First Man Read online

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  FIRST MAN

  By CLYDE BROWN

  Illustrated by WOOD

  [Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science FictionApril 1958. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that theU.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

  [Sidenote: _He obstinately wanted no part in achieving the goal ofgenerations--but the goal with equal obstinacy wanted all of him!_]

  To keep the record straight: Orville Close was first man on the Moon.Harold Ferguson was second. They never talk about it.

  It started on that October morning when the piece came out in theParkville _News_. Harold grumbled that they'd gotten the story allwrong, calling his ship a rocket ship, and treating him like a flagpolesitter or a man going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. His wife tooktheir sad, thin little girl and went to live with her brother. The citypolice blocked off Elm Street, letting no one through except theresidents. The neighbors were getting up a petition. But Orville refusedto become excited.

  What was going to happen?

  Why, nothing.

  Harold would probably crack up completely, but this evening that thingwould still be standing there, solid as the Washington Monument.

  Nevertheless, Orville's wife Polly was going to her sister's, acrosstown. _She_ wasn't going to stay there and be blown up! While she wasgetting ready, Orville picked up a package by the sink and carried itoutside to the alley and dropped it in the garbage can. He wore hisdouble-breasted fall suit. He strolled to the boundary fence and leanedagainst a post.

  A reporter was taking angle shots of the spaceship. Flashbulbs werescattered over Harold's garden.

  It really does catch the eye, Orville thought. Smarten the ship up alittle, put some stripes running down from the nose, a few pieces ofchrome around over the body....

  * * * * *

  Poor old Harold came off his back porch carrying a thermos jug and sixloaves of bread.

  "Morning, Harold," said Orville.

  "Oh--morning, Orville." Harold flinched. Another reporter had come outof the shed and taken their picture.

  "What's your name, mister?" the reporter asked Orville.

  "I'd rather you left me out of this," Orville said.

  A loaf of bread had broken open and slices were falling out. Harold putdown the thermos jug and picked up the slices and stuffed them back intothe wrapper. The first reporter came over.

  "It's got Vitamin D." Harold grinned wretchedly. "Costs two cents more aloaf, but I thought, what the heck--"

  "How about a shot of you and the missus saying good-by?" the firstreporter said.

  "Why--she left me," Harold blurted. He tried to get away, but thereporters hemmed him in.

  "Was she scared?" the second reporter asked.

  "Look, boys!" Orville put his hands on the top rail of the fence andclimbed across. He was getting his shoes wet in the weeds in Harold'sgarden, but he didn't care. "The man has work to do. Can't you leave himalone?"

  * * * * *

  He picked up the jug and took Harold by the elbow and led him into theshed.

  There, resting on some concrete blocks on the dirt floor, was the baseof the ship. In the semi-darkness, it looked harmless enough: like atank, six or eight feet across, reaching up through a jagged hole in theroof.

  "Harold, you could make a good thing out of this," Orville said. "Allthis publicity."

  Harold was climbing a rickety ladder to the roof. Orville followed.

  "Mount this thing on a trailer. Take her around to fairs and carnivals."

  Orville waited on the roof while Harold climbed another ladder to thesmall oval door in the side of the ship. Harold called down: "You neversaw the inside. Want to look around?"

  "Well...." Orville glanced into his back yard. Polly wasn't ready yet.He climbed up and handed the jug to Harold and stuck his head in.

  "Huh!" There wasn't much to see. Just a small compartment with somepipes leading from below into the nose. "You got to fix this up," hesaid. "Some Rube Goldberg contraptions."

  "The works are all up here." Harold climbed a ladder and disappearedthrough a hole overhead. "C'mon up, I'd like you to see this!"

  Orville looked down again into his yard. "It'll take her forever! Polly,I mean. Okay, I guess I got time for a look." He stepped in and climbeduntil his waist was through the hole.

  * * * * *

  The nose of the ship was dark. Harold was shining an extension lamparound. There were parts of a junked car and some old plumbing fixturesand Orville recognized the wheels of a lawnmower he'd left by the alleyfor the trash men to pick up. This didn't look like the inside of aspaceship. It looked exactly like a corner in Harold's basement.

  "Oh, Lord," Orville said.

  "I call this my scope." Harold was shining the light on a shavingmirror, on a long arm that could be swung and tilted about. "How aboutthat? Pretty neat, huh?"

  Neat was hardly the word for it. "Look here, Harold! The neighbors aregetting an injunction. Why don't you play it smart? Fight it out in thecourts. There'll be a lot of publicity--"

  "They are?" Harold was hurt. He was shining the lamp in Orville's eyes.

  "Yeah. Now while you're fighting it out in the courts--"

  "Do you call that neighborly?"

  "They're scared. They're afraid you'll blow the whole neighborhood topieces."

  "Well, hell with them!"

  "While we're on that subject, ain't that my trouble lamp you'reholding?"

  "Yeah. Guess it is. Need it right away?"

  "Just want you to remember where it came from."

