Astounding Science Fiction Stories Vol 1

by Anthology

  Its companions were almost identical with it, except for clothing of different hues and varying cut.

  The thing in the middle now opened its mouth and made a noise that reminded Full of an off-key clarinet.

  "Gpwk?" it said, with a rising inflection. "Hummr gpwk?"

  Abruptly it came forward, its motions flowing and yet a bit jerky, its long legs carrying it rhythmically, but with a hint of gawkiness; Calvin thought of a galloping giraffe he and his wife had seen in a travelogue some nights before. It towered over them, bending at the hip joints.

  "Steady, dear," he said.

  "I'm all right," his wife said shakily, seeming just on the verge of screaming.

  "Wish I could say the same," said Adam Pierce, the Negro boy. "What a specimen!"

  "Look like anything to you?" asked Watkins.

  "Hell, no. Unless it's something from Mars."

  "Maybe we're on Mars," said Watkins conversationally, but no one responded.

  * * * * *

  It's as sensible a suggestion as the East Indian one, thought Calvin. He had not the slightest idea where they were, and he saw no sense in worrying over it until they had more information to build theories on.

  The beast making no further move, his wife at last leaned toward him and said in his ear, "Calvin, can you tell what--I mean whether it's male or female?"

  He studied it carefully. He couldn't even make a guess. He shook his head.

  Then it reached forward its stick and thrust it directly at Calvin's face. He backed off, startled and somewhat frightened. At once the thing touched Mrs. Full with the ivory ball, as if to separate her from the knot of men.

  She cried out in pain, and Calvin leaped forward; he had a flash of the great paw coming at him with the prod aimed for his face again. It touched his forehead, he felt an intense shock, and then he was powerless to move.

  His mind screamed, he could feel tiny muscles try sluggishly to crawl deep under his skin, but he was paralyzed where he stood in an attitude of charging; he knew his face must be twisted in horror and rage, but he could feel nothing. Only his mind and eyesight seemed wholly clear.

  He saw his wife taken off, stumbling unwillingly and looking back at him over her shoulder. Watkins said, (Calvin could hear plainly, he found), "Watch it, he's falling!" Then the paralysis left him and he slumped as though all his bones had been extracted. Someone caught him under the arms, holding him up. He tried to move, but aside from rolling his eyes and lolling his tongue out, he was helpless.

  Summersby, behind him, said, "Are his eyes open?"

  "Yeah." Watkin's face appeared before him. "Poor guy looks half dead."

  Calvin blinked and made a try at speech, but nothing came out but a flop-tongued drooling sound.

  The two creatures remaining near them squatted down and observed them, making fragmentary noises to each other. Watkins started to walk after the third, which had escorted Mrs. Full across the wide room and was on the point of making her get onto a low platform on which were a number of structures of purple tubing and crimson boxes and varicolored small contrivances. One of the pair flicked its goad across his path.

  Villa said, "Come back, you foolish, do you think you can take that stick?" He sounded furious, probably because he was afraid of the beasts becoming enraged.

  Calvin made a wracking effort to say, "Let him go," for surely they couldn't stand callously by and see his wife undergo the Lord knew what tortures; but the sound he made was unintelligible.

  Watkins said, "Blast it, Viva, we don't know what the thing might do to her."

  "Come on back," said Summersby. "Do you want to get this?" He hefted the limp Full.

  Calvin writhed and managed to move his hands up and down.

  "He's gaining," said Watkins, coming back.

  "Those rods pack a wallop," said Adam. "What sort of power can they have in 'em? Seems to me they're away beyond our science."

  "They're not hitched to batteries," said Watkins. "Say, look at all this machinery. If these animals built it, they're a pretty advanced race."

  * * * * *

  Mrs. Full was seated now on a large thing like a chrome-and-rubber chair, one of those modern abominations which she and Calvin so cordially detested. He could not see her face. The twelve-foot brute was moving its fingers before her, evidently telling her to do something. Calvin heard her say plaintively, "But what is it?"

  Summersby hoisted him up and about then feeling began to come back to him with a sharp, unpleasant tingling of the skin. He said, "Help her!" quite distinctly.

