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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..0840afa --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63109 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63109) diff --git a/old/63109-h.zip b/old/63109-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index fea5985..0000000 --- a/old/63109-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/63109-h/63109-h.htm b/old/63109-h/63109-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index b2e3916..0000000 --- a/old/63109-h/63109-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1355 +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 Doctor Universe, by Carl Jacobi. - </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;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -.caption p -{ - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0; - margin: 0.25em 0; -} - -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; } -.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Doctor Universe, by Carl Jacobi - -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: Doctor Universe - -Author: Carl Jacobi - -Release Date: September 3, 2020 [EBook #63109] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOCTOR UNIVERSE *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>Doctor Universe</h1> - -<h2>By CARL JACOBI</h2> - -<p>Grannie Annie, who wrote science fiction<br /> -under the nom de plume of Annabella C. Flowers,<br /> -had stumbled onto a murderous plot more<br /> -hair-raising than any she had ever concocted.<br /> -And the danger from the villain of the piece<br /> -didn't worry her—I was the guy he was shooting at.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Fall 1944.<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>I was killing an hour in the billiard room of the <i>Spacemen's Club</i> -in Swamp City when the Venusian bellboy came and tapped me on the -shoulder.</p> - -<p>"Beg pardon, thir," he said with his racial lisp, "thereth thome one to -thee you in the main lounge." His eyes rolled as he added, "A lady!"</p> - -<p>A woman here...! The <i>Spacemen's</i> was a sanctuary, a rest club where -in-coming pilots and crewmen could relax before leaving for another -voyage. The rule that no females could pass its portals was strictly -enforced.</p> - -<p>I followed the bellhop down the long corridor that led to the main -lounge. At the threshold I jerked to a halt and stared incredulously.</p> - -<p>Grannie Annie!</p> - -<p>There she stood before a frantically gesticulating desk clerk, leaning -on her faded green umbrella. A little wisp of a woman clad in a -voluminous black dress with one of those doily-like caps on her head, -tied by a ribbon under her chin. Her high-topped button shoes were -planted firmly on the varpla carpet and her wrinkled face was set in -calm defiance.</p> - -<p>I barged across the lounge and seized her hand. "Grannie Annie! I -haven't seen you in two years."</p> - -<p>"Hi, Billy-boy," she greeted calmly. "Will you please tell this -fish-face to shut up."</p> - -<p>The desk clerk went white. "Mithter Trenwith, if thith lady ith a -friend of yourth, you'll have to take her away. It'th abtholutely -againth the ruleth...."</p> - -<p>"Okay, okay," I grinned. "Look, we'll go into the grille. There's no -one there at this hour."</p> - -<p>In the grille an equally astonished waiter served us—me a lime rickey -and Grannie Annie her usual whisky sour—I waited until she had tossed -the drink off at a gulp before I set off a chain of questions:</p> - -<p>"What the devil are you doing on Venus? Don't you know women aren't -allowed in the <i>Spacemen's</i>? What happened to the book you were -writing?"</p> - -<p>"Hold it, Billy-boy." Laughingly she threw up both hands. "Sure, I knew -this place had some antiquated laws. Pure fiddle-faddle, that's what -they are. Anyway, I've been thrown out of better places."</p> - -<p>She hadn't changed. To her publishers and her readers she might be -Annabella C. Flowers, author of a long list of science fiction novels. -But to me she was still Grannie Annie, as old-fashioned as last year's -hat, as modern as an atomic motor. She had probably written more drivel -in the name of science fiction than anyone alive.</p> - -<p>But the public loved it. They ate up her stories, and they clamored for -more. Her annual income totaled into six figures, and her publishers -sat back and massaged their digits, watching their earnings mount.</p> - -<p>One thing you had to admit about her books. They may have been dime -novels, but they weren't synthetic. If Annabella C. Flowers wrote a -novel, and the locale was the desert of Mars, she packed her carpet bag -and hopped a liner for Craterville. If she cooked up a feud between two -expeditions on Callisto, she went to Callisto.</p> - -<p>She was the most completely delightful crackpot I had ever known.</p> - -<p>"What happened to <i>Guns for Ganymede</i>?" I asked. "That was the title of -your last, wasn't it?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Grannie spilled a few shreds of Martian tobacco onto a paper and deftly -rolled herself a cigarette.</p> - -<p>"It wasn't <i>Guns</i>, it was <i>Pistols</i>; and it wasn't <i>Ganymede</i>, it was -<i>Pluto</i>."</p> - -<p>I grinned. "All complete, I'll bet, with threats against the universe -and beautiful Earth heroines dragged in by the hair."</p> - -<p>"What else is there in science fiction?" she demanded. "You can't have -your hero fall in love with a bug-eyed monster."</p> - -<p>Up on the wall a clock chimed the hour. The old woman jerked to her -feet.</p> - -<p>"I almost forgot, Billy-boy. I'm due at the <i>Satellite</i> Theater in ten -minutes. Come on, you're going with me."</p> - -<p>Before I realized it, I was following her through the lounge and out to -the jetty front. Grannie Annie hailed a hydrocar. Five minutes later we -drew up before the big doors of the <i>Satellite</i>.</p> - -<p>They don't go in for style in Swamp City. A theater to the grizzled -colonials on this side of the planet meant a shack on stilts over the -muck, <i>zilcon</i> wood seats and dingy atobide lamps. But the place was -packed with miners, freight-crew-men—all the tide and wash of humanity -that made Swamp City the frontier post it is.</p> - -<p>In front was a big sign. It read:</p> - -<p class="ph1">ONE NIGHT ONLY<br /> -DOCTOR UNIVERSE AND HIS<br /> -NINE GENIUSES<br /> -THE QUESTION PROGRAM OF<br /> -THE SYSTEM</p> - -<p>As we strode down the aisle a mangy-looking Venusian began to pound a -tinpan piano in the pit. Grannie Annie pushed me into a seat in the -front row.</p> - -<p>"Sit here," she said. "I'm sorry about all this rush, but I'm one of -the players in this shindig. As soon as the show is over, we'll go -somewhere and talk." She minced lightly down the aisle, climbed the -stage steps and disappeared in the wings.</p> - -<p>"That damned fossilized dynamo," I muttered. "She'll be the death of me -yet."</p> - -<p>The piano struck a chord in G, and the curtain went rattling up. On the -stage four Earthmen, two Martians, two Venusians, and one Mercurian -sat on an upraised dais. That is to say, eight of them sat. The -Mercurian, a huge lump of granite-like flesh, sprawled there, palpably -uncomfortable. On the right were nine visi sets, each with its new -improved pantascope panel and switchboard. Before each set stood an -Earthman operator.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A tall man, clad in a claw-hammer coat, came out from the wings and -advanced to the footlights.</p> - -<p>"People of Swamp City," he said, bowing, "permit me to introduce -myself. I am Doctor Universe, and these are my nine experts."</p> - -<p>There was a roar of applause from the <i>Satellite</i> audience. When it had -subsided, the man continued:</p> - -<p>"As most of you are familiar with our program, it will be unnecessary -to give any advance explanation. I will only say that on this stage are -nine visi sets, each tuned to one of the nine planets. At transmitting -sets all over these planets listeners will appear and voice questions. -These questions, my nine experts will endeavor to answer. For every -question missed, the sender will receive a check for one thousand -<i>planetoles</i>.</p> - -<p>"One thing more. As usual we have with us a guest star who will match -her wits with the experts. May I present that renowned writer of -science fiction, Annabella C. Flowers."</p> - -<p>From the left wing Grannie Annie appeared. She bowed and took her place -on the dais.</p> - -<p>The Doctor's program began. The operator of the Earth visi twisted his -dials and nodded. Blue light flickered on the pantascope panel to -coalesce slowly into the face of a red-haired man. Sharp and dear his -voice echoed through the theater:</p> - -<p>"<i>Who was the first Earthman to titter the sunward side of Mercury?</i>"</p> - -<p>Doctor Universe nodded and turned to Grannie Annie who had raised her -hand. She said quietly:</p> - -<p>"Charles Zanner in the year 2012. In a specially constructed -tracto-car."</p> - -<p>And so it went. Questions from Mars, from Earth, from Saturn flowed in -the visi sets. Isolated miners on Jupiter, dancers in swank Plutonian -cafes strove to stump the experts. With Doctor Universe offering -bantering side play, the experts gave their answers. When they failed, -or when the Truthicator flashed a red light, he announced the name of -the winner.</p> - -<p>It grew a little tiresome after a while and I wondered why Grannie had -brought me here. And then I began to notice things.