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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..4f02896 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50935 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50935) diff --git a/old/50935-h.zip b/old/50935-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e28e3cb..0000000 --- a/old/50935-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/50935-h/50935-h.htm b/old/50935-h/50935-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 1f08d49..0000000 --- a/old/50935-h/50935-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1731 +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 Star, Bright, by Mark Clifton. - </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 { 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 { text-align: right; text-indent: 0em; } -.ph4 { font-size: medium; margin: 1.12em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Star, Bright, by Mark Clifton - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Star, Bright - -Author: Mark Clifton - -Release Date: January 15, 2016 [EBook #50935] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STAR, BRIGHT *** - - - - -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="375" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>Star, Bright</h1> - -<p>By MARK CLIFTON</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Galaxy Science Fiction July 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>There is no past or future, the children said</i>;<br /> -<i>it all just</i> is! <i>They had every reason to know!</i></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph4"><i>Friday—June 11th</i></p> - -<p>At three years of age, a little girl shouldn't have enough functioning -intelligence to cut out and paste together a Moebius Strip.</p> - -<p>Or, if she did it by accident, she surely shouldn't have enough -reasoning ability to pick up one of her crayons and carefully trace the -continuous line to prove it has only one surface.</p> - -<p>And if by some strange coincidence she did, and it was still just an -accident, how can I account for this generally active daughter of -mine—and I do mean <i>active</i>—sitting for a solid half hour with her -chin cupped in her hand, staring off into space, thinking with such -concentration that it was almost painful to watch?</p> - -<p>I was in my reading chair, going over some work. Star was sitting on -the floor, in the circle of my light, with her blunt-nosed scissors and -her scraps of paper.</p> - -<p>Her long silence made me glance down at her as she was taping the two -ends of the paper together. At that point I thought it was an accident -that she had given a half twist to the paper strip before joining the -circle. I smiled to myself as she picked it up in her chubby fingers.</p> - -<p>"A little child forms the enigma of the ages," I mused.</p> - -<p>But instead of throwing the strip aside, or tearing it apart as any -other child would do, she carefully turned it over and around—studying -it from all sides.</p> - -<p>Then she picked up one of her crayons and began tracing the line. She -did it as though she were substantiating a conclusion already reached!</p> - -<p>It was a bitter confirmation for me. I had been refusing to face it -for a long time, but I could ignore it no longer.</p> - -<p>Star was a High I.Q.</p> - -<p>For half an hour I watched her while she sat on the floor, one knee -bent under her, her chin in her hand, unmoving. Her eyes were wide with -wonderment, looking into the potentialities of the phenomenon she had -found.</p> - -<p>It has been a tough struggle, taking care of her since my wife's death. -Now this added problem. If only she could have been normally dull, like -other children!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I made up my mind while I watched her. If a child is afflicted, then -let's face it, she's afflicted. A parent must teach her to compensate. -At least she could be prepared for the bitterness I'd known. She could -learn early to take it in stride.</p> - -<p>I could use the measurements available, get the degree of intelligence, -and in that way grasp the extent of my problem. A twenty point jump -in I.Q. creates an entirely different set of problems. The 140 child -lives in a world nothing at all like that of the 100 child, and a world -which the 120 child can but vaguely sense. The problems which vex and -challenge the 160 pass over the 140 as a bird flies over a field mouse. -I must not make the mistake of posing the problems of one if she is the -other. I must know. In the meantime, I must treat it casually.</p> - -<p>"That's called the Moebius Strip, Star," I interrupted her thoughts.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="531" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>She came out of her reverie with a start. I didn't like the quick way -her eyes sought mine—almost furtively, as though she had been caught -doing something bad.</p> - -<p>"Somebody already make it?" she disappointedly asked.</p> - -<p>She knew what she had discovered! Something inside me spilled over with -grief, and something else caught at me with dread.</p> - -<p>I kept my voice casual. "A man by the name of Moebius. A long time ago. -I'll tell you about him sometime when you're older."</p> - -<p>"Now. While I'm little," she commanded with a frown. "And don't tell. -Read me."</p> - -<p>What did she mean by that? Oh, she must be simply paraphrasing me at -those times in the past when I've wanted the facts and not garbled -generalizations. It could only be that!</p> - -<p>"Okay, young lady." I lifted an eyebrow and glared at her in mock -ferociousness, which usually sent her into gales of laughter. "I'll -slow you down!"</p> - -<p>She remained completely sober.</p> - -<p>I turned to the subject in a physics book. It's not in simple language, -by any means, and I read it as rapidly as I could speak. My thought -was to make her admit she didn't understand it, so I could translate it -into basic language.</p> - -<p>Her reaction?</p> - -<p>"You read too slow. Daddy," she complained. She was childishly -irritable about it. "You say a word. Then I think a long time. Then you -say another word."</p> - -<p>I knew what she meant. I remember, when I was a child, my thoughts used -to dart in and out among the slowly droning words of any adult. Whole -patterns of universes would appear and disappear in those brief moments.</p> - -<p>"So?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"So," she mocked me impishly. "You teach me to read. Then I can think -quick as I want."</p> - -<p>"Quickly," I corrected in a weak voice. "The word is 'quickly,' an -adverb."</p> - -<p>She looked at me impatiently, as if she saw through this allegedly -adult device to show up a younger's ignorance. I felt like the dope!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - - -<p class="ph4"><i>September 1st</i></p> - -<p>A great deal has happened the past few months. I have tried, a number -of times to bring the conversation around to discuss Star's affliction -with her. But she is amazingly adroit at heading me off, as though she -already knows what I am trying to say and isn't concerned. Perhaps, in -spite of her brilliance, she's too young to realize the hostility of -the world toward intelligence.</p> - -<p>Some of the visiting neighbors have been amused to see her sit on the -floor with an encyclopedia as big as she is, rapidly turning the pages. -Only Star and I know she is reading the pages as rapidly as she can -turn them. I've brushed away the neighbors' comments with: "She likes -to look at the pictures."</p> - -<p>They talk to her in baby talk—and she answers in baby talk! How does -she know enough to do that?</p> - -<p>I have spent the months making an exhaustive record of her I.Q. -measurements, aptitude speeds, reaction, tables, all the recommended -paraphernalia for measuring something we know nothing about.</p> - -<p>The tables are screwy, or Star is beyond all measurement.</p> - -<p>All right, Pete Holmes, how are you going to pose those problems and -combat them for her, when you have no conception of what they might -be? But I must have a conception. I've got to be able to comprehend at -least a little of what she may face. I simply couldn't stand by and do -nothing.</p> - -<p>Easy, though. Nobody knows better than you the futility of trying to -compete out of your class. How many students, workers and employers -have tried to compete with you? You've watched them and pitied them, -comparing them to a donkey trying to run the Kentucky Derby.</p> - -<p>How does it feel to be in the place of the donkey, for a change? You've -always blamed them for not realizing they shouldn't try to compete.</p> - -<p>But this is my own daughter! I <i>must</i> understand.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="ph4"><i>October 1st</i></p> - -<p>Star is now four years old, and according to State Law her mind has now -developed enough so that she may attend nursery school. Again I tried -to prepare her for what she might face. She listened through about -two sentences and changed the subject. I can't tell about Star. Does -she already know the answers? Or does she not even realize there is a -problem?</p> - -<p>I was in a sweat of worry when I took her to her first day at school -yesterday morning. Last night I was sitting in my chair, reading. After -she had put her dolls away, she went to the bookshelves and brought -down a book of fairy tales.</p> - -<p>That is another peculiarity of hers. She has an unmeasurably quick -perception, yet she has all the normal reactions of a little girl. She -likes her dolls, fairy stories, playing grown up. No, she's not a -monster.</p> - -<p>She brought the book of fairy tales over to me.</p> - -<p>"Daddy, read me a story," she asked quite seriously.</p> - -<p>I looked at her in amazement. "Since when? Go read your own story."</p> - -<p>She lifted an eyebrow in imitation of my own characteristic gesture.</p> - -<p>"Children of my age do not read," she instructed pedantically. "I can't -learn to read until I am in the first grade. It is very hard to do and -I am much too little."</p> - -<p>She had found the answer to her affliction—conformity! She had already -learned to conceal her intelligence. So many of us break our hearts -before we learn that.</p> - -<p>But you don't have to conceal it from me, Star! Not from me!</p> - -<p>Oh, well, I could go along with the gag, if that was what she wanted.</p> - -<p>"Did you like nursery school?" I asked the standard question.</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes," she exclaimed enthusiastically. "It was fun."</p> - -<p>"And what did you learn today, little girl?"</p> - -<p>She played it straight back to me. "Not much. I tried to cut out paper -dolls, but the scissors kept slipping." Was there an elfin deviltry -back of her sober expression?</p> - -<p>"Now, look," I cautioned, "don't overdo it. That's as bad as being -too quick. The idea is that everybody has to be just about standard -average. That's the only thing we will tolerate. It is expected that a -little girl of four should know how to cut out paper dolls properly."</p> - -<p>"Oh?" she questioned, and looked thoughtful. "I guess that's the hard -part, isn't it, Daddy—to know how much you ought to know?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, that's the hard part," I agreed fervently.</p> - -<p>"But it's all right," she reassured me. "One of the Stupids showed me -how to cut them out, so now that little girl likes me. She just took -charge of me then and told the other kids they should like me, too. So -of course they did because she's leader. I think I did right, after -all."</p> - -<p>"Oh, no!" I breathed to myself. She knew how to manipulate other people -already. Then my thought whirled around another concept. It was the -first time she had verbally classified normal people as "Stupids," but -it had slipped out so easily that I knew she'd been thinking to herself -for a long time. Then my whirling thoughts hit a third implication.</p> - -<p>"Yes, maybe it was the right thing," I conceded. "Where the little girl -was concerned, that is. But don't forget you were being observed by a -grownup teacher in the room. And she's smarter."</p> - -<p>"You mean she's older, Daddy," Star corrected me.</p> - -<p>"Smarter, too, maybe. You can't tell."</p> - -<p>"I can," she sighed. "She's just older."</p> - -<p>I think it was growing fear which made me defensive.</p> - -<p>"That's good," I said emphatically. "That's very good. You can learn a -lot from her then. It takes an awful lot of study to learn how to be -stupid."</p> - -<p>My own troublesome business life came to mind and I thought to myself, -"I sometimes think I'll never learn it."