  "Nothing's happening to her," said Watkins. "Take it easy."

  Mrs. Full was apparently pulling levers and moving blocks of vividly colored material back and forth on rods; like an abacus, thought her husband.

  Suddenly one of the other pair of creatures gave a cry, "Brrm hmmr!" and pointed to the left. From a muddle of gear rose a small airship, orange, with a nose like a spaceship and streamlined fins, and a square box on its tail. It made no noise, but rose straight toward the ceiling, moving slowly, jerkily.

  His wife had her back to it. He heard her give an exasperated, bewildered cry. "What on earth ... what are you doing?" She spoke to the creature as if it understood. "I don't see why you--"

  Calvin pushed free of Summersby. He could stand now, shakily. The beast indicated a blue block on a vertical bar; Mrs. Full moved it down, the airship halted and began to sail toward them. "Do you see the toy ship?" called Calvin. "You're flying the ship!"

  "Oh, my," she said helplessly. "What shall I do now?"

  "This is crazy," said Watkins. "Absolutely crazy."

  "Go on moving things," Calvin called to his wife. "Experiment. It wants you to fly it." It occurred to him that this was too obvious to bother stating. He must be distracted by weakness. He rubbed his tingling arms and hands, hoping she wouldn't crash the ship. Villa and Adam Pierce were calling encouragement to her as the orange thing drifted up and down and sideways.

  Now the twelve-foot being gestured briefly at a portion of the apparatus, Mrs. Full caught his meaning and moved something, and the ship tilted and flew along the wall without touching it. All three of the creatures uttered sounds that might be taken for words of pleasure.

  "Good girl!" yelled Watkins. "Keep it up!"

  She turned to them and Calvin saw she was smiling. "There's really nothing to it," she said. The airship bumped into the wall and fell. The animal above her squawked and pressed down a lever, which evidently sent out a beam or impulse that caught the ship in midair and held it suspended. Then it grasped Mrs. Full and carried her, flailing her limbs, over to the corner.

  Calvin started forward, apprehensive.

  "Hold it, Cal, you don't want another shock." Watkins took his arm.

  The creature kicked aside a mound of small gadgets, sending them helter-skelter, picked up what looked like a big five-legged stool and set it on its feet. It was perhaps ten feet high. Then he deposited Mrs. Full on its smooth round top and turned her bodily so that she faced the wall.

  "Help her!" snapped Calvin.

  "We can't do a damn thing."

  "Just wait a minute, sir," said Adam. "He's leaving her alone. I don't think he'll hurt her."

  She twisted her head around, looking frightened. Her legs hung over the edge. The being strode back with its curious gawky-graceful walk, and firmly turned her face to the wall again, using one big rubbery finger. "Oh!" she said, in a small voice, and remained staring at the wall, like a naughty child on a dunce's stool. The beast came over to the group.

  * * * * *

  The three talked among themselves, glancing at the men. The airship hung on its invisible beam of energy, ignored. Mrs. Full patted up her hair. She must be terrified, thought Calvin.

  The three came to them, their skirts swishing like taffeta. They knelt--it was an odd movement, their high-hipped legs angling to the sides, their bodies slanting forward as their heads dropped toward the humans--and stared at one and then another.
The one who was evidently the leader put out his green goad, but slowly, as if showing no harm was intended, and pushed at Calvin's jacket. The ivory ball touched his chest but no shock followed. The thing made noises, perhaps comparing his clothing with its own.

  "Take it off, Cal," said Watkins.

  "Why?"

  "He'd like to see it. Be friendly."

  "That's it," agreed Adam, "be friendly."

  He removed his jacket and handed it to the brute, who received it dubiously, fingered it, exhibited it to the other two, and dropped it. Calvin bent to pick it up; the goad barred his way. Two large fingers plucked at his trousers. He felt himself flush with outrage.

  "No!"

  Watkins chuckled. "I'll bet you will."

  "Don't make it mad," said Adam.

  "I won't take my trousers off."

  "If we took them off, it might soothe this monster," suggested Villa. "Let us throw him down and take off his pants."

