Donald Allen Wollheim

“ I thought that none did not know of Oo and its God."
"Indeed, oh most honorable man, my land is so far off that you would not know its name," lied Woth glibly. "But, tell me, why is nothing here perfect?"
The shop-keeper answered sonorously as if repeating something he had learned by heart. "Nothing is perfect save Noom. And Noom is the God of Oo. None but Noom can make anything perfect. We who are only his children and his servants can not make anything truly complete. ”

“ It was not our Earth, Mitchell. We were not on Mercury for the duration of one of the little planet's years; we were there only for a Mercurian half-year."
Mitchell's bewilderment grew. "But we saw Earth high in the sky; had we stayed only about forty days, it would have been behind the sun and out of sight."
"Precisely," answered Congreve. "So it was. Our Earth was behind the sun and out of sight. There are two Earths, Mitchell. Our world is one of twins. When, untold ages ago, the planets were cast off the sun, there was a dual explosion when it came to our planet's turn. ”

“ Possibly it might be the mail plane that usually flew over Staunton's place at this time, en route to New York, some fifty miles away. But with the rapid and astonishing increase in the all-pervading vibration, such conjecture had to be thrown to the winds. The thing screamed down upon the Long Island estate with an overwhelming stridency.
Both men looked up as one. At first they saw nothing, but, in an instant, they spotted the tiny point of light. A speck of brilliance in the soft blue sky above, growing rapidly to a red flare directly overhead. ”

“ The writer who writes weird fiction because that is his main interest in life and the type of fiction he esteems above anything else, rarely gets a tumble. The pulp magazines are his field, in them he sets forth his masterpieces of imaginative concepts, in their pages and among their readers he reaps his reward. His stories are read by audiences of hundreds of thousands, his name is known whereever people of an imaginative turn of mind reside. ”

“ Woth saw their grins grow and spread, and then finally, as a sickly coldness came over him, noticed them laugh outright.
Before the temple of Noom in the city of Oo on the banks of the River Zoon sits a man. He is small and fat and he watches with his strange smile the people going in and out of the Temple of the Perfect One. And sometimes when he sees somebody that is tall and thin, he laughs to himself and glances, still chuckling, to a place inside the temple. ”

“ One is by way of the Zoon, that narrow, deep river that runs through all the jungle continent of Ild-Chundarath and carries the craft from all the little nations and cities and unnumbered tribes that have their domain along its heavily overgrown banks. It is by way of Zoon that nearly everyone comes to the city, that the little moon-sailed vessels of Gul and Tindorion and Luul come floating down the turgid waters from inland mountains and come to rest at half-sunken, moss-covered wharves that stand on rotting logs sunk in the muddy bottom. ”

“ And Severus fled from the room in frightful terror, the others closely following. Behind them rang out a terrible, hoarse bellow, cut off by a gurgling which they barely heard. The entire company, to a man. fought each other like terrified animals, each struggling to be the first out of that Museum, out the doors into the black streets and away.
For there are parts of the human body which, never having been alive, cannot be preserved in suspended life. They are the bones, the teeth—strong in death, but unable to defy the crushing millenia. ”

“ The temperature of the chamber would never vary by more than two degrees no matter what the outside conditions were.
Sedgwick strapped himself in and swiveled around to face the planet-level controls. From his central position he was like the base of a will that drives a body from its hidden place in thd skull-encircled brain. His eyes drifted easily over the readings with the skill that came of months' intensive training. Outside temperature on top of the sphere was 85, on the bottom 64. It was a hot day and the sun shining on the metal did that, he knew. ”

“ The two slipped through to the front chamber, Nadir Khan addressed the silent Congreve. "Your fellow space-man wished enlightenment, and now that we are far from the world behind us, it is time you tell him of our discovery."
Congreve nodded, thought awhile, then began:—
"The universe is a strange place. Mitchell. There are more incredible things, queer things, than ever any of us conceived." He stopped for a moment, then peered ahead as if searching for something.
"You recall our stay on Mercury. ”

