Dick Purcell

“ Carter stopped suddenly and regarded the three with a touch of compassion. "You haven't the least idea what I'm talking about, do you?"
"I'm afraid not," Walter Maltby said timidly.
"Well, never mind. Perhaps I don't either. In any case, existence is its own excuse for accepting any locale. Suffice it to say we are now in a world that was not built for us—a world for creatures of far greater dimensions than ourselves—and how we got here is really of little importance."
Peggy Wilson was now snugly in Wilmer Payton's arms, her head tight against his chest. ”

“ Obviously the concert pianist gag was a coverup for something else—some fancied wrong—perhaps plain restlessness.
Alone, Paine went back over the conversation, intrigued by John Harper's strange determination.
"This talk about being a concert pianist is a gag of course, isn't it, John?"
"No, Mr. Paine."
"But man—you're too old to start a thing like that. You never in your life studied music did you?"
"No, sir."
"Then let me tell you—first, in a thing like that, you've got to have talent. Have you got talent?" ”

“ The situation was an excuse for any thinking man's indignation. Why, even at the moment there were five sections of the red planet awaiting investigation by the interplanetary government; five lush opportunities wrapped so tight in governmental red tape that years would pass before steps were taken.
And men—fearless adventurers like Gunnison—would be executed for trespassing on these forbidden grounds. Gunnison spat in disgust. Then, as the ship tilted downward for the last leg of the jump, he thought of the Ghanati. His eyes narrowed and he was as close to fear as men like Gunnison ever came. ”

“ Hagen sighed. "As to the will itself, all I can say is that it's bound to cause a sensation."
"I think so too," Sam said, his eyes turning a trifle sad. "It's too bad a man has to die just at the most interesting point of his life."
"You'll live for years, Mr. Chipfellow. You're in fine condition."
"Cut it out. You're itching for me to shuffle off so you can get a crack at what I'm leaving behind."
"Why, Mr.—"
"Shut up and have another drink."
Carter Hagen did not have long to wait as life-times go. Eighteen months later, Sam Chipfellow dropped dead while walking in his garden. ”

“ Walter Maltby said, "You're talking in circles. Talking but not saying anything!"
Carter had turned away, smiling. "This is very strange. We were transported to another plane, but not snatched up willy-nilly. There was a pattern behind it. Three people admirably suited to their new fate."
Wilmer Payton seized Fleming Carter by the arm and whirled him around. "Will you please tell us what you're talking about?"
"Of course," Carter said quietly. "To speak the absolute truth, we are in a box. ”

“ Gunnison remained by the port. The next thing he would see would be the borders of the dread Ghanati.
Sullen resentment welled up in Gunnison. He had read his history and he knew how things had changed. In the old days back on Terra, men were given freedom to seek and find. Why, once they opened half a planet—a whole hemisphere to those with the courage to move in and take it! Men and women and even children in shoddy old wagons pushed across the prairies of his own Mid-America. No fat bureaucrats called the dance in those fine days. ”

“ It was given exactly seven years from the day he told Sam Paine, "I'm quitting to become a concert pianist."
The television networks found him quickly and he rocketed to fame by giving classical music an interpretation that made it understood and loved by millions.
It was said that John Harper gave more musical pleasure to the world in his brief two-year career than had any other genius in a natural span.
But of course, the seven years had taken their toll. The punishment of learning would have killed a far younger and stronger man than John Harper. ”

“ Because of the number of persons who will no doubt wish to try their luck, I decree further that each shall be given thirty seconds in which to project their thought. A force of six men shall be hired to supervise the operation and handle the crowds in the neighborhood of the vault. A trust fund has been already set up to pay this group. The balance of my wealth lies awaiting the lucky thinker in the vault—all save this estate itself, an item of trifling value in comparison to the rest, which I bequeath to the State with the stipulation that the other terms of the will are rigidly carried out. ”

“ The creature was obviously a man. He wore rather strange loose clothing that, Carter thought, had some resemblance to those of the ancient Greeks. But otherwise there was nothing different about him except his size. As he approached, Fleming Carter estimated that Wilmer Payton—the tallest of the four—would about come to the top of his odd sandal-like footgear.
There was no panic now—the three being completely frozen with terror and Carter statue-quiet and sharply alert. The giant, he was sure, would pass within two hundred yards of them. A distance dangerously close considering the man's size. ”

“ Nothing but hard earth under their feet and a high blue sky above.
"Why we're out—out in the country!" Peggy Wilson babbled.
"I agree," Fleming Carter said. "But let's not get panicky. We are still alive and unhurt."
"But I don't understand it," Walter Maltby said, plaintively. "I just don't understand it."
Fleming Carter regarded the little man with pity. No Jenny around to reassure the little man with her domineering bulk. Carter knew as a matter of course that Jenny would be both bulky and domineering.
Carter looked about him. They were out in open country—that was obvious. ”

“ Peggy Wilson moaned.
Carter laid a hand upon her shoulder. "Consider, my dear. All your life you have needed a mother. Now you will have the equivalent of one." He turned to Walter Maltby. "And you. You have learned to function only as a result of a dominating wife's promptings. Our jailer will fill that role for you."
Lastly he regarded Wilmer Payton. "You, young man will be directed and guided. You will not have need of the brain power with which you are not equipped. ”

“ And someone always beat him to the strikes. Once on Pluto he arrived at a diamond field well in advance of the pack but the Johnny-come-latelies walked away with fortunes while Gunnison grubbed doggedly on his barren claim.
So now he had spent his years and had but a handful of time left for a last try. A shot at the Ghanati, and no try could have been more desperate than this because failure meant death under the new laws.
Gunnison waited at the ship. The pilot arrived, wiping the last of an evening meal off his mouth with the back of his hand. The pilot grinned. ”

