Boyd Ellanby

“ David glanced at Lanza, and Lanza shifted in his chair.
"Thanks for the good word," said David wearily. "How do you like being a Ruler, by the way? When we were at Medschool together, I thought you were a man with ideas."
"When I was at Medschool I didn't know what was good for me," Lanza replied stiffly.
"And you think you do now?"
A slow flush crept over Lanza's face. "Look here, Wong! Each man has to make his own terms with himself. Don't act so smug! You shut yourself away inside the nice white walls of your laboratory and ignore all the conflicts of life. ”

“ Why, the version you say you remember is utterly illogical!"
"Of course it's illogical!" said Carre. "Don't you see—"
"Of course it's illogical!" shouted Ludwig. "It was illogical for Joan to forgive her tormentor. It's illogical to take care of invalids. It's illogical to forget an injury. But it's human! How on earth is society to exist if it feels only the rational emotions? You, yourself, Hartridge, have been corrupted by reading the work of Script-Lab, and you no longer have any sense of human charity. ”

“ Life on the Star Lord was the only reality.
She moved through the uncharted realms of hyperspace, travelling in one hour's time as measured by earth watches, more than twenty light years distance, if measured in the units of real space. The ship itself was quiet. The vibration of the takeoff had ended in a moment, and now the passengers could hear no noise and hum of motors, could feel no motion against swelling waves, no battering against a barrier of uneven air. The artificial gravity induced a sense of security as absolute as though the ship were resting on living rock. ”

“ As he faced Bidagha, the Premier trembled with rage, and his usually placid face was contorted. "Bidagha, you could be unfrocked for that! Zenob would be better off if Healers would confine their opinions and activities to healing, and leave politics to those whose business it is. Government will not base its decisions upon visions of dreamers who have dwelt too long in Cave."
Pehn closed his eyes as a wave of agony broke over him. The voices receded; dimly he was aware that he was falling. Pain and shouting together faded away into darkness. ”

“ Jerking the syringe upward, he forced a thin jet of pure alcohol into the man's eyes. Marley screamed. Agonizing pain blinded him, and as he clutched at his eyes, David snatched the needler from the writhing fingers, and flashed the electronic dagger straight to the heart.
He stared at the twitching body for only an instant. People were pounding on the door, shouting. He tugged at the desk drawer to get his notebook, then remembered sickly that he had left his keys in the lab. He would have to leave his notes.
The shouts were growing louder, people were battering the door. ”

“ MacPherson rested the deck on the table and watched as Rothman stood up to look through the barred window at the glittering Arizona desert. Rothman had got thinner during his months of confinement; his shoulders were bony beneath the gray hospital robe and his balding head looked like a skull.
"Are you going to play?" asked MacPherson. "Or is poker too childish an amusement for a mathematician?"
Rothman turned his back to the window. "Oh, I'll play. When three old friends from the Project suddenly turn up for a visit, even a madman will string along." ”

“ White-faced men stepped back and made themselves inconspicuous in the shadows, watching their wives and children file through the port, and looking after them hungrily. Once, a man screamed and tried to crash through the cordon. Thayer shot him, and he fell moaning to the floor. Dr. Willoughby moved through the crowd, soothing the hysterical, jollying the frightened, until he spied Alan Chase standing at the edge of the group. ”

“ Had Karl visited the basement lab? "Do you mean you want me to give you the injection to prolong your life, or the secret of how to do it, or what?"
"Don't quibble! First you'll give me the injection to make me immortal. Then you'll turn over to me all your notes on procedure. Then my friend here will needle you with a shaft of electrons and end your interest in the problem."
"Surely you won't keep such a good thing all for yourself," said David. "What about Dr. Lanza? He's your right-hand man. Don't you want him to live forever, too? What about Officer Magnun? He's a faithful servant." ”

“ Pehn opened his eyes to speak to Bidagha. "Do you think you can cure me, by Ceremony alone?"
"I have cured people who were much more ill than you are, but your case is serious because you have delayed so long. It may be that we should not rely on ritual alone, and that it would be wiser to use knife."
Lord Karn gasped with horror. "Never! Have you lost faith in your own art?" ”

