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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..87211df --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68669 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68669) diff --git a/old/68669-0.txt b/old/68669-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a531ed9..0000000 --- a/old/68669-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1160 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Proxy Planeteers, by Edmond Hamilton - -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: Proxy Planeteers - -Author: Edmond Hamilton - -Release Date: August 2, 2022 [eBook #68669] - -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 PROXY PLANETEERS *** - - - - - - PROXY PLANETEERS - - By EDMOND HAMILTON - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Startling Stories, July 1947. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Doug Norris hesitated for an instant. He knew that another movement -might well mean disaster. - -Here deep in the cavernous interior of airless Mercury, catastrophe -could strike suddenly. The rocks of the fissure he was following had a -temperature of hundreds of degrees. And he could hear the deep rumble -of shifting rock, close by. - -But it was not these dangers of the infernal underworld that made him -hesitate. It was that sixth sense of imminent peril that he had felt -twice before while exploring the Mercurian depths. Each time, it had -ended disastrously. - -"Just nerves," Norris muttered to himself. "The uranium vein is clearly -indicated. I've got to follow it." - -As he again moved forward and followed that thin, black stratum in the -fissure wall, his eyes constantly searched ahead. - -Then a half-dozen little clouds of glowing gas flowed toward him from a -branching fissure. Each was several feet in diameter, a faint-glowing -mass of vapor with a brighter core. - -Norris moved hastily to avoid them. But there was a sudden flash of -light. Then everything went black before his eyes. - -"It's happened to me again!" Doug Norris thought in sharp dismay. - -Frantically he jiggled his controls, cut in emergency power switches, -overloaded his tight control beam to the limit. It was no use. He still -could not see or hear anything whatever. - -Norris defeatedly took the heavy television helmet with its bulging -eyepieces off his head. He stared at the control-board, then looked -blankly out the window at the distant, sunlit stacks of New York Power -Station. - -"Another Proxy gone! Seven of them wrecked in the last two weeks!" - -It hadn't just happened, of course. It had happened eight minutes ago. -It took that long for the television beam from the Proxy to shuttle -from Mercury to this control-station outside New York. And it took as -long again for the Proxy control-beam to get back to it on Mercury. - -Sometimes, a time-lag that long could get a Proxy into trouble before -its operator on Earth was aware of it. But usually that was not a big -factor of danger on a lifeless world like Mercury. The Proxies, built -of the toughest refractory metals, could stand nearly anything but an -earthquake, and keep on functioning. - -"Each time, there's been no sign of falling rocks or anything like -that," Norris told himself, mystified. "Each time, the Proxy has just -blacked out with all its controls shot." - - * * * * * - -Then, as his mind searched for some factor common to all the disasters, -a startled look came over Doug Norris' lean, earnest face. - -"There _were_ always some of those clouds of radon or whatever they -are around, each time!" he thought. "I wonder if--" A red-hot thought -brought him to his feet. "Holy cats! Maybe I've got the answer!" - -He jumped away from the Proxy-board without a further glance at that -bank of intricate controls, and hurried down a corridor. - -Through the glass doors he passed, Norris could see the other operators -at work. Each sat in front of his control-board, wearing his television -helmet, flipping the switches with expert precision. Each was operating -a mechanical Proxy somewhere on Mercury. - -Norris and all these other operators had been trained together when -Kincaid started the Proxy Project. They had been proud of their -positions, until recently. It _was_ a vitally important job, searching -out the uranium so sorely needed for Earth's atomic power supply. - -The uranium and allied metals of Earth had years ago been ransacked -and used up. There was little on Venus or Mars. Mercury had much of -the precious metal in its cavernous interior. But no man, no matter -how ingenious his protection, could live long enough on the terrible, -semi-molten Hot Side of Mercury to conduct mining operations. - -That was why Kincaid had invented the Proxies. They were machines -that could mine uranium where men couldn't go. Crewless ships guided -by radar took the Proxies to the Base on Mercury's sunward side. From -Base, each Proxy was guided by an Earth operator down into the hot -fissures to find and mine the vital radioactive element. The scheme had -worked well, until-- - -"Until we got into those deeper fissures with the Proxies," Doug Norris -thought. "Seven wrecked since then! This _must_ be the answer!" - -Martin Kincaid looked up sharply as Norris entered his office. A look -of faint dismay came on Kincaid's square, patient face. He knew that -a Proxy operator wouldn't leave his board in the middle of a shift, -unless there was trouble. - -"Go ahead and give me the bad news, Doug," he said wearily. - -"Proxy M-Fifty just blacked out on me, down in Fissure Four," Norris -admitted. "Just like the others. But I think I know why, now!" He -continued excitedly: "Mart, seven Proxies blacking out in two weeks -wasn't just accident. It was done deliberately!" - -Kincaid stared. "You mean that Hurriman's bunch is somehow sabotaging -our Project?" - -Doug Norris interrupted with a denial. "Not that. Hurriman and his -fellow politicians merely want to get their hands on the Proxy Project, -not to destroy it." - -"Then who did wreck our Proxies?" Kincaid demanded. - -Norris answered excitedly. "I believe we've run into living creatures -in those depths, and they're attacking us." - -Kincaid grunted. "The temperature in those fissures is about four -hundred degrees Centigrade, the same as Mercury's sunward side. Life -can't exist in heat like that. I suggest you take a rest." - -"I know all that," Norris said impatiently. "But suppose we've run into -a new kind of life there--one based on radioactive matter? Biologists -have speculated on it more than once. Theoretically, creatures of -radioactive matter could exist, drawing their energies not from -chemical metabolism as we do, but from the continuous process of -radioactive disintegration." - -"Theoretically, the sky is a big roof with holes in it that are stars," -growled Kincaid. "It depends on whose theory you believe." - -"Every time a Proxy has blacked out down there, there's been little -clouds of heavy radioactive gas near," argued Doug Norris. "Each seems -to have a denser core. Suppose that core is an unknown radium compound, -evolved into some kind of neuronic structure that is able to receive -and remember stimuli? A sort of queer, radioactive brain? - -"If that's so, and biologists have said it's possible, the _body_ of -the creature consists of radon gas emanated from the radium core. You -remember the half-life of radon exactly equals the rate of its emission -from radium, so there'd be a constant equilibrium of the thing's -gaseous body, analogous to our blood circulation. Given Mercury's -conditions, it's no more impossible than a jellyfish or a man here on -Earth!" - - * * * * * - -Kincaid looked skeptical. - -"And you think these hypothetical living Raddies of yours are attacking -our Proxies? Why would they?" - -"If they have cognition and correlation faculties they might be -irritated by the tube emanations from the control-boxes of our -Proxies," Norris suggested. "They get into those control-boxes and -wreck the tube circuits by overloading the electron flow with their own -Beta radiation!" - -"It's all pretty far-fetched," muttered his superior. "Radioactive -life! But all those Proxies blowing can't be just chance." He paused, -then added gloomily, "But I can just see myself telling a World Council -committee that your hypothetical living Raddies are what keep us from -delivering uranium! Hurriman would like that. It would convince the -Council that I'm as incompetent as he claims." - -"He'll convince the Council of that anyway unless we deliver uranium -from Mercury quickly," retorted Norris. "And we'll never do it till -we get these Raddies licked. They're basically just complex clouds of -radioactive gas. A Proxy armed with a high-pressure gas hose should be -able to blow them to rags. Can't we try it, Mart?" - -Kincaid sighed, and stood up. - -"I was a practical man once," he said wearily, "and would have booted -you out of here if you'd suggested such stuff. But