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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..3905411 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #62034 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62034) diff --git a/old/62034-h.zip b/old/62034-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ae80a5a..0000000 --- a/old/62034-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62034-h/62034-h.htm b/old/62034-h/62034-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 46dcff1..0000000 --- a/old/62034-h/62034-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1078 +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 The Mercurian, by Frank Belknap Long. - </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; -} - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mercurian, by Frank Belknap Long - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Mercurian - -Author: Frank Belknap Long - -Release Date: May 5, 2020 [EBook #62034] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERCURIAN *** - - - - -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="372" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>THE MERCURIAN</h1> - -<h2>By FRANK BELKNAP LONG</h2> - -<p>For ages Mankind labelled Mercury a dead<br /> -world—a red-hot, seething outpost of hell.<br /> -Too late Rawley learned of the hideous life<br /> -that molten, steaming planet spawned!</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Winter 1941.<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>We stood before the airlock, the old man and I, and watched them go -out. Ellison was a granite man and I was just the lad who threw the -switches.</p> - -<p>I was new at it. They had sent me out with a pat on the back and a -commission, but I didn't feel like a Mercury run officer. Mining -uranium on the Sun's firstling was no job for a green kid of -twenty-two. Outside were lakes of molten zinc and a temperature of 790 -degrees Fahr.</p> - -<p>No part of that temperature seeped into us, but just knowing it was -out there was spine-chilling. I am not being facetious. To keep from -thinking of the hot face we thought of the cold face, and you can't -imagine extremes of cold without feeling shivery. Out on the cold face -were other miners, working under conditions I wouldn't wish on my worst -enemy. They had the cold of open space to contend with, and a little of -<i>that</i> seeped in.</p> - -<p>The Commander was passing out advice to each of the miners as they -stepped into the lock.</p> - -<p>"Murphy, it's uranium we want. We're not zoologists. The next time you -go specimen chasing—"</p> - -<p>"But it looked like a frog, Chief. I swear it did."</p> - -<p>"You know damn well no froglike animal could hop around on red-hot -rocks."</p> - -<p>"I won't let him out of my sight this time, sir," said the miner at -Murphy's heels.</p> - -<p>"Thank you, Haines. He needs a nurse, but do what you can."</p> - -<p>Five miners stepped out, each with a glance from Ellison which said -as plain as words that he would walk beside them until they came back -in again. The old man had so much quiet strength that he could split -off simulacra of himself, and send them out through the airlock by -just passing out advice. He moved like a living presence over the -semi-molten Mercurian crust beside each of his men, fretting when a -coupling slipped or mysterious stirrings caused the lads to look at one -another with a wild surmise.</p> - -<p>He knew that the merciless heat beating down did something to the -scarred and cracked surface rocks which made them seem to buckle -and split up into little leaping ghosts, and half his warnings were -directed against "heat-devils" and other optical illusions.</p> - -<p>When the last man had passed out he turned to me with a wry smile. -"Dave, speaking as a psychiatrist, and without knowing for sure, I've a -hunch there is too much tension inside of you."</p> - -<p>The old man actually was a psychiatrist. You have to be pretty nearly -everything to qualify as a Mercury run commander and Ellison's -knowledge started with Aasen and ended with Zwolle. There were some -gaps in between, but not many, and he frequently surprised me by -pulling rabbits out of those.</p> - -<p>We went down into the cuddy and the old man brought out some real smoky -Scotch, and we had at least three while a strained look came into his -face. One of these days someone is going to stop putting bulkhead -chronometers in the cuddies of Mercury run spaceships. Men have to go -out and Commanders have to wait, and if an officer can't get his mind -off the seconds in a cuddy what chance has he of relaxing at all?</p> - -<p>Hanging on the corrugated metal bulkhead were curios from all over -the Solar System, and I tried to interest myself in the things the -Commander had collected in his travels. A dried Venusian weejee head -looks pretty grotesque, but so does a deep-sea fish from home, and when -you've seen both dozens of times—</p> - -<p>A sudden vibrant humming made me spill a jigger of Scotch on my liberty -uniform. The lad who was taking my place at the lock control was -buzzing the old man from the "peel off" room. Ellison swung about, and -barked into the auxiliary circuit audiocoil. "Well?"</p> - -<p>"The men have returned, sir."</p> - -<p>"All right. Keep the inner locks closed and watch the insulators. -Rawley is taking over."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Between the outer and inner locks we had to cool off the men a little. -When they stepped in from the crust the sheath couplings on their -non-combustible suits had to be sprayed over with liquid air.</p> - -<p>We went up in the jacket-lift with our knees braced and down the stern -passageway to the "peel off" room, the old man striding on ahead of -me. Had I stopped to reflect I might have realized there was trouble -brewing. The old man wasn't psychic exactly, but his hunches came out -pat.</p> - -<p>Before I looked through the lock port my nerves were merely jumpy, but -when I actually saw Murphy standing in the freeze vault enveloped in -smoke and sizzle I nearly passed out from shock.</p> - -<p>Murphy was waving his arms up and down and the man behind him was -making frantic signs to us. The frog was dangling by its long legs from -the Irishman's gloved right hand. It was about three feet in height. -Every time he raised it up it tried to leap in his hand, and twisted -its eyes around.</p> - -<p>Some quirk of parallel evolution had given it a froglike face, webbed -feet and long, powerful hindlimbs. But, of course, it wasn't a frog. It -was a Mercurian animal, and my stomach went tight ten seconds after I -laid eyes on it.</p> - -<p>I've said that I was just a green kid. The old man thought otherwise, -but he was wrong and I proceeded to prove it. I turned on the freeze -conduits. Liquid air poured into the vault over Murphy and he stopped -gesticulating. He just stood there looking at me through the eye-piece -of his helmet.