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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/30329-0.txt b/30329-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d8e69b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/30329-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,723 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30329 *** + +[Illustration: _When Black Eyes needed a nap--everybody slept!_] + + + BLACK EYES _and the_ + DAILY GRIND + + By MILTON LESSER + + + _The little house pet from Venus didn't + like New York, so New York had to change._ + + +He liked the flat cracking sound of the gun. He liked the way it slapped +back against his shoulder when he fired. Somehow it did not seem a part +of the dank, steaming Venusian jungle. Probably, he realized with a +smile, it was the only old-fashioned recoil rifle on the entire planet. +As if anyone else would want to use one of those old bone-cracking +relics today! But they all failed to realize it made sport much more +interesting. + +"I haven't seen anything for a while," his wife said. She had a young, +pretty face and a strong young body. If you have money these days, you +could really keep a thirty-five-year-old woman looking trim. + +Not on Venus, of course. Venus was an outpost, a frontier, a hot, wet, +evil-smelling place that beckoned only the big-game hunter. He said, +"That's true. Yesterday we could bag them one after the other, as fast +as I could fire this contraption. Today, if there's anything bigger than +a mouse, it's hiding in a hole somewhere. You know what I think, Lindy?" + +"What?" + +"I think there's a reason for it. A lot of the early Venusian hunters +said there were days like this. An area filled with big lizards and cats +and everything else the day before suddenly seems to clear out, for no +reason. It doesn't make sense." + +"Why not? Why couldn't they all just decide to make tracks for someplace +else on the same day?" + +He slapped at an insect that was buzzing around his right ear, then +mopped his sweating brow with a handkerchief. His name was Judd Whitney, +and people said he had a lot of money. Now he laughed, patting his +wife's trim shoulder under the white tunic. "No, Lindy. It just doesn't +work that way. Not on Earth and not on Venus, either. You think there's +a pied-piper or something which calls all the animals away?" + +"Maybe. I don't know much about those things." + +"No. I don't think they went anyplace. They're just quiet. They didn't +come out of their holes or hovels or down from the trees. But why?" + +"Well, let's forget it. Let's go back to camp. We can try again +tomor--look! Look, there's something!" + +Judd followed her pointing finger with his eyes. Half-hidden by the +creepers and vines clinging to an old tree-stump, something was watching +them. It wasn't very big and it seemed in no hurry to get away. + +"What is it?" Lindy wanted to know. + +"Don't know. Never saw anything like it before. Venus is still an +unknown frontier; the books only name a couple dozen of the biggest +animals. But hell, Lindy, that's not _game_. I don't think it weighs +five pounds." + +"It's cute, and it has a lovely skin." + +Judd couldn't argue with that. Squatting on its haunches, the creature +was about twenty inches tall. It had a pointed snout and two thin, long +ears. Its eyes were very big and very round and quite black. They looked +something like the eyes of an Earthian tarsier, but the tarsier were +bloody little beasts. The skin was short and stiff and was a kind of +silvery white. Under the sheen, however, it seemed to glow. A diamond is +colorless, Judd thought, but when you see it under light a whole rainbow +of colors sparkle deep within it. This creature's skin was like that, +Judd decided. + +"If we could get enough of them," Lindy was saying, "I'd have the most +unusual coat! Do you think we could find enough, Judd?" + +"I doubt it. Never saw anything like it before, never heard of anything +like it. You'd need fifty of 'em, anyway. Let's forget about it--too +small to shoot, anyway." + +"No, Judd. I want it." + +"Well, I'm not going to stalk a five-pound--hey, wait a minute! I taught +you how to use this rifle, so why don't you bag it?" + +Lindy grinned. "That's a fine idea. I was a little scared of some of +those big lizards and cats and everything, but now I'm going to take you +up on it. Here, give me your gun." + +Judd removed the leather thong from his shoulder and handed the weapon +to her. She looked at it a little uncertainly, then took the clip of +shells which Judd offered and slammed it into the chamber. The little +creature sat unmoving. + +"Isn't it peculiar that it doesn't run away, Judd?" + +"Sure is. Nothing formidable about that animal, so unless it has a +hidden poison somewhere, just about anything in this swamp could do it +in. To survive it would have to be fast as hell and it would have to +keep running all the time. Beats me, Lindy." + +"Well, I'm going to get myself one pelt toward that coat, anyway. Watch, +Judd: is this the way?" She lifted the rifle to her shoulder and +squinted down the sights toward the shining creature. + +"Yeah, that's the way. Only relax. Relax. Shoulder's so tense you're +liable to dislocate it with the kick. There--that's better." + +Now Lindy's finger was wrapped around the trigger and she remembered +Judd had told her to squeeze it, not to pull it. If you pulled the +trigger you jerked the rifle and spoiled your aim. You had to squeeze it +slowly.... + +The animal seemed politely interested. + +Suddenly, a delicious languor stole over Lindy. It possessed her all at +once and she had no idea where it came from. Her legs had been stiff and +tired from the all-morning trek through the swamp, but now they felt +fine. Her whole body was suffused in a warm, satisfied glow of +well-being. And laziness. It was an utterly new sensation and she could +even feel it tingling at the roots of her hair. She sighed and lowered +the rifle. + +"I don't want to shoot it," she said. + +"You just told me you did." + +"I know, but I changed my mind. What's the matter, can't I change my +mind?" + +"Of course you can change your mind. But I thought you wanted a coat of +those things." + +"Yes, I suppose I do. But I don't want to shoot it, that's all." + +Judd snorted. "I think you have a streak of softness someplace in that +pretty head of yours!" + +"Maybe. I don't know. But I'd still like the pelt. Funny, isn't it?" + +"Okay, okay! But don't ask to use the gun again." Judd snatched it from +her hands. "If you don't want to shoot it, then I will. Maybe we can +make you a pair of gloves or something from the pelt." + +And Judd pointed his ancient rifle at the little animal preparing to +snap off a quick shot. It would be a cinch at this distance. Even Lindy +wouldn't have missed, if she hadn't changed her mind. + +Judd yawned. He'd failed to realize he was so tired. Not an aching kind +of tiredness, but the kind that makes you feel good all over. He yawned +again and lowered the rifle. "Changed my mind," he said. "I don't want +to shoot it, either. What say we head back for camp?" + +Lindy gripped his hand impulsively. "All right, Judd--but I had a +brainstorm! I want it for a pet!" + +"A pet?" + +"Yes. I think it would be the cutest thing. Everyone would look and +wonder and I'll adore it!" + +"We don't know anything about it. Maybe Earth would be too cold, or too +dry, or maybe we don't have anything it can eat. There are liable to be +a hundred different strains of bacteria that can kill it." + +"I said I want it for a pet. See? Look at it! We can call it Black +Eyes." + +"Black Eyes--" Judd groaned. + +"Yes, Black Eyes. If you don't do this one thing for me, Judd--" + +"Okay--okay. But I'm not going to do anything. You want it, you take +it." + +Lindy frowned, looked at him crossly, then sloshed across the swamp +toward Black Eyes. The creature waited on its stump until she came quite +close, and then, with a playful little bound, it hopped onto her +shoulder, still squatting on its haunches. Lindy squealed excitedly and +began to stroke its silvery fur. + + * * * * * + +A month later, they returned to Earth. Judd and Lindy and Black Eyes. +The hunting trip had been a success--Judd's trophies were on their way +home on a slow freighter, and he'd have some fine heads and skins for +his study-room. Even Black Eyes had been no trouble at all. It ate +scraps from their table, forever sitting on its haunches and staring at +them with its big black eyes. Judd thought it would make one helluva +lousy pet, but he didn't tell Lindy. Trouble was, it never did anything. +It merely sat still, or occasionally it would bounce down to the floor +and mince along on its hind-legs for a scrap of food. It never uttered a +sound. It did not frolic and it did not gambol. Most of the time it +could have been carved from stone. But Lindy was happy and Judd said +nothing. + +They had a little trouble with the customs officials. This because +nothing unknown could be brought to Earth without a thorough +examination. + +At the customs office, a bespectacled official stared at Black Eyes, +scratching his head. "Never seen one like that before." + +"Neither have I," Judd admitted. + +"Well, I'll look in the book." The man did, but there are no thorough +tomes on Venusian fauna. "Not here." + +"I could have told you." + +"Well, we'll have to quarantine it and study it. That means you and your +wife go into quarantine, too. It could have something that's catching." + +"Absurd!" Lindy cried. + +"Sorry, lady. I only work here." + +"You and your bright ideas," Judd told his wife acidly. "We may be +quarantined a month until they satisfy themselves about Black Eyes." + +The customs official shrugged his bony shoulders, and Judd removed a +twenty-credit note from his pocket and handed it to the man. "Will this +change your mind?" + +"I should say not! You can't bribe me, Mr. Whitney! You can't--" The man +yawned, stretched languidly, smiled. "No, sir, you can keep your money, +Mr. Whitney. Guess we don't have to examine your pet after all. Mighty +cute little feller. Well, have fun with it. Come on, move along now." +And, as they were departing with Black Eyes, still not believing their +ears: "Darn this weather! Makes a man so lazy...." + +It was after the affair at the customs office, that Black Eyes uttered +its first sound. City life hasn't changed much in the last fifty years. +Jet-cars still streak around the circumferential highways, their +whistles blaring. Factories still belch smoke and steam, although the +new atomic power plants have lessened that to a certain extent. Crowds +still throng the streets, noisy, hurrying, ill-mannered. It's one of +those things that can't be helped. A city has to live, and it has to +make noise. + +But it seemed to frighten Lindy's new pet. It stared through the jet-car +window on the way from the spaceport to the Whitneys' suburban home, its +black eyes welling with tears. + +"Look!" Judd exclaimed. "Black Eyes can cry!" + +"A crying pet, Judd. I knew there would be something unusual about Black +Eyes, I just knew it!" + +The tears in the big black eyes overflowed and tumbled out, rolling down +Black Eyes' silvery cheeks. And then Black Eyes whimpered. It was only a +brief whimper, but both Judd and Lindy heard it, and even the driver +turned around for a moment and stared at the animal. + +The driver stopped the jet. He yawned and rested his head comfortably on +the cushioned seat. He went quietly to sleep. + + * * * * * + +A man named Merrywinkle owned the Merrywinkle Shipping Service. That, in +itself, was not unusual. But at precisely the moment that Black Eyes +unleashed its mild whimper, Mr. Merrywinkle--uptown and five miles +away--called an emergency conference of the board of directors and +declared: + +"Gentlemen, we have all been working too hard, and I, for one, am going +to take a vacation. I don't know when I'll be back, but it won't be +before six months." + +"But C.M.," someone protested. "There's the Parker deal and the Gilette +contract and a dozen other things. You're needed!" + +Mr. Merrywinkle shook his bald head. "What's more, you're all taking +vacations, with pay. Six months, each of you. We're closing down +Merrywinkle Shipping for half a year. Give the competition a break, eh?" + +"But C.M.! We're about ready to squeeze out Chambers Parcel Co.! They'll +get back on their feet in six months." + +"Never mind. Notify all departments of the shut-down, effective +immediately. Vacations for all." + + * * * * * + +"Who shut off the assembly belt?" the foreman asked mildly. He was not a +mild man and he usually stormed and ranted at the slightest provocation. +This was at Clewson Jetcraft, and you couldn't produce a single +jet-plane without the assembly belt, naturally. + +A plump little man said, "I did." + +"But why?" the foreman asked him, smiling blandly. + +"I don't know. I just did." + +The foreman was still smiling. "I don't blame you." + +Two days later, Clewson Jetcraft had to lay off all its help. They put +ads in all the papers seeking new personnel but no one showed up. +Clewson was forced to shut down. + + * * * * * + +The crack Boston to New York pneumo-tube commuter's special pulled to a +bone-jarring stop immediately outside the New York station. Some angry +commuters pried open the conductor's cab, and found the man snoozing +quite contentedly. They awakened him, but he refused to drive the train +any further. All the commuters had to leave the pneumo-train and edge +their way along three miles of catwalk to the station. No one was very +happy about it, but the feeling of well-being which came over them all +nipped any possible protest in the bud. + + * * * * * + +Black Eyes whimpered again when Judd and Lindy reached home but after +that it was quiet. It just sat on its haunches near the window and +stared out at the city. + +The quiet city. + +Nothing moved in the streets. Nothing stirred. People remained at home +watching local video or the new space-video from Mars. At first it was a +good joke, and the newspapers could have had a field day with it, had +the newspapers remained in circulation. After four days, however, they +suspended publication. On the fifth day, there was a shortage of food in +the city, great stores of it spoiling in the warehouses. Heat and light +failed after a week, and the fire department ignored all alarms a day +later. + +But everything did not stop. School teachers still taught their classes; +clerks still sold whatever goods were left on local shelves. Librarians +were still at their desks. + +Conservatives said it was a liberal plot to undermine capital and demand +higher wages; liberals said big business could afford the temporary +layoff and wanted to squeeze out the small businessman and labor unions. + +Scientists pondered and city officials made speeches over video. + +"Something," one of them observed, "has hit our city. Work that requires +anything above a modicum of sound has become impossible; in regards to +such work people have become lazy. No one can offer any valid +suggestions concerning the malady. It merely exists. However, if a stop +is not put to it--and soon--our fair city will disintegrate. Something +is making us lazy, and that laziness can spell doom, being a compulsive +lack of desire to create any noise or disturbance. If anyone believes he +has the solution, he should contact the Department of Science at once. +If you can't use the video-phone, come in person. But come! Every hour +which passes adds to the city's woes." + +Nothing but scatter-brained ideas for a week, none of them worth +consideration. Then the bespectacled customs official who had bypassed +quarantine for Black Eyes, got in touch with the authorities. He had +always been a conscientious man--except for that one lapse. Maybe the +queer little beast had nothing to do with this crisis. But then again, +the customs official had never before--or since--had that strange +feeling of lassitude. Could there be some connection? + +A staff of experts on extra-terrestrial fauna was dispatched to the +Whitney residence, although, indeed, the chairman of the Department of +Science secretly considered the whole idea ridiculous. + +The staff of experts introduced themselves. Then, ignoring the protests +of Lindy, went to work on Black Eyes. At first Judd thought the animal +would object, but apparently it did not. While conditions all about them +in the city worsened, the experts spent three days studying Black Eyes. + +They found nothing out of the ordinary. + +Black Eyes merely stared back at them, and but for an accident, they +would have departed without a lead. On the third day, a huge mongrel dog +which belonged to the Whitneys' next-door neighbors somehow slipped its +leash. It was a fierce and ugly animal, and it was known to attack +anything smaller than itself. It jumped the fence and landed in Judd +Whitney's yard. A few loping bounds took it through an open window, +ground level. Inside, it spied Black Eyes and made for the creature at +once, howling furiously. + +Black Eyes didn't budge. + +And the mongrel changed its mind! The slavering tongue withdrew inside +the chops, the howling stopped. The mongrel lay down on the floor and +whined. Presently it lost all interest, got to its feet, and left as it +had come. + +Other animals were brought to the Whitney home. Cats. Dogs. A lion from +the city zoo, starved for two days and brought in a special mobile cage +by its keeper. Black Eyes was thrust into the cage and the lion gave +forth with a hideous yowling. Soon it stopped, rolled over, and slept. + + * * * * * + +The scientists correlated their reports, returned with them to the +Whitney house. The leader, whose name was Jamison, said: "As closely as +we can tell, Black Eyes is the culprit." + +"What?" Lindy demanded. + +"Yes, Mrs. Whitney. Your pet, Black Eyes." + +"Oh, I don't believe it!" + +But Judd said, "Go ahead, Dr. Jamison. I'm listening." + +"Well, how does an animal--any animal--protect itself?" + +"Why, in any number of ways. If it has claws or a strong jaw and long +teeth, it can fight. If it is fleet of foot, it can run. If it is big +and has a tough hide, most other animals can't hurt it anyway. Umm-mm, +doesn't that about cover it?" + +"You left out protective coloration, defensive odors, and things like +that. Actually, those are most important from our point of view, for +Black Eyes' ability is a further ramification of that sort of thing. +Your pet is not fast. It isn't strong. It can't change color and it has +no offensive odor to chase off predatory enemies. It has no armor. In +short, can you think of a more helpless creature to put down in those +Venusian swamps?" + +After Judd had shaken his head, Dr. Jamison continued: "Very well, Black +Eyes should not be able to survive on Venus--and yet, obviously the +creature did. We can assume there are more of the breed, too. Anyway, +Black Eyes survives. And I'll tell you why. + +"Black Eyes has a very uncommon ability to sense danger when it +approaches. And sensing danger, Black Eyes can thwart it. Your creature +sends out certain emanations--I won't pretend to know what they +are--which stamp aggression out of any predatory creatures. Neither of +you could fire upon it--right?" + +"Umm-mm, that's true," Judd said. + +Lindy nodded. + +"Well, that's one half of it. There's so much about life we don't +understand. Black Eyes uses energy of an unknown intensity, and the +result maintains Black Eyes' life. Now, although that is the case, your +animal did not live a comfortable life in the Venusian swamp. Because no +animal would attack it, it could not be harmed. Still, from what you +tell me about that swamp ... + +"Anyhow, Black Eyes was glad to come away with you, and everything went +well until you landed in New York. The noises, the clattering, the +continual