I'm a drowning man -right now, so I'll buy your straw. We'll send down a couple of Proxies -armed with gas hoses and see how they make out." - -Doug Norris eagerly went with his superior into the adjoining room -where the operators of the Base Proxies were on duty. - -"Norris and I will take over two Proxies at base," Kincaid told the -sub-chief there. - -Two operators took off their helmets and got out of their chairs. -Norris took the place of one, donning the television helmet. - -The control and television beams were on. The compact kinescope tubes -in his helmet gave him a clear vision of the Base on Mercury, as seen -through his Proxy's iconoscope "eyes". - -There were no buildings, for Proxies didn't need shelter. The seared -black rocks stretched under a brazen sky, beneath a stupendous Sun -whose blaze even the iconoscope filters couldn't cut down much. The -Base was just a flat area here beside the low rock hills. A crewless -ship lay to one side, its hatches open. Near it were the supply-dumps -of Proxy parts, the repair shops, the power plant. - -"We'll get a couple of oxygen tanks from the supply dump and use them -for your gas hose weapons," Kincaid was saying. - -The Proxies they were guiding did not look like men. They looked like -what they were--machines devised for special purposes. They were like -baby tanks, mounted on caterpillar drives, each with two big jointed -arms ending in claws, and a control-box with iconoscope eyes. They -clamped on the high-pressure oxygen tanks, clutched the nozzles of the -attached hoses, and rolled out of Base across the seared plain toward -the black rock hills. In a few minutes, they entered the narrow cleft -of Fissure Four. - -Norris knew the way down here. He led, switching on his searchlight -even though he didn't really need it. The Proxy's iconoscope eyes could -see by the infra-red radiation from the superheated rock walls. - -They finally reached the spot deep down in the fissure where his -disabled former Proxy still stood. Doug Norris reached his jointed arms -and quickly unclamped the shield of its control-box. - -"Look there, Mart! The whole control's shot! They do it by overloading -the tubes with their own Beta emanations, all right." - -Kincaid's Proxy had elbowed close, its big iconoscope eyes peering -closely. Here in the office, Kincaid uttered a grunt. - -"That still doesn't prove the gas that did it was living. Instead of -your hypothetical Raddies, it could be--" - -"Look there!" yelled Doug Norris suddenly. "There they come again!" - -Three of the glowing gaseous things were flowing toward them along the -fissure. They poised for a moment in a lifelike way, and then swept -forward. - -"Your gas hose!" yelled Norris to the man beside him. "Don't let them -get near you!" - -The Raddies were advancing in a deliberate way. In spite of the -time-lag, Norris tried to raise his gas hose and trigger it. There -wasn't time. The eight-minute lag between his action and the result out -there on Mercury was fatally long. The glowing Raddies were flowing up -around the Proxies. - -Doug Norris was momentarily dazzled by the brilliance of the Raddy that -enveloped his Proxy's control-box. It was like looking into a star to -look into the glowing, pulsing core of the thing. - -His senses reeled queerly as he stared, hypnotized by the swirling -bright gas and the starlike, throbbing core. He sensed dimly that -that core was a kind of life possible on no terrestrial planet, -a crystalized gaseous neurone structure that used its own radon -emanations as a body. - - * * * * * - -He felt his senses staggering, darkening. It was as though he were -hypnotized by the brilliance of that pulsing core of light, as though -it were probing excruciatingly into his brain. - -Then Doug Norris came out of his queer daze to find himself sitting -there with his helmet dead. He could see nothing. His movements of the -Proxy controls yielded no response. - -"Blacked out, both our Proxies!" Kincaid exclaimed, dazedly taking off -his own helmet. "And we got some kind of kick-back shock." - -Norris, still badly shaken, nodded unsteadily. "There must have been a -kick-back along the control beam when they blew the control-boxes. The -circuit breakers may have been slow." He added quickly, "But you know -now I was right! Those Raddies are living things, that instinctively -attack our Proxies!" - -Kincaid frowned. "It looks like it. But no gas hose or any other -weapon will work against the brutes. The time-lag makes it impossible -to use weapons. Our only chance is to seal and ray-proof the Proxies' -control-boxes against them. That'll take time. But it's our only chance -to get uranium out of there, and it's got to be done before Hurriman's -clique gets the Council on our tail. I'll have the boys bring the -Proxies all back to Base at once." - -Norris followed his chief back to his office. Winters, the office -clerk, was waiting there for them, and looking anxious. - -"A bulletin just came over the news tape, Chief," he told Kincaid. -"Here it is." - -Mart Kincaid read the tape, and his square shoulders seemed to sag a -little. He looked at them heavily. - -"We won't need to worry any more about your Raddies, Doug. World -Council has just passed Hurriman's motion requesting an immediate -investigation of Proxy Project. It will begin tomorrow." He added -tonelessly, "You know what that means. When they find we've lost nine -valuable Proxies out there on Mercury without getting any uranium at -all yet, we'll be thrown out." - -"Blast Hurriman!" Doug Norris raged. "The Proxy Project has been your -work from the start! You sweated to develop the things. Now because -there's a hitch, a bunch of bumbling politicians take it over!" - -"It's all in a lifetime," Kincaid shrugged. "Winters, you tell the -boys. Have them pull their Proxies back to Base, and go home." He sat -down slowly in his chair then, and stared at the wall. "So it's over. -Well, right now I'm too tired to care." - -Norris felt heartsick. "Isn't there any chance of stalling them long -enough to try our idea of rayproofing the Proxies?" - -"You know there isn't," said his superior. "It'd take days to do that -job. Even if it worked against the Raddies, it'd take weeks more to -get out uranium. And Hurriman's bunch won't wait weeks." - -He looked at the sick face of the younger man, then opened a desk -drawer and took out a bottle of Scotch and glasses. - -"Here, have a drink," he ordered. "You're a little young yet, and you -take these things too seriously." - -Norris unhappily drank the Scotch. But his nerves, still shaken by that -queer kick-back shock from the beam, didn't relax much. - -"Mart, your calmness isn't fooling me," he said. "I know how much the -Proxies meant to you, the dreams you had of operating Proxies on every -planet man couldn't visit, even on worlds of distant stars." - -Kincaid shrugged as he poured himself a drink. "Sure, I wanted -all that. But since when have scientists ever been able to buck -politicians?" - -Darkness pressed the windows as night gathered. They sat silently in -the darkening office drinking the Scotch and looking at the tall, -lighted stacks of the distant New York Power Station. - -Doug Norris found no comfort in the liquor's sting. His sense of -injustice deepened. The Proxies were Kincaid's, but just because he -couldn't produce uranium fast enough, they would be taken away from him. - -He said so, bitterly and at length. Kincaid only shrugged wearily again. - -"Forget it, Doug. Have another drink." - -Norris discovered with mild surprise that the bottle was empty. - -"We must have spilled some of it," he said a little thickly. - -"There's another bottle in the drawer," Kincaid grunted. "They were for -the Project party next week, but that's all off now." - - * * * * * - -Norris opened the other bottle and generously refilled their glasses. -He sat down beside Kincaid, who was looking broodingly from the window -at the distant atomic power plant. Despite the warm physical glow he -felt, Doug Norris was unhappier than before. A new, poignant sorrow had -risen in him. - -"You know, Mart, it isn't only what Hurriman's doing to the Project -that's got me down," he said sorrowfully. "It's what happened to old -M-Fifty today." - -"M-Fifty?" Kincaid inquired. "You mean that Proxy you lost this -afternoon?" - -"Yes, he was my special Proxy for all these months," Doug Norris said. -"I got to know him. He was always dependable, never jumped his control -beam, never acted cranky in a tight place." His voice choked a little. -"I loved that Proxy like a brother. And I let him down. I let those -Raddies wreck him." - -"They'll fix him up, Doug," said Kincaid, a rich sympathy in his -slightly thickened voice. "They'll make him as good as new when they -get him back up to Base." - -"Yes, but what good will that do if I'm not here to operate him?" cried -Norris. "I tell you, that Proxy was sensitive. He knew my touch on the -controls. That Proxy would have died for