Tillie Read online

to chirp, or a snake, or a fly buzzing,to make it seem like good old terra firma--but there was only theinterstellar silence and the absolute lack of vibration in the air andthe ship. And nearly two months of it, soaked into the marrow of ourbones.

  I for one would have welcomed a hit against the hull at that moment totake us out of ourselves and make us fight for our existence. Anythingexcept the silent impersonal inexorableness of the lonely universe.

  In ten more months our food would be exhausted. In two years our aircould no longer be renewed because the chemicals which renewed it wouldbe no good. Our water supply would last forever, with the system ofrecovery by distillation we had set up. But what is a year's foodsupply? If we tossed the tellecarbon out into the void and rode free itwould be hundreds of years before our ship again entered the solarsystem in its long ellipse. And if we kept the tellecarbon in the ship,in another week even that hope would be gone. We could never return!UNLESS we could regain control of the tellecarbon.

  Lahoma voiced the question that came to all our minds at the same time.

  "What could possibly be the cause of the change in the tellecarbon?" Andnone of us had an answer.

  But that was the key to our salvation. IF we could regain control of thetellecarbon we could at least return to Earth and give up our grandplans of exploration and discovery. Not a one of us would have beenunwilling to return to good old PU at that moment and stay there, livingour humdrum lives for the rest of our days!

  "We'd better get busy," I said, taking the initiative. "We must cut abit of the tellecarbon off the parent chunk and experiment with it. Wemust also keep constant check on our course to find out just whataccelerating force is now acting, and whether it changes any. And wemust all think of everything we can that might be the cause of thisrevolt of the tellecarbon."

  * * * * *

  Suiting my actions to my words I got a wood chisel out of the toollocker and went into the booth, going to work on the missing link. To mysurprise I had no trouble obtaining a thin slice of the silvery stuff.It lay in my hand, apparently as tame as any other substance.

  I carried it out of the booth and laid it on the desk. The four of usstood looking at it. Suddenly it jumped forward and plastered itselfagainst the forward porthole frame. We felt a slight lurch. The ship wasgaining speed!

  What had happened? In all our experience with the stuff it worked onlyby thought. It had jumped forward, and the lurch of the ship told usthat the parent chunk as well as the sliver had acted together! Only onething could account for that. Some intelligence was controlling it. Someintelligence so powerful that it could reach across space and blank outour control completely, taking over the direction of our ship!

  We crowded around the forward porthole and peered out. Somewhere, farahead, was our destination. And at our destination some creature of vastmental power was aware of our presence. Was forcing us to come to it. Wewere all aware of that without speaking.

  Suddenly Lahoma began to laugh hysterically. The insane noise shatteredthe silence with painful abruptness. I grabbed her by the shoulders andshook her. Her laughter changed to sobs.

  And now the acceleration of the ship had become so great that it washard to stand erect. The rubber soles of our shoes was all that kept usfrom sliding to the stern of the ship.

  Lahoma got hold of herself by a tremendous effort, and shook off my armwhich I had placed around her to keep her from falling.

  "Look," she said to us, "maybe there isn't any super intelligencesucking us into outer space. Maybe it's our own thoughts. I don't knowhow the rest of you have been feeling, but for several days now I havehad a fear of outer space that has been growing simply terrific.Something like the fear of falling as you look over the edge of a cliff.Could that have anything to do with what's going on?"

  "Maybe that's it!" Jud exclaimed. "We don't know half enough about thisstuff. It could be that such a fear would make it do the very thingfeared."

  As if in answer, the ship stopped accelerating.

  "That MUST be it!" Mallory shouted.

  "We have a clue I hadn't thought of," Jud added. Looking at me he wenton, "When you think of a chicken with its head being wrung, what thoughtgoes with it?"

  "Why," I hesitated, "I think of a swell chicken dinner."

  "I think of how awful it is to kill!" Jud exclaimed. "It doesn't reactto the idea but to the emotion."

