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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..6def8c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #61367 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61367) diff --git a/old/61367-h.zip b/old/61367-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6f48e7c..0000000 --- a/old/61367-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/61367-h/61367-h.htm b/old/61367-h/61367-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 3133138..0000000 --- a/old/61367-h/61367-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1300 +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 Another Earth, by David Evans and Al Landau. - </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 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph1 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } - -.ph2 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -.ph2 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Another Earth, by David Evans and Al Landau - -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: Another Earth - -Author: David Evans - Al Landau - -Release Date: February 10, 2020 [EBook #61367] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANOTHER EARTH *** - - - - -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="351" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>ANOTHER EARTH</h1> - -<h2>BY DAVID EVANS & AL LANDAU</h2> - -<p class="ph1">Whatever it was that had happened in the<br /> -test, it badly needed a good explanation.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Worlds of If Science Fiction, May 1963.<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="ph2">I</p> - -<p>Lieutenant Colonel Philip Snow, Flight Surgeon, USAF, and Test Director -of the Aero-Medical Laboratory, was pacing the study floor in his -quarters, asking himself for the dozenth time in the past half-hour: -What had happened to Richardson during the test that afternoon?</p> - -<p>He was no stranger to problems. He had been living with them for the -past few years, and they had been problems the like of which had never -before challenged the ingenuity of man. For he was the head of a small -community of men, scientists like himself—medical specialists of all -kinds, psychologists, electronic technicians, physicists, pressure -engineers, mathematicians and so on, each one of them an acknowledged -expert in his particular field—who had worked together with one end -in view: to send a man into space and bring him back safely to Earth -again. To put it more excitingly: to enable man to take his first step -toward the conquest of the universe.</p> - -<p>The result of their labors to date was the Capsule, a bottle-shaped -contraption which occupied the center of the laboratory floor.</p> - -<p>It wasn't very big; just big enough to contain a man enclosed in a -spacesuit, lying on a couch surrounded by instruments. But there wasn't -a square inch of the capsule itself, the spacesuit, and the instruments -which hadn't presented innumerable problems, the solving of which had -been the result of endless research and theorizing and testing.</p> - -<p>And in the same way, and almost to the same extent, there wasn't a -square inch of the man, too, which didn't present problems, all of -which must be solved before he could be sent into space.</p> - -<p>And so, in test after test, one of the chosen astronauts had lain on -the couch in the capsule, wired through his spacesuit to the dozens of -dials and graph recorders on the consoles at which sat the watching -specialists. It seemed there was nothing that could happen inside his -body that they could not know about. They could read every flexing -of his muscles, every heartbeat, every tiny shifting of temperature, -every reaction of his blood and of his complicated nervous system. On -the encephalograph, they could even detect reactions in the mass of -gray matter which was his brain, any sign of tension there, and above -all, any symptom of that strange phenomenon of which so little was yet -known, and which was called the "breakoff"—the eerie sensation of -complete isolation from Earth, the trancelike apathy and indifference -to survival that can attack not only high-flying pilots, but deep-sea -divers, "the rapture of the depths," and sometimes it was accompanied -by hallucinations in which strange forms and sounds were seen and heard.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>In the case of Lieutenant Hamilton Richardson, USN, there had been -no mysterious troubles of this kind—in fact, no troubles of any -kind at all. Aged thirty-six, he had been one of the first of the -astronauts to volunteer. He had passed with flying colors every one -of the grueling preliminary tests, mental and physical, and as far as -could be judged by science, he had seemed to be the perfect specimen, -mentally and physically, for the job. In the many tests made with him -inside the capsule, nothing had gone wrong with him. There had been -no signs of fatigue or failure of any kind. Had Snow been asked who, -in his opinion, would be the first man—or, at any rate, the first -American—to go into deep space, he would unhesitatingly have nominated -Richardson. That is to say, until that afternoon when the thing had -happened.</p> - -<p>It had been a long test, one made for the first time. The object of -it was to find out how the spacesuit, which was sealed off from the -rest of the capsule, would stand up if something happened to the -capsule itself. If, for instance, in its headlong flight through space, -something struck it, something, maybe, no bigger than a small pebble. -The odds were that in collision with even so small a meteor, the shell -of the capsule would be punctured, and within a minute or less, the -atmospheric pressure inside it, fixed at about five thousand feet above -sea level, would be reduced to zero. In other words, the capsule would -become a vacuum in which nothing on Earth could live. The astronaut -would then have to depend upon his spacesuit which, being pressurized, -and being really a capsule within a capsule, with its own supply of -oxygen, would be the one hope of survival.</p> - -<p>That day, the test had consisted of the "puncturing" of the capsule. -At a given signal, the pressure inside it had been reduced to that of -fifty miles above the Earth's surface—in other words, to zero—by -pumping out the air inside it. Richardson, the ace of the astronauts, -had been chosen for this important test.</p> - -<p>It had gone well. With the other scientists at their dials, Snow, -seated at the big console of literally dozens of dials, the only one to -be connected with Richardson by sound and speech, had given the signal. -In a minute, the capsule had become a vacuum fifty miles above the -surface of the Earth, outside its envelope of atmosphere.</p> - -<p>Richardson's voice, reading his instruments, acknowledging Snow's -instructions, answering his questions, had come through as normal -and as calm as ever. Snow had felt a rising excitement as the test -proceeded.</p> - -<p>And then, without warning, the thing had happened. Richardson's voice -had stopped in the middle of an instrument reading, as if it had -suddenly been cut off. A few seconds later, it had resumed. But when -it did so, the voice was uttering a stream of unintelligible sounds -in a low, lilting chant. Snow had listened incredulously for perhaps -thirty seconds, at the end of which the sounds had suddenly ceased. -Immediately, Snow had given instructions for the normal pressure inside -the capsule to be restored. Almost as he had done so, Richardson's -voice, once again normal, had resumed the reading of the instruments, -taking up from where it had left off a minute before.</p> - -<p>Acting on a sudden impulse. Snow had decided to say nothing over the -wire to Richardson at the time. He had continued his conversation with -the astronaut, telling him they were "bringing him down" and asking the -usual questions until the test ended.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When, with the others, he had stood around watching while Richardson -was helped out of his spacesuit, he had carefully watched their faces, -looking for some sign of doubt or puzzlement. But he saw none. On the -contrary, they all seemed triumphantly satisfied. Even Richardson had -shown no sign that anything unusual had occurred. He had been his usual -cheerful self, seeming not even slightly fatigued by the long test.</p> - -<p>Being the only one who had been in contact with Richardson, Snow -had suddenly found himself wondering if he really had heard those -sounds, if, maybe, he had been the victim of a hallucination. This -was why he had said nothing about it at the time. He had just asked, -as casually as he could, if any of them had anything they wanted to -bring up immediately. They had shaken their heads, beaming their -satisfaction, and he had dismissed them all, saying that in view of the -length of the test they might all call it a day, and postponing the -usual interrogation until the morrow. Then he had hurried back to his -quarters, bringing with him the recording machine on which, as was the -practice, his conversation with Richardson during the test had been -recorded. Controlling his impatience with difficulty, he had rewound -the tape on the machine and played it back, the tension rising within -him as he listened.