by Robert Reed
ment Act. Without the scientific assurance of the Index there would
be no way of determining where these precious funds could best be
utilized .”
“You’d be better off putting the money on the ponies,” said Fen-
wick . “Sometimes they win . As it stands, you’ve set it up for a sure
loss . You haven’t got a chance in the world .”
“You think Clearwater College could make better use of some of
our funds than, say, MIT?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised . Don’t get me wrong . I’m not saying
the boys at MIT or Cal Tech or a lot of other places couldn’t come
up with a real development in the way of a fermodacular filter for
reducing internucleated cross currents . But the real breakthroughs—
you’ve closed your doors and locked them out .”
“Who have we locked out? We’ve screened and fine combed the
resources of the entire country . We know exactly where the top re-
search is being conducted in every laboratory in the nation .”
Fenwick shook his head slowly and smiled . “You’ve forgotten
the boys working in their basements and in their back yard garages .
You’ve forgotten the guys that persuade the wife to put up with a
busted-down automatic washer for another month so they can buy
another hundred bucks worth of electronic parts . You’ve remem-
bered the guys who have Ph . D .’s for writing 890-page dissertations
THE GREAT GRAY PLAGUE, by Raymond F. Jones | 678
on the Change of Color in the Nubian Daisy after Twilight, but
you’ve forgotten guys like George Durrant, who can make the atoms
of a crystal turn handsprings for him .”
Baker leaned back in his chair and smiled . He almost wished he
hadn’t wasted the effort of trying to show Fenwick . But, then, he had
tried . And he would always have regretted it if he hadn’t .
“You’re referring now to the crackpot fringe?” he said .
“I suppose so,” said Fenwick . “I’ve heard it called that before .”
“One of the things, above all else, which the Index was designed
to accomplish,” said Baker, “was the screening out of all elements
that might be ever so remotely associated with the crackpot fringe .
And believe me, you’ll never know how strong it is in this country!
Every two-bit tinkerer wants a handout to develop his world-shaking
gadget that will suppress the fizz after the cap is removed from a pop
bottle, or adapt any apartment-size bathtub for raising tropical fish.”
“You ever heard of the flotation process?” said Fenwick abruptly.
Baker frowned at the sudden shift of thought . “Of course—”
“What would the world be like without the flotation process?”
“The metals industry would be vastly different, of course . Cop-
per would be much scarcer and higher priced . Gold—”
“A ton of ore and maybe a pound of recovered metal, right?”
said Fenwick . “Move a mountain of waste to get anything of value .
Crush millions of tons of rock and float out the pinpoint particles of
metal on bubbles of froth .”
“That’s a rough description of what happens .”
“You’ve heard of high-grading .”
“Of course . A somewhat colloquial term used in mining .”
“The high-grader takes a pick and digs for anything big enough
to see and pick up with his hands . He doesn’t worry about the small
stuff that takes sweat and machinery to recover .”
“I suppose so. I fail to see the significance—”
“You’re high-grading, Bill,” said Fenwick . He leaned across the
desk and spoke with bitter intensity . “You’re high-grading and you
should be using a flotation process.”
THE GREAT GRAY PLAGUE, by Raymond F. Jones | 679
Fenwick slowly drew back in his chair . Baker felt overwhelmed
by the sudden intensity he had never before seen displayed in John
Fenwick . Any reaction on his part seemed suddenly inadequate . “I
fail to see any connection—,” he said finally.
Fenwick looked at him steadily . “Human creativeness can be
mined only by flotation methods. It’s in low-grade ore. Process a
million stupid notions and find a pin point of genius. Turn over enor-
mous wastes of human thought and recover a golden principle . But
turn your back on these mountains of low-grade material and you
shut out the wealth of creative thought that is buried in them . More
than that, by high-grading only where rich veins have appeared in
the past, you’re mining lodes that have played out .”
“An ingenious analogy,” said Baker, recovering with a smile now .
“But it’s hardly an accurate or applicable one . The human mind is
not a piece of precious metal found in a mountain of ore . Rather, it’s
an intricate device capable of producing computations of unbeliev-
able complexity . And we know how such devices that are superior in
function are produced, and we know what their characteristics are .
We also know that such a device does not ‘play out’ . If it is superior
in function, it can remain so for a long time .”
“High-grading,” said Fenwick . “And the vein is played out . You’ll
never find the thing you’re looking for until you develop means of
processing low-grade material .”
Baker watched Fenwick across the desk . He was weary of the
whole thing . He certainly had no need to prove himself to this man .
