Speaker 1: Stop Over Planet by Robert E. Gilbert. At two thirty four,
Speaker 1: a m patrolman, Louis Weedby, left the zip cab station
Speaker 1: with arched support, squeaking and night stick swinging. We'd be
Speaker 1: walked east to the call box at the corner of
Speaker 1: Sullivan and Cherokee. The traffic signal suspended above the intersection
Speaker 1: blinked a cautionary amber. Not a car moved on the
Speaker 1: silent streets. We'd be reached for the box. Then he
Speaker 1: swore softly and stepped off the curb. Pardon me, he said,
Speaker 1: for he believed that a patrolman should be courteous at
Speaker 1: all times, even when arresting a school zone speedster. This, however,
Speaker 1: was not a speedster. It seemed to be a huge
Speaker 1: man standing on top of a truck and cutting down
Speaker 1: the stoplight. What's going on here, We'd be asked, Honey,
Speaker 1: Chilly Bakery was advertised on the side of the truck. Instinctively,
Speaker 1: we'd be jammed his whistle in his mouth when he
Speaker 1: realized that the man on the truck wore something like
Speaker 1: a suit of long underwear made of improbable black fir
Speaker 1: sprinkled with tiny red spots. What are you doing to
Speaker 1: the stop light. We'd be demanded. The amber light quit
Speaker 1: blinking without the expected electrical display. Sinuous as beheaded snakes,
Speaker 1: The wires and cables supporting the traffic signal fell into
Speaker 1: the street. The unusual man pocketed his cutting tool, a long,
Speaker 1: thin tube, and lowered the stoplight to the truck. He
Speaker 1: looked at Wedby. The corner street lamp reacted upon his
Speaker 1: eyes like a flashlight thrown on a tom cat in
Speaker 1: an alley. The eyes gleamed green. Weedby's whistle arked to
Speaker 1: the end of the chain and clanked against his metal buttons.
Speaker 1: A block away, on Center Street, a heavy truck roared
Speaker 1: through the business section. The bell of a switch engine
Speaker 1: tolled near the freight depot, and a small dog barked
Speaker 1: suddenly at the obscured sky. I am promoting you to
Speaker 1: Captain replace Hanks. Who I am demoting? The figure on
Speaker 1: the truck, announced Chief Grindstaff. We'd be wondered. The Chief
Speaker 1: of police glared down the patrolman. He hooked a bright
Speaker 1: metal globe to the stoplight, lifted it in one hand,
Speaker 1: and jumped, landing lightly on the pavement. Put this in
Speaker 1: the mobile unit, he said. The truck. I evil. Huh, sure, Chief,
Speaker 1: we'd be said. He tucked his nightstick under his arm
Speaker 1: and prepared to accept a heavy load. Tense muscles almost
Speaker 1: felled him. When the signal proved a weigh not more
Speaker 1: than one pound. Chief Grindstaff opened the doors in the
Speaker 1: rear of the truck, releasing a faint odor of stale bread.
Speaker 1: The truck was empty. We'd be deposited the almost weightless burden.
Speaker 1: The Chief looked him in the eye. I am promoting
Speaker 1: you to captain, he repeated. You will replace Hanks, who
Speaker 1: I am demoting. Thanks, Chief, we'd be exalted. You know
Speaker 1: Hanks didn't treat me fair that time. I yes, I
Speaker 1: know all about that. The Chief interposed, Go bring the
Speaker 1: postage box and place it in the truck. The witch,
Speaker 1: Oh you mean the mail box. Weedby walked across the
Speaker 1: street to the square green box with the rounded metal top.
Speaker 1: Another of the globes had been attached to the mail box,
Speaker 1: and the legs had been burned loose from the concrete sidewalk. Confidently,
Speaker 1: Weedby lifted the like object, carried it to the truck,
Speaker 1: and deposited it inside. Bleacher's there, said Chief Grindstaff, what
Speaker 1: you say, Chief stands there, No stand there. Patrolman Weedby
Speaker 1: stood by the back of the truck. Chief Grindstaff placed
Speaker 1: a device like an atomizer under Weedby's nose and released
Speaker 1: the spray. Miss Betsy Tap awoke after not more than
Speaker 1: one hour of fitful sleep. The door to the garage
Speaker 1: apartment shook under the tattoo of a heavy fist. Miss
Speaker 1: TAP's heart thudded somewhere inside her thirty eight inch bosom.
