Robert Emmett McDowell

“ Margot Drake said suddenly in a ringing voice, "Do you mind if I ask a question?"
Everyone turned to stare at the red-headed leader of the Amazons. She was regarding them coolly.
"No," said Matt. "Go ahead."
"I'll pass up those cracks about our sanity," Margot said. "They may or may not be true. I don't care. But is it a fact that the world is coming to an end?"
It was the fat biologist who answered. "For our type of life—yes. For this alien silicon-base species of protoplasm—no. A million, two million years hence, the silicon amoebas may even evolve an intelligent species. ”

“ Matt, staring at the cubical gray fort, realized that it had been built to protect the lethal experiments that had been carried out in its labs. There were no windows on the first or second floors. Nothing less than an atom bomb could destroy it.
He cast a cautious glance at the silent deserted town of West Point beyond the highway and the brown slack waters of Salt River, muddied by spring rains. The Argus had landed directly behind the fort and the Ohio was at their backs. ”

“ Matt caught a flash of white from the trees below and stiffened.
Then, dainty as a wolf, a woman stepped into the bare moonlit circle surrounding the Argus. She threw back her head to stare up at the towering spaceship. She was dressed in boots and breeches, but they couldn't conceal her sex.
"Hey, you up there!" she called in clear ringing tones. "Who are you?"
"The National Cosmographic Society's Expedition to Mars," Matt replied cautiously. ”

“ Matt cried and dashed for the elevator.
The four men ran out on the landscaped roof. They made hurriedly for a tight knot of men and women at the opposite rail.
Megaphones roared suddenly as Captain Bascom called through them: "Don't approach any closer! We've machine guns trained over the grounds!"
His voice was the voice of a giant through the electric megaphones.
Matt reached the rail and peered down. "Where are they?" he asked.
"There!" Lynn cried, pointing. Thirty stories below, Matt could see the grounds lit by the flood lights as bright as day. ”

“ Sparks was a wreck. He spent incredible stretches in the radio shack listening for a signal—any signal—from his dead instruments. The cook went berserk and stabbed one of the engineers. Dr. Gwathmey, the gentle, gray-haired psychologist, picked a fight with Pendergrast, the expedition's gentle, gray-haired anthropologist over the theory that life had resulted from spores drifting to Earth on light tides. The two old men had battled it out in the messroom with their fists.
They were all, Matt realized, strained, nervous, edgy.... ”

“ Pendergrast had been an old man, and the bull had gored him cruelly. Matt doubted that he had lived more than a minute or two. They hauled his broken body up with a rope and laid it out on his bunk.
From outside there came the eerie hoot of an owl. Somewhere in the distance dogs were barking.
"There must be a farmhouse in the neighborhood after all," the director said, closing the door to Pendergrast's cabin.
But Matt, remembering the bull, said, "I wouldn't count on it, Isaac."
"Eh?" said Isaac.
"Dogs can run wild," Matt reminded him. "They're a hell of a sight less dangerous than bulls." ”

“ Matt sat at the crossing of the T, looking down the long table, with Captain Bascom on his left and Isaac Trigg on his right.
The twenty-four Amazons, chained ankle to ankle, were ranged against the back wall.
"Understand," said Isaac Trigg, his gray Van Dyke jerking angrily, "we have a democracy in its purest form—not anarchism. Whatever the decision of the majority is, it will hold for all of us!" And he bent his gaze on Nesbit.
The palaeontologist looked sullen, Matt thought. His jaw was still swollen and bruised. He sat about halfway down the table, gazing into space. ”

“ She sat down. "Sawyer called to let you know that Frazer has analyzed the amoebas."
Matt looked at her sharply. "Well, what did he find?"
"They aren't carbon life at all. They're silicon life!"
Matt stared at her in disbelief. Theoretically, of course, it was quite possible. Silicon had the ability to form complex molecules very closely akin to carbon compounds. Somehow, though, he had never seriously considered life manifesting itself in anything but carbon-based protoplasm. ”

