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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59545 ***
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+                             WRONG ANALOGY
+
+                           BY JOSEPH SHALLIT
+
+                 _The Pied Piper who had promised them
+                 Paradise and led them across half the
+                universe had changed his tune. But this
+               time it was the Piper who had to pay...._
+
+           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+              Worlds of If Science Fiction, August 1956.
+         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+Ruth was standing at the vast window of the spaceport, her body taut
+and eager, the luggage piled high around her. When Harvey Flanders came
+out of the ship carrying the last two suitcases, she darted to him.
+
+"Harvey, it's a dream--it's heavenly!" she cried, catching hold of his
+arm. "Did you imagine--did you possibly ever imagine it would be like
+this?"
+
+Harvey's eyes followed the sweep of his wife's hand, out at the
+dazzling expanse of fields and orchards, green and gold under this
+magnificent sun. The fantastic vegetation stretched in lush undulations
+to a distant purple horizon, the sweep broken only by the brown streaks
+of roads, the winding ribbons of sapphire-tinted water, and, here and
+there, the pastel pink and blue roofs of the settlers' houses.
+
+Exultation filled his chest. He fought it down, deliberately, grimly.
+"There were places on Earth that were like this before the blight came.
+California ... Florida ... looked like this."
+
+"Like this?" Ruth exclaimed. "Harvey! Look at those giant fruit trees.
+Look at them."
+
+Harvey caught her shoulder in a tight grip. "Honey, we just can't
+let ourselves go overboard till we're sure everything's okay," he
+said quietly. "We've had our hopes built up and slapped down so many
+times." He looked down into her brown eyes. "Kitten, do you remember
+the time old man Reeber came climbing over the fence, yelling that the
+blight was going, it was moving off his cornfield, and we believed, we
+actually believed some miracle had happened, and we went chasing after
+him and found it was just a sunbeam breaking through a cloud bank. What
+a mirage that was!"
+
+"Harvey," Ruth said softly, "do you really think that this"--her hand
+traced the horizon--"is a mirage?"
+
+"I want to get a closer look, honey--I want to feel it and taste
+it before I believe it," he said. But when he glanced again at the
+landscape, his breath quickened and a tingle rode over his skin. "No,
+honey," he said quickly, "I don't think it's a mirage. I think it's
+what we've been dreaming about a long, long time."
+
+Ruth gave a relieved cry and flung her arms around him. He held her,
+patting her gently. "Now take it easy," he said.
+
+She looked up abruptly, her eyes wet. "The first thing, you've got to
+get some color back," she said fiercely. "You've gotten so awfully
+pale!"
+
+"And you're lovelier than ever," he said, running a hand along her
+cheek. "Now let's get moving before they put us back on the ship and
+send us home for being slow-pokes."
+
+She pounced down on a big, leather-thonged trunk. He pushed her aside.
+"Half pint, you take the little ones."
+
+Together they loaded their baggage on the red four-wheeled cart. Most
+of the other immigrants had already loaded their luggage and now
+stood beside the carts, each couple a little island of chatter and
+excitement. Next to Harvey and Ruth were Dr. Norbert Lurie and his
+wife Edna, both spectacled, scholarly, and too thin; both earnest,
+conscientious, and eager to help; rather boring company on a ten-month
+space voyage, but very comforting to have as neighbors in a strange
+land. After them came the Schweitzer twins, husky, blond, pink-faced
+youths, each with his little china-doll wife. Beyond them stood big,
+red-headed Jim Brace and his slim brunette wife, Nancy. Brace was
+heaving the last of his trunks onto his cart, his biceps bulging
+awesomely.
+
+"Real pioneer stock, this Red Brace," Harvey said. "Shame there are no
+Indians around--he'd have been a good man to have around in a scrap."
+
+Ruth's eyes crinkled in puzzled thought. "Harvey, weren't there any
+people here at all?"
+
+"Nope. Not a soul. Not till the good gray colonel stepped out of his
+ship onto one of these golden hills, about fifteen years ago."
+
+"It seems incredible," Ruth whispered.
+
+"Hey, fellows," came the booming voice of big Red Brace, but it was
+promptly lost in the roar of a loudspeaker:
+
+"Attention! Everyone will please assemble in the main reception room.
+Follow the red arrows down the ramp to the green doors. Please fill up
+all the front seats. Colonel Baker will address you. Leave your baggage
+where it is. Everybody now--follow the red arrows."
+
+Excited, high-hearted talk frothed up from the immigrants as they moved
+down the ramp. After being confined for ten months in the narrow,
+dreadfully sound-proofed rooms and corridors of the spaceship, every
+sound, every bit of motion was an intense delight.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Green doors opened on a long, low-ceilinged room with paneled wooden
+walls painted in mottled green and gold. Large windows threw shafts
+of light across the rows of rough-hewn benches. The babble of voices
+swelled around them, grew louder and more excited as the minutes
+passed. Then abruptly the voices in the front of the auditorium
+quieted, and silence flooded backward. Heads began to turn to the
+right side of the stage where something seemed to be happening in the
+wing--and then, at last, Colonel Martin E. Baker came into sight and
+walked slowly to the center of the stage.
+
+He stood there smiling, a middle-sized man in a light brown suit, with
+a friendly bulge in the abdomen, and small, neat feet. His cheeks were
+round and sunburned; his hair was brilliantly white, though thinning at
+the temples and the back of his skull. He held a lemon-colored cane in
+front of him and leaned on it slightly.
+
+"Well," he said, a concealed microphone carrying his voice through the
+auditorium, "what do you think?"
+
+The immigrants seated before him answered with delighted laughter which
+merged into a wave of handclapping. When the noise died down, Colonel
+Baker said, in a low voice, "That's all I want to hear."
+
+He nodded, looking thoughtful. "This is the moment I always wait
+for--the moment when the settlers get off the ship and verify for
+themselves all the things I told them. You see, my friends, when I go
+on my lecture tours around the Earth, the scepticism I run into makes
+me feel like a very lonely man. I tell my story--about a place where
+things grow five to seven times as big as anything Earth ever saw in
+her best days, a place where one gets three or four harvests in what
+would be a single growing season on Earth--I tell the story and find
+that quite a lot of people don't believe it. But fortunately, here and
+there I meet people who can respond to a vision--people brave enough to
+rip up their stakes and take a journey across the oceans of space. And
+what I wait for is to see their faces and hear their voices when they
+reach these shores and learn that everything is true--everything--just
+as I told it."
+
+There was another burst of handclapping. Red Brace put two fingers to
+his lips and produced a deafening whistle, prolonging it until his wife
+yanked his hand away from his mouth.
