GOLDFIS H B OW L

B Y ROB E RT A HE INLE IN

On the horizon lay the im m obile c loud whic h c apped the inc redible waters pouts known as the P illars of Hawaii.

Captain B lake lowered his binoc ulars . "T here they s tand, gentlem en."

In addition to the naval pers onnel of the watc h, the bridge of the hydrographic s urvey s hip U. S . S . M ahan held two c ivilians ; the c aptain's words were addres s ed to them . T he elder and s m aller of the pair peered intently through a s pyglas s he had borrowed from the quarterm as ter. "I c an't m ake them out," he
c om plained.

"Here--try m y glas s es , doc tor," B lake s ugges ted, pas s ing over his binoc ulars . He turned to the offic er of the dec k and added, "Have the forward range finder m anned, if you pleas e, Mr. Mott." Lieutenant Mott c aught the eye of the bos 'n's m ate of the watc h, lis tening from a dis c reet dis tanc e, and jerked a thum b upward.
T he petty offic er s tepped to the m ic rophone, piped a s hrill s tand-by, and the m etallic voic e of the loud-s peaker filled the s hip, drowning out the next words of the c aptain: "Raaaaange one! Maaaaaaaan and c as t loos e! "

"I as ked," the c aptain repeated, "if that was any better."

"I think I s ee them ," J ac obs on Graves ac knowledged. "T wo dark vertic al s tripes , from the c loud to the horizon."

"T hat's it."

T he other c ivilian, B ill E is enberg, had taken the teles c ope when Graves had s urrendered it for the binoc ulars . "I got 'em too," he announc ed. "T here's nothing wrong with this 's c ope, Doc . B ut they don't look as big as I had expec ted," he adm itted.

"T hey are s till beyond the horizon," B lake explained. "Y ou s ee only the upper s egm ents . B ut they s tand jus t under eleven thous and feet from water line to c loud - if they are s till running true to form ."

Graves looked up quic kly. "W hy the m ental res ervation? Haven't they been?"

Captain B lake s hrugged. "S ure. Right on the nos e. B ut they ought not to be there at all - four m onths ago they did not exis t. How do I know what they will be doing today - or tom orrow?"

Graves nodded. "I s ee your point - and agree with it. Can we es tim ate their height from the dis tanc e?"

"I'll s ee." B lake s tuc k his head into the c harthous e. "A ny reading, A rc hie?"

"J us t a s ec ond, c aptain." T he navigator s tuc k his fac e agains t a voic e tube and c alled out, "Range! "

A m uffled voic e replied, "Range one - no reading."

"S om ething greater than twenty m iles ," B lake told Graves c heerfully. "Y ou'll have to wait, doc tor."

Lieutenant Mott direc ted the quarterm as ter to m ake three bells ; the c aptain left the bridge, leaving word that he was to be inform ed when the s hip approac hed the c ritic al lim it of three m iles from the P illars . S om ewhat reluc tantly, Graves and E is enberg followed him down; they had barely tim e enough to dres s before
dining with the c aptain.

Captain B lake's m anners were old-fas hioned; he did not perm it the c onvers ation to turn to s hop talk until the dinner had reac hed the c offee and c igars s tage. "W ell, gentlem en," he began, as he lit up, "jus t what is it you propos e to do?

"Didn't the Navy Departm ent tell you?" Graves as ked with a quic k look.

"Not m uc h. I have had one letter, direc ting m e to plac e m y s hip and c om m and at your dis pos al for res earc h c onc erning the P illars , and a dis patc h two days ago telling m e to take you aboard this m orning. No details ."

Graves looked nervous ly at E is enberg, then bac k to the c aptain. He c leared his throat. "Uh - we propos e, c aptain, to go up the K anaka c olum n and down the W ahini."

B lake gave him a s harp look, s tarted to s peak, rec ons idered, and s tarted again. "Doc tor - you'll forgive m e, I hope; I don't m ean to be rude - but that s ounds utterly c razy. A fanc y way to c om m it s uic ide."

"It m ay be a little dangerous -"

"Hum m ph! "

"-but we have the m eans to ac c om plis h it, if, as we believe to be true, the K anaka c olum n s upplies the water whic h bec om es the W ahini c olum n on the return trip." He outlined the m ethod. He and E is enberg totaled between them nearly twenty-five years of bathys phere experienc e, eight for E is enberg, s eventeen for
him s elf. T hey had brought aboard the M ahan, at pres ent in an unc outh c rate on the fantail, a m odified bathys phere. E xternally it was a bathys phere with its anc hor weights rem oved; internally it m uc h m ore nearly res em bled s om e of the c om plic ated barrels in whic h foolhardy exhibitionis ts have es s ayed the
s pec tac ular, us eles s trip over Niagara Falls . It would s upply air, s tuffy but breathable, for forty-eight hours ; it held water and c onc entrated food for at leas t that period; there were even rude but adequate s anitary arrangem ents .

B ut its princ ipal feature was an anti-s hoc k harnes s , a glorified c ors et, a s trait jac ket, in whic h a m an c ould hang s us pended c lear of the walls by m eans of a network of Gideon c ord and s teel s prings . In it, a m an m ight reas onably hope to s urvive m os t violent pum m eling. He c ould perhaps be s hot from a c annon,
bounc ed down a hills ide, s ubjec ted to the s adis tic m erc y of a baggage s m as her, and s till s urvive with bones intac t and vis c era unruptured.

B lake poked a finger at a line s ketc h with whic h Graves had illus trated his des c ription. "Y ou ac tually intend to try to as c end the P illars in that?"

E is enberg replied. "Not him , c aptain. Me."

Graves reddened. "My dam ned doc tor-"

"A nd your c olleagues ," E is enberg added. "It's this way, c aptain: T here's nothing wrong with Doc 's nerve, but he has a leaky heart, a pair of s ubm arine ears , and a s et of not-s o-good arteries . S o the Ins titute has delegated m e to kinda watc h over him ."

"Now look here," Graves protes ted, "B ill, you're not going to be s tuffy about this . I'm an old m an; I'll never have another s uc h c hanc e."

"No go," E is enberg denied. "Captain, I wis h to inform you that the Ins titute ves ted title of rec ord to that gear we brought aboard in m e, jus t to keep the old war hors e from doing anything foolis h."

"T hat's your pidgin," B lake ans wered tes tily. "My ins truc tions are to fac ilitate Dr. Graves ' res earc h. A s s um ing that one or the other of you wis h to c om m it s uic ide in that s teel c offin, how do you propos e to enter the K anaka P illar?"

"W hy, that's your job, c aptain. Y ou put the s phere into the up c olum n and pic k it up again when it c om es down the down c olum n."

B lake purs ed his lips , then s lowly s hook his head. "I c an't do that."

"Huh? W hy not?"

"I will not take m y s hip c los er than three m iles to the P illars . T he M ahan is a s ound s hip, but s he is not built for s peed. S he c an't m ake m ore than twelve knots . S om e plac e ins ide that c irc le the s urfac e c urrent whic h feeds the K anaka c olum n will exc eed twelve knots . I don't c are to find out where, by los ing m y s hip.

"T here have been an unprec edented num ber of unreported fis hing ves s els out of the is lands lately. I don't c are to have the M ahan lis ted."

"Y ou think they went up the c olum n?"

"I do."

"B ut, look, c aptain," s ugges ted B ill E is enberg, "you wouldn't have to ris k the s hip. Y ou c ould launc h the s phere from a power boat."

B lake s hook his head. "Out of the ques tion," he s aid grim ly. "E ven if the s hip's boats were built for the job, whic h they aren't, I will not ris k naval pers onnel. T his is n't war."

"I wonder," s aid Graves s oftly.

"W hat's that?"

E is enberg c huc kled. "Doc has a rom antic notion that all the odd phenom ena turned up in the pas t few years c an be hooked together into one s m ooth theory with a s ingle, s inis ter c aus e - everything from the P illars to LaGrange's fireballs ."

"LaGrange's fireballs ? How c ould there be any c onnec tion there? T hey are s im ply s tatic elec tric ity, allee s am ee heat lightning. I know; I've s een 'em ."

T he s c ientis ts were at onc e attentive, Graves ' pique and E is enberg's am us em ent alike buried in truth-tropis m . "Y ou did? W hen? W here?"

"Golf c ours e at Hilo. Las t Marc h. I was -"

"That c as e! T hat was one of the dis appearanc e c as es ! "

"Yes , of c ours e. I'm trying to tell you. I was s tanding in a s and trap near the thirteenth green, when I happened to look up-" A c lear, balm y is land day. No c louds , barom eter norm al, light breeze. Nothing to s ugges t atm os pheric dis turbanc e, no m axim a of s uns pots , no s tatic on the radio. W ithout warning a half dozen,
or m ore, giant fireballs - ball "lightning" on a unprec edented s c ale - floated ac ros s the golf c ours e in a s ort of s kirm is h line, a line des c ribed by s om e obs ervers as m athem atic ally even - an as s ertion denied by others .

