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-

-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTY INTERRUPTED ***

-

-

-

-

-

-                          Beauty Interrupted

-

-                        By CHARLES L. FONTENAY

-

-                        Illustrated by ED EMSH

-

-           The Earthmen were selfish; they obviously wanted

-            to hold the people of Orcti back. But no planet

-           has a monopoly on science--or the ability to spy!

-

-           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

-                         Infinity August 1958.

-         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that

-         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

-

-

-Birkala looked through the iron fence and his eyes were yellow with

-envy and a kind of hatred. The Earthman, Erik, was in the garden,

-painting on a large canvas and chatting amiably with Spira, Birkala's

-sister.

-

-"The Earthmen have everything and they give us nothing," said Birkala

-to his companion, Direka.

-

-Direka nodded and grinned stupidly. Direka was simple in the head, and

-he always agreed with everything Birkala said. Direka was hunchbacked,

-also, and it pleased Birkala to compare his own straight, youthful

-body to the crooked form of Direka. Altogether, Direka was a most

-satisfactory companion.

-

-"The Earthmen live for centuries, but our life-span is that of a

-mayfly, and they do nothing about it," said Birkala bitterly. "The

-Earthmen flash from world to world in an instant, but we must use

-antiquated rockets and be confined to our own system of planets."

-

-Direka nodded again.

-

-"The Earthmen are greedy," he agreed sagely.

-

-"I am going to talk with the Earthmen," said Birkala, and added

-cruelly: "You must leave me, Direka. Your crooked body would hurt the

-Earthmen's sensitive eyes."

-

-"Yes, I shall go so you may talk with the Earthman," assented Direka

-and moved away sadly down the street.

-

-Birkala watched him go, and smiled ruefully. He did not really like to

-hurt Direka, but if he made Direka think the Earthman was repelled at

-the sight of him, perhaps Direka would engender his own hatred of Erik,

-instead of merely echoing Birkala's emotions.

-

-Birkala stepped to the open gate and entered the garden. It was a

-more beautiful garden than even the greatest artists of the world

-Orcti could arrange, for into Erik's planning had gone the aesthetic

-tradition of many millennia. The green sun that swam in Orcti's violet

-sky shone down on foliage and grasses of orange and brown and rust, and

-so carefully were things placed that even the great silver-and-blue

-lina flowers did not blare their supremacy over lesser plants, as

-in most Orcti gardens. They blended with the statuary and foliage,

-with the walks and the pools, tamely contributing their beauty to the

-balanced picture of peace and quietude.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Erik looked up from his easel as Birkala approached. He was a blond

-man of noble face and bearing, looking to be Birkala's own age. Yet

-this Earthman had lived and traveled the stars before Birkala's great

-grandfather was conceived in the womb.

-

-Spira sat nude on the edge of a fountain pool, one knee bent and one

-hand dipped gracefully in the sparkling water. She sat patiently

-and kept her wide golden eyes fixed on Erik's face, but recognized

-Birkala's approach with a faint smile. The sunlight glinted from her

-yellow-green hair and burnt orange skin.

-

-Birkala stood at Erik's shoulder, his feet apart and his hands

-clasped behind him, and studied the unfinished painting critically.

-With a sure, light brush, Erik had captured the innocence of a young

-woman seated by a fountain. The style was so simple as to be almost

-calligraphic, yet a few lines and spots of paint portrayed to the eye

-the long curve of Spira's thigh, the tilt of her breasts, the candor

-and loveliness of her face.

-

-Birkala's eyes dropped from the canvas to Erik's seated figure, and

-his expression altered from unwilling admiration to defiant scorn. The

-Earthman's short-sleeved smock was agape and exposed Erik's perfectly

-muscled body to the warm sunshine.

-

-"Why are Earthmen so obsessed with nudity?" demanded Birkala. Birkala

-himself wore loose trousers, shiny boots with curled toes, a shirt

-with flowing sleeves, a scarf about his throat. Beneath this was

-under-clothing.

-

-"We are not obsessed with nudity, Birkala," replied Erik gently. "The

-human body is natural and it is beautiful. We see nothing shameful

-about it, and we wear clothing only when needed for protection against

-the elements."

-

-"That is all right for you to say. It would be all right for me to

-believe. But can you say a hunched body like Direka's is beautiful?"

-

-"Not to unsympathetic eyes, perhaps. Poor Direka! But there will be a

-day when on Orcti, as on Earth, no one is born with a deformed body."

-

-Birkala sat down on a rock, crushing a bunch of purple minita flowers

-beside it.

-

-"Always in the future," he said bitterly. "Always promises, in the dim,

-distant future. You Earthmen know many things and have many things

-that you promise us, but why must these promises always be for our

-grandchildren's grandchildren?"

-

-"We found you in mud huts, and now you live in clean cities," reproved

-Erik, beginning to wipe his brushes clean. "We found you driving oxen,

-and now you ride spaceships to the other planets of your system."

-

-"Your lives are centuries long, and ours are three-score and ten,"

-countered Birkala. "It is true we have spaceships, but you step into a

-beam transmitter and cross the galaxy in seconds."

-

-"That is because you are not ready," replied Erik mildly.

-

-Birkala sat silent, his anger building up in him. Spira, seeing that

-Erik was finished with painting for the moment, arose in a graceful

-flow of motion and came to them. She stood beside Erik, one hand on his

-shoulder, and studied the canvas without speaking.

-

-"You're the only Earthman on all Orcti," Birkala began again. "Since I

-was a child I've heard of Erik, the Earthman who lives in the garden in

-the heart of the city. Since I was a child I've heard that Erik, the

-Earthman, watches over us like a noble god. Why do you really stay on

-Orcti, Erik? To prevent us from progressing too swiftly and challenging

-the position of Earth?"

-

-"Why do you carp at Erik?" demanded Spira, and there was a note of

-anger to her soft voice. "Erik has always been a friend to us,

-Birkala."

-

-"Ah, yes, and especially a friend to pretty little Spira," replied

-Birkala with deep irony. "She is my sister, Erik. Should I be honored

-that the great Earthman takes my sister as a mistress?"

-

-Spira flushed, for the term "mistress" was not a respectable one on

-Orcti.

-

-"I love Spira, like a daughter and a wife at once," said Erik. "I think

-you know that, Birkala. No one was happier than you when she came to

-me. I do not marry her because I am forbidden to be bound by the laws

-of Orcti, but I shall cherish her all of her life."

-

-"Yes. I know the schedule. And then another young woman shall grace the

-garden of the always-young Earthman. How nice for the Earthman!"

-

-"Why are you so savage today, Birkala?" asked Spira, genuinely puzzled.

-"I know that you have been restless for a long time, but we knew as

-children that other women had been in my place long before I was born."

-

-"Birkala is angry because he is a good scientist," explained Erik

-with an understanding smile. "Birkala thought yesterday that he had

-discovered the principle on which the beam transmitter is based, and

-I showed him that his theory is wrong. He is angry with himself for

-having been mistaken."

-

-Birkala spat into the fountain.

-

-"I am not so sure I was wrong," he retorted. "I think it could be that

-you tried to direct me away from my theory because you don't want me to

-find the truth."

-

-He turned and strode from the garden, frowning, his face hot.

-

-Turning right from the garden gate along the street, he passed in front

-of Erik's house, which was flush with the sidewalk. As he did so, he

-was surprised to see the door ajar and Direka sitting in it.

-

-Direka evidently had been waiting for Birkala to appear. He rose

-quickly, almost stumbling down the steps, and gestured eagerly at

-Birkala.

-

-"Come quickly, Birkala!" he chattered. "I have found a way into the

-part of the Earthman's house which is forbidden!"

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Birkala hesitated, then followed the crooked little man into Erik's

-house.

-

-Erik kept his house open. It was never locked, and Birkala had never

-heard that anyone had had the temerity to try to rob or harm the

-mysterious Earthman. Anyone could walk in or out, but few did without

-invitations, for the people of Orcti held Erik in awe.

-

-But the rear portion of the house was without windows or doors. It was

-not too apparent from the outside, but Birkala had been in Erik's

-house many times and had discovered long ago that there was a large

-section of it closed and inaccessible.

-

-As fast as his short legs could move, Direka led Birkala through the

-simply furnished house. Birkala followed easily, and smiled. Direka was

-like a monkey; he was not bright, but he was clever and eager.

-

-In Erik's bedroom, Direka stopped, panting, and pointed triumphantly

-at the rear wall. There was a great crack in it, near Erik's bed. A

-section of the wall was a secret door, and it had been left ajar.

-

-"Good fortune!" breathed Birkala, his eyes sparkling. "I have wondered

-for a long time what was behind that wall."

-

-He pushed the door wider and went through the opening, Direka crowding

-at his heels. It was very dark, the only light coming through the crack

-from the bedroom. Birkala could see nothing.

-

-He felt about the walls for a switch, without success.

-

-"I wonder how one turns on the light in here?" he said to Direka.

-

-At the word "light", light sprang into being all around them. It was a

-soft, indirect illumination which appeared to have no source and cast

-no shadow.

-

-They were in a sort of corridor which paralleled the wall through

-which they had just come. On the opposite wall of this hallway were

-banks of dials and charts and switches, and in the center of this

-opposite wall was an open doorway.

-

-Cautiously, Birkala and Direka moved down the corridor and peered

-through the open door. It gave entrance to a square room, which was

-lighted with the same sort of illumination as the hall.

-

-There was nothing in the room. There were just four walls, a ceiling

-and a floor. There was no furniture. There were no windows and there

-was no other door.

-

-"A strange thing!" muttered Birkala. "Erik does not retire to this

-place, for he is always around the house. I have walked into his

-bedroom and found him asleep. What is the purpose of this room?"

-

-"Perhaps a dungeon," darkly suggested Direka, who was a devotee of

-adventure pictures at the theaters.

-

-Birkala backed away from the door and studied the array of dials and

-switches. As Erik had said, Birkala was a good scientist. Birkala

-was thoroughly familiar with the nervous and intestinal workings of

-spaceships. He had made several trips to other planets in Orcti's

-system, and had made several contributions of his own to the science of

-rocketry and astrogation.

-

-He whistled softly between his teeth.

-

-"We've found it, Direka!" he exclaimed to his companion. "This is the

-beam transmitter that Erik has kept hidden so carefully. This is the

-control panel, and the room undoubtedly is the transmitter itself."

-

-Direka looked puzzled, then brightened.

-

-"Now we can go to Earth? Yes, Birkala?" he chirped.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Birkala inspected the control panel carefully. The charts were

-star-charts, etched on metal under glass. Below each was a series of

-dials, and Birkala deduced that these dials set the coordinates on the

-charts, establishing the destination. He recognized the configurations

-of the heavens from Orcti.

