William Campbell Gault

“ Mrs. Klein still sat on her front porch. "Any luck?" she asked, as he came up to sit on the glider near her chair.
"Some. I'll see him again tomorrow."
Her voice was dry. "One of our most prominent citizens, the Senator. The other's Glen Ryder. I guess you know who he is."
He stiffened, trying to see her face in the dark. "Ryder? Oh, yes, in the Security Department."
"That's right. Glen isn't anything to be ashamed of really. But that Senator Arnold—my, the stories my mother told me about him!"
"I've heard," Doak said, "he was pretty wild as a young man."
"Wild?" Mrs. Klein sniffed. ”

“ She said, "I was too forward to be believed this afternoon, perhaps? Did you listen last night?"
"I listened. I'm from Security, Martha—or was. I'm resigning."
"Oh? To fight the good fight?"
He nodded. "But legally—or what is known as legally. Through the pressure-group pattern. I know my way around Washington, Martha. I think, in time and with the right people behind me, I think I could—oh, hell!"
"Yes," she said. "Oh, hell! When you were swimming this afternoon we could have got this, Doak. I told them to wait. I told them I thought you had the makings of an honest man." ”

“ Doak saw the beard and the lady who had quoted the unknown poet, last night. He and Martha lay on their stomachs on the raft, looking back toward the shore.
Doak said easily, "That gang in the glade doesn't seem to be having much fun."
"Solid citizens," Martha said. "That lady is the principal of the high school and the man with the beard is president of the bank. You couldn't expect them to run and shout, could you?" ”

“ Old Wisconsin Germans. I'm Irish myself."
Bright scintillating dialogue, stirring the quick response. But he felt as relaxed as though he had hay in his hair. He looked out at the deserted road, at the fields beyond, at the clouds on the clear horizon. Rural summer—a quiet Saturday morning in the agricultural Midwest only nineteen minutes from Chicago.
People spoke of other worlds and here was one, nineteen minutes from Chicago. And last night, under the lucidate, the town banker had gone to another world, three hundred years away, had gone back to the magic of Burns. ”

“ She smiled "Absolutely correct."
"And Milwaukee," Doak added. "Do you only handle the earth runs?"
"Until next year," she said. "I'm new."
"I'm old," Doak said. "Is there anything to drink on board?"
"Water, Mr. Parker."
"I'm not that old," he said.
She glanced at her watch. "We'll be in Milwaukee in six minutes. And that's the beer town."
But he had no time for a glass of beer. The limousine took him to the elevated station and the last car for Dubbinville was leaving in three minutes. ”

“ Doak said, "a man doesn't need to go anywhere else. They bring the world right to you."
"I guess. Hear they're having a hard time getting Venus populated. I guess people aren't as rootless as the planners figured."
By "the planners" the man undoubtedly meant THAT WASHINGTON CROWD. Doak finished his drink and went up the street to the grey house with the blue shutters on the curve.
There was a woman sitting on the front porch, a short and heavy woman with dark hair and brown eyes. She smiled at him and said, "Good evening," without rising.
"Mrs. Klein?" Doak asked and she nodded. ”

“ Or any other part of the week, Doak thought. He said, "If I'm back, Monday. If I'm not I'll scream for more."
"You do that well," the cashier said and reached up to turn off the light overhead.
It was hot outside. The sun seemed to be imprisoned in the white corridor that stretched for miles between the government buildings and the ashment of the parking lot glittered like broken glass.
From the mines of Mars the ashment came, the best paving surface known to man. And what was Mars but mines? ”

“ And some talk with both of them in the bright comfortable kitchen. They talked about the ridiculous price of food in the city and how cool the house was after the heat of the day and what was it like on Venus?
Neither of the women had ever been to Venus. Doak told them about the lakes, the virgin timber, the glareless warmth that came from the generative earth.
And about the lack of communication facilities.
"There isn't enough commerce to make any video installations worthwhile," he explained, "and the only information transmission is by amateur radio operators. But nobody seems to miss it. ”

