diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51350-h.zip | bin | 179196 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51350-h/51350-h.htm | 1347 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51350-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 91197 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51350-h/images/illus.jpg | bin | 65546 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51350.txt | 1234 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51350.zip | bin | 21404 -> 0 bytes |
9 files changed, 17 insertions, 2581 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db51951 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #51350 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51350) diff --git a/old/51350-h.zip b/old/51350-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0aae686..0000000 --- a/old/51350-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/51350-h/51350-h.htm b/old/51350-h/51350-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index fd4b0af..0000000 --- a/old/51350-h/51350-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1347 +0,0 @@ -<!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=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of No Substitutions, by Jim Harmon. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1, .ph2, .ph3, .ph4 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph1 { font-size: xx-large; margin: .67em auto; } -.ph2 { font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; } -.ph3 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } -.ph4 { font-size: medium; margin: 1.12em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of No Substitutions, by Jim Harmon - -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/license - - -Title: No Substitutions - -Author: Jim Harmon - -Release Date: March 3, 2016 [EBook #51350] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NO SUBSTITUTIONS *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="401" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>NO SUBSTITUTIONS</h1> - -<p>By JIM HARMON</p> - -<p>Illustrated by JOHNSON</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Galaxy Magazine November 1958.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph3"><i>If it was happening to him, all right, he could<br /> -take that ... but what if he was happening to it?</i></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Putting people painlessly to sleep is really a depressing job. It -keeps me awake at night thinking of all those bodies I have sent to -the vaults, and it interferes to a marked extent with my digestion. I -thought before Councilman Coleman came to see me that there wasn't much -that could bother me worse.</p> - -<p>Coleman came in the morning before I was really ready to face the -day. My nerves were fairly well shot from the kind of work I did as -superintendent of Dreamland. I chewed up my pill to calm me down, -the one to pep me up, the capsule to strengthen my qualities as a -relentless perfectionist. I washed them down with gin and orange -juice and sat back, building up my fortitude to do business over the -polished deck of my desk.</p> - -<p>But instead of the usual morning run of hysterical relatives and -masochistic mystics, I had to face one of my superiors from the -Committee itself.</p> - -<p>Councilman Coleman was an impressive figure in a tailored black tunic. -His olive features were set off by bristling black eyes and a mobile -mustache. He probably scared most people, but not me. Authority doesn't -frighten me any more. I've put to sleep too many megalomaniacs, -dictators, and civil servants.</p> - -<p>"Warden Walker, I've been following your career with considerable -interest," Coleman said.</p> - -<p>"My career hasn't been very long, sir," I said modestly. I didn't -mention that <i>nobody</i> could last that long in my job. At least, none -had yet.</p> - -<p>"I've followed it from the first. I know every step you've made."</p> - -<p>I didn't know whether to be flattered or apprehensive. "That's fine," I -said. It didn't sound right.</p> - -<p>"Tell me," Coleman said, crossing his legs, "what do you think of -Dreamland in principle?"</p> - -<p>"Why, it's the logical step forward in penal servitude. Man has been -heading toward this since he first started civilizing himself. After -all, some criminals <i>can't</i> be helped psychiatrically. We can't execute -them or turn them free; we have to imprison them."</p> - -<p>I waited for Coleman's reaction. He merely nodded.</p> - -<p>"Of course, it's barbaric to think of a prison as a place of -punishment," I continued. "A prison is a place to keep a criminal away -from society for a specific time so he can't harm that society for that -time. Punishment, rehabilitation, all of it is secondary to that. The -purpose of confinement is confinement."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The councilman edged forward an inch. "And you really think Dreamland -is the most humane confinement possible?"</p> - -<p>"Well," I hedged, "it's the most humane we've found yet. I suppose -living through a—uh—movie with full sensory participation for year -after year can get boring."</p> - -<p>"I should think so," Coleman said emphatically. "Warden, don't you -sometimes feel the old system where the prisoners had the diversions -of riots, solitary confinement, television, and jailbreaks may have -made time easier to serve? Do these men ever think they are <i>actually</i> -living these vicarious adventures?"</p> - -<p>That was a question that made all of us in the Dreamland service -uneasy. "No, Councilman, they don't. They know they aren't really -Alexander of Macedonia, Tarzan, Casanova, or Buffalo Bill. They are -conscious of all the time that is being spent out of their real lives; -they know they have relatives and friends outside the dream. They know, -unless—"</p> - -<p>Coleman lifted a dark eyebrow above a black iris. "Unless?"</p> - -<p>I cleared my throat. "Unless they go mad and really believe the dream -they are living. But as you know, sir, the rate of madness among -Dreamland inmates is only slightly above the norm for the population as -a whole."</p> - -<p>"How do prisoners like that adjust to reality?"</p> - -<p>Was he deliberately trying to ask tough questions? "They don't. They -think they are having some kind of delusion. Many of them become -schizoid and pretend to go along with reality while secretly 'knowing' -it to be a lie."</p> - -<p>Coleman removed a pocket secretary and broke it open. "About these new -free-choice models—do you think they genuinely are an improvement over -the old fixed-image machines?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," I replied. "By letting the prisoner project his own -imagination onto the sense tapes and giving him a limited amount of -alternatives to a situation, we can observe whether he is conforming to -society to a larger extent."</p> - -<p>"I'm glad you said that, Walker," Councilman Coleman told me warmly. -"As I said, I've been following your career closely, and if you -get through the next twenty-four-hour period as you have through -the foregoing part of your Dream, you will be awakened at this time -tomorrow. Congratulations!"</p> - -<p>I sat there and took it.</p> - -<p>He was telling <i>me</i>, the superintendent of Dreamland, that my own -life here was only a Dream such as I fed to my own prisoners. It was -unbelievably absurd, a queasy little joke of some kind. But I didn't -deny it.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>If it <i>were</i> true, if I had forgotten that everything that happened was -only a Dream, and if I admitted it, the councilman would know I was -mad. <i>It couldn't be true.</i> Yet—</p> - -<p>Hadn't I thought about it ever since I had been appointed warden and -transferred from my personnel job at the plant?</p> - -<p>Whenever I had come upon two people talking, and it seemed as if I had -come upon those same two people talking the same talk before, hadn't I -wondered for an instant if it couldn't be a Dream, not reality at all?</p> - -<p>Once I had experienced a Dream for five or ten minutes. I was driving -a ground car down a spidery road made into a dismal tunnel by weeping -trees, a dank, lavender maze. I had known at the time it was a Dream, -but still, as the moments passed, I became more intent on the -difficult road before me, my blocky hands on the steering wheel, thick -fingers typing out the pattern of motion on the drive buttons.</p> - -<p>I could remember that. Maybe I couldn't remember being shoved into the -prison vault for so many years for such and such a crime.</p> - -<p>I didn't really believe this, not then, but I couldn't afford to make -a mistake, even if it were only some sort of intemperate test—as I -was confident it was, with a sweet, throbbing fury against the man who -would employ such a jagged broadsword for prying in his bureaucratic -majesty.</p> - -<p>"I've always thought," I said, "that it would be a good idea to show -a prisoner what the modern penal system was all about by giving him a -Dream in which he dreamed about Dreamland itself."</p> - -<p>"Yes, indeed," Coleman concurred. Just that and no more.