(1/15) The Golden Age of Science Fiction: An Anthology of 50 Short Stories

by Various

  "Not unless Scholar Rawlings thought it was necessary to tell me," Drawford said. He put his cigar carefully in the ashdrop. "Of course, if I asked him, I'm sure he'd give me the information, but it's hardly any of my business."

  * * * * *

  Turnbull nodded and switched his tack. "Scholar Rawlings is off-planet, I believe?"

  "That's right. I'm not at liberty to disclose his whereabouts, however," Drawford said.

  "I realize that. But I'd like to get a message to him, if possible."

  Drawford picked up his cigar again and puffed at it a moment before saying anything. Then, "Dr. Turnbull, please don't think I'm being stuffy, but may I ask the purpose of this inquiry?"

  "A fair question," said Turnbull, smiling. "I really shouldn't have come barging in here like this without explaining myself first." He had his lie already formulated in his mind. "I'm engaged in writing up a report on the cultural significance of the artifacts on the planet Lobon--you may have heard something of it?"

  "I've heard the name," Drawford admitted. "That's in the Sagittarius Sector somewhere, as I recall."

  "That's right. Well, as you know, the theory for the existence of Centaurus City assumes that it was, at one time, the focal point of a complex of trade routes through the galaxy, established by a race that has passed from the galactic scene."

  Drawford was nodding slowly, waiting to hear what Turnbull had to say.

  "I trust that you'll keep this to yourself, doctor," Turnbull said, extinguishing his cigarette. "But I am of the opinion that the artifacts on Lobon bear a distinct resemblance to those of the City." It was a bald, out-and-out lie, but he knew Drawford would have no way of knowing that it was. "I think that Lobon was actually one of the colonies of that race--one of their food-growing planets. If so, there is certainly a necessity for correlation between the data uncovered on Lobon and those which have been found in the City."

  Drawford's face betrayed his excitement. "Why ... why, that's amazing! I can see why you wanted to get in touch with Scholar Rawlings, certainly! Do you really think there's something in this idea?"

  "I do," said Turnbull firmly. "Will it be possible for me to send a message to him?"

  "Certainly," Drawford said quickly. "I'll see that he gets it as soon as possible. What did you wish to say?"

  Turnbull reached into his belt pouch, pulled out a pad and stylus, and began to write.

  I have reason to believe that I have solved the connection between the two sources of data concerned in the Centaurus City problem. I would also like to discuss the Duckworth theory with you.

  When he had finished, he signed his name at the bottom and handed it to Drawford.

  Drawford looked at it, frowned, and looked up at Turnbull questioningly.

  "He'll know what I mean," Turnbull said. "Scholar Duckworth had an idea that Lobon was a data source on the problem even before we did our digging there. Frankly, that's why I thought Duckworth might be working with Scholar Rawlings."

  Drawford's face cleared. "Very well. I'll put this on the company transmitters immediately, Dr. Turnbull. And--don't worry, I won't say anything about this to anyone until Scholar Rawlings or you, yourself, give me the go-ahead."

  "I'd certainly appreciate that," Turnbull said, rising from his seat. "I'll leave you to your work now, Dr. Drawford. I can be reached at the Mayfair Hotel."

  The two men shook hands, and Turnbull left quickly.

  * * * * *

  Turnbull felt intuitively that he knew where Rawlings was. On the Centaurus planet--the planet of the City. But where was Duckworth? Reason said that he, too, was at the City, but under what circumstances? Was he a prisoner? Had he been killed outright?

  Surely not. That didn't jibe with his leaving Earth the way he had. If someone had wanted him killed, they'd have done it on Earth; they wouldn't have left a trail to Sirius IV that anyone who was interested could have followed.

  On the other hand, how could they account for Duckworth's disappearance, since the trail was so broad? If the police--

  No. He was wrong. The trouble with intuitive thinking is that it tends to leave out whole sections of what, to a logical thinker, are pieces of absolutely necessary data.

