the +agreement with Asteroid Mining—to fall in love with you. Yes. I was +hired to separate you and your brother, break up your company."</p> + +<p>Before Bill could snarl an answer to that, a hotel service clerk came +with a portable phone.</p> + +<p>"Call for you, sir."</p> + +<p>With his eyes fixed steadily on Margo, he spoke into the transmitter, +"Captain Staker."</p> + +<p>Christy's strained and tearful voice came over the wire. "Bill, oh, +Bill, we're getting terrible news here at the field. Tom's ship is +losing oxygen!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," he answered. "I just got the Ultra on it. I'll be right +out, Christy."</p> + +<p>As he replaced the phone he looked at Margo with a grim, loathing +expression. "A female trick as old as the universe and I had to fall +for it. You and your innocent questions about our Quadrant trajectory! +What a sucker I was!" He drew back his hand to slap her but decided +against it. She was crying when he left.</p> + +<p>On the way to the field the familiar but forgotten black tide of fear +rose up like a spectre once more to scatter his gathering ideas for +helping Tom. Resigning himself to its power and pulling over to the +roadside, he sat still, gripping the wheel. Yes, he told himself +tensely, here I sit while Tom and the others drift in space needing +help. The realization of their need slowly gave him a greater +objective clarity than he had ever had before. He began to see himself +now for what he was—a cringing weakling stripped naked of all +manliness at the first show of evil. Though he perhaps had been worse +than the average, this was the trouble with his whole security minded +generation. They never dreamed great dreams like George Staker and his +era which wrested atomic power from the treasure house of nature. No, +this generation carefully followed safe, charted paths in the world of +ideas. It had given up its freedom to a world of government controlled +monopolies. And Tom, taking up the torch left by their creatively +imaginative ancestor, was trying to recapture a small facet of that +golden age.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="51" height="40" /></div> +<p>ith the dawning in him of Mid-Twentieth Century mind, Bill felt a +thrilling sense of freedom as the black tide receded over the horizon +of his inner world. He took a new firm grip on the wheel, and took off +again at high speed.</p> + +<p>Christy was at the field office waiting outside. As he stepped out of +the car, she threw her arms around him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bill, what can you do for Tom now?"</p> + +<p>He said gently, "I'll bring him back for you."</p> + +<p>She drew back her head to look at him incredulously, "You still +think—! Oh, Bill, you foolish guy, you're the one I love, the one +I've always loved."</p> + +<p>For a moment he searched her eyes and saw only a revelation of honest +feeling. A surging gladness flooded through him, releasing an +unconscious hard ball of tension inside.</p> + +<p>"Christy, what a knothead I've been!" He gathered her up to kiss her +fervently. "So long, Christy. Old Staker was a piker at dreaming +compared to what I'm dreaming for you and me!"</p> + +<p>The field men had the rocket fueled up and provisioned to go. "This'll +be no picnic, but there's a prize out there if we want it bad enough. +You'll all have a share in it, instead of handing it all over to the +government. Are you with Tom and me?"</p> + +<p>"Sure, Bill. Let's go!"</p> + +<p>"Yeah, let's open 'er wide up!"</p> + +<p>They all clambered up the ship's access ladder in high spirits. In a +moment a warning red signal rocket shot into the sky and burst, +warning all local aircraft. Another five minutes and the rocket leapt +off the Earth with a long, shattering roar.</p> + +<p>Bill kept the fissioning metals pouring through the atomic explosive +after-chambers until the men screamed at the acceleration. Finally he +eased it off to free flight and the <i>Space Dragon</i> followed the +trajectory of the <i>Space Bird</i>.</p> + +<p>All the way he hovered over the radar scope. Then after long hours of +fatiguing watching he crawled into his bunk.</p> + +<p>Later he woke up to Radarman Jones' voice in his ear.</p> + +<p>"Captain—wake up. We've picked up a ship on the scope!"</p> + +<p>Bill piled out and forced his floating feet to magnetic contact with +the steel deck. He followed Jones down the short corridor to the +communications cabin.</p> + +<p>At the radar scope Bill studied the ship, then gave orders +decelerating the <i>Space Dragon</i>.</p> + +<p>"There's another ship!" Jones exclaimed, pointing at the edge of the +scope.</p> + +<p>Bill peered at the new ship, studying its characteristics. Then he +nodded his head. "It's the <i>Space Bird</i> all right. But that first +one—I got an idea it must be an Asteroid Mining ship. Margo must have +transmitted the <i>Space Bird</i> trajectory to Asteroid Mining. I don't +see how anybody would know where to find us in such immense distances +as Beta Quadrant."</p> + +<p>Stepping over to the communications panel he called the <i>Space Bird</i>. +No answer, and though he kept calling he could not raise the ship.</p> + +<p>Then he called Staker Field on Earth.</p> + +<p>"Caxton?"</p> + +<p>The field came back. "Staker Field. Go ahead."</p> + +<p>"Caxton, we've found the <i>Space Bird</i> but can't speak to them, so I'm +cutting you in on communications with an Asteroid Mining ship that's +hanging around. Tape pictures and sound—the whole works."</p> + +<p>"Okay."</p> + +<p>Flipping another switch, Bill called the strange ship on the +all-interplanetary frequency.