</p> - -<p>There had been no hallucination. He heard Richardson's voice reading -the instrument, the sudden cut-off in the middle of it, the short -silence, then the voice uttering the strange sounds in a low-pitched -chant with a gentle rise and fall to it. Three times he had played it -back, and now it seemed to him that these were not just disconnected -sounds. They appeared to have a cadence, a phrasing which indicated -that they belonged to a language of some sort.</p> - -<p>Snow was no linguist. He had less than a fair conversational knowledge -of French and German, and a scholar's acquaintance with Latin, but he -had travelled very extensively in his time and had been accustomed -to hear many languages spoken. He was quite sure he had never heard -anything even remotely resembling these sounds. Certainly Richardson -was no linguist either. He was third-generation American from British -stock, and all he knew about languages was what he had learned in -school.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Then where had those sounds come from? Were they a language, and if -so, what did they mean? How could this happen to a man like Richardson -without his knowing about it? Did it mean that here was, after all, -something strange about him which the man himself might not even know -about, and which might mean that he was not fit for the project? This -last question worried Snow more than the others.</p> - -<p>He went to the telephone on his desk and dialed the Richardson -bungalow. The voice of Richardson's pretty wife answered him.</p> - -<p>"Yes? Sandra Richardson here."</p> - -<p>"Hello, Sandra. Phil Snow calling. Is Ham there?"</p> - -<p>"He's in the shower singing his head off. Shall I get him?"</p> - -<p>"No, it isn't important. I just wanted to ask him again if he feels all -right after the test. It was rather a long one, and I wondered if he -might feel tired, or...."</p> - -<p>"Tired? He seems even more full of pep than usual. Was the test so very -long, then?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, it was. That's why I called and—just to tell him it was a -success. I haven't checked all the reports yet, but it looks good. And -you say he's as usual?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. Why? There wasn't anything...?"</p> - -<p>"No, no, nothing at all. Just as I said. I'll be seeing you."</p> - -<p>He rang off, hoping that nothing he had said was now making Sandra -Richardson suspicious, and resumed his pacing up and down the floor. -Now another question came into his mind. The same test would be run -several times again before final conclusions could be made. Should -he wait for them to see if this thing happened again before starting -anything with Richardson and his colleagues? But even as he asked -himself the question, he knew the answer. If this never again happened -in any future test, the fact would remain that it had happened once -and could not be forgotten or brushed aside. It must be cleared up. -Something had happened to Richardson's mind.</p> - -<p>He decided to take Abe Franstein, his head psychologist, into his -confidence. As he dialed Franstein's bungalow, he recalled with a sense -of comfort that the brilliant little man was not only a world authority -in his particular subject, but that he was said to be able to read, -write, and converse in a staggering number of languages, some of them -obscure Oriental dialects.</p> - -<p>When Franstein answered the call, Snow asked him to drop in for coffee -after dinner.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph2">II</p> - -<p>"Well, I must say," said Franstein as they sipped their coffee, "yours -is the first glum face I've seen around here since that test this -afternoon. Here we are, within sight of our goal at last, and look at -you! Weren't you satisfied?"</p> - -<p>"Before I go into that," Snow replied, "there are a few things I want -to ask you."</p> - -<p>"About the test?"</p> - -<p>"In a way, but principally about Richardson. Have you ever had any -reason to suspect that there is anything unusual about him?"</p> - -<p>"In what way?"</p> - -<p>"In your line."</p> - -<p>Franstein produced an enormous meerschaum pipe and proceeded to fill it -from an untidy plastic pouch as he replied.</p> - -<p>"Yes, there is. One very unusual thing."</p> - -<p>"There is?"</p> - -<p>"He's got a very rare type of mind. It's probably perfectly balanced." -The little man lit his pipe and continued: "The vast majority of us -have some sort of imbalance, mentally. He hasn't. When I say imbalance, -I mean the sort of thing that makes for genius, a phenomenal memory, an -outstanding, effortless talent, amnesia, any form of insanity, or even -something like a violent temper. Anything, so to speak, overemphasized."</p> - -<p>"Is it physical? I mean, does it have anything to do with the size or -weight of the brain, or anything like that?"</p> - -<p>"You can take the brain of a genius and that of an ordinary person of -average intelligence, and find them exactly the same in measurements -and tissue condition. The popular conception of the genius as a man -with a bulging forehead is so much nonsense. Plenty of lunatics and -retarded individuals have bulging foreheads."</p> - -<p>"Then what does it have to do with?"</p> - -<p>"Ah! That's the big question. Nobody knows. You can take two men, equal -physically in every respect, equal in upbringing, education, health, -and with the same sized brain. One of them might turn out to be a -genius, the other an average individual, and nobody knows what makes -the difference. Nobody knows what makes an infant prodigy, or what it -is which enables a child of two to read easily, or a kid of five or -six to play some instrument as if he'd been at it for years or compose -symphonies, or master advanced mathematics. Same answer. Nobody knows. -It's got nothing to do with heredity. So few geniuses have had genius -offspring that they form exceptions to the rule. Again, why does an -infant prodigy sometimes lose his gift or talent entirely as he grows -older? We don't know. All we know is that the gift or talent is there, -but where it comes from, or why it is in one brain and not in another, -we don't know. But surely you don't have to have me to tell you all -this, Phil? What's on your mind?"</p> - -<p>"Listen to this," Snow said, and went to the tape recorder.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He rewound the tape to its beginning, depressed the switch marked -<i>Play</i>, and presently they heard the two voices, Snow's and -Richardson's.</p> - -<p>"Now!" said Snow as the point on the tape approached.</p> - -<p>There came the sudden stopping of Richardson's voice in the middle -of an instrument reading, the short silence, then Richardson's voice -chanting the strange sounds. Franstein took his pipe from between his -teeth and his mouth fell open as he listened. The sounds ceased and -Richardson's voice resumed the instrument reading at the point at which -it had left off.</p> - -<p>"That's all," said Snow, and switched off the machine.</p> - -<p>Franstein put his pipe back into his mouth. "Is this the recording of -this afternoon's test?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. What d'you make of it?"</p> - -<p>"Let's hear it again."</p> - -<p>Snow played back the recording a second and a third time, and then -said: "Well?"</p> - -<p>Franstein went to the table and helped himself to more coffee before -replying. "It's a new one on me," he said presently. "I've got about a -thousand recordings of languages and dialects from all over the world, -and not one of them is anything like that."</p> - -<p>"You think it is a language, not just sounds?"</p> - -<p>"That we've got to find out, but I'd say, offhand, it's a primitive -form of a language of some sort."</p> - -<p>"Then how the devil does it come out of a man like Richardson who's -never spoken anything but English—nor his forebears, for that matter?"</p> - -<p>Franstein shrugged his shoulders. "How does great music come out of a -child of six, and so on? Same question, same answer. Nobody knows. -Have you spoken to Richardson about it?"</p> - -<p>"No. I rang his bungalow just before dinner and spoke to Sandra. -Richardson was in the shower, and she said he was feeling fine. I -didn't tell her about this, of course."</p> - -<p>"Then it couldn't have been some sort of mediumistic trance. They -usually feel the effects of that sooner or later."</p> - -<p>"You're not suggesting spiritualism, are you?" and in Snow's voice was -a note of amusement.</p> - -<p>"Don't laugh at it. If it's never been proved, neither has it been -disproved."