+
+"You can imagine," Colonel Baker went on in his mellow, vibrant
+voice--"you can imagine, my friends, what my feelings were when I
+stepped out of the spaceship Explorer and set foot on this incredible
+planet for the first time." His eyes fixed themselves on a distant
+point above the heads of his audience. "Here, I said to myself--here
+is Paradise. The blight on Earth was already becoming acute--and
+here suddenly I was in a land richer than anything man has ever seen
+since he left the Garden of Eden. I still remember the thrill I felt
+when I squeezed this magic loam between my fingers. I could scarcely
+wait out the return trip to Earth so I could bring back here the
+seeds and cuttings of our edible plants. What happened after that is
+history. Peaches, pears, apples, all producing abundantly in their
+first season. Oranges the size of melons. Vegetables big enough for
+giants.... Of course, it wasn't economically feasible to send this
+produce to Earth--although one of these days I think it will be. As the
+blight gets worse people will get so sick of subsisting on dehydrated
+plankton they will be willing to pay the enormous transportation costs
+to get our fruits and vegetables. But meanwhile, by the greatest
+good fortune, an economic base for our agriculture did develop with
+the discovery of radioactive minerals on our neighboring planet. It's
+a perfect arrangement: we feed the miners, and they pay us with the
+earnings from their mines. Two planets, floating side by side in space,
+each supplying what the other needs--it seems too perfect to be a mere
+coincidence. You feel there must be some providence, some mysterious
+intellect that planned it this way." He paused. A smile softened his
+face. "I guess I've talked long enough. I'm delighted to see you all
+here, safe and happy. You are the twenty-third group to arrive since
+we opened this planet. Soon the ship will leave for the long voyage to
+Earth to pick up the twenty-fourth contingent, most of whom are already
+signed up. My associate, Mr. Carsing, will take over now and fill you
+in on some of the things you'll want to know. Meanwhile, I want to say:
+Welcome to Paradise. If you ever have any problems of any kind, let me
+hear from you. Good luck!"
+
+Applause rolled after him as he walked slowly off stage. Almost
+immediately, a tall, thin man in a gray suit walked to the center of
+the stage. He carried a sheaf of papers. His movements were quick and
+nervous. His scalp was naked except for ragged patches of hair above
+his ears. His skin shone sallowly in the light from the windows. "I
+will now read the assignment of subdivisions," he said. "Please listen
+carefully and make a note of your location." His voice had a harsh
+edge of shrillness.
+
+Ruth looked at Harvey and wrinkled her nose. "I don't like him as much
+as Colonel Baker," she said.
+
+Carsing read off the names, designating a number and letter for each.
+Harvey and Ruth Flanders were assigned to area 189D. The numbers for
+the Luries and the Schweitzers followed closely, but the Braces weren't
+reached until the 200's. "Hey," growled Red Brace, "don't take me away
+from my buddies."
+
+"All marketing of crops will be handled by our central office," Carsing
+said. "All your shipments will be listed in a credit account, against
+which all your charges will be debited. For bookkeeping convenience,
+settlement will be made once a year." His papers moved restlessly in
+his hands. "The guides are waiting to take you to your homesteads. You
+will now return to your luggage and finish loading it on the carts.
+After that, you are to go to the main door, where you will receive
+your oxygen packs, and then you are to assemble outside. Are there any
+questions?"
+
+"Yeh!" called out Red Brace, jumping to his feet. "I don't like the
+location you gave me. How do I get it changed?"
+
+Carsing scowled. "How do you know you don't like it before you have
+even seen it?"
+
+"I know. It's not near my friends."
+
+"Write an application for a change. If there are no further
+questions--"
+
+"Question!" Harvey was on his feet. "What's this you said about oxygen
+packs?"
+
+"I said they'd be issued at the main door. Anything else?"
+
+"Why--why do we need oxygen packs?"
+
+"To breathe," Carsing said sourly. "I should think that would be
+obvious."
+
+"You mean ..." Harvey's heart pounded. "You mean there's no oxygen out
+there?"
+
+"The oxygen content of our atmosphere is seven percent," Carsing said,
+his voice falling to a weary monotone. "Seven percent is equivalent to
+the oxygen content you find when you travel 27,000 feet above Earth.
+You know you can't exist at 27,000 feet unless you have an artificial
+supply of oxygen. Very well. The same condition applies here--on
+the ground. You will wear your oxygen packs at all times. The only
+exception is this building. We have oxygen pumped into it."
+
+"What's this all about?" shouted Red Brace. "Are you kidding us or
+something?"
+
+Carsing's mouth formed a crumpled smile. "If you think I'm joking you
+can take a walk outside and see." He turned his eyes away from Brace.
+"The packs are small and light. The outlet cup covers only the nose.
+There is no interference with speech. You can thank Colonel Baker for
+sponsoring the research that produced these lightweight packs."
+
+"Thank him for what?" said Harvey hoarsely. "Why didn't he tell us
+before he signed us up?"
+
+A clamor of supporting voices rose around him. Other immigrants leaped
+to their feet, trying to make themselves heard. Red Brace was bellowing
+something unintelligible. His wife added her indignant contralto.
+Carsing shouted, "Quiet!" and then gave up and stood there, scowling.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Out in the wing, on a small straight-backed chair, sat Colonel Martin
+E. Baker, his eyes half closed, his hands folded against his belly,
+as he listened to the angry tumult. This always happened. It was an
+unpleasantness he could count on with the arrival of every new group
+of homesteaders. In an instant everybody had forgotten that he had
+rescued them from a miserable existence on a blighted Earth. There
+was no thought of gratitude to him for finding this fabulous place
+and developing it and bringing them here. No--the only thing in their
+grubby minds was the thought of the oxygen pack they would have to
+wear, to save themselves from quick death. Of course, they gave no
+thought to the money and effort he had expended to develop this pack,
+this neat little lightweight marvel. By the time he had this perfected
+and had worked out all the other details involved in colonizing this
+place, he had spent a fortune, he was practically broke. Sometimes he
+found it hard to maintain a feeling of calm and good will. If he wanted
+to let himself go, it would be so easy to become a bitter, misanthropic
+old man. But there would be no sense in that. These people were young
+and thoughtless, the victims of their own impulsiveness, and what the
+situation called for was patience, understanding, and forgiveness.
+
+Martin Baker let out a long sigh and heaved his round body out of his
+chair. He walked slowly toward the confused jumble of voices. He knew,
+even without distinguishing the sounds, that they were demanding that
+he appear. Baker ran a hand over his clothes to make sure they were in
+order, put on a broad and gentle smile, and stepped out on the stage.
+
+He waited until the clamor quieted, and then he said, "I'm here to
+answer any questions."
+
+Half a dozen of the homesteaders tried to talk at once. Baker smiled
+understandingly and held up his hand. "One at a time, please--every one
+will have his chance."
+
+"What kind of a deal is this?" a voice bellowed from the rear. Baker
+recognized the big red-headed man, Brace. A bold, adventuresome man,
+handsome and powerfully built, but, alas, so very stupid. He would
+make a lot of noise, Baker knew, but actually he wouldn't be any real
+trouble.
