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3 Science Fiction Stories by Gerald Vance - Gerald Vance · Daily Classic Sci Fi Books

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Monsoons of Death by Gerald Vance. This is the LibriVox recording.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: are a volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by
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  Speaker 1: Phil Chinavert Monsoons of Death by Gerald Vance. This story
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  Speaker 1: was published in Amazing Stories December nineteen forty two. The
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: gleaming insignia stripes on Lieutenant Ward Harrison's broad shoulders were
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  Speaker 1: less than two days old when he received his first assignment.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Harrison, his commanding officer, said, glancing from the papers
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: he held in his hands to the young man who
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: stood at attention before his desk, this will be your
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: first touch of action since you were commissioned. A lot
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: depends on how you handle yourself. Yes, Sir Ward answered.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: He straightened his already poker's straight spine. His face was
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: young and serious and intent. There was a blaze of
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: zeal in his blue eyes and grimness in the tightness
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: of his jaw, but a lock of blonde hair that
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: fell over his forehead lent an incongruously boyish cast to
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: his grimly set features. His commander, a planetary colonel with
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: thirty years of void experience behind him, smiled slightly and
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: looked down at the papers in his hands. Again, your
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: training record has been excellent, Harrison, he said, and I
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: am gratified to note that you apparently realize the seriousness
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: of our work. He leaned back in his chair looked
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: up at the young lieutenant. It took science hundreds of
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: years to lickt the problems of crossing the void of
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: space to the outer planets. Now that that much has
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: been accomplished, the task of exploring and possibly developing and
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: colonizing those planets is ahead of us. The most important
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: part of that work is up to men like you,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Harrison. You are attached to the Meteorology Department, but
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: the job of doing the preliminary analysis and exploration on
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  Speaker 1: the various planets whose raw materials are essential to Earth.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Never for a minute underestimate the importance of that work.
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  Speaker 1: Wart cleared his throat. I won't, sir good. There are
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: other branches of the service that might seem more glamorous,
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  Speaker 1: but all of them are dependent on your research and findings.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Without meteorological survey, the entire network of space stations we
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: have established would have been impossible, and the need today
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: for accurate and thorough research on atmospheric condition in the
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: universe is greater than ever before. Always keep that in mind,
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  Speaker 1: I will, sir, Ward answered good. The colonel said. He
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  Speaker 1: ran a heavy hand through his silver dusted hair, and
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: then picked up again the sheaf of papers from his desk.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Your first assignment is one of our established observation stations
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: on Mars, he said. Ward kept his face woodenly expressionless,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: but it was hard to conceal his disappointment. He wanted
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: adventure and danger. He wanted to prove his courage and
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: loyalty on some perilous journey to the uncharted, unexplored area,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: and there was little hope for such action on an
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: established base. The station to which you are being sent,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: the colonel went on, was established three years ago by
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: the man who is still in command there, a civilian
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: by the name of Thomas Halliday. He is alone there now.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: His assistant died about six months ago. You will act
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: as Halliday's assistant in atmospheric experimentation and in the collection
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: of meteorologic data, despite the fact that he is a civilian.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: You will take your orders from him. Is that much clear? Yes,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Ward said, he had to fight to keep the bitterness
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: he was feeling from showing in his voice. He had
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: been prepared for anything, but this was too much to accept.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Cheerfully serving on a dull, one man base under the
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  Speaker 1: domination of a civilian who had probably been rejected by
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: the regular Service for timidity or incompetence was a bitter
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: pill to swallow. Ward found a real, though illogical resentment
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: dwelling in him, and the object of this resentment was
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  Speaker 1: Thomas Halliday. Thomas Halliday, the Colonel said, is a very careful,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: painstaking meteorologist. He is completely dependable and reliable. The information
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: he has sent us to date is accurate and thorough. Moreover,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: he is extremely cautious. The colonel paused and frowned, and
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: his thick, strong fingers drummed irritably on the top of
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: his desk. Damn it, he said, with sudden explosive impatience.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I think the man is too cautious. He's been
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: there three years now and he still hasn't sent us
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: a complete report on conditions there. Caution and care are
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: fine qualities, but like all things, they can be overdone.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: We're planning on erecting a large special base in his
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  Speaker 1: locality when we finally get all the information, but we
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: can't make a move until Halliday comes through. Is there
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: any reason why the research might have been delayed? Ward asked,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: the current shook his head. Not as far as we
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: know now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not damning any
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: man until I know all the facts. I'm not a
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: pot bellied armchair admiral. I've been in the void myself
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: long enough to realize that you can't pass judgment on
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: a man's work until you've actually seen the situation he's
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: up against. You can't get the complete picture from a
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: three hundred word report. There may be other factors to
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: consider that we here don't know about. But Halliday's data
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: is sincoming in fast enough, and I'm taking steps to
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: get at the bottom of the trouble. I'm sending you there, Harrison,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: because your record indicates that you're a go getter. Maybe
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: what Halliday needs is a little more recklessness, a little
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: more impulsiveness, and a lot less caution. I'm hoping that
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: you will act as a spur to Holiday. I think
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  Speaker 1: you're up to the job. Ward's eyes were flashing with excitement.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: His bitter disappointment had vanished. I'll do my absolute best, sir,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: he said. The Colonel's word had crystallized his swiftly formed
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: animosity for this Thomas Halliday, the man was obviously a
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: timid creature without sufficient guts to do a man's job.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Ward felt an itching impatience to get started on this assignment.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: He wanted to meet Thomas Halliday. He was very anxious
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: to begin his new duties. As a spur to the man,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Helladay hasn't given us much information about what he's discovered
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: on that section of Mars. The Colonel said he's confined
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: his reports exclusively to atmospheric data. In his first report,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: he mentioned that the area was inhabited, and I got
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: the impression that he hasn't found the natives particularly friendly.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: But since he hasn't mention them, since I gather that
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: he hasn't had any trouble with them, I guess that's
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: about all. Lieutenant. This is an important job, and if
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: you find any reason for Halliday's delay in getting that
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: job done, I want you to flash me a message immediately.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: I'm putting a lot of confidence in you, young man,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: but I don't think it's misplaced. The colonel stood up
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  Speaker 1: and extended his hand. Good luck son. Ward took the
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  Speaker 1: older man's hand in a firm grip. Thank you, sir,
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  Speaker 1: I'll do everything I can to justify your confidence in me.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: He saluted right about, faced smartly, and strode toward the door.
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  Speaker 1: The Colonel followed his straight, young back with his eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and there was a smile of pride on his face.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Ward Harrison, in the opinion of the Colonel, was
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: definitely an excellent addition to the forces of Earth. Lieutenant
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Ward Harrison thought so himself, but he would have suffered
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: his tongue to be torn out before admitting it. Three
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: days later, at twenty four forty interstellar time, Ward Harrison
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: arrived at the Earth Observation Base, located in the uncharted,
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  Speaker 1: unaccessible area of the southern plane of the planet Mars.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: As he flashed into the atmosphere of the planet, he
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  Speaker 1: cut the rear proportioned rockets of his slim single seedar
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  Speaker 1: and prepared to land. He sighted the base's small cluster
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  Speaker 1: of buildings and the mooring tower in his four visit screen,
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  Speaker 1: and he made quick rapid adjustments on his instrument panel
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: as his slender ship slanted toward them in a screaming dive.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: When the nose of his ship made contact with a
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  Speaker 1: mooring socket, he set all his instruments at zero. He
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: climbed to his feet and stretched wearily. Then he walked
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: to the sliding side door of the ship, released the airlock,
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  Speaker 1: and stepped out onto the ramp that flanked the mooring tower.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: From this position, some two hundred feet above the ground,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: he had his first look at the terrain of Mars.