me." - -"Sure he would." Kincaid nodded with owlish understanding. "Here, have -another drink, Doug." - -"I've had enough," Norris said gloomily, refilling their glasses as -he spoke. "But as I was saying, that Proxy won't run for a bunch of -politicians and their ham-handed operators like he ran for me. He'll -know that I'm gone, and he won't be the same. He'll pine." - -"That's the way it goes, Doug," Kincaid said sadly. "You lose your best -friend--I mean, your best Proxy--and I lose my Project, just because we -can't furnish enough uranium for power over there." - -He gestured bitterly toward the distant stacks of New York Power -Station that soared like towers of light in the distant darkness. - -"You know, I've got an idea in my mind about that," Kincaid added -slowly, as he stared at those towers. - -Doug Norris nodded emphatically. "You're dead right, Mart. You're -absolutely right." - -"Now wait, you didn't hear my idea yet," Kincaid protested a little -foggily. "It's this--we're losing the Project because we can't furnish -enough uranium for power. But suppose they didn't need uranium for -power any longer? Then they'd let us keep the Proxy Project!" - -"Exactly what _I_ say!" Norris declared firmly. "There's just one thing -for us to do. That's to find a way to produce atomic power from some -commoner substance than uranium. That'd solve our whole problem." - -"I thought I was the one who said that," Kincaid said, puzzled. "But -look--what fairly common metal could be used to replace uranium in the -atomic piles?" - -"Bismuth, of course," Norris replied promptly. "Its atomic number is -closest to the radioactive series of elements." - -"You took the words right out of my mouth!" Kincaid declared. "Bismuth -it is. All we have to do is to make bismuth work in an atomic pile, -then we can run the Proxy Project without this everlasting nagging -about supplying uranium." - -Doug Norris felt a warm, happy relief. "Why, it's simple! We should -have thought of it before! Let's get some bismuth out of the supply -room and go over to the Power Station right now!" He leaped to his -feet, eagerly, if a trifle unsteadily. "No time to waste, if the -Council committee's to be on our necks tomorrow!" - -Doug Norris felt like singing in his wonderful relief, as he and -Kincaid went down through the now deserted Project building to the -supply room. In fact, he started to raise his voice in a ribald ballad -about a Proxy's adventure with a lady automaton. - -"You mus' have had a trifle too much Scotch, Doug," Kincaid reproved -him, with owlish dignity. "Such levity isn't becoming to two scientists -about to make the mos' wonderful invention of the century." - -They got one of the heavy leaden cylinders used for transport of -uranium and filled it carefully with powdered bismuth. Then, in -Kincaid's car, they drove happily toward the big Power Station. - -The guards at the barrier gate knew them both, for it was nothing new -for Proxy Project men to bring uranium over to the Station. They let -them through, and the car eased along the straight cement road. - -The huge, windowless buildings that housed the massive uranium piles -were a mile beyond. But no one went near those tremendous atomic piles. -Everything in them had to be handled by remote control by the few -technicians in Headquarters Building who kept them operating. - -"Mart, isn't it queer nobody ever thought of usin' bismuth instead of -uranium, before now?" Norris asked, out of his roseate glow. - -"Scientists too c'nservative, that's the trouble," Kincaid answered -wisely. His voice soared. "We're about to launch a new epoch! No more -uranium shortage to worry 'bout! No more politicians botherin' the -Project!" - -"And I'll be able to fix up old M-Fifty and run him myself again," -added Doug Norris. He choked up once more. "When I think of that Proxy -that was like a brother to me, lyin' down in that lonely fissure with -the Raddies gloatin' over him--" - -"Don't think about it, Doug," begged Kincaid, with tender sympathy. -"Soon's we get these atomic piles changed around, we'll go back and get -good old M-Fifty up again and fix him good as new." - - * * * * * - -That promise cheered Norris' grieving mind. He got out and helped -Kincaid carry the heavy lead cylinder into Headquarters Building. - -The technicians they passed in the lower rooms saw nothing surprising -in the two Project men staggering along under the weight of the -cylinder. Nor did Petersen and Thorpe, at first. - -Petersen and Thorpe were the two technicians on duty in the big, sacred -inmost chamber of controls. Visors here gave view of every part of the -distant, mighty atomic piles--the massive lead towers that enclosed -the graphite and uranium lattices, the gas penstocks that led to giant -heat turbines, the gauges and meters. And the banks of heavy levers -here could switch those lattices, make any desired change in the piles, -without the necessity of a man entering the zone of dangerous radiation. - -Petersen had surprise on his spectacled, scholarly face as he greeted -the two scientists. - -"I didn't know you had another uranium consignment for us," he said. - -Kincaid helped Norris place the lead cylinder in the breech of the tube -that would carry it mechanically to the distant pile. - -"This isn't uranium--it's better than uranium," Kincaid announced -impressively. - -"What do you mean, better than uranium?" Petersen asked in a puzzled -tone. He opened the end of the lead cylinder. "Why, this stuff is -bismuth! What is this, a crazy joke?" - -Young Thorpe had been staring closely at Kincaid and Norris. - -"They're both plastered!" he burst out. - -Kincaid drew himself up in an unsteady attitude of outraged dignity. - -"Tha's what thanks we get," he accused thickly. "We come here to make -a won'erful improvement in your blasted old atomic piles, and we get -insulted." - -"Thorpe," Petersen said disgustedly, "get them out of here, and ... -_Look out!_" - -Doug Norris had casually taken the heavy metal handle off one of the -big levers. He tapped Thorpe on the head with it just as Petersen -uttered his warning cry. The young technician slumped. - -Petersen, suddenly pale, darted toward an alarm button on his desk. But -before he reached it, Norris' improvised blackjack tapped his skull. -And Petersen also sagged to the floor. - -[Illustration: Before Petersen could reach the alarm button, the -blackjack hit him.] - -Norris looked triumphantly at Kincaid, with a warm feeling of righteous -virtue. - -"They won't bother us now, Mart. I just put them out for a little while -without hurting 'em." - -"Quick thinking, Doug!" Kincaid approved warmly. "Can't let -reactionaries obstruc' course of scientific progress. We'd better tie -'em up in case they come around too soon." - -Norris helped tie the two unconscious men with lengths of spare cable. -Then he and Kincaid stood swaying a little as they owlishly inspected -the controls of the mighty atomic piles. - -Norris knew a good bit about those controls. He had been here many -times, and Petersen and the other technicians had liked to talk. The -trouble was, that right now his thoughts all seemed a little foggy. - -"What we got to do," Kincaid said ponderously, "is change 'round the -atomic pile setup so it'll handle bismuth instead of uranium. Right?" - -"Right!" Norris approved enthusiastically. "That's going right to the -heart of the problem, old pal!" - -Kincaid seemed to blush in deprecation. "Oh, I jus' got an orderly -mind. First thing now, is to shift the uranium lattices out of the -piles." - -He laid his hands on several of the levers, one after another. There -was a low humming of machinery somewhere. - -In the distant, towering structure, lattices loaded with uranium were -being mechanically withdrawn to the pits beneath. But there was nothing -happening here except on the panel of indicators. - -Petersen came back to consciousness at that moment. Tied to a wall -stanchion, he stiffened and his eyes bugged at them. - -"What are you two doing?" he cried. "You're cutting off the power by -pulling out those lattices!" - -"Only temp'rarily," Norris assured him. "We'll shift empty lattices -back in, and then load the bismuth into them." - -Petersen uttered a howl of agony. "You maniacs will wreck the whole -pile if you try a stunt like that! For heaven's sake, sober up and -think what you're doing!" - -"We're tryin' to think," Kincaid said sternly. "But how can we -co'centrate, with you yelling at us?" - -Petersen went from raging orders to agonized pleadings to tearful -entreaty. The two ignored him completely. - -"Le's see, now," Kincaid said, blinking. "We'll leave in the Number -One uranium lattice after all. We'll need its neutrons to trigger the -expanding series of graphite and bismuth lattices." - -"We'll need _two_ uranium lattices," Doug Norris corrected thickly. -"One to trigger the first action, the other to pr'vide neutrons for -the continuous shuttle that'll run the bismuth's atomic number up from -eighty-three to ninety-four, right up through neptunium to plutonium." - -"You're right," Kincaid agreed, hiccuping slightly. "I forgot 'bout -that second lattice for a minute. Mus' be because of all the noise in -here." - - * * * * * - -Petersen was still producing that noise, indeed. He had become louder -and more frantic as he saw them shifting out the uranium lattices and -replacing them clumsily with empty lattice-frames. - -"Ten thousand scientists have been working ever since -Nineteen-forty-five to find a way to use common elements instead of -uranium in a pile!" he choked. "They can't do it. But two drunken Proxy -men are going to try it!" - -Norris hardly heard that stream of agonized accusation and entreaty, as -he helped Kincaid shift in the empty lattices. He was mildly sorry that -Petersen felt so disturbed. There was no reason for it. He and Kincaid -knew just what they were doing. - -Or did they? For a moment, a dim doubt crossed Norris' foggy mind. -After all, he and Kincaid weren't physicists. Then he dismissed that -doubt. He was _sure_ of what they were doing, wasn't he? - -Kincaid sat down unsteadily when they had the lattices changed. - -"I feel a li'l shaky. 