Speaker 1: Circus by Allan Edward Norse. Just suppose, said Morgan, that
Speaker 1: I did believe you. Just for argument, He glanced up
Speaker 1: at the man across the restaurant table. Where would we
Speaker 1: go from here? The man shifted uneasily in his seat.
Speaker 1: He was silent, staring down at his plate. Not a
Speaker 1: strange looking man, Morgan thought, Rather ordinary in fact, a
Speaker 1: plain face, knows a little too long fingers, a little
Speaker 1: too dainty, a suit that doesn't seem quite to fit,
Speaker 1: but all in all, a perfectly ordinary looking man. Maybe
Speaker 1: too ordinary, Morgan thought. Finally, the man looked up. His
Speaker 1: eyes were dark, with a hunted look in their depths
Speaker 1: that chilled Morgan a little. Where do we go? I
Speaker 1: don't know. I've tried to think it out, and I
Speaker 1: get nowhere. But you've got to believe me, Morgan. I'm lost,
Speaker 1: I mean it. If I can't get help, I don't
Speaker 1: know where it's going to end. I'll tell you where
Speaker 1: it's going to end, said Morgan. It's going to end
Speaker 1: in a hospital, a mental hospital. They'll lock you up,
Speaker 1: and they'll lose the key somewhere. He poured himself another
Speaker 1: cup of coffee and sipped it. Scalding hot, and that,
Speaker 1: he added, will be that the place was dark and
Speaker 1: almost empty. Overhead, a rotary fan swished patiently. The man
Speaker 1: across from Morgan ran a hand through his dark hair.
Speaker 1: There must be some other way, he said, There has
Speaker 1: to be. All right, let's start from the beginning again.
Speaker 1: Morgan said, maybe we can pin down something a little better.
Speaker 1: You say your name is Parks, right, The man nodded,
Speaker 1: Jefferson Haliman Parks, if that helps any Haldeman was my
Speaker 1: mother's maiden name. All right, and you got into town
Speaker 1: on Friday, right, Parks nodded, fine. Now go through the
Speaker 1: whole story again. What happened first? The man thought for
Speaker 1: a minute, as I said, First, there was a fall
Speaker 1: about twenty feet. I didn't break any bones, but I
Speaker 1: was shaken up and limping. The fall was near the
Speaker 1: highway going to the George Washington Bridge. I got over
Speaker 1: to the highway and tried to flag down a ride.
Speaker 1: How did you feel, I mean, was there anything strange
Speaker 1: that you noticed? Strange? Park size widened? I was speechless
Speaker 1: at first. I hadn't noticed too much. I was concerned
Speaker 1: with the fall and whether I was hurt or not.
Speaker 1: I didn't really think about much else until I hobbled
Speaker 1: up to that highway and saw those cars coming. Then
Speaker 1: I could hardly believe my eyes. I thought I was crazy,
Speaker 1: But a car stopped and and asked me if I
Speaker 1: was going into the city, and I knew I wasn't crazy.
Speaker 1: Morgan's mouth took on a gram line. You understood the language.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, I don't see how I could have, but
Speaker 1: I did. We talked all the way into New York.
Speaker 1: Nothing very important, but we understood each other. His speech
Speaker 1: had an odd sound, but Morgan nodded, I know. I noticed.
Speaker 1: What did you do when you got to New York? Well,
Speaker 1: obviously I needed money. I had gold coin. There'd been
Speaker 1: no way of knowing if it would be useful, but
Speaker 1: I'd taken it on chance. I'd tried to use it
Speaker 1: at a newsstand first, and the man wouldn't touch it.
Speaker 1: Asked me if I had thought I was the U.
Speaker 1: S Treasury or something. When he saw I was serious,
Speaker 1: he sent me to a money lender aer a hawk shop,
Speaker 1: I think he called it. So I've found the place.
Speaker 1: Let me see the coins. Parks dropped two small gold
Speaker 1: discs on the table. They were perfectly smooth, and perfectly round,
Speaker 1: tapered by where to a thin blunt edge. There was
Speaker 1: no design on them, and no printing. Morgan looked up
Speaker 1: at the man sharply, what did you get for these?
Speaker 1: Park shrugged too little. I suspect two dollars for the
Speaker 1: small one, five for the larger. You should have gone
Speaker 1: to a bank. I know that now, I didn't. Then, naturally,
Speaker 1: I assumed that with everything else so similar, principles of
Speaker 1: business would also be similar. Morgan sighed and leaned back
Speaker 1: in his chair. Well, then, what Park's poured some more coffee.
Speaker 1: His face was very pale, Morgan thought, and his hands
Speaker 1: trembled as he raised the cup to his lips. Fright,
Speaker 1: maybe it's hard to tell. The man put down the
Speaker 1: cup and rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand.
Speaker 1: First I went to the Mayor's office, he said. I
Speaker 1: kept trying to think what anyone at home would do
Speaker 1: in my place. That seemed a good I asked a
Speaker 1: policeman where it was, and then I went there. But
Speaker 1: you didn't get to see him. No. I saw a secretary.