A wom an player, a touris t from the m ainland, s c ream ed and began to run. T he flanking ball neares t her left its plac e in line and danc ed after her. No one s eem ed s ure that the ball touc hed her - B lake c ould not s ay although he had watc hed it happen - but when the ball had pas s ed on, there s he lay on the gras s ,
dead.

A loc al m edic o of s om ewhat flam boyant reputation ins is ted that he found evidenc e in the c adaver of both c oagulation and elec trolys is , but the jury that s at on the c as e followed the c oroner's advic e in c alling it heart failure, a verdic t heartily approved by the loc al c ham ber of c om m erc e and touris t bureau.

T he m an who dis appeared did not try to run; his fate c am e to m eet him . He was a c addy, a J apanes e-P ortygee-K anata m ixed breed, with no known relatives , a fac t whic h s hould have m ade it eas y to leave his nam e out of the news reports had not a reporter s m elled it out. "He was s tanding on the green, not m ore
than twenty-five yards away from m e," B lake rec ounted, "when the fireballs approac hed. One pas s ed on eac h s ide of m e. My s kin itc hed, and m y hair s tood up. I c ould s m ell ozone. I s tood s till-"

"T hat s aved you," obs erved Graves .

"Nuts ," s aid E is enberg. "S tanding in the dry s and of the trap was what s aved him ."

"B ill, you're a fool," Graves s aid wearily. "T hes e fireball things perform with intelligent awarenes s ."

B lake c hec ked his ac c ount. "W hy do you as s um e that, doc tor?"

"Never m ind, for the m om ent, pleas e. Go on with your s tory."

"Hm -m -m . W ell, they pas s ed on by m e. T he c addy fellow was direc tly in the c ours e of one of them . I don't believe he s aw it - bac k toward it, you s ee. It reac hed him , enveloped him , pas s ed on - but the boy was gone."

Graves nodded. "T hat c hec ks with the ac c ounts I have s een. Odd that I did not rec all your nam e from the reports ."

"I s tayed in the bac kground," B lake s aid s hortly. "Don't like reporters ."

"Hm -m -m . A nything to add to the reports that did c om e out? A ny errors in them ?"

"None that I c an rec all. Did the reports m ention the bag of golf c lubs he was c arrying?"

"I think not."

"T hey were found on the beac h, s ix m iles away."

E is enberg s at up. "T hat's news ," he s aid. "T ell m e: W as there anything to s ugges t how far they had fallen? W ere they s m as hed or broken?"

B lake s hook his head. "T hey weren't even s c ratc hed, nor was the beac h s and dis turbed. B ut they were ic e-c old."

Graves waited for him to go on; when the c aptain did not do s o he inquired, "W hat do you m ake of it?"

"Me? I m ake nothing of it."

"How do you explain it?"

"I don't. Unc las s ified elec tric al phenom ena. However, if you want a rough gues s , I'll give you one. T his fireball is a s tatic field of high potential. It englobes the c addy and c harges him , whereupon he bounc es away like a pith ball - elec troc uted, inc identally. W hen the c harge dis s ipates , he falls into the s ea."

"S o? T here was a c as e like it in K ans as , rather too far from the s ea."

"T he body m ight s im ply never have been found."

"T hey never are. B ut even s o - how do you ac c ount for the c lubs being depos ited s o gently? A nd why were they c old?"

"Dam m it, m an, I don't know! I'm no theoretic ian; I'm a m aritim e engineer by profes s ion, an em piric is t by dis pos ition. S uppos e you tell m e."

"A ll right - but bear in m ind that m y hypothes is is m erely tentative, a bas is for inves tigation. I s ee in thes e s everal phenom ena, the P illars , the giant fireballs , a num ber of other as s orted phenom ena whic h s hould never have happened, but did - inc luding the c urious c as e of a s m all m ountain peak s outh of B oulder,
Colorado, whic h had its tip leveled off 's pontaneous ly' - I s ee in thes e things evidenc e of intelligent direc tion, a s ingle c ons c ious c aus e." He s hrugged. "Call it the 'X ' fac tor. I'm looking for X ."

E is enberg as s um ed a look of m oc k s ym pathy. "P oor old Doc ," he s ighed. "S prung a leak at las t."

T he other two ignored the c rac k. B lake inquired, "Y ou are prim arily an ic hthyologis t, aren't you?"

"Y es ."

"How did you get s tarted along this line?"

"I don't know. Curios ity, I s uppos e. My bois terous young friend here would tell you that ic hthyology is derived from 'ic ky.' "

B lake turned to E is enberg. "B ut aren't y ou an ic hthyologis t?"

"Hell, no! I'm an oc eanographer s pec ializing in ec ology."

"He's quibbling," obs erved Graves . "T ell Captain B lake about Cleo and P at."

E is enberg looked em barras s ed. "T hey're dam ned nic e pets ," he s aid defens ively.

B lake looked puzzled; Graves explained. "He kids m e, but his s ec ret s ham e is a pair of goldfis h. Goldfis h! Y ou'll find 'em in the was hbas in in his s tateroom this m inute."

"S c ientific interes t?" B lake inquired with a dead pan.

"Oh, no! He thinks they are devoted to him ."

"T hey're dam ned nic e pets ," E is enberg ins is ted. "T hey don't bark, they don't s c ratc h, they don't m ake m es s es . A nd Cleo does s o have expres s ion! "

In s pite of his initial res is tanc e to their plans B lake Cooperated ac tively in trying to find a dodge whereby the propos ed experim ent c ould be pertorm ed without endangering naval pers onnel or m aterial. He liked thes e two; he unders tood their c urious m ixture of s elfles s rec kles s nes s and extrem e c aution; it m atc hed
his own - it was profes s ionalis m , as dis tinguis hed from ec onom ic m otivation.

He offered the s ervic es of his m as ter diver, an elderly c om m is s ioned warrant offic er, and his tec hnic al c rew in c hec king their gear. "You know," he added, "there is s om e reas on to believe that your bathys phere c ould m ake the round trip, as ide from the propos ition that what goes up m us t c om e down. You know of the
V J -14?"

"W as that the naval plane los t in the early inves tigation?"

"Y es ." He buzzed for his orderly. "Have m y writer bring up the jac ket on the V J -14," he direc ted.

A ttem pts to rec onnoiter the s trange "perm anent" c loud and its inc redible waters pouts had been m ade by air s oon after its dis c overy. Little was learned. A plane would penetrate the c loud. Its ignition would fail; out it would glide, unharm ed, whereupon the engines would fire again. B ac k into the c loud - engine
failure. T he vertic al reac h of the c loud was greater than the c eiling of any plane.

"T he V J -14," B lake s tated, referring oc c as ionally to the file jac ket whic h bad been fetc hed, "m ade an air rec onnais s anc e of the P illars them s elves on 12 May, attended by the U. S . S . P elic an. B es ides the pilot and radiom an s he c arried a c inem atographer and a c hief aerographer. Mm -m -m --only the las t two entries
s eem to be pertinent: 'Changing c ours e. W ill fly between the P illars -14,' and '0913-S hip does not res pond to c ontrols -14.' Teles c opic obs ervation from the P elic an s hows that s he m ade a tight upward s piral around the K anaka P illar, about one and a half turns , and was s uc ked into the c olum n its elf. Nothing was
s een to fall.

"Inc identally the pilot, Lieutenant - m -m -m -m , yes - Matts on - Lieutenant Matts on was exonerated pos thum ous ly by the c ourt of inquiry. Oh, yes , here's the point pertinent to our ques tion: From the log of the P elic an. '1709 - P ic ked up wrec kage identified as part of V J -14. S ee additional s heet for item ized des c ription.'
W e needn't bother with that. P oint is , they pic ked it up four m iles from the bas e of the W ahini P ilha on the s ide away from the K anaka, T he inferenc e is obvious and your s c hem e m ight work. Not that you'd live through it."

"I'll c hanc e it," E is enberg s tated.

"Mm -m -m - yes . B ut I was going to s ugges t we s end up a dead load, s ay a c rate of eggs pac ked into a hogs head." T he buzzer from the bridge s ounded; Captain B lake rais ed his voic e toward the bras s funnel of a voic e tube in the overhead. "Y es ?"

"E ight o'c loc k, Captain. E ight o'c loc k lights and galley fires out; pris oners s ec ured."

"T hank you, s ir." B lake s tood up. "W e c an get together on the details in the m orning."

A fifty-foot m otor launc h bobbed lis tles s ly as tern the M ahan. A nine-inc h c oir line joined it to its m other s hip; bound to it at fathom intervals was a telephone line ending in a pair of headphones worn by a s ignalm an s eated in the s tern s heets of the launc h. A pair of flags and a s pyglas s lay on the thwart bes ide him ;
his blous e had c rawled up, expos ing part of the lurid c over of a c opy of Dy namic Tales , s m uggled along as a prec aution agains t boredom .

