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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..4af93cf --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #51461 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51461) diff --git a/old/51461-h.zip b/old/51461-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1577b52..0000000 --- a/old/51461-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/51461-h/51461-h.htm b/old/51461-h/51461-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 938386a..0000000 --- a/old/51461-h/51461-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1140 +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 A Pail of Air, by Fritz Leiber. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1, .ph2, .ph3, .ph4 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph1 { font-size: xx-large; margin: .67em auto; } -.ph2 { font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; } -.ph3 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } -.ph4 { font-size: medium; margin: 1.12em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Pail of Air, by Fritz Leiber - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: A Pail of Air - -Author: Fritz Leiber - -Release Date: March 15, 2016 [EBook #51461] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PAIL OF AIR *** - - - - -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="397" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>A Pail of Air</h1> - -<p>By FRITZ LEIBER</p> - -<p>Illustrated by ED ALEXANDER</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Galaxy Science Fiction December 1951.<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>The dark star passed, bringing with it<br /> -eternal night and turning history into<br /> -incredible myth in a single generation!</i></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Pa had sent me out to get an extra pail of air. I'd just about scooped -it full and most of the warmth had leaked from my fingers when I saw -the thing.</p> - -<p>You know, at first I thought it was a young lady. Yes, a beautiful -young lady's face all glowing in the dark and looking at me from the -fifth floor of the opposite apartment, which hereabouts is the floor -just above the white blanket of frozen air. I'd never seen a live young -lady before, except in the old magazines—Sis is just a kid and Ma is -pretty sick and miserable—and it gave me such a start that I dropped -the pail. Who wouldn't, knowing everyone on Earth was dead except Pa -and Ma and Sis and you?</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="578" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Even at that, I don't suppose I should have been surprised. We all -see things now and then. Ma has some pretty bad ones, to judge from -the way she bugs her eyes at nothing and just screams and screams and -huddles back against the blankets hanging around the Nest. Pa says it -is natural we should react like that sometimes.</p> - -<p>When I'd recovered the pail and could look again at the opposite -apartment, I got an idea of what Ma might be feeling at those times, -for I saw it wasn't a young lady at all but simply a light—a tiny -light that moved stealthily from window to window, just as if one -of the cruel little stars had come down out of the airless sky to -investigate why the Earth had gone away from the Sun, and maybe to hunt -down something to torment or terrify, now that the Earth didn't have -the Sun's protection.</p> - -<p>I tell you, the thought of it gave me the creeps. I just stood there -shaking, and almost froze my feet and did frost my helmet so solid on -the inside that I couldn't have seen the light even if it had come out -of one of the windows to get me. Then I had the wit to go back inside.</p> - -<p>Pretty soon I was feeling my familiar way through the thirty or so -blankets and rugs Pa has got hung around to slow down the escape of -air from the Nest, and I wasn't quite so scared. I began to hear the -tick-ticking of the clocks in the Nest and knew I was getting back -into air, because there's no sound outside in the vacuum, of course. -But my mind was still crawly and uneasy as I pushed through the last -blankets—Pa's got them faced with aluminum foil to hold in the -heat—and came into the Nest.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Let me tell you about the Nest. It's low and snug, just room for the -four of us and our things. The floor is covered with thick woolly -rugs. Three of the sides are blankets, and the blankets roofing it -touch Pa's head. He tells me it's inside a much bigger room, but I've -never seen the real walls or ceiling.</p> - -<p>Against one of the blanket-walls is a big set of shelves, with tools -and books and other stuff, and on top of it a whole row of clocks. Pa's -very fussy about keeping them wound. He says we must never forget time, -and without a sun or moon, that would be easy to do.</p> - -<p>The fourth wall has blankets all over except around the fireplace, in -which there is a fire that must never go out. It keeps us from freezing -and does a lot more besides. One of us must always watch it. Some of -the clocks are alarm and we can use them to remind us. In the early -days there was only Ma to take turns with Pa—I think of that when she -gets difficult—but now there's me to help, and Sis too.</p> - -<p>It's Pa who is the chief guardian of the fire, though. I always think -of him that way: a tall man sitting cross-legged, frowning anxiously -at the fire, his lined face golden in its light, and every so often -carefully placing on it a piece of coal from the big heap beside it. Pa -tells me there used to be guardians of the fire sometimes in the very -old days—vestal virgins, he calls them—although there was unfrozen -air all around then and you didn't really need one.</p> - -<p>He was sitting just that way now, though he got up quick to take the -pail from me and bawl me out for loitering—he'd spotted my frozen -helmet right off. That roused Ma and she joined in picking on me. She's -always trying to get the load off her feelings, Pa explains. He shut -her up pretty fast. Sis let off a couple of silly squeals too.</p> - -<p>Pa handled the pail of air in a twist of cloth. Now that it was inside -the Nest, you could really feel its coldness. It just seemed to suck -the heat out of everything. Even the flames cringed away from it as Pa -put it down close by the fire.</p> - -<p>Yet it's that glimmery white stuff in the pail that keeps us alive. -It slowly melts and vanishes and refreshes the Nest and feeds the -fire. The blankets keep it from escaping too fast. Pa'd like to seal -the whole place, but he can't—building's too earthquake-twisted, and -besides he has to leave the chimney open for smoke.</p> - -<p>Pa says air is tiny molecules that fly away like a flash if there isn't -something to stop them. We have to watch sharp not to let the air run -low. Pa always keeps a big reserve supply of it in buckets behind -the first blankets, along with extra coal and cans of food and other -things, such as pails of snow to melt for water. We have to go way down -to the bottom floor for that stuff, which is a mean trip, and get it -through a door to outside.</p> - -<p>You see, when the Earth got cold, all the water in the air froze first -and made a blanket ten feet thick or so everywhere, and then down on -top of that dropped the crystals of frozen air, making another white -blanket sixty or seventy feet thick maybe.</p> - -<p>Of course, all the parts of the air didn't freeze and snow down at the -same time.</p> - -<p>First to drop out was the carbon dioxide—when you're shoveling for -water, you have to make sure you don't go too high and get any of that -stuff mixed in, for it would put you to sleep, maybe for good, and make -the fire go out. Next there's the nitrogen, which doesn't count one way -or the other, though it's the biggest part of the blanket. On top of -that and easy to get at, which is lucky for us, there's the oxygen that -keeps us alive. Pa says we live better than kings ever did, breathing -pure oxygen, but we're used to it and don't notice. Finally, at the -very top, there's a slick of liquid helium, which is funny stuff. -All of these gases in neat separate layers. Like a pussy caffay, Pa -laughingly says, whatever that is.