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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4a5a4d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50884 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50884) diff --git a/old/50884-h.zip b/old/50884-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d207015..0000000 --- a/old/50884-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/50884-h/50884-h.htm b/old/50884-h/50884-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 379ec06..0000000 --- a/old/50884-h/50884-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1042 +0,0 @@ -<!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=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Today Is Forever, by Roger Dee. - </title> - - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1, .ph2, .ph3, .ph4 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph1 { font-size: xx-large; margin: .67em auto; } -.ph2 { font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; } -.ph3 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } -.ph4 { font-size: medium; margin: 1.12em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Today is Forever, by Roger Dee - -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/license - - -Title: Today is Forever - -Author: Roger Dee - -Release Date: January 9, 2016 [EBook #50884] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TODAY IS FOREVER *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="362" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>Today is Forever</h1> - -<p>By ROGER DEE</p> - -<p>Illustrated by EMSH</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Galaxy Science Fiction September 1952.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph3"><i>Boyle knew there was an angle behind the aliens'<br /> -generosity ... but he had one of his own!</i></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"These Alcorians have been on Earth for only a month," David Locke -said, "but already they're driving a wedge between AL&O and the -Social Body that can destroy the Weal overnight. Boyle, it's got to be -stopped!"</p> - -<p>He put his elbows on Moira's antique conversation table and leaned -toward the older man, his eyes hot and anxious.</p> - -<p>"There are only the two of them—Fermiirig and Santikh; you've -probably seen stills of them on the visinews a hundred times—and -AL&O has kept them so closely under cover that we of the Social Body -never get more than occasional rumors about what they're really -like. But I know from what I overheard that they're carbonstructure -oxygen-breathers with a metabolism very much like our own. What affects -them physically will affect us also. And the offer they've made -Cornelison and Bissell and Dorand of Administrative Council is genuine. -It amounts to a lot more than simple longevity, because the process can -be repeated. In effect, it's—"</p> - -<p>"<i>Immortality</i>," Boyle said, and forgot the younger man on the instant.</p> - -<p>The shock of it as a reality blossomed in his mind with a slow -explosion of triumph. It had come in his time, after all, and the fact -that the secret belonged to the first interstellar visitors to reach -Earth had no bearing whatever on his determination to possess it. -Neither had the knowledge that the Alcorians had promised the process -only to the highest of government bodies, Administrative Council. The -whole of AL&O—Administration, Legislation and Order—could not keep it -from him.</p> - -<p>"It isn't <i>right</i>," Locke said heatedly. "It doesn't fit in with what -we've been taught to believe, Boyle. We're still a modified democracy, -and the Social Body <i>is</i> the Weal. We can't permit Cornelison and -Bissell and Dorand to take what amounts to immortality for themselves -and deny it to the populace. That's tyranny!"</p> - -<p>The charge brought Boyle out of his preoccupation with a start. For -the moment, he had forgotten Locke's presence in Moira's apartment. He -had even forgotten his earlier annoyance with Moira for allowing the -sophomoric fool visitor's privilege when it was Boyle's week, to the -exclusion of the other two husbands in Moira's marital-seven, to share -the connubial right with her.</p> - -<p>But the opportunity tumbled so forcibly into his lap was not one to -be handled lightly. He held in check his contempt for Locke and his -irritation with Moira until he had considered his windfall from every -angle, and had marshalled its possibilities into a working outline of -his coup to come.</p> - -<p>He even checked his lapel watch against the time of Moira's return from -the theater before he answered Locke. With characteristic cynicism, he -took it for granted that Locke, in his indignation, had already shared -his discovery with Moira, and in cold logic he marked her down with -Locke for disposal once her purpose was served. Moira had been the most -satisfactory of the four women in Boyle's marital-seven, but when he -weighed her attractions against the possible immortality ahead, the -comparison did not sway his resolution for an instant.</p> - -<p>Moira, like Locke, would have to go.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"You're sure there was no error?" Boyle asked. "You couldn't have been -mistaken?"</p> - -<p>"I heard it," Locke said stubbornly.</p> - -<p>He clenched his fists angrily, patently reliving his shock of -discovery. "I was running a routine check on Administration visiphone -channels—it's part of my work as communications technician at -AL&O—when I ran across a circuit that had blown its scrambler. -Ordinarily I'd have replaced the dead unit without listening to -plain-talk longer than was necessary to identify the circuit. But by -the time I had it tagged as a Council channel, I'd heard enough from -Cornelison and Bissell and Dorand to convince me that I owed it to the -Social Body to hear the rest. And now I'm holding a tiger by the tail, -because I'm subject to truth-check. That's why I came to you with this, -Boyle. Naturally, since you are President of Transplanet Enterprises—"</p> - -<p>"I know," Boyle cut in, forestalling digression. Locke's job, not -intrinsically important in itself, still demanded a high degree of -integrity and left him open to serum-and-psycho check, as though he -were an actual member of AL&O or a politician. "If anyone knew what -you've overheard, you'd get a compulsory truth-check, admit your guilt -publicly and take an imprisonment sentence from the Board of Order. But -your duty came first, of course. Go on."