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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..a6ddbba --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #64812 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64812) diff --git a/old/64812-0.txt b/old/64812-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 92b789d..0000000 --- a/old/64812-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1012 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Eyes That Watch, by Raymond Z. Gallun - -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 -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Eyes That Watch - -Author: Raymond Z. Gallun - -Release Date: March 13, 2021 [eBook #64812] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EYES THAT WATCH *** - - - - - EYES THAT WATCH - - by RAYMOND Z. GALLUN - - _The Guardians of Space Keep Constant Vigil._ - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Comet December 40. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -He, Sam Conway, was back from Mars now. Back from red, ferric deserts -no Earthly boot had ever touched before. Back from bitter cold -and aching dryness. Back from dazzling yellow hazes of dust and -suspended ice crystals. No more need to wear oxygen armor in a thin, -ozone-tainted atmosphere now. Back from solitude, and the endless -fight to keep alive out there. Back from the enigma of Martian -civilization's extinction, uncounted ages ago.... Back, back, back.... - -Home, now! From the window Sam Conway could see a row of maples, orange -and golden in the autumn warmth. Kids were playing football in the -street. Sam's oxy-hydrogen rocket ship, blued and battered and burnt, -was suspended for all time from massive girders in the Smithsonian -Institution. But even that was far away from Bryton, here. It should -have been finished, now--the adventure. Sam Conway should have relaxed. -Even Ellen Varney was beside him now. That should have helped. It did, -a little. Yet only for moments at a time. - -Those twenty months of exploration on another world, had become like -a phantom in Sam's thoughts. Faded, distant, contrasting; yet starkly -vivid too. Every hour had been a struggle. Extracting food substances -from the tissues and juices of strange plants. Roasting native -potassium chlorate in a small sun-furnace to extract oxygen from it, -and compressing the precious gas into steel flasks. All this had been -necessary, the dying Martian atmosphere contained only a low percentage -of oxygen. - -It had been a strange hand-to-mouth existence out there--a kind of -game in which a fellow tried always to keep one small jump ahead of -Death. - -Hauling a crude little metal wagon, in which his supplies were packed, -across the sand for miles and miles at a time, until his brain had -reeled. Sleeping in a tiny airtight tent, when afield from his -rocket.... Sam had never expected to survive those experiences. But -he had, somehow; and it had done something to his soul--hardened it, -and maybe killed part of it; and maybe beautified another part. For -in spite of everything, those vast, ghostly solitudes of Mars _were_ -beautiful-- - -And there was more. Climbing the steep wall of an ancient artificial -gorge not far from the south polar cap; gripping at odd prickly vines -to keep from falling into the hardy thickets below, where tough-shelled -worms crawled sluggishly, he had found something in a small, -sand-drifted cell that was part of a ruin. Something that meant power. - -What kind of power? All kinds, perhaps. Scientific learning greater -than that of Earth. Power like that of gold and jewels, but far -exceeding it. Power to wreck and to create, power to destroy worlds. -Power, maybe, to sway minds. Sam still could not guess how far it might -extend, or how deep-- - -No the adventure was not over, yet. It was just beginning. It wasn't -just nostalgia that tied the consciousness of Sam Conway to a planet, -millions of miles away, whose people had perished in a strange travail -ages ago--a catastrophe whose marks lay in fused, glassy ruins, and in -machines melted and rusted beyond recognition. - -Sam had that secret of power hidden away now in a little aluminum box -that had once contained concentrated food rations. And having that -secret--though it thrilled him--still made him wish nervously that he -also had eyes in the back of his head.... - -Ellen Varney's slim fingers tightened on his arm. - -"Sam!" she said almost sharply. "You're dreaming again. What is it?" - -He looked at her almost furtively, conscious of the familiar room -around him, the old bookcase, the piano with a shaft of sunlight -touching it gently; the radio and television cabinet. The colonial rag -rugs, bright colored and homey.... - -Sam wondered wistfully if sometime soon his power would enable him to -preserve in timeless youth the fragile beauty of Ellen Varney. Dark -wavy hair, and an earnest face whose wisdom one could never forget. -Maybe now even immortality would be possible. - -Sam was nervous. Haste and preoccupation pressed him. But he put on a -good show for the girl's sake. The lines of worry dissolved around his -grey, deep-set eyes. He ran stubby fingers through his stiff mop of -ash-blond hair, and the tightness of his lips and jaw relaxed into a -sheepish grin. - -"Sure I'm dreamin', Honey," he chuckled. "What man in my shoes -wouldn't? Three years back I was nobody, working my way as a student -engineer. Then Joe Nichols and his experts found out that my reflexes -were better than those of anybody they'd tested. And that my brains -and my emotional stability were okay. So pretty soon I was flying out -there toward Mars--all for the glory of giving the Joe Nichols Food -Products a publicity splurge. And now--well don't get the wrong idea -of how I feel about it, Ellen--they've made a big-shot out of me. The -newspapers, the radio, the scientists. I've got a lot to do. I--you -know!" - -Ellen Varney was perhaps sure she did know. She smiled faintly, like -the Mona Lisa smiling at the naïveté of men, and their little-boy -vanities. But there was a shadow of worry in her eyes, too. - -"You won't stay here for supper, then, with the folks and me, Sam," she -said wistfully. "Like old times...." - -Sam couldn't think of anything nicer. But the pull of something else -was much more strong. - -"No, Honey," he said. "I--" - -"Don't stumble, Sam," the girl returned. "Tomorrow night, then?" - -"Maybe. I hope...." - -He kissed her. A moment later he was out in the golden afternoon. He -avoided the kids playing football out there in the street just as he -used to play. He would have liked to talk to them. But--not now. - -He climbed into his car. There he sat quietly for a moment, thinking. -The autumn shadows, cast by the houses and trees, were long and blue. -They reminded him of the shadows on Mars; and he felt a slight, not -unpleasant, chill of loneliness and mystery plucking at his nerves. The -sound of the wind wasn't so very different here either! Only out there -it was shriller and much fainter and more sad, in the thin air, and -through the muffling fabric of his oxygen suit. - -Not so long ago Sam had seen those Martian winds shredding plumes of -rusty red dust from the desert. He'd seen them blow balled masses of -dried, prickly vegetation, like tumbleweeds, across the undulating red -plain, and into the deep machine-dug gorges, all but waterless now, -that on Earth were called the "canals." - -He'd seen those dried bundles of weeds collected in rows against -the granite masonry of walls that were cold and crumbled in their -ancientness but which looked fused along their low crests, like old -lava, telling a story of violent and enigmatic calamity. - -Thus Sam Conway's reveries became unpleasant once more. He wanted to -hurry again. He started the car, and drove swiftly out of the village. -The tires crunched in dead leaves as he swung into the driveway that -led down by the lake. Premonition must have been working in him, -accentuating his caution and his haste. - -There was a fair-sized brick building there, an old garage. He unlocked -the heavy door and went inside. The large main room of the structure -was to be his laboratory; the office, his living quarters. - -He surveyed the dingy interior critically. Everything, so far as he -could see, was exactly as he had left it except for a small smear of -ash on the floor in the office room. Driveway ash. Part of a man's -footprint. His own? With the panic of a disturbed miser, Sam Conway -thought back carefully. It could be his own footprint; but he couldn't -remember--couldn't be sure! - -His heart began to throb in mounting anxiety at the thought that the -lair of his secret might have been entered during his absence. He -pulled the shades carefully. Then he clawed his way through the clutter -of paraphernalia in the little room--mostly boxes of new laboratory -equipment, as yet unpacked. And a few glass jars containing plant -samples, and specimens of odd Martian fauna--souvenirs he hadn't been -required to turn over to the scientists. - -He was sweating profusely from panic when he reached the carefully -fitted mopboard in the corner after pulling aside a small desk. He -pressed part of the wooden ornamentation, and a section of the mopboard -turned on hinges. Feverishly he drew his precious aluminum box from the -hiding place he had contrived, and unfastened its lid. From within came -a reassuring, cryptic gleam; and Sam Conway almost wilted with relief. - -But he wasn't satisfied yet. His fear of possible burglary wasn't the -result of miserliness alone. He was afraid to have so gigantic a secret -as he possessed get beyond himself--yet. And he was well aware that man -would kill to own what he owned--and distrusted, withholding it from -Nichols and his scientists. - -Carefully he put the aluminum container back, and searched the -premises. The windows. The doors. Everything. But he found no telltale -marks of intrusion. The footprints, then, in the office room must have -been his own. But he'd bar the windows tomorrow. He'd put alarms on the -entrances, and he'd find a safer place for his aluminum box. - -Now he prepared to work, getting his notebooks ready, putting a little -collapsible table in the center of the office room, securing the heavy -wood shutters of the windows, turning on the lights, and taking the -aluminum box, which was his storehouse of miracles, once more from -hiding. - -As he sat down at the table, he placed a loaded pistol within easy -reach at his elbow. Thus prepared, he lifted his treasure from its -homely metal container, and set it lovingly before him. A cube, perhaps -four inches square. Like glass. Almost crystal in its transparency, -except for a dim misting of pearl. Crowning the cube was a metal -pyramid, much tarnished with age, and a dial. That was all. But Sam's -gaze was almost gloating, as his mind filled with mighty visions of his -own future. He was no different from any other man in this respect, for -the touch of power was on him. - -He turned the dial of the Martian apparatus. Within the cube spots -of fire began to move, around and around a glowing center that -was composed of myriad parts. It was all like a three-dimensional -cinema--illustrating, in this instance, some mystery of the atom--its -revolving planetary electrons, its nucleus of neutrons, positrons.... - -In a strange eight-fingered hand, which left the rest of its eon-dead -owner's anatomy unpictured, a metal pointer was lifted, indicating this -and that. It was like being in school on old Mars, whose people had -been extinct for untold millions of years.... Maybe this apparatus, -which held, in pictured, illustrated form, all the scientific lore of -another time and world, had been a kind of school book. - -Sam didn't understand much of this first lesson--yet. There were soft -clinking noises--perhaps speech--which accompanied the fading, waxing, -moving illustrations; but those music-box notes were perhaps forever -beyond him as far as meaning went. - -The atomic structure views were replaced at last by pictures of -machines and apparatus--and that was a little better. Before his eyes -Sam saw complicated pieces of apparatus taken apart and reassembled. He -saw complicated processes actually carried out step by step. - -Sam Conway's concentration was like a frozen hypnosis, and his brain -was quick. But in the corners of the room there were faint shadows, -and he was conscious of them. Still he took notes, and made drawings -feverishly until the strain began to tell. Of course he could always -refer back to the machine, repeating the views if necessary. - -It was a month before he began to build. And then his first effort was -only to produce a furnace and an alloy; the latter a product of the -former. It was harder and more flexible than any steel yet produced. -And it was worth money, providing the means to carry on his study and -his work. - -Work.... Sam seldom saw Ellen Varney now. He saw little of anybody. He -told lies to be alone, and to continue his solitary efforts. His sense -of struggle was like being on Mars again fighting for life, plodding -through a thin feathery fall of snow there, in the dazing cold, close -to the polar regions. And he dreamed of gigantic altruisms--the -remaking of civilization. - -In four months after his beginning, he had achieved things. Under a -beam of specialized vibrations he saw a mouse do amazing tricks, its -brain stimulated temporarily to an intelligence far beyond normal. -It was awesome, and frightening too, watching that tiny animal -turn--without error, and after it had been shown how only once--the -complicated combination lock of a small door beyond which lay food. - -Sam thrilled to the spectacle of the rodent laboring so keenly with its -teeth and forepaws. What if the same waves were applied to the brain of -a man? He would have tried those waves on himself, but his enthusiasm -changed to dread when, with the removal of the beam, the mouse -shuddered into a convulsion and died, its nervous system exhausted. - -Biology revealed further mysteries and possibilities. In a glass -flask, packed in a radioactive compound, and filled with water to -which food substances had been added, Sam grew huge amoebae, whose -ancestors had been microscopic. But these creatures were translucent -globules, almost a quarter-inch in diameter. Somewhere here, perhaps, -lay hidden the secret of life itself. But the amoebae died of a strange -disease, the germs of which were perhaps generated out of those same -life processes.... To be sure of safety, Sam poured sulphuric acid into -the culture flask. - -He changed his direction now, back to the atom. Eight weeks more, and -he was ready for another test. The main room of the old garage was -crowded with apparatus. Then, one night, Sam closed a switch cautiously. - -The result was not much different than the shorting of a high-tension -electric current across a broad arc. A snap. An avalanche of rattling -blue flame, whose glare made everything look sharp and unreal. Then -wires glowed to white heat and crumpled. A huge vacuum tube exploded -into an incandescent puff of metallic vapors, superheated. The current -was dead now--cut off. The experiment was a failure. - -There were perhaps ten seconds like this--a sort of unsuspected -bang--like that of a rifle cartridge whose defective primer cap fails -to ignite the powder immediately when the firing pin strikes it. -The garage interior was still illuminated, for the lights were on a -different circuit. Smoke was blue along the raftered roof, and the red -glow had faded from heated metal. - -Then, at a moment beyond all expectation, a searing glare leaped out -from between two close-pressed copper electrodes which had been the -center of Sam's experiment. A wave of rays and heat, and stunning -electrical emanations. Sam Conway's mind was far too slow for him to -grasp just what happened. He only remembered a little when, battered -and scorched, he picked himself up from the concrete pavement after a -minute or more. - -The points of the electrodes were shattered, but they still glared, -incandescent, providing the only light now, for the light bulbs were -shattered. Staring from aching, ray-reddened eyes, Sam saw only -that glow, for he was temporarily all but blinded. But there were -little pits in that hot copper--pits out of which the metal must have -literally exploded. - -[Illustration: _The crackling continued--like a delayed explosion. His -numbed brain sensed that something was terribly wrong._] - -He wasn't afraid right away. Not until his brain recalled did he -realize. That bang, after his apparatus had burnt itself out, then that -flash, or whatever you wanted to call it, was