-

-"Yes, Direka, I think we could," he said. "But then the Earthmen would

-know we had been meddling. If we should go, we should go here, I think."

-

-He stabbed a finger at one of the charts, at a star on the outer edge

-of the inhabited portion of the galaxy.

-

-"The inhabited planet in this system is no more advanced than Orcti,"

-he said. "If I could go there, I could perhaps evade discovery by the

-Earthman there. But we certainly shall not risk going anywhere until I

-learn more about the operation of this machine."

-

-Birkala was too good a scientist not to realize that grave danger was

-involved in tinkering with an unfamiliar machine. But he was too ardent

-a scientist and his obsession with the beam transmitter was too strong

-for him not to risk danger to himself willingly.

-

-"Direka, you go out into the house, and if you see either Erik or

-Spira approaching, warn me quickly," he commanded. "I must study this

-machine."

-

-Direka slipped out through the opening, and Birkala turned back to the

-control panel. As experienced as he was with machinery and technical

-matters, he nevertheless expected to be baffled by this product of

-Earth's advanced science.

-

-But the controls were surprisingly simple. There were the destination

-coordinates, and Birkala was able to read enough of the square, blocky

-Earth writing to discern the designations for _off_ and _on_ beside

-what was apparently the control lever. There were some power--or

-volume--or perhaps distance--controls about which he was not sure; the

-best thing to do about them was not to touch them.

-

-There were no controls in the room itself, so Birkala deduced that one

-set the coordinates for one's destination, switched on the machine

-and then walked into the room. The room probably acted as both sender

-and receiver, and after a time lapse the sending apparatus perhaps

-switched off automatically so that the room could receive again.

-

-He pushed aside the chill, disturbing speculation about the controls

-of unknown purpose. He set the coordinates firmly for the star system

-Denragi, and pushed the switch to the _on_ position.

-

-At first Birkala thought the power source to the machine must be

-disconnected. There was no throbbing, no hum, no indication that it had

-been activated. Yes, there was one: a bright red spark showed square on

-the destination he had set by the coordinates. Denragi shone of its own

-light on the control panel.

-

-Encouraged, he stepped to the door of the empty room.

-

-Birkala recoiled, appalled.

-

-He could not see into the room. The luminescence was gone. The room was

-absolutely dark.

-

-Yet the darkness was more than the absence of light. It was more, even,

-than the utter jet-blackness of intergalactic space. It was an active

-blackness, a _presence_ of blackness, and it filled the room to the

-very edge of the door, untouched by the normal light from the hallway.

-

-The most frightening thing about it was that he felt an impulse to move

-into the room, a strong pull into the room, into the blackness. As he

-instinctively resisted, the pull grew stronger.

-

-And then Birkala was terrified. For the pull was so strong that he

-could not step back away from the yawning door.

-

-In a semi-daze, he fought with his mind, for the force was not a

-physical one. He fought, and he felt his control slipping.

-

-There came a commotion from the bedroom behind him, the sound of

-upraised voices. There was Direka's agonized chatter, a shrill protest,

-and the firm angry voice of a woman.

-

-He was able to turn his head slightly to see Spira come through the

-opening into the hallway.

-

-Birkala could not speak. He tried to warn Spira back with his strained,

-stinging eyes. But, unclothed as she had been at the fountain, she

-walked purposefully to him.

-

-"Birkala, you know Erik does not wish you tampering with these

-forbidden things!" she chided, and laid a restraining hand on his

-shoulder.

-

-At her touch, the powerful attractive force drained from Birkala in a

-rush. Released, he staggered back and fell against the opposite wall of

-the corridor.

-

-But Spira was yanked into the black room like a filing to a magnet, and

-vanished utterly.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-When Spira left him to go into the house, Erik sat for a few moments,

-studying his unfinished canvas critically. Now, an arc of pure orange

-there, a trace of subdued green there....

-

-A disturbing current intruded from the outer fringes of his mind,

-that still undeveloped realm of precognition. There was something ...

-something was to happen ... to Spira!

-

-He rose in haste, and strode swiftly into the house.

-

-He encountered the hunchback sneaking from the direction of the

-bedroom. At sight of him, Direka broke into an awkward trot toward the

-front door. There was something in his face that made Erik speed his

-steps.

-

-The hidden panel to the back of the house was open. Erik burst through

-it.

-

-The transmitter was on, and its electrical aura hovered ominously

-around the door of the transmission room. In the hallway across from

-that door, Birkala was struggling to his feet.

-

-Erik seized Birkala in time to prevent him from hurling himself into

-the blackness of the activated room.

-

-"Spira!" gasped Birkala. "She was pulled in there!"

-

-With the strength of a giant, Erik hurled Birkala the length of the

-corridor.

-

-"Get out!" he roared. "Quickly!"

-

-Erik plunged into the holocaust of hostile blackness.

-

-The room was endless, infinite. It was all space and all beyond space,

-and there was no light there for human eyes to see.

-

-There was an alien presence in this nothingness, a vampire presence

-that clutched a pathetic, limp figure light-years away, and reached out

-toward Erik with its hungry essence.

-

-Erik stood straight in the midst of nothing, his head thrown back,

-his yellow hair lifting on the wind that blows between the galaxies.

-The questing essence touched him and explored him, blindly unaware of

-humanity's challenge to its elemental insistence.

-

-Erik let his mind expand beyond him in a flexing of sure strength. Erik

-forced his mind from him in a blaze of anger. Erik attacked with his

-mind, magnificent in its unchained and immeasurable power.

-

-The alien force receded, it dwindled, it diminished. It melted before

-the strength of Erik's mind, that was a burning, pulsating power like

-light, and yet was not light. The vampire essence slowly, reluctantly,

-relinquished its distant, doll-like victim and retired in pain beyond

-the edges of the galaxies.

-

-In a room that was a room once more, in a room that was yet dark but

-lighted to him by the cold fire of his brain, Erik strode to a corner

-and lifted the crumpled, unconscious figure of Spira in his arms.

-Carrying her tenderly, he left the terrible room.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-The corridor was empty. Birkala was no longer there.

-

-Erik pulled down the control switch, and the blackness that had sprung

-up behind him in the transmission room faded into the harmless air of

-Orcti.

-

-Bearing Spira, Erik strode through the house and out into the garden.

-

-Birkala was pacing back and forth near the easel, his face working in

-his agitation. Erik approached him, and laid Spira gently on the soft

-grass before him. She lay still, the rise and fall of her breasts the

-only indication that she lived.

-

-"Is she all right?" choked Birkala, kneeling at her side in an agony of

-remorse.

-

-"She is not harmed physically," said Erik, and Birkala gasped with

-relief. Erik added: "But you must see the rest of your answer."

-

-He leaned over her and called softly:

-

-"Spira!"

-

-As though awakening from a spell, Spira opened her golden eyes. They

-fixed themselves on Erik's sorrowful face, and they widened. She smiled.

-

-But, with growing horror, Birkala realized it was not the smile

-of Spira, the sister of his childhood. It carried no message of

-recognition nor of intelligence. It was the pitiful smile of

-mindlessness.

-

-She gurgled.

-

-Erik helped her to sit up, and she stared about her wonderingly.

-

-"You have looked on me as an alien, Birkala," he said sternly, "but we

-are of the same humanity. The mother of your race, too, was Earth. But

-while the far-flung children of Earth had to start as pioneers to build

-the cultures of their varied worlds, the men of Earth forged ahead

-through the millennia in their climb toward whatever estate may one day

-be the goal of mankind.

-

-"We of Earth who come to your worlds are watchers to help you avoid

-some of the pitfalls we know may divert you from that same path we have

-trod, and destroy you. When you think of me as a man, Birkala, you

-think of me as one who knows the secret of long life and has a physical

-science in advance of your own. But the difference is far more: there

-are thresholds beyond the physical which you cannot comprehend, and

-beyond these thresholds the man of Earth has gone and explored and

-moves ever outward."

-

-"I know this must be true," murmured Birkala brokenly, stroking his

-sister's yellow-green hair. "I wronged you, Erik."

-

-"No, you wronged yourself, Birkala, and your people. Because you stand

-at the pinnacle of your own science, you thought you could step forward

-into ours. Because the words 'beam transmitter' signify technology to

-you, you would not understand that no physical means of transportation

-could transcend the limiting speed of light. You could not understand

-that this thing called, in your language, a beam transmitter, reaches

-out into unguessed dimensions.

-

-"Birkala, the reason Earth has not given you the beam transmitter is

-not that it is beyond your technological capabilities. It is that you

-have not developed in mind and heart to the point where you can cope

-with the awful perils of those dimensions, dangers that even we do not

-understand fully. As the people of Orcti are impelled to cover their

-bodies with clothing, so are they incapable of facing such things with

-their naked minds. You could have destroyed your entire world, instead

-of just your sister."

-

-There were tears in Birkala's eyes.

-

-"And is she, then, destroyed?" he asked in a low voice.

-

-"She must go home with you," said Erik. "I cannot help her. Slowly she

-may recover some of her own personality, and years from now she may be

-again part of the woman she was. But Spira is the price you have paid

-for your temerity, and she will always be there to remind you of that."

-

-Shaking his head, Birkala arose and urged the girl to her feet. Erik

-helped him dress her in the clothing she had worn when she came to the

-garden, the saucy skirt and shirt of the women of Orcti. Taking her by

-the hand, Birkala started to lead her carefully away.

-

-"Wait, Birkala," said Erik.

-

-He took the canvas from his easel and handed it to Birkala.

-

-"It is yours and you must keep it," he said sadly. "It is like Spira.

-It is beauty interrupted before it could fulfill its promise."