</p> + +<p>Suddenly after long minutes of silence the dark screen lighted up with +the impassive features of a round faced, cold eyed man.</p> + +<p>"Yeah? This is the <i>Pluton</i>. What d'you want—and who are you?"</p> + +<p>"This is the <i>Space Dragon</i>—sister ship to the <i>Space Bird</i> there in +your vicinity. What's the matter with our ship?"</p> + +<p>The man's eyes darkened and his jaws tightened. "There's plenty wrong +with it, <i>Space Dragon</i>. And the same thing's going to be wrong with +your ship, too. A 'meteor' is going to hit your ship the same as hit +the <i>Space Bird</i>. Asteroid Mining doesn't like competitors horning in +their business!"</p> + +<p>Bill shot back grimly, "I'm glad to hear your views on competition, +Mister. The whole world is interested in our Project Venture, and when +they hear what you said there's going to be hell to pay. Because, you +see, everything you say and how you look saying it is being recorded +back at Staker Field on Earth!"</p> + +<p>The other man's impassive face suddenly turned into a ludicrous mask +of a man burning his fingers on hot chestnuts. The two way hook-up +abruptly ended. On the scope Bill and Jones watched the image of the +<i>Pluton</i> begin to move across the scope and finally out of range in +the opposite direction toward Asteroid Mining's Omega Quadrant.</p> + +<p>Hours later the <i>Space Dragon</i> made physical contact with Tom's ship. +Bill was the first one through the communicating airlock.</p> + +<p>Tom, his face drawn and haggard, met him as he emerged in the ship. +The rest of the crew were lying still to conserve air.</p> + +<p>"Hi, Bill. Boy, are we glad to see you. That 'meteor' they threw at us +confined us on air bottles in the forward compartments."</p> + +<p>Bill shook his hand warmly. "We got enough air for all of us. After we +patch things up here, let's start carving us a chunk of private +enterprise."</p> + +<p>Tom's tired eyes lighted up. "Hm, say, you're so right! Our geigers +have found enough floating ore in Beta Quadrant already to make a big +nick in Asteroid's business."</p> + +<p>Bill gave him a mock salute, "Okay, skipper. You've earned the title +of Head Dreamer, and I'll help make your dreams come true!"</p> + +<h3>THE END</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Black Tide, by Arthur G. 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Stangland + +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 Black Tide + +Author: Arthur G. Stangland + +Illustrator: Ed Valigursky + +Release Date: May 18, 2010 [EBook #32412] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK TIDE *** + + + + +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 IF Worlds of Science Fiction March 1953. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. + + + The BLACK TIDE + + + By Arthur G. Stangland + + + Illustrated by Ed Valigursky + + + _Space in its far dark reaches can be fickle with a man; it + can shatter his dreams, fill him with fear and hate. It can + also cure a man--if he is strong enough._ + + * * * * * + + + + +It filled all the ebony depths of space. Twirling slowly in awesome +majesty, the meteor scintillated like a massive black diamond. And +with its onrush came a devastating sense of doom. He looked +everywhere. To the front, to the side, and below--there was no escape. +Transfixed, he stared at the great rock flashing in the fire of myriad +suns as it-- + +Bill Staker, passenger rocket captain for Interplanetary Lines, came +fully awake in his New York hotel room. For a minute, he lay unmoving +on his bed, savoring the delicious sensation of weight. No queazy +stirring in the pit of his belly for lack of gravity, no forced +squinting because of muscular re-orientation. + +With a muttered curse he unwound himself from his covers and sat up. +For a moment he rested his head in his hands, thinking, only a +nightmare, thank God, only a nightmare. + +He lifted his head, and found cold sweat on his hands. Then sighing in +relief he swung his feet over the edge of his bed. + +A glance at the clock showed 10:45 p.m. Monday, June 10th, 2039. +Heavily, he clumped across the room in the peculiar flat-footed gait +of a spaceman accustomed to magnetic contact shoes. Cigarette in hand +he sank into a heavy chair, touched a button on the arm, then sat back +to watch the telescreen. + +It was a rehash of the day's news. In nasal tones a senator was +accusing the Republicrats of raising taxes. Then followed scenes from +a spectacular fire. Suddenly, Bill's drooping eyelids popped open. + +[Illustration: _The small meteor ripped through the_ Space Bird's +_crew compartment, blinding the radar scope and severing communication +with Earth_.] + +A commentator was saying, "... the two rockets of the Staker Space +Mining Company, ready for a scouting trip to the asteroid Beta +Quadrant." + +A close-up of Tom Staker followed. Tall, rangy, with blond hair like +straw in the wind. Bill laid his cigarette in a tray and with critical +interest leaned forward to look at his brother. + +"We figure to find uranium," Tom was saying, with a glance toward the +vertical rockets, "all through the Beta Quadrant. Our departure is +waiting on the return of my brother, Bill, from his Mars-to-Earth +run." + +A reporter asked Tom, "Private enterprise is unique in these days of +virtual monopolies. What's the story behind it?" + +"Well, our great-grandfather, George Staker, believed passionately in +private enterprise," Tom began. "Somewhere around 1952 or 1953 he +established a trust fund for his third generation descendants to +finance any project they think