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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..bd00af6 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68836 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68836) diff --git a/old/68836-0.txt b/old/68836-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e41e5b5..0000000 --- a/old/68836-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1664 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of And we sailed the mighty dark, by -Frank Belknap Long - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: And we sailed the mighty dark - -Author: Frank Belknap Long - -Release Date: August 25, 2022 [eBook #68836] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND WE SAILED THE MIGHTY -DARK *** - - - - - - AND WE SAILED the MIGHTY DARK - - A Complete Novelet By - - FRANK BELKNAP LONG - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Startling Stories, March 1948. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - CHAPTER I - - _Graveyard of Old Ships_ - - -You've seen them--the old ships, the battered and ruined ships, the -ships that have made one voyage too many, and are so ancient you can't -remember their names or the reputations they've earned for themselves -in deep space! Sure you've seen them! Black hulls stretching away for -miles into the red sunset--ships that can be bought for a song if -you've a song left in you and still want to go adventuring on the rim -of the System. - -Do you know how it feels not to have a song left in you? Do you know -how it feels to be a legend without substance--the lad who broke the -bank at Callisto City and walked out two days later without a penny to -his name? - -Pete knew and he kept harping on it. "If you'd quit that first night, -Jim, instead of pushin' it all back across the board!" - -There was awe in his eyes when he looked at me, and then he'd look at -the ships, and I could guess what he was thinking. Good old Pete! When -he shut his eyes I was still wearing a golden halo. - -Lucky Jim Sanders, strong as an ox and coming along fine--born lucky -and loving life too much to worry his head about the future. But when -life rises up and wallops you and lays you out flat you forget the -good times and your own recklessness, and the inner strength and the -laughing girls, and you just want to sit down and never get up! - -I'd met Pete down in the valley, sitting on a rock. He didn't want to -get up either. He wanted to croak. - -A wiry little cuss with blue eyes and a fringe of beard on his chin -that had just grown there and stayed. Clothes that made him look like -he was trying to spin a cocoon about himself. - -You bet he had a story! A hard luck story that would have made Sinbad -look like a quiet family man. But when I like someone straight off, his -past is just so much water over the dam if he wants it that way. - -I never did find out the truth about Pete--right up until we parted. -I had a lot of fun kidding him about it. "Rip Van Winkle slept twenty -years, but you slept a thousand, Pete! You crawled out of an old ship -and went to sleep in the desert. - -"Did you get tired, Pete? Of the roar and the dust and the night--the -crocus-flower faces of Venusians, the gopher-girls of Mars and the -pinwheeling stars--of the night and the dust and the roar? Couldn't -you take it in the old days, Pete, when ships kept bursting apart at -the seams and there was an ant hill on Callisto called a colony, with -twenty living dead men in it? - -"The ant hill's a city now, Pete. And you're still Pete, still around, -and I'm just cutting my wisdom teeth on my first streak of hard luck! -Hard like a biscuit, Pete! A dog biscuit flung to a dog!" - - * * * * * - -I was raving even more wildly as I stared out over that graveyard of -old ships, feeling sorry for myself, envying Pete because he didn't -seem to care much whether he lived or died. - -But I was wrong. Pete did care. - -"If we could just get back to Earth, Jim!" he pleaded. "If we could -smell the green earth again, after it's been rainin'! If we could just -get a whiff o' the sea!" - -I swung on him. "What chance have we? You don't value dough so much -when you've got it to toss around. But when you're stony broke you get -to feeling like a stone. Weighed down, petrified! You can't do anything -without dough!" - -Pete made a clucking sound. "All right! You got trimmed, Jim--and bad! -But last night you had another streak of luck!" - -I stared at him, hard. - -He gestured toward the old ships. "There's a yardmaster down there with -a list of ships a yard long. If you want to buy a ship you just stand -around twiddling your thumbs until he notices you. If he sizes you up -right--you get a bargain!" - -"You mean if he thinks you've got some dough, but not much?" - -"Uh huh!" Pete winked. "But if he thinks you've got a lot of dough you -could get a bargain too. Without shelling out a cent!" - -It didn't take me long to get what Pete was driving at. I'd taken a -beating, and everyone knew it. But everyone knew my face too! I was -still Lucky Jim Sanders, wearing a golden halo! - -Pete's eyes were shining like Halley's Comet when I got through -coaching him. It was his idea, but when I tossed it back at him wrapped -up in dialogue the sparkle took his breath away! - -We went down into the valley where the ships stood row on row, shouting -and reeling as though we'd been celebrating for a week. The yardmaster -heard us before he saw us. But he saw us quickly enough. - -His lips tightened as he came striding toward us--a bushy-browed, -hard-bitten old barnacle with a crusty stare. I could tell the exact -instant when he recognized me. His jaw dropped about six inches; then -closed with a click. - -"Now!" I whispered to Pete. - -Pete raised his voice. "You're higher than a kite!" he shouted. "Why -buy a flying coffin when you could own the sweetest little job in the -System?" - -"What I do with my dough is my own business!" I shouted back. "They -knew how to build ships in the old days!" - -"I tell you--you're crazier than a diving loon!" - -"Sure I'm crazy!" I agreed. "Only a baby with curvature of the brain -could win back a cool eighty thousand on one spin of the wheel! But I'm -sane enough not to want to thin out my take!" - -"You'd flip a coin for one o' those flyin' coffins?" - -"Why not?" I roared belligerently. "I've got five thousand that says I -know what I'm doing! Five thousand against--the right to pick my own -ship!" - -I tripped myself then, deliberately by accident. I went sprawling over -Pete's out-thrust right leg. When I picked myself up I must have looked -as helpless as a new-born babe, because the yardmaster was gripping my -arm and refusing to let go. - -"You were saying, mister?" - -He was seeing the halo, of course, the rim of gold about my head. I was -pretty sure he wouldn't even ask me to cover my bet. - -The copper piece on my palm seemed to fascinate him. He couldn't take -his eyes from it. - -"What will it be?" I asked. - -He swallowed hard. "Heads!" he said. - -I flipped the coin. - -"Tails it is!" I told him. - -He stared at my palm suspiciously. I grinned and handed him the copper -piece. There was nothing wrong with it. - -"I never cheat!" I said. - -I walked over to where she stood collecting rust in the red -Jupiterlight--the ship I'd picked out. She wasn't so ancient as old -ships go. She must have been built around 2097, just a hundred years -before I'd won her. We were riding hard on your luck! - -"Got a navigator's license?" the yardmaster asked. - -"Sure! Want to see it?" - - * * * * * - -He shook his head. "Never mind! Take her and get going before I start -telling myself I'm the System's prize sap!" - -The control room was as musty as a tomb, and when I switched on the -cold lights our shadows looked like black widow spiders dangling from -the overhead. - -"She'll never hold together!" Pete groaned. - -"Don't be like that!" I chided. "All of these ships have to pass a -rigid inspection." - -Pete blinked. "You sure of that?" - -"Well ... maybe the inspectors skip a ship here and there," I conceded. - -I went over her from stem to stern, to make sure she wouldn't fly about -when I gave her the gun. While I inspected the atomotors Pete kept -giving me uneasy looks, like he was dying to ask me where I'd picked up -my knowledge of ghost ships, but was scared I'd say something to shake -his confidence in me. - -I wasn't worried. I can be awfully sure of myself when I'm around -anything mechanical, from an inch-high rheostat to the guide lines on a -sixty-foot control board. - -The ship had the right feel about her. I'd have trusted my life to her, -but Pete kept sniffing like he could smell the odor of charred flesh. -To make him feel better I thumped him on the back and told him not to -worry, that he'd appreciate what a fine ship she was when he saw the -green Earth filling the viewpane, misty with spring rains. He'd lived -alone so long he'd become suspicious of everything. - -Eaten up by his own fears, tormented by shadows, an old man before his -time. Some of my confidence seemed to seep into him as I talked. He -didn't look so old when he looked up. - -He was sitting on a bulkhead chronometer, which meant that time was -ticking away right under him. He was a dead ringer for old Father Time -himself, but for an instant as he returned my stare there was a strange -look in his eyes. As though he'd shrugged off his woes, and was gazing -straight back across the years at his lost youth. - -"Maybe you're right, Jim," he said. "When do we take off?" - -"Before the yardmaster visiphones Callisto City to find out if I really -did make a killing last night!" I told him. - -I was standing close to the control board, my thumb on the oscillatory -circuit. There are two ways of starting an atomotor. You can test out -the strength of the circuit by letting the power drum through the board -before you give the dial a full turn. - -Or you can switch the power on full blast, reaching peak in ten seconds -and letting the ship do its own testing. I liked the second way best. A -ship that can't absorb the shock of a take-off at sixty gravities will -almost certainly fly apart in space. - -I switched the power on full strength. From the corner of one eye -I had a brief, soul-satisfying glimpse of Pete stiffening in utter -consternation. A mean trick to play on a pal? No. I don't think so. I -wasn't asking him to take the plunge alone. I was sharing the risks, -and I was doing him a favor. - -When you're taking a swim you just prolong the agony by sitting around -on a diving raft wriggling your toes in the icy water. It's best to -jump right in, and get it over with. - -We must have been twenty thousand feet up when Pete's startled face -slipped out of focus, and I found myself on my hands and knees on a -deck that was revolving like a centrifuge. Cathode rays were darting -in all directions, and everything in the path of the rays glowed with -fluorescent light. I knew that the ship was X-raying itself while fog -condensed on the negative ions of its hull and dissolved into sizzling -steam. - -I didn't try to get up immediately. I waited for the deck to stop -gyrating and the strength to return to my wrists. My right arm was -numb and tingling. When I raised my hands I could see the bones in -my fingers. All pilots have skeleton hands when they take off. It's a -second-order cathode ray effect which vanishes after a minute or two. -It doesn't mean a thing. Not if you're sound of mind and limb, and the -ship you've picked is spaceworthy. - -But Pete seemed to take a different view. He was staring at me in -horror. I knew what he was thinking. If I was pinch-hitting for -Death--I'd got off to a good start. - -He, too, was on his knees on the deck, his shoulders swaying, his face -turned toward me in bitter reproach. - -Suddenly his eyes blazed with anger. "Son, I ought to get up and bust -you one on the jaw! If you'd warned me, I could have braced myself!" - -I hadn't thought of that. But before I could tell him how sorry I felt, -he was chuckling! - -"It's all right, Jim! No bones broken! She sure took it beautifully, -eh?" - -"She sure did!" I muttered. - -I watched him get to his feet and go reeling toward the viewpane. Mr. -Chameleon was the name for him! He could change his moods so fast, his -mental outlook must have been as dazzling as a display of fireworks. - -A guy like that just couldn't hold a grudge. If you poked him in the -ribs he'd blacken your eye and give you his last ounce of tobacco. Good -old Pete! Insatiably curious he was too, like a little boy at a circus -side show. - -He just couldn't wait to see how far up we were, had to look out the -viewpane before his brain stopped spinning. - -I was satisfied just to sit on the deck and watch him. - -For an instant he stared out, his face pressed to the pane, the pulse -in his forehead swelling visibly. - -Then, abruptly, he turned and flashed me a startled look. "Jehoshaphat, -Jim! We--we can't be travelin' that fast! Callisto's just a little -crawlin' red gnat in the middle o' the sky!" - - - - - CHAPTER II - - _Planet Shift_ - - -I stared at him uneasily. He was talking like an idiot. I knew that -Jupiter itself would have to dwindle to a small disk before Callisto -could become a pin point of light. When you take off from a little moon -the glare of its primary magnifies its surface features. For about one -hour Callisto would look like a black orchid dwindling in a blaze of -light. Then it would whip away into emptiness to reappear as a glowing -dot. - -"Jupiter looks funny too!" Pete muttered. "Mighty funny! Like a big -slice o' yellow cheese with golden bands around it, spreadin' out--" - -That did it! I got up and walked to the viewpane, slapping my hands -together explosively. I had to let off steam in some way. My steadiness -surprised me. My eyelids felt a little heavy, but there was nothing -wrong with my space legs. - -When I started out I didn't see the red gnat. But I saw something else, -something that gave me a tremendous shock. What I saw was a great -ringed planet swimming in a golden haze! - -When I turned my face must have given Pete a jolt. He gulped so hard I -was afraid he'd swallow his Adam's apple and choke on the rind. - -"What is it, Jim?" he asked huskily. "You look like you'd seen a ghost!" - -I laughed without amusement. "I did! A ghost planet! And we're not -moving away from it! It's getting larger!" - -Pete stared. "Sure you feel okay, son?" - -"Not too good!" I said, looking him straight in the eye. "Take another -look!" - -I gestured toward the viewpane. "Go on! See for yourself!" - -Pete stood for a long time with his face pressed to the pane, his -shoulders hunched. I thought he was never going to turn. - -A crazy thought flashed through my mind. I'd seen men in a state of -collapse on their feet, their faces blanched, unable to move or speak. -Had Pete been shocked speechless? - -I was sweating as he turned. His face was blanched, all right, but he -could speak, and did! - -"I've got to sit down, Jim!" he choked out. - -He reeled to the bulkhead chronometer, sat down and started tugging at -his chin. After a moment he whipped his hand from his face. - -"You're an educated man, Jim," he said. "I'm not! If you tell me we're -headin' straight for Saturn, I won't call you a liar!" - -"You won't?" - -"No, Jim. Say a guy brings you a watch. The hands go in the wrong -direction, the tickin's so loud it drives you nuts. 