Richard Wilson

“ Magnology is safe, stressless, and permanently powerful in stasis. It is the ultimate in gravity-beam nullification. If anything can glue the asteroids back into the planet they once were, magnology will do it. You can understand how I was misled. Your system so fitted my theory that I imagined it was I who had caused Superior to rise from Earth."
"I understand perfectly," the Master replied graciously. "And I cannot say how glad I am that you and Mrs. Garet have chosen to stay with Cavalier and Superior and become citizens of our new world." ”

“ Finally he saw beyond doubt that it was the Gizls who were running the entire show—that Hector I, Bobby the Bold, and the pseudo-scientific Garet-Rubach Axis were merely strutters on the stage.
It was the Gizls who were maneuvering Superior as if it were a giant vehicle. It was the Gizls who were exploding the missiles. And it was the alien Gizls who, unlike the would-be belligerents among the Earth-people, were scrupulously saving human lives.
"Thanks," Don said to his rescuing Gizl as it set him and Alis down gently on the hard ground of the golf course. ”

“ Rezar said. "Like yours."
"You represent them?" Fogarty asked.
"With my council, yes."
"Then we can make a deal. Talk to him, Don. I'll shut up now."
Don said to Rezar, "Was it your decision to burrow under New York and Magnitogorsk and Heidelberg?"
"I agreed to it, finally."
"But you agreed to it in the belief that the Earth-people were a warring people and that your old prohibitions did not apply. But we are not a warring people. Earth is at peace."
"Is it?" Rezar asked sadly. "Your plane warred on the submarine."
"In self-defense," Don said. "Don't forget that we defended you, too. ”

“ You don't appreciate your own father."
"You can say that again. Come on, Don."
As Alis closed the door to the bell tower behind them, they heard Professor Garet's voice from above.
"Attention interlopers," it said. "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."
"Stay down here," Alis whispered. "There's a sort of vestibule one flight up. That's where Thebold must have got it. Father spends all his spare time guarding his holy of holies. Nobody gets past the vestibule." She frowned. "But I didn't know he had a paralysis thing, too." ”

“ Rezar said. "When we have assembled our planet there will be plenty. You will be welcome, Professor and Mrs. Garet."
"Hector?" Don said. "You're still mayor of Cavalier. What do you think?"
"They can have it," Hector said. "I'll take a nice steady civil service job with the Federal Government, if you can arrange it."
"Hector," Ed Clark said, "I think that sums up why you've never been a howling success in politics. You don't give a damn for the people. All you care about is yourself." ”

“ Do you ever talk to yourself about a man named Osbert Garet or Hector Civek?" Thebold looked at a big map of Superior that had been pinned to the wall, thus giving Don the benefit of his strong profile.
"Hector's the king now," Don said. "Things got pretty bad before that but we got enough to eat now."
"Where did the food come from?"
Don shrugged.
Thebold drummed his fingers on the desk. "You're not exactly a fount of information, are you? What do you do for a living?" ”

“ Alis laughed. "This would make Father expire of joy," she said. "But now you know he's just a phony."
"Alas," Rezar said. "Yes, alas. But he was so close. Magnology. Cosmolineation. It's jargon merely, as we learned in time. Osbert Garet is mad. Harmless, but mad."
Don asked Rezar, "But if this built-in morality of yours is so strong, why didn't it prevent you from taking off with Superior?"
Rezar replied, "There are factions among us now. An evolution of a sort, I suppose. Nothing is static. One faction"—he tapped his chest—"is completely bound by the injunction. ”

“ Professor Garet, whose wife and daughter were serving tea, stood with Ed Clark near the big bay window, through which they looked occasionally to see if the Gizls were coming. Maynard Rubach sat in a leather armchair next to Hector Civek, who had discarded his ermine and wore an old heavy tweed suit. Doc Bendy sat off in a corner by himself. He was untypically quiet.
Don Cort, despite his four phantom stars, was telling himself he must not let these middle-aged men make him feel like a boy. Each of them had had a chance to do something positive and each had failed. ”

“ Vincent Grande grumbled and went away.
In the basement room, Hector went to the corner and said, "Hey! Anybody down there?"
A deep voice said, "Ascending," and the blue-gray kangaroo-like creature appeared. He stepped off the elevator section. "Greetings, friends."
"Well," Hector said, "I didn't know you could talk."
"Forgive my lack of frankness," Gizl said. "Alis," he said, bowing slightly. "Your Majesty."
"Frankly," Hector said, "I'm thinking of abdicating. I don't think I like being a figurehead. Not when everybody knows about it, anyhow."
"Major Cort," Gizl said. ”