worthwhile. And he got an ironclad +guarantee from the government that the trust fund for private +enterprise would be honored in the future. You see, my ancestor was +quite a romanticist. In one of his books entitled 'The Philosophy of +Science' he says 'People of this dawning Atomic Age little realize +they are living in a vast dream. A dream that is slowly taking +objective shape. A tool here, a part there, a plan on some drafting +table. Men of ideas are pointing the way, structuring the inner dream +world of a generation. Even today's science fiction literature +contains important ideas for the dreams-become-reality of tomorrow.'" +Tom finished up, "With our Project Venture, Bill and I are going to +bring a dream into reality--making a little on the side, of course!" + +The commentator ended his interview with: "And so, we await with great +interest the carrying out of George Staker's dream, a man whose +Twentieth Century ideas of private enterprise have blown a breath of +fresh air into an age of dull dreams and little imagination." + +Bill Staker pressed the control button, darkening the screen. "Dream +boy. Tom, you damned fool." He got up and scuffed into the bathroom to +stare into the mirror. Twenty-five years old, and already lines were +grooving both sides of his nostrils. Tousled black hair like brush +hanging over a high bank, and ridged creases in his forehead. Little +lumps of flesh bulging over the corners of his mouth from constant +tension. The tension of outwitting space on each trip 'tween the +planets. But worst of all was the look in his gray eyes. The look that +never went away anymore. The look of a man who has spent too much time +staring into the enigma of the Universe and--thinking. + +"I'm scared--scared as hell!" he blurted at his reflection. "And if I +don't get hold of myself, I'm through--washed up!" + +Space was no place for a man with imagination--too much imagination. +You stared into the empty blackness here, you stared into the inky +blackness there, behind you the Earth a tiny pinpoint, the Earth that +meant rock solid footing, the caress of wind and land in all +directions. But out there in the aching void you raced for Mars like a +mouse scuttling across a lighted floor. Raced because of what you +couldn't see, couldn't fathom. Yet, you knew _It_ was out there, +staring back inscrutably. + +He rubbed the flat of his hand across his right cheek, sighing from +emotional weariness. Then he scuffed back into the room. On the way he +collected a bottle of bourbon, mixer and glass, and dropped into the +big chair. + +As he worked on the bottle, all the anxiety and apprehension in him +faded. Once he stared at the bottom of his empty glass. Funny how a +guy could panic all of a sudden. He remembered it clearly now. Riding +into town yesterday from the rocket port, he started brooding over +details of Project Venture. Suddenly, an overwhelming black tide of +fear worse than he had ever experienced confronted him. Like a man on +the verge of insanity he licked his dry lips, staring about him and +feeling as if something strange and terrible were taking possession of +his mind. And in the middle of his spell a cloud blacker than space +itself started reaching for him. That was when he yelled to the +startled bus driver to let him out at this hotel. Maybe he could get +hold of himself here. + +Now, his arms sprawled over the sides of the heavy chair, he drifted +off into a snoring stupor. + + * * * * * + +In the morning he awoke to a splitting headache. Somehow it helped to +hold his head between both hands and swear at it in a running mutter. +Finally he roused himself to go to the bathroom for a cold shower. +Afterward, donning his powder blue Captain's uniform, he went down to +breakfast. + +He dawdled over crisp bacon and eggs, glanced at morning editions, and +all the while the ashes of last night's emotional holocaust drifted +through him. Drifted in fitful vagrant thoughts. He should have said +no that first day a year ago. The big law firm made a great to do over +the old document from his ancestor. Unique, they said. The chance of a +lifetime. And by the end of the first meeting Tom was all fired up. +Mining atomic power metals in the asteroid belt would bring the +biggest returns, he said. They would be the only ones allowed to +compete with the Asteroid Mining Corporation monopoly. And now Tom was +building up public excitement in the venture, as if it were a circus. +The damned fool. Why had he let his brother talk him into-- + +Suddenly, his line of thought snapped, and he was acutely aware of +staring eyes. + +He looked to his left, then felt a warm flush technicolor his cheeks. + +"Christy!" + +Her blond curls making a soft halo around her jauntily raked hat, the +space hostess from his ship gave him a warm smile. She was adequately +stacked, Bill reflected, but there was levelheaded firmness and +resolution in her too. That was why she was hard to handle. + +"Good morning, Bill." + +He didn't like the accusing gleam in her eye but he was glad to see +her. + +"Sit down, Christy. Have some coffee." He held her hands a moment, +then eased her into the opposite chair. + +He tried disarming her with a show of great enthusiasm. But the way +she settled herself into the seat, all the while regarding him with +those clear penetrating blue eyes, told him she was going on no snipe +hunt. + +"When you kissed me goodbye at the port yesterday, Bill, you said you +were going directly to the field to be with Tom." It wasn't a +statement--it was an accusation. + +With an elaborate show of casualness he shrugged his shoulders. "Well, +I was fagged out