-

-

-

+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTY INTERRUPTED ***
+
+
+
+
+
+                          Beauty Interrupted
+
+                        By CHARLES L. FONTENAY
+
+                        Illustrated by ED EMSH
+
+           The Earthmen were selfish; they obviously wanted
+            to hold the people of Orcti back. But no planet
+           has a monopoly on science--or the ability to spy!
+
+           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+                         Infinity August 1958.
+         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+Birkala looked through the iron fence and his eyes were yellow with
+envy and a kind of hatred. The Earthman, Erik, was in the garden,
+painting on a large canvas and chatting amiably with Spira, Birkala's
+sister.
+
+"The Earthmen have everything and they give us nothing," said Birkala
+to his companion, Direka.
+
+Direka nodded and grinned stupidly. Direka was simple in the head, and
+he always agreed with everything Birkala said. Direka was hunchbacked,
+also, and it pleased Birkala to compare his own straight, youthful
+body to the crooked form of Direka. Altogether, Direka was a most
+satisfactory companion.
+
+"The Earthmen live for centuries, but our life-span is that of a
+mayfly, and they do nothing about it," said Birkala bitterly. "The
+Earthmen flash from world to world in an instant, but we must use
+antiquated rockets and be confined to our own system of planets."
+
+Direka nodded again.
+
+"The Earthmen are greedy," he agreed sagely.
+
+"I am going to talk with the Earthmen," said Birkala, and added
+cruelly: "You must leave me, Direka. Your crooked body would hurt the
+Earthmen's sensitive eyes."
+
+"Yes, I shall go so you may talk with the Earthman," assented Direka
+and moved away sadly down the street.
+
+Birkala watched him go, and smiled ruefully. He did not really like to
+hurt Direka, but if he made Direka think the Earthman was repelled at
+the sight of him, perhaps Direka would engender his own hatred of Erik,
+instead of merely echoing Birkala's emotions.
+
+Birkala stepped to the open gate and entered the garden. It was a
+more beautiful garden than even the greatest artists of the world
+Orcti could arrange, for into Erik's planning had gone the aesthetic
+tradition of many millennia. The green sun that swam in Orcti's violet
+sky shone down on foliage and grasses of orange and brown and rust, and
+so carefully were things placed that even the great silver-and-blue
+lina flowers did not blare their supremacy over lesser plants, as
+in most Orcti gardens. They blended with the statuary and foliage,
+with the walks and the pools, tamely contributing their beauty to the
+balanced picture of peace and quietude.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Erik looked up from his easel as Birkala approached. He was a blond
+man of noble face and bearing, looking to be Birkala's own age. Yet
+this Earthman had lived and traveled the stars before Birkala's great
+grandfather was conceived in the womb.
+
+Spira sat nude on the edge of a fountain pool, one knee bent and one
+hand dipped gracefully in the sparkling water. She sat patiently
+and kept her wide golden eyes fixed on Erik's face, but recognized
+Birkala's approach with a faint smile. The sunlight glinted from her
+yellow-green hair and burnt orange skin.
+
+Birkala stood at Erik's shoulder, his feet apart and his hands
+clasped behind him, and studied the unfinished painting critically.
+With a sure, light brush, Erik had captured the innocence of a young
+woman seated by a fountain. The style was so simple as to be almost
+calligraphic, yet a few lines and spots of paint portrayed to the eye
+the long curve of Spira's thigh, the tilt of her breasts, the candor
+and loveliness of her face.
+
+Birkala's eyes dropped from the canvas to Erik's seated figure, and
+his expression altered from unwilling admiration to defiant scorn. The
+Earthman's short-sleeved smock was agape and exposed Erik's perfectly
+muscled body to the warm sunshine.
+
+"Why are Earthmen so obsessed with nudity?" demanded Birkala. Birkala
+himself wore loose trousers, shiny boots with curled toes, a shirt
+with flowing sleeves, a scarf about his throat. Beneath this was
+under-clothing.
+
+"We are not obsessed with nudity, Birkala," replied Erik gently. "The
+human body is natural and it is beautiful. We see nothing shameful
+about it, and we wear clothing only when needed for protection against
+the elements."
+
+"That is all right for you to say. It would be all right for me to
+believe. But can you say a hunched body like Direka's is beautiful?"
+
+"Not to unsympathetic eyes, perhaps. Poor Direka! But there will be a
+day when on Orcti, as on Earth, no one is born with a deformed body."
+
+Birkala sat down on a rock, crushing a bunch of purple minita flowers
+beside it.
+
+"Always in the future," he said bitterly. "Always promises, in the dim,
+distant future. You Earthmen know many things and have many things
+that you promise us, but why must these promises always be for our
+grandchildren's grandchildren?"
+
+"We found you in mud huts, and now you live in clean cities," reproved
+Erik, beginning to wipe his brushes clean. "We found you driving oxen,
+and now you ride spaceships to the other planets of your system."
+
+"Your lives are centuries long, and ours are three-score and ten,"
+countered Birkala. "It is true we have spaceships, but you step into a
+beam transmitter and cross the galaxy in seconds."
+
+"That is because you are not ready," replied Erik mildly.
+
+Birkala sat silent, his anger building up in him. Spira, seeing that
+Erik was finished with painting for the moment, arose in a graceful
+flow of motion and came to them. She stood beside Erik, one hand on his
+shoulder, and studied the canvas without speaking.
+
+"You're the only Earthman on all Orcti," Birkala began again. "Since I
+was a child I've heard of Erik, the Earthman who lives in the garden in
+the heart of the city. Since I was a child I've heard that Erik, the
+Earthman, watches over us like a noble god. Why do you really stay on
+Orcti, Erik? To prevent us from progressing too swiftly and challenging
+the position of Earth?"
+
+"Why do you carp at Erik?" demanded Spira, and there was a note of
+anger to her soft voice. "Erik has always been a friend to us,
+Birkala."
+
+"Ah, yes, and especially a friend to pretty little Spira," replied
+Birkala with deep irony. "She is my sister, Erik. Should I be honored
+that the great Earthman takes my sister as a mistress?"
+
+Spira flushed, for the term "mistress" was not a respectable one on
+Orcti.
+
+"I love Spira, like a daughter and a wife at once," said Erik. "I think
+you know that, Birkala. No one was happier than you when she came to
+me. I do not marry her because I am forbidden to be bound by the laws
+of Orcti, but I shall cherish her all of her life."
+
+"Yes. I know the schedule. And then another young woman shall grace the
+garden of the always-young Earthman. How nice for the Earthman!"
+
+"Why are you so savage today, Birkala?" asked Spira, genuinely puzzled.
+"I know that you have been restless for a long time, but we knew as
+children that other women had been in my place long before I was born."
+
+"Birkala is angry because he is a good scientist," explained Erik
+with an understanding smile. "Birkala thought yesterday that he had
+discovered the principle on which the beam transmitter is based, and
+I showed him that his theory is wrong. He is angry with himself for
+having been mistaken."
+
+Birkala spat into the fountain.
+
+"I am not so sure I was wrong," he retorted. "I think it could be that
+you tried to direct me away from my theory because you don't want me to
+find the truth."
+
+He turned and strode from the garden, frowning, his face hot.
+
+Turning right from the garden gate along the street, he passed in front
+of Erik's house, which was flush with the sidewalk. As he did so, he
+was surprised to see the door ajar and Direka sitting in it.
+
+Direka evidently had been waiting for Birkala to appear. He rose
+quickly, almost stumbling down the steps, and gestured eagerly at
+Birkala.
+
+"Come quickly, Birkala!" he chattered. "I have found a way into the
+part of the Earthman's house which is forbidden!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Birkala hesitated, then followed the crooked little man into Erik's
+house.
+
+Erik kept his house open. It was never locked, and Birkala had never
+heard that anyone had had the temerity to try to rob or harm the
+mysterious Earthman. Anyone could walk in or out, but few did without
+invitations, for the people of Orcti held Erik in awe.
+
+But the rear portion of the house was without windows or doors. It was
+not too apparent from the outside, but Birkala had been in Erik's
+house many times and had discovered long ago that there was a large
+section of it closed and inaccessible.
+
+As fast as his short legs could move, Direka led Birkala through the
+simply furnished house. Birkala followed easily, and smiled. Direka was
+like a monkey; he was not bright, but he was clever and eager.
+
+In Erik's bedroom, Direka stopped, panting, and pointed triumphantly
+at the rear wall. There was a great crack in it, near Erik's bed. A
+section of the wall was a secret door, and it had been left ajar.
+
+"Good fortune!" breathed Birkala, his eyes sparkling. "I have wondered
+for a long time what was behind that wall."
+
+He pushed the door wider and went through the opening, Direka crowding
+at his heels. It was very dark, the only light coming through the crack
+from the bedroom. Birkala could see nothing.
+
+He felt about the walls for a switch, without success.
+
+"I wonder how one turns on the light in here?" he said to Direka.
+
+At the word "light", light sprang into being all around them. It was a
+soft, indirect illumination which appeared to have no source and cast
+no shadow.
+
+They were in a sort of corridor which paralleled the wall through
+which they had just come. On the opposite wall of this hallway were
+banks of dials and charts and switches, and in the center of this
+opposite wall was an open doorway.
+
+Cautiously, Birkala and Direka moved down the corridor and peered
+through the open door. It gave entrance to a square room, which was
+lighted with the same sort of illumination as the hall.
+
+There was nothing in the room. There were just four walls, a ceiling
+and a floor. There was no furniture. There were no windows and there
+was no other door.
+
+"A strange thing!" muttered Birkala. "Erik does not retire to this
+place, for he is always around the house. I have walked into his
+bedroom and found him asleep. What is the purpose of this room?"
+
+"Perhaps a dungeon," darkly suggested Direka, who was a devotee of
+adventure pictures at the theaters.
+
+Birkala backed away from the door and studied the array of dials and
+switches. As Erik had said, Birkala was a good scientist. Birkala
+was thoroughly familiar with the nervous and intestinal workings of
+spaceships. He had made several trips to other planets in Orcti's
+system, and had made several contributions of his own to the science of
+rocketry and astrogation.
+
+He whistled softly between his teeth.
+
+"We've found it, Direka!" he exclaimed to his companion. "This is the
+beam transmitter that Erik has kept hidden so carefully. This is the
+control panel, and the room undoubtedly is the transmitter itself."
+
+Direka looked puzzled, then brightened.
+
+"Now we can go to Earth? Yes, Birkala?" he chirped.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Birkala inspected the control panel carefully. The charts were
+star-charts, etched on metal under glass. Below each was a series of
+dials, and Birkala deduced that these dials set the coordinates on the
+charts, establishing the destination. He recognized the configurations
+of the heavens from Orcti.
+
+"Yes, Direka, I think we could," he said. "But then the Earthmen would
+know we had been meddling. If we should go, we should go here, I think."
+
+He stabbed a finger at one of the charts, at a star on the outer edge
+of the inhabited portion of the galaxy.
+
+"The inhabited planet in this system is no more advanced than Orcti,"
+he said. "If I could go there, I could perhaps evade discovery by the
+Earthman there. But we certainly shall not risk going anywhere until I
+learn more about the operation of this machine."
+
+Birkala was too good a scientist not to realize that grave danger was
+involved in tinkering with an unfamiliar machine. But he was too ardent
+a scientist and his obsession with the beam transmitter was too strong
+for him not to risk danger to himself willingly.
+
+"Direka, you go out into the house, and if you see either Erik or
+Spira approaching, warn me quickly," he commanded. "I must study this
+machine."
+
+Direka slipped out through the opening, and Birkala turned back to the
+control panel. As experienced as he was with machinery and technical
+matters, he nevertheless expected to be baffled by this product of
+Earth's advanced science.
+
+But the controls were surprisingly simple. There were the destination
+coordinates, and Birkala was able to read enough of the square, blocky
+Earth writing to discern the designations for _off_ and _on_ beside
+what was apparently the control lever. There were some power--or
+volume--or perhaps distance--controls about which he was not sure; the
+best thing to do about them was not to touch them.
+
+There were no controls in the room itself, so Birkala deduced that one
+set the coordinates for one's destination, switched on the machine
+and then walked into the room. The room probably acted as both sender
+and receiver, and after a time lapse the sending apparatus perhaps
+switched off automatically so that the room could receive again.
+
+He pushed aside the chill, disturbing speculation about the controls
+of unknown purpose. He set the coordinates firmly for the star system
+Denragi, and pushed the switch to the _on_ position.
+
+At first Birkala thought the power source to the machine must be
+disconnected. There was no throbbing, no hum, no indication that it had
+been activated. Yes, there was one: a bright red spark showed square on
+the destination he had set by the coordinates. Denragi shone of its own
+light on the control panel.
+
+Encouraged, he stepped to the door of the empty room.
+
+Birkala recoiled, appalled.
+
+He could not see into the room. The luminescence was gone. The room was
+absolutely dark.
+
+Yet the darkness was more than the absence of light. It was more, even,
+than the utter jet-blackness of intergalactic space. It was an active
+blackness, a _presence_ of blackness, and it filled the room to the
+very edge of the door, untouched by the normal light from the hallway.
+
+The most frightening thing about it was that he felt an impulse to move
+into the room, a strong pull into the room, into the blackness. As he
+instinctively resisted, the pull grew stronger.
+
+And then Birkala was terrified. For the pull was so strong that he
+could not step back away from the yawning door.
+
+In a semi-daze, he fought with his mind, for the force was not a
+physical one. He fought, and he felt his control slipping.
+
+There came a commotion from the bedroom behind him, the sound of
+upraised voices. There was Direka's agonized chatter, a shrill protest,
+and the firm angry voice of a woman.
+
+He was able to turn his head slightly to see Spira come through the
+opening into the hallway.
+
+Birkala could not speak. He tried to warn Spira back with his strained,
+stinging eyes. But, unclothed as she had been at the fountain, she
+walked purposefully to him.
+
+"Birkala, you know Erik does not wish you tampering with these
+forbidden things!" she chided, and laid a restraining hand on his
+shoulder.
+
+At her touch, the powerful attractive force drained from Birkala in a
+rush. Released, he staggered back and fell against the opposite wall of
+the corridor.
+
+But Spira was yanked into the black room like a filing to a magnet, and
+vanished utterly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Spira left him to go into the house, Erik sat for a few moments,
+studying his unfinished canvas critically. Now, an arc of pure orange
+there, a trace of subdued green there....
+
+A disturbing current intruded from the outer fringes of his mind,
+that still undeveloped realm of precognition. There was something ...
+something was to happen ... to Spira!
+
+He rose in haste, and strode swiftly into the house.
+
+He encountered the hunchback sneaking from the direction of the
+bedroom. At sight of him, Direka broke into an awkward trot toward the
+front door. There was something in his face that made Erik speed his
+steps.
+
+The hidden panel to the back of the house was open. Erik burst through
+it.
+
+The transmitter was on, and its electrical aura hovered ominously
+around the door of the transmission room. In the hallway across from
+that door, Birkala was struggling to his feet.
+
+Erik seized Birkala in time to prevent him from hurling himself into
+the blackness of the activated room.
+
+"Spira!" gasped Birkala. "She was pulled in there!"
+
+With the strength of a giant, Erik hurled Birkala the length of the
+corridor.
+
+"Get out!" he roared. "Quickly!"
+
+Erik plunged into the holocaust of hostile blackness.
+
+The room was endless, infinite. It was all space and all beyond space,
+and there was no light there for human eyes to see.
+
+There was an alien presence in this nothingness, a vampire presence
+that clutched a pathetic, limp figure light-years away, and reached out
+toward Erik with its hungry essence.
+
+Erik stood straight in the midst of nothing, his head thrown back,
+his yellow hair lifting on the wind that blows between the galaxies.
+The questing essence touched him and explored him, blindly unaware of
+humanity's challenge to its elemental insistence.
+
+Erik let his mind expand beyond him in a flexing of sure strength. Erik
+forced his mind from him in a blaze of anger. Erik attacked with his
+mind, magnificent in its unchained and immeasurable power.
+
+The alien force receded, it dwindled, it diminished. It melted before
+the strength of Erik's mind, that was a burning, pulsating power like
+light, and yet was not light. The vampire essence slowly, reluctantly,
+relinquished its distant, doll-like victim and retired in pain beyond
+the edges of the galaxies.
+
+In a room that was a room once more, in a room that was yet dark but
+lighted to him by the cold fire of his brain, Erik strode to a corner
+and lifted the crumpled, unconscious figure of Spira in his arms.
+Carrying her tenderly, he left the terrible room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The corridor was empty. Birkala was no longer there.
+
+Erik pulled down the control switch, and the blackness that had sprung
+up behind him in the transmission room faded into the harmless air of
+Orcti.
+
+Bearing Spira, Erik strode through the house and out into the garden.
+
+Birkala was pacing back and forth near the easel, his face working in
+his agitation. Erik approached him, and laid Spira gently on the soft
+grass before him. She lay still, the rise and fall of her breasts the
+only indication that she lived.
+
+"Is she all right?" choked Birkala, kneeling at her side in an agony of
+remorse.
+
+"She is not harmed physically," said Erik, and Birkala gasped with
+relief. Erik added: "But you must see the rest of your answer."
+
+He leaned over her and called softly:
+
+"Spira!"
+
+As though awakening from a spell, Spira opened her golden eyes. They
+fixed themselves on Erik's sorrowful face, and they widened. She smiled.
+
+But, with growing horror, Birkala realized it was not the smile
+of Spira, the sister of his childhood. It carried no message of
+recognition nor of intelligence. It was the pitiful smile of
+mindlessness.
+
+She gurgled.
+
+Erik helped her to sit up, and she stared about her wonderingly.
+
+"You have looked on me as an alien, Birkala," he said sternly, "but we
+are of the same humanity. The mother of your race, too, was Earth. But
+while the far-flung children of Earth had to start as pioneers to build
+the cultures of their varied worlds, the men of Earth forged ahead
+through the millennia in their climb toward whatever estate may one day
+be the goal of mankind.
+
+"We of Earth who come to your worlds are watchers to help you avoid
+some of the pitfalls we know may divert you from that same path we have
+trod, and destroy you. When you think of me as a man, Birkala, you
+think of me as one who knows the secret of long life and has a physical
+science in advance of your own. But the difference is far more: there
+are thresholds beyond the physical which you cannot comprehend, and
+beyond these thresholds the man of Earth has gone and explored and
+moves ever outward."
+
+"I know this must be true," murmured Birkala brokenly, stroking his
+sister's yellow-green hair. "I wronged you, Erik."
+
+"No, you wronged yourself, Birkala, and your people. Because you stand
+at the pinnacle of your own science, you thought you could step forward
+into ours. Because the words 'beam transmitter' signify technology to
+you, you would not understand that no physical means of transportation
+could transcend the limiting speed of light. You could not understand
+that this thing called, in your language, a beam transmitter, reaches
+out into unguessed dimensions.
+
+"Birkala, the reason Earth has not given you the beam transmitter is
+not that it is beyond your technological capabilities. It is that you
+have not developed in mind and heart to the point where you can cope
+with the awful perils of those dimensions, dangers that even we do not
+understand fully. As the people of Orcti are impelled to cover their
+bodies with clothing, so are they incapable of facing such things with
+their naked minds. You could have destroyed your entire world, instead
+of just your sister."
+
+There were tears in Birkala's eyes.
+
+"And is she, then, destroyed?" he asked in a low voice.
+
+"She must go home with you," said Erik. "I cannot help her. Slowly she
+may recover some of her own personality, and years from now she may be
+again part of the woman she was. But Spira is the price you have paid
+for your temerity, and she will always be there to remind you of that."
+
+Shaking his head, Birkala arose and urged the girl to her feet. Erik
+helped him dress her in the clothing she had worn when she came to the
+garden, the saucy skirt and shirt of the women of Orcti. Taking her by
+the hand, Birkala started to lead her carefully away.
+
+"Wait, Birkala," said Erik.
+
+He took the canvas from his easel and handed it to Birkala.
+
+"It is yours and you must keep it," he said sadly. "It is like Spira.
+It is beauty interrupted before it could fulfill its promise."
+
+
+
 *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTY INTERRUPTED ***
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-<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTY INTERRUPTED ***</div>