atoms breaking down more -violently than they had ever done in the crude experimental atomic -engines so far developed on earth. - -Now there was another flash from one of those electrodes--just a tiny, -incredibly brilliant speck--like a spark that flares and dies, failing -to ignite tinder. Almost though. Almost an inconceivable conflagration, -that might have spread and spread, from one atom to others. - -Sam's sore eyes could see the broken roof now, and the springtime stars -shining calmly through its splintered rifts. The sky itself was dimly -luminous as with diffused light. Suddenly he was afraid of those stars, -for they were like watching eyes; watching and inscrutable. And there -was ozone--triatomic oxygen--metallically tanging in the atmosphere, -mingled with the odor of burnt insulation. Sam wanted to leave the -building, to go out into the night and cool his dizzied senses and his -blistered body. Yet he had to keep guard to be sure to note anything -further that might happen, for he knew what had just taken place. - -Yes, he knew all right! Nature had been probed in its darkest lair by -a clumsy hand. Nature had growled back threateningly. It had almost -bitten. Almost...? Sam Conway's ribs seemed to shrink about his wildly -pounding heart. - -He leaned against the cracked brick wall, trembling. In memory he was -on Mars again seeing those ruined buildings, sheered off, buried by the -dust--smelling the metallic reek of ozone that had seeped back through -the breath-vent of his oxygen helmet. Even as here, now. Ozone built up -from the commoner form of oxygen by electrical discharges! - -And by swift suggestion, Sam's thoughts went beyond Mars itself. -Outside of the Martian orbit was the Path of Minor Planets--the -asteroids. Broken up fragments. Perhaps a single world, once, that had -been caught in catastrophe.... - -There was more, too. What were the rings of Saturn? What cataclysmic -circumstance had made them? Atlantis and Mu, the lost continents. -Why had they sunk beneath the sea, taking with them their splendid -civilizations? And there were the novae far out in interstellar space; -normal stars suddenly blazing forth in spectacular ruin. Yes there must -be many other inhabited worlds in the universe, other folk, studying, -learning to control and curb matter and energy. Sometimes knowledge -must get dangerously ahead of itself, lacking a sound foundation of -understanding. And then? - -There was silence outside the building. So the crunch of hurrying -footsteps in the cinders of the driveway penetrated easily to Sam's -eardrums and excited nerves. A loud knock sounded at the outside door -of Sam's sleeping room. - -He staggered back from his ruined laboratory. From a small chemical -cabinet he procured a flashlight. And he drew the pistol he always -carried now, from his pocket, before he unfastened the heavy bar of the -door. - -It was Ellen Varney out there in the dark. Sam hadn't seen her in -almost a week. He had never permitted her to come here when he was -busy. To the rear, down the driveway, the headlamps of the girl's car -made a white lantern-glimmer through the bushes. - -For one frightening instant Ellen saw the pistol muzzle levelled toward -her before Sam was able to recognize her and lower the weapon. But she -didn't ask the reason for the gun at all. - -"Sam," she stammered. "I couldn't sleep and I heard a funny, sharp -explosion. It seemed to be in this direction. And when I looked out -of the window I saw a glow in the sky--very faint. But it was in this -direction too. I guess I had a hunch, so I drove out here. All the way -I could smell ozone in the air. You can hardly see the phosphorescence -in the sky from up close at all. But it's right over. What's wrong, -Sam? What have you _really_ been doing?" - -The girl's tense fears, strong enough to make her come here, after -midnight, to his laboratory, emphasized Sam's own private anxieties. - -"I haven't been doing much, Honey," he told her hesitantly, and not too -convincingly. "You'd better just run along home to bed. Research causes -accidents once in a while. I'll get everything straightened out all -right." - -But in the reflected rays of the flashlight, the girl's face and eyes -were determined. - -"I won't go, Sam," she said very definitely, "until I find out that -everything is all right. First place, you're hurt, and I'd be stubborn -for your sake. But there's more. That glow in the sky. That smell of -ozone--not only here, but everywhere here.... What does it all mean, -Sam?" - -Conway looked nervously toward the heavens. Yes, he could see a halo -of light, sure enough. He had thought it was only the diffusion of -starshine by the moisture in the atmosphere. Now he knew better. It was -a little too bright and too low to be an aurora. It could be _like_ an -aurora, of course, something electrical and yet not quite the real, -normal thing. - -The breeze outside bore a slight yet unmistakable pungence of ozone -too. It was just as Ellen had said. The gas was not only in the lab. -It was here, too, as though all the atmosphere in the neighborhood had -been affected by some electrical process. - -"Listen!" Ellen said suddenly. - -Sam strained his ears. At first he could detect nothing at all. Then he -noticed a dim, lonely humming, that seemed to emanate from the ground, -and from the bricks of the laboratory. - -The sound seemed to be getting gradually louder. It made Sam shudder -with the mystery of hidden things. And he began to feel, too, a sharp -ache in his muscles, quite distinct from the soreness of his minor -injury. - -Suspicion grew on him again; suspicion that his latest experiment had -been not entirely without lasting effect. Something _had_ happened! -Something had been started after all! - -Sam grasped Ellen by the arm. "Come inside, Ellen," he said. "I've got -to make a few tests." - -He did this very quickly, working in the beam of his flashlight, which -the girl held for him. Meanwhile he made a complete confession, telling -her what he'd found on Mars and what he'd been doing. - -He found now that he couldn't keep an electroscope charged. This -meant that the air was ionized--that it would promptly conduct away -any electrical charge that the instrument might hold. And atmospheric -ionization meant, or could mean, the presence of radioactivity--of -atomic disturbances. - -He tried exposing a bit of photographic film in the dark. In the -developing fluids it turned entirely black. There were strong invisible -rays then, to affect it; rays coming from the walls, the ground, -the very air itself perhaps. Rays probably from bursting atoms. The -sound--the humming--must be some incidental phenomenon of their -breakdown. - -Dully Sam felt of the walls. Their temperature was already higher than -that of the air and they vibrated distinctly with that steady hum. -Sam's whole body felt hot, as though a strange flame was blazing in his -own flesh. - -He was sure, then. He had started a slow, progressive form of atomic -disintegration in all the materials around him. In his own body too! -It hadn't been the sudden fire of violent incandescence. That _might_ -have come. It had just been missed. The igniting spark hadn't been -quite strong enough. Instead there was only a sort of smouldering. -But, undeniably, atomic power was being released in a deadly, and -uncontrollable if gradual, form. - -The flashlight lay on the table shedding its white beam. Sam saw that -Ellen's face was pale and her eyes glassy. - -Sam had not the faintest idea of what he might do to check what he had -started. "Get out of here, Ellen," he growled thickly. "Beat it! I've -gone and tried to play God. And now hell's broken loose! Tell everybody -to scram away from here!" - -Very unsteadily the girl arose from the chair where she had seated -herself. "I don't want to go, Sam," she stammered. "I can't leave you -now." - -He had to stumble forward then, to catch her before she fell. Her face -was hot and damp with a weird fever. Her body had been affected too, -by coming into the zone of influence. Sam Conway winced with an awful -anguish as he picked Ellen up and tried to carry her toward the open -door, and the safer night air outside. - -It was only then that he realized how weak and sick he was himself. -Strange rays were tearing at his nerves and brain. His very flesh -was slowly--very slowly--giving