from this last trip. Decided I'd do better getting a +full night's rest by myself at a hotel." + +The waiter brought her coffee, and she left it to cool. She folded her +long tapering fingers on the table, and a delicate lift to her fine +brows gave her an expression of sympathetic concern. + +Her smile was regretful. "Rocket men don't drink, Bill. You know it +too. Bad for muscular coordination." + +He said in some surprise, "You mean it's that loud?" + +"Uh-huh." Christy leaned forward. "What is it, Bill? You haven't been +yourself for weeks. You looked haggard yesterday and when you left the +ship you were almost running, as if trying to escape from something. +And now this strange avoidance of Tom. He got hold of me this morning +early, wanting to know where you were. And I guess it's pretty +important that he sees you, Bill. Seems there's been trouble at the +field." + +It was as if someone had prodded him in an agonizingly sore place and +he reacted instinctively. He let his knife clatter on his plate, aware +that he was dramatizing himself. + +"When I'm ready for a woman's sticking her nose into my affairs, I'll +send her a special invitation!" + +Christy's delicate nostrils flared, and her bosom rose and fell +rapidly. Then she seemed to get hold of herself. "I'm sorry if you got +that impression, Bill. I was only trying to help you both." + +Cherishing his irritation, Bill went on, "Seems to me you're bending +over backward helping Tom, playing messenger, private eye--" + +Christy broke in with a catch in her throat, "Oh, Bill, please! Let's +not quarrel as soon as we get back." + +Bill shoved his dishes aside, the tone of her voice reaching into him +to dampen down the fires of anger. Then he managed a slow faint grin. + +"Okay, Christy." He reached for the check, saying, "Well, if you can +stand my company, would you like to come along out to the field?" + +With her eyes glistening, she answered, "I'd love to." + + * * * * * + +The private rocket landing field of the Staker Space Mining Company +was an hour's drive north of the city. Three miles from the field they +made out the two gleaming snouts of the rockets pointing skyward. Then +as they approached the edge of the field, Bill turned off toward a two +story frame structure that served as office and warehouse. + +Bill said, "Might as well check to see if Tom is in the office +first." + +At the door Bill poked his head in and shouted up the stairwell, +"Hi--Tom?" + +A chair scraped, and footsteps sounded across the upstairs floor. +"Yeah--that you, Bill? C'mon up!" + +They found Tom at a desk before a wide window view of the field. On +the office walls hung big graphs of fuel consumption curves, +trajectory plots from Earth to the asteroid belt, ballistics +computations, oxygen consumption curves per unit metabolism per man. + +Christy looking at the rockets, said, "Gee, Tom, they look beautiful. +Like monsters straining their tethers." + +Tom looked up at the girl's profile, and to Bill who was watching, he +bore the look of a man savoring what he saw. + +"Yes, they are. That first one's mine, the _Space Bird_. The other is +Bill's, the _Space Dragon_." + +Bill cast a professional eye over the charts and graphs on the wall, +while far down in his subconscious a sharp twinge of jealousy +fulminated, tangling with his fears of space in a hybrid monstrosity. +Then like lava in a plugged volcano his obsession found a new outlet. +The fear of space now came up disguised as hatred for Tom. + +In an unusually calm voice Bill said, "Well, I see you have everything +just about completed." + +"Yeah," Tom glanced up with a significant look. "Someone else was +interested in those charts and graphs too the other day. Someone who +didn't bother to use the door." + +"What d'you mean--somebody break in?" + +Tom nodded. "Yep. Jimmied a window downstairs. But I don't think they +got anything, because the door to the office was still locked when the +watchman surprised them. They got away in the dark." + +Christy's eyes grew large and round. "Who do you suppose it was?" + +Hitching his long body erect, Tom said with a gesture of his right hand, +"Well, there's only one outfit interested in our destination--and that's +Asteroid Mining." + +"Good heavens," Christy said in great surprise. "You don't mean a big +corporation like that would stoop so low?" + +Tom smiled at her. "With a monopoly on power metals Asteroid has been +gouging the world. People have become resigned to the situation. But +if we can supply uranium ore cheaper there's going to be a clamor for +private enterprise again. Under the present system private enterprise +has been withering on the vine. This is our big chance and the public +is pulling for us." + +Bill's hold on his temper slipped another notch. "Yeah, I saw that +interview with the television news you had. Saw it last night." He +folded his arms across his chest. "If that's your conception of +winning support for our venture then you better take up circus +advertising." + +For a moment Tom looked like a man who's taken a bucket of ice water +in the face. Then his feet hit the floor. "Say, now, wait a minute, +Bill!" he said, half in anger. "Who d'you think's been shouldering the +big share of Project Venture--while you've hung on to your job and a +pretty salary?" + +"Didn't we agree you'd spend full time on the Project while I acted +as consultant between trips?" Bill shot back. + +"Yeah, I quit a fair job as first officer on a freighter to handle +it." + +"And you are guaranteed fair wages and a fat slice of any profits we +make," Bill snapped. "The thing I didn't like in that interview of +yours was