-

-<div class="figcenter x-ebookmaker-drop">

-  <img src="images/illusc.jpg" alt="cover">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="titlepage">

-

-<h1>Beauty Interrupted</h1>

-

-<p class="ph1">By CHARLES L. FONTENAY</p>

-

-<p>Illustrated by ED EMSH</p>

-

-<p>The Earthmen were selfish; they obviously wanted<br>

-to hold the people of Orcti back. But no planet<br>

-has a monopoly on science—or the ability to spy!</p>

-

-<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br>

-Infinity August 1958.<br>

-Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br>

-the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>

-

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>Birkala looked through the iron fence and his eyes were yellow with

-envy and a kind of hatred. The Earthman, Erik, was in the garden,

-painting on a large canvas and chatting amiably with Spira, Birkala's

-sister.</p>

-

-<p>"The Earthmen have everything and they give us nothing," said Birkala

-to his companion, Direka.</p>

-

-<p>Direka nodded and grinned stupidly. Direka was simple in the head, and

-he always agreed with everything Birkala said. Direka was hunchbacked,

-also, and it pleased Birkala to compare his own straight, youthful

-body to the crooked form of Direka. Altogether, Direka was a most

-satisfactory companion.</p>

-

-<p>"The Earthmen live for centuries, but our life-span is that of a

-mayfly, and they do nothing about it," said Birkala bitterly. "The

-Earthmen flash from world to world in an instant, but we must use

-antiquated rockets and be confined to our own system of planets."</p>

-

-<p>Direka nodded again.</p>

-

-<p>"The Earthmen are greedy," he agreed sagely.</p>

-

-<p>"I am going to talk with the Earthmen," said Birkala, and added

-cruelly: "You must leave me, Direka. Your crooked body would hurt the

-Earthmen's sensitive eyes."</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, I shall go so you may talk with the Earthman," assented Direka