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  Speaker 1: Great gray wastelands spread endlessly in all four directions, and
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  Speaker 1: the only break in this monotony was a low ridge
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: of hills on the far distant eastern horizon. Ward shivered slightly.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: He hadn't been prepared for anything this depressing. A small
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  Speaker 1: group of squat buildings beneath him looked like tiny objects
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  Speaker 1: adrift and a vast, terrible gray sea. A man appeared
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  Speaker 1: at the door of the central building, and Ward felt
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  Speaker 1: an idiotic sensation of relief at the sight of a
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: human moving figure in that dead, silent, gray terrain. The
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  Speaker 1: man waved toward and walked from the doorway toward the
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  Speaker 1: base of the mooring tower. War descended to the ground
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  Speaker 1: in the small cage of the tower elevator. He stepped
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  Speaker 1: out onto the soft, flaky soil of Mars as the
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: man he had seen from above came up to the
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  Speaker 1: tower Lieutenant Harrison, reporting for duty, Sir, he said. He saluted,
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  Speaker 1: and noticed with a certain satisfaction the other's embarrassment at
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  Speaker 1: this military recognition, which he didn't deserve. My name is Halliday,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: the man said, After a short awkward pause, he extended
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  Speaker 1: his hand. I'm certainly glad to have you here, Lieutenant.
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  Speaker 1: As Ward shook hands, he praised the man carefully and
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: found nothing in his examination to change his previously acquired opinion.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Thomas Halliday was small and stooped, with sallow features and
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: nervously shifting eyes which looked startlingly large behind thick, strong glasses.
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  Speaker 1: His hair was thin and faded brown in color. There
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: was a peculiar tight look about his mouth and jaw,
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  Speaker 1: as if he were in a continued state of fate exasperation.
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  Speaker 1: This thought Ward was the man who had been holding
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  Speaker 1: up the development of this area for three years, and
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: looking at him, it was easy to see why Ward
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: had his bag in his hand. Halladay, noticing it, asked,
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  Speaker 1: did you bring any arms with you? Ward patted the
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: ray tube in the smart military holster at his hip.
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  Speaker 1: Just this, he said, he added, drily expecting trouble, No,
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  Speaker 1: Halladay answered, His eyes shifted from wards and swept about
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  Speaker 1: in a long inspection of the vast, sprawling, deserted terrain
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  Speaker 1: that stretched away on all four sides like a boundless ocean.
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  Speaker 1: But he added, it's when you're not expecting trouble that
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  Speaker 1: you're most likely to run into it. Ward smiled to
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  Speaker 1: himself as he followed Halliday's thin, stooped figure to the
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  Speaker 1: main building, a squat solid structure of heavy Durroaloi steel
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: with only one door and no windows at all. The
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: man was obviously a neurotic mass of nerves, or else
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: he was indulging in a bit of melodrama to impress
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  Speaker 1: his new assistant. Halladay stepped aside at the door, and
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  Speaker 1: Ward preceded him into the hot, sparsely furnished room. Kalladay
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: followed him, closing the door behind him and setting the
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: mechanism of a powerful automatic lock, before turning to Ward
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: with an apologetic little smile. You'll find it rather cramped
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: at first, he said. I'll sleep out here and you
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  Speaker 1: can use the storeroom as a bedroom. That's all the
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: living quarters we have, excepting the kitchen. But I'm sure
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: we'll manage. Wart set his grip down and glanced about
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: at the chart covered walls, the plain badly scuffed furniture,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: and he was not particularly enthused at the prospect of
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: being cooped up in this hot, little oven of a
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: room with Halliday. What about the other buildings, he asked,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Surely there'd be room there for me to bunk. We
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: use those buildings for equipment, Halliday said, And besides, this
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: building is safer. Ward glanced at the little man with
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: a faint ironic smile. Is there something to be afraid of?
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: His tone was blandly polite, but he could not completely
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: conceal an undercurrent of contempt. I don't mean to alarm you, Lieutenant,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Halladay said, but this area of Mars is not quite
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: the safest place in the universe. He removed his thick
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: glasses with a nervous little gesture and smiled uncertainly at Ward.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: I really think it wiser for you to sleep here,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: unless that's an order, Ward said, I'd rather sleep and
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: comfort in one of the other buildings and take my
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: chances on your boogeyman catching me, Halliday replaced his glasses.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: He was no longer smiling. I'm afraid, Lieutenant, you must
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: consider it as an ardor. He turned slowly and re
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: checked the huge, gleaming lock on the door, then walked
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: to a littered, dusty desk at one corner of the
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: room and sat down. It was obvious that the discussion
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: was ended. Ward shrugged and carried his grip into a
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: small windowless storeroom that was directly off the main room.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Of the small structure, there were bales of supplies, a cot,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: and a stool. A vague, musty odor permeated the air.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: He tossed his grip on to the cot, stripped off
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: his tunic, and walked back into the room where Halliday
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: was seated at his desk. Halladay looked up with a
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: smile and removed his glasses with a characteristic nervous movement
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: of his thin hands. Not exactly the choicest accommodation's ah,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: he said, in an attempt at heartiness, which struck Ward
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: as being almost pathetic. I'll get by, Ward said. He
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: loosened the collar of his shirt and glanced at the
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: massive steel door closed and tightly locked. Any objection to
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: letting in a little air, he asked, It's pretty close
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: in here. Halliday smiled, and his eyes flicked to the
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: closed door. He put his glasses on again and spent
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: quite a time adjusting them to his thin nose. I'm
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: afraid you'll have to put up with the closeness, he said.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Ward sighed and sat down in a chair, facing Halliday.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: You're afraid of something, he said, bluntly, supposing you tell
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: me about it. As a matter of fact, I was
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: meaning to, Halladay said. You see, on this section we're
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: pretty well isolated from the rest of the Earth stations
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: on Mars. We receive all supplies mailed by a direct
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: materialization unit. No spacecraft puts in here. We are all alone,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: and if anything happens to us, all the data and
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: work that has been compiled might be lost. As Halliday
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: removed his glasses again with a quick, aimless gesture, Ward thought,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: a lot you care about the records and data. It's
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: your skin you want to save. Halliday coughed and replaced
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: his glasses. This area is inhabited by a species of
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: creature which I do not believe has been classified. I
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: do not know if they are human or if they
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: possess intelligence. I do not even know if they are
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: alive in the sense that we speak of life. Possibly
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: their energy is of electrical or carboniferous origin, or it
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: could be even vegetable in nature. As you see, I
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: know little enough about these neighbors of ours, but I
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: do know that they are dangerous. They resent the work
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: that is being done here. Helladay frowned and twisted a
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: pencil in his hands. I'm not even sure of that.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Possibly they are without rational motivation at all. It may
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: be that they are merely moved to action by the
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: sight of another object in motion. But whatever their reason,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: they have been very troublesome. That really is all I
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: know about them, and that is the reason I exercise
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: such care. I have a small periscope installed on the roof,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: and before I unlock the door, I study the entire
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: surrounding terrain to be sure there are no raspers in sight.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Why do you call them raspers, Ward asked, because of
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: a peculiar sound that seems to emanate from them. Helladay explained,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: my former assistant and I had to call them something,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: and raspers seemed as logical as anything else. Have you
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: ever seen one of these uh raspers, Ward asked, I'm
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: not sure, Halladay said thoughtfully. He removed his glasses again.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: I've had two brushes with them, but I'm not sure
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: that I saw them distinctly either time. Possibly the picture
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: that came to my mind later was supplied by my imagination,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: But I know there is something very repellent and fearsome
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: about them. I felt that much. Ward crossed his legs
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: and lit a cigarette casually. Can these things be killed?