</p> - -<p>I swear I didn't say it aloud. But Star patted me consolingly and -answered as though I'd spoken.</p> - -<p>"That's because you're only fairly bright, Daddy. You're a Tween, and -that's harder than being really bright."</p> - -<p>"A Tween? What's a Tween?" I was bumbling to hide my confusion.</p> - -<p>"That's what I mean, Daddy," she answered in exasperation. "You don't -grasp quickly. An In Between, of course. The other people are Stupids, -I'm a Bright, and you're a Tween. I made those names up when I was -little."</p> - -<p>Good God! Besides being unmeasurably bright, she's a telepath!</p> - -<p>All right, Pete, there you are. On reasoning processes you might stand -a chance—but not telepathy!</p> - -<p>"Star," I said on impulse, "can you read people's minds?"</p> - -<p>"Of course, Daddy," she answered, as if I'd asked a foolishly obvious -question.</p> - -<p>"Can you teach me?"</p> - -<p>She looked at me impishly. "You're already learning it a little. But -you're so slow! You see, you didn't even know you were learning."</p> - -<p>Her voice took on a wistful note, a tone of loneliness.</p> - -<p>"I wish—" she said, and paused.</p> - -<p>"What do you wish?"</p> - -<p>"You see what I mean, Daddy? You try, but you're so slow."</p> - -<p>All the same, I knew. I knew she was already longing for a companion -whose mind could match her own.</p> - -<p>A father is prepared to lose his daughter eventually, Star, but not so -soon.</p> - -<p>Not so soon....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="ph4"><i>June again</i></p> - -<p>Some new people have moved in next door. Star says their name is -Howell. Bill and Ruth Howell. They have a son, Robert, who looks maybe -a year older than Star, who will soon be five.</p> - -<p>Star seems to have taken up with Robert right away. He is a -well-mannered boy and good company for Star.</p> - -<p>I'm worried, though. Star had something to do with their moving in next -door. I'm convinced of that. I'm also convinced, even from the little -I've seen of him, that Robert is a Bright and a telepath.</p> - -<p>Could it be that, failing to find quick accord with my mind, Star has -reached out and out until she made contact with a telepath companion?</p> - -<p>No, that's too fantastic. Even if it were so, how could she shape -circumstances so she could bring Robert to live next door to her? The -Howells came from another city. It just happened that the people who -lived next door moved out and the house was put up for sale.</p> - -<p>Just happened? How frequently do we find such abnormal Brights? What -are the chances of one <i>just happening</i> to move in next door to another?</p> - -<p>I know he is a telepath because, as I write this, I sense him reading -it.</p> - -<p>I even catch his thought: "Oh, pardon me, Mr. Holmes. I didn't intend -to peek. Really I didn't."</p> - -<p>Did I imagine that? Or is Star building a skill in my mind?</p> - -<p>"It isn't nice to look into another person's mind unless you're asked, -Robert," I thought back, rather severely. It was purely an experiment.</p> - -<p>"I know it, Mr. Holmes. I apologize." He is in his bed in his house, -across the driveway.</p> - -<p>"No, Daddy, he really didn't mean to." And Star is in her bed in this -house.</p> - -<p>It is impossible to write how I feel. There comes a time when words are -empty husks. But mixed with my expectant dread is a thread of gratitude -for having been taught to be even stumblingly telepathic.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="ph4"><i>Saturday—August 11th</i></p> - -<p>I've thought of a gag. I haven't seen Jim Pietre in a month of Sundays, -not since he was awarded that research fellowship with the museum. It -will be good to pull him out of his hole, and this little piece of -advertising junk Star dropped should be just the thing.</p> - -<p>Strange about the gadget. The Awful Secret Talisman of the Mystic -Junior G-Men, no doubt. Still, it doesn't have anything about crackles -and pops printed on it. Merely an odd-looking coin, not even true -round, bronze by the look of it. Crude. They must stamp them out by the -million without ever changing a die.</p> - -<p>But it is just the thing to send to Jim to get a rise out of him. He -could always appreciate a good practical joke. Wonder how he'd feel to -know he was only a Tween.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="ph4"><i>Monday—August 13th</i></p> - -<p>Sitting here at my study desk, I've been staring into space for an -hour. I don't know what to think.</p> - -<p>It was about noon today when Jim Pietre called the office on the phone.</p> - -<p>"Now, look, Pete," he started out. "What kind of gag are you pulling?"</p> - -<p>I chortled to myself and pulled the dead pan on him.</p> - -<p>"What do you mean, boy?" I asked back into the phone. "Gag? What kind -of gag? What are you talking about?"</p> - -<p>"A coin. A coin." He was impatient. "You remember you sent me a coin in -the mail?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, yeah, that," I pretended to remember. "Look, you're an important -research analyst on metals—too damned important to keep in touch -with your old friends—so I thought I'd make a bid for your attention -thataway."</p> - -<p>"All right, give," he said in a low voice. "Where did you get it?" He -was serious.</p> - -<p>"Come off it, Jim. Are you practicing to be a stuffed shirt? I admit -it's a rib. Something Star dropped the other day. A manufacturer's idea -of kid advertising, no doubt."</p> - -<p>"I'm in dead earnest, Peter," he answered. "It's no advertising gadget."</p> - -<p>"It means something?"</p> - -<p>In college, Jim could take a practical joke and make six out of it.</p> - -<p>"I don't know what it means. Where did Star get it?" He was being -pretty crisp about it.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I don't know," I said. I was getting a little fed up; the joke -wasn't going according to plan. "Never asked her. You know how kids -clutter up the place with their things. No father even tries to keep -track of all the junk that can be bought with three box tops and a -dime."</p> - -<p>"This was not bought with three box tops and a dime," he spaced his -words evenly. "This was not bought anywhere, for any price. In fact, if -you want to be logical about it, this coin doesn't exist at all."</p> - -<p>I laughed out loud. This was more like the old Jim.</p> - -<p>"Okay, so you've turned the gag back on me. Let's call it quits. How -about coming over to supper some night soon?"</p> - -<p>"I'm coming over, my friend." He remained grim as he said it. "And -I'm coming over tonight. As soon as you will be home. It's no gag I'm -pulling. Can you get that through your stubborn head? You say you got -it from Star, and of course I believe you. But it's no toy. It's the -real thing." Then, as if in profound puzzlement, "Only it isn't."</p> - -<p>A feeling of dread was settling upon me. Once you cried "Uncle" to -Jim, he always let up.</p> - -<p>"Suppose you tell me what you mean," I answered soberly.</p> - -<p>"That's more like it, Pete. Here's what we know about the coin so far. -It is apparently pre-Egyptian. It's hand-cast. It's made out of one of -the lost bronzes. We fix it at around four thousand years old."</p> - -<p>"That ought to be easy to solve," I argued. "Probably some coin -collector is screaming all over the place for it. No doubt lost it and -Star found it. Must be lots of old coins like that in museums and in -private collections."</p> - -<p>I was rationalizing more for my own benefit than for Jim. He would -know all those things without my mentioning them. He waited until I had -finished.</p> - -<p>"Step two," he went on. "We've got one of the top coin men in the world -here at the museum. As soon as I saw what the metal was, I took it to -him. Now hold onto your chair, Pete. He says there is no coin like it -in the world, either museum or private collection."</p> - -<p>"You museum boys get beside yourselves at times. Come down to Earth. -Sometime, somewhere, some collector picked it up in some exotic place -and kept it quiet. I don't have to tell you how some collectors -are—sitting in a dark room, gloating over some worthless bauble, not -telling a soul about it—"</p> - -<p>"All right, wise guy," he interrupted. "Step three. That coin is at -least four thousand years old <i>and it's also brand-new</i>! Let's hear you -explain that away."</p> - -<p>"New?" I asked weakly. "I don't get it."</p> - -<p>"Old coins show wear. The edges get rounded with handling. The surface -oxidizes. The molecular structure changes, crystalizes. This coin shows -no wear, no oxidation, no molecular change. This coin might have been -struck yesterday. <i>Where did Star get it?</i>"</p> - -<p>"Hold it a minute," I pleaded.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I began to think back. Saturday morning. Star and Robert had been -playing a game. Come to think of it, that was a peculiar game. Mighty -peculiar.</p> - -<p>Star would run into the house and stand in front of the encyclopedia -shelf. I could hear Robert counting loudly at the base tree outside in -the back yard. She would stare at the encyclopedia for a moment.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus4.jpg" width="250" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Once I heard her mumble: "That's a good place."</p> - -<p>Or maybe she merely thought it and I caught the thought. I'm doing that -quite a bit of late.</p> - -<p>Then she would run outside again. A moment later, Robert would run in -and stand in front of the same shelf. Then he also would run outside -again. There would be silence for several minutes. The silence would -rupture with a burst of laughing and shouting. Soon, Star would come in -again.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus3.jpg" width="453" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"How does he find me?" I heard her think once. "I can't reason it, and -I can't ESP it out of him."</p> - -<p>It was during one of their silences when Ruth called over to me.</p> - -<p>"Hey, Pete! Do you know where the kids are? Time for their milk and -cookies."</p> - -<p>The Howells are awfully good to Star, bless 'em. I got up and went over -to the window.</p> - -<p>"I don't know, Ruth," I called back. "They were in and out only a few -minutes ago."</p> - -<p>"Well, I'm not worried," she said. She came through the kitchen door -and stood on the back steps. "They know better than to cross the street -by themselves. They're too little for that. So I guess they're over at -Marily's. When they come back, tell 'em to come and get it."</p> - -<p>"Okay, Ruth," I answered.</p> - -<p>She opened the screen door again and went back into her kitchen. I left -the window and returned to my work.</p> - -<p>A little later, both the kids came running into the house. I managed to -capture them long enough to tell them about the cookies and milk.</p> - -<p>"Beat you there!" Robert shouted to Star.</p> - -<p>There was a scuffle and they ran out the front door. I noticed then -that Star had dropped the coin and I picked it up and sent it to Jim -Pietre.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Hello, Jim," I said into the phone. "Are you still there?"</p> - -<p>"Yep, still waiting for an answer," he said.</p> - -<p>"Jim, I think you'd better come over to the house right away. I'll -leave my office now and meet you there. Can you get away?"</p> - -<p>"Can I get away?" he exclaimed. "Boss says to trace this coin down and -do nothing else. See you in fifteen minutes."</p> - -<p>He hung up. Thoughtfully, I replaced the receiver and went out to my -car. I was pulling into my block from one arterial when I saw Jim's car -pulling in from a block away. I stopped at the curb and waited for him. -I didn't see the kids anywhere out front.</p> - -<p>Jim climbed out of his car, and I never saw such an eager look of -anticipation on a man's face before. I didn't realize I was showing my -dread, but when he saw my face, he became serious.</p> - -<p>"What is it, Pete? What on Earth is it?" he almost whispered.</p> - -<p>"I don't know. At least I'm not sure. Come on inside the house."</p> - -<p>We let ourselves in the front, and I took Jim into the study. It has a -large window opening on the back garden, and the scene was very clear.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="248" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>At first it was an innocent scene—so innocent and peaceful. Just three -little children in the back yard playing hide and seek. Marily, a -neighbor's child, was stepping up to the base tree.</p> - -<p>"Now look, you kids," she was saying. "You hide where I can find you or -I won't play."