-and moved away sadly down the street.</p>

-

-<p>Birkala watched him go, and smiled ruefully. He did not really like to

-hurt Direka, but if he made Direka think the Earthman was repelled at

-the sight of him, perhaps Direka would engender his own hatred of Erik,

-instead of merely echoing Birkala's emotions.</p>

-

-<p>Birkala stepped to the open gate and entered the garden. It was a

-more beautiful garden than even the greatest artists of the world

-Orcti could arrange, for into Erik's planning had gone the aesthetic

-tradition of many millennia. The green sun that swam in Orcti's violet

-sky shone down on foliage and grasses of orange and brown and rust, and

-so carefully were things placed that even the great silver-and-blue

-lina flowers did not blare their supremacy over lesser plants, as

-in most Orcti gardens. They blended with the statuary and foliage,

-with the walks and the pools, tamely contributing their beauty to the

-balanced picture of peace and quietude.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>Erik looked up from his easel as Birkala approached. He was a blond

-man of noble face and bearing, looking to be Birkala's own age. Yet

-this Earthman had lived and traveled the stars before Birkala's great

-grandfather was conceived in the womb.</p>

-

-<p>Spira sat nude on the edge of a fountain pool, one knee bent and one

-hand dipped gracefully in the sparkling water. She sat patiently

-and kept her wide golden eyes fixed on Erik's face, but recognized

-Birkala's approach with a faint smile. The sunlight glinted from her

-yellow-green hair and burnt orange skin.</p>

-

-<p>Birkala stood at Erik's shoulder, his feet apart and his hands

-clasped behind him, and studied the unfinished painting critically.

-With a sure, light brush, Erik had captured the innocence of a young

-woman seated by a fountain. The style was so simple as to be almost

-calligraphic, yet a few lines and spots of paint portrayed to the eye

-the long curve of Spira's thigh, the tilt of her breasts, the candor

-and loveliness of her face.</p>

-

-<p>Birkala's eyes dropped from the canvas to Erik's seated figure, and

-his expression altered from unwilling admiration to defiant scorn. The

-Earthman's short-sleeved smock was agape and exposed Erik's perfectly

-muscled body to the warm sunshine.</p>

-

-<p>"Why are Earthmen so obsessed with nudity?" demanded Birkala. Birkala

-himself wore loose trousers, shiny boots with curled toes, a shirt

-with flowing sleeves, a scarf about his throat. Beneath this was

-under-clothing.</p>

-

-<p>"We are not obsessed with nudity, Birkala," replied Erik gently. "The

-human body is natural and it is beautiful. We see nothing shameful

-about it, and we wear clothing only when needed for protection against

-the elements."</p>

-

-<p>"That is all right for you to say. It would be all right for me to

-believe. But can you say a hunched body like Direka's is beautiful?"</p>

-

-<p>"Not to unsympathetic eyes, perhaps. Poor Direka! But there will be a

-day when on Orcti, as on Earth, no one is born with a deformed body."</p>

-

-<p>Birkala sat down on a rock, crushing a bunch of purple minita flowers

-beside it.</p>

-

-<p>"Always in the future," he said bitterly. "Always promises, in the dim,

-distant future. You Earthmen know many things and have many things

-that you promise us, but why must these promises always be for our

-grandchildren's grandchildren?"</p>

-

-<p>"We found you in mud huts, and now you live in clean cities," reproved

-Erik, beginning to wipe his brushes clean. "We found you driving oxen,

-and now you ride spaceships to the other planets of your system."</p>

-

-<p>"Your lives are centuries long, and ours are three-score and ten,"

-countered Birkala. "It is true we have spaceships, but you step into a

-beam transmitter and cross the galaxy in seconds."</p>

-

-<p>"That is because you are not ready," replied Erik mildly.</p>

-

-<p>Birkala sat silent, his anger building up in him. Spira, seeing that

-Erik was finished with painting for the moment, arose in a graceful

-flow of motion and came to them. She stood beside Erik, one hand on his

-shoulder, and studied the canvas without speaking.</p>

-

-<p>"You're the only Earthman on all Orcti," Birkala began again. "Since I

-was a child I've heard of Erik, the Earthman who lives in the garden in

-the heart of the city. Since I was a child I've heard that Erik, the

-Earthman, watches over us like a noble god. Why do you really stay on

-Orcti, Erik? To prevent us from progressing too swiftly and challenging

-the position of Earth?"</p>

-

-<p>"Why do you carp at Erik?" demanded Spira, and there was a note of

-anger to her soft voice. "Erik has always been a friend to us,

-Birkala."</p>

-

-<p>"Ah, yes, and especially a friend to pretty little Spira," replied

-Birkala with deep irony. "She is my sister, Erik. Should I be honored

-that the great Earthman takes my sister as a mistress?"</p>

-

-<p>Spira flushed, for the term "mistress" was not a respectable one on

-Orcti.</p>

-

-<p>"I love Spira, like a daughter and a wife at once," said Erik. "I think

-you know that, Birkala. No one was happier than you when she came to

-me. I do not marry her because I am forbidden to be bound by the laws

-of Orcti, but I shall cherish her all of her life."</p>

-

-<p>"Yes. I know the schedule. And then another young woman shall grace the

-garden of the always-young Earthman. How nice for the Earthman!"</p>

-

-<p>"Why are you so savage today, Birkala?" asked Spira, genuinely puzzled.

-"I know that you have been restless for a long time, but we knew as

-children that other women had been in my place long before I was born."</p>

-

-<p>"Birkala is angry because he is a good scientist," explained Erik

-with an understanding smile. "Birkala thought yesterday that he had

-discovered the principle on which the beam transmitter is based, and

-I showed him that his theory is wrong. He is angry with himself for

-having been mistaken."</p>

-

-<p>Birkala spat into the fountain.</p>

-

-<p>"I am not so sure I was wrong," he retorted. "I think it could be that

-you tried to direct me away from my theory because you don't want me to

-find the truth."</p>

-

-<p>He turned and strode from the garden, frowning, his face hot.</p>

-

-<p>Turning right from the garden gate along the street, he passed in front

-of Erik's house, which was flush with the sidewalk. As he did so, he

-was surprised to see the door ajar and Direka sitting in it.</p>

-

-<p>Direka evidently had been waiting for Birkala to appear. He rose

-quickly, almost stumbling down the steps, and gestured eagerly at

-Birkala.</p>

-

-<p>"Come quickly, Birkala!" he chattered. "I have found a way into the

-part of the Earthman's house which is forbidden!"</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>Birkala hesitated, then followed the crooked little man into Erik's

-house.</p>

-

-<p>Erik kept his house open. It was never locked, and Birkala had never

-heard that anyone had had the temerity to try to rob or harm the

-mysterious Earthman. Anyone could walk in or out, but few did without

-invitations, for the people of Orcti held Erik in awe.</p>

-

-<p>But the rear portion of the house was without windows or doors. It was

-not too apparent from the outside, but Birkala had been in Erik's

-house many times and had discovered long ago that there was a large

-section of it closed and inaccessible.</p>

-

-<p>As fast as his short legs could move, Direka led Birkala through the

-simply furnished house. Birkala followed easily, and smiled. Direka was

-like a monkey; he was not bright, but he was clever and eager.</p>

-

-<p>In Erik's bedroom, Direka stopped, panting, and pointed triumphantly

-at the rear wall. There was a great crack in it, near Erik's bed. A

-section of the wall was a secret door, and it had been left ajar.</p>

-

-<p>"Good fortune!" breathed Birkala, his eyes sparkling. "I have wondered

-for a long time what was behind that wall."</p>

-

-<p>He pushed the door wider and went through the opening, Direka crowding

-at his heels. It was very dark, the only light coming through the crack

-from the bedroom. Birkala could see nothing.</p>

-

-<p>He felt about the walls for a switch, without success.</p>

-

-<p>"I wonder how one turns on the light in here?" he said to Direka.</p>

-

-<p>At the word "light", light sprang into being all around them. It was a

-soft, indirect illumination which appeared to have no source and cast

-no shadow.</p>

-

-<p>They were in a sort of corridor which paralleled the wall through

-which they had just come. On the opposite wall of this hallway were

-banks of dials and charts and switches, and in the center of this

-opposite wall was an open doorway.</p>

-

-<p>Cautiously, Birkala and Direka moved down the corridor and peered

-through the open door. It gave entrance to a square room, which was

-lighted with the same sort of illumination as the hall.</p>

-

-<p>There was nothing in the room. There were just four walls, a ceiling

-and a floor. There was no furniture. There were no windows and there

-was no other door.</p>

-

-<p>"A strange thing!" muttered Birkala. "Erik does not retire to this

-place, for he is always around the house. I have walked into his

-bedroom and found him asleep. What is the purpose of this room?"</p>

-

-<p>"Perhaps a dungeon," darkly suggested Direka, who was a devotee of

-adventure pictures at the theaters.</p>

-

-<p>Birkala backed away from the door and studied the array of dials and

-switches. As Erik had said, Birkala was a good scientist. Birkala

-was thoroughly familiar with the nervous and intestinal workings of

-spaceships. He had made several trips to other planets in Orcti's

-system, and had made several contributions of his own to the science of

-rocketry and astrogation.</p>

-

-<p>He whistled softly between his teeth.</p>

-

-<p>"We've found it, Direka!" he exclaimed to his companion. "This is the

-beam transmitter that Erik has kept hidden so carefully. This is the

-control panel, and the room undoubtedly is the transmitter itself."</p>

-

-<p>Direka looked puzzled, then brightened.</p>

-

-<p>"Now we can go to Earth? Yes, Birkala?" he chirped.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>Birkala inspected the control panel carefully. The charts were

-star-charts, etched on metal under glass. Below each was a series of

-dials, and Birkala deduced that these dials set the coordinates on the

-charts, establishing the destination. He recognized the configurations

-of the heavens from Orcti.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Direka, I think we could," he said. "But then the Earthmen would

-know we had been meddling. If we should go, we should go here, I think."</p>

-

-<p>He stabbed a finger at one of the charts, at a star on the outer edge

-of the inhabited portion of the galaxy.</p>

-

-<p>"The inhabited planet in this system is no more advanced than Orcti,"