bustle of a great city--all this frightened the creature. It +was being attacked--or, at least that's what it must have figured. +Result: it struck back the only way it knew how. Have you ever heard +about sub-sonic sound-waves, Mr. Whitney, waves of sound so low that our +ears cannot pick them up--waves of sound which can nevertheless stir our +emotions? Such things exist, and, as a working hypothesis, I would say +Black Eyes' strange powers rest along those lines. The whole city is +idle because Black Eyes is afraid!" + +In his exploration of Mars, of Venus, of the Jovian moons, Judd Whitney +had seen enough of extra-terrestrial life to know that virtually +anything was possible, and Black Eyes would be no exception to that +rule. + +"What do you propose to do?" Judd demanded. + +"Do? Why, we'll have to kill your creature, naturally. You can set a +value on it and we will meet it, but Black Eyes must die." + +"No!" Lindy cried. "You can't be sure, you're only guessing, and it +isn't fair!" + +"My dear woman, don't you realize this is a serious situation? The +city's people will starve in time. No one can even bring food in because +the trucks make too much noise! As an alternative, we could evacuate, +but is your pet more valuable than the life of a great city?" + +"N-no...." + +"Then, please! Listen to reason!" + +"Kill it," Judd said. "Go ahead." + +Dr. Jamison withdrew from his pocket a small blasting pistol used by the +Department of Domestic Animals for elimination of injured creatures. He +advanced on Black Eyes, who sat on its haunches in the center of the +room, surveying the scientist. + +Dr. Jamison put his blaster away. "I can't," he said. "I don't want to." + +Judd smiled. "I know it. No one--no _thing_--can kill Black Eyes. You +said so yourself. It was a waste of time to try it. In that case--" + +"In that case," Dr. Jamison finished for him, "we're helpless. There +isn't a man--or an animal--on Earth that will destroy this thing. Wait +a minute--does it sleep, Mr. Whitney?" + +"I don't think so. At least, I never saw it sleep. And your team of +scientists, did they report anything?" + +"No. As far as they could see, the creature never slept. We can't catch +it unawares." + +"Could you anesthetize it?" + +"How? It can sense danger, and long before you could do that, it would +stop you. It's only made one mistake, Mr. Whitney: it believes the +noises of the city represent a danger. And that's only a negative +mistake. Noise won't hurt Black Eyes, of course. It simply makes the +animal unnecessarily cautious. But we cannot anesthetize it any more +than we can kill it." + +"I could take it back to Venus." + +"Could you? Could you? I hadn't thought of that." + +Judd shook his head. "I can't." + +"What do you mean you can't?" + +"It won't let me. Somehow it can sense our thoughts when we think +something it doesn't want. I can't take it to Venus! No man could, +because it doesn't want to go." + +"My dear Mr. Whitney--do you mean to say you believe it can _think_?" + +"Uh-uh. Didn't say that. It can sense our thoughts, and that's something +else again." + +Dr. Jamison threw his hands up over his head in a dramatic gesture. +"It's hopeless," he said. + + * * * * * + +Things grew worse. New York crawled along to a standstill. People began +to move from the city. In trickles, at first, but the trickles became +torrents, as New York's ten million people began to depart for saner +places. It might take months--it might even take years, but the exodus +had begun. Nothing could stop it. Because of a harmless little beast +with the eyes of a tarsier, the life of a great city was coming to an +end. + +Word spread. Scientists all over the world studied reports on Black +Eyes. No one had any ideas. Everyone was stumped. Black Eyes had no +particular desire to go outside. Black Eyes merely remained in the +Whitney house, contemplating nothing in particular, and stopping +everything. + +Dr. Jamison, however, was a persistent man. Judd got a letter from him +one day, and the following afternoon he kept his appointment with the +scientist. + +"It's good to get out," Judd said, after a three hour walk to the +Department of Science Building. "I can go crazy just staring at that +thing." + +"I have it, Whitney." + +"You have what? Not the way to destroy Black Eyes? I don't believe it!" + +"It's true. Consider. Everyone in the world does not yet know of your +pet, correct?" + +"I suppose there are a few people who don't--" + +"There are many. Among them, are the crew of a jet-bomber which has been +on maneuvers in Egypt. We have arranged everything." + +"Yes? How?" + +"At noon tomorrow, the bomber will appear over your home with one of +the ancient, high-explosive missiles. Your neighbors will be removed +from the vicinity, and, precisely at twelve-o-three in the afternoon, +the bomb will be dropped. Your home will be destroyed. Black Eyes will +be destroyed with it." + +Judd looked uncomfortable. "I dunno," he said. "Sounds too easy." + +"Too easy? I doubt if the animal will ever sense what is going on--not +when the crew of the bomber doesn't know, either. They'll consider it a +mighty peculiar order, to destroy one harmless, rather large and rather +elaborate suburban home. But they'll do it. See you tomorrow, Whitney, +after this mess is behind us." + +"Yeah," Judd said. "Yeah." But somehow, the scientist had failed to +instill any of his confidence in Judd. + + * * * * * + +With Lindy, he left home at eleven the following morning, after making a +thorough list of all their properties which the City had promised to +duplicate. Judd did not look at Black Eyes as he left, and the animal +remained where it was, seated on its haunches under the dining room +table, nibbling crumbs. Judd could almost feel the big round eyes boring +a pair of twin holes in his back, and he dared not turn around to face +them.... + +They were a mile away at eleven forty-five, making their way through the +nearly deserted streets. Judd stopped walking. He looked at Lindy. Lindy +looked at him. + +"They're going to destroy it," he said. + +"I know." + +"Do you want them to?" + +"I--I--" + +Judd knew that something had to be done with Black Eyes. He didn't like +the little beast, and, anyway, that had nothing to do with it. Black +Eyes was a menace. And yet, something whispered in Judd's ear, _Don't +let them, don't let them ..._ It wasn't Judd and it wasn't Judd's +subconscious. It was Black Eyes, and he knew it. But he couldn't do a +thing about it-- + +"I'm going to stay right here and let them bomb the place," he said +aloud. But as he spoke, he was running back the way he had come. + +Fifteen minutes. + +He sprinted part of the time, then rested, then sprinted again. He was +somewhat on the beefy side and he could not run fast, but he made it. +Just. + +He heard the jet streaking through the sky overhead, looked up once and +saw it circling. Two blocks from his house he was met by a policeman. +The entire area had been roped off, and the officer shook his head when +Judd tried to get through. + +"But I live there!" + +"Can't help it, Mister. Orders is orders." + +Judd hit him. Judd didn't want to, but nevertheless, he grunted with +satisfaction when he felt the blow to be a good one, catching the stocky +officer on the point of his chin and tumbling him over backwards. Then +Judd was ducking under the rope and running. + +He reached his house, plummeted in through the front door. He found +Black Eyes under the kitchen table, squatting on its haunches. He +scooped the animal up, ran outside. Then he was running again, and +before he reached the barrier, something rocked him. A loud series of +explosions ripped through his brain, and instinctively--Black Eyes' +instincts, not his--he folded his arms over the animal, protecting it. +Something shuddered and began to fall behind him, and debris scattered +in all directions. Something struck Judd's head and he felt the ground +slapping up crazily at his face-- + +He was as good as new a few days later. + +And so was Black Eyes. + +"I have it," Judd said to his nurse. + +"You have what, sir?" + +"It's so simple, so ridiculously simple, maybe that's why no one ever +thought of it. Get me Dr. Jamison!" + +Jamison came a few moments later, breathless. "Well?" + +"I have the solution." + +"You ... do?" Not much hope in the answer. Dr. Jamison was a tired, +defeated man. + +"Sure. Black Eyes doesn't like the city. Fine. Take him out. I can't +take him to Venus. He doesn't like Venus and he won't go. No one can +take him anyplace he doesn't want to go, just as no one can hurt him in +any way. But he doesn't like the city. It's too noisy. All right: have +someone take him far from the city, far far away--where there's no noise +at all. Someplace out in the sticks where it won't matter much if Black +Eyes puts a stop to any disturbing noises." + +"Who will take him? You, Mr. Whitney?" + +Judd shook his head. "That's your job, not mine. I've given you the +answer. Now use it." + +Lindy had arrived, and Lindy said: "Judd, you're right. That _is_ the +answer. And you're wonderful--" + +No one volunteered to spend his life in exile with Black Eyes, but then +Dr. Jamison pointed out that while no one knew the creature's life-span, +it certainly couldn't be expected to match man's. Just a few years and +the beast would die, and ... Dr. Jamison's arguments were so logical +that he convinced himself. He took Black Eyes with him into the Canadian +Northwoods, and there they live. + + * * * * * + +Judd was right--almost. + +This was the obvious answer which escaped everyone. + +But scientists continued their examinations of Black Eyes, and they +discovered something. Black Eyes' fears had not been for herself alone. +She is going to have babies. The estimate is for thirty-five little +tarsier-eyed creatures. No doctor in the world will be able to do +anything but deliver the litter. + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _If Worlds of Science Fiction_ March + 1952. 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 Black Eyes and the Daily Grind, by Milton Lesser + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30329 *** diff --git a/30329-h.zip b/30329-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..73023a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/30329-h.zip diff --git a/30329-h/30329-h.htm b/30329-h/30329-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ddf09c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/30329-h/30329-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1169 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Black Eyes and the Daily Grind, by Milton Lesser + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1 {text-align: left;} + h2 {text-align: right; font-weight: normal;} + hr {width: 45%; margin: 2em auto; visibility: hidden;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .figr {float: right; clear: right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; padding: 0; text-align: right; width: 368px;} + img {border: none;} + a:link,a:visited {text-decoration: none;} + p.cap:first-letter {float: left; margin-right: .05em; padding-top: .05em; font-size: 300%; line-height: .8em; width: auto;} + .dcap {text-transform: uppercase;} + .figt {float: left; clear: left; margin: 15px; padding: 0; width: 133px;} + .trn {border: solid 1px; margin: 3em 15%; min-height: 230px;} + .trn p {margin: 15px;} + .sp1 {margin-left: 4em;} + .bk1 {text-align: center; margin: 2em auto;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30329 ***</div> + +<div class="figr"><img src="images/001.png" width="368" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +<small><b><i>When Black Eyes needed a nap—everybody slept!</i></b></small></div> + +<h1><big>BLACK EYES <i>and the</i><br /> +<span class="sp1">DAILY GRIND</span></big></h1> + +<h2>By MILTON LESSER</h2> + +<div class="bk1"><p><i><big>The little house pet from Venus didn't like +New York, so New York had to change.</big></i></p></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">He liked</span> the flat cracking +sound of the gun. He liked the +way it slapped back against his +shoulder when he fired. Somehow +it did not seem a part of the dank, +steaming Venusian jungle. Probably, +he realized with a smile, it was +the only old-fashioned recoil rifle +on the entire planet. As if anyone +else would want to use one of those +old bone-cracking relics today! But +they all failed to realize it made +sport much more interesting.</p> + +<p>"I haven't seen anything for a +while," his wife said. She had a +young, pretty face and a strong +young body. If you have money +these days, you could really keep a +thirty-five-year-old woman looking +trim.</p> + +<p>Not on Venus, of course. Venus +was an outpost, a frontier, a hot, +wet, evil-smelling place that beckoned +only the big-game hunter. He +said, "That's true. Yesterday we +could bag them one after the other, +as fast as I could fire this contraption. +Today, if there's anything bigger +than a mouse, it's hiding in a +hole somewhere. You know what I +think, Lindy?"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"I think there's a reason for it. +A lot of the early Venusian hunters +said there were days like this. An +area filled with big lizards and cats +and everything else the day before +suddenly seems to clear out, for no +reason. It doesn't make sense."</p> + +<p>"Why not? Why couldn't they all +just decide to make tracks for someplace +else on the same day?"</p> + +<p>He slapped at an insect that was +buzzing around his right ear, then +mopped his sweating brow with a +handkerchief. His name was Judd +Whitney, and people said he had a +lot of money. Now he laughed, patting +his wife's trim shoulder under +the white tunic. "No, Lindy. It just +doesn't work that way. Not on +Earth and not on Venus, either. +You think there's a pied-piper or +something which calls all the animals +away?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe. I don't know much +about those things."</p> + +<p>"No. I don't think they went anyplace. +They're just quiet. They +didn't come out of their holes or +hovels or down from the trees. But +why?"</p> + +<p>"Well, let's forget it. Let's go +back to camp. We can try again +tomor—look! Look, there's something!"</p> + +<p>Judd followed her pointing finger +with his eyes. Half-hidden by +the creepers and vines clinging to +an old tree-stump, something was +watching them. It wasn't very big +and it seemed in no hurry to get +away.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" Lindy wanted to +know.</p> + +<p>"Don't know. Never saw anything +like it before. Venus is still +an unknown frontier; the books +only name a couple dozen of the +biggest animals. But hell, Lindy, +that's not <i>game</i>. I don't think it +weighs five pounds."</p> + +<p>"It's cute, and it has a lovely +skin."</p> + +<p>Judd couldn't argue with that. +Squatting on its haunches, the creature +was about twenty inches tall. +It had a pointed snout and two +thin, long ears. Its eyes were very +big and very round and quite black. +They looked something like the eyes +of an Earthian tarsier, but the tarsier +were bloody little beasts. The +skin was short and stiff and was a +kind of silvery white. Under the +sheen, however, it seemed to glow. +A diamond is colorless, Judd +thought, but when you see it under +light a whole rainbow of colors +sparkle deep within it. This creature's +skin was like that, Judd decided.</p> + +<p>"If we could get enough of +them," Lindy was saying, "I'd have +the most unusual coat! Do you +think we could find enough, Judd?"</p> + +<p>"I doubt it. Never saw anything +like it before, never heard of anything +like it. You'd need fifty of +'em, anyway. Let's forget about it—too +small to shoot, anyway."</p> + +<p>"No, Judd. I want it."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm not going to stalk a +five-pound—hey, wait a minute! I +taught you how to use this rifle, so +why don't you bag it?"</p> + +<p>Lindy grinned. "That's a fine +idea. I was a little scared of some of +those big lizards and cats and everything, +but now I'm going to take +you up on it. Here, give me your +gun."</p> + +<p>Judd removed the leather thong +from his shoulder and handed the +weapon to her. She looked at it a +little uncertainly, then took the clip +of shells which Judd offered and +slammed it into the chamber. The +little creature sat unmoving.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it peculiar that it doesn't +run away, Judd?"</p> + +<p>"Sure is. Nothing formidable +about that animal, so unless it has +a hidden poison somewhere, just +about anything in this swamp could +do it in. To survive it would have to +be fast as hell and it would have +to keep running all the time. Beats +me, Lindy."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm going to get myself +one pelt toward that coat, anyway. +Watch, Judd: is this the way?" She +lifted the rifle to her shoulder and +squinted down the sights toward +the shining creature.</p> + +<p>"Yeah, that's the way. Only relax. +Relax. Shoulder's so tense +you're liable to dislocate it with the +kick. There—that's better."</p> + +<p>Now Lindy's finger was wrapped +around the trigger and she remembered +Judd had told her to squeeze +it, not to pull it. If you pulled the +trigger you jerked the rifle and +spoiled your aim. You had to +squeeze it slowly....</p> + +<p>The animal seemed politely interested.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, a delicious languor +stole over Lindy. It possessed her +all at once and she had no idea +where it came from. Her legs had +been stiff and tired from the all-morning +trek through the swamp, +but now they felt fine. Her whole +body was suffused in a warm, satisfied +glow of well-being. And laziness. +It was an utterly new sensation +and she could even feel it +tingling at the roots of her +hair. She sighed and lowered the +rifle.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to shoot it," she +said.</p> + +<p>"You just told me you did."</p> + +<p>"I know, but I changed my mind. +What's the matter, can't I change +my mind?"</p> + +<p>"Of course you can change your +mind. But I thought you wanted a +coat of those things."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose I do. But I don't +want to shoot it, that's all."</p> + +<p>Judd snorted. "I think you have +a streak of softness someplace in +that pretty head of yours!"</p> + +<p>"Maybe. I don't know. But I'd +still like the pelt. Funny, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Okay, okay! But don't ask to +use the gun again." Judd snatched +it from her hands. "If you don't +want to shoot it, then I will. Maybe +we can make you a pair of gloves +or something from the pelt."</p> + +<p>And Judd pointed his ancient +rifle at the little animal preparing +to snap off a quick shot. +It would be a cinch at this distance. +Even Lindy wouldn't have missed, +if she hadn't changed her mind.</p> + +<p>Judd yawned. He'd failed to +realize he was so tired. Not an aching +kind of tiredness, but the kind +that makes you feel good all over. +He yawned again and lowered the +rifle. "Changed my mind," he said. +"I don't want to shoot it, either. +What say we head back for camp?"</p> + +<p>Lindy gripped his hand impulsively. +"All right, Judd—but I had +a brainstorm! I want it for a pet!"</p> + +<p>"A pet?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I think it would be the +cutest thing. Everyone would look +and wonder and I'll adore it!"</p> + +<p>"We don't know anything about +it. Maybe Earth would be too cold, +or too dry, or maybe we don't have +anything it can eat. There are liable +to be a hundred different strains of +bacteria that can kill it."</p> + +<p>"I said I want it for a pet. See? +Look at it! We can call it Black +Eyes."</p> + +<p>"Black Eyes—" Judd groaned.