He had simply tried to do Fenwick a favor, and Fenwick had thrown
it right back in his face . Yet there was a temptation to go on, to
prove to Fenwick the difference between their two worlds . Fenwick
belonged to a world compounded of inevitable failure . The tempta-
tion to show him, to try again to lift him out of it was born of a kind
of pity for Fenwick .
Baker’s own life had arrowed decisively, without waver, to
a goal that was as correct as the tolerances of human error could
make it . He often permitted himself the pride of considering his
THE GREAT GRAY PLAGUE, by Raymond F. Jones | 680
mind somewhat as a computer that had been programmed through a
magnificent gene inheritance to drive irresistibly toward the precise
goals he had reached . But Fenwick—Fenwick was still fumbling
around in a morass of uncertainty . After years of erratic starts and
stops he was now confusedly trying to make something out of that
miserable little institution called Clearwater College .
It wasn’t particularly friendship that urged Baker to show Fen-
wick . Their friendship was of a breed that Baker had never quite
been able to define to his own satisfaction. It seemed to him there
was a sort of deadly fascination in associating with a man who
walked so blindly, who was so profoundly incapable of understand-
ing his own blindness and peril .
“I’m going to show you,” Baker said abruptly, “exactly what it
would mean if we were to do as you suggest . I’ll show you what it
would be like to give attention to every halfwit and crackpot that
comes begging for a handout .” He switched the intercom and spoke
into it. “Doris, please bring i
n the Ellerbee file. Yes—the crackpot
section .”
He switched off . “Doris has her own quaint but quite accurate
way of cataloguing our various applications,” he explained .
In a moment the secretary entered and placed the file on the desk.
“There’s a new letter in there,” she said . “Dr . Pehrson initialed it . He
said you didn’t want to be bothered any more with this case .”
“That’s right .”
Baker opened the file and shoved it toward Fenwick. “This boy
has a gadget he wants us to look at . Doesn’t really need any money,
he says . That’s the kind we really have to be on guard against . If we
looked at his wonder gadget, we’d be pestered for a million-dollar
handout for years to come .”
“What’s he got?” Fenwick asked .
“Some kind of communication device, he says . He claims it’s
nothing but a grown crystal which you hold in your hand and talk to
anybody anywhere on Earth .”
“Sounds like it wouldn’t take much to find out whether he’s got
anything or not. Just let him put on a five-minute demonstration.”
THE GREAT GRAY PLAGUE, by Raymond F. Jones | 681
“But multiply that five minutes by a thousand, by ten thousand.
And once you let them get their teeth into you, it doesn’t stop with
five minutes. It goes on into reams of letters and years of time. No,
you have to stop this kind of thing before it ever starts . But take a
look at some of this material in the file and you’ll see what I mean.”
Fenwick picked up the top letter as Baker pushed the file toward
him . “He starts this one by saying, ‘Dear Urban .’ Is that what he
calls you? What does he mean?”
“Who knows? He’s a crackpot, I told you . Who cares what he
means, anyway . We’ve got far more important things to worry
about .”
Fenwick scanned the letter a moment, then looked up, a faint
smile on his face . “I know what he means . Urban—Pope Urban—
was the one responsible for the persecutions of Galileo .”
Baker shrugged embarrassedly . “I told you he was a crackpot .
Delusions of grandeur and of persecution are typical .”
“This boy may not be as crazy as he sounds . You’re giving him a
pretty good imitation of a Galileo treatment—won’t even look at his
device . He says here that ‘Since you have previously refused to ex-
amine my device and have questioned my reliability as an observer,
I have obtained the services of three unbiased witnesses, whose af-
fidavits, signed and notarized, are attached. These men are the Fire
Chief, the Chief of Police, and the Community Church Pastor of
Redrock, all of whom testify that they did see my device in full
operation this past week . I trust that this evidence will persuade you
that an investigation should be made of my device . I fail to see how
the bull-headedness and cocksureness of your office can withstand
any more of the evidence I have to offer in support of my claims .’”
“A typical crackpot letter,” said Baker . “He tries to be reasonable,
but his colors are soon shown when he breaks down into vitupera-
tive language like a frustrated child .”
Fenwick thumbed through the large pile of correspondence . “I’d
say anybody would likely blow his stack a good deal harder than
this if he’d been trying to get your attention this long . Why didn’t he
ever send you one of his gadgets in the mail?”
THE GREAT GRAY PLAGUE, by Raymond F. Jones | 682
“Oh, he did,” said Baker. “That was one of the first things he
did .”
“What did you do?”
“Sent it back . We always return these things by registered return
mail .”
“Without even trying it out?”
“Of course .”
“Bill, that isn’t even reasonable . These earlier letters of his de-
scribe the growing of these crystals . He tells exactly how he does
it . He knows what he’s talking about . I’d like to see him and see his
crystal .”