'Buddy,' he says, -'if you want to know what time it isn't, this watch will tell you.' - -"Well, say you've got to know the time, say your life depends on it. -What do you do, Jim? Lift him up by his seat and toss him out the door? -Shucks, no! You listen while he talks. You ask him to take the watch -apart and show you what makes it tick." - -"Fine!" I said. "So I'm the man with the watch! I put Saturn outside -the viewpane just to torture you!" - -He looked so miserable I felt sorry for him. "I didn't mean it that -way, Jim," he apologized. "But I'm plumb scared! Somethin's happenin' -to space! Somethin' ghastly awful! You must have some idea what's -causin' it!" - -"Don't kid yourself!" I told him. "A wild guess isn't an idea." - -"Let me be the judge o' that, son!" - -"Well--all right. Maybe we're seeing Saturn as a magnified -image--through some kind of magnifying space drift. A big, floating -lens in space, made up of refractive particles spread out in a cloud. A -lens with more magnifying power than the five-hundred inch! It isn't as -haywire as it sounds, if that's any comfort to you!" - -"But no pilot's ever seen anything like that, Jim!" Pete protested, -with unanswerable logic. - -He tapped his brow. "It could be in here, Jim! That's what I'm afraid -of! A sickness of the mind--" - -"Don't start that!" I warned, striking my knee with my fist. "Don't -even think it!" - -My voice was getting out of control. I was yelling at him, and there -was no reason for it. - -He had every right to his opinion. - -"What are we goin' to do, Jim?" - -"Check up first!" I snapped. "If I have to use every instrument on the -ship--" - - * * * * * - -I stopped. The door into the pilot room had opened and closed, and a -clumping figure was coming toward us across the deck. - -I heard Pete suck in his breath. I couldn't seem to draw a deep breath. -There was a physical quality of eeriness in the sight which took me by -the throat. - -The figure was wearing a light spacesuit, vacuum-sealed at the neck. A -transparent headpiece bulged out above the flexible garment, a great -glistening globe encasing the head of the most beautiful woman I'd ever -seen. - -Her hair was piled in a tumbled mass of gold on her head and there was -a delicate flush on her skin, visible through the glowing sphere. She -was staring at me without seeming to see me, her cheeks shadowed by -long, convex lashes. - -Some women mature into loveliness; others have it thrust upon them. -I didn't tell myself that straight off. I was too stunned to make -up pretty speeches. But later I realized that her hair, eyes, and -complexion were as near perfect as they could be without looking -artificial. - -Her suit was cumbersome, and it weighed her down. But there was -something weird, spine-chilling about the way she moved. She walked -with a smooth flow of motion, almost as if she were skating across the -deck. - -I was a little afraid of what Pete might do. He was shaking with -excitement, and I could see that he was keyed up to a dangerous pitch. -Doubting his own sanity and mine to boot! - -But I wasn't going to be stampeded into fear! I'd been under a -tremendous strain, sure. But I knew a flesh-and-blood woman when I saw -one! The girl was real! The pulse beating in her forehead was real and -so were her eyes and hair! We hadn't made even a cursory search of the -ship. There were plenty of dark little corners where she could have -concealed herself. - -Suddenly I saw that she'd glided past Pete and was facing away from us, -her hands extended toward the control board. A little to the left of -the board there was a dull flickering on the bulkhead. - -For an instant I mistook the weird glimmer for a shadow cast by her -swaying shoulders. I thought she was just reaching for the board to -steady herself. - -Then I saw her hands moving on the board and knew that a gravity panel -was swinging open on the void! I leapt toward her with a warning cry. - -If she heard me she gave no sign. You can hear a shout through a thin -helmet, but she didn't even turn. She just darted sideways and then -forward--straight through the panel into the utter black emptiness of -space! A flash of light--and she was gone! - -The panel closed so soundlessly you could have heard a pin drop. - -I had trouble with my breath again. For an instant my throat had an -iron brace around it. Then I remembered that she hadn't gone out -unprotected into the void. Her suit would keep the cold out, and the -magnetic suction disks on her wrists and knees would enable her to -cling to the hull, to crawl along it. But if she'd gone out to do a -repair job on the hull, she had the kind of courage you read about in -the Admiralty Reports. - -If I had it, it was glazed over with a thick coating of ice. I stood -braced against the bulkhead, the old Adam in me chanting a hymn to -life, a hymn to the Sun, and feeling glad I wasn't in her shoes. - -What a way for a guy to feel! - -Then something happened to me. I saw her face again, deep in my mind, -and it seemed to be pleading with me. It wasn't just a pleading. There -was music and wonder in it! - -I could hear the pound of surf on a golden beach, and the sun was -warming the sea and the air, and she was in my arms and I was kissing -her. - -Then it was night and the palms were bending lower over us, and the -moonlight was so bright I could hardly see the web of radiance around -her head. But I could hear the rise and fall of paddles, and someone -singing far off over the water. We were running down the beach toward -the pounding surf. Water was glistening on her tanned arms and I could -hear her laughter. - -Pete had leapt to his feet. He was staring at me, sweat standing out on -his forehead in great, shining beads. - -"What did I tell you, son?" he groaned. "A sickness of the mind--" - -His voice thickened, broke. - -The terror in his stare made me realize how close to the brink I was. -His refusal to believe the evidence of his eyes was an attempt at -rationalization, but it wasn't a good attempt. - -He was assuming the worst, taking his own madness for granted. - - * * * * * - -I grabbed him by both shoulders. "You're as sane as I am!" I yelled, -shaking him. "That girl was here when we took over! A stowaway! What's -so crazy about that?" - -Pete's throat moved as he swallowed. "Let go of me, Jim! Believe what -you want! I'm going crazy--and tryin' to explain it won't stop it!" - -"Common sense will stop it! Did you notice that vacuum suit she was -wearing? It's as ancient as the ship! It must have come out of the -ship's locker!" - -Pete stared at me until I lost my head. "She's out on the hull alone! -You hear? Alone, in a suit that won't give her much protection! If her -irons slip she'll be done for! She's either stark staring mad or--" - -My thoughts came so fast I had to stop. But my mind raced on. Was she -actually mad? Or had she crawled out of hiding to find herself in a -ship that was fast becoming a droning death trap? - -A woman hiding in the dark, with her senses abnormally alert, would -be quick to get the awful feel of a ship about to fly asunder. She -wouldn't have to guess. She'd know! - -A girl pilot? Well, why not? There were plenty of girl pilots working -their fingers to the bone to earn passage money in Callisto City. -Stowing away would be a short cut to freedom and the green hills of -Earth. You couldn't blame a girl for hating the dust and roar of an -atomic power plant, or the drudgery of a mining job. - -I could picture her succumbing to blind panic, ripping a suit down from -the locker, and crawling out into the void to tighten the gravity bolts -on the naked hull with a magneto-wrench. - -"Jeebies always try to kill themselves!" Pete croaked. "You get to -pitying them! Your head swells and you get all choked up with pity! And -that's when you know you've blown your top!" - -I answered that with a voice that rang hard. "All right, have it your -own way! She's a jeebie! But I'm not going to stand here pitying her! -I'm going to help her!" - -I never quite knew how I reached the locker, with imaginary eyes -glittering at me from every corner of the ship. Pete's wild talk hadn't -really shaken me. All loose talk about the mind is dangerous, of -course. But I wasn't scared of anything I couldn't see. - -The idea of a haunted ship seemed silly to me. Almost laughable. But -I had to admit the ship had the feel of occupancy about it. I half -expected that a second helmeted figure would pop out of the shadows -before I could go to the aid of the first. - -My palms were sweating as I struggled into a spacesuit that hadn't been -occupied for at least a century. There were five suits hanging in the -locker, and I picked the biggest one. It was a little too small for me, -but I couldn't complain much on that score. It kinked a little, then -drew tight over the shoulders, but nothing ripped when I moved. - - * * * * * - -I must have looked grotesque in that old, stiff, freakish garment, all -bulges and creases. A big flaring dome over my head, feet like metal -pancakes clattering on the deck. - -But I wasn't concerned with my appearance, just my oxygen intake. - -Back by the gravity panel, Pete tried desperately to stop me. His bony -hands went out, plucked at my wrists. I couldn't hear him babbling -outside the helmet. But I could see his shining eyes and moving lips. -His eyes were tortured, pleading. - -He might as well have been pleading with a man a hundred miles away--or -a century dead! - -I was deaf to reason. I was feeling merely a blind instinct to help a -woman who had taken on a man's job. - -Pete's eyes followed me as I went clumping toward the control board, -and I felt a sudden tug of pity for him. If I never came back, he'd -miss me a lot. Good old Pete! To make him feel better I flashed him a -smile and waved him back. - -"Sit down and relax, old-timer!" I said. "I'm just going out for a -little breath of fresh air!" - -It was just as well he couldn't hear me. He was real touchy about -space. You had to treat it with respect. The lads who sailed the seas -of Terra before Pete started reaching for the stars with his little -pink hands had what it takes, and their lingo is the spaceman's lingo -still. But to Pete spacemen were a notch higher in every respect. -Nothing riled him more than loose talk about reading the weather by the -glass or taking a squint at the North Star. Or going out for a breather -on deck! - -I thought of all that as I went out. Oh, Pete was a special character -if ever there was one. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - _The Mirage Pup_ - - -I crawled out into the void on my hands and knees, clinging to the -rough hull, digging with my magnetic irons into the thick coating of -meteoric dust and grit and rubble the ship had picked up in deep space. - -Brother, it's all yours if you want it! A wind that isn't a wind -tearing at you; the stars blazing in a black pit, and a million light -years staring you in the face, doing your thinking for you, warning -you that forever is too long a time to go somersaulting through space -shrouded in a blanket of ice. - -You feel your grip slipping, know it can't slip, and dig, dig with your -knees. You look up and there's the flame of a rocket jet missing you -by inches. You look down and there's nothing to maim or sear you--just -utter blackness. Believe me, that's worse! - -I stared straight across the hull through a spiraling splotch of blue -flame toward the stern rocket jets. The flame whorl came from diffuse -matter friction. Tiny particles hit the ship, bounced off and set up an -electrical discharge in the ether. - -It's cool and it doesn't burn. If you keep your head you can crawl -right through it. - -I started crawling the instant I saw her. She was clinging to the hull -between two flaring rocket jets, her magneto-wrench rising and falling -in the unearthly glare. - -A swaying figure wrapped in blue light, her face looking pinched and -white and faraway through the globe on her shoulders. The helmet itself -looked small against the vast backdrop of space. But as I crawled -toward her it kept getting larger--like an expanding soap bubble. I had -the crazy feeling that there was a big crowd down below, waiting to -jeer or cheer! - -I threw the illusion off and let my irons carry me back and forth in -a crazy kind of jig. The magnetics had to be guided by my muscles and -my will. It was twist and turn, go limp and brace hard, relax and edge -forward. - -Suddenly the ship lurched, giving off a blinding flare. I knew it was -just a stress we'd hit--one of those little pockets in space where the -diffuse matter of the void is sucked dry by energies that don't show -up on the instruments. - -Ships pass through stresses fast. But when the flare vanished I was -dangling head downwards from the hull, my right knee attached to solid -metal, the rest of me hugging empty space. - -Furiously I slammed my left knee upward, twisted my body forward, -and got a firm grip on the hull again with my wrist irons. It was a -contortionist feat which brought the blood rushing to my ears. When -my head stopped spinning I was staring into the face of the girl I'd -risked my neck to save in an inferno of ice and flame. - -We were so close our helmets almost touched. But she wasn't looking at -me. Six feet from my swaying knees she was making frantic gestures with -her magneto-wrench, her face a twisting mask of horror. Her body was -twisting too and she seemed to be fighting off something I couldn't see! - -Frantic with alarm, I strained forward and threw my right arm about her. - -At least, I thought I did! But my iron-weighted wrist seemed to pass -right through her! It whipped through emptiness to strike the hull with -an impact that sent a stab of pain darting up my arm to my shoulder. -The pain was agonizing for an instant; then it fell away. - -At the same instant I saw the light. It was faint at first, a pale -spectral glow that haloed her helmet and lapped in concentric waves -about her knees. It wasn't a flame whorl. It gave off iridescent glints -and grew swiftly brighter, turning from pale blue to dazzling azure. -Then it became a weaving funnel of light that spurted from the hull -with a low humming sound. - -The humming was unearthly. It penetrated my helmet and became a shrill -inward keening with a quality hard to define. Imagine a butterfly of -sound struggling fiercely to escape from a sonic chrysalis. It was a -little like that, a kind of shrill fluttering on the tonal plane. - - * * * * * - -The light did not remain attached to the hull. It shot up into the void -and became a vertical shaft of downsweeping radiance. From its summit -pulsing ripples ascended, giving it the aspect of a waterfall. Then it -became a prism, flashing with all the colors of the spectrum. - -A man may awaken from a nightmare, stare for an instant into the -darkness and try to rationalize his fears. But this was no nightmare! -As I stared up the iridescence was replaced by a leaf-screen effect -shot through with crimson filaments. Shadows appeared amidst the -ripples, straight and jagged lines of some tenuous substance that -seemed to mold itself into a pattern. - -It may have been imagination. But for the barest instant as I stared at -the incredible shape of radiance a face seemed to look out at me. A fat -face, bloated, toadlike, supported by a shadowy neck that swelled out -beneath it like the hood of a rearing cobra! - -Suddenly my scalp crawled and my helmet seemed to contract, pressing -against my skull with a deadly firmness. An electrolube! - -I knew instinctively that the flame shape was an electrolube--a -devouring entity of the void which snaked through deep space close to -Saturn's orbit, a whiplash shape of pure force with a hellish affinity -for life, its negative charge seeking a positive charge with which to -unite! - -It was itself alive, the ultimate life form, sentient and polarized, an -energy eater that sucked nourishment from electrical impulses. - -And there was just enough positive electricity in the human body -to give the horror the power to destroy by slashing down in swift, -flesh-destroying stabs that could cut through a spacesuit like a knife -through jelly! - -Flesh and blood had no chance against it. - -For one awful instant I looked straight into the eyes of a girl I -couldn't save, an instant as long as a lifetime to the poor fool who -loved her! No, I'm not raving! Do you think I'd have crawled out into -the everlasting night of space if I hadn't known there could be no -other woman for me? - -[Illustration: I'd never have crawled out into that everlasting night -of space for any other woman.] - -She didn't wait for the horror to slice down. She jerked her knees, -tore her wrists free and shut her eyes. Then she was gone. She didn't -even move her lips to say good-by. Space was her bridegroom. It took -her and she was gone. - -I looked away. Not caring how soon death came, knowing I'd be with her -if I just stayed with the ship. - -I waited for the anguish to hit me. I waited for a full minute. Two. I -shut my eyes as she had done. - -When I opened them the electrolube had vanished. And when I looked -down, the void had grown brighter. Gone was the great ringed disk of -Saturn. - -Just little frosty stars glittered far-off, mocking. And another -planet that was mottled pink and yellow. A ringless planet, swimming in -a murky haze, with eleven little moons spinning around it--eight on one -side, three on the other. One of the moons was red. - -Jupiter is bigger than Saturn, bigger than a thousand Earths. And I was -moving away from it on a droning ship's hull, a tiny fleck of matter of -no importance in that awful sweep of space. But when I dragged myself -back through the gravity panel into the ship my brain was bursting with -a despair so vast it seemed to dwarf the vastness of space. - -Pete was standing just inside the panel, holding something furry and -black in his arms that squirmed in the cold light. When he saw me he -uttered a smothered oath. - -I tugged at my helmet, got it off. - -"Jim, lad, I was afraid you was a goner!" Pete choked. "You went -chasing mirages on the hull. Mirages, Jim!" - -My jaw dropped. I stood stock still, staring at him, unable to believe -my eyes. - -"It's all my fault!" Pete groaned. "Me and my rantings! Jeebies my -foot! Soon as you went out I got to thinkin'. There's a beastie could -do it, a little black, furry beastie called a mirage pup! - -"Sired on Pluto, breedin' on Pluto in the dark an' the cold! Squattin' -on its haunches, projectin' thoughts! Makin' 'em look solid and real! -Sounds too, though you don't hear the sounds with your ears! - -"His memories, Jim! Things he's seen himself, long, long ago! We -been makin' pets of 'em so long we take 'em for granted. All the old -skippers had 'em on their ships." - -"Oh, Eternity!" I choked. - -"They can make thoughts look as solid as a cake of ice, Jim! -Three-dimensional, like! I figured it this way. There was a girl, -about a hundred years ago, took a ship--this ship--out to Saturn! And -somethin' happened to the ship. So she went out to fix what was wrong -and maybe never came back. Her gravity irons could have slipped--" - -"No," I said quickly. "She let go deliberately because--it was better -that way!" - - * * * * * - -I was staring at the little beast. Take a rabbit, puff it out, paint -it black, and give it two huge, spectral, tarsierlike eyes! Give it -a purple snout, devilishly long claws. Breed it with a full-blooded -Scotch Terrier and you'll get--a Plutonian mirage pup! - -The little beast whined, then yapped and wagged its tail at me. Its -ear stood straight up. It nuzzled Pete's palm. - -Mirage pups could coat everything over with evanescent images that -looked real. They could change the outside as well as the inside of a -ship. They could put Saturn beyond the viewpane, instead of Jupiter. -Put a girl in the ship who lived once, engrave an image of that girl on -your heart so that getting it off would mean a tearing anguish. - -Yes, a mirage pup could do that because it would have a long memory. -Mirage pups lived to a ripe old age. Slowed metabolism. The cold and -dark of Pluto. Long periods of hibernation on that frigid planet while -they dreamed the long, long dreams of their youth. And projected those -dreams on awakening. Dreams, memories, buried loyalties. - -If a master had been kind they'd never forgot! If a mistress had been -kind-- - -The wetness at the corners of my eyes was making me blink. - -So the mirage pup had followed her out on the hull, long ago. -Crouched down perhaps, shivering, its paws covering its face. And the -electrolube hadn't touched it! A small body, a small positive charge! -No nourishment for an electrolube in a mirage pup! - -Then it had crawled back, whining and hopeless and lost, back into the -ship. Hibernation in a dark corner! For one hundred years! - -"I found him in the tube room!" Pete grunted. "He was hidin' behind one -o' the atomotors, coiled up like a porcupine. But I knew he was just -playin' possum! I could see his eyes--blazin' out at me in the dark!" - -"Yeah," I said, gruffly. - -"You want to hold him, Jim?" - -Pete extended the little beast toward me, but I shied away. I couldn't -bear to touch anything that she had touched! Later, maybe, when I got -over the shock. - -"Guess we'll never know how the ship found its way to the graveyard!" -Pete said. "Say, do you suppose if we're patient he'll project a -picture of what happened? Maybe he'll start fillin' the tub with -mirages again!" - -"They only do it when they're scared!" I told him. "And lonely and -miserable! He's not scared now! He likes us, worse luck!" - -"He was homesick, eh?" - -"That's right! For his past, for his mistress." I looked at Pete. "As -for the ship, I can make a pretty good guess. Ship went into an orbit -of its own, close to Saturn. It drifted around for about a century. -Then a salvage crew found it and towed it to Callisto City to be sold -as junk. It has happened before, plenty of times!" - -"Never with a mirage pup inside, I bet!" - -"Maybe not!" - -I turned away, feeling all hollow inside, like one of those -caterpillars that pupae wasps sting to death and feast on until they're -nothing but husks. Grave bait, lying in a tunnel deep in the earth. - -I knew the only chance I had of crawling out of the tunnel into the -sunlight again was to give the little beast a kick. If he got lonely -and frightened, he'd see her again! He'd start dreaming about her, and -she'd come to life again, as a memory in the brain of a mirage pup! - -But I never could be that cruel. - -"What's the matter, Jim?" Pete asked, concerned. "You look sick!" - -I wheeled on him. "I didn't tell you what happened outside. If you open -your trap again--I will!" - -Pete avoided my eyes. "I didn't ask you, Jim!" - - * * * * * - -I knew then that the pup had projected two sets of images, one in -the control room for Pete's benefit and one outside for me to live -through. A mirage pup could generate images like an electronic circuit, -duplicate them in all directions, pile them up in layers. Automatically -without thinking, to ease its own wretchedness. - -Pete had been able to follow me as I crawled along the hull. He knew -what I was going through. - -I moved away from him, sat down on the chronometer and cradled my head -in my arms. - -Dusk. - -Dawn. - -Dusk. - -Dawn. - -You don't see the sun rise and set inside a spaceship, but that's how -the days seem to pass. Your mind grows a little darker when it's time -for the sun to set on Earth. Lightens when it rises. - -Dusk. Dawn. Dusk. Dawn. Three days. Four. But for me it was just dusk. -My mind didn't lighten at all. - -How does it feel to love a woman a century dead? If you'd asked me, I -couldn't have told you. Because she wasn't dead to me. I kept seeing -her pale, beautiful face and everywhere I turned time seemed to stretch -away into endless vistas. If I'd been on Earth, in New York or Chicago, -I could have gone out and lost myself in the crowds and the glitter. -But it wouldn't have helped. - -I turned and looked at the sleeping mirage pup. He lay on my bunk with -his legs coiled up under him, his moist nose resting on his folded -forelimbs. He looked like a prize puppy at a pet show, but what a puppy! - -In his unfathomable animal mind was that strange capacity for -projecting illusions, of making them seem three-dimensional and real. -He could blur the viewpane, fill it with unreal star fields, draw -shapes of energy from the void. - -But he couldn't change his memories by slicklying them over with the -pale cast of thought! At bottom he was just a dumb beast. He had the -mind of a puppy, a mind that chased fantasms while asleep through a -labyrinth of dark alleyways. He twitched and shook while asleep, just -like an excitable mutt. - -Little agitated noises came from him. His nostrils quivered, his -tail vibrated and he rolled over in his sleep and started scratching -himself. Thump. Thump. Thump. - -What was he thinking about? A girl in a garden with the moonlight in -her hair? Stooping to pat him or feeding him yummies? He'd rolled over -and was lying with his forelimbs stretched straight out, as though he -were reaching for the moon. - -But I knew he wasn't seeing the moon. He was reaching for something -I couldn't see or hear or touch, something older than the human race -maybe. - -I was hating him furiously when Pete came into the compartment. He -grabbed my arm and started shaking me. - -"Jim! Jim, lad! Get a grip on yourself! We'll be hittin' the Heaviside -in a minute!" - -"What do I care?" I lashed out. "Go away, can't you? Blow!" - -"Now, now, son!" he pleaded. "That's no way to act! You can't bring her -back! And if you keep eatin' your heart out--" - -"Get out!" I shouted, heaving myself from the bunk. "Get out--_get -out!