that starry-eyed eyewash about our ancestor being a man of +vision, a philosopher and a dreamer. That's a helluva tag to put on +us--'The Dream Boys'! Good God!" + +Tom stood up, facing his brother in icy silence. Finally he said, "Is +that all you've got to offer--a lotta carping criticism?" + +The planes of Bill's cheeks flattened under the downward pull at his +mouth corners. The black ugly tide was running in him now and he could +not stop its sweep. His fear of space, the frantic will to escape from +it again, all the irritation and anger were deep currents and he was a +mere piece of flotsam tossing on the advancing wave of the black tide. + +He said, "No, damn you. I've got something else in my craw too. It's +Christy. I've seen the way you look at her, and I know that whenever +my back is turned you're doing your damnedest to break us up!" + +Tom's face turned gray and suddenly his eyes were wide open. Knots +stood out on the points of his jaws. + +In a strange half choked voice he said, "That's a blasted lie--and you +know it. It's an excuse to cover up for your own peculiar behavior +lately. I think--" + +Christy broke in with. "Bill--Tom, for heaven's sake stop it!" Her +beseeching eyes were glancing sharply from one to the other in growing +panic. + +Bill stood lightly on his feet, his fingers curling and uncurling into +balled fists. + +Tom went on, a bleak look in his eyes. "I think you've been in a soft +berth too long. The monopoly you work for has softened you, taken out +the guts a man needs to stand on his own feet--" + +Bill suddenly stiffened. His right shot out in a hard, sharp blow that +crashed against Tom's chin. Tom grunted, a surprised look in his eyes, +and sagged to the floor. + +For a moment Bill stood over him, nostrils flaring, his whole body +tense and waiting. But Tom was too groggy to get up. + +"Oh, Bill, how could you!" Christy cried out, dropping to her knees +beside Tom. + +Bill strode with measured step to the door. There he turned, and +looking back with a sneer, said, "Sweet dreams, Dream Boy!" + + * * * * * + +In a luxurious office of Asteroid Mining Corporation on the +twenty-third floor of a Manhattan skyscraper a furious official of the +corporation faced an uncomfortable underling. + +"I've heard of some pretty crude tricks in my time, Heilman, but +breaking into the Staker Company's office like a common house thief +takes the tin medal for low grade brains!" the official ranted, +pounding his desk. "I suppose you thought that was an excellent way to +advance yourself in the corporation, eh? Finesse, Heilman, finesse. +That's what it takes in matters like this. Asteroid Mining, before it +got the monopoly, stopped competition, but not by common +housebreaking--" + +"But--but I thought," Heilman explained lamely, "that we could get a +copy of their trajectory and then deal with them after they got out to +the quadrant. You know, fire a 'meteor' at them, blanket them with +radio jamming, ruin their radar sighting--" + +The official snorted and leaned disgustedly back in his leather chair. +"No, no you big dumb ox! You're retired from the team, benched. Now +you can sit on the sidelines and watch how the first string fix Staker +and Company." + + * * * * * + +When Bill asked for his key, the clerk handed him the key and a +faintly lavender tinted envelope. + +Mystified by the feminine handwriting, Bill sat in a lobby chair, and +tore open the jasmine scented envelope. + +The note was brief. It said, "Dear Captain Staker: Please call on me +at your earliest convenience, Apt. 5B. It is a matter of utmost +importance to both of us. Margo." + +Ever since leaving Tom's office, Bill's mind had been spinning about a +center of hatred and ugly rumination. But now the stimulus of the +jasmine fragrance struck a spark of adventure on the edge of his +churning mind. The tangential path led off into inviting mysterious +shadows and he was going to follow. + +The elevator stopped at the apartment floor of the hotel's north +Tower. In the softly lighted corridor his feet fell soundlessly on the +deep pile rug. He turned a corner, then walked up a short flight of +steps to the door of Apt. 5B. + +In response to his knock the door was opened by a vision in white +satin. She was startlingly beautiful. Dark heavy lashes, creamy skin, +white even teeth in a flashing smile, a lithe body poised with the +ease of a jungle cat. She was fulsome and high breasted, and as she +followed Bill's quick appraising glance, she seemed to smile knowingly +that all he saw was displayed to best advantage. + +Hat in hand Bill said, "I'm--I'm Captain Staker." + +With a throaty laugh that could have been carefully timed, she said, +"And I'm Margo. Come right in Captain." + +Bill walked onto a white rug, and unobtrusively took in the rich +furniture Twenty First Century Modern, the warm brown of the logarithm +ruled walls, paintings in the style of Van Gogh, sharply angled table +lamps, the gold drapes at the windows. + +"It was kind of you to come so promptly," Margo continued, settling +into a chair. + +Bill brought his glance back to her. "Well, frankly, I was curious to +know what a perfect stranger could have in common with me." + +She laughed indulgently. "Nasty of me, wasn't it?