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Black Eyes. If you don't do +this one thing for me, Judd—"</p> + +<p>"Okay—okay. But I'm not going +to do anything. You want it, you +take it."</p> + +<p>Lindy frowned, looked at him +crossly, then sloshed across the +swamp toward Black Eyes. The +creature waited on its stump until +she came quite close, and then, with +a playful little bound, it hopped +onto her shoulder, still squatting on +its haunches. Lindy squealed excitedly +and began to stroke its silvery +fur.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">A month later</span>, they returned +to Earth. Judd and Lindy and +Black Eyes. The hunting trip had +been a success—Judd's trophies +were on their way home on a slow +freighter, and he'd have some fine +heads and skins for his study-room. +Even Black Eyes had been no trouble +at all. It ate scraps from their +table, forever sitting on its haunches +and staring at them with its big +black eyes. Judd thought it would +make one helluva lousy pet, but he +didn't tell Lindy. Trouble was, it +never did anything. It merely sat +still, or occasionally it would +bounce down to the floor and mince +along on its hind-legs for a scrap +of food. It never uttered a sound. It +did not frolic and it did not gambol. +Most of the time it could have +been carved from stone. But Lindy +was happy and Judd said nothing.</p> + +<p>They had a little trouble with the +customs officials. This because nothing +unknown could be brought to +Earth without a thorough examination.</p> + +<p>At the customs office, a bespectacled +official stared at Black +Eyes, scratching his head. "Never +seen one like that before."</p> + +<p>"Neither have I," Judd admitted.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll look in the book." The +man did, but there are no thorough +tomes on Venusian fauna. "Not +here."</p> + +<p>"I could have told you."</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll have to quarantine +it and study it. That means you +and your wife go into quarantine, +too. It could have something that's +catching."</p> + +<p>"Absurd!" Lindy cried.</p> + +<p>"Sorry, lady. I only work here."</p> + +<p>"You and your bright ideas," +Judd told his wife acidly. "We may +be quarantined a month until they +satisfy themselves about Black +Eyes."</p> + +<p>The customs official shrugged his +bony shoulders, and Judd removed +a twenty-credit note from his pocket +and handed it to the man. "Will +this change your mind?"</p> + +<p>"I should say not! You can't +bribe me, Mr. Whitney! You +can't—" The man yawned, +stretched languidly, smiled. "No, sir, +you can keep your money, Mr. +Whitney. Guess we don't have to +examine your pet after all. Mighty +cute little feller. Well, have fun +with it. Come on, move along now." +And, as they were departing with +Black Eyes, still not believing their +ears: "Darn this weather! Makes a +man so lazy...."</p> + +<p>It was after the affair at the +customs office, that Black Eyes uttered +its first sound. City life hasn't +changed much in the last fifty years. +Jet-cars still streak around the circumferential +highways, their whistles +blaring. Factories still belch +smoke and steam, although the new +atomic power plants have lessened +that to a certain extent. Crowds +still throng the streets, noisy, hurrying, +ill-mannered. It's one of those +things that can't be helped. A city +has to live, and it has to make noise.</p> + +<p>But it seemed to frighten Lindy's +new pet. It stared through the jet-car +window on the way from the +spaceport to the Whitneys' suburban +home, its black eyes welling +with tears.</p> + +<p>"Look!" Judd exclaimed. "Black +Eyes can cry!"</p> + +<p>"A crying pet, Judd. I knew +there would be something unusual +about Black Eyes, I just knew it!"</p> + +<p>The tears in the big black eyes +overflowed and tumbled out, rolling +down Black Eyes' silvery cheeks. +And then Black Eyes whimpered. It +was only a brief whimper, but both +Judd and Lindy heard it, and even +the driver turned around for a moment +and stared at the animal.</p> + +<p>The driver stopped the jet. He +yawned and rested his head comfortably +on the cushioned seat. He +went quietly to sleep.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">A man named</span> Merrywinkle +owned the Merrywinkle Shipping +Service. That, in itself, was not unusual. +But at precisely the moment +that Black Eyes unleashed its mild +whimper, Mr. Merrywinkle—uptown +and five miles away—called +an emergency conference of the +board of directors and declared:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, we have all been +working too hard, and I, for one, +am going to take a vacation. I don't +know when I'll be back, but it +won't be before six months."</p> + +<p>"But C.M.," someone protested. +"There's the Parker deal and the +Gilette contract and a dozen other +things. You're needed!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Merrywinkle shook his bald +head. "What's more, you're all taking +vacations, with pay. Six +months, each of you. We're closing +down Merrywinkle Shipping for +half a year. Give the competition a +break, eh?"</p> + +<p>"But C.M.! We're about ready +to squeeze out Chambers Parcel +Co.! They'll get back on their feet +in six months."</p> + +<p>"Never mind. Notify all departments +of the shut-down, effective +immediately. Vacations for all."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">"Who shut</span> off the assembly +belt?" the foreman asked mildly. +He was not a mild man and he +usually stormed and ranted at the +slightest provocation. This was at +Clewson Jetcraft, and you couldn't +produce a single jet-plane without +the assembly belt, naturally.</p> + +<p>A plump little man said, "I did."</p> + +<p>"But why?" the foreman asked +him, smiling blandly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I just did."</p> + +<p>The foreman was still smiling. "I +don't blame you."</p> + +<p>Two days later, Clewson Jetcraft +had to lay off all its help. +They put ads in all the papers seeking +new personnel but no one +showed up. Clewson was forced to +shut down.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">The crack</span> Boston to New +York pneumo-tube commuter's +special pulled to a bone-jarring +stop immediately outside the New +York station. Some angry commuters +pried open the conductor's +cab, and found the man snoozing +quite contentedly. They awakened +him, but he refused to drive the +train any further. All the commuters +had to leave the pneumo-train +and edge their way along +three miles of catwalk to the station. +No one was very happy about +it, but the feeling of well-being +which came over them all nipped +any possible protest in the bud.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Black Eyes</span> whimpered again +when Judd and Lindy reached +home but after that it was quiet. It +just sat on its haunches near the +window and stared out at the city.</p> + +<p>The quiet city.</p> + +<p>Nothing moved in the streets. +Nothing stirred. People remained +at home watching local video or +the new space-video from Mars. At +first it was a good joke, and the +newspapers could have had a field +day with it, had the newspapers remained +in circulation. After four +days, however, they suspended publication. +On the fifth day, there was +a shortage of food in the city, great +stores of it spoiling in the warehouses. +Heat and light failed after +a week, and the fire department ignored +all alarms a day later.</p> + +<p>But everything did not stop. +School teachers still taught their +classes; clerks still sold whatever +goods were left on local shelves. +Librarians were still at their desks.</p> + +<p>Conservatives said it was a +liberal plot to undermine capital +and demand higher wages; liberals +said big business could afford the +temporary layoff and wanted to +squeeze out the small businessman +and labor unions.</p> + +<p>Scientists pondered and city officials +made speeches over video.</p> + +<p>"Something," one of them observed, +"has hit our city. Work that +requires anything above a modicum +of sound has become impossible; in +regards to such work people have +become lazy. No one can offer any +valid suggestions concerning the +malady. It merely exists. However, +if a stop is not put to it—and soon—our +fair city will disintegrate. +Something is making us lazy, and +that laziness can spell doom, being +a compulsive lack of desire to create +any noise or disturbance. If anyone +believes he has the solution, he +should contact the Department of +Science at once. If you can't use +the video-phone, come in person. +But come! Every hour which passes +adds to the city's woes."</p> + +<p>Nothing but scatter-brained ideas +for a week, none of them worth +consideration. Then the bespectacled +customs official who had bypassed +quarantine for Black Eyes, +got in touch with the authorities. +He had always been a conscientious +man—except for that one lapse. +Maybe the queer little beast had +nothing to do with this crisis. But +then again, the customs official +had never before—or since—had +that strange feeling of lassitude. +Could there be some connection?</p> + +<p>A staff of experts on extra-terrestrial +fauna was dispatched to the +Whitney residence, although, indeed, +the chairman of the Department +of Science secretly considered +the whole idea ridiculous.</p> + +<p>The staff of experts introduced +themselves. Then, ignoring the +protests of Lindy, went to work on +Black Eyes. At first Judd thought +the animal would object, but apparently +it did not. While conditions +all about them in the city +worsened, the experts spent three +days studying Black Eyes.</p> + +<p>They found nothing out of the +ordinary.</p> + +<p>Black Eyes merely stared back at +them, and but for an accident, they +would have departed without a +lead. On the third day, a huge +mongrel dog which belonged to +the Whitneys' next-door neighbors +somehow slipped its leash. It was a +fierce and ugly animal, and it was +known to attack anything smaller +than itself. It jumped the fence and +landed in Judd Whitney's yard. A +few loping bounds took it through +an open window, ground level. Inside, +it spied Black Eyes and made +for the creature at once, howling +furiously.</p> + +<p>Black Eyes didn't budge.</p> + +<p>And the mongrel changed its +mind! The slavering tongue withdrew +inside the chops, the howling +stopped. The mongrel lay down on +the floor and whined. Presently it +lost all interest, got to its feet, and +left as it had come.</p> + +<p>Other animals were brought to +the Whitney home. Cats. Dogs. A +lion from the city zoo, starved for +two days and brought in a special +mobile cage by its keeper. Black +Eyes was thrust into the cage and +the lion gave forth with a hideous +yowling. Soon it stopped, rolled +over, and slept.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">The scientists</span> correlated +their reports, returned with them +to the Whitney house. The leader, +whose name was Jamison, said: +"As closely as we can tell, Black +Eyes is the culprit."</p> + +<p>"What?" Lindy demanded.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Whitney. Your pet, +Black Eyes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't believe it!"</p> + +<p>But Judd said, "Go ahead, Dr. +Jamison. I'm listening."</p> + +<p>"Well, how does an animal—any +animal—protect itself?"</p> + +<p>"Why, in any number of ways. If +it has claws or a strong jaw and +long teeth, it can fight. If it is fleet +of foot, it can run. If it is big and +has a tough hide, most other animals +can't hurt it anyway. Umm-mm, +doesn't that about cover it?"</p> + +<p>"You left out protective coloration, +defensive odors, and things +like that. Actually, those are most +important from our point of view, +for Black Eyes' ability is a further +ramification of that sort of thing. +Your pet is not fast. It isn't strong. +It can't change color and it has no +offensive odor to chase off predatory +enemies. It has no armor. In +short, can you think of a more helpless +creature to put down in those +Venusian swamps?"</p> + +<p>After Judd had shaken his head, +Dr. Jamison continued: "Very +well, Black Eyes should not be able +to survive on Venus—and yet, obviously +the creature did. We can +assume there are more of the breed, +too. Anyway, Black Eyes survives. +And I'll tell you why.</p> + +<p>"Black Eyes has a very uncommon +ability to sense danger when +it approaches. And sensing danger, +Black Eyes can thwart it. Your +creature sends out certain emanations—I +won't pretend to know +what they are—which stamp aggression +out of any predatory creatures. +Neither of you could fire +upon it—right?"</p> + +<p>"Umm-mm, that's true," Judd +said.</p> + +<p>Lindy nodded.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's one half of it. +There's so much about life we don't +understand. Black Eyes uses energy +of an unknown intensity, and the +result maintains Black Eyes' life. +Now, although that is the case, +your animal did not live a comfortable +life in the Venusian +swamp. Because no animal would +attack it, it could not be harmed. +Still, from what you tell me about +that swamp ...</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, Black Eyes was glad +to come away with you, and everything +went well until you landed in +New York. The noises, the clattering, +the continual bustle of a great +city—all this frightened the creature. +It was being attacked—or, at +least that's what it must have figured. +Result: it struck back the +only way it knew how. Have you +ever heard about sub-sonic sound-waves, +Mr. Whitney, waves of +sound so low that our ears cannot +pick them up—waves of sound +which can nevertheless stir our +emotions? Such things exist, and, as +a working hypothesis, I would say +Black Eyes' strange powers rest +along those lines. The whole city +is idle because Black Eyes is +afraid!"</p> + +<p>In his exploration of Mars, of +Venus, of the Jovian moons, Judd +Whitney had seen enough of extra-terrestrial +life to know that virtually +anything was possible, and Black +Eyes would be no exception to that +rule.</p> + +<p>"What do you propose to do?" +Judd demanded.</p> + +<p>"Do? Why, we'll have to kill your +creature, naturally. You can set a +value on it and we will meet it, but +Black Eyes must die."</p> + +<p>"No!" Lindy cried. "You can't +be sure, you're only guessing, and +it isn't fair!"</p> + +<p>"My dear woman, don't you +realize this is a serious situation? +The city's people will starve in +time. No one can even bring food +in because the trucks make too +much noise! As an alternative, we +could evacuate, but is your pet +more valuable than the life of a +great city?"</p> + +<p>"N-no...."</p> + +<p>"Then, please! Listen to reason!"</p> + +<p>"Kill it," Judd said. "Go ahead."</p> + +<p>Dr. Jamison withdrew from his +pocket a small blasting pistol used +by the Department of Domestic +Animals for elimination of injured +creatures. He advanced on Black +Eyes, who sat on its haunches in the +center of the room, surveying the +scientist.</p> + +<p>Dr. Jamison put his blaster away. +"I can't," he said. "I don't want +to."</p> + +<p>Judd smiled. "I know it. No one—no +<i>thing</i>—can kill Black Eyes. +You said so yourself. It was a waste +of time to try it. In that case—"</p> + +<p>"In that case," Dr. Jamison finished +for him, "we're helpless. +There isn't a man—or an animal—on +Earth that will destroy this +thing. Wait a minute—does it sleep, +Mr. Whitney?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think so. At least, I +never saw it sleep. And your team +of scientists, did they report anything?"</p> + +<p>"No. As far as they could see, the +creature never slept. We can't catch +it unawares."</p> + +<p>"Could you anesthetize it?"</p> + +<p>"How? It can sense danger, and +long before you could do that, it +would stop you. It's only made one +mistake, Mr. Whitney: it believes +the noises of the city represent a +danger. And that's only a negative +mistake. Noise won't hurt Black +Eyes, of course. It simply makes the +animal unnecessarily cautious. But +we cannot anesthetize it any more +than we can kill it."</p> + +<p>"I could take it back to Venus."</p> + +<p>"Could you? Could you? I +hadn't thought of that."</p> + +<p>Judd shook his head. "I can't."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean you can't?"</p> + +<p>"It won't let me. Somehow it can +sense our thoughts when we think +something it doesn't want. I can't +take it to Venus! No man could, because +it doesn't want to go."</p> + +<p>"My dear Mr. Whitney—do you +mean to say you believe it can +<i>think</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Uh-uh. Didn't say that. It can +sense our thoughts, and that's +something else again."</p> + +<p>Dr. Jamison threw his hands up +over his head in a dramatic gesture. +"It's hopeless," he said.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Things grew</span> worse. New +York crawled along to a standstill. +People began to move from +the city. In trickles, at first, but the +trickles became torrents, as New +York's ten million people began to +depart for saner places. It might +take months—it might even take +years, but the exodus had begun. +Nothing could stop it. Because of a +harmless little beast with the eyes +of a tarsier, the life of a great city +was coming to an end.</p> + +<p>Word spread. Scientists all over +the world studied reports on Black +Eyes. No one had any ideas. Everyone +was stumped. Black Eyes had +no particular desire to go outside. +Black Eyes merely remained in the +Whitney house, contemplating +nothing in particular, and stopping +everything.</p> + +<p>Dr. Jamison, however, was a persistent +man. Judd got a letter from +him one day, and the following +afternoon he kept his appointment +with the scientist.</p> + +<p>"It's good to get out," Judd said, +after a three hour walk to the Department +of Science Building. "I +can go crazy just staring at that +thing."</p> + +<p>"I have it, Whitney."</p> + +<p>"You have what? Not the way to +destroy Black Eyes? I don't believe +it!"</p> + +<p>"It's true. Consider. Everyone in +the world does not yet know of your +pet, correct?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose there are a few people +who don't—"</p> + +<p>"There are many. Among them, +are the crew of a jet-bomber which +has been on maneuvers in Egypt. +We have arranged everything."</p> + +<p>"Yes? How?"</p> + +<p>"At noon tomorrow, the bomber +will appear over your home with +one of the ancient, high-explosive +missiles. Your neighbors will be removed +from the vicinity, and, precisely +at twelve-o-three in the afternoon, +the bomb will be dropped. +Your home will be destroyed. Black +Eyes will be destroyed with it."</p> + +<p>Judd looked uncomfortable. "I +dunno," he said. "Sounds too easy."</p> + +<p>"Too easy? I doubt if the animal +will ever sense what is going on—not +when the crew of the bomber +doesn't know, either. They'll consider +it a mighty peculiar order, to +destroy one harmless, rather large +and rather elaborate suburban +home. But they'll do it. See you tomorrow, +Whitney, after this mess is +behind us."</p> + +<p>"Yeah," Judd said. "Yeah." But +somehow, the scientist had failed to +instill any of his confidence in +Judd.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">With Lindy</span>, he left home at +eleven the following morning, +after making a thorough list of all +their properties which the City had +promised to duplicate. Judd did +not look at Black Eyes as he left, +and the animal remained where it +was, seated on its haunches under +the dining room table, nibbling +crumbs. Judd could almost feel the +big round eyes boring a pair of twin +holes in his back, and he dared not +turn around to face them....</p> + +<p>They were a mile away at +eleven forty-five, making their way +through the nearly deserted streets. +Judd stopped walking. He looked +at Lindy. Lindy looked at him.