“ John Harper, the great concert pianist—the man who brought long-hair music into the home—the man loved by millions, will—"
The voice and the image vanished. Then the set faded, and John Harper lay tense in the bed in his shoddy little room. But a different John Harper now. In an instant he became a dedicated man knowing he had been building up to this moment for years. ”

“ Great commercial activity began in the area surrounding the estate as arrangements were made to accommodate the hundreds of thousands who were heading in that direction.
A line began forming immediately at the gate to Chipfellow's Folly and a brisk market got under way in positions therein. The going figure of the first hundred positions was in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars. A man three thousand thoughts away was offered a thousand dollars two days before the week was up, and on the last day, the woman at the head of the line sold her position for eighteen thousand dollars. ”

“ The operator became aware that only silence answered him. Had they been scared dumb? "You—hey you—down there—"
More silence. The operator frowned and crawled down into the shaft. He looked through the trap. Empty. "Well I'll be damned!" he said. And because an obvious situation was covered by an obvious answer, added, "All four of them crawled out and went home. Funny they couldn't stick around a few minutes."
He did not ponder the difficulties involved in such an escape. The only direction they could have gone was up and out on the seventh floor. He thus accepted the obvious. ”

“ So intense was the interest created that scarcely anyone paid attention to the activities of Chipfellow's closer relatives. They sued to break the will but met with defeat. The verdict was rendered speedily, after which the judge who made the ruling declared a recess and bought the eleven thousandth position in line for five hundred dollars.
On the morning of the appointed day, the gates were opened and the line moved toward the vault. The first man took his seat on the bench. A stopwatch clicked. A great silence settled over the watchers. ”

“ More than that, they're a people shy to the point of pain. Good lord, what a switch!
Now the two males went suddenly crazy with fear. They looked into the sky and went into gibbering gymnastics as they sought to prevail on Gunnison without touching him. Obviously they wanted him to leave this terrible place. Why?
Evidently because of the black bird that circled over head. Gunnison looked up. The natives babbled inarticulate entreaty as they gestured toward Gunnison's camp. Then, as the bird gave forth an angry whistle and went into its dive, they broke and bolted madly for the nearby crags. ”

“ It had seemed ridiculous, seriously pinpointing things that should have been obvious. "Well let's say you have—just for argument's sake. All right—talent has to be caught early and nourished—like a seed—get what I mean? ”

“ The operator waited for a few minutes, then spoke in a carefully casual voice, "The blessed engineer is out to supper. Now ain't that the way things always happen? When the blessed engineer goes out to supper the blessed elevator does a blessed sit-down between two floors."
"What—what are we going to do?" This from the very pretty female passenger named Peggy Wilson who was afraid of almost everything and was going to a psychiatrist who was trying to root a dominating mother out of the poor girl's subconscious and put the old lady back in her grave where she belonged. ”

“ Child-men willing to give him anything they owned even to the hair off their own hides. But what did they own? Nothing but old bones and teeth and nauseating concoctions they used for food.
Gunnison had explored the area roundabout and had discovered what was probably the ruins of an ancient city. If so, the place flourished before the dawn of history because the buildings were only vague heaps of rubble. The natives lived in these and, Gunnison suspected, in caves among the rocks. ”

“ It is believed by some that people can be moved, under certain conditions from one plane of existence to another—that there are many of these so-called planes of existence where many and varied peoples live and breathe upon them. ”

“ Walter Maltby asked a trifle plaintively.
"No. There were other things."
At this point Peggy Wilson, coming out of her shock, began to cry hysterically. "My God! What's to become of us? We'll all be killed—murdered!"
"I don't think so," Carter said. ”

“ No one will be barred. The winner will take all, and the winner may be anyone on this planet. My one regret is that I won't be around to see who gets the jackpot."
Carter Hagen dutifully pocketed the will and left. He returned on other business a week later. Sam Chipfellow's first question was, "Well, what did you think of it?" ”

“ Time enough for Gunnison to feel revulsion at the hideousness of the creatures. They were three in number and he got the impression two were males and one a female although their appearance gave little indication either way.
They were bipeds towering some seven feet into the thin Martian atmosphere. Their bodies were misshapen from any standard Gunnison was familiar with. Legs far too long for their incredibly wide torsos. ”

“ There also continued to be an active business in positions, a group of professional standers having sprung up, each with an assistant to bring food and coffee and keep track of the ever fluctuating market in positions. ”

“ Gunnison said.
The pilot grinned. "A man wanting to be set down by the Ghanati should expect to pay high." The pilot had a battered old ship, a forged license, a questionable bill of sale. He trafficked only in desperate trips for desperate people and he knew Gunnison would pay the price.
Scowling, Gunnison counted out the highbinding tribute from a leather sack containing the coins of all the planets. Terran gold eagles, Venusian phalada, Mercurian scoz.
The pilot inspected each coin, bagged the total, "When can you have your gear aboard?" ”

“ Walter Maltby had troubles of his own. He now voiced them: "Jenny will be furious if we don't get out of here pretty quick. I'm always home for Television Theater and if I don't make it—"
He got no further because at that moment the foundations of the world seemed to give way and the four of them were hurled into a heap on the floor.
Or were they?
This question was in Fleming Carter's mind as Peggy Wilson screamed, Walter Maltby whimpered, and Wilmer Payton bellowed in terror. Had the lift fallen—the building collapsed—an atom bomb exploded? His instincts told him no. ”

“ The birds had never ceased their attacks and he had learned to fend them off pretty much as a man swats flies. But upon this morning his attention was riveted to a particularly large reward of yellow dust from his last panning and one of the black raiders got through. ”