z <: m to in 30 $ 171 r *i§ SCIENCE FICTION NOVEMBER 195 354 ANC T3 SECRETS ENTRUSTED TO A FEW THERE ARE some things that can not be generally told— things you ought to know. Great truths are dangerous to some— but factors for personal power and accomplishment in the hands oi those who under- stand them. Behind the tales of the miracles and mysteries of the ancients, lie centuries of their secret probing into nature's laws— their amazing discoveries of the hidden processes of man's mind, and the mastery of life's problems. Once shrouded in mystery to avoid their destruction by mass fear and ignorance, these facts remain a useful heritage for the thousands of men and women who privately use them in their homes today. THIS FREE BOOK The Bosicrncians (not a religious organisation), an age-old brotherhood oHearning, have preserved this secret wisdom In their archives for centuries. They now invito you to share the practical helpfulness of th&ir teaching's* Write today for a free copy cl the) hook, "The Mastery oi Lite/' Within its pages may lie a new lite oi opportu- nity for you, AckLxess: Scribe A.Y.L* <3Be ROSICRUCIANS (AMORC) SAN JOSE CALIFORNIA U. S- A. Scribe: A.Y/L. The Rosicrucians (AMORC) San Jose, California, U. S. A, Please send copy of sealed booklet, "The Mastery of Life," which 1 5»haH read as directed. Mam* Ill J rz- 1*1*' §M A Picture yourself going pioces *J- m ^1 Vou'v* don* H ©f*e** Call U dayiireariilna; If you like, taut you've sect* yourself in « Hjhck job — saving «»&» &ad making d** cUUnt - driving off U * smart uw car -* faying your family I fine home Th<***s nothing wror* w*tK decama. B«t fern about maims i^em tome traat Yw <** 4* */, f/ yo«V« witting fa toy' took around you. The men who are soina} pl*m are tit: Smnt4 jwea. Ti>ey*ve featmed I I SMARTEST THINS HE 0B. WD 1 § "I nRfHd th*t ttw ttalma" «»& b»tf t&ft i • betlw Joba. That** vtiD X <5*ri0fd to Uk» , | u h C. ft cwrw. nraJIttia with I. C. S. f ww otift of ib« imirtail thin** t «*#r 4*4. ■ ■ %h$ pe*itios « ?Umt SfltiOflw I fcold * ■ t«fcj U lattrir 40* to the 'know-how* I dorlr-* (rn my I, a «. miv. I- C. 8. " | oso hfcji mj du who win c*« and higher pay. It'a the men witAovt vainly mhm dfeaift* wswr come tme. Waal are yov 9*ta« to 46 about it? Jutt wait and *bb? If y**t re*Hy vamt toi»a:4*4 t ygo Raa set the training y*m aeed ©r try- ing lit borne In your spare l)M»e. Inietx*tJc*i»i Cwrespon*oice Schools offer you a cntitae In Just about any field you t5tej> if yoo mot feftpJacM) FREE BOOK f ^niaw 4* fe*6*tf." S* f«fM F««lw)tf *m WflHa> wafl« WwwW i %•• Ste p | iy M«n a4aw «f wrM**. r©*a*f sh* vdWaaV AfewliMy IrM. 5*ni co«jwb b«t»w 6 IHTEfiNATIONAL GORRESPObDENGE SCHOOLS 3 ART □ C*nmwti«l M Q wacatir* MA " 8k*fe*tt&4 (MtaDnini rnrtlon UuitnliM OAe»n3t>»«Ltt«hiK)t a Avto-tht Tw*nkW a MW ftrty IAiUm D Matf-fin tatln«» AVIATION D AwMtitiUl IfUtoMttUi M C3 Wipim Onrtiw laiLotMa 0»M.fr»M(W D CiwufiM Hi «w« ^rpNWhrww *SW**"kUnt ■OX 13S*Wi,CJUHTOH t t KNNA. «lM»iifprt>ftfhtT^ QCt#m* ma*fa8wy OlWhttwUa aCoauMRla* M CCHAMkCAL D MwftinlcpV C**h»«*a* gfwlia'/iai &«to*wn< totfwtrW &wryrii» □ W*Jun^ tinfliat OM^kwPit*raRtk« OMtelfft p lirfwlf « tettamwrtrfwi □ li-tim. Ihoo UncocOai D *•«&>■ «aa»f W» UM^U«f|CW**fl« D tt*a Trwtwaa-HfliHi pj O Shtti mM fbfi o» 8«tMl-ala*ft DaaaieClaTaaifeKW gsssw D art CawJ«Qflin« »V»»Cff 0#w/A«W aOmiflWn*.* O CwtiMH PaoJi: AocMdtut gAccoen»*i St*;f-w* temwrtmt* D P»rw*Mi«MJU^)MwiPW )Atfnrtttkw tvwl fcke-fU r«f«fwai *M aiAltfKMO D Lo»»»ti»» tftdnaac QWf Brikw DC******* Q TwW* fatfrtMwat DCotte* " mr*t www . MOMaTmnt ttr- 4Mt- Jtf«tt« heart. AH la. jm l Hua taiwHiTimtt at tta> *aa<4 tanaa. ' C wwftm rnkfaata »wW Caawitoa, lit, fcHrtwav GaaaM NOVEMBER, 1953 Vol. 7, No. 2 GaUxy SCIENCE FICTION AIL ORIGINAL STORIES * NO REPRINTS! CONTENTS NOVELETS PAGE KEEP YOUR SHAPE by Robert Sheckfey 5 THE BOOK by Mcboel Shaara 44 SHORT STORIES MR. PRESIDENT by Stephen Arr 22 UNBEGOTTEN CHILD by Winston Marks 67 CLEAN BREAK by Roger Dee 82 BOOK-LENGTH SERIAL-lnttallifl«irt 2 THE CAVES OF STEEL by Isaac Aaimv 98 SCIENCE DEPARTMENT FOR YOUR INFORMATION by Willy Uy 35 FEATURES EDITOR'S PAGE by H. L Gold 3 FORECAST 66. GALAXY'S FIVE STAR SHEIF by Groff Conktin 77 Cover by EMSH Showing PLOTTING ROOM OF EARTH CENTER ■*■ ROBERT CUINN, Publisher H. L GOtO, E^tor WIUY LEY. ScSenc* (Hfor EVELYN PAIGE, Asftittonf Editor W. I. VAN D6R POIl, Art Director JOAN Do MARIO, Production Manager GALAXY Science ficthm a published monthly by Galaxy Publishing Corporation- Main o*ces: 421 Hudson Street, New York 14, N. Y. 35c pet copy- Subscriptions: (12 copies) #$.50 per Ear in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South and Central America and U.S. Possessions. uwhtrt $4.50. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office, New York, N, Y. Copyright, 1953, by Galaxy Publishing Corporation. Robert Guirm, president. All right*, includirig translation, reserved. All material subjoined »ust be accompanied bv self-addressed stamped envelopes. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. Ail stories printed in this magazine a« fiction, and any sitrjiUrirjr between characters and acmat person* il coincidental. MnM In tho U.S.A. by the Suinn Co*, Inc. TItl* H*> U.S. P#*. Off. THAT'S LIFE, ETC. VjfTlTH a little practice, any- ** one can be a cliche expert. There is a choice of diplomas: either a look of pained contempt or amused pity. Some sophisti- cates own both. The ability to recognize a cliche and scorn it is a necessary passport to literate circles. Intolerance is justified, of course. Through incessant repe- tition, cliches become mere au- tomatic verbal responses to given stimuli. But there ought to be a post- graduate course, for few things are harder to manufacture than cliches. A successful cliche is (or was originally) the keenest view of a subject and the most concise way of expressing it. Psychology textbooks need chapters to state: What can't be cured must be endured; take it (an insult or hurt) whence it comes; sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me; that's life; go fight City Hall; Here today, gone tomorrow; into every life a little rain must fall; this, too, shall pass; every cloud has a silver lining. The trouble is not the content or phrasing of the clich£— except that, if done with extreme acute- niss and compression, the observation becomes easy to re- member and use. People are not likely to say; The tendency to dwell on past errors is an in- dication of emotional immaturity and must be rigorously checked by recognition of the fact that no amount of such regret can alter a prior experience. Not when the same lesson can be A put this clearly; Don't cry over spilled milk. Whoever first said It's not the heat; it's the humidity undoubt- edly made a first-rate scientific observation and did so with the word-economy of a Newton or, for that matter, a Shakespeare. The actual difference between a cliche and a potential one is purely subject matter. Many masterpieces of clarity and pithi- ness don't — well, make the grade because they're too specialized. A statement must be usable often and widely before it can qualify as a cliche. Remember Poe's "The Pur- loined Letter"? He showed that the best place to hide something is right out in full view, where if s sure to be overlooked. Well, a guaranteed way to take over an alien wprld is to inflict its knowledge on it in the form of cliches. Finding a startling truth in a brilliant new simplification THAT'S LIFE, ETC. is a lot easier than peeling the verdigris off an old one* When a statement that quali- fies in every way somehow fails to achieve clichedom in 400 years, I suppose it never will. I don't understand how Michel- angelo's Only work can eliminate the traces of work escaped. It was fortunate for me that it did — not having been deafened to his lesson, I was able to apply it to my writing and editing. This editorial you're reading, for ex- ample, is the fifth version I've written, Whatever you may think of it, it's clearer and more read- able than the first four, which is all Michelangelo was saying. There are two other entrants that I'm anxious to share, though I know they won't ever be petri- fied into standard speech. One is by the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes : Continuity with the past is not a duty; it is only a neces- sity. Any number of civilizations might have been saved from ex- tinction if they'd been relieved of mandatory veneration of the past Literally, there's no future in ancestor worship. Holmes's injunction also has considerable personal value. Un- due attachment to one's own past can be equally ritualistic and equally disastrous. As a possible clich€, his state- ment might, like Ontogeny re- capitulates phytogeny, have a very restricted currency. Certain- ly neither one fits broad daily needs. The same* of course, is true of Mankind ia just emerging from antiquity, which was said by Bernard Berenson, octogenarian philosopher and expert on Italian painting. "Oh, we are, are we?'