</p> + +<p>"They're going to destroy it," he +said.</p> + +<p>"I know."</p> + +<p>"Do you want them to?"</p> + +<p>"I—I—"</p> + +<p>Judd knew that something had +to be done with Black Eyes. He +didn't like the little beast, and, anyway, +that had nothing to do with it. +Black Eyes was a menace. And yet, +something whispered in Judd's ear, +<i>Don't let them, don't let them ...</i> +It wasn't Judd and it wasn't Judd's +subconscious. It was Black Eyes, +and he knew it. But he couldn't do +a thing about it—</p> + +<p>"I'm going to stay right here and +let them bomb the place," he said +aloud. But as he spoke, he was running +back the way he had come.</p> + +<p>Fifteen minutes.</p> + +<p>He sprinted part of the time, +then rested, then sprinted again. He +was somewhat on the beefy side and +he could not run fast, but he made +it. Just.</p> + +<p>He heard the jet streaking +through the sky overhead, looked +up once and saw it circling. Two +blocks from his house he was met +by a policeman. The entire area +had been roped off, and the officer +shook his head when Judd tried to +get through.</p> + +<p>"But I live there!"</p> + +<p>"Can't help it, Mister. Orders is +orders."</p> + +<p>Judd hit him. Judd didn't want +to, but nevertheless, he grunted +with satisfaction when he felt the +blow to be a good one, catching the +stocky officer on the point of his +chin and tumbling him over backwards. +Then Judd was ducking under +the rope and running.</p> + +<p>He reached his house, plummeted +in through the front door. +He found Black Eyes under the +kitchen table, squatting on its +haunches. He scooped the animal +up, ran outside. Then he was running +again, and before he reached +the barrier, something rocked him. +A loud series of explosions ripped +through his brain, and instinctively—Black +Eyes' instincts, not his—he +folded his arms over the animal, +protecting it. Something shuddered +and began to fall behind him, and +debris scattered in all directions. +Something struck Judd's head and +he felt the ground slapping up +crazily at his face—</p> + +<p>He was as good as new a few +days later.</p> + +<p>And so was Black Eyes.</p> + +<p>"I have it," Judd said to his +nurse.</p> + +<p>"You have what, sir?"</p> + +<p>"It's so simple, so ridiculously +simple, maybe that's why no one +ever thought of it. Get me Dr. +Jamison!"</p> + +<p>Jamison came a few moments +later, breathless. "Well?"</p> + +<p>"I have the solution."</p> + +<p>"You ... do?" Not much hope +in the answer. Dr. Jamison was a +tired, defeated man.</p> + +<p>"Sure. Black Eyes doesn't like the +city. Fine. Take him out. I can't +take him to Venus. He doesn't like +Venus and he won't go. No one +can take him anyplace he doesn't +want to go, just as no one can hurt +him in any way. But he doesn't like +the city. It's too noisy. All right: +have someone take him far from +the city, far far away—where +there's no noise at all. Someplace +out in the sticks where it won't +matter much if Black Eyes puts a +stop to any disturbing noises."</p> + +<p>"Who will take him? You, Mr. +Whitney?"</p> + +<p>Judd shook his head. "That's +your job, not mine. I've given you +the answer. Now use it."</p> + +<p>Lindy had arrived, and Lindy +said: "Judd, you're right. That <i>is</i> +the answer. And you're wonderful—"</p> + +<p>No one volunteered to spend his +life in exile with Black Eyes, but +then Dr. Jamison pointed out that +while no one knew the creature's +life-span, it certainly couldn't be +expected to match man's. Just a +few years and the beast would die, +and ... Dr. Jamison's arguments +were so logical that he convinced +himself. He took Black Eyes with +him into the Canadian Northwoods, +and there they live.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Judd</span> was right—almost.</p> + +<p>This was the obvious answer +which escaped everyone.</p> + +<p>But scientists continued their +examinations of Black Eyes, and +they discovered something. Black +Eyes' fears had not been for herself +alone. She is going to have babies. +The estimate is for thirty-five little +tarsier-eyed creatures. No doctor in +the world will be able to do anything +but deliver the litter.</p> + +<p class="bk1">THE END</p> + +<div class="trn"><div class="figt"><a href="images/002-2.jpg"><img src="images/002-1.jpg" width="133" height="200" alt="" title="" /></a></div> + +<p><big><b>Transcriber's Note:</b></big></p> + +<p>This etext was produced from <i>If Worlds of Science Fiction</i> March 1952. +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.</p></div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30329 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/30329-h/images/001.png b/30329-h/images/001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2dbf5db --- /dev/null +++ b/30329-h/images/001.png diff --git a/30329-h/images/002-1.jpg b/30329-h/images/002-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4fc86f --- /dev/null +++ b/30329-h/images/002-1.jpg diff --git a/30329-h/images/002-2.jpg b/30329-h/images/002-2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7eb471e --- /dev/null +++ b/30329-h/images/002-2.jpg diff --git a/30329.txt b/30329.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd32515 --- /dev/null +++ b/30329.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1115 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Black Eyes and the Daily Grind, by Milton Lesser + +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: Black Eyes and the Daily Grind + +Author: Milton Lesser + +Release Date: October 25, 2009 [EBook #30329] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK EYES AND THE DAILY GRIND *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: _When Black Eyes needed a nap--everybody slept!_] + + + BLACK EYES _and the_ + DAILY GRIND + + By MILTON LESSER + + + _The little house pet from Venus didn't + like New York, so New York had to change._ + + +He liked the flat cracking sound of the gun. He liked the way it slapped +back against his shoulder when he fired. Somehow it did not seem a part +of the dank, steaming Venusian jungle. Probably, he realized with a +smile, it was the only old-fashioned recoil rifle on the entire planet. +As if anyone else would want to use one of those old bone-cracking +relics today! But they all failed to realize it made sport much more +interesting. + +"I haven't seen anything for a while," his wife said. She had a young, +pretty face and a strong young body. If you have money these days, you +could really keep a thirty-five-year-old woman looking trim. + +Not on Venus, of course. Venus was an outpost, a frontier, a hot, wet, +evil-smelling place that beckoned only the big-game hunter. He said, +"That's true. Yesterday we could bag them one after the other, as fast +as I could fire this contraption. Today, if there's anything bigger than +a mouse, it's hiding in a hole somewhere. You know what I think, Lindy?" + +"What?" + +"I think there's a reason for it. A lot of the early Venusian hunters +said there were days like this. An area filled with big lizards and cats +and everything else the day before suddenly seems to clear out, for no +reason. It doesn't make sense." + +"Why not? Why couldn't they all just decide to make tracks for someplace +else on the same day?" + +He slapped at an insect that was buzzing around his right ear, then +mopped his sweating brow with a handkerchief. His name was Judd Whitney, +and people said he had a lot of money. Now he laughed, patting his +wife's trim shoulder under the white tunic. "No, Lindy. It just doesn't +work that way. Not on Earth and not on Venus, either. You think there's +a pied-piper or something which calls all the animals away?" + +"Maybe. I don't know much about those things." + +"No. I don't think they went anyplace. They're just quiet. They didn't +come out of their holes or hovels or down from the trees. But why?" + +"Well, let's forget it. Let's go back to camp. We can try again +tomor--look! Look, there's something!" + +Judd followed her pointing finger with his eyes. Half-hidden by the +creepers and vines clinging to an old tree-stump, something was watching +them. It wasn't very big and it seemed in no hurry to get away. + +"What is it?" Lindy wanted to know. + +"Don't know. Never saw anything like it before. Venus is still an +unknown frontier; the books only name a couple dozen of the biggest +animals. But hell, Lindy, that's not _game_. I don't think it weighs +five pounds." + +"It's cute, and it has a lovely skin." + +Judd couldn't argue with that. Squatting on its haunches, the creature +was about twenty inches tall. It had a pointed snout and two thin, long +ears. Its eyes were very big and very round and quite black. They looked +something like the eyes of an Earthian tarsier, but the tarsier were +bloody little beasts. The skin was short and stiff and was a kind of +silvery white. Under the sheen, however, it seemed to glow. A diamond is +colorless, Judd thought, but when you see it under light a whole rainbow +of colors sparkle deep within it. This creature's skin was like that, +Judd decided. + +"If we could get enough of them," Lindy was saying, "I'd have the most +unusual coat! Do you think we could find enough, Judd?" + +"I doubt it. Never saw anything like it before, never heard of anything +like it. You'd need fifty of 'em, anyway. Let's forget about it--too +small to shoot, anyway." + +"No, Judd. I want it." + +"Well, I'm not going to stalk a five-pound--hey, wait a minute! I taught +you how to use this rifle, so why don't you bag it?" + +Lindy grinned. "That's a fine idea. I was a little scared of some of +those big lizards and cats and everything, but now I'm going to take you +up on it. Here, give me your gun." + +Judd removed the leather thong from his shoulder and handed the weapon +to her. She looked at it a little uncertainly, then took the clip of +shells which Judd offered and slammed it into the chamber. The little +creature sat unmoving. + +"Isn't it peculiar that it doesn't run away, Judd?" + +"Sure is. Nothing formidable about that animal, so unless it has a +hidden poison somewhere, just about anything in this swamp could do it +in. To survive it would have to be fast as hell and it would have to +keep running all the time. Beats me, Lindy." + +"Well, I'm going to get myself one pelt toward that coat, anyway. Watch, +Judd: is this the way?" She lifted the rifle to her shoulder and +squinted down the sights toward the shining creature. + +"Yeah, that's the way. Only relax. Relax. Shoulder's so tense you're +liable to dislocate it with the kick. There--that's better." + +Now Lindy's finger was wrapped around the trigger and she remembered +Judd had told her to squeeze it, not to pull it. If you pulled the +trigger you jerked the rifle and spoiled your aim. You had to squeeze it +slowly.... + +The animal seemed politely interested. + +Suddenly, a delicious languor stole over Lindy. It possessed her all at +once and she had no idea where it came from. Her legs had been stiff and +tired from the all-morning trek through the swamp, but now they felt +fine. Her whole body was suffused in a warm, satisfied glow of +well-being. And laziness. It was an utterly new sensation and she could +even feel it tingling at the roots of her hair. She sighed and lowered +the rifle. + +"I don't want to shoot it," she said. + +"You just told me you did." + +"I know, but I changed my mind. What's the matter, can't I change my +mind?" + +"Of course you can change your mind. But I thought you wanted a coat of +those things." + +"Yes, I suppose I do. But I don't want to shoot it, that's all." + +Judd snorted. "I think you have a streak of softness someplace in that +pretty head of yours!" + +"Maybe. I don't know. But I'd still like the pelt. Funny, isn't it?" + +"Okay, okay! But don't ask to use the gun again." Judd snatched it from +her hands. "If you don't want to shoot it, then I will. Maybe we can +make you a pair of gloves or something from the pelt." + +And Judd pointed his ancient rifle at the little animal preparing to +snap off a quick shot. It would be a cinch at this distance. Even Lindy +wouldn't have missed, if she hadn't changed her mind. + +Judd yawned. He'd failed to realize he was so tired. Not an aching kind +of tiredness, but the kind that makes you feel good all over. He yawned +again and lowered the rifle. "Changed my mind," he said. "I don't want +to shoot it, either. What say we head back for camp?" + +Lindy gripped his hand impulsively. "All right, Judd--but I had a +brainstorm! I want it for a pet!" + +"A pet?" + +"Yes. I think it would be the cutest thing. Everyone would look and +wonder and I'll adore it!" + +"We don't know anything about it. Maybe Earth would be too cold, or too +dry, or maybe we don't have anything it can eat. There are liable to be +a hundred different strains of bacteria that can kill it." + +"I said I want it for a pet. See? Look at it! We can call it Black +Eyes." + +"Black Eyes--" Judd groaned. + +"Yes, Black Eyes. If you don't do this one thing for me, Judd--" + +"Okay--okay. But I'm not going to do anything. You want it, you take +it." + +Lindy frowned, looked at him crossly, then sloshed across the swamp +toward Black Eyes. The creature waited on its stump until she came quite +close, and then, with a playful little bound, it hopped onto her +shoulder, still squatting on its haunches. Lindy squealed excitedly and +began to stroke its silvery fur. + + * * * * * + +A month later, they returned to Earth. Judd and Lindy and Black Eyes. +The hunting trip had been a success--Judd's trophies were on their way +home on a slow freighter, and he'd have some fine heads and skins for +his study-room. Even Black Eyes had been no trouble at all. It ate +scraps from their table, forever sitting on its haunches and staring at +them with its big black eyes. Judd thought it would make one helluva +lousy pet, but he didn't tell Lindy. Trouble was, it never did anything. +It merely sat still, or occasionally it would bounce down to the floor +and mince along on its hind-legs for a scrap of food. It never uttered a +sound. It did not frolic and it did not gambol. Most of the time it +could have been carved from stone. But Lindy was happy and Judd said +nothing. + +They had a little trouble with the customs officials. This because +nothing unknown could be brought to Earth without a thorough +examination. + +At the customs office, a bespectacled official stared at Black Eyes, +scratching his head. "Never seen one like that before." + +"Neither have I," Judd admitted. + +"Well, I'll look in the book." The man did, but there are no thorough +tomes on Venusian fauna. "Not here." + +"I could have told you." + +"Well, we'll have to quarantine it and study it. That means you and your +wife go into quarantine, too. It could have something that's catching." + +"Absurd!" Lindy cried. + +"Sorry, lady. I only work here." + +"You and your bright ideas," Judd told his wife acidly. "We may be +quarantined a month until they satisfy themselves about Black Eyes." + +The customs official shrugged his bony shoulders, and Judd removed a +twenty-credit note from his pocket and handed it to the man. "Will this +change your mind?" + +"I should say not! You can't bribe me, Mr. Whitney! You can't--" The man +yawned, stretched languidly, smiled. "No, sir, you can keep your money, +Mr. Whitney. Guess we don't have to examine your pet after all. Mighty +cute little feller. Well, have fun with it. Come on, move along now." +And, as they were departing with Black Eyes, still not believing their +ears: "Darn this weather! Makes a man so lazy...." + +It was after the affair at the customs office, that Black Eyes uttered +its first sound. City life hasn't changed much in the last fifty years. +Jet-cars still streak around the circumferential highways, their +whistles blaring. Factories still belch smoke and steam, although the +new atomic power plants have lessened that to a certain extent. Crowds +still throng the streets, noisy, hurrying, ill-mannered. It's one of +those things that can't be helped. A city has to live, and it has to +make noise. + +But it seemed to frighten Lindy's new pet. It stared through the jet-car +window on the way from the spaceport to the Whitneys' suburban home, its +black eyes welling with tears. + +"Look!" Judd exclaimed. "Black Eyes can cry!" + +"A crying pet, Judd. I knew there would be something unusual about Black +Eyes, I just knew it!" + +The tears in the big black eyes overflowed and tumbled out, rolling down +Black Eyes' silvery cheeks. And then Black Eyes whimpered. It was only a +brief whimper, but both Judd and Lindy heard it, and even the driver +turned around for a moment and stared at the animal. + +The driver stopped the jet. He yawned and rested his head comfortably on +the cushioned seat. He went quietly to sleep. + + * * * * * + +A man named Merrywinkle owned the Merrywinkle Shipping Service. That, in +itself, was not unusual. But at precisely the moment that Black Eyes +unleashed its mild whimper, Mr. Merrywinkle--uptown and five miles +away--called an emergency conference of the board of directors and +declared: + +"Gentlemen, we have all been working too hard, and I, for one, am going +to take a vacation. I don't know when I'll be back, but it won't be +before six months." + +"But C.M.," someone protested. "There's the Parker deal and the Gilette +contract and a dozen other things. You're needed!" + +Mr. Merrywinkle shook his bald head. "What's more, you're all taking +vacations, with pay. Six months, each of you. We're closing down +Merrywinkle Shipping for half a year. Give the competition a break, eh?" + +"But C.M.! We're about ready to squeeze out Chambers Parcel Co.! They'll +get back on their feet in six months." + +"Never mind. Notify all departments of the shut-down, effective +immediately. Vacations for all." + + * * * * * + +"Who shut off the assembly belt?" the foreman asked mildly. He was not a +mild man and he usually stormed and ranted at the slightest provocation. +This was at Clewson Jetcraft, and you couldn't produce a single +jet-plane without the assembly belt, naturally. + +A plump little man said, "I did." + +"But why?" the foreman asked him, smiling blandly. + +"I don't know. I just did." + +The foreman was still smiling. "I don't blame you." + +Two days later, Clewson Jetcraft had to lay off all its help. They put +ads in all the papers seeking new personnel but no one showed up. +Clewson was forced to shut down. + + * * * * * + +The crack Boston to New York pneumo-tube commuter's special pulled to a +bone-jarring stop immediately outside the New York station. Some angry +commuters pried open the conductor's cab, and found the man snoozing +quite contentedly. They awakened him, but he refused to drive the train +any further. All the commuters had to leave the pneumo-train and edge +their way along three miles of catwalk to the station. No one was very +happy about it, but the feeling of well-being which came over them all +nipped any possible protest in the bud. + + * * * * * + +Black Eyes whimpered again when Judd and Lindy reached home but after +that it was quiet. It just sat on its haunches near the window and +stared out at the city. + +The quiet city. + +Nothing moved in the streets. Nothing stirred. People remained at home +watching local video or the new space-video from Mars. At first it was a +good joke, and the newspapers could have had a field day with it, had +the newspapers remained in circulation. After four days, however, they +suspended publication. On the fifth day, there was a shortage of food in +the city, great stores of it spoiling in the warehouses. Heat and light +failed after a week, and the fire department ignored all alarms a day +later. + +But everything did not stop. School teachers still taught their classes; +clerks still sold whatever goods were left on local