</p> - -<p>The audience in the <i>Satellite</i> seemed to have lost much of its -original fervor. They applauded as before but they did so only at the -signal of Doctor Universe. The spell created by the man was complete.</p> - -<p>Pompous and erect, he strode back and forth across the stage like a -general surveying his army. His black eyes gleamed, and his thin lips -were turned in a smile of satisfaction.</p> - -<p>When the last question had been answered I joined the exit-moving -crowd. It was outside under the street marquee that a strange incident -occurred.</p> - -<p>A yellow-faced Kagor from the upper Martian desert country shuffled by, -dragging his cumbersome third leg behind him. Kagors, of course, had an -unpleasant history of persecution since the early colonization days of -the Red Planet. But the thing that happened there was a throw back to -an earlier era.</p> - -<p>Someone shouted, "Yah, yellow-face! Down with all Kagors!" As one -man the crowd took up the cry and surged forward. The helpless Kagor -was seized and flung to the pavement. A knife appeared from nowhere, -snipped the Martian's single lock of hair. A booted foot bludgeoned -into his mouth.</p> - -<p>Moments later an official hydrocar roared up and a dozen I.P. men -rushed out and scattered the crowd. But a few stragglers lingered to -shout derisive epithets.</p> - -<p>Grannie Annie came out from behind the box office then. She took my arm -and led me around a corner and through a doorway under a sign that read -THE JET. Inside was a deep room with booths along one wall. The place -was all but deserted.</p> - -<p>In a booth well toward the rear the old lady surveyed me with sober -eyes.</p> - -<p>"Billy-boy, did you see the way that crowd acted?"</p> - -<p>I nodded. "As disgraceful an exhibition as I've ever seen. The I.P. men -ought to clamp down."</p> - -<p>"The I.P. men aren't strong enough."</p> - -<p>She said it quietly, but there was a glitter in her eyes and a harsh -line about her usually smiling lips.</p> - -<p>"What do you mean?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>For a moment the old lady sat there in silence; then she leaned back, -closed her eyes, and I knew there was a story coming.</p> - -<p>"My last book, <i>Death In The Atom</i>, hit the stands last January," -she began. "When it was finished I had planned to take a six months' -vacation, but those fool publishers of mine insisted I do a sequel. -Well, I'd used Mars and Pluto and Ganymede as settings for novels, so -for this one I decided on Venus. I went to Venus City, and I spent six -weeks in-country. I got some swell background material, and I met Ezra -Karn...."</p> - -<p>"Who?" I interrupted.</p> - -<p>"An old prospector who lives out in the deep marsh on the outskirts of -Varsoom country. To make a long story short, I got him talking about -his adventures, and he told me plenty."</p> - -<p>The old woman paused. "Did you ever hear of the Green Flames?" she -asked abruptly.</p> - -<p>I shook my head. "Some new kind of ..."</p> - -<p>"It's not a new kind of anything. The Green Flame is a radio-active -rock once found on Mercury. The <i>Alpha</i> rays of this rock are similar -to radium in that they consist of streams of material particles -projected at high speed. But the character of the <i>Gamma</i> rays has -never been completely analyzed. Like those set up by radium, they are -electromagnetic pulsations, but they are also a strange combination of -<i>Beta</i> or cathode rays with negatively charged electrons.</p> - -<p>"When any form of life is exposed to these <i>Gamma</i> rays from the Green -Flame rock, they produce in the creature's brain a certain lassitude -and lack of energy. As the period of exposure increases, this condition -develops into a sense of impotence and a desire for leadership or -guidance. Occasionally, as with the weak-willed, there is a spirit of -intolerance. The Green Flames might be said to be an inorganic opiate, -a thousand times more subtle and more powerful than any known drug."</p> - -<p>I was sitting up now, hanging on to the woman's every word.</p> - -<p>"Now in 2710, as you'd know if you studied your history, the three -planets of Earth, Venus, and Mars were under governmental bondage. The -cruel dictatorship of Vennox I was short-lived, but it lasted long -enough to endanger all civilized life.</p> - -<p>"The archives tell us that one of the first acts of the overthrowing -government was to cast out all Green Flames, two of which Vennox had -ordered must be kept in each household. The effect on the people was -immediate. Representative government, individual enterprise, freedom -followed."</p> - -<p>Grannie Annie lit a cigarette and flipped the match to the floor.</p> - -<p>"To go back to my first trip to Venus. As I said, I met Ezra Karn, an -old prospector there in the marsh. Karn told me that on one of his -travels into the Varsoom district he had come upon the wreckage of -an old space ship. The hold of that space ship was packed with Green -Flames!"</p> - -<p>If Grannie expected me to show surprise at that, she was disappointed. -I said, "So what?"</p> - -<p>"So everything, Billy-boy. Do you realize what such a thing would mean -if it were true? Green Flames were supposedly destroyed on all planets -after the Vennox regime crashed. If a quantity of the rock were in -existence, and it fell into the wrong hands, there'd be trouble.</p> - -<p>"Of course, I regarded Karn's story as a wild dream, but it made -corking good story material. I wrote it into a novel, and a week after -it was completed, the manuscript was stolen from my study back on -Earth."</p> - -<p>"I see," I said as she lapsed into silence. "And now you've come to the -conclusion that the details of your story were true and that someone is -attempting to put your plot into action."</p> - -<p>Grannie nodded. "Yes," she said. "That's exactly what I think."</p> - -<p>I got my pipe out of my pocket, tamped Martian tobacco into the bowl -and laughed heartily. "The same old Flowers," I said. "Tell me, who's -your thief ... Doctor Universe?"</p> - -<p>She regarded me evenly. "What makes you say that?"</p> - -<p>I shrugged.</p> - -<p>"The way the theater crowd acted. It all ties in."</p> - -<p>The old woman shook her head. "No, this is a lot bigger than a simple -quiz program. The theater crowd was but a cross-section of what is -happening all over the System. There have been riots on Earth and Mars, -police officials murdered on Pluto and a demand that government by -representation be abolished on Jupiter. The time is ripe for a military -dictator to step in.</p> - -<p>"And you can lay it all to the Green Flames. It seems incredible that a -single shipload of the ore could effect such a wide ranged area, but in -my opinion someone has found a means of making that quantity a thousand -times more potent and is transmiting it <i>en masse</i>."</p> - -<p>If it had been anyone but Grannie Annie there before me, I would -have called her a fool. And then all at once I got an odd feeling of -approaching danger.</p> - -<p>"Let's get out of here," I said, getting up.</p> - -<p><i>Zinnng-whack!</i></p> - -<p>"All right!"</p> - -<p>On the mirror behind the bar a small circle with radiating cracks -appeared. On the booth wall a scant inch above Grannie's head the -fresco seemed to melt away suddenly.</p> - -<p>A heat ray!</p> - -<p>Grannie Annie leaped to her feet, grasped my arm and raced for the -door. Outside a driverless hydrocar stood with idling motors. The old -woman threw herself into the control seat, yanked me in after her and -threw over the starting stud.</p> - -<p>An instant later we were plunging through the dark night.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Six days after leaving Swamp City we reached Level Five, the last -outpost of firm ground. Ahead lay the inner marsh, stretching as far as -the eye could reach. Low islands projected at intervals from the thick -water. Mold balls, two feet across, drifted down from the slate-gray -sky like puffs of cotton.</p> - -<p>We had traveled this far by <i>ganet</i>, the tough little two headed pack -animal of the Venus hinterland. Any form of plane or rocket would have -had its motor instantly destroyed, of course, by the magnetic force -belt that encircled the planet's equator. Now our drivers changed to -boatmen, and we loaded our supplies into three clumsy <i>jagua</i> canoes.</p> - -<p>It was around the camp fire that night that Grannie took me into her -confidence for the first time since we had left Swamp City.</p> - -<p>"We're heading directly for Varsoom country," she said. "If we find -Ezra Karn so much the better. If we don't, we follow his directions to -the lost space ship. Our job is to find that ore and destroy it. You -see, I'm positive the Green Flames have never been removed from the -ship."</p> - -<p>Sleep had never bothered me, yet that night I lay awake for hours -tossing restlessly. The thousand sounds of the blue marsh droned -steadily. And the news broadcast I had heard over the portable visi -just before retiring still lingered in my mind. To a casual observer -that broadcast would have meant little, a slight rebellion here, an -isolated crime there. But viewed from the perspective Grannie had -given me, everything dovetailed. The situation on Jupiter was swiftly -coming to a head. Not only had the people on that planet demanded that -representative government be abolished, but a forum was now being held -to find a leader who might take complete dictatorial control.</p> - -<p>Outside a whisper-worm hissed softly. I got up and strode out of my -tent. For some time I stood there, lost in thought. Could I believe -Grannie's incredible story? Or was this another of her fantastic plots -which she had skilfully blended into a novel?