  We experimented from that basis--without result. The tellecarbon was incomplete revolt. It paid no attention to us.

  * * * * *

  Two more days and we had to admit we were licked. Jud voiced what we hadall begun to suspect.

  "The tellecarbon must have developed a mind of its own," he saiddispiritedly. "We should have taken that into account. It reacts tothought, so undoubtedly it has a few of the properties of the mind. Whatwe must try to do now is reason with it--try to find out why it hasbecome uncooperative. Let's all concentrate on that question and directit at the tellecarbon and see what happens."

  We tried it. Nothing seemed to happen for quite a while.

  "An idea just came into my mind," Lahoma said suddenly. "It's absurd. Ijust thought, 'Suppose there is another chunk of tellecarbon out hereand our chunk is lonesome?' The way it has been cruising around the pastfew days and ignoring us, it might have sensed another piece like it outhere and be looking for it!"

  "That's funny," I spoke up. "The thought just occurred to me too!"

  "Me too," Mallory exclaimed.

  "Then it must be so," Jud said. "Obviously the thought came from thetellecarbon in reply to our question!"

  "But how can it think?" Mallory questioned. "After all it wasprecipitated as a fine film, and you can quash it and even slice it upwithout any trouble."

  "In science," Jud said, "you don't try to argue away facts. You acceptthe facts and go on from there."

  "Let's go on from there, then," Lahoma spoke up. "Tillie--we might aswell call her that now that we know she, the tellecarbon, you know,thinks--is looking for a companion. We might as well help her look."

  "How do you know it isn't a him?" I asked.

  "Oh, just a feeling," Lahoma replied.

  "Oh, fine," Mallory groaned. "We should have suspected it was a femalethe way it started galivanting all over the solar system."

  "So that's the way you think of us females, Mallory!" Lahoma exclaimedangrily.

  I smiled to myself. A few more remarks like that from Mallory and Iwould have the field to myself. IF we ever got back to the Earth, whichI doubted. Secretly I agreed with Mallory. If the chunk of tellecarbonwas a female we had much less of a chance than if it were a male or anit.

  Jud went to the telescope and started looking for a stray chunk ofsilvery looking stuff. An air of semi-hopelessness began to settle overall of us. The chances of finding such a thing were extremely slim.

  Almost at once, though, Jud let out an exclamation of triumph. We rushedto his side and took turns looking into the telescope. There, less thana quarter of a mile ahead of us, was something that flashed with silverybrilliance like the belly of a trout in a clear stream. We followed theflashes and soon figured out that Tillie was not searching for hercompanion, but had found him long ago and was, female like, pursuinghim!

  * * * * *

  When the distance between them shortened, the silvery chunk ahead of usspeeded up. When the distance between us increased, it slowed downagain. It was obviously enjoying the chase.

  "This could go on forever," Mallory groaned, sticking his foot in hismouth again.

  Lahoma ignored the opening.

  "It's obvious what we must do," she said, sounding quite capable."Tillie needs a little advice on love making. I'm quite sure that Oscar,or whatever his name is, would pursue Tillie if she stopped CHASING him.We've got to convince her of that and get her to try it."

  Evidently she didn't need convincing. She got the idea direct fromLahoma and acted on it. The silver flas
h ahead swung away. Half an hourlater it showed up in the stern telescope.

  This seemed to delight Tillie, the tellecarbon, no end. She cavortedabout like a drunken puppy, giving us all a bad case of sea sickness.

  "Now," Lahoma gasped. "We must coax Tillie into setting us back onEarth. I don't know how you men feel, but I would be quite willing toturn Tillie loose so she could join her mate--once we were safely home."

  "But if we did that we wouldn't be able to explore the Solar System!"Jud exclaimed.

  "And if we don't we'll probably wind up flattened against some asteroidas soon as Tillie decides to break out of her shell," Lahoma snapped.

  I blanched at the