'S emotional reaction from great scientific -achievement." - -"Emotional reaction nothing--you're so plastered you're nearly out!" -raged Petersen. - -Kincaid dignifiedly ignored that. "Switch on the loader and shoot the -ol' bismuth in there, Doug." - -"Norris, _don't_ do it!" begged Petersen hoarsely. "It means wrecking -the pile, and maybe blowing up the whole Station!" - -Again, Doug Norris' dim doubt bothered him. But then again he dismissed -it. Everything was so beautifully clear in his mind. It had to work. - -He switched on the loader. The lead cylinder of bismuth slid away -into the tube that would carry it to the pile, where it would be -automatically loaded into the new empty lattices. - -"You fools!" choked Petersen. "I hope they hang you both for this! When -that pile starts up, and blows--" - -The operation of the great atomic pile was automatic from this point -on. Minutes later, a bell rang and indicators clicked on. - -"First uranium lattice has triggered off," said Kincaid, and nodded, -pleased. "Now we'll get power--lotsa power." - -"You'll get nothing but maybe an atomic explosion, in ten seconds!" -cried Petersen, his face deathly white. - -Doug Norris suddenly felt his doubt rise again and this time it -overwhelmed him! All his former foggy confidence seemed to have left -him as they completed their operations. - -He was suddenly aware of the mad and ghastly thing that he and Kincaid -had done. Why in heaven's name had they done it? What crazy quirk in -their minds had made them do it? - -Kincaid too was suddenly looking pale and queer. - -"Doug, maybe we shouldn't have tried it." - -"Look at those meters!" yelled Petersen, in a wild voice. - -The technician's eyes were protruding as he stared at the big bank of -ammeters that registered the output of the great turbines. The needles -were jumping across the dials with swiftly increasing amperage. - -"The pile is _working_!" yelled Petersen hoarsely. "That bismuth is -actually producing atomic power!" - -Doug Norris suddenly felt cold sober, and a little sick. He sat down -shakily, and put his head in his hands. - -Kincaid was staring blankly at the ammeters, while Petersen and Thorpe -seemed to have gone crazy with excitement. When Petersen was untied, -he grabbed Kincaid fiercely. - -"How did you do it?" he cried. "Just what did you do to the pile?" - -Kincaid stared at him blankly. "I don't know, now." - -"You don't know?" Petersen almost screeched. "Man, you've stumbled on -what the scientists have been hunting all these years--the hookup to -use common elements in an atomic pile! You must have had something -figured out beforehand!" - -"We didn't!" Norris denied weakly. "We got a little plastered, and got -this idea. We didn't know what we were doing." - -Suddenly, Doug Norris stiffened. Remembrance that brought him jumping -unsteadily to his feet had come to him. - -"You couldn't have done a thing like this by sheer crazy accident!" -Petersen was insisting. "You must have known how!" - -"By heaven, I believe now that we _did_ know what we were doing, in a -queer sort of way!" Norris exclaimed shakily. He grabbed Kincaid's arm. -"Mart, come with me! We're going back over to the Project!" - -Petersen's dazed amazement was changing to exultation. - -"Whatever you did, it's still working and looks like it'll work -indefinitely! And we can study the hookup and learn how to duplicate -it, even if we never completely understand it. You two maniacs are -going to be famous!" - -But Norris had already led the stupefied Kincaid out of the room. - - * * * * * - -All the way back to the Proxy Project, Kincaid kept dazedly repeating -the same thing over and over. - -"We must have been clear out of our heads to do a thing like that! But -how is it that we were able to do it _right_?" - -"Haven't you suspected the answer to that yet?" cried Doug Norris. -"Don't you see why, as soon as our conscious minds were relaxed by a -few drinks, we automatically went and performed an operation totally -beyond present-day nuclear science? What happened to us just before we -had those drinks? What happened when our Proxies met those Raddies -down in the fissure?" - -"The Raddies?" Kincaid repeated stupidly. "What could those brutes have -to do with this?" - -"We thought they were only brutes, a low form of queer radioactive -life," Norris said. "But what if their weird minds are intelligent, -supremely intelligent? An intelligence that doesn't operate for -purposes or in ways like ours, but that's as high or higher than ours?" - -He almost dragged the stunned Kincaid into the deserted office, to the -control-boards of the Proxies at Base. - -"Take over a Proxy and follow me," Norris ordered. "I've an idea that -if we go down in that fissure again, we can prove it." - -"Prove what?" Kincaid asked, but mechanically obeyed and took over a -Proxy control. - -Again, Norris and Kincaid guided their Proxies out of Base and across -the seared Mercury plain toward Fissure Four. Norris peered down into -the fissure as he advanced. Then as they glimpsed the wrecked Proxies -they had previously left there, they also glimpsed glowing little -clouds flowing rapidly toward them. - -A Raddy lifted its glowing gaseous body to envelop the control-box of -Norris' Proxy. Again, as he stared into the thing's brilliant, pulsing -core, he felt his senses reel queerly. But this time, he knew beyond -any doubt what it was. - -"Hypnosis!" he yelled to Kincaid. "Hypnosis operating through our -Proxies' eyes right back along the beam to our own eyes and brains! -I thought so!" His shout died away as his brain reeled under the -powerful hypnotic influence of the Raddy's pulsing, starlike core. - -Hypnosis could operate by vision, everyone knew that. Nobody had -dreamed of hypnosis operating across space by means of a linking -television beam, but it was happening. For Doug Norris, resisting now -with new-found knowledge, just dimly sensed the powerful hypnotic order -the Raddy's pulsing brain was hurling into his own mind. - -"You will not send your crude machines down here again to disturb our -philosophical reveries!" the Raddy's hypnotic thought was sternly -ordering him. "There is no further need. When we read from your minds -that it was need for uranium for your primitive power plants that -motivated your intrusions here, we gave your brains the post-hypnotic -knowledge to improve those power plants so you would not need to come -here again. So go, and do not return!" - -Under that powerful hypnotic command, both Norris and Kincaid turned -their Proxies and fled back up the fissure. - -Not until they had reached Base again, not until they had ripped off -the television helmets, did Doug Norris feel that powerful hypnotic -command relax. - -"It's as I suspected!" he cried. "It was the Raddies who put that -knowledge in our minds! Who would know nuclear science better than -they?" - -Kincaid stared, his jaw dropping. "Then, to stop our bothering them, -they did that by post-hypnotic command working back along our own -Proxy-beams?" - -"Yes!" cried Doug Norris. "Ironic, isn't it? 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <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: Proxy Planeteers</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Edmond Hamilton</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 2, 2022 [eBook #68669]</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 PROXY PLANETEERS ***</div> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>PROXY PLANETEERS</h1> - -<h2>By EDMOND HAMILTON</h2> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Startling Stories, July 1947.<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>Doug Norris hesitated for an instant. He knew that another movement -might well mean disaster.