</p> - -<p>Murphy had gone out at the risk of his life and brought back a living -Mercurian animal. When he perceived that I had frozen that frog to a -crisp something must have gone dead inside him. When he came in through -the inner locks his couplings were coated with frost and there was a -look of anguish on the upper part of his face. Behind the eye-piece his -features seemed all wrenched apart. From his gloved right hand the frog -still dangled, but its squirmings had ceased. Its limbs were rigid, its -stalked eyes frozen shut.</p> - -<p>With shaking fingers Murphy removed his helmet and started peeling off -his suit, his gaze riveted on my face. The other miners stood watching -him as though fearful of what he might do.</p> - -<p>The old man laid a hand on my arm. "You'd better go below, Dave."</p> - -<p>Murphy shook his head. "No, no, let the lad stay."</p> - -<p>He had laid the frog on the deck and was pushing his suit down below -his knees. I noticed that his features were twitching, but I thought he -was making an effort to control his anger until he came up out of that -crouch with all his strength riding on his fists.</p> - -<p>He clipped me on the side of the head, and delivered a blow to my -midriff which sent me reeling back against the bulkhead.</p> - -<p>The old man leapt between us. "Watch yourself, Murphy," he thundered. -"I'm still in command here."</p> - -<p>Murphy spat on the deck, a slow flush creeping up over his face. "I -just can't figure it," he muttered. "I saw an infant once without one, -but its skull tapered and it had to be fed through a tube."</p> - -<p>I had always liked Murphy, but suddenly I saw red. I jumped him, -and for a minute it was touch and go. We rolled over on the deck, -exchanging hammer blows. He was hampered by the tangle his legs were -in, but he made good use of his fists.</p> - -<p>The old man had to intervene again. He accomplished it by backing up -his tuggings with profanity. He cast aspersions on our ancestry, and -threatened us with the psycho-lash.</p> - -<p>I'm hot-tempered, but I cool off quickly. The instant I realized I was -making it tough for the old man I struggled to my feet, and held out my -hand.</p> - -<p>"Any time you're ready, Murphy," I said.</p> - -<p>The Irishman rose groggily, shaking his head to clear it. He stood -for a minute staring incredulously at my extended palm, his eyebrows -twitching. Then his own hand went out and locked with mine.</p> - -<p>"I guess I was a bit hasty, lad," he said.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Ten minutes later Sylvia was placing cool pads on my face, one on each -cheek, and shaking her head over my blackened eye. "I'm not really -sorry for you, Dave," she said. "You apparently <i>enjoy</i> lashing out -with your fists. You just used that frog as an excuse."</p> - -<p>Perhaps I should have mentioned sooner that there was a woman on board. -A slim and attractive girl with coppery hair named Sylvia Varner was -visiting us for five days consecutively. But she had come out on the -crew-shift cruiser <i>Aquila</i> which was berthed right alongside of us on -the semi-molten crust.</p> - -<p>Women are out of place on Mercury run ships, and if I were taking -fictional liberties with this record I'd leave her out. But facts are -facts, and the feminine zig-zag had a lot to do with the way the frog -brought us all to the brink of despair. Without her it would have been -less though, but less exciting, too, and, of course, for romantic -reasons I was glad she had come. She happened to be Ellison's niece, -and my fiancee, and had a kid brother working on the metallurgical -staff.</p> - -<p>"But it isn't a frog," I said, irritably. "It's a Mercurian animal. And -I don't blame Murphy for sailing into me."</p> - -<p>"You're being very charitable," she said. "He tried to kill you."</p> - -<p>"All right," I said. "For a minute he went berserk. But what would -<i>you</i> do if you bagged the first Mercurian animal ever seen and a dumb -kid turned it into a museum piece? If Murphy could have brought that -frog back to Earth alive the National Geographic Society would have -smothered him with medals."</p> - -<p>"But won't it thaw out, Dave?"</p> - -<p>"It's limper than a rag right now," I said. "But it is also dead as a -doornail."</p> - -<p>Sylvia's brow crinkled. "I should think a Mercurian animal would have -to be plated like an armadillo. I should think it would need some sort -of air-cooling system and a—"</p> - -<p>"Hold on," I said. "You're jumping to a priori conclusions. We'll start -with the animal. It <i>is</i> froglike, so conditions on Mercury must favor -the development of slender, agile quadrupeds with powerful hindlimbs. -Since Mercury is flecked with semi-molten 'marsh patches' its froglike -appearance does not surprise me. We can only speculate as to its -habits, but it's probably oviparous, and has a brief life-cycle.</p> - -<p>"Now, in hot baths with carefully regulated approaches human beings -have been able to stand degrees of heat above the boiling point of -water. Back in the eighteenth century a Frenchman named Chamouni the -Incombustible entered an oven containing a raw leg of mutton, and -remained there until the meat was completely cooked. Medical history -records hundreds of similar cases."</p> - -<p>"But what has that to do with Murphy's frog?"</p> - -<p>"Don't you see? If human beings can build up all that resistance in a -few minutes what's to stop a <i>rapidly breeding</i> Mercurian animal from -acquiring ten times as much immunity in fifty thousand generations? -With already immune invertebrates to start with natural selection could -give even a highly evolved, meaty-fleshed animal plenty of resistance."</p> - -<p>I was feeling distinctly proud of myself when Sylvia countered with: -"You said the sides of its body and its hindlimbs were covered with -fine, reddish hairs. Villosities was the term you used. How could -natural selection build up immunity in hair?"</p> - -<p>I could have brought up another player, but I wanted her to smooth -my forehead instead. So I leaned back with a sigh and refrained from -pointing out that chitin was slow-burning at best, and that the only -hairy frog on Earth—Trichobatatrachus robustus from West Africa—lived -up to its name.</p> - -<p>She sat on the arm of my chair and leaned forward and for a minute I -thought I was going to get my wish. But all she did was kiss me. She -leaned her lips against mine and for about three minutes a pleasant -tingling surged through me. Then I began to grow restless. I couldn't -breathe and her lips were no longer warm and vibrant.</p> - -<p>I had to move her face to one side in order to inhale, and the instant -I did so she swayed and her elbows descended on my chest.