</p> - -<p>I leaned intimately across my beautiful oak desk. "I've thought that -projecting officials into the Dream and letting them talk with the -prisoners might be a more effective form of investigation than mere -observation."</p> - -<p>"I should say so," Coleman remarked, and got up.</p> - -<p>I <i>had</i> to get more out of him, some proof, some clue beyond the -preposterous announcement he had made.</p> - -<p>"I'll see you tomorrow at this time then, Walker." The councilman -nodded curtly and turned to leave my office.</p> - -<p>I held onto the sides of my desk to keep from diving over and teaching -him to change his concept of humor.</p> - -<p>The day was starting. If I got through it, giving a good show, I would -be released from my Dream, he had said smugly.</p> - -<p>But if this was a dream, did I want probation to reality?</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Horbit was a twitchy little man whose business tunic was the same -rodent color as his hair. He had a pronounced tic in his left cheek. "I -have to get back," he told me with compelling earnestness.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Horbit—Eddie—" I said, glancing at his file projected on my desk -pad, "I can't put you back into a Dream. You served your full time for -your crime. The maximum."</p> - -<p>"But I haven't adjusted to society!"</p> - -<p>"Eddie, I can shorten sentences, but I can't expand them beyond the -limit set by the courts."</p> - -<p>A tear of frustration spilled out of his left eye with the next twitch. -"But Warden, sir, my psychiatrist said that I was unable to cope with -reality. Come on now, Warden, you don't want a guy who can't cope with -reality running around loose." He paused, puzzled. "Hell, I don't -know why I can't express myself like I used to."</p> - -<p>He could express himself much better in his Dream. He had been Abraham -Lincoln in his Dream, I saw. He had lived the life right up to the -night when he was taking in <i>An American Cousin</i> at the Ford Theater. -Horbit couldn't accept history that he had no more life to live. He -only knew that if in his delirium he could gain Dreamland once more, he -could get back to the hard realities of dealing with the problems of -Reconstruction.</p> - -<p>"<i>Please</i>," he begged.</p> - -<p>I looked up from the file. "I'm sorry, Eddie."</p> - -<p>His eyes narrowed, both of them, on the next twitch. "Warden, I can -always go out and commit another anti-social act."</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid not, Eddie. The file shows you are capable of only one -crime. And you don't have a wife any more, and she doesn't have a -lover."</p> - -<p>Horbit laughed. "Your files aren't infallible, Warden."</p> - -<p>With one gesture, he ripped open his tunic and tore into his own flesh. -No, not his own flesh. Pseudo-flesh. He took out the gun that was -underneath.</p> - -<p>"The beamer is made of X-ray-transparent plastic, Warden, but it works -as well as one made of steel and lead."</p> - -<p>"Now that you've got it in here," I said in time with the pulse in my -throat, "what are you going to do with it?"</p> - -<p>"I'm going to make you go down to the vaults and put me back to sleep, -Warden."</p> - -<p>I nodded. "I suppose you can do that. But what's to prevent me from -waking you up as soon as I've taken away your gun?"</p> - -<p>"This!" He tossed a sheet of paper onto my desk.</p> - -<p>"What's this?" I asked unnecessarily. I could read it.</p> - -<p>"A confession that you accepted a bribe to put me back to sleep," -Horbit said, his tic beating out a feverish tempo. "As soon as you've -signed it, I'll use your phone to have it telefaxed to the Registrar of -Private Documents."</p> - -<p>I had to admire the thought behind the idea. Horbit was convinced that -I was only a figment of his unfocused imagination, but he was playing -the game with uncompromising logic, trusting that even madness had hard -and tight rules behind it.</p> - -<p>There was also something else I admired about the plan.</p> - -<p>It could work.</p> - -<p>Once he fed that document to the archives, I would be obligated to help -him even without the gun. My word would probably be taken that I had -been forced to do it at gunpoint, but there would always be doubts, -enough to wreck my career when it came time for promotion.</p> - -<p>Nothing like this had ever happened in my years as warden.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Suddenly, Coleman's words hit me in the back of the neck. <i>If I got -through the next twenty-four hours.</i> This had to be some kind of test.</p> - -<p>But a test for what?</p> - -<p>Had I been deliberately told that I was living only a Dream to see -if my ethics would hold up even when I thought I wasn't dealing with -reality?</p> - -<p>Or if this <i>was</i> only a Dream, was it a test to see if I was morally -ready to return to the real, the earnest world?</p> - -<p>But if it was a test to see if I was ready for reality, did I want to -pass it? My life was nerve-racking and mind-wrecking, but I liked the -challenge—it was the only life I knew or could believe in.</p> - -<p>What was I going to do?</p> - -<p>The only thing I knew was that I couldn't tune in tomorrow and find out.</p> - -<p>The time was <i>now</i>.</p> - -<p>Horbit motioned the gun to my desk set. "Sign that paper."</p> - -<p>I reached out and took hold of his wrist. I squeezed.</p> - -<p>Horbit's screams brought in the guards.</p> - -<p>I picked up the gun from where he had dropped it and handed it to -Captain Keller, my head guard, a tough old bird who wore his uniform -like armor.</p> - -<p>"Trying to force his way back to the sleep tanks," I told Keller.</p> - -<p>He nodded. "Happened before. Back when old man Preston lost his grip."</p> - -<p>Preston had been my predecessor. He had lost his hold on reality like -all the others before him who had served long as warden of Dreamland. -A few had quit while they were still ahead and spent the rest of their -lives recuperating. Our society didn't produce individuals tough enough -to stand the strain of putting their fellow human beings to sleep for -long.</p> - -<p>One of Keller's men had stabbed Horbit's arm with a hypospray to -blanket the pain from his broken wrist, and the man was quieter.</p> - -<p>"I couldn't have done it, Warden," Horbit mumbled drowsily. "I couldn't -kill anybody. Unless it was like that other time."</p> - -<p>"Of course, Eddie," I said.</p> - -<p>I had banked on that, hadn't I, when I made my move?</p> - -<p>Or did I?</p> - -<p>Wasn't it perhaps a matter of knowing that all of it wasn't real and -that the safety cutoffs in even a free-choice model of a Dream Machine -couldn't let me come to any real harm? I had been suspiciously brave, -disarming a dedicated maniac. With only an hour to spare for gym a day, -I could barely press 350 pounds. I was hardly in shape for personal -combat.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, maybe I actually wanted something to go wrong so my -sleep sentence would be extended. Or was it that, in some sane part of -my mind, I wanted release from unreality badly enough to take any risk -to prove that I was morally capable of returning to the real world?</p> - -<p>It was a carrousel and I couldn't catch the brass ring no matter how -many turns I went spinning through.</p> - -<p>I hardly heard Horbit when he half-shouted at me as my men led him from -the room. Glancing up sharply, I saw him straining purposefully against -the bonds of muscle and narcotic that held him.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" width="342" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"You have to send me back now, Warden," he was shrilling. "You have to! -I tried to coerce you with a gun. That's a crime, Warden—you <i>know</i> -that's a crime! I have to be put to sleep!"</p> - -<p>Keller flicked his mustache with a thick thumbnail. "How about that? -You won't let a guy back into the sleepy-bye pads, so he pulls a gun -on you to make you, and <i>that</i> makes him eligible. He couldn't lose, -Warden. No, sir, he had it made."</p> - -<p>My answer to Keller was forming, building up in my jaw muscles, but I -took a pill and it went away.</p> - -<p>"Hold him in the detention quarters," I said finally. "I'm going to -make a study of this."</p> - -<p>Keller winked knowingly and sauntered out of the office, his left hand -swinging the blackjack the Committee had taken away from him a decade -before.</p> - -<p>The problem of what to do with Keller wasn't particularly atypical of -the ones I had to solve daily and I wasn't going to let that worry me. -Much.</p> - -<p>I pressed my button to let Mrs. Engle know I was ready for the next -interview.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They came. There were the hysterical relatives, the wives and mothers -and brothers who demanded that their kin be Awakened because they were -special cases, not really guilty, or needed at home, or possessed of -such awesome talents and qualities as to be exempt from the laws of -lesser men.