“ She shook her red hair violently. "Drinking is as drinking does. Trouble is, nobody's doing anything."
"Exactly. Everybody's acting as if Superior's one big pleasure dome. Civek's on the throne and all's well with his little world. Even you've joined the parade. Why? I don't buy that double-agent explanation."
She was looking in the bureau mirror at the reflection of the top of her head, peering up from under her eyebrows. "I'm going to have to touch up the tresses pretty soon or I won't be a redhead any more." She looked at his reflection. "You don't like me, do you, Donny-boy?" ”

“ Don and Alis stood for a moment watching Professor Garet, who was tugging at his beard as he became aware of the magnitude of the operation which drove Superior through the skies and was soon to take it across space to the asteroid belt.
"Poor Father," Alis whispered to Don. "Magnology in action, after all these years—and he didn't have a thing to do with it."
"Is that why he wants to go with the Master?"
"I imagine so. If he stayed on Earth he'd have nothing. He's too old to start again. It's kind of them to take him—and Mother. ”

“ She gave her shoulder-length blonde hair a toss and started back. Don hesitated, looked suspiciously at the brief case dangling from his wrist, shook his head, then followed her. The voice, wherever it came from, had not spoken again.
"Don't be angry, Alis." He fell into step on her left and took her arm with his free hand. "It's just that everything is so crazy and nobody seems to be taking it seriously. A town doesn't just get up and take off, and yet nobody up here seems terribly concerned." ”

“ Don, unaccustomed to his new role of interplanetary arbitrator, said tentatively:
"I can't authorize you to take Superior, even if you do put us all ashore, but there must be a comparable piece of Earth we could let you have."
"But Superior is not all," Rezar said. "To use one of your nautical expressions, Superior merely represents a shake-down cruise. Our ability to detach such a populated center had shown the feasibility of raising other typical communities—such as New York, Magnitogorsk and Heidelberg—each a different example of Earth culture." ”

“ Alis said. "I mean suppose they find out that Superior's controlled by—I don't know—let's say a foreign power, or an alien race. Once we're out over the Atlantic where nobody else could get hurt, wouldn't they maybe consider it a small sacrifice to wipe out Superior to get rid of the—the alien?"
Don looked at her closely. "What's this about an alien? What do you know?"
"I don't know anything. It's just a feeling I have, that this is bigger than Father and Mayor Civek and all the self-important VIP's in Superior put together." She squeezed his arm as if to draw comfort from him. ”

“ You've made a good start with the Garet girl. Get to know her father, the professor."
"Yes, sir." Don realized with embarrassment that his little romantic interlude with Alis must have been eavesdropped on. "Are there any particular times I'm to report?"
"You will be reporting constantly. That's the beauty of this radio."
"You mean I can't turn it off? I won't have any privacy? There'll always be somebody listening?"
"Exactly. But you mustn't be inhibited. Your private life is still your own and no one will criticize. Your unofficial actions will simply be ignored." ”

“ Thebold said. "Eastern Europe and Russia. Atheistic, communistic Red Russia. Is that where you'd like to come down? For that's where you're heading under Hector Civek's so-called leadership. King Hector, he calls himself. Let me remind you, friends, that if there is anything the Soviet Russians hate more than a democracy, it's a monarchy! I don't like to think what your chances would be if you came down in Kremlinland. ”

“ The Thebold loudspeaker came to life. "Attention!" it boomed in the Senator's voice. "Anyone who puts down his arms will be given safe conduct to the free side of Reilly Street. Don't throw away your life for a dictator. Come over to the side of Americanism and common sense." ”

“ Don said with a grin. "As I see it, all you do is have Bobby the Bold subpoena everybody up here—every last man-jack of 'em—to testify before his committee. They wouldn't dare refuse."
"I don't find you a bit amusing, Mr. Cort, though I have no doubt this sophomoric humor makes a big hit with your teen-age blonde. We'd better get back. I can see it was a mistake to expect any co-operation from you."
"As you like, Madame Investigator." Don gave her a mock bow, then turned for a last look down at the vast segment of Earth below.
Geneva Jervis screamed. ”