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I was busting to tell them all about what I'd seen, and so as soon as -I'd ducked out of my helmet and while I was still climbing out of my -suit, I cut loose. Right away Ma got nervous and began making eyes at -the entry-slit in the blankets and wringing her hands together—the -hand where she'd lost three fingers from frostbite inside the good one, -as usual. I could tell that Pa was annoyed at me scaring her and wanted -to explain it all away quickly, yet could see I wasn't fooling.</p> - -<p>"And you watched this light for some time, son?" he asked when I -finished.</p> - -<p>I hadn't said anything about first thinking it was a young lady's face. -Somehow that part embarrassed me.</p> - -<p>"Long enough for it to pass five windows and go to the next floor."</p> - -<p>"And it didn't look like stray electricity or crawling liquid or -starlight focused by a growing crystal, or anything like that?"</p> - -<p>He wasn't just making up those ideas. Odd things happen in a world -that's about as cold as can be, and just when you think matter -would be frozen dead, it takes on a strange new life. A slimy stuff -comes crawling toward the Nest, just like an animal snuffing for -heat—that's the liquid helium. And once, when I was little, a bolt of -lightning—not even Pa could figure where it came from—hit the nearby -steeple and crawled up and down it for weeks, until the glow finally -died.</p> - -<p>"Not like anything I ever saw," I told him.</p> - -<p>He stood for a moment frowning. Then, "I'll go out with you, and you -show it to me," he said.</p> - -<p>Ma raised a howl at the idea of being left alone, and Sis joined -in, too, but Pa quieted them. We started climbing into our outside -clothes—mine had been warming by the fire. Pa made them. They have -plastic headpieces that were once big double-duty transparent food -cans, but they keep heat and air in and can replace the air for a -little while, long enough for our trips for water and coal and food and -so on.</p> - -<p>Ma started moaning again, "I've always known there was something -outside there, waiting to get us. I've felt it for years—something -that's part of the cold and hates all warmth and wants to destroy the -Nest. It's been watching us all this time, and now it's coming after -us. It'll get you and then come for me. Don't go, Harry!"</p> - -<p>Pa had everything on but his helmet. He knelt by the fireplace and -reached in and shook the long metal rod that goes up the chimney and -knocks off the ice that keeps trying to clog it. Once a week he goes up -on the roof to check if it's working all right. That's our worst trip -and Pa won't let me make it alone.</p> - -<p>"Sis," Pa said quietly, "come watch the fire. Keep an eye on the air, -too. If it gets low or doesn't seem to be boiling fast enough, fetch -another bucket from behind the blanket. But mind your hands. Use the -cloth to pick up the bucket."</p> - -<p>Sis quit helping Ma be frightened and came over and did as she was -told. Ma quieted down pretty suddenly, though her eyes were still kind -of wild as she watched Pa fix on his helmet tight and pick up a pail -and the two of us go out.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Pa led the way and I took hold of his belt. It's a funny thing, I'm not -afraid to go by myself, but when Pa's along I always want to hold on to -him. Habit, I guess, and then there's no denying that this time I was a -bit scared.</p> - -<p>You see, it's this way. We know that everything is dead out there. Pa -heard the last radio voices fade away years ago, and had seen some of -the last folks die who weren't as lucky or well-protected as us. So we -knew that if there was something groping around out there, it couldn't -be anything human or friendly.</p> - -<p>Besides that, there's a feeling that comes with it always being night, -<i>cold</i> night. Pa says there used to be some of that feeling even in the -old days, but then every morning the Sun would come and chase it away. -I have to take his word for that, not ever remembering the Sun as being -anything more than a big star. You see, I hadn't been born when the -dark star snatched us away from the Sun, and by now it's dragged us out -beyond the orbit of the planet Pluto, Pa says, and taking us farther -out all the time.</p> - -<p>I found myself wondering whether there mightn't be something on the -dark star that wanted us, and if that was why it had captured the -Earth. Just then we came to the end of the corridor and I followed Pa -out on the balcony.</p> - -<p>I don't know what the city looked like in the old days, but now it's -beautiful. The starlight lets you see it pretty well—there's quite a -bit of light in those steady points speckling the blackness above. (Pa -says the stars used to twinkle once, but that was because there was -air.) We are on a hill and the shimmery plain drops away from us and -then flattens out, cut up into neat squares by the troughs that used to -be streets. I sometimes make my mashed potatoes look like it, before I -pour on the gravy.</p> - -<p>Some taller buildings push up out of the feathery plain, topped -by rounded caps of air crystals, like the fur hood Ma wears, only -whiter. On those buildings you can see the darker squares of windows, -underlined by white dashes of air crystals. Some of them are on a -slant, for many of the buildings are pretty badly twisted by the quakes -and all the rest that happened when the dark star captured the Earth.</p> - -<p>Here and there a few icicles hang, water icicles from the first days -of the cold, other icicles of frozen air that melted on the roofs and -dripped and froze again. Sometimes one of those icicles will catch the -light of a star and send it to you so brightly you think the star has -swooped into the city. That was one of the things Pa had been thinking -of when I told him about the light, but I had thought of it myself -first and known it wasn't so.</p> - -<p>He touched his helmet to mine so we could talk easier and he asked me -to point out the windows to him. But there wasn't any light moving -around inside them now, or anywhere else. To my surprise, Pa didn't -bawl me out and tell me I'd been seeing things. He looked all around -quite a while after filling his pail, and just as we were going inside -he whipped around without warning, as if to take some peeping thing -off guard.</p> - -<p>I could feel it, too. The old peace was gone. There was something -lurking out there, watching, waiting, getting ready.</p> - -<p>Inside, he said to me, touching helmets, "If you see something like -that again, son, don't tell the others. Your Ma's sort of nervous these -days and we owe her all the feeling of safety we can give her. Once—it -was when your sister was born—I was ready to give up and die, but your -Mother kept me trying. Another time she kept the fire going a whole -week all by herself when I was sick. Nursed me and took care of the two -of you, too."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"You know that game we sometimes play, sitting in a square in the Nest, -tossing a ball around? Courage is like a ball, son. A person can hold -it only so long, and then he's got to toss it to someone else. When -it's tossed your way, you've got to catch it and hold it tight—and -hope there'll be someone else to toss it to when you get tired of being -brave."</p> - -<p>His talking to me that way made me feel grown-up and good. But it -didn't wipe away the thing outside from the back of my mind—or the -fact that Pa took it seriously.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It's hard to hide your feelings about such a thing. When we got back in -the Nest and took off our outside clothes, Pa laughed about it all and -told them it was nothing and kidded me for having such an imagination, -but his words fell flat. He didn't convince Ma and Sis any more than -he did me. It looked for a minute like we were all fumbling the -courage-ball. Something had to be done, and almost before I knew what -I was going to say, I heard myself asking Pa to tell us about the old -days, and how it all happened.