</p> - -<p>And that touched off a discussion which went on for two hours. It -covered many theories, many beliefs and faiths, all of which Franstein -spoke learnedly and with great respect. He talked of reincarnation, -spiritualism, the mystery of time, and in this last connection, he -paused in the middle of what he was saying and asked: "If this—" and -he waved a hand toward the machine—"is a language, and I'm pretty -sure it is, how can we be sure that it is a language of the past? Why -shouldn't it be one belonging to the future? All languages change with -time. We'd probably find it very difficult to understand the English -spoken ten centuries ago. What if this is the English that is going to -be spoken a thousand years hence?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>To all of which Snow listened with the skepticism of the exact -scientist, and Franstein, quick to notice this, went on: "You think -yourselves clever, you exact scientists, and so you are. You can do -a lot of things. You can split the atom, measure the stars, estimate -the life expectancy of the sun; you have conquered distance, you have -surrounded us with miracles like radio, television, invisible rays and -all the rest of it. Presently, you will conquer space and colonize the -planets, and so it will go until it will seem to you that you will -know everything. And you will too, except for one thing—the one final -mystery, the last secret of the universe—MAN. And that means you and -me, and any human being from a bum of Skid Row to the President. Man -is the eternal unknown quantity, and you've never had a more clear -demonstration of this than what happened to Richardson this afternoon. -Oh, I know what you've found out. You know all about man, his insides, -his glands, muscles, nerves, brain, and so on. You can even display him -on a table as a bucket of water and little piles of salts and minerals, -and you can point to them and say: 'That is what man is made of.' Only -the other day I was reading about some scientist who thinks he's on -the verge of producing a cell of life in a test tube. You may even do -that, and you may find out one day how to put the water and the salts -and the minerals together again and make a man. I've always thought the -Frankenstein story was a bit of inspired prophecy. But you still won't -be able to explain why great music can come from a child of six, or -what happened to Richardson this afternoon." He lit his big pipe, which -had gone out, and through the puffs asked: "And what do you propose to -do about Richardson?"</p> - -<p>"Run the test again tomorrow with him and see if this happens again, -and then decide," replied Snow.</p> - -<p>"But even if nothing happens tomorrow, you can't ignore this."</p> - -<p>"That's true. We've got to get to the bottom of it, and that's where -you come in. You're the expert on this sort of thing."</p> - -<p>Franstein looked at his watch. "Let's sleep on it and see what happens -tomorrow, eh?"</p> - -<p>He was on his way to the door when the telephone bell rang. Snow picked -up the receiver, and he heard him say: "Sandra?... <i>What?</i>... I'll be -right over. I've got Abe Franstein with me. I'll bring him with me. -Don't worry dear."</p> - -<p>Snow hung up. "Something's happened to Richardson," he said. "He's gone -into a deep sleep and won't wake, and he's talking to himself in some -funny language. Let's go."</p> - -<p>Snow rummaged in a drawer of his desk and found a stethoscope.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph2">III</p> - -<p>Five minutes later, they were standing with pretty Sandra Richardson at -the foot of the bed on which Richardson, clad in his pajamas, sprawled -on his back. He was in a deep sleep and from his mouth came a low -chanting. Franstein and Snow glanced at each other as they recognized -the sounds.</p> - -<p>Snow tried to wake the astronaut, gently at first, then less so, but it -had no effect. He used his stethoscope on heart and lungs, drew back an -eyelid and examined the eye beneath, felt the brow.</p> - -<p>"When did this happen?" he asked the anxious Sandra.</p> - -<p>"About fifteen, maybe twenty minutes ago," she replied. "We came in -here and undressed and I used the bathroom first. When I came out, I -found him like this."</p> - -<p>"How's he been all the evening?"</p> - -<p>"Fine, just as I told you when you rang. Tom and Betty Moreland came -for dinner and we played canasta. Is he all right?"</p> - -<p>"As far as I can see, yes. Heart, lungs, eyes all right, no fever. I -guess we'll just have to wait till he wakes."</p> - -<p>They went into the sitting room and Sandra left them to make coffee.</p> - -<p>"He's living through something," Franstein said. "Pity you haven't got -the recorder here."</p> - -<p>"I thought the same. I'll get it."</p> - -<p>Snow left and Franstein wandered back into the bedroom and leaned over -Richardson. Now he was sure this was a language and that the sleeper -was conversing with someone in his sleep. The expressions changed on -Richardson's face rapidly as they do on the face of anyone during a -conversation. At one moment he laughed as he said something, then -became serious as he said something else.</p> - -<p>Sandra came into the bedroom and joined Franstein at the bedside. "He's -never been like this before," she said worriedly.</p> - -<p>"Doesn't he ever talk in his sleep?"</p> - -<p>"He never even snores. When we were first married, he slept so quietly -that I thought he'd stopped breathing, but I'd only have to touch him -or whisper to him and he'd wake in an instant. What does this mean?"</p> - -<p>"We'll find out, never fear."</p> - -<p>They went back into the sitting room as they heard Snow return. He was -carrying the recording machine, and seeing the question in Sandra's -eyes as she saw it, he said reassuringly: "We're going to make a -recording of what Ham's saying. We'll soon find out what this is all -about."</p> - -<p>He busied himself changing the tapes on the machine, taking the new -one from his pocket, and fumbled the job in his haste. He had plugged -in the microphone and was unwinding the long chord when they heard -Richardson's voice call out from the next room: "Sandra!" and a moment -later, Richardson appeared in the open doorway, staring at them in -astonishment.</p> - -<p>"Abe! Phil! When did you come here?"</p> - -<p>"About half an hour ago," Snow replied.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Richardson passed a hand over his eyes. "I must have fallen asleep," he -said.</p> - -<p>"You did, darling, and I couldn't wake you," Sandra said. "So I called -Phil."</p> - -<p>"You couldn't wake me?"</p> - -<p>"No, and you were talking away in your sleep. You had me worried."</p> - -<p>"Why?"</p> - -<p>Sandra, at a loss, looked at Franstein and he answered for her. "You -were dreaming, Ham," he said.</p> - -<p>Richardson thought for a moment before replying. "Now that you mention -it, I was. But what's so extraordinary about that? Why are you all -looking at me as if I'd suddenly grown horns?</p> - -<p>"D'you remember what the dream was about?" Franstein asked.</p> - -<p>"Vaguely. Yes, I do. It was just a dream. Why is it so important?" He -sat down in a deep chair and looked around at them. "What is all this?" -he said. "I fall asleep for half an hour, have a silly dream, and wake -up to find you here looking as if something big has happened."</p> - -<p>"Something has happened, Ham," said Franstein. "Something we don't -understand." Richardson started up in his seat. "Take it easy, there's -nothing to worry about. We'll get to the bottom of it." He turned to -Snow. "I think I know the way out of this. Play the recording for Ham -to hear."</p> - -<p>Snow hesitated for a moment. "All right, if you think so," he said, and -busied himself with the recorder, replacing the used tape on the spool.</p> - -<p>Sandra perched herself on the arm of her husband's chair and put an arm -about his shoulders. They waited while Snow linked up the end of the -tape to the other spool. He pressed the <i>Play</i> switch, and presently -there came the voices of Snow and Richardson.</p> - -<p>"That's this afternoon's test," Richardson said.</p> - -<p>Franstein nodded, and they continued to listen. Then came the chanting -sounds, and when he heard them, Richardson's expression changed to one -of amazement. Snow switched off the machine.</p> - -<p>"What was that?" Richardson asked.</p> - -<p>"We hoped you'd be able to tell us," Franstein replied.</p> - -<p>"I? What should I know about it?"</p> - -<p>"That was your voice, Ham. Nobody's touched the tape, and I heard it -during the test."</p> - -<p>"But this is crazy. How could I make a noise like that without knowing -anything about it? Why, I remember every second of that test, and I -know I didn't do anything like that." He jumped to his feet and began -to walk up and down the room, his hands pressed to his head.</p> - -<p>"I said take it easy, Ham," Franstein said.</p> - -<p>Richardson pulled up short in his pacing and turned to the little -man. "How can I take it easy? I spend six hours in the capsule in a -difficult test, remember every bit of it, come out of it feeling not -even tired, and now you tell me that in the middle of it I had some -sort of a blackout and made funny noises. That can only mean that -there's something wrong with me, and you don't have to tell me what -that means. I don't qualify, after all. Is that what you came here to -tell me?