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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/32613-h.zip b/32613-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1034b74 --- /dev/null +++ b/32613-h.zip diff --git a/32613-h/32613-h.htm b/32613-h/32613-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d772361 --- /dev/null +++ b/32613-h/32613-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1068 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tabby, by Winston Marks. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tabby, by Winston Marks + +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: Tabby + +Author: Winston Marks + +Illustrator: Rudolph Palais + +Release Date: May 30, 2010 [EBook #32613] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TABBY *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<div class="figright"> +<img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + +<h1>TABBY</h1> + +<h2>By Winston Marks</h2> + +<h3>Illustrated by Rudolph Palais</h3> + +<p>[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from IF Worlds of Science +Fiction March 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that +the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Tabby was peculiar, of course, but seemed harmless: just a +little green fly that couldn't even protect itself from ordinary +spiders. So the spiders fed, and grew, and fed, and grew....</i></div> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">April 18, 1956<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Dear Ben: It breaks my heart you didn't sign on for this trip. Your +replacement, who <i>calls</i> himself an ichthyologist, has only one talent +that pertains to fish—he drinks like one. There are nine of us in the +expedition, and every one of us is fed up with this joker, Cleveland, +already. We've only been on the island a week, and he's gone native, +complete with beard, bare feet and bone laziness. He slops around the +lagoon like a beachcomber and hasn't brought in a decent specimen yet.</p> + +<p>The island is a bit of paradise, though. Wouldn't be hard to let +yourself relax under the palms all day instead of collecting blisters +and coral gashes out in the bright sun of the atoll. No complaints, +however. We aren't killing ourselves, and our little camp is very +comfortable. The portable lab is working out fine, and the screened +sleeping tent-houses have solved the one big nuisance we've suffered +before: <i>Insects</i>. I think an entomologist would find more to keep him +busy here than we will.</p> + +<p>Your ankle should be useable by the time our next supply plane from +Hawaii takes off. If you apply again at the Foundation right now I'm +sure Sellers and the others will help me get rid of Cleveland, and +there'll be an open berth here.</p> + +<p>Got to close now. Our amphib jets off in an hour for the return trip. +Hope this note is properly seductive. Come to the isles, boy, and +live!—Cordially, Fred</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">May 26, 1956<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Dear Ben: Now, aren't you sorry you didn't take my advice?!!!! I'm +assuming you read the papers, and also, that too tight a censorship +hasn't clamped down on this thing yet. Maybe I'm assuming too much on +the latter. Anyhow, here's a detailed version from an actual eyewitness.</p> + +<p>That's right! I was right there on the beach when the "saucer" landed. +Only it looked more like a king-size pokerchip. About six feet across +and eight inches thick with a little hemispherical dome dead center on +top. It hit offshore about seventy-five yards with a splash that sounded +like a whale's tail. Jenner and I dropped our seine, waded to shore and +started running along the beach to get opposite it. Cleveland came out +of the shade and helped us launch a small boat.</p> + +<p>We got within twenty feet of the thing when it started moving out, +slowly, just fast enough to keep ahead of us. I was in the bow looking +right at it when the lid popped open with a sound like a cork coming out +of a wine bottle. The little dome had split. Sellers quit rowing and we +all hit the bottom of the boat. I peeked over the gunwale right away, +and it's a good thing. All that came out of the dome was a little cloud +of flies, maybe a hundred or so, and the breeze picked them up and blew +them over us inshore so fast that Cleveland and Sellers never did see +them.</p> + +<p>I yelled at them to look, but by then the flies were in mingling with +the local varieties of sudden itch, and they figured I was seeing +things. Cleveland, though, listened with the most interest. It develops +that his specialty <i>is</i> entomology. He took this job because he was out +of work. Don't know how he bluffed his way past the Foundation, but here +he is, and it looks like he might be useful after all.</p> + +<p>He was all for going ashore, but Sellers and I rowed after the white +disk for awhile until it became apparent we couldn't catch it. It's a +good thing we didn't. A half hour later, Olafsen caught up to it in the +power launch. We were watching from shore. It was about a half mile out +when Ole cut his speed. Luckily he was alone. We had yelled at him to +pick us up and take us along, but he was too excited to stop. He passed +us up, went out there and boom!</p> + +<p>It wasn't exactly an A-bomb, but the spray hit us a half mile away, and +the surface wave swamped us.</p> + +<p>Sellers radioed the whole incident to Honolulu right away, and they are +sending out a plane with a diver, but we don't think he'll find +anything. Things really blew! So far we haven't even found any +identifiable driftwood from the launch, let alone Ole's body or traces +of the disk.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Cleveland has come to believe my story, and he's out prowling +around with an insect net. Most energy he's shown in weeks.