</p> - -<p>He sometimes doesn't mind telling that story, and Sis and I sure like -to listen to it, and he got my idea. So we were all settled around the -fire in a wink, and Ma pushed up some cans to thaw for supper, and Pa -began. Before he did, though, I noticed him casually get a hammer from -the shelf and lay it down beside him.</p> - -<p>It was the same old story as always—I think I could recite the main -thread of it in my sleep—though Pa always puts in a new detail or two -and keeps improving it in spots.</p> - -<p>He told us how the Earth had been swinging around the Sun ever so -steady and warm, and the people on it fixing to make money and wars and -have a good time and get power and treat each other right or wrong, -when without warning there comes charging out of space this dead star, -this burned out sun, and upsets everything.</p> - -<p>You know, I find it hard to believe in the way those people felt, -any more than I can believe in the swarming number of them. Imagine -people getting ready for the horrible sort of war they were cooking up. -Wanting it even, or at least wishing it were over so as to end their -nervousness. As if all folks didn't have to hang together and pool -every bit of warmth just to keep alive. And how can they have hoped to -end danger, any more than we can hope to end the cold?</p> - -<p>Sometimes I think Pa exaggerates and makes things out too black. He's -cross with us once in a while and was probably cross with all those -folks. Still, some of the things I read in the old magazines sound -pretty wild. He may be right.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The dark star, as Pa went on telling it, rushed in pretty fast and -there wasn't much time to get ready. At the beginning they tried -to keep it a secret from most people, but then the truth came out, -what with the earthquakes and floods—imagine, oceans of <i>unfrozen</i> -water!—and people seeing stars blotted out by something on a clear -night. First off they thought it would hit the Sun, and then they -thought it would hit the Earth. There was even the start of a rush to -get to a place called China, because people thought the star would hit -on the other side. But then they found it wasn't going to hit either -side, but was going to come very close to the Earth.</p> - -<p>Most of the other planets were on the other side of the Sun and didn't -get involved. The Sun and the newcomer fought over the Earth for a -little while—pulling it this way and that, like two dogs growling -over a bone, Pa described it this time—and then the newcomer won and -carried us off. The Sun got a consolation prize, though. At the last -minute he managed to hold on to the Moon.</p> - -<p>That was the time of the monster earthquakes and floods, twenty times -worse than anything before. It was also the time of the Big Jerk, as Pa -calls it, when all Earth got yanked suddenly, just as Pa has done to -me once or twice, grabbing me by the collar to do it, when I've been -sitting too far from the fire.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="360" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>You see, the dark star was going through space faster than the Sun, and -in the opposite direction, and it had to wrench the world considerably -in order to take it away.</p> - -<p>The Big Jerk didn't last long. It was over as soon as the Earth -was settled down in its new orbit around the dark star. But it was -pretty terrible while it lasted. Pa says that all sorts of cliffs and -buildings toppled, oceans slopped over, swamps and sandy deserts gave -great sliding surges that buried nearby lands. Earth was almost jerked -out of its atmosphere blanket and the air got so thin in spots that -people keeled over and fainted—though of course, at the same time, -they were getting knocked down by the Big Jerk and maybe their bones -broke or skulls cracked.</p> - -<p>We've often asked Pa how people acted during that time, whether they -were scared or brave or crazy or stunned, or all four, but he's sort of -leery of the subject, and he was again tonight. He says he was mostly -too busy to notice.</p> - -<p>You see, Pa and some scientist friends of his had figured out part of -what was going to happen—they'd known we'd get captured and our air -would freeze—and they'd been working like mad to fix up a place with -airtight walls and doors, and insulation against the cold, and big -supplies of food and fuel and water and bottled air. But the place -got smashed in the last earthquakes and all Pa's friends were killed -then and in the Big Jerk. So he had to start over and throw the Nest -together quick without any advantages, just using any stuff he could -lay his hands on.</p> - -<p>I guess he's telling pretty much the truth when he says he didn't have -any time to keep an eye on how other folks behaved, either then or -in the Big Freeze that followed—followed very quick, you know, both -because the dark star was pulling us away very fast and because Earth's -rotation had been slowed in the tug-of-war, so that the nights were ten -old nights long.</p> - -<p>Still, I've got an idea of some of the things that happened from the -frozen folk I've seen, a few of them in other rooms in our building, -others clustered around the furnaces in the basements where we go for -coal.</p> - -<p>In one of the rooms, an old man sits stiff in a chair, with an arm and -a leg in splints. In another, a man and woman are huddled together in -a bed with heaps of covers over them. You can just see their heads -peeking out, close together. And in another a beautiful young lady is -sitting with a pile of wraps huddled around her, looking hopefully -toward the door, as if waiting for someone who never came back with -warmth and food. They're all still and stiff as statues, of course, but -just like life.</p> - -<p>Pa showed them to me once in quick winks of his flashlight, when -he still had a fair supply of batteries and could afford to waste -a little light. They scared me pretty bad and made my heart pound, -especially the young lady.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Now, with Pa telling his story for the umpteenth time to take our minds -off another scare, I got to thinking of the frozen folk again. All of a -sudden I got an idea that scared me worse than anything yet. You see, -I'd just remembered the face I'd thought I'd seen in the window. I'd -forgotten about that on account of trying to hide it from the others.</p> - -<p>What, I asked myself, if the frozen folk were coming to life? What -if they were like the liquid helium that got a new lease on life -and started crawling toward the heat just when you thought its -molecules ought to freeze solid forever? Or like the electricity that -moves endlessly when it's just about as cold as that? What if the -ever-growing cold, with the temperature creeping down the last few -degrees to the last zero, had mysteriously wakened the frozen folk to -life—not warm-blooded life, but something icy and horrible?</p> - -<p>That was a worse idea than the one about something coming down from the -dark star to get us.</p> - -<p>Or maybe, I thought, both ideas might be true. Something coming down -from the dark star and making the frozen folk move, using them to do -its work. That would fit with both things I'd seen—the beautiful young -lady and the moving, starlike light.</p> - -<p>The frozen folk with minds from the dark star behind their unwinking -eyes, creeping, crawling, snuffing their way, following the heat to the -Nest.</p> - -<p>I tell you, that thought gave me a very bad turn and I wanted very -badly to tell the others my fears, but I remembered what Pa had said -and clenched my teeth and didn't speak.</p> - -<p>We were all sitting very still. Even the fire was burning silently. -There was just the sound of Pa's voice and the clocks.</p> - -<p>And then, from beyond the blankets, I thought I heard a tiny noise. My -skin tightened all over me.