</p> - -<p>"They were discussing the Alcorians' offer of longevity when I cut -into the circuit. Bissell and Dorand were all for accepting at once, -but Cornelison pretended indecision and had to be coaxed. Oh, he came -around quickly enough; the three of them are to meet Fermiirig and -Santikh tomorrow morning at nine in the AL&O deliberations chamber for -their injections. You should have heard them rationalizing that, Boyle. -It would have sickened you."</p> - -<p>"I know the routine—they're doing it for the good of the Social Body, -of course. What puzzles me is why the Alcorians should give away a -secret so valuable."</p> - -<p>"Trojan horse tactics," Locke said flatly. "They claim to have -arrived at a culture pretty much like our own, except for a superior -technology and a custom of prolonging the lives of administrators -they find best fitted to govern. They're posing as philanthropists -by offering us the same opportunity, but actually they're sabotaging -our political economy. They know that the Social Body won't stand for -the Council accepting an immortality restricted to itself. That sort -of discrimination would stir up a brawl that might shatter the Weal -forever."</p> - -<p>Deliberately, Boyle fanned the younger man's resentment. "Not a bad -thing for those in power. But it <i>is</i> rough on simple members of the -Social Body like ourselves, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"It's criminal conspiracy," Locke said hotly. "They should be -truth-checked and given life-maximum detention. If we took this to the -Board of Order—"</p> - -<p>"No. Think a moment and you'll understand why."</p> - -<p>Boyle had gauged his man, he saw, to a nicety. Locke was typical of -this latest generation, packed to the ears with juvenile idealism -and social consciousness, presenting a finished product of AL&O's -golden-rule ideology that was no more difficult to predict than a -textbook problem in elementary psychology. To a veteran strategist -like Boyle, Locke was more than a handy asset; he was a tool shaped -to respond to duty unquestioningly and to cupidity not at all, and -therefore an agent more readily amenable than any mercenary could have -been.</p> - -<p>"But I <i>don't</i> understand," Locke said, puzzled. "Even Administration -and Legislation are answerable to Order. It's the Board's duty to bring -them to account if necessary."</p> - -<p>"Administration couldn't possibly confirm itself in power from the -beginning without the backing of Order and Legislation," Boyle pointed -out. "Cornelison and Bissell and Dorand would have to extend the -longevity privilege to the other two groups, don't you see, in order -to protect themselves. And that means that Administrative Council is -not alone in this thing—it's AL&O as a body. If you went to the Board -of Order with your protest, the report would die on the spot. So, -probably, would you."</p> - -<p>He felt a touch of genuine amusement at Locke's slack stare of horror. -The seed was planted; now to see how readily the fool would react to a -logical alternative, and how useful in his reaction he might be.</p> - -<p>"I know precisely how you feel," Boyle said. "It goes against our -conditioned grain to find officials venal in this day of compulsory -honesty. But it's nothing new; I've met with similar occasions in my -own Transplanet business, Locke."</p> - -<p>He might have added that those occasions had been of his own devising -and that they had brought him close more than once to a punitive -truth-check. The restraining threat of serum-and-psycho had kept him -for the greater part of his adult life in the ranks of the merely rich, -a potential industrial czar balked of financial empire by the necessity -of maintaining a strictly legal status.</p> - -<p>Locke shook himself like a man waking out of nightmare.</p> - -<p>"I'm glad I brought this problem to a man of your experience," he said -frankly. "I've got great confidence in your judgment, Boyle, something -I've learned partly from watching you handle Transplanet Enterprises -and partly from talking with Moira."</p> - -<p>Boyle gave him a speculative look, feeling a return of his first acid -curiosity about Locke and Moira. "I had no idea that Moira was so -confidential outside her marital-seven," he said dryly. "She's not by -any chance considering a <i>fourth</i> husband, is she?"</p> - -<p>"Of course not. Moira's not <i>unconventional</i>. She's been kind to me a -few times, yes, but that's only her way of making a practical check -against the future. After all, she's aware it can't be more than a -matter of—"</p> - -<p>He broke off, too embarrassed by his unintentional blunder to see the -fury that discolored the older man's face.</p> - -<p>The iron discipline that permitted Boyle to bring that fury under -control left him, even in his moment of outrage, with a sense of grim -pride. He was still master of himself and of Transplanet Enterprises. -Given fools enough like this to work with and time enough to use them, -and he would be master of a great deal more. Immortality, for instance.</p> - -<p>"She's quite right to be provident, of course," he said equably. "I -<i>am</i> getting old. I'm past the sixty-mark, and it can't be more than -another year or two before the rejuvenators refuse me further privilege -and I'm dropped from the marital lists for good."</p> - -<p>"Damn it, Boyle, I'm sorry," Locke said. "I didn't mean to offend you."</p> - -<p>The potential awkwardness of the moment was relieved by a soft chime -from the annunciator. The apartment entrance dilated, admitting Moira.</p> - -<p>She came to them directly, slender and poised and supremely confident -of her dark young beauty, her ermine wrap and high-coiled hair -glistening with stray raindrops that took the light like diamonds. The -two men stood up to greet her, and Boyle could not miss the subtle -feminine response of her to Locke's eager, athletic youth.</p> - -<p><i>If she's planning to fill my place in her marital-seven with this -crewcut fool</i>, Boyle thought with sudden malice, <i>then she's in for a -rude shock. And a final one.</i></p> - -<p>"I couldn't enjoy a line of the play for thinking of you two patriots -plotting here in my apartment," Moira said. "But then the performance -was shatteringly dull, anyway."