</p> - -<p>Abruptly I stiffened. The familiar drone of the marsh was gone. In its -place a ringing silence blanketed everything.</p> - -<p>And then out in the gloom a darker shadow appeared, moving in -undulating sweeps toward the center of the camp. Fascinated, I watched -it advance and retreat, saw two hyalescent eyes swim out of the murk. -It charged, and with but a split second to act, I threw myself flat. -There was a rush of mighty wings as the thing swept over me. Sharp -talons raked my clothing. Again it came, and again I rolled swiftly, -missing the thing by the narrowest of margins.</p> - -<p>From the tent opposite a gaunt figure clad in a familiar dress -appeared. Grannie gave a single warning:</p> - -<p>"Stand still!"</p> - -<p>The thing in the darkness turned like a cam on a rod and drove at us -again. This time the old woman's heat gun clicked, and a tracery of -purple flame shot outward. A horrible soul-chilling scream rent the -air. A moment later something huge and heavy scrabbled across the -ground and shot aloft.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>Grannie Annie fired with deliberate speed.</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>I stood frozen as the diminuendo of its wild cries echoed back to me.</p> - -<p>"In heaven's name, what was it?"</p> - -<p>"Hunter-bird," Grannie said calmly. "A form of avian life found here -in the swamp. Harmless in its wild state, but when captured, it can be -trained to pursue a quarry until it kills. It has a single unit brain -and follows with a relentless purpose."</p> - -<p>"Then that would mean...?"</p> - -<p>"That it was sent by our enemy, the same enemy that shot at us in the -cafe in Swamp City. Exactly." Grannie Annie halted at the door of her -tent and faced me with earnest eyes. "Billy-boy, our every move is -being watched. From now on it's the survival of the fittest."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The following day was our seventh in the swamp. The water here -resembled a vast mosaic, striped and cross-striped with long winding -ribbons of yellowish substance that floated a few inches below the -surface. The mold balls coming into contact with the evonium water of -the swamp had undergone a chemical change and evolved into a cohesive -multi-celled marine life that lived and died within a space of hours. -The Venusians paddled with extreme care. Had one of them dipped his -hand into one of those yellow streaks, he would have been devoured in -a matter of seconds.</p> - -<p>At high noon by my Earth watch I sighted a low white structure on one -of the distant islands. Moments later we made a landing at a rude -jetty, and Grannie Annie was introducing me to Ezra Karn.</p> - -<p>He was not as old a man as I had expected, but he was ragged and -unkempt with iron gray hair falling almost to his shoulders. He was -dressed in <i>varpa</i> cloth, the Venus equivalent of buckskin, and on his -head was an enormous flop-brimmed hat.</p> - -<p>"Glad to meet you," he said, shaking my hand. "Any friend of Miss -Flowers is a friend of mine." He ushered us down the catwalk into his -hut.</p> - -<p>The place was a two room affair, small but comfortable. The latest -type of visi set in one corner showed that Karn was not isolated from -civilization entirely.</p> - -<p>Grannie Annie came to the point abruptly. When she had explained the -object of our trip, the prospector became thoughtful.</p> - -<p>"Green Flames, eh?" he repeated slowly. "Well yes, I suppose I could -find that space ship again. That is, if I wanted to."</p> - -<p>"What do you mean?" Grannie paused in the act of rolling herself a -cigarette. "You know where it is, don't you?"</p> - -<p>"Ye-s," Karn nodded. "But like I told you before, that ship lies in -Varsoom country, and that isn't exactly a summer vacation spot."</p> - -<p>"What are the Varsoom?" I asked. "A native tribe?"</p> - -<p>Karn shook his head. "They're a form of life that's never been seen by -Earthmen. Strictly speaking, they're no more than a form of energy."</p> - -<p>"Dangerous?"</p> - -<p>"Yes and no. Only man I ever heard of who escaped their country outside -of myself was the explorer, Darthier, three years ago. I got away -because I was alone, and they didn't notice me, and Darthier escaped -because he made 'em laugh."</p> - -<p>"Laugh?" A scowl crossed Grannie's face.</p> - -<p>"That's right," Karn said. "The Varsoom have a strange nervous reaction -that's manifested by laughing. But just what it is that makes them -laugh, I don't know."</p> - -<p>Food supplies and fresh drinking water were replenished at the hut. -Several mold guns were borrowed from the prospector's supply to arm the -Venusians. And then as we were about to leave, Karn suddenly turned.</p> - -<p>"The Doctor Universe program," he said. "I ain't missed one in months. -You gotta wait 'til I hear it."</p> - -<p>Grannie frowned in annoyance, but the prospector was adamant. He -flipped a stud, twisted a dial and a moment later was leaning back in a -chair, listening with avid interest.</p> - -<p>It was the same show I had witnessed back in Swamp City. Once again I -heard questions filter in from the far outposts of the System. Once -again I saw the commanding figure of the quiz master as he strode back -and forth across the stage. And as I sat there, looking into the visi -screen, a curious numbing drowsiness seemed to steal over me and lead -my thoughts far away.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Half an hour later we headed into the unknown. The Venusian boatmen -were ill-at-ease now and jabbered among themselves constantly. We -camped that night on a miserable little island where insects swarmed -about us in hordes. The next day an indefinable wave of weariness and -despondency beset our entire party. I caught myself musing over the -futility of the venture. Only the pleadings of Grannie Annie kept me -from turning back. On the morrow I realized the truth in her warning, -that all of us had been exposed to the insidious radiations.</p> - -<p>After that I lost track of time. Day after day of incessant rain ... of -steaming swamp.... But at length we reached firm ground and began our -advance on foot.</p> - -<p>It was Karn who first sighted the ship. Striding in the lead, he -suddenly halted at the top of a hill and leveled his arm before him. -There it lay, a huge cigar-shaped vessel of blackened <i>arelium</i> steel, -half buried in the swamp soil.</p> - -<p>"What's that thing on top?" Karn demanded, puzzled.</p> - -<p>A rectangular metal envelope had been constructed over the stern -quarters of the ship. Above this structure were three tall masts. And -suspended between them was a network of copper wire studded with white -insulators.</p> - -<p>Grannie gazed a long moment through binoculars. "Billy-boy, take three -Venusians and head across the knoll," she ordered. "Ezra and I will -circle in from the west. Fire a gun if you strike trouble."</p> - -<p>But we found no trouble. The scene before us lay steeped in silence. -Moments later our two parties converged at the base of the great ship.</p> - -<p>A metal ladder extended from the envelope down the side of the vessel. -Mid-way we could see a circular hatch-like door.</p> - -<p>"Up we go, Billy-boy." Heat gun in readiness, Grannie Annie began to -climb slowly.</p> - -<p>The silence remained absolute. We reached the door and pulled it open. -There was no sign of life.</p> - -<p>"Somebody's gone to a lot of trouble here," Ezra Karn observed.</p> - -<p>Somebody had. Before us stretched a narrow corridor, flanked on the -left side by a wall of impenetrable stepto glass. The corridor was -bare of furnishings. But beyond the glass, revealed to us in mocking -clarity, was a high panel, studded with dials and gauges. Even as we -looked, we could see liquid pulse in glass tubes, indicator needles -swing slowly to and fro.</p> - -<p>Grannie nodded. "Some kind of a broadcasting unit. The Green Flames in -the lower hold are probably exposed to a <i>tholpane</i> plate and their -radiations stepped up by an electro-phosicalic process."</p> - -<p>Karn raised the butt of his pistol and brought it crashing against the -glass wall. His arm jumped in recoil, but the glass remained intact.</p> - -<p>"You'll never do it that way," Grannie said. "Nothing short of an -atomic blast will shatter that wall. It explains why there are no -guards here. The mechanism is entirely self-operating. Let's see if the -Green Flames are more accessible."</p> - -<p>In the lower hold disappointment again confronted us. Visible in -the feeble shafts of daylight that filtered through cracks in the -vessel's hull were tiers of rectangular ingots of green iridescent ore. -Suspended by insulators from the ceiling over them was a thick metal -plate.</p> - -<p>But between was a barrier. A wall of impenetrable stepto glass.</p> - -<p>Grannie stamped her foot. "It's maddening," she said. "Here we are at -the crux of the whole matter, and we're powerless to make a single -move."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Outside the day was beginning to wane. The Venusians, apparently -unawed by the presence of the space ship, had already started a fire -and erected the tents. We left the vessel to find a spell of brooding -desolation heavy over the improvised camp. And the evening meal this -time was a gloomy affair. When it was finished, Ezra Karn lit his pipe -and switched on the portable visi set. A moment later the silence of -the march was broken by the opening fanfare of the Doctor Universe -program.