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: He asked, I don't know, Halladay answered, the two chances
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: I had, I was too scared to find out. Ward
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: felt a cold anger against this man growing in him.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: This man had been entrusted with the task of surveying
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: the atmospheric conditions of this area, a vital, desperately necessary job,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: and he was dawdling along, timidly hugging the cover of
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: this fortress because of a stupid, half imaginary fear of
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: the natives of the area. He felt his cheeks growing hot.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: We can't stay cooped up here indefinitely, he said, How
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: about the work we're supposed to be doing, or does
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: that bother you? Palladay looked at him queerly, and then
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: dropped his eyes. He fiddled nervously with his glasses. Ward
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: suddenly found a gesture maddening for Pete's sake, he exploded,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: leave him on, leave him off, one or the other.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: That's apparently your only job here, taking those damned glasses
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: off and putting them back on again. I'm I'm sorry,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Halladay said quickly, apologetically. It's just a habit. I guess
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: it's a little something to break the nervous tension of
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: being here all alone. Thinking. His voice trailed off, and
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: his hand moved moved nervously toward his glasses, and then
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: fell back limply in his lap. About the work here,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: he said, in a mild controlled voice, we are forced
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: to work on a definitely limited schedule. I have field
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: apparatus located at points several miles distant from here, but
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: we can't venture out to take the necessary readings until
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: the weather is propitious. What's the weather got to do
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: with our taking readings? War demanded, simply this, There are
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: certain periods of intense precipitation on this area of Morris.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: These periods are accompanied by high velocity winds. The atmospheric
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: disturbance reaches monsoon proportions. During such periods. For some reason,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: the raspers are exceptionally active. Something in the nature of
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: the monsoon reacts on them with very savage results. They
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: seem to feed on the electrical disturbances in the atmosphere.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: They go wild during these changes in the weather and
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: search for any moving thing to destroy. In some manner.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: They are able to cover enormous distances during the monsoon,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: and they can travel with incredible speed when a monsoon
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: is threatening. I never leave the station. Ward listened in
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: growing irritation to this explanation. How often do you have
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: monsoons here, he demanded. Unfortunately quite often, Helladay answered. All
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: of my instruments indicate now that one is brewing. I
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: haven't been able to do more than a few hours
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: of work in the last two months. I've been waiting
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: for the weather to break, but so far it hasn't.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Do you mean to tell me, Warred said, incredulously, that
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: you've been sitting here twiddling your thumbs for the past
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: two months because you're afraid to take a chance on
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: a wind blowing up. That is exactly what I, Meanday said,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: But it isn't. The wind I'm afraid of. It's the
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: things that come with the wind that make any feel
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: work impossible. I've learned a few things about the Raspers
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: in my three years, and one is that it doesn't
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: pay to give them a chance. That's all they need,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: that's all they're waiting for. Warren stood up impatiently and
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: jammed his fists into his pockets. It took all of
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: his self control not to let his anger and contempt
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: for the man explode in roaring fury. I can't understand
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: your attitude, he said at last, through tight lips. I'm
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: green and new here. I don't know anything about the
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: set up except what you told me. But I know
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: from your own admission that you've never seen these things
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: you're so martially afraid of. You've never stood up to
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: them and given them a taste of rage juice to
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: think about. You don't really know anything about them, except
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: that you're terrified of the very thought of them. That
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: isn't a reasonable attitude. Only one kind of man thinks
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: that way, and that's a man without a touch of
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: starch in his backbone or a bit of honest to
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: goodness guts in his make up. If you want to
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: hug this place like a scared schoolgirl. That's all right,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: but I'll be double damned if I'm going to let
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: any superstitious nonsense keep me from doing the job I
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: was sent here to do. That is a very brave speech,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Halliday said, and I admire you for it, But
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: you are going to do as I say in spite
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: of your own opinions. We will stay here and take
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: no unnecessary chances until our instruments indicate that the monsoon
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: weather has passed. That is an order. Ward choked back
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: his wrath. He glared a Calladay for an instant, then
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: wheeled and strode into the small storeroom that was to
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: serve as his sleeping quarters. He banged the door shut
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: and sat down on the edge of the cut, his
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: fingers opening and closing nervously. He wasn't sure just what
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: he'd do, but he didn't intend to stand for Holliday's
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: craven policy of hiding in a locked room instead of
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: doing the work his country expected him to do. Halladay
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: was a psychopathic case. His mind was full of one
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: hundred and one imagined horrors, and they kept him from
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: doing his job. And there was little wonder that he
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: had been three years attempting to compile the information that
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: should have been gathered in three months. The man was
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: so terrified of imagine dangers that he was helpless to act.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Ward felt a moment of pity for him, the pity
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: the brave invariably feel for the week and cowardly. But
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: he he also felt a cold and bitter contempt for
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: the man who had allowed his own fear in timidity
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: to hold up the important work of accumulating data on
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: this section of the planet. If he wasn't man enough
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: to do the job, he should at least have been
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: man enough to admit it. Ward decided that the next
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: day he'd have the thing out. He undressed slowly and
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: stretched out on the narrow cot, but sleep was a
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: long time in coming. When he stepped from his room
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: the next day, he saw that Halliday was standing in
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: the doorway, gazing out over the dull, gray Martian landscape.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Aren't you taking quite a chance? He asked, with heavy sarcasm.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Holiday ignored the jibe. No, I made a careful check
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: before I released the door lock and opened up. Did
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: you sleep well, fair Ward is said? How can you
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: tell the day's nights here? Is there ever any change
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: in the sky? I? Halliday shook his head. Sometimes it
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: gets a little darker, sometimes it's slighter. When you're tired,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: you go to bed. That's the only standard we have.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: He shaded his eyes with his hand and stared for
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: a long moment at the bleak, depressing horizon. Looking over
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: his shoulder, Ward noticed swirling humid mists drifting in the air,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: and above large massive clouds of dense blackness were gathering.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: He felt a peculiar electric tightness in the atmosphere. Halliday
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: closed and locked the door carefully. Might as well have breakfast,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: he said, there's nothing else we can do today. Do
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: we have to stay cooped up here all day? Wart asked,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid so. The weather is ready to break any
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: minute now, and when it does, I intend to be
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: behind a well locked door. Ward's lip curled slightly. Okay,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: he said quietly. We'll wait for the monsoon to blow over, then,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: rasperus or not, I'm going to work. But four long
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: days dragged by, and there was no indication that the
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: monsoon weather was prepared to break. Low dense clouds were
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: masked overhead, and the air was gusty with flurries of
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: humid wind. Halladay grew increasingly nervous. He spent every waking
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: hour at the periscope, in a constant study of the
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: dark horizons, and he said a little to Ward. Warren's
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: impatience grew with every inactive moment. How much longer are
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: we going to hide in here like scared rats? He blazed. Finally,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: he paced furiously up and down the small room, glaring
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: in rage at Halliday's stooped figure. Halladay smiled nervously and
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: removed his glasses. His fingers were trembling so violently that
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: he almost dropped them to the floor. I can't even guess,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: he said shakily. I was hoping that the monsoon would
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: blow over, but I'm afraid we're in for it. You've
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: been saying that ever since I arrived, Wart said bitterly.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Halliday was studying a aerograph on the wall. When he
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: turned toward His face was gray. His lips were more
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: tightly clamped than ever. If anything should happen to our
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: front door lock, he said, here's an exit we can
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: use to the kitchen. And possibly you've noticed the small
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: door beside the refrigerator and oxygen unit that leads to
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: a small room that can be locked from the inside.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: There are supplies there to last a week. I didn't
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: tell you this before because I was afraid it might
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: alarm you. Thanks for sparing my feelings, Wart snapped, But
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: I don't think I'll be kneading your cozy little refuge.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: I've stalled just about enough. I was sent here to
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: do a job and buy heaven. I'm going to try
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: and finish it. He jerked his tunic from the back
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: of a chair and scooped up his ray tube and
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: built Halliday regarded him in silence as he buckled on
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: the weapon. What do you think you're going to do,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: he asked at last. First, I'm going to flash a