--taking advantage of +a human weakness." She gestured at Scotch and bourbon on the coffee +table. "I'll let you do us the honors, Captain. Bourbon for me." + +Presently, glass in hand and a spreading warmth in him, Bill fixed +the girl with a quizzical look. "Tell me, Margo, just what is this +matter of utmost importance to both of us?" + +She put her glass on the table, then sat back and Bill felt the full +impact of her dark lustrous eyes. "It's a business matter, Captain. +You've been recommended as a man of high purpose and dependability. As +the heir to my father's controlling interest in Intercontinental Lines +I am badly in need of a man with your experience to handle traffic +details." + +Bill lifted a brow. "Intercontinental Lines? Never heard of it. +Exclusively airline traffic on Earth?" + +"It's a new company formed under monopoly regulations. Of course, I +realize you're a spaceman, but staying on Earth would have its +compensations. You can name your own salary." + +Bill leaned forward and mixed another drink. This was something +unexpected and pretty tempting too. No more fighting his fear of +space. He downed the drink in a few gulps, then stood up. + +"Well, I--I'd like to think things over," he said with hesitation, +walking slowly to the window. + +Margo followed, saying, "I don't mean to rush you, Bill--yet the +situation needs your experienced hand." + +"I know, but my brother and I are all set to make a scouting trip to +Beta Quadrant." + +Margo leaned against the window drapes, smiling with frank admiration. +"I know you are. How in the world you can take off from Earth and hit +a target far out in space is beyond me. Is it something like firing +artillery?" + +The warm glow already suffusing Bill's senses took on added lustre +when he looked into her questioning eyes. Expansively, he began +drawing diagrams, and explaining the elements of space navigation. + +"Now here's the trajectory my brother and I are planning to use," he +went on, drawing a complex curve with loading figures and fuel +consumption and point of contact with the Beta Quadrant. + +When he paused once, Margo touched the gold sunburst emblem on his +arm. "That's fascinating, Bill, but making a trip like yours is all a +gamble. I'm not offering you a gamble. I'm offering you a sure thing." + +"Yes, I realize that." Bill got to his feet. "But just the same I want +to think your proposition over, Margo." + +She leaned toward him putting her hands on his lapels. "Bill, don't +risk your neck out there in space. I need you desperately in the +company." + +Suddenly, Bill was electrically aware of cool, smooth arms sliding up +and around his neck and her soft red mouth within fragrance distance. + +And he was exquisitely aware of the full soft length of her pressing +against him. The scent of jasmine reached him with bewitching stealth. +That was when he closed the gap to her mouth in a sudden rush. + +Bill came out of a whirling state of pure feeling to hear the +visiphone buzzing insistently. + +"The phone," he mumbled. + +Margo opened her eyes dreamily, then comprehended. She walked over to +the phone, picked up the receiver. + +After a moment she turned around looking at him questioningly. "It's +for you, Bill." + +He took the phone and said, "Captain Staker speaking." + +The desk clerk said, "A gentleman to see you, sir. Shall I send him to +Apt. 5B?" + +"No," Bill answered. "I'll be down to my room in a few moments and see +him there." + +He turned to Margo. "I guess business comes before idyll, Margo. I've +got to go." + +Her lustrous dark eyes searched his face intently. "How long must I +wait for an answer, Bill?" + +"Can you wait until Thursday--three days?" Time enough to thresh +things out with Tom. + +"I guess I can," Margo said, touching him with an inviting glance, +"but do I have to wait that long before I see you again?" + +Bill grinned and shook his head in wonder. "My lord, what persistence! +I got an idea any visiting would not be entirely social. Somewhere +along the line business would rear its shaggy head. Okay, how about +dinner at the Wedgewood Room tomorrow night?" + +"Wonderful!" + +Later at his own floor to his surprise he found Tom pacing the +corridor. In a strained voice he said, "The clerk said a gentleman--" + +Tom came back in a conciliatory tone, "And I don't fit the +description, eh? Well, anyway, Bill, we got things to talk over. How +about it?" + +Bill shrugged noncommittally, unlocked his door and the two entered. +Perched on the arm of a chair, Bill lighted a cigarette and pulled +deeply of it. + +"Well, what is it?" He glanced coolly at his brother sitting with his +left leg dangling over the arm of his chair. + +Tom cleared his throat and said, "I--er, came to see how we're +stacking up, Bill. After all we got a big show on our hands and the +whole world is waiting for the curtain to go up. But we can't be +squabbling between ourselves when we go on stage. Let's settle matters +now and get on with our job--after all we both got a lot at stake in +the company." + +Bill studied the end of his cigarette a long moment. "I guess you +might as well count me out, Tom. I'm quitting the show." + +Furrows appeared above Tom's brows. "Quitting! And after all you've +put into the venture? Bill, have you gone nuts?" He stopped a moment. +Then he said, "Oh, I guess I see the light. Christy, eh? Well, Bill, +honest--and I really mean this--you can have all the profits of the +trip if I'm guilty of trying to take Christy away from you. You've got +the wrong slant on things." + +Bill shrugged, saying, "It's not that--and I still am not +convinced--it's just that I'm considering another proposition." + +Tom got to his feet in agitation, looking down at Bill incredulously. +"My God, Bill, you sure have changed! What about all those bull +sessions we had reading and rereading the George Staker philosophy of +free enterprise? The world needs an object lesson to show how far it +has strayed from those first wonderful days of the Atomic Age. We are +heirs, Bill