</p> - -<p>"Great stuff," Karn commented. "I sent in a couple of questions once, -but I never did win nothin'. This Doctor Universe is a great guy. Ought -to make him king or somethin'."</p> - -<p>For a moment none of us made reply. Then suddenly Grannie Annie leaped -to her feet.</p> - -<p>"Say that again!" she cried.</p> - -<p>The old prospector looked startled. "Why, I only said they ought to -make this Doctor Universe the big boss and...."</p> - -<p>"That's it!" Grannie paced ten yards off into the gathering darkness -and returned quickly. "Billy-boy, you were right. The man behind this -<i>is</i> Doctor Universe. It was he who stole my manuscript and devised a -method to amplify the radiations of the Green Flames in the freighter's -hold. He lit on a sure-fire plan to broadcast those radiations in such -a way that millions of persons would be exposed to them simultaneously. -Don't you see?"</p> - -<p>I didn't see, but Grannie hurried on.</p> - -<p>"What better way to expose civilized life to the Green Flames -radiations than when the people are in a state of relaxation. The -Doctor Universe quiz program. The whole System tuned in on them, but -they were only a blind to cover up the transmission of the radiations -from the ore. Their power must have been amplified a thousandfold, and -their wave-length must lie somewhere between light and the supersonic -scale in that transition band which so far has defied exploration...."</p> - -<p>"But with what motive?" I demanded. "Why should...?"</p> - -<p>"Power!" the old woman answered. "The old thirst for dictatorial -control of the masses. By presenting himself as an intellectual genius, -Doctor Universe utilized a bizarre method to intrench himself in the -minds of the people. Oh, don't you see, Billy-boy? The Green Flames' -radiations spell doom to freedom, individual liberty."</p> - -<p>I sat there stupidly, wondering if this all were some wild dream.</p> - -<p>And then, as I looked across at Grannie Annie, the vague light over the -tents seemed to shift a little, as if one layer of the atmosphere had -dropped away to be replaced by another.</p> - -<p>There it was again, a definite movement in the air. Somehow I got the -impression I was looking around that space rather than through it. And -simultaneously Ezra Karn uttered a howl of pain. An instant later the -old prospector was rolling over and over, threshing his arms wildly.</p> - -<p>An invisible sledge hammer descended on my shoulder. The blow was -followed by another and another. Heavy unseen hands held me down. -Opposite me Grannie Annie and the Venusians were suffering similar -punishment, the latter screaming in pain and bewilderment.</p> - -<p>"It's the Varsoom!" Ezra Karn yelled. "We've got to make 'em laugh. Our -only escape is to make 'em laugh!"</p> - -<p>He struggled to his feet and began leaping wildly around the camp fire. -Abruptly his foot caught on a log protruding from the fire; he tripped -and fell headlong into a mass of hot coals and ashes. Like a jumping -jack he was on his feet again, clawing dirt and soot from his eyes.</p> - -<p>Out of the empty space about us there came a sudden hush. The unseen -blows ceased in mid-career. And then the silence was rent by wild -laughter. Peal after peal of mirthful yells pounded against our ears. -For many moments it continued; then it died away, and everything was -peaceful once more.</p> - -<p>Grannie Annie picked herself up slowly. "That was close," she said. "I -wouldn't want to go through that again."</p> - -<p>Ezra Karn nursed an ugly welt under one eye. "Those Varsoom got a funny -sense of humor," he growled.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Inside the freighter's narrow corridor Grannie faced me with eyes -filled with excitement.</p> - -<p>"Billy-boy," she said, "we've got two problems now. We've got to stop -Doctor Universe, and we've got to find a way of getting out of here. -Right now we're nicely bottled up."</p> - -<p>As if in answer to her words the visi set revealed the face of the quiz -master on the screen. He was saying:</p> - -<p>"<i>Remember tomorrow at this same hour I will have a message of -unparalleled importance for the people of the nine planets. Tomorrow -night I urge you, I command you, to tune in.</i>"</p> - -<p>With a whistling intake of breath the old woman turned to one of the -Venusians.</p> - -<p>"Bring all our equipment in here," she ordered. "Hurry!"</p> - -<p>She untied the ribbon under her chin and took off her cap. She rolled -up her sleeves, and as the Venusians came marching into the space ship -with bundles of equipment, she fell to work.</p> - -<p>Silently Ezra Karn and I watched her. First she completely dismantled -the visi set, put it together again with an entirely altered hookup. -Next she unrolled a coil of flexible copper mesh which we had brought -along as a protective electrical screening against the marsh insects. -She fastened rubberite suction cups to this mesh at intervals of every -twelve inches or more, carried it down to the freighter's hold and -fastened it securely against the stepto glass wall.</p> - -<p>Trailing a three-ply conduit up from the hold to the corridor she -selected an induction coil, several Micro-Wellman tubes and a quantity -of wire from a box of spare parts. Dexterously her fingers moved in and -out, fashioning a complicated and curious piece of apparatus.</p> - -<p>At length she finished.</p> - -<p>"It's pretty hay-wire," she said, "but I think it will work. Now I'll -tell you what I'm going to do. When Doctor Universe broadcasts tomorrow -night, he's going to announce that he has set himself up as supreme -dictator. He'll have the Green Flame radiations coming from this ship -under full power. I'm going to insert into his broadcast—the laughing -of the Varsoom!"</p> - -<p>"You're going to what?"</p> - -<p>"Broadcast the mass laughter from those invisible creatures out there. -Visualize it, Billy-boy! At the dramatic moment when Doctor Universe -makes his plea for System-wide power, he will be accompanied by wild -peals of laughter. The whole broadcast will be turned into a burlesque."</p> - -<p>"How you going to make 'em laugh?" interrupted Karn.</p> - -<p>"We must think of a way," Grannie replied soberly.</p> - -<p>I, for one, am glad that no representative of the Interstellar -Psychiatry Society witnessed our antics during the early hours of that -morning and on into the long reaches of the afternoon, as we vainly -tried to provoke the laughter of the Varsoom. All to no avail. Utter -silence greeted our efforts. And the time was growing close to the -scheduled Doctor Universe program.</p> - -<p>Ezra Karn wiped a bead of perspiration from his brow. "Maybe we've got -to attract their attention first," he suggested. "Miss Flowers, why -don't you go up on the roof and read to 'em? Read 'em something from -one of your books, if you've got one along. That ought to make 'em sit -up and take notice."</p> - -<p>For a moment the old woman gazed at him in silence. Then she got to her -feet quickly.</p> - -<p>"I'll do it," she said. "I'll read them the attack scene from <i>Murder -On A Space Liner</i>."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It didn't make sense, of course. But nothing made sense in this mad -venture. Grannie Annie opened her duffel bag and drew out a copy of -her most popular book. With the volume under her arm, she mounted the -ladder to the top of the envelope. Ezra Karn rigged up a radite search -lamp, and a moment later the old woman stood in the center of a circle -of white radiance.</p> - -<p>Karn gripped my arm. "This is it," he said tensely. "If this fails ..."</p> - -<p>His voice clipped off as Grannie began to read. She read slowly -at first, then intoned the words and sentences faster and more -dramatically.</p> - -<p>And out in the swamp a vast hush fell as if unseen ears were listening.</p> - -<p>"... <i>the space liner was over on her beam ends now as another shot -from the raider's vessel crashed into the stern hold. In the control -cabin Cuthbert Strong twisted vainly at his bonds as he sought to free -himself. Opposite him, lashed by strong Martian vinta ropes to the -gravascope, Louise Belmont sobbed softly, wringing her hands in mute -appeal.</i>"</p> - -<p>A restless rustling sounded out in the marsh, as if hundreds of bodies -were surging closer. Karn nodded in awe.</p> - -<p>"She's got 'em!" he whispered. "Listen. They're eatin' up every word."</p> - -<p>I heard it then, and I thought I must be dreaming. From somewhere out -in the swamp a sound rose into the thick air. A high-pitched chuckle, -it was. The chuckle came again. Now it was followed by another and -another. An instant later a wave of low subdued laughter rose into the -air.</p> - -<p>Ezra Karn gulped. "Gripes!" he said. "They're laughing already. -<i>They're laughing at her book!</i> And look, the old lady's gettin' sore."</p> - -<p>Up on the roof of the envelope Grannie Annie halted her reading to -glare savagely out into the darkness.</p> - -<p>The laughter was a roar now. It rose louder and louder, peal after peal -of mirthful yells and hysterical shouts. And for the first time in my -life, I saw Annabella C. Flowers mad. She stamped her foot; she shook -her fist at the unseen hordes out before her.</p> - -<p>"Ignorant slap-happy fools!" she screamed. "You don't know good science -fiction when you hear it."</p> - -<p>I turned to Karn and said quietly, "Turn on the visi set. Doctor -Universe should be broadcasting now. Tune your microphone to pull in -as much of that laughter as you can."