Speaker 1: She lay rigid in darkness, penetrated only by the glimmer
Speaker 1: of a distant street light. The knocking ceased. Boards creaked
Speaker 1: on the platform outside the door. A face appeared at
Speaker 1: the window, a face in complete shadow except for two
Speaker 1: eyes that glowed with greenish light. Miss Tap, unaware of
Speaker 1: the disarray of her nightgown, sat upright. The alarm clock
Speaker 1: on the floor by the bed, clacked in the stillness.
Speaker 1: The tap in the kitchen cubicle dripped. Timbers contracting in
Speaker 1: the cool of early morning, popped faintly. I need to
Speaker 1: marry you, the face said, I was wrong to night.
Speaker 1: Forgive me. Fred. Miss Tap gasped, in sudden joy, opened
Speaker 1: the portal. Fred said, wrenching metal curlers from her permanently
Speaker 1: waved hair. Miss Tap bounded to the door. She released
Speaker 1: the catch and threw herself at the figure on the landing.
Speaker 1: Fred purred, I want to marry you. I was wrong tonight.
Speaker 1: Forgive me, Oh Fred, Miss Tap sighed, I knew you'd
Speaker 1: come back. You just had too much to drink. I
Speaker 1: forgive you. Fred. Well, yes, bring your ray on crape
Speaker 1: with tall tucking what Fred, bring your garb, your clothing? Hurry,
Speaker 1: Miss Tap skillfully fought a blush. Oh Fred, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I'll be dressed in a minute. Fred slowly stated, I
Speaker 1: want to marry you. I was wrong tonight. Forgive me.
Speaker 1: He walked into the apartment and rapidly gathered and rolled
Speaker 1: together the dress and undergarments scattered on and about the chair.
Speaker 1: He stuffed the spike, heeled shoes into pockets on his
Speaker 1: black furs suit, and lifted Miss Tap in his arms.
Speaker 1: We're eloping, Miss Tap sighed, as Fred carried her down
Speaker 1: the outside stairs. A Honey Chilly Bakery truck with threear
Speaker 1: doors open waited in the driveway. Fred tossed the roll
Speaker 1: of clothing and the slippers into the truck and swiftly
Speaker 1: sprayed miss tap. An unearthly glow permeated the bedroom and
Speaker 1: cast the black shadows of heavy from against the faded
Speaker 1: paper walls. Within the glow, two dots of green flickered.
Speaker 1: The Reverend Enus Shackleford dropped on creaking knees and bowed
Speaker 1: his grizzled head. A voice said, well done, good and
Speaker 1: faithful servant, Arise and follow me, Lord, said Reverend Shackleford,
Speaker 1: I have served THEE faithfully all the days of my life.
Speaker 1: Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Remember also, yes,
Speaker 1: well done, good and faithful servant, Arise and follow me.
Speaker 1: Shackleford stood on tottering old legs, His night shirt hung
Speaker 1: below his knees. Horrified, shock blanched his lined face. Blasphemer,
Speaker 1: he cried, false prophet, get THEE behind me, Satan. The
Speaker 1: glow danced and faded. A towering black shape pointed a
Speaker 1: bent rod. The rod hissed. The Reverend Shackleford staggered against
Speaker 1: a small table, dragging it with him to the floor.
Speaker 1: He lay still, with one gnarled old hand on a
Speaker 1: large golden edged book that had fallen from the table.
Speaker 1: You're fired, the man in the dream said, over and over,
Speaker 1: Calvin c Kerr rolled off the half bed, struck the floor,
Speaker 1: and awoke. First time I've fallen out of bed in years.
Speaker 1: He groaned. His shaking hand, fumbled with the switch and
Speaker 1: succeeded in turning on the lamp. Missus Calvin c Kerr
Speaker 1: sprawled on her back in the other bed and snored.
Speaker 1: You and your fifteen thousand dollar house, Kerr muttered. He
Speaker 1: combed his thinning hair with his fingers. You and your
Speaker 1: sterling silver, You and your chosen pattern, your service for
Speaker 1: eight How far do you think fifty four dollars a
Speaker 1: week will go? With twelve gage shells, three and a
Speaker 1: quarter of box. Green eyes glittered beside the frilly dressing table.