shelves. Librarians +were still at their desks. + +Conservatives said it was a liberal plot to undermine capital and demand +higher wages; liberals said big business could afford the temporary +layoff and wanted to squeeze out the small businessman and labor unions. + +Scientists pondered and city officials made speeches over video. + +"Something," one of them observed, "has hit our city. Work that requires +anything above a modicum of sound has become impossible; in regards to +such work people have become lazy. No one can offer any valid +suggestions concerning the malady. It merely exists. However, if a stop +is not put to it--and soon--our fair city will disintegrate. Something +is making us lazy, and that laziness can spell doom, being a compulsive +lack of desire to create any noise or disturbance. If anyone believes he +has the solution, he should contact the Department of Science at once. +If you can't use the video-phone, come in person. But come! Every hour +which passes adds to the city's woes." + +Nothing but scatter-brained ideas for a week, none of them worth +consideration. Then the bespectacled customs official who had bypassed +quarantine for Black Eyes, got in touch with the authorities. He had +always been a conscientious man--except for that one lapse. Maybe the +queer little beast had nothing to do with this crisis. But then again, +the customs official had never before--or since--had that strange +feeling of lassitude. Could there be some connection? + +A staff of experts on extra-terrestrial fauna was dispatched to the +Whitney residence, although, indeed, the chairman of the Department of +Science secretly considered the whole idea ridiculous. + +The staff of experts introduced themselves. Then, ignoring the protests +of Lindy, went to work on Black Eyes. At first Judd thought the animal +would object, but apparently it did not. While conditions all about them +in the city worsened, the experts spent three days studying Black Eyes. + +They found nothing out of the ordinary. + +Black Eyes merely stared back at them, and but for an accident, they +would have departed without a lead. On the third day, a huge mongrel dog +which belonged to the Whitneys' next-door neighbors somehow slipped its +leash. It was a fierce and ugly animal, and it was known to attack +anything smaller than itself. It jumped the fence and landed in Judd +Whitney's yard. A few loping bounds took it through an open window, +ground level. Inside, it spied Black Eyes and made for the creature at +once, howling furiously. + +Black Eyes didn't budge. + +And the mongrel changed its mind! The slavering tongue withdrew inside +the chops, the howling stopped. The mongrel lay down on the floor and +whined. Presently it lost all interest, got to its feet, and left as it +had come. + +Other animals were brought to the Whitney home. Cats. Dogs. A lion from +the city zoo, starved for two days and brought in a special mobile cage +by its keeper. Black Eyes was thrust into the cage and the lion gave +forth with a hideous yowling. Soon it stopped, rolled over, and slept. + + * * * * * + +The scientists correlated their reports, returned with them to the +Whitney house. The leader, whose name was Jamison, said: "As closely as +we can tell, Black Eyes is the culprit." + +"What?" Lindy demanded. + +"Yes, Mrs. Whitney. Your pet, Black Eyes." + +"Oh, I don't believe it!" + +But Judd said, "Go ahead, Dr. Jamison. I'm listening." + +"Well, how does an animal--any animal--protect itself?" + +"Why, in any number of ways. If it has claws or a strong jaw and long +teeth, it can fight. If it is fleet of foot, it can run. If it is big +and has a tough hide, most other animals can't hurt it anyway. Umm-mm, +doesn't that about cover it?" + +"You left out protective coloration, defensive odors, and things like +that. Actually, those are most important from our point of view, for +Black Eyes' ability is a further ramification of that sort of thing. +Your pet is not fast. It isn't strong. It can't change color and it has +no offensive odor to chase off predatory enemies. It has no armor. In +short, can you think of a more helpless creature to put down in those +Venusian swamps?" + +After Judd had shaken his head, Dr. Jamison continued: "Very well, Black +Eyes should not be able to survive on Venus--and yet, obviously the +creature did. We can assume there are more of the breed, too. Anyway, +Black Eyes survives. And I'll tell you why. + +"Black Eyes has a very uncommon ability to sense danger when it +approaches. And sensing danger, Black Eyes can thwart it. Your creature +sends out certain emanations--I won't pretend to know what they +are--which stamp aggression out of any predatory creatures. Neither of +you could fire upon it--right?" + +"Umm-mm, that's true," Judd said. + +Lindy nodded. + +"Well, that's one half of it. There's so much about life we don't +understand. Black Eyes uses energy of an unknown intensity, and the +result maintains Black Eyes' life. Now, although that is the case, your +animal did not live a comfortable life in the Venusian swamp. Because no +animal would attack it, it could not be harmed. Still, from what you +tell me about that swamp ... + +"Anyhow, Black Eyes was glad to come away with you, and everything went +well until you landed in New York. The noises, the clattering, the +continual bustle of a great city--all this frightened the creature. It +was being attacked--or, at least that's what it must have figured. +Result: it struck back the only way it knew how. Have you ever heard +about sub-sonic sound-waves, Mr. Whitney, waves of sound so low that our +ears cannot pick them up--waves of sound which can nevertheless stir our +emotions? Such things exist, and, as a working hypothesis, I would say +Black Eyes' strange powers rest along those lines. The whole city is +idle because Black Eyes is afraid!" + +In his exploration of Mars, of Venus, of the Jovian moons, Judd Whitney +had seen enough of extra-terrestrial life to know that virtually +anything was possible, and Black Eyes would be no exception to that +rule. + +"What do you propose to do?" Judd demanded. + +"Do? Why, we'll have to kill your creature, naturally. You can set a +value on it and we will meet it, but Black Eyes must die." + +"No!" Lindy cried. "You can't be sure, you're only guessing, and it +isn't fair!" + +"My dear woman, don't you realize this is a serious situation? The +city's people will starve in time. No one can even bring food in because +the trucks make too much noise! As an alternative, we could evacuate, +but is your pet more valuable than the life of a great city?" + +"N-no...." + +"Then, please! Listen to reason!" + +"Kill it," Judd said. "Go ahead." + +Dr. Jamison withdrew from his pocket a small blasting pistol used by the +Department of Domestic Animals for elimination of injured creatures. He +advanced on Black Eyes, who sat on its haunches in the center of the +room, surveying the scientist. + +Dr. Jamison put his blaster away. "I can't," he said. "I don't want to." + +Judd smiled. "I know it. No one--no _thing_--can kill Black Eyes. You +said so yourself. It was a waste of time to try it. In that case--" + +"In that case," Dr. Jamison finished for him, "we're helpless. There +isn't a man--or an animal--on Earth that will destroy this thing. Wait +a minute--does it sleep, Mr. Whitney?" + +"I don't think so. At least, I never saw it sleep. And your team of +scientists, did they report anything?" + +"No. As far as they could see, the creature never slept. We can't catch +it unawares." + +"Could you anesthetize it?" + +"How? It can sense danger, and long before you could do that, it would +stop you. It's only made one mistake, Mr. Whitney: it believes the +noises of the city represent a danger. And that's only a negative +mistake. Noise won't hurt Black Eyes, of course. It simply makes the +animal unnecessarily cautious. But we cannot anesthetize it any more +than we can kill it." + +"I could take it back to Venus." + +"Could you? Could you? I hadn't thought of that." + +Judd shook his head. "I can't." + +"What do you mean you can't?" + +"It won't let me. Somehow it can sense our thoughts when we think +something it doesn't want. I can't take it to Venus! No man could, +because it doesn't want to go." + +"My dear Mr. Whitney--do you mean to say you believe it can _think_?" + +"Uh-uh. Didn't say that. It can sense our thoughts, and that's something +else again." + +Dr. Jamison threw his hands up over his head in a dramatic gesture. +"It's hopeless," he said. + + * * * * * + +Things grew worse. New York crawled along to a standstill. People began +to move from the city. In trickles, at first, but the trickles became +torrents, as New York's ten million people began to depart for saner +places. It might take months--it might even take years, but the exodus +had begun. Nothing could stop it. Because of a harmless little beast +with the eyes of a tarsier, the life of a great city was coming to an +end. + +Word spread. Scientists all over the world studied reports on Black +Eyes. No one had any ideas. Everyone was stumped. Black Eyes had no +particular desire to go outside. Black Eyes merely remained in the +Whitney house, contemplating nothing in particular, and stopping +everything. + +Dr. Jamison, however, was a persistent man. Judd got a letter from him +one day, and the following afternoon he kept his appointment with the +scientist. + +"It's good to get out," Judd said, after a three hour walk to the +Department of Science Building. "I can go crazy just staring at that +thing." + +"I have it, Whitney." + +"You have what? Not the way to destroy Black Eyes? I don't believe it!" + +"It's true. Consider. Everyone in the world does not yet know of your +pet, correct?" + +"I suppose there are a few people who don't--" + +"There are many. Among them, are the crew of a jet-bomber which has been +on maneuvers in Egypt. We have arranged everything." + +"Yes? How?" + +"At noon tomorrow, the bomber will appear over your home with one of +the ancient, high-explosive missiles. Your neighbors will be removed +from the vicinity, and, precisely at twelve-o-three in the afternoon, +the bomb will be dropped. Your home will be destroyed. Black Eyes will +be destroyed with it." + +Judd looked uncomfortable. "I dunno," he said. "Sounds too easy." + +"Too easy? I doubt if the animal will ever sense what is going on--not +when the crew of the bomber doesn't know, either. They'll consider it a +mighty peculiar order, to destroy one harmless, rather large and rather +elaborate suburban home. But they'll do it. See you tomorrow, Whitney, +after this mess is behind us." + +"Yeah," Judd said. "Yeah." But somehow, the scientist had failed to +instill any of his confidence in Judd. + + * * * * * + +With Lindy, he left home at eleven the following morning, after making a +thorough list of all their properties which the City had promised to +duplicate. Judd did not look at Black Eyes as he left, and the animal +remained where it was, seated on its haunches under the dining room +table, nibbling crumbs. Judd could almost feel the big round eyes boring +a pair of twin holes in his back, and he dared not turn around to face +them.... + +They were a mile away at eleven forty-five, making their way through the +nearly deserted streets. Judd stopped walking. He looked at Lindy. Lindy +looked at him. + +"They're going to destroy it," he said. + +"I know." + +"Do you want them to?" + +"I--I--" + +Judd knew that something had to be done with Black Eyes. He didn't like +the little beast, and, anyway, that had nothing to do with it. Black +Eyes was a menace. And yet, something whispered in Judd's ear, _Don't +let them, don't let them ..._ It wasn't Judd and it wasn't Judd's +subconscious. It was Black Eyes, and he knew it. But he couldn't do a +thing about it-- + +"I'm going to stay right here and let them bomb the place," he said +aloud. But as he spoke, he was running back the way he had come. + +Fifteen minutes. + +He sprinted part of the time, then rested, then sprinted again. He was +somewhat on the beefy side and he could not run fast, but he made it. +Just. + +He heard the jet streaking through the sky overhead, looked up once and +saw it circling. Two blocks from his house he was met by a policeman. +The entire area had been roped off, and the officer shook his head when +Judd tried to get through. + +"But I live there!" + +"Can't help it, Mister. Orders is orders." + +Judd hit him. Judd didn't want to, but nevertheless, he grunted with +satisfaction when he felt the blow to be a good one, catching the stocky +officer on the point of his chin and tumbling him over backwards. Then +Judd was ducking under the rope and running. + +He reached his house, plummeted in through the front door. He found +Black Eyes under the kitchen table, squatting on its haunches. He +scooped the animal up, ran outside. Then he was running again, and +before he reached the barrier, something rocked him. A loud series of +explosions ripped through his brain, and instinctively--Black Eyes' +instincts, not his--he folded his arms over the animal, protecting it. +Something shuddered and began to fall behind him, and debris scattered +in all directions. Something struck Judd's head and he felt the ground +slapping up crazily at his face-- + +He was as good as new a few days later. + +And so was Black Eyes. + +"I have it," Judd said to his nurse. + +"You have what, sir?" + +"It's so simple, so ridiculously simple, maybe that's why no one ever +thought of it. Get me Dr. Jamison!" + +Jamison came a few moments later, breathless. "Well?" + +"I have the solution." + +"You ... do?" Not much hope in the answer. Dr. Jamison was a tired, +defeated man. + +"Sure. Black Eyes doesn't like the city. Fine. Take him out. I can't +take him to Venus. He doesn't like Venus and he won't go. No one can +take him anyplace he doesn't want to go, just as no one can hurt him in +any way. But he doesn't like the city. It's too noisy. All right: have +someone take him far from the city, far far away--where there's no noise +at all. Someplace out in the sticks where it won't matter much if Black +Eyes puts a stop to any disturbing noises." + +"Who will take him? You, Mr. Whitney?" + +Judd shook his head. "That's your job, not mine. I've given you the +answer. Now use it." + +Lindy had arrived, and Lindy said: "Judd, you're right. That _is_ the +answer. And you're wonderful--" + +No one volunteered to spend his life in exile with Black Eyes, but then +Dr. Jamison pointed out that while no one knew the creature's life-span, +it certainly couldn't be expected to match man's. Just a few years and +the beast would die, and ... Dr. Jamison's arguments were so logical +that he convinced himself. He took Black Eyes with him into the Canadian +Northwoods, and there they live. + + * * * * * + +Judd was right--almost. + +This was the obvious answer which escaped everyone. + +But scientists continued their examinations of Black Eyes, and they +discovered something. Black Eyes' fears had not been for herself alone. +She is going to have babies. The estimate is for thirty-five little +tarsier-eyed creatures. No doctor in the world will be able to do +anything but deliver the litter. + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _If Worlds of Science Fiction_ March + 1952. 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 Black Eyes and the Daily Grind, by Milton Lesser + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK EYES AND THE DAILY GRIND *** + +***** This file should be named 30329.txt or 30329.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/3/2/30329/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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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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: Black Eyes and the Daily Grind + +Author: Milton Lesser + +Release Date: October 25, 2009 [EBook #30329] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK EYES AND THE DAILY GRIND *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figr"><img src="images/001.png" width="368" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +<small><b><i>When Black Eyes needed a nap—everybody slept!</i></b></small></div> + +<h1><big>BLACK EYES <i>and the</i><br /> +<span class="sp1">DAILY GRIND</span></big></h1> + +<h2>By MILTON LESSER</h2> + +<div class="bk1"><p><i><big>The little house pet from Venus didn't like +New York, so New York had to change.</big></i></p></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">He liked</span> the flat cracking +sound of the gun. He liked the +way it slapped back against his +shoulder when he fired. Somehow +it did not seem a part of the dank, +steaming Venusian jungle. Probably, +he realized with a smile, it was +the only old-fashioned recoil rifle +on the entire planet. As if anyone +else would want to use one of those +old bone-cracking relics today! But +they all failed to realize it made +sport much more interesting.</p> + +<p>"I haven't seen anything for a +while," his wife said. She had a +young, pretty face and a strong +young body. If you have money +these days, you could really keep a +thirty-five-year-old woman looking +trim.</p> + +<p>Not on Venus, of course. Venus +was an outpost, a frontier, a hot, +wet, evil-smelling place that beckoned +only the big-game hunter. He +said, "That's true. Yesterday we +could bag them one after the other, +as fast as I could fire this contraption. +Today, if there's anything bigger +than a mouse, it's hiding in a +hole somewhere. You know what I +think, Lindy?"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"I think there's a reason for it. +A lot of the early Venusian hunters +said there were days like this. An +area filled with big lizards and cats +and everything else the day before +suddenly seems to clear out, for no +reason. It doesn't make sense."</p> + +<p>"Why not? Why couldn't they all +just decide to make tracks for someplace +else on the same day?"</p> + +<p>He slapped at an insect that was +buzzing around his right ear, then +mopped his sweating brow with a +handkerchief. His name was Judd +Whitney, and people said he had a +lot of money. Now he laughed, patting +his wife's trim shoulder under +the white tunic. "No, Lindy. It just +doesn't work that way. Not on +Earth and not on Venus, either. +You think there's a pied-piper or +something which calls all the animals +away?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe. I don't know much +about those things."</p> + +<p>"No. I don't think they went anyplace. +They're just quiet. They +didn't come out of their holes or +hovels or down from the trees. But +why?"</p> + +<p>"Well, let's forget it. Let's go +back to camp. We can try again +tomor—look! Look, there's something!"</p> + +<p>Judd followed her pointing finger +with his eyes. Half-hidden by +the creepers and vines clinging to +an old tree-stump, something was +watching them. It wasn't very big +and it seemed in no hurry to get +away.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" Lindy wanted to +know.</p> + +<p>"Don't know. Never saw anything +like it before. Venus is still +an unknown frontier; the books +only name a couple dozen of the +biggest animals. But hell, Lindy, +that's not <i>game</i>. I don't think it +weighs five pounds."</p> + +<p>"It's cute, and it has a lovely +skin."</p> + +<p>Judd couldn't argue with that. +Squatting on its haunches, the creature +was about twenty inches tall. +It had a pointed snout and two +thin, long ears. Its eyes were very +big and very round and quite black. +They looked something like the eyes +of an Earthian tarsier, but the tarsier +were bloody little beasts. The +skin was short and stiff and was a +kind of silvery white. Under the +sheen, however, it seemed to glow. +A diamond is colorless, Judd +thought, but when you see it under +light a whole rainbow of colors +sparkle deep within it. This creature's +skin was like that, Judd decided.