R. W. Stockheker

“ Even so, jaded nerves or not, there's nothing else this side of the fourth dimension that for sheer thrill can touch rocket racing. The spectacle of twenty big torpedoes thundering along before the ground-quivering blast impact of their jets, unleashing power better suited to the vastness of space than to a race track, is soul shaking. ”

“ You have what we bio-electronicists call a rogue symbiotic waveform."
She could be right. Big-electronics was a little out of my line. I didn't feel I knew enough about the subject to argue.
"What throws me," I said, "is why I should reciprocate your revulsion. I mean, ordinarily I am a sort of good-natured slob. I don't often get mad—not even at kindly old ladies."
It seemed Panda also had a theory about that. "This antagonism undoubtedly stems from the fact that we are at opposite ends of the symbiotic scale," she said. "We are a hundred per cent incompatible." ”

“ You see, I ride for the Galaxy circuit under a queer set-up. What I mean is that the circuit pays me a straight salary just to put a little more color into a race.
Instead of setting out to win, I'm hired to ride the magnet bends, making hair-brained skids and turns, the kind of trick stuff that looks good to the stands, but kills real speed. And the only reason I get by with most of the stuff I pull is because I've built up a reputation on this tough mug of mine.
I'm considered to be the sort of guy who would rather wreck his rocket than give an inch to another rider. ”

“ Twice during the next week Leo arranged matches for me. And twice those kindly old ladies surged through the ropes to protect me.
For awhile I kept hoping my new personality would wear off like a hangover. But it kept getting stronger and stronger. If I ran a stop light, some cop would roar up and apologize for that light's being red. If I stepped into a bar to order a drink, the bartender would beat his forehead in anguish. "Freddy!" he'd scream. "You got to take better care of your stomach! Don't drink that slop I beg you!"
Even my pigs were affected by my new waveform. ”

“ I'm proud of that pig farm. People may detest me, but I get along fine with pigs. We're real compatible.
The party Leo picked out for me to attend that night was being held in one of those mansions which come equipped with their own private mountain. It was jammed clear to the upstairs maid with artists, swamis and people, and I was prepared to have a very dull night. What I wasn't prepared for was to meet Panda.
At the time, I didn't know that's who she was. All I knew was suddenly here was this spectacular girl with the glossy white streak in her satin black hair standing in front of me. ”

“ In one awful surge my big sizzle buggy kicked itself out of the starting tube.
That first magnet bend on the big elliptic is always the worst. Anything can happen when twenty bunched up rockets go into that curve still fighting the blasting surge of their starting momentum.
Automatically I set my repulsion magnets and increased the starboard trimming jets to ride the fence around. It's the only safe way to take that first tight corner. With the magnets of one rocket playing against the next and the last ship cushioned against the fence, you're in a groove as neat and cozy as a baby in a crib. ”

“ I mentioned this to Panda. "That Dr. MacCluett doesn't like my going out with you so often," I told her. "I'm making him jealous."
She almost broke herself up with girlish glee over that. "Oh, brother!" she shrieked. "How could anybody possibly get jealous of you, Freddy?"
She had a good point. It didn't sound reasonable. "All the same," I insisted, "that Dr. MacCluett is getting jealous."
She told me to stop worrying about it. "I'll handle the good doctor," she said. It was like a kid with a toy blaster telling you he'd handle that armored column. ”

“ Although these bands were invisible to the crowd, they stood out sharply in my specially ground lenses, tracing the dome-shaped path of the force fence. This force fence, despite its apparent fragility, can stop a churning rocket on a pinpoint. And it has stopped plenty of them, too. Not even radar controlled cushioning jets and the strong repellent force the fence exerted can keep a rocket from going into it.
When the color bands steadied to racing ready, I felt for the accelerator paddles, jabbing them all the way home. ”

“ MacCluett type your symbiotic waveform. We may be able to get a waveshape picture of the enmity factor in its pure form. Such a study might lead to the unlocking of the riddle of the antipathy some ethnic groups instinctively hold for others. This might easily turn out to be the dawn of a new era."
Well, as long as she put it that way, I didn't see how I could refuse. I figure if there's one thing this world can use, it's the dawn of a new era. ”

“ Slamming into the force fence isn't any picnic for anybody. You shouldn't have to be told that. And plenty of top riders have gone soft after taking the kind of smash-up Skid took last year on the Alpha Centauri track. It—it—look, Pete, why don't you play it smart for once and get out of this racket while you can. Rocket racing is nothing but death and danger anyway. ”

“ Thus must primitive man's waveform have appeared when he was forced to battle the hairy mammoth."
I decided I ought to put the doctor straight on that point. I didn't want to ruin the start of a new era with any misconceptions.
"Dr. MacCluett, I got to tell you something," I said. "I never battled a hairy mammoth in all my life. Couple of years ago I wrestled a bear in a carnival. But I never laid a finger on a hairy mammoth in all my life." ”

“ Ziggy's gold cylinder followed right along, drawing a stream of sparks as he caromed off my ectovent. It was the kind of trick stuff Ziggy likes—slashing, skidding, grandstand riding that congealed the customer's blood. Ordinarily I would have welcomed this chance for a little fancy riding, but now I blasted Ziggy to hades and back.
In the low tier I could see Skid's blue rocket jamming along half a length out in front. How he managed to pull a lead from that bunch of wolves he was riding with must have been part miracle. ”