Speaker 1: She said the mayor was in conference and that I
Speaker 1: would have to have an appointment. She let me speak
Speaker 1: to another man, one of the mayor's assistants, and you
Speaker 1: told him no, I wanted to see the mayor himself.
Speaker 1: I thought that was the best thing to do. I
Speaker 1: waited for a couple of hours until another assistant came
Speaker 1: along and told me flatly that the mayor wouldn't see
Speaker 1: me unless I stated my business first. He drew in
Speaker 1: a deep breath. So I stated it, and then I
Speaker 1: was gently but firmly ushered back into the street. Again.
Speaker 1: They didn't believe you, said Morgan, not for a minute.
Speaker 1: They laughed in my face. Morgan nodded, I'm beginning to
Speaker 1: get the pattern. So what did you do next? Next?
Speaker 1: I tried the police. I got the same treatment there,
Speaker 1: only they were so gentle they wouldn't listen either. They
Speaker 1: muttered something about cranks and their crazy notions, and when
Speaker 1: they asked me where I lived, they thought I was
Speaker 1: what did they call it? A wise guy? Told me
Speaker 1: to get out and not come back with any more
Speaker 1: wild stories. I see, said Morgan. Jefferson Parks finished his
Speaker 1: last bite of pie and pushed the plate away. By then,
Speaker 1: I didn't know quite what to do. I'd been prepared
Speaker 1: for almost anything, excepting this. It was frightening. I tried
Speaker 1: to rationalize it, and then I quit trying. It wasn't
Speaker 1: that I attracted attention or anything like that. Quite the contrary.
Speaker 1: Nobody even looked at me unless I said something to them.
Speaker 1: I began to look for things that were different, things
Speaker 1: that I could show them and say, see this proves
Speaker 1: I'm telling the truth. Look at it. He looked up helplessly,
Speaker 1: and what did you find? Nothing? Oh, little thing things,
Speaker 1: insignificant little things. Your calendars, for instance. Naturally I couldn't
Speaker 1: understand your frame of reference, and the coinage you stamp
Speaker 1: your coins we don't and cigarettes, we don't have any
Speaker 1: such thing as tobacco. The man gave a short laugh.
Speaker 1: And you're house dogs. We have little animals that look
Speaker 1: more like rabbits than poodles. But there was nothing any
Speaker 1: more significant than that, Absolutely nothing except yourself. Morgan said, ah, yes,
Speaker 1: I thought that went over carefully. I looked for differences,
Speaker 1: obvious ones. I couldn't find any. You can see that
Speaker 1: just looking at me. So I searched for more subtle things,
Speaker 1: skin texture, fingerprints, bone structure, body proportion. I still couldn't
Speaker 1: find anything. Then I went to a doctor. Morgan's eyebrows lifted, good,
Speaker 1: he said, Park shrugged tiredly. Not really. He examined me.
Speaker 1: He practically took me apart. I carefully refrained from saying
Speaker 1: anything about who I was or where I came from,
Speaker 1: just said I wanted a complete physical examination and let
Speaker 1: him go to it. He was thorough, and when he finished,
Speaker 1: he patted me on the back and said, Parks, you've
Speaker 1: got nothing to worry about. You're as fine strapping a
Speaker 1: specimen of a healthy human being as I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: And that was that. Parks laughed bitterly. I guess I
Speaker 1: was supposed to be happy with the verdict, and instead
Speaker 1: I was ready to knock him down. It was idiotic,
Speaker 1: It defied reason. It was infuriating. Morgan nodded sourly. Because
Speaker 1: you're not a human being, he said, that's right, I'm
Speaker 1: not a human being at all. How did you happen
Speaker 1: to pick this planet or this sun? Morgan asked curiously.
Speaker 1: There must have been a million others to choose from.
Speaker 1: Park's unbuttoned his collar and rub his stuble chin. Unhappily,
Speaker 1: I didn't make the choice. Neither did anyone else. Travel
Speaker 1: by warp is a little different from travel by the
Speaker 1: rocket you fiction writers make so much of With a
Speaker 1: rocket vehicle, you pick your destination, you make your calculations,
Speaker 1: and off you go. The warp is blind, flying strictly blind.
Speaker 1: We send an unmanned scanner ahead. It probes around more
Speaker 1: or less, hit or miss, until it locates something somewhere
Speaker 1: that looks habitable. When it spots a likely looking place,
Speaker 1: we keep a tight beam on it and send through
Speaker 1: a man's scalp. He grinned sourly like me. If it
Speaker 1: looks good to the scout, he signals back, and they
Speaker 1: leave the warp anchored for a sort of permanent gateway
Speaker 1: until we can get a transport beam built. But we
Speaker 1: can't control the directional and dimensional scope of the warp.
Speaker 1: There are an infinity of ways it can go until
Speaker 1: we have a guide beam transmitting from the other side.
Speaker 1: Then we can just scan a segment of space with
Speaker 1: warp and the scanner picks up the beam. He shook
Speaker 1: his head wearily. We're new at it, Morgan, We've only
Speaker 1: tried a few dozen runs. We're not too far ahead
Speaker 1: of you in technology. We've been using rocket vehicles just
Speaker 1: like yours for over a century. That's fine for a
Speaker 1: solar system, but it's not much good for the stars.