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Franstein's voice was as quiet as before. "It doesn't mean anything of -the sort. If there'd been a blackout or if something else had happened -to your brain, it would have shown up on the encephalograph, and -nothing showed. I didn't know about this until I heard the recording, -and we weren't going to say anything about it until we'd run the test -a second time. Then Sandra called us to say she couldn't wake you and -that you were talking in your sleep, and we came over to find you in a -sleep as deep as a coma and obviously dreaming."</p> - -<p>"And what's that got to do with the test?"</p> - -<p>"You were making the same sort of sounds in your sleep as you did in -the test, and I'm sure they add up to a language of some sort."</p> - -<p>"<i>What?</i> You mean to say that was a language? For Pete's sake, I've -never spoken anything but English all my life. I can't."</p> - -<p>"We know that."</p> - -<p>Richardson turned to his wife. "Is this true?" he asked her tensely. -"Was I making noises like that in my sleep?"</p> - -<p>She nodded miserably.</p> - -<p>He threw up his hands. "Okay," he said, "you're three to one. The ace -astronaut turns out to be some sort of nut who talks monkey language -in his sleep, and when he's awake too, without knowing it." He went to -the deep chair and slumped down into it. "What do we do now? Go into -analysis again? Start all over?" He laughed shortly and bitterly, and -added: "Or do I resign from the project?"</p> - -<p>"Listen, Ham," Franstein said. "We're up against something new, -something I don't understand, and whatever happens, we've got to try -and find out what it is, for your sake as well as for the project's. -Let's relax and start with the dream. Tell us what you remember of it."</p> - -<p>Richardson took time to calm down before he spoke. "It was just a -dream," he began presently. "There was a big spaceship and a lot of -people standing about."</p> - -<p>"Where was this?"</p> - -<p>"Where? I don't know. On Earth, I suppose. Open place, you know, -only...." He paused before going on. "Only it wasn't standing up on end -like a rocket. It was lying on its side, and we were loading it."</p> - -<p>"Who were 'we'?"</p> - -<p>"My father and my two brothers. And that shows how silly the dream was -because I haven't got any brothers or father. My father in the dream -wasn't anything like my own. He was just an old man, and he told us -where to stow the crates."</p> - -<p>"What was in the crates?"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="321" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"In the crates?" Richardson looked up. "Let me see now. Oh, yes, they -were full of the seeds of plants and eggs and sperm of animals—sort of -the beginnings of things."</p> - -<p>"And where was the ship going to?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Again, Richardson concentrated before replying. "To another Earth," he -said. "That's right. The old guy, our father, said that this one was -going to be destroyed by some disaster, and the people standing about -were laughing and jeering and saying the old man was crazy."</p> - -<p>"Do you know what sort of disaster was going to happen?" asked -Franstein.</p> - -<p>Richardson looked at him and suddenly a smile formed on his face. "Now -I know where that dream came from," he said. "Remember that book <i>On -The Beach</i>? The story about how everyone on Earth was wiped out by -nuclear fallout? That's it! I remember wondering when I read it if some -of us would be able to go to another planet before anything like that -happened here, and I remember thinking, too, that we'd probably take -things like seeds and so on with us, and even the ova of animals, and -that by then we'd probably know how to preserve them—freeze them or -something of the sort."</p> - -<p>"We can do that now," Snow said.</p> - -<p>"Well, there it is, then," said Richardson, smiling again. "There's the -explanation."</p> - -<p>"It explains the dream all right," agreed Snow, "but what about the -sounds? Particularly those you made in the capsule?"</p> - -<p>"Lord, yes!" said Richardson, and the smile left his face. "I'd -forgotten about those. That puts us back to where we came in, doesn't -it?"</p> - -<p>"I'm not so sure," said Franstein. He got to his feet and, in his turn, -prowled up and down the room, deep in thought. The others waited for -him to go on, and presently he turned to them, a glint of excitement in -his eyes. "I think we're onto something," he said. "Those sounds are -obviously a part of your dream, Ham, including the ones you made in the -capsule, and only you know what they mean."</p> - -<p>"But I don't even remember making them!"</p> - -<p>"No, but your mind does. If we can unlock your mind, we can find the -secret, and there's a way in which it can be done. Hypnosis."</p> - -<p>"Hypnosis?" The others spoke at once.</p> - -<p>Franstein nodded. "I've got to put you into a hypnotic trance, Ham, -and we'll play that recording back to you and I think—only think, -remember—that you're going to be able to tell us what they mean. Any -objection, Phil?"</p> - -<p>"You're the expert."</p> - -<p>"How about you, Ham?"</p> - -<p>"I'll do anything to clear up this business." He jumped to his feet. -"Let's get on with it now. What do I do? Shall I lie down on the sofa?"</p> - -<p>"I didn't know you are a hypnotist too, Abe," said Snow. "I'm not -surprised, though. I might have known."</p> - -<p>Franstein took no notice of this. He stepped up to Richardson and -looked up at him, holding out one hand which the other, wonderingly, -took. "The big thing is confidence, Ham," he said, looking up -earnestly. "Complete confidence. You have that in me?"</p> - -<p>Richardson looked down on the little man and nodded his head. "Sure," -he said. "I've always had that in you, Abe."</p> - -<p>Franstein continued to hold the other's hand. "That's fine," he said. -"All you have to do is to relax and trust in me. Just relax completely. -Just let yourself go—eh?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Richardson's head nodded again, and for a moment Franstein, still -holding the hand continued to look up into Richardson's face above -him. Then he released the hand and said: "Now you can lie down on the -couch if you like."</p> - -<p>Richardson went to the couch and stretched himself out on it.</p> - -<p>"I've heard a lot about this," Sandra said, "but I've never seen it -done."</p> - -<p>Franstein smiled at her. "You've just seen it done, my dear," he said, -and as she stared back at him in astonishment, added: "He's a very good -subject. Now, when that machine is ready...."</p> - -<p>"If I'm right in what I think," Franstein said a few minutes later to -Snow, who stood by the table on which now rested the recorder, and to -Sandra who was at the head of the couch looking down on her husband who -lay there, his eyes half-closed, "you're going to hear something very -surprising. Please don't make a sound."</p> - -<p>They nodded their heads, and Franstein seated himself on the edge of -the couch, leaned over Richardson, and spoke softly: "You hear me, Ham?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, I hear you."</p> - -<p>"Then listen." Franstein turned and nodded to Snow. The machine was -switched on and there came, clearly, the chanted sounds of the test. -They finished and the machine was switched off. "You heard, Ham?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, I heard."</p> - -<p>"You made those sounds that we just heard."</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Can you repeat them?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Then do so."</p> - -<p>And now the strange low chanting sounds streamed from Richardson's -lips. Sandra put her hands to her mouth to stifle a gasp. Snow stepped -to her side, his face tense.</p> - -<p>The sounds ceased and Franstein, his eyes alight with excitement, said -softly: "Tell us, to whom are you speaking?"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="315" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"To my sons."</p> - -<p>"Tell us in English what you are saying to them."</p> - -<p>There was a silence. Franstein repeated his command, and Richardson -spoke again, this time in his normal voice.</p> - -<p>"<i>And God saw the earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh -had corrupted their way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, I have -determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with -violence through them; behold I will destroy them with the earth. Make -yourself an ark ... and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, -your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of -all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them -alive with you, they shall be male and female.... Also take with you -every sort of food that is eaten and store it up.... And Noah did all -that the Lord had commanded him.</i>..."</p> - -<p>The voice tapered off into silence, and Sandra, her eyes wide with fear -and amazement whispered: "That's the story of the Flood and he told it -as if he was there. What does it mean?"</p> - -<p>Franstein silenced her with a gesture and bent over Richardson whose -eyes were closed. "Ham," he said, a note of insistence in his voice, -"you hear me? Answer!"