-he said. "If I could go there, I could perhaps evade discovery by the

-Earthman there. But we certainly shall not risk going anywhere until I

-learn more about the operation of this machine."</p>

-

-<p>Birkala was too good a scientist not to realize that grave danger was

-involved in tinkering with an unfamiliar machine. But he was too ardent

-a scientist and his obsession with the beam transmitter was too strong

-for him not to risk danger to himself willingly.</p>

-

-<p>"Direka, you go out into the house, and if you see either Erik or

-Spira approaching, warn me quickly," he commanded. "I must study this

-machine."</p>

-

-<p>Direka slipped out through the opening, and Birkala turned back to the

-control panel. As experienced as he was with machinery and technical

-matters, he nevertheless expected to be baffled by this product of

-Earth's advanced science.</p>

-

-<p>But the controls were surprisingly simple. There were the destination

-coordinates, and Birkala was able to read enough of the square, blocky

-Earth writing to discern the designations for <i>off</i> and <i>on</i> beside

-what was apparently the control lever. There were some power—or

-volume—or perhaps distance—controls about which he was not sure; the

-best thing to do about them was not to touch them.</p>

-

-<p>There were no controls in the room itself, so Birkala deduced that one

-set the coordinates for one's destination, switched on the machine

-and then walked into the room. The room probably acted as both sender

-and receiver, and after a time lapse the sending apparatus perhaps

-switched off automatically so that the room could receive again.</p>

-

-<p>He pushed aside the chill, disturbing speculation about the controls

-of unknown purpose. He set the coordinates firmly for the star system

-Denragi, and pushed the switch to the <i>on</i> position.</p>

-

-<p>At first Birkala thought the power source to the machine must be

-disconnected. There was no throbbing, no hum, no indication that it had

-been activated. Yes, there was one: a bright red spark showed square on

-the destination he had set by the coordinates. Denragi shone of its own

-light on the control panel.</p>

-

-<p>Encouraged, he stepped to the door of the empty room.</p>

-

-<p>Birkala recoiled, appalled.</p>

-

-<p>He could not see into the room. The luminescence was gone. The room was

-absolutely dark.</p>

-

-<p>Yet the darkness was more than the absence of light. It was more, even,

-than the utter jet-blackness of intergalactic space. It was an active

-blackness, a <i>presence</i> of blackness, and it filled the room to the

-very edge of the door, untouched by the normal light from the hallway.</p>

-

-<p>The most frightening thing about it was that he felt an impulse to move

-into the room, a strong pull into the room, into the blackness. As he

-instinctively resisted, the pull grew stronger.</p>

-

-<p>And then Birkala was terrified. For the pull was so strong that he

-could not step back away from the yawning door.</p>

-

-<p>In a semi-daze, he fought with his mind, for the force was not a

-physical one. He fought, and he felt his control slipping.</p>

-

-<p>There came a commotion from the bedroom behind him, the sound of

-upraised voices. There was Direka's agonized chatter, a shrill protest,

-and the firm angry voice of a woman.</p>

-

-<p>He was able to turn his head slightly to see Spira come through the

-opening into the hallway.</p>

-

-<p>Birkala could not speak. He tried to warn Spira back with his strained,

-stinging eyes. But, unclothed as she had been at the fountain, she

-walked purposefully to him.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<figure class="figcenter illowp51" id="illus" style="max-width: 21.25em;">

-  <img class="w100" src="images/illus.jpg" alt="">

-</figure>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Birkala, you know Erik does not wish you tampering with these

-forbidden things!" she chided, and laid a restraining hand on his

-shoulder.</p>

-

-<p>At her touch, the powerful attractive force drained from Birkala in a

-rush. Released, he staggered back and fell against the opposite wall of

-the corridor.</p>

-

-<p>But Spira was yanked into the black room like a filing to a magnet, and

-vanished utterly.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>When Spira left him to go into the house, Erik sat for a few moments,

-studying his unfinished canvas critically. Now, an arc of pure orange

-there, a trace of subdued green there....</p>

-

-<p>A disturbing current intruded from the outer fringes of his mind,

-that still undeveloped realm of precognition. There was something ...

-something was to happen ... to Spira!</p>

-

-<p>He rose in haste, and strode swiftly into the house.</p>

-

-<p>He encountered the hunchback sneaking from the direction of the

-bedroom. At sight of him, Direka broke into an awkward trot toward the

-front door. There was something in his face that made Erik speed his

-steps.</p>

-

-<p>The hidden panel to the back of the house was open. Erik burst through

-it.</p>

-

-<p>The transmitter was on, and its electrical aura hovered ominously

-around the door of the transmission room. In the hallway across from

-that door, Birkala was struggling to his feet.</p>

-

-<p>Erik seized Birkala in time to prevent him from hurling himself into

-the blackness of the activated room.</p>

-

-<p>"Spira!" gasped Birkala. "She was pulled in there!"</p>

-

-<p>With the strength of a giant, Erik hurled Birkala the length of the

-corridor.</p>

-

-<p>"Get out!" he roared. "Quickly!"</p>

-

-<p>Erik plunged into the holocaust of hostile blackness.</p>

-

-<p>The room was endless, infinite. It was all space and all beyond space,

-and there was no light there for human eyes to see.</p>

-

-<p>There was an alien presence in this nothingness, a vampire presence

-that clutched a pathetic, limp figure light-years away, and reached out

-toward Erik with its hungry essence.</p>

-

-<p>Erik stood straight in the midst of nothing, his head thrown back,

-his yellow hair lifting on the wind that blows between the galaxies.

-The questing essence touched him and explored him, blindly unaware of

-humanity's challenge to its elemental insistence.</p>

-

-<p>Erik let his mind expand beyond him in a flexing of sure strength. Erik

-forced his mind from him in a blaze of anger. Erik attacked with his

-mind, magnificent in its unchained and immeasurable power.</p>

-

-<p>The alien force receded, it dwindled, it diminished. It melted before

-the strength of Erik's mind, that was a burning, pulsating power like

-light, and yet was not light. The vampire essence slowly, reluctantly,

-relinquished its distant, doll-like victim and retired in pain beyond

-the edges of the galaxies.</p>

-

-<p>In a room that was a room once more, in a room that was yet dark but

-lighted to him by the cold fire of his brain, Erik strode to a corner

-and lifted the crumpled, unconscious figure of Spira in his arms.

-Carrying her tenderly, he left the terrible room.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>The corridor was empty. Birkala was no longer there.</p>

-

-<p>Erik pulled down the control switch, and the blackness that had sprung

-up behind him in the transmission room faded into the harmless air of

-Orcti.</p>

-

-<p>Bearing Spira, Erik strode through the house and out into the garden.</p>

-

-<p>Birkala was pacing back and forth near the easel, his face working in

-his agitation. Erik approached him, and laid Spira gently on the soft

-grass before him. She lay still, the rise and fall of her breasts the

-only indication that she lived.</p>

-

-<p>"Is she all right?" choked Birkala, kneeling at her side in an agony of

-remorse.</p>

-

-<p>"She is not harmed physically," said Erik, and Birkala gasped with

-relief. Erik added: "But you must see the rest of your answer."</p>

-

-<p>He leaned over her and called softly:</p>

-

-<p>"Spira!"</p>

-

-<p>As though awakening from a spell, Spira opened her golden eyes. They

-fixed themselves on Erik's sorrowful face, and they widened. She smiled.</p>

-

-<p>But, with growing horror, Birkala realized it was not the smile

-of Spira, the sister of his childhood. It carried no message of

-recognition nor of intelligence. It was the pitiful smile of

-mindlessness.</p>

-

-<p>She gurgled.</p>

-

-<p>Erik helped her to sit up, and she stared about her wonderingly.</p>

-

-<p>"You have looked on me as an alien, Birkala," he said sternly, "but we

-are of the same humanity. The mother of your race, too, was Earth. But

-while the far-flung children of Earth had to start as pioneers to build

-the cultures of their varied worlds, the men of Earth forged ahead

-through the millennia in their climb toward whatever estate may one day

-be the goal of mankind.</p>

-

-<p>"We of Earth who come to your worlds are watchers to help you avoid

-some of the pitfalls we know may divert you from that same path we have

-trod, and destroy you. When you think of me as a man, Birkala, you

-think of me as one who knows the secret of long life and has a physical

-science in advance of your own. But the difference is far more: there

-are thresholds beyond the physical which you cannot comprehend, and

-beyond these thresholds the man of Earth has gone and explored and

-moves ever outward."</p>

-

-<p>"I know this must be true," murmured Birkala brokenly, stroking his

-sister's yellow-green hair. "I wronged you, Erik."</p>

-

-<p>"No, you wronged yourself, Birkala, and your people. Because you stand

-at the pinnacle of your own science, you thought you could step forward

-into ours. Because the words 'beam transmitter' signify technology to

-you, you would not understand that no physical means of transportation

-could transcend the limiting speed of light. You could not understand

-that this thing called, in your language, a beam transmitter, reaches

-out into unguessed dimensions.</p>

-

-<p>"Birkala, the reason Earth has not given you the beam transmitter is

-not that it is beyond your technological capabilities. It is that you

-have not developed in mind and heart to the point where you can cope

-with the awful perils of those dimensions, dangers that even we do not

-understand fully. As the people of Orcti are impelled to cover their

-bodies with clothing, so are they incapable of facing such things with

-their naked minds. You could have destroyed your entire world, instead

-of just your sister."</p>

-

-<p>There were tears in Birkala's eyes.</p>

-

-<p>"And is she, then, destroyed?" he asked in a low voice.</p>

-

-<p>"She must go home with you," said Erik. "I cannot help her. Slowly she

-may recover some of her own personality, and years from now she may be

-again part of the woman she was. But Spira is the price you have paid

-for your temerity, and she will always be there to remind you of that."</p>

-

-<p>Shaking his head, Birkala arose and urged the girl to her feet. Erik

-helped him dress her in the clothing she had worn when she came to the

-garden, the saucy skirt and shirt of the women of Orcti. Taking her by

-the hand, Birkala started to lead her carefully away.</p>

-

-<p>"Wait, Birkala," said Erik.</p>

-

-<p>He took the canvas from his easel and handed it to Birkala.</p>

-

-<p>"It is yours and you must keep it," he said sadly. "It is like Spira.