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It took three weeks to make the return trip to Swamp City. The Varsoom -followed us far beyond the frontier of their country like an unseen -army in the throes of laughing gas. Not until we reached Level Five did -the last chuckle fade into the distance.</p> - -<p>All during that trek back, Grannie sat in the dugout, staring silently -out before her.</p> - -<p>But when we reached Swamp City, the news was flung at us from all -sides. One newspaper headline accurately told the story: DOCTOR -UNIVERSE BID FOR SYSTEM DICTATORSHIP SQUELCHED BY RIDICULE OF UNSEEN -AUDIENCE. QUIZ MASTER NOW IN HANDS OF I.P. COUP FAILURE.</p> - -<p>"Grannie," I said that night as we sat again in a rear booth of THE -JET, "what are you going to do now? Give up writing science fiction?"</p> - -<p>She looked at me soberly, then broke into a smile.</p> - -<p>"Just because some silly form of life that can't even be seen doesn't -appreciate it? I should say not. Right now I've got an idea for a swell -yarn about Mars. Want to come along while I dig up some background -material?"</p> - -<p>I shook my head. "Not me," I said.</p> - -<p>But I knew I would.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Doctor Universe, by Carl Jacobi - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOCTOR UNIVERSE *** - -***** This file should be named 63109-h.htm or 63109-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/1/0/63109/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Doctor Universe - -Author: Carl Jacobi - -Release Date: September 3, 2020 [EBook #63109] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOCTOR UNIVERSE *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - Doctor Universe - - By CARL JACOBI - - Grannie Annie, who wrote science fiction - under the nom de plume of Annabella C. Flowers, - had stumbled onto a murderous plot more - hair-raising than any she had ever concocted. - And the danger from the villain of the piece - didn't worry her--I was the guy he was shooting at. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Fall 1944. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -I was killing an hour in the billiard room of the _Spacemen's Club_ -in Swamp City when the Venusian bellboy came and tapped me on the -shoulder. - -"Beg pardon, thir," he said with his racial lisp, "thereth thome one to -thee you in the main lounge." His eyes rolled as he added, "A lady!" - -A woman here...! The _Spacemen's_ was a sanctuary, a rest club where -in-coming pilots and crewmen could relax before leaving for another -voyage. The rule that no females could pass its portals was strictly -enforced. - -I followed the bellhop down the long corridor that led to the main -lounge. At the threshold I jerked to a halt and stared incredulously. - -Grannie Annie! - -There she stood before a frantically gesticulating desk clerk, leaning -on her faded green umbrella. A little wisp of a woman clad in a -voluminous black dress with one of those doily-like caps on her head, -tied by a ribbon under her chin. Her high-topped button shoes were -planted firmly on the varpla carpet and her wrinkled face was set in -calm defiance. - -I barged across the lounge and seized her hand. "Grannie Annie! I -haven't seen you in two years." - -"Hi, Billy-boy," she greeted calmly. "Will you please tell this -fish-face to shut up." - -The desk clerk went white. "Mithter Trenwith, if thith lady ith a -friend of yourth, you'll have to take her away. It'th abtholutely -againth the ruleth...." - -"Okay, okay," I grinned. "Look, we'll go into the grille. There's no -one there at this hour." - -In the grille an equally astonished waiter served us--me a lime rickey -and Grannie Annie her usual whisky sour--I waited until she had tossed -the drink off at a gulp before I set off a chain of questions: - -"What the devil are you doing on Venus? Don't you know women aren't -allowed in the _Spacemen's_? What happened to the book you were -writing?" - -"Hold it, Billy-boy." Laughingly she threw up both hands. "Sure, I knew -this place had some antiquated laws. Pure fiddle-faddle, that's what -they are. Anyway, I've been thrown out of better places." - -She hadn't changed. To her publishers and her readers she might be -Annabella C. Flowers, author of a long list of science fiction novels. -But to me she was still Grannie Annie, as old-fashioned as last year's -hat, as modern as an atomic motor. She had probably written more drivel -in the name of science fiction than anyone alive. - -But the public loved it. They ate up her stories, and they clamored for -more. Her annual income totaled into six figures, and her publishers -sat back and massaged their digits, watching their earnings mount. - -One thing you had to admit about her books. They may have been dime -novels, but they weren't synthetic. If Annabella C. Flowers wrote a -novel, and the locale was the desert of Mars, she packed her carpet bag -and hopped a liner for Craterville. If she cooked up a feud between two -expeditions on Callisto, she went to Callisto. - -She was the most completely delightful crackpot I had ever known. - -"What happened to _Guns for Ganymede_?" I asked. "That was the title of -your last, wasn't it?" - - * * * * * - -Grannie spilled a few shreds of Martian tobacco onto a paper and deftly -rolled herself a cigarette. - -"It wasn't _Guns_, it was _Pistols_; and it wasn't _Ganymede_, it was -_Pluto_." - -I grinned. "All complete, I'll bet, with threats against the universe -and beautiful Earth heroines dragged in by the hair." - -"What else is there in science fiction?" she demanded. "You can't have -your hero fall in love with a bug-eyed monster." - -Up on the wall a clock chimed the hour. The old woman jerked to her -feet. - -"I almost forgot, Billy-boy. I'm due at the _Satellite_ Theater in ten -minutes. Come on, you're going with me." - -Before I realized it, I was following her through the lounge and out to -the jetty front. Grannie Annie hailed a hydrocar. Five minutes later we -drew up before the big doors of the _Satellite_. - -They don't go in for style in Swamp City. A theater to the grizzled -colonials on this side of the planet meant a shack on stilts over the -muck, _zilcon_ wood seats and dingy atobide lamps. But the place was -packed with miners, freight-crew-men--all the tide and wash of humanity -that made Swamp City the frontier post it is. - -In front was a big sign. It read: - - ONE NIGHT ONLY - DOCTOR UNIVERSE AND HIS - NINE GENIUSES - THE QUESTION PROGRAM OF - THE SYSTEM - -As we strode down the aisle a mangy-looking Venusian began to pound a -tinpan piano in the pit. Grannie Annie pushed me into a seat in the -front row. - -"Sit here," she said. "I'm sorry about all this rush, but I'm one of -the players in this shindig. As soon as the show is over, we'll go -somewhere and talk." She minced lightly down the aisle, climbed the -stage steps and disappeared in the wings. - -"That damned fossilized dynamo," I muttered. "She'll be the death of me -yet." - -The piano struck a chord in G, and the curtain went rattling up. On the -stage four Earthmen, two Martians, two Venusians, and one Mercurian -sat on an upraised dais. That is to say, eight of them sat. The -Mercurian, a huge lump of granite-like flesh, sprawled there, palpably -uncomfortable. On the right were nine visi sets, each with its new -improved pantascope panel and switchboard. Before each set stood an -Earthman operator. - - * * * * * - -A tall man, clad in a claw-hammer coat, came out from the wings and -advanced to the footlights. - -"People of Swamp City," he said, bowing, "permit me to introduce -myself. I am Doctor Universe, and these are my nine experts." - -There was a roar of applause from the _Satellite_ audience. When it had -subsided, the man continued: - -"As most of you are familiar with our program, it will be unnecessary -to give any advance explanation. I will only say that on this stage are -nine visi sets, each tuned to one of the nine planets. At transmitting -sets all over these planets listeners will appear and voice questions. -These questions, my nine experts will endeavor to answer. For every -question missed, the sender will receive a check for one thousand -_planetoles_. - -"One thing more. As usual we have with us a guest star who will match -her wits with the experts. May I present that renowned writer of -science fiction, Annabella C. Flowers." - -From the left wing Grannie Annie appeared. She bowed and took her place -on the dais. - -The Doctor's program began. The operator of the Earth visi twisted his -dials and nodded. Blue light flickered on the pantascope panel to -coalesce slowly into the face of a red-haired man. Sharp and dear his -voice echoed through the theater: - -"_Who was the first Earthman to titter the sunward side of Mercury?