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>May 28—Looks like this letter will be delayed a bit. We are under +quarantine. The government plane came this morning. They sent along a +diver, two reporters and a navy officer. The diver went down right away, +but it's several hundred feet deep out there and slants off fast. This +island is the tip of a sunken mountain, and the diver gave up after less +than an hour. Personally I think a couple of sharks scared him off, but +he claims there's so much vegetable ruck down there he couldn't expect +to find anything smaller than the launch's motor.</p> + +<p>Cleveland hasn't found anything unusual in his bug net, but everyone is +excited here, and you can guess why.</p> + +<p>When the "saucer" reports stopped cold about a year ago, you'll +remember, it made almost as much news for a while as when they were +first spotted. Now the people out here are speculating that maybe this +disc thing came from the same source as the <i>saucers</i>, after they had a +chance to look us over, study our ecology and return to their base. +Cleveland is the one who started this trend of thought with his +obsession that the flies I reported seeing are an attack on our planet +from someone out in space.</p> + +<p>Commander Clawson, the navy officer, doesn't know what to think. He +won't believe Cleveland until he produces a specimen of the +"fly-from-Mars", but then he turns around and contradicts himself by +declaring a temporary quarantine until he gets further orders from +Honolulu.</p> + +<p>The reporters are damned nuisances. They're turning out reams of Sunday +supplement type stuff and pestering the devil out of Sparks to let them +wire it back, but our radio is now under navy control, too.</p> + +<p>Sure is crowded in the bunk-house with the six additional people, but no +one will sleep outside the screen.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>May 29—Cleveland thinks he has his specimen. He went out at dawn this +morning and came in before breakfast. He's quit drinking but he hasn't +slept in three days now and looks like hell. I thought he was getting +his fancy imagination out of the bottle, but the soberer he got the more +worried he looked over this "invasion" idea of his.</p> + +<p>Now he claims that his catch is definitely a sample of something new +under our particular sun. He hustled it under a glass and started +classifying it. It filled the bill for the arthropods, class Insecta. It +looked to me, in fact, just like a small, ordinary blowfly, except that +it has green wings. And I mean <i>green</i>, not just a little iridescent +color.</p> + +<p>Cleve very gently pulled one wing off and we looked at it under low +power. There is more similarity to a leaf than to a wing. In the bug's +back is a tiny pocket, a sort of reservoir of the green stuff, and +Cleve's dissection shows tiny veins running up into the wings. It seems +to be a closed system with no connection with the rest of the body +except the restraining membrane.</p> + +<p>Cleveland now rests his extraterrestrial origin theory on an idea that +the green stuff is chlorophyll. If it is chlorophyll, either Cleve is +right or else he's discovered a new class of arthropods. In other +respects the critter is an ordinary biting and sucking bug with the +potentials of about a deerfly for making life miserable. The high-power +lens showed no sign of unusual or malignant microscopic life inside or +out of the thing. Cleve can't say how bad a bite would be, because he +doesn't have his entomologist kit with him, and he can't analyze the +secretion from the poison gland.</p> + +<p>The commander has let him radio for a botanist and some micro-analysis +equipment.</p> + +<p>Everyone was so pitched up that Cleve's findings have been rather +anti-climactic. I guess we were giving more credence to the +space-invader theory than we thought. But even if Cleve has proved it, +this fly doesn't look like much to be frightened over. The reporters are +clamoring to be let loose, but the quarantine still holds.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>June 1—By the time the plane with the botanist arrived we were able to +gather all the specimens of <i>Tabanidae viridis</i> (Cleveland's +designation) that he wanted. Seems like every tenth flying creature you +meet is a green "Tabby" now.</p> + +<p>The botanist helped Cleve and me set up the bio kit, and he confirmed +Cleve's guess. The green stuff is chlorophyll. Which makes Tabby quite a +bug.</p> + +<p>Kyser, the youngest reporter, volunteered to let a Tabby bite him. It +did without too much coaxing. Now he has a little, itchy bump on his +wrist, and he's happily banging away at his typewriter on a story +titled, "I Was Bitten by the Bug from Space!" That was hours ago, and we +haven't learned anything sinister about the green fly except that it +does have a remarkable breeding ability.</p> + +<p>One thing the reporter accomplished: we can go outside the screened +quarters now without wondering about catching space-typhus.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>June 2—The quarantine was probably a pretty good idea. Cleve has turned +up some dope on Tabby's life cycle that makes us glad all over that we +are surrounded by a thousand miles of salt water. Tabby's adult life is +only a couple of days, but she is viviparous, prolific (some thousand +young at a sitting), and her green little microscopic babies combine the +best survival features of spores and plankton, minus one: they don't +live in salt water. But they do very well almost anyplace else. We have +watched them grow on hot rocks, leaves, in the sand and best of all, +filtered down a little into the moist earth.</p> + +<p>They grow incredibly fast with a little sun, so the chlorophyll is +biologically justified in the life-cycle. This puzzled us at first, +because the adult Tabby turns into a blood-sucking little brute. +Deprived of any organic matter, our bottled specimens die in a short +time, in or out of the sunlight, indicating the green stuff doesn't +provide them with much if any nourishment after they are full-grown.