  Duckworth actually had no connection with Rawlings--no logical connection. The only thing the police would have to work with was the fact that Scholar Duckworth had started on a trip to Mendez and never made it any farther than Sirius IV. There, he had vanished. Why? How could they prove anything?

  On the other hand, Turnbull was safe. The letters from Duckworth, plus his visit to Drawford, plus his acknowledged destination of Sirius IV, would be enough to connect up both cases if Turnbull vanished. Rawlings should know he couldn't afford to do anything to Turnbull.

  Dave Turnbull felt perfectly safe.

  He was in his hotel room at the Mayfair when the announcer chimed, five hours later. He glanced up from his book to look at the screen. It showed a young man in an ordinary business jumper, looking rather boredly at the screen.

  "What is it?" Turnbull asked.

  "Message for Dr. Turnbull from Rawlings Scientific Corporation," said the young man, in a voice that sounded even more bored than his face looked.

  Turnbull sighed and got up to open the door. When it sectioned, he had only a fraction of a second to see what the message was.

  It was a stungun in the hand of the young man.

  It went off, and Turnbull's mind spiraled into blankness before he could react.

  * * * * *

  Out of a confused blur of color, a face sprang suddenly into focus, swam away again, and came back. The lips of the face moved.

  "How do you feel, son?"

  Turnbull looked at the face. It was that of a fairly old man who still retained the vitality of youth. It was lined, but still firm.

  It took him a moment to recognize the face--then he recalled stereos he'd seen.

  It was Scholar Jason Rawlings.

  Turnbull tried to lift himself up and found he couldn't.

  The scholar smiled. "Sorry we had to strap you down," he said, "but I'm not nearly as strong as you are, and I didn't have any desire to be jumped before I got a chance to talk to you."

  Turnbull relaxed. There was no immediate danger here.

  "Know where you are?" Rawlings asked.

  "Centaurus City," Turnbull said calmly. "It's a three-day trip, so obviously you couldn't have made it in the five hours after I sent you the message. You had me kidnaped and brought here."

  The old man frowned slightly. "I suppose, technically, it was kidnaping, but we had to get you out of circulation before you said anything that might ... ah ... give the whole show away."

  Turnbull smiled slightly. "Aren't you afraid that the police will trace this to you?"

  "Oh, I'm sure they would eventually," said Rawlings, "but you'll be free to make any explanations long before that time."

  "I see," Turnbull said flatly. "Mind operation. Is that what you did to Scholar Duckworth?"

  The expression on Scholar Rawling's face was so utterly different from what Turnbull had expected that he found himself suddenly correcting his thinking in a kaleidoscopic readjustment of his mind.

  "What did you think you were on to, Dr. Turnbull?" the old man asked slowly.

  Turnbull started to answer, but, at that moment the door opened.

  The round, pleasant-faced gentleman who came in needed no introduction to Turnbull.

  Scholar Duckworth said: "Hello, Dave. Sorry I wasn't here when you woke up, but I got--" He stopped. "What's the matter?"

  "I'm just cursing myself for being a fool," Turnbull said sheepishly. "I was using your disappearance as a datum in a problem that didn't require it."

  Scholar Rawlings laughed abruptly. "Then you thought--"

  Duckworth chuckled and raised a hand to interrupt Rawlings. "Just a moment, Jason; let him logic it out to us."

  "First take these straps off," said Turnbull. "I'm stiff enough as it is, after being
out cold for three days."

  Rawlings touched a button on the wall, and the restraining straps vanished. Turnbull sat up creakily, rubbing his arms.

  "Well?" said Duckworth.

  Turnbull looked up at the older man. "It was those first two letters of yours that started me off."

  "I was afraid of that," Duckworth said wryly. "I ... ah ... tried to get them back before I left Earth, but, failing that, I sent you a letter to try to throw you off the track."

  "Did you think it would?" Turnbull asked.

  "I wasn't sure," Duckworth admitted. "I decided that if you had what it takes to see through it, you'd deserve to know the truth."

  "I think I know it already."

