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diff --git a/29271.txt b/29271.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba2fd2f --- /dev/null +++ b/29271.txt @@ -0,0 +1,779 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Issahar Artifacts, by Jesse Franklin Bone + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Issahar Artifacts + +Author: Jesse Franklin Bone + +Release Date: June 29, 2009 [EBook #29271] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ISSAHAR ARTIFACTS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +THE ISSAHAR ARTIFACTS + +By J. F. BONE + + + _Lincoln said it eons ago.... It took + a speck of one-celled plant life on a + world parsecs away to prove it for + all the galaxy._ + + +The following manuscript was discovered during the excavation of a +lateral connecting link between the North-South streamways in Narhil +Province near Issahar on Kwashior. The excavator, while passing through +a small valley about 20 yursts south of the city, was jammed by a mass +of oxidized and partially oxidized metallic fragments. On most worlds +this would not be unusual, but Kwashior has no recorded history of +metallic artifacts. The terrestrial operator, with unusual presence of +mind, reported the stoppage immediately. Assasul, the District +Engineering monitor, realized instantly that no metallic debris should +exist in that area, and in consequence ordered a most careful excavation +in the event that the artifacts might have cultural significance. + +The debris proved to be the remnants of an ancient spaceship similar to +those described in Sector Chronicles IV through VII, but of much smaller +size and cruder design--obviously a relic of pre-expansion days. Within +the remnants of the ship was found a small box of metal covered with +several thicknesses of tar and wax impregnated fabric which had been +mostly destroyed. The metal itself was badly oxidized, but served to +protect an inner wooden box that contained a number of thin sheets of a +fragile substance composed mainly of cellulose which were brown and +crumbling with age. The sheets were covered with runes of _lingua +antiqua_ arranged in regular rows, inscribed by hand with a carbon-based +ink which has persisted remarkably well despite the degenerative +processes of time. Although much of the manuscript is illegible, +sufficient remains to settle for all time the Dannar-Marraket +Controversy and lend important corroborating evidence to the Cassaheb +Thesis of Terrestrial migrations. + +The genuineness of this fragment has been established beyond doubt. +Radiocarbon dating places its age at ten thousand plus or minus one +hundred cycles, which would place it at the very beginning of the +Intellectual Emergence. Its importance is beyond question. Its +implications are shocking despite the fact that they conform to many of +the early legends and form a solid foundation for Dannar's Thesis which +has heretofore been regarded as implausible. In the light of this +material, the whole question of racial origins may well have to be +reevaluated. Without further comment, the translated text is presented +herewith. You may draw your own conclusions. Go with enlightenment. + + -BARRAGOND- + Monitor of Cultural Origins and Relics + Kwashior Central Repository + + * * * * * + +I have decided after some thought, to write this journal. It is, I +suppose, a form of egotism--for I do not expect that it shall ever be +read in the event that I am unable to leave this place. Yet it affords +me a certain satisfaction to think that a part of me will remain long +after I have returned to dust. In any event, I feel that one is not +truly dead if a part of his personality remains. Many of the ancients +such as Homer, Phidias, Confucius, Christ, da Vinci, Lincoln, Einstein, +Churchill--and many others--live on through their works when otherwise +they would long since have been forgotten and thus be truly dead. +Earth's history is full of such examples. And while I have no +expectation of an immortality such as theirs, it flatters my ego to +think that there will be some part of me which also will survive ... + +_(Note: There are several lines following this which are obliterated, +defaced or unreadable. There are more to follow. In the future such gaps +in the content will be indicated thus: ...)_ + +... I expect that it is a basic trait of character, for spacemen must be +gregarious, and although I am not truly a spaceman I have been in space +and, in consequence, my character is no different from my +ex-crewmates--at least in that respect. I think as time passes I shall +miss the comfort of companionship, the sense of belonging to a group, +the card games, the bull sessions, the endless speculation on what comes +next, or what we will do when the voyage is over and we are again on +Earth ... + +... I particularly recall Gregory. Odd, but I never knew his surname, or +maybe it was his given name, for Gregory could function as well in one +respect as the other. He would boast continually of what he would do to +wine, women, and song once we returned to Earth. Poor Gregory. The +meteor that hulled our ship struck squarely through the engine room +where he was on duty. Probably he never knew that he had died. At least +his fate had the mercy of being brief. Certainly it is not like mine. It +was ... given ... + +There was plenty of time for the survivors to reach the lifeboats, and +in our decimated condition there were plenty of boats--which increased +our chances of living by a factor of four ... I suppose that it was +foolish to give way to the