</p> - -<p>"But where can we go, Marily?" Robert was arguing loudly. Like all -little boys, he seems to carry on his conversations at the top of his -lungs. "There's the garage, and there's those trees and bushes. You -have to look everywhere, Marily."</p> - -<p>"And there's going to be other buildings and trees and bushes there -afterward," Star called out with glee. "You gotta look behind them, -too."</p> - -<p>"Yeah!" Robert took up the teasing refrain. "And there's been lots and -lots of buildings and trees there before—especially trees. You gotta -look behind them, too."</p> - -<p>Marily tossed her head petulantly. "I don't know what you're talking -about, and I don't care. Just hide where I can find you, that's all."</p> - -<p>She hid her face at the tree and started counting. If I had been alone, -I would have been sure my eyesight had failed me, or that I was the -victim of hallucinations. But Jim was standing there and saw it, too.</p> - -<p>Marily started counting, yet the other two didn't run away. Star -reached out and took Robert's hand and they merely stood there. For an -instant, they seemed to shimmer and—<i>they disappeared without moving a -step!</i></p> - -<p>Marily finished her counting and ran around to the few possible hiding -places in the yard. When she couldn't find them, she started to blubber -and pushed through the hedge to Ruth's back door.</p> - -<p>"They runned away from me again," she whined through the screen at Ruth.</p> - -<p>Jim and I stood staring out the window. I glanced at him. His face was -set and pale, but probably no worse than my own.</p> - -<p>We saw the instant shimmer again. Star, and then immediately Robert, -materialized from the air and ran up to the tree, shouting, "Safe! -Safe!"</p> - -<p>Marily let out a bawl and ran home to her mother.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I called Star and Robert into the house. They came, still holding -hands, a little shamefaced, a little defiant.</p> - -<p>How to begin? What in hell could I say?</p> - -<p>"It's not exactly fair," I told them. "Marily can't follow you there." -I was shooting in the dark, but I had at least a glimmering to go by.</p> - -<p>Star turned pale enough for the freckles on her little nose to stand -out under her tan. Robert blushed and turned to her fiercely.</p> - -<p>"I told you so, Star. I <i>told</i> you so! I said it wasn't sporting," he -accused. He turned to me. "Marily can't play good hide-and-seek anyway. -She's only a Stupid."</p> - -<p>"Let's forget that for a minute, Robert." I turned to her. "Star, just -where do you go?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, it's nothing, Daddy." She spoke defensively, belittling the whole -thing. "We just go a little ways when we play with her. She ought to be -able to find us a little ways."</p> - -<p>"That's evading the issue. <i>Where</i> do you go—and <i>how</i> do you go?"</p> - -<p>Jim stepped forward and showed her the bronze coin I'd sent him.</p> - -<p>"You see, Star," he said quietly. "We've found this."</p> - -<p>"I shouldn't have to tell you my game." She was almost in tears. -"You're both just Tweens. You couldn't understand." Then, struck with -contrition, she turned to me. "Daddy, I've tried and tried to ESP you. -Truly I did. But you don't ESP worth anything." She slipped her hand -through Robert's arm. "Robert does it very nicely," she said primly, as -though she were complimenting him on using his fork the right way. "He -must be better than I am, because I don't know how he finds me."</p> - -<p>"I'll tell you how I do it, Star," Robert exclaimed eagerly. It was -as if he were trying to make amends now that grownups had caught on. -"You don't use any imagination. I never saw anybody with so little -imagination!"</p> - -<p>"I do, too, have imagination," she countered loudly. "I thought up the -game, didn't I? I told you how to do it, didn't I?"</p> - -<p>"Yeah, yeah!" he shouted back. "But you always have to look at a book -to ESP what's in it, so you leave an ESP smudge. I just go to the -encyclopedia and ESP where you did—and I go to that place—and there -you are. It's simple."</p> - -<p>Star's mouth dropped open in consternation.</p> - -<p>"I never thought of that," she said.</p> - -<p>Jim and I stood there, letting the meaning of what they were saying -penetrate slowly into our incredulous minds.</p> - -<p>"Anyway," Robert was saying, "you haven't any imagination." He sank -down cross-legged on the floor. "You can't teleport yourself to any -place that's never been."</p> - -<p>She went over to squat down beside him. "I can, too! What about the -Moon People? They haven't been yet."</p> - -<p>He looked at her with childish disgust.</p> - -<p>"Oh, Star, they have so been. You know that." He spread his hands out -as though he were a baseball referee. "That time hasn't been yet for -your daddy here, for instance, but it's already been for somebody -like—well, say, like those things from Arcturus."</p> - -<p>"Well, neither have you teleported yourself to some place that never -was," Star was arguing back. "So there."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Waving Jim to one chair, I sank down shakily into another. At least the -arms of the chair felt solid beneath my hands.</p> - -<p>"Now, look, kids," I interrupted their evasive tactics. "Let's start at -the beginning. I gather you've figured a way to travel to places in the -past or future."</p> - -<p>"Well, of course. Daddy." Star shrugged the statement aside -nonchalantly. "We just TP ourselves by ESP anywhere we want to go. It -doesn't do any harm."</p> - -<p>And these were the children who were too little to cross the street!</p> - -<p>I have been through times of shock before. This was the same—somehow, -the mind becomes too stunned to react beyond a point. One simply plows -through the rest, the best he can, almost normally.</p> - -<p>"Okay, okay," I said, and was surprised to hear the same tone I would -have used over an argument about the biggest piece of cake. "I don't -know whether it's harmful or not. I'll have to think it over. Right -now, just tell me how you do it."</p> - -<p>"It would be so much easier if I could ESP it to you," Star said -doubtfully.</p> - -<p>"Well, pretend I'm a Stupid and tell me in words."</p> - -<p>"You remember the Moebius Strip?" she asked very slowly and carefully, -starting with the first and most basic point in almost the way one -explains to an ordinary child.</p> - -<p>Yes, I remembered it. And I remembered how long ago it was that she -had discovered it. Over a year, and her busy, brilliant mind had been -exploring its possibilities ever since. And I thought she had forgotten -it!</p> - -<p>"That's where you join the ends of a strip of paper together with a -half twist to make one surface," she went on, as though jogging my -undependable, slow memory.</p> - -<p>"Yes," I answered. "We all know the Moebius Strip."</p> - -<p>Jim looked startled. I had never told him about the incident.</p> - -<p>"Next you take a sheet and you give it a half twist and join the edge -to itself all over to make a funny kind of holder."</p> - -<p>"Klein's Bottle," Jim supplied.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus5.jpg" width="524" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>She looked at him in relief.</p> - -<p>"Oh, you know about that," she said. "That makes it easier. Well, then, -the next step. You take a cube"—Her face clouded with doubt again, and -she explained, "You can't do this with your hands. You've gotta ESP it -done, because it's an imaginary cube anyway."</p> - -<p>She looked at us questioningly. I nodded for her to continue.</p> - -<p>"And you ESP the twisted cube all together the same way you did Klein's -Bottle. Now if you do that big enough, all around you, so you're sort -of half twisted in the middle, then you can TP yourself anywhere you -want to go. And that's all there is to it," she finished hurriedly.</p> - -<p>"Where have you gone?" I asked her quietly.</p> - -<p>The technique of doing it would take some thinking. I knew enough -physics to know that was the way the dimensions were built up. The -line, the plane, the cube—Euclidian physics. The Moebius Strip, the -Klein Bottle, the unnamed twisted cube—Einsteinian physics. Yes, it -was possible.</p> - -<p>"Oh, we've gone all over," Star answered vaguely. "The Romans and the -Egyptians—places like that."</p> - -<p>"You picked up a coin in one of those places?" Jim asked.</p> - -<p>He was doing a good job of keeping his voice casual. I knew the -excitement he must be feeling, the vision of the wealth of knowledge -which must be opening before his eyes.</p> - -<p>"I found it, Daddy," Star answered Jim's question. She was about to -cry. "I found it in the dirt, and Robert was about to catch me. I -forgot I had it when I went away from there so fast." She looked at me -pleadingly. "I didn't mean to steal it, Daddy. I never stole anything, -anywhere. And I was going to take it back and put it right where I -found it. Truly I was. But I dropped it again, and then I ESP'd that -you had it. I guess I was awful naughty."</p> - -<p>I brushed my hand across my forehead.</p> - -<p>"Let's skip the question of good and bad for a minute," I said, my head -throbbing. "What about this business of going into the future?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Robert spoke up, his eyes shining. "There isn't any future, Mr. Holmes. -That's what I keep telling Star, but she can't reason—she's just a -girl. It'll all pass. Everything is always past."</p> - -<p>Jim stared at him, as though thunderstruck, and opened his mouth in -protest. I shook my head warningly.</p> - -<p>"Suppose you tell me about that, Robert," I said.</p> - -<p>"Well," he began on a rising note, frowning, "it's kinda hard to -explain at that. Star's a Bright and even she doesn't understand it -exactly. But, you see, I'm older." He looked at her with superiority. -Then, with a change of mood, he defended her. "But when she gets as old -as I am, she'll understand it okay."</p> - -<p>He patted her shoulder consolingly. He was all of six years old.</p> - -<p>"You go back into the past. Back past Egypt and Atlantis. That's -recent," he said with scorn. "And on back, and on back, and all of a -sudden it's future."</p> - -<p>"That isn't the way <i>I</i> did it." Star tossed her head contrarily. "I -<i>reasoned</i> the future. I reasoned what would come next, and I went -there, and then I reasoned again. And on and on. I can, too, reason."</p> - -<p>"It's the same future," Robert told us dogmatically. "It has to be, -because that's all that ever happened." He turned to Star. "The reason -you never could find any Garden of Eden is because there wasn't any -Adam and Eve." Then to me, "And man didn't come from the apes, either. -Man started himself."</p> - -<p>Jim almost strangled as he leaned forward, his face red and his eyes -bulging.</p> - -<p>"How?" he choked out.</p> - -<p>Robert sent his gaze into the far distance.</p> - -<p>"Well," he said, "a long time from now—you know what I mean, as a -Stupid would think of Time-From-Now—men got into a mess. Quite a mess—</p> - -<p>"There were some people in that time who figured out the same kind of -traveling Star and I do. So when the world was about to blow up and -form a new star, a lot of them teleported themselves back to when the -Earth was young, and they started over again."</p> - -<p>Jim just stared at Robert, unable to speak.</p> - -<p>"I don't get it," I said.</p> - -<p>"Not everybody could do it," Robert explained patiently. "Just a -few Brights. But they enclosed a lot of other people and took them -along." He became a little vague at this point. "I guess later on the -Brights lost interest in the Stupids or something. Anyway, the Stupids -sank down lower and lower and became like animals." He held his nose -briefly. "They smelled worse. They worshiped the Brights as gods."</p> - -<p>Robert looked at me and shrugged.</p> - -<p>"I don't know all that happened. I've only been there a few times. -It's not very interesting. Anyway," he finished, "the Brights finally -disappeared."</p> - -<p>"I'd sure like to know where they went," Star sighed. It was a lonely -sigh. I helplessly took her hand and gave my attention back to Robert.</p> - -<p>"I still don't quite understand," I said.</p> - -<p>He grabbed up some scissors, a piece of cellophane tape, a sheet of -paper. Quickly he cut a strip, gave it a half twist, and taped it -together. Then rapidly, on the Moebius Strip, he wrote: "Cave men. This -men, That men, Mu Men, Atlantis Men, Egyptians, History Men, Us Now -Men, Atom Men, Moon Men, Planet Men, Star Men—"</p> - -<p>"There," he said. "That's all the room there is on the strip. I've -written clear around it. Right after Star Men comes Cave Men. It's all -one thing, joined together. It isn't future, and it isn't past, either. -It just plain <i>is</i>. Don't you see?"