</p> + +<p>"If we could get enough of +them," Lindy was saying, "I'd have +the most unusual coat! Do you +think we could find enough, Judd?"</p> + +<p>"I doubt it. Never saw anything +like it before, never heard of anything +like it. You'd need fifty of +'em, anyway. Let's forget about it—too +small to shoot, anyway."</p> + +<p>"No, Judd. I want it."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm not going to stalk a +five-pound—hey, wait a minute! I +taught you how to use this rifle, so +why don't you bag it?"</p> + +<p>Lindy grinned. "That's a fine +idea. I was a little scared of some of +those big lizards and cats and everything, +but now I'm going to take +you up on it. Here, give me your +gun."</p> + +<p>Judd removed the leather thong +from his shoulder and handed the +weapon to her. She looked at it a +little uncertainly, then took the clip +of shells which Judd offered and +slammed it into the chamber. The +little creature sat unmoving.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it peculiar that it doesn't +run away, Judd?"</p> + +<p>"Sure is. Nothing formidable +about that animal, so unless it has +a hidden poison somewhere, just +about anything in this swamp could +do it in. To survive it would have to +be fast as hell and it would have +to keep running all the time. Beats +me, Lindy."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm going to get myself +one pelt toward that coat, anyway. +Watch, Judd: is this the way?" She +lifted the rifle to her shoulder and +squinted down the sights toward +the shining creature.</p> + +<p>"Yeah, that's the way. Only relax. +Relax. Shoulder's so tense +you're liable to dislocate it with the +kick. There—that's better."</p> + +<p>Now Lindy's finger was wrapped +around the trigger and she remembered +Judd had told her to squeeze +it, not to pull it. If you pulled the +trigger you jerked the rifle and +spoiled your aim. You had to +squeeze it slowly....</p> + +<p>The animal seemed politely interested.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, a delicious languor +stole over Lindy. It possessed her +all at once and she had no idea +where it came from. Her legs had +been stiff and tired from the all-morning +trek through the swamp, +but now they felt fine. Her whole +body was suffused in a warm, satisfied +glow of well-being. And laziness. +It was an utterly new sensation +and she could even feel it +tingling at the roots of her +hair. She sighed and lowered the +rifle.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to shoot it," she +said.</p> + +<p>"You just told me you did."</p> + +<p>"I know, but I changed my mind. +What's the matter, can't I change +my mind?"</p> + +<p>"Of course you can change your +mind. But I thought you wanted a +coat of those things."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose I do. But I don't +want to shoot it, that's all."</p> + +<p>Judd snorted. "I think you have +a streak of softness someplace in +that pretty head of yours!"</p> + +<p>"Maybe. I don't know. But I'd +still like the pelt. Funny, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Okay, okay! But don't ask to +use the gun again." Judd snatched +it from her hands. "If you don't +want to shoot it, then I will. Maybe +we can make you a pair of gloves +or something from the pelt."</p> + +<p>And Judd pointed his ancient +rifle at the little animal preparing +to snap off a quick shot. +It would be a cinch at this distance. +Even Lindy wouldn't have missed, +if she hadn't changed her mind.</p> + +<p>Judd yawned. He'd failed to +realize he was so tired. Not an aching +kind of tiredness, but the kind +that makes you feel good all over. +He yawned again and lowered the +rifle. "Changed my mind," he said. +"I don't want to shoot it, either. +What say we head back for camp?"</p> + +<p>Lindy gripped his hand impulsively. +"All right, Judd—but I had +a brainstorm! I want it for a pet!"</p> + +<p>"A pet?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I think it would be the +cutest thing. Everyone would look +and wonder and I'll adore it!"</p> + +<p>"We don't know anything about +it. Maybe Earth would be too cold, +or too dry, or maybe we don't have +anything it can eat. There are liable +to be a hundred different strains of +bacteria that can kill it."</p> + +<p>"I said I want it for a pet. See? +Look at it! We can call it Black +Eyes."</p> + +<p>"Black Eyes—" Judd groaned.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Black Eyes. If you don't do +this one thing for me, Judd—"</p> + +<p>"Okay—okay. But I'm not going +to do anything. You want it, you +take it."</p> + +<p>Lindy frowned, looked at him +crossly, then sloshed across the +swamp toward Black Eyes. The +creature waited on its stump until +she came quite close, and then, with +a playful little bound, it hopped +onto her shoulder, still squatting on +its haunches. Lindy squealed excitedly +and began to stroke its silvery +fur.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">A month later</span>, they returned +to Earth. Judd and Lindy and +Black Eyes. The hunting trip had +been a success—Judd's trophies +were on their way home on a slow +freighter, and he'd have some fine +heads and skins for his study-room. +Even Black Eyes had been no trouble +at all. It ate scraps from their +table, forever sitting on its haunches +and staring at them with its big +black eyes. Judd thought it would +make one helluva lousy pet, but he +didn't tell Lindy. Trouble was, it +never did anything. It merely sat +still, or occasionally it would +bounce down to the floor and mince +along on its hind-legs for a scrap +of food. It never uttered a sound. It +did not frolic and it did not gambol. +Most of the time it could have +been carved from stone. But Lindy +was happy and Judd said nothing.</p> + +<p>They had a little trouble with the +customs officials. This because nothing +unknown could be brought to +Earth without a thorough examination.</p> + +<p>At the customs office, a bespectacled +official stared at Black +Eyes, scratching his head. "Never +seen one like that before."</p> + +<p>"Neither have I," Judd admitted.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll look in the book." The +man did, but there are no thorough +tomes on Venusian fauna. "Not +here."</p> + +<p>"I could have told you."</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll have to quarantine +it and study it. That means you +and your wife go into quarantine, +too. It could have something that's +catching."</p> + +<p>"Absurd!" Lindy cried.</p> + +<p>"Sorry, lady. I only work here."</p> + +<p>"You and your bright ideas," +Judd told his wife acidly. "We may +be quarantined a month until they +satisfy themselves about Black +Eyes."</p> + +<p>The customs official shrugged his +bony shoulders, and Judd removed +a twenty-credit note from his pocket +and handed it to the man. "Will +this change your mind?"</p> + +<p>"I should say not! You can't +bribe me, Mr. Whitney! You +can't—" The man yawned, +stretched languidly, smiled. "No, sir, +you can keep your money, Mr. +Whitney. Guess we don't have to +examine your pet after all. Mighty +cute little feller. Well, have fun +with it. Come on, move along now." +And, as they were departing with +Black Eyes, still not believing their +ears: "Darn this weather! Makes a +man so lazy...."</p> + +<p>It was after the affair at the +customs office, that Black Eyes uttered +its first sound. City life hasn't +changed much in the last fifty years. +Jet-cars still streak around the circumferential +highways, their whistles +blaring. Factories still belch +smoke and steam, although the new +atomic power plants have lessened +that to a certain extent. Crowds +still throng the streets, noisy, hurrying, +ill-mannered. It's one of those +things that can't be helped. A city +has to live, and it has to make noise.</p> + +<p>But it seemed to frighten Lindy's +new pet. It stared through the jet-car +window on the way from the +spaceport to the Whitneys' suburban +home, its black eyes welling +with tears.</p> + +<p>"Look!" Judd exclaimed. "Black +Eyes can cry!"</p> + +<p>"A crying pet, Judd. I knew +there would be something unusual +about Black Eyes, I just knew it!"</p> + +<p>The tears in the big black eyes +overflowed and tumbled out, rolling +down Black Eyes' silvery cheeks. +And then Black Eyes whimpered. It +was only a brief whimper, but both +Judd and Lindy heard it, and even +the driver turned around for a moment +and stared at the animal.</p> + +<p>The driver stopped the jet. He +yawned and rested his head comfortably +on the cushioned seat. He +went quietly to sleep.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">A man named</span> Merrywinkle +owned the Merrywinkle Shipping +Service. That, in itself, was not unusual. +But at precisely the moment +that Black Eyes unleashed its mild +whimper, Mr. Merrywinkle—uptown +and five miles away—called +an emergency conference of the +board of directors and declared:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, we have all been +working too hard, and I, for one, +am going to take a vacation. I don't +know when I'll be back, but it +won't be before six months."</p> + +<p>"But C.M.," someone protested. +"There's the Parker deal and the +Gilette contract and a dozen other +things. You're needed!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Merrywinkle shook his bald +head. "What's more, you're all taking +vacations, with pay. Six +months, each of you. We're closing +down Merrywinkle Shipping for +half a year. Give the competition a +break, eh?"</p> + +<p>"But C.M.! We're about ready +to squeeze out Chambers Parcel +Co.! They'll get back on their feet +in six months."</p> + +<p>"Never mind. Notify all departments +of the shut-down, effective +immediately. Vacations for all."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">"Who shut</span> off the assembly +belt?" the foreman asked mildly. +He was not a mild man and he +usually stormed and ranted at the +slightest provocation. This was at +Clewson Jetcraft, and you couldn't +produce a single jet-plane without +the assembly belt, naturally.</p> + +<p>A plump little man said, "I did."</p> + +<p>"But why?" the foreman asked +him, smiling blandly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I just did."</p> + +<p>The foreman was still smiling. "I +don't blame you."</p> + +<p>Two days later, Clewson Jetcraft +had to lay off all its help. +They put ads in all the papers seeking +new personnel but no one +showed up. Clewson was forced to +shut down.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">The crack</span> Boston to New +York pneumo-tube commuter's +special pulled to a bone-jarring +stop immediately outside the New +York station. Some angry commuters +pried open the conductor's +cab, and found the man snoozing +quite contentedly. They awakened +him, but he refused to drive the +train any further. All the commuters +had to leave the pneumo-train +and edge their way along +three miles of catwalk to the station. +No one was very happy about +it, but the feeling of well-being +which came over them all nipped +any possible protest in the bud.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Black Eyes</span> whimpered again +when Judd and Lindy reached +home but after that it was quiet. It +just sat on its haunches near the +window and stared out at the city.</p> + +<p>The quiet city.</p> + +<p>Nothing moved in the streets. +Nothing stirred. People remained +at home watching local video or +the new space-video from Mars. At +first it was a good joke, and the +newspapers could have had a field +day with it, had the newspapers remained +in circulation. After four +days, however, they suspended publication. +On the fifth day, there was +a shortage of food in the city, great +stores of it spoiling in the warehouses. +Heat and light failed after +a week, and the fire department ignored +all alarms a day later.</p> + +<p>But everything did not stop. +School teachers still taught their +classes; clerks still sold whatever +goods were left on local shelves. +Librarians were still at their desks.</p> + +<p>Conservatives said it was a +liberal plot to undermine capital +and demand higher wages; liberals +said big business could afford the +temporary layoff and wanted to +squeeze out the small businessman +and labor unions.</p> + +<p>Scientists pondered and city officials +made speeches over video.</p> + +<p>"Something," one of them observed, +"has hit our city. Work that +requires anything above a modicum +of sound has become impossible; in +regards to such work people have +become lazy. No one can offer any +valid suggestions concerning the +malady. It merely exists. However, +if a stop is not put to it—and soon—our +fair city will disintegrate. +Something is making us lazy, and +that laziness can spell doom, being +a compulsive lack of desire to create +any noise or disturbance. If anyone +believes he has the solution, he +should contact the Department of +Science at once. If you can't use +the video-phone, come in person. +But come! Every hour which passes +adds to the city's woes."</p> + +<p>Nothing but scatter-brained ideas +for a week, none of them worth +consideration. Then the bespectacled +customs official who had bypassed +quarantine for Black Eyes, +got in touch with the authorities. +He had always been a conscientious +man—except for that one lapse. +Maybe the queer little beast had +nothing to do with this crisis. But +then again, the customs official +had never before—or since—had +that strange feeling of lassitude. +Could there be some connection?</p> + +<p>A staff of experts on extra-terrestrial +fauna was dispatched to the +Whitney residence, although, indeed, +the chairman of the Department +of Science secretly considered +the whole idea ridiculous.</p> + +<p>The staff of experts introduced +themselves. Then, ignoring the +protests of Lindy, went to work on +Black Eyes. At first Judd thought +the animal would object, but apparently +it did not. While conditions +all about them in the city +worsened, the experts spent three +days studying Black Eyes.</p> + +<p>They found nothing out of the +ordinary.</p> + +<p>Black Eyes merely stared back at +them, and but for an accident, they +would have departed without a +lead. On the third day, a huge +mongrel dog which belonged to +the Whitneys' next-door neighbors +somehow slipped its leash. It was a +fierce and ugly animal, and it was +known to attack anything smaller +than itself. It jumped the fence and +landed in Judd Whitney's yard. A +few loping bounds took it through +an open window, ground level. Inside, +it spied Black Eyes and made +for the creature at once, howling +furiously.</p> + +<p>Black Eyes didn't budge.</p> + +<p>And the mongrel changed its +mind! The slavering tongue withdrew +inside the chops, the howling +stopped. The mongrel lay down on +the floor and whined. Presently it +lost all interest, got to its feet, and +left as it had come.</p> + +<p>Other animals were brought to +the Whitney home. Cats. Dogs. A +lion from the city zoo, starved for +two days and brought in a special +mobile cage by its keeper. Black +Eyes was thrust into the cage and +the lion gave forth with a hideous +yowling. Soon it stopped, rolled +over, and slept.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">The scientists</span> correlated +their reports, returned with them +to the Whitney house. The leader, +whose name was Jamison, said: +"As closely as we can tell, Black +Eyes is the culprit."</p> + +<p>"What?" Lindy demanded.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Whitney. Your pet, +Black Eyes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't believe it!"</p> + +<p>But Judd said, "Go ahead, Dr. +Jamison. I'm listening."</p> + +<p>"Well, how does an animal—any +animal—protect itself?"</p> + +<p>"Why, in any number of ways. If +it has claws or a strong jaw and +long teeth, it can fight. If it is fleet +of foot, it can run. If it is big and +has a tough hide, most other animals +can't hurt it anyway. Umm-mm, +doesn't that about cover it?"</p> + +<p>"You left out protective coloration, +defensive odors, and things +like that. Actually, those are most +important from our point of view, +for Black Eyes' ability is a further +ramification of that sort of thing. +Your pet is not fast. It isn't strong. +It can't change color and it has no +offensive odor to chase off predatory +enemies. It has no armor. In +short, can you think of a more helpless +creature to put down in those +Venusian swamps?"</p> + +<p>After Judd had shaken his head, +Dr. Jamison continued: "Very +well, Black Eyes should not be able +to survive on Venus—and yet, obviously +the creature did. We can +assume there are more of the breed, +too. Anyway, Black Eyes survives. +And I'll tell you why.</p> + +<p>"Black Eyes has a very uncommon +ability to sense danger when +it approaches. And sensing danger, +Black Eyes can thwart it. Your +creature sends out certain emanations—I +won't pretend to know +what they are—which stamp aggression +out of any predatory creatures. +Neither of you could fire +upon it—right?"</p> + +<p>"Umm-mm, that's true," Judd +said.</p> + +<p>Lindy nodded.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's one half of it. +There's so much about life we don't +understand. Black Eyes uses energy +of an unknown intensity, and the +result maintains Black Eyes' life. +Now, although that is the case, +your animal did not live a comfortable +life in the Venusian +swamp. Because no animal would +attack it, it could not be harmed. +Still, from what you tell me about +that swamp ...</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, Black Eyes was glad +to come away with you, and everything +went well until you landed in +New York. The noises, the clattering, +the continual bustle of a great +city—all this frightened the creature. +It was being attacked—or, at +least that's what it must have figured. +Result: it struck back the +only way it knew how. Have you +ever heard about sub-sonic sound-waves, +Mr. Whitney, waves of +sound so low that our ears cannot +pick them up—waves of sound +which can nevertheless stir our +emotions? Such things exist, and, as +a working hypothesis, I would say +Black Eyes' strange powers rest +along those lines. The whole city +is idle because Black Eyes is +afraid!"</p> + +<p>In his exploration of Mars, of +Venus, of the Jovian moons, Judd +Whitney had seen enough of extra-terrestrial +life to know that virtually +anything was possible, and Black +Eyes would be no exception to that +rule.</p> + +<p>"What do you propose to do?" +Judd demanded.</p> + +<p>"Do? Why, we'll have to kill your +creature, naturally. You can set a +value on it and we will meet it, but +Black Eyes must die."</p> + +<p>"No!" Lindy cried. "You can't +be sure, you're only guessing, and +it isn't fair!"</p> + +<p>"My dear woman, don't you +realize this is a serious situation? +The city's people will starve in +time. No one can even bring food +in because the trucks make too +much noise! As an alternative, we +could evacuate, but is your pet +more valuable than the life of a +great city?"</p> + +<p>"N-no...."</p> + +<p>"Then, please! Listen to reason!"</p> + +<p>"Kill it," Judd said. "Go ahead."</p> + +<p>Dr. Jamison withdrew from his +pocket a small blasting pistol used +by the Department of Domestic +Animals for elimination of injured +creatures. He advanced on Black +Eyes, who sat on its haunches in the +center of the room, surveying the +scientist.</p> + +<p>Dr. Jamison put his blaster away. +"I can't," he said. "I don't want +to."</p> + +<p>Judd smiled. "I know it. No one—no +<i>thing</i>—can kill Black Eyes. +You said so yourself. It was a waste +of time to try it. In that case—"</p> + +<p>"In that case," Dr. Jamison finished +for him, "we're helpless. +There isn't a man—or an animal—on +Earth that will destroy this +thing. Wait a minute—does it sleep, +Mr. Whitney?