</p> - -<p>Pa was telling about the early years in the Nest and had come to the -place where he philosophizes.</p> - -<p>"So I asked myself then," he said, "what's the use of going on? What's -the use of dragging it out for a few years? Why prolong a doomed -existence of hard work and cold and loneliness? The human race is done. -The Earth is done. Why not give up, I asked myself—and all of a sudden -I got the answer."</p> - -<p>Again I heard the noise, louder this time, a kind of uncertain, -shuffling tread, coming closer. I couldn't breathe.</p> - -<p>"Life's always been a business of working hard and fighting the cold," -Pa was saying. "The earth's always been a lonely place, millions of -miles from the next planet. And no matter how long the human race might -have lived, the end would have come some night. Those things don't -matter. What matters is that life is good. It has a lovely texture, -like some rich cloth or fur, or the petals of flowers—you've seen -pictures of those, but I can't describe how they feel—or the fire's -glow. It makes everything else worth while. And that's as true for the -last man as the first."</p> - -<p>And still the steps kept shuffling closer. It seemed to me that the -inmost blanket trembled and bulged a little. Just as if they were -burned into my imagination, I kept seeing those peering, frozen eyes.</p> - -<p>"So right then and there," Pa went on, and now I could tell that he -heard the steps, too, and was talking loud so we maybe wouldn't hear -them, "right then and there I told myself that I was going on as if -we had all eternity ahead of us. I'd have children and teach them all -I could. I'd get them to read books. I'd plan for the future, try to -enlarge and seal the Nest. I'd do what I could to keep everything -beautiful and growing. I'd keep alive my feeling of wonder even at the -cold and the dark and the distant stars."</p> - -<p>But then the blanket actually did move and lift. And there was a bright -light somewhere behind it. Pa's voice stopped and his eyes turned to -the widening slit and his hand went out until it touched and gripped -the handle of the hammer beside him.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>In through the blanket stepped the beautiful young lady. She stood -there looking at us the strangest way, and she carried something -bright and unwinking in her hand. And two other faces peered over her -shoulders—men's faces, white and staring.</p> - -<p>Well, my heart couldn't have been stopped for more than four or five -beats before I realized she was wearing a suit and helmet like Pa's -homemade ones, only fancier, and that the men were, too—and that the -frozen folk certainly wouldn't be wearing those. Also, I noticed that -the bright thing in her hand was just a kind of flashlight.</p> - -<p>The silence kept on while I swallowed hard a couple of times, and after -that there was all sorts of jabbering and commotion.</p> - -<p>They were simply people, you see. We hadn't been the only ones to -survive; we'd just thought so, for natural enough reasons. These three -people had survived, and quite a few others with them. And when we -found out <i>how</i> they'd survived, Pa let out the biggest whoop of joy.</p> - -<p>They were from Los Alamos and they were getting their heat and power -from atomic energy. Just using the uranium and plutonium intended -for bombs, they had enough to go on for thousands of years. They had -a regular little airtight city, with air-locks and all. They even -generated electric light and grew plants and animals by it. (At this Pa -let out a second whoop, waking Ma from her faint.)</p> - -<p>But if we were flabbergasted at them, they were double-flabbergasted at -us.</p> - -<p>One of the men kept saying, "But it's impossible, I tell you. You -can't maintain an air supply without hermetic sealing. It's simply -impossible."</p> - -<p>That was after he had got his helmet off and was using our air. -Meanwhile, the young lady kept looking around at us as if we were -saints, and telling us we'd done something amazing, and suddenly she -broke down and cried.</p> - -<p>They'd been scouting around for survivors, but they never expected to -find any in a place like this. They had rocket ships at Los Alamos and -plenty of chemical fuel. As for liquid oxygen, all you had to do was -go out and shovel the air blanket at the top <i>level</i>. So after they'd -got things going smoothly at Los Alamos, which had taken years, they'd -decided to make some trips to likely places where there might be other -survivors. No good trying long-distance radio signals, of course, since -there was no atmosphere to carry them around the curve of the Earth.</p> - -<p>Well, they'd found other colonies at Argonne and Brookhaven and way -around the world at Harwell and Tanna Tuva. And now they'd been giving -our city a look, not really expecting to find anything. But they had an -instrument that noticed the faintest heat waves and it had told them -there was something warm down here, so they'd landed to investigate. -Of course we hadn't heard them land, since there was no air to carry -the sound, and they'd had to investigate around quite a while before -finding us. Their instruments had given them a wrong steer and they'd -wasted some time in the building across the street.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>By now, all five adults were talking like sixty. Pa was demonstrating -to the men how he worked the fire and got rid of the ice in the chimney -and all that. Ma had perked up wonderfully and was showing the young -lady her cooking and sewing stuff, and even asking about how the women -dressed at Los Alamos. The strangers marveled at everything and praised -it to the skies. I could tell from the way they wrinkled their noses -that they found the Nest a bit smelly, but they never mentioned that at -all and just asked bushels of questions.</p> - -<p>In fact, there was so much talking and excitement that Pa forgot about -things, and it wasn't until they were all getting groggy that he looked -and found the air had all boiled away in the pail. He got another -bucket of air quick from behind the blankets. Of course that started -them all laughing and jabbering again. The newcomers even got a little -drunk. They weren't used to so much oxygen.</p> - -<p>Funny thing, though—I didn't do much talking at all and Sis hung on -to Ma all the time and hid her face when anybody looked at her. I felt -pretty uncomfortable and disturbed myself, even about the young lady. -Glimpsing her outside there, I'd had all sorts of mushy thoughts, but -now I was just embarrassed and scared of her, even though she tried to -be nice as anything to me.</p> - -<p>I sort of wished they'd all quit crowding the Nest and let us be alone -and get our feelings straightened out.</p> - -<p>And when the newcomers began to talk about our all going to Los Alamos, -as if that were taken for granted, I could see that something of the -same feeling struck Pa and Ma, too. Pa got very silent all of a sudden -and Ma kept telling the young lady, "But I wouldn't know how to act -there and I haven't any clothes."</p> - -<p>The strangers were puzzled like anything at first, but then they got -the idea. As Pa kept saying, "It just doesn't seem right to let this -fire go out."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Well, the strangers are gone, but they're coming back. It hasn't been -decided yet just what will happen. Maybe the Nest will be kept up as -what one of the strangers called a "survival school." Or maybe we will -join the pioneers who are going to try to establish a new colony at the -uranium mines at Great Slave Lake or in the Congo.</p> - -<p>Of course, now that the strangers are gone, I've been thinking a -lot about Los Alamos and those other tremendous colonies. I have a -hankering to see them for myself.</p> - -<p>You ask me, Pa wants to see them, too. He's been getting pretty -thoughtful, watching Ma and Sis perk up.</p> - -<p>"It's different, now that we know others are alive," he explains to me. -"Your mother doesn't feel so hopeless any more. Neither do I, for that -matter, not having to carry the whole responsibility for keeping the -human race going, so to speak. It scares a person."