feeling of every man for himself but I am not +a spaceman trained to react automatically to emergencies. Neither am I a +navigator or a pilot, although I can fly in an emergency. I am a +biologist, a specialist member of the scientific staff--essentially an +individualist. I knew enough to seal myself in, push the eject button +and energize the drive. However, I did not know that a lifeboat had no +acceleration compensators, and by the time the drive lever returned to +neutral, I was far out in space and thoroughly lost. I could detect no +lifeboats in the vicinity nor could I raise any on the radio. I later +found that a transistor malfunctioned, but by then I was well out of +range, stranded between the stars in the black emptiness of space. After +reading the manual on lifeboat operation there was but one course open. +I selected the nearest G-type star, set the controls on automatic, and +went into cold sleep. There was nothing else to do. If I remained awake +I would be dead of oxygen starvation long before I reached a habitable +world. The only alternative was the half-death of frozen sleep and the +long wait until the boat came within range of the sun I had selected. + + * * * * * + +I awoke in orbit around this world, and after I recovered full use of my +faculties and checked the analyzer, I decided to land. I'm afraid I did +a rather bad job of it, since I used the chemical rockets too late, and +the plasma jets scorched a considerable amount of acreage in the meadow +where I finally came to rest. However, the residual radioactivity is +low, and it is safe enough to walk outside.... The life boat is lying +beside a small stream which empties into a circular pool of blue water +in the center of a small meadow. The fiery trail of the jets and rockets +has burned a hundred-foot-wide path across the meadow, and the upper +edge of the pool, and ends in a broad, blackened circle surrounding the +boat. I came down too fast the last few feet, and the drive tubes are a +crumpled mess inextricably fused with the bent landing pads. This boat +will never fly again without extensive repairs which I cannot perform. +But the hull is otherwise sound, and I am comfortable enough except for +a few rapidly healing bruises and contusions. In a few days I should be +well enough to explore.... + +I am surprised that this world is so capable of supporting human life. +The consensus of scientific opinion has been that less than one out of +50,000 planets would be habitable. Yet I have struck paydirt on the +first try. Perhaps I am lucky. At any rate I am alive, and my lifeboat, +while somewhat damaged by an inept landing, is still sufficiently intact +to serve as a shelter, and the survival kits are undamaged, which should +make my stay here endurable if not pleasant ... and we are learning a +great deal about our galaxy with the development of the interstellar +drive--not the least of which is that authoritative opinion is mere +opinion and far from authoritative. + +This world on which I find myself is in every respect but one similar to +Earth. There is no animate life--only plants. No birds fly, no insects +buzz, no animals rustle the silent underbrush. The only noise is the +wind in the trees and grasses. I am utterly alone. It is a strange +feeling, this loneliness. There is a feeling of freedom in it, a release +from the too-close proximity of my fellow men. There is the pleasure of +absolute privacy. But this will undoubtedly pall. Already I find that I +am anxious for someone to talk to, someone with whom I can share ideas +and plans. There ... + +... which I cannot explain. But one thing is certain. My first +impression of this place was wrong. The life here, if not animate, is at +least intelligent--and it is not friendly. Yet neither does it hate. It +observes me with a slow, methodical curiosity that I can sense at the +very threshold of consciousness. It is a peculiar sensation that is +quite indescribable--unpleasant--but hardly terrifying. I suppose I can +feel it more than a normal person because I am a biologist and it is +part of my training and specialized skill to achieve a certain rapport +with my surroundings. I first noticed it yesterday. It came suddenly, +without warning, a vague uneasiness, like the feeling when one awakens +from a partially remembered but unpleasant dream. And it has been +increasing ever since. + + * * * * * + +The principal impressions I received from this initial contact were an +awareness of self and a recognizance of identity--the concept of _cogito +ergo sum_ came through quite clearly. I wonder what Descartes would +think of an alien intelligence quoting his dogma.... I think it is +animal, despite the absence of animal life in this area. The thought +patterns are quick and flexible. And they have been increasing in power +and precision at an appreciable rate. I am sure that it is aware of me. +I shall call the feeling "it" until I can identify the source more +accurately. Certainly "it" appears to be as good a description as any, +since there is no consciousness of sex in the thought patterns. I wonder +what sort of ... and to my surprise I _swore_! I do not ordinarily +curse or use obscenities--not because they are obscene but because they +are a poor and inexact means of conveying ideas or impressions. But in +this case they were particularly appropriate. No other words could so +precisely describe my feelings. Me, a rational intelligence, succumbing +to such low-level emotional stimuli! If this keeps on, the next thing I +know I will be seeing little green men flitting through the