</p> - -<p>The eyes half opened. "Yes, I hear you."</p> - -<p>"Tell me, where did you go in the ark?"</p> - -<p>"To a place of many waters ... many waters, and we rested on them until -they went down." Now the voice was fading.</p> - -<p>"Where was it? Tell me, where was it?"</p> - -<p>The reply came in almost a whisper. "I don't know. It was another -earth ... another earth...."</p> - -<p>The eyes closed again, the breathing became deeper, but the lips still -moved, and through them, barely heard in the tense silence, came again -the low, chanting sounds. Then they, too, died away to silence, the -lips ceased to move, and Richardson slept.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Another Earth, by David Evans and Al Landau - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANOTHER EARTH *** - -***** This file should be named 61367-h.htm or 61367-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/3/6/61367/ - -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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Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - -</pre> - -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/61367-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/61367-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a497ba3..0000000 --- a/old/61367-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/61367-h/images/illus1.jpg b/old/61367-h/images/illus1.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9b02598..0000000 --- a/old/61367-h/images/illus1.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/61367-h/images/illus2.jpg b/old/61367-h/images/illus2.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 12b7228..0000000 --- a/old/61367-h/images/illus2.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/61367.txt b/old/61367.txt deleted file mode 100644 index babf055..0000000 --- a/old/61367.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1174 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Another Earth, by David Evans and Al Landau - -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: Another Earth - -Author: David Evans - Al Landau - -Release Date: February 10, 2020 [EBook #61367] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANOTHER EARTH *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - ANOTHER EARTH - - BY DAVID EVANS & AL LANDAU - - Whatever it was that had happened in the - test, it badly needed a good explanation. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Worlds of If Science Fiction, May 1963. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - I - -Lieutenant Colonel Philip Snow, Flight Surgeon, USAF, and Test Director -of the Aero-Medical Laboratory, was pacing the study floor in his -quarters, asking himself for the dozenth time in the past half-hour: -What had happened to Richardson during the test that afternoon? - -He was no stranger to problems. He had been living with them for the -past few years, and they had been problems the like of which had never -before challenged the ingenuity of man. For he was the head of a small -community of men, scientists like himself--medical specialists of all -kinds, psychologists, electronic technicians, physicists, pressure -engineers, mathematicians and so on, each one of them an acknowledged -expert in his particular field--who had worked together with one end -in view: to send a man into space and bring him back safely to Earth -again. To put it more excitingly: to enable man to take his first step -toward the conquest of the universe. - -The result of their labors to date was the Capsule, a bottle-shaped -contraption which occupied the center of the laboratory floor. - -It wasn't very big; just big enough to contain a man enclosed in a -spacesuit, lying on a couch surrounded by instruments. But there wasn't -a square inch of the capsule itself, the spacesuit, and the instruments -which hadn't presented innumerable problems, the solving of which had -been the result of endless research and theorizing and testing. - -And in the same way, and almost to the same extent, there wasn't a -square inch of the man, too, which didn't present problems, all of -which must be solved before he could be sent into space. - -And so, in test after test, one of the chosen astronauts had lain on -the couch in the capsule, wired through his spacesuit to the dozens of -dials and graph recorders on the consoles at which sat the watching -specialists. It seemed there was nothing that could happen inside his -body that they could not know about. They could read every flexing -of his muscles, every heartbeat, every tiny shifting of temperature, -every reaction of his blood and of his complicated nervous system. On -the encephalograph, they could even detect reactions in the mass of -gray matter which was his brain, any sign of tension there, and above -all, any symptom of that strange phenomenon of which so little was yet -known, and which was called the "breakoff"--the eerie sensation of -complete isolation from Earth, the trancelike apathy and indifference -to survival that can attack not only high-flying pilots, but deep-sea -divers, "the rapture of the depths," and sometimes it was accompanied -by hallucinations in which strange forms and sounds were seen and heard. - - * * * * * - -In the case of Lieutenant Hamilton Richardson, USN, there had been -no mysterious troubles of this kind--in fact, no troubles of any -kind at all. Aged thirty-six, he had been one of the first of the -astronauts to volunteer. He had passed with flying colors every one -of the grueling preliminary tests, mental and physical, and as far as -could be judged by science, he had seemed to be the perfect specimen, -mentally and physically, for the job. In the many tests made with him -inside the capsule, nothing had gone wrong with him. There had been -no signs of fatigue or failure of any kind. Had Snow been asked who, -in his opinion, would be the first man--or, at any rate, the first -American--to go into deep space, he would unhesitatingly have nominated -Richardson. That is to say, until that afternoon when the thing had -happened. - -It had been a long test, one made for the first time. The object of -it was to find out how the spacesuit, which was sealed off from the -rest of the capsule, would stand up if something happened to the -capsule itself. If, for instance, in its headlong flight through space, -something struck it, something, maybe, no bigger than a small pebble. -The odds were that in collision with even so small a meteor, the shell -of the capsule would be punctured, and within a minute or less, the -atmospheric pressure inside it, fixed at about five thousand feet above -sea level, would be reduced to zero. In other words, the capsule would -become a vacuum in which nothing on Earth could live. The astronaut -would then have to depend upon his spacesuit which, being pressurized, -and being really a capsule within a capsule, with its own supply of -oxygen, would be the one hope of survival. - -That day, the test had consisted of the "puncturing" of the capsule. -At a given signal, the pressure inside it had been reduced to that of -fifty miles above the Earth's surface--in other words, to zero--by -pumping out the air inside it. Richardson, the ace of the astronauts, -had been chosen for this important test. - -It had gone well. With the other scientists at their dials, Snow, -seated at the big console of literally dozens of dials, the only one to -be connected with Richardson by sound and speech, had given the signal. -In a minute, the capsule had become a vacuum fifty miles above the -surface of the Earth, outside its envelope of atmosphere. - -Richardson's voice, reading his instruments, acknowledging Snow's -instructions, answering his questions, had come through as normal -and as calm as ever. Snow had felt a rising excitement as the test -proceeded. - -And then, without warning, the thing had happened. Richardson's voice -had stopped in the middle of an instrument reading, as if it had -suddenly been cut off. A few seconds later, it had resumed. But when -it did so, the voice was uttering a stream of unintelligible sounds -in a low, lilting chant. Snow had listened incredulously for perhaps -thirty seconds, at the end of which the sounds had suddenly ceased. -Immediately, Snow had given instructions for the normal pressure inside -the capsule to be restored. Almost as he had done so, Richardson's -voice, once again normal, had resumed the reading of the instruments, -taking up from where it had left off a minute before. - -Acting on a sudden impulse. Snow had decided to say nothing over the -wire to Richardson at the time. He had continued his conversation with -the astronaut, telling him they were "bringing him down" and asking the -usual questions until the test ended. - - * * * * * - -When, with the others, he had stood around watching while Richardson -was helped out of his spacesuit, he had carefully watched their faces, -looking for some sign of doubt or puzzlement. But he saw none. On the -contrary, they all seemed triumphantly satisfied. Even Richardson had -shown no sign that anything unusual had occurred. He had been his