  "Actually, it'll be no use on the trip. I got her fixed so when I takeoff, the cord down at the base will come unplugged and--"

  "Well, Polly must be ready by now." Orville gave up. Polly was right.Harold was insane.

  Orville tried to turn on the ladder so that he could climb back down.His foot slipped. He spread his arms to keep from falling through thehole and knocked over the pile of bread.

  "Watch out!" Harold yelped.

  "I'm all right." Orville felt a slight tingle.

  "Yes, but you--" Harold's voice trailed off with dismay. The light inhis hand had gone out, but Orville didn't think of what this meant atthe time.

  There was light coming through the door below and Orville climbed down.Darn! He pulled out his handkerchief and tried to brush the dust off hislapels. He'd have to change suits, and that meant changing his socks andtie, and he was supposed to meet those people about that deal onMaplehurst Extension at nine. Well, he'd be late. He leaned out of thedoor.

  "Orville!" shouted Harold. "Come back! Don't step out there!"

  * * * * *

  A lot of fog was blowing down past the nose of the ship. Orvillewondered where it came from. He stuck his foot out, reaching for theladder. He heard Harold scrambling down from above and he wanted to getaway from that madman. He reached farther. Harold grabbed his arm.

  Then the fog cleared away and Orville swayed dizzily, gaping at where hehad almost stepped. They had been going through a cloud. Now he lookeddown at dazzling clouds in the bright October sun and between them hesaw the streets of Parkville, very neat, just like the map hanging inthe office.

  He dropped back inside and lay weakly on the floor. He grabbed one ofthe pipes and shakily clung to it.

  "What happened?" he stammered.

  "Hit the main switch." Harold was reaching out for the door handle. Hebanged the door shut with a concussion that burst inside Orville's head."We took off."
>
  * * * * *

  It was dark in there, at first; then Orville saw a dim violet light thatfilled the inside of the ship.

  He followed Harold up the ladder into the nose of the ship and sank tothe floor. Harold was twiddling with some knobs mounted on the dashboardof the junked car.

  "Boy!" Orville pulled out his handkerchief again and swabbed hisforehead. He tried to wipe the grime from his hands. "And I've nevereven been in an airplane!"

  "Me either." Harold pounded on the dashboard. A meter didn't seem to beworking. "There ... guess I can open her up a little."

  "Hey, wait! Take me back!"

  Harold moved a knob an eighth of a turn. He switched on the scope andwaited for it to warm up. He took off his glasses and wiped them,squinting at Orville with that one bad eye.

  "Turn it around and take me back!"

  "But I can't, Orville." Harold put on the glasses and looked into thescope. "It's working!"

  "I demand it! You've made me late for the office as it is!"

  "Sure looks different from the map," Harold said. "Must be the EastCoast. There's Florida sticking out there."

  He snapped off the scope and sat opposite Orville. He opened the thermosand poured coffee into the cap.

  "Been so busy, didn't have my breakfast." He held out the cap toOrville. "I take mine without sugar."

  Orville shook his head. "Do I understand--"

  "Ugh! It's hot!" Harold put down the coffee and rummaged in some brownpaper bags. "Should be some glazed doughnuts.... Shoot! Bet I left themin the kitchen!"

  * * * * *

  Orville faced him firmly. "You've shown me it'll fly. I believe you. NowI give you one more chance--take me back!"

  "But I can't!" Harold protested.

  "There are laws about this sort of thing, my friend. This is abduction.Kidnapping. You know what the penalty is for that?"

  "Well, gee, I didn't mean to take you along, Orville. You hit thatswitch--"

  "It's criminal negligence, leaving a switch out there like that where itcould be hit by accident!"

  "Had to put it there so I could reach up from below and work it."

  Orville balled his fists and stood squarely. Funny--it was no trouble atall, standing and walking around. If he hadn't seen those clouds, andthe landscape sinking away, he'd swear the two of them were still inHarold's back yard.

  "Do you take me back," he said, "or do I have to break every--"

  "But I can't!" Harold grasped his wrist pleadingly. "I got her set up ina sequence. If I tried to change the sequence now, why--" He shuddered."I haven't got any idea what might happen!"

  Orville sat back down.

  "I'm sorry." The weak way Harold said it made Orville feel worse thanever.

  "Me! Trapped up here in this thing with you!" Orville said bitterly."You can't even drive a car! You're just about the worst driver I know!"

  "I know," Harold admitted. "But this is safer than a car. Besides, outwhere we're going, there'll be no traffic problem." He gave his inanegiggle. "Far as I know, there's no one else at all!"

  "And the neighborhood back there. Probably all blown to pieces. Polly.The house. My car! I got complete coverage on it, but who ever heard ofa car wrecked by a spaceship? When we get back, if my insurance doesn'tcover it, I'll sue you!"

  "There's nothing hurt at all," Harold said. "Unless someone had his handon the ship when we took off. I'd planned to have 'em stand back."

