August 11, 2025 • 19 mins
Immerse yourself in captivating science fiction short stories, delivered daily! Explore futuristic worlds, time travel, alien encounters, and mind-bending adventures. Perfect for sci-fi lovers looking for a quick and engaging listen each day. 🎧 Go to www.solgoodmedia.com to access ad-free listening, exclusive content, and more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Circus by allan at one's nose. Just suppose, said Morgan,
that I did believe ye. Just for argument, he glanced
up at the man across the restaurant table. Where would
we go from here? The man shifted uneasily in his seat.
(00:22):
He was silent, staring down at his plate. Not a
strange looking man, Morgan thought, read the ordinary in fact,
a plain face, nose, a little too long, fingers a
little too dainty, a souit that doesn't quite seem to fit.
But all in all, a perfectly ordinary looking man. Maybe
(00:46):
too ordinary, Morgan thought. Finally, the man looked up. His
eyes were dark, with a haunted look in their depths
that chilled Morgan a little. Where do we go? I
don't know. I'll try to think it out and I
get nowhere. But you've got to believe me, Morgen. I'm
(01:06):
lost a minute. If I can't get help, I don't
know where it's going to end. I'll tell you where
it's going to end, said Morgan. It's going to end
in a hospital, a mental hospital. They'll lock you up
and they'll lose the key somewhere. He pulled himself another
(01:26):
cup of coffee and sipped it scolding hot, and that,
he added, will be that the place was dark and
almost empty. Overhead, a rotary fan swished patiently. The man
across from Morgan ran a hand through his dark hair.
(01:48):
There must be some other way, he said, there has
to be. All right, let's start from the beginning again.
Morgan said, maybe we can pin something down a little better.
You say your name is Parks, right, The man nodded.
(02:08):
Jefferson heldman, Parks, if that helps any Helman was my
mother's maiden name. All right, and you got into town
on Friday, right, Parks nodded. Fine. Now go through the
whole story again. What happened first? The man thought for
(02:30):
a minute, as I said, First, there was a fall
about twenty feet. I didn't break any bones, but I
was shaken up and limping. The fall was near the
highway going to the George Washington Bridge. I got over
to the highway and tried to flag down a ride.
(02:51):
How did you feel, I mean, was there anything strange
that you noticed? Strange? Eyed widened, I was speechless at first.
I hadn't noticed too much. I was concerned with the
fool and whether I was hurt or not. I didn't
(03:13):
really think about much else until I hobbled up to
the highway and saw those cars coming. Then I could
hardly believe my eyes. I thought I was crazy, but
a car stopped and asked me if I was going
into the city, and I knew I wasn't crazy. Boonan's
(03:34):
mouth took a grim line. You understood the language. Oh yes,
I don't see how I could have, but I did.
We talked all the way into New York. Nothing very important,
but we understood each other. His speech had an odd sound,
but Morgan nodded, I know. I noticed. What did you
(03:56):
do when you got to New York? Well, obviously I
needed money. I had gold coin. There had been no
way of knowing if it would be useful, but I'd
taken it on chance. I tried to use it at
a new stand first, and the man wouldn't touch it.
(04:17):
Asked me if I thought I was a US treasury
or something. When he saw that I was serious, he
sent me to a money lender, a hog shop, I
think he called it. So I found a place. Let
me see the coins. Parks dropped two small gold discs
on the table. They were perfectly smooth and perfectly round,
(04:42):
tapered by where to a thin, blunt edge. There was
no design on them, and no printing. Morgan looked up
at the man sharply, what did you get for these parks?
Shrugged too little. I susp packed two dollars for the
(05:02):
small one, five for the larger. He should have gone
to a bank. I know that now I didn't. Then, naturally,
I assume that with everything else so similar, principles of
business would also be similar. Morgan sighed and leaned back
(05:22):
in his chair. Well, then, what puck spawed some more coffee?
His face was very pale, Morgan thought, and his hands
trembled as he raised the cup to his lips. Fright,
maybe hard to tell. The man put down the cup
(05:42):
and rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand.