</p> - -<p>Once in a while I granted a parole for a prisoner to see a dying mother -or if some important project was falling apart without his help, but -most of the time I just sat with my eyes propped open, letting a sea of -vindictive screeching and beseeching wailings wash around me.</p> - -<p>The relatives and legal talent were spaced with hungry-eyed mystics -who were convinced they could contemplate God and their navels -both conscientiously as an incarnation of Gautama. To risk sounding -religiously intolerant, I usually kicked these out pretty swiftly.</p> - -<p>The onetime inmate who wanted back in after a reprieve was fairly rare. -Few of them ever got <i>that</i> crazy.</p> - -<p>But it was my luck to get another the same day, <i>the</i> day for me, as -Horbit.</p> - -<p>Paulson was a tall, lean man with sad eyes. The clock above his sharp -shoulder bone said five till noon. I didn't expect him to take much out -of my lunch hour.</p> - -<p>"Warden," Paulson said, "I've decided to give myself up. I murdered a -blind beggar the other night."</p> - -<p>"For his pencils?" I asked.</p> - -<p>Paulson shifted uneasily. "No, sir. For his money. I needed some extra -cash and I was stronger than he was, so why shouldn't I take it?"</p> - -<p>I examined the projection of his file. He was an embezzler, not a -violent man. He had served his time and been released. Conceivably he -might embezzle again, but the Committee saw to it that temptation was -never again placed in his path. He would not commit a crime of violence.</p> - -<p>"Look, Paulson," I said, a trifle testily, "if you have so little -conscience as to kill a blind old man for a few dollars, where do you -suddenly get enough guilt feelings to cause you to give yourself up?"</p> - -<p>Paulson tried his insufficient best to smile evilly. "It wasn't -conscience, Warden. I never lie awake a minute whenever I kill -anybody. It's just—well, Dreaming isn't so bad. Last time I was Allen -Pinkerton, the detective. It was exciting. A lot more exciting than the -kind of life I lead."</p> - -<p>I nodded solemnly. "Yes, no doubt strangling old men in the streets can -be pretty dull for a red-blooded man of action."</p> - -<p>"Yes," Paulson said earnestly, "it does get to be a humdrum routine. -I've been experimenting with all sorts of murders, but I just don't -seem to get much of a kick out of them now. I'd like to try it from the -other end as Pinkerton again. Of course, if you can't arrange it, I -guess I'll have to go out and see what I can do with, say, an ax." His -eye glittered almost convincingly.</p> - -<p>"Paulson, you know I could have you watched night and day if I thought -you really were a murderer. But I can't send you back to the sleep -vaults without proof and conviction for a crime."</p> - -<p>"That doesn't sound very reasonable," Paulson objected. "Turning loose -a homicidal maniac who is offering to go back to the vaults of his own -free will just because you lack a little trifling proof of his guilt."</p> - -<p>"Sure," I told him, "but I don't want to share the same noose with you. -My job is to keep the innocent out and the convicted in. And I do my -job, Paulson."</p> - -<p>"But you have to! If you don't, I'll have to go out and establish my -guilt with another crime. Do you want a crime on your hands, Warden?"</p> - -<p>I studied his record. There was a chance, just a chance....</p> - -<p>"Do you want to wait voluntarily in the detention quarters?" I asked -him.</p> - -<p>He agreed readily enough.</p> - -<p>I watched him out of the office and rang for lunch.</p> - -<p>The news on the wall video was dull as usual. A man got tired of -hearing peace, safety, prosperity and brotherly love all the time. I -dug into my strained spinach, raw hamburger, and chewed up my white -pill, my red pill, my ebony pill, and my second white pill. The gin and -tomato juice took the taste away.</p> - -<p>I was ready for the afternoon session.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Matrons were finishing the messy job of dragging a hysterical woman -out of the office when Keller came back. He had a stubborn look on his -flattened, red face.</p> - -<p>"New prisoner asking to see you personal," Keller reported. "Told him -no. Okay?"</p> - -<p>"No," I said. "He can see me. That's the law and you know it. He -isn't violent, is he?" I asked in some concern. The room was still in -disarray.</p> - -<p>"Naw, he ain't violent, Warden. He just thinks he's somebody important."</p> - -<p>"Sounds like a case for therapy, not Dreamland. Who does he think he -is?"</p> - -<p>"One of the Committee—Councilman Coleman."</p> - -<p>"Mm-hmm. And who is he really, Captain?"</p> - -<p>"Councilman Coleman."</p> - -<p>I whistled. "What did they nail him on?"</p> - -<p>"Misuse of authority."</p> - -<p>"And he didn't get a suspended for that?"</p> - -<p>"Wasn't his first offense. Still want to see him?"</p> - -<p>I gave a lateral wave of my hand. "Of course."</p> - -<p>My pattern of living—call it my office routine—had been -re-established through the day. I hadn't had a chance to brood much -over the bombshell Coleman had tossed in my lap in the morning, but now -I could think.</p> - -<p>Coleman entered wearing the same black tunic, the same superior -attitude. His black eyes fastened on me.</p> - -<p>"Sit down, Councilman," I directed.</p> - -<p>He deigned to comply.</p> - -<p>I studied the files flashed before me. Several times before, Coleman -had been guilty of slight misuses of his authority: helping his -friends, harming his enemies. Not enough to make him be impeached -from the Committee. His job was so hypersensitive that if every -transgression earned dismissal, no one could hold the position more -than a day. Even with the best intentions, mistakes can be taken for -deliberate errors. Not to mention the converse. For his earlier errors, -Coleman had first received a suspended sentence, then two terminal -sentences to be fixed by the warden. My predecessors had given him -first a few weeks, then a few months of sleep in Dreamland.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Coleman's eyes didn't frighten me; I focused right on the pupils. "That -was a pretty foul trick, Councilman. Did you hope to somehow frighten -me out of executing this sentence by what you told me this morning?"</p> - -<p>I couldn't follow his reasoning. Just how making me think my life was -only a Dream such as I imposed on my own prisoners could help him, I -couldn't see.</p> - -<p>"Warden Walker," Coleman intoned in his magnificent voice, "I'm -shocked. <i>I</i> am not personally monitoring your Dream. The Committee as -a whole will decide whether you are capable of returning to the real -world. Moreover, please don't get carried away. I'm not concerned with -what you do to this sensory projection of myself, beyond how it helps -to establish your moral capabilities."</p> - -<p>"I suppose," I said heavily, "that I could best establish my high moral -character by excusing you from this penal sentence?"</p> - -<p>"Not at all," Councilman Coleman asserted. "According to the facts as -you know them, I am 'guilty' and must be confined."</p> - -<p>I was stymied for an instant. I had expected him to say that I must -know that he was incapable of committing such an error and I must -pardon him despite the misguided rulings of the courts. Then I thought -of something else.</p> - -<p>"You show symptoms of being a habitual criminal, Coleman. I think you -deserve <i>life</i>."</p> - -<p>Coleman cocked his head thoughtfully, concerned. "That seems rather -extreme, Warden."</p> - -<p>"You would suggest a shorter sentence?"</p> - -<p>"If it were my place to choose, yes. A few years, perhaps. But -life—no, I think not."</p> - -<p>I threw up my hands. You don't often see somebody do that, but I did. -I couldn't figure him. Coleman had wealth and power as a councilman -in the real world, but I had thought somehow he wanted to escape to a -Dream world. Yet he didn't want to be in for life, the way Paulson and -Horbit did.</p> - -<p>There seemed to be no point or profit in what he had told me that -morning, nothing in it for him.</p> - -<p>Unless—</p> - -<p>Unless what he said was literally true.</p> - -<p>I stood up. My knees wanted to quit halfway up, but I made it. "This," -I said, "is a difficult decision for me, sir. Would you make yourself -comfortable here for a time, Councilman?"</p> - -<p>Coleman smiled benignly. "Certainly, Warden."</p> - -<p>I walked out of my office, slowly and carefully.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Horbit was sitting in his detention quarters idly flicking through -a book tape on the Civil War when I found him. The tic in his cheek -marked time with every new page.</p> - -<p>"President Lincoln," I said reverently.</p> - -<p>Horbit looked up, his eyes set in a clever new way. "<i>You</i> call me -that. Does it mean I am recovering? You don't mean now that I'm getting -back my right senses?"</p> - -<p>"Mr. President, the situation you find yourself in now is something -stranger and more evil than any madness. I am not a phantom of your -mind—I am a <i>real</i> man. This wild, distorted place is a <i>real</i> place."</p> - -<p>"Do you think you can pull the wool over my eyes, you scamp? Mine eyes -have seen the glory."