The Year When Stardust Fell Read online

  Chapter 9. _Judgment_

  There was snow. It covered the whole world beyond the hospital window.Its depth was frightening, and the walls seemed no barrier. It was asmuch inside as out, filling the room to the ceiling with a fluffy whitethat swirled and pulsed in waves before his eyes.

  Much later, when the pain softened and his vision cleared, he saw theonly real snow was that piled outside almost to the level of thefirst-story windows. Within the room, the outline of familiar objectsshowed clearly.

  In half-recovered consciousness he wondered impersonally about the dyingpain in his head and how he came to be where he was. He could rememberonly about a strange thing in the sky, and a great fear.

  Then it burst upon him in full recollection--the comet, the dust, thelaboratory. They had proved the dust that was in the comet's tail hadaccumulated in the metal surfaces of the failed engines. What more didthey need to prove the comet's responsibility?

  He slept, and when he awoke his father was there. "Hi, Son," ProfessorMaddox said.

  Ken smiled weakly. "Hi, Dad."

  Dr. Adams wouldn't let them talk much, and he didn't want Ken's fatherto tell him why he was there. He wanted Ken to dredge out of his ownmemories the circumstances of the attack.

  Ken said, "I've got to get out of here. Things must be getting behind atthe lab. Have you found anything new?"

  "Take it easy," his father said. "We've got a little better picture ofwhat we're up against. The dust is quite definitely from the comet'stail. It has a very large molecule, and is suspended in our atmospherein colloidal form. Its basis is a transuranic element, which is,however, only slightly radioactive. By volume, it is present in theamount of about one part in ten million, which is fairly heavyconcentration for an alien substance of that kind.

  "Perhaps the most important thing we've found is that it has a strongaffinity for metals, so that its accumulation on metallic surfaces ismuch higher than in the general atmosphere."

  "It would!" Ken said, with a vague attempt at humor. "Why couldn't ithave had an affinity for old rubber tires, or secondhand galoshes?

  "How late is it? Can I get up to the lab this afternoon?" Ken struggledto a sitting position. A gigantic pain shot through his head and downhis spinal column. He felt as if his head were encased in a cementblock. He fell back with a groan.

  "Don't try that again for a few days!" his father said severely. "You'renot going anywhere for quite a while. I have to go now, but your motherwill be in tonight. Maria will come, too. You do what the doctors andnurses tell you to!"

  "Dad--why am I here?" He moaned in agony of both spirit and body.

  "You had an accident," said Dr. Adams smoothly. "It will all come backto you and you'll soon be fine."

  Ken watched his father disappear through the doorway. He felt the stingof a needle in his arm and was aware the nurse was standing near. Hewanted to talk some more, but suddenly he was too tired to do anything.

  * * * * *

  It came to him in the middle of the night, like a dark, wild dream thatcould be only the utmost fantasy. He remembered the silent, shapelessfigures against the black wall of the old skating rink, and then he knewit wasn't a dream because he could remember clearly the words of JedTucker and his father. He could also remember Mr. Allen saying, "Wecan't let him go. Whoever he is, we've got to get him out of the way."

  He remembered the instant of crashing pain. Mr. Allen had struck withthe intent to kill him. Again, he wondered for a moment if it were notjust a nightmare. Mr. Allen, the town's leading attorney, and Mr.Tucker, the banker--what would they be doing, plotting robbery andkilling?

  In the morning he told his father about it. Professor Maddox could notbelieve it, either. "You must be mistaken, Ken," he protested. "Thesemen are two of our leading citizens. They're both on the Mayor's foodcommittee. You suffered a pretty terrible shock, and you'll have torealize the effects of it may be with you, and may upset your thinking,for quite a while."

  "Not about this! I know who it was. I recognized their voices in thedark. Jed Tucker admitted his identity when I called his name. Ifthere's anything gone from the warehouse, Sheriff Johnson will find itin their possession."

  The Sheriff had to wait for permission from Dr. Adams, but he camearound that afternoon, and was equally unbelieving. He advanced the samearguments Professor Maddox had used about the character of those Kenaccused.

  "These men will do something far worse, if you don't stop them," saidKen.

  "He's right, there," said Professor Maddox. "Those who did this, menacethe whole community. They've got to be found."

  "We'll make fools of ourselves," said the Sheriff, "if we go to Tucker'sand Allen's, and demand to search the premises. We've got to have morethan your word, Ken; some evidence of their positive connection with thecrime."

  "I just know I saw and heard them. That's all."

  "Listen," the Sheriff said suddenly, "there's one man in this townthat's really out to get you: Frank Meggs. Don't you think it could beMeggs and some of his friends?"

  "No. It wasn't Frank Meggs."

  * * * * *

  Art Matthews came around later that same day. "You look worse than oneof these engines that's got itself full of stardust," he said. "You musthave been off your rocker, prowling around back alleys in the middle ofthe night!"

  Ken grinned. "Hi, Art. I knew you'd be full of sympathy. What's going onoutside while I've been laid up? Say--I don't even know how long I'vebeen here! What day is it?"