up its atomic power, in a gradual -radioactive decay! - -He stumbled at his first step and fell crashing to the floor. Paralysis -rushed over him, and that droning sound was like a death-dirge in his -ears. He tried to drag Ellen's unconscious form toward the door, but -the effort was useless. He couldn't even crawl. He just lay there, -panting torturedly, his hot brain working in a chaos of fever. He -understood now. - -The death of Mars all over again. The fused walls. The melted machines. -The ozone in the air. A slow, creeping smouldering destruction had -burnt itself out at last; perhaps when a new balance had been reached -in the atoms of the Martian crust. A crust. A cancerous disease moving -in an irregular path, depleting air and water. But there still must be -a tiny part of the old process of atomic breakdown continuing on Mars -today, maintaining, by electrical disturbances, the ozone in the air. - -And he, Sam Conway, had started that same creeping horror here on -Earth. It would go along now, spreading and spreading. The walls around -him would soon be melting. And there was nothing a man could do to stop -it. Not even the science of Mars had been able to save the world that -had given it birth. Only in scattered places where the erratic horror -had not reached, perhaps in deep crevices in the rocks, had a few -plants and low animals been able to survive for a new beginning after -most of the fires had died. - -Sam Conway cursed himself for his eagerness and lust for power. He'd -been like an old gold miner, he thought savagely, ready almost to -kill his own brother to preserve his secret until he could use it for -himself. There were too many men like that. And now Ellen and all the -rest of the world had to suffer. - -Mu. Atlantis. The asteroids that had perhaps once been a plant, -destroyed, maybe, by a much more violent form of atomic breakdown. -But who knew just what accidents might have caused these respective -catastrophes? Science must sometimes get ahead of itself, without even -outside influence. There was always a risk. - - * * * * * - -Sam's mind began to fade out, toward the nothingness of oblivion. - -Then the real miracle began to happen. The violence of it jarred his -brain swiftly back toward a semblance of awareness. Suddenly everything -around him was spouting blue electric flame. The table, the chairs, the -walls, even the grass and trees beyond the open doorway rippled with a -sort of aura. The phenomenon lasted for only two seconds. It snapped -and growled like the first dash of some gigantic code signal. Then it -broke off. Then it began again. - -Once more it stopped. And started. - -Sam, even had his mind been clear, could not have guessed how -widespread the phenomenon was. He could not have known that, within a -twenty mile radius fuses were blowing out, transformers were smoking in -their oil-baths and generators were groaning under a terrific overload, -as though their armatures had been gripped by an invisible colossus. - -But Sam could guess some of the might of the new phenomenon. His body -convulsed like the body of a condemned culprit in an electric chair as -shocks ripped through him. He could not imagine the origin of what was -happening now, unless the forces he had unleashed had entered a new -phase of destruction. - -Yet this did not seem to be true, for after the first spurt of unknown -power had passed, that sonorous hum of doom had been completely -strangled. Before the second spurt stopped there was a violent ripping -explosion and the tinkling of broken window panes in the adjoining -laboratory room. And that constricting paralysis and heat were gone -from Sam's body. There were five bursts of strange energy, in all. Then -it was over. - -Prodded by sheer startlement Sam got to his feet and found that, in -spite of weakness, he could stand. His brain was clearer, too. Ellen -Varney, unconscious before, was trying to rise. He helped her up and -supported her against him. - -They stared out of the doorway at the sky. The auroral glow was gone. -But they saw, for just an instant, a huge phosphorescent shape, hanging -high against the stars. It was a little like a colossal image of a man, -but it couldn't have been solid. It was like the aurora itself--as -tenuous, as luminous--a kind of gigantic photograph projected in the -air. The arm of the vapory figure extended; then the whole image -vanished, as if at a speed far exceeding that of light, to some -colossal distance. - -Sam didn't even speak of the being right away. He helped the girl out -of the building into the open. - -"Wait here for a few seconds, Ellen," he said in a tone that trembled -with awe. - -Then he stumbled back into the old garage. All electrical devices were -dead, even his flashlight. He had to find his way to the laboratory by -burning matches. Every bit of apparatus was in fused ruins now, faintly -reddened with heat. But there was no ominous hum in the hot, black -stillness. Something deadly had been burned out of diseased substances -by counter fire. Even Sam's own flesh had submitted to a curative force. - -He found his way to one corner of the room, where, beneath a heavy -block of concrete, he had prepared a new hiding place for his aluminum -box, and the Martian demonstration apparatus it contained. Tugging -the block of concrete free, he looked below it, lighting another -match. Somehow the lid of the box had been blown off. Within, the -Martian machine was the same as before, except that the crystal cube -was no longer clear. Instead it was blackened all the way through, -like a black diamond. And there were cracks in it that destroyed its -usefulness forever. It, too, had been touched by those counter waves -of energy. Touching the cube with his fingers, Sam found that it was -hot. - -He left the thing in its hole and returned to Ellen, his mind full of -colossal realizations. - -The girl's voice quavered with awe as she spoke there under the quiet -stars. - -"We had help, didn't we, Sam?" she stammered, remembering the cloud -in the sky, and what Sam had told her about his work. "Somebody from -another world. But who? Where...?" - -"I don't know, Honey," Sam answered raggedly. "It wasn't Martian help. -As far as I know, all Martians are dead. Besides, I've seen their -bones. Manlike, but very slender. The being--pictured in the sky was -heavily built." - -Sam nodded significantly toward the sky. - -"Lots of planets up there," he continued. "In other solar systems. Lots -of different kinds of beings. I suppose some of those races, on planets -of the older stars, have really grown up mentally and scientifically, -till they know all about time and space and dimensions and energy, -and how to handle and conquer them. And I suppose that somehow they -keep careful watch across the awful distance because they've learned -by experience that it may be safer. It's not just to save the necks -of lesser beings but to guard themselves, too. I was messing around -with something pretty big, Ellen. You can't tell how far a danger may -sometimes go. A whole universe may be thrown into chaos--" - -Sam's fists were clenching and unclenching absently. It was better for -science to develop gradually, with a race. And even then there would -sometimes be mistakes. Atlantis. Mu. The asteroids. Maybe some of the -novae-- - -"We'd better get back into town, Sam," Ellen offered practically. -"There may be damage done there--with all that's been happening. We'd -better see." - -A chuckle found its way through Sam Conway's awe. "Yeah," he said. -"Like your car. I see the headlights have gone out. Good thing it's -a diesel, with no electrical ignition to blow, and with a cartridge -starter on the motor." - -But Sam was too grateful over the miraculous escape from final tragedy -he'd just witnessed, to worry much about damage suits over ruined -electrical equipment. - -And he was very grateful for Ellen, too. He might fly out to Mars -some time again, or even farther. But when he touched the girl's warm -shoulder he knew that he was truly home at last. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EYES THAT WATCH *** - -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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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Gallun</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Eyes That Watch</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Raymond Z. Gallun</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: March 13, 2021 [eBook #64812]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EYES THAT WATCH ***</div> - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>EYES THAT WATCH</h1> - -<h2>by RAYMOND Z. GALLUN</h2> - -<p><i>The Guardians of Space Keep Constant Vigil.</i></p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Comet December 40.<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>He, Sam Conway, was back from Mars now. Back from red, ferric deserts -no Earthly boot had ever touched before. Back from bitter cold -and aching dryness. Back from dazzling yellow hazes of dust and -suspended ice crystals. No more need to wear oxygen armor in a thin, -ozone-tainted atmosphere now. Back from solitude, and the endless -fight to keep alive out there. Back from the enigma of Martian -civilization's extinction, uncounted ages ago.... Back, back, back....</p> - -<p>Home, now! From the window Sam Conway could see a row of maples, orange -and golden in the autumn warmth. Kids were playing football in the -street. Sam's oxy-hydrogen rocket ship, blued and battered and burnt, -was suspended for all time from massive girders in the Smithsonian -Institution. But even that was far away from Bryton, here. It should -have been finished, now—the adventure. Sam Conway should have relaxed. -Even Ellen Varney was beside him now. That should have helped. It did, -a little. Yet only for moments at a time.</p> - -<p>Those twenty months of exploration on another world, had become like -a phantom in Sam's thoughts. Faded, distant, contrasting; yet starkly -vivid too. Every hour had been a struggle. Extracting food substances -from the tissues and juices of strange plants. Roasting native -potassium chlorate in a small sun-furnace to extract oxygen from it, -and compressing the precious gas into steel flasks. All this had been -necessary, the dying Martian atmosphere contained only a low percentage -of oxygen.</p> - -<p>It had been a strange hand-to-mouth existence out there—a kind of -game in which a fellow tried always to keep one small jump ahead of -Death.</p> - -<p>Hauling a crude little metal wagon, in which his supplies were packed, -across the sand for miles and miles at a time, until his brain had -reeled. Sleeping in a tiny airtight tent, when afield from his -rocket.... Sam had never expected to survive those experiences. But -he had, somehow; and it had done something to his soul—hardened it, -and maybe killed part of it; and maybe beautified another part. For -in spite of everything, those vast, ghostly solitudes of Mars <i>were</i> -beautiful—</p> - -<p>And there was more. Climbing the steep wall of an ancient artificial -gorge not far from the south polar cap; gripping at odd prickly vines -to keep from falling into the hardy thickets below, where tough-shelled -worms crawled sluggishly, he had found something in a small, -sand-drifted cell that was part of a ruin. Something that meant power.</p> - -<p>What kind of power? All kinds, perhaps. Scientific learning greater -than that of Earth. Power like that of gold and jewels, but far -exceeding it. Power to wreck and to create, power to destroy worlds. -Power, maybe, to sway minds. Sam still could not guess how far it might -extend, or how deep—</p> - -<p>No the adventure was not over, yet. It was just beginning. It wasn't -just nostalgia that tied the consciousness of Sam Conway to a planet, -millions of miles away, whose people had perished in a strange travail -ages ago—a catastrophe whose marks lay in fused, glassy ruins, and in -machines melted and rusted beyond recognition.</p> - -<p>Sam had that secret of power hidden away now in a little aluminum box -that had once contained concentrated food rations. And having that -secret—though it thrilled him—still made him wish nervously that he -also had eyes in the back of his head....</p> - -<p>Ellen Varney's slim fingers tightened on his arm.</p> - -<p>"Sam!" she said almost sharply. "You're dreaming again. What is it?"</p> - -<p>He looked at her almost furtively, conscious of the familiar room -around him, the old bookcase, the piano with a shaft of sunlight -touching it gently; the radio and television cabinet. The colonial rag -rugs, bright colored and homey....</p> - -<p>Sam wondered wistfully if sometime soon his power would enable him to -preserve in timeless youth the fragile beauty of Ellen Varney. Dark -wavy hair, and an earnest face whose wisdom one could never forget. -Maybe now even immortality would be possible.</p> - -<p>Sam was nervous. Haste and preoccupation pressed him. But he put on a -good show for the girl's sake. The lines of worry dissolved around his -grey, deep-set eyes. He ran stubby fingers through his stiff mop of -ash-blond hair, and the tightness of his lips and jaw relaxed into a -sheepish grin.</p> - -<p>"Sure I'm dreamin', Honey," he chuckled. "What man in my shoes -wouldn't? Three years back I was nobody, working my way as a student -engineer. Then Joe Nichols and his experts found out that my reflexes -were better than those of anybody they'd tested. And that my brains -and my emotional stability were okay. So pretty soon I was flying out -there toward Mars—all for the glory of giving the Joe Nichols Food -Products a publicity splurge. And now—well don't get the wrong idea -of how I feel about it, Ellen—they've made a big-shot out of me. The -newspapers, the radio, the scientists. I've got a lot to do. I—you -know!"</p> - -<p>Ellen Varney was perhaps sure she did know. She smiled faintly, like -the Mona Lisa smiling at the naïveté of men, and their little-boy -vanities. But there was a shadow of worry in her eyes, too.</p> - -<p>"You won't stay here for supper, then, with the folks and me, Sam," she -said wistfully. "Like old times...."</p> - -<p>Sam couldn't think of anything nicer. But the pull of something else -was much more strong.</p> - -<p>"No, Honey," he said. "I—"</p> - -<p>"Don't stumble, Sam," the girl returned. "Tomorrow night, then?"</p> - -<p>"Maybe. I hope...."</p> - -<p>He kissed her. A moment later he was out in the golden afternoon. He -avoided the kids playing football out there in the street just as he -used to play. He would have liked to talk to them. But—not now.</p> - -<p>He climbed into his car. There he sat quietly for a moment, thinking. -The autumn shadows, cast by the houses and trees, were long and blue. -They reminded him of the shadows on Mars; and he felt a slight, not -unpleasant, chill of loneliness and mystery plucking at his nerves. The -sound of the wind wasn't so very different here either! Only out there -it was shriller and much fainter and more sad, in the thin air, and -through the muffling fabric of his oxygen suit.</p> - -<p>Not so long ago Sam had seen those Martian winds shredding plumes of -rusty red dust from the desert. He'd seen them blow balled masses of -dried, prickly vegetation, like tumbleweeds, across the undulating red -plain, and into the deep machine-dug gorges, all but waterless now, -that on Earth were called the "canals."</p> - -<p>He'd seen those dried bundles of weeds collected in rows against -the granite masonry of walls that were cold and crumbled in their -ancientness but which looked fused along their low crests, like old -lava, telling a story of violent and enigmatic calamity.</p> - -<p>Thus Sam Conway's reveries became unpleasant once more. He wanted to -hurry again. He started the car, and drove swiftly out of the village. -The tires crunched in dead leaves as he swung into the driveway that -led down by the lake. Premonition must have been working in him, -accentuating his caution and his haste.</p> - -<p>There was a fair-sized brick building there, an old garage. He unlocked -the heavy door and went inside. The large main room of the structure -was to be his laboratory; the office, his living quarters.</p> - -<p>He surveyed the dingy interior critically. Everything, so far as he -could see, was exactly as he had left it except for a small smear of -ash on the floor in the office room. Driveway ash. Part of a man's -footprint. His own? With the panic of a disturbed miser, Sam Conway -thought back carefully. It could be his own footprint; but he couldn't -remember—couldn't be sure!