trees.... Of +course, this world is unnatural, which makes its effect on the nervous +system more powerful, yet that does not explain the feeling of tension +which I have been experiencing, the silent straining tension of an +overloaded cable, the tension of a toy balloon overfull with air. I have +a constant feeling of dreadful expectancy, of imminent disaster, mixed +with a sense of pain and a lively--almost childlike--curiosity. To say +that this is disquieting would be a complete understatement, this state +of chronic disease, mixed with occasional rushes of terror. I am certain +that my nervous system and emotional responses are being examined, and +catalogued like a visceral preparation in an anatomy laboratory. There +is something infinitely chilling about this mental dissection. + +... and after a careful search of the area I found precisely nothing. +You who may read this will probably laugh, but I cannot. To me this is +no laughing matter. I find myself jumping at the slightest noise, an +increase in the wind, the snap of an expanding hull plate, the crackle +of static over my radio. I whirl around to see who, or _what_, is +watching me. My skin crawls and prickles as though I were covered with +ants. My mind is filled with black, inchoate dread. In three words, _I'm +scared stiff_! Yet there is nothing tangible--nothing I should be +frightened about, and this terrifies me even more. For I know where this +continual fear and worry can lead--to what ends this incessant +stimulation can reach. + + * * * * * + +Under pressure my body reacts, preparing me to fight or flee. My +adrenals pump hormones into my bloodstream, stimulating my heart and my +sympathetic nervous system, making glucose more available to my muscles. +My peripheral capillaries dilate. Intestinal activity stops as blood is +channeled into the areas which my fear and my glands decide will need it +most. I sweat. My vision blurs. All the manifold changes of the fight or +flight syndrome are mobilized for instant action. But my body cannot be +held in this state of readiness. The constant stimulation will +ultimately turn my overworked adrenal glands into a jelly-like mess of +cystic quivering goo. My general adaptation syndrome will no longer +adapt. And I will die. + +But I am not dead yet. And I have certain advantages. I am intelligent. +I know what faces me. And I can adjust. That is one of the outstanding +characteristics of the human race--the ability to adjust to our +environment, or, failing that, to adjust our environment to us. In +addition, I have my hands, tools, and materials to work with here in the +lifeboat. And finally I am desperate! I should be able to accomplish +something. There must be ... + + * * * * * + +... But it is not going well. There are too many parts which I do not +know by sight. If I were a more competent electronicist I would have had +the parts assembled now and would be sending a beacon signal clear +across this sector. The pressure hasn't been any help. It doesn't get +greater, but it has become more insisting--more demanding. I seem to +feel that it _wants_ something, that its direction has become more +channelized. The conviction is growing within me that I am destined to +be _absorbed_. + +The fear with which I live is a constant thing. And I still keep looking +for my enemy. In a strange, impersonal way it has become my enemy for +though it does not hate, it threatens my life. My waking hours are hell +and my sleep is nightmare. Strange how a man clings to life and sanity. +It would be so easy to lose either. Of one thing I am certain--this +cannot go on much longer. I cannot work under pressure. I must act. I +shall try again to find my enemy and kill it before it kills me. It is +no longer a question of ... + +... Never again shall I wish to be alone. If I get out of this alive I +am going to haunt crowds. I will surround myself with people. Right now +I would give my soul to have one--just one--person near me. Anyone. I +feel certain that two of us could face this thing and lick it. If +necessary we could face it back to back, each covering the other. I am +now getting impressions. Sensory hallucinations. I am floating. I swim. +I bathe luxuriantly in huge bathtubs and the water runs through my body +as though I were a sponge. Have you ever felt _porous_?... + +... and that last attack was a doozer! I wrecked a week's work looking +for the little man who wasn't there. The urge to kill is becoming more +intense. I want to destroy the author of my misery. Even though I am +still a balanced personality--polite language for being sane--I can't +take much more of this. I will not go mad, but I will go into the +adrenal syndrome unless I can end this soon. + +Nothing I have done seems to help. For a while I was sure that the music +tapes held the pressure back, but the enemy is used to them now. I am +still working on the subspace beacon. The radio and most of the control +linkages have gone into it. It looks like an electronicist's nightmare, +but if the survival manual is right, it will work. It has to work! I +dread the time when I shall have to cannibalize the recorder. Can't +help thinking that Shakespeare was right when he wrote that bit about +music soothing the savage breast. It may not soothe the enemy, for it +isn't savage, but it certainly soothes me, even though there's something +repetitive about it after a half a hundred playings. My breast's savage +all right. Fact is, it's downright primitive when an attack starts. I +can feel them coming now. I keep wondering how much longer I can last. +Guess I'm getting morbid.... + +More nightmares last night. I drowned three times and a purple octopus +gave me an enema. Woke up screaming, but got an idea from it. Funny that +I never thought of it before. Water's the fountainhead of life, and +there is no real reason for assuming my enemy is terrestrial. He could +just as well be aquatic. I'll find out today--maybe. Just to be doing +something positive--even thinking--makes me feel better.... + + * * * * * + +_Got it!