</p> + +<p>Now we are waiting for a supply of assorted insecticides to find the +best controls over the pests. The few things we had on hand worked quite +well, but I guess they aren't forgetting our sad experience with DDT a +few years back.</p> + +<p>The Tabbies now outnumber all the other insects here, and most outside +work has been halted. The little green devils make life miserable +outside the tent-houses. We have built another screened shelter to +accommodate the latest arrivals. We are getting quite a fleet of +amphibian aircraft floating around our lagoon. No one will be allowed to +return until we come up with all the answers to the question of +controlling our insect invasion.</p> + +<p>Cleveland is trying to convince Sellers and the commander that we should +get out and send in atomic fire to blow the whole island into the sea. +They forwarded his suggestion to the U. N. committee which now has +jurisdiction, but they wired back that if the insect is from space, we +couldn't stop other discs from landing on the mainlands. Our orders are +to study the bug and learn all we can.</p> + +<p>Opinion is mixed here. I can't explain the flying disc unless it's +extraterrestrial, but why would an invader choose an isolated spot like +this to attack? Cleve says this is just a "test patch" and probably +under surveillance. But why such an innocuous little fly if they mean +business?</p> + +<p>The newsmen are really bored now. They see no doom in the bugs, and +since they can't file their stories they take a dim view of the +quarantine. They have gotten up an evening fishing derby with the crew +members of the planes. Have to fish after dusk. The Tabbies bite too +often as long as the sun is up.</p> + +<p>Cleve has turned into a different man. He is soft-spoken and intense. +His hands tremble so much that he is conducting most of his work by +verbal directions with the botanist and me to carry them out. When his +suggestion about blowing up the atoll was turned down he quit talking +except to conduct his work. If things were half as ominous as he makes +out we'd be pretty worried.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>June 4—The spray planes got here and none too soon. We were running out +of drinking water. The Tabbies got so thick that even at night a man +would get stung insane if he went outside the screen.</p> + +<p>The various sprays all worked well. This evening the air is relatively +clear. Incidentally, the birds have been having a feast. Now the gulls +are congregating to help us out like they did the Mormons in the cricket +plague. The spiders are doing all right for themselves, too. In fact, +now that we have sprayed the place the spiders and their confounded webs +are the biggest nuisance we have to contend with. They are getting fat +and sassy. Spin their webs between your legs if you stand still a minute +too long. Remind me of real estate speculators in a land boom, the +little bastardly opportunists. As you might gather, I don't care for +brothers Arachnidae. They make everyone else nervous, too. Strangely, +Cleveland, the entomologist, gets the worst jolt out of them. He'll +stand for minutes at the screen watching them spin their nasty webs and +skipping out to de-juice a stray Tabby that the spray missed. And he'll +mutter to himself and scowl and curse them. It is hard to include them +as God's creatures.</p> + +<p>Cleve still isn't giving out with the opinions. He works incessantly and +has filled two notebooks full of data. Looks to me like our work is +almost done.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>August 7, Year of our Lord 1956—To whom it will never concern: I can no +longer make believe this is addressed to my friend, Ben Tobin. Cleveland +has convinced me of the implications of our tragedy here. But somehow it +gives me some crazy, necessary ray of hope to keep this journal until +the end.</p> + +<p>I think the real horror of this thing started to penetrate to me about +June 6. Our big spray job lasted less than 24 hours, and on that morning +I was watching for the planes to come in for a second try at it when I +noticed the heavy spider webbing in the upper tree foliage. As I looked +a gull dove through the trees, mouth open, eating Tabbies. Damned if the +webs didn't foul his wings. At first he tore at them bravely and it +looked like he was trying to swim in thin mud—sort of slow motion. Then +he headed into a thick patch, slewed around at right angles and did a +complete flip. Instantly three mammoth spiders the size of my fist +pounced out on him and trussed him up before he could tear loose with +his feet.</p> + +<p>His pitiful squawking was what made me feel that horror for the first +time. And the scene was repeated more and more often. The planes dusted +us with everything they had, and it cut down the Tabbies pretty well +again, but it didn't touch the spiders, of course.</p> + +<p>And then our return radio messages started getting very vague. We were +transmitting Cleve's data hourly as he compiled it, and we had been +getting ordinary chatter and speculation from the Honolulu operator at +the end of our message. That stopped on the sixth of June. Since then, +we've had only curt acknowledgements of our data and sign-offs.</p> + +<p>At the same time, we noticed that complete censorship on news of our +situation and progress apparently hit all the long-wave radio +broadcasts. Up to that time the newscasts had been feeding out a dilute +and very cautious pablum about our fight against Tabby. Immediately when +we noticed this news blind spot Cleve went all to pieces and started +drinking again.</p> + +<p>Cleve, Sellers and I had the lab tent to ourselves, having moved our +bunks in there, so we got a little out of touch with the others. It +wasn't the way Sellers and I liked it, but none of us liked the trip +from lab to living quarters any more, although it was only fifty feet or +so.