+
+"And what, may I ask, is the cause of your dissatisfaction?" Baker
+inquired.
+
+"How come we travel all the way out here and find out we've got to wear
+oxygen masks?"
+
+Baker shook his head, smiling gently. "Not really masks, my friend.
+They cover only the end of your nose. They're marvelously comfortable,
+as you'll soon see. In a few days you won't even be aware you're
+wearing them."
+
+"Like hell," Brace growled. "I'll know I'm wearing it."
+
+Baker shrugged affably, and then gestured invitingly to the long, thin,
+somber looking man who stood with his hand up, not far from Brace. This
+was Lurie, the biology professor, a nice, harmless Ph.D.
+
+"What's wrong with the atmosphere?" Lurie said. "Why is an artificial
+supply of oxygen necessary?"
+
+"The answer is very simple," Baker said. "This is a young planet, as
+planets go. The conditions here are just about what they were on Earth
+eons ago. The carbon dioxide exhaled from the interior of the planet
+and saturating the atmosphere is gradually being converted by the
+plant life--broken down, I should say, releasing free oxygen. At the
+present time, our oxygen content is about seven percent. Eventually,
+the oxygen will probably reach the level you find on the surface of the
+Earth--about twenty-one percent. But that should take a long time; I'm
+afraid none of us will be around when that point is reached. Meanwhile,
+our plants luxuriate in an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide. Plants,
+as you know, use carbon dioxide for their most essential life
+process--photosynthesis. But I'm sure Professor Lurie can tell you much
+more about that than I can."
+
+Lurie blinked embarrassedly, and looked aside at his wife, and smiled
+shyly.
+
+"Mr. Baker!" another voice broke in.
+
+This speaker, Baker recognized, was Harvey Flanders, definitely a
+dangerous type. He was a brooder; he had a slow, relentless fire in his
+eyes. Baker had been doubtful about him from the start; he'd had half a
+mind to reject his application. But as things happened, the passenger
+list was one couple short and so, at the last moment, he had taken
+Flanders and his wife. Was he going to have reason to regret what he'd
+done?
+
+"How do you propose to make up for this fraud you've put over on us?"
+Flanders was saying.
+
+"I'm sorry," Baker said. "Did you say fraud?"
+
+"Fraud," Harvey repeated bitterly.
+
+"That's a harsh word, my friend. What are you referring to?"
+
+"Dammit, those glowing talks you gave us--"
+
+"And isn't everything I told you true? Go out, I beg of you, and point
+out to me a single instance where I've exaggerated."
+
+"But the oxygen--"
+
+"I made no statement about oxygen," Baker said firmly. "I'm sure
+everyone here will corroborate that. Did I make any false claims about
+the atmosphere? Did I, now? No, my friend, if you will think back you
+will find that I said nothing about the atmosphere."
+
+"But that's what I mean," Harvey said, his voice rising in exasperation.
+
+"My good friend," Baker said gently, "if you were describing a
+beautiful woman, would you bother to mention that she had a mole on the
+sole of her foot?"
+
+"But this is something basic."
+
+"What seems basic to one person may seem merely incidental to another.
+Every man to his own opinion--and I assure you, my friend, you have a
+perfect right to yours. If you feel you were misled, then I am deeply
+and humbly sorry. If you don't like it here, if you think you can find
+something better--"
+
+"You goddamned phony, you know once you've got us here, we're at your
+mercy!"
+
+Baker smiled forgivingly. "Mercy. There, my friend, is a word I
+much prefer to that other one you used a while ago. Mercy, charity,
+forbearance.... My friends, we are all here together--let us try to
+live in true fellowship and to make the most of what has been given
+us. I can think of nothing more tragic than to start this great
+adventure on a note of strife and suspicion. I hope rather that we all
+go forward with hearts full of trust--trust in the future, and trust
+in each other." His voice rose--his eyes again fixed themselves on a
+point above the heads of his audience. "If we work together, if we keep
+our eyes on the distant horizon, and ignore the advocates of spite,
+the petty minds that spin their miserable webs in the dark, I am sure
+we can all look forward to a bright and glowing future. We stand, my
+friends, on the threshold of a brave new world. Let us all go forward
+with hope and faith. Under such banners, I know we cannot fail."
+
+Slowly, Martin Baker walked off the stage. Harvey looked around
+helplessly at the faces of his fellow-voyagers who were staring at the
+stage in half-dazed fascination. "Look, we're not going to let him get
+away with this," he pleaded. "This is exactly the way he talked us into
+signing up."
+
+Harvey got some irritated looks in return. "Hell, we're here, ain't
+we?" somebody growled.
+
+"Harvey," Dr. Lurie said, "I'd suggest we avoid conclusions until we've
+given this a fair trial."
+
+A murmured chorus of approval rose around him. At that moment, Carsing
+reappeared on the stage. "All right, everybody," he said briskly, "go
+back and finish loading up, and pick up your oxygen packs. Everybody's
+eager to see their homesteads, so let's not anybody hold us up. Let's
+go." With a surge of relief, the homesteaders flowed down the aisles to
+the exits.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The oxygen packs turned out to be, in fact, wonderfully comfortable. A
+small outlet cup fitted over the nose with no more pressure than a pair
+of spectacles. Two narrow tubes curved over the shoulders and ended in
+a small pack weighing about two pounds, most of that being the weight
+of a replaceable metal capsule. There was no interference with speech.
+"You see," Ruth laughed tremulously--"you see, it actually improves
+your appearance." She grimaced at Harvey. "All right, sourpuss, you can
+smile, can't you?"
+
+The air outside was soft and golden, laced with a cool, gentle wind.
+The excited voices of the homesteaders rang with startling clarity.
+They looked with delight at each other, and called out at each other,
+and laughed, not knowing exactly why.
+
+"Don't seem anything wrong with this air," said Red Brace. "Feels like
+any other air. I wonder if the old bird was kidding us."
+
+One of the Schweitzer twins gave a laugh. "There's one way to find
+out," he said, and yanked the outlet cup off his nose. He inhaled
+deeply, smiling. "Look, Ma, I'm breathing," he laughed. He took deep,
+gulping breaths. He did a somersault. He pounded his chest. "It's all
+a matter of lungs," he said. "If you don't have lungs, well, you just
+can't manage it, that's all...."
+
+He chattered on--and then, abruptly, his eyes took on a startled look.
+He began to breathe more rapidly. His breathing became labored. He
+fumbled for the outlet cup. He raised it to his nose--it slipped out of
+his now frantic hands--
+
+Harvey and Dr. Lurie grabbed him as he wavered, and fitted the outlet
+cup back over his nose. The youth stood there with trembling knees.
+"Sit down, kid," Harvey said. "Relax--you'll be all right."
+
+The settlers stood in a stricken silence. They had been fully informed
+of the situation, they knew precisely what would happen, yet seeing
+it demonstrated this way was an appalling thing. They could see now,
+graphically, the precarious condition of their existence.