_ I know where it is! And I know how to kill it. Fact is, I've +already done it! Now there's no more pressure. God--what a relief! This +morning I burned the meadow and cut down the nearest trees surrounding +this clearing and nothing happened. I expected that. Then I checked the +water. Nothing in the stream, but the pond was _green_!--filled almost +to the edge with a mass of algae! A hundred-foot platter of sticky green +slime, cohesive as glue and ugly as sin. It _had_ to be it--and it was. +I never saw algae that cohered quite like that. So I gave it about fifty +gallons of rocket juice--red fuming nitric acid--right in the belly. +Then I sat down and let the tension flow out of me, revelling in its +pain, laughing like crazy as it turned brown--and the pressure +disappeared. No tension at all now. The place is as quiet and peaceful +as the grave. I want to laugh and laugh--and run through the burned +meadow and roll in the ashes so grateful am I for my deliverance. + +Got the idea of killing the monster from a splash of rocket fuel on the +bank of the stream and my memory of the pain in the early feelings. But +it was nothing compared to the feeling when the acid hit that damned +mass of green slime! Even though my brain was screaming at me, I felt +good. I should put a couple of hundred gallons into the stream just to +make sure--but I can't afford it. I need the fuel to run the generators +to propagate the wave that'll bring me home if someone hears it. And +they'll hear it all right. My luck is in. Now I'm going to sleep--_sweet +sleep that knits the ravelled sleeve of care_--Shakespeare, old man, you +had a phrase for everything! I love you. I love everything. I even feel +sorry for that poor plant ... of guilt. It couldn't help the fact that +my jets set up a mutation. And being intelligent it _had_ to be +curious. Of course, no one would believe me if I started talking about +intelligent algae. But what's so odd about that? Even the most complex +life forms are just aggregations of individual cells working together. +So if a few individual cells with rudimentary data-storage capacity got +the idea of uniting why couldn't they act like a complex organism? + + * * * * * + +It is useless to speculate on what might have happened had that thing +lived. But it's dead now--burned to death in acid. And although +destruction of intelligent life is repugnant to me, I cannot help +feeling that it is perhaps better that it is gone. Considering how +rapidly it developed during its few weeks of life, and the power it +possessed, my mind is appalled at its potential. I've had my experience +and that's enough. Lord! but I'm tired. I feel like a wrung-out sponge. +Guess I'll rest for a little while ... + +... and received a reply to my signal! They heterodyned it right back +along my own beam. They'll be landing in a week. I don't think I'll take +this manuscript with me. I couldn't use it--and somehow I don't feel +like burning it. Maybe I'll make a time capsule out of it. It will be +amusing to speculate about what sort of a reaction it'll provoke, +providing it is ever read. I can see them now, huge-headed humans, +wrinkling their noses and saying "Intelligent algae--fantastic--the man +must have been mad!" + +_The manuscript ends here--and of course we know that the "man" was not +mad. He left behind a rich heritage indeed, for those few cells that +escaped his wrath and floated down to the sea. Did we but know his +origin we would erect a suitable memorial if we had to travel to the +farthest reach of our galaxy. But the names he quotes are not in our +repositories and as for the word "Earth" which he used for his +homeworld, I need not remind my readers that the intelligent terrestrial +inhabitants of the 22,748 planets of this sector use the term "Earth" or +its synonyms "soil" and "world" to describe their planets. Of course, +the term "Homewater" is gradually replacing this archaic concept as we +extend our hegemony ever more widely across the disunited worlds of the +galaxy._ + +_At that it seems strange that the unknown author's race should have +passed. As individuals they had so many advantages, while we are so weak +and individually so helpless. They could do almost everything except +communicate and cooperate. We can do but little else, yet our larger +aggregations can control entire worlds, some peopled perhaps with +descendants of this very individual. It merely proves that Dannar's +statement in the preface of his Thesis is correct._ + +"United, cohesive cooperation is the source of irresistible strength." + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Amazing Science Fiction Stories_ April + 1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and + typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Issahar Artifacts, by Jesse Franklin Bone + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ISSAHAR ARTIFACTS *** + +***** This file should be named 29271.txt or 29271.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/2/7/29271/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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