“You’re looking for him?”
“We’re looking for him,” Doc said, “as quietly as we can. We have scoured the countryside and we’ve sent out wires to police officials and missing person bureaus.”
“You’ve got to find him, Doc!”
“We’re doing all we can.” Doc sounded tired and a bit bewildered.
“But where could he have gone?” asked Charley. “He doesn’t have any money, does he? He can’t stay hiding out too long without …”
“Coop can get money any time he wants it. He can get anything he wants any time he wants it.”
“I see what you mean,” said Charley.
“I’ll keep in touch,” said Doc.
“Is there anything …?”
“Not a thing,” said Doc. “Not a thing that anyone can do. We can wait. That’s all.”
That was months ago, and Charley is still waiting.
Cooper’s still missing and there’s no trace of him.
So Charley waits and worries.
And the thing he worries about is Cooper’s lack of a formal education, his utter lack of certain basic common knowledge.
There is one hope, of course—that Cooper, if and when he decides to act, will make his action retroactive, going back in time to outlaw not electricity itself, but Man’s discovery of electricity. For, disrupting and terrible as that might be, it would be better than the other way.
But Charley’s afraid that Cooper won’t see the necessity for retroactive action. He’s afraid that Cooper won’t realize that, when you outlaw electricity, you can’t limit it to the current that runs through a wire to light a lamp or turn an engine. When you rule out electricity as a natural phenomenon, you rule out all electricity, and that means you rule out an integral part of atomic structure. And that you affect not only this Earth but the entire Universe.
So Charley sits and worries and waits for the flicker of the lamp beside his chair.
Although he realizes, of course, that when it comes there won’t be any flicker.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
These are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 the Estate of Clifford D. Simak
All stories reprinted by permission of the Estate of Clifford D. Simak.
“New Folks’ Home” © 1963 by The Conde Nast Publications, Inc. © 1991 by the Estate of Clifford D. Simak. Original appearance in Analog Science Fact-Science Fiction, v. 71, no. 5, July, 1963.
“The Questing of Foster Adams” © 1953 by King-Size Publications, Inc. © 1981 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in Fantastic Universe, v. 1, no. 2, Aug.-Sept., 1953.
“Hermit of Mars” © 1939 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. © 1967 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in Astounding Science-Fiction, v. 23, no. 4, June, 1939.
“Worlds Without End” © 1956 by Columbia Publications, Inc. © 1984 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in Future Science Fiction, no. 31, Winter 1956-1957.
“Barb Wire Brings Bullets!” © 1945 by Fictioneers, Inc. © 1973 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in Ace-High Western Stories, v. 10, no. 3, Nov., 1945.
“Second Childhood” © 1950 by World Editions, Inc. © 1978 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction, v. 1, no. 5, Feb., 1951.
“You’ll Never Go Home Again” © 1951 by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. © 1979 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in Fantastic Adventures, v. 13, no. 7, July, 1951. Subsequently reprinted under title “Beachhead.”
“Sunspot Purge” © 1940 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. © 1968 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in Astounding Science-Fiction, v. 26, no. 3, Nov., 1940.
“Drop Dead” © 1956 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. © 1984 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction, v. 12, no. 3, July, 1956.
“Worrywart” © 1953 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. © 1981 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction, v. 6, no. 6, Sept., 1953.
Introduction copyright © 2015 by David W. Wixon
Cover design by Jason Gabbert
978-1-5040-2318-4
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New Folks' Home: And Other Stories Page 33