_" - -"Don't be a fool, Jim! You've got to get rid of that grievin' look! -The skyport Johnnies are funny that way! You walk out of this ship -with your eyes burnin' holes in your face, and they'll think you got -somethin' to hide! - -"Look at yourself in a mirror! Whiskers sproutin' out of your chin, -face sooty as a tube fittin' and no fight left in you! You got to get -back the look of a fightin' fury, son! A lad who can stand up to a port -clearance inspector and say 'Me an' my buddy, here, we're headin' for -that gate, and if you want to stay healthy--'" - -"What?" - -"Jehoshaphat!" Pete groaned. "He don't even hear me!" - -I stood up. "Okay, Pete!" I told him. "I heard you! Most of it, anyway. -And I'll get myself spruced up. How close are we to the Heaviside?" - -He heaved a high sigh of relief. "We'll hit it in half an hour, Jim!" - -He grinned. "He's got to have a harness, Jim. I'll rig up a harness for -him!" - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - _New York Kid_ - - -We made as good a landing as could be expected, considering the way my -hands shook when I brought her down. - -Right smack in the middle of La Guardia field! It's the biggest skyport -in the System, and you can't miss it if you're a New York kid, with the -lay of the land and the navigation lights burned into your brain from -boyhood. - -One of my own ancestors had brought a primitive skyplane down on that -field during the Second World War, when the First Atomic Age was just -starting. - -They'd built the field up quite a bit in the intervening years--built -it in revolving stations toward the Heaviside. You could make contact -with the atomic clearance floats at sixty-five miles, and pick up a -guiding beam from a rocket glider twenty miles above the grounded -runways. - -But you can't build the past out of existence. There were ghosts all -over that field, grease monkeys in khaki jeans, and taking care of jet -planes that had passed into limbo before the first space crate took off -for Mars. At least, that's the way Pete seemed to feel, and I could -sympathize with his screwball occultism. - -I had a feeling that my own ancestor was down there, shading his eyes, -watching me make a perfect twenty-point landing. His eyes shining with -pride because I made such a good job of bringing her in. What he didn't -know wouldn't hurt him. - -I thought we'd have trouble with the clearance officials, but when I -came striding out of the gravity port with the mirage pup clinging to -my right shoulder I was greeted with nothing but merriment. Tickle a -man's sense of humor if you want him to do you a favor! - -Just seeing that crazy little beast put everyone in the best of humor. -A tall, young-old lad with puckered brows and graying hair, his skin -bleached by irradiation particles, took one swift look at my pilot's -license, ignored Pete's jittery stare, and gave the mirage pup a pat -that set his tail wagging. - -"What's his name?" somebody asked. - -I thought fast. "Flipover!" I said. - -"Boy, he's quite a pup! Cute! Don't see many of them since the new -quarantine regulations went into effect. They have to be defleaed too -often!" - -"All the little critters jumped off him in deep space!" I said. - -The officer chuckled. "Okay, my friend! You can pass through. The first -gate on your right!" - -We were through the gate and ascending a ramp toward a skyline that -brought a lump to my throat in less time than you could say, "Flip -Flipover!" - -Little old New York hadn't changed much in ten years. The white -terrific flare that spiraled up from its heart was as bright as the day -I'd first seen it. Broadway--and a New York kid is hooked for life. -He'll always come back to it. - -But now I didn't want to head for the bright lights. I wanted to find -a lodging close to the harbor lights, where I could look out over the -bay at night and--remember things. Her face just before she let go, not -really seeing me. Her eyes-- - -Pete was shaking his arm. "Set him down, Jim! Put him into that harness -I rigged up. Give him a chance to stretch his legs!" - -"Sure, why not?" I grunted. - -I set Flipover down on the ramp, fitted Pete's makeshift harness to his -shoulders, and wrapped the leash-end around my wrist. - -The little beast started tugging right off. - -"Looks like he knows his way around!" Pete chuckled. "Maybe New York -was his home town!" - -That didn't sound funny to me. But a few minutes later I was taking it -seriously. The crazy pup had led us deep into the labyrinth of dark -streets which bordered the skyport, and there was no stopping him. I -had all I could do to keep up with him. - -Pete's eyes were shining with excitement. "Give him his head!" he urged. - -"What do you think I'm doing?" I yelled. - -From the houses lights streamed out. Cornerset windows flamed in the -dusk and people moved across shadowed panes. Music came from beyond -the windows, loud, tumultuous. Someone was playing Milhaud's Bal -Martiniquais on an old-fashioned percussion instrument with shallow -keys. - -I liked it. Give me color in music, polychromes. Give me color in life. -The flare of rocket jets, the blackness of space, a spinning wheel in a -big crystal casino-- - -I'd stay one week on Earth! Then I'd be off again and never come back. -I'd bury myself in the farthest-- - -"Give him his head!" Pete yelled. - - * * * * * - -Flipover had swerved and was heading for a narrow walk leading to a -fairly large circular house surrounded by a garden plot bright with -yellow flowers. There was a fountain in the middle of the garden and it -was sending up jets of spray which drenched Flipover as he tore down -the path. - -I almost let go of the leash as I played it out. The house had the -look of age about it but not of neglect. We were within thirty feet -of it when the front door banged open and a big, angry-faced man came -striding out. - -Down the path he came, straight toward me. A sunbronzed giant of a lad -built like a cargo wrestler, but with keen, probing eyes behind glasses -that had slipped far down on his nose. - -When he saw me he stopped dead. Then he adjusted his glasses and peered -at me wordlessly, his hands knotting into fists. - -Flipover was straining furiously, but I drew him in quickly and -returned the big lug's stare. - -"So you're the guy!" he roared. - -It happened so quickly I was taken by surprise. His fist lashed out, -caught me on the jaw. - -I felt Flipover tear loose as I went crashing backwards, my head filled -with forked lightning. - -He jumped me the instant I hit the ground. About three tons of -flailing weight crashed down on my shoulders, pinning me to the walk. - -As deliberately as I could, I raised my right knee, whammed it into his -stomach and threw one arm about his neck in a strangle lock he couldn't -break. - -"That's showin' him, son!" I heard Pete yell. - -I tried not to break his glasses. But I had to be a little rough -because he wanted to play rough. - -About one minute later he was standing in the fountain, eying me -angrily from behind a rising curtain of spray. The water came to his -knees. - -Suddenly his lips split in a grin. He threw back his head and roared -with laughter. "By George, you sure know how to cool off a hot-head!" - -"Well--thanks!" I said, modestly. - -He stepped out of the fountain, walked up to me and thrust out his -hand. "Phillip Goddard's the name!" he said. "She just gave me my -ring back! When she said she couldn't marry a certified public -accountant I knew there was someone else. You're the kind of lad her -great-grandmother went for--and she's just like that famous ancestor of -hers!" - -"Ancestor?" I gulped. - -He nodded. "Just like her! Pluckiest girl in the System! Back in -the First Atomic Age it was. First girl pilot to make a solo hop to -Saturn--" - -His face darkened. "Something happened to her! She never came back. But -she's come alive again in her granddaughter! No indoor cookie for Anne -Haven's granddaughter! I'm not exactly a lightweight, but I make my -living adding up long rows of figures. If she married me what would be -the result?" - -The grin returned to his face. "She'd pine away from boredom. I like -it. I enjoy it! But the girl for me will have to be a red-headed adding -machine." - -He stepped back. "When I saw you coming up the walk I lost my head! -Sour grapes, fella! If I couldn't have her--I didn't intend to step -aside for a rival without putting up a fight! Little boy stuff! I had -no call to take a sock at you! You're all right, fella!" - -He gave me a resounding thump on the back. "So the best man gets her! -Okay, I can be a good loser! I don't know how long you've known her, -but I bet if you pop the question tonight, when she has that faraway -look in her eyes again--" - -"He never bets!" Pete cut in. - - * * * * * - -I didn't wait to thank him. I was running up the walk toward the house -before he could let out a startled grunt. But I heard the grunt--far -off in the darkness. - -Then a door slammed and I was standing in a brightly lighted living -room staring at her. A log fire was crackling in the grate and there -was a big, framed painting in oils hanging on the wall, facing the -entrance hall. - -She was standing directly before the painting, staring down at -Flipover. Flipover was wagging his tail and pawing at her knees, and -she was stooping and patting him on the head. Only--she wasn't calling -him by the name I had given him. She was calling him, "Tow Tow." - -"Oh, I can't believe it! I can't, I can't. Granny's pup! You've come -home, Tow Tow--and you are Tow Tow! I'd know you anywhere! You precious -darling." - -Then I saw the girl in the painting. She was wearing a space suit a -hundred years out of date, and her hand was on the head of a mirage -pup too. Only it was a mirage pup in oils! Life-sized, lifelike and -unmistakably Tow Tow! The pup in the painting had the same dumb-bright -unweaned look about him! Any child brought up with that painting before -her would know the real Tow Tow when he came bounding home! He was like -no other pup! - -The girl who was patting the real Tow Tow raised her head suddenly, and -looked at me! - -For a full minute we just stood there, staring at each other. I don't -know how she felt, but I knew how I felt! A family resemblance can be -a remarkable thing! The contours of a face, the way the eyes look at -you, and the trembling of lips shaped in a certain way can--make the -universe reel! - -Especially when there's no difference at all between the face of a girl -a century dead and a living face you'd never thought to see again! - -"Who are you?" she whispered. - -I told her. - -Her eyes were shining when I stopped telling her about myself. She -swayed a little, and I think we both knew then how it was going to be. - -She was in my arms before I realized that I didn't even know her name. - -"It's Barbara!" she whispered, when I got around to asking her. That -was quite a few minutes after I'd met her. You can't kiss a girl and -ask her name in the same breath. And there was just a chance she'd be -offended and refuse to tell me. - -But Barbara was a darned good sport about it! - -"I've never been kissed by a total stranger before!" she said. "Jim, it -was wonderful!" - -It sure was. We went back to it again. - -It's been a long time, now. Seven years. And if I haven't proved -you can fall in love with the same woman twice I've been living a -lie. But I know that it isn't so. If I was living a lie, Tow Tow -would be unhappy, and he'd be filling the house with mirages. But my -five-year-old son, Bobby, isn't a mirage, and neither is the girl I -married. - -Sometimes, when I see the lights of the skyport through a cornerset -window, and winds howl in from the bay, I get to wondering about Pete. - -You see, he never came in that night, never joined us! He may have -looked in through a window, and realized I'd reached my last "port o' -call," a quiet harbor in a storm that had died away forever. He may -have turned and gone stumbling off into the night! - -I'll never know, of course. Good old Pete! Sometimes I get to thinking. -A mirage pup can coil up in an old ship and hibernate for a century. -Could a human being do that? - -There are strange influences in deep space. Are there discharges in -the electromagnetic field that could slow up the metabolism of a tired -little character like Pete? - -That's nonsense, of course. - -I'll have to go now. Bobby's calling me. He's standing at the head -of the stairs, in his pajamas, and he's waiting for me to tell him a -bedtime story about what it's like out in the mighty dark. - -"Pop, you promised! Aw, come on, Pop--" - -I'll have to keep it simple, of course. But maybe tonight I'll tell him -about Pete. - -Maybe when he grows up he'll meet Pete. - -Who knows? - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND WE SAILED THE MIGHTY -DARK *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: And we sailed the mighty dark</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Frank Belknap Long</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 25, 2022 [eBook #68836]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND WE SAILED THE MIGHTY DARK ***</div> - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>AND WE SAILED the MIGHTY DARK</h1> - -<p>A Complete Novelet By</p> - -<h2>FRANK BELKNAP LONG</h2> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Startling Stories, March 1948.<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="ph1">CHAPTER I</p> - -<p class="ph2"><i>Graveyard of Old Ships</i></p> - - -<p>You've seen them—the old ships, the battered and ruined ships, the -ships that have made one voyage too many, and are so ancient you can't -remember their names or the reputations they've earned for themselves -in deep space! Sure you've seen them! Black hulls stretching away for -miles into the red sunset—ships that can be bought for a song if -you've a song left in you and still want to go adventuring on the rim -of the System.</p> - -<p>Do you know how it feels not to have a song left in you? Do you know -how it feels to be a legend without substance—the lad who broke the -bank at Callisto City and walked out two days later without a penny to -his name?