A lready in the boat were the c oxs wain, the enginem an, the boat offic er, Graves , and E is enberg. W ith them , forward in the boat, was a breaker of water rations , two fifty-gallon drum s of gas oline - and a hogs head. It c ontained not only a c arefully pac ked c rate of eggs but als o a jury-rigged s m oke-s ignal devic e, arm ed
three ways - delayed ac tion s et for eight, nine and ten hours ; radio relay triggered from the s hip; and s im ple s alt-water penetration to c om plete an elec tric al c irc uit. T he torpedo gunner in c harge of diving hoped that one of them m ight work and thereby aid in loc ating the hogs head. He was bus y trying to devis e m ore
nearly foolproof gear for the bathys phere.

T he boat, offic er s ignaled ready to the bridge. A m egaphoned bellow res ponded, "P ay her out hands om ely! " T he boat drifted s lowly away from the s hip and direc tly toward the K anaka P illar, three m iles away.

T he K anaka P illar loom ed above them , s till nearly a m ile away but loweringly im pres s ive nevertheles s . T he plac e where it dis appeared in c loud s eem ed alm os t overhead, falling toward them . Its five-hundred-foot-thic k trunk gleam ed purplis h-blac k, m ore like polis hed s teel than water.

"T ry your engine again, c oxs wain."

"A ye, aye, s ir! " T he engine c oughed, took hold; the enginem an eas ed in the c lutc h, the s c rew bit in, and the boat s urged forward, taking the s train off the towline. "S lac k line, s ir."

"S top your engine." T he boat offic er turned to his pas s engers . "W hat's the trouble, Mr. E is enberg? Cold feet?"

"No, dam m it - s eas ic k. I hate a s m all boat."

"Oh, that's too bad. I'll s ee if we haven't got a pic kle in that c how up forward."

"T hanks , but pic kles don't help m e. Never m ind, I c an s tand it."

T he boat offic er s hrugged, turned and let his eye travel up the dizzy length of. the c olum n. He whis tled, s om ething whic h he had done every tim e he had looked at it. E is enberg, m ade nervous by his naus ea, was beginning to find it c aus e for hom ic ide. "W hew ! You really intend to try to go up that thing, Mr.
E is enberg?"

"I do! "

T he boat offic er looked s tartled at the tone, laughed uneas ily, and added, "W ell, you'll be wors e than s eas ic k, if you as k m e."

Nobody had. Graves knew his friend's tem peram ent; he m ade c onvers ation for the next few m inutes .

"T ry your engine, c oxs wain." T he petty offic er ac knowledged, and reported bac k quic kly:

"S tarter does n't work, s ir."

"Help the enginem an get a line on the flywheel. I'll take the tiller."

T he two m en c ranked the engine over eas ily, but got no ans wering c ough. "P rim e it! " S till no res ults .

T he boat offic er abandoned the us eles s tiller and jum ped down into the engine s pac e to lend his m us c le to heaving on the c ranking line. Over his s houlder he ordered the s ignalm an to notify the s hip.

"Launc h T hree, c alling bridge. Launc h T hree, c alling bridge. B ridge - reply! T es ting - tes ting." T he s ignalm an s lipped a phone off one ear. "P hone's dead, s ir."

"Get bus y with your flags . T ell 'em to haul us in! " T he offic er wiped s weat from his fac e and s traightened up. He glanc ed nervous ly at the c urrent s lap-s lapping agains t the boat's s ide.

Graves touc hed his arm . "How about the barrel?"

"P ut it over the s ide if you like. I'm bus y. Can't you rais e them , S ears ?"

"I'm trying, s ir."

"Com e on, B ill," Graves s aid to E is enberg. T he two of them s lipped forward in the boat, threading their way pas t the engine on the s ide away from the three m en s weating over the flywheel. Graves c ut the hogs head loos e from its las hings , then the two attem pted to get - a purc has e on the awkward, unhandy objec t. It
and its light load weighed les s than two hundred pounds , but it was hard to m anage, es pec ially on the unc ertain footing of heaving floorboards .

T hey wres tled it outboard s om ehow, with one s m as hed finger for E is enberg, a badly banged s hin for Graves . It s plas hed heavily, drenc hing them with s tic ky s alt water, and bobbed as tern, c arried rapidly toward the K anaka P illar by the c urrent whic h fed it.

"S hip ans wers , s ir! "

"Good! T ell them to haul us in - c arefully ." T he boat offic er jum ped out of the engine s pac e and ran forward, where he c hec ked again the s ec urenes s with whic h the tow-line was fas tened.

Graves tapped him on the s houlder. "Can't we s tay here until we s ee the barrel enter the c olum n?"

"No! Right now you had better pray that that line holds , ins tead of worrying about the barrel - or we go up the c olum n, too. S ears , has the s hip ac knowledged?"

"J us t now, s ir."

"W hy a c oir line, Mr. P arker?' E is enberg inquired, his naus ea forgotten in the exc item ent. "I'd rather depend on s teel, or even good s tout Manila."

"B ec aus e c oir floats , and the others don't," the offic er ans wered s nappis hly. "T wo m iles of line would drag us to the bottom . S ears ! T ell them to eas e the s train. W e're s hipping water."

"A ye, aye, s ir! "

T he hogs head took les s than four m inutes to reac h the c olum n, enter it, a fac t whic h Graves as c ertained by borrowing the s ignalm an's glas s to follow it on the las t leg of its trip - whic h ac tion won him a dirty look from the nervous boat offic er. S om e m inutes later, when the boat was about five hundred yards farther
from the P illar than it had been at neares t approac h, the telephone c am e s uddenly to life. T he s tarter of the engine was tes ted im m ediately; the engine roared into ac tion.

T he trip bac k was m ade with engine running to take the s train off the towline - at half s peed and with s om e m aneuvering, in order to avoid fouling the s c rew with the s lac k bight of the line.

T he s m oke s ignal worked - one c irc uit or another. T he plum e of s m oke was s ighted two m iles s outh of the W ahini P illar, elaps ed tim e from the m om ent the ves s el had entered the K anaka c olum n jus t over eight hours .

B ill E is enberg c lim bed into the s addle of the exerc is er in whic h he was to rec eive anti-bends treatm ent - thirty m inutes of hard work to s tir up his c irc ulation while breathing an atm os phere of helium and oxygen, at the end of whic h tim e the nitrogen norm ally dis s olved in his blood s tream would be largely replac ed by
helium . T he exerc is er its elf was s im ply an old bic yc le m ounted on a s tationary platform . B lake looked it over. "Y ou needn't have bothered to bring this ," he rem arked. "W e've a better one aboard. S tandard prac tic e for diving operations thes e days ."

"W e didn't know that," Graves ans wered. "A nyhow, this one will do. A ll s et, B ill?"

"I gues s s o." He glanc ed over his s houlder to where the s teel bulk of the bathys phere lay, unc rated, c hec ked and equipped, ready to be s wung outboard by the boat c rane. "Got the gas ket-s ealing c om pound?"

"S ure. T he Iron Maiden is all right. T he gunner and I will s eal you in. Here's your m as k."
E is enberg ac c epted the inhaling m as k, s tarted to s trap it on, c hec ked him s elf. Graves notic ed the look on his fac e. "W hat's the trouble, s on?"

"Doc . . .

"Y es ?"

"I s ay - you'll look out for Cleo and P at, won't you?"

"W hy, s ure. B ut they won't need anything in the length of tim e you'll be gone."

"Um -m -m , no, I s uppos e not. B ut you'll look out for 'em ?"

"S ure."

"O.K ." E is enberg s lipped the inhaler over his fac e, waved his hand to the gunner waiting by the gas bottles . T he gunner eas ed open the c ut-off valves , the gas lines his s ed, and E is enberg began to pedal like a s ix-day rac er.

W ith thirty m inutes to kill, B lake invited Graves to go forward with him for a s m oke and a s troll on the fo'c 's 'le. T hey had c om pleted about twenty turns when B lake paus ed by the wildc at, took his c igar from his m outh and rem arked, "Do you know, I believe he has a good c hanc e of c om pleting the trip."

"S o? I'm glad to hear that."

"Y es , I do, really. T he s uc c es s of the trial with the dead load c onvinc ed m e. A nd whether the s m oke gear works or not, if that globe c om es bac k down the W ahini P illar, I'll find it."

"I know you will. It was a good idea of yours , to paint it yellow."

"Help us to s pot it, all right. I don't think he'll learn anything, however. He won't s ee a thing through thos e ports but blue water, from the tim e he enters the c olum n to the tim e we pic k him up."

"P erhaps s o."

"W hat els e c ould he s ee?"