-It is beauty interrupted before it could fulfill its promise."</p>

-

-

-<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTY INTERRUPTED ***</div>

-</body>

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+      Beauty Interrupted | Project Gutenberg
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTY INTERRUPTED ***</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter x-ebookmaker-drop">
+  <img src="images/illusc.jpg" alt="cover">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<h1>Beauty Interrupted</h1>
+
+<p class="ph1">By CHARLES L. FONTENAY</p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by ED EMSH</p>
+
+<p>The Earthmen were selfish; they obviously wanted<br>
+to hold the people of Orcti back. But no planet<br>
+has a monopoly on science—or the ability to spy!</p>
+
+<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br>
+Infinity August 1958.<br>
+Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br>
+the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Birkala looked through the iron fence and his eyes were yellow with
+envy and a kind of hatred. The Earthman, Erik, was in the garden,
+painting on a large canvas and chatting amiably with Spira, Birkala's
+sister.</p>
+
+<p>"The Earthmen have everything and they give us nothing," said Birkala
+to his companion, Direka.</p>
+
+<p>Direka nodded and grinned stupidly. Direka was simple in the head, and
+he always agreed with everything Birkala said. Direka was hunchbacked,
+also, and it pleased Birkala to compare his own straight, youthful
+body to the crooked form of Direka. Altogether, Direka was a most
+satisfactory companion.</p>
+
+<p>"The Earthmen live for centuries, but our life-span is that of a
+mayfly, and they do nothing about it," said Birkala bitterly. "The
+Earthmen flash from world to world in an instant, but we must use
+antiquated rockets and be confined to our own system of planets."</p>
+
+<p>Direka nodded again.</p>
+
+<p>"The Earthmen are greedy," he agreed sagely.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to talk with the Earthmen," said Birkala, and added
+cruelly: "You must leave me, Direka. Your crooked body would hurt the
+Earthmen's sensitive eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I shall go so you may talk with the Earthman," assented Direka
+and moved away sadly down the street.</p>
+
+<p>Birkala watched him go, and smiled ruefully. He did not really like to
+hurt Direka, but if he made Direka think the Earthman was repelled at
+the sight of him, perhaps Direka would engender his own hatred of Erik,
+instead of merely echoing Birkala's emotions.</p>
+
+<p>Birkala stepped to the open gate and entered the garden. It was a
+more beautiful garden than even the greatest artists of the world
+Orcti could arrange, for into Erik's planning had gone the aesthetic
+tradition of many millennia. The green sun that swam in Orcti's violet
+sky shone down on foliage and grasses of orange and brown and rust, and
+so carefully were things placed that even the great silver-and-blue
+lina flowers did not blare their supremacy over lesser plants, as
+in most Orcti gardens. They blended with the statuary and foliage,
+with the walks and the pools, tamely contributing their beauty to the
+balanced picture of peace and quietude.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Erik looked up from his easel as Birkala approached. He was a blond
+man of noble face and bearing, looking to be Birkala's own age. Yet
+this Earthman had lived and traveled the stars before Birkala's great
+grandfather was conceived in the womb.</p>
+
+<p>Spira sat nude on the edge of a fountain pool, one knee bent and one
+hand dipped gracefully in the sparkling water. She sat patiently
+and kept her wide golden eyes fixed on Erik's face, but recognized
+Birkala's approach with a faint smile. The sunlight glinted from her
+yellow-green hair and burnt orange skin.</p>
+
+<p>Birkala stood at Erik's shoulder, his feet apart and his hands
+clasped behind him, and studied the unfinished painting critically.
+With a sure, light brush, Erik had captured the innocence of a young
+woman seated by a fountain. The style was so simple as to be almost
+calligraphic, yet a few lines and spots of paint portrayed to the eye
+the long curve of Spira's thigh, the tilt of her breasts, the candor
+and loveliness of her face.</p>
+
+<p>Birkala's eyes dropped from the canvas to Erik's seated figure, and
+his expression altered from unwilling admiration to defiant scorn. The
+Earthman's short-sleeved smock was agape and exposed Erik's perfectly
+muscled body to the warm sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>"Why are Earthmen so obsessed with nudity?" demanded Birkala. Birkala
+himself wore loose trousers, shiny boots with curled toes, a shirt
+with flowing sleeves, a scarf about his throat. Beneath this was
+under-clothing.</p>
+
+<p>"We are not obsessed with nudity, Birkala," replied Erik gently. "The
+human body is natural and it is beautiful. We see nothing shameful
+about it, and we wear clothing only when needed for protection against
+the elements."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all right for you to say. It would be all right for me to
+believe. But can you say a hunched body like Direka's is beautiful?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not to unsympathetic eyes, perhaps. Poor Direka! But there will be a
+day when on Orcti, as on Earth, no one is born with a deformed body."</p>
+
+<p>Birkala sat down on a rock, crushing a bunch of purple minita flowers
+beside it.</p>
+
+<p>"Always in the future," he said bitterly. "Always promises, in the dim,
+distant future. You Earthmen know many things and have many things
+that you promise us, but why must these promises always be for our
+grandchildren's grandchildren?"</p>
+
+<p>"We found you in mud huts, and now you live in clean cities," reproved
+Erik, beginning to wipe his brushes clean. "We found you driving oxen,
+and now you ride spaceships to the other planets of your system."</p>
+
+<p>"Your lives are centuries long, and ours are three-score and ten,"
+countered Birkala. "It is true we have spaceships, but you step into a
+beam transmitter and cross the galaxy in seconds."</p>
+
+<p>"That is because you are not ready," replied Erik mildly.</p>
+
+<p>Birkala sat silent, his anger building up in him. Spira, seeing that
+Erik was finished with painting for the moment, arose in a graceful
+flow of motion and came to them. She stood beside Erik, one hand on his
+shoulder, and studied the canvas without speaking.</p>
+
+<p>"You're the only Earthman on all Orcti," Birkala began again. "Since I
+was a child I've heard of Erik, the Earthman who lives in the garden in
+the heart of the city. Since I was a child I've heard that Erik, the
+Earthman, watches over us like a noble god. Why do you really stay on
+Orcti, Erik? To prevent us from progressing too swiftly and challenging
+the position of Earth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you carp at Erik?" demanded Spira, and there was a note of
+anger to her soft voice. "Erik has always been a friend to us,
+Birkala."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes, and especially a friend to pretty little Spira," replied
+Birkala with deep irony. "She is my sister, Erik. Should I be honored
+that the great Earthman takes my sister as a mistress?"</p>
+
+<p>Spira flushed, for the term "mistress" was not a respectable one on
+Orcti.</p>
+
+<p>"I love Spira, like a daughter and a wife at once," said Erik. "I think
+you know that, Birkala. No one was happier than you when she came to
+me. I do not marry her because I am forbidden to be bound by the laws
+of Orcti, but I shall cherish her all of her life."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I know the schedule. And then another young woman shall grace the
+garden of the always-young Earthman. How nice for the Earthman!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why are you so savage today, Birkala?" asked Spira, genuinely puzzled.
+"I know that you have been restless for a long time, but we knew as
+children that other women had been in my place long before I was born."</p>
+
+<p>"Birkala is angry because he is a good scientist," explained Erik
+with an understanding smile. "Birkala thought yesterday that he had
+discovered the principle on which the beam transmitter is based, and
+I showed him that his theory is wrong. He is angry with himself for
+having been mistaken."</p>
+
+<p>Birkala spat into the fountain.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not so sure I was wrong," he retorted. "I think it could be that
+you tried to direct me away from my theory because you don't want me to
+find the truth."</p>
+
+<p>He turned and strode from the garden, frowning, his face hot.</p>
+
+<p>Turning right from the garden gate along the street, he passed in front
+of Erik's house, which was flush with the sidewalk. As he did so, he
+was surprised to see the door ajar and Direka sitting in it.</p>
+
+<p>Direka evidently had been waiting for Birkala to appear. He rose
+quickly, almost stumbling down the steps, and gestured eagerly at
+Birkala.</p>
+
+<p>"Come quickly, Birkala!" he chattered. "I have found a way into the
+part of the Earthman's house which is forbidden!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Birkala hesitated, then followed the crooked little man into Erik's
+house.</p>
+
+<p>Erik kept his house open. It was never locked, and Birkala had never
+heard that anyone had had the temerity to try to rob or harm the
+mysterious Earthman. Anyone could walk in or out, but few did without
+invitations, for the people of Orcti held Erik in awe.</p>
+
+<p>But the rear portion of the house was without windows or doors. It was
+not too apparent from the outside, but Birkala had been in Erik's
+house many times and had discovered long ago that there was a large
+section of it closed and inaccessible.</p>
+
+<p>As fast as his short legs could move, Direka led Birkala through the
+simply furnished house. Birkala followed easily, and smiled. Direka was
+like a monkey; he was not bright, but he was clever and eager.</p>
+
+<p>In Erik's bedroom, Direka stopped, panting, and pointed triumphantly
+at the rear wall. There was a great crack in it, near Erik's bed. A
+section of the wall was a secret door, and it had been left ajar.</p>
+
+<p>"Good fortune!" breathed Birkala, his eyes sparkling. "I have wondered
+for a long time what was behind that wall."</p>
+
+<p>He pushed the door wider and went through the opening, Direka crowding
+at his heels. It was very dark, the only light coming through the crack
+from the bedroom. Birkala could see nothing.</p>
+
+<p>He felt about the walls for a switch, without success.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder how one turns on the light in here?" he said to Direka.</p>
+
+<p>At the word "light", light sprang into being all around them. It was a
+soft, indirect illumination which appeared to have no source and cast
+no shadow.</p>
+
+<p>They were in a sort of corridor which paralleled the wall through
+which they had just come. On the opposite wall of this hallway were
+banks of dials and charts and switches, and in the center of this
+opposite wall was an open doorway.</p>
+
+<p>Cautiously, Birkala and Direka moved down the corridor and peered
+through the open door. It gave entrance to a square room, which was
+lighted with the same sort of illumination as the hall.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing in the room. There were just four walls, a ceiling
+and a floor. There was no furniture. There were no windows and there
+was no other door.</p>
+
+<p>"A strange thing!" muttered Birkala. "Erik does not retire to this
+place, for he is always around the house. I have walked into his
+bedroom and found him asleep. What is the purpose of this room?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps a dungeon," darkly suggested Direka, who was a devotee of
+adventure pictures at the theaters.</p>
+
+<p>Birkala backed away from the door and studied the array of dials and
+switches. As Erik had said, Birkala was a good scientist. Birkala
+was thoroughly familiar with the nervous and intestinal workings of
+spaceships. He had made several trips to other planets in Orcti's
+system, and had made several contributions of his own to the science of
+rocketry and astrogation.</p>
+
+<p>He whistled softly between his teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"We've found it, Direka!" he exclaimed to his companion. "This is the
+beam transmitter that Erik has kept hidden so carefully. This is the
