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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59693 ***
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+                             THE OLD GOAT
+
+                        BY CHARLES L. FONTENAY
+
+                 _It's been said that the soul is the
+                  form that makes the body--which may
+                 just_ possibly _explain what happened
+                 on that fatal day at Ivy College...._
+
+           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+             Worlds of If Science Fiction, February 1957.
+         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+Dr. Angstrom was known to his students and many of his colleagues on
+the faculty as "The Old Goat." Very appropriate, that name. He had the
+disposition of a goat with dyspepsia, he had the cold blue eyes of a
+goat, he had the waggling whiskers of a goat. Perhaps it's in memory of
+Dr. Angstrom that Ivy College has a goat for its mascot now.
+
+Dr. Angstrom was even more goatish than usual that day last summer when
+half a dozen top scientists in the field gathered to see his preview
+experiment on matter transmission of a live animal. He had been working
+hard for weeks on the transmitter and keeping up classes at the same
+time, which did not improve his disposition. Besides, he had a real
+goat for an experimental animal, and goats are notoriously hard on the
+nervous system.
+
+This particular animal, at the moment the scientists entered, was
+straining at his rope, trying to get a mouthful of a tablecloth which
+graced a nearby table full of jars and retorts. Failing this, the goat
+exhibited that typical lack of discrimination in matters edible and
+began to chew on his rope.
+
+I felt a little out of place among all these giant brains. My reason
+for being there was that I had been serving, during my college career,
+as sort of a factotum and fetch-and-carry man for Dr. Angstrom, and
+I was to take notes for him. I had acquired considerable affection
+for The Old Goat. Maybe that's one reason I hate to see his great
+scientific work kept under wraps because people still insist it's
+dangerous.
+
+"I have proved to my own satisfaction that the matter transmitter
+works," Dr. Angstrom told the assembled scientists. "I have made a
+number of transmissions of inanimate matter. In theory, it should work
+just as well for animate objects and I have invited you to be present
+at the first test of this theory.
+
+"I need not go into detail with you about the basic theory of matter
+transmission. The transmitter itself picks up the atomic and
+electronic 'image' of the object inside it, much as a television
+scanner picks up a scene, except that it is done in three dimensions
+instead of two. This is made possible by the four-dimensional element
+which is the heart of the apparatus and was made available to us
+through recent intra-atomic research.
+
+"The receiver picks up the image as a television receiver does, except
+again in three dimensions. The matter is not duplicated because the
+transmitter strips down the object within it as it transmits.
+
+"Now the question that has been raised by some scientists about the
+transmission of animate objects is whether the 'soul' or 'life force'
+can be transmitted. I consider this question ridiculous, and will prove
+it so. It is my contention that such 'life force' is not a thing apart
+from the physical shell."
+
+The matter transmitter was a large closed cylinder on one side of the
+room. The receiver was a similar cylinder on the other. Both were
+raised slightly from the floor.
+
+As sort of _hors d'oeuvre_, Dr. Angstrom transmitted a large chunk of
+lead across the room, then a glass jar. In each case, the object was
+placed in the transmitter and a moment later removed from the receiver
+across the room. There was no possible way for it to have been moved
+across the intervening space except by broadcast transmission.
+
+"As you see," said Dr. Angstrom, "I have eliminated the necessity for
+a switch by building the switch into the door of the transmitter. As
+soon as the door is closed, transmission occurs. Now we shall send our
+animate object."
+
+He untied the goat and, with some difficulty, hauled the animal by its
+collar to the transmitter. There the goat balked and Dr. Angstrom,
+having got its head through the door, got behind it and shoved
+heartily, hanging onto the edge of the door so he could shut it quickly
+when the goat was inside.
+
+As goats will, the goat suddenly changed its mind and leaped into the
+transmitter. Caught off balance, Dr. Angstrom fell in after it--and the
+door, given a last frantic jerk, slammed on them both.
+
+There were gasps of horror and alarm from the scientists, but I held
+up my hand to calm them.
+
+"There's no danger, gentlemen," I said. "It's just as well this way. I
+happen to know that Dr. Angstrom's next step, after proving to you with
+the goat that animate objects could be transmitted, was to prove that
+human beings also could be transmitted. He planned to be his own first
+subject."
+
+With serene confidence, I went to the receiver and threw open the door.
+Just as I had anticipated, the goat leaped out, unharmed, followed by
+Dr. Angstrom.
+
+"I told you animate objects could be transmitted successfully," said
+the goat triumphantly.
+
+"Baa!" said Dr. Angstrom, and began eating the tablecloth.
+
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+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Goat, by Charles L. Fontenay
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59693 ***