  "Try it," said Calvin. The Mexican started toward him. Then the creature had lifted him high in the air, peering closely at the trousers. It tugged at them. "Ouch!" said Calvin. The beast would tear them off; the humiliation of that would be worse than removing them himself. It might rip them to shreds. He loosened his belt and unbuttoned and unzipped just in time; they came off over his shoes and were held up in front of the sunken red eyes. Calvin was set down, carefully enough, and the garment was handed to the other monstrosities. Calvin cast a look at the stool. He was glad his wife was not witnessing his shame.

  "Nice shorts," said Villa.

  Full whirled on him, angry enough to bark out an insult, even an oath, but the man was evidently sincere in his praise.

  "Thank you," he said stiffly.

  His trousers were thrown to him and he shoved his feet into them and secured them once more. He put on his jacket.

  One of the beasts which had not taken an active part in the business now walked to Mrs. Full and picked her up by the back of the waist, as though she had been a cat, and brought her over. For one ghastly moment Calvin thought it was going to divest her of her skirt, but after scrutinizing her a while, it set her down among them.

  He took her hand. "Are you all right, dear?"

  She was amazingly calm. "I am, Calvin, I am. I don't believe they mean us any harm, after all."

  The first great animal pointed at the box, waving his prod.

  "We're supposed to go in again, I guess," said Watkins.

  "Let's go, then," said Adam. "No sense in getting shocked."

  They trooped in, and the wall closed behind them.

  IV

  Adam Pierce had an idea. It had begun to grow in his mind while the woman was running the miniature spaceship, but he had thought it over until he was certain it wasn't so silly as to make them laugh at him. Now he felt sure he'd hit on the truth; too many evidences for it, and nothing much that he could see against it.

  "I have an idea," he said.

  "To get out?" asked the woman.

  "No, ma'am. I think I know where we are."

  "Where?" asked everyone, except the big man, Summersby, who was sitting on the tire looking away from them.

  "In a lab! This is a laboratory, and those big things are some kind of scientists!"

  "You could be right," said Watkins reluctantly. "My God, what a spot, if you're right!"

  "Sure. That's why we were snatched off the coaster, however it happened. They wanted to experiment on us, and study us. They got this lab someplace where it's secret, and they make tests--"

  "There was a contrivance like a milking machine," said Full.

  "You don't know what it's used for," said Adam darkly. He imagined it might be an especially nasty way of picking over a man's brains or body. "Look, it all fits. That stool, that's a funny way to punish a person, but all their stuff is a little cockeyed."

  "By our standards," added Watkins.

  "That's what I meant. Look, you punish a guinea pig when it does something wrong, if you're trying to teach it some trick or other; I mean, suppose you want to determine its intelligence, you give it a problem, and if it does the thing wrong it gets a shock, maybe, or a bat on the nose. That stool was punishment. If you hadn't crashed the rocket," he said to Mrs. Full, "it might have given you a reward."

  "Maybe some food," said Villa.

  "Here's another angle," said Watkins, who obviously knew something about lab work. "They may be trying to give us neuroses. Scientists induce neuroses in all kinds of critters, by punishment and complex problems and--"

  "What is that?" asked Villa.

  "Neuroses?" Watkins rubbed his chin. "Well, say they want to make an animal nervous, anxious, worried." Villa nodded.

  "You mean they might be trying to drive us mad?" said the woman in a high scared voice.

  "I doubt it," said Calvin Full.

  "They might be," said Watkins.

  "Then let's get out of here," said his wife. She went trotting to the wall. "Didn't anyone shove a barrier into this?"

  "I forgot," said Full. She gave him a dirty look.

  "Anyway," Adam went on, "that could explain why we were fixed up before they woke us--it was like quarantine. They wouldn't want sick animals."

  "Who was fixed up how?" asked the Mexican suspiciously.

  "My astigmatism," he said to Villa, "and this gentleman's sinus trouble, and his wife's headache."

  "And they pulled a rotten wisdom tooth for me," said Watkins. "I just discovered it a minute ago. Hole's healed up neatly."