  "I dare say you do," Duckworth admitted. "But tell us first why you jumped to the wrong conclusion."

  Turnbull nodded. "As I said, your letters got me worrying. I knew you must be on to something or you wouldn't have been so positive. So I started checking on all the data about the City--especially that which had come in just previous to the time you sent the letters.

  "I found that several new artifacts had been discovered in Sector Nine of the City--in the part they call the Bank Buildings. That struck a chord in my memory, so I looked back over the previous records. That Sector was supposed to have been cleaned out nearly ninety years ago.

  "The error I made was in thinking that you had been forcibly abducted somehow--that you had been forced to write that third letter. It certainly looked like it, since I couldn't see any reason for you to hide anything from me.

  "I didn't think you'd be in on anything as underhanded as this looked, so I assumed that you were acting against your will."

  Scholar Rawlings smiled. "But you thought I was capable of underhanded tactics? That's not very flattering, young man."

  Turnbull grinned. "I thought you were capable of kidnaping a man. Was I wrong?"

  Rawlings laughed heartily. "Touché. Go on."

  * * * * *

  "Since artifacts had been found in a part of the City from which they had previously been removed, I thought that Jim, here, had found a ... well, a cover-up. It looked as though some of the alien machines were being moved around in order to conceal the fact that someone was keeping something hidden. Like, for instance, a new weapon, or a device that would give a man more power than he should rightfully have."

  "Such as?" Duckworth asked.

  "Such as invisibility, or a cheap method of transmutation, or even a new and faster space drive. I wasn't sure, but it certainly looked like it might be something of that sort."

  Rawlings nodded thoughtfully. "A very good intuition, considering the fact that you had a bit of erroneous data."

  "Exactly. I thought that Rawlings Scientific Corporation--or else you, personally--were concealing something from the rest of us and from the Advisory Board. I thought that Scholar Duckworth had found out about it and that he'd been kidnaped to hush him up. It certainly looked that way."

  "I must admit it did, at that," Duckworth said. "But tell me--how does it look now?"

  Turnbull frowned. "The picture's all switched around now. You came here for a purpose--to check up on your own data. Tell me, is everything here on the level?"

  Duckworth paused before he answered. "Everything human," he said slowly.

  "That's what I thought," said Turnbull. "If the human factor is eliminated--at least partially--from the data, the intuition comes through quite clearly. We're being fed information."

  Duckworth nodded silently.

  Rawlings said: "That's it. Someone or something is adding new material to the City. It's like some sort of cosmic bird-feeding station that has to be refilled every so often."

  Turnbull looked down at his big hands. "It never was a trade route focus," he said. "It isn't even a city, in our sense of the term, no more than a birdhouse is a nest." He looked up. "That city was built for only one purpose--to give human beings certain data. And it's evidently data that we need in a hurry, for our own good."

  "How so?" Rawlings asked, a look of faint surprise on his face.

  "Same analogy. Why does anyone feed birds? Two reasons--either to study and watch them, or to be kind to them. You feed birds in the winter because they might die if they didn't get enough food."

  "Maybe we're being studied and watched, then," said Duckworth, probingly.

  "Possibly. But we won't know for a long time--if ever."

  Duckworth grinned. "Right. I've seen this City. I've looked it over carefully in the past few months. Whatever entities built it are so far ahead of us that we can't even imagine what it will take to find out anything about them. We are as incapable of understanding them as a bird is incapable of understanding us."

  "Who knows about this?" Turnbull asked suddenly.

  "The entire Advanced Study Board at least," said Rawlings. "We don't know how many others. But so far as we know everyone who has been able to recognize what is really going on at the City has also been able to realize that it is something that the human race en masse is not yet ready to accept."

  "What about the technicians who are actually working there?" asked Turnbull.

  Rawlings smiled. "The artifacts are very carefully replaced. The technicians--again, as far as we know--have accepted the evidence of their eyes."

