5,271,009

3

And he drifted alone in space, a martyr, misunderstood, a victim of cruel injustice.

He was still chained to what had once been the wall of Cell 5, Block 27, Tier 100, Wing 9 of the Callisto Penetentiary until that unexpected gamma explosion had torn the vast fortress dungeon — vaster than the Chateau d’lf — apart. That explosion, he realized, had been detonated by the Grssh.

His assets were his convict clothes, a helmet, one cylinder of O2, his grim fury at the injustice that had been done him, and his knowledge of the secret of how the Grssh could be defeated in their maniacal quest for solar domination.

The Grssh, ghastly marauders from Omicron Ceti, space-degenerates, space-imperialists, cold-blooded, roachlike, depending for their metabolism upon the psychotic horrors which they engendered in man through mental control and upon which they fed, were rapidly conquering the Galaxy. They were irresistible, for they possessed the power of simul-kinesis… the ability to be in two places at the same time.

Against the vault of space, a dot of light moved, slowly, like a stricken meteor. It was a rescue ship, Halsyon realized, combing space for survivors of the explosion. He wondered whether the light of Jupiter, flooding him, with rusty radiation, would make him visible to the rescuers. He wondered whether he wanted to be rescued at all.

“It will be the same thing again,” Halsyon grated. “Falsely accused by Balorsen’s robot… Falsely convicted by Judith’s father… Repudiated by Judith herself… Jailed again… and finally destroyed by the Grssh as they destroy the last strongholds of Terra. Why not die now?”

But even as he spoke he realized he lied. He was the one man with the one secret that could save the earth and the very Galaxy itself. He must survive. He must fight.

With indomitable will, Halsyon struggled to his feet, fighting the constricting chains. With the steely strength he had developed as a penal laborer in the Grssh mines, he waved and shouted. The spot of light did not alter its slow course away from him. Then he saw the metal link of one of his chains strike a brilliant spark from the flinty rock. He resolved on a desperate expedient to signal the rescue ship.

He detached the plasti-hose of the O₂ tank from his plasti-helmet, and permitted the stream of life-giving oxygen to spurt into space. With trembling hands, he gathered the links of his leg chain and dashed them against the rock under the oxygen. A spark glowed. The oxygen caught fire. A brilliant geyser of white flame spurted for half a mile into space.

Husbanding the last oxygen in his plasti-helmet, Halsyon twisted the cylinder slowly, sweeping the fen of flame back and forth in a last desperate bid for rescue. The atmosphere in his plasti-helmet grew foul and acrid. His ears roared. His sight flickered. At last his senses failed…

When he recovered consciousness he was in a plasti-cot in the cabin of a starship. The high frequency whine* told him they were in overdrive. He opened his eyes. Balorsen stood before the plasti-cot, and Balorsen’s robot, and High Judge Field, and his daughter Judith. Judith was weeping. The robot was in magnetic clamps and winced as General Balorsen lashed him again and again with a nuclear whip.

“Par bleu! God damn! the robot grated. “It is true I framed Jeff Halsyon. Ouch! Flux de bouche. I was the space-pirate who space-hijacked the space-freighter. God damn. Ouch! The bartender in the Spaceman’s Saloon was my accomplice. When Jackson wrecked the heli-cab I went to the spacegarage and X-beamed the sonic before Tantial murdered O’Leary. Aux armes. Jeez. Ouch!”

“There you have the confession, Halsyon,” General Balorsen grated. He was tall, gaunt, bitter. “By God. Ars est celare artem. You are innocent.”

“I falsely condemned you, old faithful,” Judge Field grated. He was tall, gaunt, bitter. “Can you forgive this God damn fool? We apologize.”

“We wronged you, Jeff,” Judith whispered. “How can you ever forgive us? Say you forgive us.” /

“You’re sorry for the way you treated me,” Halsyon grated. “But it’s only because on account of a mysterious mutant strain in my makeup which k makes me different, I’m the one man with the one secret that can save the galaxy from the Grssh.”

“No, no, no, old gin & tonic,” General Balorsen pleaded. “God damn. Don’t hold grudges. Save us from the Grssh.”