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: message to Earth asking that I be placed in command here,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Ward said. He buttoned his tunic swiftly, and his eyes
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: were cold slits of anger as he looked at Halliday
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: nervously fumbling with his glasses. I was sent here with
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: the instructions to find out what the delay was in
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: getting the work done. I found out, to my satisfaction,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: You've done about one day's work for every month you've
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: spent cooped up in here, trembling every time the wind howled.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: When I come back, I'll have an authorization from g
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: h Q to take over here immediately. Then you and
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: I are going to work, and damn the weather. If
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: you don't want to co operate, Ward slapped the weapon
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: at his hip. I'll use what force is necessary to
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: make you. Please listen to me, Palladay said, desperately. You're
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: impulsive and reckless, and I admire you for it. Sometimes
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: I wish I were more like that, But I know
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: the situation here better than you do. We'd be running
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: a terrible risk trying to work right at this time,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: sure Ward said, we'd be running a risk that's apparently
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: your entire philosophy. Sit tight, do nothing because there might
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: be a slight risk involved. He turned and strode to
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: the door. Wait, Kaladay cried, you can't go out now.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Ward disengaged the lock with a swift, deft motion. Who's
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: going to stop me, he asked. They crossed to his
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: side with quick, pattering strides. He grabbed him by the
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: arm and pulled him around. Please listen to me, he said, imploringly.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: I know what I'm talking about. I Ward shook his
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: hand loose and stared coldly into Halliday's white, strained features.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: You're gutless, Halliday, he said in a low, tense voice.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Now keep out of my way. He turned to the
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: door again, but Halladay grabbed him suddenly and pushed him back.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: You're not going to do it, he cried, his voice trembling.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to let you. Ward grabbed the man
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: by his lapels and swung him away from the door.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: He stepped close to him, and his right fist chopped
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: down in a savage axe like stroke. The sharp, powerful
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: blow exploded under Halliday's chin. His knees buckled, and he
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: sprawled limply to the floor. Ward stared down at the
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: still form, and he felt an instant of regret for
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: striking a man fifty pounds lighter than himself, but he
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: realized that it had been the only course open. He
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: drew his ray tube, inspected it quickly to make sure
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: that it was in perfect Ardor, then swung open the
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: door and stepped out into the gray murkiness of the
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Martian atmosphere. The wind had increased to a wild, mad scream.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: Flaking particles of soil stung his face like myriad needle
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: pricks as he braced himself against the buffeting force of
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: the gale. He couldn't see more than a few feet
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: ahead of him, but he knew the general direction of
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: the building which housed the materialization unit, and he headed
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: that way, bent almost double against the wind. He heard
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: and saw nothing but the wild wail of the monsoon
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: and the gray, swirling murk. There was an awesome some
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: feeling and staggering blindly on through a dead, gray world
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: of howling, dust laden wind, he felt as if he
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: were the only person left alive in the universe. But
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: he plowed stubbornly forward. There was work to be done,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: and he felt a grim exultation in the knowledge that
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: he had en afforded you to let nothing stop him
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: from doing his job. Hell, what was a little wind?
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: This thought came to him, and he smiled grimly. He'd
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: show Halliday, He'd show them all. Nothing was going to
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: stop him. There was a peculiar cracking sound in the
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: air about him, as if bolts of unseen lightning were
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: slashing through the turbulent atmosphere, but he forged ahead. He
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: knew there was little danger of an electric bolt striking him,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: as long as he was out in the open. The
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: distance to the goal was not a matter of a
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: dozen yards or so, but it took him fully five
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: minutes to cover the stretch. He had trouble breathing. Each
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: breath was snatched from his open mouth by the fury
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: of the wind, and his eyes were rimmed with dust
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: and streaming from the stinging bite of the flaky soil.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: When he reached the wall of the building, he was
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: sobbing for breath and blind from the whiplash of the wind.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: He sagged against the comfortable bulk of the squat solid
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: structure and wiped his eyes with a handkerchief, but the
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: wind soon tore the flimsy cloth from his fingers. There
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: was nothing to do but find the door of the
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: building as quickly as possible. Using his hands as groping feelers,
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: he staggered around two corners of the buildings until his
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: fingers closed about a door knob. The gale was increasing
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: in intensity. The roaring lash of the wind was wild
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: and explosive, as if the flood gates of nature had
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: sprung open to unleash this millstrom of fury and destruction.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: The sparring crackle of electric energy he had noticed seemed
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: to be swelling in volume, rising steadily in pitch and fury.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: And then a new sound was added to the hideous cacophony.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Ward heard it faintly at first, and it failed to
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: register on his consciousness. The new sound was an unearthly,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: rasping noise that roared about his head and crashed against
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: his ear drums with terrifying impact. The sound seemed everywhere.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: It seemed to emanate from the unleashed forces of the
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: storm itself. Its narrow, chilling, rasping moan was a demoniacal cry,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: screaming a weird defiance into the teeth of the mighty monsoon. Ward,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: hugging the building, heard the rasping sound, and he remembered
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: what Halliday had told him. Crouched against the side of
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: the structure, listening to that weird, desolate wail of unnameable horror,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: he felt his heart thudding with sudden fear against his ribs.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: The door of the building was jammed. He slammed his
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: shoulder against its solid, unyielding surface again and again without avail.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: The harrowing, rasping undertone of the crushing gale was growing
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: and swelling. It seemed to be converging on him from
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: all sides, a creation of the gray, whining murk of
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: the monsoon war. It's hand tightened on the butt of
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: his ray tube. He wheeled about, pressing his back to
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: the wall of the building. His eyes raked the swirling
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: turbulence of the storm, and through the raging, eddying mists
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: of gray. His wind lashed eyes made out dreadful, weaving
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: shapes slithering through the fury of the storm toward him.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: An instinctive scream tore at the muscles of his throat,
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: but the wind whipped the sound from his mouth and
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: cast it into the gale. Before he could reach his ears.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: He crouched and raised his gun. The shapes were vague,
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: misty illusions to his straining eyes. Then a blanket of
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: wind swept over him, buffeting him against the wall at
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: his back, and in a momentary flick of visibility that
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: followed the blast, he was able to see the things
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: that were advancing toward him. There was one nauseous, sense, stunning,
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: instant of incredible horror as his eyes focused on the
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: nameless monstrosities that were revealed in the gray mists of
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: the monsoon. One instant of sheer, numbing horror, an instinct
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: a billion years old, buried beneath Sentry's weight in his
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: subconscious suddenly writhed into life, as pulsing and compelling as
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: the day it had been generated. The lost, forgotten instincts
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: of man's mind that warned him of the horror and
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: menace of the unknown, the nameless, the unclean, were clamoring
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: wildly at his unconscious, For these things were hideous and
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: repellent in their very essence. Whether they were alive or not,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: his numbed, horror stunned brain would never know. The dry, rustling,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: rasping sound that emanated from them seemed to partake of
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: the same nature as the electrical energy generated by the monsoon,
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: But that was only a fleeting, terror strained impression. The
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: ray tube fell from his pallsied hand, but he didn't notice.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: There was only one blind motivation governing his thoughts, and
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: that was flight. The unreasoning terror of the hunted, of
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: the helpless gripped him with numbing force. There was no
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: thought in his mind to fight to face these things
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: that emerged from the dread grayness of the monsoon, But
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: only a hideous, desperate desire to escape. Without conscious thought
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: or volition, his legs suddenly churned beneath him, and he
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: lunged forward, blindly, desperately, lurching through the buffeting force of
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: the gale toward the sanctuary of the building where he
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: had left Halliday. The rasping, nerve chilling sound roared about
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: his head, and the lashing screech of the monsoon was
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: a banshee wail in his ears. As he stumbled and
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: staggered on, driven by the wildest, most elemental fear he
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: had ever known. Suddenly the squat structure loomed directly ahead
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: of him, only a yard away. The door was standing ajar,
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: and with a sudden sob of relief, he lunged into
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: the lighted interior of the room. Halliday was crawling dazedly
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: to his feet as war It staggered blindly through the door,
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: his breath coming in great choking sobs. Oh my God,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: Halladay's voice broke, and Ward saw that his eyes were
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: staring in horror beyond him to the still open door,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: where the gray, swirling fury of the monsoon was creeping in,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: and other things were in the open doorway Ward knew