</p> - -<p>Here deep in the cavernous interior of airless Mercury, catastrophe -could strike suddenly. The rocks of the fissure he was following had a -temperature of hundreds of degrees. And he could hear the deep rumble -of shifting rock, close by.</p> - -<p>But it was not these dangers of the infernal underworld that made him -hesitate. It was that sixth sense of imminent peril that he had felt -twice before while exploring the Mercurian depths. Each time, it had -ended disastrously.</p> - -<p>"Just nerves," Norris muttered to himself. "The uranium vein is clearly -indicated. I've got to follow it."</p> - -<p>As he again moved forward and followed that thin, black stratum in the -fissure wall, his eyes constantly searched ahead.</p> - -<p>Then a half-dozen little clouds of glowing gas flowed toward him from a -branching fissure. Each was several feet in diameter, a faint-glowing -mass of vapor with a brighter core.</p> - -<p>Norris moved hastily to avoid them. But there was a sudden flash of -light. Then everything went black before his eyes.</p> - -<p>"It's happened to me again!" Doug Norris thought in sharp dismay.</p> - -<p>Frantically he jiggled his controls, cut in emergency power switches, -overloaded his tight control beam to the limit. It was no use. He still -could not see or hear anything whatever.</p> - -<p>Norris defeatedly took the heavy television helmet with its bulging -eyepieces off his head. He stared at the control-board, then looked -blankly out the window at the distant, sunlit stacks of New York Power -Station.</p> - -<p>"Another Proxy gone! Seven of them wrecked in the last two weeks!"</p> - -<p>It hadn't just happened, of course. It had happened eight minutes ago. -It took that long for the television beam from the Proxy to shuttle -from Mercury to this control-station outside New York. And it took as -long again for the Proxy control-beam to get back to it on Mercury.</p> - -<p>Sometimes, a time-lag that long could get a Proxy into trouble before -its operator on Earth was aware of it. But usually that was not a big -factor of danger on a lifeless world like Mercury. The Proxies, built -of the toughest refractory metals, could stand nearly anything but an -earthquake, and keep on functioning.</p> - -<p>"Each time, there's been no sign of falling rocks or anything like -that," Norris told himself, mystified. "Each time, the Proxy has just -blacked out with all its controls shot."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Then, as his mind searched for some factor common to all the disasters, -a startled look came over Doug Norris' lean, earnest face.</p> - -<p>"There <i>were</i> always some of those clouds of radon or whatever they -are around, each time!" he thought. "I wonder if—" A red-hot thought -brought him to his feet. "Holy cats! Maybe I've got the answer!"</p> - -<p>He jumped away from the Proxy-board without a further glance at that -bank of intricate controls, and hurried down a corridor.</p> - -<p>Through the glass doors he passed, Norris could see the other operators -at work. Each sat in front of his control-board, wearing his television -helmet, flipping the switches with expert precision. Each was operating -a mechanical Proxy somewhere on Mercury.</p> - -<p>Norris and all these other operators had been trained together when -Kincaid started the Proxy Project. They had been proud of their -positions, until recently. It <i>was</i> a vitally important job, searching -out the uranium so sorely needed for Earth's atomic power supply.</p> - -<p>The uranium and allied metals of Earth had years ago been ransacked -and used up. There was little on Venus or Mars. Mercury had much of -the precious metal in its cavernous interior. But no man, no matter -how ingenious his protection, could live long enough on the terrible, -semi-molten Hot Side of Mercury to conduct mining operations.</p> - -<p>That was why Kincaid had invented the Proxies. They were machines -that could mine uranium where men couldn't go. Crewless ships guided -by radar took the Proxies to the Base on Mercury's sunward side. From -Base, each Proxy was guided by an Earth operator down into the hot -fissures to find and mine the vital radioactive element. The scheme had -worked well, until—</p> - -<p>"Until we got into those deeper fissures with the Proxies," Doug Norris -thought. "Seven wrecked since then! This <i>must</i> be the answer!"</p> - -<p>Martin Kincaid looked up sharply as Norris entered his office. A look -of faint dismay came on Kincaid's square, patient face. He knew that -a Proxy operator wouldn't leave his board in the middle of a shift, -unless there was trouble.</p> - -<p>"Go ahead and give me the bad news, Doug," he said wearily.</p> - -<p>"Proxy M-Fifty just blacked out on me, down in Fissure Four," Norris -admitted. "Just like the others. But I think I know why, now!" He -continued excitedly: "Mart, seven Proxies blacking out in two weeks -wasn't just accident. It was done deliberately!"</p> - -<p>Kincaid stared. "You mean that Hurriman's bunch is somehow sabotaging -our Project?"</p> - -<p>Doug Norris interrupted with a denial. "Not that. Hurriman and his -fellow politicians merely want to get their hands on the Proxy Project, -not to destroy it."</p> - -<p>"Then who did wreck our Proxies?" Kincaid demanded.</p> - -<p>Norris answered excitedly. "I believe we've run into living creatures -in those depths, and they're attacking us."</p> - -<p>Kincaid grunted. "The temperature in those fissures is about four -hundred degrees Centigrade, the same as Mercury's sunward side. Life -can't exist in heat like that. I suggest you take a rest."</p> - -<p>"I know all that," Norris said impatiently. "But suppose we've run into -a new kind of life there—one based on radioactive matter? Biologists -have speculated on it more than once. Theoretically, creatures of -radioactive matter could exist, drawing their energies not from -chemical metabolism as we do, but from the continuous process of -radioactive disintegration."</p> - -<p>"Theoretically, the sky is a big roof with holes in it that are stars," -growled Kincaid. "It depends on whose theory you believe."</p> - -<p>"Every time a Proxy has blacked out down there, there's been little -clouds of heavy radioactive gas near," argued Doug Norris. "Each seems -to have a denser core. Suppose that core is an unknown radium compound, -evolved into some kind of neuronic structure that is able to receive -and remember stimuli? A sort of queer, radioactive brain?</p> - -<p>"If that's so, and biologists have said it's possible, the <i>body</i> of -the creature consists of radon gas emanated from the radium core. You -remember the half-life of radon exactly equals the rate of its emission -from radium, so there'd be a constant equilibrium of the thing's -gaseous body, analogous to our blood circulation. Given Mercury's -conditions, it's no more impossible than a jellyfish or a man here on -Earth!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Kincaid looked skeptical.</p> - -<p>"And you think these hypothetical living Raddies of yours are attacking -our Proxies? Why would they?"</p> - -<p>"If they have cognition and correlation faculties they might be -irritated by the tube emanations from the control-boxes of our -Proxies," Norris suggested. "They get into those control-boxes and -wreck the tube circuits by overloading the electron flow with their own -Beta radiation!"</p> - -<p>"It's all pretty far-fetched," muttered his superior. "Radioactive -life! But all those Proxies blowing can't be just chance." He paused, -then added gloomily, "But I can just see myself telling a World Council -committee that your hypothetical living Raddies are what keep us from -delivering uranium! Hurriman would like that. It would convince the -Council that I'm as incompetent as he claims."</p> - -<p>"He'll convince the Council of that anyway unless we deliver uranium -from Mercury quickly," retorted Norris. "And we'll never do it till -we get these Raddies licked. They're basically just complex clouds of -radioactive gas. A Proxy armed with a high-pressure gas hose should be -able to blow them to rags. Can't we try it, Mart?"</p> - -<p>Kincaid sighed, and stood up.</p> - -<p>"I was a practical man once," he said wearily, "and would have booted -you out of here if you'd suggested such stuff. But I'm a drowning man -right now, so I'll buy your straw. We'll send down a couple of Proxies -armed with gas hoses and see how they make out."</p> - -<p>Doug Norris eagerly went with his superior into the adjoining room -where the operators of the Base Proxies were on duty.</p> - -<p>"Norris and I will take over two Proxies at base," Kincaid told the -sub-chief there.</p> - -<p>Two operators took off their helmets and got out of their chairs. -Norris took the place of one, donning the television helmet.</p> - -<p>The control and television beams were on. The compact kinescope tubes -in his helmet gave him a clear vision of the Base on Mercury, as seen -through his Proxy's iconoscope "eyes".