</p> - -<p>Her boredom was less than convincing. When she had hung her wrap in a -closet to be aerated and irradiated against its next wearing, she sat -between Boyle and Locke with a little sigh of anticipation.</p> - -<p>"Have you decided yet what to do about this dreadful immortality scheme -of the Councils, darlings?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Boyle went to the auto-dispenser in a corner and brought back three -drinks, frosted and effervescing. They touched rims. Moira sipped at -her glass quietly, waiting in tacit agreement with Locke for the older -man's opinion.</p> - -<p>"This longevity should be available to the Social Body as well as to -AL&O," Boyle said. "It's obvious even to non-politicals like Locke and -myself that, unless equal privilege is maintained, there's going to be -the devil to pay and the Weal will suffer. It's equally obvious that -the Alcorians' offer is made with the deliberate intent of undermining -our system through dissension."</p> - -<p>"To their own profit, of course," Locke put in. "Divide and conquer...."</p> - -<p>"Whatever is to be done must be done quickly," Boyle said. "It would -take months to negotiate a definitive plebiscite, and in that time the -Alcorians would have gone home again without treating anyone outside -AL&O. And there the matter would rest. It seems to be up to us to get -hold of the longevity process ourselves and to broadcast it to the -public."</p> - -<p>"The good of the Body is the preservation of the Weal," Locke said -sententiously. "What do you think, Moira?"</p> - -<p>Moira touched her lips with a delicate pink tongue-tip, considering. -To Boyle, her process of thought was as open as a plain-talk teletape; -immortality for the Social Body automatically meant immortality for -Moira and for David Locke. Both young, with an indefinite guarantee of -life....</p> - -<p>"Yes," Moira said definitely. "If some have it, then all should. But -how, Philip?"</p> - -<p>"You're both too young to remember this, of course," Boyle said, -"but until the 1980 Truth-check Act, there was a whole field of -determinative action applicable to cases like this. It's a simple -enough problem if we plan and execute it properly."</p> - -<p>His confidence was not feigned; he had gone over the possibilities -already with the swift ruthlessness that had made him head of -Transplanet Enterprises, and the prospect of direct action excited -rather than dismayed him. Until now he had skirted the edges of -illegality with painstaking care, never stepping quite over the line -beyond which he would be liable to the disastrous truth-check, but at -this moment he felt himself invincible, above retaliation.</p> - -<p>"This present culture is a pragmatic compromise with necessity," Boyle -said. "It survives because it answers natural problems that couldn't -be solved under the old systems. Nationalism died out, for example, -when we set up a universal government, because everyone belonged to the -same Social Body and had the same Weal to consider. Once we realized -that the good of the Body is more important than personal privacy, the -truth-check made ordinary crime and political machination obsolete. -Racial antagonisms vanished under deliberate amalgamation. Monogamy -gave way to the marital-seven, settling the problems of ego clash, -incompatability, promiscuity and vice that existed before. It also -settled the disproportion between the male and female population.</p> - -<p>"But stability is vulnerable. Since it never changes, it cannot -stand against an attack either too new or too old for its immediate -experience. So if we're going after this Alcorian longevity process, -I'd suggest that we choose a method so long out of date that there's no -longer a defense against it. <i>We'll take it by force!</i>"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It amused him to see Moira and Locke accept his specious logic without -reservation. Their directness was all but childlike. The thought of -engaging personally in the sort of cloak-and-sword adventure carried -over by the old twentieth-century melodrama tapes was, as he had -surmised, irresistible to them.</p> - -<p>"I can see how you came to be head of Transplanet, Boyle," Locke said -enviously. "What's your plan, exactly?"</p> - -<p>"I've a cottage in the mountains that will serve as a base of -operations," Boyle explained. "Moira can wait there for us in the -morning while you and I take a 'copter to AL&O. According to your -information, Cornelison and Bissell and Dorand will meet the Alcorians -in the deliberations chamber at nine o'clock. We'll sleep-gas the lot -of them, take the longevity process and go. There's no formal guard at -Administration, or anywhere else, nowadays. There'll be no possible way -of tracing us."</p> - -<p>"Unless we're truth-checked," Locke said doubtfully. "If any one of us -should be pulled in for serum-and-psycho, the whole affair will come -out. The Board of Order—"</p> - -<p>"Order won't know whom to suspect," Boyle said patiently. "And they -can't possibly check the whole city. They'd have no way of knowing -even that it was someone from this locale. It could be anyone, from -anywhere."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When Locke had gone and Moira had exhausted her fund of excited -small talk, Boyle went over the entire plan again from inception to -conclusion. Lying awake in the darkness with only the sound of Moira's -even breathing breaking the stillness, he let his practical fancy run -ahead.</p> - -<p>Years, decades, generations—what were they? To be by relative -standards undying in a world of ephemerae, with literally nothing that -he might not have or do....</p> - -<p>He dreamed a dream as old as man, of stretching today into forever.</p> - -<p>Immortality.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The coup next morning was no more difficult, though bloodier, than -Boyle had anticipated.</p> - -<p>At nine sharp, he left David Locke at the controls of his helicar on -the sun-bright roof landing of AL&O, took a self-service elevator -down four floors and walked calmly to the deliberation chamber where -Administrative Council met with the visitors from Alcor. He was armed -for any eventuality with an electronic freeze-gun, a sleep-capsule of -anesthetic gas, and a nut-sized incendiary bomb capable of setting -afire an ordinary building.