by Ron Cocking
throat:
_James Rawdon Bentley_
Dear Dick, the writing went on, Take a large economy-size grip onyourself. I know this is going to sound like a voice from the dead, butI'm very much alive and kicking--in the best of health in fact....
The writing blurred, and instinctively Forster put his fist up to rubhis eyes, only to meet the hard plastic of his helmet visor. JamesRawdon Bentley....
It was January 18, 1951, three years ago, and the jagged line of theAustralian coast stretched like a small-scale map to the black curve ofthe horizon.
From the converted bomber that was his flying lab, Forster could see theother American observation plane cruising on a parallel course, abouthalf a mile away, and beyond it downwind the fringe of the billowingcloud dome of the super-secret British thermonuclear shot.
Then suddenly Bentley's voice from the other plane was crackling overthe earphones, sharp and urgent:
"Our Geigers and scintillometers are going crazy! We're getting out ofhere! There's something coming inside ... a light...."
* * * * *
Silence. Forster had watched in helpless horror as the other ship dippeda silver wing, then nosed down ever so slowly, it seemed ... down ...down ... in a dive that seemed to take hours as Forster's plane trackedit, ending in a tiny splash like a pebble being thrown into a pond; thenthe grimly beautiful iridescence of oil and gasoline spreading acrossthe glassy waters of the Timor Sea.
No parachutes had opened on the long journey down. An Australian air searescue launch and helicopter were at the scene of the crash in minutes,but neither bodies nor survivors had been found, then or later....
"Everything okay, Doctor Forster?"
"Yes," he said hoarsely. "Yes ... everything's okay ... just routine."
Forster focussed his eyes on the writing again. There was no doubt atall that it was Bentley's. They had roomed and studied together for fouryears at MIT, and then there had been a couple of years' post-graduatework after that. During all that time they had used each other's notesconstantly.
But Bentley was dead.
Forster read on, stunned:
First, you'll want to know what happened over the Timor Sea after theshot. Put very simply, I, the rest of the technicians, and the crew ofthe B-29 were transhipped to another vehicle--without any damage toourselves. How, I'm not allowed to explain at this stage. Actually, theyonly wanted me, but it wasn't feasible to collect me and leave the restbehind, so they're all here, safe and well.
Who are "they," and where am I? The second question I can't answer--notallowed to. "They," roughly translated, are "The Shining Ones," whichdoesn't tell you anything, of course. Briefly, they're a couple oflight-years ahead of Earth in evolution--mentally, morally, andphysically, although I use the last word loosely. Too bad that Englishis a commercial language, it's so hard to discuss really abstract ideas.
Why am I here? The whole reason for this message is wrapped up in theanswer to that.
As you probably know, Project Longfall, which I was heading up wasdelayed about a year due to my removal. That was the sole purpose,although I and the rest of us are getting special instruction to keep usoccupied.
About the same time, they also took several other key people fromBritain, Russia, and the United States. Others were already here.
The idea then was _delay_--to delay more test shots of atomic weapons,in the hope that East and West would come to some agreement. Now,because of the growing volume of tests, and the critical tension whichprevails, delay will no longer suffice, and far more drastic steps areto be taken.
I wish you could be here for only a few minutes to see what happensafter a multi-megaton thermonuclear test shot is set off on Earth.
* * * * *
I can't describe it in terms which would have any relation to yourpresent knowledge of physics. All I can say is that life here isintimately bound up with the higher laws of electro-magnetism which atpresent are only being guessed at on your level. It's not theradioactivity which you know as such which causes the trouble--there areneutralizing devices throughout the planetary system to take care ofthat. The damage is caused by an ultra-ultra-short wave radiation whichnot even the most sensitive scintillometer you have can pick up, a verysubtle by-product of every chain reaction.
It doesn't have too much immediate effect on the lower forms oflife--including human beings, if you'll pardon the expression. But here,it causes a ghastly carnage, so ghastly it sickens me even to thinkabout it for a second.
The incredible thing is that the people here could stop Earth fromfiring another shot if they wished to, and at 24 hours' notice, buttheir philosophy is totally opposed to force, even when it means theirown destruction. That will give you an idea of the kind of people theyare.
(Here they say that Einstein was on the fringe of discovering the theoryinvolved when he died, but was having trouble with the mathematics.Remember how Einstein always complained that he was really a poormathematician?)
But with atomic warfare threatening to break out on Earth at any minute,they have got to do something.
This is what they plan to do--this is what they _are going to do_.
Starting within a few hours after you receive this message, a massremoval of key scientists will begin. They will take 20, 30, or40--roughly equal numbers from both sides--every few hours as technicalconditions allow. That will go on until East and West agree to drop thiswhole mad weapons race. It will be done quietly, peacefully. Nobody willbe hurt except by a fluke. But if needs be, they will lift every majorscientific brain off the face of Earth to stop the present drift todisaster for everybody. There are no weapons, no devices that you haveat present, which can stop this plan going into effect. There itis--it's as simple as that.
If you knew what you were really headed for, it would need no stepsfrom here to make both sides on Earth stop this horrible foolishness ina moment.
* * * * *
The lesson of Mars is part of the orientation course here. (I'm _not_ onMars). I'm using up space, so I'll go into note form for a bit. Martianshad an atomic war--forgot they had to breathe ... destroyed 60 per centof their atmosphere ... canals on Mars aren't ... they're closely-spacedline of shafts leading to underground cities ... view from Earthtelescopes, shaft mouths appear as dots which run together into linesdue to eye-fatigue ... British Royal Astronomical Society figured thatout 30 years ago at least ... see papers on their proceedings ...photographs here show monsters created by wholesale mutations ... lastedabout four generations before reproduction failed ... now onlyvegetation on Mars ... saw pictures of last survivors ... horrible ... Iwas ill for days after ... imagine having to take 40 separate breathsafter making a single step!
Getting back to the others here ... a regular U. N. Remember O'Connorand Walters in our class? They're here. Check, you'll find that O'Connoris "detached" from Oak Ridge and Walters from Aiken for "special duty."That's Central Intelligence's story for their disappearance.
Remember those top German boys the Russians were supposed to have gottento before the Allies could reach them after the Nazi collapse? _They'rehere too!_ And Kamalnikov, and Pretchkin of the Russian Academy.
Believe me (the style and the writing was a little less urgent againnow), I've had all the intellectual stuffing knocked out of me here.
We all have had, for that matter. We're supposed to be the cream of thecrop, but imagine sitting down to instruction from people whose I.Q.sstart where yours leaves off!
But what has really made most of us here feel pretty humble is the waythey have demolished Earth's so-called "scientific method"--and used themethod itself to prove that it doesn't stand up!
You know how we've always been taught to observe, collect data, thenerect a theory to fit the data, a theory which has to be modified whenother data came along which don't fit into it.
Here they work the opposite way--they say: "Know the fundamentalprinciples governing th
e operation of the universe and then all thepieces fit together inside this final Truth."
I understand now why so many of the Oak Ridge boys turned to religionafter they had been exposed to the electron microscope for a while--theyrealized they had gone as far as their "scientific" training would evertake them.
Time and space are running out. I know all this must sound confused andincredible, Dick; I'm still confused myself. But I want you to thinkabout what I've written, then take the action you think best. I know itwon't be easy for you.
If you think this is some maniac's idea of a joke, you'll have proofvery soon that it isn't, because _one of the people at your Center isdue to leave for here any time now_.
You're wondering why I used this weird and wonderful means ofcommunication. The problem was to find a