</p> - -<p>Pete knew and he kept harping on it. "If you'd quit that first night, -Jim, instead of pushin' it all back across the board!"</p> - -<p>There was awe in his eyes when he looked at me, and then he'd look at -the ships, and I could guess what he was thinking. Good old Pete! When -he shut his eyes I was still wearing a golden halo.</p> - -<p>Lucky Jim Sanders, strong as an ox and coming along fine—born lucky -and loving life too much to worry his head about the future. But when -life rises up and wallops you and lays you out flat you forget the -good times and your own recklessness, and the inner strength and the -laughing girls, and you just want to sit down and never get up!</p> - -<p>I'd met Pete down in the valley, sitting on a rock. He didn't want to -get up either. He wanted to croak.</p> - -<p>A wiry little cuss with blue eyes and a fringe of beard on his chin -that had just grown there and stayed. Clothes that made him look like -he was trying to spin a cocoon about himself.</p> - -<p>You bet he had a story! A hard luck story that would have made Sinbad -look like a quiet family man. But when I like someone straight off, his -past is just so much water over the dam if he wants it that way.</p> - -<p>I never did find out the truth about Pete—right up until we parted. -I had a lot of fun kidding him about it. "Rip Van Winkle slept twenty -years, but you slept a thousand, Pete! You crawled out of an old ship -and went to sleep in the desert.</p> - -<p>"Did you get tired, Pete? Of the roar and the dust and the night—the -crocus-flower faces of Venusians, the gopher-girls of Mars and the -pinwheeling stars—of the night and the dust and the roar? Couldn't -you take it in the old days, Pete, when ships kept bursting apart at -the seams and there was an ant hill on Callisto called a colony, with -twenty living dead men in it?</p> - -<p>"The ant hill's a city now, Pete. And you're still Pete, still around, -and I'm just cutting my wisdom teeth on my first streak of hard luck! -Hard like a biscuit, Pete! A dog biscuit flung to a dog!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I was raving even more wildly as I stared out over that graveyard of -old ships, feeling sorry for myself, envying Pete because he didn't -seem to care much whether he lived or died.</p> - -<p>But I was wrong. Pete did care.</p> - -<p>"If we could just get back to Earth, Jim!" he pleaded. "If we could -smell the green earth again, after it's been rainin'! If we could just -get a whiff o' the sea!"</p> - -<p>I swung on him. "What chance have we? You don't value dough so much -when you've got it to toss around. But when you're stony broke you get -to feeling like a stone. Weighed down, petrified! You can't do anything -without dough!"</p> - -<p>Pete made a clucking sound. "All right! You got trimmed, Jim—and bad! -But last night you had another streak of luck!"</p> - -<p>I stared at him, hard.</p> - -<p>He gestured toward the old ships. "There's a yardmaster down there with -a list of ships a yard long. If you want to buy a ship you just stand -around twiddling your thumbs until he notices you. If he sizes you up -right—you get a bargain!"</p> - -<p>"You mean if he thinks you've got some dough, but not much?"</p> - -<p>"Uh huh!" Pete winked. "But if he thinks you've got a lot of dough you -could get a bargain too. Without shelling out a cent!"</p> - -<p>It didn't take me long to get what Pete was driving at. I'd taken a -beating, and everyone knew it. But everyone knew my face too! I was -still Lucky Jim Sanders, wearing a golden halo!</p> - -<p>Pete's eyes were shining like Halley's Comet when I got through -coaching him. It was his idea, but when I tossed it back at him wrapped -up in dialogue the sparkle took his breath away!</p> - -<p>We went down into the valley where the ships stood row on row, shouting -and reeling as though we'd been celebrating for a week. The yardmaster -heard us before he saw us. But he saw us quickly enough.</p> - -<p>His lips tightened as he came striding toward us—a bushy-browed, -hard-bitten old barnacle with a crusty stare. I could tell the exact -instant when he recognized me. His jaw dropped about six inches; then -closed with a click.</p> - -<p>"Now!" I whispered to Pete.</p> - -<p>Pete raised his voice. "You're higher than a kite!" he shouted. "Why -buy a flying coffin when you could own the sweetest little job in the -System?"</p> - -<p>"What I do with my dough is my own business!" I shouted back. "They -knew how to build ships in the old days!"</p> - -<p>"I tell you—you're crazier than a diving loon!"</p> - -<p>"Sure I'm crazy!" I agreed. "Only a baby with curvature of the brain -could win back a cool eighty thousand on one spin of the wheel! But I'm -sane enough not to want to thin out my take!"</p> - -<p>"You'd flip a coin for one o' those flyin' coffins?"</p> - -<p>"Why not?" I roared belligerently. "I've got five thousand that says I -know what I'm doing! Five thousand against—the right to pick my own -ship!"</p> - -<p>I tripped myself then, deliberately by accident. I went sprawling over -Pete's out-thrust right leg. When I picked myself up I must have looked -as helpless as a new-born babe, because the yardmaster was gripping my -arm and refusing to let go.</p> - -<p>"You were saying, mister?"</p> - -<p>He was seeing the halo, of course, the rim of gold about my head. I was -pretty sure he wouldn't even ask me to cover my bet.</p> - -<p>The copper piece on my palm seemed to fascinate him. He couldn't take -his eyes from it.</p> - -<p>"What will it be?" I asked.</p> - -<p>He swallowed hard. "Heads!" he said.</p> - -<p>I flipped the coin.</p> - -<p>"Tails it is!" I told him.</p> - -<p>He stared at my palm suspiciously. I grinned and handed him the copper -piece. There was nothing wrong with it.</p> - -<p>"I never cheat!" I said.</p> - -<p>I walked over to where she stood collecting rust in the red -Jupiterlight—the ship I'd picked out. She wasn't so ancient as old -ships go. She must have been built around 2097, just a hundred years -before I'd won her. We were riding hard on your luck!</p> - -<p>"Got a navigator's license?" the yardmaster asked.</p> - -<p>"Sure! Want to see it?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He shook his head. "Never mind! Take her and get going before I start -telling myself I'm the System's prize sap!"</p> - -<p>The control room was as musty as a tomb, and when I switched on the -cold lights our shadows looked like black widow spiders dangling from -the overhead.</p> - -<p>"She'll never hold together!" Pete groaned.</p> - -<p>"Don't be like that!" I chided. "All of these ships have to pass a -rigid inspection."</p> - -<p>Pete blinked. "You sure of that?"</p> - -<p>"Well ... maybe the inspectors skip a ship here and there," I conceded.</p> - -<p>I went over her from stem to stern, to make sure she wouldn't fly about -when I gave her the gun. While I inspected the atomotors Pete kept -giving me uneasy looks, like he was dying to ask me where I'd picked up -my knowledge of ghost ships, but was scared I'd say something to shake -his confidence in me.</p> - -<p>I wasn't worried. I can be awfully sure of myself when I'm around -anything mechanical, from an inch-high rheostat to the guide lines on a -sixty-foot control board.</p> - -<p>The ship had the right feel about her. I'd have trusted my life to her, -but Pete kept sniffing like he could smell the odor of charred flesh. -To make him feel better I thumped him on the back and told him not to -worry, that he'd appreciate what a fine ship she was when he saw the -green Earth filling the viewpane, misty with spring rains. He'd lived -alone so long he'd become suspicious of everything.</p> - -<p>Eaten up by his own fears, tormented by shadows, an old man before his -time. Some of my confidence seemed to seep into him as I talked. He -didn't look so old when he looked up.</p> - -<p>He was sitting on a bulkhead chronometer, which meant that time was -ticking away right under him. He was a dead ringer for old Father Time -himself, but for an instant as he returned my stare there was a strange -look in his eyes. As though he'd shrugged off his woes, and was gazing -straight back across the years at his lost youth.</p> - -<p>"Maybe you're right, Jim," he said. "When do we take off?"</p> - -<p>"Before the yardmaster visiphones Callisto City to find out if I really -did make a killing last night!" I told him.</p> - -<p>I was standing close to the control board, my thumb on the oscillatory -circuit. There are two ways of starting an atomotor. You can test out -the strength of the circuit by letting the power drum through the board -before you give the dial a full turn.</p> - -<p>Or you can switch the power on full blast, reaching peak in ten seconds -and letting the ship do its own testing. I liked the second way best. A -ship that can't absorb the shock of a take-off at sixty gravities will -almost certainly fly apart in space.</p> - -<p>I switched the power on full strength. From the corner of one eye -I had a brief, soul-satisfying glimpse of Pete stiffening in utter -consternation. A mean trick to play on a pal? No. I don't think so. I -wasn't asking him to take the plunge alone. I was sharing the risks, -and I was doing him a favor.</p> - -<p>When you're taking a swim you just prolong the agony by sitting around -on a diving raft wriggling your toes in the icy water. It's best to -jump right in, and get it over with.</p> - -<p>We must have been twenty thousand feet up when Pete's startled face -slipped out of focus, and I found myself on my hands and knees on a -deck that was revolving like a centrifuge. Cathode rays were darting -in all directions, and everything in the path of the rays glowed with -fluorescent light. I knew that the ship was X-raying itself while fog -condensed on the negative ions of its hull and dissolved into sizzling -steam.</p> - -<p>I didn't try to get up immediately. I waited for the deck to stop -gyrating and the strength to return to my wrists. My right arm was -numb and tingling. When I raised my hands I could see the bones in -my fingers. All pilots have skeleton hands when they take off. It's a -second-order cathode ray effect which vanishes after a minute or two. -It doesn't mean a thing. Not if you're sound of mind and limb, and the -ship you've picked is spaceworthy.</p> - -<p>But Pete seemed to take a different view. He was staring at me in -horror. I knew what he was thinking. If I was pinch-hitting for -Death—I'd got off to a good start.</p> - -<p>He, too, was on his knees on the deck, his shoulders swaying, his face -turned toward me in bitter reproach.</p> - -<p>Suddenly his eyes blazed with anger. "Son, I ought to get up and bust -you one on the jaw! If you'd warned me, I could have braced myself!"</p> - -<p>I hadn't thought of that. But before I could tell him how sorry I felt, -he was chuckling!</p> - -<p>"It's all right, Jim! No bones broken! She sure took it beautifully, -eh?"</p> - -<p>"She sure did!" I muttered.</p> - -<p>I watched him get to his feet and go reeling toward the viewpane. Mr. -Chameleon was the name for him! He could change his moods so fast, his -mental outlook must have been as dazzling as a display of fireworks.</p> - -<p>A guy like that just couldn't hold a grudge. If you poked him in the -ribs he'd blacken your eye and give you his last ounce of tobacco. Good -old Pete! Insatiably curious he was too, like a little boy at a circus -side show.</p> - -<p>He just couldn't wait to see how far up we were, had to look out the -viewpane before his brain stopped spinning.</p> - -<p>I was satisfied just to sit on the deck and watch him.</p> - -<p>For an instant he stared out, his face pressed to the pane, the pulse -in his forehead swelling visibly.</p> - -<p>Then, abruptly, he turned and flashed me a startled look. "Jehoshaphat, -Jim! We—we can't be travelin' that fast! Callisto's just a little -crawlin' red gnat in the middle o' the sky!"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">CHAPTER II</p> - -<p class="ph2"><i>Planet Shift</i></p> - - -<p>I stared at him uneasily. He was talking like an idiot. I knew that -Jupiter itself would have to dwindle to a small disk before Callisto -could become a pin point of light. When you take off from a little moon -the glare of its primary magnifies its surface features. For about one -hour Callisto would look like a black orchid dwindling in a blaze of -light. Then it would whip away into emptiness to reappear as a glowing -dot.</p> - -<p>"Jupiter looks funny too!" Pete muttered. "Mighty funny! Like a big -slice o' yellow cheese with golden bands around it, spreadin' out—"</p> - -<p>That did it! I got up and walked to the viewpane, slapping my hands -together explosively. I had to let off steam in some way. My steadiness -surprised me. My eyelids felt a little heavy, but there was nothing -wrong with my space legs.</p> - -<p>When I started out I didn't see the red gnat. But I saw something else, -something that gave me a tremendous shock. What I saw was a great -ringed planet swimming in a golden haze!</p> - -<p>When I turned my face must have given Pete a jolt. He gulped so hard I -was afraid he'd swallow his Adam's apple and choke on the rind.</p> - -<p>"What is it, Jim?" he asked huskily. "You look like you'd seen a ghost!"</p> - -<p>I laughed without amusement. "I did! A ghost planet! And we're not -moving away from it! It's getting larger!"</p> - -<p>Pete stared. "Sure you feel okay, son?"</p> - -<p>"Not too good!" I said, looking him straight in the eye. "Take another -look!"</p> - -<p>I gestured toward the viewpane. "Go on! See for yourself!"</p> - -<p>Pete stood for a long time with his face pressed to the pane, his -shoulders hunched. I thought he was never going to turn.