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A chill coursed through me. Her arms were rigid and she seemed almost -weightless. Alarmed, I rose, grasped her wrists and eased her gently -down into the chair.</p> - -<p>She just sat there staring up at me, her face a petrified mask and her -body so utterly still that it did something to sound. In place of the -faint susurrous which occupied space gives forth the chair seemed to be -enveloped in a kind of auditory vacuum which chilled me to the core of -my being.</p> - -<p>I can't remember how long I stood there with horror slapping at my -brain like the tides of some cold, dead moon. I only know that I turned -at last and went stumbling from her presence with one thought uppermost -in my mind.</p> - -<p>I must get medical aid to her quickly, before that trance could deepen, -before it could endanger her life.</p> - -<p>Going up in the jacket-lift to the sick bay I kept visualizing Ned -Dawson's face. Dawson was a strong-jawed, competent physician with -years of experience behind him and I was sure he would know what to do.</p> - -<p>He was usually in the sick bay attending to the many little sprains -and bruises the men brought in with them from the crust. There was a -flicker of violet light as the jacket-lift hummed to a stop. I stepped -out and raced down a cold-lighted passageway to the "drug shop," my -breath coming fast.</p> - -<p>On meta-glass chairs amidst a faint odor of antiseptics two men sat -frozen, but I thought they were asleep. I went straight through the -waiting space with scarcely a glance at them, and burst into the sick -bay unannounced.</p> - -<p>Dawson was there all right, but he was bent nearly double, frozen in -the act of applying a gauze bandage to the badly cut ankle of a miner -who stood contemplating his navel like a schizophrene, his head sunken -on his chest.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>For an instant I just stood there gasping, too stunned to realize that -I was staring at a physician who could no longer heal. It wasn't until -I went up to him and discovered that his body was cold and his face a -frozen mask that my brain started to soak up horror.</p> - -<p>I went reeling out into the passageway like a drunken man and tried to -locate the commander, and found him at last in the control room with -his body glinting in light-silvered dust.</p> - -<p>He was standing before one of the <i>Lyra's</i> translucent windows staring -out upon the steamy Mercurian landscape, his arms folded on his -chest. When I touched him he swayed and when I looked into his eyes I -perceived that the pupils were set in a fixed stare, and covered with a -dull, grayish film.</p> - -<p>Murphy was standing beside him. The Irishman had evidently come in -for orders and stiffened to immobility with a pipe in his mouth and a -slightly provoked look on his face, as though my stupidity still riled -him.</p> - -<p>A nightmare unreality lengthened the minutes which followed into -unevenly-spaced eternities filled with a steadily mounting dread. In -the more crowded parts of the ship frozen men clustered in little -queues. Every member of the atomotor crew stood frozen at his post. The -starboard watch looked like statues carved in bronze and in the chain -locker room were three crewmen whose muscular contortions conveyed an -illusion of motion as they tugged at windlasses which had ceased to -turn.</p> - -<p>My palms were wet and I was trembling in every limb when I completed -my inspection of the ship. It was especially bad going back in the -jacket-lift to the commander's cabin. In the dark fore-hold I had -glimpsed obscure, rigid shadows which had unnerved me more than all the -frozen, brittle men illumed by cold light in the crew spaces fore and -aft.</p> - -<p>When I stepped from the jacket-lift a voice said: "They only <i>seem</i> -brittle, Rawley. Actually they are still soft and flabby, like all the -inhabitants of the third planet."</p> - -<p>It was a telepathic voice, but I didn't know that. I thought it was a -human voice speaking close to my ear. Appalled, I swung about.</p> - -<p>The frog was peering around a bend in the passageway, its stalked -eyes pointing toward the lift. I fought a desire to scream as it -leapt agilely toward me. It seemed to be grinning up at me. Its wet, -yellowish lips were split in a grimace which gave it the appearance of -being convulsed with mirth.</p> - -<p>"Why are you trembling, Rawley?" it said. "Surely you expected to find -intelligent life on at least <i>one</i> of the planets."</p> - -<p>"You mean you are—"</p> - -<p>"Intelligent, yes. So intelligent that you seem very primitive to us. -It is a hindrance, in a way. Too wide a gulf."</p> - -<p>"Then <i>you</i> did this," I choked. "You—you froze every man on this -ship."</p> - -<p>"Froze? Oh, I see what you mean. It is unfortunate that I am -compelled to use your mental concepts to think with. You are giving -my thoughts a verbal twist peculiar to yourself. You see, Rawley, -I can correlate your fugitive reactions to a given phenomenon with -everything experienced by you from the day of your birth. By simply -tuning in on your thoughts I can get your—your slant. Not merely your -thought images, Rawley, but all the little twists and turns of your -familiar speech. Fortunately you have telepathic powers, too. Somewhat -rudimentary, but adequate."</p> - -<p>The frog's eyes quivered. "Don't glare at me, Rawley. I have no -intention of harming you."</p> - -<p>"You harmed <i>her</i>," I groaned.</p> - -<p>"I harmed—Oh, I see. The girl, eh? We propagate by fission, so we've -been spared all that. I didn't harm her, Rawley. All I did was diminish -her mass. I had to do that to warm myself.</p> - -<p>"Rawley, I was almost gone. I can stand a little cold, but that liquid -air—"</p> - -<p>"You did <i>what</i> to her?"</p> - -<p>"Diminished her mass. Now keep your shirt on, Rawley. I need the glow -to warm me. Needed it badly. For real warmth there's nothing like the -radiant energies imprisoned in kalium. The bodies of terrestrials are -ideal sources of heat in all respects; not only because they contain -kalium, but because the other elements of which they are composed are -among the easiest to tap.</p> - -<p>"No harm done, you understand. I can radiate back subatomic particles -at any time. All I did was squeeze out the radiations in a soft, -glutinous mass. You don't have to bombard atoms or surround them with -water-jackets to strip them, Rawley. With a little patience you can -squeeze out their energies the way you squeeze toothpaste from a tube.</p> - -<p>"My body has soaked up a fine, tingling warmth from all those frozen -terrestrials. They are mere atomic husks now, but perfectly preserved -and restorable at any time."