"I don't know. W hatever it is that made thos e P illars , perhaps ."

B lake dum ped the as hes from his c igar c arefully over the rail before replying. "Doc tor, I don't unders tand you. T o m y m ind, thos e P illars are a natural, even though s trange, phenom enon."

"A nd to m e it's equally obvious that they are not 'natural.' T hey exhibit intelligent interferenc e with the ordinary proc es s es of nature as c learly as if they had a s ign s aying s o hung on them ."

"I don't s ee how you c an s ay that. Obvious ly, they are not m an-m ade."

"No."

"T hen who did m ake them - if they were m ade?"

"I don't know."

B lake s tarted to s peak, s hrugged, and held his tongue. T hey res um ed their s troll. Graves turned as ide to c huc k his c igarette overboard, glanc ing outboard as he did s o.

He s topped, s tared, then c alled out: "Captain B lake! "

"E h?" T he c aptain turned and looked where Graves pointed. "Great God! Fireballs ! "

"T hat's what I thought."

"T hey're s om e dis tanc e away," B lake obs erved, m ore to him s elf than to Graves . He turned dec is ively. "B ridge! " he s houted. "B ridge! B ridge ahoy! "

"B ridge, aye aye! "

"Mr. W eem s - pas s the word: 'A ll hands , below dec ks .' Dog down all ports . Clos e all hatc hes . A nd c los e up the bridge its elf! S ound the general alarm ."

"A ye aye, s ir! "

"Move! " T urning to Graves , he added, "Com e ins ide."

Graves followed him ; the c aptain s topped to dog down the door by whic h they entered him s elf. B lake pounded up the inner ladders to the bridge, Graves in his train. T he s hip was filled with whine of the bos 'n pipe, the rauc ous voic e of the loud-s peaker, the c lom p of hurrying feet, and the m onotonous , m enac ing
c ling-c ling-c ling! of the general alarm .

T he watc h on the bridge were s till s truggling with the las t of the heavy glas s s hutters of the bridge when the c aptain burs t into their m ids t. "I'll take it, Mr. W eem s ," he s napped.

In one c ontinuous m otion he m oved from one s ide of the bridge to the other, letting his eye s weep the port s ide aft, the fo'c 's 'le, the s tarboard s ide aft, and finally res t on the fireballs - dis tinc tly nearer and heading s traight for the s hip. He c urs ed. "Y our friend did not get the news ," he s aid to Graves .

He gras ped the c rank whic h c ould open or c los e the after s tarboard s hutter of the bridge.

Graves looked pas t his s houlder, s aw what he m eant - the afterdec k was em pty, s ave for one lonely figure pedaling away on the s tationary bic yc le. T he LaGrange fireballs were c los ing in.

T he s hutter s tuc k, jam m ed tight, would not open. B lake s topped trying, s wung quic kly to the loud-s peaker c ontrol panel, and c ut in the whole board without bothering to s elec t the proper c irc uit. "E is enberg! Get below ! "

E is enberg m us t have heard his nam e c alled, for be turned his head and looked over his s houlder - Graves s aw dis tinc tly - jus t as the fireball reac hed him . It pas s ed on, and the s addle of the exerc is er was em pty.

T he exerc is er was undam aged, they found, when they were able to exam ine it. T he rubber hos e to the inhaler m as k had been c ut s m oothly. T here was no blood, no m arks . B ill E is enberg was s im ply gone.

'T m going up."

"Y ou are in no phys ic al s hape to do s o, doc tor."

"Y ou are in no way res pons ible, Captain B lake."

"I know that. Y ou m ay go if you like - after we have s earc hed for your friend's body."

"S earc h be dam ned! I'm going up to look for him ."

"Huh? E h? How's that?"

"If you are right, he's dead, and there is no point in s earc hing for his body. If I'm right, there is jus t an outs ide c hanc e of finding him - up there! " He pointed toward the c loud c ap of the P illars .

B lake looked him over s lowly, then turned to the m as ter diver. "Mr. Hargreave, find an inhaler m as k for Dr. Graves ."

T hey gave him thirty m inutes of c onditioning agains t the c ais s on dis eas e while B lake looked on with expres s ionles s S ilenc e. T he s hip's c om pany, bluejac kets and offic ers alike, s tood bac k and kept quiet; they walked on eggs when the Old Man had that look.

E xerc is e c om pleted, the diver c rew dres s ed Graves rapidly and s trapped him into the bathys phere with dis patc h, in order not to expos e him too long to the nitrogen in the air. J us t before the es c ape port was dogged down Graves s poke up.

"Captain B lake."

"Y es , doc tor?"

"B ill's goldfis h - will you look out for them ?"

"Certainly, doc tor."

"T hanks ."

"Not at all. A re you ready?"

"Ready."

B lake s tepped forward, s tuc k an arm through the port of the s phere and s hook hands with Graves . "Good luc k." He withdrew his arm . "S eal it up."

T hey lowered it over the s ide; two m otor launc hes nos ed it half a m ile in the direc tion of the K anaka P illar where the c urrent was s trong enough to c arry it along. T here they left it and buc ked the c urrent bac k to the s hip, were hois ted in.

B lake followed it with his glas s es from the bridge. It drifted s lowly at firs t, then with inc reas ed s peed as it approac hed the bas e of the c olum n. It whipped into rapid m otion the las t few hundred yards ; B lake s aw a flas h of yellow jus t above the water line, then nothing m ore.

E ight hours - no plum e of s m oke. Nine hours , ten hours , nothing. A fter twenty-four hours of s teady patrol in the vic inity of the W ahini P illar, B lake radioed the B ureau.

Four days of vigilanc e - B lake knew that the bathys phere's pas s enger m us t be dead; whether by s uffoc ation, drowning, im plos ion, or other m eans was not im portant. He s o reported and rec eived orders to proc eed on duty as s igned. T he s hip's c om pany was c alled to quarters ; Captain B lake read the s ervic e for the
dead aloud in a hars h voic e, dropped over the s ide s om e rather wilted hibis c us bloom s - all that his s teward c ould produc e at the tim e - and went to the bridge to s et his c ours e for P earl Harbor.

On the way to the bridge he s topped for a m om ent at his c abin and c alled to his s teward: "Y ou'll find s om e goldfis h in the s tateroom oc c upied by Mr. E is enberg. Find an appropriate c ontainer and plac e them in m y c abin."

"Y es , s uh, Cap'n."

W hen B ill E is enberg c am e to his s ens es he was in a P lac e. S orry, but no other des c ription is s uitable; it lac ked features . Oh, not entirely, of c ours e - it was not dark where he was , nor was it in a s tate of vac uum , nor was it c old, nor was it too s m all for c om fort. B ut it did lac k features to s uc h a rem arkable extent that
he had diffic ulty in es tim ating the s ize of the plac e. Cons ider s tereo vis ion, by whic h we es tim ate the s ize of things direc tly , does not work beyond twenty feet or s o. A t greater dis tanc es we depend on previous knowledge of the true s ize of fam iliar objec ts , us ually m aking our es tim ates s ubc ons c ious ly - a m an s o
high is about that far away, and vic e vers a.

B ut the P lac e c ontained no fam iliar objec ts . T he c eiling was a c ons iderable dis tanc e over his head, too far to touc h by jum ping. T he floor c urved up to join the c eiling and thus prevented further lateral progres s of m ore than a dozen pac es or s o. He would bec om e aware of the obs tac le by los ing his balanc e. (He
had no referenc e lines by whic h to judge the vertic al; furtherm ore, his s ens e of innate balanc e was affec ted by the m is treatm ent his inner ears had undergone through years of diving. It was eas ier to s it than to walk, nor was there any reas on to walk, after the firs t futile attem pt at exploration.)

W hen he firs t woke up he s tretc hed and opened his eyes , looked around. T he lac k of detail c onfus ed him . It was as if he were on the ins ide of a giant eggs hell, illum inated from without by a s oft, m ellow, s lightly am ber light. T he form les s vaguenes s bothered him ; he c los ed his eyes , s hook his head, and opened
them again - no better.

He was beginning to rem em ber his las t experienc e before los ing c ons c ious nes s - the fireball s wooping down, his frenzied, us eles s attem pt to duc k, the "Hold your hats , boys ! " thought that - flas hed through his m ind in the long - drawn-out s plit s ec ond before c ontac t. His orderly m ind began to look for explanations .
K noc ked c old, he thought, and m y optic nerve paralyzed. W onder if I'm blind for good.

A nyhow, they ought not to leave him alone like this in his pres ent helples s c ondition. "Doc ! " he s houted. "Doc Graves ! "

No ans wer, no ec ho - he bec am e aware that there was no s ound, s ave for his own voic e, none of the random little s ounds that fill c om pletely the norm al "dead" s ilenc e. T his plac e was as s ilent as the ins ide of a s ac k of flour. W ere his ears s hot, too?