“Save us, faute de mieux, save us, Jeff,” Judge Field put in.

“Oh please, Jeff, please,” Judith whispered. s The Grssh are everywhere and coming closer. We re taking you to the U. N. You must tell the council how to stop the Grssh from being in two places at the same time.”

The starship came out of overdrive and landed on Governor’s Island where a delegation of world dignitaries met the ship and rushed Halsyon to the General Assembly room of the U. N. They drove down the strangely rounded streets lined with strangely rounded buildings which had all been altered when it was discovered that the Grssh always appeared in corners. There was not a corner or an angle left on all Terra.

The General Assembly was filled when Halsyon eptered. Hundreds of tall, gaunt, bitter diplomats applauded as he made his way to the podium, still dressed in convict plasti-clothes. Halsyon looked around resentfully.

“Yes,” he grated. “You all applaud. You all revere me now; but where were you when I was framed, convicted and jailed… an innocent man? Where were you then?”

“Halsyon, forgive us. God damn!” they shouted.

“I will not forgive you. I suffered for seventeen years in the Grssh mines. Now it’s your turn to suffer.”

“Please, Halsyon!”

“Where are your experts? Your professors? Your specialists? Where are your electronic calculators? Your super thinking machines? Let them solve the mystery of the Grssh.”

“They can't, old whiskey & sour. Entre nous. They're stopped cold. Save us, Halsyon. Auf wiedersehen.”

Judith took his arm. “Not for my sake, Jeff," she whispered. “I know you’ll never forgive me for the injustice I did you. But for the sake of all the other girls in the Galaxy who love and are loved.”

“I still love you, Judy.”

“I’ve always loved you, Jeff.”

“Okay. I didn’t want to tell them but you talked me into it.” Halsyon raised his hand for silence. In the ensuing hush he spoke softly. “The secret is this, gentlemen. Your calculators have assembled data to ferret out the secret weakness of the Grssh. They have not been able to find any. Consequently you have assumed that the Grssh have no secret weakness. That was a wrong assumption.”

The General Assembly held its breath.

“Here is the secret. You should have assumed there was something tvrong with the calculators.”

“God damn!” the General Assembly cried. “Why didn’t we think of that? God damn!”

“And I know what's wrong!”

There was a deathlike hush.

The door of the General Assembly burst open. Professor Deathhush, tall, gaunt, bitter, tottered in. “Eureka!” he cried. “I’ve found it. God damn. Something wrong with the thinking machines. Three comes after two, not before.”

The General Assembly exploded into cheers. Professor Deathhush was seized and pummeled happily. Bottles were opened. His health was drunk. Several medals were pinned on him. He beamed.

“Hey!” Halsyon called. “That was my secret. I’m the one man who on account of a mysterious mutant strain in my — ”

The ticker-tape began pounding: attention, attention, hushenkov in moscow reports defect in calculators. 3 comes after 2 and not before. repeat: after not before.

A postman ran in. “Special delivery from Doctor Lifehush at Caltech. Says something’s wrong with the thinking machines. Three comes after two, not before.”

A telegraph boy delivered a wire: thinking machine wrong stop two comes before three stop not after stop. von dreamhush, heidelberg.

A bottle was thrown through the window. It crashed on the floor revealing a bit of paper on which was scrawled: Did you ever stopp to thinc that maibe the nomber 1 comes after 2 insted of in front? Down with the Grish. Mr. Hush-Hush.

Halsyon buttonholed Judge Field. “What the hell is this?” he demanded. “I thought I was the one man in the world with that secret.”

“HimmelHerrGott!” Judge Field replied impatiently. “You are all alike. You dream you are the one men with a secret, the one men with a wrong, the one men with an injustice, with a girl, without a girl, with or without anything. God damn. You bore me, you one-man dreamers. Get lost.”

Judge Field shouldered him aside. General Balorsen shoved him back. Judith Field ignored him. Balorsen ’s robot sneakily tripped him into a corner where a Grssh, also in a corner on Neptune, appeared, did something unspeakable to Halsyon and disappeared with him, screaming, jerking and sobbing into a horror that was a delicious meal for the Grssh but an agonizing nightmare for Halsyon…