+
+There was no more shouting. There was little they had to say to each
+other now.
+
+Carsing came out of the building. He was instantly recognizable,
+despite the cup over his nose. With his nervous, jerky steps, he walked
+to a low platform and held up his hand. With him were two men, both
+gray-haired and darkly tanned.
+
+"These are your guides," Carsing announced. "Go get your carts and move
+out."
+
+"Hey!" shouted Red Brace. "What pulls these carts?"
+
+"You do," Carsing said coldly.
+
+"You mean there aren't any horses--or trucks?"
+
+Carsing's mouth twisted. "No--no horses or trucks. Or tractors or
+washing machines. You'd better make up your minds to that right now.
+Transporting any large mechanical equipment all the way out here would
+be impossibly expensive. Outside of the few small devices we absolutely
+had to have, we've imported nothing. So please don't come complaining
+to me. From now on, you'll have to learn to improvise with native
+materials. All right"--he gestured to the two men who stood drooping
+behind him, as if leaning on invisible poles--"get them out and get
+going."
+
+Carsing left the platform and went back into the building. For a
+moment, there was no motion among the settlers. Then several started
+maneuvering the heavily loaded carts, the men embarrassedly accepting
+the assistance of their wives.
+
+The two guides waited, still leaning on their phantom supports, talking
+softly, hardly looking at the settlers. When all the carts were lined
+up in a straggling column, the two guides ambled to the road that led
+away from the spaceport. They paused and looked back briefly with worn
+eyes. Then with a motion that was more a shrug than a gesture, they
+started up the brown dirt road.
+
+Harvey looked at Ruth. Her face was taut. All around him the settlers
+were silent, except for labored breathing or a hurried warning as the
+wagon wheels reached a rut or a rock. Reality had flooded over them
+with abrupt and dismaying force. The sky was still bright, the fields
+were still gloriously golden but the radiance seemed to have gone out
+of their paradise.
+
+Harvey put an arm around Ruth's slim shoulders. Strangely, as spirits
+sank around him, his rose. Now his vague forebodings had become
+clarified; now he knew what the reality was, he knew what he had to
+cope with.
+
+"They get a ship here from Earth every two years," he said to her.
+"We'll work hard and save our money, and if we find we can't stand it,
+we'll just pack up and go home."
+
+She looked at him miserably. "How awful. After all our hopes...."
+
+"Maybe it'll work out," he said lightly. "I hate to think of living in
+a place run by these guys, but I'm willing to give it an honest try.
+Keep your chin up, kitten."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The road became steeper, and the settlers slipped and grunted and
+struggled behind the carts. Near the crest, in a field to the right
+of the road, four people were working, apparently cutting and binding
+grain. As the column of settlers approached, the workers glanced up,
+said something to each other, and bent to their work again.
+
+"Look at that," growled Red Brace. "We come across practically half the
+universe to reach this place, and all we get is a cockeyed glance out
+of the corner of their eyes."
+
+"Well, you aren't exactly a pretty sight," Harvey said.
+
+But it _was_ strange, he thought--this indifference, this lack of
+curiosity. Here, for the first time in two years, were newcomers from
+distant Earth. Didn't they want to hear the news, hear about the
+blight, ask questions about relatives and friends? Could anybody be
+that uninterested?
+
+At the crest of the rise, the guides paused, and the settlers leaned
+against their carts or sat on the ground to rest. In the valley below
+were little clumps of houses, long, low buildings, arranged in groups
+of three and four, with a hundred yards or so between each group. Off
+to the right, a hill, steep and lofty, stood alone in the rolling
+plain. Almost at the summit, in a cleft in the rock, was a building
+shaped like a semicircle, topped with a slim spire. Its walls seemed
+mostly windows. They glinted golden in the warm light.
+
+"And who lives up there, I wonder," said Red Brace.
+
+"I could make a guess," Harvey said.
+
+"Mr. Big. A nice, cozy spot where he can sit all day and spit down
+everybody else's throat."
+
+"I'm sure," Harvey said, "the gentleman never does anything as
+inelegant as that."
+
+The clusters of buildings had looked close. It took fully an hour
+before the settlers reached them. By that time, they were hot and
+thirsty and dispirited. As they went up the village street, the guides
+pointed out the numbered houses, and the settlers assigned to them
+left the column and carried their luggage inside. Most of them were
+inside only a few minutes before they came to the doorways to stare
+unhappily at each other. They had found that the houses, made of wood
+and plaster, each consisted of three boxy rooms containing a few sticks
+of crudely made furniture. Nothing was painted. There was no glass in
+the windows. The beds consisted of four posts with mattresses of woven
+vines.
+
+"What did you expect--innersprings?" Harvey said. "Remember--Colonel
+Baker never said you'd get innersprings on this planet. The man never
+told you a lie."
+
+The toilets were tiny out-houses, a hundred yards away in the field.
+"Oh, dear," Ruth said.
+
+"Well, you can't expect the man to transport sewer pipe to Paradise,"
+Harvey said grimly.
+
+He stood in the doorway and waited until the guides had deposited the
+last of the settlers and were started on their return trip. Harvey
+called to them as they came by. They glanced at him blankly, said
+something to each other, and kept on walking. Harvey leaped to the
+street, raced after them, grabbed them by the shoulders and spun them
+both around. "When I talk to somebody, I expect an answer," he said
+savagely.
+
+The two guides looked at him with worn, emotionless eyes. They stood
+there, shoulders drooping slightly in a weirdly identical posture.
+
+"What's this all about?" Harvey said, subduing his voice with
+difficulty. He waited. Nothing came out of them. "Do you work for
+Baker? Don't you have farms like the rest of us?"
+
+The stocky one's mouth twisted slightly. Then he spoke. "We have
+farms," he said in a low, sullen voice. "We are also guides. We
+couldn't work our farms all the way. We had to do extra work to meet
+our payments."
+
+Harvey stared at them. "Payments for what? Didn't you pay for the farms
+before you came here?"
+
+"Payments for the oxygen," said the stocky man.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+A weak, sardonic smile edged across their faces. "They weren't told,"
+the tall man said.
+
+Harvey boiled over. He grabbed one man by the throat. "Told what,
+goddamn you? Talk!"
+
+The pale eyes stared into his. The sardonic smile stayed on the
+man's lips. "Told that you'll have to work all day, every day, dawn
+to dark"--his voice hardened viciously--"to pay for the oxygen you
+breathe." His smile widened as he saw the alarm in Harvey's face.
+Harvey loosened his grip, but the man kept his face close to his. "You
+see that tube of oxygen on your back? That will last you one day. When
+you get a new one, you will owe a hundred credits. Do you understand
+now? You'll never be able to stop working, because you can't get ahead
+of that hundred credits a day, you just about make it if you work all
+day--and you have to make it, do you understand, you fool?--you have
+to, if you want your oxygen tomorrow, if you want to breathe."