  * * * * *

  Orville closed his eyes. Something was crossing and crisscrossing insidehim like two rings tossed back and forth by jugglers. It was notpainful, but it was disturbing. Something must be going wrong. He didn'ttrust Harold's mechanical ability. In the past ten years, Harold hadbeen fired from a couple of filling station jobs because of blunders,once for leaving the plug out of a crank case, and once for botching upa flat tire repair.

  "Running kind of rough, isn't she?" Orville said. "What makes thislittle--" He circled his hands sickly in front of his stomach.

  Harold closed his eyes and made similar circles. "Oh, that's thiscounter-grav of mine. You see, the gravitation of the Earth--"

  "Can't you do anything about it?" Orville was in no mood to listen toone of Harold's lectures.

  "I could move her over so we couldn't feel it, but it would be shakingthe ship then. Might tear it apart."

  "Won't it tear us apart?"

  "I don't think so. We got more give to us than the ship has." Harold wasable to drink the coffee now. "No, I don't think I've done a bad job onthis. First time a machine is built, you're bound to run into a fewbugs. But this is working, so far, even better than I expected."

  "Yeah," Orville had to admit, "it ain't bad--for a guy with nomechanical ability whatever."

  II

  Harold had opened the ship up a little more, and according to him, theywere now moving eighteen thousand miles per hour or so, approximately.Orville had tried to drink some water from a milk bottle, but the sightof the water, bouncing in rhythm to the invisible circles in hisstomach, had given him nausea.

  Harold knelt on the floor, smoothing out a soiled sheet of paper. In thecenter was a small circle, labeled in Harold's sloppy handwriting"Earth." An arrow showed the direction of the Earth's motion around theSun. Outside this was a larger circle labeled "Orbit of Moon." A spiralreached out from the Earth to intersect the Moon's orbit.

  "Had the darnedest time drawing this," Harold said. "Got it out of anastronomy book. _Let's Look at the Stars_ by someone. Thirty-five cents.Let's see now."

  He wet the point of the pencil and made a mark. He scratched his headand erased the mark and made another.

  "Harold, another thing," said Orville. "I weigh around one ninety-five.Won't that take a lot of extra gas?"

  "Nope. Doesn't matter if you weigh a ton. According to my counter-gravprinciple--"

  "Won't it get stuffy in here with two of us?"

  "Why, I have some oxygen. That welding place in back of the garage whereI work--got a tank off them. Had to pay cash, but I can turn in theempty when we get back."

  "You sure one tank'll be enough?"

  "Well--" Harold flushed guiltily. "You won't say anything about this? Itook along several extra tanks, just to make sure. I wasn't stealing.You see, I figure I might make some money out of this thing."

  "Say!" Orville hadn't thought of this angle before. "You really could."

  "And there should be plenty of food. Let me see now." He fished in hispocket and brought out a piece of brown wrapping paper. "I'll run overthe list and make sure I didn't forget something." He glanced upsharply. "Relax! Make yourself to home. And the little boy's room isdown there." He squinted at the paper. "Water. There's plenty. Sixfamily-size cans pork and beans. Charged 'em." He ran through the list,mumbling, then looked up brightly. "Yep. Looks all right. Nope, there'sone thing I forgot. Stickum plaster! Doggone. Never go anywhere withoutmy first aid kit. Never know what's liable to happen."

  "Y'know, Harold," Orville said, "I'm beginning to see some possibilitiesin this trip. First man on the Moon. Think of the fuss they made overLindy and Wrong-way Corrigan. The guys who climbed Mount Everest. Why,that was nothing!"

  "Course, I'm not doing this for fame. Or money, either."

  "Then why are you doing it?"

  Harold stared vaguely toward where the Moon would be if they could seeit. "I guess ... because it's there."

  "Huh! Well, don't forget I'm in on it, too."

  * * * * *

  Some time later, when the Moon first appeared on the scope, about thesize of a basketball, Harold indulged in a mild spree. He opened somepineapple juice. Orville did not feel like drinking any. In fact, hefelt ill.

  "Space sickness," Harold said. "Lot of bread is good for that. Stuffyourself with it. Just think--back there on Earth, they're going abouttheir business and no one knows that we're out here heading for theMoon. Just think--
if I'd call them on the radio and report making firstcontact with the Moon--"

  "Harold, one thing. How're you going to get her down?"

  "Naval observatory would be the people to call, I guess. They'd notifythe President and they'd interrupt the TV programs--I thought of puttinga radio in here, but I'd already gone way over my budget."

  "How do you plan to land her?"

  "And wouldn't those guys at the Atomic Energy Commission have red faces!You know, I wrote them, asking to use some of their energy and--darnthese government bureaus!--they never even had the courtesy to answer myletter!"

  "Listen--"

  "And the birds at the college! When I took that navigation chart to theastronomy department to see if they'd check it for me, they blew up!Acted like I had no business flying to the Moon. Acted like they ownedthe thing. Bunch of smart-alecs! With their double-talk! Knew