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say! All we have to do is get
Doris to give him a call and he’ll be here first thing in the morning.
You can be our official investigator. You can see what it’s like deal-
ing with a crackpot!”
James Ellerbee was a slim man, impetuous and energetic . Fen-
wick liked him on sight . He was not a technical man; he was a farm-
er . But he was an educated farmer . He had a degree from the State
Agricultural College . He dabbled in amateur radio and electronics
as a hobby .
“I’m certainly glad someone is finally willing to give me a break
and take a look at my device,” he said as he shook Fenwick’s hand .
“I’ve had nothing but a runaround from this office for the past eight
months . Yet, according to all the publicity, this is where the nation’s
scientific progress is evaluated.”
Fenwick felt like a hypocrite . “We get pretty overloaded,” he said
lamely .
They were in Baker’s office. Baker watched smugly from behind
his desk . Ellerbee said, “Well, we might as well get started . All you
have to do, Mr . Fenwick, is hold one of these crystal cubes in your
hand. I’ll go in the other office and close the door. It may help at first
if you close your eyes, but this is not really necessary .”
THE GREAT GRAY PLAGUE, by Raymond F. Jones | 683
“Wait,” said Fenwick . Somehow he wanted to get away from
Baker while this was going on . “I’d like to take it outside, some-
where in the open . Would that be all right?”
“Sure . Makes no difference where you try it,” said Ellerbee . “One
place is as good as another .”
Baker waved a hand as they went out . “Good luck,” he said . He
smiled confidently at Fenwick.
As far as Fenwick could see, the crystal was not even potted or
cased in any way . The raw crystal lay in his hand . The striations
of the multitude of layers in which it was laid down were plainly
visible .
Ellerbee dropped Fenwick off by the Jefferson memorial, then
drove on about a mile . Still in sight, he stopped the car and got out .
Fenwick saw him wave a hand . Nothing happened .
Fenwick glanced down at the crystal in his hand . About the size
of a child’s toy block . He could almost understand Baker’s position .
It was pretty silly to suppose this thing could have the powers Eller-
bee said it had. No electric energy applied. It merely amplified the
normal telepathic impulses existing in every human mind, Ellerbee
said . Fenwick sighed . You just couldn’t tell ahead of time that a
thing wasn’t going to pan out . He knew his philosophy was right .
These had to be investigated—every lousy, crackpot one of them .
You could never tell what you were missing out on unless you did
check .
He squeezed harder on the crystal, as Ellerbee had told him to do .
It was just a little fuzzy at first, fading and coming back. Then
it was there, shimmering a little, but steady . The image of Ellerbee
> standing in front of him, grinning .
Fenwick glanced down the road . Ellerbee was still there, a mile
away . But he was also right there in front of him, about four feet
away .
“It shakes you up a little bit at first,” said Ellerbee. “But you get
used to it after a while . Anyway, this is it . Are you convinced my
device works?”
THE GREAT GRAY PLAGUE, by Raymond F. Jones | 684
Fenwick shook his head to try to clear it rather than to give a
negative answer . “I’m convinced something is working,” he said .
“I’m just not quite sure what it is .”
“I’ll drive across town,” Ellerbee offered . “You can see that
distance makes no difference at all . Later, I’ll prove it works clear
across the country if you want me to .”
They arranged that proof of Ellerbee’s presence on the other side
of the city could be obtained by Fenwick’s calling him at a drug
store pay phone . Then they would communicate by means of the
cubes .
It was no different than before .
The telephone call satisfied Fenwick that Ellerbee was at least ten
miles away . Then, within a second, he also appeared to be standing
directly in front of Fenwick .
“What do you want?” said Fenwick finally. “What do you want
the Bureau to do about your device? How much money do you want
for development?”
“Money? I don’t need any money!” Ellerbee exploded . “All I
want is for the Government to make some use of the thing . I’ve had
a patent on it for six months. The Patent Office had sense enough
to give me a patent, but nobody else would look at it . I just want
somebody to make some use of it!”
“I’m sure a great many practical applications can be found,” Fen-
wick said lamely. “We’ll have to make a report, first, however. There
will be a need for a great many more experiments—”
But most important of all, Baker would have to be shown . Baker
would have to know from his own experience that this thing worked .
Fenwick suddenly wanted to get away from Ellerbee as much as
he had from Baker a little earlier . There was just so much a man’s
aging synapses could stand, he told himself . He had to do a bit of
thinking by himself . When Ellerbee drove up again, Fenwick told
him what he wanted .
Ellerbee looked disappointed but resigned . “I hope this isn’t an-