“ Doak said, "with a sprig of mint."
The man behind the fountain wore a blue jacket over his white shirt. He had a thin face and a high-domed head and intelligent blue eyes.
Doak sat on one of the high wire stools and lighted a cigarette. "Hot day, was it?"
"Hot enough. But we get the night breeze. Stranger in town?"
"From Milwaukee," Doak said. "Out to visit Senator Arnold."
"Oh." The man set the drink in front of Doak.
"Trying to talk him into leaving some money to the University," Doak added. "Guess he's a pretty hard man to get money from." ”

“ Doak looked over but could not see her face in the darkness. He said slowly, "I guess we all have to look out for ourselves and the devil take the hindmost."
"I suppose," she said placidly. "Though it would depend on what you wanted out of life. Here in Dubbinville I think we're a little more neighborly than that."
"It's a nice town," Doak said. "A real nice town."
In front a car was stopping on the other side of the road. Someone got out from the door on the far side and the car moved on.
"That would be Martha, I guess," Mrs. Klein said. "She'll want some of that ham, I know. ”

“ Doak said, "he mentioned the old Fisher place and a road as though you should know them. Friends of yours?"
"Friends? That's our home town. Senator Arnold was very instrumental in my Department climb." Ryder paused. "And no crackpot."
"I'll buy that," Doak agreed. "He was the man who first saw the power in combining pressure groups. He surely made some strange bedfellows."
"Any lobbyist would be a strange bedfellow, I've been told," the Chief answered. "The Arnold Law has saved us one hell of a lot of work, Doak, and saved the Department money." ”

“ Doak answered. "How about transportation?"
"It's only a little over a mile. We can walk." She paused. "Or did you plan to see Senator Arnold?"
"I'd rather go swimming," Doak said.
Which they did. In the waters of Lake Memahbin, in the small cove that harbored the entire recreational facilities of Dubbinville. Doak rented some trunks there and they swam out to the raft.
There weren't too many adults in the water this afternoon but the kids were everywhere. Noisy splashing running kids—but very few of them ventured out to the big raft. ”

“ With all their grand talk, who wanted to leave Mother Earth? What was Venus but a sanctuary, a vacation spot, and what was Mars but mines? When a big cog like the Chief could send a lonely man all the way to Dubbinville because of a neighbor's summons, how could they expect little cogs to grow up to galactic thinking?
Dubbinville and the heat of a Wisconsin summer—and June waiting in the apartment on Connecticut (S.E.) . Doak swore quietly and [Pg 5] thoroughly and stepped into the oven that was his Chev. ”

“ We are inclined to think not. Gadgetry to come, as repeatedly demonstrated by Verne, is easy. But no one yet has been able to tell what human beings are going to do from day to day, much less years and years ahead of time. ”

“ Through the visacrys windows a blur of blue-green. Speed without strain, power without tumult.
Doak relaxed and for the first time since the Chief's summons he wasn't thinking of June. He was thinking of Man, from the cave to Venus, from the wheel to free flight. And something out of his childhood memory came to mind.
Studious let me sit
And hold high converse with the mighty dead
Where had he heard that? Some Scotch poet, it must have been, for his mother recited only the Scotch poets. Studious let me sit—in front of a video set, to watch the wrestling? ”

“ Readers are no problem. We've had more requests for our magazine than we can fill. Our biggest problem, more important than getting memory donors, is to find someone who can contribute significant original work. ”

“ For that kind of man we're still searching. Or woman."
Doak moved quietly, very slowly, past the kitchen sink and along the short hall that led to the dining room. There was a swinging door here, closed, but the upper half was glass and he could see through the dining room into the lighted living room. He took off the infra-scope glasses.
Nine people were in the room, seven men and two women. The men ranged in age from about twenty-three to the old gent with the beard, who seemed ageless. The other woman was a gray-haired lady of about fifty with fine features and a rich contralto voice. ”