“ Matt relentlessly pressed his point, "we have the fort. We have tanks and guns and ammunition. We can build the sanctuary despite your Amazons. It may take us longer, but it can be done. And your girls can't save themselves from the gradual destruction of all carbon life. They haven't the special knowledge that's needed." ”

“ Matt said, "O.K. Suppose you begin by telling me what you learned at the women's camp this morning."
Isaac's brow darkened. "They're wasters! Hedonists. They're living absolutely for the moment. No care about the future. In a generation or two, they'll have reverted to barbarianism. There's no hope for them.
"They live in trailers, traveling from place to place as the whim moves them. There's plenty of clothes and food and gasoline everyplace now. They repair nothing and make no provision for the time when decay and rust and disintegration will destroy these things. ”

“ She said in a crisp voice: "To the best of our information, the plague struck seven months ago and wiped out civilization. There is a better than even chance that it has run its course.
"If, as Jesse Sawyer thinks"—she smiled at the fat biologist—"the plague was caused by a cloud of life spores from outer space, then the spores might have adjusted to this environment and are no longer malignant...."
Matt leaned forward and asked, "Do you mean, Cam, that these life spores may have begun to evolve into something else?" ”

“ They grow rapidly—and adjust rapidly."
Matt whistled softly. "How much time?"
"Time for what?"
"Before they kill off all bacterial forms of life?"
"They already have!"
"What? But, good Lord, Jesse, surely you're wrong! That can't be true. Why—why, it means we're too late! If all bacterial forms of life are extinct, we're done for!"
"Keep your pants on," said Jesse wearily. "We're preserving about a thousand types of bacteria—algae, amoeba, molds—in airtight containers. Enough to give us a start when we get the fort sealed. ”

“ Not dead, exactly. There would be the community here, a tiny island of the old life. And there were the new silicon protozoa. In a million years they should evolve thousands of complex organisms. The Earth would be cloaked again with a weird and fantastic life.
Matt said, "The job's not done, Isaac. It's just beginning."
"Eh?"
"Have you seen the plans the engineers are drawing up for the new city?"
"Oh," said Isaac. He chuckled in his chest. The community was deep in plans for an immense city of plastic that was to cover thousands of acres and be hundreds of levels high. A dream city. ”

“ Men and women appear to be hurled into each other's arms by the force of their desires. It's nature's attempt to restore life."
The psychologist's voice was very earnest. She talked, Matt thought, as if she were reading a paper. As a plant biologist, he was familiar with Marties' law of equilibrium.
"The catastrophe that depopulated the Earth is—is...." She groped for an adjective, and gave up. "There's been nothing like it before. Although we didn't witness the plague, we've been touched ourselves. ”

“ The fat man pointed at the bottle. "I tell you, Salt River and the Ohio are alive with these organisms. Have you ever seen anything like them before?"
The three men shook their heads.
"What do you think, Jesse?" Matt asked the biologist.
"What do I think? I think they're the first evolutionary step of the life spores that invaded Earth!"
"The life spores?"
The fat man nodded emphatically, crinkling an extra chin. "An alien life form starting up the evolutionary ladder. I'm positive that they're neither plant nor animal...." ”

“ Isaac went on, "there are two things that should be made clear.
"In the present crisis, we need every hand we can get. If we are to save any forms of carbon life at all—especially vegetation—there isn't a moment to spare. This fort has to be converted into an airtight island for our form of protoplasm, because, in weeks or months at the longest, the alien protozoa will have made a desert of Earth!"
Matt heard a leg-band clank behind him in the silence. He twisted around. Margot Drake was staring open mouthed at the director. ”

“ The same spores must have bathed the entire solar system, but conditions were too unfavorable for life on the other planets.
"After all, life is a fermentation, a festering on the surface of a planet. The other planets were highly antiseptic. But Earth couldn't repel the parasitic growth!"
"What a horrible theory!" Lynn burst out.
Matt asked, "If that's the case, then Mars must have been smothered in the life spores this time, too. Why didn't we catch the plague?"
The biologist said, "We were sealed in the Argus or our space suits all the time. The spores couldn't get at us." ”