</p> - -<p>"I'd sure like to know how the Brights got off the strip," Star said -wistfully.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I had all I could take.</p> - -<p>"Look, kids," I pleaded. "I don't know whether this game's dangerous or -not. Maybe you'll wind up in a lion's mouth, or something."</p> - -<p>"Oh, no, Daddy!" Star shrilled in glee. "We'd just TP ourselves right -out of there."</p> - -<p>"But fast," Robert chortled in agreement.</p> - -<p>"Anyway, I've got to think it over," I said stubbornly. "I'm only a -Tween, but, Star, I'm your daddy and you're just a little girl, so you -have to mind me."</p> - -<p>"I always mind you," she said virtuously.</p> - -<p>"You do, eh?" I asked. "What about going off the block? Visiting the -Greeks and Star Men isn't my idea of staying on the block."</p> - -<p>"But you didn't say that, Daddy. You said not to cross the street. And -I never did cross the street. Did we, Robert? Did we?"</p> - -<p>"We didn't cross a single street, Mr. Holmes," he insisted.</p> - -<p>"My God!" said Jim, and he went on trying to light a cigarette.</p> - -<p>"All right, all <i>right</i>! No more leaving this time, then," I warned.</p> - -<p>"Wait!" It was a cry of anguish from Jim. He broke the cigarette in -sudden frustration and threw it in an ashtray. "The museum, Pete," -he pleaded. "Think what it would mean. Pictures, specimens, voice -recordings. And not only from historical places, but Star men, Pete. -<i>Star men!</i> Wouldn't it be all right for them to go places they know -are safe? I wouldn't ask them to take risks, but—"</p> - -<p>"No, Jim," I said regretfully. "It's your museum, but this is my -daughter."</p> - -<p>"Sure," he breathed. "I guess I'd feel the same way."</p> - -<p>I turned back to the youngsters.</p> - -<p>"Star, Robert," I said to them both, "I want your promise that you -will not leave this time, until I let you. Now I couldn't punish you if -you broke your promise, because I couldn't follow you. But I want your -promise on your word of honor you won't leave this time."</p> - -<p>"We promise." They each held up a hand, as if swearing in court. "No -more leaving this time."</p> - -<p>I let the kids go back outside into the yard. Jim and I looked at one -another for a long while, breathing hard enough to have been running.</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry," I said at last.</p> - -<p>"I know," he answered. "So am I. But I don't blame you. I simply -forgot, for a moment, how much a daughter could mean to a man." He was -silent, and then added, with the humorous quirk back at the corner -of his lips, "I can just see myself reporting this interview to the -museum."</p> - -<p>"You don't intend to, do you?" I asked, alarmed.</p> - -<p>"And get myself canned or laughed at? I'm not that stupid."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="ph4"><i>September 10th</i></p> - -<p>Am I actually getting it? I had a flash for an instant. I was -concentrating on Caesar's triumphant march into Rome. For the briefest -of instants, <i>there it was</i>! I was standing on the roadway, watching. -But, most peculiar, it was still a picture; I was the only thing -moving. And then, just as abruptly, I lost it.</p> - -<p>Was it only a hallucination? Something brought about by intense -concentration and wishful thinking?</p> - -<p>Now let's see. You visualize a cube. Then you ESP it a half twist and -seal the edges together—No, when it has the half twist there's only -one surface. You seal that surface all around you—</p> - -<p>Sometimes I think I have it. Sometimes I despair. If only I were a -Bright instead of a Tween!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="ph4"><i>October 23rd</i></p> - -<p>I don't see how I managed to make so much work of teleporting myself. -It's the simplest thing in the world, no effort at all. Why, a child -could do it! That sounds like a gag, considering that it was two -children who showed me how, but I mean the whole thing is easy enough -for even almost any kid to learn. The problem is understanding the -steps ... no, not understanding, because I can't say I do, but working -out the steps in the process.</p> - -<p>There's no danger, either. No wonder it felt like a still picture at -first, for the speeding up is incredible. That bullet I got in the way -of, for instance—I was able to go and meet it and walk along beside it -while it traveled through the air. To the men who were dueling, I must -have been no more than an instantaneous streak of movement.</p> - -<p>That's why the youngsters laughed at the suggestion of danger. Even if -they materialized right in the middle of an atomic blast, it is so slow -by comparison that they could TP right out again before they got hurt. -The blast can't travel any faster than the speed of light, you see, -while there is no limit to the speed of thought.</p> - -<p>But I still haven't given them permission to teleport themselves out -of this time yet. I want to go over the ages pretty carefully before I -do; I'm not taking any chances, even though I don't see how they could -wind up in any trouble. Still, Robert claimed the Brights went from the -future back into the beginning, which means they could be going through -time and overtake any of the three of us, and one of them might be -hostile—</p> - -<p>I feel like a louse, not taking Jim's cameras, specimen boxes and -recorders along. But there's time for that. Plenty of time, once I get -the feel of history without being encumbered by all that stuff to carry.</p> - -<p>Speaking of time and history—what a rotten job historians have done! -For instance:</p> - -<p>George III of England was neither crazy nor a moron. He wasn't a -particularly nice guy, I'll admit—I don't see how anybody could be -with the amount of flattery I saw—but he was the victim of empire -expansion and the ferment of the Industrial Revolution. So were all the -other European rulers at the time, though. He certainly did better than -Louis of France. At least George kept his job and his head.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, John Wilkes Booth was definitely psychotic. He could -have been cured if they'd had our methods of psychotherapy then, and -Lincoln, of course, wouldn't have been assassinated. It was almost a -compulsion to prevent the killing, but I didn't dare.... God knows what -effect it would have had on history. Strange thing, Lincoln looked -less surprised than anybody else when he was shot, sad, yes, and hurt -emotionally at least as much as physically, yet you'd swear he was -expecting it.</p> - -<p>Cheops was <i>plenty</i> worried about the number of slaves who died while -the pyramid was being built. They weren't easy to replace. He gave them -four hours off in the hottest part of the day, and I don't think any -slaves in the country were fed or housed better.</p> - -<p>I never found any signs of Atlantis or Lemuria, just tales of lands -far off—a few hundred miles was a big distance then, remember—that -had sunk beneath the sea. With the Ancients' exaggerated notion of -geography, a big island was the same as a continent. Some islands did -disappear, naturally, drowning a few thousand villagers and herdsmen. -That must have been the source of the legends.</p> - -<p>Columbus was a stubborn cuss. He was thinking of turning back when the -sailors mutinied, which made him obstinate. I still can't see what was -eating Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great—it would have been a big -help to know the languages, because their big campaigns started off -more like vacation or exploration trips. Helen of Troy was attractive -enough, considering, but she was just an excuse to fight.</p> - -<p>There were several attempts to federate the Indian tribes before the -white man and the Five Nations, but going after wives and slaves ruined -the movement every time. I think they could have kept America if they -had been united and, it goes without saying, knew the deal they were -going to get. At any rate, they might have traded for weapons and tools -and industrialized the country somewhat in the way the Japanese did. -I admit that's only speculation, but this would certainly have been a -different world if they'd succeeded!</p> - -<p>One day I'll put it all in a comprehensive <i>and corrected</i> history of -mankind, <i>complete with photographs</i>, and then let the "experts" argue -themselves into nervous breakdowns over it.</p> - -<p>I didn't get very far into the future. Nowhere near the Star Men, or, -for that matter, back to the beginning that Robert told us about. It's -a matter of reasoning out the path and I'm not a Bright. I'll take -Robert and Star along as guides, when and if.</p> - -<p>What I did see of the future wasn't so good, but it wasn't so bad, -either. The real mess obviously doesn't happen until the Star Men -show up very far ahead in history, if Robert is right, and I think he -is. I can't guess what the trouble will be, but it must be something -ghastly if they won't be able to get out of it even with the enormously -advanced technology they'll have. Or maybe that's the answer. It's -almost true of us now.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="ph4"><i>November, Friday 14th</i></p> - -<p>The Howells have gone for a weekend trip and left Robert in my care. -He's a good kid and no trouble. He and Star have kept their promise, -but they're up to something else. I can sense it and that feeling of -expectant dread is back with me.</p> - -<p>They've been secretive of late. I catch them concentrating intensely, -sighing with vexation, and then breaking out into unexplained giggles.</p> - -<p>"Remember your promise," I warned Star while Robert was in the room.</p> - -<p>"We're not going to break it, Daddy," she answered seriously.</p> - -<p>They both chorused, "No more leaving this time."</p> - -<p>But they both broke into giggles!</p> - -<p>I'll have to watch them. What good it would do, I don't know. They're -up to something, yet how can I stop them? Shut them in their rooms? Tan -their hides?</p> - -<p>I wonder what someone else would recommend.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="ph4"><i>Sunday night</i></p> - -<p>The kids are gone!</p> - -<p>I've been waiting an hour for them. I know they wouldn't stay away so -long if they could get back. There must be something they've run into. -Bright as they are, they're still only children.</p> - -<p>I have some clues. They promised me they wouldn't go out of this -present time. With all her mischievousness, Star has never broken a -promise to me—as her typically feminine mind interprets it, that is. -So I know they are in our own time.</p> - -<p>On several occasions Star has brought it up, wondering where the Old -Ones, the Bright Ones, have gone—how they got off the Moebius Strip.</p> - -<p>That's the clue. How can I get off the Moebius Strip and remain in the -present?</p> - -<p>A cube won't do it. There we have a mere journey along the single -surface. We have a line, we have a plane, we have a cube. And then -we have a supercube—a tesseract. That is the logical progression of -mathematics. The Bright Ones must have pursued that line of reasoning.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus6.jpg" width="517" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Now I've got to do the same, but without the advantage of being a -Bright. Still, it's not the same as expecting a normally intelligent -person to produce a work of genius. (Genius by our standards, of -course, which I suppose Robert and Star would classify as Tween.) -Anyone with a pretty fair I.Q. and proper education and training can -follow a genius's logic, provided the steps are there and especially -if it has a practical application. What he can't do is initiate and -complete that structure of logic. I don't have to, either—that was -done for me by a pair of Brights and I "simply" have to apply their -findings.</p> - -<p>Now let's see if I can.</p> - -<p>By reducing the present-past-future of man to a Moebius Strip, we have -sheared away a dimension. It is a two-dimensional strip, because it has -no depth. (Naturally, it would be impossible for a Moebius Strip to -have depth; it has only one surface.)</p> - -<p>Reducing it to two dimensions makes it possible to travel anywhere -you want to go on it via the third dimension. And you're in the third -dimension when you enfold yourself in the twisted cube.