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think so. At least, I +never saw it sleep. And your team +of scientists, did they report anything?"</p> + +<p>"No. As far as they could see, the +creature never slept. We can't catch +it unawares."</p> + +<p>"Could you anesthetize it?"</p> + +<p>"How? It can sense danger, and +long before you could do that, it +would stop you. It's only made one +mistake, Mr. Whitney: it believes +the noises of the city represent a +danger. And that's only a negative +mistake. Noise won't hurt Black +Eyes, of course. It simply makes the +animal unnecessarily cautious. But +we cannot anesthetize it any more +than we can kill it."</p> + +<p>"I could take it back to Venus."</p> + +<p>"Could you? Could you? I +hadn't thought of that."</p> + +<p>Judd shook his head. "I can't."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean you can't?"</p> + +<p>"It won't let me. Somehow it can +sense our thoughts when we think +something it doesn't want. I can't +take it to Venus! No man could, because +it doesn't want to go."</p> + +<p>"My dear Mr. Whitney—do you +mean to say you believe it can +<i>think</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Uh-uh. Didn't say that. It can +sense our thoughts, and that's +something else again."</p> + +<p>Dr. Jamison threw his hands up +over his head in a dramatic gesture. +"It's hopeless," he said.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Things grew</span> worse. New +York crawled along to a standstill. +People began to move from +the city. In trickles, at first, but the +trickles became torrents, as New +York's ten million people began to +depart for saner places. It might +take months—it might even take +years, but the exodus had begun. +Nothing could stop it. Because of a +harmless little beast with the eyes +of a tarsier, the life of a great city +was coming to an end.</p> + +<p>Word spread. Scientists all over +the world studied reports on Black +Eyes. No one had any ideas. Everyone +was stumped. Black Eyes had +no particular desire to go outside. +Black Eyes merely remained in the +Whitney house, contemplating +nothing in particular, and stopping +everything.</p> + +<p>Dr. Jamison, however, was a persistent +man. Judd got a letter from +him one day, and the following +afternoon he kept his appointment +with the scientist.</p> + +<p>"It's good to get out," Judd said, +after a three hour walk to the Department +of Science Building. "I +can go crazy just staring at that +thing."</p> + +<p>"I have it, Whitney."</p> + +<p>"You have what? Not the way to +destroy Black Eyes? I don't believe +it!"</p> + +<p>"It's true. Consider. Everyone in +the world does not yet know of your +pet, correct?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose there are a few people +who don't—"</p> + +<p>"There are many. Among them, +are the crew of a jet-bomber which +has been on maneuvers in Egypt. +We have arranged everything."</p> + +<p>"Yes? How?"</p> + +<p>"At noon tomorrow, the bomber +will appear over your home with +one of the ancient, high-explosive +missiles. Your neighbors will be removed +from the vicinity, and, precisely +at twelve-o-three in the afternoon, +the bomb will be dropped. +Your home will be destroyed. Black +Eyes will be destroyed with it."</p> + +<p>Judd looked uncomfortable. "I +dunno," he said. "Sounds too easy."</p> + +<p>"Too easy? I doubt if the animal +will ever sense what is going on—not +when the crew of the bomber +doesn't know, either. They'll consider +it a mighty peculiar order, to +destroy one harmless, rather large +and rather elaborate suburban +home. But they'll do it. See you tomorrow, +Whitney, after this mess is +behind us."</p> + +<p>"Yeah," Judd said. "Yeah." But +somehow, the scientist had failed to +instill any of his confidence in +Judd.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">With Lindy</span>, he left home at +eleven the following morning, +after making a thorough list of all +their properties which the City had +promised to duplicate. Judd did +not look at Black Eyes as he left, +and the animal remained where it +was, seated on its haunches under +the dining room table, nibbling +crumbs. Judd could almost feel the +big round eyes boring a pair of twin +holes in his back, and he dared not +turn around to face them....</p> + +<p>They were a mile away at +eleven forty-five, making their way +through the nearly deserted streets. +Judd stopped walking. He looked +at Lindy. Lindy looked at him.</p> + +<p>"They're going to destroy it," he +said.</p> + +<p>"I know."</p> + +<p>"Do you want them to?"</p> + +<p>"I—I—"</p> + +<p>Judd knew that something had +to be done with Black Eyes. He +didn't like the little beast, and, anyway, +that had nothing to do with it. +Black Eyes was a menace. And yet, +something whispered in Judd's ear, +<i>Don't let them, don't let them ...</i> +It wasn't Judd and it wasn't Judd's +subconscious. It was Black Eyes, +and he knew it. But he couldn't do +a thing about it—</p> + +<p>"I'm going to stay right here and +let them bomb the place," he said +aloud. But as he spoke, he was running +back the way he had come.</p> + +<p>Fifteen minutes.</p> + +<p>He sprinted part of the time, +then rested, then sprinted again. He +was somewhat on the beefy side and +he could not run fast, but he made +it. Just.</p> + +<p>He heard the jet streaking +through the sky overhead, looked +up once and saw it circling. Two +blocks from his house he was met +by a policeman. The entire area +had been roped off, and the officer +shook his head when Judd tried to +get through.</p> + +<p>"But I live there!"</p> + +<p>"Can't help it, Mister. Orders is +orders."</p> + +<p>Judd hit him. Judd didn't want +to, but nevertheless, he grunted +with satisfaction when he felt the +blow to be a good one, catching the +stocky officer on the point of his +chin and tumbling him over backwards. +Then Judd was ducking under +the rope and running.</p> + +<p>He reached his house, plummeted +in through the front door. +He found Black Eyes under the +kitchen table, squatting on its +haunches. He scooped the animal +up, ran outside. Then he was running +again, and before he reached +the barrier, something rocked him. +A loud series of explosions ripped +through his brain, and instinctively—Black +Eyes' instincts, not his—he +folded his arms over the animal, +protecting it. Something shuddered +and began to fall behind him, and +debris scattered in all directions. +Something struck Judd's head and +he felt the ground slapping up +crazily at his face—</p> + +<p>He was as good as new a few +days later.</p> + +<p>And so was Black Eyes.</p> + +<p>"I have it," Judd said to his +nurse.</p> + +<p>"You have what, sir?"</p> + +<p>"It's so simple, so ridiculously +simple, maybe that's why no one +ever thought of it. Get me Dr. +Jamison!"</p> + +<p>Jamison came a few moments +later, breathless. "Well?"</p> + +<p>"I have the solution."</p> + +<p>"You ... do?" Not much hope +in the answer. Dr. Jamison was a +tired, defeated man.</p> + +<p>"Sure. Black Eyes doesn't like the +city. Fine. Take him out. I can't +take him to Venus. He doesn't like +Venus and he won't go. No one +can take him anyplace he doesn't +want to go, just as no one can hurt +him in any way. But he doesn't like +the city. It's too noisy. All right: +have someone take him far from +the city, far far away—where +there's no noise at all. Someplace +out in the sticks where it won't +matter much if Black Eyes puts a +stop to any disturbing noises."</p> + +<p>"Who will take him? You, Mr. +Whitney?"</p> + +<p>Judd shook his head. "That's +your job, not mine. I've given you +the answer. Now use it."</p> + +<p>Lindy had arrived, and Lindy +said: "Judd, you're right. That <i>is</i> +the answer. And you're wonderful—"</p> + +<p>No one volunteered to spend his +life in exile with Black Eyes, but +then Dr. Jamison pointed out that +while no one knew the creature's +life-span, it certainly couldn't be +expected to match man's. Just a +few years and the beast would die, +and ... Dr. Jamison's arguments +were so logical that he convinced +himself. He took Black Eyes with +him into the Canadian Northwoods, +and there they live.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Judd</span> was right—almost.</p> + +<p>This was the obvious answer +which escaped everyone.</p> + +<p>But scientists continued their +examinations of Black Eyes, and +they discovered something. Black +Eyes' fears had not been for herself +alone. She is going to have babies. +The estimate is for thirty-five little +tarsier-eyed creatures. No doctor in +the world will be able to do anything +but deliver the litter.</p> + +<p class="bk1">THE END</p> + +<div class="trn"><div class="figt"><a href="images/002-2.jpg"><img src="images/002-1.jpg" width="133" height="200" alt="" title="" /></a></div> + +<p><big><b>Transcriber's Note:</b></big></p> + +<p>This etext was produced from <i>If Worlds of Science Fiction</i> March 1952. +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.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Black Eyes and the Daily Grind, by Milton Lesser + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK EYES AND THE DAILY GRIND *** + +***** This file should be named 30329-h.htm or 30329-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/3/2/30329/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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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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: Black Eyes and the Daily Grind + +Author: Milton Lesser + +Release Date: October 25, 2009 [EBook #30329] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK EYES AND THE DAILY GRIND *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: _When Black Eyes needed a nap--everybody slept!_] + + + BLACK EYES _and the_ + DAILY GRIND + + By MILTON LESSER + + + _The little house pet from Venus didn't + like New York, so New York had to change._ + + +He liked the flat cracking sound of the gun. He liked the way it slapped +back against his shoulder when he fired. Somehow it did not seem a part +of the dank, steaming Venusian jungle. Probably, he realized with a +smile, it was the only old-fashioned recoil rifle on the entire planet. +As if anyone else would want to use one of those old bone-cracking +relics today! But they all failed to realize it made sport much more +interesting. + +"I haven't seen anything for a while," his wife said. She had a young, +pretty face and a strong young body. If you have money these days, you +could really keep a thirty-five-year-old woman looking trim. + +Not on Venus, of course. Venus was an outpost, a frontier, a hot, wet, +evil-smelling place that beckoned only the big-game hunter. He said, +"That's true. Yesterday we could bag them one after the other, as fast +as I could fire this contraption. Today, if there's anything bigger than +a mouse, it's hiding in a hole somewhere. You know what I think, Lindy?" + +"What?" + +"I think there's a reason for it. A lot of the early Venusian hunters +said there were days like this. An area filled with big lizards and cats +and everything else the day before suddenly seems to clear out, for no +reason. It doesn't make sense." + +"Why not? Why couldn't they all just decide to make tracks for someplace +else on the same day?" + +He slapped at an insect that was buzzing around his right ear, then +mopped his sweating brow with a handkerchief. His name was Judd Whitney, +and people said he had a lot of money. Now he laughed, patting his +wife's trim shoulder under the white tunic. "No, Lindy. It just doesn't +work that way. Not on Earth and not on Venus, either. You think there's +a pied-piper or something which calls all the animals away?" + +"Maybe. I don't know much about those things." + +"No. I don't think they went anyplace. They're just quiet. They didn't +come out of their holes or hovels or down from the trees. But why?" + +"Well, let's forget it. Let's go back to camp. We can try again +tomor--look! Look, there's something!" + +Judd followed her pointing finger with his eyes. Half-hidden by the +creepers and vines clinging to an old tree-stump, something was watching +them. It wasn't very big and it seemed in no hurry to get away. + +"What is it?" Lindy wanted to know. + +"Don't know. Never saw anything like it before. Venus is still an +unknown frontier; the books only name a couple dozen of the biggest +animals. But hell, Lindy, that's not _game_. I don't think it weighs +five pounds." + +"It's cute, and it has a lovely skin." + +Judd couldn't argue with that. Squatting on its haunches, the creature +was about twenty inches tall. It had a pointed snout and two thin, long +ears. Its eyes were very big and very round and quite black. They looked +something like the eyes of an Earthian tarsier, but the tarsier were +bloody little beasts. The skin was short and stiff and was a kind of +silvery white. Under the sheen, however, it seemed to glow. A diamond is +colorless, Judd thought, but when you see it under light a whole rainbow +of colors sparkle deep within it. This creature's skin was like that, +Judd decided. + +"If we could get enough of them," Lindy was saying, "I'd have the most +unusual coat! Do you think we could find enough, Judd?" + +"I doubt it. Never saw anything like it before, never heard of anything +like it. You'd need fifty of 'em, anyway. Let's forget about it--too +small to shoot, anyway." + +"No, Judd. I want it." + +"Well, I'm not going to stalk a five-pound--hey, wait a minute! I taught +you how to use this rifle, so why don't you bag it?" + +Lindy grinned. "That's a fine idea. I was a little scared of some of +those big lizards and cats and everything, but now I'm going to take you +up on it. Here, give me your gun." + +Judd removed the leather thong from his shoulder and handed the weapon +to her. She looked at it a little uncertainly, then took the clip of +shells which Judd offered and slammed it into the chamber. The little +creature sat unmoving. + +"Isn't it peculiar that it doesn't run away, Judd?" + +"Sure is. Nothing formidable about that animal, so unless it has a +hidden poison somewhere, just about anything in this swamp could do it +in. To survive it would have to be fast as hell and it would have to +keep running all the time. Beats me, Lindy." + +"Well, I'm going to get myself one pelt toward that coat, anyway. Watch, +Judd: is this the way?" She lifted the rifle to her shoulder and +squinted down the sights toward the shining creature. + +"Yeah, that's the way. Only relax. Relax. Shoulder's so tense you're +liable to dislocate it with the kick. There--that's better." + +Now Lindy's finger was wrapped around the trigger and she remembered +Judd had told her to squeeze it, not to pull it. If you pulled the +trigger you jerked the rifle and spoiled your aim. You had to squeeze it +slowly.... + +The animal seemed politely interested. + +Suddenly, a delicious languor stole over Lindy. It possessed her all at +once and she had no idea where it came from. Her legs had been stiff and +tired from the all-morning trek through the swamp, but now they felt +fine. Her whole body was suffused in a warm, satisfied glow of +well-being. And laziness. It was an utterly new sensation and she could +even feel it tingling at the roots of her hair. She sighed and lowered +the rifle. + +"I don't want to shoot it," she said. + +"You just told me you did." + +"I know, but I changed my mind. What's the matter, can't I change my +mind?" + +"Of course you can change your mind. But I thought you wanted a coat of +those things." + +"Yes, I suppose I do. But I don't want to shoot it, that's all." + +Judd snorted. "I think you have a streak of softness someplace in that +pretty head of yours!" + +"Maybe. I don't know. But I'd still like the pelt. Funny, isn't it?" + +"Okay, okay! But don't ask to use the gun again." Judd snatched it from +her hands. "If you don't want to shoot it, then I will. Maybe we can +make you a pair of gloves or something from the pelt." + +And Judd pointed his ancient rifle at the little animal preparing to +snap off a quick shot. It would be a cinch at this distance. Even Lindy +wouldn't have missed, if she hadn't changed her mind. + +Judd yawned. He'd failed to realize he was so tired. Not an aching kind +of tiredness, but the kind that makes you feel good all over. He yawned +again and lowered the rifle. "Changed my mind," he said. "I don't want +to shoot it, either. What say we head back for camp?" + +Lindy gripped his hand impulsively. "All right, Judd--but I had a +brainstorm! I want it for a pet!" + +"A pet?" + +"Yes. I think it would be the cutest thing. Everyone would look and +wonder and I'll adore it!" + +"We don't know anything about it. Maybe Earth would be too cold, or too +dry, or maybe we don't have anything it can eat. There are liable to be +a hundred different strains of bacteria that can kill it." + +"I said I want it for a pet. See? Look at it! We can call it Black +Eyes." + +"Black Eyes--" Judd groaned. + +"Yes, Black Eyes. If you don't do this one thing for me, Judd--" + +"Okay--okay. But I'm not going to do anything. You want it, you take +it." + +Lindy frowned, looked at him crossly, then sloshed across the swamp +toward Black Eyes. The creature waited on its stump until she came quite +close, and then, with a playful little bound, it hopped onto her +shoulder, still squatting on its haunches. Lindy squealed excitedly and +began to stroke its silvery fur. + + * * * * * + +A month later, they returned to Earth. Judd and Lindy and Black Eyes. +The hunting trip had been a success--Judd's trophies were on their way +home on a slow freighter, and he'd have some fine heads and skins for +his study-room. Even Black Eyes had been no trouble at all. It ate +scraps from their table, forever sitting on its haunches and staring at +them with its big black eyes. Judd thought it would make one helluva +lousy pet, but he didn't tell Lindy. Trouble was, it never did anything. +It merely sat still, or occasionally it would bounce down to the floor +and mince along on its hind-legs for a scrap of food. It never uttered a +sound. It did not frolic and it did not gambol. Most of the time it +could have been carved from stone. But Lindy was happy and Judd said +nothing. + +They had a little trouble with the customs officials. This because +nothing unknown could be brought to Earth without a thorough +examination. + +At the customs office, a bespectacled official stared at Black Eyes, +scratching his head. "Never seen one like that before." + +"Neither have I," Judd admitted. + +"Well, I'll look in the book." The man did, but there are no thorough +tomes on Venusian fauna. "Not here." + +"I could have told you." + +"Well, we'll have to quarantine it and study it. That means you and your +wife go into quarantine, too. It could have something that's catching." + +"Absurd!" Lindy cried. + +"Sorry, lady. I only work here." + +"You and your bright ideas," Judd told his wife acidly. "We may be +quarantined a month until they satisfy themselves about Black Eyes." + +The customs official shrugged his bony shoulders, and Judd removed a +twenty-credit note from his pocket and handed it to the man. "Will this +change your mind?" + +"I should say not! You can't bribe me, Mr. Whitney! You can't--" The man +yawned, stretched languidly, smiled. "No, sir, you can keep your money, +Mr. Whitney. Guess we don't have to examine your pet after all. Mighty +cute little feller. Well, have fun with it. Come on, move along now." +And, as they were departing with Black Eyes, still not believing their +ears: "Darn this weather! Makes a man so lazy...." + +It was after the affair at the customs office, that Black Eyes uttered +its first sound. City life hasn't changed much in the last fifty years. +Jet-cars