</p> - -<p>I looked around at the blanket walls and the fire and the pails of air -boiling away and Ma and Sis sleeping in the warmth and the flickering -light.</p> - -<p>"It's not going to be easy to leave the Nest," I said, wanting to cry, -kind of. "It's so small and there's just the four of us. I get scared -at the idea of big places and a lot of strangers."</p> - -<p>He nodded and put another piece of coal on the fire. Then he looked at -the little pile and grinned suddenly and put a couple of handfuls on, -just as if it was one of our birthdays or Christmas.</p> - -<p>"You'll quickly get over that feeling son," he said. "The trouble with -the world was that it kept getting smaller and smaller, till it ended -with just the Nest. Now it'll be good to have a real huge world again, -the way it was in the beginning."</p> - -<p>I guess he's right. You think the beautiful young lady will wait for me -till I grow up? I'll be twenty in only ten years.</p> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Pail of Air, by Fritz Leiber - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PAIL OF AIR *** - -***** This file should be named 51461-h.htm or 51461-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/4/6/51461/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: A Pail of Air - -Author: Fritz Leiber - -Release Date: March 15, 2016 [EBook #51461] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PAIL OF AIR *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - A Pail of Air - - By FRITZ LEIBER - - Illustrated by ED ALEXANDER - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Galaxy Science Fiction December 1951. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - The dark star passed, bringing with it - eternal night and turning history into - incredible myth in a single generation! - - -Pa had sent me out to get an extra pail of air. I'd just about scooped -it full and most of the warmth had leaked from my fingers when I saw -the thing. - -You know, at first I thought it was a young lady. Yes, a beautiful -young lady's face all glowing in the dark and looking at me from the -fifth floor of the opposite apartment, which hereabouts is the floor -just above the white blanket of frozen air. I'd never seen a live young -lady before, except in the old magazines--Sis is just a kid and Ma is -pretty sick and miserable--and it gave me such a start that I dropped -the pail. Who wouldn't, knowing everyone on Earth was dead except Pa -and Ma and Sis and you? - -Even at that, I don't suppose I should have been surprised. We all -see things now and then. Ma has some pretty bad ones, to judge from -the way she bugs her eyes at nothing and just screams and screams and -huddles back against the blankets hanging around the Nest. Pa says it -is natural we should react like that sometimes. - -When I'd recovered the pail and could look again at the opposite -apartment, I got an idea of what Ma might be feeling at those times, -for I saw it wasn't a young lady at all but simply a light--a tiny -light that moved stealthily from window to window, just as if one -of the cruel little stars had come down out of the airless sky to -investigate why the Earth had gone away from the Sun, and maybe to hunt -down something to torment or terrify, now that the Earth didn't have -the Sun's protection. - -I tell you, the thought of it gave me the creeps. I just stood there -shaking, and almost froze my feet and did frost my helmet so solid on -the inside that I couldn't have seen the light even if it had come out -of one of the windows to get me. Then I had the wit to go back inside. - -Pretty soon I was feeling my familiar way through the thirty or so -blankets and rugs Pa has got hung around to slow down the escape of -air from the Nest, and I wasn't quite so scared. I began to hear the -tick-ticking of the clocks in the Nest and knew I was getting back -into air, because there's no sound outside in the vacuum, of course. -But my mind was still crawly and uneasy as I pushed through the last -blankets--Pa's got them faced with aluminum foil to hold in the -heat--and came into the Nest. - - * * * * * - -Let me tell you about the Nest. It's low and snug, just room for the -four of us and our things. The floor is covered with thick woolly -rugs. Three of the sides are blankets, and the blankets roofing it -touch Pa's head. He tells me it's inside a much bigger room, but I've -never seen the real walls or ceiling. - -Against one of the blanket-walls is a big set of shelves, with tools -and books and other stuff, and on top of it a whole row of clocks. Pa's -very fussy about keeping them wound. He says we must never forget time, -and without a sun or moon, that would be easy to do. - -The fourth wall has blankets all over except around the fireplace, in -which there is a fire that must never go out. It keeps us from freezing -and does a lot more besides. One of us must always watch it. Some of -the clocks are alarm and we can use them to remind us. In the early -days there was only Ma to take turns with Pa--I think of that when she -gets difficult--but now there's me to help, and Sis too. - -It's Pa who is the chief guardian of the fire, though. I always think -of him that way: a tall man sitting cross-legged, frowning anxiously -at the fire, his lined face golden in its light, and every so often -carefully placing on it a piece of coal from the big heap beside it. Pa -tells me there used to be guardians of the fire sometimes in the very -old days--vestal virgins, he calls them--although there was unfrozen -air all around then and you didn't really need one. - -He was sitting just that way now, though he got up quick to take the -pail from me and bawl me out for loitering--he'd spotted my frozen -helmet right off. That roused Ma and she joined in picking on me. She's -always trying to get the load off her feelings, Pa explains. He shut -her up pretty fast. Sis let off a couple of silly squeals too. - -Pa handled the pail of air in a twist of cloth. Now that it was inside -the Nest, you could really feel its coldness. It just seemed to suck -the heat out of everything. Even the flames cringed away from it as Pa -put it down close by the fire. - -Yet it's that glimmery white stuff in the pail that keeps us alive. -It slowly melts and vanishes and refreshes the Nest and feeds the -fire. The blankets keep it from escaping too fast. Pa'd like to seal -the whole place, but he can't--building's too earthquake-twisted, and -besides he has to leave the chimney open for smoke. - -Pa says air is tiny molecules that fly away like a flash if there isn't -something to stop them. We have to watch sharp not to let the air run -low. Pa always keeps a big reserve supply of it in buckets behind -the first blankets, along with extra coal and cans of food and other -things, such as pails of snow to melt for water. We have to go way down -to the bottom floor for that stuff, which is a mean trip, and get it -through a door to outside. - -You see, when the Earth got cold, all the water in the air froze first -and made a blanket ten feet thick or so everywhere, and then down on -top of that dropped the crystals of frozen air, making another white -blanket sixty or seventy feet thick maybe. - -Of course, all the parts of the air didn't freeze and snow down at the -same time. - -First to drop out was the carbon dioxide--when you're shoveling for -water, you have to make sure you don't go too high and get any of that -stuff mixed in, for it would put you to sleep, maybe for good, and make -the fire go out. Next there's the nitrogen, which doesn't count one way -or the other, though it's the biggest part of the blanket. On top of -that and easy to get at, which is lucky for us, there's the oxygen that -keeps us alive. Pa says we live better than kings ever did, breathing -pure oxygen, but we're used to it and don't notice. Finally, at the -very top, there's a slick of liquid helium, which is funny stuff. -All of these gases in neat separate layers. Like a pussy caffay, Pa -laughingly