</p> + +<p>Then Sparks moved in, too. For the same reason. He said it was getting +on his nerves running back and forth to the lab to pick up our outgoing +bulletins. So he shifted the generator, radio gear and all over to a +corner of the lab and brought in his bunk.</p> + +<p>By the tenth of June we could see that the spraying was a losing battle. +And it finally took the big tragedy to drive home the truth that was all +about us already. When the crew got ready to go out to their planes on +the eleventh, everyone except the four of us in the lab tent was drafted +to help clear webs between the tents and the beach. We could hear them +shouting from tent to tent as they made up their work party. We could no +longer see across the distance. Everywhere outside, vision was obscured +by the grayish film of webs on which little droplets caught the tropical +sun like a million tiny mirrors. In the shade it was like trying to peer +through thin milk, with the vicious, leggy little shadows skittering +about restlessly.</p> + +<p>As usual in the morning, the hum of the Tabbies had risen above the +normal jungle buzzing, and this morning it was the loudest we'd heard +it.</p> + +<p>Well, we heard the first screen door squeak open, and someone let out a +whoop as the group moved out with brooms, palm fronds and sticks to +snatch a path through the nightmare of spider webs. The other two doors +opened and slammed, and we could hear many sounds of deep disgust voiced +amid the grunts and thrashings.</p> + +<p>They must have been almost to the beach when the first scream reached +us. Cleve had been listening in fascination, and the awful sound tore +him loose of his senses. He screamed back. The rest of us had to sit on +him to quiet him. Then the others outside all began screaming—not +words, just shattering screams of pure terror, mixed with roars of pain +and anger. Soon there was no more anger. Just horror. And in a few +minutes they died away.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Sellers and Sparks and I looked at each other. Cleve had vomited and +passed out. Sparks got out Cleve's whiskey, and we spilled half of it +trying to get drinks into us.</p> + +<p>Sparks snapped out of it first. He didn't try to talk to us. He just +went to his gear, turned on the generator and warmed up the radio. He +told Honolulu what had happened as we had heard it.</p> + +<p>When he finished, he keyed over for an acknowledgment. The operator said +to hold on for a minute. Then he said they would <i>try</i> to dispatch an +air task force to get us off, but they couldn't be sure just when.</p> + +<p>While this was coming in Cleve came to his senses and listened. He was +deadly calm now, and when Honolulu finished he grabbed the mike from +Sparks, cut in the TX and asked, "Are they landing discs on the +mainlands?"</p> + +<p>The operator answered, "Sorry, that's classified."</p> + +<p>"For God's sake," Cleve demanded, "if you are ready to write us off you +can at least answer our questions. Are there any of the green +sonsofbitches on the mainland?"</p> + +<p>There was another little pause, and then, "Yes."</p> + +<p>That was all. Sparks ran down the batteries trying to raise them again +for more answers, but no response. When the batteries went dead he +checked the generator that had kicked off. It was out of gasoline. The +drums were on the beach. Now we were without lights, power and juice for +our other radios.</p> + +<p>We kept alive the first few days by staying half drunk. Then Cleve's +case of whiskey gave out and we began to get hungry. Sparks and Sellers +set fire to one of our straw-ticking mattresses and used it as a torch +to burn their way over to the supply tent about thirty feet away. It +worked fairly well. The silky webs flashed into nothing as the flames +hit them, but they wouldn't support the fire, and other webs streamed +down behind the two. They had to burn another mattress to get back with +a few cases of food.</p> + +<p>Then we dug a well under the floor of our tent. Hit water within a few +feet. But when we cut through the screen floor it cost us sentry duty. +We had to have one person awake all night long to stamp on the spiders +that slipped in around the edge of the well.</p> + +<p>Through all of this Cleveland has been out on his feet. He has just +stood and stared out through the screen all day. We had to force him to +eat. He didn't snap out of it until this morning.</p> + +<p>Sparks couldn't stand our radio silence any longer, so he talked Sellers +into helping him make a dash for the gas drums on the beach. They set +fire to two mattresses and disappeared into the tunnel of burned webs +that tangled and caved in behind them.</p> + +<p>When they were gone, Cleveland suddenly came out of his trance and put a +hand on my shoulder. I thought for a moment he was going to jump me, but +his eyes were calm. He said, "Well, Fred, are you convinced now that +we've been attacked?"</p> + +<p>I said, "It makes no sense to me at all. Why these little flies?"</p> + +<p>Cleve said, "They couldn't have done better so easily. They studied our +ecology well. They saw that our greatest potential enemy was the insect +population, and the most vicious part of it was the spider. <i>Tabanidae +viridis</i> was not sent just to plague us with horsefly bites. Tabby was +sent to multiply and feed the arachnids. There are durable species in +all climates. And if our botanist were still alive he could explain in +detail how long our plant life can last under this spider infestation.</p> + +<p>"Look for yourself," he said pointing outside. "Not only are the regular +pollenizing insects doomed, but the density of those webs will choke out +even wind pollinated grains."</p> + +<p>He stared down our shallow well hole and stamped on a small, black, flat +spider that had slithered under the screening. "I suppose you realize +the spiders got the others. Down here in the tropics the big varieties +could do it by working together. Sellers and Sparks won't return. Sounds +like they got through all right, but they'll be bitten so badly they +won't try to get back."