Speaker 1: The man standing there said, I'm not igniting you. I'm
Speaker 1: giving you a bonus for your fine work, enough currency
Speaker 1: to pay the loan on this house. You'll be making
Speaker 1: two hundred per week this fall. I'll take you hunting
Speaker 1: at my place in the country. Boss Kerr mumbled, I mean,
Speaker 1: mister Darmond. Put on your clothing. The boss said, I'll
Speaker 1: show you your new office. You may have a secretary. Also,
Speaker 1: I'm not firing you. I'm giving you a bonus. Kerr
Speaker 1: sat gasping on the floor. That's great, boss, he exclaimed,
Speaker 1: I thought I did an extra special job on the
Speaker 1: plastic's mill designed. It'll mean a lot to the company.
Speaker 1: We yes dress quickly. Kerr threw off his pajamas and
Speaker 1: started stuffing arms and legs into his clothes. Missus Kerr
Speaker 1: opened her eyes and squeaked like a dying rabbit. The
Speaker 1: bent rod in the Boss's hand hissed, and Missus Kerr
Speaker 1: stopped squeaking. With tie flapping shirt, unbuttoned, shoes unlaced, Kerr
Speaker 1: followed the Boss through the living room and down the
Speaker 1: flagstone walked to the street. The Boss opened the doors
Speaker 1: on the Honey Chilly Bakery truck and said, in here,
Speaker 1: Missus Jane Hupwrick dropped her mop erveric coast legs trotted
Speaker 1: across the wet lobby of the Jordan Building, and her flabby,
Speaker 1: fat arms reached for the tall man with bright eyes
Speaker 1: who stood near the elevators. It's me, mam, the man cried, Matt.
Speaker 1: Missus Hupwrick cried, Matt, Baby, I got a full pardon, ma'am,
Speaker 1: Matt said, stroking her tangled white hair right from the
Speaker 1: ruling state official. You won't have to scrub floors any more.
Speaker 1: I'm going straight, mom. I'm a good mechanic now. They
Speaker 1: learned me a lot in the enclosure. Come on, I
Speaker 1: gotta use truck outside. I bought cheap missus Huppwrick and
Speaker 1: Son walked through the oddly twisted doors of the Jordan
Speaker 1: Building and into the gray twilight that awaited dawn. The
Speaker 1: Honey Chilly Bakery truck waited too. Garry Absten pedaled his
Speaker 1: bicycle against the flow of cars carrying day shift workers
Speaker 1: through the half light. He whirled into Walnut Street, twisted
Speaker 1: a fresh copy of The Morning Herald into a fiendishly
Speaker 1: clever knot, and hurled it in the general direction of
Speaker 1: a front porch that flashed past on his right. Never slowing,
Speaker 1: Gary threw the next paper entirely across the street. He
Speaker 1: chuckled as it cleared a picket fence. Bang bang. He
Speaker 1: blurted his red shirt with a picture of a mounted
Speaker 1: cowboy on the back, ballooned in the early morning breeze. Whoa,
Speaker 1: Gary roared. He stopped, held the bicycle upright with one
Speaker 1: foot on the pavement. A tall, lanky, slightly bow legged
Speaker 1: man with squinting, luminous green eyes stood on the sidewalk.
Speaker 1: Gary looked at the man. The newspapers fluttered to the parkway.
Speaker 1: The bicycle clattered in the street. Howdy Pardner, the tall
Speaker 1: man said, the rustlers are heading for the plateau. We'll
Speaker 1: take the short gash and head him off at the canyon,
Speaker 1: Ramrod Jones. Gary chirped, here's the truck I haul quiz
Speaker 1: Kid the IQ horse in. Let's get after the rustlers.
Speaker 1: Jones said, Gee, I've seen all your pictures, Ramrod said,
Speaker 1: silver City Raiders, Rustlers of Silver City, Silver City Rustlers.
Speaker 1: The Great Cowboy lifted the newsboy into the Honey Chilly truck.
Speaker 1: Pink and rose clouds drifted through a brightening sky as
Speaker 1: the Honey Chilly Bakery truck careened along a narrow road.