  Villa was peeling away the bandage on his hand. Now he gave a glad shout. "Madre de Dios! Look, the burn has gone!" He showed them his hand. "Tuesday, a terrible scorched place; today, behold, it is well!"

  The woman said, "You know, this might be a laboratory. When I taught kindergarten we had simple tests for the children that were somewhat like that remote control apparatus."

  * * * * *

  Watkins pushed the big man, Summersby, on the shoulder. "I wish you'd get into this," he said irritably. "We need all the brains we have to get out."

  Summersby looked at him. "You think we'll get out?" he asked.

  "Why not?"

  "Why?" Summersby sounded tired, and as if his mind was a long way off. "If these are scientists, they'll keep a fairly close watch on their lab animals."

  "You're a forest ranger, man. Don't you have to meet emergencies all the time?" Watkins was exasperated. Adam thought, I wouldn't talk to the big fellow that way; he looks as wild as a panther.

  "I'm sorry," said Summersby, turning away again. "I don't think we can escape, or plan to, until we have more information."

  "You needn't inflict your morbidity on us," said Full. "Because you're a defeatist is no reason for us to be."

  Summersby stood up. He looked as tall to Adam as one of the monsters. "If we're guinea pigs, we'll end up as guinea pigs," he said. "And what do experimenters do with guinea pigs, finally? They infect or dissect them. Now leave me alone!" He walked to the farthest corner and sat down on the straw, staring at his feet.

  Adam reached up automatically to push at his glasses, found them missing, and was confused for an instant. Then he said, "There's a thought. We better bust out as quick as we can."

  "Summersby won't help," said Watkins. "Anybody else feel fatalistic about this mess?"

  "I must get back to my chili stand," said Villa. "And my wife," he added.

  "Adam, you're nearer to college courses than I am," said Watkins. Adam nodded. "How many places in the world are there, big enough and unexplored enough to hide a race of giants like these?"

  "I guess parts of Africa and South America, maybe the Arctic, some islands. I don't really know."

  "Neither do I."

  "Perhaps we aren't on the earth at all," said Mrs. Full. They all looked at her. "I read a book once in which a party of people discovered a land beneath the earth's surface," she went on, actually blushing a little. "It was a trashy sort of book, but--but I thought possibly there might be so
mething in the idea."

  "There might," said her husband.

  "Wherever we are, we've got to get out of this box before we do anything else," said Adam. He felt panicky, as the realization sank into him of what they might be in for, in this alien lab, under the care of scientists that looked more like apes than anything.

  "Look!" shouted Villa. Adam whirled and saw the small panel, that Watkins had discovered earlier, just sliding open. A large platter came through, heaped with what looked like a collection of junk. The huge hand which had pushed it in withdrew, the panel slipping shut after it. Villa was the first to reach the platter. "Santos," he muttered. "Santos y santas!"

  * * * * *

  The platter was two feet square, of sky-blue plastic, and on it lay seven pies, several dozen cupcakes, a double handful of macaroon cookies, and a quantity of glass shards. Some of the pies were upside down.

  "What on earth...." said Mrs. Full.

  "Looks like the contents of a bakery window," said Watkins, leaning over with his briefcase clamped to his thin chest. "Window and all, I might add."

  Villa picked up a custard pie. It had been smeared up by rough handling but it looked good to Adam. He chose one for himself, and Watkins handed Mrs. Full an apple pie. She thanked him. They all took tentative bites.

  "What do you make of this?" Watkins asked Summersby, still trying to drag him into their group. The big man shrugged. "The glass," went on the blond fellow, "that doesn't make sense. Do they think we eat glass?"

  "Possibly," said Calvin Full.

  Among the six of them, they consumed all the eatable contents of the tray. Almost immediately Adam felt his eyelids drooping. "I'm sleepy," he said, yawning.

  "So am I," said Villa. He lay prone and closed his eyes at once.

  Adam sat down, more heavily than he had meant to. He was vaguely disturbed by the sudden tiredness.

  "Someone ought to stand guard," said Mrs. Full.

  "I will," said Summersby unexpectedly.

  "I'll do it," said Watkins. He started to pace up and down. "I'm a little groggy myself, but I'll take first trick."