</p> - -<p>His first hope of surprising the Council in conference was dashed -in the antechamber, rendering his sleep-bomb useless. Dorand was a -moment late; he came in almost on Boyle's heels, his face blank with -astonishment at finding an intruder ahead of him.</p> - -<p>The freeze-gun gave him no time for questions.</p> - -<p>"Quiet," Boyle ordered, and drove the startled Councilor ahead of him -into the deliberations chamber.</p> - -<p>He was just in time. Cornelison had one bony arm already bared for the -longevity injection; Bissell sat in tense anticipation of his elder's -reaction; the Alcorian, Fermiirig, stood at Cornelison's side with a -glittering hypodermic needle in one of his four three-fingered hands.</p> - -<p>For the moment, a sudden chill of apprehension touched Boyle. There -should have been <i>two</i> Alcorians.</p> - -<p>"Quiet," Boyle said again, this time to the group. "You, Fermiirig, -where is your mate?"</p> - -<p>The Alcorian replaced the hypodermic needle carefully in its case, his -triangular face totally free of any identifiable emotion and clasped -both primary and secondary sets of hands together as an Earthman might -have raised them overhead. His eyes, doe-soft and gentle, considered -Boyle thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>"Santikh is busy with other matters," Fermiirig said. His voice was -thin and reedy, precise of enunciation, but hissing faintly on the -aspirants. "I am to join her later—" his gentle eyes went to the -Councilors, gauging the gravity of the situation from their tensity, -and returned to Boyle—"if I am permitted."</p> - -<p>"Good," Boyle said.</p> - -<p>He snapped the serum case shut and tucked it under his arm, turning -toward the open balcony windows. "You're coming with me, Fermiirig. You -others stay as you are."</p> - -<p>The soft drone of a helicar descending outside told him that Locke had -timed his descent accurately. Cornelison chose that moment to protest, -his wrinkled face tight with consternation at what he read of Boyle's -intention.</p> - -<p>"We know you, Boyle! You can't possibly escape. The Ordermen—"</p> - -<p>Boyle laughed at him.</p> - -<p>"There'll be no culprit for the Ordermen," he said, "nor any -witnesses. You've wiped out ordinary crime with your truth-checks and -practicalities, Cornelison, but you've made the way easier for a man -who knows what he wants."</p> - -<p>He pressed the firing stud of his weapon. Cornelison fell and lay -stiffly on the pastel tile. Bissell and Dorand went down as quickly, -frozen to temporary rigidity.</p> - -<p>Boyle tossed his incendiary into the huddle of still bodies and shoved -the Alcorian forcibly through the windows into the hovering aircar.</p> - -<p>Locke greeted the alien's appearance with stark amazement. "My God, -Boyle, are you <i>mad</i>? You can't kidnap—"</p> - -<p>The dull shock of explosion inside the deliberations chamber jarred the -helicar, throwing the slighter Alcorian to the floor and staggering -Boyle briefly.</p> - -<p>"Get us out of here," Boyle said sharply. He turned the freeze-gun on -the astounded Locke, half expecting resistance and fully prepared to -meet it. "You fool, do you think I'm still playing the childish game I -made up to keep you and Moira quiet?"</p> - -<p>A pall of greasy black smoke poured after them when Locke, still -stunned by the suddenness of catastrophe, put the aircar into motion -and streaked away across the city.</p> - -<p>Boyle, watching the first red tongue of flame lick out from the -building behind, patted the serum case and set himself for the next -step.</p> - -<p>Immortality.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Locke took the helicar down through the mountains, skirting a clear -swift river that broke into tumultuous falls a hundred yards below -Boyle's cottage, and set it down in a flagstone court.</p> - -<p>"Out," Boyle ordered.</p> - -<p>Moira met them in the spacious living room, her pretty face comical -with surprise and dismay.</p> - -<p>"Philip, what's <i>happened</i>? You look so—"</p> - -<p>She saw the alien then and put a hand to her mouth.</p> - -<p>"Keep her quiet while I deal with Fermiirig," Boyle said to Locke. "I -have no time for argument. If either of you gives me any trouble...."</p> - -<p>He left the threat to Locke's stunned fancy and turned on the Alcorian.</p> - -<p>"Let me have the injection you had ready for Cornelison. Now."</p> - -<p>The Alcorian moved his narrow shoulders in what might have been a -shrug. "You are making a mistake. You are not fitted for life beyond -the normal span."</p> - -<p>"I didn't bring you here to moralize," Boyle said. "If you mean to see -your mate again, Fermiirig, give me the injection!"</p> - -<p>"There was a time in your history when force was justifiable," -Fermiirig said. "But that time is gone. You are determined?" He shook -his head soberly when Boyle did not answer. "I was afraid so."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" width="600" height="395" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>He took the hypodermic needle out of its case, squeezed out a pale drop -of liquid and slid the point into the exposed vein of Boyle's forearm.</p> - -<p>Boyle, watching the slow depression of the plunger, asked: "How long a -period will this guarantee, in Earth time?"</p> - -<p>"Seven hundred years," Fermiirig said. He withdrew the instrument and -replaced it in its case, his liquid glance following Boyle's rising -gesture with the freeze-gun. "At the end of that time, the treatment -may be renewed if facilities are available."</p> - -<p><i>Immortality!</i></p> - -<p>"Then I won't need you any more," Boyle said, and rayed him down. "Nor -these other two."</p> - -<p>Locke, characteristically, sprang up and tried to shield Moira with -his own body. "Boyle, what are you thinking of? You can't murder us -without—"</p> - -<p>"There's a very effective rapids a hundred yards down river," Boyle -said. "You'll both be quite satisfactorily dead after going through -it, I think. Possibly unrecognizable, too, though that doesn't matter -particularly."</p> - -<p>He was pressing the firing stud, slowly because something in the -tension of the moment appealed to the sadism in his nature, when an -Orderman's freeze-beam caught him from behind and dropped him stiffly -beside Fermiirig.