  "Tuesday. Not that it makes any difference any more."

  "Tuesday--and it was Saturday when I was working with the spectroscope.I've been here three days!"

  "A week and three days," said Art Matthews. "You were out cold for threedays straight, and they wondered if your bearings were ever going toturn again."

  Ken lay back in astonishment. "Nobody's told me anything. What'shappening outside?"

  "It's going to be a rough winter," Art Matthews said, grimly. "Snow'sstarted heavy, two weeks earlier than usual. I understand ProfessorDouglas thinks it's got something to do with the comet dust in the air."

  "That figures. What about the fuel supply?"

  "In pretty sad shape, too. So far, the stockpile is big enough for abouta week and a half of real cold. They laid off woodcutting for three daysto spend all the time converting oil burners, and making new heaters outof 50-gallon barrels and anything else they could find. It's going to bea mighty cold winter--and a hungry one."

  Ken nodded, but he seemed to be thinking of something else.

  "I've had an idea," he said. "How's your stock of spare parts in thegarage?"

  "Good. I always was a fool about stocking up on things I could neversell."

  "Any blocks?"

  "About a dozen, why?"

  "Could you make a brand-new engine out of spare parts?"

  The mechanic considered, then nodded. "I think I could put together aFord or Chevy engine. What good would that do? It would run down in afew days, just like all the rest."

  "Do you think it would, if you put it in a sealed room, and suppliedonly filtered air to it?"

  Art's eyes lighted. "Why the dickens didn't we think of that before? Ifwe could keep the stardust from getting to the engine, there's no reasonat all why it shouldn't run as long as we wanted it to, is there?"

  "If a generator could be assembled in the same way, we could stir up alittle power on an experimental basis, enough to charge our radiobatteries. I wonder how much power could be generated in the wholecountry by such means?"

  "I know we could get a couple of dozen engines going here in Mayfield,at least!" said Art.

  "Why don't you get started right away? Get some of the club guys tohelp. If that filter idea works there may be a lot of things we can do."

  Art started for the door. "Sheer genius," he said admiringly. "That'ssheer genius, Boy!"

  Ken smiled to himself. He wondered why they hadn't tried that when theyfir
st had the hunch that comet dust could be responsible. Maybe theycould have saved some of the cars if they had rigged more efficientfilters on the air intakes.

  His thoughts went back to the attack. He was still thinking about itwhen his father and Sheriff Johnson returned.

  "We took your word, Son," the Sheriff said, chagrined. "We got a warrantand searched the Tucker and Allen premises from top to bottom. We wentout to Tucker's farm and went through the barns and the house. They'vegot a 2-day supply of rations just like everybody else.

  "They screamed their heads off and threatened suit for slander and falsearrest and everything else in the books."

  "I'll get hold of Jed Tucker when I get out of here," said Ken. "He'lltalk when I get through with him!"

  "Don't get yourself in a worse jam than you've stirred up already.Unless you can prove what you say, you'll just have to forget it andkeep quiet."

  Ken smiled suddenly. "It just occurred to me--when a banker wants tokeep something safe, where does he put it?"

  "In the bank, of course," said the Sheriff. "Wait a minute, you don'tthink...."

  "Why not? The bank isn't doing business any more. Tucker is the onlyone, probably, who has any excuse to go down there. As long as thingsare the way they are, nobody else is going to get inside the vault--oreven inside the building."

  Professor Maddox and the Sheriff looked at each other. "It's a logicalidea," said Ken's father.

  "It's as crazy as the rest of it! We've made fools of ourselves alreadyso we might as well finish the job!"

  * * * * *

  When breakfast was served the next morning, Ken found out his hunch hadbeen right. He heard it from Miss Haskins the nurse and knew, therefore,that it must be all over town.

  The nurse was wide-eyed. "What do you think?" she said, as she set outthe bowl of oatmeal. "The Sheriff found that Mr. Tucker had filled hisbank vault with food. He'd stolen it from the warehouse. The Sheriff'smen obtained a warrant and forced Tucker to open the vault, and therewere cases of canned goods stacked clear to the ceiling!"

  "He must have been afraid of getting hungry," said Ken.

  "To think a man like Mr. Tucker would do something like that!" She wentout, clucking her tongue in exaggerated dismay.

  Ken leaned back with satisfaction. He quite agreed with Miss Haskins. Itwas a pretty awful thing for a man like Mr. Tucker to have done.

  How many others would do far worse before the winter was over?

  * * * * *

  The sun came out bright and clear after the series of heavy snowstorms.The comet added its overwhelming, golden light and tinted the world ofsnow. Some of the snow was melted by the tantalizing warmth, but waterthat had melted in the daytime froze immediately at night, and theunequal contest between the elements could have only one outcome in aprematurely cold and miserable winter.

  As the pain in his head dwindled, and he was able to get about in thehospital, Ken grew more and more impatient to be released. He wonderedabout the heating and other facilities in the hospital and learned theMayor's committee had ordered one wing kept open at all times, with heatand food available to care for any emergency cases.