</p> - -<p>Let's go a step higher, into one more dimension. In short, the -tesseract. To get the equivalent of a Moebius Strip with depth, -you have to go into the fourth dimension, which, it seems to me, -is the only way the Bright Ones could get off this closed cycle of -past-present-future-past. They must have reasoned that one more notch -up the dimensions was all they needed. It is equally obvious that Star -and Robert have followed the same line of reasoning; they wouldn't -break their promise not to leave the present—and getting off the -Moebius Strip into <i>another</i> present would, in a sort of devious way, -be keeping that promise.</p> - -<p>I'm putting all this speculation down for you, Jim Pietre, knowing -first that you're a Tween like myself, and second that you're sure to -have been doing a lot of thinking about what happened after I sent you -the coin Star dropped. I'm hoping you can explain all this to Bill and -Ruth Howell—or enough, in any case, to let them understand the truth -about their son Robert and my daughter Star, and where the children may -have gone.</p> - -<p>I'm leaving these notes where you will find them, when you and Bill and -Ruth search the house and grounds for us. If you read this, it will be -because I have failed in my search for the youngsters. There is also -the possibility that I'll find them and that we won't be able to get -back onto this Moebius Strip. Perhaps time has a different value there, -or doesn't exist at all. What it's like off the Strip is anybody's -guess.</p> - -<p>Bill and Ruth: I wish I might give you hope that I will bring Robert -back to you. But all I can do is wish. It may be no more than wishing -upon a star—my Star.</p> - -<p>I'm trying now to take six cubes and fold them in on one another so -that every angle is a right angle.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus7.jpg" width="409" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>It's not easy, but I can do it, using every bit of concentration I've -learned from the kids. All right, I have the six cubes and I have every -angle a right angle.</p> - -<p>Now if, in the folding, I ESP the tesseract a half twist around myself -and—</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Star, Bright, by Mark Clifton - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STAR, BRIGHT *** - -***** This file should be named 50935-h.htm or 50935-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/9/3/50935/ - -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 print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Star, Bright - -Author: Mark Clifton - -Release Date: January 15, 2016 [EBook #50935] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STAR, BRIGHT *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - Star, Bright - - By MARK CLIFTON - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Galaxy Science Fiction July 1952. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - There is no past or future, the children said; - it all just IS! They had every reason to know! - - -_Friday--June 11th_ - -At three years of age, a little girl shouldn't have enough functioning -intelligence to cut out and paste together a Moebius Strip. - -Or, if she did it by accident, she surely shouldn't have enough -reasoning ability to pick up one of her crayons and carefully trace the -continuous line to prove it has only one surface. - -And if by some strange coincidence she did, and it was still just an -accident, how can I account for this generally active daughter of -mine--and I do mean _active_--sitting for a solid half hour with her -chin cupped in her hand, staring off into space, thinking with such -concentration that it was almost painful to watch? - -I was in my reading chair, going over some work. Star was sitting on -the floor, in the circle of my light, with her blunt-nosed scissors and -her scraps of paper. - -Her long silence made me glance down at her as she was taping the two -ends of the paper together. At that point I thought it was an accident -that she had given a half twist to the paper strip before joining the -circle. I smiled to myself as she picked it up in her chubby fingers. - -"A little child forms the enigma of the ages," I mused. - -But instead of throwing the strip aside, or tearing it apart as any -other child would do, she carefully turned it over and around--studying -it from all sides. - -Then she picked up one of her crayons and began tracing the line. She -did it as though she were substantiating a conclusion already reached! - -It was a bitter confirmation for me. I had been refusing to face it -for a long time, but I could ignore it no longer. - -Star was a High I.Q. - -For half an hour I watched her while she sat on the floor, one knee -bent under her, her chin in her hand, unmoving. Her eyes were wide with -wonderment, looking into the potentialities of the phenomenon she had -found. - -It has been a tough struggle, taking care of her since my wife's death. -Now this added problem. If only she could have been normally dull, like -other children! - - * * * * * - -I made up my mind while I watched her. If a child is afflicted, then -let's face it, she's afflicted. A parent must teach her to compensate. -At least she could be prepared for the bitterness I'd known. She could -learn early to take it in stride. - -I could use the measurements available, get the degree of intelligence, -and in that way grasp the extent of my problem. A twenty point jump -in I.Q. creates an entirely different set of problems. The 140 child -lives in a world nothing at all like that of the 100 child, and a world -which the 120 child can but vaguely sense. The problems which vex and -challenge the 160 pass over the 140 as a bird flies over a field mouse. -I must not make the mistake of posing the problems of one if she is the -other. I must know. In the meantime, I must treat it casually. - -"That's called the Moebius Strip, Star," I interrupted her thoughts. - -She came out of her reverie with a start. I didn't like the quick way -her eyes sought mine--almost furtively, as though she had been caught -doing something bad. - -"Somebody already make it?" she disappointedly asked. - -She knew what she had discovered! Something inside me spilled over with -grief, and something else caught at me with dread. - -I kept my voice casual. "A man by the name of Moebius. A long time ago. -I'll tell you about him sometime when you're older." - -"Now. While I'm little," she commanded with a frown. "And don't tell. -Read me." - -What did she mean by that? Oh, she must be simply paraphrasing me at -those times in the past when I've wanted the facts and not garbled -generalizations. It could only be that! - -"Okay, young lady." I lifted an eyebrow and glared at her in mock -ferociousness, which usually sent her into gales of laughter. "I'll -slow you down!" - -She remained completely sober. - -I turned to the subject in a physics book. It's not in simple language, -by any means, and I read it as rapidly as I could speak. My thought -was to make her admit she didn't understand it, so I could translate it -into basic language. - -Her reaction? - -"You read too slow. Daddy," she complained. She was childishly -irritable about it. "You say a word. Then I think a long time. Then you -say another word." - -I knew what she meant. I remember, when I was a child, my thoughts used -to dart in and out among the slowly droning words of any adult. Whole -patterns of universes would appear and disappear in those brief moments. - -"So?" I asked. - -"So," she mocked me impishly. "You teach me to read. Then I can think -quick as I want." - -"Quickly," I corrected in a weak voice. "The word is 'quickly,' an -adverb." - -She looked at me impatiently, as if she saw through this allegedly -adult device to show up a younger's ignorance. I felt like the dope! - - * * * * * - - -_September 1st_ - -A great deal has happened the past few months. I have tried, a number -of times to bring the conversation around to discuss Star's affliction -with her. But she is amazingly adroit at heading me off, as though she -already knows what I am trying to say and isn't concerned. Perhaps, in -spite of her brilliance, she's too young to realize the hostility of -the world toward intelligence. - -Some of the visiting neighbors have been amused to see her sit on the -floor with an encyclopedia as big as she is, rapidly turning the pages. -Only Star and I know she is reading the pages as rapidly as she can -turn them. I've brushed away the neighbors' comments with: "She likes -to look at the pictures." - -They talk to her in baby talk--and she answers in baby talk! How does -she know enough to do that? - -I have spent the months making an exhaustive record of her I.Q. -measurements, aptitude speeds, reaction, tables, all the recommended -paraphernalia for measuring something we know nothing about. - -The tables are screwy, or Star is beyond all measurement. - -All right, Pete Holmes, how are you going to pose those problems and -combat them for her, when you have no conception of what they might -be? But I must have a conception. I've got to be able to comprehend at -least a little of what she may face. I simply couldn't stand by and do -nothing. - -Easy, though. Nobody knows better than you the futility of trying to -compete out of your class. How many students, workers and employers -have tried to compete with you? You've watched them and pitied them, -comparing them to a donkey trying to run the Kentucky Derby. - -How does it feel to be in the place of the donkey, for a change? You've -always blamed them for not realizing they shouldn't try to compete. - -But this is my own daughter! I _must_ understand. - - * * * * * - -_October 1st_ - -Star is now four years old, and according to State Law her mind has now -developed enough so that she may attend nursery school. Again I tried -to prepare her for what she might face. She listened through about -two sentences and changed the subject. I can't tell about Star. Does -she already know the answers? Or does she not even realize there is a -problem? - -I was in a sweat of worry when I took her to her first day at school -yesterday morning. Last night I was sitting in my chair, reading. After -she had put her dolls away, she went to the bookshelves and brought -down a book of fairy tales. - -That is another peculiarity of hers. She has an unmeasurably quick -perception, yet she has all the normal reactions of a little girl. She -likes her dolls, fairy stories, playing grown up. No, she's not a -monster. - -She brought the book of fairy tales over to me. - -"Daddy, read me a story," she asked quite seriously. - -I looked at her in amazement. "Since when? Go read your own story." - -She lifted an eyebrow in imitation of my own characteristic gesture. - -"Children of my age do not read," she instructed pedantically. "I can't -learn to read until I am in the first grade. It is very hard to do and -I am much too little." - -She had found the answer to her affliction--conformity! She had already -learned to conceal her intelligence. So many of us break our hearts -before we learn that. - -But you don't have to conceal it from me, Star! Not from me! - -Oh, well, I could go along with the gag, if that was what she wanted. - -"Did you like nursery school?" I asked the standard question. - -"Oh, yes," she exclaimed enthusiastically. "It was fun." - -"And what did you learn today, little girl?" - -She played it straight back to me. "Not much. I tried to cut out paper -dolls, but the scissors kept slipping." Was there an elfin deviltry -back of her sober expression? - -"Now, look," I cautioned, "don't overdo it. That's as bad as being -too quick. The idea is that everybody has to be just about standard -average. That's the only thing we will tolerate. It is expected that a -little girl of four should know how to cut out paper dolls properly." - -"Oh?" she questioned, and looked thoughtful. "I guess that's the hard -part, isn't it, Daddy--to know how much you ought to know?" - -"Yes, that's the hard part," I agreed fervently. - -"But it's all right," she reassured me. "One of the Stupids showed me -how to cut them out, so now that little girl likes me. She just took -charge of me then and told the other kids they should like me, too. So -of course they did because she's leader. I think I did right, after -all." - -"Oh, no!" I breathed to myself. She knew how to manipulate other people -already. Then my thought whirled around another concept. It was the -first time she had verbally classified normal people as "Stupids," but -it had slipped out so easily that I knew she'd been thinking to herself -for a long time. Then my whirling thoughts hit a third implication. - -"Yes, maybe it was the right thing," I conceded. "Where the little girl -was concerned, that is. But