“ Yet there are millions of Americans who know that science-fiction short stories are not only good reading and enjoyable literature but that very often they can qualify as true literature by their wealth of ideas, visions, thoughts, scenes and brilliance worthy of the very highest traditions of the imaginative short story. ”

“ Such books as do contain modern fantasy seek it among the "accepted" writers—the book writers who dabble in fantasy once in a while accompanied by the ohs and ahs of their select little groups of literateurs. When such a man turns out a weird yarn, he exhibits it as a charming little freak, a grotesque to be held up by the tail and exclaimed at by admiring circles of well-mannered literary clubs. And someday to appear in a select volume of weird stories, nestling between Poe and others. ”

“ No comet, no asteroid, no meteor could change its orbit. No lifeless body could speed itself up and so diabolically and consistently keep its path in space so that it would overhaul and meet up with the sphere no matter what shift the latter made. ”

“ Just because you're crazy and think you can fly to the moon, don't think that you can get away with destroying an honest man's property. You may be a hero to kids, but you're a pain to me! And you'll pay for every bit of damage that infernal contraption of yours has done to my estate!" Staunton had arrived upon the scene.
Congreve looked up, startled; Mitchell scrambled to his feet, wiped away some of the dirt that was smeared on him. ”

“ When the conquest of space is accomplished, do not suppose that it will be like navigating a celestial sea. Sailors see the sea but space-fliers may never see the stars!
Edward Sedgwick took a last glimpse at the steel sphere he was to occupy for the next few days, glanced once again at the blue sky, shook hands with the head of the Commission on Space Flight, climbed up the metal ladder and crawled into the circular orifice just under the sphere's equator. ”

“ Mitchell and Congreve swung the door of their great space-rocket shut and locked it. Then they crossed the lawns of the estate and entered the officer's blue-green radio car. They seated themselves in the back seat, the officer with them, and a second officer, who had remained in the car, drove off.
The little astronaut thought he knew cars, but he couldn't place this one. "What make of car is this?" he inquired. "I thought you police always used Fords."
The officer grunted. "It's a Royal Six. Never heard of Fords; must be one of your foreign makes." ”

“ And yet these are not fairy-stories, unless we who are grown up will admit it, which we won't, but the imagery and beauty of execution, and the gayety of the impossible are ours once more, and at those elfin fires we warm again the hands of childhood's forgotten spirit. ”

“ In the clothes of the people there are parts that seem unfinished. In the tables and three legged chairs there is some part that is not polished or colored or carved and that makes it imperfect. Even the very names of the people drawl off into hints of something left unsaid. If you go into a shop and buy something you will find it incomplete. For the things that are made in Oo are never perfect.
Woth became most amazed at this constant imperfection and somewhat annoyed, for he was a connoisseur and it pained him to see these things with imperfections that marred their value. ”

“ And perhaps Swish may be right. Who are we to tell?
Woth traversed rapidly the back part of the town and soon entered the wider, better kept and more frequented streets where the life of the little city lies. And as he passed into these parts and went among the populace and the inhabitants, his manner changed. He lost his furtive quiet airs and assumed a peaceful unhurried stroll and a gay smile. He nodded here and there to make people think he had many acquaintances and he joined in the laughter of the shopkeepers and sailors. But as he walked his eyes and hands were busy. ”

“ Woth was a tall thin man clad in the skintight somber garments of his native land. Typical of Druun were his ways, for which reason he had not cared to be seen by too many. For the people of Druun believe in Swish, the God of Darkness. And Swish teaches that all things belong to any who have the ability to take them. For, according to his ideas, those who can make off with what is another's successfully must be wise and clever and skilled in silent cunning. ”

“ Far in the recess of the globe, automatic switches cut out the feed to each of the many rocket jets set near the surface and the explosive liquid fuel ceased to feed into the semi-atomic blasters. The sphere floated free. It was no longer in the Earth's atmosphere but in the realm of interplanetary space.
Sedgwick noted that gravity had ceased now that the ship was at rest. He knew that his velocity, even with the rockets off, would continue unabated. The sphere had passed the escape-speed for Terra. It was in free space, the dials registered no pressure on the hull. ”