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The details of his failure reached him later in his cell, -anticlimactically, through a fat and pimply jailer inflated to bursting -with the importance of guarding the first murderer in his generation.</p> - -<p>"AL&O kept this quiet until the Council killing," the turnkey said, -"but it had to come out when the Board of Order went after you. The -Alcorians are telepathic. Santikh led the Ordermen to your place in the -mountains. Fermiirig guided her."</p> - -<p>He grinned vacuously at his prisoner, visibly pleased to impart -information. "Lucky for you we don't have capital punishment any more. -As it is, you'll get maximum, but they can't give you more than life."</p> - -<p>Lucky? The realization of what lay ahead of him stunned Boyle with a -slow and dreadful certainty.</p> - -<p>A sentence of life.</p> - -<p>Seven hundred years.</p> - -<p>Not immortality—</p> - -<p>Eternity.</p> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Today is Forever, by Roger Dee - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TODAY IS FOREVER *** - -***** This file should be named 50884-h.htm or 50884-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/8/8/50884/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan 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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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/license - - -Title: Today is Forever - -Author: Roger Dee - -Release Date: January 9, 2016 [EBook #50884] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TODAY IS FOREVER *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - Today is Forever - - By ROGER DEE - - Illustrated by EMSH - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Galaxy Science Fiction September 1952. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - Boyle knew there was an angle behind the aliens' - generosity ... but he had one of his own! - - -"These Alcorians have been on Earth for only a month," David Locke -said, "but already they're driving a wedge between AL&O and the -Social Body that can destroy the Weal overnight. Boyle, it's got to be -stopped!" - -He put his elbows on Moira's antique conversation table and leaned -toward the older man, his eyes hot and anxious. - -"There are only the two of them--Fermiirig and Santikh; you've -probably seen stills of them on the visinews a hundred times--and -AL&O has kept them so closely under cover that we of the Social Body -never get more than occasional rumors about what they're really -like. But I know from what I overheard that they're carbonstructure -oxygen-breathers with a metabolism very much like our own. What affects -them physically will affect us also. And the offer they've made -Cornelison and Bissell and Dorand of Administrative Council is genuine. -It amounts to a lot more than simple longevity, because the process can -be repeated. In effect, it's--" - -"_Immortality_," Boyle said, and forgot the younger man on the instant. - -The shock of it as a reality blossomed in his mind with a slow -explosion of triumph. It had come in his time, after all, and the fact -that the secret belonged to the first interstellar visitors to reach -Earth had no bearing whatever on his determination to possess it. -Neither had the knowledge that the Alcorians had promised the process -only to the highest of government bodies, Administrative Council. The -whole of AL&O--Administration, Legislation and Order--could not keep it -from him. - -"It isn't _right_," Locke said heatedly. "It doesn't fit in with what -we've been taught to believe, Boyle. We're still a modified democracy, -and the Social Body _is_ the Weal. We can't permit Cornelison and -Bissell and Dorand to take what amounts to immortality for themselves -and deny it to the populace. That's tyranny!" - -The charge brought Boyle out of his preoccupation with a start. For -the moment, he had forgotten Locke's presence in Moira's apartment. He -had even forgotten his earlier annoyance with Moira for allowing the -sophomoric fool visitor's privilege when it was Boyle's week, to the -exclusion of the other two husbands in Moira's marital-seven, to share -the connubial right with her. - -But the opportunity tumbled so forcibly into his lap was not one to -be handled lightly. He held in check his contempt for Locke and his -irritation with Moira until he had considered his windfall from every -angle, and had marshalled its possibilities into a working outline of -his coup to come. - -He even checked his lapel watch against the time of Moira's return from -the theater before he answered Locke. With characteristic cynicism, he -took it for granted that Locke, in his indignation, had already shared -his discovery with Moira, and in cold logic he marked her down with -Locke for disposal once her purpose was served. Moira had been the most -satisfactory of the four women in Boyle's marital-seven, but when he -weighed her attractions against the possible immortality ahead, the -comparison did not sway his resolution for an instant. - -Moira, like Locke, would have to go. - - * * * * * - -"You're sure there was no error?" Boyle asked. "You couldn't have been -mistaken?" - -"I heard it," Locke said stubbornly. - -He clenched his fists angrily, patently reliving his shock of -discovery. "I was running a routine check on Administration visiphone -channels--it's part of my work as communications technician at -AL&O--when I ran across a circuit that had blown its scrambler. -Ordinarily I'd have replaced the dead unit without listening to -plain-talk longer than was necessary to identify the circuit. But by -the time I had it tagged as a Council channel, I'd heard enough from -Cornelison and Bissell and Dorand to convince me that I owed it to the -Social Body to hear the rest. And now I'm holding a tiger by the tail, -because I'm subject to truth-check. That's why I came to you with this, -Boyle. Naturally, since you are President of Transplanet Enterprises--" - -"I know," Boyle cut in, forestalling digression. Locke's job, not -intrinsically important in itself, still demanded a high degree of -integrity and left him open to serum-and-psycho check, as though he -were an actual member of AL&O or a politician. "If anyone knew what -you've overheard, you'd get a compulsory truth-check, admit your guilt -publicly and take an imprisonment sentence from the Board of Order. But -your duty came first, of course. Go on." - -"They were discussing the Alcorians' offer of longevity when