No, he had heard his own voic e. A t that m om ent he realized that he was looking at his own hands . W hy, there was nothing wrong with his eyes - he c ould s ee them plainly!

A nd the res t of him s elf, too. He was naked.

It m ight have been s everal hours later, it m ight have been m om ents , when he reac hed the c onc lus ion that he was dead. It was the only hypothes is whic h s eem ed to c over the fac ts . A dogm atic agnos tic by faith, he had expec ted no s urvival after death; he had expec ted to go out like a light, with a s udden term ination
of c ons c ious nes s . However, he had been s ubjec ted to a c harge of s tatic elec tric ity m ore than s uffic ient to kill a m an; when he regained awarenes s , he found him s elf without all the us ual experienc e whic h m ates up living.

T herefore - he was dead. Q.E .D.

To be s ure, he s eem ed to have a body, but he was ac quainted with the s ubjec tive-objec tive paradox. He s till had m em ory, the s tronges t pattern in one's m em ory is body awarenes s . T his was not his body, but his detailed s ens ation m em ory of it. S o he reas oned. P robably, he thought, m y dream -body will s lough
away as m y m em ory of the objec t-body fades .
T here was nothing to do, nothing to experienc e, nothing to dis trac t his m ind. He fell as leep at las t, thinking that, if this were death, it was dam ned dull!

He awoke refres hed, but quite hungry and extrem ely thirs ty. T he m atter of dead, or not-dead, no longer c onc erned him ; he was interes ted in neither theology nor m etaphys ic s .

He was hungry.

Furtherm ore, he experienc ed on awakening a phenom enon whic h des troyed m os t of the bas is fur his intellec tual belief in his own death - it had never reac hed the s tage of em otional c onvic tion. P res ent there with him in the P lac e he found m aterial objec ts other than him s elf, objec ts whic h c ould be s een and
touc hed.

A nd eaten.

W hic h las t was not im m ediately evident, for they did not look like food. T here were two s orts . T he firs t was an am orphous lum p of nothing in partic ular, res em bling a grayis h c hees e in appearanc e, s lightly greas y to the touc h, and not appetizing. T he s ec ond s ort was a group of objec ts of uniform and delightful
appearanc e. T hey were s pheres , a c ouple of dozen; eac h one s eem ed to B ill E is enberg to be a duplic ate of a c rys tal ball he had onc e purc has ed - true B razilian roc k c rys tal the perfec t beauty of whic h he had not been able to res is t; he had bought it and s m uggled it hom e to gloat over in private.

T he little s pheres were like that in appearanc e. He touc hed one. It was s m ooth as c rys tal and had the s am e c has te c oolnes s , but it was s oft as jelly. It quivered like jelly, c aus ing the lights within it to danc e delightfully, before res um ing its perfec t roundnes s .

P leas ant as they were, they did not look like food, whereas the c hees y, s oapy lum p m ight be. He broke off a s m all piec e, s niffed it, and tas ted it tentatively. It was s our, naus eating, unpleas ant. He s pat it out, m ade a wry fac e, and wis hed heartily that he c ould brus h his teeth. If that was food, he would have to be
m uc h hungrier.

He turned his attention bac k to the delightful little s pheres of c rys tallike jelly. He balanc ed them in his palm s , s avoring their s oft, s m ooth touc h. In the heart of eac h he s aw his own reflec tion, im agined in m iniature, m ade elfin and grac eful. He bec am e aware alm os t for the firs t tim e of the s erene beauty of the
hum an figure, alm os t any hum an figure, when viewed as a c om pos ition and not as a m as s of c olloidal detail.

B ut thirs t bec am e m ore pres s ing than narc is s is t adm iration. It oc c urred to him that the s m ooth, c ool s pheres , if held in the m outh, m ight prom ote s alivation, as pebbles will. He tried it; the s phere he s elec ted s truc k agains t his lower teeth as he plac ed it in his m outh, and his lips and c hin were s uddenly wet, while
drops tric kled down his c hes t. T he s pheres were water, nothing but water, no c ellophane s kin, no c ontainer of any s ort. W ater had been delivered to him , neatly pac kaged, by s om e es oteric tric k of s urfac e tens ion.

He tried another, handling it m ore c arefully to ins ure that it was not pric ked by his teeth until he had it in his m outh. It worked; his m outh was filled with c ool, pure water - too quic kly; he c hoked. B ut he had c aught on to the tric k; he drank four of the s pheres .

His thirs t s atis fied, he bec am e interes ted in the s trange tric k whereby water bec am e its own c ontainer. T he s pheres were tough; he c ould not s queeze them into breaking down, nor did s m as hing them hard agains t the floor dis turb their prec arious balanc e. T hey bounc ed like golf balls and c am e up for m ore. He
m anaged to pinc h the s urfac e of one between thum b and fingernail. It broke down at onc e, and the water tric kled between his fingers - water alone, no s kin nor foreign s ubs tanc e. It s eem ed that a c ut alone c ould dis turb the balanc e of tens ions ; even wetting had no effec t, for he c ould hold one c arefully in his
m outh, rem ove it, and dry it off on his own s kin.

He dec ided that, s inc e his s upply was lim ited, and no m ore water was in pros pec t, it would be wis e to c ons erve what he had and experim ent no further.

T he relief of thirs t inc reas ed the dem ands of hunger. He turned his attention again to the other s ubs tanc e and found that he c ould forc e him s elf to c hew and s wallow. It m ight not be food, it m ight even be pois on, but it filled his s tom ac h and s tayed the pangs . He even felt well fed, onc e he had c leared out the tas te
with another s phere of water.

A fter eating he rearranged his thoughts . He was not dead, or, if he were, the differenc e between living and being dead was im perc eptible, verbal. OK , he was alive. B ut he was s hut up alone. S om ebody knew where he was and was aware of him , for he had been s upplied with food and drink - m ys terious ly but
c leverly. E rgo - he was a pris oner, a word whic h im plies a warden.

W hos e pris oner? He had been s truc k by a LaGrange fireball and had awakened in his c ell. It looked, he was forc ed to adm it, as if Doc Graves had been right; the fireballs were intelligently c ontrolled. Furtherm ore, the pers on or pers ons behind them had novel ideas as to how to c are for pris oners as well as s trange
ways of c apturing them .

E is enberg was a brave m an, as brave as the ordinary run of the rac e from whic h he s prang - a rac e as foolhardy as P ekinges e dogs . He had the high degree of c ourage s o c om m on in the hum an rac e, a rac e c apable of c onc eiving death, yet able to fac e its probability daily, on the highway, on the obs tetric s table, on
the battlefield, in the air, in the s ubway and to fac e lightheartedly the c ertainty of death in the end.

E is enberg was apprehens ive, but not, panic -s tric ken. His s ituation was dec idedly interes ting; he was no longer bored.

If he were a pris oner, it s eem ed likely that his c aptor would c om e to inves tigate him pres ently, perhaps to ques tion him , perhaps to attem pt to us e him in s om e fas hion. T he fac t that, he had been s aved and not killed im plied s om e s ort of plans for his future. V ery well, he would c onc entrate on m eeting whatever
exigenc y m ight c om e with a c alm and res ourc eful m ind. In the m eantim e, there was nothing he c ould do toward freeing him s elf; he had s atis fied him s elf of that. T his was a pris on whic h would baffle Houdini - s m ooth c ontinuous walls , no way to get a purc has e.

He had thought onc e that he had a c lue to es c ape; the c ells had s anitary arrangem ents of s om e s ort, for that whic h his body rejec ted went els ewhere. B ut he got no further with that lead; the c age was s elf-c leaning - and that was that. He c ould not tell how it was done. It baffled him .

P res ently he s lept again.

W hen he awoke, one elem ent only was c hanged - the food and water had been replenis hed. T he "day" pas s ed without inc ident, s ave for his own bus y fruitles s thoughts .

A nd the next "day." A nd the next.

He determ ined to s tay awake long enough to find out how food and water were plac ed in his c ell. He m ade a c olos s al effort to do s o, us ing dras tic m eas ures to s tim ulate his body into c ons c ious nes s . He bit his lips , he bit his tongue. He nipped the lobes of his ears vic ious ly with his nails . He c onc entrated on
diffic ult m ental feats .

P res ently he dozed off; when he awoke, the food and water had been replenis hed.

T he waking periods were followed by s leep, renewed hunger and thirs t, the s atis fying of s am e, and m ore s leep. It was after the s ixth or s eventh s leep that he dec ided that s om e s ort of a c alendar was nec es s ary to his m ental health. He had no m eans of m eas uring tim e exc ept by his s leeps ; he arbitrarily des ignated
them as days . He had no m eans of keeping rec ords , s ave his own body. He m ade that do. A thum bnail s hred, torn off, m ade a rough tattooing needle. Continued s c ratc hing of the s am e area on his thigh produc ed a red welt whic h pers is ted for a day or two, and c ould be renewed.