“ For Woth was always repaid for his kindness, even if involuntarily.
But mostly his attention was on the town about him. For Oo is a most unusual city the like of which might never be seen again on the face of any of the globes of the sun. Not for nothing is it called the Unfinished City. For it is indeed unfinished. Every tower and every structure is incomplete. Each of the many stone towers that top every house of any importance ends in that half-complete chamber on top. ”

“ A bare room with scarcely any furnishings. About seven or eight other men were there. In low tones they greeted him, drew him over to their circle. All were standing; there were no chairs in the room. A couple of small instrument-racks and the main object was all.
The room was dominated by a long, low table upon which rested a six-foot bundle of dull grey cloth like a giant cocoon. Severus stared at it a moment, then recognized it as an Egyptian mummy removed from its coffin case. ”

“ We of the Sacred Duality base our teachings and philosophy on the premise that 'thought' exists, that it is a physical, ultimately measurable force. Thus we postulate tremendous mental pressure from millions of human beings thinking and acting together, thought-strains that vibrate back along the orbit in which our planet travels to affect mentally the corresponding races of the other world. ”

“ He had wondered whether he would feel fear when the day for the real test came. Sometimes he had awakened at night with a cold sweat and a ghastly dream of burial alive in an iron coffin. Yet now, as he neared the little bubble in the core, he realized in a detached objective sort of way that he was quite calm and collected. ”

“ Earth is a vivid planet: it was close enough to give an unmistak-able point. No one could fail to recognize it. When we landed on the little planet, Earth was a green spot high in the heavens. When we finished our many days of work and repair and exploration, we saw our Earth again high in the heavens. Naturally, we assumed that a Mercurian year had passed; our little planet had revolved once about the sun, we thought, and, thus, we had passed about eighty or so Terrestrial days there. ”

“ Severus understood that warm artificial blood was being pumped into the body to warm up the internal organs and open up the flow of blood again.
Shortly Dr. Zweig announced himself ready to attempt the final work toward actually bringing the now pliant and vibrant corpse to life. Already the body seemed like that of a living man, the flush of red tinging its skin and cheeks. Severus was in a cold sweat.
"Blood flow's again through his veins and arteries," whispered the Egyptologist. "It is time to turn off the mechanical heart and attempt to revive his own." ”

“ They follow eternally in each other's footsteps, Mitchell; the sun is always between them so that one cannot be seen from the other."
Mitchell broke in. "But what about the similarity in life development, the similarities to such amazing degrees as we noticed?"
"Similar planetary environment can account for the co-development of life itself on the twin worlds. The forces that exist on our Earth, which culminated in homo sapiens as dominant mammal, also exist there; thus we had man on both worlds." He turned to Nadir Khan. ”

“ The bustling crowd of business people passing in and out barely noticed them. They got off and went through, a door marked "Bureau of Immigration."
Before a desk, behind which sat a middle-aged gentleman with gray hair, they stopped. One of their escorts began to tell Staunton's version of the arrival of the rocket. Congreve's annoyance returned at the continued use of the word "foreigners." "I beg your pardon, sir," he cut in, "but I'd like to inform you that we are not foreigners. We are loyal, tax-paying American citizens—as much so as you." ”

“ Hanging up, he announced, "Your Consul will be here shortly and take care of you." A hand waved the lanky Westerner to a chair.
"Now you, Mr. Mitchell. Where were you born and what do you do?"
Mitchell glared at him a moment, then replied, "I was born in the good old American city of New Orleans and have lived for the past twenty years right here in New York City."
The Immigration Officer frowned. "Have you ever been naturalized?"
Congreve thought Mitchell was going to burst an artery. "What! Naturalized! What do you think I am? I'm a citizen of the U. S. A. and was in the war. ”

“ Stories published in magazines with newstand circulation, gaudy covers, illustrations (!) , and a price on the cover within the reach of anyone's pocket, just couldn't possibly be good. At any rate, they were scarcely worth noting when compiling an anthology of fantasy fiction.
As for science-fiction in book anthologies? Horrors! Never! Even if H. G. Wells did write several books filled with his science short stories and even if those books were great successes, science-fiction is something for book anthologists to avoid. ”