+
+Harvey watched dazedly as the two guides turned and started away down
+the road, and then, abruptly, the stocky one looked back and yelled
+back, "You're slaves! All of you! You're the same as us! You're slaves!"
+
+Ruth, wide-eyed, was waiting at the doorway for him, when he came back.
+"You heard them?" Harvey said shakily.
+
+"I heard," Ruth said in a quiet voice.
+
+"Lord, what did I get you into?"
+
+She put a hand on his arm. "There's nothing to grieve about. If we find
+that things just don't work out, we'll stick it out for two years and
+save up enough for our return passage."
+
+Harvey looked at her brokenly. "If what they say is true, how can you
+save anything?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Of course, Harvey reflected afterward, the guide could have been
+talking nonsense, he could have been some sort of nut. So Harvey said
+nothing about his encounter to the other settlers. But after three
+days, everybody knew the true conditions of their existence. The story
+was made explicit by the little debit-and-credit book that each settler
+was given. Every evening a caravan of Baker's men, pulling carts,
+came down the road, collected what the settlers had harvested during
+the day, and marked the credits in their books. Those who worked from
+dawn to dusk usually managed to achieve 100 credits. A few went over
+100--three, four, or five credits over--and were told that if they kept
+this rate up, why, in six months or so, they'd have enough credits to
+buy some clothes at the central commissary. Several settlers fell short
+each day. They got particular attention from the man who collected the
+depleted oxygen tanks from the settlers and handed each a new one.
+
+"We're not cutting anybody's oxygen off--not right away," he said. "But
+if I were you, I'd get working--fast. The Colonel looks these accounts
+over every night. He doesn't like anybody getting far in arrears."
+
+Dr. Lurie, who, with his wife, had averaged only 96 credits on each of
+the first three days, spoke up puzzledly. "Do you mean--do you mean you
+actually let people--asphyxiate?"
+
+The leader gave a nasty grin. "I didn't say that--I just said we don't
+give them any more oxygen. What they do after that is _their_ business."
+
+"Is that right?" growled Red Brace. He moved slowly through to the
+front of the crowd and then, with a lunge, grabbed the leader by the
+throat. "I'm just going to squeeze, and squeeze," he gritted, "and what
+happens to you is _your_ business."
+
+Harvey leaped forward and grabbed Brace's arms. "Let go, Red!" he
+yelled. "Let go!"
+
+Brace jammed him aside with a jerk of his big shoulders. Harvey leaped
+at him again. "For God's sake, Red, this isn't the one--it's not his
+fault!" He yanked at Brace's arms. It was like yanking an oak. Harvey
+stepped back, his mouth grim, and slammed his fist into Brace's jaw.
+
+Red Brace staggered. The caravan leader slipped from his hands and
+oozed down on the ground, gasping weakly. Red Brace's fists tightened
+and he turned on Harvey. "Goddam you, you want to get yourself killed?"
+
+They stood there, glowering at each other, breathing hard. "The guy is
+only one of Baker's slaves," Harvey said. "Why were you taking it out
+on him?"
+
+The caravan leader was on his feet now. "That's what I was trying to
+tell him," he said weakly. "I'm only carrying out orders. I've got to
+work my place and work for Baker, too, to make up my credits. You know
+how long I'd last if I didn't carry out orders."
+
+"Okay, okay," Harvey said, suddenly sick of the whole thing. "We've got
+our oxygen, we've got our lecture. Now take off."
+
+The settlers watched Baker's men move to their wagons, like a troop of
+horses, and slowly set out up the road.
+
+"All right," Red Brace growled abruptly, "I'm sorry. But you didn't
+have any call to take a poke at me."
+
+"You were about to kill the guy," Harvey snapped.
+
+"All right, all right, I said I'm sorry. It was the wrong guy. Now
+let's go after the right one."
+
+In the center of the settlement, at the side of the road, was a yellow
+wooden booth, marked COM, for communications. A loudspeaker on the
+roof brought messages from the central office. Inside the booth was a
+microphone and other electronic apparatus. Dr. Lurie sat down before
+the microphone and pressed the Call button. He cleared his throat.
+"I--we want to talk to Colonel Baker personally," he said.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a large circular room, with a huge curving window overlooking the
+golden valley, sat Colonel Martin E. Baker, sipping a Scotch highball.
+It was a weak highball; Colonel Baker really didn't enjoy drinking. But
+his doctor had told him, on the periodic physical he had taken during
+his last visit to Earth, that a mild drink before dinner might help
+overcome his dyspepsia. "Tenseness," the doctor had said. "You've got
+to relax more." This seemed preposterous to Colonel Baker, who always
+thought himself to be a very relaxed person, but there was no denying
+the dyspepsia--it was there all the time--and he was willing to try
+anything that might ameliorate it.
+
+When the gentle buzzer sounded and the red light glowed on the
+communications set, Colonel Baker went over to it, flipped the switch
+and leaned back in his reclining chair.
+
+"Yes?" said Baker pleasantly. He was rather tickled with the
+arrangement that permitted him to watch the faces of people who were
+unaware of the television camera focused on them.
+
+"Sir," said Dr. Lurie in a strained voice, "there has been--there is--a
+good deal of dissatisfaction in our group. This system of credits
+doesn't seem equitable. Some of us find it extremely difficult to amass
+a hundred credits a day, and yet that is the amount we are charged for
+our daily tube of oxygen. Now, sir, we believe it would be fair if you
+reduced the charge for the oxygen, to, shall we say, eighty credits?"
+
+Baker took another sip of his highball. "Impossible," he said. "I'm
+sorry, but it's impossible."
+
+He watched Dr. Lurie's face go through some nervous gyrations. "Why,
+sir?"
+
+"The economy of this entire settlement was carefully worked out with
+the counsel of economists," Colonel Baker said. "You realize that we
+just can't step in and change one part without upsetting the entire
+pattern. We can't tinker--it's too hazardous."
+
+"But, sir, we find that we're just working for our respiratory needs,
+so to speak. That, plus the little food we consume ourselves from what
+we harvest. Oxygen and food--isn't there any possibility of our earning
+anything more?"
+
+"There have been settlers who have amassed enough credits to import
+some things from Earth. It's all a matter of the rate of work.
+Incidentally, I've noticed your production figures, Dr. Lurie. I
+wouldn't keep on this way, if I were you. Deficits pile up. The
+situation can become dangerous faster than you imagine."
+
+Even over the televiewer, Baker could see Dr. Lurie's face pale. A
+hand suddenly appeared, pushing Dr. Lurie aside. The big face of the
+redhead, Brace, appeared on the screen.
+
+"Listen, Baker," he roared, "if we don't get a better deal, we'll
+strike. You won't get a damn thing out of us. And what the hell're you
+going to do about that?"
+
+Baker sipped his Scotch and smiled. "You're all free agents," he said
+gently. "Far be it for me to attempt to dictate your behavior. You're
+at liberty to do as you please."