Speaker 1: Badly in need of rock and grating from the road,
Speaker 1: the truck rattled into a rutted track through dewy woods
Speaker 1: and skidded swaying to a stop at the side of
Speaker 1: a long, low, grassy hill. The tall creature, dressed in
Speaker 1: black red spotted fur, stepped from the cab and opening
Speaker 1: appeared in the hillside. Four machines, dull metal eggs, balancing
Speaker 1: on single tractor treads, rolled silently through the opening. Jointed
Speaker 1: steel arms darted from recesses in the eggs. One machine
Speaker 1: opened the truck doors. The creature walked up a ramp
Speaker 1: inside the hill and entered a shimmering metallic compartment, greeting
Speaker 1: ze O, I have returned. EO, who wore a suit
Speaker 1: of white fur, hummed, none too, zoon Zah, we miscalculated dawn.
Speaker 1: What success an excellent group, Za said. He stretched and
Speaker 1: reclined on a transparent slab. The servants are unloading the vehicle.
Speaker 1: I captured a young male, a mature male, an aged male,
Speaker 1: some sort of official or guardian male, a mature female,
Speaker 1: and an aged female. Let's view them, EO said, you
Speaker 1: can rest after we're away. The tall creatures entered a
Speaker 1: second compartment, furnished with a large table upon which the
Speaker 1: silent machines deposited inanimate bodies. Extraordinary, said EO, staring at
Speaker 1: Miss Betsey's tap. These things have reached a peak of
Speaker 1: mammalian development. Her correct garments are in this bundle, Za explained.
Speaker 1: The servants are bringing the properties now. I secured a
Speaker 1: signaling device and a box used in an extremely primitive
Speaker 1: system of communication. Also, I brought the quaint muscle powered
Speaker 1: via ridden by the young male. The photograph should be
Speaker 1: sufficient for other details. Any difficulty, e O asked. As
Speaker 1: the machines dumped patrolmen, we'd be on the table. The
Speaker 1: language was the greatest obstacle, Zo said. The same word
Speaker 1: has many different meanings, for many different words have the
Speaker 1: same meaning. Rather crude, did you use bait or force bait?
Speaker 1: Zo said, It's much simpler. This is a completely selfish,
Speaker 1: ecocentric breed. Most of them have one thing in mind
Speaker 1: which they want solely for themselves. Their sending power is weak,
Speaker 1: but that one selfish desire is powerful enough to be received.
Speaker 1: I merely dangled it before their minds, and they were hooked.
Speaker 1: He tapped the foot of Calvin C. Kerr. I killed
Speaker 1: this one's female companion. She awoke and screamed. The males
Speaker 1: and females pare off and live together for years. Strange custom.
Speaker 1: Breeding seems to be only one reason for the mutual bondage.
Speaker 1: Zo pointed to missus Jane Huppwrick. The old female may
Speaker 1: be an exception to the selfishness. I couldn't decide whether
Speaker 1: she most wanted to be relieved of cleaning floors by
Speaker 1: primitive methods, or wanted her male offspring to be released
Speaker 1: from some structure where he had been secured. For reasons
Speaker 1: I couldn't determine. The machines deposited the Reverend Enus Shackelford
Speaker 1: and then lined up in a precise row. This thing
Speaker 1: is dead, EO, buzzed Zo shook his head. That was
Speaker 1: the only genuine exception. He confused me till I forgot
Speaker 1: his proper clothing. But some can be devised from the
Speaker 1: other samples. He seems to have been a witch doctor.
Speaker 1: His mind was cluttered with myths and superstitions from an
Speaker 1: ancient text. I don't understand him, EO, and I wish
Speaker 1: I had time to study the phenomena. He was different
Speaker 1: from the others. He believed in something and considered himself
Speaker 1: lowly and humble. The minds of the others were in
Speaker 1: constant confusion. They believed actually and nothing. Somehow he saw me, EO,
Speaker 1: I was forced to kill him. No harm done, EO decided.
Speaker 1: He faced the machines and said, destroy the vehicle, draw
Speaker 1: in the camouflage net, prepare for take off. The machines
Speaker 1: rolled from the compartment, and the two creatures followed seal it.
Speaker 1: EO said, I'll plasticize them when we're in space. Fine work, Za,
Speaker 1: I can see the plaque now mounted by EO. Collected
Speaker 1: by ZA typical street corner on planet Earth, Star Soul.
Speaker 1: The directors will surely give the group a prominent place
Speaker 1: in the Galactic Museum of Natural History. Yes, Za agreed,
Speaker 1: glancing back at the Reverend Enus Shackelford. This planet was
Speaker 1: a fortunate stop over the end end of stopover planet