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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..05db479 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68600 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68600) diff --git a/old/68600-0.txt b/old/68600-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 386a51a..0000000 --- a/old/68600-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,969 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Picnic, by Milton Lesser - -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: Picnic - -Author: Milton Lesser - -Illustrator: EBERLE - -Release Date: July 24, 2022 [eBook #68600] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PICNIC *** - - - - - - Picnic - - BY MILTON LESSER - - ILLUSTRATED BY EBERLE - - Burt was tired of taking his family out to the asteroids - for a picnic every week-end. But with a wife and - two spoiled brats to goad him into the regular routine, - what could a man do? Only, as it turned out, - this particular picnic wasn't quite regular routine! - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Rocket Stories, July 1953. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Burt reached out for the stud that would fire the fore-rockets, but a -small white hand already rested on the button. - -"Let me, Daddy. You promised--" - -When he wanted something, Johnny's voice took on that wailing quality. -He wanted something now; Burt had promised him that he could land the -ship. - -"Okay," Burt said. "Press it--now. Now!" - -Johnny took his hand off the stud. "Don't holler at _me_," he told his -father severely. - -Burt swore under his breath and jammed down on the stud. A red light -overhead winked on and off furiously, and he knew that if he had -waited another moment they would have plowed into the asteroid like a -battering ram into a tub of soft butter. - -"Marcia, oh Marcia!" he turned and called over his shoulder to his wife. - -She stuck her head in through the galley door. "Dear," she said, "let -me make these sandwiches, will you? I don't tell you how to pilot the -ship, but I'll never get this lunch all packed unless you let me alone." - -Burt scowled. "That's the general idea. I want to be let alone, too. So -if you'll just take your darling little son the devil out of here--" - -"Why, Burt Rogers! Johnny's only eight, and he's quite harmless. If I -had known ten years ago that you didn't like children--" - -Burt shook his head. "Joan's fine. Joan is two years younger than -Johnny, but she doesn't bother anyone. She just sits in the galley -and--" - -"Hah!" Marcia snorted. "She sits in the galley and digs her arms into -the mayonnaise tub up to the elbows, that's all." - -"Well, then they're both brats." - -"Burt!" - -"They are, and it's your fault, Marcia. You always say let the children -express themselves, we can't frustrate them or cut them short in any -way--so look what happens." - -"You look what happens," Marcia declared dramatically. "If we don't -pull out of the dive in a couple of seconds, we'll splatter all over -that planetoid." - -"Let me land it, let me land it!" wailed Johnny. - -Burt spun to the controls, and his fingers flicked rapidly over -the buttons. He was sweating when he brought the ship down with a -none-too-gentle dump. He heard Joan's whimper from inside the galley, -and Marcia began to tell him what a lousy pilot he was. Johnny was -playing cops and robbers with the topography through the foreport. - -"This," Burt said, "is the last week-end picnic for me. Definitely the -last." - -Marcia opened her mouth to say something, but Burt cut her off. "I -don't want to hear any more about it. You'll just have to find another -way for the kids to express themselves...." - - * * * * * - -They usually found an asteroid with a weird terrain, and just looking -at it through the portable bubble-sphere kept the kids pretty busy. -This time, however, things were different. The asteroid was only -twenty miles in diameter, yet it had an atmosphere of oxygen and inert -gases, and it was comfortably warm. No bubble-sphere this time to keep -the kids hemmed in--and Johnny and Joan would be roving all over the -uncharted surface. - -Burt shuddered. What a job he'd have today. But then, this was the last -time: they could talk themselves blue in the face and plead, but this -was the last time.... And maybe there'd be life, since there was air -and warmth. But that was silly: a body this size would not have life, -and even if Johnny took advantage of the low gravity and jumped thirty -feet in the air, he wouldn't get hurt--he'd float down gently as a -feather. - -Marcia pouted as she spread the table-cloth out on a flat expanse of -rock. Burt put his hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away from him. -"Brats, eh?" she muttered. - -"Well, maybe I didn't mean it that way. But you just name me another -father at Marsport who takes his family up in a spaceship every Sunday -to go picnicking. And a different asteroid each week. Ed Jones sits on -his fanny all week-end, and Tom Ferris spends Saturday night in the -gambling joints so he's dead on his feet Sunday and can hardly stay -awake during the church services." - -Marcia took his hand and placed it back on her shoulder. "Okay, -dear--you're wonderful. But that doesn't give you permission to call my -children 'brats'." - -Burt smiled. "_My_ children, too. And, well--if they're not brats, -we've certainly spoiled them...." - -Johnny's voice cut through the thin air. "Pop. Hey, pop. C'mere!" - -Burt got up, laughing. "So that's how you teach your kids to call their -old man, eh?" - - * * * * * - -Burt walked toward the incredibly close horizon. You could see the -curvature of the tiny planet quite distinctly, and in a tight circle -all around them the pale blue sky came down and met the jumble of rocks -and crystal which was the surface of the asteroid. Johnny had called -from someplace beyond the horizon, and as he walked, Burt heard him -again: "You deaf, pop? C'mere!" - -Johnny was standing, little hands on little hips, near a mound of dull -metal. No, it wasn't a mound--it was battered and twisted and rusted, -but the tear-drop shape was unmistakable. A spaceship.... - -Burt found the ancient airlock and pushed through the rusted door. He -looked at the control panel. "It's an old Havelock," he muttered, "I'll -be damned. They haven't made these in twenty years." - -He went outside again, where Johnny still stood. - -"Pretty nifty, eh pop?" the boy said. - -Burt called: "Marcia. Hey, Marcia. C'mere!" - -Leading Joan by her hand, Marcia reached them in a few minutes. "Don't -wonder why Johnny called you like that, Burt Rogers. Just don't you -wonder at all. He's a chip off the old block, that's what he is." - -Joan said, "Mama, what's a chip off the old block?" - -"Later, dear, later. What's on your mind, Burt?" - -He gestured. "This--" - -Marcia stared. "Why, it's--it's a spaceship!" - -"It is," Johnny nodded. "An old Havelock Cruiser. And I found it." - -"But these people must have crashed here years ago." - -"Yeah. Look, Marcia, you better take the kids away while I look for the -remains. Got to find them and report to the police at Marsport when we -get back, but there's no reason why the kids have to see." - -Marcia took Johnny's hand in one of her own and Joan's in the other, -and she walked away with them beyond the close horizon. "Okay, Burt," -she called back. "You can start looking." - -Burt did not like the task ahead of him, but with general space travel -still less than half a century old, lost ships were no rarity, and he -considered himself morally obligated to find the bodies. He was back -in the Havelock now, and it was a small ship. He covered it in five -minutes, and he scratched his head. No one ... there were all the signs -of occupation, but no one was around. Dishes for three were set on the -plastalloy table, with a blubbery green mass on each plate, billowing -over on to the table. That meant that there had been food on those -dishes when, quite suddenly, the three people had disappeared. It also -meant that bacteria, at least, flourished on this asteroid. And--what -else? Why had the three people disappeared, why had they vanished -utterly with a meal waiting for them on the table-- - -"Burt! Burt!" It was Marcia, and she was screaming. - - * * * * * - -Burt poked his head outside the broken airlock. Marcia was running -toward the Havelock. "Burt--get out. To me, quick!" - -Burt looked up. Toward the other horizon was a slight hill, not a -very high one, but enough for Marcia to have seen it from beyond the -horizon. And rolling down that hill now, gathering speed as it came, -was a massive boulder. - -Heading straight for the Havelock-- - -Burt scrambled up out of the airlock, cursing when his trousers caught -on an edge of rusted metal. He tugged at them and heard them rip. Then -he was clear and running toward Marcia. - -With a great grinding crashing sound the rock plowed into the Havelock, -smashing it and crushing the half-corroded metal flat. Burt looked back -at a big cloud of dust, and when it cleared, the Havelock looked like -so much scrap. If he had been inside he would have been crushed to a -pulp. Less than a pulp, they never would have found him. - -"Burt! Burt--" Marcia was sobbing against his chest. "Of all the freak -accidents--" - -"Uh-uh." He shook his head as they walked back to the broken remains of -the Havelock. "That was no accident." - -He pointed to the little hill. "That hasn't got a slope of more than -ten degrees, honey. It couldn't have been an accident. The rock never -could have gathered so much momentum on that hill." - -"Not an accident?" - -"No. Someone--something--pushed that rock." - -The boulder was unmoving now, fifty yards from the scrap heap which had -been the Havelock Cruiser. - -Marcia said, "Someone pushed _that_? It's as big as the ship, Burt. It -weighs five tons if it weighs an ounce. Maybe in this slight gravity--" - -Burt shook his head. "Even that wouldn't account for it. That rock was -pushed." - -Marcia clung to him, shuddering. "Burt, let's get the children and -leave this place!" - -He nodded, and he was about to call Johnny, when something bounded high -into the air over the horizon, then floated down, gently. "Johnny!" -Marcia cried. - -"He's detached his equalizer," Burt said. "That crazy kid--" - -Each of them had one of the little gravity equalizers at his belt. It -was a clever invention: you wore it in space flight, and you never -became weightless as space-travelers did in the old days. And you wore -it on any planet, creating earth-norm gravity. Now Johnny had detached -his, and he weighed no more than a couple of pounds here on the tiny -asteroid. - -Something else bounded high into the air, came floating down. Johnny -called: "Lookit us. We're birds, that's what we are. We're birds!" - -Burt knew that Johnny had removed Joan's equalizer as well. Two forms -came bouncing toward them over the wild terrain. "Just press the button -to the left," Burt pleaded. "Press it to the left like a good boy, -Johnny. You do it and we'll give you a present." - -"Naa. This is fun. You try and get me." - -But Joan was crying, and she did not know what to do. Every time she -landed, she tried to take a step forward and she soared high into the -air again. Closer bounded the two figures, and Johnny soared right by, -almost near enough to touch. Burt dove for him, and came up clutching -air. Johnny bounded away again, and, calling threats and taunts behind -him, he disappeared over the hill, in the direction from which the -boulder had come. - -Marcia had been luckier. She held Joan by one arm now, re-adjusting the -equalizer with her free hand. Joan sat down, crying. "I have Joan," -Marcia told her husband. "You go and get Johnny, Burt. Get him--quick. -I don't like this place." - -Burt didn't like it, either. _Something had pushed that rock._ - -Marcia screamed. "Burt--look." - -The rocks and rubble near the remains of the Havelock were rumbling and -grinding. Burt heard a great cracking sound, like a huge dead branch -breaking. The ground near the Havelock trembled and the shock of it -reached them. Burt sat down hard, and he saw Joan and Marcia fall in a -heap. - -He tried to get up, but he couldn't; the ground was still trembling. -A crack appeared near the Havelock, and it crawled along the ground -slowly, crookedly. It crawled at a snail's pace, less than a snail's -pace--but it moved. And it grew. It was as wide as Burt's arm. Wider. -It grew. - - * * * * * - -Suddenly, it gaped wide, and the grinding and rumbling was louder. It -opened into a cavernous maw--right under the Havelock. For a moment the -Havelock stood poised, as if on air--and then the battered; flattened -ship disappeared within the hole, clattering against the walls as it -fell. - -The ground shuddered again, violently; the hole became a crack, closing -in upon itself. It disappeared altogether, and only the rough terrain -remained. - -But the Havelock was gone. - -Marcia stood up. "An