</p> - -<p>I scarcely heard it. Something was happening to the ship. Beneath my -feet the deck was unmistakably swaying, and there were twangings and -creakings all along the passageway which could only mean one thing.</p> - -<p>The ship was in motion!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The frog had noticed it, too. It stiffened abruptly and cocked its head -as though listening, its stalked eyes squinting shut.</p> - -<p>In paralyzed astonishment I stood staring at the vibrating overhead, -wondering what in hell it could mean. Had one of the frozen crewmen -regained the use of his limbs and attempted an emergency take-off? -I strained my ears, but could detect no atomotor drone, or other -indication that we were rocketing upward from the crust.</p> - -<p>"No, Rawley," the frog's voice came again, vibrant but strained. "No, -we are not leaving the planet. I think I know what is happening. -Rawley, you have an instrument which enables you to see the ship as -though it were being viewed from a distance by someone out on the -planet. Horiz—horizonscope. Suppose we see for ourselves."</p> - -<p>We descended in the jacket-lift together, the frog bracing its knees -precisely as the commander had done long ago in another world.</p> - -<p>I don't know how I lived through the next ten minutes. When I stood in -the control room and looked in the horizonscope I saw a sight which I -shall never forget if I live to be a hundred.</p> - -<p>On both sides of the ship were dozens of froglike shapes moving in -single file, their bodies bent nearly double as though they were -straining at the leash.</p> - -<p>All about them swirled steamy vapors and flickering tongues of flame. -A blood-red sun, so gigantic that it spanned a fifth of the sky, hung -like a vast, glowing eye directly overhead, dazzling my pupils as I -stared. Even in the horizonscope it seemed huge, blinding.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" width="392" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>The scent was weird beyond all imagining—weird and unutterably -terrifying.</p> - -<p>"Rawley, they are moving the ship. They are using magnetic tow lines -and making a mighty good job of it."</p> - -<p>"Where—where are they taking us?" I gasped.</p> - -<p>The frog's reply was utterly bewildering. "We'll label it terrestrial -fauna—habitat group. We'll take the ship right into the museum. -Large-brained bipeds from the third planet, stooping above their -artifacts in perfectly natural attitudes. Magnificent.</p> - -<p>"Mustn't let sunlight touch them. It's curious I didn't think of this -when I absorbed their energies. My one thought was to warm myself, but -necessity is the mother of invention. They'll honor me for this. I'll -<i>head</i> the next expedition. My instructions were imbecilic. 'Observe -all their habits and then mummify them.'</p> - -<p>"What good are shriveled specimens? So long as sunlight doesn't -touch them they'll keep this way for a thousand years. This one has -been—helpful. Oh, enormously. Just as well I didn't tap him.</p> - -<p>"I mustn't let him suspect that I couldn't—can't. I've absorbed too -much radiance as it is. My energies are brimming over. He thinks I can -still diminish his mass. Might have to kill him if he knew.</p> - -<p>"Kill him. I could do that, of course. But I'd hate to lose one of -these specimens."</p> - -<p>It hit me all at once, with the force of a physical blow. There was -something that the frog didn't know. It didn't know that I could listen -in on its private thoughts. It thought it could shut off its mind from -me. Hitting me also with force was the sudden realization that when in -close proximity to it I had telepathic powers which were first rate, as -good as its own.</p> - -<p>Wait a minute—better. Because it didn't seem aware of what I -was thinking now. So we were just animals to it, eh? Big-brained -bipeds—<i>specimens</i>. I was edging away from it and toward the control -panel, very cautiously.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Keeping my excitement down wasn't easy. There was a lot of anger mixed -up with it, and more fear than a man of courage likes to own up to. I -wondered how strong the magnetic tow lines were. Would they hold the -ship if I blasted out all the rocket jets and started the atomotors ten -seconds later?</p> - -<p>It didn't seem likely. If I could reach the control panel nine-tenths -of the battle would be won. Nearer to it I inched, and nearer.</p> - -<p>The frog stirred just as my hand touched the rocket control. I swung -down on it hard. Something in my brain started babbling as I swung my -other hand toward the atomotor emergency bulb and splintered it with my -naked palm.</p> - -<p>The whole ship seemed to explode, carrying the top of my skull with it. -I was no longer in a Mercury run spaceship screaming defiance at a frog.</p> - -<p>I was far out in space between massive gaseous suns, red and blue -and mottled, with island universes to right and left of me and a -long-tailed comet sweeping down from a ragged hole on the sky.</p> - -<p>When I crawled through the fence into my own backyard again I was -bruised and partly numb, but the ship was plowing steadily through the -void, and Mercury was so far away from it that it was a mere fly-speck -mottling on the dull-corona-encircled disk of the sun.</p> - -<p>The frog? Yes, it was still with us, but all the cockiness had gone out -of it. It came to me, as meek as a lamb, and laid all its cards on the -table.</p> - -<p>It would be the specimen now. So long as we didn't cast it out through -the air-locks to freeze in the void it would consent to be exhibited -in every museum on Earth. Only the museums would have to be roofless, -because it would need the sunlight.</p> - -<p>It promised not to diminish the mass of a single human being on Earth. -All it needed was our sunlight. Locked up in the <i>Lyra</i> and freezing -to death it had been compelled to tap the nearest energy source, which -happened to be us.</p> - -<p>But on Earth it would tap the sunlight. It pointed out that the -sunlight falling on one square foot of Earth would keep one of our big -power plants running for a year, if we knew as much as the Mercurians -did about radiant heat.</p> - -<p>"I'll be no trouble at all, Rawley. And if you wish, I'll show you -how to convert sunlight into useful energy. You won't need so many -cyclotrons then. Before <i>I'd</i> monkey with anything as unpredictable as -a skinless atom I'd go jump in a lake."</p> - -<p>I was no longer listening. There was something I had left unfinished -and it suddenly seemed more important to me than anything a frog could -say or do.</p> - -<p>Going down in the jacket-lift to Sylvia I kept trying to recall just -how I felt when it had cheated me out of something I was entitled to.