</p> - -<p>There were no buildings, for Proxies didn't need shelter. The seared -black rocks stretched under a brazen sky, beneath a stupendous Sun -whose blaze even the iconoscope filters couldn't cut down much. The -Base was just a flat area here beside the low rock hills. A crewless -ship lay to one side, its hatches open. Near it were the supply-dumps -of Proxy parts, the repair shops, the power plant.</p> - -<p>"We'll get a couple of oxygen tanks from the supply dump and use them -for your gas hose weapons," Kincaid was saying.</p> - -<p>The Proxies they were guiding did not look like men. They looked like -what they were—machines devised for special purposes. They were like -baby tanks, mounted on caterpillar drives, each with two big jointed -arms ending in claws, and a control-box with iconoscope eyes. They -clamped on the high-pressure oxygen tanks, clutched the nozzles of the -attached hoses, and rolled out of Base across the seared plain toward -the black rock hills. In a few minutes, they entered the narrow cleft -of Fissure Four.</p> - -<p>Norris knew the way down here. He led, switching on his searchlight -even though he didn't really need it. The Proxy's iconoscope eyes could -see by the infra-red radiation from the superheated rock walls.</p> - -<p>They finally reached the spot deep down in the fissure where his -disabled former Proxy still stood. Doug Norris reached his jointed arms -and quickly unclamped the shield of its control-box.</p> - -<p>"Look there, Mart! The whole control's shot! They do it by overloading -the tubes with their own Beta emanations, all right."</p> - -<p>Kincaid's Proxy had elbowed close, its big iconoscope eyes peering -closely. Here in the office, Kincaid uttered a grunt.</p> - -<p>"That still doesn't prove the gas that did it was living. Instead of -your hypothetical Raddies, it could be—"</p> - -<p>"Look there!" yelled Doug Norris suddenly. "There they come again!"</p> - -<p>Three of the glowing gaseous things were flowing toward them along the -fissure. They poised for a moment in a lifelike way, and then swept -forward.</p> - -<p>"Your gas hose!" yelled Norris to the man beside him. "Don't let them -get near you!"</p> - -<p>The Raddies were advancing in a deliberate way. In spite of the -time-lag, Norris tried to raise his gas hose and trigger it. There -wasn't time. The eight-minute lag between his action and the result out -there on Mercury was fatally long. The glowing Raddies were flowing up -around the Proxies.</p> - -<p>Doug Norris was momentarily dazzled by the brilliance of the Raddy that -enveloped his Proxy's control-box. It was like looking into a star to -look into the glowing, pulsing core of the thing.</p> - -<p>His senses reeled queerly as he stared, hypnotized by the swirling -bright gas and the starlike, throbbing core. He sensed dimly that -that core was a kind of life possible on no terrestrial planet, -a crystalized gaseous neurone structure that used its own radon -emanations as a body.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He felt his senses staggering, darkening. It was as though he were -hypnotized by the brilliance of that pulsing core of light, as though -it were probing excruciatingly into his brain.</p> - -<p>Then Doug Norris came out of his queer daze to find himself sitting -there with his helmet dead. He could see nothing. His movements of the -Proxy controls yielded no response.</p> - -<p>"Blacked out, both our Proxies!" Kincaid exclaimed, dazedly taking off -his own helmet. "And we got some kind of kick-back shock."</p> - -<p>Norris, still badly shaken, nodded unsteadily. "There must have been a -kick-back along the control beam when they blew the control-boxes. The -circuit breakers may have been slow." He added quickly, "But you know -now I was right! Those Raddies are living things, that instinctively -attack our Proxies!"</p> - -<p>Kincaid frowned. "It looks like it. But no gas hose or any other -weapon will work against the brutes. The time-lag makes it impossible -to use weapons. Our only chance is to seal and ray-proof the Proxies' -control-boxes against them. That'll take time. But it's our only chance -to get uranium out of there, and it's got to be done before Hurriman's -clique gets the Council on our tail. I'll have the boys bring the -Proxies all back to Base at once."</p> - -<p>Norris followed his chief back to his office. Winters, the office -clerk, was waiting there for them, and looking anxious.</p> - -<p>"A bulletin just came over the news tape, Chief," he told Kincaid. -"Here it is."</p> - -<p>Mart Kincaid read the tape, and his square shoulders seemed to sag a -little. He looked at them heavily.</p> - -<p>"We won't need to worry any more about your Raddies, Doug. World -Council has just passed Hurriman's motion requesting an immediate -investigation of Proxy Project. It will begin tomorrow." He added -tonelessly, "You know what that means. When they find we've lost nine -valuable Proxies out there on Mercury without getting any uranium at -all yet, we'll be thrown out."</p> - -<p>"Blast Hurriman!" Doug Norris raged. "The Proxy Project has been your -work from the start! You sweated to develop the things. Now because -there's a hitch, a bunch of bumbling politicians take it over!"</p> - -<p>"It's all in a lifetime," Kincaid shrugged. "Winters, you tell the -boys. Have them pull their Proxies back to Base, and go home." He sat -down slowly in his chair then, and stared at the wall. "So it's over. -Well, right now I'm too tired to care."</p> - -<p>Norris felt heartsick. "Isn't there any chance of stalling them long -enough to try our idea of rayproofing the Proxies?"</p> - -<p>"You know there isn't," said his superior. "It'd take days to do that -job. Even if it worked against the Raddies, it'd take weeks more to -get out uranium. And Hurriman's bunch won't wait weeks."</p> - -<p>He looked at the sick face of the younger man, then opened a desk -drawer and took out a bottle of Scotch and glasses.</p> - -<p>"Here, have a drink," he ordered. "You're a little young yet, and you -take these things too seriously."</p> - -<p>Norris unhappily drank the Scotch. But his nerves, still shaken by that -queer kick-back shock from the beam, didn't relax much.</p> - -<p>"Mart, your calmness isn't fooling me," he said. "I know how much the -Proxies meant to you, the dreams you had of operating Proxies on every -planet man couldn't visit, even on worlds of distant stars."</p> - -<p>Kincaid shrugged as he poured himself a drink. "Sure, I wanted -all that. But since when have scientists ever been able to buck -politicians?"</p> - -<p>Darkness pressed the windows as night gathered. They sat silently in -the darkening office drinking the Scotch and looking at the tall, -lighted stacks of the distant New York Power Station.</p> - -<p>Doug Norris found no comfort in the liquor's sting. His sense of -injustice deepened. The Proxies were Kincaid's, but just because he -couldn't produce uranium fast enough, they would be taken away from him.</p> - -<p>He said so, bitterly and at length. Kincaid only shrugged wearily again.</p> - -<p>"Forget it, Doug. Have another drink."</p> - -<p>Norris discovered with mild surprise that the bottle was empty.</p> - -<p>"We must have spilled some of it," he said a little thickly.</p> - -<p>"There's another bottle in the drawer," Kincaid grunted. "They were for -the Project party next week, but that's all off now."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Norris opened the other bottle and generously refilled their glasses. -He sat down beside Kincaid, who was looking broodingly from the window -at the distant atomic power plant. Despite the warm physical glow he -felt, Doug Norris was unhappier than before. A new, poignant sorrow had -risen in him.</p> - -<p>"You know, Mart, it isn't only what Hurriman's doing to the Project -that's got me down," he said sorrowfully. "It's what happened to old -M-Fifty today."</p> - -<p>"M-Fifty?" Kincaid inquired. "You mean that Proxy you lost this -afternoon?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, he was my special Proxy for all these months," Doug Norris said. -"I got to know him. He was always dependable, never jumped his control -beam, never acted cranky in a tight place." His voice choked a little. -"I loved that Proxy like a brother. And I let him down. I let those -Raddies wreck him."</p> - -<p>"They'll fix him up, Doug," said Kincaid, a rich sympathy in his -slightly thickened voice. "They'll make him as good as new when they -get him back up to Base."</p> - -<p>"Yes, but what good will that do if I'm not here to operate him?" cried -Norris. "I tell you, that Proxy was sensitive. He knew my touch on the -controls. That Proxy would have died for me."</p> - -<p>"Sure he would." Kincaid nodded with owlish understanding. "Here, have -another drink, Doug."</p> - -<p>"I've had enough," Norris said gloomily, refilling their glasses as -he spoke. "But as I was saying, that Proxy won't run for a bunch of -politicians and their ham-handed operators like he ran for me. He'll -know that I'm gone, and he won't be the same. He'll pine."