First I went to the Mayor's office, he said. I
kept trying to think what anyone at home would do
in my place. That seemed a good bed. I asked
a poly man where it was, and then I went there.
(06:04):
But you didn't get to see him. No. I saw
a secretary. She said the mayors was in conference and
that I would have to have an appointment. She let
me speak to another man, one of the mayor's assistants,
and you told him no, I wanted to see the
(06:25):
mayors himself. I thought that was the best thing to do.
I waited for a couple of hours until another assistant
came along and told me flatly that the mayors wouldn't
see me unless I stated my business first. He drew
in a deep breath. So I stated it, and then
(06:48):
I was gently but firmly ushered back into the suite again.
They didn't believe you, said Morgan, not for a minute.
They laughed in my face. Morgan nodded, I'm beginning to
get the pattern. So what did you do next? Next?
(07:09):
I tried the police. I got the same treatment there,
and only they weren't so gentle. They wouldn't listen either.
They muttered something about cranks and their crazy notions, and
when they asked me where I lived, they thought I
was what did they call it? A wise guy? Told
(07:32):
me to get out and not come back with any
more wild stories. I see, said Morgan. Jefferson Parks finished
his last bite of pie and pushed the plate away.
By then, I didn't know quite what to do. I've
been prepared for almost anything excepting this. It was frightening.
(07:58):
I tried to rationalize it, and then I quit trying.
It wasn't that I attracted attention or anything like that.
Quite the contrary. Nobody even looked at me unless I
said something to them. I began to look for things
that were different, things that I could show them and say, see,
(08:22):
this proves that I am telling the truth. Look at it.
He looked up helplessly, and what did you find? Nothing? Oh,
little things, insignificant little things. Your calendars, for instance. Naturally
I couldn't understand your frame of reference, and the coinage,
(08:45):
your stamp, your coins we don't and cigarettes, we don't
have any such thing as tobacco, the man gave a
short laugh. And your house dogs, we have little animals
looked more like rabbits than poodles. But there was nothing
any more significant than that, Absolutely nothing except yourself. Morgan said, ah, yes,
(09:15):
I thought that over carefully. I looked for differences, obvious ones.
I couldn't find any. You can see that just looking
at me. So I searched for more supple things, skin texture, fingerprints,
bone structure, body proportion. I still couldn't find anything. Then
(09:39):
I went to a doctor. Morgan's eyebrows lifted. Good, he said,
Parks shrugged tiredly. Not really. He examined me. He practically
took me apart. I carefully refrained from saying anything about
who I was or where I came from. JAS said
(10:02):
I wanted a complete physical examination and let him go
to it. He was thorough, and when he finished, he
patted me on the back and said, Parks, you've got
nothing to worry about. You're as fine, strapping as peacemen
of a healthy human being as I've ever seen. And
(10:25):
that was that. Parks laughed bitterly. I guess I was
supposed to be happy with the verdict, and instead I
was ready to knock him down. It was idiotic. It's
a find reason it was infuriating. Morgan nodded sourly. Because
(10:45):
you're not a human being, he said, that's right, I'm
not a human being at all. How did it happen
to pick this planet or this sun? Morgan asked curiously.
There must have been a million others to choose from.
Parks unbuttoned his collar and rubbed his double chin. Unhappily.
(11:09):
I didn't make the choice. Neither did any one else.
Travel by warp is a little different from the travel
by the rocket. If fiction writers make so much of
with a rocket vehicle, you pick your destination, make your calculations,
and off you go. The WORP is blind, flying strictly blind.
(11:32):
We send an handman's scanner ahead. It probes around more
or less heat or miss until it to locate something
somewhere that looks habitable. When its pots a likely looking place,
we keep a tight beam on it and send it
through a man's scout. He grins sourly like me. If
(11:55):
it looks good to the scout, he signals back and
they leap. If the WORP anchored for a sort of
permanent gateway until we can get a transport beam built.
But we can't control the directional and dimensional scope of
the warp, there are an infinity of ways it can
go until we have a guide beam transmitting from the
(12:19):
other side. Then we can just scan a segment of
space with the warp and the scanner picks up the beam.
