The Plague, Pestilence & Apocalypse MEGAPACK™

by Robert Reed

  other runaround, Mr . Fenwick . You’ll pardon me for being blunt, but

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  I’ve had some pretty raw treatment from your office since I started

  writing about my communicator .”

  “I promise you this isn’t a runaround,” said Fenwick, “but it’s ab-

  solutely necessary to get Dr . Baker to view your demonstration . We

  will want to see your laboratories and your methods of production . I

  promise you it won’t be more than two or three days, depending on

  Dr . Baker’s busy schedule .”

  “O .K . I’ll wait until the end of the week,” said Ellerbee . “If I

  don’t hear something by then, I’ll go ahead with my plans to market

  the crystals as a novelty gadget .”

  “I’ll be in touch with you . I promise,” said Fenwick . He stood by

  the curb and watched Ellerbee drive away .

  Fenwick moved slowly back to his own car and sat behind the

  wheel without starting the motor . It seemed a long time since nine-

  thirty yesterday morning, when he had come in to Baker’s office to

  check on the grant he had known Baker wasn’t going to give him .

  Now, merely by kicking Baker’s refuse pile with his toe, so to speak,

  he had turned up a diamond that Baker was ready to discard .

  Fenwick felt a sudden surge of revulsion . How was it possible for

  such a blind, ignorant fool as Baker to be placed in the position he

  was in? How could the administrative officers of the United States

  Government be responsible for such misjudgment? Such malad-

  ministration, if performed consciously, would be sheer treason . Yet,

  unconsciously and ignorantly, Baker’s authority was perpetuated,

  giving him a stranglehold on the creative powers of the nation .

  Fenwick tried to recall how he and Baker had become friends—

  so long ago, in their own college days . It wasn’t that there was any

  closeness or common interest between them, yet they seemed to

  have drawn together as two opposites might . They were both sci-

  ence majors at the time, but their philosophies were so different that

  their studies were hardly a common ground .

  Fenwick figuratively threw away the textbook the first time the

  professor’s back was turned . Baker, Fenwick thought, never took

  his eyes from its pages . Fenwick distrusted everything that he could

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  not prove himself. Baker believed nothing that was not solidly fixed

  in black and white and bound between sturdy cloth covers, and

  prefaced by the name of a man who boasted at least two graduate

  degrees .

  Fenwick remembered even now his first reaction to Baker. He had

  never seen his kind before and could not believe that such existed .

  He supposed Baker felt similarly about him, and, out of the strange

  contradiction of their worlds, they formed a hesitant friendship . For

  himself, Fenwick supposed that it was based on a kind of fascina-

  tion in associating with one who walked so blindly, who was so

  profoundly incapable of understanding his own blindness and peril .

  But never before had he realized the absolute danger that rested

  in the hands of Baker . And there must be others like him in high

  Government scientific circles, Fenwick thought. He had learned

  long ago that Baker’s kind was somewhere in the background in

  every laboratory and scientific office.

  But few of them achieved the strangling power that Baker now

  possessed .

  The Index! Fenwick thought of it and gagged . Wardrobe evalu-

  ation! Staff reading index! The reproductive ratio—social activity

  index—the index of hereditary accomplishment—multiply your

  ancestors by the number of technical papers your five-year old chil-

  dren have produced and divide by the number of book reviews you

  attend weekly—

  Fenwick slumped in the seat . We hold these truths to be self-evi-

  dent—that the ratio of sports coats to tuxedos in a faculty member’s

  closet shall determine whether Clearwater gets to do research in

  solid state physics, whether George Durrant gives his genius to the

  nation or whether it gets buried in Dr . William Baker’s refuse pile .

  But not only George Durrant . Jim Ellerbee, too . And how many

  others?

  Something had to be done .

  Fenwick hadn’t realized it before, but this was the thought that

  had been churning in his cortex for the last hour . Something had to

  be done about Bill Baker .

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  But, short of murder, what?

  Getting rid of Baker physically was not the answer, of course . If

  he were gone, a hundred others like him would fight for his place.

  Baker had to be shown . He had to be shown that high-grading

  was costing him the very thing he was trying to find. It must be

  proven to him that flotation methods work as well in mining human

  resources as in mining metal . That the extra trouble paid off .

  This was known—a long time ago—Fenwick thought . Some-

  where along the way things got changed . He glanced toward the Jef-

  ferson Memorial . Tom Jefferson knew how it should be, Tom Jeffer-

  son, statesman, farmer, writer, and amateur mechanic and inventor .

  It was not only every gentleman’s privilege, it was also his duty to

  be a tinkerer and amateur scientist, no matter what else he might be .

  Fenwick glanced in the distance toward the Lincoln Memorial .