</p> - -<p>It didn't seem right to leave a kiss dangling in midair, and I was sure -that Sylvia was feeling frustrated, too.</p> - -<p>She was. She came into my arms in utter silence, and we did the kiss up -brown, and stored it away in our memories for when we were eighty-eight.</p> - -<p>"Darling," she said. "I'm glad we thought of that."</p> - -<p>I felt better almost at once. They had sent me out from Earth with -a pat on the back and a commission, and I was returning with the -commander's niece in my arms and a story in my brain which the news -syndicates would certainly want.</p> - -<p>I'd ask a good price for it. Lunar honeymoons were expensive, and -although Sylvia wasn't extravagant she liked orchids as well as the -next girl and was just the right height to wear sables with grace.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mercurian, by Frank Belknap Long - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERCURIAN *** - -***** This file should be named 62034-h.htm or 62034-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/0/3/62034/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Mercurian - -Author: Frank Belknap Long - -Release Date: May 5, 2020 [EBook #62034] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERCURIAN *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - THE MERCURIAN - - By FRANK BELKNAP LONG - - For ages Mankind labelled Mercury a dead - world--a red-hot, seething outpost of hell. - Too late Rawley learned of the hideous life - that molten, steaming planet spawned! - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Winter 1941. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -We stood before the airlock, the old man and I, and watched them go -out. Ellison was a granite man and I was just the lad who threw the -switches. - -I was new at it. They had sent me out with a pat on the back and a -commission, but I didn't feel like a Mercury run officer. Mining -uranium on the Sun's firstling was no job for a green kid of -twenty-two. Outside were lakes of molten zinc and a temperature of 790 -degrees Fahr. - -No part of that temperature seeped into us, but just knowing it was -out there was spine-chilling. I am not being facetious. To keep from -thinking of the hot face we thought of the cold face, and you can't -imagine extremes of cold without feeling shivery. Out on the cold face -were other miners, working under conditions I wouldn't wish on my worst -enemy. They had the cold of open space to contend with, and a little of -_that_ seeped in. - -The Commander was passing out advice to each of the miners as they -stepped into the lock. - -"Murphy, it's uranium we want. We're not zoologists. The next time you -go specimen chasing--" - -"But it looked like a frog, Chief. I swear it did." - -"You know damn well no froglike animal could hop around on red-hot -rocks." - -"I won't let him out of my sight this time, sir," said the miner at -Murphy's heels. - -"Thank you, Haines. He needs a nurse, but do what you can." - -Five miners stepped out, each with a glance from Ellison which said -as plain as words that he would walk beside them until they came back -in again. The old man had so much quiet strength that he could split -off simulacra of himself, and send them out through the airlock by -just passing out advice. He moved like a living presence over the -semi-molten Mercurian crust beside each of his men, fretting when a -coupling slipped or mysterious stirrings caused the lads to look at one -another with a wild surmise. - -He knew that the merciless heat beating down did something to the -scarred and cracked surface rocks which made them seem to buckle -and split up into little leaping ghosts, and half his warnings were -directed against "heat-devils" and other optical illusions. - -When the last man had passed out he turned to me with a wry smile. -"Dave, speaking as a psychiatrist, and without knowing for sure, I've a -hunch there is too much tension inside of you." - -The old man actually was a psychiatrist. You have to be pretty nearly -everything to qualify as a Mercury run commander and Ellison's -knowledge started with Aasen and ended with Zwolle. There were some -gaps in between, but not many, and he frequently surprised me by -pulling rabbits out of those. - -We went down into the cuddy and the old man brought out some real smoky -Scotch, and we had at least three while a strained look came into his -face. One of these days someone is going to stop putting bulkhead -chronometers in the cuddies of Mercury run spaceships. Men have to go -out and Commanders have to wait, and if an officer can't get his mind -off the seconds in a cuddy what chance has he of relaxing at all? - -Hanging on the corrugated metal bulkhead were curios from all over -the Solar System, and I tried to interest myself in the things the -Commander had collected in his travels. A dried Venusian weejee head -looks pretty grotesque, but so does a deep-sea fish from home, and when -you've seen both dozens of times-- - -A sudden vibrant humming made me spill a jigger of Scotch on my liberty -uniform. The lad who was taking my place at the lock control was -buzzing the old man from the "peel off" room. Ellison swung about, and -barked into the auxiliary circuit audiocoil. "Well?" - -"The men have returned, sir." - -"All right. Keep the inner locks closed and watch the insulators. -Rawley is taking over." - - * * * * * - -Between the outer and inner locks we had to cool off the men a little. -When they stepped in from the crust the sheath couplings on their -non-combustible suits had to be sprayed over with liquid air. - -We went up in the jacket-lift with our knees braced and down the stern -passageway to the "peel off" room, the old man striding on ahead of -me. Had I stopped to reflect I might have realized there was trouble -brewing. The old man wasn't psychic exactly, but his hunches came out -pat. - -Before I looked through the lock port my nerves were merely jumpy, but -when I actually saw Murphy standing in the freeze vault enveloped in -smoke and sizzle I nearly passed out from shock. - -Murphy was waving his arms up and down and the man behind him was -making frantic signs to us. The frog was dangling by its long legs from -the Irishman's gloved right hand. It was about three feet in height. -Every time he raised it up it tried to leap in his hand, and twisted -its eyes around. - -Some quirk of parallel evolution had given it a froglike face, webbed -feet and long, powerful hindlimbs. But, of course, it wasn't a frog. It -was a Mercurian animal, and my stomach went tight ten seconds after I -laid eyes on it. - -I've said that I was just a green kid. The old man thought otherwise, -but he was wrong and I proceeded to prove it. I turned on the freeze -conduits. Liquid air poured into the vault over Murphy and he stopped -gesticulating. He just stood there looking at me through the eye-piece -of his helmet. - -Murphy had gone out at the risk of his life and brought back a living -Mercurian animal. When he perceived that I had frozen that frog to a -crisp something must have gone dead inside him. When he came in through -the inner locks his couplings were coated with frost and there was a -look of anguish on the upper part of his face. Behind the eye-piece his -features seemed all wrenched apart. From his gloved right hand the frog -still dangled, but its squirmings had ceased. Its limbs were rigid, its -stalked eyes frozen shut. - -With shaking fingers Murphy removed his helmet and started peeling off -his suit, his gaze riveted on my face. The other miners stood watching -him as though fearful of what he might do. - -The old man laid a hand on my arm. "You'd better go below, Dave." - -Murphy shook his head. "No, no, let the lad stay." - -He had laid the frog on the deck and was pushing his suit down below -his knees. I noticed that his features were twitching, but I thought he -was making an effort to control his anger until he came up out of that -crouch with all his strength riding on his fists. - -He clipped me on the side of the head, and delivered a blow to my -midriff which sent me reeling back against the bulkhead. - -The old man leapt between us. "Watch yourself, Murphy," he thundered. -"I'm still in command here." - -Murphy spat on the deck, a slow flush creeping up over his face. "I -just can't figure it," he muttered. "I saw an infant once without one, -but its skull tapered and it had to be fed through a tube." - -I had always liked Murphy, but suddenly I saw red. I jumped him, -and for a minute it was touch and go. We rolled over on the deck, -exchanging hammer blows. He was hampered by the tangle his legs were -in, but he made good use of his fists. - -The old man had to intervene again. He accomplished it by backing up -his tuggings with profanity. He cast aspersions on our ancestry, and -threatened us with the psycho-lash. - -I'm hot-tempered, but I cool off quickly. The instant I realized I was -making it tough for the old man I struggled to my feet, and held out my -hand. - -"Any time you're ready, Murphy," I said. - -The Irishman rose groggily, shaking his head to clear it. He stood -for a minute staring incredulously at my extended palm, his eyebrows -twitching. Then his own hand went out and locked with mine. - -"I guess I was a bit hasty, lad," he said. - - * * * * * - -Ten minutes later Sylvia was placing cool pads on my face, one on each -cheek, and shaking her head over my blackened eye. "I'm not really -sorry for you, Dave," she said. "You apparently _enjoy_ lashing out -with your fists. You just used that frog as an excuse." - -Perhaps I should have mentioned sooner that there was a woman on board. -A slim and attractive girl with coppery hair named Sylvia Varner was -visiting us for five days consecutively. But she had come out on the -crew-shift cruiser _Aquila_ which was berthed right alongside of us on -the semi-molten crust. - -Women are out of place on Mercury run ships, and if I were taking -fictional liberties with this record I'd leave her out. But facts are -facts, and the feminine zig-zag had a lot to do with the way the frog -brought us all to the brink of despair. Without her it would have been -less though, but less exciting, too, and, of course, for romantic -reasons I was glad she had come. She happened to be Ellison's niece, -and my fiancee, and had a kid brother working on the metallurgical -staff. - -"But it isn't a frog," I said, irritably. "It's a Mercurian animal. And -I don't blame Murphy for sailing into me." - -"You're being very charitable," she said. "He tried to kill you." - -"All right," I said. "For a minute he went berserk. But what would -_you_ do if you bagged the first Mercurian animal ever seen and a dumb -kid turned it into a museum piece? If Murphy could have brought that -frog back to Earth alive the National Geographic Society would have -smothered him with medals." - -"But won't it thaw out, Dave?" - -"It's limper than a rag right now," I said. "But it is also dead as a -doornail." - -Sylvia's brow crinkled. "I should think a Mercurian animal would have -to be plated like an armadillo. I should think it would need some sort -of air-cooling system and a--" - -"Hold on," I said. "You're jumping to a priori conclusions. We'll start -with the animal. It _is_ froglike, so conditions on Mercury must favor -the development of slender, agile quadrupeds with powerful hindlimbs. -Since Mercury is flecked with semi-molten 'marsh patches' its froglike -appearance does not surprise me. We can only speculate as to its -habits, but it's probably oviparous, and has a brief life-cycle. - -"Now, in hot baths with carefully regulated approaches human beings -have been able to stand degrees of heat above the boiling point of -water. Back in the eighteenth century a Frenchman named Chamouni the -Incombustible entered an oven containing a raw leg of mutton, and -remained there until the meat was completely cooked. Medical history -records hundreds of similar cases." - -"But what has that to do with Murphy's frog?" - -"Don't you see? If human beings can build up all that resistance in a -few minutes what's to stop a _rapidly breeding_ Mercurian animal from -acquiring ten times as much immunity in fifty thousand generations? -With already immune invertebrates to start with natural selection could -give even a highly evolved, meaty-fleshed animal plenty of resistance." - -I was feeling distinctly proud of myself when Sylvia countered with: -"You said the sides of its body and its hindlimbs were covered with -fine, reddish hairs. Villosities was the term you used. How could -natural selection build up immunity in hair?" - -I could have brought up another player, but I wanted her to smooth -my forehead instead. So I leaned back with a sigh and refrained from -pointing out that chitin was slow-burning at best, and that the only -hairy frog on Earth--Trichobatatrachus robustus from West Africa--lived -up to its name. - -She sat on the arm of my chair and leaned forward and for a minute I -thought I was going to get my wish. But all she did was kiss me. She -leaned her lips against mine and for about three minutes a pleasant -tingling surged through me. Then I began to grow restless. I couldn't -breathe and her lips were no longer warm and vibrant. - -I had to move her face to one side in order to inhale, and the instant -I did so she swayed and her elbows descended on my chest. - - * * * * * - -A chill coursed through me. Her arms were rigid and she seemed almost -weightless. Alarmed, I rose, grasped her wrists and eased her gently -down into the chair. - -She just sat there staring up at me, her face a petrified mask and her -body so utterly still that it did something to sound. In place of the -faint susurrous