don't forget you were being observed by a -grownup teacher in the room. And she's smarter." - -"You mean she's older, Daddy," Star corrected me. - -"Smarter, too, maybe. You can't tell." - -"I can," she sighed. "She's just older." - -I think it was growing fear which made me defensive. - -"That's good," I said emphatically. "That's very good. You can learn a -lot from her then. It takes an awful lot of study to learn how to be -stupid." - -My own troublesome business life came to mind and I thought to myself, -"I sometimes think I'll never learn it." - -I swear I didn't say it aloud. But Star patted me consolingly and -answered as though I'd spoken. - -"That's because you're only fairly bright, Daddy. You're a Tween, and -that's harder than being really bright." - -"A Tween? What's a Tween?" I was bumbling to hide my confusion. - -"That's what I mean, Daddy," she answered in exasperation. "You don't -grasp quickly. An In Between, of course. The other people are Stupids, -I'm a Bright, and you're a Tween. I made those names up when I was -little." - -Good God! Besides being unmeasurably bright, she's a telepath! - -All right, Pete, there you are. On reasoning processes you might stand -a chance--but not telepathy! - -"Star," I said on impulse, "can you read people's minds?" - -"Of course, Daddy," she answered, as if I'd asked a foolishly obvious -question. - -"Can you teach me?" - -She looked at me impishly. "You're already learning it a little. But -you're so slow! You see, you didn't even know you were learning." - -Her voice took on a wistful note, a tone of loneliness. - -"I wish--" she said, and paused. - -"What do you wish?" - -"You see what I mean, Daddy? You try, but you're so slow." - -All the same, I knew. I knew she was already longing for a companion -whose mind could match her own. - -A father is prepared to lose his daughter eventually, Star, but not so -soon. - -Not so soon.... - - * * * * * - -_June again_ - -Some new people have moved in next door. Star says their name is -Howell. Bill and Ruth Howell. They have a son, Robert, who looks maybe -a year older than Star, who will soon be five. - -Star seems to have taken up with Robert right away. He is a -well-mannered boy and good company for Star. - -I'm worried, though. Star had something to do with their moving in next -door. I'm convinced of that. I'm also convinced, even from the little -I've seen of him, that Robert is a Bright and a telepath. - -Could it be that, failing to find quick accord with my mind, Star has -reached out and out until she made contact with a telepath companion? - -No, that's too fantastic. Even if it were so, how could she shape -circumstances so she could bring Robert to live next door to her? The -Howells came from another city. It just happened that the people who -lived next door moved out and the house was put up for sale. - -Just happened? How frequently do we find such abnormal Brights? What -are the chances of one _just happening_ to move in next door to another? - -I know he is a telepath because, as I write this, I sense him reading -it. - -I even catch his thought: "Oh, pardon me, Mr. Holmes. I didn't intend -to peek. Really I didn't." - -Did I imagine that? Or is Star building a skill in my mind? - -"It isn't nice to look into another person's mind unless you're asked, -Robert," I thought back, rather severely. It was purely an experiment. - -"I know it, Mr. Holmes. I apologize." He is in his bed in his house, -across the driveway. - -"No, Daddy, he really didn't mean to." And Star is in her bed in this -house. - -It is impossible to write how I feel. There comes a time when words are -empty husks. But mixed with my expectant dread is a thread of gratitude -for having been taught to be even stumblingly telepathic. - - * * * * * - -_Saturday--August 11th_ - -I've thought of a gag. I haven't seen Jim Pietre in a month of Sundays, -not since he was awarded that research fellowship with the museum. It -will be good to pull him out of his hole, and this little piece of -advertising junk Star dropped should be just the thing. - -Strange about the gadget. The Awful Secret Talisman of the Mystic -Junior G-Men, no doubt. Still, it doesn't have anything about crackles -and pops printed on it. Merely an odd-looking coin, not even true -round, bronze by the look of it. Crude. They must stamp them out by the -million without ever changing a die. - -But it is just the thing to send to Jim to get a rise out of him. He -could always appreciate a good practical joke. Wonder how he'd feel to -know he was only a Tween. - - * * * * * - -_Monday--August 13th_ - -Sitting here at my study desk, I've been staring into space for an -hour. I don't know what to think. - -It was about noon today when Jim Pietre called the office on the phone. - -"Now, look, Pete," he started out. "What kind of gag are you pulling?" - -I chortled to myself and pulled the dead pan on him. - -"What do you mean, boy?" I asked back into the phone. "Gag? What kind -of gag? What are you talking about?" - -"A coin. A coin." He was impatient. "You remember you sent me a coin in -the mail?" - -"Oh, yeah, that," I pretended to remember. "Look, you're an important -research analyst on metals--too damned important to keep in touch -with your old friends--so I thought I'd make a bid for your attention -thataway." - -"All right, give," he said in a low voice. "Where did you get it?" He -was serious. - -"Come off it, Jim. Are you practicing to be a stuffed shirt? I admit -it's a rib. Something Star dropped the other day. A manufacturer's idea -of kid advertising, no doubt." - -"I'm in dead earnest, Peter," he answered. "It's no advertising gadget." - -"It means something?" - -In college, Jim could take a practical joke and make six out of it. - -"I don't know what it means. Where did Star get it?" He was being -pretty crisp about it. - -"Oh, I don't know," I said. I was getting a little fed up; the joke -wasn't going according to plan. "Never asked her. You know how kids -clutter up the place with their things. No father even tries to keep -track of all the junk that can be bought with three box tops and a -dime." - -"This was not bought with three box tops and a dime," he spaced his -words evenly. "This was not bought anywhere, for any price. In fact, if -you want to be logical about it, this coin doesn't exist at all." - -I laughed out loud. This was more like the old Jim. - -"Okay, so you've turned the gag back on me. Let's call it quits. How -about coming over to supper some night soon?" - -"I'm coming over, my friend." He remained grim as he said it. "And -I'm coming over tonight. As soon as you will be home. It's no gag I'm -pulling. Can you get that through your stubborn head? You say you got -it from Star, and of course I believe you. But it's no toy. It's the -real thing." Then, as if in profound puzzlement, "Only it isn't." - -A feeling of dread was settling upon me. Once you cried "Uncle" to -Jim, he always let up. - -"Suppose you tell me what you mean," I answered soberly. - -"That's more like it, Pete. Here's what we know about the coin so far. -It is apparently pre-Egyptian. It's hand-cast. It's made out of one of -the lost bronzes. We fix it at around four thousand years old." - -"That ought to be easy to solve," I argued. "Probably some coin -collector is screaming all over the place for it. No doubt lost it and -Star found it. Must be lots of old coins like that in museums and in -private collections." - -I was rationalizing more for my own benefit than for Jim. He would -know all those things without my mentioning them. He waited until I had -finished. - -"Step two," he went on. "We've got one of the top coin men in the world -here at the museum. As soon as I saw what the metal was, I took it to -him. Now hold onto your chair, Pete. He says there is no coin like it -in the world, either museum or private collection." - -"You museum boys get beside yourselves at times. Come down to Earth. -Sometime, somewhere, some collector picked it up in some exotic place -and kept it quiet. I don't have to tell you how some collectors -are--sitting in a dark room, gloating over some worthless bauble, not -telling a soul about it--" - -"All right, wise guy," he interrupted. "Step three. That coin is at -least four thousand years old _and it's also brand-new_! Let's hear you -explain that away." - -"New?" I asked weakly. "I don't get it." - -"Old coins show wear. The edges get rounded with handling. The surface -oxidizes. The molecular structure changes, crystalizes. This coin shows -no wear, no oxidation, no molecular change. This coin might have been -struck yesterday. _Where did Star get it?_" - -"Hold it a minute," I pleaded. - - * * * * * - -I began to think back. Saturday morning. Star and Robert had been -playing a game. Come to think of it, that was a peculiar game. Mighty -peculiar. - -Star would run into the house and stand in front of the encyclopedia -shelf. I could hear Robert counting loudly at the base tree outside in -the back yard. She would stare at the encyclopedia for a moment. - -Once I heard her mumble: "That's a good place." - -Or maybe she merely thought it and I caught the thought. I'm doing that -quite a bit of late. - -Then she would run outside again. A moment later, Robert would run in -and stand in front of the same shelf. Then he also would run outside -again. There would be silence for several minutes. The silence would -rupture with a burst of laughing and shouting. Soon, Star would come in -again. - -"How does he find me?" I heard her think once. "I can't reason it, and -I can't ESP it out of him." - -It was during one of their silences when Ruth called over to me. - -"Hey, Pete! Do you know where the kids are? Time for their milk and -cookies." - -The Howells are awfully good to Star, bless 'em. I got up and went over -to the window. - -"I don't know, Ruth," I called back. "They were in and out only a few -minutes ago." - -"Well, I'm not worried," she said. She came through the kitchen door -and stood on the back steps. "They know better than to cross the street -by themselves. They're too little for that. So I guess they're over at -Marily's. When they come back, tell 'em to come and get it." - -"Okay, Ruth," I answered. - -She opened the screen door again and went back into her kitchen. I left -the window and returned to my work. - -A little later, both the kids came running into the house. I managed to -capture them long enough to tell them about the cookies and milk. - -"Beat you there!" Robert shouted to Star. - -There was a scuffle and they ran out the front door. I noticed then -that Star had dropped the coin and I picked it up and sent it to Jim -Pietre. - - * * * * * - -"Hello, Jim," I said into the phone. "Are you still there?" - -"Yep, still waiting for an answer," he said. - -"Jim, I think you'd better come over to the house right away. I'll -leave my office now and meet you there. Can you get away?" - -"Can I get away?" he exclaimed. "Boss says to trace this coin down and -do nothing else. See you in fifteen minutes." - -He hung up. Thoughtfully, I replaced the receiver and went out to my -car. I was pulling into my block from one arterial when I saw Jim's car -pulling in from a block away. I stopped at the curb and waited for him. -I didn't see the kids anywhere out front. - -Jim climbed out of his car, and I never saw such an eager look of -anticipation on a man's face before. I didn't realize I was showing my -dread, but when he saw my face, he became serious. - -"What is it, Pete? What on Earth is it?" he almost whispered. - -"I don't know. At least I'm not sure. Come on inside the house." - -We let ourselves in the front, and I took Jim into the study. It has a -large window opening on the back garden, and the scene was very clear. - -At first it was an innocent scene--so innocent and peaceful. Just three -little children in the back yard playing hide and seek. Marily, a -neighbor's child, was stepping up to the base tree. - -"Now look, you kids," she was saying. "You hide where I can find you or -I won't play." - -"But where can we go, Marily?" Robert was arguing loudly. Like all -little boys, he seems to carry on his conversations at the top of his -lungs. "There's the garage, and there's those trees and bushes. You -have to look everywhere, Marily." - -"And there's going to be other buildings and trees and bushes there -afterward," Star called out with glee. "You gotta look behind them, -too." - -"Yeah!" Robert took up the teasing refrain. "And there's been lots and -lots of buildings and trees there before--especially trees. You gotta -look behind them, too." - -Marily tossed her head petulantly. "I don't know what you're talking -about, and I don't care. Just hide where I can find you, that's all." - -She hid her face at the tree and started counting. If I had been alone, -I would have been sure my eyesight had failed me, or that I was the -victim of hallucinations. But Jim was standing there and saw it, too. - -Marily started counting, yet the other two didn't run away. Star -reached out and took Robert's hand and they merely stood there. For an -instant, they seemed to shimmer and--_they disappeared without moving a -step!