_" - -Doctor Universe nodded and turned to Grannie Annie who had raised her -hand. She said quietly: - -"Charles Zanner in the year 2012. In a specially constructed -tracto-car." - -And so it went. Questions from Mars, from Earth, from Saturn flowed in -the visi sets. Isolated miners on Jupiter, dancers in swank Plutonian -cafes strove to stump the experts. With Doctor Universe offering -bantering side play, the experts gave their answers. When they failed, -or when the Truthicator flashed a red light, he announced the name of -the winner. - -It grew a little tiresome after a while and I wondered why Grannie had -brought me here. And then I began to notice things. - -The audience in the _Satellite_ seemed to have lost much of its -original fervor. They applauded as before but they did so only at the -signal of Doctor Universe. The spell created by the man was complete. - -Pompous and erect, he strode back and forth across the stage like a -general surveying his army. His black eyes gleamed, and his thin lips -were turned in a smile of satisfaction. - -When the last question had been answered I joined the exit-moving -crowd. It was outside under the street marquee that a strange incident -occurred. - -A yellow-faced Kagor from the upper Martian desert country shuffled by, -dragging his cumbersome third leg behind him. Kagors, of course, had an -unpleasant history of persecution since the early colonization days of -the Red Planet. But the thing that happened there was a throw back to -an earlier era. - -Someone shouted, "Yah, yellow-face! Down with all Kagors!" As one -man the crowd took up the cry and surged forward. The helpless Kagor -was seized and flung to the pavement. A knife appeared from nowhere, -snipped the Martian's single lock of hair. A booted foot bludgeoned -into his mouth. - -Moments later an official hydrocar roared up and a dozen I.P. men -rushed out and scattered the crowd. But a few stragglers lingered to -shout derisive epithets. - -Grannie Annie came out from behind the box office then. She took my arm -and led me around a corner and through a doorway under a sign that read -THE JET. Inside was a deep room with booths along one wall. The place -was all but deserted. - -In a booth well toward the rear the old lady surveyed me with sober -eyes. - -"Billy-boy, did you see the way that crowd acted?" - -I nodded. "As disgraceful an exhibition as I've ever seen. The I.P. men -ought to clamp down." - -"The I.P. men aren't strong enough." - -She said it quietly, but there was a glitter in her eyes and a harsh -line about her usually smiling lips. - -"What do you mean?" - - * * * * * - -For a moment the old lady sat there in silence; then she leaned back, -closed her eyes, and I knew there was a story coming. - -"My last book, _Death In The Atom_, hit the stands last January," -she began. "When it was finished I had planned to take a six months' -vacation, but those fool publishers of mine insisted I do a sequel. -Well, I'd used Mars and Pluto and Ganymede as settings for novels, so -for this one I decided on Venus. I went to Venus City, and I spent six -weeks in-country. I got some swell background material, and I met Ezra -Karn...." - -"Who?" I interrupted. - -"An old prospector who lives out in the deep marsh on the outskirts of -Varsoom country. To make a long story short, I got him talking about -his adventures, and he told me plenty." - -The old woman paused. "Did you ever hear of the Green Flames?" she -asked abruptly. - -I shook my head. "Some new kind of ..." - -"It's not a new kind of anything. The Green Flame is a radio-active -rock once found on Mercury. The _Alpha_ rays of this rock are similar -to radium in that they consist of streams of material particles -projected at high speed. But the character of the _Gamma_ rays has -never been completely analyzed. Like those set up by radium, they are -electromagnetic pulsations, but they are also a strange combination of -_Beta_ or cathode rays with negatively charged electrons. - -"When any form of life is exposed to these _Gamma_ rays from the Green -Flame rock, they produce in the creature's brain a certain lassitude -and lack of energy. As the period of exposure increases, this condition -develops into a sense of impotence and a desire for leadership or -guidance. Occasionally, as with the weak-willed, there is a spirit of -intolerance. The Green Flames might be said to be an inorganic opiate, -a thousand times more subtle and more powerful than any known drug." - -I was sitting up now, hanging on to the woman's every word. - -"Now in 2710, as you'd know if you studied your history, the three -planets of Earth, Venus, and Mars were under governmental bondage. The -cruel dictatorship of Vennox I was short-lived, but it lasted long -enough to endanger all civilized life. - -"The archives tell us that one of the first acts of the overthrowing -government was to cast out all Green Flames, two of which Vennox had -ordered must be kept in each household. The effect on the people was -immediate. Representative government, individual enterprise, freedom -followed." - -Grannie Annie lit a cigarette and flipped the match to the floor. - -"To go back to my first trip to Venus. As I said, I met Ezra Karn, an -old prospector there in the marsh. Karn told me that on one of his -travels into the Varsoom district he had come upon the wreckage of -an old space ship. The hold of that space ship was packed with Green -Flames!" - -If Grannie expected me to show surprise at that, she was disappointed. -I said, "So what?" - -"So everything, Billy-boy. Do you realize what such a thing would mean -if it were true? Green Flames were supposedly destroyed on all planets -after the Vennox regime crashed. If a quantity of the rock were in -existence, and it fell into the wrong hands, there'd be trouble. - -"Of course, I regarded Karn's story as a wild dream, but it made -corking good story material. I wrote it into a novel, and a week after -it was completed, the manuscript was stolen from my study back on -Earth." - -"I see," I said as she lapsed into silence. "And now you've come to the -conclusion that the details of your story were true and that someone is -attempting to put your plot into action." - -Grannie nodded. "Yes," she said. "That's exactly what I think." - -I got my pipe out of my pocket, tamped Martian tobacco into the bowl -and laughed heartily. "The same old Flowers," I said. "Tell me, who's -your thief ... Doctor Universe?" - -She regarded me evenly. "What makes you say that?" - -I shrugged. - -"The way the theater crowd acted. It all ties in." - -The old woman shook her head. "No, this is a lot bigger than a simple -quiz program. The theater crowd was but a cross-section of what is -happening all over the System. There have been riots on Earth and Mars, -police officials murdered on Pluto and a demand that government by -representation be abolished on Jupiter. The time is ripe for a military -dictator to step in. - -"And you can lay it all to the Green Flames. It seems incredible that a -single shipload of the ore could effect such a wide ranged area, but in -my opinion someone has found a means of making that quantity a thousand -times more potent and is transmiting it _en masse_." - -If it had been anyone but Grannie Annie there before me, I would -have called her a fool. And then all at once I got an odd feeling of -approaching danger. - -"Let's get out of here," I said, getting up. - -_Zinnng-whack!_ - -"All right!" - -On the mirror behind the bar a small circle with radiating cracks -appeared. On the booth wall a scant inch above Grannie's head the -fresco seemed to melt away suddenly. - -A heat ray! - -Grannie Annie leaped to her feet, grasped my arm and raced for the -door. Outside a driverless hydrocar stood with idling motors. The old -woman threw herself into the control seat, yanked me in after her and -threw over the starting stud. - -An instant later we were plunging through the dark night. - - * * * * * - -Six days after leaving Swamp City we reached Level Five, the last -outpost of firm ground. Ahead lay the inner marsh, stretching as far as -the eye could reach. Low islands projected at intervals from the thick -water. Mold balls, two feet across, drifted down from the slate-gray -sky like puffs of cotton. - -We had traveled this far by _ganet_, the tough little two headed pack -animal of the Venus hinterland. Any form of plane or rocket would have -had its motor instantly destroyed, of course, by the magnetic force -belt that encircled the planet's equator. Now our drivers changed to -boatmen, and we loaded our supplies into three clumsy _jagua_ canoes. - -It was around the camp fire that night that Grannie took me into her -confidence for the first time since we had left Swamp City. - -"We're heading directly for Varsoom country," she said. "If we find -Ezra Karn so much the better. If we don't, we follow his directions to -the lost space ship. Our job is to find that ore and destroy it. You -see, I'm positive the Green Flames have never been removed from the -ship." - -Sleep had never bothered me, yet that night I lay awake for hours -tossing restlessly. The thousand sounds of the blue marsh droned -steadily. And the news broadcast I had heard over the portable visi -just before retiring still lingered in my mind. To a casual observer -that broadcast would have meant little, a slight rebellion here, an -isolated crime there. But viewed from the perspective Grannie had -given me, everything dovetailed. The situation on Jupiter was swiftly -coming to a head. Not only had the people on that planet demanded that -representative government be abolished, but a forum was now being held -to find a leader who might take complete dictatorial control. - -Outside a whisper-worm hissed softly. I got up and strode out of my -tent. For some time I stood there, lost in thought. Could I believe -Grannie's incredible story? Or was this another of her fantastic plots -which she had skilfully blended into a novel? - -Abruptly I stiffened. The familiar drone of the marsh was gone. In its -place a ringing silence blanketed everything. - -And then out in the gloom a darker shadow appeared, moving in -undulating sweeps toward the center of the camp. Fascinated, I watched -it advance and retreat, saw two hyalescent eyes swim out of the murk. -It charged, and with but a split second to act, I threw myself flat. -There was a rush of