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir." I sat down beside him and looked earnestly into his -twitching face. "But I know you have always believed in the occult."</p> - -<p>He nodded slowly. "I <i>have</i> often suspected this was hell."</p> - -<p>"Not quite, sir. The occult has its own rigid laws. It is perfectly -scientific. This world is in another dimension—one that is not length, -breadth or thickness—but a real one nevertheless."</p> - -<p>"An interesting theory. Go ahead."</p> - -<p>"This world is more scientifically advanced than the one you come -from—and this advanced science has fallen into the hands of a -well-meaning despot."</p> - -<p>Horbit nodded again. "The Jefferson Davis type."</p> - -<p>He didn't understand Lincoln's beliefs very well, but I pretended to -go along with him. "Yes, sir. He—our leader—doubts your abilities as -President. He is not above meddling in the affairs of an alien world -if he believes he is doing good. He has convicted you to this world in -that belief."</p> - -<p>He chuckled. "Many of my countrymen share his convictions."</p> - -<p>"Maybe," I said. "But many here do not. I don't. I know you must return -to guide the Reconstruction. But first you must convince our leader of -your worth."</p> - -<p>"How am I going to accomplish that?" Horbit asked worriedly.</p> - -<p>"You are going to have a companion from now on, an agent of the leader, -who will pretend to be something he isn't. You must pretend to believe -in what he claims to be, and convince him of your high intelligence, -moral responsibilities, and qualities of leadership."</p> - -<p>"Yes," Horbit said thoughtfully, "yes. I must try to curb my tendency -for telling off-color jokes. My wife is always nagging me about that."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Paulson was only a few doors away from Horbit. I found him with his -long, thin legs stretched out in front of him, staring dismally into -the gloom of the room. No wonder he found reality so boring and -depressing with so downbeat a mood cycle. I wondered why they hadn't -been able to do something about adjusting his metabolism.</p> - -<p>"Paulson," I said gently, "I want to speak with you."</p> - -<p>He bolted upright in his chair. "You're going to put me back to sleep."</p> - -<p>"I came to talk to you about that," I admitted.</p> - -<p>I pulled up a seat and adjusted the lighting so only his face and mine -seemed to float bodiless in a sea of night, two moons of flesh.</p> - -<p>"Paulson—or should I call you Pinkerton?—this will come as a shock, a -shock I know only a fine analytical mind like yours could stand. You -think your life as the great detective was only a Dream induced by some -miraculous machine. But, sir, believe me: that life was <i>real</i>."</p> - -<p>Paulson's eyes rolled slightly back into his head and changed their -luster. "Then <i>this</i> is the Dream. I've thought—"</p> - -<p>"No!" I snapped. "This world is also real."</p> - -<p>I went through the same Fourth Dimension waltz as I had auditioned for -Horbit. At the end of it, Paulson was nodding just as eagerly.</p> - -<p>"I could be destroyed for telling you this, but our leader is planning -the most gigantic conquest known to any intelligent race in the -Universe. He is going to conquer Earth in all its possible futures and -all its possible pasts. After that, there are other planets."</p> - -<p>"He must be stopped!" Paulson shouted.</p> - -<p>I laid my palm on his arm. "Armies can't stop him, nor can fantastic -secret weapons. Only one thing can stop him: the greatest detective who -ever lived. Pinkerton!"</p> - -<p>"Yes," Paulson said. "I suppose I could."</p> - -<p>"He knows that. But he's a fiend. He wants a battle of wits with you, -his only possible foe, for the satisfaction of making a fool of you."</p> - -<p>"Easier said than done, my friend," Paulson said crisply.</p> - -<p>"True," I agreed, "but he is devious, the devil! He plans to convince -you that he also has been removed to this world from his own, even as -you have. He will claim to be Abraham Lincoln."</p> - -<p>"No!"</p> - -<p>"Yes, and he will pretend to find you accidentally and get you to help -him find a way back to his own world, glorying in making a fool of you. -But you can use every moment to learn his every weakness."</p> - -<p>"But wait. I know President Lincoln well. I guarded him on his first -inauguration trip. How could this leader of yours fool me? Does he look -like the President?"</p> - -<p>"Not at all. But remember, the dimensional shift changes physical -appearance. You've noticed that in yourself."</p> - -<p>"Yes, of course," Paulson muttered. "But he couldn't hoax me. My keen -powers of deduction would have seen through him in an instant!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I saw Horbit and Paulson happily off in each other's company. Paulson -was no longer bored by a reality in which he was matching wits with -the first master criminal of the paratime universe, and Horbit was no -longer hopeless in his quest to gain another reality because he knew -he was not merely insane now.</p> - -<p>It was a pair of fantastic stories that no man in his right mind would -believe—but that didn't make them invalid to a brace of ex-Sleepers. -They <i>wanted</i> to believe them. The stories gave them what they were -after—without me having to break the law and put them to sleep for -crimes they hadn't committed.</p> - -<p>They would find out some day that I had lied to them, but maybe by that -time they would have realized this world wasn't so bad.</p> - -<p>Fortunately, I was confident from their psych records that they were -both incapable of ending their little game by homicide, no matter how -justified they might think it was.</p> - -<p>"Hey, Warden," Captain Keller bellowed as I approached my office -door, "when are you going to let me throw that stiff Coleman into the -sleepy-bye vaults? He's still sitting in there on your furniture as -smug as you please."</p> - -<p>"You don't sound as if you like our distinguished visitor very well," I -remarked.</p> - -<p>"It's not that. I just don't think he deserves any special privileges. -Besides, it was guys like him that took away our nightsticks. My boys -didn't like that. Look at me—I'm defenseless!"</p> - -<p>I looked at his square figure. "Not quite, Captain, not quite."</p> - -<p>Now was the time.</p> - -<p>I stretched out my wet palm toward the door.</p> - -<p>Was or was not Coleman telling the truth when he said this life of mine -was itself only a Dream? If it was, did I want to finish my last day -with the right decision so I could return to some alien reality? Or did -I deliberately want to make a mistake so I could continue living the -opiate of my Dream?</p> - -<p>Then, as I touched the door, I knew the only decision that could have -any meaning for me.</p> - -<p>Councilman Coleman didn't look as if he had moved since I had left him. -He was unwrinkled, unperspiring, his eyes and mustache crisp as ever. -He smiled at me briefly in supreme confidence.</p> - -<p>I changed my decision then, in that moment. And, in the next, changed -it back to my original choice.</p> - -<p>"Coleman," I said, "you can get out of here. As warden, I'm granting -you a five-year probation."</p> - -<p>The councilman stood up swiftly, his eyes catching little sparks -of yellow light. "I don't approve of your decision, Warden. Not at -all. Unless you alter it, I'll be forced to convince the rest of the -Committee that your decisions are becoming faulty, that you are losing -your grip just as all your predecessors did."</p> - -<p>My muscles relaxed in a spasm and it took the fresh flow of adrenalin -to get me to the chair behind my desk. I took a pill. I took two pills.</p> - -<p>"Tell me, Councilman, what happened to the offer to release me from -this phony Dream? Now you are talking as if <i>this</i> world was the <i>real</i> -one."</p> - -<p>Coleman parted his lips, but then the planes of his face shifted into -another pattern. "You never believed me."</p> - -<p>"Almost, but not quite. You knew I was on the narrow edge in this kind -of job, but I'm not as far out as you seemed to have thought."</p> - -<p>"I can still wreck your career, you know."</p> - -<p>"I don't think so. That would constitute a misuse of authority, and -the next time you turn up before me, I'm going to give you <i>life</i> in -Dreamland."</p> - -<p>Coleman sat back down suddenly.</p> - -<p>"You don't want life as a Sleeper, do you?" I pursued. "You did want -a relatively <i>short</i> sentence of a few months or a few years. I can -think of two reasons why. The answer is probably a combination of -both. In the first place, you are a joy-popper with Dreams—you don't -want to live out your life in one, but you like a brief Dream every -few years like an occasional dose of a narcotic. In the second place, -you probably have political reasons for wanting to hide out somewhere -in safety for the next few years. The world isn't as placid as the -newscasts sometimes make it seem."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He didn't say anything. I didn't think he had to.