earthquake?" She trembled. - -"On a planetoid twenty miles in diameter? Don't be silly. You'd need an -unstable interior for an earthquake--and this little globe cooled and -stabilized long ago." - -"Yes? Then why is it warm?" - -She had him there, and Burt didn't know. Why was the asteroid warm? If -he knew the answer to that, he might know the answer to a lot of things. - -"This is stupid, Burt. Let's stop talking and find Johnny. He could be -half way around the asteroid by now, or more." - -Burt shook his head. "We can't all go and look. Joan would delay us. -You stay here with her, Marcia--or, better still, get back to the ship -with her and stay inside. I'll find Johnny and bring him back. Then -we'll get the devil out of here." - -Marcia smiled wanly. "That I'd like. And Burt?" - -"Yeah, kid?" - -"Be careful...." - - * * * * * - -Burt felt like a kangaroo. Only no earthly kangaroo had ever taken -leaps like this. He had flicked the switch of the gravity equalizer -over to the right, shutting off the power. Then he had taken off in -great leaps, looking for Johnny. His jumps carried him forty or fifty -feet in the air, and then he floated down, almost weightless. - -With concentration, he could have avoided those high leaps. He could -have propelled himself forward, fifty and sixty feet at a jump, but he -did not want to. The horizon was too close, and the only way he could -find Johnny was like this. As he reached the apex of each leap, he -could see much further than he could on the ground, and he was looking -for the boy. - -Once he thought he saw Johnny, a tiny blob way off in the distance, -but he came down from his jump too soon, and he could not be sure. He -called loudly, and everything else was quiet, and his voice was almost -frightening. Soon the ground felt spongy to him, but he shrugged it -off. As soon as he landed, he was off again, and it probably was his -imagination. Hard rock did not become spongy like this, not suddenly, -without warning, with no possible explanation. - -But once he landed hard, and he rested a moment, panting. He moved -his feet and they slopped about, like on a muddy field. He reached -down carefully. One wrong move would upset his equilibrium and he'd go -shooting off into the air. He touched the ground, and it was wet. He -pushed, and he felt his hand sinking in, slowly. Fascinated, he pushed -again. His hand disappeared to the wrist. - -Something was trying to suck him down further, and he tugged. He pulled -his hand out with a loud slopping sound, and instinctively he jumped -away. He soared into the air again, and when he came down, it was only -for a moment--just long enough to leap. - -The ground was spongy. And when he was standing there, with his -hand immersed to the wrist, the soft spongy stuff had been pulsing, -throbbing. - -Almost as if it were alive.... - -His mind did not tackle the problem further. Ahead he saw Johnny--now -it was more than his imagination; Johnny was there, leaping into the -air ahead of him. - -Burt reached the apex of his flight, cupped his hands and yelled -through them: - -"Johnny! Johnny!" - -"Hi, pop!" - -The voice came back faintly, playfully. - -"Johnny, when you touch ground next time, turn that switch to the left." - -"Naa--I'm having fun." - -"When I get you, Johnny...." - -"Aw, okay. Kill joy. What a worry wart." - -Apparently, Johnny had turned on his equalizer. Burt saw him on the -ground, waiting, and three big leaps brought him there. - -Now Johnny was crying. - -"What the devil are you crying for? You've jumped around enough--" - -"Pop, please. I'm sorry. Get me outa here!" - -Johnny was stuck. He was in the spongy ground, up to his ankles. The -stuff sucked around his shins, drawing him down further every second, -like quicksand. Burt could feel it pulsing as he landed, but it did not -suck him in. With the equalizer off, he weighed much less than Johnny -did, and now he was tugging at the boy, pulling at his shoulders, -grabbing him under the armpits and tugging, tugging.... - -Johnny came loose suddenly, and Burt soared with him several feet into -the air. On the way up, he switched the boy's equalizer off again, and -Johnny said: - -"You just told me not to, now you do it yourself. What a pop." - -Johnny was spoiled and Johnny was precocious, but Burt thought of -neither now. Johnny was nothing more than a little bundle which he had -to get back to the spaceship. And then they had to leave, all four of -them. - -The spaceship ... Marcia did not know how to pilot it, she couldn't -lift it off the ground. And the sucking, spongy stuff might engulf -the ship, take it down into some unknown womb of the world. They'd be -marooned. Marcia and Joan-- - -All of them. - -The trip back was a wild one. Burt tucked his son under one arm and -leaped. He kept low to the ground this time, skimming its surface, -sometimes leaping as much as seventy feet with one bounding stride. -With each stride, the ground became more spongy, and Burt realized with -a sinking heart that the surface could never hold the spaceship up. It -would be the same as if it had plunged through the gaping maw in the -hard rock with the Havelock--either way it would be gone. - -Johnny liked the ride. Every time they landed, he would say, "Again, -pop. Again!" And wordless, Burt would leap once more. - -Once he jumped high and he thought he saw the spaceship gleaming in the -rays of the sun. But that was impossible. It would surely sink. - -And then he came down and he did see it. It was there, on a hard -expanse of flat rock, where he had left it. Here the ground seemed -normal-- - -He heard Marcia's scream before he saw her. Then she came around the -hull of the spaceship, dragging Joan. Screaming again, she fell flat. - - * * * * * - -Something whizzed by her head, and even from this distance Burt could -see that it was a rock the size of a watermelon. She got up again, -and she ran forward, but then a whole shower of rocks came after her, -smaller this time, two handfuls of egg-sized rocks, thrown by an -invisible giant. - -He had to be invisible--Burt could see no one. Yet the rocks were being -thrown, somehow. Or--the thought suddenly occurred to Burt--they were -throwing themselves. The rocks moved under their own power. It was a -wild thought and a crazy one, but it made sense. Every other part of -the planetoid was soft and spongy. But here--near the ship--the surface -was still hard. And rocks were being thrown. Burt could tell this -had been happening for a long time, because the hull of