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: that without turning to look. The horror mirrored in Halliday's
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: voice told him that more plainly than could his own eyes.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: There was horror and fear in Halliday's face, but the
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: tightness of his lips did not relax into the flaccid
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: looseness of hysteria. With super human control, he was keeping
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: a grip on himself. Don't move, he snapped through set jaws.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: I'll try to get at the rifle. Ward's heart was
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: thundering a tattoo of terror. Halliday's words made no impression
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: on the horror stunned brain. He lunged wildly across the room.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: Dimly he heard Haliday's sudden shouted warning. Without a backward glance,
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: he lurched into the small room that served as a kitchen.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Through the fog of terror that swirled about his mind,
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: he remembered only one thing, Halliday's remark of a refuge
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: built there for emergency purposes. His fingers tore open the
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: small door alongside the refrigerator unit. A black passage stretched
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: ahead of him, and he plunged into dark shelter, jerking
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: the door shut after him. A light snapped on when
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: the door closed, and he saw that he was in
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: a small, stoutly reinforced storeroom, with bales of supplies and
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: equipment packed against the walls. He threw the heavy bolt
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: that locked the door and sagged against a wall, his
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: breath coming in deep shuddering gasps. There was no sound
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: from outside. Gradually, his labored breathing subsided, and he stared
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: with dull, unseeing eyes ahead of him. And in that moment,
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: Ward Harrison came face to face with what he had done.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: In a single gleaming flash of understanding, he realized that
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: he had bought his life with his honor. A shuddering
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: sob passed through his body. He remembered with scalding self
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: hatred the things he had said to Halliday, a man
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: who had endured the horror of this isolated bass for
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: three years. He had called a man cowardly, who had
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: more courage in his smallest finger than Ward had in
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: his entire body. Halliday had stuck here, doing his job,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: making no complaints or excuses, always aware of horrible, soul
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: numbing danger he was facing. Ward cursed and buried his
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: face in his trembling hands. With bitter shame, he recalled
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: his jeering remarks to Halliday about his nervous habit of
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: removing his glasses. God three years on this hellish base,
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: and the only sign a nervous habit of fiddling with
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: his glasses stark, raving madness would have been the effect
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: on any other person. Ward could imagine. At that instant,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: he despised himself more than he had ever despised any
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: human being in his life, and he knew that the
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: worst punishment that would ever be meted to him would
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: be the mere act of living and being able to
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: think to remember. With feverish eyes, he glared about the room.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: A small leaden cask was set apart from the other equipment,
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: and it was marked with three x's, the indication of
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: high explosive contents. Ward dropped to his knees and pride
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: opened the lid of the small cask. It was filled
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: with neat rows of U two thirty five pellets, hardly
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: an inch in diameter. He picked up one in each
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: hand and then stood up and walked to the door.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: He was beyond thought or reason. He knew he was
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: going to his death, and he felt nothing but a
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: numb sense of anticipation. He knew that in dying he
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: would not expiate the crime of cowardice he had committed.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: Nothing would ever erase the stigma of that shame. A
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: thousand deaths could not do that. He did not actually
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: think these things. His mind was wrapped in a fog
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: of blind instinct. There was something he must do, do immediately.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: That was as far as his mind would go. The
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: kitchen and the front room of the small building were empty,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: and the door leading to the outside was open. The
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: while raging storm of the monsoon blew in the door,
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: whipping papers into the air, resounding against the walls with
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: a booming roar. Ward strode across the room, bracing himself
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: against the blast of the wind. He stepped through the doorway,
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: and the full force of the wind almost bent him backward,
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: but he moved on, fighting his way forward. After six feet,
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: the building was lost in the grayness. He was again
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: alone in a wild, howling world of horror and death.
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: Then he heard the rasping noise of the things directly
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: ahead of him, and an instant later he was able
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: dimly to make out their weaving shapes in the swirling
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: mists of the storm. They were coming toward him with
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: grim exultation pounding in his temples, Ward hurled a pellet
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: of U two thirty five directly into their midst. The
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: thunderous reverberations of the explosion rocked the ground under his feet.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: A terrific blast of air that dwarfed the raging turbulence
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: of the monsoon roared about his head. He staggered back,
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: almost falling. When he could see again, he made out
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: a great hold in the ranks of the things moving
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: toward him. His laugh was a wild cry in the
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: fury of the night. Damn you, he shouted. His arm
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: whipped back, and the second pellet crashed into the serried
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: ranks of the deadly, rasping creatures. Something grabbed his ankle.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: As the second pellet exploded, he fell back, striking the
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: ground hard. A hand grabbed his and then, miraculously, incredibly,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: Halliday was pulling him to his feet, jerking him toward
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: the building. They stumbled through the door together. Ward fell
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: to the floor as Halliday wheeled and slammed the door,
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: throwing the automatic bolts with the same motion. Halliday knelt
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: beside Ward. Good work, he said, huskily. They were holding me.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: I don't know what they were planning. Those bombs blew
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: them into little pieces. Luckily I got through the blast
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: all right. He gripped Warret's arms. Suddenly you came through too, son, No,
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: Warret said, dully, I didn't. I ran out on you.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: I'm a fool, a yellow fool. Hey coward wouldn't have
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: come back. Halliday said quietly. We're going to lick this
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: job together from now on. We've found a weapon to
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: use against the Raspers. I never thought of high explosives.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: He grinned suddenly, and the tightness was leaving his mouth.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: It doesn't seem so terrible when you've got something to
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: fight back with. Ward looked up at Halliday, and a
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: faint smile touched his own lips. Some one to fight
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: with means a lot, too, he said. He suddenly grinned.
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: You've lost your glasses. I won't miss them. Halliday said,
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: I didn't need them. I wore them to give me
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: something to do, that's all. But we're going to have
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: plenty to do now. Ward swallowed with difficulty. He knew
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: that in his wild, thoughtless act of heroism, he hadn't
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: redeemed himself. Redemption would come from a lifetime of playing
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: the game the way men like Halladay did. But the
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: chance was there for him, and he was glad that
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: he could start immediately. Whatever you say, he said, he
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: grinned and added boss. End of Monsoons of Death by
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: Gerald Vance. Larsen's Luck by Gerald Vance. This librovox recording
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Larsen's Luck by Gerald Vance.
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: We more than ten minutes, I said. We were flying
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: at reduced speed because of the heavy fog we had
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: run into with the outer fringe of Earth's atmosphere, but
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: I knew we were within forty or fifty miles of
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: the trans space space. I had counted the miles on
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: this particular trip because of the load of radium we
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: were carrying from the Venusian mines. I wouldn't draw a
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: completely relieved breath until we were down and the stuff
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: was in the hands of the commerce agents. I eased
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: my position slightly to relieve the pressure on my broken
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: flipper and grinned at the pilot, Lucky Larson, the screwiest,
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: most unpredictable void trotter who had ever flown for dear
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: old trans Space. You've been too good to be true
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: this trip, I said, and it's a good thing. The
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: chief told me that if you so much as thought
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: about clowning around or stunting, he was going to clip
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: your wings for good. Lucky grinned, and impish devil may care.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: Grin that lighted up his freckle face and bunched the
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: tiny wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Then, with
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: characteristic abruptness, he scowled that grandmother, he said, disgustedly. Who
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: does he think I am anyway? Some crazy, irresponsible madman
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: who hasn't got enough brains to stay on a space beam.
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: That's just what he does, think, I grinned, And you've
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: given him plenty of reason to think it. You can't
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: bring your crate in to the base without stunting around
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: and showing off and risking your damn neck. That's why
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: he sent me along with you this trip, just to
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: see that you act like a pilot instead of a
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: circus acrobat. Hey, lot of good you do, Lucky mumbled.
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: You got a broken arm. The only reason he sent
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: you is because he didn't want to pay you while
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: you was in the hospital, so he cooks up this
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: trip to get his money out of you, and say
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: he turned to me belligerently, When did I ever crack
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: up a ship? When did I ever even did one
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: of the babies? You haven't, I was forced to admit.
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: But that's just because of that screwy luck of yours.
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: But it won't last forever, and one of these days
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: it's going to run out just when you need it.