</p> - -<p>His heart began to throb in mounting anxiety at the thought that the -lair of his secret might have been entered during his absence. He -pulled the shades carefully. Then he clawed his way through the clutter -of paraphernalia in the little room—mostly boxes of new laboratory -equipment, as yet unpacked. And a few glass jars containing plant -samples, and specimens of odd Martian fauna—souvenirs he hadn't been -required to turn over to the scientists.</p> - -<p>He was sweating profusely from panic when he reached the carefully -fitted mopboard in the corner after pulling aside a small desk. He -pressed part of the wooden ornamentation, and a section of the mopboard -turned on hinges. Feverishly he drew his precious aluminum box from the -hiding place he had contrived, and unfastened its lid. From within came -a reassuring, cryptic gleam; and Sam Conway almost wilted with relief.</p> - -<p>But he wasn't satisfied yet. His fear of possible burglary wasn't the -result of miserliness alone. He was afraid to have so gigantic a secret -as he possessed get beyond himself—yet. And he was well aware that man -would kill to own what he owned—and distrusted, withholding it from -Nichols and his scientists.</p> - -<p>Carefully he put the aluminum container back, and searched the -premises. The windows. The doors. Everything. But he found no telltale -marks of intrusion. The footprints, then, in the office room must have -been his own. But he'd bar the windows tomorrow. He'd put alarms on the -entrances, and he'd find a safer place for his aluminum box.</p> - -<p>Now he prepared to work, getting his notebooks ready, putting a little -collapsible table in the center of the office room, securing the heavy -wood shutters of the windows, turning on the lights, and taking the -aluminum box, which was his storehouse of miracles, once more from -hiding.</p> - -<p>As he sat down at the table, he placed a loaded pistol within easy -reach at his elbow. Thus prepared, he lifted his treasure from its -homely metal container, and set it lovingly before him. A cube, perhaps -four inches square. Like glass. Almost crystal in its transparency, -except for a dim misting of pearl. Crowning the cube was a metal -pyramid, much tarnished with age, and a dial. That was all. But Sam's -gaze was almost gloating, as his mind filled with mighty visions of his -own future. He was no different from any other man in this respect, for -the touch of power was on him.</p> - -<p>He turned the dial of the Martian apparatus. Within the cube spots -of fire began to move, around and around a glowing center that -was composed of myriad parts. It was all like a three-dimensional -cinema—illustrating, in this instance, some mystery of the atom—its -revolving planetary electrons, its nucleus of neutrons, positrons....</p> - -<p>In a strange eight-fingered hand, which left the rest of its eon-dead -owner's anatomy unpictured, a metal pointer was lifted, indicating this -and that. It was like being in school on old Mars, whose people had -been extinct for untold millions of years.... Maybe this apparatus, -which held, in pictured, illustrated form, all the scientific lore of -another time and world, had been a kind of school book.</p> - -<p>Sam didn't understand much of this first lesson—yet. There were soft -clinking noises—perhaps speech—which accompanied the fading, waxing, -moving illustrations; but those music-box notes were perhaps forever -beyond him as far as meaning went.</p> - -<p>The atomic structure views were replaced at last by pictures of -machines and apparatus—and that was a little better. Before his eyes -Sam saw complicated pieces of apparatus taken apart and reassembled. He -saw complicated processes actually carried out step by step.</p> - -<p>Sam Conway's concentration was like a frozen hypnosis, and his brain -was quick. But in the corners of the room there were faint shadows, -and he was conscious of them. Still he took notes, and made drawings -feverishly until the strain began to tell. Of course he could always -refer back to the machine, repeating the views if necessary.</p> - -<p>It was a month before he began to build. And then his first effort was -only to produce a furnace and an alloy; the latter a product of the -former. It was harder and more flexible than any steel yet produced. -And it was worth money, providing the means to carry on his study and -his work.</p> - -<p>Work.... Sam seldom saw Ellen Varney now. He saw little of anybody. He -told lies to be alone, and to continue his solitary efforts. His sense -of struggle was like being on Mars again fighting for life, plodding -through a thin feathery fall of snow there, in the dazing cold, close -to the polar regions. And he dreamed of gigantic altruisms—the -remaking of civilization.</p> - -<p>In four months after his beginning, he had achieved things. Under a -beam of specialized vibrations he saw a mouse do amazing tricks, its -brain stimulated temporarily to an intelligence far beyond normal. -It was awesome, and frightening too, watching that tiny animal -turn—without error, and after it had been shown how only once—the -complicated combination lock of a small door beyond which lay food.</p> - -<p>Sam thrilled to the spectacle of the rodent laboring so keenly with its -teeth and forepaws. What if the same waves were applied to the brain of -a man? He would have tried those waves on himself, but his enthusiasm -changed to dread when, with the removal of the beam, the mouse -shuddered into a convulsion and died, its nervous system exhausted.</p> - -<p>Biology revealed further mysteries and possibilities. In a glass -flask, packed in a radioactive compound, and filled with water to -which food substances had been added, Sam grew huge amoebae, whose -ancestors had been microscopic. But these creatures were translucent -globules, almost a quarter-inch in diameter. Somewhere here, perhaps, -lay hidden the secret of life itself. But the amoebae died of a strange -disease, the germs of which were perhaps generated out of those same -life processes.... To be sure of safety, Sam poured sulphuric acid into -the culture flask.</p> - -<p>He changed his direction now, back to the atom. Eight weeks more, and -he was ready for another test. The main room of the old garage was -crowded with apparatus. Then, one night, Sam closed a switch cautiously.</p> - -<p>The result was not much different than the shorting of a high-tension -electric current across a broad arc. A snap. An avalanche of rattling -blue flame, whose glare made everything look sharp and unreal. Then -wires glowed to white heat and crumpled. A huge vacuum tube exploded -into an incandescent puff of metallic vapors, superheated. The current -was dead now—cut off. The experiment was a failure.</p> - -<p>There were perhaps ten seconds like this—a sort of unsuspected -bang—like that of a rifle cartridge whose defective primer cap fails -to ignite the powder immediately when the firing pin strikes it. -The garage interior was still illuminated, for the lights were on a -different circuit. Smoke was blue along the raftered roof, and the red -glow had faded from heated metal.</p> - -<p>Then, at a moment beyond all expectation, a searing glare leaped out -from between two close-pressed copper electrodes which had been the -center of Sam's experiment. A wave of rays and heat, and stunning -electrical emanations. Sam Conway's mind was far too slow for him to -grasp just what happened. He only remembered a little when, battered -and scorched, he picked himself up from the concrete pavement after a -minute or more.</p> - -<p>The points of the electrodes were shattered, but they still glared, -incandescent, providing the only light now, for the light bulbs were -shattered. Staring from aching, ray-reddened eyes, Sam saw only -that glow, for he was temporarily all but blinded. But there were -little pits in that hot copper—pits out of which the metal must have -literally exploded.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>The crackling continued—like a delayed explosion. His numbed brain sensed that something was terribly wrong.</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>He wasn't afraid right away. Not until his brain recalled did he -realize. That bang, after his apparatus had burnt itself out, then that -flash, or whatever you wanted to call it, was atoms breaking down more -violently than they had ever done in the crude experimental atomic -engines so far developed on earth.