the ship was -scarred from the fusilade. - -It was unreasonable to suppose that this tiny area, alone of the -entire sphere, could not become spongy. Then there was a reason why -it remained hard--and where there was reason there was sentience. And -further, why hadn't a big stone been thrown, one large enough to crush -their Pacemaker as the Havelock had been crushed? There certainly were -enough stones around-- - -Everything indicated a _game_. Something was playing with them. They -were easy prey, they were dead ducks--but something was having fun -with them first. They were goners, they didn't have a chance, and that -something needed the activity and the recreation. It was a sadistic -game. Back on earth, some of the kids had stripped the wings off flies, -made them hop about dizzily, helplessly, until they tired of the sport. -And then they had crushed them.... - -The planetoid was playing with them! - -Burt called: "Get inside the ship, Marcia! Inside!" - -"I can't. If I stand still long enough to manipulate the lock, these -stones will get me. Burt--" - -"I'm coming!" - -He switched on his equalizer and Johnny's, and still holding the boy -under one arm, he plunged across the rock. Something reached up and -tripped him, and he sprawled out flat. He had fallen over a small -out-cropping of rock--where no out-cropping had been before. - -He got up, and then he reached the Pacemaker. He pushed Johnny in front -of him, and the boy stood with his sister. Marcia looked up: - -"How are we going to get inside, Burt?" - -"You just open the lock. Come on, now." - -She turned her back and went to work on the dials. Burt stood there, -waiting for the stones that would come, hunching himself over, trying -to cover the three of them-- - -No stones came. - -Instead, he heard an ominous cracking sound, a rumbling.... - -Off where the spongy ground joined the hard rock a crack appeared. -It was small, but it grew. And it moved. It snaked along the ground, -slowly, twisting, heading for the ship. Now it was half as wide as -Johnny's body, and now it was wider. - -Burt pushed Marcia away and attacked the lock with clumsy fingers. -His hand trembled, but Marcia huddled against the side of the hull, -sobbing, and he knew she could not have handled the dials in time. - -_Three around and then four over: damn it, there's the blue light, but -he still needed the white and red. Five around and one over--ah, the -white! Two around and six over--red, white, and blue!_ - -He pushed Johnny and Joan in front of him, then he grabbed Marcia -around the waist and hurled her inside. The crack was half as wide as -the Pacemaker now, rumbling, churning--and growing. - -He ran to the controls and he kicked the engine over. He felt the -ship poise on the brink, as he had seen the Havelock do before it had -plunged within a similar hole. He felt the ship totter, and then he -fired the studs for all the aft rockets at once. The ship roared once -and he was shoved back hard in his seat. Then they hurtled furiously -sky-ward. - - * * * * * - -Below them now, the planetoid was a writhing, twisting mass, shooting -pulpy tentacles miles into space, groping for them, seeking. But they -were out of reach. Burt circled a few times, watching the stone globe -which now was a living entity. - -Behind him, Marcia watched too. "It's--alive," she said. - -"Yes. Sleeping when we arrived, but it's alive now. Twenty years ago it -ate the people of that Havelock, and then it became sluggish. Evidently -it does not need much food, for all its vast bulk. It became sluggish -and it slept, and when we landed we stirred it and it finished the job -on that Havelock. Then it wanted us...." - -"But _alive_?" - -"Why not?" Burt said. "Part plant, part animal, it's warm with its own -life. It breathes slowly, holding the thin atmosphere to its body, -growing plants for photosynthesis when it needs oxygen, a perfectly -co-ordinated being." - -"So big, Burt. It's so big." - -"Sure. On Mars the native life is bigger than on earth. Why?" - -"Why? I don't know." - -"Because Mars has a weaker gravity pull, being smaller than the earth. -And here, out in space, there is no gravity to keep life down. A plant -grows and grows as long as it lives, unlike an animal. This huge -asteroid has been growing for ages, millions of years, maybe. What's to -stop it? No gravity pressing down. Perhaps it can live purely on the -mineral matter of the meteors which fall. Maybe it's only a seed, with -food-matter stored up inside. Who knows?" - - * * * * * - -Johnny and Joan came out from the galley. Joan said: - -"Mama, I'm hungry." - -Marcia laughed. "We never did have that picnic, Burt." - -"Uh-huh. You're right--so we didn't. But this damn asteroid almost -did--on us." - -"Papa," Johnny said, "let's land someplace and have a picnic." - -"Go to hell," Burt said, forgetting he was speaking to a boy, his boy. - -"Burt! Then you wonder why Johnny curses. Just watch your language in -front of the children, Burt Rogers!" - -"Okay," he said. "But no more picnics. I'm going to report this thing -to the police, and they'll blow it out of the sky with atomite. Then -we'll have a nice meal at home. But no more picnics, ever. I'll take -the kids to the Canalport swimming pool on week-ends--half-way around -the planet. But no more picnics." - -"Please, papa," Johnny said. - -Marcia nodded. "Look. He's being polite." - -Burt sighed. He knew he could get away with it this week-end. But later -on in the month--or certainly next month--there would be more picnics. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PICNIC *** - -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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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/68600-0.zip b/old/68600-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6f31d1b..0000000 --- a/old/68600-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/68600-h.zip b/old/68600-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c53cd04..0000000 --- a/old/68600-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/68600-h/68600-h.htm b/old/68600-h/68600-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 9ae3b60..0000000 --- a/old/68600-h/68600-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1138 +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 Picnic, by Milton Lesser. - </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; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Picnic, by Milton Lesser</p> -<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> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Picnic</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Milton Lesser</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: EBERLE</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 24, 2022 [eBook #68600]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PICNIC ***</div> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>Picnic</h1> - -<h2>BY MILTON LESSER</h2> - -<p>ILLUSTRATED BY EBERLE</p> - -<p>Burt was tired of taking his family out to the asteroids<br /> -for a picnic every week-end. But with a wife and<br /> -two spoiled brats to goad him into the regular routine,<br /> -what could a man do? Only, as it turned out,<br /> -this particular picnic wasn't quite regular routine!