mighty wings as the thing swept over me. Sharp -talons raked my clothing. Again it came, and again I rolled swiftly, -missing the thing by the narrowest of margins. - -From the tent opposite a gaunt figure clad in a familiar dress -appeared. Grannie gave a single warning: - -"Stand still!" - -The thing in the darkness turned like a cam on a rod and drove at us -again. This time the old woman's heat gun clicked, and a tracery of -purple flame shot outward. A horrible soul-chilling scream rent the -air. A moment later something huge and heavy scrabbled across the -ground and shot aloft. - -[Illustration: _Grannie Annie fired with deliberate speed._] - -I stood frozen as the diminuendo of its wild cries echoed back to me. - -"In heaven's name, what was it?" - -"Hunter-bird," Grannie said calmly. "A form of avian life found here -in the swamp. Harmless in its wild state, but when captured, it can be -trained to pursue a quarry until it kills. It has a single unit brain -and follows with a relentless purpose." - -"Then that would mean...?" - -"That it was sent by our enemy, the same enemy that shot at us in the -cafe in Swamp City. Exactly." Grannie Annie halted at the door of her -tent and faced me with earnest eyes. "Billy-boy, our every move is -being watched. From now on it's the survival of the fittest." - - * * * * * - -The following day was our seventh in the swamp. The water here -resembled a vast mosaic, striped and cross-striped with long winding -ribbons of yellowish substance that floated a few inches below the -surface. The mold balls coming into contact with the evonium water of -the swamp had undergone a chemical change and evolved into a cohesive -multi-celled marine life that lived and died within a space of hours. -The Venusians paddled with extreme care. Had one of them dipped his -hand into one of those yellow streaks, he would have been devoured in -a matter of seconds. - -At high noon by my Earth watch I sighted a low white structure on one -of the distant islands. Moments later we made a landing at a rude -jetty, and Grannie Annie was introducing me to Ezra Karn. - -He was not as old a man as I had expected, but he was ragged and -unkempt with iron gray hair falling almost to his shoulders. He was -dressed in _varpa_ cloth, the Venus equivalent of buckskin, and on his -head was an enormous flop-brimmed hat. - -"Glad to meet you," he said, shaking my hand. "Any friend of Miss -Flowers is a friend of mine." He ushered us down the catwalk into his -hut. - -The place was a two room affair, small but comfortable. The latest -type of visi set in one corner showed that Karn was not isolated from -civilization entirely. - -Grannie Annie came to the point abruptly. When she had explained the -object of our trip, the prospector became thoughtful. - -"Green Flames, eh?" he repeated slowly. "Well yes, I suppose I could -find that space ship again. That is, if I wanted to." - -"What do you mean?" Grannie paused in the act of rolling herself a -cigarette. "You know where it is, don't you?" - -"Ye-s," Karn nodded. "But like I told you before, that ship lies in -Varsoom country, and that isn't exactly a summer vacation spot." - -"What are the Varsoom?" I asked. "A native tribe?" - -Karn shook his head. "They're a form of life that's never been seen by -Earthmen. Strictly speaking, they're no more than a form of energy." - -"Dangerous?" - -"Yes and no. Only man I ever heard of who escaped their country outside -of myself was the explorer, Darthier, three years ago. I got away -because I was alone, and they didn't notice me, and Darthier escaped -because he made 'em laugh." - -"Laugh?" A scowl crossed Grannie's face. - -"That's right," Karn said. "The Varsoom have a strange nervous reaction -that's manifested by laughing. But just what it is that makes them -laugh, I don't know." - -Food supplies and fresh drinking water were replenished at the hut. -Several mold guns were borrowed from the prospector's supply to arm the -Venusians. And then as we were about to leave, Karn suddenly turned. - -"The Doctor Universe program," he said. "I ain't missed one in months. -You gotta wait 'til I hear it." - -Grannie frowned in annoyance, but the prospector was adamant. He -flipped a stud, twisted a dial and a moment later was leaning back in a -chair, listening with avid interest. - -It was the same show I had witnessed back in Swamp City. Once again I -heard questions filter in from the far outposts of the System. Once -again I saw the commanding figure of the quiz master as he strode back -and forth across the stage. And as I sat there, looking into the visi -screen, a curious numbing drowsiness seemed to steal over me and lead -my thoughts far away. - - * * * * * - -Half an hour later we headed into the unknown. The Venusian boatmen -were ill-at-ease now and jabbered among themselves constantly. We -camped that night on a miserable little island where insects swarmed -about us in hordes. The next day an indefinable wave of weariness and -despondency beset our entire party. I caught myself musing over the -futility of the venture. Only the pleadings of Grannie Annie kept me -from turning back. On the morrow I realized the truth in her warning, -that all of us had been exposed to the insidious radiations. - -After that I lost track of time. Day after day of incessant rain ... of -steaming swamp.... But at length we reached firm ground and began our -advance on foot. - -It was Karn who first sighted the ship. Striding in the lead, he -suddenly halted at the top of a hill and leveled his arm before him. -There it lay, a huge cigar-shaped vessel of blackened _arelium_ steel, -half buried in the swamp soil. - -"What's that thing on top?" Karn demanded, puzzled. - -A rectangular metal envelope had been constructed over the stern -quarters of the ship. Above this structure were three tall masts. And -suspended between them was a network of copper wire studded with white -insulators. - -Grannie gazed a long moment through binoculars. "Billy-boy, take three -Venusians and head across the knoll," she ordered. "Ezra and I will -circle in from the west. Fire a gun if you strike trouble." - -But we found no trouble. The scene before us lay steeped in silence. -Moments later our two parties converged at the base of the great ship. - -A metal ladder extended from the envelope down the side of the vessel. -Mid-way we could see a circular hatch-like door. - -"Up we go, Billy-boy." Heat gun in readiness, Grannie Annie began to -climb slowly. - -The silence remained absolute. We reached the door and pulled it open. -There was no sign of life. - -"Somebody's gone to a lot of trouble here," Ezra Karn observed. - -Somebody had. Before us stretched a narrow corridor, flanked on the -left side by a wall of impenetrable stepto glass. The corridor was -bare of furnishings. But beyond the glass, revealed to us in mocking -clarity, was a high panel, studded with dials and gauges. Even as we -looked, we could see liquid pulse in glass tubes, indicator needles -swing slowly to and fro. - -Grannie nodded. "Some kind of a broadcasting unit. The Green Flames in -the lower hold are probably exposed to a _tholpane_ plate and their -radiations stepped up by an electro-phosicalic process." - -Karn raised the butt of his pistol and brought it crashing against the -glass wall. His arm jumped in recoil, but the glass remained intact. - -"You'll never do it that way," Grannie said. "Nothing short of an -atomic blast will shatter that wall. It explains why there are no -guards here. The mechanism is entirely self-operating. Let's see if the -Green Flames are more accessible." - -In the lower hold disappointment again confronted us. Visible in -the feeble shafts of daylight that filtered through cracks in the -vessel's hull were tiers of rectangular ingots of green iridescent ore. -Suspended by insulators from the ceiling over them was a thick metal -plate. - -But between was a barrier. A wall of impenetrable stepto glass. - -Grannie stamped her foot. "It's maddening," she said. "Here we are at -the crux of the whole matter, and we're powerless to make a single -move." - - * * * * * - -Outside the day was beginning to wane. The Venusians, apparently -unawed by the presence of the space ship, had already started a fire -and erected the tents. We left the vessel to find a spell of brooding -desolation heavy over the improvised camp. And the evening meal this -time was a gloomy affair. When it was finished, Ezra Karn lit his pipe -and switched on the portable visi set. A moment later the silence of -the march was broken by the opening fanfare of the Doctor Universe -program. - -"Great stuff," Karn commented. "I sent in a couple of questions once, -but I never did win nothin'. This Doctor Universe is a great guy. Ought -to make him king or somethin'." - -For a moment none of us made reply. Then suddenly Grannie Annie leaped -to her feet. - -"Say that again!" she cried. - -The old prospector looked startled. "Why, I only said they ought to -make this Doctor Universe the big boss and...." - -"That's it!" Grannie paced ten yards off into the gathering darkness -and returned quickly. "Billy-boy, you were right. The man behind this -_is_ Doctor Universe. It was he who stole my manuscript and devised a -method to amplify the radiations of the Green Flames in the freighter's -hold. He lit on a sure-fire plan to broadcast those radiations in such -a way that millions of persons would be exposed to them simultaneously. -Don't you see?" - -I didn't see, but Grannie hurried on. - -"What better way to expose civilized life to the Green Flames -radiations than when the people are