“ These Bel Air soirees are usually loaded with earnest intellectuals, and if there's one thing that upsets me it's mingling with earnest intellectuals. But Leo is my manager. What he decides I should do, I do.
"Being seen at this brain brawl will be smart box office, Freddy," Leo told me. "You can use a little high-brow publicity."
I could have used a little premonition and second sight too. It would have kept me from getting mixed up with Panda, the beautiful Ph.D. It would have kept me from taking that fatal fall to Dr. Stanley MacCluett's synthetic symbiotic wave. ”

“ It's a funny thing. Just riding around the tube to put on a show, the way I'm paid to do, I'm like a robot. Up in my head there's a little timing device that tells me just how fast, down to the last split second, a rocket can take a magnet bend.
I can work out to the last fraction of an ounce the carom I can afford to take off the force fence or another rocket without wrecking. But the moment I go out to win, the tube guards start hanging out the crash warning again. ”

“ I snapped.
"But, Freddy," she wailed, "he might have killed you!"
I had to laugh. "You mean Arnie?" I snickered. "Why Arnie wouldn't hurt a fly. Besides, it's against the rules for clean-cut American kids to wrestle rough."
"I mean Dr. MacCluett," she squalled. "That was a very dangerous operation he performed on you. He might have done an irreparable injury to your poor little brain."
In all my life I had never heard such a silly statement.
"Panda, I got to tell you something," I sighed. "Even that bear in that carnival couldn't damage my brain. ”

“ With the perfection of the Celetron robot, and its introduction into industry, time was beginning to become an item of increasingly boring magnitude to the majority of the populace. The result was that this new and exceedingly dangerous sport was pounced on by the people of Earth with all the gusto of a hungry carnivore on a juicy side of caveman. ”

“ Arnie finally terminated this loathsome exhibition by lying down and covering his head with his arms. Either that crowd had to cheer fair or Arnie wasn't going to play.
I don't want to linger any longer on that match. It is something better forgotten by one and all. It is a black and infamous blot, buried now in the pages of wrestling history. Let us leave it there.
Leo waited until we were back in the dressing room before blowing his top. "Freddy," he screeched, "what disgusting thing have you done? Have you rescued some blonde who was going down in the briny deep for the ninth time?" ”

“ Skid's voice thinned out to a razor edge. "Don't say that, Steve," he said. "You know that Meton crash was an accident. When I take a magnet bend I don't make room for any driver—not even Pete."
"And I say that 'accident' was a deliberate attempt to slam me into the force fence. The only accident part about it was that you landed there yourself."
I braced for trouble. Only it never came. Jet Markham, First Zone Officer for the Astrola track, picked that moment to push his way through the crowd. ”

“ The driver of the Star Car was a new-comer to the circuit—a nice looking blond-headed kid who brought his rocket up from Antarctica for this race.
The white Star Car was the last rocket to go into the tubes and it filled out the top tier. There are four of these tiers with five tubes to the tier here at Astrola, as at most of the newer tracks. The favorites usually draw the lower tier, where the pull of the force field is tougher and the going slower. This makes for closer and more exciting races since the rockets scramble for the better positions on the upper levels. ”

“ Panda snapped, giving me a look that would have carved a duck. "This isn't going to hurt."
She was right, Dr. MacCluett said. All they were going to do was use a radio electroencephalograph on me. That radio electroencephalograph was just a series of modified FM transmitters which they were going to set up around me. Those transmitters would pick up my wave patterns and transmit them over to that receiver in the corner. That receiver would flash the pattern to that oscilloscope beside it. I would be as safe as a baby in its mother's arms. Safer even. ”

“ Nothing as sentimental as that could have shown on my mug, but Suvia seemed to get the idea anyway.
"Judy Carlyle is with Steve now, Pete," she told me. "She took the first tube in from the Coast when she heard Steve was hurt. They're planning on getting married as soon as he's well again. Steve is going to give up racing."
I shot a quick glance at Skid, but the grin on his face was undisturbed, and I knew by this that losing or winning a race was more important to Skid than losing or winning a girl. ”

“ Jet Markham cooled them off."
"But how worked up did Steve get? Would he try to do anything desperate in the race—like trying to wreck Skid's rocket?"
"Hold it, kid," I said. "Just what did those little spacies say?"
Before she could answer, one of the little Celetron robots came clicking up and tried to push the sliding cockpit cover shut under Suvia's nose. She brushed it off with a sweep of her arm, causing it to whir plaintively. That's one thing about women, even Suvia, they've no respect for machinery. Those robots are precision instruments, too. ”

“ It wasn't anything to get sore about. Lots of women throw drinks at me. I'm used to it by now. When it happens, I merely draw myself up to my full six-feet-four and drip disdainfully down on the drink-tosser. ”

“ Mind driving around a bit?"
While I drove around she told me about herself. Her name, she said, was Marsha Carson, though her friends all called her Panda. She worked for the Keevan Research Foundation. Her boss was Dr. Stanley MacCluett, the famous bio-electronicist, who was presently doing some important work on waveform mutuality. ”

“ The reason they consistently refrain from doing this is merely because promoters dearly love to amass money. Time and time again cash customers will come back to the arena in the hopes of seeing some clean-cut American kid twist me up like a cruller. ”

“ MacCluett to do. Still, I guess having a high I.Q. doesn't necessarily guarantee a man against being a complete jerk in certain things.
"Why, that poor stupid genius!" I chuckled.
Leo let out a strangled roar. "Freddy," he bellowed, "what is this pinto Ph.D. saying? Is she saying you have let some wacky scientist tamper with your putrid personality?"
That wacky scientist had tampered all right. There wasn't much point in denying it, so I just raised my eyebrows like a furry pair of humpbacked Japanese bridges.
Panda drew a long shuddering breath and began to close in on me. "When Dr. ”