</p> - -<p>A crazy thought flashed through my mind. I'd seen men in a state of -collapse on their feet, their faces blanched, unable to move or speak. -Had Pete been shocked speechless?</p> - -<p>I was sweating as he turned. His face was blanched, all right, but he -could speak, and did!</p> - -<p>"I've got to sit down, Jim!" he choked out.</p> - -<p>He reeled to the bulkhead chronometer, sat down and started tugging at -his chin. After a moment he whipped his hand from his face.</p> - -<p>"You're an educated man, Jim," he said. "I'm not! If you tell me we're -headin' straight for Saturn, I won't call you a liar!"</p> - -<p>"You won't?"</p> - -<p>"No, Jim. Say a guy brings you a watch. The hands go in the wrong -direction, the tickin's so loud it drives you nuts. 'Buddy,' he says, -'if you want to know what time it isn't, this watch will tell you.'</p> - -<p>"Well, say you've got to know the time, say your life depends on it. -What do you do, Jim? Lift him up by his seat and toss him out the door? -Shucks, no! You listen while he talks. You ask him to take the watch -apart and show you what makes it tick."</p> - -<p>"Fine!" I said. "So I'm the man with the watch! I put Saturn outside -the viewpane just to torture you!"</p> - -<p>He looked so miserable I felt sorry for him. "I didn't mean it that -way, Jim," he apologized. "But I'm plumb scared! Somethin's happenin' -to space! Somethin' ghastly awful! You must have some idea what's -causin' it!"</p> - -<p>"Don't kid yourself!" I told him. "A wild guess isn't an idea."</p> - -<p>"Let me be the judge o' that, son!"</p> - -<p>"Well—all right. Maybe we're seeing Saturn as a magnified -image—through some kind of magnifying space drift. A big, floating -lens in space, made up of refractive particles spread out in a cloud. A -lens with more magnifying power than the five-hundred inch! It isn't as -haywire as it sounds, if that's any comfort to you!"</p> - -<p>"But no pilot's ever seen anything like that, Jim!" Pete protested, -with unanswerable logic.</p> - -<p>He tapped his brow. "It could be in here, Jim! That's what I'm afraid -of! A sickness of the mind—"</p> - -<p>"Don't start that!" I warned, striking my knee with my fist. "Don't -even think it!"</p> - -<p>My voice was getting out of control. I was yelling at him, and there -was no reason for it.</p> - -<p>He had every right to his opinion.</p> - -<p>"What are we goin' to do, Jim?"</p> - -<p>"Check up first!" I snapped. "If I have to use every instrument on the -ship—"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I stopped. The door into the pilot room had opened and closed, and a -clumping figure was coming toward us across the deck.</p> - -<p>I heard Pete suck in his breath. I couldn't seem to draw a deep breath. -There was a physical quality of eeriness in the sight which took me by -the throat.</p> - -<p>The figure was wearing a light spacesuit, vacuum-sealed at the neck. A -transparent headpiece bulged out above the flexible garment, a great -glistening globe encasing the head of the most beautiful woman I'd ever -seen.</p> - -<p>Her hair was piled in a tumbled mass of gold on her head and there was -a delicate flush on her skin, visible through the glowing sphere. She -was staring at me without seeming to see me, her cheeks shadowed by -long, convex lashes.</p> - -<p>Some women mature into loveliness; others have it thrust upon them. -I didn't tell myself that straight off. I was too stunned to make -up pretty speeches. But later I realized that her hair, eyes, and -complexion were as near perfect as they could be without looking -artificial.</p> - -<p>Her suit was cumbersome, and it weighed her down. But there was -something weird, spine-chilling about the way she moved. She walked -with a smooth flow of motion, almost as if she were skating across the -deck.</p> - -<p>I was a little afraid of what Pete might do. He was shaking with -excitement, and I could see that he was keyed up to a dangerous pitch. -Doubting his own sanity and mine to boot!</p> - -<p>But I wasn't going to be stampeded into fear! I'd been under a -tremendous strain, sure. But I knew a flesh-and-blood woman when I saw -one! The girl was real! The pulse beating in her forehead was real and -so were her eyes and hair! We hadn't made even a cursory search of the -ship. There were plenty of dark little corners where she could have -concealed herself.</p> - -<p>Suddenly I saw that she'd glided past Pete and was facing away from us, -her hands extended toward the control board. A little to the left of -the board there was a dull flickering on the bulkhead.</p> - -<p>For an instant I mistook the weird glimmer for a shadow cast by her -swaying shoulders. I thought she was just reaching for the board to -steady herself.</p> - -<p>Then I saw her hands moving on the board and knew that a gravity panel -was swinging open on the void! I leapt toward her with a warning cry.</p> - -<p>If she heard me she gave no sign. You can hear a shout through a thin -helmet, but she didn't even turn. She just darted sideways and then -forward—straight through the panel into the utter black emptiness of -space! A flash of light—and she was gone!</p> - -<p>The panel closed so soundlessly you could have heard a pin drop.</p> - -<p>I had trouble with my breath again. For an instant my throat had an -iron brace around it. Then I remembered that she hadn't gone out -unprotected into the void. Her suit would keep the cold out, and the -magnetic suction disks on her wrists and knees would enable her to -cling to the hull, to crawl along it. But if she'd gone out to do a -repair job on the hull, she had the kind of courage you read about in -the Admiralty Reports.</p> - -<p>If I had it, it was glazed over with a thick coating of ice. I stood -braced against the bulkhead, the old Adam in me chanting a hymn to -life, a hymn to the Sun, and feeling glad I wasn't in her shoes.</p> - -<p>What a way for a guy to feel!</p> - -<p>Then something happened to me. I saw her face again, deep in my mind, -and it seemed to be pleading with me. It wasn't just a pleading. There -was music and wonder in it!</p> - -<p>I could hear the pound of surf on a golden beach, and the sun was -warming the sea and the air, and she was in my arms and I was kissing -her.</p> - -<p>Then it was night and the palms were bending lower over us, and the -moonlight was so bright I could hardly see the web of radiance around -her head. But I could hear the rise and fall of paddles, and someone -singing far off over the water. We were running down the beach toward -the pounding surf. Water was glistening on her tanned arms and I could -hear her laughter.</p> - -<p>Pete had leapt to his feet. He was staring at me, sweat standing out on -his forehead in great, shining beads.</p> - -<p>"What did I tell you, son?" he groaned. "A sickness of the mind—"</p> - -<p>His voice thickened, broke.</p> - -<p>The terror in his stare made me realize how close to the brink I was. -His refusal to believe the evidence of his eyes was an attempt at -rationalization, but it wasn't a good attempt.</p> - -<p>He was assuming the worst, taking his own madness for granted.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I grabbed him by both shoulders. "You're as sane as I am!" I yelled, -shaking him. "That girl was here when we took over! A stowaway! What's -so crazy about that?"</p> - -<p>Pete's throat moved as he swallowed. "Let go of me, Jim! Believe what -you want! I'm going crazy—and tryin' to explain it won't stop it!"</p> - -<p>"Common sense will stop it! Did you notice that vacuum suit she was -wearing? It's as ancient as the ship! It must have come out of the -ship's locker!"</p> - -<p>Pete stared at me until I lost my head. "She's out on the hull alone! -You hear? Alone, in a suit that won't give her much protection! If her -irons slip she'll be done for! She's either stark staring mad or—"</p> - -<p>My thoughts came so fast I had to stop. But my mind raced on. Was she -actually mad? Or had she crawled out of hiding to find herself in a -ship that was fast becoming a droning death trap?</p> - -<p>A woman hiding in the dark, with her senses abnormally alert, would -be quick to get the awful feel of a ship about to fly asunder. She -wouldn't have to guess. She'd know!</p> - -<p>A girl pilot? Well, why not? There were plenty of girl pilots working -their fingers to the bone to earn passage money in Callisto City. -Stowing away would be a short cut to freedom and the green hills of -Earth. You couldn't blame a girl for hating the dust and roar of an -atomic power plant, or the drudgery of a mining job.</p> - -<p>I could picture her succumbing to blind panic, ripping a suit down from -the locker, and crawling out into the void to tighten the gravity bolts -on the naked hull with a magneto-wrench.</p> - -<p>"Jeebies always try to kill themselves!" Pete croaked. "You get to -pitying them! Your head swells and you get all choked up with pity! And -that's when you know you've blown your top!"</p> - -<p>I answered that with a voice that rang hard. "All right, have it your -own way! She's a jeebie! But I'm not going to stand here pitying her! -I'm going to help her!"</p> - -<p>I never quite knew how I reached the locker, with imaginary eyes -glittering at me from every corner of the ship. Pete's wild talk hadn't -really shaken me. All loose talk about the mind is dangerous, of -course. But I wasn't scared of anything I couldn't see.</p> - -<p>The idea of a haunted ship seemed silly to me. Almost laughable. But -I had to admit the ship had the feel of occupancy about it. I half -expected that a second helmeted figure would pop out of the shadows -before I could go to the aid of the first.</p> - -<p>My palms were sweating as I struggled into a spacesuit that hadn't been -occupied for at least a century. There were five suits hanging in the -locker, and I picked the biggest one. It was a little too small for me, -but I couldn't complain much on that score. It kinked a little, then -drew tight over the shoulders, but nothing ripped when I moved.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I must have looked grotesque in that old, stiff, freakish garment, all -bulges and creases. A big flaring dome over my head, feet like metal -pancakes clattering on the deck.</p> - -<p>But I wasn't concerned with my appearance, just my oxygen intake.</p> - -<p>Back by the gravity panel, Pete tried desperately to stop me. His bony -hands went out, plucked at my wrists. I couldn't hear him babbling -outside the helmet. But I could see his shining eyes and moving lips. -His eyes were tortured, pleading.</p> - -<p>He might as well have been pleading with a man a hundred miles away—or -a century dead!</p> - -<p>I was deaf to reason. I was feeling merely a blind instinct to help a -woman who had taken on a man's job.</p> - -<p>Pete's eyes followed me as I went clumping toward the control board, -and I felt a sudden tug of pity for him. If I never came back, he'd -miss me a lot. Good old Pete! To make him feel better I flashed him a -smile and waved him back.</p> - -<p>"Sit down and relax, old-timer!" I said. "I'm just going out for a -little breath of fresh air!"</p> - -<p>It was just as well he couldn't hear me. He was real touchy about -space. You had to treat it with respect. The lads who sailed the seas -of Terra before Pete started reaching for the stars with his little -pink hands had what it takes, and their lingo is the spaceman's lingo -still. But to Pete spacemen were a notch higher in every respect. -Nothing riled him more than loose talk about reading the weather by the -glass or taking a squint at the North Star. Or going out for a breather -on deck!</p> - -<p>I thought of all that as I went out. Oh, Pete was a special character -if ever there was one.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">CHAPTER III</p> - -<p class="ph2"><i>The Mirage Pup</i></p> - - -<p>I crawled out into the void on my hands and knees, clinging to the -rough hull, digging with my magnetic irons into the thick coating of -meteoric dust and grit and rubble the ship had picked up in deep space.</p> - -<p>Brother, it's all yours if you want it! A wind that isn't a wind -tearing at you; the stars blazing in a black pit, and a million light -years staring you in the face, doing your thinking for you, warning -you that forever is too long a time to go somersaulting through space -shrouded in a blanket of ice.</p> - -<p>You feel your grip slipping, know it can't slip, and dig, dig with your -knees. You look up and there's the flame of a rocket jet missing you -by inches. You look down and there's nothing to maim or sear you—just -utter blackness. Believe me, that's worse!</p> - -<p>I stared straight across the hull through a spiraling splotch of blue -flame toward the stern rocket jets. The flame whorl came from diffuse -matter friction. Tiny particles hit the ship, bounced off and set up an -electrical discharge in the ether.</p> - -<p>It's cool and it doesn't burn. If you keep your head you can crawl -right through it.</p> - -<p>I started crawling the instant I saw her. She was clinging to the hull -between two flaring rocket jets, her magneto-wrench rising and falling -in the unearthly glare.</p> - -<p>A swaying figure wrapped in blue light, her face looking pinched and -white and faraway through the globe on her shoulders. The helmet itself -looked small against the vast backdrop of space. But as I crawled -toward her it kept getting larger—like an expanding soap bubble. I had -the crazy feeling that there was a big crowd down below, waiting to -jeer or cheer!</p> - -<p>I threw the illusion off and let my irons carry me back and forth in -a crazy kind of jig. The magnetics had to be guided by my muscles and -my will. It was twist and turn, go limp and brace hard, relax and edge -forward.