usual -cheerful self, seeming not even slightly fatigued by the long test. - -Being the only one who had been in contact with Richardson, Snow -had suddenly found himself wondering if he really had heard those -sounds, if, maybe, he had been the victim of a hallucination. This -was why he had said nothing about it at the time. He had just asked, -as casually as he could, if any of them had anything they wanted to -bring up immediately. They had shaken their heads, beaming their -satisfaction, and he had dismissed them all, saying that in view of the -length of the test they might all call it a day, and postponing the -usual interrogation until the morrow. Then he had hurried back to his -quarters, bringing with him the recording machine on which, as was the -practice, his conversation with Richardson during the test had been -recorded. Controlling his impatience with difficulty, he had rewound -the tape on the machine and played it back, the tension rising within -him as he listened. - -There had been no hallucination. He heard Richardson's voice reading -the instrument, the sudden cut-off in the middle of it, the short -silence, then the voice uttering the strange sounds in a low-pitched -chant with a gentle rise and fall to it. Three times he had played it -back, and now it seemed to him that these were not just disconnected -sounds. They appeared to have a cadence, a phrasing which indicated -that they belonged to a language of some sort. - -Snow was no linguist. He had less than a fair conversational knowledge -of French and German, and a scholar's acquaintance with Latin, but he -had travelled very extensively in his time and had been accustomed -to hear many languages spoken. He was quite sure he had never heard -anything even remotely resembling these sounds. Certainly Richardson -was no linguist either. He was third-generation American from British -stock, and all he knew about languages was what he had learned in -school. - - * * * * * - -Then where had those sounds come from? Were they a language, and if -so, what did they mean? How could this happen to a man like Richardson -without his knowing about it? Did it mean that here was, after all, -something strange about him which the man himself might not even know -about, and which might mean that he was not fit for the project? This -last question worried Snow more than the others. - -He went to the telephone on his desk and dialed the Richardson -bungalow. The voice of Richardson's pretty wife answered him. - -"Yes? Sandra Richardson here." - -"Hello, Sandra. Phil Snow calling. Is Ham there?" - -"He's in the shower singing his head off. Shall I get him?" - -"No, it isn't important. I just wanted to ask him again if he feels all -right after the test. It was rather a long one, and I wondered if he -might feel tired, or...." - -"Tired? He seems even more full of pep than usual. Was the test so very -long, then?" - -"Yes, it was. That's why I called and--just to tell him it was a -success. I haven't checked all the reports yet, but it looks good. And -you say he's as usual?" - -"Yes. Why? There wasn't anything...?" - -"No, no, nothing at all. Just as I said. I'll be seeing you." - -He rang off, hoping that nothing he had said was now making Sandra -Richardson suspicious, and resumed his pacing up and down the floor. -Now another question came into his mind. The same test would be run -several times again before final conclusions could be made. Should -he wait for them to see if this thing happened again before starting -anything with Richardson and his colleagues? But even as he asked -himself the question, he knew the answer. If this never again happened -in any future test, the fact would remain that it had happened once -and could not be forgotten or brushed aside. It must be cleared up. -Something had happened to Richardson's mind. - -He decided to take Abe Franstein, his head psychologist, into his -confidence. As he dialed Franstein's bungalow, he recalled with a sense -of comfort that the brilliant little man was not only a world authority -in his particular subject, but that he was said to be able to read, -write, and converse in a staggering number of languages, some of them -obscure Oriental dialects. - -When Franstein answered the call, Snow asked him to drop in for coffee -after dinner. - - - II - -"Well, I must say," said Franstein as they sipped their coffee, "yours -is the first glum face I've seen around here since that test this -afternoon. Here we are, within sight of our goal at last, and look at -you! Weren't you satisfied?" - -"Before I go into that," Snow replied, "there are a few things I want -to ask you." - -"About the test?" - -"In a way, but principally about Richardson. Have you ever had any -reason to suspect that there is anything unusual about him?" - -"In what way?" - -"In your line." - -Franstein produced an enormous meerschaum pipe and proceeded to fill it -from an untidy plastic pouch as he replied. - -"Yes, there is. One very unusual thing." - -"There is?" - -"He's got a very rare type of mind. It's probably perfectly balanced." -The little man lit his pipe and continued: "The vast majority of us -have some sort of imbalance, mentally. He hasn't. When I say imbalance, -I mean the sort of thing that makes for genius, a phenomenal memory, an -outstanding, effortless talent, amnesia, any form of insanity, or even -something like a violent temper. Anything, so to speak, overemphasized." - -"Is it physical? I mean, does it have anything to do with the size or -weight of the brain, or anything like that?" - -"You can take the brain of a genius and that of an ordinary person of -average intelligence, and find them exactly the same in measurements -and tissue condition. The popular conception of the genius as a man -with a bulging forehead is so much nonsense. Plenty of lunatics and -retarded individuals have bulging foreheads." - -"Then what does it have to do with?" - -"Ah! That's the big question. Nobody knows. You can take two men, equal -physically in every respect, equal in upbringing, education, health, -and with the same sized brain. One of them might turn out to be a -genius, the other an average individual, and nobody knows what makes -the difference. Nobody knows what makes an infant prodigy, or what it -is which enables a child of two to read easily, or a kid of five or -six to play some instrument as if he'd been at it for years or compose -symphonies, or master advanced mathematics. Same answer. Nobody knows. -It's got nothing to do with heredity. So few geniuses have had genius -offspring that they form exceptions to the rule. Again, why does an -infant prodigy sometimes lose his gift or talent entirely as he grows -older? We don't know. All we know is that the gift or talent is there, -but where it comes from, or why it is in one brain and not in another, -we don't know. But surely you don't have to have me to tell you all -this, Phil? What's on your mind?" - -"Listen to this," Snow said, and went to the tape recorder. - - * * * * * - -He rewound the tape to its beginning, depressed the switch marked -_Play_, and presently they heard the two voices, Snow's and -Richardson's. - -"Now!" said Snow as the point on the tape approached. - -There came the sudden stopping of Richardson's voice in the middle -of an instrument reading, the short silence, then Richardson's voice -chanting the strange sounds. Franstein took his pipe from between his -teeth and his mouth fell open as he listened. The sounds ceased and -Richardson's voice resumed the instrument reading at the point at which -it had left off. - -"That's all," said Snow, and switched off the machine. - -Franstein put his pipe back into his mouth. "Is this the recording of -this afternoon's test?" - -"Yes. What d'you make of it?" - -"Let's hear it again." - -Snow played back the recording a second and a third time, and then -said: "Well?" - -Franstein went to the table and helped himself to more coffee before -replying. "It's a new one on me," he said presently. "I've got about a -thousand recordings of languages and dialects from all over the world, -and not one of them is anything like that." - -"You think it is a language, not just sounds?" - -"That we've got to find out, but I'd say, offhand, it's a primitive -form of a language of some sort." - -"Then how the devil does it come out of a man like Richardson who's -never spoken anything but English--nor his forebears, for that matter?" - -Franstein shrugged his shoulders. "How does great music come out of a -child of six, and so on? Same question, same answer. Nobody knows. -Have you spoken to Richardson about it?" - -"No. I rang his bungalow just before dinner and spoke to Sandra. -Richardson was in the shower, and she said he was feeling fine. I -didn't tell her about this, of course." - -"Then it couldn't have been some sort of mediumistic trance. They -usually feel the effects of that sooner or later." - -"You're not suggesting spiritualism, are you?" and in Snow's voice was -a note of amusement. - -"Don't laugh at it. If it's never been proved, neither has it been -disproved." - -And that touched off a discussion which went on for two hours. It -covered many theories, many beliefs and faiths, all