which occupied space gives forth the chair seemed to be -enveloped in a kind of auditory vacuum which chilled me to the core of -my being. - -I can't remember how long I stood there with horror slapping at my -brain like the tides of some cold, dead moon. I only know that I turned -at last and went stumbling from her presence with one thought uppermost -in my mind. - -I must get medical aid to her quickly, before that trance could deepen, -before it could endanger her life. - -Going up in the jacket-lift to the sick bay I kept visualizing Ned -Dawson's face. Dawson was a strong-jawed, competent physician with -years of experience behind him and I was sure he would know what to do. - -He was usually in the sick bay attending to the many little sprains -and bruises the men brought in with them from the crust. There was a -flicker of violet light as the jacket-lift hummed to a stop. I stepped -out and raced down a cold-lighted passageway to the "drug shop," my -breath coming fast. - -On meta-glass chairs amidst a faint odor of antiseptics two men sat -frozen, but I thought they were asleep. I went straight through the -waiting space with scarcely a glance at them, and burst into the sick -bay unannounced. - -Dawson was there all right, but he was bent nearly double, frozen in -the act of applying a gauze bandage to the badly cut ankle of a miner -who stood contemplating his navel like a schizophrene, his head sunken -on his chest. - - * * * * * - -For an instant I just stood there gasping, too stunned to realize that -I was staring at a physician who could no longer heal. It wasn't until -I went up to him and discovered that his body was cold and his face a -frozen mask that my brain started to soak up horror. - -I went reeling out into the passageway like a drunken man and tried to -locate the commander, and found him at last in the control room with -his body glinting in light-silvered dust. - -He was standing before one of the _Lyra's_ translucent windows staring -out upon the steamy Mercurian landscape, his arms folded on his -chest. When I touched him he swayed and when I looked into his eyes I -perceived that the pupils were set in a fixed stare, and covered with a -dull, grayish film. - -Murphy was standing beside him. The Irishman had evidently come in -for orders and stiffened to immobility with a pipe in his mouth and a -slightly provoked look on his face, as though my stupidity still riled -him. - -A nightmare unreality lengthened the minutes which followed into -unevenly-spaced eternities filled with a steadily mounting dread. In -the more crowded parts of the ship frozen men clustered in little -queues. Every member of the atomotor crew stood frozen at his post. The -starboard watch looked like statues carved in bronze and in the chain -locker room were three crewmen whose muscular contortions conveyed an -illusion of motion as they tugged at windlasses which had ceased to -turn. - -My palms were wet and I was trembling in every limb when I completed -my inspection of the ship. It was especially bad going back in the -jacket-lift to the commander's cabin. In the dark fore-hold I had -glimpsed obscure, rigid shadows which had unnerved me more than all the -frozen, brittle men illumed by cold light in the crew spaces fore and -aft. - -When I stepped from the jacket-lift a voice said: "They only _seem_ -brittle, Rawley. Actually they are still soft and flabby, like all the -inhabitants of the third planet." - -It was a telepathic voice, but I didn't know that. I thought it was a -human voice speaking close to my ear. Appalled, I swung about. - -The frog was peering around a bend in the passageway, its stalked -eyes pointing toward the lift. I fought a desire to scream as it -leapt agilely toward me. It seemed to be grinning up at me. Its wet, -yellowish lips were split in a grimace which gave it the appearance of -being convulsed with mirth. - -"Why are you trembling, Rawley?" it said. "Surely you expected to find -intelligent life on at least _one_ of the planets." - -"You mean you are--" - -"Intelligent, yes. So intelligent that you seem very primitive to us. -It is a hindrance, in a way. Too wide a gulf." - -"Then _you_ did this," I choked. "You--you froze every man on this -ship." - -"Froze? Oh, I see what you mean. It is unfortunate that I am -compelled to use your mental concepts to think with. You are giving -my thoughts a verbal twist peculiar to yourself. You see, Rawley, -I can correlate your fugitive reactions to a given phenomenon with -everything experienced by you from the day of your birth. By simply -tuning in on your thoughts I can get your--your slant. Not merely your -thought images, Rawley, but all the little twists and turns of your -familiar speech. Fortunately you have telepathic powers, too. Somewhat -rudimentary, but adequate." - -The frog's eyes quivered. "Don't glare at me, Rawley. I have no -intention of harming you." - -"You harmed _her_," I groaned. - -"I harmed--Oh, I see. The girl, eh? We propagate by fission, so we've -been spared all that. I didn't harm her, Rawley. All I did was diminish -her mass. I had to do that to warm myself. - -"Rawley, I was almost gone. I can stand a little cold, but that liquid -air--" - -"You did _what_ to her?" - -"Diminished her mass. Now keep your shirt on, Rawley. I need the glow -to warm me. Needed it badly. For real warmth there's nothing like the -radiant energies imprisoned in kalium. The bodies of terrestrials are -ideal sources of heat in all respects; not only because they contain -kalium, but because the other elements of which they are composed are -among the easiest to tap. - -"No harm done, you understand. I can radiate back subatomic particles -at any time. All I did was squeeze out the radiations in a soft, -glutinous mass. You don't have to bombard atoms or surround them with -water-jackets to strip them, Rawley. With a little patience you can -squeeze out their energies the way you squeeze toothpaste from a tube. - -"My body has soaked up a fine, tingling warmth from all those frozen -terrestrials. They are mere atomic husks now, but perfectly preserved -and restorable at any time." - -I scarcely heard it. Something was happening to the ship. Beneath my -feet the deck was unmistakably swaying, and there were twangings and -creakings all along the passageway which could only mean one thing. - -The ship was in motion! - - * * * * * - -The frog had noticed it, too. It stiffened abruptly and cocked its head -as though listening, its stalked eyes squinting shut. - -In paralyzed astonishment I stood staring at the vibrating overhead, -wondering what in hell it could mean. Had one of the frozen crewmen -regained the use of his limbs and attempted an emergency take-off? -I strained my ears, but could detect no atomotor drone, or other -indication that we were rocketing upward from the