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: So just remember, no stunting this trip, or you'll be
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: out of the strata for the rest of your natural life. Ah,
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: that's the trouble with this rocket, Lucky grumbled. A guy
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: can't have no fun no more. Back when I was
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: with the Space Circus, Okay, okay, I've heard that before.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: Just fly your ship now and forget about the deep
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: dark plot of the company to take all the joy
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: out of your life. I'm going to take a look
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: see at the atomic floats. To get the passenger's bundled together,
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: I stood up and crawled over him and opened the
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: door leading to the body of the ship. I could
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: still hear him grumbling as I slid the like chrome
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: alloy door shut. I chuckled to myself and headed up
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: the aisle to the baggage compartments. Lucky Larson was a
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: legend as space pilots go an unpredictable, erratic screwball, but
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: one of the finest rocket riders who ever flashed through
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: the void. Company regulations and interplanetary commissions were the bane
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: of his existence. He made his own rules and regulations
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: and got by with it. That is, he had gotten
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: by with it. Now they were cracking down on him.
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: He had been grounded twice, and the chief had threaten
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: to set him down for life if any more infractions
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: were charged to him. I shook my head gloomily. He
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: was a great guy, the last of a great and
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: gallant army of space adventurers. But he was on the
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: way out. The rules were necessary, vital to safe space travel,
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: and the Lucky Larsons would have to live up to
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: them or else. My mind was a long way from
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: the cabin of the spaceship, and maybe that's why I
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: got what I did. I didn't see it coming. One
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: minute I was walking through the aisle thinking about Lucky Larson,
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: and the next second something slammed into the back of
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: my head, knocking me to my knees. Through a haze
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: of red and white lights, I heard a voice park
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: toss him into a chair and grab that good arm
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: of his. I wasn't out, just damn sick. Something like
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: a cold hand seemed to have closed over my stomach,
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: and for an awful moment I gagged and tried to wretch.
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: But the moment passed, and I forced open my eyes
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: and focused them on two tough looking, hard eyed gents
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: who stood in front of me. Another unpleasant looking little
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: man knelt alongside of me, twisting my good arm behind
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: my back. Okay, I gritted, what's the gag? The tallest
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: of the three, evidently their leader, smiled at me. It's
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: no gag, he murmured, calmly. We happen to need the
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: radium you're carrying. We're going to take it. Any objections,
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: you'll never get away with this. I snapped. Your names
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: and descriptions are registered with the passenger Office. You'll be
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: tracked down in twenty four hours. I was bluffing, of course,
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: and I knew from their contemptuous smiles that they knew too.
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: They probably had given fictitious names, and the descriptive information
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: which the bureau required consisted of a few generalities such
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: as height, weight, and alike. I cursed myself for a stupid,
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: careless fool. The three men had been the only passengers
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: from Venus, and they had kept to themselves the entire trip.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: Once or twice I had wondered at their reticence and quietness,
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: but I had not been suspicious enough to make a
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: check up. One of the men laughed shortly, let us
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: worry about that. We've covered every angle that could possibly
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: come up with the help of your friend. Up front,
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: this ship will be flown to a certain deserted asteroid,
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: where a few friends of ours are to meet us
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: with another ship. How you come out afterward will depend
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: on how you cooperate. Now clear enough? It was clear enough,
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: all right, Lucky and I wouldn't last long after we'd
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: served our purpose. The tall man turned from me and
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: nodded significantly to the man standing next to him, and
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: then pointed to the closed door to the pilot's chambers.
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: Take care of the pilot, he murmured, and tell him
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: if he isn't obliging, we'll take the cast off his
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: friend's arm, and he smiled at me. Massage it a bit.
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: I felt a cold sweat break out on my forehead.
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: The thug grinned wolffishly at me, and then winked at
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: his leader. I'll tell him, boss. He dug his hand
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: into his pocket and drew out a stubby atomic pistol.
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: If he won't listen to me, maybe this will persuade him.
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: Still grinning, he turned and headed up the aisle, the
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: gun clenched in his huge fist. I glanced at the
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: tall figure standing in front of me and saw that
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: he was watching the retreating figure of his henchman, with
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: a saturnine smile on his face. I thought swiftly, if
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: I could yellow warn, meaning to Lucky, he could bolt
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: the door of the pilot's chamber and then set the
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: ship down at the trans space space. It was the
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: only way to save Lucky and the Radium. I wasn't
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: very optimistic about my own chances. I knew they were zero.
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: I opened my mouth, took a deep breath, and then
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: before I could scream the words that would warn Lucky,
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: it happened. The ship shuddered for an instant and then
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: zoomed upward, the smooth hum of the rocket motors crescendoing
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: to a roaring song of power and speed. The sudden,
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: jolting acceleration hurled me to the tail of the ship,
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: and I saw, like an image in a kaleidoscope, the tangled,
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: thrashing figures of the space bandits as they were tossed
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: to the floor, a dazedly struggling mass of arms and legs.
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: The ship was lying over on its back in a
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: few seconds, and before I could catch a breath, it's
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: suddenly whipped over and blasted toward Earth in a screeching,
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: hissing power dive. It was terrific punishment even for this
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: type of space crate, but it was worse for human beings.
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: The three bandits were clutching at their stomachs as if
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: they were afraid of losing them. Their faces were mottled
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: and blotchy, and their eyes were rolling beseechingly. I didn't
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: mind the erratic convolutions the ship was making, but my
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: arm was burning as if it were on fire. Numbing
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: waves of pain were coursing up and down my entire body.
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: I tried to crawl to my knees, but the floor
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: rolled under me as the ship whipped over in a
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: twisting spiral, and I crashed forward on my face. Then
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: everything dissolved into inky blackness. When I came to I
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: heard a great commotion, then a sudden shot, and then
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: a babble of voices booming around me. I remember thinking
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: fleeting of crooks, Lucky Larson, and a mountain of radium,
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: and then because nothing made sense, I passed out again.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: The next time I opened my eyes, I found myself
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: stretched out on a cot in the Chief's office. I
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: turned my head slightly and saw Lucky Larson, the Chief,
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: and a half dozen other guys staring down at me.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: It's not very original, I said, but where the hell
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: am I? That was silly of me because I knew
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: where I was, so I said, never mind that, but
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: please tell me what the hell happened. The Chief laughed,
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: and Lucky Larson laughed, and then they slapped each other
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: on the back. Don't worry about a thing, the Chief said.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: Those crooks are under lock and key, and there's not
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: a thing to worry about. But how I mean what
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: My voice trailed off? Nothing made sense? Well, the Chief
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: broke in, Lucky here really deserves the credit for catching them,
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: and I'm not forgetting your good work either. Both of
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: you will receive more tangible evidence of my appreciation. But
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: Lucky really did the rain work. Ah, Lucky mumbled, it
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: wasn't much, just a little common sense and uh a
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: little luck. It was damn fast thinking. The Chief cut
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: in belligerently. You knew your stunting over the base would
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: drive me crazy. You knew I'd get so mad i'd
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: call out the base police and have you thrown in.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: When you moored, and when you did more and the
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: crooks toppled out, we were right on hand to receive them.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: They were so weak from the shaking up you gave
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: him that they didn't have a chance. Lucky rolled innocent
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: eyes to the ceiling. Sometimes, he remarked, piously. Stunting has
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: its uses. Congratulations, I said, weakly, You certainly use your head.
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: Caught the Chief's attention with your stunting, and almost knocked
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: the crooks out with it too. That's killing two birds
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: with one stone, all right. Then another thought occurred to me.
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: How did you know I was in trouble? I asked, curiously,
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: How did you know we had those crooks on board? Why? Why?
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: Lucky sputtered. That was simple. I just happened to look
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: behind me, and I saw those boys piling into you.
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: So I did a little fast thinking, and then I
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: whipped the ship into a few maneuvers, and like the
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: Chief said, they caught his eye. All right. The Chief
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: was beaming fondly, and I turned my head to hide
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: the smile on my lips. So you just looked behind you.