</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Rocket Stories, July 1953.<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>Burt reached out for the stud that would fire the fore-rockets, but a -small white hand already rested on the button.</p> - -<p>"Let me, Daddy. You promised—"</p> - -<p>When he wanted something, Johnny's voice took on that wailing quality. -He wanted something now; Burt had promised him that he could land the -ship.</p> - -<p>"Okay," Burt said. "Press it—now. Now!"</p> - -<p>Johnny took his hand off the stud. "Don't holler at <i>me</i>," he told his -father severely.</p> - -<p>Burt swore under his breath and jammed down on the stud. A red light -overhead winked on and off furiously, and he knew that if he had -waited another moment they would have plowed into the asteroid like a -battering ram into a tub of soft butter.</p> - -<p>"Marcia, oh Marcia!" he turned and called over his shoulder to his wife.</p> - -<p>She stuck her head in through the galley door. "Dear," she said, "let -me make these sandwiches, will you? I don't tell you how to pilot the -ship, but I'll never get this lunch all packed unless you let me alone."</p> - -<p>Burt scowled. "That's the general idea. I want to be let alone, too. So -if you'll just take your darling little son the devil out of here—"</p> - -<p>"Why, Burt Rogers! Johnny's only eight, and he's quite harmless. If I -had known ten years ago that you didn't like children—"</p> - -<p>Burt shook his head. "Joan's fine. Joan is two years younger than -Johnny, but she doesn't bother anyone. She just sits in the galley -and—"</p> - -<p>"Hah!" Marcia snorted. "She sits in the galley and digs her arms into -the mayonnaise tub up to the elbows, that's all."</p> - -<p>"Well, then they're both brats."</p> - -<p>"Burt!"</p> - -<p>"They are, and it's your fault, Marcia. You always say let the children -express themselves, we can't frustrate them or cut them short in any -way—so look what happens."</p> - -<p>"You look what happens," Marcia declared dramatically. "If we don't -pull out of the dive in a couple of seconds, we'll splatter all over -that planetoid."</p> - -<p>"Let me land it, let me land it!" wailed Johnny.</p> - -<p>Burt spun to the controls, and his fingers flicked rapidly over -the buttons. He was sweating when he brought the ship down with a -none-too-gentle dump. He heard Joan's whimper from inside the galley, -and Marcia began to tell him what a lousy pilot he was. Johnny was -playing cops and robbers with the topography through the foreport.</p> - -<p>"This," Burt said, "is the last week-end picnic for me. Definitely the -last."</p> - -<p>Marcia opened her mouth to say something, but Burt cut her off. "I -don't want to hear any more about it. You'll just have to find another -way for the kids to express themselves...."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They usually found an asteroid with a weird terrain, and just looking -at it through the portable bubble-sphere kept the kids pretty busy. -This time, however, things were different. The asteroid was only -twenty miles in diameter, yet it had an atmosphere of oxygen and inert -gases, and it was comfortably warm. No bubble-sphere this time to keep -the kids hemmed in—and Johnny and Joan would be roving all over the -uncharted surface.</p> - -<p>Burt shuddered. What a job he'd have today. But then, this was the last -time: they could talk themselves blue in the face and plead, but this -was the last time.... And maybe there'd be life, since there was air -and warmth. But that was silly: a body this size would not have life, -and even if Johnny took advantage of the low gravity and jumped thirty -feet in the air, he wouldn't get hurt—he'd float down gently as a -feather.</p> - -<p>Marcia pouted as she spread the table-cloth out on a flat expanse of -rock. Burt put his hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away from him. -"Brats, eh?" she muttered.</p> - -<p>"Well, maybe I didn't mean it that way. But you just name me another -father at Marsport who takes his family up in a spaceship every Sunday -to go picnicking. And a different asteroid each week. Ed Jones sits on -his fanny all week-end, and Tom Ferris spends Saturday night in the -gambling joints so he's dead on his feet Sunday and can hardly stay -awake during the church services."</p> - -<p>Marcia took his hand and placed it back on her shoulder. "Okay, -dear—you're wonderful. But that doesn't give you permission to call my -children 'brats'."</p> - -<p>Burt smiled. "<i>My</i> children, too. And, well—if they're not brats, -we've certainly spoiled them...."</p> - -<p>Johnny's voice cut through the thin air. "Pop. Hey, pop. C'mere!"</p> - -<p>Burt got up, laughing. "So that's how you teach your kids to call their -old man, eh?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Burt walked toward the incredibly close horizon. You could see the -curvature of the tiny planet quite distinctly, and in a tight circle -all around them the pale blue sky came down and met the jumble of rocks -and crystal which was the surface of the asteroid. Johnny had called -from someplace beyond the horizon, and as he walked, Burt heard him -again: "You deaf, pop? C'mere!"</p> - -<p>Johnny was standing, little hands on little hips, near a mound of dull -metal. No, it wasn't a mound—it was battered and twisted and rusted, -but the tear-drop shape was unmistakable. A spaceship....</p> - -<p>Burt found the ancient airlock and pushed through the rusted door. He -looked at the control panel. "It's an old Havelock," he muttered, "I'll -be damned. They haven't made these in twenty years."</p> - -<p>He went outside again, where Johnny still stood.</p> - -<p>"Pretty nifty, eh pop?" the boy said.