</p> - -<p>Now there was another flash from one of those electrodes—just a tiny, -incredibly brilliant speck—like a spark that flares and dies, failing -to ignite tinder. Almost though. Almost an inconceivable conflagration, -that might have spread and spread, from one atom to others.</p> - -<p>Sam's sore eyes could see the broken roof now, and the springtime stars -shining calmly through its splintered rifts. The sky itself was dimly -luminous as with diffused light. Suddenly he was afraid of those stars, -for they were like watching eyes; watching and inscrutable. And there -was ozone—triatomic oxygen—metallically tanging in the atmosphere, -mingled with the odor of burnt insulation. Sam wanted to leave the -building, to go out into the night and cool his dizzied senses and his -blistered body. Yet he had to keep guard to be sure to note anything -further that might happen, for he knew what had just taken place.</p> - -<p>Yes, he knew all right! Nature had been probed in its darkest lair by -a clumsy hand. Nature had growled back threateningly. It had almost -bitten. Almost...? Sam Conway's ribs seemed to shrink about his wildly -pounding heart.</p> - -<p>He leaned against the cracked brick wall, trembling. In memory he was -on Mars again seeing those ruined buildings, sheered off, buried by the -dust—smelling the metallic reek of ozone that had seeped back through -the breath-vent of his oxygen helmet. Even as here, now. Ozone built up -from the commoner form of oxygen by electrical discharges!</p> - -<p>And by swift suggestion, Sam's thoughts went beyond Mars itself. -Outside of the Martian orbit was the Path of Minor Planets—the -asteroids. Broken up fragments. Perhaps a single world, once, that had -been caught in catastrophe....</p> - -<p>There was more, too. What were the rings of Saturn? What cataclysmic -circumstance had made them? Atlantis and Mu, the lost continents. -Why had they sunk beneath the sea, taking with them their splendid -civilizations? And there were the novae far out in interstellar space; -normal stars suddenly blazing forth in spectacular ruin. Yes there must -be many other inhabited worlds in the universe, other folk, studying, -learning to control and curb matter and energy. Sometimes knowledge -must get dangerously ahead of itself, lacking a sound foundation of -understanding. And then?</p> - -<p>There was silence outside the building. So the crunch of hurrying -footsteps in the cinders of the driveway penetrated easily to Sam's -eardrums and excited nerves. A loud knock sounded at the outside door -of Sam's sleeping room.</p> - -<p>He staggered back from his ruined laboratory. From a small chemical -cabinet he procured a flashlight. And he drew the pistol he always -carried now, from his pocket, before he unfastened the heavy bar of the -door.</p> - -<p>It was Ellen Varney out there in the dark. Sam hadn't seen her in -almost a week. He had never permitted her to come here when he was -busy. To the rear, down the driveway, the headlamps of the girl's car -made a white lantern-glimmer through the bushes.</p> - -<p>For one frightening instant Ellen saw the pistol muzzle levelled toward -her before Sam was able to recognize her and lower the weapon. But she -didn't ask the reason for the gun at all.</p> - -<p>"Sam," she stammered. "I couldn't sleep and I heard a funny, sharp -explosion. It seemed to be in this direction. And when I looked out -of the window I saw a glow in the sky—very faint. But it was in this -direction too. I guess I had a hunch, so I drove out here. All the way -I could smell ozone in the air. You can hardly see the phosphorescence -in the sky from up close at all. But it's right over. What's wrong, -Sam? What have you <i>really</i> been doing?"</p> - -<p>The girl's tense fears, strong enough to make her come here, after -midnight, to his laboratory, emphasized Sam's own private anxieties.</p> - -<p>"I haven't been doing much, Honey," he told her hesitantly, and not too -convincingly. "You'd better just run along home to bed. Research causes -accidents once in a while. I'll get everything straightened out all -right."</p> - -<p>But in the reflected rays of the flashlight, the girl's face and eyes -were determined.</p> - -<p>"I won't go, Sam," she said very definitely, "until I find out that -everything is all right. First place, you're hurt, and I'd be stubborn -for your sake. But there's more. That glow in the sky. That smell of -ozone—not only here, but everywhere here.... What does it all mean, -Sam?"</p> - -<p>Conway looked nervously toward the heavens. Yes, he could see a halo -of light, sure enough. He had thought it was only the diffusion of -starshine by the moisture in the atmosphere. Now he knew better. It was -a little too bright and too low to be an aurora. It could be <i>like</i> an -aurora, of course, something electrical and yet not quite the real, -normal thing.</p> - -<p>The breeze outside bore a slight yet unmistakable pungence of ozone -too. It was just as Ellen had said. The gas was not only in the lab. -It was here, too, as though all the atmosphere in the neighborhood had -been affected by some electrical process.</p> - -<p>"Listen!" Ellen said suddenly.</p> - -<p>Sam strained his ears. At first he could detect nothing at all. Then he -noticed a dim, lonely humming, that seemed to emanate from the ground, -and from the bricks of the laboratory.</p> - -<p>The sound seemed to be getting gradually louder. It made Sam shudder -with the mystery of hidden things. And he began to feel, too, a sharp -ache in his muscles, quite distinct from the soreness of his minor -injury.</p> - -<p>Suspicion grew on him again; suspicion that his latest experiment had -been not entirely without lasting effect. Something <i>had</i> happened! -Something had been started after all!</p> - -<p>Sam grasped Ellen by the arm. "Come inside, Ellen," he said. "I've got -to make a few tests."</p> - -<p>He did this very quickly, working in the beam of his flashlight, which -the girl held for him. Meanwhile he made a complete confession, telling -her what he'd found on Mars and what he'd been doing.</p> - -<p>He found now that he couldn't keep an electroscope charged. This -meant that the air was ionized—that it would promptly conduct away -any electrical charge that the instrument might hold. And atmospheric -ionization meant, or could mean, the presence of radioactivity—of -atomic disturbances.</p> - -<p>He tried exposing a bit of photographic film in the dark. In the -developing fluids it turned entirely black. There were strong invisible -rays then, to affect it; rays coming from the walls, the ground, -the very air itself perhaps. Rays probably from bursting atoms. The -sound—the humming—must be some incidental phenomenon of their -breakdown.</p> - -<p>Dully Sam felt of the walls. Their temperature was already higher than -that of the air and they vibrated distinctly with that steady hum. -Sam's whole body felt hot, as though a strange flame was blazing in his -own flesh.</p> - -<p>He was sure, then. He had started a slow, progressive form of atomic -disintegration in all the materials around him. In his own body too! -It hadn't been the sudden fire of violent incandescence. That <i>might</i> -have come. It had just been missed. The igniting spark hadn't been -quite strong enough. Instead there was only a sort of smouldering. -But, undeniably, atomic power was being released in a deadly, and -uncontrollable if gradual, form.</p> - -<p>The flashlight lay on the table shedding its white beam. Sam saw that -Ellen's face was pale and her eyes glassy.</p> - -<p>Sam had not the faintest idea of what he might do to check what he had -started. "Get out of here, Ellen," he growled thickly. "Beat it! I've -gone and tried to play God. And now hell's broken loose! Tell everybody -to scram away from here!"</p> - -<p>Very unsteadily the girl arose from the chair where she had seated -herself. "I don't want to go, Sam," she stammered. "I can't leave you -now."</p> - -<p>He had to stumble forward then, to catch her before she fell. Her face -was hot and damp with a weird fever. Her body had been affected too, -by coming into the zone of influence. Sam Conway winced with an awful -anguish as he picked Ellen up and tried to carry her toward the open -door, and the safer night air outside.