crust. - -"No, Rawley," the frog's voice came again, vibrant but strained. "No, -we are not leaving the planet. I think I know what is happening. -Rawley, you have an instrument which enables you to see the ship as -though it were being viewed from a distance by someone out on the -planet. Horiz--horizonscope. Suppose we see for ourselves." - -We descended in the jacket-lift together, the frog bracing its knees -precisely as the commander had done long ago in another world. - -I don't know how I lived through the next ten minutes. When I stood in -the control room and looked in the horizonscope I saw a sight which I -shall never forget if I live to be a hundred. - -On both sides of the ship were dozens of froglike shapes moving in -single file, their bodies bent nearly double as though they were -straining at the leash. - -All about them swirled steamy vapors and flickering tongues of flame. -A blood-red sun, so gigantic that it spanned a fifth of the sky, hung -like a vast, glowing eye directly overhead, dazzling my pupils as I -stared. Even in the horizonscope it seemed huge, blinding. - -The scene was weird beyond all imagining--weird and unutterably -terrifying. - -"Rawley, they are moving the ship. They are using magnetic tow lines -and making a mighty good job of it." - -"Where--where are they taking us?" I gasped. - -The frog's reply was utterly bewildering. "We'll label it terrestrial -fauna--habitat group. We'll take the ship right into the museum. -Large-brained bipeds from the third planet, stooping above their -artifacts in perfectly natural attitudes. Magnificent. - -"Mustn't let sunlight touch them. It's curious I didn't think of this -when I absorbed their energies. My one thought was to warm myself, but -necessity is the mother of invention. They'll honor me for this. I'll -_head_ the next expedition. My instructions were imbecilic. 'Observe -all their habits and then mummify them.' - -"What good are shriveled specimens? So long as sunlight doesn't -touch them they'll keep this way for a thousand years. This one has -been--helpful. Oh, enormously. Just as well I didn't tap him. - -"I mustn't let him suspect that I couldn't--can't. I've absorbed too -much radiance as it is. My energies are brimming over. He thinks I can -still diminish his mass. Might have to kill him if he knew. - -"Kill him. I could do that, of course. But I'd hate to lose one of -these specimens." - -It hit me all at once, with the force of a physical blow. There was -something that the frog didn't know. It didn't know that I could listen -in on its private thoughts. It thought it could shut off its mind from -me. Hitting me also with force was the sudden realization that when in -close proximity to it I had telepathic powers which were first rate, as -good as its own. - -Wait a minute--better. Because it didn't seem aware of what I -was thinking now. So we were just animals to it, eh? Big-brained -bipeds--_specimens_. I was edging away from it and toward the control -panel, very cautiously. - - * * * * * - -Keeping my excitement down wasn't easy. There was a lot of anger mixed -up with it, and more fear than a man of courage likes to own up to. I -wondered how strong the magnetic tow lines were. Would they hold the -ship if I blasted out all the rocket jets and started the atomotors ten -seconds later? - -It didn't seem likely. If I could reach the control panel nine-tenths -of the battle would be won. Nearer to it I inched, and nearer. - -The frog stirred just as my hand touched the rocket control. I swung -down on it hard. Something in my brain started babbling as I swung my -other hand toward the atomotor emergency bulb and splintered it with my -naked palm. - -The whole ship seemed to explode, carrying the top of my skull with it. -I was no longer in a Mercury run spaceship screaming defiance at a frog. - -I was far out in space between massive gaseous suns, red and blue -and mottled, with island universes to right and left of me and a -long-tailed comet sweeping down from a ragged hole on the sky. - -When I crawled through the fence into my own backyard again I was -bruised and partly numb, but the ship was plowing steadily through the -void, and Mercury was so far away from it that it was a mere fly-speck -mottling on the dull-corona-encircled disk of the sun. - -The frog? Yes, it was still with us, but all the cockiness had gone out -of it. It came to me, as meek as a lamb, and laid all its cards on the -table. - -It would be the specimen now. So long as we didn't cast it out through -the air-locks to freeze in the void it would consent to be exhibited -in every museum on Earth. Only the museums would have to be roofless, -because it would need the sunlight. - -It promised not to diminish the mass of a single human being on Earth. -All it needed was our sunlight. Locked up in the _Lyra_ and freezing -to death it had been compelled to tap the nearest energy source, which -happened to be us. - -But on Earth it would tap the sunlight. It pointed out that the -sunlight falling on one square foot of Earth would keep one of our big -power plants running for a year, if we knew as much as the Mercurians -did about radiant heat. - -"I'll be no trouble at all, Rawley. And if you wish, I'll show you -how to convert sunlight into useful energy. You won't need so many -cyclotrons then. Before _I'd_ monkey with anything as unpredictable as -a skinless atom I'd go jump in a lake." - -I was no longer listening. There was something I had left unfinished -and it suddenly seemed more important to me than anything a frog could -say or do. - -Going down in the jacket-lift to Sylvia I kept trying to recall just -how I felt when it had cheated me out of something I was entitled to. - -It didn't seem right to leave a kiss dangling in midair, and I was sure -that Sylvia was feeling frustrated, too. - -She was. She came into my arms in utter silence, and we did the kiss up -brown, and stored it away in our memories for when we were eighty-eight. - -"Darling," she said. "I'm glad we thought of that." - -I felt better almost at once. They had sent me out from Earth with -a pat on the back and a commission, and I was returning with the -commander's niece in my arms and a story in my brain which the news -syndicates would certainly want. - -I'd ask a good price for it. Lunar honeymoons were expensive, and -although Sylvia wasn't extravagant she liked orchids as well as the -next girl and was just the right height to wear sables with grace. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mercurian, by Frank Belknap Long - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERCURIAN *** - -***** This file should be named 62034.txt or 62034.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/0/3/62034/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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