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the ship lurched, giving off a blinding flare. I knew it was -just a stress we'd hit—one of those little pockets in space where the -diffuse matter of the void is sucked dry by energies that don't show -up on the instruments.</p> - -<p>Ships pass through stresses fast. But when the flare vanished I was -dangling head downwards from the hull, my right knee attached to solid -metal, the rest of me hugging empty space.</p> - -<p>Furiously I slammed my left knee upward, twisted my body forward, -and got a firm grip on the hull again with my wrist irons. It was a -contortionist feat which brought the blood rushing to my ears. When -my head stopped spinning I was staring into the face of the girl I'd -risked my neck to save in an inferno of ice and flame.</p> - -<p>We were so close our helmets almost touched. But she wasn't looking at -me. Six feet from my swaying knees she was making frantic gestures with -her magneto-wrench, her face a twisting mask of horror. Her body was -twisting too and she seemed to be fighting off something I couldn't see!</p> - -<p>Frantic with alarm, I strained forward and threw my right arm about her.</p> - -<p>At least, I thought I did! But my iron-weighted wrist seemed to pass -right through her! It whipped through emptiness to strike the hull with -an impact that sent a stab of pain darting up my arm to my shoulder. -The pain was agonizing for an instant; then it fell away.</p> - -<p>At the same instant I saw the light. It was faint at first, a pale -spectral glow that haloed her helmet and lapped in concentric waves -about her knees. It wasn't a flame whorl. It gave off iridescent glints -and grew swiftly brighter, turning from pale blue to dazzling azure. -Then it became a weaving funnel of light that spurted from the hull -with a low humming sound.</p> - -<p>The humming was unearthly. It penetrated my helmet and became a shrill -inward keening with a quality hard to define. Imagine a butterfly of -sound struggling fiercely to escape from a sonic chrysalis. It was a -little like that, a kind of shrill fluttering on the tonal plane.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The light did not remain attached to the hull. It shot up into the void -and became a vertical shaft of downsweeping radiance. From its summit -pulsing ripples ascended, giving it the aspect of a waterfall. Then it -became a prism, flashing with all the colors of the spectrum.</p> - -<p>A man may awaken from a nightmare, stare for an instant into the -darkness and try to rationalize his fears. But this was no nightmare! -As I stared up the iridescence was replaced by a leaf-screen effect -shot through with crimson filaments. Shadows appeared amidst the -ripples, straight and jagged lines of some tenuous substance that -seemed to mold itself into a pattern.</p> - -<p>It may have been imagination. But for the barest instant as I stared at -the incredible shape of radiance a face seemed to look out at me. A fat -face, bloated, toadlike, supported by a shadowy neck that swelled out -beneath it like the hood of a rearing cobra!</p> - -<p>Suddenly my scalp crawled and my helmet seemed to contract, pressing -against my skull with a deadly firmness. An electrolube!</p> - -<p>I knew instinctively that the flame shape was an electrolube—a -devouring entity of the void which snaked through deep space close to -Saturn's orbit, a whiplash shape of pure force with a hellish affinity -for life, its negative charge seeking a positive charge with which to -unite!</p> - -<p>It was itself alive, the ultimate life form, sentient and polarized, an -energy eater that sucked nourishment from electrical impulses.</p> - -<p>And there was just enough positive electricity in the human body -to give the horror the power to destroy by slashing down in swift, -flesh-destroying stabs that could cut through a spacesuit like a knife -through jelly!</p> - -<p>Flesh and blood had no chance against it.</p> - -<p>For one awful instant I looked straight into the eyes of a girl I -couldn't save, an instant as long as a lifetime to the poor fool who -loved her! No, I'm not raving! Do you think I'd have crawled out into -the everlasting night of space if I hadn't known there could be no -other woman for me?</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p>I'd never have crawled out into that everlasting night of space for any other woman.</p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>She didn't wait for the horror to slice down. She jerked her knees, -tore her wrists free and shut her eyes. Then she was gone. She didn't -even move her lips to say good-by. Space was her bridegroom. It took -her and she was gone.</p> - -<p>I looked away. Not caring how soon death came, knowing I'd be with her -if I just stayed with the ship.</p> - -<p>I waited for the anguish to hit me. I waited for a full minute. Two. I -shut my eyes as she had done.</p> - -<p>When I opened them the electrolube had vanished. And when I looked -down, the void had grown brighter. Gone was the great ringed disk of -Saturn.</p> - -<p>Just little frosty stars glittered far-off, mocking. And another -planet that was mottled pink and yellow. A ringless planet, swimming in -a murky haze, with eleven little moons spinning around it—eight on one -side, three on the other. One of the moons was red.</p> - -<p>Jupiter is bigger than Saturn, bigger than a thousand Earths. And I was -moving away from it on a droning ship's hull, a tiny fleck of matter of -no importance in that awful sweep of space. But when I dragged myself -back through the gravity panel into the ship my brain was bursting with -a despair so vast it seemed to dwarf the vastness of space.</p> - -<p>Pete was standing just inside the panel, holding something furry and -black in his arms that squirmed in the cold light. When he saw me he -uttered a smothered oath.</p> - -<p>I tugged at my helmet, got it off.</p> - -<p>"Jim, lad, I was afraid you was a goner!" Pete choked. "You went -chasing mirages on the hull. Mirages, Jim!"</p> - -<p>My jaw dropped. I stood stock still, staring at him, unable to believe -my eyes.</p> - -<p>"It's all my fault!" Pete groaned. "Me and my rantings! Jeebies my -foot! Soon as you went out I got to thinkin'. There's a beastie could -do it, a little black, furry beastie called a mirage pup!</p> - -<p>"Sired on Pluto, breedin' on Pluto in the dark an' the cold! Squattin' -on its haunches, projectin' thoughts! Makin' 'em look solid and real! -Sounds too, though you don't hear the sounds with your ears!</p> - -<p>"His memories, Jim! Things he's seen himself, long, long ago! We -been makin' pets of 'em so long we take 'em for granted. All the old -skippers had 'em on their ships."</p> - -<p>"Oh, Eternity!" I choked.</p> - -<p>"They can make thoughts look as solid as a cake of ice, Jim! -Three-dimensional, like! I figured it this way. There was a girl, -about a hundred years ago, took a ship—this ship—out to Saturn! And -somethin' happened to the ship. So she went out to fix what was wrong -and maybe never came back. Her gravity irons could have slipped—"</p> - -<p>"No," I said quickly. "She let go deliberately because—it was better -that way!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I was staring at the little beast. Take a rabbit, puff it out, paint -it black, and give it two huge, spectral, tarsierlike eyes! Give it -a purple snout, devilishly long claws. Breed it with a full-blooded -Scotch Terrier and you'll get—a Plutonian mirage pup!</p> - -<p>The little beast whined, then yapped and wagged its tail at me. Its -ear stood straight up. It nuzzled Pete's palm.</p> - -<p>Mirage pups could coat everything over with evanescent images that -looked real. They could change the outside as well as the inside of a -ship. They could put Saturn beyond the viewpane, instead of Jupiter. -Put a girl in the ship who lived once, engrave an image of that girl on -your heart so that getting it off would mean a tearing anguish.</p> - -<p>Yes, a mirage pup could do that because it would have a long memory. -Mirage pups lived to a ripe old age. Slowed metabolism. The cold and -dark of Pluto. Long periods of hibernation on that frigid planet while -they dreamed the long, long dreams of their youth. And projected those -dreams on awakening. Dreams, memories, buried loyalties.</p> - -<p>If a master had been kind they'd never forgot! If a mistress had been -kind—</p> - -<p>The wetness at the corners of my eyes was making me blink.</p> - -<p>So the mirage pup had followed her out on the hull, long ago. -Crouched down perhaps, shivering, its paws covering its face. And the -electrolube hadn't touched it! A small body, a small positive charge! -No nourishment for an electrolube in a mirage pup!</p> - -<p>Then it had crawled back, whining and hopeless and lost, back into the -ship. Hibernation in a dark corner! For one hundred years!</p> - -<p>"I found him in the tube room!" Pete grunted. "He was hidin' behind one -o' the atomotors, coiled up like a porcupine. But I knew he was just -playin' possum! I could see his eyes—blazin' out at me in the dark!"</p> - -<p>"Yeah," I said, gruffly.</p> - -<p>"You want to hold him, Jim?"</p> - -<p>Pete extended the little beast toward me, but I shied away. I couldn't -bear to touch anything that she had touched! Later, maybe, when I got -over the shock.</p> - -<p>"Guess we'll never know how the ship found its way to the graveyard!" -Pete said. "Say, do you suppose if we're patient he'll project a -picture of what happened? Maybe he'll start fillin' the tub with -mirages again!"</p> - -<p>"They only do it when they're scared!" I told him. "And lonely and -miserable! He's not scared now! He likes us, worse luck!"</p> - -<p>"He was homesick, eh?"</p> - -<p>"That's right! For his past, for his mistress." I looked at Pete. "As -for the ship, I can make a pretty good guess. Ship went into an orbit -of its own, close to Saturn. It drifted around for about a century. -Then a salvage crew found it and towed it to Callisto City to be sold -as junk. It has happened before, plenty of times!"</p> - -<p>"Never with a mirage pup inside, I bet!"</p> - -<p>"Maybe not!"</p> - -<p>I turned away, feeling all hollow inside, like one of those -caterpillars that pupae wasps sting to death and feast on until they're -nothing but husks. Grave bait, lying in a tunnel deep in the earth.</p> - -<p>I knew the only chance I had of crawling out of the tunnel into the -sunlight again was to give the little beast a kick. If he got lonely -and frightened, he'd see her again! He'd start dreaming about her, and -she'd come to life again, as a memory in the brain of a mirage pup!</p> - -<p>But I never could be that cruel.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter, Jim?" Pete asked, concerned. "You look sick!"</p> - -<p>I wheeled on him. "I didn't tell you what happened outside. If you open -your trap again—I will!"</p> - -<p>Pete avoided my eyes. "I didn't ask you, Jim!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I knew then that the pup had projected two sets of images, one in -the control room for Pete's benefit and one outside for me to live -through. A mirage pup could generate images like an electronic circuit, -duplicate them in all directions, pile them up in layers. Automatically -without thinking, to ease its own wretchedness.</p> - -<p>Pete had been able to follow me as I crawled along the hull. He knew -what I was going through.</p> - -<p>I moved away from him, sat down on the chronometer and cradled my head -in my arms.</p> - -<p>Dusk.</p> - -<p>Dawn.</p> - -<p>Dusk.</p> - -<p>Dawn.</p> - -<p>You don't see the sun rise and set inside a spaceship, but that's how -the days seem to pass. Your mind grows a little darker when it's time -for the sun to set on Earth. Lightens when it rises.</p> - -<p>Dusk. Dawn. Dusk. Dawn. Three days. Four. But for me it was just dusk. -My mind didn't lighten at all.</p> - -<p>How does it feel to love a woman a century dead? If you'd asked me, I -couldn't have told you. Because she wasn't dead to me. I kept seeing -her pale, beautiful face and everywhere I turned time seemed to stretch -away into endless vistas. If I'd been on Earth, in New York or Chicago, -I could have gone out and lost myself in the crowds and the glitter. -But it wouldn't have helped.</p> - -<p>I turned and looked at the sleeping mirage pup. He lay on my bunk with -his legs coiled up under him, his moist nose resting on his folded -forelimbs. He looked like a prize puppy at a pet show, but what a puppy!</p> - -<p>In his unfathomable animal mind was that strange capacity for -projecting illusions, of making them seem three-dimensional and real. -He could blur the viewpane, fill it with unreal star fields, draw -shapes of energy from the void.</p> - -<p>But he couldn't change his memories by slicklying them over with the -pale cast of thought! At bottom he was just a dumb beast. He had the -mind of a puppy, a mind that chased fantasms while asleep through a -labyrinth of dark alleyways. He twitched and shook while asleep, just -like an excitable mutt.</p> - -<p>Little agitated noises came from him. His nostrils quivered, his -tail vibrated and he rolled over in his sleep and started scratching -himself. Thump. Thump. Thump.</p> - -<p>What was he thinking about? A girl in a garden with the moonlight in -her hair? Stooping to pat him or feeding him yummies? He'd rolled over -and was lying with his forelimbs stretched straight out, as though he -were reaching for the moon.</p> - -<p>But I knew he wasn't seeing the moon. He was reaching for something -I couldn't see or hear or touch, something older than the human race -maybe.</p> - -<p>I was hating him furiously when Pete came into the compartment. He -grabbed my arm and started shaking me.</p> - -<p>"Jim! Jim, lad! Get a grip on yourself! We'll be hittin' the Heaviside -in a minute!"</p> - -<p>"What do I care?" I lashed out. "Go away, can't you? Blow!"