</p> - -<p>"That's the way it goes, Doug," Kincaid said sadly. "You lose your best -friend—I mean, your best Proxy—and I lose my Project, just because we -can't furnish enough uranium for power over there."</p> - -<p>He gestured bitterly toward the distant stacks of New York Power -Station that soared like towers of light in the distant darkness.</p> - -<p>"You know, I've got an idea in my mind about that," Kincaid added -slowly, as he stared at those towers.</p> - -<p>Doug Norris nodded emphatically. "You're dead right, Mart. You're -absolutely right."</p> - -<p>"Now wait, you didn't hear my idea yet," Kincaid protested a little -foggily. "It's this—we're losing the Project because we can't furnish -enough uranium for power. But suppose they didn't need uranium for -power any longer? Then they'd let us keep the Proxy Project!"</p> - -<p>"Exactly what <i>I</i> say!" Norris declared firmly. "There's just one thing -for us to do. That's to find a way to produce atomic power from some -commoner substance than uranium. That'd solve our whole problem."</p> - -<p>"I thought I was the one who said that," Kincaid said, puzzled. "But -look—what fairly common metal could be used to replace uranium in the -atomic piles?"</p> - -<p>"Bismuth, of course," Norris replied promptly. "Its atomic number is -closest to the radioactive series of elements."</p> - -<p>"You took the words right out of my mouth!" Kincaid declared. "Bismuth -it is. All we have to do is to make bismuth work in an atomic pile, -then we can run the Proxy Project without this everlasting nagging -about supplying uranium."</p> - -<p>Doug Norris felt a warm, happy relief. "Why, it's simple! We should -have thought of it before! Let's get some bismuth out of the supply -room and go over to the Power Station right now!" He leaped to his -feet, eagerly, if a trifle unsteadily. "No time to waste, if the -Council committee's to be on our necks tomorrow!"</p> - -<p>Doug Norris felt like singing in his wonderful relief, as he and -Kincaid went down through the now deserted Project building to the -supply room. In fact, he started to raise his voice in a ribald ballad -about a Proxy's adventure with a lady automaton.</p> - -<p>"You mus' have had a trifle too much Scotch, Doug," Kincaid reproved -him, with owlish dignity. "Such levity isn't becoming to two scientists -about to make the mos' wonderful invention of the century."</p> - -<p>They got one of the heavy leaden cylinders used for transport of -uranium and filled it carefully with powdered bismuth. Then, in -Kincaid's car, they drove happily toward the big Power Station.</p> - -<p>The guards at the barrier gate knew them both, for it was nothing new -for Proxy Project men to bring uranium over to the Station. They let -them through, and the car eased along the straight cement road.</p> - -<p>The huge, windowless buildings that housed the massive uranium piles -were a mile beyond. But no one went near those tremendous atomic piles. -Everything in them had to be handled by remote control by the few -technicians in Headquarters Building who kept them operating.</p> - -<p>"Mart, isn't it queer nobody ever thought of usin' bismuth instead of -uranium, before now?" Norris asked, out of his roseate glow.</p> - -<p>"Scientists too c'nservative, that's the trouble," Kincaid answered -wisely. His voice soared. "We're about to launch a new epoch! No more -uranium shortage to worry 'bout! No more politicians botherin' the -Project!"</p> - -<p>"And I'll be able to fix up old M-Fifty and run him myself again," -added Doug Norris. He choked up once more. "When I think of that Proxy -that was like a brother to me, lyin' down in that lonely fissure with -the Raddies gloatin' over him—"</p> - -<p>"Don't think about it, Doug," begged Kincaid, with tender sympathy. -"Soon's we get these atomic piles changed around, we'll go back and get -good old M-Fifty up again and fix him good as new."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>That promise cheered Norris' grieving mind. He got out and helped -Kincaid carry the heavy lead cylinder into Headquarters Building.</p> - -<p>The technicians they passed in the lower rooms saw nothing surprising -in the two Project men staggering along under the weight of the -cylinder. Nor did Petersen and Thorpe, at first.</p> - -<p>Petersen and Thorpe were the two technicians on duty in the big, sacred -inmost chamber of controls. Visors here gave view of every part of the -distant, mighty atomic piles—the massive lead towers that enclosed -the graphite and uranium lattices, the gas penstocks that led to giant -heat turbines, the gauges and meters. And the banks of heavy levers -here could switch those lattices, make any desired change in the piles, -without the necessity of a man entering the zone of dangerous radiation.</p> - -<p>Petersen had surprise on his spectacled, scholarly face as he greeted -the two scientists.</p> - -<p>"I didn't know you had another uranium consignment for us," he said.</p> - -<p>Kincaid helped Norris place the lead cylinder in the breech of the tube -that would carry it mechanically to the distant pile.</p> - -<p>"This isn't uranium—it's better than uranium," Kincaid announced -impressively.</p> - -<p>"What do you mean, better than uranium?" Petersen asked in a puzzled -tone. He opened the end of the lead cylinder. "Why, this stuff is -bismuth! What is this, a crazy joke?"</p> - -<p>Young Thorpe had been staring closely at Kincaid and Norris.</p> - -<p>"They're both plastered!" he burst out.</p> - -<p>Kincaid drew himself up in an unsteady attitude of outraged dignity.</p> - -<p>"Tha's what thanks we get," he accused thickly. "We come here to make -a won'erful improvement in your blasted old atomic piles, and we get -insulted."</p> - -<p>"Thorpe," Petersen said disgustedly, "get them out of here, and ... -<i>Look out!</i>"</p> - -<p>Doug Norris had casually taken the heavy metal handle off one of the -big levers. He tapped Thorpe on the head with it just as Petersen -uttered his warning cry. The young technician slumped.</p> - -<p>Petersen, suddenly pale, darted toward an alarm button on his desk. But -before he reached it, Norris' improvised blackjack tapped his skull. -And Petersen also sagged to the floor.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p>Before Petersen could reach the alarm button, the blackjack hit him.</p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Norris looked triumphantly at Kincaid, with a warm feeling of righteous -virtue.</p> - -<p>"They won't bother us now, Mart. I just put them out for a little while -without hurting 'em."</p> - -<p>"Quick thinking, Doug!" Kincaid approved warmly. "Can't let -reactionaries obstruc' course of scientific progress. We'd better tie -'em up in case they come around too soon."</p> - -<p>Norris helped tie the two unconscious men with lengths of spare cable. -Then he and Kincaid stood swaying a little as they owlishly inspected -the controls of the mighty atomic piles.</p> - -<p>Norris knew a good bit about those controls. He had been here many -times, and Petersen and the other technicians had liked to talk. The -trouble was, that right now his thoughts all seemed a little foggy.</p> - -<p>"What we got to do," Kincaid said ponderously, "is change 'round the -atomic pile setup so it'll handle bismuth instead of uranium. Right?"</p> - -<p>"Right!" Norris approved enthusiastically. "That's going right to the -heart of the problem, old pal!"</p> - -<p>Kincaid seemed to blush in deprecation. "Oh, I jus' got an orderly -mind. First thing now, is to shift the uranium lattices out of the -piles."</p> - -<p>He laid his hands on several of the levers, one after another. There -was a low humming of machinery somewhere.</p> - -<p>In the distant, towering structure, lattices loaded with uranium were -being mechanically withdrawn to the pits beneath. But there was nothing -happening here except on the panel of indicators.</p> - -<p>Petersen came back to consciousness at that moment. Tied to a wall -stanchion, he stiffened and his eyes bugged at them.</p> - -<p>"What are you two doing?" he cried. "You're cutting off the power by -pulling out those lattices!"</p> - -<p>"Only temp'rarily," Norris assured him. "We'll shift empty lattices -back in, and then load the bismuth into them."</p> - -<p>Petersen uttered a howl of agony. "You maniacs will wreck the whole -pile if you try a stunt like that! For heaven's sake, sober up and -think what you're doing!"</p> - -<p>"We're tryin' to think," Kincaid said sternly. "But how can we -co'centrate, with you yelling at us?"</p> - -<p>Petersen went from raging orders to agonized pleadings to tearful -entreaty. The two ignored him completely.</p> - -<p>"Le's see, now," Kincaid said, blinking. "We'll leave in the Number -One uranium lattice after all. We'll need its neutrons to trigger the -expanding series of graphite and bismuth lattices."</p> - -<p>"We'll need <i>two</i> uranium lattices," Doug Norris corrected thickly. -"One to trigger the first action, the other to pr'vide neutrons for -the continuous shuttle that'll run the bismuth's atomic number up from -eighty-three to ninety-four, right up through neptunium to plutonium."</p> - -<p>"You're right," Kincaid agreed, hiccuping slightly. "I forgot 'bout -that second lattice for a minute. Mus' be because of all the noise in -here."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Petersen was still producing that noise, indeed. He had become louder -and more frantic as he saw them shifting out the uranium lattices and -replacing them clumsily with empty lattice-frames.</p> - -<p>"Ten thousand scientists have been working ever since -Nineteen-forty-five to find a way to use common elements instead of -uranium in a pile!" he choked. "They can't do it. But two drunken Proxy -men are going to try it!"</p> - -<p>Norris hardly heard that stream of agonized accusation and entreaty, as -he helped Kincaid shift in the empty lattices. He was mildly sorry that -Petersen felt so disturbed. There was no reason for it. He and Kincaid -knew just what they were doing.</p> - -<p>Or did they? For a moment, a dim doubt crossed Norris' foggy mind. -After all, he and Kincaid weren't physicists. Then he dismissed that -doubt. He was <i>sure</i> of what they were doing, wasn't he?</p> - -<p>Kincaid sat down unsteadily when they had the lattices changed.</p> - -<p>"I feel a li'l shaky. 'S emotional reaction from great scientific -achievement."</p> - -<p>"Emotional reaction nothing—you're so plastered you're nearly out!" -raged Petersen.</p> - -<p>Kincaid dignifiedly ignored that. "Switch on the loader and shoot the -ol' bismuth in there, Doug."</p> - -<p>"Norris, <i>don't</i> do it!" begged Petersen hoarsely. "It means wrecking -the pile, and maybe blowing up the whole Station!"</p> - -<p>Again, Doug Norris' dim doubt bothered him. But then again he dismissed -it. Everything was so beautifully clear in his mind. It had to work.</p> - -<p>He switched on the loader. The lead cylinder of bismuth slid away -into the tube that would carry it to the pile, where it would be -automatically loaded into the new empty lattices.</p> - -<p>"You fools!" choked Petersen. "I hope they hang you both for this! When -that pile starts up, and blows—"</p> - -<p>The operation of the great atomic pile was automatic from this point -on. Minutes later, a bell rang and indicators clicked on.</p> - -<p>"First uranium lattice has triggered off," said Kincaid, and nodded, -pleased. "Now we'll get power—lotsa power."</p> - -<p>"You'll get nothing but maybe an atomic explosion, in ten seconds!" -cried Petersen, his face deathly white.</p> - -<p>Doug Norris suddenly felt his doubt rise again and this time it -overwhelmed him! All his former foggy confidence seemed to have left -him as they completed their operations.</p> - -<p>He was suddenly aware of the mad and ghastly thing that he and Kincaid -had done. Why in heaven's name had they done it? What crazy quirk in -their minds had made them do it?</p> - -<p>Kincaid too was suddenly looking pale and queer.</p> - -<p>"Doug, maybe we shouldn't have tried it."</p> - -<p>"Look at those meters!" yelled Petersen, in a wild voice.</p> - -<p>The technician's eyes were protruding as he stared at the big bank of -ammeters that registered the output of the great turbines. The needles -were jumping across the dials with swiftly increasing amperage.</p> - -<p>"The pile is <i>working</i>!" yelled Petersen hoarsely. "That bismuth is -actually producing atomic power!"</p> - -<p>Doug Norris suddenly felt cold sober, and a little sick. He sat down -shakily, and put his head in his hands.</p> - -<p>Kincaid was staring blankly at the ammeters, while Petersen and Thorpe -seemed to have gone crazy with excitement. When Petersen was untied, -he grabbed Kincaid fiercely.</p> - -<p>"How did you do it?" he cried. "Just what did you do to the pile?"</p> - -<p>Kincaid stared at him blankly. "I don't know, now."</p> - -<p>"You don't know?" Petersen almost screeched. "Man, you've stumbled on -what the scientists have been hunting all these years—the hookup to -use common elements in an atomic pile! You must have had something -figured out beforehand!"</p> - -<p>"We didn't!" Norris denied weakly. "We got a little plastered, and got -this idea. We didn't know what we were doing."</p> - -<p>Suddenly, Doug Norris stiffened. Remembrance that brought him jumping -unsteadily to his feet had come to him.</p> - -<p>"You couldn't have done a thing like this by sheer crazy accident!" -Petersen was insisting. "You must have known how!"</p> - -<p>"By heaven, I believe now that we <i>did</i> know what we were doing, in a -queer sort of way!" Norris exclaimed shakily. He grabbed Kincaid's arm. -"Mart, come with me! We're going back over to the Project!"</p> - -<p>Petersen's dazed amazement was changing to exultation.</p> - -<p>"Whatever you did, it's still working and looks like it'll work -indefinitely! And we can study the hookup and learn how to duplicate -it, even if we never completely understand it. You two maniacs are -going to be famous!"</p> - -<p>But Norris had already led the stupefied Kincaid out of the room.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>All the way back to the Proxy Project, Kincaid kept dazedly repeating -the same thing over and over.</p> - -<p>"We must have been clear out of our heads to do a thing like that! But -how is it that we were able to do it <i>right</i>?"</p> - -<p>"Haven't you suspected the answer to that yet?" cried Doug Norris. -"Don't you see why, as soon as our conscious minds were relaxed by a -few drinks, we automatically went and performed an operation totally -beyond present-day nuclear science? What happened to us just before we -had those drinks? What happened when our Proxies met those Raddies -down in the fissure?"</p> - -<p>"The Raddies?" Kincaid repeated stupidly. "What could those brutes have -to do with this?"</p> - -<p>"We thought they were only brutes, a low form of queer radioactive -life," Norris said. "But what if their weird minds are intelligent, -supremely intelligent? An intelligence that doesn't operate for -purposes or in ways like ours, but that's as high or higher than ours?"</p> - -<p>He almost dragged the stunned Kincaid into the deserted office, to the -control-boards of the Proxies at Base.</p> - -<p>"Take over a Proxy and follow me," Norris ordered. "I've an idea that -if we go down in that fissure again, we can prove it."</p> - -<p>"Prove what?" Kincaid asked, but mechanically obeyed and took over a -Proxy control.</p> - -<p>Again, Norris and Kincaid guided their Proxies out of Base and across -the seared Mercury plain toward Fissure Four. Norris peered down into -the fissure as he advanced. Then as they glimpsed the wrecked Proxies -they had previously left there, they also glimpsed glowing little -clouds flowing rapidly toward them.</p> - -<p>A Raddy lifted its glowing gaseous body to envelop the control-box of -Norris' Proxy. Again, as he stared into the thing's brilliant, pulsing -core, he felt his senses reel queerly. But this time, he knew beyond -any doubt what it was.</p> - -<p>"Hypnosis!" he yelled to Kincaid. "Hypnosis operating through our -Proxies' eyes right back along the beam to our own eyes and brains! -I thought so!" His shout died away as his brain reeled under the -powerful hypnotic influence of the Raddy's pulsing, starlike core.</p> - -<p>Hypnosis could operate by vision, everyone knew that. Nobody had -dreamed of hypnosis operating across space by means of a linking -television beam, but it was happening. For Doug Norris, resisting now -with new-found knowledge, just dimly sensed the powerful hypnotic order -the Raddy's pulsing brain was hurling into his own mind.</p> - -<p>"You will not send your crude machines down here again to disturb our -philosophical reveries!" the Raddy's hypnotic thought was sternly -ordering him. "There is no further need. When we read from your minds -that it was need for uranium for your primitive power plants that -motivated your intrusions here, we gave your brains the post-hypnotic -knowledge to improve those power plants so you would not need to come -here again. So go, and do not return!"</p> - -<p>Under that powerful hypnotic command, both Norris and Kincaid turned -their Proxies and fled back up the fissure.</p> - -<p>Not until they had reached Base again, not until they had ripped off -the television helmets, did Doug Norris feel that powerful hypnotic -command relax.</p> - -<p>"It's as I suspected!" he cried. "It was the Raddies who put that -knowledge in our minds! Who would know nuclear science better than -they?"</p> - -<p>Kincaid stared, his jaw dropping. "Then, to stop our bothering them, -they did that by post-hypnotic command working back along our own -Proxy-beams?"</p> - -<p>"Yes!" cried Doug Norris. "Ironic, isn't it? 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