S even welts m ade a week. T he progres s ion of s uc h welts along ten fingers and ten toes gave him the m eans to m eas ure twenty weeks - whic h was a m uc h longer period than he antic ipated any need to m eas ure.

He had tallied the s ec ond s et of s even thigh welts on the ring finger of his left hand when the next event oc c urred to dis turb his s olitude. W hen he awoke from the s leep following s aid tally, he bec am e s uddenly and overwhelm ingly aware that he was not alone!

T here was a hum an figure s leeping bes ide him . W hen he had c onvinc ed him s elf that he was truly wide awake - his dream s were thoroughly populated - he gras ped the figure by the s houlder and s hook it. "Doc ! " he yelled. "Doc ! W ake up! "

Graves opened his eyes , foc us ed them , s at up, and put out his hand. "Hi, B ill," he rem arked. "I'm dam ned glad to s ee you."

"Doc ! " He pounded the older m an on the bac k. "Doc ! For Crim iny s ake! Y ou don't know how glad I am to s ee y ou."

"I c an gues s ."

"Look, Doc - where have you been? How did you get here?

Did the fireballs s nag you, too?"

"One thing at a tim e, s on. Let's have breakfas t." T here was a double ration of food and water on the "floor" near them . Graves pic ked up a s phere, nic ked it expertly, and drank it without los ing a drop. E is enberg watc hed him knowingly.

"Y ou've been here for s om e tim e."

"T hat's right."

"Did the fireballs get you the s am e tim e they got m e?"

"No." He reac hed for the food. "I c am e up the K anaka P illar."

"W hat! "

"T hat's right. Matter of fac t, I was looking for you."

"T he hell you s ay! "

"B ut I do s ay. It looks as if m y wild hypothes is was right; the P illars and the fireballs are different m anifes tations of the s am e c aus e - X ! "

It s eem ed alm os t pos s ible to hear the wheels whir in E is enberg's head. "B ut, Doc .. . . look here, Doc , that m eans your whole hypothes is was c orrec t. S om ebody did the whole thing. S om ebody has us loc ked up here now."

"T hat's right." He m unc hed s lowly. He s eem ed tired, older and thinner than the way E is enberg rem em bered him . "E videnc e of intelligent c ontrol A lways was . No other explanation."

"B ut w ho?"

"A h! "

"S om e foreign power? A re we up agains t s om ething utterly new in the way of an attac k?"

"Hum m ph! Do you think the Rus s ians , for ins tanc e, would bother to s erve us water like this ?" He held up one of the dainty little s pheres .

"W ho, then?"

"I wouldn't know. Call 'em Martians - that's a c onvenient way to think of them ."

"W hy Martians ?"

"No reas on. I s aid that was a c onvenient way to think of them ."

"Convenient how?"

"Convenient bec aus e it keeps you from thinking of them as hum an beings - whic h they obvious ly aren't. Nor anim als . S om ething very intelligent, but not anim als , bec aus e they are s m arter than we are. Martians ."

"B ut. . . but - W ait a m inute. W hy do you as s um e that your X people aren't hum an? W hy not hum ans who have a lot of s tuff on the ball that we don't have? New s c ientific advanc es ?"

"T hat's a fair ques tion," Graves ans wered, pic king his teeth with a forefinger. "I'll give you a fair ans wer. B ec aus e in the pres ent s tate of the world we know pretty near where alt the bes t m inds are and what they are doing. A dvanc es , like thes e c ouldn't be hidden and would be a long tim e in developing. X indic ates
evidenc e of a half a dozen different lines of developm ent that are c lear beyond our ken and whic h would require years of work by hundreds of res earc hers , to s ay the very leas t. Ips o fac to, nonhum an s c ienc e.

"Of c ours e," he c ontinued, "if you want to pos tulate a m ad s c ientis t and a s ec ret laboratory, I c an't argue with you. B ut I'm not writing S unday s upplem ents ."

B ill E is enberg kept very quiet for s om e tim e, while he c ons idered what Graves s aid in the light of his own experienc e.

"Y ou're right, Doc ," he finally adm itted. "S huc ks , you're us ually right when we have an argum ent. It has to be Martians . Oh, I don't m ean inhabitants of Mars ; I m ean s om e form of intelligent life from outs ide this planet."

"Maybe."

"B ut you jus t s aid s o! "

"No, I s aid it was a c onvenient way to look at it."

"B ut it has to be by elim ination."

"E lim ination is a tric ky line of reas oning."

"W hat els e c ould it be?"

"Mm -m -m . I'm not prepared to s ay jus t what I do think - yet. B ut there are s tronger reas ons than we have m entioned for c onc luding that we are up agains t nonhum ans . P s yc hologic al reas ons ."

"W hat s ort?"

"X does n't treat pris oners in any fas hion that aris es out of hum an behavior patterns . T hink it over."

T hey had a lot to talk about; m uc h m ore than X , even though X was a s ubjec t they were bound to return to. Graves gave B ill a s im ple bald ac c ount of how he happened to go up the P illar - an ac c ount whic h B ill found very m oving for what was left out, rather than told. He felt s uddenly very hum ble and unworthy as he
looked at his elderly, frail friend.

"Doc , you don't look well."

"I'll do."

"T hat trip up the P illar was hard on you. Y ou s houldn't have tried it."

Graves s hrugged. "I m ade out all right." B ut he had not, and B ill c ould s ee that he had not. T he old m an was "poorly."

T hey s lept and they ate and they talked and they s lept again. T he routine that E is enberg had grown us ed to alone c ontinued, s ave with c om pany. B ut Graves grew no s tronger.

"Doc , it's up to us to do s om ething about it."

"A bout what?"

"T he whole s ituation. T his thing that has happened to us is an intolerable m enac e to the whole hum an rac e. W e don't know what m ay have happened down below-"

"W hy do you s ay 'down below'?"

'W hy, you c am e up the P illar."

"Y es , true - but I don't know when or how I was taken out of - the bathys phere, nor where they m ay have taken m e. B ut go ahead. Let's have your idea."

"W ell, but - OK - we don't know what m ay have happened to the res t of the hum an rac e. T he fireballs m ay be pic king them off one at a tim e, with no c hanc e to fight bac k and no way of gues s ing what has been going on. W e have s om e idea of the ans wer. It's up to us to es c ape and warn them . T here m ay be s om e
way of fighting bac k. It's our duty; the whole future of the hum an rac e m ay depend on it."

Graves was s ilent s o long after B ill had finis hed his toc s in that B ill began to feel em barras s ed, a bit foolis h. B ut when he finally s poke it was to agree. "I think you are right, B ill. I think it quite pos s ible that you are right. Not nec es s arily, but dis tinc tly pos s ible. A nd that pos s ibility does plac e an obligation on us to all
m ankind. I've known it. I knew it before we got into this m es s , but I did not have enough data to jus tify s houting. 'W olf! '

"T he ques tion is ," he went on, "how c an we give s uc h a warning - now?"

"W e've got to es c ape! "

"A h."

"T here mus t be s om e way."

"Can you s ugges t one?"

"Maybe. W e haven't been able to find any way in or out of this plac e, but there m us t be a way-has to be; we were brought in. Furtherm ore, our rations are put ins ide every day - s om ehow. I tried onc e to s tay awake long enough to s ee how it was done, but I fell as leep-"

"S o did I."

"Uh-huh. I'm not s urpris ed. B ut there are two of us now; we c ould take turns , watc h on and watc h off, until s om ething happened."

Graves nodded. "It's worth trying."

S inc e they had no way of m eas uring the watc hes , eac h kept the vigil until s leepines s bec am e intolerable, then awakened the other. B ut nothing happened. T heir food ran out, was not replac ed. T hey c ons erved their water balls with c are, were finally reduc ed to one, whic h was not drunk bec aus e eac h ins is ted on
being noble about it - the other m us t drink it! B ut s till no m anifes tation of any s ort from their uns een Captors .

A fter an unm eas ured and unes tim ated length of tim e - but c ertainly long, alm os t intolerably long - at a tim e when E is enberg was in a light, troubled s leep, he was s uddenly awakened by a touc h and the s ound of his nam e. He s at up, blinking, dis oriented. "W ho? W hat? W ha's a m atter?"

"I m us t have dozed off," Graves s aid m is erably. "I'm s orry, B ill." E is enberg looked where Graves pointed. T heir food and water had been renewed.

E is enberg did not s ugges t a renewal of the experim ent. In the firs t plac e, it s eem ed evident that their keepers did not intend for them to learn the c om bination to their c ell and were quite intelligent enough to outm aneuver their nec es s arily feeble attem pts . In the s ec ond plac e, Graves was an obvious ly s ic k m an;
E is enberg did not have the heart to s ugges t another long, grueling, half-s tarved vigil.