I cut -into the circuit. Bissell and Dorand were all for accepting at once, -but Cornelison pretended indecision and had to be coaxed. Oh, he came -around quickly enough; the three of them are to meet Fermiirig and -Santikh tomorrow morning at nine in the AL&O deliberations chamber for -their injections. You should have heard them rationalizing that, Boyle. -It would have sickened you." - -"I know the routine--they're doing it for the good of the Social Body, -of course. What puzzles me is why the Alcorians should give away a -secret so valuable." - -"Trojan horse tactics," Locke said flatly. "They claim to have -arrived at a culture pretty much like our own, except for a superior -technology and a custom of prolonging the lives of administrators -they find best fitted to govern. They're posing as philanthropists -by offering us the same opportunity, but actually they're sabotaging -our political economy. They know that the Social Body won't stand for -the Council accepting an immortality restricted to itself. That sort -of discrimination would stir up a brawl that might shatter the Weal -forever." - -Deliberately, Boyle fanned the younger man's resentment. "Not a bad -thing for those in power. But it _is_ rough on simple members of the -Social Body like ourselves, isn't it?" - -"It's criminal conspiracy," Locke said hotly. "They should be -truth-checked and given life-maximum detention. If we took this to the -Board of Order--" - -"No. Think a moment and you'll understand why." - -Boyle had gauged his man, he saw, to a nicety. Locke was typical of -this latest generation, packed to the ears with juvenile idealism -and social consciousness, presenting a finished product of AL&O's -golden-rule ideology that was no more difficult to predict than a -textbook problem in elementary psychology. To a veteran strategist -like Boyle, Locke was more than a handy asset; he was a tool shaped -to respond to duty unquestioningly and to cupidity not at all, and -therefore an agent more readily amenable than any mercenary could have -been. - -"But I _don't_ understand," Locke said, puzzled. "Even Administration -and Legislation are answerable to Order. It's the Board's duty to bring -them to account if necessary." - -"Administration couldn't possibly confirm itself in power from the -beginning without the backing of Order and Legislation," Boyle pointed -out. "Cornelison and Bissell and Dorand would have to extend the -longevity privilege to the other two groups, don't you see, in order -to protect themselves. And that means that Administrative Council is -not alone in this thing--it's AL&O as a body. If you went to the Board -of Order with your protest, the report would die on the spot. So, -probably, would you." - -He felt a touch of genuine amusement at Locke's slack stare of horror. -The seed was planted; now to see how readily the fool would react to a -logical alternative, and how useful in his reaction he might be. - -"I know precisely how you feel," Boyle said. "It goes against our -conditioned grain to find officials venal in this day of compulsory -honesty. But it's nothing new; I've met with similar occasions in my -own Transplanet business, Locke." - -He might have added that those occasions had been of his own devising -and that they had brought him close more than once to a punitive -truth-check. The restraining threat of serum-and-psycho had kept him -for the greater part of his adult life in the ranks of the merely rich, -a potential industrial czar balked of financial empire by the necessity -of maintaining a strictly legal status. - -Locke shook himself like a man waking out of nightmare. - -"I'm glad I brought this problem to a man of your experience," he said -frankly. "I've got great confidence in your judgment, Boyle, something -I've learned partly from watching you handle Transplanet Enterprises -and partly from talking with Moira." - -Boyle gave him a speculative look, feeling a return of his first acid -curiosity about Locke and Moira. "I had no idea that Moira was so -confidential outside her marital-seven," he said dryly. "She's not by -any chance considering a _fourth_ husband, is she?" - -"Of course not. Moira's not _unconventional_. She's been kind to me a -few times, yes, but that's only her way of making a practical check -against the future. After all, she's aware it can't be more than a -matter of--" - -He broke off, too embarrassed by his unintentional blunder to see the -fury that discolored the older man's face. - -The iron discipline that permitted Boyle to bring that fury under -control left him, even in his moment of outrage, with a sense of grim -pride. He was still master of himself and of Transplanet Enterprises. -Given fools enough like this to work with and time enough to use them, -and he would be master of a great deal more. Immortality, for instance. - -"She's quite right to be provident, of course," he said equably. "I -_am_ getting old. I'm past the sixty-mark, and it can't be more than -another year or two before the rejuvenators refuse me further privilege -and I'm dropped from the marital lists for good." - -"Damn it, Boyle, I'm sorry," Locke said. "I didn't mean to offend you." - -The potential awkwardness of the moment was relieved by a soft chime -from the annunciator. The apartment entrance dilated, admitting Moira. - -She came to them directly, slender and poised and supremely confident -of her dark young beauty, her ermine wrap and high-coiled hair -glistening with stray raindrops that took the light like diamonds. The -two men stood up to greet her, and Boyle could not miss the subtle -feminine response of her to Locke's eager, athletic youth. - -_If she's planning to fill my place in her marital-seven with this -crewcut fool_, Boyle thought with sudden malice, _then she's in for a -rude shock. And a final one._ - -"I couldn't enjoy a line of the play for thinking of you two patriots -plotting here in my apartment," Moira said. "But then the performance -was shatteringly dull, anyway." - -Her boredom was less than convincing. When she had hung her wrap in a -closet to be aerated and irradiated against its next wearing, she sat -between Boyle and Locke with a little sigh of anticipation. - -"Have you decided yet what to do about this dreadful immortality scheme -of the Councils, darlings?" - - * * * * * - -Boyle went to the auto-dispenser in a corner and brought back three -drinks, frosted and