</p> + +<p>And even as he spoke we heard one of the aircraft engines start up. The +sound was muffled as under a bed quilt.</p> + +<p>Cleve said, "I don't blame them. I'd rather die in the sun, too. The +beach should be fairly clear of webs. We've got one mattress left. What +do you say?"</p> + +<p>He's standing there now holding the mattress with the ticking sticking +out. I don't think one torch will get us through. But it will be worth a +try for one more look at the sun.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tabby, by Winston Marks + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TABBY *** + +***** This file should be named 32613-h.htm or 32613-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/6/1/32613/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan 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: Tabby + +Author: Winston Marks + +Illustrator: Rudolph Palais + +Release Date: May 30, 2010 [EBook #32613] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TABBY *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + TABBY + + By Winston Marks + + Illustrated by Rudolph Palais + +[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from IF Worlds of Science +Fiction March 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that +the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +[Sidenote: _Tabby was peculiar, of course, but seemed harmless: just a +little green fly that couldn't even protect itself from ordinary +spiders. So the spiders fed, and grew, and fed, and grew...._] + + * * * * * + + April 18, 1956 + +Dear Ben: It breaks my heart you didn't sign on for this trip. Your +replacement, who _calls_ himself an ichthyologist, has only one talent +that pertains to fish--he drinks like one. There are nine of us in the +expedition, and every one of us is fed up with this joker, Cleveland, +already. We've only been on the island a week, and he's gone native, +complete with beard, bare feet and bone laziness. He slops around the +lagoon like a beachcomber and hasn't brought in a decent specimen yet. + +The island is a bit of paradise, though. Wouldn't be hard to let +yourself relax under the palms all day instead of collecting blisters +and coral gashes out in the bright sun of the atoll. No complaints, +however. We aren't killing ourselves, and our little camp is very +comfortable. The portable lab is working out fine, and the screened +sleeping tent-houses have solved the one big nuisance we've suffered +before: _Insects_. I think an entomologist would find more to keep him +busy here than we will. + +Your ankle should be useable by the time our next supply plane from +Hawaii takes off. If you apply again at the Foundation right now I'm +sure Sellers and the others will help me get rid of Cleveland, and +there'll be an open berth here. + +Got to close now. Our amphib jets off in an hour for the return trip. +Hope this note is properly seductive. Come to the isles, boy, and +live!--Cordially, Fred + + * * * * * + + May 26, 1956 + +Dear Ben: Now, aren't you sorry you didn't take my advice?!!!! I'm +assuming you read the papers, and also, that too tight a censorship +hasn't clamped down on this thing yet. Maybe I'm assuming too much on +the latter. Anyhow, here's a detailed version from an actual eyewitness. + +That's right! I was right there on the beach when the "saucer" landed. +Only it looked more like a king-size pokerchip. About six feet across +and eight inches thick with a little hemispherical dome dead center on +top. It hit offshore about seventy-five yards with a splash that sounded +like a whale's tail. Jenner and I dropped our seine, waded to shore and +started running along the beach to get opposite it. Cleveland came out +of the shade and helped us launch a small boat. + +We got within twenty feet of the thing when it started moving out, +slowly, just fast enough to keep ahead of us. I was in the bow looking +right at it when the lid popped open with a sound like a cork coming out +of a wine bottle. The little dome had split. Sellers quit rowing and we +all hit the bottom of the boat. I peeked over the gunwale right away, +and it's a good thing. All that came out of the dome was a little cloud +of flies, maybe a hundred or so, and the breeze picked them up and blew +them over us inshore so fast that Cleveland and Sellers never did see +them. + +I yelled at them to look, but by then the flies were in mingling with +the local varieties of sudden itch, and they figured I was seeing +things. Cleveland, though, listened with the most interest. It develops +that his specialty _is_ entomology. He took this job because he was out +of work. Don't know how he bluffed his way past the Foundation, but here +he is, and it looks like he might be useful after all. + +He was all for going ashore, but Sellers and I rowed after the white +disk for awhile until it became apparent we couldn't catch it. It's a +good thing we didn't. A half hour later, Olafsen caught up to it in the +power launch. We were watching from shore. It was about a half mile out +when Ole cut his speed. Luckily he was alone. We had yelled at him to +pick us up and take us along, but he was too excited to stop. He passed +us up, went out there and boom! + +It wasn't exactly an A-bomb, but the spray hit us a half mile away, and +the surface wave swamped us. + +Sellers radioed the whole incident to Honolulu right away, and they are +sending out a plane with a diver, but we don't think he'll find +anything. Things really blew! So far we haven't even found any +identifiable driftwood from the launch, let alone Ole's body or traces +of the disk. + +Meanwhile, Cleveland has come to believe my story, and he's out prowling +around with an insect net. Most energy he's shown in weeks. + + * * * * * + +May 28--Looks like this letter will be delayed a bit. We are under +quarantine. The government plane came this morning. They sent along a +diver, two reporters and a navy officer. The diver went down right away, +but it's several hundred feet deep out there and slants off fast. This +island is the tip of a sunken