</p> - -<p>"You wanted to make sure I made a painfully scrupulous decision in -your case," I went on. "You didn't want me to pardon you completely -because of your high position, but at the same time you didn't want too -long a sentence. But I'm doing you no favors. You get no time from me, -Coleman."</p> - -<p>"How did you decide to do this?" he asked. "Don't tell me you never -doubted. We've all doubted since we found out about the machines: which -was real and which was the Dream? How did you decide to risk this?"</p> - -<p>"I acted the only way I could act," I said. "I decided I had to act as -if my life was real and that you were lying. I decided that because, if -all this were false, if I could have no more confidence in my own mind -and my own senses than that, I didn't give a damn if it <i>were</i> all a -Dream."</p> - -<p>Coleman stood up and walked out of my office.</p> - -<p>The clock told me it was after five. I began clearing my desk.</p> - -<p>Captain Keller stuck his head in, unannounced. "Hey, Warden, there's an -active one out here. He claims that Dreamland compromises His plan for -the Free Will of the Universe."</p> - -<p>"Well, escort him inside, Captain," I said.</p> - -<p>I put away my pills. Solving simple problems such as the new visitor -presented always helped me to relax.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of No Substitutions, by Jim Harmon - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NO SUBSTITUTIONS *** - -***** This file should be named 51350-h.htm or 51350-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/3/5/51350/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -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/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - -</pre> - -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/51350-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/51350-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c9592e3..0000000 --- a/old/51350-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/51350-h/images/illus.jpg b/old/51350-h/images/illus.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index aea60ba..0000000 --- a/old/51350-h/images/illus.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/51350.txt b/old/51350.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0165d88..0000000 --- a/old/51350.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1234 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of No Substitutions, by Jim Harmon - -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/license - - -Title: No Substitutions - -Author: Jim Harmon - -Release Date: March 3, 2016 [EBook #51350] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NO SUBSTITUTIONS *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - NO SUBSTITUTIONS - - By JIM HARMON - - Illustrated by JOHNSON - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Galaxy Magazine November 1958. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - If it was happening to him, all right, he could - take that ... but what if he was happening to it? - - -Putting people painlessly to sleep is really a depressing job. It -keeps me awake at night thinking of all those bodies I have sent to -the vaults, and it interferes to a marked extent with my digestion. I -thought before Councilman Coleman came to see me that there wasn't much -that could bother me worse. - -Coleman came in the morning before I was really ready to face the -day. My nerves were fairly well shot from the kind of work I did as -superintendent of Dreamland. I chewed up my pill to calm me down, -the one to pep me up, the capsule to strengthen my qualities as a -relentless perfectionist. I washed them down with gin and orange -juice and sat back, building up my fortitude to do business over the -polished deck of my desk. - -But instead of the usual morning run of hysterical relatives and -masochistic mystics, I had to face one of my superiors from the -Committee itself. - -Councilman Coleman was an impressive figure in a tailored black tunic. -His olive features were set off by bristling black eyes and a mobile -mustache. He probably scared most people, but not me. Authority doesn't -frighten me any more. I've put to sleep too many megalomaniacs, -dictators, and civil servants. - -"Warden Walker, I've been following your career with considerable -interest," Coleman said. - -"My career hasn't been very long, sir," I said modestly. I didn't -mention that _nobody_ could last that long in my job. At least, none -had yet. - -"I've followed it from the first. I know every step you've made." - -I didn't know whether to be flattered or apprehensive. "That's fine," I -said. It didn't sound right. - -"Tell me," Coleman said, crossing his legs, "what do you think of -Dreamland in principle?" - -"Why, it's the logical step forward in penal servitude. Man has been -heading toward this since he first started civilizing himself. After -all, some criminals _can't_ be helped psychiatrically. We can't execute -them or turn them free; we have to imprison them." - -I waited for Coleman's reaction. He merely nodded. - -"Of course, it's barbaric to think of a prison as a place of -punishment," I continued. "A prison is a place to keep a criminal away -from society for a specific time so he can't harm that society for that -time. Punishment, rehabilitation, all of it is secondary to that. The -purpose of confinement is confinement." - - * * * * * - -The councilman edged forward an inch. "And you really think Dreamland -is the most humane confinement possible?" - -"Well," I hedged, "it's the most humane we've found yet. I suppose -living through a--uh--movie with full sensory participation for year -after year can get boring." - -"I should think so," Coleman said emphatically. "Warden, don't you -sometimes feel the old system where the prisoners had the diversions -of riots, solitary confinement, television, and jailbreaks may have -made time easier to serve? Do these men ever think they are _actually_ -living these vicarious adventures?" - -That was a question that made all of us in the Dreamland service -uneasy. "No, Councilman, they don't. They know they aren't really -Alexander of Macedonia, Tarzan, Casanova, or Buffalo Bill. They are -conscious of all the time that is being spent out of their real lives; -they know they have relatives and friends outside the dream. They know, -unless--" - -Coleman lifted a dark eyebrow above a black iris. "Unless?" - -I cleared my throat. "Unless they go mad and really believe the dream -they are living. But as you know, sir, the rate of madness among -Dreamland inmates is only slightly above the norm for the population as -a whole." - -"How do prisoners like that adjust to reality?" - -Was he deliberately trying to ask tough questions? "They don't. They -think they are having some kind of delusion. Many of them become -schizoid and pretend to go along with reality while secretly 'knowing' -it to be a lie." - -Coleman removed a pocket secretary and broke it open. "About these new -free-choice models--do you think they genuinely are an improvement over -the old fixed-image machines?" - -"Yes, sir," I replied. "By letting the prisoner project his own -imagination onto the sense tapes and giving him a limited amount of -alternatives to a situation, we can observe whether he is conforming to -society to a larger extent." - -"I'm glad you said that, Walker," Councilman Coleman told me warmly. -"As I said, I've been following your career closely, and if you -get through the next twenty-four-hour period as you have through -the foregoing part of your Dream, you will be awakened at this time -tomorrow. Congratulations!" - -I sat there and took it. - -He was telling _me_, the superintendent of Dreamland, that my own -life here was only a Dream such as I fed to my own prisoners. It was -unbelievably absurd, a queasy little joke of some kind. But I didn't -deny it. - - * * * * * - -If it _were_ true, if I had forgotten that everything that happened was -only a Dream, and if I admitted it, the councilman would know I was -mad. _It couldn't be true._ Yet-- - -Hadn't I thought about it ever since I had been appointed warden and -transferred from my personnel job at the plant? - -Whenever I had come upon two people talking, and it seemed as if I had -come upon those same two people talking the same talk before, hadn't I -wondered for an instant if it couldn't be a Dream, not reality at all? - -Once I had experienced a Dream for five or ten minutes. I was driving -a ground car down a spidery road made into a dismal tunnel by weeping -trees, a dank, lavender maze. I had known at the time it was a Dream, -but still, as the moments passed, I became more intent on the -difficult road before me, my blocky hands on the steering wheel, thick -fingers typing out the pattern of motion on the drive buttons. - -I could remember that. Maybe I couldn't remember being shoved into the -prison vault for so many years for such and such a crime. - -I didn't really believe this, not then, but I couldn't afford to make -a mistake, even if it were only some sort of intemperate test--as I -was confident it was, with a sweet, throbbing fury against the man who -would employ such a jagged broadsword for prying in his bureaucratic -majesty. - -"I've always thought," I said, "that it would be a good idea to show -a prisoner what the modern penal system was all about by giving him a -Dream in which he dreamed about Dreamland itself." - -"Yes, indeed," Coleman concurred. Just that and no more. - -I leaned intimately across my beautiful oak desk. "I've thought that -projecting officials into the Dream and letting them talk with the -prisoners might be a more effective form of investigation than mere -observation." - -"I should say so," Coleman remarked, and got up. - -I _had_ to get more out of him, some proof, some clue beyond the -preposterous announcement he had made. - -"I'll see you tomorrow at this time then, Walker." The councilman -nodded curtly and turned to leave my office. - -I held onto the sides of my desk to keep from diving over and teaching -him to change his concept of humor. - -The day was starting. If I got through it, giving a good show, I would -be released from my Dream, he had said smugly. - -But if this was a dream, did I want probation to reality? - - * * * * * - -Horbit was a twitchy little man whose business tunic was the same -rodent color as his hair. He had a pronounced tic in his left cheek. "I -have to get back," he told me with compelling earnestness. - -"Mr. Horbit--Eddie--" I said, glancing at his file projected on my desk -pad, "I can't put you back into a Dream. You served your full time for -your crime. The maximum." - -"But I haven't adjusted to society!" - -"Eddie, I can shorten sentences, but I can't expand them beyond the -limit set by the courts." - -A tear of frustration spilled out of his left eye with the next twitch. -"But Warden, sir, my psychiatrist said that I was unable to cope with -reality. Come on now, Warden, you don't want a guy who can't cope with -reality running around loose." He paused, puzzled. "Hell, I don't -know why I can't express myself like I used to." - -He could express himself much better in his Dream. He had been Abraham -Lincoln in his Dream, I saw. He had lived the life right up to the -night when he was taking in _An American Cousin_ at the Ford Theater. -Horbit couldn't accept history that he had no more life to live. He -only knew that if in his delirium he could gain Dreamland once more, he -could get back to the hard realities of dealing with the problems of -Reconstruction. - -"_Please_," he begged. - -I looked up from the file. "I'm sorry, Eddie." - -His eyes narrowed, both of them, on the next twitch. "Warden, I can -always go out and commit another anti-social act." - -"I'm afraid not, Eddie. The file shows you are capable of only one -crime. And you don't have a wife any more, and she doesn't have a -lover." - -Horbit laughed. "Your files aren't infallible, Warden." - -With one gesture, he ripped open his tunic and tore into his own flesh. -No, not his own flesh. Pseudo-flesh. He took out the gun that was -underneath. - -"The beamer is made of X-ray-transparent plastic, Warden, but it works -as well as one made of steel and lead." - -"Now that you've got it in here," I said in time with the pulse in my -throat, "what are you going to do with it?" - -"I'm going to make you go down to the vaults and put me back to sleep, -Warden." - -I nodded. "I suppose you can do that. But what's to prevent me from -waking you up as soon as I've taken away your gun?" - -"This!" He tossed a sheet of paper onto my desk. - -"What's this?" I asked unnecessarily. I could read it. - -"A confession that you accepted a bribe to put me back to sleep," -Horbit said, his tic beating out a feverish tempo. "As soon as you've -signed it, I'll use your phone to have it telefaxed to the Registrar of -Private Documents." - -I had to admire the thought behind the idea. Horbit was convinced that -I was only a figment of his unfocused imagination, but he was playing -the game with uncompromising logic, trusting that even madness had hard -and tight rules behind it. - -There was also something else I admired about the plan. - -It could work. - -Once he fed that document to the archives, I would be obligated to help -him even without the gun. My word would probably be taken that I had -been forced to do it at gunpoint, but there would always be doubts, -enough to wreck my career when it came time for promotion. - -Nothing like this had ever happened in my years as warden. - - * * * * * - -Suddenly, Coleman's words hit me in the back of the neck. _If I got -through the next twenty-four hours._ This had to be some kind of test. - -But a test for what? - -Had I been deliberately told that I was living only a Dream to see -if my ethics would hold up even when I thought I wasn't dealing with -reality? - -Or if this _was_ only a Dream, was it a test to see if I was morally -ready to return to the real, the earnest world? - -But if it was a test to see if I was ready for reality, did I want to -pass it? My life was nerve-racking and mind-wrecking, but I liked the -challenge--it was the only life I knew or could believe in. - -What was I going to do? - -The only thing I knew was that I couldn't tune in tomorrow and find out. - -The time was _now_. - -Horbit motioned the gun to my desk set. "Sign that paper." - -I reached out and took hold of his wrist. I squeezed. - -Horbit's screams brought in the guards. - -I picked up the gun from where he had dropped it and handed it to -Captain Keller, my head guard, a tough old bird who wore his uniform -like armor. - -"Trying to force his way back to the sleep tanks," I told Keller. - -He nodded. "Happened before. Back when old man Preston lost his grip." - -Preston had been my predecessor. He had lost his hold on reality like -all the others before him who had served long as warden of Dreamland. -A few had quit while they were still ahead and spent the rest of their -lives recuperating. Our society didn't produce individuals tough enough -to stand the strain of putting their fellow human beings to sleep for -long. - -One of Keller's men had stabbed Horbit's arm with a hypospray to -blanket the pain from his broken wrist, and the man was quieter. - -"I couldn't have done it, Warden," Horbit mumbled drowsily. "I couldn't -kill anybody. Unless it was like that other time." - -"Of course, Eddie," I said. - -I had banked on that, hadn't I, when I made my move? - -Or did I? - -Wasn't it perhaps a matter of knowing that all of it wasn't real and -that the safety cutoffs in even a free-choice model of a Dream Machine -couldn't let me come to any real harm? I had been suspiciously brave, -disarming a dedicated maniac. With only an hour to spare for gym a day, -I could barely press 350 pounds. I was hardly in shape for personal -combat. - -On the other hand, maybe I actually wanted something to go wrong so my -sleep sentence would be extended. Or was it that, in some sane part of -my mind, I wanted release from unreality badly enough to take any risk -to prove that I was morally capable of returning to the real world? - -It was a carrousel and I couldn't catch the brass ring no matter how -many turns I went spinning through. - -I hardly heard Horbit when he half-shouted at me as my men led him from -the room. Glancing up sharply, I saw him straining purposefully against -the bonds of muscle and narcotic that held him. - -"You have to send me back now, Warden," he was shrilling. "You have to! -I tried to coerce you with a gun. That's a crime, Warden--you _know_ -that's a crime! I have to be put to sleep!" - -Keller flicked his mustache with a thick thumbnail. "How about that? -You won't let a guy back into the sleepy-bye pads, so he pulls a gun -on you to make you, and _that_ makes him eligible. He couldn't lose, -Warden. No, sir, he had it made." - -My answer to Keller was forming, building up in my jaw muscles, but I -took a pill and it went away. - -"Hold him in the detention quarters," I said finally. "I'm going to -make a study of this." - -Keller winked knowingly and sauntered out of the office, his left hand -swinging the blackjack the Committee had taken away from him a decade -before. - -The problem of what to do with Keller wasn't particularly atypical of -the ones I had to solve daily and I wasn't going to let that worry me. -Much. - -I pressed my button to let Mrs. Engle know I was ready for the next -interview. - - * * * * * - -They came. There were the hysterical relatives, the wives and mothers -and brothers who demanded that their kin be Awakened because they were -special cases, not really guilty, or needed at home, or possessed of -such awesome talents and qualities as to be exempt from the laws of -lesser men. - -Once in a while I granted a parole for a prisoner to see a dying mother -or if some important project was falling apart without his help, but -most of the time I just sat with my eyes propped open, letting a sea of -vindictive screeching and beseeching wailings wash around me. - -The relatives and legal talent were spaced with hungry-eyed mystics -who were convinced they could contemplate God and their navels -both conscientiously as an incarnation of Gautama. To risk sounding -religiously intolerant, I usually kicked these out pretty swiftly. - -The onetime inmate who wanted back in after a reprieve was fairly rare. -Few of them ever got _that_ crazy. - -But it was my luck to get another the same day, _the_ day