of which Franstein -spoke learnedly and with great respect. He talked of reincarnation, -spiritualism, the mystery of time, and in this last connection, he -paused in the middle of what he was saying and asked: "If this--" and -he waved a hand toward the machine--"is a language, and I'm pretty -sure it is, how can we be sure that it is a language of the past? Why -shouldn't it be one belonging to the future? All languages change with -time. We'd probably find it very difficult to understand the English -spoken ten centuries ago. What if this is the English that is going to -be spoken a thousand years hence?" - - * * * * * - -To all of which Snow listened with the skepticism of the exact -scientist, and Franstein, quick to notice this, went on: "You think -yourselves clever, you exact scientists, and so you are. You can do -a lot of things. You can split the atom, measure the stars, estimate -the life expectancy of the sun; you have conquered distance, you have -surrounded us with miracles like radio, television, invisible rays and -all the rest of it. Presently, you will conquer space and colonize the -planets, and so it will go until it will seem to you that you will -know everything. And you will too, except for one thing--the one final -mystery, the last secret of the universe--MAN. And that means you and -me, and any human being from a bum of Skid Row to the President. Man -is the eternal unknown quantity, and you've never had a more clear -demonstration of this than what happened to Richardson this afternoon. -Oh, I know what you've found out. You know all about man, his insides, -his glands, muscles, nerves, brain, and so on. You can even display him -on a table as a bucket of water and little piles of salts and minerals, -and you can point to them and say: 'That is what man is made of.' Only -the other day I was reading about some scientist who thinks he's on -the verge of producing a cell of life in a test tube. You may even do -that, and you may find out one day how to put the water and the salts -and the minerals together again and make a man. I've always thought the -Frankenstein story was a bit of inspired prophecy. But you still won't -be able to explain why great music can come from a child of six, or -what happened to Richardson this afternoon." He lit his big pipe, which -had gone out, and through the puffs asked: "And what do you propose to -do about Richardson?" - -"Run the test again tomorrow with him and see if this happens again, -and then decide," replied Snow. - -"But even if nothing happens tomorrow, you can't ignore this." - -"That's true. We've got to get to the bottom of it, and that's where -you come in. You're the expert on this sort of thing." - -Franstein looked at his watch. "Let's sleep on it and see what happens -tomorrow, eh?" - -He was on his way to the door when the telephone bell rang. Snow picked -up the receiver, and he heard him say: "Sandra?... _What?_... I'll be -right over. I've got Abe Franstein with me. I'll bring him with me. -Don't worry dear." - -Snow hung up. "Something's happened to Richardson," he said. "He's gone -into a deep sleep and won't wake, and he's talking to himself in some -funny language. Let's go." - -Snow rummaged in a drawer of his desk and found a stethoscope. - - - III - -Five minutes later, they were standing with pretty Sandra Richardson at -the foot of the bed on which Richardson, clad in his pajamas, sprawled -on his back. He was in a deep sleep and from his mouth came a low -chanting. Franstein and Snow glanced at each other as they recognized -the sounds. - -Snow tried to wake the astronaut, gently at first, then less so, but it -had no effect. He used his stethoscope on heart and lungs, drew back an -eyelid and examined the eye beneath, felt the brow. - -"When did this happen?" he asked the anxious Sandra. - -"About fifteen, maybe twenty minutes ago," she replied. "We came in -here and undressed and I used the bathroom first. When I came out, I -found him like this." - -"How's he been all the evening?" - -"Fine, just as I told you when you rang. Tom and Betty Moreland came -for dinner and we played canasta. Is he all right?" - -"As far as I can see, yes. Heart, lungs, eyes all right, no fever. I -guess we'll just have to wait till he wakes." - -They went into the sitting room and Sandra left them to make coffee. - -"He's living through something," Franstein said. "Pity you haven't got -the recorder here." - -"I thought the same. I'll get it." - -Snow left and Franstein wandered back into the bedroom and leaned over -Richardson. Now he was sure this was a language and that the sleeper -was conversing with someone in his sleep. The expressions changed on -Richardson's face rapidly as they do on the face of anyone during a -conversation. At one moment he laughed as he said something, then -became serious as he said something else. - -Sandra came into the bedroom and joined Franstein at the bedside. "He's -never been like this before," she said worriedly. - -"Doesn't he ever talk in his sleep?" - -"He never even snores. When we were first married, he slept so quietly -that I thought he'd stopped breathing, but I'd only have to touch him -or whisper to him and he'd wake in an instant. What does this mean?" - -"We'll find out, never fear." - -They went back into the sitting room as they heard Snow return. He was -carrying the recording machine, and seeing the question in Sandra's -eyes as she saw it, he said reassuringly: "We're going to make a -recording of what Ham's saying. We'll soon find out what this is all -about." - -He busied himself changing the tapes on the machine, taking the new -one from his pocket, and fumbled the job in his haste. He had plugged -in the microphone and was unwinding the long chord when they heard -Richardson's voice call out from the next room: "Sandra!" and a moment -later, Richardson appeared in the open doorway, staring at them in -astonishment. - -"Abe! Phil! When did you come here?" - -"About half an hour ago," Snow replied. - - * * * * * - -Richardson passed a hand over his eyes. "I must have fallen asleep," he -said. - -"You did, darling, and I couldn't wake you," Sandra said. "So I called -Phil." - -"You couldn't wake me?" - -"No, and you were talking away in your sleep. You had me worried." - -"Why?" - -Sandra, at a loss, looked at Franstein and he answered for her. "You -were dreaming, Ham," he said. - -Richardson thought for a moment before replying. "Now that you mention -it, I was. But what's so extraordinary about that? Why are you all -looking at me as if I'd suddenly grown horns? - -"D'you remember what the dream was about?" Franstein asked. - -"Vaguely. Yes, I do. It was just a dream. Why is it so important?" He -sat down in a deep chair and looked around at them. "What is all this?" -he said. "I fall asleep for half an hour, have a silly dream, and wake -up to find you here looking as if something big has happened." - -"Something has happened, Ham," said Franstein. "Something we don't -understand." Richardson started up in his seat. "Take it easy, there's -nothing to worry about. We'll get to the bottom of it." He turned to -Snow. "I think I know the way out of this. Play the recording for Ham -to hear." - -Snow hesitated for a moment. "All right, if you think so," he said, and -busied himself with the recorder, replacing the used tape on the spool. - -Sandra perched herself on the arm of her husband's chair and put an arm -about his shoulders. They waited while Snow linked up the end of the -tape to the other spool. He pressed the _Play_ switch, and presently -there came the voices of Snow and Richardson. - -"That's this afternoon's test," Richardson said. - -Franstein nodded, and they continued to listen. Then came the chanting -sounds, and when he heard them, Richardson's expression changed to one -of amazement. Snow switched off the machine. - -"What was that?" Richardson asked. - -"We hoped you'd be able to tell us," Franstein replied. - -"I? What should I know about it?" - -"That was your voice, Ham. Nobody's touched the tape, and I heard it -during the test." - -"But this is crazy. How could I make a noise like that without knowing -anything about it? Why, I remember every second of that test, and I -know I didn't do anything like that." He jumped to his feet and began -to walk up and down the room, his hands pressed to his head. - -"I said take it easy, Ham," Franstein said. - -Richardson pulled up short in his pacing and turned to the little -man. "How can I take it easy? I spend six hours in the capsule in a -difficult test, remember every bit of it, come out of it feeling not -even tired, and now you tell me that in the middle of it I had some -sort of a blackout and made funny noises. That can only mean that -there's something wrong with me, and you don't have to tell me what -that means. I don't qualify, after all. Is that what you came here to -tell me?" - - * * * * * - -Franstein's voice was as quiet as before. "It doesn't mean anything of -the sort. If there'd been a blackout or if something else had happened -to your brain, it would have shown up on the encephalograph, and -nothing showed. I didn't know about this until I heard the recording, -and we weren't going to say anything about it until we'd run the test -a second time. Then Sandra called us to say she couldn't wake you and -that you were talking in your sleep, and we came over to find you in a -sleep as deep as a coma and obviously dreaming." - -"And what's that got to do with the test?" - -"You were making the same sort of sounds in your sleep as you did in -the test, and I'm sure they add up to a language of some sort." - -"_What?