  Three days after he was allowed on his feet, Ken was told by Dr. Adamsthat he could be released for the hearing of the Tuckers and Mr. Allen.

  Ken stared at him. "I don't want to go to any hearing! I'm going back tothe laboratory!"

  "You can go home," said Dr. Adams. "I want you to rest a few more days,and then I would prefer seeing you get out in the open, working withthe wood crew, instead of going right back to the lab.

  "As for the trial and hearing, I'm afraid you have no choice. JudgeRankin has postponed the hearing so that you could appear, and he'llissue a subpoena if necessary to insure your presence."

  "They caught Tucker redhanded with his bank vault stuffed to the ceilingwith stolen goods. They don't need me!"

  "They tried to kill you," Dr. Adams reminded him. "That's quitedifferent from robbing a warehouse."

  "I'm not interested in their punishment. It's more important to work onthe analysis of the comet dust."

  But there was no way out of it. Judge Rankin ordered Ken to appear. Inspite of the fact that the building was unheated, and mushy snow wasfalling from a heavy sky once more, the courtroom was jammed on the dayof the hearing.

  Ken raged inwardly at the enormous waste of human resources. Men whoshould have been in the hills gathering wood, women who should have beenat work on clothing and food projects were there to feed on thecarcasses of the reputations presently to be destroyed.

  Ken had little difficulty feeling sorry for Jed. His former teammate hadbeen a good sport in all Ken's experience of playing with him. He couldalmost feel pity for Jed's father, too. On the stand, the banker lookedsteadfastly at the floor as he answered questions in a dull, monotonevoice. He admitted the theft of the warehouse goods.

  Judge Rankin asked severely, "Why, Mr. Tucker? Why did you think you hadany more right to hoard supplies than the rest of us?"

  For the first time the banker looked up, and he met the judge's eyes."We were scared," he said simply. "We were scared of what is going tohappen this winter."

  The judge's eyes flashed. "So you were scared?" he cried. "Don't youthink we're all scared?"

  The banker shook his head and looked at the floor. "I don't know," hesaid, as if in a daze. "We were just scared."

  The lawyer, Allen, was more belligerent when he took the stand. "Wemerely did what anyone else in this courtroom would do if he had thechance, and thought of it first," he said. "Do with me what you like,but before this winter is over, I'll see you self-righteous citizens ofMayfield at each other's throats for a scrap of food."

  He admitted the attack on Ken, but denied the intent to kill.

  When Ken's turn came, he told his story as simply and as quickly aspossible, and when he had finished he said, "I'd like to add one moreword, if I may."

  The judge nodded. "Go ahead, Ken."

  He looked over the faces of the audience. "We've got troubles enough,"he said slowly. "As much as we hate to admit it, the picture Mr. Allengives us may be right--unless we do what we can to stop it.

  "We're wasting time and resources today. My father and I should be atthe laboratory. Every man and woman here is neglecting a job. We wastetime, deliberating about punishment for some of our neighbors who areperhaps weaker, but certainly no more frightened than the rest of us. Ifwe lock them up in prison somebody has to watch out for them, and thewhole community is deprived of their useful labor.

  "Why don't we just let them go?"

  A gasp of surprise came from the spectators, but a slow illuminationseemed to light the face of Judge Rankin. His eyes moved from Ken to theaccused men and then to the audience.

  "This court has just heard what it considers some very sound advice," hesaid. "Jed, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Allen...."

  The three stood before him.

  "I am taking it upon myself, because of the emergency conditions thatconfront us, to declare that the penalty for your crime is continued andincessant labor at any task the community may see fit to assign you. Youare marked men. Your crime is known to every member of this community.There will be no escape from the surveillance of your neighbors andfriends. I sentence you to so conduct yourselves in the eyes of thesepeople that, if we do come through this time of crisis, you may standredeemed for all time of the crime which you have committed.

  "If you fail to do this, the punishment which will be automaticallyimposed is banishment from this community for the duration of theemergency.

  "Court stands adjourned!"

  A burst of cheers broke out in the room. The Tuckers and Mr. Allenlooked as if they could not believe what they had heard. Then Jed turnedsuddenly and rushed toward Ken.

  "It's no good saying I've been a fool, but let me say thanks for yourhelp."

  Mr. Tucker took Ken's other hand. "You'll never regret it, young man.I'll see to it th
at you never regret it."

  "It's okay," said Ken, almost gruffly. "We've all got a lot of work todo."

  He turned as a figure brushed by them. Mr. Allen pushed through thecrowd to the doorway. He looked at no one.

  "We were fools," said Mr. Tucker bitterly. "Brainless, scared fools."

  When they were gone, Dr. Aylesworth put his hand on Ken's shoulder."That was a mighty fine thing you did. I hope it sets a pattern for allof us in times to come."

  "I didn't do it for them," said Ken. "I did it for myself."

  The minister smiled and clapped the boy's shoulder again. "Nevertheless,you did it. That's what counts."