</p> - -<p>"Now, now, son!" he pleaded. "That's no way to act! You can't bring her -back! And if you keep eatin' your heart out—"</p> - -<p>"Get out!" I shouted, heaving myself from the bunk. "Get out—<i>get -out!</i>"</p> - -<p>"Don't be a fool, Jim! You've got to get rid of that grievin' look! -The skyport Johnnies are funny that way! You walk out of this ship -with your eyes burnin' holes in your face, and they'll think you got -somethin' to hide!</p> - -<p>"Look at yourself in a mirror! Whiskers sproutin' out of your chin, -face sooty as a tube fittin' and no fight left in you! You got to get -back the look of a fightin' fury, son! A lad who can stand up to a port -clearance inspector and say 'Me an' my buddy, here, we're headin' for -that gate, and if you want to stay healthy—'"</p> - -<p>"What?"</p> - -<p>"Jehoshaphat!" Pete groaned. "He don't even hear me!"</p> - -<p>I stood up. "Okay, Pete!" I told him. "I heard you! Most of it, anyway. -And I'll get myself spruced up. How close are we to the Heaviside?"</p> - -<p>He heaved a high sigh of relief. "We'll hit it in half an hour, Jim!"</p> - -<p>He grinned. "He's got to have a harness, Jim. I'll rig up a harness for -him!"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">CHAPTER IV</p> - -<p class="ph2"><i>New York Kid</i></p> - - -<p>We made as good a landing as could be expected, considering the way my -hands shook when I brought her down.</p> - -<p>Right smack in the middle of La Guardia field! It's the biggest skyport -in the System, and you can't miss it if you're a New York kid, with the -lay of the land and the navigation lights burned into your brain from -boyhood.</p> - -<p>One of my own ancestors had brought a primitive skyplane down on that -field during the Second World War, when the First Atomic Age was just -starting.</p> - -<p>They'd built the field up quite a bit in the intervening years—built -it in revolving stations toward the Heaviside. You could make contact -with the atomic clearance floats at sixty-five miles, and pick up a -guiding beam from a rocket glider twenty miles above the grounded -runways.</p> - -<p>But you can't build the past out of existence. There were ghosts all -over that field, grease monkeys in khaki jeans, and taking care of jet -planes that had passed into limbo before the first space crate took off -for Mars. At least, that's the way Pete seemed to feel, and I could -sympathize with his screwball occultism.</p> - -<p>I had a feeling that my own ancestor was down there, shading his eyes, -watching me make a perfect twenty-point landing. His eyes shining with -pride because I made such a good job of bringing her in. What he didn't -know wouldn't hurt him.</p> - -<p>I thought we'd have trouble with the clearance officials, but when I -came striding out of the gravity port with the mirage pup clinging to -my right shoulder I was greeted with nothing but merriment. Tickle a -man's sense of humor if you want him to do you a favor!</p> - -<p>Just seeing that crazy little beast put everyone in the best of humor. -A tall, young-old lad with puckered brows and graying hair, his skin -bleached by irradiation particles, took one swift look at my pilot's -license, ignored Pete's jittery stare, and gave the mirage pup a pat -that set his tail wagging.</p> - -<p>"What's his name?" somebody asked.</p> - -<p>I thought fast. "Flipover!" I said.</p> - -<p>"Boy, he's quite a pup! Cute! Don't see many of them since the new -quarantine regulations went into effect. They have to be defleaed too -often!"</p> - -<p>"All the little critters jumped off him in deep space!" I said.</p> - -<p>The officer chuckled. "Okay, my friend! You can pass through. The first -gate on your right!"</p> - -<p>We were through the gate and ascending a ramp toward a skyline that -brought a lump to my throat in less time than you could say, "Flip -Flipover!"</p> - -<p>Little old New York hadn't changed much in ten years. The white -terrific flare that spiraled up from its heart was as bright as the day -I'd first seen it. Broadway—and a New York kid is hooked for life. -He'll always come back to it.</p> - -<p>But now I didn't want to head for the bright lights. I wanted to find -a lodging close to the harbor lights, where I could look out over the -bay at night and—remember things. Her face just before she let go, not -really seeing me. Her eyes—</p> - -<p>Pete was shaking his arm. "Set him down, Jim! Put him into that harness -I rigged up. Give him a chance to stretch his legs!"</p> - -<p>"Sure, why not?" I grunted.</p> - -<p>I set Flipover down on the ramp, fitted Pete's makeshift harness to his -shoulders, and wrapped the leash-end around my wrist.</p> - -<p>The little beast started tugging right off.</p> - -<p>"Looks like he knows his way around!" Pete chuckled. "Maybe New York -was his home town!"</p> - -<p>That didn't sound funny to me. But a few minutes later I was taking it -seriously. The crazy pup had led us deep into the labyrinth of dark -streets which bordered the skyport, and there was no stopping him. I -had all I could do to keep up with him.</p> - -<p>Pete's eyes were shining with excitement. "Give him his head!" he urged.</p> - -<p>"What do you think I'm doing?" I yelled.</p> - -<p>From the houses lights streamed out. Cornerset windows flamed in the -dusk and people moved across shadowed panes. Music came from beyond -the windows, loud, tumultuous. Someone was playing Milhaud's Bal -Martiniquais on an old-fashioned percussion instrument with shallow -keys.</p> - -<p>I liked it. Give me color in music, polychromes. Give me color in life. -The flare of rocket jets, the blackness of space, a spinning wheel in a -big crystal casino—</p> - -<p>I'd stay one week on Earth! Then I'd be off again and never come back. -I'd bury myself in the farthest—</p> - -<p>"Give him his head!" Pete yelled.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Flipover had swerved and was heading for a narrow walk leading to a -fairly large circular house surrounded by a garden plot bright with -yellow flowers. There was a fountain in the middle of the garden and it -was sending up jets of spray which drenched Flipover as he tore down -the path.</p> - -<p>I almost let go of the leash as I played it out. The house had the -look of age about it but not of neglect. We were within thirty feet -of it when the front door banged open and a big, angry-faced man came -striding out.</p> - -<p>Down the path he came, straight toward me. A sunbronzed giant of a lad -built like a cargo wrestler, but with keen, probing eyes behind glasses -that had slipped far down on his nose.</p> - -<p>When he saw me he stopped dead. Then he adjusted his glasses and peered -at me wordlessly, his hands knotting into fists.</p> - -<p>Flipover was straining furiously, but I drew him in quickly and -returned the big lug's stare.</p> - -<p>"So you're the guy!" he roared.</p> - -<p>It happened so quickly I was taken by surprise. His fist lashed out, -caught me on the jaw.</p> - -<p>I felt Flipover tear loose as I went crashing backwards, my head filled -with forked lightning.</p> - -<p>He jumped me the instant I hit the ground. About three tons of -flailing weight crashed down on my shoulders, pinning me to the walk.</p> - -<p>As deliberately as I could, I raised my right knee, whammed it into his -stomach and threw one arm about his neck in a strangle lock he couldn't -break.</p> - -<p>"That's showin' him, son!" I heard Pete yell.</p> - -<p>I tried not to break his glasses. But I had to be a little rough -because he wanted to play rough.</p> - -<p>About one minute later he was standing in the fountain, eying me -angrily from behind a rising curtain of spray. The water came to his -knees.</p> - -<p>Suddenly his lips split in a grin. He threw back his head and roared -with laughter. "By George, you sure know how to cool off a hot-head!"</p> - -<p>"Well—thanks!" I said, modestly.</p> - -<p>He stepped out of the fountain, walked up to me and thrust out his -hand. "Phillip Goddard's the name!" he said. "She just gave me my -ring back! When she said she couldn't marry a certified public -accountant I knew there was someone else. You're the kind of lad her -great-grandmother went for—and she's just like that famous ancestor of -hers!"</p> - -<p>"Ancestor?" I gulped.</p> - -<p>He nodded. "Just like her! Pluckiest girl in the System! Back in -the First Atomic Age it was. First girl pilot to make a solo hop to -Saturn—"</p> - -<p>His face darkened. "Something happened to her! She never came back. But -she's come alive again in her granddaughter! No indoor cookie for Anne -Haven's granddaughter! I'm not exactly a lightweight, but I make my -living adding up long rows of figures. If she married me what would be -the result?"</p> - -<p>The grin returned to his face. "She'd pine away from boredom. I like -it. I enjoy it! But the girl for me will have to be a red-headed adding -machine."</p> - -<p>He stepped back. "When I saw you coming up the walk I lost my head! -Sour grapes, fella! If I couldn't have her—I didn't intend to step -aside for a rival without putting up a fight! Little boy stuff! I had -no call to take a sock at you! You're all right, fella!"</p> - -<p>He gave me a resounding thump on the back. "So the best man gets her! -Okay, I can be a good loser! I don't know how long you've known her, -but I bet if you pop the question tonight, when she has that faraway -look in her eyes again—"</p> - -<p>"He never bets!" Pete cut in.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I didn't wait to thank him. I was running up the walk toward the house -before he could let out a startled grunt. But I heard the grunt—far -off in the darkness.</p> - -<p>Then a door slammed and I was standing in a brightly lighted living -room staring at her. A log fire was crackling in the grate and there -was a big, framed painting in oils hanging on the wall, facing the -entrance hall.</p> - -<p>She was standing directly before the painting, staring down at -Flipover. Flipover was wagging his tail and pawing at her knees, and -she was stooping and patting him on the head. Only—she wasn't calling -him by the name I had given him. She was calling him, "Tow Tow."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I can't believe it! I can't, I can't. Granny's pup! You've come -home, Tow Tow—and you are Tow Tow! I'd know you anywhere! You precious -darling."</p> - -<p>Then I saw the girl in the painting. She was wearing a space suit a -hundred years out of date, and her hand was on the head of a mirage -pup too. Only it was a mirage pup in oils! Life-sized, lifelike and -unmistakably Tow Tow! The pup in the painting had the same dumb-bright -unweaned look about him! Any child brought up with that painting before -her would know the real Tow Tow when he came bounding home! He was like -no other pup!</p> - -<p>The girl who was patting the real Tow Tow raised her head suddenly, and -looked at me!</p> - -<p>For a full minute we just stood there, staring at each other. I don't -know how she felt, but I knew how I felt! A family resemblance can be -a remarkable thing! The contours of a face, the way the eyes look at -you, and the trembling of lips shaped in a certain way can—make the -universe reel!</p> - -<p>Especially when there's no difference at all between the face of a girl -a century dead and a living face you'd never thought to see again!</p> - -<p>"Who are you?" she whispered.</p> - -<p>I told her.</p> - -<p>Her eyes were shining when I stopped telling her about myself. She -swayed a little, and I think we both knew then how it was going to be.</p> - -<p>She was in my arms before I realized that I didn't even know her name.</p> - -<p>"It's Barbara!" she whispered, when I got around to asking her. That -was quite a few minutes after I'd met her. You can't kiss a girl and -ask her name in the same breath. And there was just a chance she'd be -offended and refuse to tell me.</p> - -<p>But Barbara was a darned good sport about it!</p> - -<p>"I've never been kissed by a total stranger before!" she said. "Jim, it -was wonderful!"</p> - -<p>It sure was. We went back to it again.</p> - -<p>It's been a long time, now. Seven years. And if I haven't proved -you can fall in love with the same woman twice I've been living a -lie. But I know that it isn't so. If I was living a lie, Tow Tow -would be unhappy, and he'd be filling the house with mirages. But my -five-year-old son, Bobby, isn't a mirage, and neither is the girl I -married.</p> - -<p>Sometimes, when I see the lights of the skyport through a cornerset -window, and winds howl in from the bay, I get to wondering about Pete.</p> - -<p>You see, he never came in that night, never joined us! He may have -looked in through a window, and realized I'd reached my last "port o' -call," a quiet harbor in a storm that had died away forever. He may -have turned and gone stumbling off into the night!</p> - -<p>I'll never know, of course. Good old Pete! Sometimes I get to thinking. -A mirage pup can coil up in an old ship and hibernate for a century. -Could a human being do that?</p> - -<p>There are strange influences in deep space. Are there discharges in -the electromagnetic field that could slow up the metabolism of a tired -little character like Pete?</p> - -<p>That's nonsense, of course.</p> - -<p>I'll have to go now. Bobby's calling me. He's standing at the head -of the stairs, in his pajamas, and he's waiting for me to tell him a -bedtime story about what it's like out in the mighty dark.</p> - -<p>"Pop, you promised! Aw, come on, Pop—"</p> - -<p>I'll have to keep it simple, of course. But maybe tonight I'll tell him -about Pete.</p> - -<p>Maybe when he grows up he'll meet Pete.</p> - -<p>Who knows?</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND WE SAILED THE MIGHTY DARK ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. 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