mountain, and the diver gave up after less +than an hour. Personally I think a couple of sharks scared him off, but +he claims there's so much vegetable ruck down there he couldn't expect +to find anything smaller than the launch's motor. + +Cleveland hasn't found anything unusual in his bug net, but everyone is +excited here, and you can guess why. + +When the "saucer" reports stopped cold about a year ago, you'll +remember, it made almost as much news for a while as when they were +first spotted. Now the people out here are speculating that maybe this +disc thing came from the same source as the _saucers_, after they had a +chance to look us over, study our ecology and return to their base. +Cleveland is the one who started this trend of thought with his +obsession that the flies I reported seeing are an attack on our planet +from someone out in space. + +Commander Clawson, the navy officer, doesn't know what to think. He +won't believe Cleveland until he produces a specimen of the +"fly-from-Mars", but then he turns around and contradicts himself by +declaring a temporary quarantine until he gets further orders from +Honolulu. + +The reporters are damned nuisances. They're turning out reams of Sunday +supplement type stuff and pestering the devil out of Sparks to let them +wire it back, but our radio is now under navy control, too. + +Sure is crowded in the bunk-house with the six additional people, but no +one will sleep outside the screen. + + * * * * * + +May 29--Cleveland thinks he has his specimen. He went out at dawn this +morning and came in before breakfast. He's quit drinking but he hasn't +slept in three days now and looks like hell. I thought he was getting +his fancy imagination out of the bottle, but the soberer he got the more +worried he looked over this "invasion" idea of his. + +Now he claims that his catch is definitely a sample of something new +under our particular sun. He hustled it under a glass and started +classifying it. It filled the bill for the arthropods, class Insecta. It +looked to me, in fact, just like a small, ordinary blowfly, except that +it has green wings. And I mean _green_, not just a little iridescent +color. + +Cleve very gently pulled one wing off and we looked at it under low +power. There is more similarity to a leaf than to a wing. In the bug's +back is a tiny pocket, a sort of reservoir of the green stuff, and +Cleve's dissection shows tiny veins running up into the wings. It seems +to be a closed system with no connection with the rest of the body +except the restraining membrane. + +Cleveland now rests his extraterrestrial origin theory on an idea that +the green stuff is chlorophyll. If it is chlorophyll, either Cleve is +right or else he's discovered a new class of arthropods. In other +respects the critter is an ordinary biting and sucking bug with the +potentials of about a deerfly for making life miserable. The high-power +lens showed no sign of unusual or malignant microscopic life inside or +out of the thing. Cleve can't say how bad a bite would be, because he +doesn't have his entomologist kit with him, and he can't analyze the +secretion from the poison gland. + +The commander has let him radio for a botanist and some micro-analysis +equipment. + +Everyone was so pitched up that Cleve's findings have been rather +anti-climactic. I guess we were giving more credence to the +space-invader theory than we thought. But even if Cleve has proved it, +this fly doesn't look like much to be frightened over. The reporters are +clamoring to be let loose, but the quarantine still holds. + + * * * * * + +June 1--By the time the plane with the botanist arrived we were able to +gather all the specimens of _Tabanidae viridis_ (Cleveland's +designation) that he wanted. Seems like every tenth flying creature you +meet is a green "Tabby" now. + +The botanist helped Cleve and me set up the bio kit, and he confirmed +Cleve's guess. The green stuff is chlorophyll. Which makes Tabby quite a +bug. + +Kyser, the youngest reporter, volunteered to let a Tabby bite him. It +did without too much coaxing. Now he has a little, itchy bump on his +wrist, and he's happily banging away at his typewriter on a story +titled, "I Was Bitten by the Bug from Space!" That was hours ago, and we +haven't learned anything sinister about the green fly except that it +does have a remarkable breeding ability. + +One thing the reporter accomplished: we can go outside the screened +quarters now without wondering about catching space-typhus. + + * * * * * + +June 2--The quarantine was probably a pretty good idea. Cleve has turned +up some dope on Tabby's life cycle that makes us glad all over that we +are surrounded by a thousand miles of salt water. Tabby's adult life is +only a couple of days, but she is viviparous, prolific (some thousand +young at a sitting), and her green little microscopic babies combine the +best survival features of spores and plankton, minus one: they don't +live in salt water. But they do very well almost anyplace else. We have +watched them grow on hot rocks, leaves, in the sand and best of all, +filtered down a little into the moist earth. + +They grow incredibly fast with a little sun, so the chlorophyll is +biologically justified in the life-cycle. This puzzled us at first, +because the adult Tabby turns into a blood-sucking little brute. +Deprived of any organic matter, our bottled specimens die in a short +time, in or out of the sunlight, indicating the green stuff doesn't +provide them with much if any nourishment after they are full-grown. + +Now we are waiting for a supply of assorted insecticides to find the +best controls over the pests. The few things we had on hand worked quite +well, but I guess they aren't forgetting our sad experience with DDT a +few years back. + +The Tabbies now outnumber all the other insects here, and most outside +work has been halted. The little green devils make life miserable +outside the tent-houses. We have built another screened shelter to +accommodate the latest arrivals. We are getting