in a state of relaxation. The -Doctor Universe quiz program. The whole System tuned in on them, but -they were only a blind to cover up the transmission of the radiations -from the ore. Their power must have been amplified a thousandfold, and -their wave-length must lie somewhere between light and the supersonic -scale in that transition band which so far has defied exploration...." - -"But with what motive?" I demanded. "Why should...?" - -"Power!" the old woman answered. "The old thirst for dictatorial -control of the masses. By presenting himself as an intellectual genius, -Doctor Universe utilized a bizarre method to intrench himself in the -minds of the people. Oh, don't you see, Billy-boy? The Green Flames' -radiations spell doom to freedom, individual liberty." - -I sat there stupidly, wondering if this all were some wild dream. - -And then, as I looked across at Grannie Annie, the vague light over the -tents seemed to shift a little, as if one layer of the atmosphere had -dropped away to be replaced by another. - -There it was again, a definite movement in the air. Somehow I got the -impression I was looking around that space rather than through it. And -simultaneously Ezra Karn uttered a howl of pain. An instant later the -old prospector was rolling over and over, threshing his arms wildly. - -An invisible sledge hammer descended on my shoulder. The blow was -followed by another and another. Heavy unseen hands held me down. -Opposite me Grannie Annie and the Venusians were suffering similar -punishment, the latter screaming in pain and bewilderment. - -"It's the Varsoom!" Ezra Karn yelled. "We've got to make 'em laugh. Our -only escape is to make 'em laugh!" - -He struggled to his feet and began leaping wildly around the camp fire. -Abruptly his foot caught on a log protruding from the fire; he tripped -and fell headlong into a mass of hot coals and ashes. Like a jumping -jack he was on his feet again, clawing dirt and soot from his eyes. - -Out of the empty space about us there came a sudden hush. The unseen -blows ceased in mid-career. And then the silence was rent by wild -laughter. Peal after peal of mirthful yells pounded against our ears. -For many moments it continued; then it died away, and everything was -peaceful once more. - -Grannie Annie picked herself up slowly. "That was close," she said. "I -wouldn't want to go through that again." - -Ezra Karn nursed an ugly welt under one eye. "Those Varsoom got a funny -sense of humor," he growled. - - * * * * * - -Inside the freighter's narrow corridor Grannie faced me with eyes -filled with excitement. - -"Billy-boy," she said, "we've got two problems now. We've got to stop -Doctor Universe, and we've got to find a way of getting out of here. -Right now we're nicely bottled up." - -As if in answer to her words the visi set revealed the face of the quiz -master on the screen. He was saying: - -"_Remember tomorrow at this same hour I will have a message of -unparalleled importance for the people of the nine planets. Tomorrow -night I urge you, I command you, to tune in._" - -With a whistling intake of breath the old woman turned to one of the -Venusians. - -"Bring all our equipment in here," she ordered. "Hurry!" - -She untied the ribbon under her chin and took off her cap. She rolled -up her sleeves, and as the Venusians came marching into the space ship -with bundles of equipment, she fell to work. - -Silently Ezra Karn and I watched her. First she completely dismantled -the visi set, put it together again with an entirely altered hookup. -Next she unrolled a coil of flexible copper mesh which we had brought -along as a protective electrical screening against the marsh insects. -She fastened rubberite suction cups to this mesh at intervals of every -twelve inches or more, carried it down to the freighter's hold and -fastened it securely against the stepto glass wall. - -Trailing a three-ply conduit up from the hold to the corridor she -selected an induction coil, several Micro-Wellman tubes and a quantity -of wire from a box of spare parts. Dexterously her fingers moved in and -out, fashioning a complicated and curious piece of apparatus. - -At length she finished. - -"It's pretty hay-wire," she said, "but I think it will work. Now I'll -tell you what I'm going to do. When Doctor Universe broadcasts tomorrow -night, he's going to announce that he has set himself up as supreme -dictator. He'll have the Green Flame radiations coming from this ship -under full power. I'm going to insert into his broadcast--the laughing -of the Varsoom!" - -"You're going to what?" - -"Broadcast the mass laughter from those invisible creatures out there. -Visualize it, Billy-boy! At the dramatic moment when Doctor Universe -makes his plea for System-wide power, he will be accompanied by wild -peals of laughter. The whole broadcast will be turned into a burlesque." - -"How you going to make 'em laugh?" interrupted Karn. - -"We must think of a way," Grannie replied soberly. - -I, for one, am glad that no representative of the Interstellar -Psychiatry Society witnessed our antics during the early hours of that -morning and on into the long reaches of the afternoon, as we vainly -tried to provoke the laughter of the Varsoom. All to no avail. Utter -silence greeted our efforts. And the time was growing close to the -scheduled Doctor Universe program. - -Ezra Karn wiped a bead of perspiration from his brow. "Maybe we've got -to attract their attention first," he suggested. "Miss Flowers, why -don't you go up on the roof and read to 'em? Read 'em something from -one of your books, if you've got one along. That ought to make 'em sit -up and take notice." - -For a moment the old woman gazed at him in silence. Then she got to her -feet quickly. - -"I'll do it," she said. "I'll read them the attack scene from _Murder -On A Space Liner_." - - * * * * * - -It didn't make sense, of course. But nothing made sense in this mad -venture. Grannie Annie opened her duffel bag and drew out a copy of -her most popular book. With the volume under her arm, she mounted the -ladder to the top of the envelope. Ezra Karn rigged up a radite search -lamp, and a moment later the old woman stood in the center of a circle -of white radiance. - -Karn gripped my arm. "This is it," he said tensely. "If this fails ..." - -His voice clipped off as Grannie began to read. She read slowly -at first, then intoned the words and sentences faster and more -dramatically. - -And out in the swamp a vast hush fell as if unseen ears were listening. - -"... _the space liner was over on her beam ends now as another shot -from the raider's vessel crashed into the stern hold. In the control -cabin Cuthbert Strong twisted vainly at his bonds as he sought to free -himself. Opposite him, lashed by strong Martian vinta ropes to the -gravascope, Louise Belmont sobbed softly, wringing her hands in mute -appeal._" - -A restless rustling sounded out in the marsh, as if hundreds of bodies -were surging closer. Karn nodded in awe. - -"She's got 'em!" he whispered. "Listen. They're eatin' up every word." - -I heard it then, and I thought I must be dreaming. From somewhere out -in the swamp a sound rose into the thick air. A high-pitched chuckle, -it was. The chuckle came again. Now it was followed by another and -another. An instant later a wave of low subdued laughter rose into the -air. - -Ezra Karn gulped. "Gripes!" he said. "They're laughing already. -_They're laughing at her book!_ And look, the old lady's gettin' sore." - -Up on the roof of the envelope Grannie Annie halted her reading to -glare savagely out into the darkness. - -The laughter was a roar now. It rose louder and louder, peal after peal -of mirthful yells and hysterical shouts. And for the first time in my -life, I saw Annabella C. Flowers mad. She stamped her foot; she shook -her fist at the unseen hordes out before her. - -"Ignorant slap-happy fools!" she screamed. "You don't know good science -fiction when you hear it." - -I turned to Karn and said quietly, "Turn on the visi set. Doctor -Universe should be broadcasting now. Tune your microphone to pull in -as much of that laughter as you can." - - * * * * * - -It took three weeks to make the return trip to Swamp City. The Varsoom -followed us far beyond the frontier of their country like an unseen -army in the throes of laughing gas. Not until we reached Level Five did -the last chuckle fade into the distance. - -All during that trek back, Grannie sat in the dugout, staring silently -out before her. - -But when we reached Swamp City, the news was flung at us from all -sides. One newspaper headline accurately told the story: DOCTOR -UNIVERSE BID FOR SYSTEM DICTATORSHIP SQUELCHED BY RIDICULE OF UNSEEN -AUDIENCE. QUIZ MASTER NOW IN HANDS OF I.P. COUP FAILURE. - -"Grannie," I said that night as we sat again in a rear booth of THE -JET, "what are you going to do now? Give up writing science fiction?" - -She looked at me soberly, then broke into a smile. - -"Just because some silly form of life that can't even be seen doesn't -appreciate it? I should say not. Right now I've got an idea for a swell -yarn about Mars. Want to come along while I dig up some background -material?" - -I shook my head. "Not me," I said. - -But I knew I would. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Doctor Universe, by Carl Jacobi - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOCTOR UNIVERSE *** - -***** This file should be named 63109.txt or 63109.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/1/0/63109/ - -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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