_ - -Marily finished her counting and ran around to the few possible hiding -places in the yard. When she couldn't find them, she started to blubber -and pushed through the hedge to Ruth's back door. - -"They runned away from me again," she whined through the screen at Ruth. - -Jim and I stood staring out the window. I glanced at him. His face was -set and pale, but probably no worse than my own. - -We saw the instant shimmer again. Star, and then immediately Robert, -materialized from the air and ran up to the tree, shouting, "Safe! -Safe!" - -Marily let out a bawl and ran home to her mother. - - * * * * * - -I called Star and Robert into the house. They came, still holding -hands, a little shamefaced, a little defiant. - -How to begin? What in hell could I say? - -"It's not exactly fair," I told them. "Marily can't follow you there." -I was shooting in the dark, but I had at least a glimmering to go by. - -Star turned pale enough for the freckles on her little nose to stand -out under her tan. Robert blushed and turned to her fiercely. - -"I told you so, Star. I _told_ you so! I said it wasn't sporting," he -accused. He turned to me. "Marily can't play good hide-and-seek anyway. -She's only a Stupid." - -"Let's forget that for a minute, Robert." I turned to her. "Star, just -where do you go?" - -"Oh, it's nothing, Daddy." She spoke defensively, belittling the whole -thing. "We just go a little ways when we play with her. She ought to be -able to find us a little ways." - -"That's evading the issue. _Where_ do you go--and _how_ do you go?" - -Jim stepped forward and showed her the bronze coin I'd sent him. - -"You see, Star," he said quietly. "We've found this." - -"I shouldn't have to tell you my game." She was almost in tears. -"You're both just Tweens. You couldn't understand." Then, struck with -contrition, she turned to me. "Daddy, I've tried and tried to ESP you. -Truly I did. But you don't ESP worth anything." She slipped her hand -through Robert's arm. "Robert does it very nicely," she said primly, as -though she were complimenting him on using his fork the right way. "He -must be better than I am, because I don't know how he finds me." - -"I'll tell you how I do it, Star," Robert exclaimed eagerly. It was -as if he were trying to make amends now that grownups had caught on. -"You don't use any imagination. I never saw anybody with so little -imagination!" - -"I do, too, have imagination," she countered loudly. "I thought up the -game, didn't I? I told you how to do it, didn't I?" - -"Yeah, yeah!" he shouted back. "But you always have to look at a book -to ESP what's in it, so you leave an ESP smudge. I just go to the -encyclopedia and ESP where you did--and I go to that place--and there -you are. It's simple." - -Star's mouth dropped open in consternation. - -"I never thought of that," she said. - -Jim and I stood there, letting the meaning of what they were saying -penetrate slowly into our incredulous minds. - -"Anyway," Robert was saying, "you haven't any imagination." He sank -down cross-legged on the floor. "You can't teleport yourself to any -place that's never been." - -She went over to squat down beside him. "I can, too! What about the -Moon People? They haven't been yet." - -He looked at her with childish disgust. - -"Oh, Star, they have so been. You know that." He spread his hands out -as though he were a baseball referee. "That time hasn't been yet for -your daddy here, for instance, but it's already been for somebody -like--well, say, like those things from Arcturus." - -"Well, neither have you teleported yourself to some place that never -was," Star was arguing back. "So there." - - * * * * * - -Waving Jim to one chair, I sank down shakily into another. At least the -arms of the chair felt solid beneath my hands. - -"Now, look, kids," I interrupted their evasive tactics. "Let's start at -the beginning. I gather you've figured a way to travel to places in the -past or future." - -"Well, of course. Daddy." Star shrugged the statement aside -nonchalantly. "We just TP ourselves by ESP anywhere we want to go. It -doesn't do any harm." - -And these were the children who were too little to cross the street! - -I have been through times of shock before. This was the same--somehow, -the mind becomes too stunned to react beyond a point. One simply plows -through the rest, the best he can, almost normally. - -"Okay, okay," I said, and was surprised to hear the same tone I would -have used over an argument about the biggest piece of cake. "I don't -know whether it's harmful or not. I'll have to think it over. Right -now, just tell me how you do it." - -"It would be so much easier if I could ESP it to you," Star said -doubtfully. - -"Well, pretend I'm a Stupid and tell me in words." - -"You remember the Moebius Strip?" she asked very slowly and carefully, -starting with the first and most basic point in almost the way one -explains to an ordinary child. - -Yes, I remembered it. And I remembered how long ago it was that she -had discovered it. Over a year, and her busy, brilliant mind had been -exploring its possibilities ever since. And I thought she had forgotten -it! - -"That's where you join the ends of a strip of paper together with a -half twist to make one surface," she went on, as though jogging my -undependable, slow memory. - -"Yes," I answered. "We all know the Moebius Strip." - -Jim looked startled. I had never told him about the incident. - -"Next you take a sheet and you give it a half twist and join the edge -to itself all over to make a funny kind of holder." - -"Klein's Bottle," Jim supplied. - -She looked at him in relief. - -"Oh, you know about that," she said. "That makes it easier. Well, then, -the next step. You take a cube"--Her face clouded with doubt again, and -she explained, "You can't do this with your hands. You've gotta ESP it -done, because it's an imaginary cube anyway." - -She looked at us questioningly. I nodded for her to continue. - -"And you ESP the twisted cube all together the same way you did Klein's -Bottle. Now if you do that big enough, all around you, so you're sort -of half twisted in the middle, then you can TP yourself anywhere you -want to go. And that's all there is to it," she finished hurriedly. - -"Where have you gone?" I asked her quietly. - -The technique of doing it would take some thinking. I knew enough -physics to know that was the way the dimensions were built up. The -line, the plane, the cube--Euclidian physics. The Moebius Strip, the -Klein Bottle, the unnamed twisted cube--Einsteinian physics. Yes, it -was possible. - -"Oh, we've gone all over," Star answered vaguely. "The Romans and the -Egyptians--places like that." - -"You picked up a coin in one of those places?" Jim asked. - -He was doing a good job of keeping his voice casual. I knew the -excitement he must be feeling, the vision of the wealth of knowledge -which must be opening before his eyes. - -"I found it, Daddy," Star answered Jim's question. She was about to -cry. "I found it in the dirt, and Robert was about to catch me. I -forgot I had it when I went away from there so fast." She looked at me -pleadingly. "I didn't mean to steal it, Daddy. I never stole anything, -anywhere. And I was going to take it back and put it right where I -found it. Truly I was. But I dropped it again, and then I ESP'd that -you had it. I guess I was awful naughty." - -I brushed my hand across my forehead. - -"Let's skip the question of good and bad for a minute," I said, my head -throbbing. "What about this business of going into the future?" - - * * * * * - -Robert spoke up, his eyes shining. "There isn't any future, Mr. Holmes. -That's what I keep telling Star, but she can't reason--she's just a -girl. It'll all pass. Everything is always past." - -Jim stared at him, as though thunderstruck, and opened his mouth in -protest. I shook my head warningly. - -"Suppose you tell me about that, Robert," I said. - -"Well," he began on a rising note, frowning, "it's kinda hard to -explain at that. Star's a Bright and even she doesn't understand it -exactly. But, you see, I'm older." He looked at her with superiority. -Then, with a change of mood, he defended her. "But when she gets as old -as I am, she'll understand it okay." - -He patted her shoulder consolingly. He was all of six years old. - -"You go back into the past. Back past Egypt and Atlantis. That's -recent," he said with scorn. "And on back, and on back, and all of a -sudden it's future." - -"That isn't the way _I_ did it." Star tossed her head contrarily. "I -_reasoned_ the future. I reasoned what would come next, and I went -there, and then I reasoned again. And on and on. I can, too, reason." - -"It's the same future," Robert told us dogmatically. "It has to be, -because that's all that ever happened." He turned to Star. "The reason -you never could find any Garden of Eden is because there wasn't any -Adam and Eve." Then to me, "And man didn't come from the apes, either. -Man started himself." - -Jim almost strangled as he leaned forward, his face red and his eyes -bulging. - -"How?" he choked out. - -Robert sent his gaze into the far distance. - -"Well," he said, "a long time from now--you know what I mean, as a -Stupid would think of Time-From-Now--men got into a mess. Quite a mess-- - -"There were some people in that time who figured out the same kind of -traveling Star and I do. So when the world was about to blow up and -form a new star, a lot of them teleported themselves back to when the -Earth was young, and they started over again." - -Jim just stared at Robert, unable to speak. - -"I don't get it," I said. - -"Not everybody could do it," Robert explained patiently. "Just a -few Brights. But they enclosed a lot of other people and took them -along." He became a little vague at this point. "I guess later on the -Brights lost interest in the Stupids or something. Anyway, the Stupids -sank down lower and lower and became like animals." He held his nose -briefly. "They smelled worse. They worshiped the Brights as gods." - -Robert looked at me and shrugged. - -"I don't know all that happened. I've only been there a few times. -It's not very interesting. Anyway," he finished, "the Brights finally -disappeared." - -"I'd sure like to know where they went," Star sighed. It was a lonely -sigh. I helplessly took her hand and gave my attention back to Robert. - -"I still don't quite understand," I said. - -He grabbed up some scissors, a piece of cellophane tape, a sheet of -paper. Quickly he cut a strip, gave it a half twist, and taped it -together. Then rapidly, on the Moebius Strip, he wrote: "Cave men. This -men, That men, Mu Men, Atlantis Men, Egyptians, History Men, Us Now -Men, Atom Men, Moon Men, Planet Men, Star Men--" - -"There," he said. "That's all the room there is on the strip. I've -written clear around it. Right after Star Men comes Cave Men. It's all -one thing, joined together. It isn't future, and it isn't past, either. -It just plain _is_. Don't you see?" - -"I'd sure like to know how the Brights got off the strip," Star said -wistfully. - - * * * * * - -I had all I could take. - -"Look, kids," I pleaded. "I don't know whether this game's dangerous or -not. Maybe you'll wind up in a lion's mouth, or something." - -"Oh, no, Daddy!" Star shrilled in glee. "We'd just TP ourselves right -out of there." - -"But fast," Robert chortled in agreement. - -"Anyway, I've got to think it over," I said stubbornly. "I'm only a -Tween, but, Star, I'm your daddy and you're just a little girl, so you -have to mind me." - -"I always mind you," she said virtuously. - -"You do, eh?" I asked. "What about going off the block? Visiting the -Greeks and Star Men isn't my idea of staying on the block." - -"But you didn't say that, Daddy. You said not to cross the street. And -I never did cross the street. Did we, Robert? Did we?" - -"We didn't cross a single street, Mr. Holmes," he insisted. - -"My God!" said Jim, and he went on trying to light a cigarette. - -"All right, all _right_! No more leaving this time, then," I warned. - -"Wait!" It was a cry of anguish from Jim. He broke the cigarette in -sudden frustration and threw it in an ashtray. "The museum, Pete," -he pleaded. "Think what it would mean. Pictures, specimens, voice -recordings. And not only from historical places, but Star men, Pete. -_Star men!