quite a fleet of +amphibian aircraft floating around our lagoon. No one will be allowed to +return until we come up with all the answers to the question of +controlling our insect invasion. + +Cleveland is trying to convince Sellers and the commander that we should +get out and send in atomic fire to blow the whole island into the sea. +They forwarded his suggestion to the U. N. committee which now has +jurisdiction, but they wired back that if the insect is from space, we +couldn't stop other discs from landing on the mainlands. Our orders are +to study the bug and learn all we can. + +Opinion is mixed here. I can't explain the flying disc unless it's +extraterrestrial, but why would an invader choose an isolated spot like +this to attack? Cleve says this is just a "test patch" and probably +under surveillance. But why such an innocuous little fly if they mean +business? + +The newsmen are really bored now. They see no doom in the bugs, and +since they can't file their stories they take a dim view of the +quarantine. They have gotten up an evening fishing derby with the crew +members of the planes. Have to fish after dusk. The Tabbies bite too +often as long as the sun is up. + +Cleve has turned into a different man. He is soft-spoken and intense. +His hands tremble so much that he is conducting most of his work by +verbal directions with the botanist and me to carry them out. When his +suggestion about blowing up the atoll was turned down he quit talking +except to conduct his work. If things were half as ominous as he makes +out we'd be pretty worried. + + * * * * * + +June 4--The spray planes got here and none too soon. We were running out +of drinking water. The Tabbies got so thick that even at night a man +would get stung insane if he went outside the screen. + +The various sprays all worked well. This evening the air is relatively +clear. Incidentally, the birds have been having a feast. Now the gulls +are congregating to help us out like they did the Mormons in the cricket +plague. The spiders are doing all right for themselves, too. In fact, +now that we have sprayed the place the spiders and their confounded webs +are the biggest nuisance we have to contend with. They are getting fat +and sassy. Spin their webs between your legs if you stand still a minute +too long. Remind me of real estate speculators in a land boom, the +little bastardly opportunists. As you might gather, I don't care for +brothers Arachnidae. They make everyone else nervous, too. Strangely, +Cleveland, the entomologist, gets the worst jolt out of them. He'll +stand for minutes at the screen watching them spin their nasty webs and +skipping out to de-juice a stray Tabby that the spray missed. And he'll +mutter to himself and scowl and curse them. It is hard to include them +as God's creatures. + +Cleve still isn't giving out with the opinions. He works incessantly and +has filled two notebooks full of data. Looks to me like our work is +almost done. + + * * * * * + +August 7, Year of our Lord 1956--To whom it will never concern: I can no +longer make believe this is addressed to my friend, Ben Tobin. Cleveland +has convinced me of the implications of our tragedy here. But somehow it +gives me some crazy, necessary ray of hope to keep this journal until +the end. + +I think the real horror of this thing started to penetrate to me about +June 6. Our big spray job lasted less than 24 hours, and on that morning +I was watching for the planes to come in for a second try at it when I +noticed the heavy spider webbing in the upper tree foliage. As I looked +a gull dove through the trees, mouth open, eating Tabbies. Damned if the +webs didn't foul his wings. At first he tore at them bravely and it +looked like he was trying to swim in thin mud--sort of slow motion. Then +he headed into a thick patch, slewed around at right angles and did a +complete flip. Instantly three mammoth spiders the size of my fist +pounced out on him and trussed him up before he could tear loose with +his feet. + +His pitiful squawking was what made me feel that horror for the first +time. And the scene was repeated more and more often. The planes dusted +us with everything they had, and it cut down the Tabbies pretty well +again, but it didn't touch the spiders, of course. + +And then our return radio messages started getting very vague. We were +transmitting Cleve's data hourly as he compiled it, and we had been +getting ordinary chatter and speculation from the Honolulu operator at +the end of our message. That stopped on the sixth of June. Since then, +we've had only curt acknowledgements of our data and sign-offs. + +At the same time, we noticed that complete censorship on news of our +situation and progress apparently hit all the long-wave radio +broadcasts. Up to that time the newscasts had been feeding out a dilute +and very cautious pablum about our fight against Tabby. Immediately when +we noticed this news blind spot Cleve went all to pieces and started +drinking again. + +Cleve, Sellers and I had the lab tent to ourselves, having moved our +bunks in there, so we got a little out of touch with the others. It +wasn't the way Sellers and I liked it, but none of us liked the trip +from lab to living quarters any more, although it was only fifty feet or +so. + +Then Sparks moved in, too. For the same reason. He said it was getting +on his nerves running back and forth to the lab to pick up our outgoing +bulletins. So he shifted the generator, radio gear and all over to a +corner of the lab and brought in his bunk. + +By the tenth of June we could see that the spraying was a losing battle. +And it finally took the big tragedy to drive home the truth that was all +about us already. When the crew got ready to go out to their planes on +the eleventh, everyone except the four of us in the lab tent was drafted +to help clear webs between the tents and the beach. We could hear them +shouting from tent to tent as they made up their work party. We could no +longer see across the distance. Everywhere outside, vision was