effervescing. They touched rims. Moira sipped at -her glass quietly, waiting in tacit agreement with Locke for the older -man's opinion. - -"This longevity should be available to the Social Body as well as to -AL&O," Boyle said. "It's obvious even to non-politicals like Locke and -myself that, unless equal privilege is maintained, there's going to be -the devil to pay and the Weal will suffer. It's equally obvious that -the Alcorians' offer is made with the deliberate intent of undermining -our system through dissension." - -"To their own profit, of course," Locke put in. "Divide and conquer...." - -"Whatever is to be done must be done quickly," Boyle said. "It would -take months to negotiate a definitive plebiscite, and in that time the -Alcorians would have gone home again without treating anyone outside -AL&O. And there the matter would rest. It seems to be up to us to get -hold of the longevity process ourselves and to broadcast it to the -public." - -"The good of the Body is the preservation of the Weal," Locke said -sententiously. "What do you think, Moira?" - -Moira touched her lips with a delicate pink tongue-tip, considering. -To Boyle, her process of thought was as open as a plain-talk teletape; -immortality for the Social Body automatically meant immortality for -Moira and for David Locke. Both young, with an indefinite guarantee of -life.... - -"Yes," Moira said definitely. "If some have it, then all should. But -how, Philip?" - -"You're both too young to remember this, of course," Boyle said, -"but until the 1980 Truth-check Act, there was a whole field of -determinative action applicable to cases like this. It's a simple -enough problem if we plan and execute it properly." - -His confidence was not feigned; he had gone over the possibilities -already with the swift ruthlessness that had made him head of -Transplanet Enterprises, and the prospect of direct action excited -rather than dismayed him. Until now he had skirted the edges of -illegality with painstaking care, never stepping quite over the line -beyond which he would be liable to the disastrous truth-check, but at -this moment he felt himself invincible, above retaliation. - -"This present culture is a pragmatic compromise with necessity," Boyle -said. "It survives because it answers natural problems that couldn't -be solved under the old systems. Nationalism died out, for example, -when we set up a universal government, because everyone belonged to the -same Social Body and had the same Weal to consider. Once we realized -that the good of the Body is more important than personal privacy, the -truth-check made ordinary crime and political machination obsolete. -Racial antagonisms vanished under deliberate amalgamation. Monogamy -gave way to the marital-seven, settling the problems of ego clash, -incompatability, promiscuity and vice that existed before. It also -settled the disproportion between the male and female population. - -"But stability is vulnerable. Since it never changes, it cannot -stand against an attack either too new or too old for its immediate -experience. So if we're going after this Alcorian longevity process, -I'd suggest that we choose a method so long out of date that there's no -longer a defense against it. _We'll take it by force!_" - - * * * * * - -It amused him to see Moira and Locke accept his specious logic without -reservation. Their directness was all but childlike. The thought of -engaging personally in the sort of cloak-and-sword adventure carried -over by the old twentieth-century melodrama tapes was, as he had -surmised, irresistible to them. - -"I can see how you came to be head of Transplanet, Boyle," Locke said -enviously. "What's your plan, exactly?" - -"I've a cottage in the mountains that will serve as a base of -operations," Boyle explained. "Moira can wait there for us in the -morning while you and I take a 'copter to AL&O. According to your -information, Cornelison and Bissell and Dorand will meet the Alcorians -in the deliberations chamber at nine o'clock. We'll sleep-gas the lot -of them, take the longevity process and go. There's no formal guard at -Administration, or anywhere else, nowadays. There'll be no possible way -of tracing us." - -"Unless we're truth-checked," Locke said doubtfully. "If any one of us -should be pulled in for serum-and-psycho, the whole affair will come -out. The Board of Order--" - -"Order won't know whom to suspect," Boyle said patiently. "And they -can't possibly check the whole city. They'd have no way of knowing -even that it was someone from this locale. It could be anyone, from -anywhere." - - * * * * * - -When Locke had gone and Moira had exhausted her fund of excited -small talk, Boyle went over the entire plan again from inception to -conclusion. Lying awake in the darkness with only the sound of Moira's -even breathing breaking the stillness, he let his practical fancy run -ahead. - -Years, decades, generations--what were they? To be by relative -standards undying in a world of ephemerae, with literally nothing that -he might not have or do.... - -He dreamed a dream as old as man, of stretching today into forever. - -Immortality. - - * * * * * - -The coup next morning was no more difficult, though bloodier, than -Boyle had anticipated. - -At nine sharp, he left David Locke at the controls of his helicar on -the sun-bright roof landing of AL&O, took a self-service elevator -down four floors and walked calmly to the deliberation chamber where -Administrative Council met with the visitors from Alcor. He was armed -for any eventuality with an electronic freeze-gun, a sleep-capsule of -anesthetic gas, and a nut-sized incendiary bomb capable of setting -afire an ordinary building. - -His first hope of surprising the Council in conference was dashed -in the antechamber, rendering his sleep-bomb useless. Dorand was a -moment late; he came in almost on Boyle's heels, his face blank with -astonishment at finding an intruder ahead of him. - -The freeze-gun gave him no time for questions. - -"Quiet," Boyle ordered, and drove the startled Councilor ahead of him -into the deliberations chamber. - -He was just in time. Cornelison had one bony arm already bared for the -longevity injection; Bissell sat in tense anticipation of his elder's -reaction; the Alcorian, Fermiirig, stood at Cornelison's side with a -glittering hypodermic needle in one of his four three-fingered hands. - -For the moment, a sudden