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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 *** |