still streak around the circumferential highways, their +whistles blaring. Factories still belch smoke and steam, although the +new atomic power plants have lessened that to a certain extent. Crowds +still throng the streets, noisy, hurrying, ill-mannered. It's one of +those things that can't be helped. A city has to live, and it has to +make noise. + +But it seemed to frighten Lindy's new pet. It stared through the jet-car +window on the way from the spaceport to the Whitneys' suburban home, its +black eyes welling with tears. + +"Look!" Judd exclaimed. "Black Eyes can cry!" + +"A crying pet, Judd. I knew there would be something unusual about Black +Eyes, I just knew it!" + +The tears in the big black eyes overflowed and tumbled out, rolling down +Black Eyes' silvery cheeks. And then Black Eyes whimpered. It was only a +brief whimper, but both Judd and Lindy heard it, and even the driver +turned around for a moment and stared at the animal. + +The driver stopped the jet. He yawned and rested his head comfortably on +the cushioned seat. He went quietly to sleep. + + * * * * * + +A man named Merrywinkle owned the Merrywinkle Shipping Service. That, in +itself, was not unusual. But at precisely the moment that Black Eyes +unleashed its mild whimper, Mr. Merrywinkle--uptown and five miles +away--called an emergency conference of the board of directors and +declared: + +"Gentlemen, we have all been working too hard, and I, for one, am going +to take a vacation. I don't know when I'll be back, but it won't be +before six months." + +"But C.M.," someone protested. "There's the Parker deal and the Gilette +contract and a dozen other things. You're needed!" + +Mr. Merrywinkle shook his bald head. "What's more, you're all taking +vacations, with pay. Six months, each of you. We're closing down +Merrywinkle Shipping for half a year. Give the competition a break, eh?" + +"But C.M.! We're about ready to squeeze out Chambers Parcel Co.! They'll +get back on their feet in six months." + +"Never mind. Notify all departments of the shut-down, effective +immediately. Vacations for all." + + * * * * * + +"Who shut off the assembly belt?" the foreman asked mildly. He was not a +mild man and he usually stormed and ranted at the slightest provocation. +This was at Clewson Jetcraft, and you couldn't produce a single +jet-plane without the assembly belt, naturally. + +A plump little man said, "I did." + +"But why?" the foreman asked him, smiling blandly. + +"I don't know. I just did." + +The foreman was still smiling. "I don't blame you." + +Two days later, Clewson Jetcraft had to lay off all its help. They put +ads in all the papers seeking new personnel but no one showed up. +Clewson was forced to shut down. + + * * * * * + +The crack Boston to New York pneumo-tube commuter's special pulled to a +bone-jarring stop immediately outside the New York station. Some angry +commuters pried open the conductor's cab, and found the man snoozing +quite contentedly. They awakened him, but he refused to drive the train +any further. All the commuters had to leave the pneumo-train and edge +their way along three miles of catwalk to the station. No one was very +happy about it, but the feeling of well-being which came over them all +nipped any possible protest in the bud. + + * * * * * + +Black Eyes whimpered again when Judd and Lindy reached home but after +that it was quiet. It just sat on its haunches near the window and +stared out at the city. + +The quiet city. + +Nothing moved in the streets. Nothing stirred. People remained at home +watching local video or the new space-video from Mars. At first it was a +good joke, and the newspapers could have had a field day with it, had +the newspapers remained in circulation. After four days, however, they +suspended publication. On the fifth day, there was a shortage of food in +the city, great stores of it spoiling in the warehouses. Heat and light +failed after a week, and the fire department ignored all alarms a day +later. + +But everything did not stop. School teachers still taught their classes; +clerks still sold whatever goods were left on local shelves. Librarians +were still at their desks. + +Conservatives said it was a liberal plot to undermine capital and demand +higher wages; liberals said big business could afford the temporary +layoff and wanted to squeeze out the small businessman and labor unions. + +Scientists pondered and city officials made speeches over video. + +"Something," one of them observed, "has hit our city. Work that requires +anything above a modicum of sound has become impossible; in regards to +such work people have become lazy. No one can offer any valid +suggestions concerning the malady. It merely exists. However, if a stop +is not put to it--and soon--our fair city will disintegrate. Something +is making us lazy, and that laziness can spell doom, being a compulsive +lack of desire to create any noise or disturbance. If anyone believes he +has the solution, he should contact the Department of Science at once. +If you can't use the video-phone, come in person. But come! Every hour +which passes adds to the city's woes." + +Nothing but scatter-brained ideas for a week, none of them worth +consideration. Then the bespectacled customs official who had bypassed +quarantine for Black Eyes, got in touch with the authorities. He had +always been a conscientious man--except for that one lapse. Maybe the +queer little beast had nothing to do with this crisis. But then again, +the customs official had never before--or since--had that strange +feeling of lassitude. Could there be some connection? + +A staff of experts on extra-terrestrial fauna was dispatched to the +Whitney residence, although, indeed, the chairman of the Department of +Science secretly considered the whole idea ridiculous. + +The staff of experts introduced themselves. Then, ignoring the protests +of Lindy, went to work on Black Eyes. At first Judd thought the animal +would object, but apparently it did not. While conditions all about them +in the city worsened, the experts spent three days studying Black Eyes. + +They found nothing out of the ordinary. + +Black Eyes merely stared back at them, and but for an accident, they +would have departed without a lead. On the third day, a huge mongrel dog +which belonged to the Whitneys' next-door neighbors somehow slipped its +leash. It was a fierce and ugly animal, and it was known to attack +anything smaller than itself. It jumped the fence and landed in Judd +Whitney's yard. A few loping bounds took it through an open window, +ground level. Inside, it spied Black Eyes and made for the creature at +once, howling furiously. + +Black Eyes didn't budge. + +And the mongrel changed its mind! The slavering tongue withdrew inside +the chops, the howling stopped. The mongrel lay down on the floor and +whined. Presently it lost all interest, got to its feet, and left as it +had come. + +Other animals were brought to the Whitney home. Cats. Dogs. A lion from +the city zoo, starved for two days and brought in a special mobile cage +by its keeper. Black Eyes was thrust into the cage and the lion gave +forth with a hideous yowling. Soon it stopped, rolled over, and slept. + + * * * * * + +The scientists correlated their reports, returned with them to the +Whitney house. The leader, whose name was Jamison, said: "As closely as +we can tell, Black Eyes is the culprit." + +"What?" Lindy demanded. + +"Yes, Mrs. Whitney. Your pet, Black Eyes." + +"Oh, I don't believe it!" + +But Judd said, "Go ahead, Dr. Jamison. I'm listening." + +"Well, how does an animal--any animal--protect itself?" + +"Why, in any number of ways. If it has claws or a strong jaw and long +teeth, it can fight. If it is fleet of foot, it can run. If it is big +and has a tough hide, most other animals can't hurt it anyway. Umm-mm, +doesn't that about cover it?" + +"You left out protective coloration, defensive odors, and things like +that. Actually, those are most important from our point of view, for +Black Eyes' ability is a further ramification of that sort of thing. +Your pet is not fast. It isn't strong. It can't change color and it has +no offensive odor to chase off predatory enemies. It has no armor. In +short, can you think of a more helpless creature to put down in those +Venusian swamps?" + +After Judd had shaken his head, Dr. Jamison continued: "Very well, Black +Eyes should not be able to survive on Venus--and yet, obviously the +creature did. We can assume there are more of the breed, too. Anyway, +Black Eyes survives. And I'll tell you why. + +"Black Eyes has a very uncommon ability to sense danger when it +approaches. And sensing danger, Black Eyes can thwart it. Your creature +sends out certain emanations--I won't pretend to know what they +are--which stamp aggression out of any predatory creatures. Neither of +you could fire upon it--right?" + +"Umm-mm, that's true," Judd said. + +Lindy nodded. + +"Well, that's one half of it. There's so much about life we don't +understand. Black Eyes uses energy of an unknown intensity, and the +result maintains Black Eyes' life. Now, although that is the case, your +animal did not live a comfortable life in the Venusian swamp. Because no +animal would attack it, it could not be harmed. Still, from what you +tell me about that swamp ... + +"Anyhow, Black Eyes was glad to come away with you, and everything went +well until you landed in New York. The noises, the clattering, the +continual bustle of a great city--all this frightened the creature. It +was being attacked--or, at least that's what it must have figured. +Result: it struck back the only way it knew how. Have you ever heard +about sub-sonic sound-waves, Mr. Whitney, waves of sound so low that our +ears cannot pick them up--waves of sound which can nevertheless stir our +emotions? Such things exist, and, as a working hypothesis, I would say +Black Eyes' strange powers rest along those lines. The whole city is +idle because Black Eyes is afraid!" + +In his exploration of Mars, of Venus, of the Jovian moons, Judd Whitney +had seen enough of extra-terrestrial life to know that virtually +anything was possible, and Black Eyes would be no exception to that +rule. + +"What do you propose to do?" Judd demanded. + +"Do? Why, we'll have to kill your creature, naturally. You can set a +value on it and we will meet it, but Black Eyes must die." + +"No!" Lindy cried. "You can't be sure, you're only guessing, and it +isn't fair!" + +"My dear woman, don't you realize this is a serious situation? The +city's people will starve in time. No one can even bring food in because +the trucks make too much noise! As an alternative, we could evacuate, +but is your pet more valuable than the life of a great city?" + +"N-no...." + +"Then, please! Listen to reason!" + +"Kill it," Judd said. "Go ahead." + +Dr. Jamison withdrew from his pocket a small blasting pistol used by the +Department of Domestic Animals for elimination of injured creatures. He +advanced on Black Eyes, who sat on its haunches in the center of the +room, surveying the scientist. + +Dr. Jamison put his blaster away. "I can't," he said. "I don't want to." + +Judd smiled. "I know it. No one--no _thing_--can kill Black Eyes. You +said so yourself. It was a waste of time to try it. In that case--" + +"In that case," Dr. Jamison finished for him, "we're helpless. There +isn't a man--or an animal--on Earth that will destroy this thing. Wait +a minute--does it sleep, Mr. Whitney?" + +"I don't think so. At least, I never saw it sleep. And your team of +scientists, did they report anything?" + +"No. As far as they could see, the creature never slept. We can't catch +it unawares." + +"Could you anesthetize it?" + +"How? It can sense danger, and long before you could do that, it would +stop you. It's only made one mistake, Mr. Whitney: it believes the +noises of the city represent a danger. And that's only a negative +mistake. Noise won't hurt Black Eyes, of course. It simply makes the +animal unnecessarily cautious. But we cannot anesthetize it any more +than we can kill it." + +"I could take it back to Venus." + +"Could you? Could you? I hadn't thought of that." + +Judd shook his head. "I can't." + +"What do you mean you can't?" + +"It won't let me. Somehow it can sense our thoughts when we think +something it doesn't want. I can't take it to Venus! No man could, +because it doesn't want to go." + +"My dear Mr. Whitney--do you mean to say you believe it can _think_?" + +"Uh-uh. Didn't say that. It can sense our thoughts, and that's something +else again." + +Dr. Jamison threw his hands up over his head in a dramatic gesture. +"It's hopeless," he said. + + * * * * * + +Things grew worse. New York crawled along to a standstill. People began +to move from the city. In trickles, at first, but the trickles became +torrents, as New York's ten million people began to depart for saner +places. It might take months--it might even take years, but the exodus +had begun. Nothing could stop it. Because of a harmless little beast +with the eyes of a tarsier, the life of a great city was coming to an +end. + +Word spread. Scientists all over the world studied reports on Black +Eyes. No one had any ideas. Everyone was stumped. Black Eyes had no +particular desire to go outside. Black Eyes merely remained in the +Whitney house, contemplating nothing in particular, and stopping +everything. + +Dr. Jamison, however, was a persistent man. Judd got a letter from him +one day, and the following afternoon he kept his appointment with the +scientist. + +"It's good to get out," Judd said, after a three hour walk to the +Department of Science Building. "I can go crazy just staring at that +thing." + +"I have it, Whitney." + +"You have what? Not the way to destroy Black Eyes? I don't believe it!" + +"It's true. Consider. Everyone in the world does not yet know of your +pet, correct?" + +"I suppose there are a few people who don't--" + +"There are many. Among them, are the crew of a jet-bomber which has been +on maneuvers in Egypt. We have arranged everything." + +"Yes? How?" + +"At noon tomorrow, the bomber will appear over your home with one of +the ancient, high-explosive missiles. Your neighbors will be removed +from the vicinity, and, precisely at twelve-o-three in the afternoon, +the bomb will be dropped. Your home will be destroyed. Black Eyes will +be destroyed with it." + +Judd looked uncomfortable. "I dunno," he said. "Sounds too easy." + +"Too easy? I doubt if the animal will ever sense what is going on--not +when the crew of the bomber doesn't know, either. They'll consider it a +mighty peculiar order, to destroy one harmless, rather large and rather +elaborate suburban home. But they'll do it. See you tomorrow, Whitney, +after this mess is behind us." + +"Yeah," Judd said. "Yeah." But somehow, the scientist had failed to +instill any of his confidence in Judd. + + * * * * * + +With Lindy, he left home at eleven the following morning, after making a +thorough list of all their properties which the City had promised to +duplicate. Judd did not look at Black Eyes as he left, and the animal +remained where it was, seated on its haunches under the dining room +table, nibbling crumbs. Judd could almost feel the big round eyes boring +a pair of twin holes in his back, and he dared not turn around to face +them.... + +They were a mile away at eleven forty-five, making their way through the +nearly deserted streets. Judd stopped walking. He looked at Lindy. Lindy +looked at him. + +"They're going to destroy it," he said. + +"I know." + +"Do you want them to?" + +"I--I--" + +Judd knew that something had to be done with Black Eyes. He didn't like +the little beast, and, anyway, that had nothing to do with it. Black +Eyes was a menace. And yet, something whispered in Judd's ear, _Don't +let them, don't let them ..._ It wasn't Judd and it wasn't Judd's +subconscious. It was Black Eyes, and he knew it. But he couldn't do a +thing about it-- + +"I'm going to stay right here and let them bomb the place," he said +aloud. But as he spoke, he was running back the way he had come. + +Fifteen minutes. + +He sprinted part of the time, then rested, then sprinted again. He was +somewhat on the beefy side and he could not run fast, but he made it. +Just. + +He heard the jet streaking through the sky overhead, looked up once and +saw it circling. Two blocks from his house he was met by a policeman. +The entire area had been roped off, and the officer shook his head when +Judd tried to get through. + +"But I live there!" + +"Can't help it, Mister. Orders is orders." + +Judd hit him. Judd didn't want to, but nevertheless, he grunted with +satisfaction when he felt the blow to be a good one, catching the stocky +officer on the point of his chin and tumbling him over backwards. Then +Judd was ducking under the rope and running. + +He reached his house, plummeted in through the front door. He found +Black Eyes under the kitchen table, squatting on its haunches. He +scooped the animal up, ran outside. Then he was running again, and +before he reached the barrier, something rocked him. A loud series of +explosions ripped through his brain, and instinctively--Black Eyes' +instincts, not his--he folded his arms over the animal, protecting it. +Something shuddered and began to fall behind him, and debris scattered +in all directions. Something struck Judd's head and he felt the ground +slapping up crazily at his face-- + +He was as good as new a few days later. + +And so was Black Eyes. + +"I have it," Judd said to his nurse. + +"You have what, sir?" + +"It's so simple, so ridiculously simple, maybe that's why no one ever +thought of it. Get me Dr. Jamison!" + +Jamison came a few moments later, breathless. "Well?" + +"I have the solution." + +"You ... do?" Not much hope in the answer. Dr. Jamison was a tired, +defeated man. + +"Sure. Black Eyes doesn't like the city. Fine. Take him out. I can't +take him to Venus. He doesn't like Venus and he won't go. No one can +take him anyplace he doesn't want to go, just as no one can hurt him in +any way. But he doesn't like the city. It's too noisy. All right: have +someone take him far from the city, far far away--where there's no noise +at all. Someplace out in the sticks where it won't matter much if Black +Eyes puts a stop to any disturbing noises." + +"Who will take him? You, Mr. Whitney?" + +Judd shook his head. "That's your job, not mine. I've given you the +answer. Now use it." + +Lindy had arrived, and Lindy said: "Judd, you're right. That _is_ the +answer. And you're wonderful--" + +No one volunteered to spend his life in exile with Black Eyes, but then +Dr. Jamison pointed out that while no one knew the creature's life-span, +it certainly couldn't be expected to match man's. Just a few years and +the beast would die, and ... Dr. Jamison's arguments were so logical +that he convinced himself. He took Black Eyes with him into the Canadian +Northwoods, and there they live. + + * * * * * + +Judd was right--almost. + +This was the obvious answer which escaped everyone. + +But scientists continued their examinations of Black Eyes, and they +discovered something. Black Eyes' fears had not been for herself alone. +She is going to have babies. The estimate is for thirty-five little +tarsier-eyed creatures. No doctor in the world will be able to do +anything but deliver the litter. + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _If Worlds of Science Fiction_ March + 1952. 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 Black Eyes and the Daily Grind, by Milton Lesser + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK EYES AND THE DAILY GRIND *** + +***** This file should be named 30329.txt or 30329.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/3/2/30329/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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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