  Abe had done his share of tinkering . His weird boot-strap system for

  hoisting river boats off shoals and bars hadn’t amounted to much,

  but Abe knew the principle that every man has the right to be his

  own scientist .

  And then there was Ben Franklin, the noblest amateur of them

  all! He had roamed these parts, too .

  Somewhere it had been lost . The Bill Bakers would have laughed

  out of existence the great tinkerers like Franklin and Lincoln and

  Jefferson . And the Pasteurs and the Mendels—and the George Dur-

  rants and the Jim Ellerbees, too .

  Fenwick started the car . Something had to be done about Bill

  Baker .

  Baker leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily . “So it

  worked, did it? He showed you something that made you think he

  had a real working device .”

  “There was no ‘think’ about it,” said Fenwick . “I saw it with my

  own eyes. That boy’s got something terrific!”

  Baker sobered and thumbed through the Ellerbee file again. “Any

  freshman math major could poke holes all through this mathematical

  explanation he offers . Right? Secondly, a device such as he claims to

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  have produced violates all the basic laws of science . Why, it’s even

  against the Second Law of Thermodynamics!”

  “I don’t care what it’s against,” said Fenwick . “It works . I want

  you to come with me to Ellerbee’s and see for yourself . His device

  will revolutionize communications .”

  Baker shook his head sadly . “It’s always tougher when they show

  you something t
hat seems to work . Then you’ve got to waste a lot of

  time looking for the gimmick if you’re going to follow it through . I

  just haven’t got the time—”

  “You’ve got to, Bill!”

  “I’ll tell you what I’ll do . You go out there and look over his

  setup. If you can’t find his gimmick in half a day, I’ll come out

  and show it to you . But I warn you, some of these things are very

  tricky—like the old perpetual motion machines . You’ve got to have

  your wits about you . Is that fair enough?”

  “Fair enough,” Fenwick agreed .

  Baker smiled broadly . “I’ll do even more . If this Ellerbee device

  should prove to be on the level, I’ll give you the research grant you

  want for Clearwater .”

  “I’m not so sure I want it on those terms,” said Fenwick .

  “Well, it’s a purely academic matter . You won’t have to worry

  about it . But, on the other hand, I’ll expect you to agree that when

  Ellerbee is exposed you’ll not persist in your request to this office.”

  “Well, now—”

  “That’s a fair offer . I’m giving you a chance to prove I’m wrong

  in setting up the Index to screen out people like Ellerbee—”

  “—And institutions like Clearwater .”

  “And institutions like Clearwater,” Baker agreed .

  “All right,” said Fenwick . “I’ll gamble with you—for one more

  stake: If Ellerbee’s device is on the level, you’ll make a grant to

  Clearwater and other institutions of like qualifications, and you’ll

  scrap that insane Index—”

  Baker tapped the desk placatingly . “The grant to Clearwater, yes .

  As for the Index, if it should fail in its applicability to this clear-cut

  Ellerbee case I would be the first to want to know why. But I assure

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  you there is no flaw in the Index. It has been tried too many thou-

  sands of times .”

  Ellerbee’s place was in Virginia, in a dairying area in the hills .

  The last ten miles of the road were not the kind to attract visitors .

  The road was steep and narrow in places that turned sharply around

  the hillsides . No guardrails blocked the descent into the steep gul-

  lies. It was definitely a region for people who liked solitude. The

  farms that lay in the valleys of the hills were neat and well-cared

  for, however . The people Fenwick passed on the road didn’t look

  like the recluse type .

  Ellerbee’s farm was one of the best looking in the vicinity . It had

  the look of being cared for by a man who could do everything . The

  huge barn and the corrals were as neat as a garden, and the large

  white frame farmhouse stood out like a monument against the green

  pasture .

  A woman and two children were in the garden beside the house

  as Fenwick drove up . “May I help you? I’m Mrs . Ellerbee,” the

  woman said .

  Fenwick explained who he was and his purpose in coming . “Jim’s

  been expecting you,” the woman said . “His laboratory is the long

  white building back of the house . He’s out there now .”

  Jim Ellerbee met him at the door . “You didn’t bring Dr . Baker,”

  he said almost accusingly .

  “Later,” said Fenwick . “I came, as I promised . Dr . Baker wants

  my report on your facilities and production methods . Then he will

  come up to make his own inspection .”

  There was doubt in Ellerbee’s eyes, as if he was used to such

  stories . “Maybe it would be best if I marketed the crystals in any

  form I can,” he said .

  He led Fenwick through a number of rooms of expensive, preci-

  sion electronic equipment . Then they passed through a set of double

  doors, which Fenwick observed acted as a thermal lock between the

  crystal growing room and the rest of the building . It reminded him

  of George Durrant’s laboratory at Clearwater .