“ We give them the material, and they create with perfect rationality. I myself read nearly everything they make, and even I am amazed at their craftsmanship. And they are so efficient, and write so swiftly!"
"Speed is no doubt a desirable feature," said Ludwig.
"But not the only one!" said Carre.
Hartridge smiled. "Professional jealously is warping your judgment, old man. It may be hard to take, but you Writers have nothing to give the world, anymore, that machines can't." ”

“ Take a stroll with me, and bring back to an old man a brief illusion of youth."
"But you'll never be old!" she said affectionately. "You're still the most fascinating man on the ship."
Like every other man in the room, Alan watched with envious eyes as Tanya took the professor's arm and sauntered to the door, the heavy taffeta skirts of her pearl-gray gown swishing and rustling as she walked.
Within the sealed hulk of the Star Lord the twenty-four Piles silently did their work, out of sight, out of the thoughts of the passengers. ”

“ Anyway, I never have asserted that the reaction would reach from Earth to the other planets, or even to the Moon. The Universe, including the Solar System, will still go on. But our old Earth is going up like a pile of magnesium powder mixed with potassium chlorate when you drop a lighted match on it. ”

“ Wong leaned back in his chair and smiled at his visitors.
"The wisdom of Leader Marley is a constant help to us all, but his generosity is also a byword. Surely you remember that on the tenth anniversary of his accession, he honored me by the grant of occasional hours of Privacy, as a reward for my work on Blue Martian Fever?"
"I remember now," said Dr. Lanza.
"But what for?" asked Officer Blagun. "It's anti-social!"
"Evidently you have forgotten, Officer Blagun, another Maxim of Leader Marley: Nature has not equipped one Category to judge the needs of another; only the Leader understands all. ”

“ Do you play poker? Why don't you get up a little game among your friends? That ought to provide you with excitement for one evening at least."
"Would you join the game?"
"No, no, my dear Mr. Jasperson! You and I do not move in the same circles. I confess, I enjoy the delightful uncertainties of poker, but I could never afford to play for your stakes."
"Then we'll make the stakes what you can afford. Each raise limited to five credits?"
"In that case, I might consider it."
"You, Dr. Chase?"
"Too exciting for an invalid, I'm afraid."
"You, Mr. Hall?"
Tom squeezed Dorothy's hand under the table. ”

“ From the top gallery, high in the dome, Nautunal ran down the spiral ramp.
"We're getting it now, Bidagha! Planet of Topaz, is signalling this entire sector of galaxy, hoping to find planets with intelligent life on them. They wish to communicate, to exchange information, and they offer to visit any planet which would welcome them." ”

“ He waved toward the desk behind him, piled high with manuscript and a sprawling heap of books on which rested a slide-rule.
"Calm down," said MacPherson. "Nothing is going to happen. Damn you, Avery! Are you proud of what you accomplished?"
Avery glared. "It'll do him good! He's got to learn to face reality, like the rest of us. In a little more than half an hour, the test will be finished. The world will still be here. Rothman will have to admit his equations were wrong—and then he'll be cured." ”

“ President Laurier had frowned at her, but the Secretary of Interstellar Commerce had laughed.
"Don't be alarmed, Mrs. Laurier. There is no such thing as luck. Even without a bath of champagne, this magnificent vessel will prove that man is certainly master of the universe. She begins her life well and truly named."
The Star Line ought to abandon that silly custom of christening a new ship, thought Captain Evans. ”

“ Deep down, you know that my calculations were correct. You are convinced—convinced—that the bombing of Waaku has already started a chain reaction. And that about seventeen minutes past twelve, around eight minutes from now, the shock wave will reach us, and then the wave of disintegration. Look out of the window! See that cactus in the sand, with its little yellow flower? It will be annihilated. All that desert will go, too—every pebble, every grain of sand. Everything you see, and you yourself, will be disintegrated, transformed into energy! ”

“ Don't you ever think about people's feelings? I know I'm not as good as you are; I'm only Office, but I'm human."
Karl patted her hand. "Of course you are, Leah. But that is one of the defects of people in Research—they forget about human emotions." He looked up sternly at David. "They go ahead with their experiments, and hang the consequences. If Dr. Wong had had any sense, he would never have kept this a secret for ten years, and we might have had ten years to prepare ourselves for such a responsibility. Instead, we have only a few days or, at most, weeks. Hudson! Fauré! ”