“ Do not underestimate our power."
Rezar was agitated. "We came in peace," he said to his fellow Gizl. "Let us not leave in war. There's power on both sides, capable of untold destruction. Neither must use it. We are a democratic people. Let us vote. I say we must not take New York."
"And I say we must," Kaliz told him, "in self-interest."
They turned to the third of their people, who had been looking from one to the other, his eyes reflecting indecision.
Kaliz barked at him: "Well, Ezial? Vote!"
Ezial said, "I abstain."
Deadlock.
Don was sweating. He looked at the others in the room. ”

“ Don shook his head. "But even if this crazy machine could knock out Hector's and Thebold's men and the Garet-Rubach Axis reigns supreme, then what? Does he claim he can get Superior back to Earth?"
Alis said only, "Please, Don ..."
The forces of science were ready to roll. There had been an embarrassing moment when the old Reo's engine died, but a student worked a crank with a will and it roared back to life. ”

“ Frank Fogarty said. "Meanwhile it's okay with Australia on the desert. But your Gizl friends have to agree to relocate the aborigines from that tract, and they must take every last rabbit or it's no deal."
"Agreed," the Master said with a smile. "But please ask their stockmen to hold their fire. My friends only look like kangaroos."
As Don and the Master were making arrangements for Superior to touch down so its people could be transferred to Earth, a blaze of light stabbed down from the sky. Through the window they saw the vertiplane settling slowly to the campus. ”

“ Don and Alis were in the back seat of an army staff car that was leading the bus convoy.
"Looks that way, son. Our best telescopes can't see them any more. I'd say Neworld was well on its way to a-borning."
Alis Garet, her arms around Don and her head on his shoulder, spoke directly into the transceiver. "Mr. Fogarty, are you aware that I haven't had a single minute alone with this human radio station since I've know him? This is the most inhibited man in the entire U. S. Army." ”

“ We thank your military for its assistance with the submarine."
"A pleasure. And we thank you and your people for saving us when we went flying."
"Mutuality of effort," Gizl said. "I'll admit a dilemma ensued when the submarine attacked. But our obligation to safeguard human lives outweighed the other alternative—escape to the safety of space. Now suppose we have our conference. You, Major, represent Earth. I, Rezar, represent the survivors of Gorel-zed. Agreed?"
"Rezar?" Don said. "I thought your name was Gizl. And what's Gorel-zed?"
"Little Marie Bendy called me Gizl," Rezar said. ”

“ Clark shrugged. He turned up his coat collar and rubbed his hands. "All I know is the higher we go the colder we get. Come on back to the shop and warm up."
They turned at the sound of engines. Two of the five remaining P-38's had detached themselves from their cover of the chutist and were flying around the rim of Superior—as if unwilling to risk another flight across the surface of the town that seemed determined to become a satellite of Earth.
When Don Cort reached the campus he was shivering, in spite of the sweater and topcoat Ed Clark had lent him. ”

“ Gizl slid back his chair and got up. King Hector stood and bowed as Gizl, who had nodded politely to each in turn, walked manlike, without hopping, to a corner of the room which then sank out of sight.
"He's quite a guy, that Gizl," Hector said, taking off his crown and putting it on the table. "Makes me sweat," he said, wiping his forehead.
"Are you the duly constituted authority?" Bendy asked him.
"Who else? Somebody's got to be in charge till we get Superior back to Earth."
"Sure," Bendy said, "but you don't have to rig yourself up in ermine. ”

“ It was obvious to the commander of the submarine, which bore the markings of the Soviet Union, that the runaway town of Superior, being populated entirely by capitalist madmen, was a menace to humanity. ”

“ We're going to make Superior a place to be proud of. Superior has changed—risen, you might say, to a new status. We're more than a town, now. We're free and separate, not only from Ohio, but from the United States. ”

“ The explanation seemed to be that the other faction, which grew in strength with every failure to find a world of their own, felt that on a planet such as Earth, with a history of men warring against men, required the Gizls to be no more moral than the human inhabitants themselves.
"The Good Gizls versus the Bad Gizls?" Alis asked.
Rezar seemed to smile. The Bad Gizls, led by one called Kaliz, had got the upper hand for a time and elevated Superior, intending to join it to the bits and pieces of other planets they had previously collected and stored in the asteroid belt. ”