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: I muttered, well, lucky, you certainly are and were. He
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: grinned down at me and winked, you said it, kid.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: I wanted to ask him question then, but I decided
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: to wait until we were alone. I closed my eyes
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: and smiled again, thinking of his expression when I would
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: ask him how he had been able to look behind
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: him and see me struggling with those crooks when the
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: door of the pilot's chamber was closed all the time.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: End of Larsen's Luck by Gerald Vance. Recording by Phil
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: Shinever vital ingredient by Gerald Vance. This LibriVox recording is
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Vital ingredient by Gerald Vance. Champ.
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: What's wood you lately? Benny asked the question as they
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: lay on the beach, Nothing, Frankie answered, just fight night miseries.
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: I guess no, it ain't, Frankie, it's something else. You
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: losing confidence in Milt got it? Can't you hold it
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: one more time? You guys only need tonight, and you
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: got it one more to make ten time defenders, the
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: first in the game. Frankie, we won the last two
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: one points. Benny points an. I'm better an that I
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: keep waitin an waitin for my heels to set, for
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: Milt to send it up my legs an back an
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: let fly. But he won't do it, Benny. Look, Champ,
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: Milt knows what he's doin. He's sendin you right, you
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: think maybe you know as much as Milt. Maybe I do, Benny,
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: Maybe I do. Benny didn't have the answer to this heresy.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: By law, this was Frankie's last fight as a fighter.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: If he won this one and became a ten time defender,
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: he would have his pick of the youngsters at the
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: boxing college, just as Milt had chosen him fifteen years before.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: For fifteen years he'd never thrown a punch of his
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: own in a fight ring. Maybe because it was his
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: last fight in the ring, he felt the way he
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: did today. He understood, of course, why fighters were mentally
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: controlled by proved veterans. By the time a fighter had
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: any real experience and know how, in the old days,
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: his body was shot. Now the best bodies and the
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: best brains were teemed by mental control. Benny had an answer. Now, Champ,
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: I think it's a good thing. This is your last fight.
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: You know too much. After this one. You have a good,
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: strong boy of your own, and you can try some
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: of this stuff you've been learning. Milt knows you're no
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: kid anymore. That's why he has to be careful with you.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: I still haven't, Benny, my speed, my punch, my timing.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: Oh good. There were a dozen times in those last
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: two fights. I could crossed a right and gone home
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: early two times. Frankie just two times, and them laid
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: in the fight. Milt didn't think you had it, and
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: I don't think you did either. Milt, Frankie's master control,
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: came down to the beach and strolled over to join them.
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: Milt had been a five time defender in the welter
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: division before his fights ran out. Now he was skinny
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: and sixty. His was the mind that had directed every
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: punch Frankie had ever thrown. He studied the figure of
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: Frankie lying on the sand. The two hundred pound fighting
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: machine was thirty years old. Milt winced when he compared
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: it to that of the twenty two year old slugger
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: they would have to meet in a few hours. Binny
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: said hi and ambled off, Well, boy, this one means
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: a lot to both of us, Milt said, sure, was
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: all Frankie could answer for you. The first ten time
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: defender the heavyweight provision has ever produced for me the
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: Hall of Boxing Fame. You want that pretty bad, don't you, Milt? Yeah,
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: I guess I do, Frankie, but not bad enough to
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: win it the wrong way. Frankie's head jerked up. What
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: do you mean the wrong way? Milt scowled and looked
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: as though he wished he hadn't said that. He turned
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: his head and stared hard at his fighter. There's something
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: we maybe ought to have talked about, Frankie. Oh what's that?
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: Milt struggled for words. It's just oh, oh, hell, forget it,
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: Just forget I said anything. You figure we win tonight?
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: I think maybe we will. You don't seem very sure
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: on points? Huh, yeah, maybe on points. Milt turned his
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: head back on Frankie's eager face. Frankie, boy, there's something
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: about being a ten time defender that's well different. Milt
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: took a deep breath and was evidently ready to tell
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: Frankie exactly what he meant, but Frankie broke in his
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: voice low and tense, Milt, Yes, when I get in there,
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: tonight turn me loose. Milt was startled at the words
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: release control. Yeah, sure, I think I can take Nappy
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: Gordon on my own. Nappy can stick his fist through
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: a brick wall all night long, and Pop Monroe knows
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: all there is to know, and some he makes up himself.
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: It'd be a tough pair to beat. Our big ace
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: is that they have to beat us. We got the
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: nine times I can take him. Milt. There was a
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: strange light in Milt's eyes. He did not speak, and
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: Frankie went on, just one round, Milt, if I slip,
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: you can grab control again. You just want to try
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: at it. Huh. There seemed to be disappointment in Milt's voice,
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: something Frankie couldn't understand. Milt seemed suddenly nervous, ill at ease,
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: but Frankie was too eager to give it much attention.
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: How about it, Milt? Huh. Milt had been squatting on
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: the sand. He got to his feet and looked out
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: across the water. All right, maybe we'll try it he
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: seemed sad as he walked away. Frankie, occupied with his
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: own elation, didn't notice. In the studio dressing room a
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: few hours later, Milt and Frankie were warming up. Frankie
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: in the practice rang and Milt perched on a high
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: chair just outside the ropes. Everything was just as it
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: would be in the fight. Three minutes work, one minute rest.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: Frankie noticed how slowly and carefully Milt was working him,
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: and how he watched the clock. Frankie had nothing to
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: do now but watch as a spectator would watch as
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: Milt moved him around. Milt could control every muscle, every move,
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: and every reflex of his body. It had taken them
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: five years to perfect this routine that was the training
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: period at the College of Boxing and was prescribed by law.
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: In their first fight, they had been at their peak.
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: Frankie was Milt's second boy, and Milt knew boxing as
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: only a champion welter with thirty years of experience could
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: know it. For fifteen years he had watched and studied
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: while a good veteran had directed his body, and for
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: another fifteen years he had been the guiding brain to
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: a fine middleweight. As a welterweight. Milt had learned to
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: depend on speed and quick hands, and Frankie he had
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: found the dream of every welter a punch Frankie's body
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: could really deliver the power. At first, it had been
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: the heavy hitting that had won the fights. Lately, Milt
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: had relied more and more on the speed of deception
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: he had developed in Frankie. Frankie felt the control ease
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: out and knew the warm up was over. He slipped
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: on his robe and he and Milt went to join
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: the others in the TV studio. There would be no crowd,
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: just the cameras, the crews, and officials. The fight would
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: be televised in three D and filmed in slow motion.
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: If a decision were needed to determine the winner, it
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: would be given only after a careful study had been
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: made of the films. There was little to be done
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: in the studio, and Milt had tuned Frankie's warm up
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: right to the minute. The fighters and their controllers took
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: their positions. The controllers seated in high chairs on opposite
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: side of the ring, the fighters in opposite corners. As
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: the warning buzzer sounded, Frankie felt Milt take control this one,
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: he would watch closely at the bell. Frankie rose and
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: moved out slowly. He noticed how relaxed, almost slimp Milt
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: was keeping him. There was only a little more effort
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: used than in the pre fight warm ups. His left
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: hand had extra speed, but only enough power to command respect.
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: The pattern was just about as he had expected. As
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: the fight went along, the left would add up the points,
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: But his thoughts were centered on a single question, how
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: is it going to be on my own? In the
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: early rounds? He was amazed at the extreme caution Milt
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: was employing. Nappy Gardon's face was beginning to redden from
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: the continual massage of Frankie's brisk left and occasional right,
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: But Frankie felt that his his own face must be
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: getting flushed with eagerness the glory of going in and
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: trying to do it by himself by beating Pop Monroe
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: without Milt's help. He wondered if Milt would have to
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: clamp on the controls again. He sure hoped not, but
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: there wasn't anything to really worry about. Milt could beat
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: Pop Monroe, and he wouldn't let Frankie take a beating
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: by himself. Frankie's attention was caught by some odd thoughts
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: in Milt's mind. Milt didn't seem to be sending them,
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: yet they were clear and direct. You really think you
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: got it, boy, that vital ingredient. What are you talking about?