* is a good healthy first reaction, "And how about all our scientific prog- ress? What other era in history can match it?" Exactly. No other era can . , . which is why many people, per- haps the majority, blame our cur- rent problems on science. But no blame is called for if it's true that mankind is just emerging from antiquity. Our discoveries are not at fault We primitively use them as big- ger and more destructive bat- lhtae, our bomb shelters are larger shields, and radioactivity and disease germs are only the present-day equivalent of plow- ing salt into the soil of Carthage so nothing may ever grow there again. - See what I mean? I needed all this room to explain the con- cept, A historian would devote a whole book to it, Berenson made the point in six words, — H* L. GOLD 4 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION Only a raw as incndtbry elastic as the Grom cavld have a single rvh ot wor; KEEP YOUR SHAPE By ROBOT SHfCKUY HhMtrofwi by VIDMEt P1D the Pilot slowed the ship almost to a stand- still, and peered anxious- ly at the green planet below. Even without instruments, there was no mistaking it Third from its sun, it was the only planet in this system capable of sustaining life. Peacefully it swam beneath its gauze of clouds. It looked very innocent And yet, twenty previous Grom ex- peditions had set out to prepare this planet for invasion: — and vanished utterly, without a word, Pid hesitated only a moment, before starting irrevocably down. There was no point in hovering and worrying. He and his two crewmen were as ready now as they would ever be. Their com- pact Displacers were stored in body pouches, inactive but ready. Pid wanted to say something KEEP YOUR SHAPE to his crew, but wasn't sure how to put it The crew waited. Ilg the Ra- dioman had sent the final, mes- sage to the Grom planet Ger the Detector read sixteen dials at once, and reported, "No sign of alien activity/' His body sur- faces flowed carelessly. NOTICING the flow, Pid knew what to say to his crew. Ever since they had left Grom, shape- discipline had been disgustingly lax. The Invasion Chief had warned him; but still, he had to do something about it. It was his duty, since lower castes such as Radiomen and Detectors were notoriously prone to Shapeless- ness. "A lot of hopes are resting on this expedition," he began slowly. "We're a long way from home now/* t Ger the Detector nodded. Ilg the Radioman flowed out of his prescribed shape and molded himself comfortably to a wall. "However/' Pid said sternly, "distance is no excuse for pro- miscuous Shapelessness" Ilg flowed hastily back into proper Radioman's shape. "Exotic forms will undoubt- edly be called for," Pid went on. "And for that we have a special dispensation. But remember— any shape not assumed strictly in the line of duty is a foul, lawless de- vice of The Shapeless One !" Ger's body surfaces abruptly stopped flowing. "That's all/' Pid said, and flowed into his controls. The ship started down, so smoothly co- ordinated that Pid felt a glow of pride. They were good workers, he decided. He just couldn't expect them to be as shape-conscious as a high- caste Pilot. Even the In- vasion Chief had told him that. "Rd," the Invasion Chief had said at their last interview, . "we need this planet desperately." "Yes, sir*" Pid had said, stand- ing at full attention, never quiv- ering from Optimum Pilot's Shape. "One of you," the Chief said heavily, "must get through and set up a Displacer near an atomic power source. The army will be standing by at this end, ready to step through." "We'll do it, sir," Pid said. "This expedition has to suc- ceed/' the Chief said, and his features blurred momentarily from sheer fatigue. "In strictest confidence, there's considerable unrest on Grom. The Miner caste is on strike, for instance. They want a new digging shape. Say the old one is inefficient." Pid looked properly indignant. The Mining Shape had been set down by the Ancients fifty thou- sand years ago, together with the GAIAXY SCIENCE FICTION KEEP YOUR SHAPE rest of the basic shapes. And now these upstarts wanted to change it! "That's not all," the Chief told him. '/We've uncovered a new Cult of Shapelessness. Picked up almost eight thousand Groin, and I don't know how many more we missed." Pid knew that Shapelessness was a lure of The Shapeless One, the greatest evil that the Grom mind could conceive of. But why, he wondered , did so many Grom fall for His lures? THE Chief guessed his ques- tion. "Fid," he sai