</p> - -<p>Burt called: "Marcia. Hey, Marcia. C'mere!"</p> - -<p>Leading Joan by her hand, Marcia reached them in a few minutes. "Don't -wonder why Johnny called you like that, Burt Rogers. Just don't you -wonder at all. He's a chip off the old block, that's what he is."</p> - -<p>Joan said, "Mama, what's a chip off the old block?"</p> - -<p>"Later, dear, later. What's on your mind, Burt?"</p> - -<p>He gestured. "This—"</p> - -<p>Marcia stared. "Why, it's—it's a spaceship!"</p> - -<p>"It is," Johnny nodded. "An old Havelock Cruiser. And I found it."</p> - -<p>"But these people must have crashed here years ago."</p> - -<p>"Yeah. Look, Marcia, you better take the kids away while I look for the -remains. Got to find them and report to the police at Marsport when we -get back, but there's no reason why the kids have to see."</p> - -<p>Marcia took Johnny's hand in one of her own and Joan's in the other, -and she walked away with them beyond the close horizon. "Okay, Burt," -she called back. "You can start looking."</p> - -<p>Burt did not like the task ahead of him, but with general space travel -still less than half a century old, lost ships were no rarity, and he -considered himself morally obligated to find the bodies. He was back -in the Havelock now, and it was a small ship. He covered it in five -minutes, and he scratched his head. No one ... there were all the signs -of occupation, but no one was around. Dishes for three were set on the -plastalloy table, with a blubbery green mass on each plate, billowing -over on to the table. That meant that there had been food on those -dishes when, quite suddenly, the three people had disappeared. It also -meant that bacteria, at least, flourished on this asteroid. And—what -else? Why had the three people disappeared, why had they vanished -utterly with a meal waiting for them on the table—</p> - -<p>"Burt! Burt!" It was Marcia, and she was screaming.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Burt poked his head outside the broken airlock. Marcia was running -toward the Havelock. "Burt—get out. To me, quick!"</p> - -<p>Burt looked up. Toward the other horizon was a slight hill, not a -very high one, but enough for Marcia to have seen it from beyond the -horizon. And rolling down that hill now, gathering speed as it came, -was a massive boulder.</p> - -<p>Heading straight for the Havelock—</p> - -<p>Burt scrambled up out of the airlock, cursing when his trousers caught -on an edge of rusted metal. He tugged at them and heard them rip. Then -he was clear and running toward Marcia.</p> - -<p>With a great grinding crashing sound the rock plowed into the Havelock, -smashing it and crushing the half-corroded metal flat. Burt looked back -at a big cloud of dust, and when it cleared, the Havelock looked like -so much scrap. If he had been inside he would have been crushed to a -pulp. Less than a pulp, they never would have found him.</p> - -<p>"Burt! Burt—" Marcia was sobbing against his chest. "Of all the freak -accidents—"</p> - -<p>"Uh-uh." He shook his head as they walked back to the broken remains of -the Havelock. "That was no accident."</p> - -<p>He pointed to the little hill. "That hasn't got a slope of more than -ten degrees, honey. It couldn't have been an accident. The rock never -could have gathered so much momentum on that hill."</p> - -<p>"Not an accident?"</p> - -<p>"No. Someone—something—pushed that rock."</p> - -<p>The boulder was unmoving now, fifty yards from the scrap heap which had -been the Havelock Cruiser.</p> - -<p>Marcia said, "Someone pushed <i>that</i>? It's as big as the ship, Burt. It -weighs five tons if it weighs an ounce. Maybe in this slight gravity—"</p> - -<p>Burt shook his head. "Even that wouldn't account for it. That rock was -pushed."</p> - -<p>Marcia clung to him, shuddering. "Burt, let's get the children and -leave this place!"</p> - -<p>He nodded, and he was about to call Johnny, when something bounded high -into the air over the horizon, then floated down, gently. "Johnny!" -Marcia cried.</p> - -<p>"He's detached his equalizer," Burt said. "That crazy kid—"</p> - -<p>Each of them had one of the little gravity equalizers at his belt. It -was a clever invention: you wore it in space flight, and you never -became weightless as space-travelers did in the old days. And you wore -it on any planet, creating earth-norm gravity. Now Johnny had detached -his, and he weighed no more than a couple of pounds here on the tiny -asteroid.</p> - -<p>Something else bounded high into the air, came floating down. Johnny -called: "Lookit us. We're birds, that's what we are. We're birds!"</p> - -<p>Burt knew that Johnny had removed Joan's equalizer as well. Two forms -came bouncing toward them over the wild terrain. "Just press the button -to the left," Burt pleaded. "Press it to the left like a good boy, -Johnny. You do it and we'll give you a present."</p> - -<p>"Naa. This is fun. You try and get me."</p> - -<p>But Joan was crying, and she did not know what to do. Every time she -landed, she tried to take a step forward and she soared high into the -air again. Closer bounded the two figures, and Johnny soared right by, -almost near enough to touch. Burt dove for him, and came up clutching -air. Johnny bounded away again, and, calling threats and taunts behind -him, he disappeared over the hill, in the direction from which the -boulder had come.</p> - -<p>Marcia had been luckier. She held Joan by one arm now, re-adjusting the -equalizer with her free hand. Joan sat down, crying. "I have Joan," -Marcia told her husband. "You go and get Johnny, Burt. Get him—quick. -I don't like this place."</p> - -<p>Burt didn't like it, either. <i>Something had pushed that rock.</i></p> - -<p>Marcia screamed. "Burt—look."</p> - -<p>The rocks and rubble near the remains of the Havelock were rumbling and -grinding. Burt heard a great cracking sound, like a huge dead branch -breaking. The ground near the Havelock trembled and the shock of it -reached them. Burt sat down hard, and he saw Joan and Marcia fall in a -heap.</p> - -<p>He tried to get up, but he couldn't; the ground was still trembling. -A crack appeared near the Havelock, and it crawled along the ground -slowly, crookedly. It crawled at a snail's pace, less than a snail's -pace—but it moved. And it grew. It was as wide as Burt's arm. Wider. -It grew.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Suddenly, it gaped wide, and the grinding and rumbling was louder. It -opened into a cavernous maw—right under the Havelock. For a moment the -Havelock stood poised, as if on air—and then the battered; flattened -ship disappeared within the hole, clattering against the walls as it -fell.