</p> - -<p>It was only then that he realized how weak and sick he was himself. -Strange rays were tearing at his nerves and brain. His very flesh -was slowly—very slowly—giving up its atomic power, in a gradual -radioactive decay!</p> - -<p>He stumbled at his first step and fell crashing to the floor. Paralysis -rushed over him, and that droning sound was like a death-dirge in his -ears. He tried to drag Ellen's unconscious form toward the door, but -the effort was useless. He couldn't even crawl. He just lay there, -panting torturedly, his hot brain working in a chaos of fever. He -understood now.</p> - -<p>The death of Mars all over again. The fused walls. The melted machines. -The ozone in the air. A slow, creeping smouldering destruction had -burnt itself out at last; perhaps when a new balance had been reached -in the atoms of the Martian crust. A crust. A cancerous disease moving -in an irregular path, depleting air and water. But there still must be -a tiny part of the old process of atomic breakdown continuing on Mars -today, maintaining, by electrical disturbances, the ozone in the air.</p> - -<p>And he, Sam Conway, had started that same creeping horror here on -Earth. It would go along now, spreading and spreading. The walls around -him would soon be melting. And there was nothing a man could do to stop -it. Not even the science of Mars had been able to save the world that -had given it birth. Only in scattered places where the erratic horror -had not reached, perhaps in deep crevices in the rocks, had a few -plants and low animals been able to survive for a new beginning after -most of the fires had died.</p> - -<p>Sam Conway cursed himself for his eagerness and lust for power. He'd -been like an old gold miner, he thought savagely, ready almost to -kill his own brother to preserve his secret until he could use it for -himself. There were too many men like that. And now Ellen and all the -rest of the world had to suffer.</p> - -<p>Mu. Atlantis. The asteroids that had perhaps once been a plant, -destroyed, maybe, by a much more violent form of atomic breakdown. -But who knew just what accidents might have caused these respective -catastrophes? Science must sometimes get ahead of itself, without even -outside influence. There was always a risk.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Sam's mind began to fade out, toward the nothingness of oblivion.</p> - -<p>Then the real miracle began to happen. The violence of it jarred his -brain swiftly back toward a semblance of awareness. Suddenly everything -around him was spouting blue electric flame. The table, the chairs, the -walls, even the grass and trees beyond the open doorway rippled with a -sort of aura. The phenomenon lasted for only two seconds. It snapped -and growled like the first dash of some gigantic code signal. Then it -broke off. Then it began again.</p> - -<p>Once more it stopped. And started.</p> - -<p>Sam, even had his mind been clear, could not have guessed how -widespread the phenomenon was. He could not have known that, within a -twenty mile radius fuses were blowing out, transformers were smoking in -their oil-baths and generators were groaning under a terrific overload, -as though their armatures had been gripped by an invisible colossus.</p> - -<p>But Sam could guess some of the might of the new phenomenon. His body -convulsed like the body of a condemned culprit in an electric chair as -shocks ripped through him. He could not imagine the origin of what was -happening now, unless the forces he had unleashed had entered a new -phase of destruction.</p> - -<p>Yet this did not seem to be true, for after the first spurt of unknown -power had passed, that sonorous hum of doom had been completely -strangled. Before the second spurt stopped there was a violent ripping -explosion and the tinkling of broken window panes in the adjoining -laboratory room. And that constricting paralysis and heat were gone -from Sam's body. There were five bursts of strange energy, in all. Then -it was over.</p> - -<p>Prodded by sheer startlement Sam got to his feet and found that, in -spite of weakness, he could stand. His brain was clearer, too. Ellen -Varney, unconscious before, was trying to rise. He helped her up and -supported her against him.</p> - -<p>They stared out of the doorway at the sky. The auroral glow was gone. -But they saw, for just an instant, a huge phosphorescent shape, hanging -high against the stars. It was a little like a colossal image of a man, -but it couldn't have been solid. It was like the aurora itself—as -tenuous, as luminous—a kind of gigantic photograph projected in the -air. The arm of the vapory figure extended; then the whole image -vanished, as if at a speed far exceeding that of light, to some -colossal distance.</p> - -<p>Sam didn't even speak of the being right away. He helped the girl out -of the building into the open.</p> - -<p>"Wait here for a few seconds, Ellen," he said in a tone that trembled -with awe.</p> - -<p>Then he stumbled back into the old garage. All electrical devices were -dead, even his flashlight. He had to find his way to the laboratory by -burning matches. Every bit of apparatus was in fused ruins now, faintly -reddened with heat. But there was no ominous hum in the hot, black -stillness. Something deadly had been burned out of diseased substances -by counter fire. Even Sam's own flesh had submitted to a curative force.</p> - -<p>He found his way to one corner of the room, where, beneath a heavy -block of concrete, he had prepared a new hiding place for his aluminum -box, and the Martian demonstration apparatus it contained. Tugging -the block of concrete free, he looked below it, lighting another -match. Somehow the lid of the box had been blown off. Within, the -Martian machine was the same as before, except that the crystal cube -was no longer clear. Instead it was blackened all the way through, -like a black diamond. And there were cracks in it that destroyed its -usefulness forever. It, too, had been touched by those counter waves -of energy. Touching the cube with his fingers, Sam found that it was -hot.</p> - -<p>He left the thing in its hole and returned to Ellen, his mind full of -colossal realizations.</p> - -<p>The girl's voice quavered with awe as she spoke there under the quiet -stars.</p> - -<p>"We had help, didn't we, Sam?" she stammered, remembering the cloud -in the sky, and what Sam had told her about his work. "Somebody from -another world. But who? Where...?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know, Honey," Sam answered raggedly. "It wasn't Martian help. -As far as I know, all Martians are dead. Besides, I've seen their -bones. Manlike, but very slender. The being—pictured in the sky was -heavily built."</p> - -<p>Sam nodded significantly toward the sky.</p> - -<p>"Lots of planets up there," he continued. "In other solar systems. Lots -of different kinds of beings. I suppose some of those races, on planets -of the older stars, have really grown up mentally and scientifically, -till they know all about time and space and dimensions and energy, -and how to handle and conquer them. And I suppose that somehow they -keep careful watch across the awful distance because they've learned -by experience that it may be safer. It's not just to save the necks -of lesser beings but to guard themselves, too. I was messing around -with something pretty big, Ellen. You can't tell how far a danger may -sometimes go. A whole universe may be thrown into chaos—"</p> - -<p>Sam's fists were clenching and unclenching absently. It was better for -science to develop gradually, with a race. And even then there would -sometimes be mistakes. Atlantis. Mu. The asteroids. Maybe some of the -novae—</p> - -<p>"We'd better get back into town, Sam," Ellen offered practically. -"There may be damage done there—with all that's been happening. We'd -better see."</p> - -<p>A chuckle found its way through Sam Conway's awe. "Yeah," he said. -"Like your car. I see the headlights have gone out. Good thing it's -a diesel, with no electrical ignition to blow, and with a cartridge -starter on the motor."</p> - -<p>But Sam was too grateful over the miraculous escape from final tragedy -he'd just witnessed, to worry much about damage suits over ruined -electrical equipment.</p> - -<p>And he was very grateful for Ellen, too. He might fly out to Mars -some time again, or even farther. 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