obscured +by the grayish film of webs on which little droplets caught the tropical +sun like a million tiny mirrors. In the shade it was like trying to peer +through thin milk, with the vicious, leggy little shadows skittering +about restlessly. + +As usual in the morning, the hum of the Tabbies had risen above the +normal jungle buzzing, and this morning it was the loudest we'd heard +it. + +Well, we heard the first screen door squeak open, and someone let out a +whoop as the group moved out with brooms, palm fronds and sticks to +snatch a path through the nightmare of spider webs. The other two doors +opened and slammed, and we could hear many sounds of deep disgust voiced +amid the grunts and thrashings. + +They must have been almost to the beach when the first scream reached +us. Cleve had been listening in fascination, and the awful sound tore +him loose of his senses. He screamed back. The rest of us had to sit on +him to quiet him. Then the others outside all began screaming--not +words, just shattering screams of pure terror, mixed with roars of pain +and anger. Soon there was no more anger. Just horror. And in a few +minutes they died away. + + * * * * * + +Sellers and Sparks and I looked at each other. Cleve had vomited and +passed out. Sparks got out Cleve's whiskey, and we spilled half of it +trying to get drinks into us. + +Sparks snapped out of it first. He didn't try to talk to us. He just +went to his gear, turned on the generator and warmed up the radio. He +told Honolulu what had happened as we had heard it. + +When he finished, he keyed over for an acknowledgment. The operator said +to hold on for a minute. Then he said they would _try_ to dispatch an +air task force to get us off, but they couldn't be sure just when. + +While this was coming in Cleve came to his senses and listened. He was +deadly calm now, and when Honolulu finished he grabbed the mike from +Sparks, cut in the TX and asked, "Are they landing discs on the +mainlands?" + +The operator answered, "Sorry, that's classified." + +"For God's sake," Cleve demanded, "if you are ready to write us off you +can at least answer our questions. Are there any of the green +sonsofbitches on the mainland?" + +There was another little pause, and then, "Yes." + +That was all. Sparks ran down the batteries trying to raise them again +for more answers, but no response. When the batteries went dead he +checked the generator that had kicked off. It was out of gasoline. The +drums were on the beach. Now we were without lights, power and juice for +our other radios. + +We kept alive the first few days by staying half drunk. Then Cleve's +case of whiskey gave out and we began to get hungry. Sparks and Sellers +set fire to one of our straw-ticking mattresses and used it as a torch +to burn their way over to the supply tent about thirty feet away. It +worked fairly well. The silky webs flashed into nothing as the flames +hit them, but they wouldn't support the fire, and other webs streamed +down behind the two. They had to burn another mattress to get back with +a few cases of food. + +Then we dug a well under the floor of our tent. Hit water within a few +feet. But when we cut through the screen floor it cost us sentry duty. +We had to have one person awake all night long to stamp on the spiders +that slipped in around the edge of the well. + +Through all of this Cleveland has been out on his feet. He has just +stood and stared out through the screen all day. We had to force him to +eat. He didn't snap out of it until this morning. + +Sparks couldn't stand our radio silence any longer, so he talked Sellers +into helping him make a dash for the gas drums on the beach. They set +fire to two mattresses and disappeared into the tunnel of burned webs +that tangled and caved in behind them. + +When they were gone, Cleveland suddenly came out of his trance and put a +hand on my shoulder. I thought for a moment he was going to jump me, but +his eyes were calm. He said, "Well, Fred, are you convinced now that +we've been attacked?" + +I said, "It makes no sense to me at all. Why these little flies?" + +Cleve said, "They couldn't have done better so easily. They studied our +ecology well. They saw that our greatest potential enemy was the insect +population, and the most vicious part of it was the spider. _Tabanidae +viridis_ was not sent just to plague us with horsefly bites. Tabby was +sent to multiply and feed the arachnids. There are durable species in +all climates. And if our botanist were still alive he could explain in +detail how long our plant life can last under this spider infestation. + +"Look for yourself," he said pointing outside. "Not only are the regular +pollenizing insects doomed, but the density of those webs will choke out +even wind pollinated grains." + +He stared down our shallow well hole and stamped on a small, black, flat +spider that had slithered under the screening. "I suppose you realize +the spiders got the others. Down here in the tropics the big varieties +could do it by working together. Sellers and Sparks won't return. Sounds +like they got through all right, but they'll be bitten so badly they +won't try to get back." + +And even as he spoke we heard one of the aircraft engines start up. The +sound was muffled as under a bed quilt. + +Cleve said, "I don't blame them. I'd rather die in the sun, too. The +beach should be fairly clear of webs. We've got one mattress left. What +do you say?" + +He's standing there now holding the mattress with the ticking sticking +out. I don't think one torch will get us through. But it will be worth a +try for one more look at the sun. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tabby, by Winston Marks + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TABBY *** + +***** This file should be named 32613.txt or 32613.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/6/1/32613/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan 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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