</p> - -<p>The ground shuddered again, violently; the hole became a crack, closing -in upon itself. It disappeared altogether, and only the rough terrain -remained.</p> - -<p>But the Havelock was gone.</p> - -<p>Marcia stood up. "An earthquake?" She trembled.</p> - -<p>"On a planetoid twenty miles in diameter? Don't be silly. You'd need an -unstable interior for an earthquake—and this little globe cooled and -stabilized long ago."</p> - -<p>"Yes? Then why is it warm?"</p> - -<p>She had him there, and Burt didn't know. Why was the asteroid warm? If -he knew the answer to that, he might know the answer to a lot of things.</p> - -<p>"This is stupid, Burt. Let's stop talking and find Johnny. He could be -half way around the asteroid by now, or more."</p> - -<p>Burt shook his head. "We can't all go and look. Joan would delay us. -You stay here with her, Marcia—or, better still, get back to the ship -with her and stay inside. I'll find Johnny and bring him back. Then -we'll get the devil out of here."</p> - -<p>Marcia smiled wanly. "That I'd like. And Burt?"</p> - -<p>"Yeah, kid?"</p> - -<p>"Be careful...."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Burt felt like a kangaroo. Only no earthly kangaroo had ever taken -leaps like this. He had flicked the switch of the gravity equalizer -over to the right, shutting off the power. Then he had taken off in -great leaps, looking for Johnny. His jumps carried him forty or fifty -feet in the air, and then he floated down, almost weightless.</p> - -<p>With concentration, he could have avoided those high leaps. He could -have propelled himself forward, fifty and sixty feet at a jump, but he -did not want to. The horizon was too close, and the only way he could -find Johnny was like this. As he reached the apex of each leap, he -could see much further than he could on the ground, and he was looking -for the boy.</p> - -<p>Once he thought he saw Johnny, a tiny blob way off in the distance, -but he came down from his jump too soon, and he could not be sure. He -called loudly, and everything else was quiet, and his voice was almost -frightening. Soon the ground felt spongy to him, but he shrugged it -off. As soon as he landed, he was off again, and it probably was his -imagination. Hard rock did not become spongy like this, not suddenly, -without warning, with no possible explanation.</p> - -<p>But once he landed hard, and he rested a moment, panting. He moved -his feet and they slopped about, like on a muddy field. He reached -down carefully. One wrong move would upset his equilibrium and he'd go -shooting off into the air. He touched the ground, and it was wet. He -pushed, and he felt his hand sinking in, slowly. Fascinated, he pushed -again. His hand disappeared to the wrist.</p> - -<p>Something was trying to suck him down further, and he tugged. He pulled -his hand out with a loud slopping sound, and instinctively he jumped -away. He soared into the air again, and when he came down, it was only -for a moment—just long enough to leap.</p> - -<p>The ground was spongy. And when he was standing there, with his -hand immersed to the wrist, the soft spongy stuff had been pulsing, -throbbing.</p> - -<p>Almost as if it were alive....</p> - -<p>His mind did not tackle the problem further. Ahead he saw Johnny—now -it was more than his imagination; Johnny was there, leaping into the -air ahead of him.</p> - -<p>Burt reached the apex of his flight, cupped his hands and yelled -through them:</p> - -<p>"Johnny! Johnny!"</p> - -<p>"Hi, pop!"</p> - -<p>The voice came back faintly, playfully.</p> - -<p>"Johnny, when you touch ground next time, turn that switch to the left."</p> - -<p>"Naa—I'm having fun."</p> - -<p>"When I get you, Johnny...."</p> - -<p>"Aw, okay. Kill joy. What a worry wart."</p> - -<p>Apparently, Johnny had turned on his equalizer. Burt saw him on the -ground, waiting, and three big leaps brought him there.</p> - -<p>Now Johnny was crying.</p> - -<p>"What the devil are you crying for? You've jumped around enough—"</p> - -<p>"Pop, please. I'm sorry. Get me outa here!"</p> - -<p>Johnny was stuck. He was in the spongy ground, up to his ankles. The -stuff sucked around his shins, drawing him down further every second, -like quicksand. Burt could feel it pulsing as he landed, but it did not -suck him in. With the equalizer off, he weighed much less than Johnny -did, and now he was tugging at the boy, pulling at his shoulders, -grabbing him under the armpits and tugging, tugging....</p> - -<p>Johnny came loose suddenly, and Burt soared with him several feet into -the air. On the way up, he switched the boy's equalizer off again, and -Johnny said:</p> - -<p>"You just told me not to, now you do it yourself. What a pop."</p> - -<p>Johnny was spoiled and Johnny was precocious, but Burt thought of -neither now. Johnny was nothing more than a little bundle which he had -to get back to the spaceship. And then they had to leave, all four of -them.</p> - -<p>The spaceship ... Marcia did not know how to pilot it, she couldn't -lift it off the ground. And the sucking, spongy stuff might engulf -the ship, take it down into some unknown womb of the world. They'd be -marooned. Marcia and Joan—</p> - -<p>All of them.</p> - -<p>The trip back was a wild one. Burt tucked his son under one arm and -leaped. He kept low to the ground this time, skimming its surface, -sometimes leaping as much as seventy feet with one bounding stride. -With each stride, the ground became more spongy, and Burt realized with -a sinking heart that the surface could never hold the spaceship up. It -would be the same as if it had plunged through the gaping maw in the -hard rock with the Havelock—either way it would be gone.</p> - -<p>Johnny liked the ride. Every time they landed, he would say, "Again, -pop. Again!" And wordless, Burt would leap once more.</p> - -<p>Once he jumped high and he thought he saw the spaceship gleaming in the -rays of the sun. But that was impossible. It would surely sink.</p> - -<p>And then he came down and he did see it. It was there, on a hard -expanse of flat rock, where he had left it. Here the ground seemed -normal—</p> - -<p>He heard Marcia's scream before he saw her. Then she came around the -hull of the spaceship, dragging Joan. Screaming again, she fell flat.