for me, as -Horbit. - -Paulson was a tall, lean man with sad eyes. The clock above his sharp -shoulder bone said five till noon. I didn't expect him to take much out -of my lunch hour. - -"Warden," Paulson said, "I've decided to give myself up. I murdered a -blind beggar the other night." - -"For his pencils?" I asked. - -Paulson shifted uneasily. "No, sir. For his money. I needed some extra -cash and I was stronger than he was, so why shouldn't I take it?" - -I examined the projection of his file. He was an embezzler, not a -violent man. He had served his time and been released. Conceivably he -might embezzle again, but the Committee saw to it that temptation was -never again placed in his path. He would not commit a crime of violence. - -"Look, Paulson," I said, a trifle testily, "if you have so little -conscience as to kill a blind old man for a few dollars, where do you -suddenly get enough guilt feelings to cause you to give yourself up?" - -Paulson tried his insufficient best to smile evilly. "It wasn't -conscience, Warden. I never lie awake a minute whenever I kill -anybody. It's just--well, Dreaming isn't so bad. Last time I was Allen -Pinkerton, the detective. It was exciting. A lot more exciting than the -kind of life I lead." - -I nodded solemnly. "Yes, no doubt strangling old men in the streets can -be pretty dull for a red-blooded man of action." - -"Yes," Paulson said earnestly, "it does get to be a humdrum routine. -I've been experimenting with all sorts of murders, but I just don't -seem to get much of a kick out of them now. I'd like to try it from the -other end as Pinkerton again. Of course, if you can't arrange it, I -guess I'll have to go out and see what I can do with, say, an ax." His -eye glittered almost convincingly. - -"Paulson, you know I could have you watched night and day if I thought -you really were a murderer. But I can't send you back to the sleep -vaults without proof and conviction for a crime." - -"That doesn't sound very reasonable," Paulson objected. "Turning loose -a homicidal maniac who is offering to go back to the vaults of his own -free will just because you lack a little trifling proof of his guilt." - -"Sure," I told him, "but I don't want to share the same noose with you. -My job is to keep the innocent out and the convicted in. And I do my -job, Paulson." - -"But you have to! If you don't, I'll have to go out and establish my -guilt with another crime. Do you want a crime on your hands, Warden?" - -I studied his record. There was a chance, just a chance.... - -"Do you want to wait voluntarily in the detention quarters?" I asked -him. - -He agreed readily enough. - -I watched him out of the office and rang for lunch. - -The news on the wall video was dull as usual. A man got tired of -hearing peace, safety, prosperity and brotherly love all the time. I -dug into my strained spinach, raw hamburger, and chewed up my white -pill, my red pill, my ebony pill, and my second white pill. The gin and -tomato juice took the taste away. - -I was ready for the afternoon session. - - * * * * * - -Matrons were finishing the messy job of dragging a hysterical woman -out of the office when Keller came back. He had a stubborn look on his -flattened, red face. - -"New prisoner asking to see you personal," Keller reported. "Told him -no. Okay?" - -"No," I said. "He can see me. That's the law and you know it. He -isn't violent, is he?" I asked in some concern. The room was still in -disarray. - -"Naw, he ain't violent, Warden. He just thinks he's somebody important." - -"Sounds like a case for therapy, not Dreamland. Who does he think he -is?" - -"One of the Committee--Councilman Coleman." - -"Mm-hmm. And who is he really, Captain?" - -"Councilman Coleman." - -I whistled. "What did they nail him on?" - -"Misuse of authority." - -"And he didn't get a suspended for that?" - -"Wasn't his first offense. Still want to see him?" - -I gave a lateral wave of my hand. "Of course." - -My pattern of living--call it my office routine--had been -re-established through the day. I hadn't had a chance to brood much -over the bombshell Coleman had tossed in my lap in the morning, but now -I could think. - -Coleman entered wearing the same black tunic, the same superior -attitude. His black eyes fastened on me. - -"Sit down, Councilman," I directed. - -He deigned to comply. - -I studied the files flashed before me. Several times before, Coleman -had been guilty of slight misuses of his authority: helping his -friends, harming his enemies. Not enough to make him be impeached -from the Committee. His job was so hypersensitive that if every -transgression earned dismissal, no one could hold the position more -than a day. Even with the best intentions, mistakes can be taken for -deliberate errors. Not to mention the converse. For his earlier errors, -Coleman had first received a suspended sentence, then two terminal -sentences to be fixed by the warden. My predecessors had given him -first a few weeks, then a few months of sleep in Dreamland. - - * * * * * - -Coleman's eyes didn't frighten me; I focused right on the pupils. "That -was a pretty foul trick, Councilman. Did you hope to somehow frighten -me out of executing this sentence by what you told me this morning?" - -I couldn't follow his reasoning. Just how making me think my life was -only a Dream such as I imposed on my own prisoners could help him, I -couldn't see. - -"Warden Walker," Coleman intoned in his magnificent voice, "I'm -shocked. _I_ am not personally monitoring your Dream. The Committee as -a whole will decide whether you are capable of returning to the real -world. Moreover, please don't get carried away. I'm not concerned with -what you do to this sensory projection of myself, beyond how it helps -to establish your moral capabilities." - -"I suppose," I said heavily, "that I could best establish my high moral -character by excusing you from this penal sentence?" - -"Not at all," Councilman Coleman asserted. "According to the facts as -you know them, I am 'guilty' and must be confined." - -I was stymied for an instant. I had expected him to say that I must -know that he was incapable of committing such an error and I must -pardon him despite the misguided rulings of the courts. Then I thought -of something else. - -"You show symptoms of being a habitual criminal, Coleman. I think you -deserve _life_." - -Coleman cocked his head thoughtfully, concerned. "That seems rather -extreme, Warden." - -"You would suggest a shorter sentence?" - -"If it were my place to choose, yes. A few years, perhaps. But -life--no, I think not." - -I threw up my hands. You don't often see somebody do that, but I did. -I couldn't figure him. Coleman had wealth and power as a councilman -in the real world, but I had thought somehow he wanted to escape to a -Dream world. Yet he didn't want to be in for life, the way Paulson and -Horbit did. - -There seemed to be no point or profit in what he had told me that -morning, nothing in it for him. - -Unless-- - -Unless what he said was literally true. - -I stood up. My knees wanted to quit halfway up, but I made it. "This," -I said, "is a difficult decision for me, sir. Would you make yourself -comfortable here for a time, Councilman?" - -Coleman smiled benignly. "Certainly, Warden." - -I walked out of my office, slowly and carefully. - - * * * * * - -Horbit was sitting in his detention quarters idly flicking through -a book tape on the Civil War when I found him. The tic in his cheek -marked time with every new page. - -"President Lincoln," I said reverently. - -Horbit looked up, his eyes set in a clever new way. "_You_ call me -that. Does it mean I am recovering? You don't mean now that I'm getting -back my right senses?" - -"Mr. President, the situation you find yourself in now is something -stranger and more evil than any madness. I am not a phantom of your -mind--I am a _real_ man. This wild, distorted place is a _real_ place." - -"Do you think you can pull the wool over my eyes, you scamp? Mine eyes -have seen the glory." - -"Yes, sir." I sat down beside him and looked earnestly into his -twitching face. "But I know you have always believed in the occult." - -He nodded slowly. "I _have_ often suspected this was hell." - -"Not quite, sir. The occult has its own rigid laws. It is perfectly -scientific. This world is in another dimension--one that is not length, -breadth or thickness--but a real one nevertheless." - -"An interesting theory. Go ahead." - -"This world is more scientifically advanced than the one you come -from--and this advanced science has fallen into the hands of a -well-meaning despot." - -Horbit nodded again. "The Jefferson Davis type." - -He didn't understand Lincoln's beliefs very well, but I pretended to -go along with him. "Yes, sir. He--our leader--doubts your abilities as -President. He is not above meddling in the affairs of an alien world -if he believes he is doing good. He has convicted you to this world in -that belief." - -He chuckled. "Many of my countrymen share his convictions." - -"Maybe," I said. "But many here do not. I don't. I know you must return -to guide the Reconstruction. But first you must convince our leader of -your worth." - -"How am I going to accomplish that?" Horbit asked worriedly. - -"You are going to have a companion from now on, an agent of the leader, -who will pretend to be something he isn't. You must pretend to believe -in what he claims to be, and convince him of your high intelligence, -moral responsibilities, and qualities of leadership." - -"Yes," Horbit said thoughtfully, "yes. I must try to curb my tendency -for telling off-color jokes. My wife is always nagging me about that." - - * * * * * - -Paulson was only a few doors away from Horbit. I found him with his -long, thin legs stretched out in front of him, staring dismally into -the gloom of the room. No wonder he found reality so boring and -depressing with so downbeat a mood cycle. I wondered why they hadn't -been able to do something about adjusting his metabolism. - -"Paulson," I said gently, "I want to speak with you." - -He bolted upright in his chair. "You're going to put me back to sleep." - -"I came to talk to you about that," I admitted. - -I pulled up a seat and adjusted the lighting so only his face and mine -seemed to float bodiless in a sea of night, two moons of flesh. - -"Paulson--or should I call you Pinkerton?