+control panel, and the room undoubtedly is the transmitter itself."</p>
+
+<p>Direka looked puzzled, then brightened.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we can go to Earth? Yes, Birkala?" he chirped.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Birkala inspected the control panel carefully. The charts were
+star-charts, etched on metal under glass. Below each was a series of
+dials, and Birkala deduced that these dials set the coordinates on the
+charts, establishing the destination. He recognized the configurations
+of the heavens from Orcti.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Direka, I think we could," he said. "But then the Earthmen would
+know we had been meddling. If we should go, we should go here, I think."</p>
+
+<p>He stabbed a finger at one of the charts, at a star on the outer edge
+of the inhabited portion of the galaxy.</p>
+
+<p>"The inhabited planet in this system is no more advanced than Orcti,"
+he said. "If I could go there, I could perhaps evade discovery by the
+Earthman there. But we certainly shall not risk going anywhere until I
+learn more about the operation of this machine."</p>
+
+<p>Birkala was too good a scientist not to realize that grave danger was
+involved in tinkering with an unfamiliar machine. But he was too ardent
+a scientist and his obsession with the beam transmitter was too strong
+for him not to risk danger to himself willingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Direka, you go out into the house, and if you see either Erik or
+Spira approaching, warn me quickly," he commanded. "I must study this
+machine."</p>
+
+<p>Direka slipped out through the opening, and Birkala turned back to the
+control panel. As experienced as he was with machinery and technical
+matters, he nevertheless expected to be baffled by this product of
+Earth's advanced science.</p>
+
+<p>But the controls were surprisingly simple. There were the destination
+coordinates, and Birkala was able to read enough of the square, blocky
+Earth writing to discern the designations for <i>off</i> and <i>on</i> beside
+what was apparently the control lever. There were some power—or
+volume—or perhaps distance—controls about which he was not sure; the
+best thing to do about them was not to touch them.</p>
+
+<p>There were no controls in the room itself, so Birkala deduced that one
+set the coordinates for one's destination, switched on the machine
+and then walked into the room. The room probably acted as both sender
+and receiver, and after a time lapse the sending apparatus perhaps
+switched off automatically so that the room could receive again.</p>
+
+<p>He pushed aside the chill, disturbing speculation about the controls
+of unknown purpose. He set the coordinates firmly for the star system
+Denragi, and pushed the switch to the <i>on</i> position.</p>
+
+<p>At first Birkala thought the power source to the machine must be
+disconnected. There was no throbbing, no hum, no indication that it had
+been activated. Yes, there was one: a bright red spark showed square on
+the destination he had set by the coordinates. Denragi shone of its own
+light on the control panel.</p>
+
+<p>Encouraged, he stepped to the door of the empty room.</p>
+
+<p>Birkala recoiled, appalled.</p>
+
+<p>He could not see into the room. The luminescence was gone. The room was
+absolutely dark.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the darkness was more than the absence of light. It was more, even,
+than the utter jet-blackness of intergalactic space. It was an active
+blackness, a <i>presence</i> of blackness, and it filled the room to the
+very edge of the door, untouched by the normal light from the hallway.</p>
+
+<p>The most frightening thing about it was that he felt an impulse to move
+into the room, a strong pull into the room, into the blackness. As he
+instinctively resisted, the pull grew stronger.</p>
+
+<p>And then Birkala was terrified. For the pull was so strong that he
+could not step back away from the yawning door.</p>
+
+<p>In a semi-daze, he fought with his mind, for the force was not a
+physical one. He fought, and he felt his control slipping.</p>
+
+<p>There came a commotion from the bedroom behind him, the sound of
+upraised voices. There was Direka's agonized chatter, a shrill protest,
+and the firm angry voice of a woman.</p>
+
+<p>He was able to turn his head slightly to see Spira come through the
+opening into the hallway.</p>
+
+<p>Birkala could not speak. He tried to warn Spira back with his strained,
+stinging eyes. But, unclothed as she had been at the fountain, she
+walked purposefully to him.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp51" id="illus" style="max-width: 21.25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/illus.jpg" alt="">
+</figure>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Birkala, you know Erik does not wish you tampering with these
+forbidden things!" she chided, and laid a restraining hand on his
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>At her touch, the powerful attractive force drained from Birkala in a
+rush. Released, he staggered back and fell against the opposite wall of
+the corridor.</p>
+
+<p>But Spira was yanked into the black room like a filing to a magnet, and
+vanished utterly.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>When Spira left him to go into the house, Erik sat for a few moments,
+studying his unfinished canvas critically. Now, an arc of pure orange
+there, a trace of subdued green there....</p>
+
+<p>A disturbing current intruded from the outer fringes of his mind,
+that still undeveloped realm of precognition. There was something ...
+something was to happen ... to Spira!</p>
+
+<p>He rose in haste, and strode swiftly into the house.</p>
+
+<p>He encountered the hunchback sneaking from the direction of the
+bedroom. At sight of him, Direka broke into an awkward trot toward the
+front door. There was something in his face that made Erik speed his
+steps.</p>
+
+<p>The hidden panel to the back of the house was open. Erik burst through
+it.</p>
+
+<p>The transmitter was on, and its electrical aura hovered ominously
+around the door of the transmission room. In the hallway across from
+that door, Birkala was struggling to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>Erik seized Birkala in time to prevent him from hurling himself into
+the blackness of the activated room.</p>
+
+<p>"Spira!" gasped Birkala. "She was pulled in there!"</p>
+
+<p>With the strength of a giant, Erik hurled Birkala the length of the
+corridor.</p>
+
+<p>"Get out!" he roared. "Quickly!"</p>
+
+<p>Erik plunged into the holocaust of hostile blackness.</p>
+
+<p>The room was endless, infinite. It was all space and all beyond space,
+and there was no light there for human eyes to see.</p>
+
+<p>There was an alien presence in this nothingness, a vampire presence
+that clutched a pathetic, limp figure light-years away, and reached out
+toward Erik with its hungry essence.</p>
+
+<p>Erik stood straight in the midst of nothing, his head thrown back,
+his yellow hair lifting on the wind that blows between the galaxies.
+The questing essence touched him and explored him, blindly unaware of
+humanity's challenge to its elemental insistence.</p>
+
+<p>Erik let his mind expand beyond him in a flexing of sure strength. Erik
+forced his mind from him in a blaze of anger. Erik attacked with his
+mind, magnificent in its unchained and immeasurable power.</p>
+
+<p>The alien force receded, it dwindled, it diminished. It melted before
+the strength of Erik's mind, that was a burning, pulsating power like
+light, and yet was not light. The vampire essence slowly, reluctantly,
+relinquished its distant, doll-like victim and retired in pain beyond
+the edges of the galaxies.</p>
+
+<p>In a room that was a room once more, in a room that was yet dark but
+lighted to him by the cold fire of his brain, Erik strode to a corner
+and lifted the crumpled, unconscious figure of Spira in his arms.
+Carrying her tenderly, he left the terrible room.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>The corridor was empty. Birkala was no longer there.</p>
+
+<p>Erik pulled down the control switch, and the blackness that had sprung
+up behind him in the transmission room faded into the harmless air of
+Orcti.</p>
+
+<p>Bearing Spira, Erik strode through the house and out into the garden.</p>
+
+<p>Birkala was pacing back and forth near the easel, his face working in
+his agitation. Erik approached him, and laid Spira gently on the soft
+grass before him. She lay still, the rise and fall of her breasts the
+only indication that she lived.</p>
+
+<p>"Is she all right?" choked Birkala, kneeling at her side in an agony of
+remorse.</p>
+
+<p>"She is not harmed physically," said Erik, and Birkala gasped with
+relief. Erik added: "But you must see the rest of your answer."</p>
+
+<p>He leaned over her and called softly:</p>
+
+<p>"Spira!"</p>
+
+<p>As though awakening from a spell, Spira opened her golden eyes. They
+fixed themselves on Erik's sorrowful face, and they widened. She smiled.</p>
+
+<p>But, with growing horror, Birkala realized it was not the smile
+of Spira, the sister of his childhood. It carried no message of
+recognition nor of intelligence. It was the pitiful smile of
+mindlessness.</p>
+
+<p>She gurgled.</p>
+
+<p>Erik helped her to sit up, and she stared about her wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"You have looked on me as an alien, Birkala," he said sternly, "but we
+are of the same humanity. The mother of your race, too, was Earth. But
+while the far-flung children of Earth had to start as pioneers to build
+the cultures of their varied worlds, the men of Earth forged ahead
+through the millennia in their climb toward whatever estate may one day
+be the goal of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>"We of Earth who come to your worlds are watchers to help you avoid
+some of the pitfalls we know may divert you from that same path we have
+trod, and destroy you. When you think of me as a man, Birkala, you
+think of me as one who knows the secret of long life and has a physical
+science in advance of your own. But the difference is far more: there
+are thresholds beyond the physical which you cannot comprehend, and
+beyond these thresholds the man of Earth has gone and explored and
+moves ever outward."</p>
+
+<p>"I know this must be true," murmured Birkala brokenly, stroking his
+sister's yellow-green hair. "I wronged you, Erik."</p>
+
+<p>"No, you wronged yourself, Birkala, and your people. Because you stand
+at the pinnacle of your own science, you thought you could step forward
+into ours. Because the words 'beam transmitter' signify technology to
+you, you would not understand that no physical means of transportation
+could transcend the limiting speed of light. You could not understand
+that this thing called, in your language, a beam transmitter, reaches
+out into unguessed dimensions.</p>
+
+<p>"Birkala, the reason Earth has not given you the beam transmitter is
+not that it is beyond your technological capabilities. It is that you
+have not developed in mind and heart to the point where you can cope
+with the awful perils of those dimensions, dangers that even we do not
+understand fully. As the people of Orcti are impelled to cover their
+bodies with clothing, so are they incapable of facing such things with
+their naked minds. You could have destroyed your entire world, instead
+of just your sister."</p>
+
+<p>There were tears in Birkala's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"And is she, then, destroyed?" he asked in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>"She must go home with you," said Erik. "I cannot help her. Slowly she
+may recover some of her own personality, and years from now she may be
+again part of the woman she was. But Spira is the price you have paid
+for your temerity, and she will always be there to remind you of that."</p>
+
+<p>Shaking his head, Birkala arose and urged the girl to her feet. Erik
+helped him dress her in the clothing she had worn when she came to the
+garden, the saucy skirt and shirt of the women of Orcti. Taking her by
+the hand, Birkala started to lead her carefully away.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, Birkala," said Erik.</p>
+
+<p>He took the canvas from his easel and handed it to Birkala.</p>
+
+<p>"It is yours and you must keep it," he said sadly. "It is like Spira.
+It is beauty interrupted before it could fulfill its promise."</p>
+
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTY INTERRUPTED ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>