says, whatever that is. - - * * * * * - -I was busting to tell them all about what I'd seen, and so as soon as -I'd ducked out of my helmet and while I was still climbing out of my -suit, I cut loose. Right away Ma got nervous and began making eyes at -the entry-slit in the blankets and wringing her hands together--the -hand where she'd lost three fingers from frostbite inside the good one, -as usual. I could tell that Pa was annoyed at me scaring her and wanted -to explain it all away quickly, yet could see I wasn't fooling. - -"And you watched this light for some time, son?" he asked when I -finished. - -I hadn't said anything about first thinking it was a young lady's face. -Somehow that part embarrassed me. - -"Long enough for it to pass five windows and go to the next floor." - -"And it didn't look like stray electricity or crawling liquid or -starlight focused by a growing crystal, or anything like that?" - -He wasn't just making up those ideas. Odd things happen in a world -that's about as cold as can be, and just when you think matter -would be frozen dead, it takes on a strange new life. A slimy stuff -comes crawling toward the Nest, just like an animal snuffing for -heat--that's the liquid helium. And once, when I was little, a bolt of -lightning--not even Pa could figure where it came from--hit the nearby -steeple and crawled up and down it for weeks, until the glow finally -died. - -"Not like anything I ever saw," I told him. - -He stood for a moment frowning. Then, "I'll go out with you, and you -show it to me," he said. - -Ma raised a howl at the idea of being left alone, and Sis joined -in, too, but Pa quieted them. We started climbing into our outside -clothes--mine had been warming by the fire. Pa made them. They have -plastic headpieces that were once big double-duty transparent food -cans, but they keep heat and air in and can replace the air for a -little while, long enough for our trips for water and coal and food and -so on. - -Ma started moaning again, "I've always known there was something -outside there, waiting to get us. I've felt it for years--something -that's part of the cold and hates all warmth and wants to destroy the -Nest. It's been watching us all this time, and now it's coming after -us. It'll get you and then come for me. Don't go, Harry!" - -Pa had everything on but his helmet. He knelt by the fireplace and -reached in and shook the long metal rod that goes up the chimney and -knocks off the ice that keeps trying to clog it. Once a week he goes up -on the roof to check if it's working all right. That's our worst trip -and Pa won't let me make it alone. - -"Sis," Pa said quietly, "come watch the fire. Keep an eye on the air, -too. If it gets low or doesn't seem to be boiling fast enough, fetch -another bucket from behind the blanket. But mind your hands. Use the -cloth to pick up the bucket." - -Sis quit helping Ma be frightened and came over and did as she was -told. Ma quieted down pretty suddenly, though her eyes were still kind -of wild as she watched Pa fix on his helmet tight and pick up a pail -and the two of us go out. - - * * * * * - -Pa led the way and I took hold of his belt. It's a funny thing, I'm not -afraid to go by myself, but when Pa's along I always want to hold on to -him. Habit, I guess, and then there's no denying that this time I was a -bit scared. - -You see, it's this way. We know that everything is dead out there. Pa -heard the last radio voices fade away years ago, and had seen some of -the last folks die who weren't as lucky or well-protected as us. So we -knew that if there was something groping around out there, it couldn't -be anything human or friendly. - -Besides that, there's a feeling that comes with it always being night, -_cold_ night. Pa says there used to be some of that feeling even in the -old days, but then every morning the Sun would come and chase it away. -I have to take his word for that, not ever remembering the Sun as being -anything more than a big star. You see, I hadn't been born when the -dark star snatched us away from the Sun, and by now it's dragged us out -beyond the orbit of the planet Pluto, Pa says, and taking us farther -out all the time. - -I found myself wondering whether there mightn't be something on the -dark star that wanted us, and if that was why it had captured the -Earth. Just then we came to the end of the corridor and I followed Pa -out on the balcony. - -I don't know what the city looked like in the old days, but now it's -beautiful. The starlight lets you see it pretty well--there's quite a -bit of light in those steady points speckling the blackness above. (Pa -says the stars used to twinkle once, but that was because there was -air.) We are on a hill and the shimmery plain drops away from us and -then flattens out, cut up into neat squares by the troughs that used to -be streets. I sometimes make my mashed potatoes look like it, before I -pour on the gravy. - -Some taller buildings push up out of the feathery plain, topped -by rounded caps of air crystals, like the fur hood Ma wears, only -whiter. On those buildings you can see the darker squares of windows, -underlined by white dashes of air crystals. Some of them are on a -slant, for many of the buildings are pretty badly twisted by the quakes -and all the rest that happened when the dark star captured the Earth. - -Here and there a few icicles hang, water icicles from the first days -of the cold, other icicles of frozen air that melted on the roofs and -dripped and froze again. Sometimes one of those icicles will catch the -light of a star and send it to you so brightly you think the star has -swooped into the city. That was one of the things Pa had been thinking -of when I told him about the light, but I had thought of it myself -first and known it wasn't so. - -He touched his helmet to mine so we could talk easier and he asked me -to point out the windows to him. But there wasn't any light moving -around inside them now, or anywhere else. To my surprise, Pa didn't -bawl me out and tell me I'd been seeing things. He looked all around -quite a while after filling his pail, and just as we were going inside -he whipped around without warning, as if to take some peeping thing -off guard. - -I could feel it, too. The old peace was gone. There was something -lurking out there, watching, waiting, getting ready. - -Inside, he said to me, touching helmets, "If you see something like -that again, son, don't tell the others. Your Ma's sort of nervous these -days and we owe her all the feeling of safety we can give her. Once--it -was when your sister was born--I was ready to give up and die, but your -Mother kept me trying. Another time she kept the fire going a whole -week all by herself when I was sick. Nursed me and took care of the two -of you, too." - - * * * * * - -"You know that game we sometimes play, sitting in a square in the Nest, -tossing a ball around? Courage is like a ball, son. A person can hold -it only so long, and then he's got to toss it to someone else. When -it's tossed your way, you've got to catch it and hold it tight--and -hope there'll be someone else to toss it to when you get tired of being -brave." - -His talking to me that way made me feel grown-up and good. But it -didn't wipe away the thing outside from the back of my mind--or the -fact that Pa took it seriously. - - * * * * * - -It's hard to hide your feelings about such a thing. When we got back in -the Nest and took off our outside clothes, Pa laughed about it all and -told them it was nothing and kidded me for having such an imagination, -but his words fell flat. He didn't convince Ma and Sis any more than -he did me. It looked for a minute like we were all fumbling the -courage-ball. Something had to be done, and almost before I knew what -I was going to say, I heard myself asking Pa to tell us about the old -days, and how it all happened. - -He sometimes doesn't mind telling that story, and Sis and I sure like -to listen to it, and he got my idea. So we were all settled around the -fire in a wink, and Ma pushed up some cans to thaw for supper, and Pa -began. Before he did, though, I noticed him casually