--this will come as a shock, a -shock I know only a fine analytical mind like yours could stand. You -think your life as the great detective was only a Dream induced by some -miraculous machine. But, sir, believe me: that life was _real_." - -Paulson's eyes rolled slightly back into his head and changed their -luster. "Then _this_ is the Dream. I've thought--" - -"No!" I snapped. "This world is also real." - -I went through the same Fourth Dimension waltz as I had auditioned for -Horbit. At the end of it, Paulson was nodding just as eagerly. - -"I could be destroyed for telling you this, but our leader is planning -the most gigantic conquest known to any intelligent race in the -Universe. He is going to conquer Earth in all its possible futures and -all its possible pasts. After that, there are other planets." - -"He must be stopped!" Paulson shouted. - -I laid my palm on his arm. "Armies can't stop him, nor can fantastic -secret weapons. Only one thing can stop him: the greatest detective who -ever lived. Pinkerton!" - -"Yes," Paulson said. "I suppose I could." - -"He knows that. But he's a fiend. He wants a battle of wits with you, -his only possible foe, for the satisfaction of making a fool of you." - -"Easier said than done, my friend," Paulson said crisply. - -"True," I agreed, "but he is devious, the devil! He plans to convince -you that he also has been removed to this world from his own, even as -you have. He will claim to be Abraham Lincoln." - -"No!" - -"Yes, and he will pretend to find you accidentally and get you to help -him find a way back to his own world, glorying in making a fool of you. -But you can use every moment to learn his every weakness." - -"But wait. I know President Lincoln well. I guarded him on his first -inauguration trip. How could this leader of yours fool me? Does he look -like the President?" - -"Not at all. But remember, the dimensional shift changes physical -appearance. You've noticed that in yourself." - -"Yes, of course," Paulson muttered. "But he couldn't hoax me. My keen -powers of deduction would have seen through him in an instant!" - - * * * * * - -I saw Horbit and Paulson happily off in each other's company. Paulson -was no longer bored by a reality in which he was matching wits with -the first master criminal of the paratime universe, and Horbit was no -longer hopeless in his quest to gain another reality because he knew -he was not merely insane now. - -It was a pair of fantastic stories that no man in his right mind would -believe--but that didn't make them invalid to a brace of ex-Sleepers. -They _wanted_ to believe them. The stories gave them what they were -after--without me having to break the law and put them to sleep for -crimes they hadn't committed. - -They would find out some day that I had lied to them, but maybe by that -time they would have realized this world wasn't so bad. - -Fortunately, I was confident from their psych records that they were -both incapable of ending their little game by homicide, no matter how -justified they might think it was. - -"Hey, Warden," Captain Keller bellowed as I approached my office -door, "when are you going to let me throw that stiff Coleman into the -sleepy-bye vaults? He's still sitting in there on your furniture as -smug as you please." - -"You don't sound as if you like our distinguished visitor very well," I -remarked. - -"It's not that. I just don't think he deserves any special privileges. -Besides, it was guys like him that took away our nightsticks. My boys -didn't like that. Look at me--I'm defenseless!" - -I looked at his square figure. "Not quite, Captain, not quite." - -Now was the time. - -I stretched out my wet palm toward the door. - -Was or was not Coleman telling the truth when he said this life of mine -was itself only a Dream? If it was, did I want to finish my last day -with the right decision so I could return to some alien reality? Or did -I deliberately want to make a mistake so I could continue living the -opiate of my Dream? - -Then, as I touched the door, I knew the only decision that could have -any meaning for me. - -Councilman Coleman didn't look as if he had moved since I had left him. -He was unwrinkled, unperspiring, his eyes and mustache crisp as ever. -He smiled at me briefly in supreme confidence. - -I changed my decision then, in that moment. And, in the next, changed -it back to my original choice. - -"Coleman," I said, "you can get out of here. As warden, I'm granting -you a five-year probation." - -The councilman stood up swiftly, his eyes catching little sparks -of yellow light. "I don't approve of your decision, Warden. Not at -all. Unless you alter it, I'll be forced to convince the rest of the -Committee that your decisions are becoming faulty, that you are losing -your grip just as all your predecessors did." - -My muscles relaxed in a spasm and it took the fresh flow of adrenalin -to get me to the chair behind my desk. I took a pill. I took two pills. - -"Tell me, Councilman, what happened to the offer to release me from -this phony Dream? Now you are talking as if _this_ world was the _real_ -one." - -Coleman parted his lips, but then the planes of his face shifted into -another pattern. "You never believed me." - -"Almost, but not quite. You knew I was on the narrow edge in this kind -of job, but I'm not as far out as you seemed to have thought." - -"I can still wreck your career, you know." - -"I don't think so. That would constitute a misuse of authority, and -the next time you turn up before me, I'm going to give you _life_ in -Dreamland." - -Coleman sat back down suddenly. - -"You don't want life as a Sleeper, do you?" I pursued. "You did want -a relatively _short_ sentence of a few months or a few years. I can -think of two reasons why. The answer is probably a combination of -both. In the first place, you are a joy-popper with Dreams--you don't -want to live out your life in one, but you like a brief Dream every -few years like an occasional dose of a narcotic. In the second place, -you probably have political reasons for wanting to hide out somewhere -in safety for the next few years. The world isn't as placid as the -newscasts sometimes make it seem." - - * * * * * - -He didn't say anything. I didn't think he had to. - -"You wanted to make sure I made a painfully scrupulous decision in -your case," I went on. "You didn't want me to pardon you completely -because of your high position, but at the same time you didn't want too -long a sentence. But I'm doing you no favors. You get no time from me, -Coleman." - -"How did you decide to do this?" he asked. "Don't tell me you never -doubted. We've all doubted since we found out about the machines: which -was real and which was the Dream? How did you decide to risk this?" - -"I acted the only way I could act," I said. "I decided I had to act as -if my life was real and that you were lying. I decided that because, if -all this were false, if I could have no more confidence in my own mind -and my own senses than that, I didn't give a damn if it _were_ all a -Dream." - -Coleman stood up and walked out of my office. - -The clock told me it was after five. I began clearing my desk. - -Captain Keller stuck his head in, unannounced. "Hey, Warden, there's an -active one out here. He claims that Dreamland compromises His plan for -the Free Will of the Universe." - -"Well, escort him inside, Captain," I said. - -I put away my pills. Solving simple problems such as the new visitor -presented always helped me to relax. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of No Substitutions, by Jim Harmon - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NO SUBSTITUTIONS *** - -***** This file should be named 51350.txt or 51350.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/3/5/51350/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -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/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/51350.zip b/old/51350.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c122a57..0000000 --- a/old/51350.zip +++ /dev/null |