“ There was a pause, then Lynn said, "Yes," in a strained voice.
Matt clicked off the walkie-talkie. He realized Isaac was regarding him with a queer expression.
Matt said, "Damn it, Isaac, we can't afford to take chances. There are nineteen of those Amazons locked in the messroom. They'd like nothing better than to get the upper hand. They're mean, Isaac. Mean as cats that have run wild!"
"You're right, of course," Isaac agreed. "But to order them shot down if they...."
A second dull boom interrupted him as another bridge across Salt River was blown by Barren, the third assistant engineer. ”

“ Matt glanced around. Jesse Sawyer hadn't risen. He was sprawled in his chair, his bald crown gleaming.
"Evolution," he said with a wave of his pudgy hand, "isn't static. The spores could have developed in the human body into microscopic organisms. Parasitic, probably. But when the humans died they had to adapt themselves to a different environment. They might still be with us but have lost the faculty of feeding off animal tissue or whatever they attacked." ”

“ Matt drew a bead directly between and a little above the boar's eyes and squeezed the trigger. The 30-06 kicked viciously. The boar plunged snout-on into the soft earth, squealing eerily. Blood gushed from its mouth. Its feet threshed spasmodically, and then fell still.
Matt could feel his pulse beating high and hot in his throat. He worked another cartridge into the chamber with his bolt. "Nasty-tempered brute!" he said dryly.
Nesbit mopped his forehead with his handkerchief. "That was nice shooting, Matt," he conceded in a queer voice. ”

“ Isaac Trigg looked unhappy. "Frankly, Matt, I don't see how we're going to get either. We're under a state of siege. They've got a rocket gun hidden in the trees."
He tugged at his Van Dyke. "Margot Drake asked permission to bring a party of her girls aboard to show them about. I've a hunch there's more to it than curiosity. I think she intends to bring her most attractive cohorts in the hopes of luring more of our men to the camp. Sparks and the pilots are there now living like sultans. We're more likely to lose our men than gain any recruits." ”

“ Amiel Marties, who founded the school of mechanistic psychology, formulated the law that whenever the equilibrium between life and death is upset by war, famine, or pestilence, nature makes an effort to restore the balance. ”

“ PLAGUE PARALYZES EARTH
"What's the date?" Lynn asked.
"October 19th. Not quite seven months ago."
"Read it aloud, Matt," said Captain Bascom.
Plague paralyzes Earth as workers walk out of factories and power plants. Cities being abandoned by hordes of fear-crazed people
Washington (WP) —By yesterday at seven A.M. the plague had struck down over a hundred million people in the United States alone, it is estimated. Hysteria has gripped the world. Men and women refused to go to work for fear of catching the plague from their co-workers. ”

“ Isaac puffed. "I'm not as young as I used to be."
Matt grinned, slowing down. "Is Nesbit back from Louisville yet?"
"Yes. He thinks the city should be converted into a vast warehouse where we could accumulate spoils from the other cities."
"That's not a bad idea," said Matt. "In a few years they won't have to be guarded against anything except the weather. Sawyer was telling me yesterday that he's discovered two hundred and thirty new species of the silicon amoeba."
"They adapt fast," Isaac agreed. "We didn't get the fort sealed any too soon. Let's take the elevator." ”

“ Captain Bascom asked.
"After the evening meal. We are in a peculiar position. We may be the only human survivors!"
Matt said, "Surely—someplace—someone escaped the plague. It's inconceivable that it wiped out the entire species."
"Species have been wiped out before," Trigg reminded him grimly. "But there is a chance, of course, that isolated communities have survived. That's one thing I want to take up at the meeting. The possibility of contacting any survivors."
Matt realized the director was regarding Lynn grimly. ”