Speaker 1: When the warp principle was discovered, it looked like the answer.
Speaker 1: But something went wrong. The scanner picked up this planet,
Speaker 1: and I was coming through, and then something blue. Next
Speaker 1: thing I knew, I was falling. When I tried to
Speaker 1: make contact again, the scanner was gone. And you found
Speaker 1: things here the same as back home, said Morgan, the same.
Speaker 1: Your planet might are practically twins, similar cities, similar technology, everything.
Speaker 1: The people are the same, with precisely the same anatomy
Speaker 1: and physiology, the same sort of laws, the same institutions,
Speaker 1: than compatible languages. Can't you see the importance of it.
Speaker 1: This planet is on the other side of the universe
Speaker 1: from mind, with the first intelligent life we've yet encountered anywhere.
Speaker 1: But when I try to tell your people that I'm
Speaker 1: a native of another star system, they won't believe me.
Speaker 1: Why should, they asked Morgan, You look like a human being,
Speaker 1: you talk like one, you eat like one, you act
Speaker 1: like one. What you're asking them to believe is utterly incredible.
Speaker 1: But it's true, Morgan shrugged. So it's true. I won't
Speaker 1: argue with you, but as I asked before, even if
Speaker 1: I did believe you, what do you expect me to
Speaker 1: do about it? Why pick me of all people you've seen?
Speaker 1: There is a desperate light in Park's eyes. I was tired,
Speaker 1: tired of being laughed at, tired of having people looking
Speaker 1: at me as though I'd lost my wits. When I
Speaker 1: tried to tell him the truth. You were here, you
Speaker 1: were alone, so I started talking. And then I've found
Speaker 1: out you wrote stories. He looked up eagerly. I've got
Speaker 1: to get back, Morgan, somehow. My life is there, my family,
Speaker 1: and think what it would mean to both our worlds
Speaker 1: contact with another human race, combine our knowledges, our technologies,
Speaker 1: and we could explore the galaxy. He leaned forward, his
Speaker 1: thin face and tints. I need money and I need help.
Speaker 1: I know some of the mathematics of the war principle.
Speaker 1: I know some of the designs, some of the power
Speaker 1: and wiring principles. You have engineers and physicists, technologists. They
Speaker 1: could fill in what I don't know and build a
Speaker 1: guide beam. But they won't do it if they don't
Speaker 1: believe me. Your government won't listen to me. They won't
Speaker 1: appropriate any money. Of course, they won't they've got a
Speaker 1: war or two on their hands. They have public welfare
Speaker 1: and atomic bombs and rockets to the moon to sink
Speaker 1: their money into. Morgan stared at the man. But what
Speaker 1: can I do? You can write, That's what you can do.
Speaker 1: You can tell the world about me. You can tell
Speaker 1: exactly what has happened. I know how public interest can
Speaker 1: be aroused in my world. It must be the same
Speaker 1: in yours. Morgan didn't move, He just stared. How many
Speaker 1: people have you talked to? He asked? A dozen, a hundred,
Speaker 1: maybe a thousand, And how many believed you? None? You mean,
Speaker 1: nobody would believe you, not one soul until I talk
Speaker 1: to you. And then Morgan was laughing, laughing bitterly, tears
Speaker 1: rolling down his cheeks. And I'm the one man who
Speaker 1: couldn't help you if my life depended on it. He gasped.
Speaker 1: You believe me, Morgan nodded sadly. I believe you. Yes.
Speaker 1: I think your warp brought you through to a parallel
Speaker 1: universe of your own planet, not to another star. But
Speaker 1: I think you're telling the truth. Then you can help me.
Speaker 1: I'm afraid not. Why not, because I'd be worse than
Speaker 1: no help at all Jefferson Parks gripped the table, his
Speaker 1: knuckles white. Why, he cried hoarsely. If you believe me,
Speaker 1: why can't you help me? Morgan pointed to the magazine
Speaker 1: lying on the table. I wright, yes, he said, sadly,
Speaker 1: ever read stories like this before? Parks picked up the
Speaker 1: magazine glanced at the bright cover. I barely looked at it.
Speaker 1: You should look more closely. I have a story in
Speaker 1: this issue. The readers thought it was very interesting. Morgan grinned,
Speaker 1: go ahead, look at it. The Stranger from the Stars
Speaker 1: leafed through the magazine stopped at a page that carried
Speaker 1: Roger Morgan's name. His eyes caught the first paragraph, and
Speaker 1: he turned white. He set the magaz seen down with
Speaker 1: a trembling hand. I see, he said, and the life
Speaker 1: was gone out of his voice. He spread the pages viciously,
Speaker 1: read the lines again. The paragraph said, Just suppose, said Martin,
Speaker 1: that I did believe you. Just for argument, He glanced
Speaker 1: up at the man across the table. Where do we
Speaker 1: go from here? End of Circus by Allan Edward Norse