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  “This is where the crystals are grown,” said Ellerbee . “I sup-

  pose you’re familiar with such processes . Here we must use a very

  precisely controlled sequence of co-crystallization to get layers of

  desired thickness—”

  Fenwick wasn’t listening . He had suddenly observed the second

  man in the room, a rather small, swarthy man, who moved with

  quiet precision among a row of tanks on the far side of the room .

  There was a startling quality about the man that Fenwick was unable

  to define, a strangeness.

  Ellerbee caught the direction of his glance . “Oh,” he said . “You

  must meet my neighbor, Sam Atkins . Sam is in this as deep or even

  deeper than I am . I think perhaps he’s more responsible for the com-

  municator crystals .”

  The man turned as his name was mentioned, and came toward

  them . “You were the one who developed the crystals,” he said in a

  soft, persuasive voice, to Jim Ellerbee .

  “This is my setup,” Ellerbee explained with a wave of his hand

  to indicate the laboratory surroundings . “But Sam has been working

  with me for about a year on this thing . When Sam moved in, we

  found we were both radio hams and electronic bugs . I’d been fool-

  ing around with crystal growing, trying to design some new type

  transistors . Then Sam suggested some experiments in co-crystalli-

  zation—using different chemicals that will crystallize in successive

  layers in one crystal .

  “We stumbled on one combination that made a terrific ampli-

  fier. Then we found it would actually radiate to a distant point all

  by itself . Finally, we discovered that its radiation was completely

  nonelectromagnetic . There is no way we have yet found of detecting

  the radiation from the crystal—except by means of another piece of

  the same crystal .

  “I know it’s against all the rules in the books . It just doesn’t make

  sense . But there it is . It works .”

  Sam Atkins had turned away for a moment to attend to one of

  the tanks, but Fenwick found himself intensely aware of the man’s

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  presence. There was nothing he could put his finger on. He just

  knew, with such intense certainty, that Sam Atkins was there .

  “What does Mr . Atkins do?” Fenwick asked . “Does he have a

  dairy farm, too?”

  Ellerbee nodded . “His place is right next to mine . Since we

  started this project Sam has practically lived here, however . He’s a

  bachelor, and so he takes most of his meals with us .”

  “Seems strange—” Fenwick mused, “two men like you, way

  out here in the country, doing work on a level with that of the best

  crystal labs in the country . I should think you’d both rather be in

  academic or industrial work .”

  Ellerbee smiled and looked up through the windows to the mead-

  ows beyond . “We’re free out here,” he said .

  Fenwick thought of Baker . “You are that,” he said .

  “You said you wanted to investigate the whole production pro-

  cess . We’ll start here, if you like, and I’ll show you every step in
<
br />   our process . This tank contains an ordinary alum solution . We start

  building on a seed crystal of alum and continue until we reach a

  precise thickness . Here is a solution of chrome alum . You’ll note

  the insulated tanks . Room temperature is maintained within half

  a degree . The solutions are held to within one-tenth of a degree .

  Crystal dimensions must be held to tolerances of little more than the

  thickness of a molecule—”

  The gimmick to fool him and cheat him . Where was it? Fenwick

  asked himself . Baker was sure it was here . If so, where could it be?

  There was no trickery in the crystal laboratory—unless it was the

  trickery of precision refinement of methods. Only men of great me-

  chanical skill could accomplish what Ellerbee and his friend were

  doing . Genius behind the milking machine! Fenwick could almost

  sympathize with Baker in his hiding behind the ridiculous Index .

  Without some such protection a man could encounter shocks .

  The crackpot fringe .

  Where else would credence have been given to the phenomenon

  of a crystal that seemed to radiate in a nonelectromagnetic way?

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  But, of course, it couldn’t actually be doing that . All the books, all

  the authorities, and the known scientific principles said it couldn’t

  happen . Therefore, it wouldn’t have happened—outside the crack-

  pot fringe .

  If Ellerbee and Atkins weren’t trying to foist a deliberate decep-

  tion, where were they mistaken? It was possible for such men as

  these to make an honest mistake . That would more than likely turn

  out to be the case here . But how could there be a mistake in the

  production of a phenomenon such as Fenwick had witnessed? How

  could that be produced through some error when it couldn’t even be

  done by known electronic methods—not just as Fenwick had seen

  it . Throughout the morning Ellerbee led him down the rows of

  tanks, explaining at each step what was happening . Sometimes Sam

  Atkins offered a word of explanation also, but always he stayed in

  the background . The two farmers showed Fenwick how they mea-

  sured crystal size down to the thickness of a molecule while the

  crystals were growing .

  A sudden suspicion crossed Fenwick’s mind . “If those dimen-

  sions are so critical, how did you determine them in the first place?”