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Something whizzed by her head, and even from this distance Burt could -see that it was a rock the size of a watermelon. She got up again, -and she ran forward, but then a whole shower of rocks came after her, -smaller this time, two handfuls of egg-sized rocks, thrown by an -invisible giant.</p> - -<p>He had to be invisible—Burt could see no one. Yet the rocks were being -thrown, somehow. Or—the thought suddenly occurred to Burt—they were -throwing themselves. The rocks moved under their own power. It was a -wild thought and a crazy one, but it made sense. Every other part of -the planetoid was soft and spongy. But here—near the ship—the surface -was still hard. And rocks were being thrown. Burt could tell this -had been happening for a long time, because the hull of the ship was -scarred from the fusilade.</p> - -<p>It was unreasonable to suppose that this tiny area, alone of the -entire sphere, could not become spongy. Then there was a reason why -it remained hard—and where there was reason there was sentience. And -further, why hadn't a big stone been thrown, one large enough to crush -their Pacemaker as the Havelock had been crushed? There certainly were -enough stones around—</p> - -<p>Everything indicated a <i>game</i>. Something was playing with them. They -were easy prey, they were dead ducks—but something was having fun -with them first. They were goners, they didn't have a chance, and that -something needed the activity and the recreation. It was a sadistic -game. Back on earth, some of the kids had stripped the wings off flies, -made them hop about dizzily, helplessly, until they tired of the sport. -And then they had crushed them....</p> - -<p>The planetoid was playing with them!</p> - -<p>Burt called: "Get inside the ship, Marcia! Inside!"</p> - -<p>"I can't. If I stand still long enough to manipulate the lock, these -stones will get me. Burt—"</p> - -<p>"I'm coming!"</p> - -<p>He switched on his equalizer and Johnny's, and still holding the boy -under one arm, he plunged across the rock. Something reached up and -tripped him, and he sprawled out flat. He had fallen over a small -out-cropping of rock—where no out-cropping had been before.</p> - -<p>He got up, and then he reached the Pacemaker. He pushed Johnny in front -of him, and the boy stood with his sister. Marcia looked up:</p> - -<p>"How are we going to get inside, Burt?"</p> - -<p>"You just open the lock. Come on, now."</p> - -<p>She turned her back and went to work on the dials. Burt stood there, -waiting for the stones that would come, hunching himself over, trying -to cover the three of them—</p> - -<p>No stones came.</p> - -<p>Instead, he heard an ominous cracking sound, a rumbling....</p> - -<p>Off where the spongy ground joined the hard rock a crack appeared. -It was small, but it grew. And it moved. It snaked along the ground, -slowly, twisting, heading for the ship. Now it was half as wide as -Johnny's body, and now it was wider.</p> - -<p>Burt pushed Marcia away and attacked the lock with clumsy fingers. -His hand trembled, but Marcia huddled against the side of the hull, -sobbing, and he knew she could not have handled the dials in time.</p> - -<p><i>Three around and then four over: damn it, there's the blue light, but -he still needed the white and red. Five around and one over—ah, the -white! Two around and six over—red, white, and blue!</i></p> - -<p>He pushed Johnny and Joan in front of him, then he grabbed Marcia -around the waist and hurled her inside. The crack was half as wide as -the Pacemaker now, rumbling, churning—and growing.</p> - -<p>He ran to the controls and he kicked the engine over. He felt the -ship poise on the brink, as he had seen the Havelock do before it had -plunged within a similar hole. He felt the ship totter, and then he -fired the studs for all the aft rockets at once. The ship roared once -and he was shoved back hard in his seat. Then they hurtled furiously -sky-ward.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Below them now, the planetoid was a writhing, twisting mass, shooting -pulpy tentacles miles into space, groping for them, seeking. But they -were out of reach. Burt circled a few times, watching the stone globe -which now was a living entity.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Behind him, Marcia watched too. "It's—alive," she said.</p> - -<p>"Yes. Sleeping when we arrived, but it's alive now. Twenty years ago it -ate the people of that Havelock, and then it became sluggish. Evidently -it does not need much food, for all its vast bulk. It became sluggish -and it slept, and when we landed we stirred it and it finished the job -on that Havelock. Then it wanted us...."</p> - -<p>"But <i>alive</i>?"</p> - -<p>"Why not?" Burt said. "Part plant, part animal, it's warm with its own -life. It breathes slowly, holding the thin atmosphere to its body, -growing plants for photosynthesis when it needs oxygen, a perfectly -co-ordinated being."</p> - -<p>"So big, Burt. It's so big."</p> - -<p>"Sure. On Mars the native life is bigger than on earth. Why?"</p> - -<p>"Why? I don't know."</p> - -<p>"Because Mars has a weaker gravity pull, being smaller than the earth. -And here, out in space, there is no gravity to keep life down. A plant -grows and grows as long as it lives, unlike an animal. This huge -asteroid has been growing for ages, millions of years, maybe. What's to -stop it? No gravity pressing down. Perhaps it can live purely on the -mineral matter of the meteors which fall. Maybe it's only a seed, with -food-matter stored up inside. Who knows?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Johnny and Joan came out from the galley. Joan said:</p> - -<p>"Mama, I'm hungry."</p> - -<p>Marcia laughed. "We never did have that picnic, Burt."</p> - -<p>"Uh-huh. You're right—so we didn't. But this damn asteroid almost -did—on us."</p> - -<p>"Papa," Johnny said, "let's land someplace and have a picnic."</p> - -<p>"Go to hell," Burt said, forgetting he was speaking to a boy, his boy.</p> - -<p>"Burt! Then you wonder why Johnny curses. Just watch your language in -front of the children, Burt Rogers!"</p> - -<p>"Okay," he said. "But no more picnics. I'm going to report this thing -to the police, and they'll blow it out of the sky with atomite. Then -we'll have a nice meal at home. But no more picnics, ever. I'll take -the kids to the Canalport swimming pool on week-ends—half-way around -the planet. But no more picnics."</p> - -<p>"Please, papa," Johnny said.</p> - -<p>Marcia nodded. "Look. He's being polite."</p> - -<p>Burt sighed. He knew he could get away with it this week-end. 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