by special franchise, Old George saw the shape of things +to come pretty clearly, and it's up to us to carry out his vision of +things as they should be." + +Bill ground out his cigarette in a tray. His underlip crowded out +stubbornly. "I'm not going." + +For a moment Tom stared hard at Bill, and a heavy singing silence lay +between them. Then Tom strode to the door and opened it. "All right, +Bill--you and I are through!" + +The door slammed. For awhile Bill sat looking at it, wondering why the +slammed door reminded him of looking at his reflection in the bathroom +mirror and telling himself "I'm scared--scared as hell. And if I don't +get hold of myself, I'm through--washed up!" + + * * * * * + +The next day when he was busily dressing, the ultrafax popped out the +breakfast edition. + +"_Space Bird_ takes off for Beta Quadrant. Tom Staker gambles all." + +Bill stared at the pictures of the rocket climbing savagely at the +head of a column of fire. The crazy, stubborn fool. Going it alone, +risking his neck and everybody else's aboard. Well, let him go out +there and break his blasted neck on the Asteroid Belt. + +For the next three days Bill saw much of Margo. She was the most +exciting thing he had ever discovered, and he indulged her laughingly +when she took to speaking of his position in Intercontinental Lines as +an accomplished fact. + +On the third day he took Margo to lunch, a Margo with shining eyes, +for this was Bill's day of decision. She had done her work well. + +He ordered for them, and added, "Also a bottle of champagne." + +The waiter brought the champagne first. There was no doubt on Margo's +features what this was about, even though it had always been "if", +"maybe" "possibly" in Bill's discussions with her about the new job. + +In the midst of picking up his glass and proposing a toast, "Here's to +my new--" Bill stopped. The ultrafax had popped out a sheet. Carefully +putting the glass down, he said, "That's a special bulletin." + +Picking it up he read aloud, "Staker Rocket in serious trouble. Home +field reports damage by small meteor. Crew on emergency air bottles. +Mysterious emanations blind radar scope and disrupt communication with +Earth." + +Tom--and the others, out there fighting for their lives against +suffocation and intense cold. Their quarrel seemed like the antics of +teenagers now. He had to get out to the field, see if he could help. + +"What are you going to do?" Margo was watching him intently, the +knuckles of her small hands white. + +"I'm going to the field." + +"But--but what about that toast you were making to your new--job, +that's what you were going to say, wasn't it?" Her eyes were intense +spots of jet. + +"I guess that'll have to wait, Margo," he told her. "I can't stand by +when Tom needs help." + +Margo clutched his hands convulsively. "Bill, don't take a rocket up +or you'll die in the same trap he's dying in!" The words rushed out as +if through a trapdoor she could not control. + +Bill glanced at her with sharp, new interest. "How do you know it's a +trap, and how do you know he's going to die?" + +Tears began to well up in her large eyes. "All I can tell you is don't +go out there, Bill. I don't want to lose you--now." + +Dawning realization filled Bill with horror. "Margo--Margo, for God's +sake, what kind of a game have you been playing with me!" + +Margo's shoulders sagged, and she began to sob out her story. "Bill, +please, please believe me. I love you. That was not my part of the +agreement with Asteroid Mining--to fall in love with you. Yes. I was +hired to separate you and your brother, break up your company." + +Before Bill could snarl an answer to that, a hotel service clerk came +with a portable phone. + +"Call for you, sir." + +With his eyes fixed steadily on Margo, he spoke into the transmitter, +"Captain Staker." + +Christy's strained and tearful voice came over the wire. "Bill, oh, +Bill, we're getting terrible news here at the field. Tom's ship is +losing oxygen!" + +"Yes, I know," he answered. "I just got the Ultra on it. I'll be right +out, Christy." + +As he replaced the phone he looked at Margo with a grim, loathing +expression. "A female trick as old as the universe and I had to fall +for it. You and your innocent questions about our Quadrant trajectory! +What a sucker I was!" He drew back his hand to slap her but decided +against it. She was crying when he left. + +On the way to the field the familiar but forgotten black tide of fear +rose up like a spectre once more to scatter his gathering ideas for +helping Tom. Resigning himself to its power and pulling over to the +roadside, he sat still, gripping the wheel. Yes, he told himself +tensely, here I sit while Tom and the others drift in space needing +help. The realization of their need slowly gave him a greater +objective clarity than he had ever had before. He began to see himself +now for what he was--a cringing weakling stripped naked of all +manliness at the first show of evil. Though he perhaps had been worse +than the average, this was the trouble with his whole security minded +generation. They never dreamed great dreams like George Staker and his +era which wrested atomic power from the treasure house of nature. No, +this generation carefully followed safe, charted paths in the world of +ideas. It had given up its freedom to a world of government controlled +monopolies. And Tom, taking up the torch left by their creatively +imaginative ancestor, was trying to recapture a small facet of that +golden age. + + * * * * * + +With the dawning in him of Mid-Twentieth Century mind, Bill felt a +thrilling sense of freedom as the black tide