get a hammer from -the shelf and lay it down beside him. - -It was the same old story as always--I think I could recite the main -thread of it in my sleep--though Pa always puts in a new detail or two -and keeps improving it in spots. - -He told us how the Earth had been swinging around the Sun ever so -steady and warm, and the people on it fixing to make money and wars and -have a good time and get power and treat each other right or wrong, -when without warning there comes charging out of space this dead star, -this burned out sun, and upsets everything. - -You know, I find it hard to believe in the way those people felt, -any more than I can believe in the swarming number of them. Imagine -people getting ready for the horrible sort of war they were cooking up. -Wanting it even, or at least wishing it were over so as to end their -nervousness. As if all folks didn't have to hang together and pool -every bit of warmth just to keep alive. And how can they have hoped to -end danger, any more than we can hope to end the cold? - -Sometimes I think Pa exaggerates and makes things out too black. He's -cross with us once in a while and was probably cross with all those -folks. Still, some of the things I read in the old magazines sound -pretty wild. He may be right. - - * * * * * - -The dark star, as Pa went on telling it, rushed in pretty fast and -there wasn't much time to get ready. At the beginning they tried -to keep it a secret from most people, but then the truth came out, -what with the earthquakes and floods--imagine, oceans of _unfrozen_ -water!--and people seeing stars blotted out by something on a clear -night. First off they thought it would hit the Sun, and then they -thought it would hit the Earth. There was even the start of a rush to -get to a place called China, because people thought the star would hit -on the other side. But then they found it wasn't going to hit either -side, but was going to come very close to the Earth. - -Most of the other planets were on the other side of the Sun and didn't -get involved. The Sun and the newcomer fought over the Earth for a -little while--pulling it this way and that, like two dogs growling -over a bone, Pa described it this time--and then the newcomer won and -carried us off. The Sun got a consolation prize, though. At the last -minute he managed to hold on to the Moon. - -That was the time of the monster earthquakes and floods, twenty times -worse than anything before. It was also the time of the Big Jerk, as Pa -calls it, when all Earth got yanked suddenly, just as Pa has done to -me once or twice, grabbing me by the collar to do it, when I've been -sitting too far from the fire. - -You see, the dark star was going through space faster than the Sun, and -in the opposite direction, and it had to wrench the world considerably -in order to take it away. - -The Big Jerk didn't last long. It was over as soon as the Earth -was settled down in its new orbit around the dark star. But it was -pretty terrible while it lasted. Pa says that all sorts of cliffs and -buildings toppled, oceans slopped over, swamps and sandy deserts gave -great sliding surges that buried nearby lands. Earth was almost jerked -out of its atmosphere blanket and the air got so thin in spots that -people keeled over and fainted--though of course, at the same time, -they were getting knocked down by the Big Jerk and maybe their bones -broke or skulls cracked. - -We've often asked Pa how people acted during that time, whether they -were scared or brave or crazy or stunned, or all four, but he's sort of -leery of the subject, and he was again tonight. He says he was mostly -too busy to notice. - -You see, Pa and some scientist friends of his had figured out part of -what was going to happen--they'd known we'd get captured and our air -would freeze--and they'd been working like mad to fix up a place with -airtight walls and doors, and insulation against the cold, and big -supplies of food and fuel and water and bottled air. But the place -got smashed in the last earthquakes and all Pa's friends were killed -then and in the Big Jerk. So he had to start over and throw the Nest -together quick without any advantages, just using any stuff he could -lay his hands on. - -I guess he's telling pretty much the truth when he says he didn't have -any time to keep an eye on how other folks behaved, either then or -in the Big Freeze that followed--followed very quick, you know, both -because the dark star was pulling us away very fast and because Earth's -rotation had been slowed in the tug-of-war, so that the nights were ten -old nights long. - -Still, I've got an idea of some of the things that happened from the -frozen folk I've seen, a few of them in other rooms in our building, -others clustered around the furnaces in the basements where we go for -coal. - -In one of the rooms, an old man sits stiff in a chair, with an arm and -a leg in splints. In another, a man and woman are huddled together in -a bed with heaps of covers over them. You can just see their heads -peeking out, close together. And in another a beautiful young lady is -sitting with a pile of wraps huddled around her, looking hopefully -toward the door, as if waiting for someone who never came back with -warmth and food. They're all still and stiff as statues, of course, but -just like life. - -Pa showed them to me once in quick winks of his flashlight, when -he still had a fair supply of batteries and could afford to waste -a little light. They scared me pretty bad and made my heart pound, -especially the young lady. - - * * * * * - -Now, with Pa telling his story for the umpteenth time to take our minds -off another scare, I got to thinking of the frozen folk again. All of a -sudden I got an idea that scared me worse than anything yet. You see, -I'd just remembered the face I'd thought I'd seen in the window. I'd -forgotten about that on account of trying to hide it from the others. - -What, I asked myself, if the frozen folk were coming to life? What -if they were like the liquid helium that got a new lease on life -and started crawling toward the heat just when you thought its -molecules ought to freeze solid forever? Or like the electricity that -moves endlessly when it's just about as cold as that? What if the -ever-growing cold, with the temperature creeping down the last few -degrees to the last zero, had mysteriously wakened the frozen folk to -life--not warm-blooded life, but something icy and horrible? - -That was a worse idea than the one about something coming down from the -dark star to get us. - -Or maybe, I thought, both ideas might be true. Something coming down -from the dark star and making the frozen folk move, using them to do -its work. That would fit with both things I'd seen--the beautiful young -lady and the moving, starlike light. - -The frozen folk with minds from the dark star behind their unwinking -eyes, creeping, crawling, snuffing their way, following the heat to the -Nest. - -I tell you, that thought gave me a very bad turn and I wanted very -badly to tell the others my fears, but I remembered what Pa had said -and clenched my teeth and didn't speak. - -We were all sitting very still. Even the fire was burning silently. -There was just the sound of Pa's voice and the clocks. - -And then, from beyond the blankets, I thought I heard a tiny noise. My -skin tightened all over me. - -Pa was telling about the early years in the Nest and had come to the -place where he philosophizes. - -"So I asked myself then," he said, "what's the use of going on? What's -the use of dragging it out for a few years? Why prolong a doomed -existence of hard work and cold and loneliness? The human race is done. -The Earth is done. Why not give up, I asked myself--and all of a sudden -I got the answer." - -Again I heard the noise, louder this time, a kind of uncertain, -shuffling tread, coming closer. I couldn't breathe. - -"Life's always been a business of working hard and fighting the cold," -Pa was saying. "The earth's always been a lonely place, millions of -miles from the next planet. And no matter how long the human race might -have lived, the end would have