+
+Dr. Lurie's voice came over in a tense whisper. "He'll cut off our
+oxygen!"
+
+"He wouldn't dare," Brace snarled. "Nobody goes and kills a couple of
+hundred people."
+
+Baker chuckled loud enough for the settlers to hear. "If that is all,
+gentlemen, good day," he said, and flicked a switch. But it was only a
+one-way switch, shutting off sound from his direction but permitting
+him to see and hear the settlers. Their talk didn't go on very long
+before Baker could see that Brace had lost--the thought of not seeing
+the oxygen wagons come along in the evening was too frightening.
+
+"All right, you jerks," Red Brace shouted, "I'll go after him myself."
+He strode off up the road. Harvey Flanders ran after him. Baker could
+see, but not hear, the heated colloquy as the two men walked on, and
+then, finally, Brace turned around and came back, and the two men
+disappeared inside Flanders' house.
+
+Baker flicked a switch. Carsing's face appeared on the screen, with a
+brisk, "Yes, sir?"
+
+"Might be some trouble the next couple of days--perhaps even tonight,"
+Baker said. "Double-check the infrared warning system, will you?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+Baker went back to his highball, feeling rather pleasant.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Late that night, in Harvey Flanders' house, a long discussion went on
+among Harvey, Brace, Dr. Lurie, and the Schweitzer twins.
+
+"I went over it in detail with some of the old-timers here," Harvey
+said. "I also did some personal scouting, and everything they said
+seems to be true. Here's the setup:
+
+"Our idea of raiding the commissary for a lot of oxygen tanks is out.
+They don't keep any stock; there's never more than a single day's
+supply for the settlement. Of course, we can't make off with that,
+unless we want to kill off everybody else.
+
+"The oxygen plant itself is right up there on the hill, next to Baker's
+house. That's the key to his control, and he keeps it right under
+his thumb. Nobody--I mean nobody--except Carsing ever goes up there.
+They've got an endless belt system for taking up the empty tanks and
+sending back the full ones to the commissary."
+
+"That makes the whole thing simple," Red Brace said impatiently. "We
+go up there, knock off Baker and Carsing, and take over the oxygen
+factory."
+
+"It's not that simple," Harvey said. "I imagine the old boy has a way
+of keeping strangers out. The story I get is that he's got some sort of
+electronic telescope, and he sits up there all day watching everything
+that's going on. You're not going to sneak up on him, exactly."
+
+Brace stood up. "The longer we sit and talk, the more time he has to
+get set for us. Anybody coming with me?" He looked around. "Frankly, I
+don't give a damn if anybody comes or not. You'd only be in the way,
+anyway."
+
+He headed for the doorway.
+
+"Red, you can't go off half-cocked like this," Harvey pleaded.
+
+"So long," said Brace and went out into the cloudy night.
+
+Harvey looked around desperately. "We've got to stop him."
+
+"I say let him go," said Dr. Lurie. "He might find out something of
+value."
+
+"Get himself killed, more likely." Harvey went to the doorway. "Red!"
+he shouted. He got no answer. The road was empty as far as he could see
+in the clotted darkness.
+
+He raced around to the rear of the house and stood still. Faintly he
+heard the crunch and crackle of steps in the grain field. Red was
+hitting across country. Harvey raced into the field. "Red!" he shouted.
+
+Harvey found him by the sounds. Brace was coldly angry. "Either you
+pipe down and come along, or you go on back. Nobody's stopping me. If
+you try any monkey business, I'll kill you, and I'm not kidding."
+
+Harvey fell in alongside him. "You're the craziest jerk I ever saw."
+
+"Pipe down before you give us away," Brace growled.
+
+The hill loomed ahead of them like a giant blot against the sky. On
+their left were the thick woods where the settlers gathered timber for
+fencing and bridging. Straight ahead was a deep stream, traversed by a
+single bridge.
+
+"That bridge is a likely place for a burglar alarm," Harvey said. "We'd
+better swim."
+
+They took off their clothes and left them on the bank. They let
+themselves carefully down into the water and set out, using the breast
+stroke to keep the oxygen apparatus out of the water. They clambered up
+on the other side, chilled and shivering, and continued, naked, toward
+the hill.
+
+The ground roughened underfoot; the rise began. There was no apparent
+road. Here and there stood small blighted trees, devoid of foliage,
+standing like posts--They weren't trees at all! Harvey gripped Brace's
+arm. "Keep away from those posts," he whispered.
+
+They continued upward slowly. Harvey heard a faint click. He stopped.
+"Hear that?" he whispered, "that click?"
+
+Brace shook his head. They stood still, listening. There was no other
+sound. Brace took a step forward, and stopped. "I heard it," he
+whispered. They sank to the ground, and stretched out on their bellies,
+and waited tensely.
+
+Not a sound came out of the surrounding darkness.
+
+Far ahead, high in the sky, the windows of Baker's castle dimly glowed
+with a yellow light. There was still a long way to go.
+
+Brace sat up and jerked a hand impatiently at Harvey. They got to their
+feet and moved forward. They were moving through trees now. Harvey
+followed Brace reluctantly. There was something funny. Some sound he
+was hearing--or wasn't hearing--
+
+"Red!" It was the oxygen pack. The soft, bubbling murmur it always made
+was gone. "My oxygen is off! Yours, too! We've got to get back--fast!"
+
+Brace's eyes flared white in the darkness. "Come on," Harvey shouted,
+and rushed back through the trees. Brace came lumbering after him,
+protesting loudly. They raced across an open space--there were the
+posts again--they passed them--
+
+Click!
+
+And now Harvey knew where the click came from. It came from inside his
+oxygen pack.
+
+Almost instantly, he felt the soft flow of the oxygen through the
+tubes. He sat down. Brace sat down heavily beside him. "Those posts,"
+Harvey said. "He must have them all around the hill. They throw out
+a radio wave that shuts these things off when you go past them." He
+shook his head ruefully. "I should have guessed it. When I first took
+a look inside this oxygen pack, I noticed something that looked like
+a transistor, but I couldn't imagine what that could have to do with
+oxygen."
+
+Brace let out a long breath. "We should have kept going," he said
+bitterly.
+
+"There was a good two hours of climbing ahead of us. We'd have been
+dead a long time before we got there."
+
+"Okay," Brace said. "Let's go wreck these radio posts."
+
+"I'm afraid he has that all figured out," Harvey said sadly. "You
+notice the posts shut you off when you're going one way, and turn you
+on again when you're going back. If you go over there and wreck them,
+there'll be nothing to turn you on again."
+
+Red cursed long and loud. "There must be _some_ way to beat this oxygen
+racket."
+
+"We'll think of something," Harvey said determinedly.