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: Huh me? Oh? Nothing? Take it easy. But Milt's thoughts
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: were troubled. When are you going to let me go?
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: I said, take it easy, we'll see. The sixth round
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: came and Frankie felt no weariness. Milt was working him
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: like he was made of fragile glass, nor was Nappy tiring,
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: so far as he could notice. Pop Monroe was trying
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: for just one solid blow to slow down the champ.
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: So far, nothing even jarring had come close to landing.
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: In the seventh Frankie noticed a little desperation in Monroe's
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: tactics to win. Now, Monroe and Garden needed a knockout.
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: Frankie had only to stay on his feet to be
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: home safe. But when was Milt going to let him go?
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: Milt had turned in a masterpiece of defensive fighting. The
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: left had deadly accuracy, and now the openings were truck
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: sized as Monroe had come to ignore the light tattoo
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: of the champ's punches. Milt withdrew the control in the
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: middle of the seventh round. It hit Frankie like a
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: dash of cold water, the exultation of being on his own.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: He looked over at Milt, perched rope high in his
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: control chair at ringside. Milt was looking at him, his
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: face tight and grim, almost hostile. Frankie circled warily, a
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: touch of panic coming. Unbitten what to do. He hadn't
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: known it would be quite like this. He tried to
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: remember how it was, how it felt to move in
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: the various ways Milt always sent him funny how you
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: could forget such things? The left hook, that jab, how
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: did they go? A pile driver came from somewhere and
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: almost tore his head off his shoulders. He was looking
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: up at the ceiling. He rolled his eyes and saw
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: Pop Monroe's face, smiling a little, but also puzzled. Even
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: with his brain groggy, Frankie knew why he stepped wide
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: open in Nappy's looping right, and Pop couldn't figure Milt
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: doing a thing like that. Pop looked over at Milt.
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: Frankie followed Pop's eyes and saw the look Milt returned.
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: Then the spark of understanding that passed between them odd
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: Frankie thought, what understanding could there be? He was aware
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: of the words seven filling the studio. As the loud
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: speaker blared the count. He was up at nine. Nappy
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: swarmed in. Now Frankie felt the pain of hard, solid
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: blows on his body as he tried to tie up
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: this dynamo poppy Monroe was releasing on him. He couldn't
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: stop it, dodge it, or hide from it. But he
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: finally got away from it. Staggering. Nappy came at him fast,
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: and the left jab Frankie sent out to put him
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: off balance didn't even slow the fury a bit. Frankie
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: took to the ropes to make Nappy sharpen his punches.
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: It helped some, but not enough. No man could take
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: the jolting effect of those ripping punches and keep his
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: feet under him. Frankie didn't. He was down when the
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: bell ended round nine in his corner. The seconds worked quickly.
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: He looked at Milton, saw a dead pan expression. Milt
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: wasn't sending him anything, punishing him, of course. Frankie took
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: it meekly, ashamed, of himself. Milt would take over again.
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: When the bell sounded, Frankie knew that he couldn't stay
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: away from Nappy for another round. Nobody could. Monroe smelled
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: a knockout, and Frankie was never fast enough to run
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: away from the burst of viciousness that would come at
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: him in the form of Nappy Garden. No, Milt would
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: take over. At the bell, Frankie moved out fast, waiting
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: for the familiar feel of Milt expertly manipulating his arms
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: and legs and body sending out the jabs and punches,
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: weaving him in and out. But Milt didn't take over,
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: and Pop sent Nappy in with a piled driver right
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: that smashed Frankie to the floor. Frankie rolled over on
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: his knees and shook his head, groggily, trying to understand
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: why hadn't Milt taken over? What was Milt trying to
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: do to him? Milt's cold face waved into focus before
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: Frankie's blinking eyes. What was Milt trying to do? Frankie
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: heard the tolling count six seven, eight. Milt wasn't even
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: going to help him up. Sick and bewildered, Frankie struggled
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: to his feet. Nappy came driving in. Frankie back pedaled
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: and took the vicious right cross while rolling away. Thus
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: he avoided being knocked out and was only floored for
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: another eight count. Milt, Milt, for God's sake, the round
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: was over. Frankie staggered, sick to his corner and slumped
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: down the handlers worked over him. He looked at Milt,
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: but Milt neither sent nor returned his gaze. Milt looked
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: grimly off into space, and seemed older and wearier than
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: time itself. Then Frankie knew Milt had sold him out.
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: The shocking truth stunned him even more than Nappy's punches.
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: Milt had sold him out. There had been rare cases
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: of such things when money meant more than honor to
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: a veteran, But Milt numbed. Frankie pondered the ghastly thought.
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: After all, Milt was old. Old men needed money for
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: their later years. But how could he? How could he
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: do it? Suddenly Frankie hated he He hated Nappy and
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: Pop and every one of the millions of people looking
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: silently on around the world. But most of all, he
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: hated Milt. It was a weird, sickening thing that hatred,
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: but only a mentally sickening thing. Physically, it seemed to
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: make Frankie stronger because when the bell rang and he
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: got up and walked into a straight right, it didn't
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: hurt at all. He realized he was on the floor,
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: the gong was sounding, he was getting up, moving in again.
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: There was blood, a ringing in his head, and above all,
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: a rage to kill, to kill. He remembered going down
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: several times and getting up, not caring how he had
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: swung under Milt's control, only wanting to use his fists
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: to kill the thing weaving in front of him, Nappy,
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: a grinning, weaving, lethal ghost. He felt a pain in
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: his right fist and saw Nappy go down. He saw
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: Pop's face go gray, as though the old man himself
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: had felt the force of the blow. Saw Nappy climbed
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: erect slowly, he grinned through blood. Frankie ghost catcher, He
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: had to get him. He was happy, happy with the
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: new fierceness he had never before known. The lust of
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: battle was strong within him, and when Pop weaved Nappy desperately,
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: Frankie laughed, waited measuring nappy and smashed him down with
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: a single jarring right the bell told tin. Pop got
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: wearily off his stool and walked away. Frankie strode grimly
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: to his corner, ignored Milt, moved on into the dressing room.
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: He knew Milt would come, and he waited for him,
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: sitting there coldly on the edge of the table. Milt
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: walked in the door and stood quietly. You sold me out,
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: Frankie said. There was open pride in Milt's eyes. Sure
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: you had to think that. What do you mean think
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: you didn't pick me up when Pop flattened me. I
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: saw the look between you and Pop. Sure, Milt's eyes
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: were still proud. You had to know. That's how I
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: wanted it, Milt. Why did you do it? I didn't
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: do it. I just had to make you think I did.
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: In God's name? Why because I'm sentimental? Maybe, but I've
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: always had my own ideas about the kind of fighter
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: who should be a ten time winner All my life.
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: I've kept remembering the old greats Dempsey, Sullivan, Corbett, the
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: men who did it on their own, And I wanted
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: you to get it right on your own, like a
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: real champion. Frankie was confused. I wanted to go on
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: my own. Why didn't you tell me then? Then you'd
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: have lost, You'd have gone down whimpering and moaning. You see, Frankie,
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: all those old fighters had a vital ingredient, the thing
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: it takes to make a champion courage. And you didn't
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: think I had it. Sure I did. But the killer
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: instinct is dead in fighters today and it has to
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: be ignited. It needs a trigger. So that was what
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: I gave you, a trigger. Frankie understood, you wanted me
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: to get mad. To do it, you had to get
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: mad at me. You're not conditioned to get mad at
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: Nappy or Pop. It's not the way we fight now.
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: It had to be me. I had to make you
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: hate me. Frankie marveled. So when Pop looked at you,
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: he knew. Frankie was off the table, his arms around Milton.
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm so ashamed. Milt grinned. No, you're not. You're
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: happier than you ever were in your life. You're a
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 1: real champion. Great feeling, isn't it now? You know how
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: they felt in the old days. Frankie was crying. You
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: were damn right. Thanks Milt looked years younger. Don't mention it.
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: Champ end of vital ingredient