receded over the horizon +of his inner world. He took a new firm grip on the wheel, and took off +again at high speed. + +Christy was at the field office waiting outside. As he stepped out of +the car, she threw her arms around him. + +"Oh, Bill, what can you do for Tom now?" + +He said gently, "I'll bring him back for you." + +She drew back her head to look at him incredulously, "You still +think--! Oh, Bill, you foolish guy, you're the one I love, the one +I've always loved." + +For a moment he searched her eyes and saw only a revelation of honest +feeling. A surging gladness flooded through him, releasing an +unconscious hard ball of tension inside. + +"Christy, what a knothead I've been!" He gathered her up to kiss her +fervently. "So long, Christy. Old Staker was a piker at dreaming +compared to what I'm dreaming for you and me!" + +The field men had the rocket fueled up and provisioned to go. "This'll +be no picnic, but there's a prize out there if we want it bad enough. +You'll all have a share in it, instead of handing it all over to the +government. Are you with Tom and me?" + +"Sure, Bill. Let's go!" + +"Yeah, let's open 'er wide up!" + +They all clambered up the ship's access ladder in high spirits. In a +moment a warning red signal rocket shot into the sky and burst, +warning all local aircraft. Another five minutes and the rocket leapt +off the Earth with a long, shattering roar. + +Bill kept the fissioning metals pouring through the atomic explosive +after-chambers until the men screamed at the acceleration. Finally he +eased it off to free flight and the _Space Dragon_ followed the +trajectory of the _Space Bird_. + +All the way he hovered over the radar scope. Then after long hours of +fatiguing watching he crawled into his bunk. + +Later he woke up to Radarman Jones' voice in his ear. + +"Captain--wake up. We've picked up a ship on the scope!" + +Bill piled out and forced his floating feet to magnetic contact with +the steel deck. He followed Jones down the short corridor to the +communications cabin. + +At the radar scope Bill studied the ship, then gave orders +decelerating the _Space Dragon_. + +"There's another ship!" Jones exclaimed, pointing at the edge of the +scope. + +Bill peered at the new ship, studying its characteristics. Then he +nodded his head. "It's the _Space Bird_ all right. But that first +one--I got an idea it must be an Asteroid Mining ship. Margo must have +transmitted the _Space Bird_ trajectory to Asteroid Mining. I don't +see how anybody would know where to find us in such immense distances +as Beta Quadrant." + +Stepping over to the communications panel he called the _Space Bird_. +No answer, and though he kept calling he could not raise the ship. + +Then he called Staker Field on Earth. + +"Caxton?" + +The field came back. "Staker Field. Go ahead." + +"Caxton, we've found the _Space Bird_ but can't speak to them, so I'm +cutting you in on communications with an Asteroid Mining ship that's +hanging around. Tape pictures and sound--the whole works." + +"Okay." + +Flipping another switch, Bill called the strange ship on the +all-interplanetary frequency. + +Suddenly after long minutes of silence the dark screen lighted up with +the impassive features of a round faced, cold eyed man. + +"Yeah? This is the _Pluton_. What d'you want--and who are you?" + +"This is the _Space Dragon_--sister ship to the _Space Bird_ there in +your vicinity. What's the matter with our ship?" + +The man's eyes darkened and his jaws tightened. "There's plenty wrong +with it, _Space Dragon_. And the same thing's going to be wrong with +your ship, too. A 'meteor' is going to hit your ship the same as hit +the _Space Bird_. Asteroid Mining doesn't like competitors horning in +their business!" + +Bill shot back grimly, "I'm glad to hear your views on competition, +Mister. The whole world is interested in our Project Venture, and when +they hear what you said there's going to be hell to pay. Because, you +see, everything you say and how you look saying it is being recorded +back at Staker Field on Earth!" + +The other man's impassive face suddenly turned into a ludicrous mask +of a man burning his fingers on hot chestnuts. The two way hook-up +abruptly ended. On the scope Bill and Jones watched the image of the +_Pluton_ begin to move across the scope and finally out of range in +the opposite direction toward Asteroid Mining's Omega Quadrant. + +Hours later the _Space Dragon_ made physical contact with Tom's ship. +Bill was the first one through the communicating airlock. + +Tom, his face drawn and haggard, met him as he emerged in the ship. +The rest of the crew were lying still to conserve air. + +"Hi, Bill. Boy, are we glad to see you. That 'meteor' they threw at us +confined us on air bottles in the forward compartments." + +Bill shook his hand warmly. "We got enough air for all of us. After we +patch things up here, let's start carving us a chunk of private +enterprise." + +Tom's tired eyes lighted up. "Hm, say, you're so right! Our geigers +have found enough floating ore in Beta Quadrant already to make a big +nick in Asteroid's business." + +Bill gave him a mock salute, "Okay, skipper. You've earned the title +of Head Dreamer, and I'll help make your dreams come true!" + +THE END + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Black Tide, by Arthur G. Stangland + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK TIDE *** + +***** This file should be named 32412.txt or 32412.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/4/1/32412/ + +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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