_ You mean to say that was a language? For Pete's sake, I've -never spoken anything but English all my life. I can't." - -"We know that." - -Richardson turned to his wife. "Is this true?" he asked her tensely. -"Was I making noises like that in my sleep?" - -She nodded miserably. - -He threw up his hands. "Okay," he said, "you're three to one. The ace -astronaut turns out to be some sort of nut who talks monkey language -in his sleep, and when he's awake too, without knowing it." He went to -the deep chair and slumped down into it. "What do we do now? Go into -analysis again? Start all over?" He laughed shortly and bitterly, and -added: "Or do I resign from the project?" - -"Listen, Ham," Franstein said. "We're up against something new, -something I don't understand, and whatever happens, we've got to try -and find out what it is, for your sake as well as for the project's. -Let's relax and start with the dream. Tell us what you remember of it." - -Richardson took time to calm down before he spoke. "It was just a -dream," he began presently. "There was a big spaceship and a lot of -people standing about." - -"Where was this?" - -"Where? I don't know. On Earth, I suppose. Open place, you know, -only...." He paused before going on. "Only it wasn't standing up on end -like a rocket. It was lying on its side, and we were loading it." - -"Who were 'we'?" - -"My father and my two brothers. And that shows how silly the dream was -because I haven't got any brothers or father. My father in the dream -wasn't anything like my own. He was just an old man, and he told us -where to stow the crates." - -"What was in the crates?" - -"In the crates?" Richardson looked up. "Let me see now. Oh, yes, they -were full of the seeds of plants and eggs and sperm of animals--sort of -the beginnings of things." - -"And where was the ship going to?" - - * * * * * - -Again, Richardson concentrated before replying. "To another Earth," he -said. "That's right. The old guy, our father, said that this one was -going to be destroyed by some disaster, and the people standing about -were laughing and jeering and saying the old man was crazy." - -"Do you know what sort of disaster was going to happen?" asked -Franstein. - -Richardson looked at him and suddenly a smile formed on his face. "Now -I know where that dream came from," he said. "Remember that book _On -The Beach_? The story about how everyone on Earth was wiped out by -nuclear fallout? That's it! I remember wondering when I read it if some -of us would be able to go to another planet before anything like that -happened here, and I remember thinking, too, that we'd probably take -things like seeds and so on with us, and even the ova of animals, and -that by then we'd probably know how to preserve them--freeze them or -something of the sort." - -"We can do that now," Snow said. - -"Well, there it is, then," said Richardson, smiling again. "There's the -explanation." - -"It explains the dream all right," agreed Snow, "but what about the -sounds? Particularly those you made in the capsule?" - -"Lord, yes!" said Richardson, and the smile left his face. "I'd -forgotten about those. That puts us back to where we came in, doesn't -it?" - -"I'm not so sure," said Franstein. He got to his feet and, in his turn, -prowled up and down the room, deep in thought. The others waited for -him to go on, and presently he turned to them, a glint of excitement in -his eyes. "I think we're onto something," he said. "Those sounds are -obviously a part of your dream, Ham, including the ones you made in the -capsule, and only you know what they mean." - -"But I don't even remember making them!" - -"No, but your mind does. If we can unlock your mind, we can find the -secret, and there's a way in which it can be done. Hypnosis." - -"Hypnosis?" The others spoke at once. - -Franstein nodded. "I've got to put you into a hypnotic trance, Ham, -and we'll play that recording back to you and I think--only think, -remember--that you're going to be able to tell us what they mean. Any -objection, Phil?" - -"You're the expert." - -"How about you, Ham?" - -"I'll do anything to clear up this business." He jumped to his feet. -"Let's get on with it now. What do I do? Shall I lie down on the sofa?" - -"I didn't know you are a hypnotist too, Abe," said Snow. "I'm not -surprised, though. I might have known." - -Franstein took no notice of this. He stepped up to Richardson and -looked up at him, holding out one hand which the other, wonderingly, -took. "The big thing is confidence, Ham," he said, looking up -earnestly. "Complete confidence. You have that in me?" - -Richardson looked down on the little man and nodded his head. "Sure," -he said. "I've always had that in you, Abe." - -Franstein continued to hold the other's hand. "That's fine," he said. -"All you have to do is to relax and trust in me. Just relax completely. -Just let yourself go--eh?" - - * * * * * - -Richardson's head nodded again, and for a moment Franstein, still -holding the hand continued to look up into Richardson's face above -him. Then he released the hand and said: "Now you can lie down on the -couch if you like." - -Richardson went to the couch and stretched himself out on it. - -"I've heard a lot about this," Sandra said, "but I've never seen it -done." - -Franstein smiled at her. "You've just seen it done, my dear," he said, -and as she stared back at him in astonishment, added: "He's a very good -subject. Now, when that machine is ready...." - -"If I'm right in what I think," Franstein said a few minutes later to -Snow, who stood by the table on which now rested the recorder, and to -Sandra who was at the head of the couch looking down on her husband who -lay there, his eyes half-closed, "you're going to hear something very -surprising. Please don't make a sound." - -They nodded their heads, and Franstein seated himself on the edge of -the couch, leaned over Richardson, and spoke softly: "You hear me, Ham?" - -"Yes, I hear you." - -"Then listen." Franstein turned and nodded to Snow. The machine was -switched on and there came, clearly, the chanted sounds of the test. -They finished and the machine was switched off. "You heard, Ham?" - -"Yes, I heard." - -"You made those sounds that we just heard." - -"Yes." - -"Can you repeat them?" - -"Yes." - -"Then do so." - -And now the strange low chanting sounds streamed from Richardson's -lips. Sandra put her hands to her mouth to stifle a gasp. Snow stepped -to her side, his face tense. - -The sounds ceased and Franstein, his eyes alight with excitement, said -softly: "Tell us, to whom are you speaking?" - -"To my sons." - -"Tell us in English what you are saying to them." - -There was a silence. Franstein repeated his command, and Richardson -spoke again, this time in his normal voice. - -"_And God saw the earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh -had corrupted their way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, I have -determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with -violence through them; behold I will destroy them with the earth. Make -yourself an ark ... and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, -your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of -all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them -alive with you, they shall be male and female.... Also take with you -every sort of food that is eaten and store it up.... And Noah did all -that the Lord had commanded him._..." - -The voice tapered off into silence, and Sandra, her eyes wide with fear -and amazement whispered: "That's the story of the Flood and he told it -as if he was there. What does it mean?" - -Franstein silenced her with a gesture and bent over Richardson whose -eyes were closed. "Ham," he said, a note of insistence in his voice, -"you hear me? Answer!" - -The eyes half opened. "Yes, I hear you." - -"Tell me, where did you go in the ark?" - -"To a place of many waters ... many waters, and we rested on them until -they went down." Now the voice was fading. - -"Where was it? Tell me, where was it?" - -The reply came in almost a whisper. "I don't know. It was another -earth ... another earth...." - -The eyes closed again, the breathing became deeper, but the lips still -moved, and through them, barely heard in the tense silence, came again -the low, chanting sounds. Then they, too, died away to silence, the -lips ceased to move, and Richardson slept. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Another Earth, by David Evans and Al Landau - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANOTHER EARTH *** - -***** This file should be named 61367.txt or 61367.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/3/6/61367/ - -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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