  * * * * *

  Turnbull looked a little dissatisfied. "Look, there are plenty of people in the galaxy who would literally hate the idea that there is anything in the universe superior to Man. Can you imagine the storm of reaction that would hit if this got out? Whole groups would refuse to have anything to do with anything connected with the City. The Government would collapse, since the whole theory of our present government comes from City data. And the whole work of teaching intuitive reasoning would be dropped like a hot potato by just those very people who need to learn to use it.

  "And it seems to me that some precautions--" He stopped, then grinned rather sheepishly. "Oh," he said, "I see."

  Rawlings grinned back. "There's never any need to distort the truth. Anyone who is psychologically incapable of allowing the existence of beings more powerful than Man is also psychologically incapable of piecing together the clues which would indicate the existence of such beings."

  Scholar Duckworth said: "It takes a great deal of humility--a real feeling of honest humility--to admit that one is actually inferior to someone--or something--else. Most people don't have it--they rebel because they can't admit their inferiority."

  "Like the examples of the North American Amerindian tribes." Turnbull said. "They hadn't reached the state of civilization that the Aztecs or Incas had. They were incapable of allowing themselves to be beaten and enslaved--they refused to allow themselves to learn. They fought the white man to the last ditch--and look where they ended up."

  "Precisely," said Duckworth. "While the Mexicans and Peruvians today are a functioning part of civilization--because they could and did learn."

  "I'd just as soon the human race didn't go the way of the Amerindians," Turnbull said.

  "I have a hunch it won't," Scholar Rawlings said. "The builders of the City, whoever they are, are edging us very carefully into the next level of civilization--whatever it may be. At that level, perhaps we'll be able to accept their teaching more directly."

  Duckworth chuckled. "Before we can become gentlemen, we have to realize that we are not gentlemen."

  Turnbull recognized the allusion. There is an old truism to the effect that a barbarian can never learn what a gentleman is because a barbarian cannot recognize that he isn't a gentleman. As soon as he recognizes that fact, he ceases to be a barbarian. He is not automatically a gentleman, but at least he has become capable of learning how to be one.

  "The City itself," said Rawlings, "acts as a pretty efficient screening device for separating the humble from the merely servile. The servile man resents his position so much that he will fight anything which tries to force recognition of his position on him. The servile slave is convinced that he is equal
to or superior to his masters, and that he is being held down by brute force. So he opposes them with brute force and is eventually destroyed."

  Turnbull blinked. "A screening device?" Then, like a burst of sunlight, the full intuition came over him.

  Duckworth's round face was positively beaming. "You're the first one ever to do it," he said. "In order to become a member of the Advanced Study Board, a scholar must solve that much of the City's secret by himself. I'm a much older man than you, and I just solved it in the past few months.

  "You will be the first Ph.D. to be admitted to the Board while you're working on your scholar's degree. Congratulations."

  Turnbull looked down at his big hands, a pleased look on his face. Then he looked up at Scholar Duckworth. "Got a cigarette, Jim? Thanks. You know, we've still got plenty of work ahead of us, trying to find out just what it is that the City builders want us to learn."

  Duckworth smiled as he held a flame to the tip of Turnbull's cigarette.

  "Who knows?" he said quietly. "Hell, maybe they want us to learn about them!"

  * * *

  Contents

  DEAD RINGER

  by Lester del Rey

  There was nothing, especially on Earth, which could set him free--the truth least of all!

  Dane Phillips slouched in the window seat, watching the morning crowds on their way to work and carefully avoiding any attempt to read Jordan's old face as the editor skimmed through the notes. He had learned to make his tall, bony body seem all loose-jointed relaxation, no matter what he felt. But the oversized hands in his pockets were clenched so tightly that the nails were cutting into his palms.

  Every tick of the old-fashioned clock sent a throb racing through his brain. Every rustle of the pages seemed to release a fresh shot of adrenalin into his blood stream. This time, his mind was pleading. It has to be right this time....

  Jordan finished his reading and shoved the folder back. He reached for his pipe, sighed, and then nodded slowly. "A nice job of researching, Phillips. And it might make a good feature for the Sunday section, at that."