_ Wouldn't it be all right for them to go places they know -are safe? I wouldn't ask them to take risks, but--" - -"No, Jim," I said regretfully. "It's your museum, but this is my -daughter." - -"Sure," he breathed. "I guess I'd feel the same way." - -I turned back to the youngsters. - -"Star, Robert," I said to them both, "I want your promise that you -will not leave this time, until I let you. Now I couldn't punish you if -you broke your promise, because I couldn't follow you. But I want your -promise on your word of honor you won't leave this time." - -"We promise." They each held up a hand, as if swearing in court. "No -more leaving this time." - -I let the kids go back outside into the yard. Jim and I looked at one -another for a long while, breathing hard enough to have been running. - -"I'm sorry," I said at last. - -"I know," he answered. "So am I. But I don't blame you. I simply -forgot, for a moment, how much a daughter could mean to a man." He was -silent, and then added, with the humorous quirk back at the corner -of his lips, "I can just see myself reporting this interview to the -museum." - -"You don't intend to, do you?" I asked, alarmed. - -"And get myself canned or laughed at? I'm not that stupid." - - * * * * * - -_September 10th_ - -Am I actually getting it? I had a flash for an instant. I was -concentrating on Caesar's triumphant march into Rome. For the briefest -of instants, _there it was_! I was standing on the roadway, watching. -But, most peculiar, it was still a picture; I was the only thing -moving. And then, just as abruptly, I lost it. - -Was it only a hallucination? Something brought about by intense -concentration and wishful thinking? - -Now let's see. You visualize a cube. Then you ESP it a half twist and -seal the edges together--No, when it has the half twist there's only -one surface. You seal that surface all around you-- - -Sometimes I think I have it. Sometimes I despair. If only I were a -Bright instead of a Tween! - - * * * * * - -_October 23rd_ - -I don't see how I managed to make so much work of teleporting myself. -It's the simplest thing in the world, no effort at all. Why, a child -could do it! That sounds like a gag, considering that it was two -children who showed me how, but I mean the whole thing is easy enough -for even almost any kid to learn. The problem is understanding the -steps ... no, not understanding, because I can't say I do, but working -out the steps in the process. - -There's no danger, either. No wonder it felt like a still picture at -first, for the speeding up is incredible. That bullet I got in the way -of, for instance--I was able to go and meet it and walk along beside it -while it traveled through the air. To the men who were dueling, I must -have been no more than an instantaneous streak of movement. - -That's why the youngsters laughed at the suggestion of danger. Even if -they materialized right in the middle of an atomic blast, it is so slow -by comparison that they could TP right out again before they got hurt. -The blast can't travel any faster than the speed of light, you see, -while there is no limit to the speed of thought. - -But I still haven't given them permission to teleport themselves out -of this time yet. I want to go over the ages pretty carefully before I -do; I'm not taking any chances, even though I don't see how they could -wind up in any trouble. Still, Robert claimed the Brights went from the -future back into the beginning, which means they could be going through -time and overtake any of the three of us, and one of them might be -hostile-- - -I feel like a louse, not taking Jim's cameras, specimen boxes and -recorders along. But there's time for that. Plenty of time, once I get -the feel of history without being encumbered by all that stuff to carry. - -Speaking of time and history--what a rotten job historians have done! -For instance: - -George III of England was neither crazy nor a moron. He wasn't a -particularly nice guy, I'll admit--I don't see how anybody could be -with the amount of flattery I saw--but he was the victim of empire -expansion and the ferment of the Industrial Revolution. So were all the -other European rulers at the time, though. He certainly did better than -Louis of France. At least George kept his job and his head. - -On the other hand, John Wilkes Booth was definitely psychotic. He could -have been cured if they'd had our methods of psychotherapy then, and -Lincoln, of course, wouldn't have been assassinated. It was almost a -compulsion to prevent the killing, but I didn't dare.... God knows what -effect it would have had on history. Strange thing, Lincoln looked -less surprised than anybody else when he was shot, sad, yes, and hurt -emotionally at least as much as physically, yet you'd swear he was -expecting it. - -Cheops was _plenty_ worried about the number of slaves who died while -the pyramid was being built. They weren't easy to replace. He gave them -four hours off in the hottest part of the day, and I don't think any -slaves in the country were fed or housed better. - -I never found any signs of Atlantis or Lemuria, just tales of lands -far off--a few hundred miles was a big distance then, remember--that -had sunk beneath the sea. With the Ancients' exaggerated notion of -geography, a big island was the same as a continent. Some islands did -disappear, naturally, drowning a few thousand villagers and herdsmen. -That must have been the source of the legends. - -Columbus was a stubborn cuss. He was thinking of turning back when the -sailors mutinied, which made him obstinate. I still can't see what was -eating Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great--it would have been a big -help to know the languages, because their big campaigns started off -more like vacation or exploration trips. Helen of Troy was attractive -enough, considering, but she was just an excuse to fight. - -There were several attempts to federate the Indian tribes before the -white man and the Five Nations, but going after wives and slaves ruined -the movement every time. I think they could have kept America if they -had been united and, it goes without saying, knew the deal they were -going to get. At any rate, they might have traded for weapons and tools -and industrialized the country somewhat in the way the Japanese did. -I admit that's only speculation, but this would certainly have been a -different world if they'd succeeded! - -One day I'll put it all in a comprehensive _and corrected_ history of -mankind, _complete with photographs_, and then let the "experts" argue -themselves into nervous breakdowns over it. - -I didn't get very far into the future. Nowhere near the Star Men, or, -for that matter, back to the beginning that Robert told us about. It's -a matter of reasoning out the path and I'm not a Bright. I'll take -Robert and Star along as guides, when and if. - -What I did see of the future wasn't so good, but it wasn't so bad, -either. The real mess obviously doesn't happen until the Star Men -show up very far ahead in history, if Robert is right, and I think he -is. I can't guess what the trouble will be, but it must be something -ghastly if they won't be able to get out of it even with the enormously -advanced technology they'll have. Or maybe that's the answer. It's -almost true of us now. - - * * * * * - -_November, Friday 14th_ - -The Howells have gone for a weekend trip and left Robert in my care. -He's a good kid and no trouble. He and Star have kept their promise, -but they're up to something else. I can sense it and that feeling of -expectant dread is back with me. - -They've been secretive of late. I catch them concentrating intensely, -sighing with vexation, and then breaking out into unexplained giggles. - -"Remember your promise," I warned Star while Robert was in the room. - -"We're not going to break it, Daddy," she answered seriously. - -They both chorused, "No more leaving this time." - -But they both broke into giggles! - -I'll have to watch them. What good it would do, I don't know. They're -up to something, yet how can I stop them? Shut them in their rooms? Tan -their hides? - -I wonder what someone else would recommend. - - * * * * * - -_Sunday night_ - -The kids are gone! - -I've been waiting an hour for them. I know they wouldn't stay away so -long if they could get back. There must be something they've run into. -Bright as they are, they're still only children. - -I have some clues. They promised me they wouldn't go out of this -present time. With all her mischievousness, Star has never broken a -promise to me--as her typically feminine mind interprets it, that is. -So I know they are in our own time. - -On several occasions Star has brought it up, wondering where the Old -Ones, the Bright Ones, have gone--how they got off the Moebius Strip. - -That's the clue. How can I get off the Moebius Strip and remain in the -present? - -A cube won't do it. There we have a mere journey along the single -surface. We have a line, we have a plane, we have a cube. And then -we have a supercube--a tesseract. That is the logical progression of -mathematics. The Bright Ones must have pursued that line of reasoning. - -Now I've got to do the same, but without the advantage of being a -Bright. Still, it's not the same as expecting a normally intelligent -person to produce a work of genius. (Genius by our standards, of -course, which I suppose Robert and Star would classify as Tween.) -Anyone with a pretty fair I.Q. and proper education and training can -follow a genius's logic, provided the steps are there and especially -if it has a practical application. What he can't do is initiate and -complete that structure of logic. I don't have to, either--that was -done for me by a pair of Brights and I "simply" have to apply their -findings. - -Now let's see if I can. - -By reducing the present-past-future of man to a Moebius Strip, we have -sheared away a dimension. It is a two-dimensional strip, because it has -no depth. (Naturally, it would be impossible for a Moebius Strip to -have depth; it has only one surface.) - -Reducing it to two dimensions makes it possible to travel anywhere -you want to go on it via the third dimension. And you're in the third -dimension when you enfold yourself in the twisted cube. - -Let's go a step higher, into one more dimension. In short, the -tesseract. To get the equivalent of a Moebius Strip with depth, -you have to go into the fourth dimension, which, it seems to me, -is the only way the Bright Ones could get off this closed cycle of -past-present-future-past. They must have reasoned that one more notch -up the dimensions was all they needed. It is equally obvious that Star -and Robert have followed the same line of reasoning; they wouldn't -break their promise not to leave the present--and getting off the -Moebius Strip into _another_ present would, in a sort of devious way, -be keeping that promise. - -I'm putting all this speculation down for you, Jim Pietre, knowing -first that you're a Tween like myself, and second that you're sure to -have been doing a lot of thinking about what happened after I sent you -the coin Star dropped. I'm hoping you can explain all this to Bill and -Ruth Howell--or enough, in any case, to let them understand the truth -about their son Robert and my daughter Star, and where the children may -have gone. - -I'm leaving these notes where you will find them, when you and Bill and -Ruth search the house and grounds for us. If you read this, it will be -because I have failed in my search for the youngsters. There is also -the possibility that I'll find them and that we won't be able to get -back onto this Moebius Strip. Perhaps time has a different value there, -or doesn't exist at all. What it's like off the Strip is anybody's -guess. - -Bill and Ruth: I wish I might give you hope that I will bring Robert -back to you. But all I can do is wish. It may be no more than wishing -upon a star--my Star. - -I'm trying now to take six cubes and fold them in on one another so -that every angle is a right angle. - -It's not easy, but I can do it, using every bit of concentration I've -learned from the kids. All right, I have the six cubes and I have every -angle a right angle. - -Now if, in the folding, I ESP the tesseract a half twist around myself -and-- - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Star, Bright, by Mark Clifton - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STAR, BRIGHT *** - -***** This file should be named 50935.txt or 50935.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/9/3/50935/ - -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 print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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