+
+But the echo of his confident words rapidly faded as they moved through
+the grain fields. He was tired and chilled. Think of something? That
+white-haired devil in that eagle's nest had been thinking of the same
+subject for a decade. Could there be any angles he had overlooked?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Long after Ruth was asleep that night, Harvey lay in bed thinking. He
+reviewed, item by item, everything he could remember about electricity,
+radiation, the laws of gases, atmospheric constituents, the mechanics
+of partial pressures--all the tag-end memories of his college science
+courses. He felt that if there was a solution, it had to be something
+elementary, something that matched the simplicity of Baker's own idea.
+
+The thoughts went around and around in his brain, an intricate and
+dizzying dance, forming a pattern that grew fuzzier and fuzzier and
+fuzzier....
+
+He sat up with a start. His brain was tingling with something ...
+something that seemed to be....
+
+He struggled into his clothes, and dashed out of the house. He ran up
+the dark road and burst into Dr. Lurie's house. "Doc, Doc, wake up!" he
+yelled. "I need some scientific advice!"
+
+Shortly after sunrise, when most of the settlers were heading for the
+fields, Harvey and Dr. Lurie went to the COM booth. "Better let me do
+the talking," Harvey said.
+
+"I'd prefer it that way," Dr. Lurie said.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Baker, sitting before the electronic telescope, was enjoying the
+sight of the great phalanx of settlers swarming into the fields, when
+the buzzer sounded on his communication set. In a moment, two faces
+appeared--Dr. Lurie and Harvey Flanders. They weren't wearing their
+oxygen packs.
+
+"Good morning, gentlemen," Baker said affably.
+
+"Hiya," said Harvey Flanders.
+
+"Well!" said Baker. "I'm certainly glad to see you in such good spirits
+after last night's expedition."
+
+"Thanks," Harvey said. "All we want to tell you is that you don't have
+to send us any oxygen any more."
+
+Baker chuckled. "I see. You are going on strike, eh?"
+
+"No," Harvey said, "we're going to keep working--but for ourselves,
+not for you, Colonel. You see, Dr. Lurie here has put his scientific
+brain to work and come up with a substitute for your oxygen pack."
+
+"How incredible," Baker said pleasantly. "And what is the substitute,
+if I may ask? Alcohol?"
+
+"No, it's still oxygen, Colonel, but not the way your pack handles it.
+You see, Dr. Lurie has figured out a way to use atomic, not molecular,
+oxygen--O instead of O_{2}, if you follow me--and to give it by
+injection in a highly concentrated form. As you see, we're not wearing
+oxygen packs any more."
+
+"So I noticed. But I'm afraid your little hoax can't go on very long.
+In another two minutes, my friends, you'll be gasping like fish and
+running frantically home to get those pesky oxygen packs."
+
+"Why don't you time us?"
+
+Baker sipped his coffee. "I _am_ timing you, my friends. There are
+certain principles of physiology that can't be contravened. We're at
+the oxygen equivalent of a 27,000-foot elevation. The average duration
+of useful consciousness is two and a half minutes."
+
+Baker sipped his coffee, watching the faces of the two men. The clock
+on his desk moved past two minutes. Two and a half minutes. Baker
+shrugged. He knew there were some exceptions. Some persons in superior
+physiological condition had proved in aeronautical tests on Earth to
+be able to go on for as long as four minutes in as rarefied oxygen as
+existed here. But no more than four minutes.
+
+The clock hand reached four minutes. The men still sat there.
+
+He had timed them wrong. He had missed a minute. Certainly. They were
+going to start sagging now. Now.
+
+Another minute went by. Another minute. The men sat there, looking
+straight at him through the tele-screen. There was a cynical smile on
+their faces, as if they knew the camera was on them--as if they could
+actually see him.
+
+Another minute passed.
+
+Another minute.
+
+Baker leaped to his feet. "Die, damn you!" he screamed.
+
+The two men burst into laughter that exploded all over the screen. With
+a curse, Baker switched off the set and stood there, breathing hard.
+A moment later, he flicked it on again. The two men were leaving the
+booth. "Come back," he yelled.
+
+They turned, part way. Their indifference was maddening.
+
+"Come up here," Baker commanded. "I want to see your invention. I want
+to buy it."
+
+"Not interested."
+
+"Damn you, you must!" Baker shouted, his heart beating furiously.
+His hypnotized eyes kept swinging back to the clock. At least eleven
+minutes had passed!
+
+"We're not walking into any trap, Colonel," Harvey Flanders said. "If
+you want to do any dickering, you'll have to come see us. You know
+where to get us if you want us."
+
+The two men started up the road. Baker watched them with sick eyes as
+they went with firm steps to Harvey Flanders' house, and disappeared
+inside the doorway.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Inside Harvey Flanders' doorway, Dr. Lurie staggered. Harvey caught
+him, but didn't have the strength to hold him, and both sagged to the
+floor. "Quick, Ruth," Harvey said, gasping.
+
+She was waiting with the oxygen packs. Red Brace was with her. They
+fitted the masks quickly over the faces of the two men on the floor,
+and anxiously watched their rapid, intense breathing.
+
+In a little while, Harvey and Dr. Lurie were breathing at a normal
+rate. They got up and sat at the table, where Ruth had breakfast ready.
+
+"Do you think he'll come?" Dr. Lurie said.
+
+"He has to," Harvey said. "He can't afford to let anybody spread a new
+gospel among his people."
+
+"Would you guys mind explaining what this is all about?" growled Red
+Brace.
+
+Harvey laughed. "Sure, Red. It's nothing complicated; not very, anyway.
+Baker keeps plugging away at the fact that this is the same as living
+at a 27,000-foot altitude. It struck me suddenly that if that were
+really the case, some of us would be suffering from nose bleeds and
+other symptoms you get when you go up to a thin atmosphere, where the
+outside pressure is less than the body's blood pressure. But nothing
+like that has happened. So obviously, the atmospheric pressure must be
+about normal--the same pressure we have on Earth. There's less oxygen,
+but there's more carbon dioxide and there must be more of other gases,
+like nitrogen, to make up the full amount of pressure.
+
+"So you see where Baker figured wrong. He figured that if the amount of
+oxygen here is the equivalent of what exists at 27,000 feet, on Earth,
+then the survival time here ought to be the same as at 27,000 feet.
+But the analogy is wrong. At 27,000 feet above Earth, the atmospheric
+pressure is so light that whatever oxygen is in your blood bubbles out
+pretty fast. But here, where we have normal pressure, the atmosphere is
+pushing in on us a lot harder and keeps the oxygen in the blood longer.
+You follow me?
+
+"Anyway, I put all this to Doc Lurie last night and he said I must be
+right. So he got out some of his books and did some figuring, and what
+he came up with was this: If we rested--didn't move--while we breathed
+from our packs, getting our blood a hundred percent saturated, then we
+could take off the packs and go as long as fourteen or fifteen minutes
+before we keeled over. Long enough to convince that old buzzard that
+we've invented a new gimmick for giving oxygen by injection. He's
+up there in his palace now tearing out his hair--or more probably
+hotfooting this way."