B ut, lac king knowledge of the c om bination, it appeared im pos s ible to break jail. A naked m an is a partic ularly helples s c reature; lac king m aterials wherewith to fas hion tools , he c an do little. E is enberg would have s wapped his c hanc es for eternal blis s for a diam ond drill, an ac etylene torc h, or even a rus ty,
s ec ondhand c his el. W ithout tools of s om e s ort it was im pres s ed on him that he s tood about as m uc h c hanc e of breaking out of his c age as his goldfis h, Cleo and P atra, had of c hewing their way out of a glas s bowl.

"Doc ?"

"Y es , s on."

"W e've tac kled this the wrong way. W e know that X is intelligent; ins tead of trying to es c ape, we s hould be trying to es tablis h c om m unic ation."

"How?"

"I don't know. B ut there m us t be s ome way."

B ut if there was , he c ould never c onjure it up. E ven if he as s um ed that his c aptors c ould s ee and hear him , how was he to c onvey intelligenc e to them by word or ges ture? W as it theoretic ally pos s ible for any nonhum an being, no m atter how intelligent, to find a pattern of m eaning in hum an s peec h s ym bols , if he
enc ountered them without c ontext, without bac kground, without pic tures , without pointing? It is c ertainly true that the hum an rac e, working under m uc h m ore favorable c irc um s tanc es , has failed alm os t utterly to learn the languages of the other rac es of anim als .

W hat s hould he do to attrac t their attention, s tim ulate their interes t? Rec ite the "Gettys burg A ddres s "? Or the m ultiplic ation table? Or, if he us ed ges tures , would deaf and dum b language m ean any m ore, or any les s , to his c aptors than the s ailor's hornpipe?

"Doc ?"

"W hat is it, B ill?" Graves was s inking; he rarely initiated a c onvers ation thes e "days ."

"W hy are we here? I've had it in the bac k of m y m ind that ev entually they would take us out and do s om ething with us . T ry to ques tion us , m aybe. B ut it does n't look like they m eant to."

"No, it does n't."

"T hen why are we here? W hy do they take c are of us ?"

Graves paus ed quite a long tim e before ans wering: "I think that they are expec ting us to reproduc e."

"W hat! "

Graves s hrugged.

"B ut that's ridic ulous ."

"S urely. B ut would they know it?"

"B ut they are intelligent."

Graves c huc kled, the firs t tim e he had done s o in m any s leeps . "Do you know Roland Y oung's little vers e about the flea:

"A funny c reature is the Flea

Y ou c annot tell the S he from He.

B ut He c an tell-and s o c an S he."

"A fter all, the vis ible differenc es between m en and wom en are quite s uperfic ial and alm os t negligible - exc ept to m en and wom en! "

E is enberg found the s ugges tion repugnant, alm os t revolting; he s truggled agains t it. "B ut look, Doc - even a little s tudy would s how them that the hum an rac e is divided up into s exes . A fter all, we aren't the firs t s pec im ens they've s tudied."

"Maybe they don't s tudy us ."

"Huh?"

"Maybe we are jus t pets ."

P ets ! B ill E is enberg's m orale had s tood up well in the fac e of danger and unc ertainty. T his attac k on it was m ore s ubtle. P ets ! He had thought of Graves and him s elf as pris oners of war, or, pos s ibly, objec ts of s c ientific res earc h. B ut pets !

"I know how you feel," Graves went on, watc hing his fac e, "It's . . . it's humiliating from an anthropoc entric viewpoint. B ut I think it m ay be true. I m ay as well tell you m y own private theory as to the pos s ible nature of X , and the relation of X to the hum an rac e. I haven't up to now, as it is alm os t s heer c onjec ture, bas ed
on very little data. B ut it does c over the known fac ts .

"I c onc eive of the X c reatures as being jus t barely aware of the exis tenc e of m en, unc onc erned by them , and alm os t c om pletely uninteres ted in them ."

"B ut they hunt us ! "

"Maybe. Or m aybe they jus t pic k us up oc c as ionally by ac c ident. A lot of m en have dream ed about an im pingem ent of non-hum an intelligenc es on the hum an rac e. A lm os t without exc eption the dream has taken one of two form s , invas ion and war, or exploration and m utual s oc ial interc ours e.

B oth c onc epts pos tulate that nonhum ans are enough like us either to fight with us or talk to us - treat us as equals , one way or the other. I don't believe that X is s uffic iently interes ted in hum an beings to want to ens lave them , or even exterm inate them . T hey m ay not even s tudy us , even when we c om e under their
notic e. T hey m ay lac k the s c ientific s pirit in the s ens e of having a m onkey-like c urios ity about everything that m oves . For that m atter, how thoroughly do w e s tudy other life form s ? Did you ever as k your goldfis h for their views on goldfis h poetry or politic s ? Does a term ite think that a wom an's plac e is in the hom e? Do
beavers prefer blondes or brunettes ?"

"Y ou are joking."

"No, I'm not! Maybe the life form s I m entioned don't have s uc h involved ideas . My point is : if they did, or do, we'd never gues s it. I don't think X c onc eives of the hum an rac e as intelligent."

B ill c hewed this for a while, then added: "W here do you think they c am e from , Doc ? Mars , m aybe? Or c lear out of the S olar S ys tem ?"

"Not nec es s arily. Not even probably. It's m y gues s that they c am e from the s am e plac e we did - from up out of the s lime of this planet."

"Really, Doc -"

"I m ean it. A nd don't give m e that funny look. I m ay be s ic k, but I'm not balm y. Creation took eight day s !"

"Huh?"

"I'm us ing biblic al-language. 'A nd God bles s ed them , and God s aid unto them , B e fruitful and m ultiply, and replenis h the earth, and s ubdue it: and have dom inion over the fis h of the s ea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that m oveth upon the earth.' A nd s o it c am e to pas s . B ut nobody m entioned
the s tratos phere."

"Doc -are you s ure you feel all right?"

"Dam m it, quit trying to ps yc hoanalyze m e! I'll drop the allegory. W hat I m ean is : W e aren't the lates t nor the highes t s tage in evolution. Firs t the oc eans were populated. T hen lungfis h to am phibian, and s o on up, until the c ontinents were populated, and, in tim e, m an ruled the s urfac e of the earth - or thought he did.
B ut did evolution s top there? I think not. Cons ider - from a fis h's point of view air is a hard vac uum . From our point of view the upper reac hes of the atm os phere, s ixty, s eventy, m aybe a hundred thous and feet up s eem like a vac uum and unfit to s us tain life. B ut it's not vac uum . It's thin, yes , but there is m atter there
and radiant energy. W hy not life, intelligent life, highly evolved as it would have to be - but evolved from the s am e anc es try as ours elves and fis h? W e wouldn't s ee it happen; m an has n't been aware, in a s c ientific s ens e, that long. W hen our grand-daddies were s winging in the trees , it had already happened."

E is enberg took a deep breath. "J us t wait a m inute, Doc . I'm not dis puting the theoretic al pos s ibility of your thes is , but it s eem s to m e it is out on direc t evidenc e alone. W e've never s een them , had no direc t evidenc e of them . A t leas t, not until lately. A nd we s hould have s een them ."

"Not nec es s arily. Do ants s ee m en? I doubt it."

"Y es - but, c ons arn it, a m an has better eyes than an ant."

"B etter eyes for what? For his own needs . S uppos e the X -c reatures are too high up, or too tenuous , or too fas t-m oving! for us to notic e them . E ven a thing as big and as s olid and as s low as an airplane c an go up high enough to go out of s ight, even on a c lear day. If X is tenuous and even s em itrans parent, we
never w ould s ee them - not even as oc c ultations of s tars , or s hadows agains t the m oon - though as a m atter of fac t there have been s om e very s trange s tories of jus t that s ort of thing."

E is enberg got up and s tom ped up and down. "Do you m ean to s ugges t," he dem anded, "that c reatures s o ins ubs tantial they c an float in a s oft vac uum built the P illars ?"

"W hy not? T ry explaining how a half-finis hed, naked em bryo like homo s apiens built the E m pire S tate B uilding."

B ill s hook his head. "I don't get it."

"Y ou don't try. W here do you think this c am e from ? Graves held up one of the m irac ulous little water s pheres .

"My gues s is that life on this planet is s plit three ways , with alm os t no interc ours e between the three. Oc ean c ulture, Ian c ulture, and another-c all it s tratoc ulture. Maybe a fourth down under the c rus t - but we don't know. W e know a little about life under the s ea, bec aus e we are c urious . B ut how m uc h do they know of
us ? Do a few dozen bathys phere des c ents c ons titute an invas ion? A fis h that s ees our bathys phere m ight go hom e and take to his bed with a s ic k headac he, but he wouldn't talk about it, and he wouldn't be believed if he did. If a lot of fis h s ee us and s wear out affidavits , along c om es a fis h-ps yc hologis t and
explains it as m as s halluc ination.