“ Tanya slashed a heavy black line across her drawing, bearing down so hard that she broke the chalk, and threw the pieces to the floor.
"He's a coward! Haven't you ever noticed the way he bullies the waiters? How he patronizes Professor Larrabee, and ignores the young Halls? And to hear him tell it, you'd think only his advice makes it possible for Captain Evans to run the ship! I'm afraid of men like that. They're cowardly and boastful, and in a crisis they are dangerous!" ”

“ I shall never live to see their visit!"
"But you don't understand, Bidagha. I forgot this isn't your field. These waves are coming through phase space, and they go much faster than speed of light. They reach us almost instantaneously."
Pehn began to laugh. He felt light-headed, and for some reason amused. "I suppose you all remember my father's Jarlu lecture, in which he demonstrated mathematically that life or intelligence on any planet except Zenob was impossible. He pointed out that unique properties of carbon compounds of which we are composed could never be duplicated on another planet. ”

“ David scarcely breathed.
Marley only nodded. "Well, mice are mice." He put down the cage and turned away. "These look just like the ones I saw when I was here eight or ten years ago. Same white patch on the forelimbs. I never knew mice could live that long."
"But—" began Lanza, bending over to study the mice.
"What an amazing memory you have, Leader," said David. "Just as you guessed, these mice are the direct descendants of the ones you saw on your former visit, a special mutant strain. ”

“ Rothman picked up his cards. "No mathematician will ever admit that another mathematician could invent a method beyond his comprehension. Still harping on an error in my inverted matrix. What time is it now?"
"There's no doubt that your calculations are wrong," said Neill, "but I still don't see why we have to insist on proving it the hard way. With bombs, why do we need to fool around with the total disintegration of matter? Sure, I know the new model releases a googol times the energy you get out of uranium fission, but who cares? There's plenty of uranium for our needs." ”

“ As Jasperson looked around at the watchful faces of the Engineer, the Pilot, and the Navigator, some of the belligerence left his voice.
"Certainly not, Josiah! And anyway, it's not your knowledge I'm quarreling with. If you run the ship according to the facts, you'll do all right. It's when you let your judgment be influenced by your imagination that I object. But by all means, do as you think best. When the Star Line loses confidence in its Captains, they replace them. ”

“ Suddenly a marked change occurred in the pattern of the signals. The clear symmetry of mathematics ended and was replaced by a formless jumble, but a jumble whose repetition suggested that it, too, contained a pattern if it could once be glimpsed. Meters and meters of tape piled up, and the young men stared at it in frustration.
Nautunal stood up in sudden decision. "Bidagha is right. There must be intelligent life in another part of galaxy. We need help, Pehn. We can't decipher this stuff, and yet it may be key to basic vocabulary. We need mathematicians, linguists, semanticists. ”

“ Wong," she cried. "I got so bored, sitting and looking at those books, day after day, with nothing to do! I thought I'd just slip down here for an hour and say hello to people, and—"
"Quiet, Hachovnik!" roared Marley. He quieted his voice. "I understand now, Wong. I remember. There were two girls. Twins. The one in Psycho-detention, according to Officer Magnun, is still beautiful and young. It's no use, Wong. You do know the secret of immortality. And you told me the Phoenix was only a fairy tale!"
David felt entirely calm. ”

“ Bidagha strode forward to meet him.
"We've finally found key to vocabulary, Pehn, and others are at work now on main body of message. Signals are undoubtedly coming from one of planets of sun we call Topaz. It has system of nine planets, and waves are being sent from third. All my life I've believed that there were other planet systems like ours, and other intelligences in galaxy, but now that one of them is signalling us, I can hardly make myself believe it!" ”

“ Breathing noisily, his plump face flushed, Jasperson smashed his fist into his pile of chips and scattered them to the floor.
"A pure bluff! I hate bluffing!"
"Then you miss a great deal of fun in life," said Larrabee calmly. "I find it dull just to analyze data and then bet on a sure thing. I like a little excitement." ”

“ Nautunal raised one eyebrow. "Don't let it get you, lad. Listening to space is apt to make you jumpy. Your friends over at Atomics wouldn't like that. More than once I've thought I was finding some sort of sense in all this chatter, but it never pans out. It's just noise. There may be other inhabited planets besides Zenob, just as Bidagha claims, but if so, they aren't talking."
"Stop, watch tape," said Pehn. Nautunal shrugged his shoulders, but he picked up the tape and watched as it trickled through his fingers. ”