+
+Red Brace leaned against the doorpost and grunted contentedly. "Boy,
+when I get my mitts on him."
+
+"Red," Harvey said, "this time you can get as rough as you like. I
+don't care what happens to him. You keep a lookout at the window. Soon
+as Baker gets close, everybody take off your oxygen mask and stow it
+out of sight. We don't want him getting suspicious about the Lurie
+invention. Another thing: We'll need something for him to see when he
+walks in the door--a box that looks as if it contains some sort of
+instruments."
+
+"I've got some boxes," Ruth said, going back into the bedroom.
+
+"Okay. Now, Doc, you'll do the talking, and Red and I will do the
+grabbing. But look casual as hell when he walks in."
+
+Ruth placed a covered box on the table. "Impressive," Harvey said.
+"Now, everybody, sit down and relax. It might be a long wait."
+
+"Not so long," said Red Brace a little while later. "They're coming
+over the crest right now."
+
+"Who's with him?"
+
+"Looks like Carsing."
+
+"I might have guessed that." Harvey watched a while at the window, then
+turned back. "Okay, everybody, masks out of sight."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was a pause; a sound on the outside step. Then into the doorway
+walked Carsing. His hand made a swift motion inside his coat and out
+again.
+
+The squat, ugly barrel of an explosive scatter-gun glinted at them.
+
+"Everybody back against the wall," Carsing said. "Colonel Baker doesn't
+want to be crowded."
+
+Slowly, tensely, staring at each other, they moved to the wall opposite
+the doorway. Baker walked in. His eyes made a quick circuit of the
+room, stopped briefly at the box, then turned to them.
+
+"What's the gun for?" Harvey said bitterly.
+
+Baker smiled. "You didn't trust me, hence I didn't trust you. Mistrust
+begets mistrust. Now, gentlemen," he said briskly, "explain this
+invention you told me about."
+
+"Before we do any explaining, we want you to know what we want."
+
+"Go right ahead." Baker pulled a chair to the doorway and sat down.
+"Name your price."
+
+"We'll take the gun."
+
+Baker's eyebrows rose. "Impossible. This is the only weapon on the
+planet."
+
+"That's all right with us. Hand it over and we'll tell you all about
+our invention."
+
+"I'm sorry, this weapon must remain in our hands. We're responsible for
+maintaining order and stability--it wouldn't make sense for anyone else
+to have custody of it. Now let's get on with the business. This box, I
+presume--"
+
+"Not a word until we get the gun," Harvey said.
+
+Baker's eyes narrowed. "Young man, you'd better hold your tongue. Dr.
+Lurie, I'm talking to you. I want the facts--immediately. And I must
+tell you, you're in no position to negotiate. Now speak up."
+
+"I, sir--I--" Dr. Lurie's voice broke--he began again--"I'll do what
+Mr. Flanders says--"
+
+"We'll see about that," Baker said grimly. He stood up. "You're coming
+with me. Carsing, take the box."
+
+Carsing, holding the gun out warily in front of him, moved to the table.
+
+"Don't you dare open it!" Ruth cried out.
+
+Carsing stared at her. Then, holding the gun against his armpit with
+one hand, a finger on the trigger, he reached with his free hand and
+unhooked the lid--
+
+Something sprang out of the box at his face--
+
+"Watch out, Carsing!" Baker shouted--but Harvey was already halfway
+across the room. He dove across the table, one hand aimed at Carsing's
+chest, the other slamming against the moving weapon, knocking it
+upward, backward--
+
+Shot spattered through and around the doorway.
+
+Baker had leaped aside as he saw the muzzle swinging in his direction.
+Now he made a quick move toward Harvey and Carsing, tangled and
+struggling on the floor--but a blow from Brace's fist caught him on the
+cheekbone and sent him crashing back against the wall.
+
+Brace darted down at the struggling men. He stood up a moment later,
+holding the gun. Carsing struggled upward, out of Harvey's grasp and
+reached for the gun. Brace's foot shot out and crashed with ferocious
+impact against his jaw. Carsing's head slammed backward against the
+floor. His body arched a moment, and then went limp all over.
+
+Harvey sat up, breathing hard. Ruth already had her oxygen pack on and
+quickly adjusted his.
+
+"Get mine," Red Brace said. He was standing in the middle of the floor,
+the gun trained on Baker, who stood half-slumped against the wall,
+watching them dazedly.
+
+There was a hissing in the air. A soft, persistent hissing.
+
+"Somebody has a leak!" Dr. Lurie shouted. Harvey, Ruth, Brace
+frantically felt their oxygen packs--and then their hands stopped, and
+they stared at Baker.
+
+A jagged hole, caused by a small bit of shot, was visible on the side
+of his oxygen pack.
+
+"Give the orders, Flanders," Brace said. "Do I blast him?"
+
+"Won't be necessary, Red," Harvey said quietly.
+
+Baker looked from one to the other with puzzled eyes. Then he muttered,
+"I must be going," and swung away from the wall, and out the door.
+
+He stopped. He felt his pack. He came rushing back, his eyes wide with
+terror. "A leak!" he shrilled. "I need another pack!"
+
+"Sorry, we've only one apiece," Harvey said. "You know that."
+
+Baker's lips trembled. His face was white. "Your invention! Your
+invention! I'll make any deal you want. Hurry!"
+
+"There's no invention," Harvey said gently. "Don't you know that by
+now?"
+
+Suddenly Baker leaped forward, his hands flying. He had the oxygen mask
+half off Harvey's face before Harvey could untwist his hands and wrench
+free.
+
+Baker stood there, breathing hard. Abruptly he turned and rushed out
+to the road. "Somebody!" he yelled. "Somebody give me a pack! I'll pay
+anything!"
+
+Homesteaders peered at him in amazement from their doorways--then shut
+their doors as he rushed at them.
+
+"I'll pay anything!" Baker screamed at the pitilessly closed doors.
+
+"This is what he was leading up to for ten years," said Brace.
+
+Harvey looked at the purple box. "A jack-in-the-box," he said softly.
+"Ruth where in the world did this thing ever come from?"
+
+"I brought it with me," Ruth said defiantly. "I thought maybe it might
+be hard to get toys here--and maybe we might want toys someday ... for
+somebody."
+
+Carsing stirred and groaned. "That's a relief--we're going to need the
+man to show us how to run the oxygen works," Harvey said. "Okay, kids,
+let's go to work. There's a lot to be done."
+
+"Going to try to get a ship for the trip back home?" asked Brace.
+
+"I don't know," said Harvey. "Maybe we can make a go of it after all,"
+he went on dreamily, "we might be able to pump oxygen into the houses
+so you don't have to wear a mask when you're home relaxing ... or
+making love." He put an arm around Ruth's shoulders. "Who knows?--maybe
+one of these days we might find use for those toys you brought."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wrong Analogy, by Joseph Shallit
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59545 ***