"No, it takes s om ething at leas t as large and s olid and perm anent as the P illars to have any effec t on orthodox c onc eptions . Cas ual vis itations have no real effec t."

E is enberg let his thoughts s im m er for s om e tim e before c om m enting further. W hen he did, it was half to him s elf. "I don't believe it. I won't believe it! "

"B elieve what?"

"Y our theory. Look, Doc - if you are right, don't you s ee what it m eans ? W e're helples s , we're outc las s ed."

"I don't think they will bother m uc h with hum an beings . T hey haven't, up till now."

"B ut that is n't it. Don't you s ee? W e've had s om e dignity as a rac e. W e've s triven and ac c om plis hed things . E ven when we failed, we had the tragic s atis fac tion of knowing that we were, nevertheles s , s uperior and m ore able than the other anim als . W e've had faith in the rac e - we would ac c om plis h great things yet.
B ut if we are jus t one of the lower anim als ours elves , what does our great work am ount to? Me, I c ouldn't go on pretending to be a 's c ientis t' if I thought I was jus t a fis h, m uc king around in the bottom of a pool. My work wouldn't s ignify anything."

"Maybe it does n't."

"No, m aybe it does n't." E is enberg got up and pac ed the c ons tric ted area of their pris on. "Maybe not. B ut I won't s urrender to it. I w on't! Maybe you're right. Maybe you're wrong. It does n't s eem to m atter very m uc h w here the X people c am e from . One way or the other, they are a threat to our own kind. Doc , we've got to
get out of here and warn them ! "

"How?"

Graves was c om atos e a large part of the tim e before he died. B ill m aintained an alm os t c ontinuous watc h over him , c atc hing only oc c as ional c at naps . T here was little he c ould do for his friend, even though he did watc h over him , but the s pirit behind it was c om fort to them both.

B ut he was dozing when Graves c alled his nam e. He woke at onc e, though the s ound was a bare whis per. "Y es , Doc ?"

"I c an't talk m uc h m ore, s on. T hanks for taking c are of m e."

"S huc ks , Doc ."

"Don't forget what you're here for. S om e day you'll get a break. B e ready for it and don't m uff it. P eople have to be warned."

"I'll do it, Doc . I s wear it."

"Good boy." A nd then, alm os t inaudibly, "G'night, s on."

E is enberg watc hed over the body until it was quite c old and had begun to s tiffen. T hen, exhaus ted by his long vigil and em otionally drained, he c ollaps ed into a deep s leep.

W hen he woke up the body was gone.

It was hard to m aintain his m orale, after Graves was gone. It was all very well to res olve to warn the res t of m ankind at the firs t pos s ible c hanc e, but there was the endles s m onotony to c ontend with. He had not even the relief from boredom afforded the c ondem ned pris oner - the c hec king off of lim ited days . E ven his
"c alendar" was nothing but a c ounting of his s leeps .

He was not quite s ane m uc h of the tim e, and it was the twic e-tragic ins anity of intelligenc e, aware of its own ins tability. He c yc led between periods of elation and periods of extrem e depres s ion, in whic h he would have des troyed him s elf, had he the m eans .

During the periods of elation he m ade great plans for fighting agains t the X c reatures - after he es c aped. He was not s ure how or when, but, m om entarily, he was s ure. He would lead the c rus ade him s elf; roc kets c ould withs tand the dead zone of the P illars and the c loud; atom ic bom bs c ould des troy the dynam ic
balanc e of the P illars . T hey would harry them and hunt them down; the globe would onc e again be the kingdom of m an, to whom it belonged.

During the bitter periods of relaps e he would realize c learly that the puny engineering of m ankind would be of no forc e agains t the powers and knowledge of the c reatures who built the P illars , who kidnapped him s elf and Graves in s uc h a c as ual and m ys terious a fas hion. T hey were outc las s ed.

Could c odfis h plan a s ortie agains t the c ity of B os ton? W ould it m atter if the c hattering m onkeys in Guatem ala pas s ed a res olution to des troy the navy?

T hey were outc las s ed. T he hum an rac e had reac hed its highes t point - the point at whic h it began to be aware that it was not the highes t rac e, and the knowledge was death to it, one way or the other - the m ere knowledge alone, even as the knowledge was now des troying him , B ill E is enberg, him s elf. E is enberg -
homo pis c is . P oor fis h!

His overs trained m ind c onc eived a m eans by whic h he m ight pos s ibly warn his fellow beings . He c ould not es c ape as long as his s urroundings rem ained unc hanged. T hat was es tablis hed and he ac c epted it; he no longer pac ed his c age. B ut c ertain things did leave his c age: left-over food, refus e - and Graves '
body. If he died, his own body would be rem oved, he felt s ure. S om e, at leas t, of the things whic h had gone up the P illars had c om e down again-he knew that. W as it not likely that the X c reatures dis pos ed of any heavy m as s for whic h they had no further us e by dum ping it down the W ahini P illar? He c onvinc ed
him s elf that it was s o.

V ery well, his body would be returned to the s urfac e, eventually. How c ould he us e it to give a m es s age to his fellow m en, if it were found? He had no writing m aterials , nothing but his own body.

B ut the s am e m ake-do m eans whic h s erved him as a c alendar gave him a way to write a m es s age. He c ould m ake welts on his s kin with a s hred of thum bnail. If the s am e s pot were irritated over and over again, not perm itted to heal, s c ar tis s ue would form . B y s uc h m eans he was able to c reate perm anent tattooing.

T he letters had to be large; he was lim ited in s pac e to the fore part of his body; involved argum ent was im pos s ible. He was lim ited to a fairly s im ple warning. If he had been quite right in his m ind, perhaps be would have been able to devis e a m ore c leverly worded warning - but then he was not.

In tim e, he had c overed his c hes t and belly with c ic atrix tattooing worthy of a bus hm an c hief. He was thin by then and of an unhealthy c olor; the welts s tood out plainly.

His body was found floating in the P ac ific , by P ortugues e fis herm en who c ould not read the m es s age, but who turned it in to the harbor polic e of Honolulu. T hey, in turn, photographed the body, fingerprinted it, and dis pos ed of it. T he fingerprints were c hec ked in W as hington, and W illiam E is enberg, s c ientis t,
fellow of m any dis tinguis hed s oc ieties , and high type of homo s apiens , was offic ially dead for the s ec ond tim e, with a new m ys tery attac hed to his nam e.

T he c um bers om e c ours e of offic ial c orres pondenc e unwound its elf and the rec ord of his reappearanc e reac hed the des k of Captain B lake, at a port in the S outh A tlantic . P hotographs of the body were attac hed to the rec ord, along with a s hort offic ial letter telling the c aptain that, in view of his c onnec tion with the
c as e, it was being provided for his inform ation and rec om m endation.

Captain B lake looked at the photographs for the dozenth tim e. T he m es s age told in s c ar tis s ue was plain enough:

"B E W A RE - CRE A T ION T OOK E IGHT DA Y S ."

B ut what did it m ean?

Of one thing he was s ure-E is enberg had not had thos e s c ars on his body when he dis appeared from the M ahan. T he m an had lived for a c ons iderable period after he was grabbed up by the fireball-that was c ertain. A nd he had learned s om ething. W hat? T he referenc e to the firs t c hapter of Genes is did not es c ape
him ; it was not s uc h as to be us eful.

He turned to his des k and res um ed m aking a draft in painful longhand of his report to the bureau. "-the m es s age in s c ar tis s ue adds to the m ys tery, rather than c larifying it. I am now forc ed to the opinion that the P illars and the L -Grange fireballs are c onnec ted in s om e way. T he patrol around the P illars s hould not
be relaxed. If new opportunities or m ethods for inves tigating the nature of the P illars s hould develop, they s hould be purs ued thoroughly. I regret to s ay that I have nothing of the s ort to s ugges t-"

He got up from his des k and walked to a s m all aquarium s upported by gim bals from the inboard bulkhead, and s tirred up the two goldfis h therein with a forefinger. Notic ing the level of the water, he turned to the pantry door. "J ohns on, you've filled this bowl too full again. P at's trying to jum p out again! "

"I'll fix it, c aptain." T he s teward c am e out of the pantry with a s m all pan. ("Don't know why the Old Man keeps thes e tarnation fis h. He ain't interes ted in 'em - that's c ertain.") A loud he added: "T hat P at fis h don't want to s tay in there, c aptain. A lways trying to jum p out. A nd he don't lik e m e, c aptain."

"W hat's that?" Captain B lake's thoughts had already left the fis h; he was worrying over the m ys tery again.

"I s ay that fis h don't lik e m e, c aptain. T ries to bite m y finger every tim e I c lean out the bowl"

"Don't be s illy, J ohns on."