George O. Smith

“ 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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?" ”

“ 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—"
As the crystal flashed, he vanished.... ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”