come some night. Those things don't -matter. What matters is that life is good. It has a lovely texture, -like some rich cloth or fur, or the petals of flowers--you've seen -pictures of those, but I can't describe how they feel--or the fire's -glow. It makes everything else worth while. And that's as true for the -last man as the first." - -And still the steps kept shuffling closer. It seemed to me that the -inmost blanket trembled and bulged a little. Just as if they were -burned into my imagination, I kept seeing those peering, frozen eyes. - -"So right then and there," Pa went on, and now I could tell that he -heard the steps, too, and was talking loud so we maybe wouldn't hear -them, "right then and there I told myself that I was going on as if -we had all eternity ahead of us. I'd have children and teach them all -I could. I'd get them to read books. I'd plan for the future, try to -enlarge and seal the Nest. I'd do what I could to keep everything -beautiful and growing. I'd keep alive my feeling of wonder even at the -cold and the dark and the distant stars." - -But then the blanket actually did move and lift. And there was a bright -light somewhere behind it. Pa's voice stopped and his eyes turned to -the widening slit and his hand went out until it touched and gripped -the handle of the hammer beside him. - - * * * * * - -In through the blanket stepped the beautiful young lady. She stood -there looking at us the strangest way, and she carried something -bright and unwinking in her hand. And two other faces peered over her -shoulders--men's faces, white and staring. - -Well, my heart couldn't have been stopped for more than four or five -beats before I realized she was wearing a suit and helmet like Pa's -homemade ones, only fancier, and that the men were, too--and that the -frozen folk certainly wouldn't be wearing those. Also, I noticed that -the bright thing in her hand was just a kind of flashlight. - -The silence kept on while I swallowed hard a couple of times, and after -that there was all sorts of jabbering and commotion. - -They were simply people, you see. We hadn't been the only ones to -survive; we'd just thought so, for natural enough reasons. These three -people had survived, and quite a few others with them. And when we -found out _how_ they'd survived, Pa let out the biggest whoop of joy. - -They were from Los Alamos and they were getting their heat and power -from atomic energy. Just using the uranium and plutonium intended -for bombs, they had enough to go on for thousands of years. They had -a regular little airtight city, with air-locks and all. They even -generated electric light and grew plants and animals by it. (At this Pa -let out a second whoop, waking Ma from her faint.) - -But if we were flabbergasted at them, they were double-flabbergasted at -us. - -One of the men kept saying, "But it's impossible, I tell you. You -can't maintain an air supply without hermetic sealing. It's simply -impossible." - -That was after he had got his helmet off and was using our air. -Meanwhile, the young lady kept looking around at us as if we were -saints, and telling us we'd done something amazing, and suddenly she -broke down and cried. - -They'd been scouting around for survivors, but they never expected to -find any in a place like this. They had rocket ships at Los Alamos and -plenty of chemical fuel. As for liquid oxygen, all you had to do was -go out and shovel the air blanket at the top _level_. So after they'd -got things going smoothly at Los Alamos, which had taken years, they'd -decided to make some trips to likely places where there might be other -survivors. No good trying long-distance radio signals, of course, since -there was no atmosphere to carry them around the curve of the Earth. - -Well, they'd found other colonies at Argonne and Brookhaven and way -around the world at Harwell and Tanna Tuva. And now they'd been giving -our city a look, not really expecting to find anything. But they had an -instrument that noticed the faintest heat waves and it had told them -there was something warm down here, so they'd landed to investigate. -Of course we hadn't heard them land, since there was no air to carry -the sound, and they'd had to investigate around quite a while before -finding us. Their instruments had given them a wrong steer and they'd -wasted some time in the building across the street. - - * * * * * - -By now, all five adults were talking like sixty. Pa was demonstrating -to the men how he worked the fire and got rid of the ice in the chimney -and all that. Ma had perked up wonderfully and was showing the young -lady her cooking and sewing stuff, and even asking about how the women -dressed at Los Alamos. The strangers marveled at everything and praised -it to the skies. I could tell from the way they wrinkled their noses -that they found the Nest a bit smelly, but they never mentioned that at -all and just asked bushels of questions. - -In fact, there was so much talking and excitement that Pa forgot about -things, and it wasn't until they were all getting groggy that he looked -and found the air had all boiled away in the pail. He got another -bucket of air quick from behind the blankets. Of course that started -them all laughing and jabbering again. The newcomers even got a little -drunk. They weren't used to so much oxygen. - -Funny thing, though--I didn't do much talking at all and Sis hung on -to Ma all the time and hid her face when anybody looked at her. I felt -pretty uncomfortable and disturbed myself, even about the young lady. -Glimpsing her outside there, I'd had all sorts of mushy thoughts, but -now I was just embarrassed and scared of her, even though she tried to -be nice as anything to me. - -I sort of wished they'd all quit crowding the Nest and let us be alone -and get our feelings straightened out. - -And when the newcomers began to talk about our all going to Los Alamos, -as if that were taken for granted, I could see that something of the -same feeling struck Pa and Ma, too. Pa got very silent all of a sudden -and Ma kept telling the young lady, "But I wouldn't know how to act -there and I haven't any clothes." - -The strangers were puzzled like anything at first, but then they got -the idea. As Pa kept saying, "It just doesn't seem right to let this -fire go out." - - * * * * * - -Well, the strangers are gone, but they're coming back. It hasn't been -decided yet just what will happen. Maybe the Nest will be kept up as -what one of the strangers called a "survival school." Or maybe we will -join the pioneers who are going to try to establish a new colony at the -uranium mines at Great Slave Lake or in the Congo. - -Of course, now that the strangers are gone, I've been thinking a -lot about Los Alamos and those other tremendous colonies. I have a -hankering to see them for myself. - -You ask me, Pa wants to see them, too. He's been getting pretty -thoughtful, watching Ma and Sis perk up. - -"It's different, now that we know others are alive," he explains to me. -"Your mother doesn't feel so hopeless any more. Neither do I, for that -matter, not having to carry the whole responsibility for keeping the -human race going, so to speak. It scares a person." - -I looked around at the blanket walls and the fire and the pails of air -boiling away and Ma and Sis sleeping in the warmth and the flickering -light. - -"It's not going to be easy to leave the Nest," I said, wanting to cry, -kind of. "It's so small and there's just the four of us. I get scared -at the idea of big places and a lot of strangers." - -He nodded and put another piece of coal on the fire. Then he looked at -the little pile and grinned suddenly and put a couple of handfuls on, -just as if it was one of our birthdays or Christmas. - -"You'll quickly get over that feeling son," he said. "The trouble with -the world was that it kept getting smaller and smaller, till it ended -with just the Nest. Now it'll be good to have a real huge world again, -the way it was in the beginning." - -I guess he's right. You think the beautiful young lady will wait for me -till I grow up? 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