He shook his head wearily when new at it, Morgan,
we've only tried a few dozen runs. We're not too
far ahead of view in technology. We've been using rocket
(12:40):
vehicles just like yours for over a century. That's fine
for a solar system, but it's not much good for
the stars. When the Worp principle was discovered, it looked
like the answer, but something went wrong. The scanner picked
up this planet, and I was coming through, and then
(13:02):
something blue. Next thing I knew, I was falling. When
I try to make contact again, the scanner was gone.
And you found things here the same as back home,
said Morgan, the same. Your planet and mine are practically twins,
similar cities, similar technology, everything, The people are the same,
(13:27):
with precisely the same anatomy and physiology, the same sort
of laws, the same institutions, even compatible languages. Can't you
see the importance of it. This planet is on the
other side of the universe from mine, with the first
intelligent life we have yet encountered anywhere. But when I
(13:50):
try to tell your people that I am a native
of another star system, they won't believe me. Why should,
they asked Morgan, you looked like a human being, you
talk like one, you eat like one, you act like one.
What you're asking them to believe is utterly incredible. But
(14:12):
it's true, Morgan shrugged. So it's true. I won't argue
with you, But as I asked before, even if I
did believe you, what do you expect me to do
about it? Why pick me of all the people you've seen?
There was a desperate light in Bark's eyes. I was tired,
(14:38):
tired of being a laughed at, tired of having people
looking at me as though I lost my wits when
I tried to tell them the truth. You were here,
you were alone, so I started talking, and then I
found out you wrote stories. He looked up eagerly. I've
(14:58):
got to get back, Morgan, some how. My life is there,
my family, and think what it would mean to both
of our words contact with another intelligent race, combine our knowledge,
our technologies, and we could explore the galaxy. He leaned forward,
(15:18):
his thin face intense. I need money and I need help.
I know some of the mathematics of the war principle,
know some of the design, some of the power and
wiring principles. You have engineers here, technologists, physicists. They could
(15:40):
fill in what they don't know and build a guide beam.
But they won't do it if they don't believe me.
Your government won't listen to me, they won't appropriate any money.
Of course, they won't they've got a war or two
in their hands. They have public welfare and atomic bombs
(16:03):
and rockets to the moon to sing their money into.
Morgan stared at the man. But what can I do?
You can write, That's what you can do. You can
tell the word about me. You can tell exactly what
has happened. I know how public interest can be aroused
(16:25):
in my word. It must be the same in yours.
Morgan didn't move, He just stared. How many people have
you talked to? He asked? A dozen, a hundred, maybe
a thousand, And how many believed you? None? You mean,
(16:47):
nobody would believe you, not one soul until I talk
to you. And then Morgan was laughing, laughing bitterly, tears
rolling down his cheeks. And I'm the one man who
couldn't help you if my life depended on it. He gasped.
(17:08):
You believe me, Morgan nodded sadly. I believe you. Yes.
I think your work brought you through to a parallel
universe of your own planet, not to another star. But
I think you're telling the truth. Then you can help me.
I'm afraid not. Why not, because I'd be worse than
(17:33):
no help at all. Jefferson. Parks gripped the table, his
knuckles white. Why, he cried hoarsely. If you believe me,
why can't you help me? Morgan pointed to the magazine
lying on the table. I write, yes, he said, sadly,
ever read stories like this before? Parks picked up the
(17:56):
magazine glanced at the bright covert. I barely looked at it.
You should look more closely. I have a storry in
this issue. The readers thought it was very interesting. Morgan grinned,
go ahead, look at it. The Stranger from the Stars
(18:17):
leafed through the magazine, stopped at the page that carried
Rogers Morgan's name. His eyes caught the first paragraph, and
he turned white. He set the magazine down with a
trembling hand. I see, he said, and the life was
gone out of his voice. He spread the pages viciously,
(18:43):
read the lines again. The paragraph said, just suppose, said Martin,
that I did believe you? