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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..0fefaf3 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69314 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69314) diff --git a/old/69314-0.txt b/old/69314-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 72ea958..0000000 --- a/old/69314-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2002 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The death crystal, by George O. Smith - -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: The death crystal - -Author: George O. Smith - -Release Date: November 8, 2022 [eBook #69314] - -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 THE DEATH CRYSTAL *** - - - - - - _One by one, forty of the Earth's greatest - scientists vanished into that world beyond the - universe--until one man, doomed by its fatal - rays, carried humanity's last hope back the - blinding, twisted corridors that led through--_ - - The DEATH CRYSTAL - - By GEORGE O. SMITH - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Super Science Stories May 1950. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - CHAPTER ONE - - The Shape of Danger - - -They looked at the crystal in horror. - -It was the horror of the serpent, or of the Gorgon's head. They were -fascinated; in that moment not one of them could have torn his gaze -away. All work ceased. The noises in the concrete-walled room died -until the whish of breathing and the thumping of hearts could be -heard. - -Then panic caught them, and fought against training. Panic cried, -_Run!_ and training said, _Remove yourself quickly._ - -With the motion-saving efficiency of the emergency drill, each man -turned from his position and walked rapidly towards whichever exit was -nearest. - -Actually, they could not outrun the danger any more than one can duck -a rifle bullet or outrace the atomic bomb. But they went, five men and -one woman, out through the zigzag corridors towards a mirage of safety. - -One man remained. - -Dave Crandall stepped forward and picked the crystal from its place -in the evaporation dish. He turned, doused hand and crystal under -a faucet, and then dropped the crystal on an anvil. He hit it with -a heavy hammer. Anvil and crystal rang musically, and the crystal -rebounded and flew through the air unharmed. - -Cursing under his breath, Dave Crandall darted, picked it up again, and -looked around wildly. - -There were vats of acid handy; an electronic furnace glowed white-hot -through its slit; a tunnel gaped unexcitingly but in its depths were -the invisible radiations of the atomic pile. None of these would work -soon enough. - -Dave turned to the desk. He flipped open the end of the pneumatic -message tube and popped the crystal into the chamber. There was the -_whroooom!_ of pumped air, a few tinkles as the crystal hit the sides -of the tube on its way down. - -Then from somewhere outside the concrete-walled room came the awesome -blast. The wave-front traveled down the zigzag passages and Dave -thought he could almost see it. The roar deafened him. - -Dave went out through the zigzag passage. - -A mile across the plain, a billowing white cloud was rising. - -Claverly greeted Dave. Claverly was a bit shaken, and more than a -little abashed. "The relay station," he said, pointing at the rising -cloud. - -"Oh?" remarked Crandall. He asked, frowning, "Anybody in there?" - -"No." - -Crandall smiled wryly. "That's a relief," he said. "But I didn't -have time to ask where that tube went. I might have blown up the -administration building." - -Claverly laughed. "About all you've done is to cut a large hole in the -coast-to-coast pneumo," he said. "No jury in the world would convict -you." - -DeLieb came around from the other side of the building. "There," he -said, "but for the Grace of God--" pointing at the billowing pillar of -smoke. "Thanks, Dave. This makes you unique, you know." - -"Unique?" - -"You are the only living man who has seen one of those devils' rocks in -operation." - -"We were all there," objected Dave, "and how about the Manhattan -Crystal?" - -"In the first place, the Manhattan Crystal is furnishing New York with -electrical power--from a generating plant twenty miles outside New -York, telemeter-controlled, and completely unattended. Montrose and -Crowley and their associates who first made the crystal went up trying -to reproduce it at Brookhaven. So did Brookhaven. Harvard, Purdue, -Caltech, and Argonne went up trying to make one, too." - -"But you were there, too, and you've seen it." - -DeLieb nodded. "It is a six-sided crystal about three inches long, with -a pyramidal point at either end, and about three-quarters of an inch -across the hexagonal flats. It is clear with a trace of blue tint. So -much we know, Dave. _But what shape was it when you tossed it into the -tube?_" - -"Cubical, and full of flashing red glints," said Dave. - -"And why were we suddenly scared bright green?" - -"Because it began to change shape before our eyes," said Dave. - -"And it was still fluid when we--left." - -"I think so," said Dave uncertainly. - -DeLieb turned and went into the laboratory again, with the others -following. He inspected the anvil and straightened up with a wry smile. -There was the dent on the soft iron, made by the crystal under Dave's -blow. "That," said DeLieb, "is the impact of a hexagonal crystal -slightly distorted. A hexagonal form half-changed to a cubical shape. -So, Dave Crandall, you are the only man alive to have seen such a -crystal. Who knows the shape of the Manhattan Crystal by now?" - - * * * * * - -Steps clicked along the other zigzags. Phelps came in through one. -"No hits," he said, "one run, and the only error was shutting off the -cross-country pneumo. Tough. But the country got along without the -shipment of short-lived radioisotopes before and it'll have to do -without them again until they get the tube put together. Nice going, -Crandall." - -Behind him was Jane Nolan--Doctor Jane Nolan. Like her colleagues, -Jane Nolan was often quoted in texts, had made several contributions -to science, and was an authority on several subjects. She was not -a beautiful woman; but her quiet air sometimes permitted a rather -interesting personality to show through. Men forgot her mature thirty -years and her lack of breath-taking beauty and dated her; then found -themselves at once intrigued by her personality and completely baffled -by her quick mind--and then went elsewhere in search of wide-eyed -pulchritude. - -Deep interest or honest admiration often lighted up her face and made -it handsome if not beautiful. She looked very attractive now as she -went to Crandall. - -"That was brave," she said. - -"Self-preservation," he said. - -"We have that too," she replied with a slight smile. "And we also know -that we cannot outrun that sort of thing. But we ran." - -He smiled at her cheerfully. "I'm not a scientist," he said. "I'm just -a newspaperman, remember? Perhaps I'm just too ignorant to realize the -degree of danger." - -Jane Nolan shook her head. "You've either seen the remains or pictures -of them, of the other labs that failed. You know--" - -"Look," he chuckled, "let's put it this way. We were dead ducks anyway. -The devil himself couldn't have outrun that explosion without jet -assistance." He turned to Claverly, "If I'd had any sense, I wouldn't -have tried to smash it. I should have known that belting it with a -hammer wouldn't have stopped it--if anything, it should have hastened -the explosion." - -"I hardly think so," said Claverly thoughtfully. "Remember that the -crystal is not an explosive in itself. Or so we believe. Anyway--" - -"Anyway, thanks to Dave, we still have our lab," said Jane. "Let's get -back to work." - -Dave shook his head. There was no point in arguing with them. They -called him brave. Nuts! Nine great laboratories had gone skyward with -their complement of scientists, trying to reproduce the fabulous -Manhattan Crystal which was now furnishing the city of New York with -electrical power. And with the deadly record of nine to nothing against -them, the scientists continued to try. Theirs was the true bravery. It -was a deadly experiment, and one that was not permitted-- - -Dave looked startled. "I thought the government insisted that these -experiments be run by telemeter control?" - -"They are." - -"Then what in the hell were we doing here?" demanded Crandall. - -"The crystal," said Claverly, "was developed last week. We'd done -everything but taste it by telemeter. It had been tested chemically, -electrically, mechanically, atomically, physically and about any other -way you can think of. We've had it white-hot and down to a half-degree -Kelvin. We've dropped it, hit it, subjected it to electrostatic and -electromagnetic fields, dunked it in everything from aqua to zerone, -looked at it and through it, bombarded it with every radiation possible -from the pile, and let it sit on a glass-topped platform to meditate. -We believed it was safe; that we'd been successful. We came in to hook -it up and test its power output, like the Manhattan Crystal. You came -along." - -Dave nodded. The message in his pocket told him that Merion Laboratory -had successfully created a replica of the Manhattan Crystal and if he -so desired, he could be present at its testing. - -He said slowly, "It seems as if there might be something important -here." - -"What?" - -"I hate to suggest it; it sounds silly." - -"So do a lot of things," said Claverly. "Go on." - -"I'm out of my depth here," said Dave. "But I've read of the so-called -human aura. The sort of thing that gives certain gardeners a 'green -thumb' and makes other men capable of curing a headache by merely -rubbing the head with the fingertips. Is this sort of thing merely -superstition or has it any basis in fact?" - -Claverly frowned. "We don't like to answer such questions," he said. -"But I'm being honest with you, Dave. The reason we don't like to -answer is that we are not too certain. The best answer is maybe, and -who knows?" - -"So the crystal sat here and took all sorts of radiation, treatment, -investigation, and the like. Then when the group of us assemble, -blooey!" - -Claverly looked at Dave. "What do you suggest?" - -"I suggest that the crystal be worked on by one person at a time. -Perhaps there's a critical mass of life-force--?" - -"Sounds fantastic. You'll keep this out of your paper, Dave?" - -"You bet--until we prove it. I don't want to sound any crazier than I -am." He looked around. "I'm going to file a yarn on the explosion," he -said. "Where's a typewriter and a telephone?" - -Claverly said, "Jane, you show him. The rest of us will mix another -batch and make us a new crystal. Then--" He left it unfinished. - -Jane Nolan nodded. "Come on, Dave." - - * * * * * - -She led him to one of the jeeps that the laboratory crew used, and they -started back towards the main collection of buildings. - -"Dave, I like you." - -Dave blinked. She laughed. "Does my directness bother you?" - -"Not exactly. But--" - -"It's caused me a lot of grief in the past; it's one of the reasons why -I've never been a howling social success. However, saying and doing -what I think makes a fine physicist out of me." - -"That I believe," said Dave. The jeep drew up to one of the buildings. -"Now," he said, "where's that typer?" - -"In the office. Or better, we have a few empties; maybe you'd like to -use one until you go back to Chicago?" - -"That would be good," he told her. "I'm going to stay right here until -you folks get this problem solved--or go up taking Merion Laboratory -with you. Maybe," he said cheerfully, "I'll be able to use your typer -to write the description of that, but it's unlikely." - -Jane faced him as he climbed out of the jeep. "We've got a job to do. I -know it sounds like a chunk of lousy script, but the bunch of us are -devoted to the job of increasing human knowledge. So we're ready to -accept the danger. But there's no reason why you should risk your hide. -You can write from here and be safe." - -"I wouldn't miss the fun for anything," he said. "When will the new -crystal be ready?" - -"Tomorrow morning." - -Jane climbed out after him. "I'll arrange for that office," she said. -"Come on." - -From the window of his office Dave Crandall watched Jane drive off in -her jeep. Then he turned to the desk and put through a long-distance -telephone call. - -"Meteridge speaking." - -"Dave Crandall, doc." - -"Yes, David. How're things going?" - -"About the same." - -"Fine. Keep the chin up." - -"Doc--there's nothing can be done?" - -"Five years ago we could have--" - -"I couldn't see it." - -Meteridge swore. "And now, like everybody else, you've changed your -mind too late?" - -"No, doc. I haven't changed my mind. I just wish it had been different." - -"So do we all. But five years ago--" - -"I know. I know. Five years ago you could have given me twenty years -more, but it meant staying on my backside for the whole route. I took -six years of active life in favor of twenty years as a total loss. I'd -do it again." - -"I suppose you would. So would I, to tell you the truth." - -Dave chuckled. "So I just called to tell you the usual. I'm okay and -feeling no pain." - -"Good. Keep me informed. And when you start feeling the pangs, let me -know. We can give you some relief." - -They hung up and Dave, deliberately putting the thought out of his -mind, went to work on his news story. It was the sort of thing that -a stable man does not dwell upon; within him, burning at his vitals, -was a fission fragment. Dispersed, it was. Too widespread for a -single removal; years and years of almost continuous operations and -convalescence would remove the danger, but it would leave Crandall abed -most of his active life. - -He--and Doctor Meteridge--knew that he had been no hero when he stayed -behind with the crystal. At the worst it had meant an instant death; at -the best, saving the lives of other people. What could Dave lose? - -Nothing but a forfeited life. - - - - - CHAPTER TWO - - The Crystal Phantoms - - -"Now," said Claverly, peering through the television hookup that -brought him an image of the crystal, "we are ready." His voice came -over the speaker tinnily. - -"It's been checked?" - -"Definitely. We're all ready." - -DeLieb manipulated the controls as the rest of them watched through the -large projection screen. Clawed arms came from the side of the screen -and picked the crystal out of the dish. They carried it over to the -mouth of a pneumatic tube, where it was dropped into a carrier. There -was a _whoosh!_ and the carrier disappeared. - -The scene on the television screen switched abruptly to Claverly, who -opened the end of the tube and removed the crystal. He held it up for -them to see. - -"So here we are," said Claverly. "The crystal and myself, removed from -the critical mass of human radiation--if that means anything. Watch me -closely. I am going to test this crystal for power output." - -Claverly turned aside and clamped the crystal in a holder. He turned -away, then, and-- - -There was a flash that filled the telescreen. It did not blind the -onlookers, for the total output of the projection system would not -furnish so much light. But the flash at the transmitting end paralyzed -the orthicon, and once the phosphor of the receiving tube ceased to -glow, the screen went dark. The orthicon at the far end of the line was -no longer working. There was no roar of sound from the speaker. Just an -electric crackle, and then the hiss of the live circuit. - -"Gone!" said DeLieb explosively. - -Phelps turned from the mounted telescope and said, "I saw a flicker -from the windows, but the building is still there." - -"Then it didn't blow," said Jane Nolan. - -Crandall caught a faint flicker on the telescreen. The bare highlights -were there, just coming up above the black level. "Claverly!" said Dave. - -They turned. The tall scientist was visible, standing still as they had -seen him before. Motionless, like a strobo-flashed picture. - -Dave raced down, out of the building and into the parked jeep. He -shoved the jeep into gear and took off with a roar. His tires threw -dust as he raced across the intervening three miles to the remote -laboratory. - -Claverly was there. A phantom Claverly; a three-dimensional image, -unmistakable as the man himself. Transparent, however; the bricks of -the far wall could be distinguished through it. - -The image was fading, but so very gradually that Dave had to watch -carefully to be certain. - - * * * * * - -"The crystal is still here," said Dave. "It seems unchanged." - -"We see," replied DeLieb. "The video is working again." - -"So--what was Claverly's next move to be?" - -"Wait!" cried Jane. "Be careful; Claverly--" - -"Someone has to do it," said Dave. "If you'll give me directions--?" - -Phelps shook his head at the rest and said: "Dave, if we could -manipulate that thing from here through these last few motions, -Claverly wouldn't have been there." - -"Forgot that," said Dave unhappily. "So now what?" - -"I'm coming over. You leave." - -"Check--but don't like it." - -Dave was less than a thousand yards away from the building when Phelps -entered. His jeep was not equipped with radio or telephone so he did -not know what went on. All he knew was a swift burst of brightness, -perceptible against the bright sky. Dave stopped the jeep in half its -length and turned it to go racing back. - -Phelps was there, too. A phantom image standing near the image of -Claverly, but apparently more solid. Claverly was fading; Phelps was a -fresh image. - -"Same damned thing!" cried Crandall into the microphone. - -"I'm coming--" started DeLieb, but Dave stopped him with a firm "No!" - -Then he ran the jeep back to the main buildings, thinking furiously. By -the time he arrived, he had an idea.... - - * * * * * - -"This is no random thing," he said. "This is malicious." - -"Malicious?" asked Jane. "What do you mean?" - -"How many nuclear laboratories have we lost, trying to reproduce this -crystal?" - -"Nine." - -"And how many top-flight scientists?" - -"Almost forty." - -"The forty we can least afford to lose," added Dave. "Can you think of -an easier way to sap the scientific strength of a country than to give -it something that performs miracles--and also kills?" - -"Ah," said Jane, shaking her head. "But there's a hole in that -reasoning. No one gave us anything. We discovered the Manhattan Crystal -by accident--in a restricted laboratory and under the most rigid -supervision." - -"Accident, hell! No doubt a young and innocent mouse thinks it's -an accident when he finds a piece of cheese. The crystal is the -cheese--and the trap. Kids, we're being taken for a ride. Give 'em a -chance to lop off a gang of you and a lab at the same time and they -do it. Give them no chance to get the lab, and they'll wait to get a -scientist. Offer 'em a cluck of a newsman, of no scientific learning, -and they wait until they have a chance at an important scientist. The -crystal is still there." - -"I'll go--" - -"DeLieb, sit still. Claverly went, Phelps went. You go, and the next -will be Nolan or Howes." - -"So what do you suggest?" - -"I'm no scientist. Teach me what to do. I'll do it." - -"You'll die." - -"I'll prove a point," said Dave. "And I won't die! I'll prove to you -that anybody but a top scientist can tinker all day with that thing -without danger. If you think I'm wrong, remember that I was there once -and came back. Now--what do I do?" - -Howes laughed bitterly. "If that were as simple as winding an alarm -clock or grinding the valves on a gas engine, we'd have no problem, -Dave." - -"You can tell me the motions; you can tell me what to do. You can coach -me at the job, and with training--hell, fellers, you don't have to know -organic chemistry to mix a cake and men have performed operations with -a jackknife at sea, with directions by radio. I'm checked out in a -B-108, and any man who can keep his eyes on seventy meters, a hundred -and twelve switches, forty levers, sixty-seven pushbuttons, and drive -the damned thing with his free hand at the same time ought to be able -to learn whatever this job requires." He looked around him. "And in the -meantime, we'll let that crystal sit there and simmer, waiting for a -nice, ripe physicist to come and get stuck!" - -"It will take days," said Jane thoughtfully. - -"Better days than lives," said Dave sharply. - -"Okay," said DeLieb. "You certainly can do no harm. You may do some -good. We'll try it your way." - -For the next ninety-six hours, Dave Crandall got a total of nine hours -of sleep. He worked in another replica of the remote lab, using similar -instruments. He had not the foggiest notion of what he was doing, but -he learned the manual dexterity necessary to do it. He didn't know -what the meters meant, but he learned how to read them. He couldn't -understand why he must do thus and so when such and such a meter read -to a certain value, but he learned that, too. He became a trained human -primate, an animal who knew that four raps plus four raps equalled -eight raps; a chimpanzee trained to drive an automobile. - -Not that Dave was ignorant, unintelligent, or untutored. Dave was -college, postgrad, and a writer. Dave knew as much present-day science -as any layman. He wrote science articles for his paper, was constantly -exposed to science, and a lot of it took. But this science was as far -beyond the kind he knew as the jet plane is beyond the Wright Brothers' -original model. - -Then DeLieb told him, "Dave, you're ready." - -"Let's go." - -"Not tonight." - -"Why waste time?" - -"You're tired. I'm tired. We're all tired, if you want to finish the -conjugation. Tonight we loaf and rest and get a full night's sleep. -Tomorrow we work. This is the royal edict." - -"I vote yea," laughed Jane Nolan. "Come, ambitious one. On nine hours' -sleep in four days, you should be easy to handle." - -Dave shrugged. DeLieb looked askance. "Jane, if you take him dancing, -we'll all kill you." - -"You wouldn't have to," she said. "I'd be dead already. No, I'm taking -Dave out to the farm where he can see stars and breathe fresh air, and -loaf on long grass." - - * * * * * - -Jane's mother, forewarned, piled the dinner table high, and Dave was -fed to the bursting point. They walked under the stars, afterwards, and -then sprawled on the long grass, looking at the sky. - -"You're quite a guy, Dave," said Jane. - -"Probably the only one of my kind in existence," he said solemnly. -"Most men have eight eyes, you know. I've only got two." - -"Blue, aren't they?" - -"Brown," he corrected. "All two of them." - -"They're blue." - -"Brown." - -"Dave, I'm a qualified observer and I recall them as blue!" - -"Wishful thinking. Probably your first love had blue eyes." - -Jane lit a match and held it over him for an instant. "Blue," she said. - -"Are you going to believe your eyes or what I tell you?" he demanded. - -"My eyes," she said. "Just because I happen to think you're quite -special, I don't necessarily believe everything you say." - -"What's so special? I'm just an ordinary sort of guy. Most of the -things I learned in school haven't been much use to me. I drink too -much and smoke too much, go to church far too little--if at all--and -have no immediate hope for mankind." - -"You're an idealist." - -"No cigar. Cynic, yes. But idealist--?" - -"You are," she said. "You are also some sort of human dynamo. You come -as a newspaperman to report on our doings and end up marching yourself -into danger and almost running the research group." - -"Think of the story I'll be able to write," he said. - -"And if you don't--?" - -He laughed. "I'm in no danger," he said. - -"I hope you aren't." - -"Better me than someone who might be able to solve this thing." - -"I don't think so." - -"I'm no loss to civilization, Jane." - -"That's your fault," she told him, half-angry. "You could be a great -asset if you'd only try." - -"And what form of attempt does this require?" - -"Stop playing cynic. We don't need people to tell civilization that it -has a dirty back yard or a few rotten beams in the cellar. What we need -is a few men with ideals to tell us how to clean up the yard and how to -bolster the rotten stringers. Set your sights on some goal, and then -settle down to work for it." - -Dave groaned. "How do you start settling down after thirty-five years -of hell-raising?" - -"Do you want to know?" - -"I've often wanted to know." - -"Get married, Dave." - -"Who'd have me?" - -"I would. Marry me, Dave." - -"Lord, no!" he exploded. - -"I expected a refusal," she said softly. "I didn't expect quite such a -vigorous rejection." - -"I'm not rejecting you," he said earnestly. "You're a fine woman, -Jane." - -"Who was she?" Jane asked. - -"She? Who?" - -"The girl that broke your heart." - -Dave laughed. "I'm not carrying any torch," he told her. He leaned on -one elbow and looked down at her. The starlight was faint, but he could -see her well enough. "In fact, Jane, under other circumstances I might -get quite soft-headed about you." - -"Then why not?" - -He flopped back and stared at the sky. "Jane, you've accused me of -being brave. This is damned foolishness. I'm not brave. I've got about -six months to live, and I'm told the end will not be pleasant. I'd -prefer to go black in a hurry, doing something that couldn't be done by -a man with his life ahead of him. That isn't bravery; it's just cutting -clean the end of a well-frayed rope." - -"Who says so?" demanded Jane. - -"The famous Dr. Thomas Meteridge." - -"He might be wrong." - -Crandall chuckled. "He's seldom wrong. Fact is, Jane, I've to kick off -in six months, otherwise Old Doc Meteridge is a quack and a charlatan." - -"He may be wrong." - -Dave found her hand and held it over his side. "Feel warm? That's a -collection of fission products, tossing all sorts of junk around." - -After a moment she said, "Some men wait for death complacently; some -spend their remaining time roistering; and Dave Crandall spends his -time doing dangerous jobs for humanity. Now tell me that you're not an -idealist, Dave." - -"I--" - -"Oh, stop arguing," she said. She still held the hand that had pressed -hers over his side. Now Jane caught it in a hard grip and pulled, -rolling him towards her. She met him halfway, missed his lips on the -first try, and then made contact as her free arm went around his -shoulders. Dave's was a startled response at first. - -"Who's arguing?" he asked after a moment. He added his free arm to the -embrace and held her to him. - -The stars above them whirled a quarter way across the sky--unnoticed. - - - - - CHAPTER THREE - - The Other World - - -Crandall awoke to the faint sounds of farm life and spent a few sleepy -moments wondering where he was. The low of a cow, the creak of a -windmill, and the bustle of activity in another part of the house; -the sigh of a free wind and the whisper of leaves--none of these were -indigenous to his normal habitat and it annoyed him until the sleep -left him and he recalled. - -Days of hard work and too little sleep, the relaxation of the farm for -an evening. Jane. Jane! - -Crandall swore mildly. He became introspective and carefully analyzed -his feelings, even though he knew that he was hopelessly incapable -of coming to an honest solution about himself. His glands and his -intellect were at wide variance. He had no right to ask for nor could -he offer love. - -Dave growled at himself and climbed out of bed. A cool shower helped; -he was glad that the Nolan farm was not of the older variety. Here -at least was farm life with almost every comfort of urban living. He -dressed and then went down the stairs slowly. - -"Sleepyhead," Jane called as she saw him. "It's nearly nine o'clock." - -"Middle of the night," he said. - -"Dad and Mom have been up for hours." - -"And you?" - -"Positively minutes." Jane came to him, face upraised. He kissed her -and momentarily forgot his troubles. - -But it all ended too soon. Breakfast was leisurely, and then they were -off, back to Merion. - -They arrived at the laboratory in an hour, and then the bustle of -activity herded Dave's introspective feelings out of his mind. - -He discovered that the night of relaxation had sharpened his mind. He -ran through the program once more in the remote lab, and then they -announced that he was ready to try the real thing. - -Dave went to the jeep. Jane followed. - -"Dave--be careful." - -"As possible," he agreed. He kissed her and then started off towards -the remote lab that still held the crystal clamped in the electrodes. - -_They_ wanted physicists, huh? He'd show them, whoever they were. He'd -fox them. The trick was completely incomprehensible, but however they -did it, it was as neat a program of treachery as had been invented in -all history. In an earlier day the enemy went for the leaders, the -generals and the admirals and the kings and emperors. Now it was the -engineers and physicists, for it was science that carried victory. The -most brilliant military strategist was a mere cork bobbing on the rim -of a whirlpool if he were not equipped with the latest and best that -could come from applied physics. - -But Dave was not a physicist. He was just a scribbler of articles, an -occasional writer of fiction. So Dave was not the man _they_ wanted. -Let them sit and chew their fingernails while he, a zero quantity as -far as they were concerned, toyed with the crystal. It wouldn't be -practical to waste the crystal on him, any more than it was practical -to hurl a can of SPAM[1] at a convoy escort. - -[Footnote 1: For Self Propelled Atomic Missile: a humorous contraction -used in a novel, "Murder of the U.S.A.," by Will F. Jenkins, shortly -after World War II. When self-propelled guided missiles came into -being, General Lansdowne conferred Jenkins' appellation upon them and -the name has remained.--G.O.S.] - -Dave arrived at the remote lab and went to work. They checked him -through the video and the sound channel both ways, and then Dave turned -toward the crystal. - -"The power," he said, "is being built up, as you can hear in the -background, the generators are groaning a bit under the initial heavy -load. The--ah--gaussmeter is rising up the scale. It occurs to me -that the boys on the other side of this might well be chewing their -fingernails at the moment. If I've got this thing figured right, _they_ -can see into this lab and know me and who I am--and possibly what I am -doing. Maybe they've even figured out the why of it. - -"Now, the next item is something I've been keeping quiet about. I doubt -that _they_ can read minds, but I'm pretty sure they can hear us and -watch us. So I've kept quiet until now. - -"As Dr. Thomas Meteridge can tell you, I've been given about six months -to live. So I have nothing to lose, especially if I can prove a point. -I've claimed stoutly that _they_ aren't interested in anything but -physicists, and that a tyro would be safe out here. But it's still -possible that I was wrong. - -"As you'll note, I've already got farther than either Claverly or -Phelps. I think that if I kept my mouth shut now, I'd be allowed to -finish the job. But--I think I have a clue to the identity of the -enemy, and the method they're using to destroy our top scientific -talent!" - -He paused. "Of course, I could be bluffing. But I don't think _they_ -can afford to take that chance. So, in a minute, when I start to tell -you what I think I know, they'll have to decide...." - -"Dave," cried Jane, "what chance have you got?" - -"A fair chance," he said. "We've got them spread nicely across the -horns of a dilemma. If _they_ do grab me, it will prove that there's an -enemy alien at work. If they don't grab me, I'll solve their secret--" - -[Illustration: As the crystal flashed, he vanished....] - -The crystal flashed pearly-white. Again it paralyzed the orthicon -and crackled in the loudspeaker. It blinded Dave momentarily, but he -shouted, "I'm still here!" - -He heard a cry from the far end of the sound system. It faded rapidly. - - * * * * * - -As his eyesight returned, Dave looked around curiously. The laboratory -was still around him, but it had the same semi-ghostly appearance that -Claverly and Phelps had had. Of the images of the two physicists Dave -could see nothing. They had been there, faintly visible, when he had -gone in. Now they were gone. Dave looked at the workbench. He passed a -hand through it. He stamped on the floor and found that he was stamping -_through_ the floor; he was actually standing on a semi-smooth surface -a few inches below it. - -"Damn!" he swore. He looked around. The concrete walls of the building -were heavy and thick; he could not see clearly through them. He walked -forward, hands outstretched, and saw his hands enter the wall. He -walked through the wall, and felt a slight resistance, as though he -were walking through water. He burst through the far side and the -released pressure pitched him headlong. - -Once outside, Dave looked around. In the ghostly distance he could see -the main laboratory building and the jeep bearing Jane, DeLieb, and -Howes. They came to the building and Dave ran to meet them. - -"I'm here," he called. He screamed it. He yelled at the top of his -voice. Jane walked through him. Her face was broken, tears filled her -eyes, and Dave tried desperately to get her attention. But she walked -through him and went on. They went in the door; Dave walked back -through the phantom wall and met them inside. - -"Dave!" cried Jane. She ran across the room and reached--then recoiled, -her face twisted in horror. - -"Like Claverly, like Phelps," she whispered. - -"Like hell!" yelled Dave. "Dammitall, I'm here!" - -"Gone!" said Jane. - -"I'm not gone!" snapped Dave. But a still voice inside him said that he -was. He looked carefully at the place Jane watched with horror-filled -eyes. He could see nothing. Then he went to Jane and peered into her -eyes. The pupils were clear. Dave snorted. If he could not see the -image of himself that Jane saw, there was no reason why he could see a -possible reflection of that image in her pupils. - -"So he proved it," said DeLieb. - -"And so we continue, knowing that something or someone is maliciously -attacking us," said Howes. - -"It's mine," said Jane in a flat voice. - -"No--" said DeLieb. - -"I want to follow him," she said. - -"Don't be a fool!" yelled Dave. - -He ran to the crystal and slapped at it. It hurt. With a glad cry, Dave -pried at it with his fingers. The clamping electrodes held it firm--and -he could not touch them, for they were as thin and tenuous as the -concrete wall through which he had walked. Only the crystal was solid -both _there_ and _here_. - -Dave smiled sourly. If he was dead, then this was a fine psychological -hell. Here he was watching friends and a loved one marching into deadly -danger, listening to their grief and their dangerous plans, while he -was completely helpless to guide them. - -He felt the crystal move slightly under his straining fingers. Wrapping -a handkerchief about his fist, Dave punched at the crystal. It gave--or -on the other side, the clamping electrodes gave. At any rate, it was -loose. - -He hit it again and jarred it. - -"The crystal!" cried Jane. "It's moving!" - -"Blow-up!" yelled DeLieb. - -But this time there was no panic. Howes cut the energizing power with a -flick of his hands across the toggle switches. DeLieb clamped down on -the electrodes with a hand and spun the wingnuts that held it with the -other. Jane Nolan grabbed at the crystal as it came free and turned to -the pneumatic delivery tube. - -But Dave reached out a hand and snatched it from her. - -Jane cried in pain and fear, and watched the crystal make three long -swoops towards the concrete wall--Dave had grabbed it and started to -run outside. The crystal was wrenched from his fingers as he went -through the wall. It fell to the floor, and all three physicists -swooped down upon it. - -Jane came up with it and popped it into the pneumatic tube. - -It rattled thrice and was gone, racing down the tube end over end, -visible to Dave as it raced out of reach. - -"It wants physicists," breathed DeLieb. - -"But it's gone now." - -"And so is Dave," cried Jane. - -"Dammit," snapped Dave. Then he gave up, because he knew the utter -futility of trying to make them hear him. - -But there was a way! - -The crystal extended through both worlds. All Dave had to do was to get -the crystal and use it as a stylus against some surface in the other -world. - -He turned to follow the pneumatic tube towards the place where the -crystal had gone. He was not more than a hundred yards down the length -of the tube when the sky blinded him from a couple of miles away, -and then the air roared, and then when vision returned he could see -a pillar of white smoke billowing skyward. _They_ had destroyed the -crystal! - - * * * * * - -Dave stopped to think. - -Clearly, the exploding crystal was as dangerous on this side as it was -on the other. That meant that no one could stand close by and watch the -thing to be sure of which physicists they got--unless they used some -sort of television hookup. - -So Dave retraced his steps to the laboratory and inspected it. He -saw nothing, and so began to feel his way through the walls of the -building. He became engrossed in this job; it was both interesting and -a bit terrifying to go walking through walls and feeling along the -insides of beams and rafters. The building was a sort of thick phantom. -Not only were the walls transparent, but the pipe lines, electrical -wiring, nails, and other normally hidden bits of construction were -visible within them. And walking along the length of a wall with a -shoulder on either side, one in one room and one in the other, was -disconcerting as well as amusing. - -The heavy concrete-block walls, set up for radiation barriers, were -wider than Crandall's shoulder-spread, and he could walk through their -length completely enclosed in the hard concrete. Here it was eerie, -too, for encased in the concrete were electrical wires and pipes, to -Dave no heavier than the concrete through which he walked, but none the -less clearly visible. - -So Dave inspected the remote lab, walking down the walls and through -the pipes and wires that stretched through the house like a spider's -web, and he saw no evidence of espionage-- - ---until he caught his throat under a wire that should have been as -tenuous as the others, but which almost throttled him. - -Dave bounded back, clutching at his throat and swearing soundly. - -Then he realized! - -And forgetting his throat, Dave followed the wire to one of the remote -video and audio sets. He pulled it aside--and it split into two -complete sets! There were two television cameras, identical in every -way, one in Dave's world, one in the everyday world, placed in perfect -register! - -His proof! - -His friends had gone; obviously back to their laboratory to prepare -another crystal. Here he could get one: their next one. Then he could -communicate with them and start planning a counter-offensive. - -Dave looked across the plain towards the main laboratory building, and -shrugged. If he had a crystal now, all he could do would be to let them -know he was alive and on the job, but had no information. On the other -hand, he had fouled up the television camera in the remote lab, and it -seemed likely that there would be a repairman coming along to see what -was wrong. - -Just where Claverly and Phelps were in this mess Dave didn't know. -But he assumed that soon after their projection into this cockeyed -half-world, the enemy had come along to collect them both. - -Dave blinked at a sudden fantastic thought: would the flashing of a -crystal send him back to his own world, or toss him along into another -one? - -An interesting thought--to be pursued later. Right this moment the -thing to do was to lie doggo until the enemy arrived to take Dave in -tow. This time, instead of a baffled scientist, they were attempting to -catch a gent who was more interested in being alive than in figuring -out where he was. - -Had Dave been a pure scientist, he would have been amazed and baffled -by this half-world. The whys and wherefores would have bothered him to -the exclusion of other considerations, and he would have been standing -there trying to figure it all out when the enemy came along to collect -him. Instead, Dave was still alive, or felt that he was, and that was -enough for him. Someone else could figure out how and why; his was the -line of action; so long as he was able, he was going to continue to -live and fight. - -So when the helicopter dropped down out of the sky near the remote -laboratory and disgorged a man carrying a rifle, Dave, the quarry, was -sprawled behind a slight ridge in the half-world's terrain, watching -through a cleft in the stone outcrop. - - - - - CHAPTER FOUR - - The Struggle for Earth - - -The man with the rifle prowled around the ship, looking carefully out -across the plains. - -Then, angrily, he turned and said something at the door of the -helicopter, and a second head appeared. There was a short discussion -that Dave could not hear, and then the second man came out carrying -a tool kit and headed for the lab. The first man got back into the -helicopter and took off towards the main building. - -Dave nodded. It was reasonable to suppose that Claverly, and then -Phelps, after finding themselves in this half-world alone, had gone -back to the main laboratory to see if they could raise the attention of -their friends. Dave himself could have been expected to follow, running -after the jeep that had taken the others back to their lab. The hunter -expected to find Dave wandering disconsolately around the other lab. - -When the helicopter had disappeared, Dave arose and scuttled across the -plain towards the building he had left. He felt like a battleship on a -clear ocean in broad daylight trying to slink unseen behind an enemy, -but there seemed no way to avoid it. At any rate, the workman was -paying no attention to his surroundings. - -Within the walls of the laboratory, the workman was unlimbering his -tool kit. He was an efficient workman. It was his job to repair the -television camera and it was his cohort's job to track down and dispose -of Dave. - -He went to work on this basis and ignored the possibility that Dave -might be stalking him--until Dave came silently up behind him and -kicked the small sectional ladder out from beneath the workman's feet. -Dave's fist came plunging through the windmill of flying arms and legs -and connected solidly beneath the workman's ear. Startled, off-balance, -and then slugged, the workman came to earth with a dull thud and -sprawled motionless. Dave snarled and made doubly sure with a thrusting -heel-kick against the workman's jaw and throat. The workman was not the -first man to die from such a kick. - -Then, in a matter of minutes, Dave was wearing the dead workman's shirt -and trousers and was plying the tools on the television camera deftly. -Dave had not wrecked the thing, he had just swung his weight against -its moorings and displaced it. The problem was simple, and was handled -by a couple of adjustable end-wrenches. It could have been done by -sheer strength, but not with the desired precision. So Dave loosened -the nuts that held the flexible couplings and slid the camera back into -its original perfect registry with the camera in the real world. He was -tightening the nuts again when he heard the helicopter returning. - -Dave stooped and packed the tools back in the kit, folded the -collapsible ladder and stowed it atop the tools, and then stood up and -waved at the pilot. - -The helicopter landed. The pilot got out and called, "Have you seen -him?" - -This was in a foreign tongue that Dave understood, and could speak -acceptably. - -"He jumped me," called Dave, pointing with his toe at the inert figure -on the floor beside him. - -The pilot looked and scowled. "Dead?" - -"No!" grunted Dave, turning his back on the pilot, who was approaching. -He scooped up the tool kit with his left hand and walked rapidly to -get out of range of whatever loudspeaker system the enemy had in the -laboratory. He strode thirty feet towards the pilot, who also came -towards Dave about the same distance. Then-- - -"You're not--" - -"Up!" snapped Dave, dropping the tool kit and pulling the captured -revolver out of its holster. - -The pilot snarled and made a side-swinging fadeaway motion, bringing -the rifle up from its under-arm position. The pilot fired and the slug -snapped past Dave's head. Dave fired and winged the pilot in the right -shoulder, spinning the man around and dropping him to the ground. - -Then Dave raced forward, made a long leap, and landed, kicking the -rifle away with one heel and planting the toe of the other foot cruelly -in the armpit of the wounded shoulder. - -Pain crazed the pilot and he writhed on the ground, half-conscious. -When he came to, Dave had his knees and ankles trussed with friction -tape and was winding his free arm against his body with more tape. - -The pilot mouthed some unprintables. - -"Shut up!" snapped Dave. - -"Bah!" - -Dave backhanded the pilot across the face. The face writhed in pain and -the eyes half-closed again. Dave tore the sleeve from the shirt and -bound the bullet wound crudely. - -"Now," he said harshly, "you'll live if you behave. It ain't painless, -but you'll live--if you want to." - -"You can't get away with this." - -"No?" - -"We'll get you sooner or later--" - -"Think you'll live to see it?" - -"Yes." - -"You're wrong again, chum." - -"Bah! We know your kind, all of you. Self-centered and egotistical, not -one of you would care to die for his fellow man. We--" - -Dave snorted scornfully. "During the last time we got in a scrap to -prove that we're not as sloppy as you think, I took on a load of -fission products. I don't much care whether you kill me quick right now -or whether you let me die six months from now. I'm a dead man anyway. -But in the meantime, little pawn of the superstate, I might be able to -foul you up because I have nothing to be afraid of--but failure!" Dave -let that sink in, although he doubted whether it made much impression. -Then he demanded, "What do you know about this?" - -"Nothing." - -Dave joggled the wounded arm. "Are you certain?" - -"You can't torture it out of me," said the pilot between gritted teeth. - -"Maybe I can scare it out of you," said Dave. He stood up and lifted -the pilot by hooking his left hand under the windings of tape. He -dragged the man along the ground to the helicopter and slung him into -the passenger's seat. Then Dave went around and climbed into the pilot -seat and wound up the motor. He snapped off the radio and inspected the -dashboard carefully to be sure that all radiating equipment was dead; -he did not wish to be followed by any direction-finding equipment. - -Then he drove the helicopter for two solid hours north until he came to -a piney forest. He dropped the ship slantwise through the forest for -a mile and came to earth in a little glade. The wheels of the 'copter -rested on the half-world surface a few inches below the apparent ground. - - * * * * * - -"Now, my friend, I'm going to show you a few things that may prove to -you that we're not as stupid as you think. For one thing, I, an unarmed -man in a strange world, have succeeded in killing one of your buddies, -wounding you, and making off with your helicopter. I've succeeded in -escaping to a place where it may be difficult--if possible at all--to -find us. Third, I've established the fact that you are not carrying any -means of communicating to the real world on this 'copter." - -"Oh, brilliant," said the pilot. - -"It was," nodded Dave. "You see, we're a bunch of mechanical geniuses, -which you've always admitted. So I postulate some sort of mechanical -linkage through these devil's crystals of yours. A pencil, perhaps, -with the barrel in one world and the magazine in the other world, -coupled between them with a bushing made of a crystal. Maybe a radio -set with bushings in the dials, and a crystal between the this-world -diaphragm and the real-world electrical element. But if we were -carrying anything of that nature I'd have felt resistance as we passed -down through this forest. So--?" - -"Why don't you kill me and forget it all?" asked the pilot. - -"I am compassionate, sympathetic. A lover of mine enemy. When smitten -upon one cheek, I turn the other cheek for a second wallop. Since -you've had only one wallop, I'm keeping you alive so you can get that -busted wing back in shape for the second smiting. But you see," added -Dave as he saw a wave of pain pass over the pilot, "the book doesn't -fill in the gap between the smiting of the first cheek and the offering -of the second. Elsewhere in the same book--and a long way in front of -that--you find references to the taking of an eye for an eye and a -tooth for a tooth. You and your gang of hotshots have been responsible -for the deaths of a lot of fine men, killed with no warning. - -"So," finished Dave, hard-voiced, "maybe you'd like to learn what goes -on when a mild-mannered gent like myself gets mad?" - -Dave reached across the pilot's body, grasped the wounded arm and -joggled it sharply. The pilot cried out in pain and beads of sweat -popped out on his face. - -"Talk, damn you!" Dave twisted the arm again. - -"Where are you running this game from?" - -No answer--and another twist of the arm. - -"How do you blow up the crystals?" - -The pilot's eyes closed and he breathed heavily. - -"Possum!" said Dave, slapping the pilot across the face. There was no -response, so he fumbled under the seat and found a water flask. He -threw a small handful into the pilot's face. "There isn't much of this -here," he said, "and I doubt that there's any water we can drink on -this half-world. Wounded men get thirsty, don't they, chum?" - -The pilot opened his eyes and groaned, "Water--" - -"Talk!" - -"I don't know anything." - -"Then you're no good to me alive!" snapped Dave. - -The pilot sat up a bit. Dave twisted the arm again. "Don't!" pleaded -the pilot. - -"Then talk!" snapped Dave again. "You got into this world the same as I -did, but by choice. How do we get out again?" - -"There's--no way out." - -"Baloney." - -The pilot screamed in pain. "No--I swear it!" - -"How does the Manhattan Crystal furnish power for New York?" - -"I don't know." - -"It's transmission of power, isn't it?" demanded Dave, jerking the -wounded arm again. - -"I--" - -"Good. That's what I thought. Transmission from one crystal to another. -They blow them up the same way?" - -The pilot nodded, weakly. - -"So _we_ don't manufacture the crystals in the nuclear laboratories. -You and your gang deliver them like Santa Claus, coming down the -chimney!" - -The pilot nodded again. - -"Now--where is this thing run from?" - -The pilot shook his head. Dave snapped the arm sharply and the pilot -screamed. He screamed a name. - -"There's no way back?" - -"No," groaned the pilot. - -Dave let him go. "No way of communicating with the real world from -here?" - -"No." - -"Do you know where we are?" - -"Interstitial time." - -"What?" roared Dave angrily. - -The pilot winced. "I'm told," he gasped, "that time moves in quanta, -like energy. We're--between two quanta of time." - - * * * * * - -Dave frowned thoughtfully. The expression, "out of phase" came to -mind, and he decided that the half-world was displaced, out of phase -in time, moving behind one peak of the "real world" and before the -next. He remembered seeing a series of synchronizing pulses depicted -on an oscilloscope; a series of rectangular waves, square-sided and -flat-topped, rising from the baseline sharply. Like the cross-section -of a row of piano keys, the separation between pulses very narrow -compared to the width of the flat top. This half-world, he supposed, -moved along in the separation. - -"Where is Claverly--and Phelps?" - -"I don't know. Another crew captured them and took them back." - -"I think that's about enough," said Dave. "I think we can take it from -here." - -"And what are you going to do with me?" - -Dave grinned, "We'll make a sporting proposition out of this, superman. -You'll be the bait for a trap. If the trap springs on me, you'll win. -If the trap springs on you, well, that's just too damned bad!" - -"You can't trap us!" - -"No? You told me I couldn't get anything out of you, either. So just -watch!" - -Dave lifted the 'copter once more and drove, at headlong pace, back -to Merion. He hovered thirty feet above the pseudo-ground, less than -half a mile from the main building, and then cut the engine and let -the helicopter drop. For good measure, he tilted it sidewise. The ship -landed with a jarring crash that crumpled the landing gear and folded -one of the rotor blades down. The hull crumpled in on one side, and a -litter of broken glass and some splinters of metal spread out across -the earth. Dave completed the picture by kicking out the fore window -and strewing the ground around the ship with the gear from the various -tool boxes and compartments. - -He found a first-aid kit. He charged a hypo needle with a healthy slug -of sedative and placed it handy. - -Then he sat back and waited. - -An hour passed; two, three, and darkness began to fall. Dave switched -on the landing lights of the 'copter, and then with a vicious smile -he kicked one of them loose so that its beam cut the ground askew, -illuminating the litter on the ground. - -Two hours after dark he was rewarded by the distant sound of another -helicopter. Dave went to work vigorously. He clipped the pilot across -the jaw, dazing him. He shoved the needle home and discharged the -sedative into the pilot's body. Then he cut the tape and shoved -the feebly-struggling body half out through the fore window, being -callously rough so that the pilot's face and shoulders were slightly -cut by the broken glass. - -The pilot, roused a bit by the pain, waved at the oncoming helicopter, -trying to warn it off. Instead, the other pilot dropped rapidly towards -the wreck. - -It landed a hundred feet away and two men dropped to the ground and -came running. - -"What happened?" cried the foremost. - -"Wreck," groaned Crandall, inside the ship. - -He took careful aim with the pilot's rifle and fired, twice. Both men -dropped in their tracks. - -Leaping over them, Dave went to their helicopter and climbed in. He -snapped the radio switch and said, "We're back, reporting." - -"What happened, M-22?" the speaker answered tinnily, and Dave cheered -himself for guessing correctly that the other pilot or observer had -reported before investigating. - -"Complete wreck," he said shortly. - -"The men?" - -"Dead." - -"You're certain, M-22?" - -"I am." - -"What was the waving, then?" - -"Piece of canvas. I thought it was one of them. The light, you know." - -"Ah, yes. Over there it is dark. All right, proceed as directed and -return to this wreck once the crystal is placed!" - -"Check. M-22 signing off." - -Dave snapped off the radio and rummaged about in the helicopter. He -found the crystal, packed neatly in an aluminum box in the compartment -below the dash. - -Now to find something to write upon. Nothing he had available would -suffice. And if he took the crystal into the laboratory to write upon -a wall, the video cameras would see him and the enemy would blow the -crystal up, and himself with it. There was-- - -Jane! - -Dave grinned happily. He lifted the 'copter and drove it madly across -the plain, following the ghostly road he recalled so well, until he -came to the farmhouse of the Nolan family. Shamelessly, Dave lifted the -'copter around the farmhouse, peering into the windows until he located -Jane's bedroom. He took the crystal from its packing and forced it -through the window screen. Then he took the whole helicopter in through -the house until he was sitting beside her bed. He tapped her shoulder -with the crystal until she awoke. - -"Uh--what?" she gasped, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. - -She snapped on the light and sat up in bed. - -She saw the crystal, apparently floating before her eyes, and she -jumped with fright. Then Dave took the 'copter close to the wall. He -scratched in the plaster: - -_Jane. This is Dave!_ - -"Dave!" she breathed. - -_Yes!_ It was hard on the plaster, but necessary. - -"You can hear me?" - -Dave pointed to the "Yes" with the crystal. - -"You can see me?" - -Again came the point. And Jane hurriedly wrapped herself in the sheet -and blushed. Then she threw away the sheet and said. "It seems that -this is no time for modesty, Dave." - -He tapped the printed "Yes" once again as Jane reached for her dressing -gown and slipped into it. - -"What do you want?" she asked. - -_Carbon paper_, he wrote on the wall. - -Jane disappeared, and Dave smiled at the scribbling on the wall. Its -disjointed message was bearing fruit. But what could one make out of: - -_Jane. This is Dave!_ - -_Yes!_ - -_Carbon paper._ - -Nothing but the safety of America! - - * * * * * - -Instead of carbon paper, Jane brought a "Magic Slate", one of those -wax-based tablets covered with a celluloid sheet that can be written on -with a stylus and then erased by lifting the celluloid. It was better -than carbon paper, and Dave cheered to himself at her brain-work. - -"What is that?" she asked. - -_This crystal is the one the enemy was bringing to Merion Laboratory -to replace the one they blew up in the safety-dump yesterday_, he wrote. - -"Where are you?" - -_I am in some sort of interspace between time quanta. Your guess is -better than mine._ - -"Who is the enemy?" - -Dave wrote it out, and then added the rest of the details. - -"What shall I do?" - -_Stop them--somehow._ - -"How can I stop them?" wailed Jane. - -_Call President Morgan._ You can do that, he wrote. _Let the President -put a stop to it!_ - -Jane nodded and went to the telephone. Dave followed. _I'm putting this -crystal in Merion_, he said. _I've been away too long--they will be -getting suspicious._ - -"Dave," cried Jane, helplessly looking for him. It was hard on Dave, -for he knew what she wanted and was unable to stand where her eyes were -trying to focus. He gave up and watched her eyes look aside and through -him, unable to help her see him as he could see her. "Dave," she cried -plaintively, "come back to me!" - -_When I can_, he promised. - -Jane waved the pad. "I have that in writing," she said. Her face showed -it to be a hard try at humor. - -Dave tapped her gently on the forehead with the crystal, and then it -took off in a long swoop towards the window as he left. He did not -know, but he assumed that a certain amount of time must be permitted -the placers of those crystals since the operator could not open a -door, nor must he permit the crystal to be seen floating through a -busy corridor. How much of this grace period he had left he did not -know, but he wanted the crystal placed under the eye of the television -cameras of the enemy before they became suspicious. - -The crystal was a deadly thing under any circumstances, but now it was -like a gallon tin of nitroglycerine; Jane, knowing the facts, would -keep people out of its sphere of death. - -Meanwhile, as Dave drove the helicopter towards Merion, the avalanche -of action that he had initiated was rolling higher and higher. - -A common, garden-variety citizen of no especial degree of public -acclaim is normally supposed to be able to shake the President by -the hand and/or complain about the weather or the administration, -or taxes, or anything. It has never been determined just what might -happen if Peter Doakes, of South Burlap, Idaho, became possessed of -vital information that must be handed to the President within the -hour. Without a doubt the country would be blown sky-high by the time -Mr. Doakes succeeded in proving to ninety-odd undersecretaries that -he had something truly important and was not a crank or a crackpot. -But Dr. Jane Nolan of Merion Atomic Laboratory had both a name and a -reputation, and when she placed her call to the White House, it took -her exactly twelve minutes to convince the powers that be that she had -something vital to discuss with President Morgan. Four minutes later, -the President had been awakened and was on the telephone. It took -another fifteen minutes for Jane to tell her story. - -Then the President haled a pompous little man out of bed and made -him stand at the telephone while the President of the United States -gave the Foreign Ambassador a bit of the Official What-For, and began -explaining that it was not necessary for Congress to convene in order -for the United States to rise and defend herself against a sneak attack -from a Foreign Power, and that under the Circumstances, the President -was going to present the Foreign Power with a fine collection of -American Military Secrets, and that the first of these Gifts would be -presented within the hour unless the Foreign Power surrendered first. - -The President had a few other suggestions regarding the Return, -unharmed, of a couple of American Scientists, and the well-being of a -certain American Newspaperman, and some other items of mutual interest, -and Furthermore, Mister Ambassador-- - - * * * * * - -Dave Crandall flew his helicopter towards Merion, wondering how things -were going. His job was done. He, too, was finished. There was no -return. Not that Dave felt any great urge to return; doubtless there -was something he could find to do in this half-world that would let him -go on working. He would have to contact them and have them ship him -groceries, cigarettes, and water. But there were many things that a man -could do here. - -He thought about Jane, and his heart softened for a moment. This was -just as well, however. She would forget him, while he had no future -worth thinking about. Only hard work, partly because he liked activity, -partly because it kept him from brooding about the date of his certain -death. - -A wonderful woman, Jane Nolan; one not to be hurt by fate's little -tricks. But so long as he was here, she-- - -The crystal he had in his pocket flashed brilliantly, penetrating the -cloth and lighting up the cabin of the helicopter. At once, Dave felt -the hard matter of the seat grow tenuous, and there was a bare instant -of sliding resistance, like the feeling of plunging a foot into the -shifting sand of a beach. Then the helicopter disappeared and Dave felt -himself falling. - -"Damned unmitigated liar!" growled Dave. Then he crashed into a tree -and lost consciousness. - -Dave meant the pilot who swore that there was no return to the real -world. - -He opened his eyes and groaned. He tried to move and found that he -could not. He might as well be covered up to the eyebrows in concrete. - -He looked around and saw a crowd of people watching him. - -"Welcome home." - -"But--?" - -"I owe you an apology." Dave looked and saw President Morgan. - -"Apology?" - -"I got too tough with them. They flashed you back while you were flying -the helicopter. You're banged up a little." - -"Nothing that can't be repaired," said Doctor Meteridge cheerfully. "A -beautiful case. Fractures of the tibia, fibula, radius and ulna on -one side, humerus and clavicle on the other. Bruises and a couple of -abrasions. Nothing serious." - -"David," said President Morgan, "a grateful people is waiting for your -convalescence so that we can show you our appreciation." - -"Yes," said Jane. "Get well. We all have plans for you!" - -Dave tried to shake his head. "No, Jane. Doc'll tell you. Six months--" - -"You can't escape me that easily," said Jane. "While you're all -neatly immobilized in that plaster cast, we are using their machine -to separate out the widespread specks of fission products that were -killing you. Just a matter of tuning critically so that it will send -certain isotopes into the half-world instead of the whole human being. -So by the time you get off your back, we'll have you healthy again and -then, Dave Crandall, just you think up another excuse!" - -"Pick on a guy when he's down," grumbled Dave. 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Smith. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -.caption p -{ - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0; - margin: 0.25em 0; - font-weight: bold; -} - -x-ebookmaker-drop {display: none;} - -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; -} - -/* Footnotes */ -.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} - -.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} - -.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: .8em; - text-decoration: - none; -} - -.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The death crystal, by George O. Smith</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: The death crystal</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: George O. Smith</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: November 8, 2022 [eBook #69314]</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 THE DEATH CRYSTAL ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter x-ebookmaker-drop"> - <img src="images/illusc.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<p><i>One by one, forty of the Earth's greatest<br /> -scientists vanished into that world beyond the<br /> -universe—until one man, doomed by its fatal<br /> -rays, carried humanity's last hope back the<br /> -blinding, twisted corridors that led through—</i></p> - -<h1>The DEATH CRYSTAL</h1> - -<h2>By GEORGE O. SMITH</h2> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Super Science Stories May 1950.<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 class="ph1">CHAPTER ONE</p> - -<p class="ph1">The Shape of Danger</p> - - -<p>They looked at the crystal in horror.</p> - -<p>It was the horror of the serpent, or of the Gorgon's head. They were -fascinated; in that moment not one of them could have torn his gaze -away. All work ceased. The noises in the concrete-walled room died -until the whish of breathing and the thumping of hearts could be -heard.</p> - -<p>Then panic caught them, and fought against training. Panic cried, -<i>Run!</i> and training said, <i>Remove yourself quickly.</i></p> - -<p>With the motion-saving efficiency of the emergency drill, each man -turned from his position and walked rapidly towards whichever exit was -nearest.</p> - -<p>Actually, they could not outrun the danger any more than one can duck -a rifle bullet or outrace the atomic bomb. But they went, five men and -one woman, out through the zigzag corridors towards a mirage of safety.</p> - -<p>One man remained.</p> - -<p>Dave Crandall stepped forward and picked the crystal from its place -in the evaporation dish. He turned, doused hand and crystal under -a faucet, and then dropped the crystal on an anvil. He hit it with -a heavy hammer. Anvil and crystal rang musically, and the crystal -rebounded and flew through the air unharmed.</p> - -<p>Cursing under his breath, Dave Crandall darted, picked it up again, and -looked around wildly.</p> - -<p>There were vats of acid handy; an electronic furnace glowed white-hot -through its slit; a tunnel gaped unexcitingly but in its depths were -the invisible radiations of the atomic pile. None of these would work -soon enough.</p> - -<p>Dave turned to the desk. He flipped open the end of the pneumatic -message tube and popped the crystal into the chamber. There was the -<i>whroooom!</i> of pumped air, a few tinkles as the crystal hit the sides -of the tube on its way down.</p> - -<p>Then from somewhere outside the concrete-walled room came the awesome -blast. The wave-front traveled down the zigzag passages and Dave -thought he could almost see it. The roar deafened him.</p> - -<p>Dave went out through the zigzag passage.</p> - -<p>A mile across the plain, a billowing white cloud was rising.</p> - -<p>Claverly greeted Dave. Claverly was a bit shaken, and more than a -little abashed. "The relay station," he said, pointing at the rising -cloud.</p> - -<p>"Oh?" remarked Crandall. He asked, frowning, "Anybody in there?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>Crandall smiled wryly. "That's a relief," he said. "But I didn't -have time to ask where that tube went. I might have blown up the -administration building."</p> - -<p>Claverly laughed. "About all you've done is to cut a large hole in the -coast-to-coast pneumo," he said. "No jury in the world would convict -you."</p> - -<p>DeLieb came around from the other side of the building. "There," he -said, "but for the Grace of God—" pointing at the billowing pillar of -smoke. "Thanks, Dave. This makes you unique, you know."</p> - -<p>"Unique?"</p> - -<p>"You are the only living man who has seen one of those devils' rocks in -operation."</p> - -<p>"We were all there," objected Dave, "and how about the Manhattan -Crystal?"</p> - -<p>"In the first place, the Manhattan Crystal is furnishing New York with -electrical power—from a generating plant twenty miles outside New -York, telemeter-controlled, and completely unattended. Montrose and -Crowley and their associates who first made the crystal went up trying -to reproduce it at Brookhaven. So did Brookhaven. Harvard, Purdue, -Caltech, and Argonne went up trying to make one, too."</p> - -<p>"But you were there, too, and you've seen it."</p> - -<p>DeLieb nodded. "It is a six-sided crystal about three inches long, with -a pyramidal point at either end, and about three-quarters of an inch -across the hexagonal flats. It is clear with a trace of blue tint. So -much we know, Dave. <i>But what shape was it when you tossed it into the -tube?</i>"</p> - -<p>"Cubical, and full of flashing red glints," said Dave.</p> - -<p>"And why were we suddenly scared bright green?"</p> - -<p>"Because it began to change shape before our eyes," said Dave.</p> - -<p>"And it was still fluid when we—left."</p> - -<p>"I think so," said Dave uncertainly.</p> - -<p>DeLieb turned and went into the laboratory again, with the others -following. He inspected the anvil and straightened up with a wry smile. -There was the dent on the soft iron, made by the crystal under Dave's -blow. "That," said DeLieb, "is the impact of a hexagonal crystal -slightly distorted. A hexagonal form half-changed to a cubical shape. -So, Dave Crandall, you are the only man alive to have seen such a -crystal. Who knows the shape of the Manhattan Crystal by now?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Steps clicked along the other zigzags. Phelps came in through one. -"No hits," he said, "one run, and the only error was shutting off the -cross-country pneumo. Tough. But the country got along without the -shipment of short-lived radioisotopes before and it'll have to do -without them again until they get the tube put together. Nice going, -Crandall."</p> - -<p>Behind him was Jane Nolan—Doctor Jane Nolan. Like her colleagues, -Jane Nolan was often quoted in texts, had made several contributions -to science, and was an authority on several subjects. She was not -a beautiful woman; but her quiet air sometimes permitted a rather -interesting personality to show through. Men forgot her mature thirty -years and her lack of breath-taking beauty and dated her; then found -themselves at once intrigued by her personality and completely baffled -by her quick mind—and then went elsewhere in search of wide-eyed -pulchritude.</p> - -<p>Deep interest or honest admiration often lighted up her face and made -it handsome if not beautiful. She looked very attractive now as she -went to Crandall.</p> - -<p>"That was brave," she said.</p> - -<p>"Self-preservation," he said.</p> - -<p>"We have that too," she replied with a slight smile. "And we also know -that we cannot outrun that sort of thing. But we ran."</p> - -<p>He smiled at her cheerfully. "I'm not a scientist," he said. "I'm just -a newspaperman, remember? Perhaps I'm just too ignorant to realize the -degree of danger."</p> - -<p>Jane Nolan shook her head. "You've either seen the remains or pictures -of them, of the other labs that failed. You know—"</p> - -<p>"Look," he chuckled, "let's put it this way. We were dead ducks anyway. -The devil himself couldn't have outrun that explosion without jet -assistance." He turned to Claverly, "If I'd had any sense, I wouldn't -have tried to smash it. I should have known that belting it with a -hammer wouldn't have stopped it—if anything, it should have hastened -the explosion."</p> - -<p>"I hardly think so," said Claverly thoughtfully. "Remember that the -crystal is not an explosive in itself. Or so we believe. Anyway—"</p> - -<p>"Anyway, thanks to Dave, we still have our lab," said Jane. "Let's get -back to work."</p> - -<p>Dave shook his head. There was no point in arguing with them. They -called him brave. Nuts! Nine great laboratories had gone skyward with -their complement of scientists, trying to reproduce the fabulous -Manhattan Crystal which was now furnishing the city of New York with -electrical power. And with the deadly record of nine to nothing against -them, the scientists continued to try. Theirs was the true bravery. It -was a deadly experiment, and one that was not permitted—</p> - -<p>Dave looked startled. "I thought the government insisted that these -experiments be run by telemeter control?"</p> - -<p>"They are."</p> - -<p>"Then what in the hell were we doing here?" demanded Crandall.</p> - -<p>"The crystal," said Claverly, "was developed last week. We'd done -everything but taste it by telemeter. It had been tested chemically, -electrically, mechanically, atomically, physically and about any other -way you can think of. We've had it white-hot and down to a half-degree -Kelvin. We've dropped it, hit it, subjected it to electrostatic and -electromagnetic fields, dunked it in everything from aqua to zerone, -looked at it and through it, bombarded it with every radiation possible -from the pile, and let it sit on a glass-topped platform to meditate. -We believed it was safe; that we'd been successful. We came in to hook -it up and test its power output, like the Manhattan Crystal. You came -along."</p> - -<p>Dave nodded. The message in his pocket told him that Merion Laboratory -had successfully created a replica of the Manhattan Crystal and if he -so desired, he could be present at its testing.</p> - -<p>He said slowly, "It seems as if there might be something important -here."</p> - -<p>"What?"</p> - -<p>"I hate to suggest it; it sounds silly."</p> - -<p>"So do a lot of things," said Claverly. "Go on."</p> - -<p>"I'm out of my depth here," said Dave. "But I've read of the so-called -human aura. The sort of thing that gives certain gardeners a 'green -thumb' and makes other men capable of curing a headache by merely -rubbing the head with the fingertips. Is this sort of thing merely -superstition or has it any basis in fact?"</p> - -<p>Claverly frowned. "We don't like to answer such questions," he said. -"But I'm being honest with you, Dave. The reason we don't like to -answer is that we are not too certain. The best answer is maybe, and -who knows?"</p> - -<p>"So the crystal sat here and took all sorts of radiation, treatment, -investigation, and the like. Then when the group of us assemble, -blooey!"</p> - -<p>Claverly looked at Dave. "What do you suggest?"</p> - -<p>"I suggest that the crystal be worked on by one person at a time. -Perhaps there's a critical mass of life-force—?"</p> - -<p>"Sounds fantastic. You'll keep this out of your paper, Dave?"</p> - -<p>"You bet—until we prove it. I don't want to sound any crazier than I -am." He looked around. "I'm going to file a yarn on the explosion," he -said. "Where's a typewriter and a telephone?"</p> - -<p>Claverly said, "Jane, you show him. The rest of us will mix another -batch and make us a new crystal. Then—" He left it unfinished.</p> - -<p>Jane Nolan nodded. "Come on, Dave."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>She led him to one of the jeeps that the laboratory crew used, and they -started back towards the main collection of buildings.</p> - -<p>"Dave, I like you."</p> - -<p>Dave blinked. She laughed. "Does my directness bother you?"</p> - -<p>"Not exactly. But—"</p> - -<p>"It's caused me a lot of grief in the past; it's one of the reasons why -I've never been a howling social success. However, saying and doing -what I think makes a fine physicist out of me."</p> - -<p>"That I believe," said Dave. The jeep drew up to one of the buildings. -"Now," he said, "where's that typer?"</p> - -<p>"In the office. Or better, we have a few empties; maybe you'd like to -use one until you go back to Chicago?"</p> - -<p>"That would be good," he told her. "I'm going to stay right here until -you folks get this problem solved—or go up taking Merion Laboratory -with you. Maybe," he said cheerfully, "I'll be able to use your typer -to write the description of that, but it's unlikely."</p> - -<p>Jane faced him as he climbed out of the jeep. "We've got a job to do. I -know it sounds like a chunk of lousy script, but the bunch of us are -devoted to the job of increasing human knowledge. So we're ready to -accept the danger. But there's no reason why you should risk your hide. -You can write from here and be safe."</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't miss the fun for anything," he said. "When will the new -crystal be ready?"</p> - -<p>"Tomorrow morning."</p> - -<p>Jane climbed out after him. "I'll arrange for that office," she said. -"Come on."</p> - -<p>From the window of his office Dave Crandall watched Jane drive off in -her jeep. Then he turned to the desk and put through a long-distance -telephone call.</p> - -<p>"Meteridge speaking."</p> - -<p>"Dave Crandall, doc."</p> - -<p>"Yes, David. How're things going?"</p> - -<p>"About the same."</p> - -<p>"Fine. Keep the chin up."</p> - -<p>"Doc—there's nothing can be done?"</p> - -<p>"Five years ago we could have—"</p> - -<p>"I couldn't see it."</p> - -<p>Meteridge swore. "And now, like everybody else, you've changed your -mind too late?"</p> - -<p>"No, doc. I haven't changed my mind. I just wish it had been different."</p> - -<p>"So do we all. But five years ago—"</p> - -<p>"I know. I know. Five years ago you could have given me twenty years -more, but it meant staying on my backside for the whole route. I took -six years of active life in favor of twenty years as a total loss. I'd -do it again."</p> - -<p>"I suppose you would. So would I, to tell you the truth."</p> - -<p>Dave chuckled. "So I just called to tell you the usual. I'm okay and -feeling no pain."</p> - -<p>"Good. Keep me informed. And when you start feeling the pangs, let me -know. We can give you some relief."</p> - -<p>They hung up and Dave, deliberately putting the thought out of his -mind, went to work on his news story. It was the sort of thing that -a stable man does not dwell upon; within him, burning at his vitals, -was a fission fragment. Dispersed, it was. Too widespread for a -single removal; years and years of almost continuous operations and -convalescence would remove the danger, but it would leave Crandall abed -most of his active life.</p> - -<p>He—and Doctor Meteridge—knew that he had been no hero when he stayed -behind with the crystal. At the worst it had meant an instant death; at -the best, saving the lives of other people. What could Dave lose?</p> - -<p>Nothing but a forfeited life.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">CHAPTER TWO</p> - -<p class="ph1">The Crystal Phantoms</p> - - -<p>"Now," said Claverly, peering through the television hookup that -brought him an image of the crystal, "we are ready." His voice came -over the speaker tinnily.</p> - -<p>"It's been checked?"</p> - -<p>"Definitely. We're all ready."</p> - -<p>DeLieb manipulated the controls as the rest of them watched through the -large projection screen. Clawed arms came from the side of the screen -and picked the crystal out of the dish. They carried it over to the -mouth of a pneumatic tube, where it was dropped into a carrier. There -was a <i>whoosh!</i> and the carrier disappeared.</p> - -<p>The scene on the television screen switched abruptly to Claverly, who -opened the end of the tube and removed the crystal. He held it up for -them to see.</p> - -<p>"So here we are," said Claverly. "The crystal and myself, removed from -the critical mass of human radiation—if that means anything. Watch me -closely. I am going to test this crystal for power output."</p> - -<p>Claverly turned aside and clamped the crystal in a holder. He turned -away, then, and—</p> - -<p>There was a flash that filled the telescreen. It did not blind the -onlookers, for the total output of the projection system would not -furnish so much light. But the flash at the transmitting end paralyzed -the orthicon, and once the phosphor of the receiving tube ceased to -glow, the screen went dark. The orthicon at the far end of the line was -no longer working. There was no roar of sound from the speaker. Just an -electric crackle, and then the hiss of the live circuit.</p> - -<p>"Gone!" said DeLieb explosively.</p> - -<p>Phelps turned from the mounted telescope and said, "I saw a flicker -from the windows, but the building is still there."</p> - -<p>"Then it didn't blow," said Jane Nolan.</p> - -<p>Crandall caught a faint flicker on the telescreen. The bare highlights -were there, just coming up above the black level. "Claverly!" said Dave.</p> - -<p>They turned. The tall scientist was visible, standing still as they had -seen him before. Motionless, like a strobo-flashed picture.</p> - -<p>Dave raced down, out of the building and into the parked jeep. He -shoved the jeep into gear and took off with a roar. His tires threw -dust as he raced across the intervening three miles to the remote -laboratory.</p> - -<p>Claverly was there. A phantom Claverly; a three-dimensional image, -unmistakable as the man himself. Transparent, however; the bricks of -the far wall could be distinguished through it.</p> - -<p>The image was fading, but so very gradually that Dave had to watch -carefully to be certain.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"The crystal is still here," said Dave. "It seems unchanged."</p> - -<p>"We see," replied DeLieb. "The video is working again."</p> - -<p>"So—what was Claverly's next move to be?"</p> - -<p>"Wait!" cried Jane. "Be careful; Claverly—"</p> - -<p>"Someone has to do it," said Dave. "If you'll give me directions—?"</p> - -<p>Phelps shook his head at the rest and said: "Dave, if we could -manipulate that thing from here through these last few motions, -Claverly wouldn't have been there."</p> - -<p>"Forgot that," said Dave unhappily. "So now what?"</p> - -<p>"I'm coming over. You leave."</p> - -<p>"Check—but don't like it."</p> - -<p>Dave was less than a thousand yards away from the building when Phelps -entered. His jeep was not equipped with radio or telephone so he did -not know what went on. All he knew was a swift burst of brightness, -perceptible against the bright sky. Dave stopped the jeep in half its -length and turned it to go racing back.</p> - -<p>Phelps was there, too. A phantom image standing near the image of -Claverly, but apparently more solid. Claverly was fading; Phelps was a -fresh image.</p> - -<p>"Same damned thing!" cried Crandall into the microphone.</p> - -<p>"I'm coming—" started DeLieb, but Dave stopped him with a firm "No!"</p> - -<p>Then he ran the jeep back to the main buildings, thinking furiously. By -the time he arrived, he had an idea....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"This is no random thing," he said. "This is malicious."</p> - -<p>"Malicious?" asked Jane. "What do you mean?"</p> - -<p>"How many nuclear laboratories have we lost, trying to reproduce this -crystal?"</p> - -<p>"Nine."</p> - -<p>"And how many top-flight scientists?"</p> - -<p>"Almost forty."</p> - -<p>"The forty we can least afford to lose," added Dave. "Can you think of -an easier way to sap the scientific strength of a country than to give -it something that performs miracles—and also kills?"</p> - -<p>"Ah," said Jane, shaking her head. "But there's a hole in that -reasoning. No one gave us anything. We discovered the Manhattan Crystal -by accident—in a restricted laboratory and under the most rigid -supervision."</p> - -<p>"Accident, hell! No doubt a young and innocent mouse thinks it's -an accident when he finds a piece of cheese. The crystal is the -cheese—and the trap. Kids, we're being taken for a ride. Give 'em a -chance to lop off a gang of you and a lab at the same time and they -do it. Give them no chance to get the lab, and they'll wait to get a -scientist. Offer 'em a cluck of a newsman, of no scientific learning, -and they wait until they have a chance at an important scientist. The -crystal is still there."</p> - -<p>"I'll go—"</p> - -<p>"DeLieb, sit still. Claverly went, Phelps went. You go, and the next -will be Nolan or Howes."</p> - -<p>"So what do you suggest?"</p> - -<p>"I'm no scientist. Teach me what to do. I'll do it."</p> - -<p>"You'll die."</p> - -<p>"I'll prove a point," said Dave. "And I won't die! I'll prove to you -that anybody but a top scientist can tinker all day with that thing -without danger. If you think I'm wrong, remember that I was there once -and came back. Now—what do I do?"</p> - -<p>Howes laughed bitterly. "If that were as simple as winding an alarm -clock or grinding the valves on a gas engine, we'd have no problem, -Dave."</p> - -<p>"You can tell me the motions; you can tell me what to do. You can coach -me at the job, and with training—hell, fellers, you don't have to know -organic chemistry to mix a cake and men have performed operations with -a jackknife at sea, with directions by radio. I'm checked out in a -B-108, and any man who can keep his eyes on seventy meters, a hundred -and twelve switches, forty levers, sixty-seven pushbuttons, and drive -the damned thing with his free hand at the same time ought to be able -to learn whatever this job requires." He looked around him. "And in the -meantime, we'll let that crystal sit there and simmer, waiting for a -nice, ripe physicist to come and get stuck!"</p> - -<p>"It will take days," said Jane thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>"Better days than lives," said Dave sharply.</p> - -<p>"Okay," said DeLieb. "You certainly can do no harm. You may do some -good. We'll try it your way."</p> - -<p>For the next ninety-six hours, Dave Crandall got a total of nine hours -of sleep. He worked in another replica of the remote lab, using similar -instruments. He had not the foggiest notion of what he was doing, but -he learned the manual dexterity necessary to do it. He didn't know -what the meters meant, but he learned how to read them. He couldn't -understand why he must do thus and so when such and such a meter read -to a certain value, but he learned that, too. He became a trained human -primate, an animal who knew that four raps plus four raps equalled -eight raps; a chimpanzee trained to drive an automobile.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Not that Dave was ignorant, unintelligent, or untutored. Dave was -college, postgrad, and a writer. Dave knew as much present-day science -as any layman. He wrote science articles for his paper, was constantly -exposed to science, and a lot of it took. But this science was as far -beyond the kind he knew as the jet plane is beyond the Wright Brothers' -original model.</p> - -<p>Then DeLieb told him, "Dave, you're ready."</p> - -<p>"Let's go."</p> - -<p>"Not tonight."</p> - -<p>"Why waste time?"</p> - -<p>"You're tired. I'm tired. We're all tired, if you want to finish the -conjugation. Tonight we loaf and rest and get a full night's sleep. -Tomorrow we work. This is the royal edict."</p> - -<p>"I vote yea," laughed Jane Nolan. "Come, ambitious one. On nine hours' -sleep in four days, you should be easy to handle."</p> - -<p>Dave shrugged. DeLieb looked askance. "Jane, if you take him dancing, -we'll all kill you."</p> - -<p>"You wouldn't have to," she said. "I'd be dead already. No, I'm taking -Dave out to the farm where he can see stars and breathe fresh air, and -loaf on long grass."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Jane's mother, forewarned, piled the dinner table high, and Dave was -fed to the bursting point. They walked under the stars, afterwards, and -then sprawled on the long grass, looking at the sky.</p> - -<p>"You're quite a guy, Dave," said Jane.</p> - -<p>"Probably the only one of my kind in existence," he said solemnly. -"Most men have eight eyes, you know. I've only got two."</p> - -<p>"Blue, aren't they?"</p> - -<p>"Brown," he corrected. "All two of them."</p> - -<p>"They're blue."</p> - -<p>"Brown."</p> - -<p>"Dave, I'm a qualified observer and I recall them as blue!"</p> - -<p>"Wishful thinking. Probably your first love had blue eyes."</p> - -<p>Jane lit a match and held it over him for an instant. "Blue," she said.</p> - -<p>"Are you going to believe your eyes or what I tell you?" he demanded.</p> - -<p>"My eyes," she said. "Just because I happen to think you're quite -special, I don't necessarily believe everything you say."</p> - -<p>"What's so special? I'm just an ordinary sort of guy. Most of the -things I learned in school haven't been much use to me. I drink too -much and smoke too much, go to church far too little—if at all—and -have no immediate hope for mankind."</p> - -<p>"You're an idealist."</p> - -<p>"No cigar. Cynic, yes. But idealist—?"</p> - -<p>"You are," she said. "You are also some sort of human dynamo. You come -as a newspaperman to report on our doings and end up marching yourself -into danger and almost running the research group."</p> - -<p>"Think of the story I'll be able to write," he said.</p> - -<p>"And if you don't—?"</p> - -<p>He laughed. "I'm in no danger," he said.</p> - -<p>"I hope you aren't."</p> - -<p>"Better me than someone who might be able to solve this thing."</p> - -<p>"I don't think so."</p> - -<p>"I'm no loss to civilization, Jane."</p> - -<p>"That's your fault," she told him, half-angry. "You could be a great -asset if you'd only try."</p> - -<p>"And what form of attempt does this require?"</p> - -<p>"Stop playing cynic. We don't need people to tell civilization that it -has a dirty back yard or a few rotten beams in the cellar. What we need -is a few men with ideals to tell us how to clean up the yard and how to -bolster the rotten stringers. Set your sights on some goal, and then -settle down to work for it."</p> - -<p>Dave groaned. "How do you start settling down after thirty-five years -of hell-raising?"</p> - -<p>"Do you want to know?"</p> - -<p>"I've often wanted to know."</p> - -<p>"Get married, Dave."</p> - -<p>"Who'd have me?"</p> - -<p>"I would. Marry me, Dave."</p> - -<p>"Lord, no!" he exploded.</p> - -<p>"I expected a refusal," she said softly. "I didn't expect quite such a -vigorous rejection."</p> - -<p>"I'm not rejecting you," he said earnestly. "You're a fine woman, -Jane."</p> - -<p>"Who was she?" Jane asked.</p> - -<p>"She? Who?"</p> - -<p>"The girl that broke your heart."</p> - -<p>Dave laughed. "I'm not carrying any torch," he told her. He leaned on -one elbow and looked down at her. The starlight was faint, but he could -see her well enough. "In fact, Jane, under other circumstances I might -get quite soft-headed about you."</p> - -<p>"Then why not?"</p> - -<p>He flopped back and stared at the sky. "Jane, you've accused me of -being brave. This is damned foolishness. I'm not brave. I've got about -six months to live, and I'm told the end will not be pleasant. I'd -prefer to go black in a hurry, doing something that couldn't be done by -a man with his life ahead of him. That isn't bravery; it's just cutting -clean the end of a well-frayed rope."</p> - -<p>"Who says so?" demanded Jane.</p> - -<p>"The famous Dr. Thomas Meteridge."</p> - -<p>"He might be wrong."</p> - -<p>Crandall chuckled. "He's seldom wrong. Fact is, Jane, I've to kick off -in six months, otherwise Old Doc Meteridge is a quack and a charlatan."</p> - -<p>"He may be wrong."</p> - -<p>Dave found her hand and held it over his side. "Feel warm? That's a -collection of fission products, tossing all sorts of junk around."</p> - -<p>After a moment she said, "Some men wait for death complacently; some -spend their remaining time roistering; and Dave Crandall spends his -time doing dangerous jobs for humanity. Now tell me that you're not an -idealist, Dave."</p> - -<p>"I—"</p> - -<p>"Oh, stop arguing," she said. She still held the hand that had pressed -hers over his side. Now Jane caught it in a hard grip and pulled, -rolling him towards her. She met him halfway, missed his lips on the -first try, and then made contact as her free arm went around his -shoulders. Dave's was a startled response at first.</p> - -<p>"Who's arguing?" he asked after a moment. He added his free arm to the -embrace and held her to him.</p> - -<p>The stars above them whirled a quarter way across the sky—unnoticed.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">CHAPTER THREE</p> - -<p class="ph1">The Other World</p> - - -<p>Crandall awoke to the faint sounds of farm life and spent a few sleepy -moments wondering where he was. The low of a cow, the creak of a -windmill, and the bustle of activity in another part of the house; -the sigh of a free wind and the whisper of leaves—none of these were -indigenous to his normal habitat and it annoyed him until the sleep -left him and he recalled.</p> - -<p>Days of hard work and too little sleep, the relaxation of the farm for -an evening. Jane. Jane!</p> - -<p>Crandall swore mildly. He became introspective and carefully analyzed -his feelings, even though he knew that he was hopelessly incapable -of coming to an honest solution about himself. His glands and his -intellect were at wide variance. He had no right to ask for nor could -he offer love.</p> - -<p>Dave growled at himself and climbed out of bed. A cool shower helped; -he was glad that the Nolan farm was not of the older variety. Here -at least was farm life with almost every comfort of urban living. He -dressed and then went down the stairs slowly.</p> - -<p>"Sleepyhead," Jane called as she saw him. "It's nearly nine o'clock."</p> - -<p>"Middle of the night," he said.</p> - -<p>"Dad and Mom have been up for hours."</p> - -<p>"And you?"</p> - -<p>"Positively minutes." Jane came to him, face upraised. He kissed her -and momentarily forgot his troubles.</p> - -<p>But it all ended too soon. Breakfast was leisurely, and then they were -off, back to Merion.</p> - -<p>They arrived at the laboratory in an hour, and then the bustle of -activity herded Dave's introspective feelings out of his mind.</p> - -<p>He discovered that the night of relaxation had sharpened his mind. He -ran through the program once more in the remote lab, and then they -announced that he was ready to try the real thing.</p> - -<p>Dave went to the jeep. Jane followed.</p> - -<p>"Dave—be careful."</p> - -<p>"As possible," he agreed. He kissed her and then started off towards -the remote lab that still held the crystal clamped in the electrodes.</p> - -<p><i>They</i> wanted physicists, huh? He'd show them, whoever they were. He'd -fox them. The trick was completely incomprehensible, but however they -did it, it was as neat a program of treachery as had been invented in -all history. In an earlier day the enemy went for the leaders, the -generals and the admirals and the kings and emperors. Now it was the -engineers and physicists, for it was science that carried victory. The -most brilliant military strategist was a mere cork bobbing on the rim -of a whirlpool if he were not equipped with the latest and best that -could come from applied physics.</p> - -<p>But Dave was not a physicist. He was just a scribbler of articles, an -occasional writer of fiction. So Dave was not the man <i>they</i> wanted. -Let them sit and chew their fingernails while he, a zero quantity as -far as they were concerned, toyed with the crystal. It wouldn't be -practical to waste the crystal on him, any more than it was practical -to hurl a can of SPAM<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> at a convoy escort.</p> - -<p>Dave arrived at the remote lab and went to work. They checked him -through the video and the sound channel both ways, and then Dave turned -toward the crystal.</p> - -<p>"The power," he said, "is being built up, as you can hear in the -background, the generators are groaning a bit under the initial heavy -load. The—ah—gaussmeter is rising up the scale. It occurs to me -that the boys on the other side of this might well be chewing their -fingernails at the moment. If I've got this thing figured right, <i>they</i> -can see into this lab and know me and who I am—and possibly what I am -doing. Maybe they've even figured out the why of it.</p> - -<p>"Now, the next item is something I've been keeping quiet about. I doubt -that <i>they</i> can read minds, but I'm pretty sure they can hear us and -watch us. So I've kept quiet until now.</p> - -<p>"As Dr. Thomas Meteridge can tell you, I've been given about six months -to live. So I have nothing to lose, especially if I can prove a point. -I've claimed stoutly that <i>they</i> aren't interested in anything but -physicists, and that a tyro would be safe out here. But it's still -possible that I was wrong.</p> - -<p>"As you'll note, I've already got farther than either Claverly or -Phelps. I think that if I kept my mouth shut now, I'd be allowed to -finish the job. But—I think I have a clue to the identity of the -enemy, and the method they're using to destroy our top scientific -talent!"</p> - -<p>He paused. "Of course, I could be bluffing. But I don't think <i>they</i> -can afford to take that chance. So, in a minute, when I start to tell -you what I think I know, they'll have to decide...."</p> - -<p>"Dave," cried Jane, "what chance have you got?"</p> - -<p>"A fair chance," he said. "We've got them spread nicely across the -horns of a dilemma. If <i>they</i> do grab me, it will prove that there's an -enemy alien at work. If they don't grab me, I'll solve their secret—"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p>As the crystal flashed, he vanished....</p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>The crystal flashed pearly-white. Again it paralyzed the orthicon -and crackled in the loudspeaker. It blinded Dave momentarily, but he -shouted, "I'm still here!"</p> - -<p>He heard a cry from the far end of the sound system. It faded rapidly.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>As his eyesight returned, Dave looked around curiously. The laboratory -was still around him, but it had the same semi-ghostly appearance that -Claverly and Phelps had had. Of the images of the two physicists Dave -could see nothing. They had been there, faintly visible, when he had -gone in. Now they were gone. Dave looked at the workbench. He passed a -hand through it. He stamped on the floor and found that he was stamping -<i>through</i> the floor; he was actually standing on a semi-smooth surface -a few inches below it.</p> - -<p>"Damn!" he swore. He looked around. The concrete walls of the building -were heavy and thick; he could not see clearly through them. He walked -forward, hands outstretched, and saw his hands enter the wall. He -walked through the wall, and felt a slight resistance, as though he -were walking through water. He burst through the far side and the -released pressure pitched him headlong.</p> - -<p>Once outside, Dave looked around. In the ghostly distance he could see -the main laboratory building and the jeep bearing Jane, DeLieb, and -Howes. They came to the building and Dave ran to meet them.</p> - -<p>"I'm here," he called. He screamed it. He yelled at the top of his -voice. Jane walked through him. Her face was broken, tears filled her -eyes, and Dave tried desperately to get her attention. But she walked -through him and went on. They went in the door; Dave walked back -through the phantom wall and met them inside.</p> - -<p>"Dave!" cried Jane. She ran across the room and reached—then recoiled, -her face twisted in horror.</p> - -<p>"Like Claverly, like Phelps," she whispered.</p> - -<p>"Like hell!" yelled Dave. "Dammitall, I'm here!"</p> - -<p>"Gone!" said Jane.</p> - -<p>"I'm not gone!" snapped Dave. But a still voice inside him said that he -was. He looked carefully at the place Jane watched with horror-filled -eyes. He could see nothing. Then he went to Jane and peered into her -eyes. The pupils were clear. Dave snorted. If he could not see the -image of himself that Jane saw, there was no reason why he could see a -possible reflection of that image in her pupils.</p> - -<p>"So he proved it," said DeLieb.</p> - -<p>"And so we continue, knowing that something or someone is maliciously -attacking us," said Howes.</p> - -<p>"It's mine," said Jane in a flat voice.</p> - -<p>"No—" said DeLieb.</p> - -<p>"I want to follow him," she said.</p> - -<p>"Don't be a fool!" yelled Dave.</p> - -<p>He ran to the crystal and slapped at it. It hurt. With a glad cry, Dave -pried at it with his fingers. The clamping electrodes held it firm—and -he could not touch them, for they were as thin and tenuous as the -concrete wall through which he had walked. Only the crystal was solid -both <i>there</i> and <i>here</i>.</p> - -<p>Dave smiled sourly. If he was dead, then this was a fine psychological -hell. Here he was watching friends and a loved one marching into deadly -danger, listening to their grief and their dangerous plans, while he -was completely helpless to guide them.</p> - -<p>He felt the crystal move slightly under his straining fingers. Wrapping -a handkerchief about his fist, Dave punched at the crystal. It gave—or -on the other side, the clamping electrodes gave. At any rate, it was -loose.</p> - -<p>He hit it again and jarred it.</p> - -<p>"The crystal!" cried Jane. "It's moving!"</p> - -<p>"Blow-up!" yelled DeLieb.</p> - -<p>But this time there was no panic. Howes cut the energizing power with a -flick of his hands across the toggle switches. DeLieb clamped down on -the electrodes with a hand and spun the wingnuts that held it with the -other. Jane Nolan grabbed at the crystal as it came free and turned to -the pneumatic delivery tube.</p> - -<p>But Dave reached out a hand and snatched it from her.</p> - -<p>Jane cried in pain and fear, and watched the crystal make three long -swoops towards the concrete wall—Dave had grabbed it and started to -run outside. The crystal was wrenched from his fingers as he went -through the wall. It fell to the floor, and all three physicists -swooped down upon it.</p> - -<p>Jane came up with it and popped it into the pneumatic tube.</p> - -<p>It rattled thrice and was gone, racing down the tube end over end, -visible to Dave as it raced out of reach.</p> - -<p>"It wants physicists," breathed DeLieb.</p> - -<p>"But it's gone now."</p> - -<p>"And so is Dave," cried Jane.</p> - -<p>"Dammit," snapped Dave. Then he gave up, because he knew the utter -futility of trying to make them hear him.</p> - -<p>But there was a way!</p> - -<p>The crystal extended through both worlds. All Dave had to do was to get -the crystal and use it as a stylus against some surface in the other -world.</p> - -<p>He turned to follow the pneumatic tube towards the place where the -crystal had gone. He was not more than a hundred yards down the length -of the tube when the sky blinded him from a couple of miles away, -and then the air roared, and then when vision returned he could see -a pillar of white smoke billowing skyward. <i>They</i> had destroyed the -crystal!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Dave stopped to think.</p> - -<p>Clearly, the exploding crystal was as dangerous on this side as it was -on the other. That meant that no one could stand close by and watch the -thing to be sure of which physicists they got—unless they used some -sort of television hookup.</p> - -<p>So Dave retraced his steps to the laboratory and inspected it. He -saw nothing, and so began to feel his way through the walls of the -building. He became engrossed in this job; it was both interesting and -a bit terrifying to go walking through walls and feeling along the -insides of beams and rafters. The building was a sort of thick phantom. -Not only were the walls transparent, but the pipe lines, electrical -wiring, nails, and other normally hidden bits of construction were -visible within them. And walking along the length of a wall with a -shoulder on either side, one in one room and one in the other, was -disconcerting as well as amusing.</p> - -<p>The heavy concrete-block walls, set up for radiation barriers, were -wider than Crandall's shoulder-spread, and he could walk through their -length completely enclosed in the hard concrete. Here it was eerie, -too, for encased in the concrete were electrical wires and pipes, to -Dave no heavier than the concrete through which he walked, but none the -less clearly visible.</p> - -<p>So Dave inspected the remote lab, walking down the walls and through -the pipes and wires that stretched through the house like a spider's -web, and he saw no evidence of espionage—</p> - -<p>—until he caught his throat under a wire that should have been as -tenuous as the others, but which almost throttled him.</p> - -<p>Dave bounded back, clutching at his throat and swearing soundly.</p> - -<p>Then he realized!</p> - -<p>And forgetting his throat, Dave followed the wire to one of the remote -video and audio sets. He pulled it aside—and it split into two -complete sets! There were two television cameras, identical in every -way, one in Dave's world, one in the everyday world, placed in perfect -register!</p> - -<p>His proof!</p> - -<p>His friends had gone; obviously back to their laboratory to prepare -another crystal. Here he could get one: their next one. Then he could -communicate with them and start planning a counter-offensive.</p> - -<p>Dave looked across the plain towards the main laboratory building, and -shrugged. If he had a crystal now, all he could do would be to let them -know he was alive and on the job, but had no information. On the other -hand, he had fouled up the television camera in the remote lab, and it -seemed likely that there would be a repairman coming along to see what -was wrong.</p> - -<p>Just where Claverly and Phelps were in this mess Dave didn't know. -But he assumed that soon after their projection into this cockeyed -half-world, the enemy had come along to collect them both.</p> - -<p>Dave blinked at a sudden fantastic thought: would the flashing of a -crystal send him back to his own world, or toss him along into another -one?</p> - -<p>An interesting thought—to be pursued later. Right this moment the -thing to do was to lie doggo until the enemy arrived to take Dave in -tow. This time, instead of a baffled scientist, they were attempting to -catch a gent who was more interested in being alive than in figuring -out where he was.</p> - -<p>Had Dave been a pure scientist, he would have been amazed and baffled -by this half-world. The whys and wherefores would have bothered him to -the exclusion of other considerations, and he would have been standing -there trying to figure it all out when the enemy came along to collect -him. Instead, Dave was still alive, or felt that he was, and that was -enough for him. Someone else could figure out how and why; his was the -line of action; so long as he was able, he was going to continue to -live and fight.</p> - -<p>So when the helicopter dropped down out of the sky near the remote -laboratory and disgorged a man carrying a rifle, Dave, the quarry, was -sprawled behind a slight ridge in the half-world's terrain, watching -through a cleft in the stone outcrop.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">CHAPTER FOUR</p> - -<p class="ph1">The Struggle for Earth</p> - - -<p>The man with the rifle prowled around the ship, looking carefully out -across the plains.</p> - -<p>Then, angrily, he turned and said something at the door of the -helicopter, and a second head appeared. There was a short discussion -that Dave could not hear, and then the second man came out carrying -a tool kit and headed for the lab. The first man got back into the -helicopter and took off towards the main building.</p> - -<p>Dave nodded. It was reasonable to suppose that Claverly, and then -Phelps, after finding themselves in this half-world alone, had gone -back to the main laboratory to see if they could raise the attention of -their friends. Dave himself could have been expected to follow, running -after the jeep that had taken the others back to their lab. The hunter -expected to find Dave wandering disconsolately around the other lab.</p> - -<p>When the helicopter had disappeared, Dave arose and scuttled across the -plain towards the building he had left. He felt like a battleship on a -clear ocean in broad daylight trying to slink unseen behind an enemy, -but there seemed no way to avoid it. At any rate, the workman was -paying no attention to his surroundings.</p> - -<p>Within the walls of the laboratory, the workman was unlimbering his -tool kit. He was an efficient workman. It was his job to repair the -television camera and it was his cohort's job to track down and dispose -of Dave.</p> - -<p>He went to work on this basis and ignored the possibility that Dave -might be stalking him—until Dave came silently up behind him and -kicked the small sectional ladder out from beneath the workman's feet. -Dave's fist came plunging through the windmill of flying arms and legs -and connected solidly beneath the workman's ear. Startled, off-balance, -and then slugged, the workman came to earth with a dull thud and -sprawled motionless. Dave snarled and made doubly sure with a thrusting -heel-kick against the workman's jaw and throat. The workman was not the -first man to die from such a kick.</p> - -<p>Then, in a matter of minutes, Dave was wearing the dead workman's shirt -and trousers and was plying the tools on the television camera deftly. -Dave had not wrecked the thing, he had just swung his weight against -its moorings and displaced it. The problem was simple, and was handled -by a couple of adjustable end-wrenches. It could have been done by -sheer strength, but not with the desired precision. So Dave loosened -the nuts that held the flexible couplings and slid the camera back into -its original perfect registry with the camera in the real world. He was -tightening the nuts again when he heard the helicopter returning.</p> - -<p>Dave stooped and packed the tools back in the kit, folded the -collapsible ladder and stowed it atop the tools, and then stood up and -waved at the pilot.</p> - -<p>The helicopter landed. The pilot got out and called, "Have you seen -him?"</p> - -<p>This was in a foreign tongue that Dave understood, and could speak -acceptably.</p> - -<p>"He jumped me," called Dave, pointing with his toe at the inert figure -on the floor beside him.</p> - -<p>The pilot looked and scowled. "Dead?"</p> - -<p>"No!" grunted Dave, turning his back on the pilot, who was approaching. -He scooped up the tool kit with his left hand and walked rapidly to -get out of range of whatever loudspeaker system the enemy had in the -laboratory. He strode thirty feet towards the pilot, who also came -towards Dave about the same distance. Then—</p> - -<p>"You're not—"</p> - -<p>"Up!" snapped Dave, dropping the tool kit and pulling the captured -revolver out of its holster.</p> - -<p>The pilot snarled and made a side-swinging fadeaway motion, bringing -the rifle up from its under-arm position. The pilot fired and the slug -snapped past Dave's head. Dave fired and winged the pilot in the right -shoulder, spinning the man around and dropping him to the ground.</p> - -<p>Then Dave raced forward, made a long leap, and landed, kicking the -rifle away with one heel and planting the toe of the other foot cruelly -in the armpit of the wounded shoulder.</p> - -<p>Pain crazed the pilot and he writhed on the ground, half-conscious. -When he came to, Dave had his knees and ankles trussed with friction -tape and was winding his free arm against his body with more tape.</p> - -<p>The pilot mouthed some unprintables.</p> - -<p>"Shut up!" snapped Dave.</p> - -<p>"Bah!"</p> - -<p>Dave backhanded the pilot across the face. The face writhed in pain and -the eyes half-closed again. Dave tore the sleeve from the shirt and -bound the bullet wound crudely.</p> - -<p>"Now," he said harshly, "you'll live if you behave. It ain't painless, -but you'll live—if you want to."</p> - -<p>"You can't get away with this."</p> - -<p>"No?"</p> - -<p>"We'll get you sooner or later—"</p> - -<p>"Think you'll live to see it?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"You're wrong again, chum."</p> - -<p>"Bah! We know your kind, all of you. Self-centered and egotistical, not -one of you would care to die for his fellow man. We—"</p> - -<p>Dave snorted scornfully. "During the last time we got in a scrap to -prove that we're not as sloppy as you think, I took on a load of -fission products. I don't much care whether you kill me quick right now -or whether you let me die six months from now. I'm a dead man anyway. -But in the meantime, little pawn of the superstate, I might be able to -foul you up because I have nothing to be afraid of—but failure!" Dave -let that sink in, although he doubted whether it made much impression. -Then he demanded, "What do you know about this?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing."</p> - -<p>Dave joggled the wounded arm. "Are you certain?"</p> - -<p>"You can't torture it out of me," said the pilot between gritted teeth.</p> - -<p>"Maybe I can scare it out of you," said Dave. He stood up and lifted -the pilot by hooking his left hand under the windings of tape. He -dragged the man along the ground to the helicopter and slung him into -the passenger's seat. Then Dave went around and climbed into the pilot -seat and wound up the motor. He snapped off the radio and inspected the -dashboard carefully to be sure that all radiating equipment was dead; -he did not wish to be followed by any direction-finding equipment.</p> - -<p>Then he drove the helicopter for two solid hours north until he came to -a piney forest. He dropped the ship slantwise through the forest for -a mile and came to earth in a little glade. The wheels of the 'copter -rested on the half-world surface a few inches below the apparent ground.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Now, my friend, I'm going to show you a few things that may prove to -you that we're not as stupid as you think. For one thing, I, an unarmed -man in a strange world, have succeeded in killing one of your buddies, -wounding you, and making off with your helicopter. I've succeeded in -escaping to a place where it may be difficult—if possible at all—to -find us. Third, I've established the fact that you are not carrying any -means of communicating to the real world on this 'copter."</p> - -<p>"Oh, brilliant," said the pilot.</p> - -<p>"It was," nodded Dave. "You see, we're a bunch of mechanical geniuses, -which you've always admitted. So I postulate some sort of mechanical -linkage through these devil's crystals of yours. A pencil, perhaps, -with the barrel in one world and the magazine in the other world, -coupled between them with a bushing made of a crystal. Maybe a radio -set with bushings in the dials, and a crystal between the this-world -diaphragm and the real-world electrical element. But if we were -carrying anything of that nature I'd have felt resistance as we passed -down through this forest. So—?"</p> - -<p>"Why don't you kill me and forget it all?" asked the pilot.</p> - -<p>"I am compassionate, sympathetic. A lover of mine enemy. When smitten -upon one cheek, I turn the other cheek for a second wallop. Since -you've had only one wallop, I'm keeping you alive so you can get that -busted wing back in shape for the second smiting. But you see," added -Dave as he saw a wave of pain pass over the pilot, "the book doesn't -fill in the gap between the smiting of the first cheek and the offering -of the second. Elsewhere in the same book—and a long way in front of -that—you find references to the taking of an eye for an eye and a -tooth for a tooth. You and your gang of hotshots have been responsible -for the deaths of a lot of fine men, killed with no warning.</p> - -<p>"So," finished Dave, hard-voiced, "maybe you'd like to learn what goes -on when a mild-mannered gent like myself gets mad?"</p> - -<p>Dave reached across the pilot's body, grasped the wounded arm and -joggled it sharply. The pilot cried out in pain and beads of sweat -popped out on his face.</p> - -<p>"Talk, damn you!" Dave twisted the arm again.</p> - -<p>"Where are you running this game from?"</p> - -<p>No answer—and another twist of the arm.</p> - -<p>"How do you blow up the crystals?"</p> - -<p>The pilot's eyes closed and he breathed heavily.</p> - -<p>"Possum!" said Dave, slapping the pilot across the face. There was no -response, so he fumbled under the seat and found a water flask. He -threw a small handful into the pilot's face. "There isn't much of this -here," he said, "and I doubt that there's any water we can drink on -this half-world. Wounded men get thirsty, don't they, chum?"</p> - -<p>The pilot opened his eyes and groaned, "Water—"</p> - -<p>"Talk!"</p> - -<p>"I don't know anything."</p> - -<p>"Then you're no good to me alive!" snapped Dave.</p> - -<p>The pilot sat up a bit. Dave twisted the arm again. "Don't!" pleaded -the pilot.</p> - -<p>"Then talk!" snapped Dave again. "You got into this world the same as I -did, but by choice. How do we get out again?"</p> - -<p>"There's—no way out."</p> - -<p>"Baloney."</p> - -<p>The pilot screamed in pain. "No—I swear it!"</p> - -<p>"How does the Manhattan Crystal furnish power for New York?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know."</p> - -<p>"It's transmission of power, isn't it?" demanded Dave, jerking the -wounded arm again.</p> - -<p>"I—"</p> - -<p>"Good. That's what I thought. Transmission from one crystal to another. -They blow them up the same way?"</p> - -<p>The pilot nodded, weakly.</p> - -<p>"So <i>we</i> don't manufacture the crystals in the nuclear laboratories. -You and your gang deliver them like Santa Claus, coming down the -chimney!"</p> - -<p>The pilot nodded again.</p> - -<p>"Now—where is this thing run from?"</p> - -<p>The pilot shook his head. Dave snapped the arm sharply and the pilot -screamed. He screamed a name.</p> - -<p>"There's no way back?"</p> - -<p>"No," groaned the pilot.</p> - -<p>Dave let him go. "No way of communicating with the real world from -here?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"Do you know where we are?"</p> - -<p>"Interstitial time."</p> - -<p>"What?" roared Dave angrily.</p> - -<p>The pilot winced. "I'm told," he gasped, "that time moves in quanta, -like energy. We're—between two quanta of time."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Dave frowned thoughtfully. The expression, "out of phase" came to -mind, and he decided that the half-world was displaced, out of phase -in time, moving behind one peak of the "real world" and before the -next. He remembered seeing a series of synchronizing pulses depicted -on an oscilloscope; a series of rectangular waves, square-sided and -flat-topped, rising from the baseline sharply. Like the cross-section -of a row of piano keys, the separation between pulses very narrow -compared to the width of the flat top. This half-world, he supposed, -moved along in the separation.</p> - -<p>"Where is Claverly—and Phelps?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know. Another crew captured them and took them back."</p> - -<p>"I think that's about enough," said Dave. "I think we can take it from -here."</p> - -<p>"And what are you going to do with me?"</p> - -<p>Dave grinned, "We'll make a sporting proposition out of this, superman. -You'll be the bait for a trap. If the trap springs on me, you'll win. -If the trap springs on you, well, that's just too damned bad!"</p> - -<p>"You can't trap us!"</p> - -<p>"No? You told me I couldn't get anything out of you, either. So just -watch!"</p> - -<p>Dave lifted the 'copter once more and drove, at headlong pace, back -to Merion. He hovered thirty feet above the pseudo-ground, less than -half a mile from the main building, and then cut the engine and let -the helicopter drop. For good measure, he tilted it sidewise. The ship -landed with a jarring crash that crumpled the landing gear and folded -one of the rotor blades down. The hull crumpled in on one side, and a -litter of broken glass and some splinters of metal spread out across -the earth. Dave completed the picture by kicking out the fore window -and strewing the ground around the ship with the gear from the various -tool boxes and compartments.</p> - -<p>He found a first-aid kit. He charged a hypo needle with a healthy slug -of sedative and placed it handy.</p> - -<p>Then he sat back and waited.</p> - -<p>An hour passed; two, three, and darkness began to fall. Dave switched -on the landing lights of the 'copter, and then with a vicious smile -he kicked one of them loose so that its beam cut the ground askew, -illuminating the litter on the ground.</p> - -<p>Two hours after dark he was rewarded by the distant sound of another -helicopter. Dave went to work vigorously. He clipped the pilot across -the jaw, dazing him. He shoved the needle home and discharged the -sedative into the pilot's body. Then he cut the tape and shoved -the feebly-struggling body half out through the fore window, being -callously rough so that the pilot's face and shoulders were slightly -cut by the broken glass.</p> - -<p>The pilot, roused a bit by the pain, waved at the oncoming helicopter, -trying to warn it off. Instead, the other pilot dropped rapidly towards -the wreck.</p> - -<p>It landed a hundred feet away and two men dropped to the ground and -came running.</p> - -<p>"What happened?" cried the foremost.</p> - -<p>"Wreck," groaned Crandall, inside the ship.</p> - -<p>He took careful aim with the pilot's rifle and fired, twice. Both men -dropped in their tracks.</p> - -<p>Leaping over them, Dave went to their helicopter and climbed in. He -snapped the radio switch and said, "We're back, reporting."</p> - -<p>"What happened, M-22?" the speaker answered tinnily, and Dave cheered -himself for guessing correctly that the other pilot or observer had -reported before investigating.</p> - -<p>"Complete wreck," he said shortly.</p> - -<p>"The men?"</p> - -<p>"Dead."</p> - -<p>"You're certain, M-22?"</p> - -<p>"I am."</p> - -<p>"What was the waving, then?"</p> - -<p>"Piece of canvas. I thought it was one of them. The light, you know."</p> - -<p>"Ah, yes. Over there it is dark. All right, proceed as directed and -return to this wreck once the crystal is placed!"</p> - -<p>"Check. M-22 signing off."</p> - -<p>Dave snapped off the radio and rummaged about in the helicopter. He -found the crystal, packed neatly in an aluminum box in the compartment -below the dash.</p> - -<p>Now to find something to write upon. Nothing he had available would -suffice. And if he took the crystal into the laboratory to write upon -a wall, the video cameras would see him and the enemy would blow the -crystal up, and himself with it. There was—</p> - -<p>Jane!</p> - -<p>Dave grinned happily. He lifted the 'copter and drove it madly across -the plain, following the ghostly road he recalled so well, until he -came to the farmhouse of the Nolan family. Shamelessly, Dave lifted the -'copter around the farmhouse, peering into the windows until he located -Jane's bedroom. He took the crystal from its packing and forced it -through the window screen. Then he took the whole helicopter in through -the house until he was sitting beside her bed. He tapped her shoulder -with the crystal until she awoke.</p> - -<p>"Uh—what?" she gasped, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.</p> - -<p>She snapped on the light and sat up in bed.</p> - -<p>She saw the crystal, apparently floating before her eyes, and she -jumped with fright. Then Dave took the 'copter close to the wall. He -scratched in the plaster:</p> - -<p><i>Jane. This is Dave!</i></p> - -<p>"Dave!" she breathed.</p> - -<p><i>Yes!</i> It was hard on the plaster, but necessary.</p> - -<p>"You can hear me?"</p> - -<p>Dave pointed to the "Yes" with the crystal.</p> - -<p>"You can see me?"</p> - -<p>Again came the point. And Jane hurriedly wrapped herself in the sheet -and blushed. Then she threw away the sheet and said. "It seems that -this is no time for modesty, Dave."</p> - -<p>He tapped the printed "Yes" once again as Jane reached for her dressing -gown and slipped into it.</p> - -<p>"What do you want?" she asked.</p> - -<p><i>Carbon paper</i>, he wrote on the wall.</p> - -<p>Jane disappeared, and Dave smiled at the scribbling on the wall. Its -disjointed message was bearing fruit. But what could one make out of:</p> - -<p><i>Jane. This is Dave!</i></p> - -<p><i>Yes!</i></p> - -<p><i>Carbon paper.</i></p> - -<p>Nothing but the safety of America!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Instead of carbon paper, Jane brought a "Magic Slate", one of those -wax-based tablets covered with a celluloid sheet that can be written on -with a stylus and then erased by lifting the celluloid. It was better -than carbon paper, and Dave cheered to himself at her brain-work.</p> - -<p>"What is that?" she asked.</p> - -<p><i>This crystal is the one the enemy was bringing to Merion Laboratory -to replace the one they blew up in the safety-dump yesterday</i>, he wrote.</p> - -<p>"Where are you?"</p> - -<p><i>I am in some sort of interspace between time quanta. Your guess is -better than mine.</i></p> - -<p>"Who is the enemy?"</p> - -<p>Dave wrote it out, and then added the rest of the details.</p> - -<p>"What shall I do?"</p> - -<p><i>Stop them—somehow.</i></p> - -<p>"How can I stop them?" wailed Jane.</p> - -<p><i>Call President Morgan.</i> You can do that, he wrote. <i>Let the President -put a stop to it!</i></p> - -<p>Jane nodded and went to the telephone. Dave followed. <i>I'm putting this -crystal in Merion</i>, he said. <i>I've been away too long—they will be -getting suspicious.</i></p> - -<p>"Dave," cried Jane, helplessly looking for him. It was hard on Dave, -for he knew what she wanted and was unable to stand where her eyes were -trying to focus. He gave up and watched her eyes look aside and through -him, unable to help her see him as he could see her. "Dave," she cried -plaintively, "come back to me!"</p> - -<p><i>When I can</i>, he promised.</p> - -<p>Jane waved the pad. "I have that in writing," she said. Her face showed -it to be a hard try at humor.</p> - -<p>Dave tapped her gently on the forehead with the crystal, and then it -took off in a long swoop towards the window as he left. He did not -know, but he assumed that a certain amount of time must be permitted -the placers of those crystals since the operator could not open a -door, nor must he permit the crystal to be seen floating through a -busy corridor. How much of this grace period he had left he did not -know, but he wanted the crystal placed under the eye of the television -cameras of the enemy before they became suspicious.</p> - -<p>The crystal was a deadly thing under any circumstances, but now it was -like a gallon tin of nitroglycerine; Jane, knowing the facts, would -keep people out of its sphere of death.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, as Dave drove the helicopter towards Merion, the avalanche -of action that he had initiated was rolling higher and higher.</p> - -<p>A common, garden-variety citizen of no especial degree of public -acclaim is normally supposed to be able to shake the President by -the hand and/or complain about the weather or the administration, -or taxes, or anything. It has never been determined just what might -happen if Peter Doakes, of South Burlap, Idaho, became possessed of -vital information that must be handed to the President within the -hour. Without a doubt the country would be blown sky-high by the time -Mr. Doakes succeeded in proving to ninety-odd undersecretaries that -he had something truly important and was not a crank or a crackpot. -But Dr. Jane Nolan of Merion Atomic Laboratory had both a name and a -reputation, and when she placed her call to the White House, it took -her exactly twelve minutes to convince the powers that be that she had -something vital to discuss with President Morgan. Four minutes later, -the President had been awakened and was on the telephone. It took -another fifteen minutes for Jane to tell her story.</p> - -<p>Then the President haled a pompous little man out of bed and made -him stand at the telephone while the President of the United States -gave the Foreign Ambassador a bit of the Official What-For, and began -explaining that it was not necessary for Congress to convene in order -for the United States to rise and defend herself against a sneak attack -from a Foreign Power, and that under the Circumstances, the President -was going to present the Foreign Power with a fine collection of -American Military Secrets, and that the first of these Gifts would be -presented within the hour unless the Foreign Power surrendered first.</p> - -<p>The President had a few other suggestions regarding the Return, -unharmed, of a couple of American Scientists, and the well-being of a -certain American Newspaperman, and some other items of mutual interest, -and Furthermore, Mister Ambassador—</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Dave Crandall flew his helicopter towards Merion, wondering how things -were going. His job was done. He, too, was finished. There was no -return. Not that Dave felt any great urge to return; doubtless there -was something he could find to do in this half-world that would let him -go on working. He would have to contact them and have them ship him -groceries, cigarettes, and water. But there were many things that a man -could do here.</p> - -<p>He thought about Jane, and his heart softened for a moment. This was -just as well, however. She would forget him, while he had no future -worth thinking about. Only hard work, partly because he liked activity, -partly because it kept him from brooding about the date of his certain -death.</p> - -<p>A wonderful woman, Jane Nolan; one not to be hurt by fate's little -tricks. But so long as he was here, she—</p> - -<p>The crystal he had in his pocket flashed brilliantly, penetrating the -cloth and lighting up the cabin of the helicopter. At once, Dave felt -the hard matter of the seat grow tenuous, and there was a bare instant -of sliding resistance, like the feeling of plunging a foot into the -shifting sand of a beach. Then the helicopter disappeared and Dave felt -himself falling.</p> - -<p>"Damned unmitigated liar!" growled Dave. Then he crashed into a tree -and lost consciousness.</p> - -<p>Dave meant the pilot who swore that there was no return to the real -world.</p> - -<p>He opened his eyes and groaned. He tried to move and found that he -could not. He might as well be covered up to the eyebrows in concrete.</p> - -<p>He looked around and saw a crowd of people watching him.</p> - -<p>"Welcome home."</p> - -<p>"But—?"</p> - -<p>"I owe you an apology." Dave looked and saw President Morgan.</p> - -<p>"Apology?"</p> - -<p>"I got too tough with them. They flashed you back while you were flying -the helicopter. You're banged up a little."</p> - -<p>"Nothing that can't be repaired," said Doctor Meteridge cheerfully. "A -beautiful case. Fractures of the tibia, fibula, radius and ulna on -one side, humerus and clavicle on the other. Bruises and a couple of -abrasions. Nothing serious."</p> - -<p>"David," said President Morgan, "a grateful people is waiting for your -convalescence so that we can show you our appreciation."</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Jane. "Get well. We all have plans for you!"</p> - -<p>Dave tried to shake his head. "No, Jane. Doc'll tell you. Six months—"</p> - -<p>"You can't escape me that easily," said Jane. "While you're all -neatly immobilized in that plaster cast, we are using their machine -to separate out the widespread specks of fission products that were -killing you. Just a matter of tuning critically so that it will send -certain isotopes into the half-world instead of the whole human being. -So by the time you get off your back, we'll have you healthy again and -then, Dave Crandall, just you think up another excuse!"</p> - -<p>"Pick on a guy when he's down," grumbled Dave. He was laughing, then, -but the room blurred through the tears in his eyes.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> For Self Propelled Atomic Missile: a humorous contraction -used in a novel, "Murder of the U.S.A.," by Will F. Jenkins, shortly -after World War II. When self-propelled guided missiles came into -being, General Lansdowne conferred Jenkins' appellation upon them and -the name has remained.—G.O.S.</p></div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEATH CRYSTAL ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. 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