chill of apprehension touched Boyle. There -should have been _two_ Alcorians. - -"Quiet," Boyle said again, this time to the group. "You, Fermiirig, -where is your mate?" - -The Alcorian replaced the hypodermic needle carefully in its case, his -triangular face totally free of any identifiable emotion and clasped -both primary and secondary sets of hands together as an Earthman might -have raised them overhead. His eyes, doe-soft and gentle, considered -Boyle thoughtfully. - -"Santikh is busy with other matters," Fermiirig said. His voice was -thin and reedy, precise of enunciation, but hissing faintly on the -aspirants. "I am to join her later--" his gentle eyes went to the -Councilors, gauging the gravity of the situation from their tensity, -and returned to Boyle--"if I am permitted." - -"Good," Boyle said. - -He snapped the serum case shut and tucked it under his arm, turning -toward the open balcony windows. "You're coming with me, Fermiirig. You -others stay as you are." - -The soft drone of a helicar descending outside told him that Locke had -timed his descent accurately. Cornelison chose that moment to protest, -his wrinkled face tight with consternation at what he read of Boyle's -intention. - -"We know you, Boyle! You can't possibly escape. The Ordermen--" - -Boyle laughed at him. - -"There'll be no culprit for the Ordermen," he said, "nor any -witnesses. You've wiped out ordinary crime with your truth-checks and -practicalities, Cornelison, but you've made the way easier for a man -who knows what he wants." - -He pressed the firing stud of his weapon. Cornelison fell and lay -stiffly on the pastel tile. Bissell and Dorand went down as quickly, -frozen to temporary rigidity. - -Boyle tossed his incendiary into the huddle of still bodies and shoved -the Alcorian forcibly through the windows into the hovering aircar. - -Locke greeted the alien's appearance with stark amazement. "My God, -Boyle, are you _mad_? You can't kidnap--" - -The dull shock of explosion inside the deliberations chamber jarred the -helicar, throwing the slighter Alcorian to the floor and staggering -Boyle briefly. - -"Get us out of here," Boyle said sharply. He turned the freeze-gun on -the astounded Locke, half expecting resistance and fully prepared to -meet it. "You fool, do you think I'm still playing the childish game I -made up to keep you and Moira quiet?" - -A pall of greasy black smoke poured after them when Locke, still -stunned by the suddenness of catastrophe, put the aircar into motion -and streaked away across the city. - -Boyle, watching the first red tongue of flame lick out from the -building behind, patted the serum case and set himself for the next -step. - -Immortality. - - * * * * * - -Locke took the helicar down through the mountains, skirting a clear -swift river that broke into tumultuous falls a hundred yards below -Boyle's cottage, and set it down in a flagstone court. - -"Out," Boyle ordered. - -Moira met them in the spacious living room, her pretty face comical -with surprise and dismay. - -"Philip, what's _happened_? You look so--" - -She saw the alien then and put a hand to her mouth. - -"Keep her quiet while I deal with Fermiirig," Boyle said to Locke. "I -have no time for argument. If either of you gives me any trouble...." - -He left the threat to Locke's stunned fancy and turned on the Alcorian. - -"Let me have the injection you had ready for Cornelison. Now." - -The Alcorian moved his narrow shoulders in what might have been a -shrug. "You are making a mistake. You are not fitted for life beyond -the normal span." - -"I didn't bring you here to moralize," Boyle said. "If you mean to see -your mate again, Fermiirig, give me the injection!" - -"There was a time in your history when force was justifiable," -Fermiirig said. "But that time is gone. You are determined?" He shook -his head soberly when Boyle did not answer. "I was afraid so." - -He took the hypodermic needle out of its case, squeezed out a pale drop -of liquid and slid the point into the exposed vein of Boyle's forearm. - -Boyle, watching the slow depression of the plunger, asked: "How long a -period will this guarantee, in Earth time?" - -"Seven hundred years," Fermiirig said. He withdrew the instrument and -replaced it in its case, his liquid glance following Boyle's rising -gesture with the freeze-gun. "At the end of that time, the treatment -may be renewed if facilities are available." - -_Immortality!_ - -"Then I won't need you any more," Boyle said, and rayed him down. "Nor -these other two." - -Locke, characteristically, sprang up and tried to shield Moira with -his own body. "Boyle, what are you thinking of? You can't murder us -without--" - -"There's a very effective rapids a hundred yards down river," Boyle -said. "You'll both be quite satisfactorily dead after going through -it, I think. Possibly unrecognizable, too, though that doesn't matter -particularly." - -He was pressing the firing stud, slowly because something in the -tension of the moment appealed to the sadism in his nature, when an -Orderman's freeze-beam caught him from behind and dropped him stiffly -beside Fermiirig. - - * * * * * - -The details of his failure reached him later in his cell, -anticlimactically, through a fat and pimply jailer inflated to bursting -with the importance of guarding the first murderer in his generation. - -"AL&O kept this quiet until the Council killing," the turnkey said, -"but it had to come out when the Board of Order went after you. The -Alcorians are telepathic. Santikh led the Ordermen to your place in the -mountains. Fermiirig guided her." - -He grinned vacuously at his prisoner, visibly pleased to impart -information. "Lucky for you we don't have capital punishment any more. -As it is, you'll get maximum, but they can't give you more than life." - -Lucky? The realization of what lay ahead of him stunned Boyle with a -slow and dreadful certainty. - -A sentence of life. - -Seven hundred years. - -Not immortality-- - -Eternity. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Today is Forever, by Roger Dee - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TODAY IS FOREVER *** - -***** This file should be named 50884.txt or 50884.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/8/8/50884/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan 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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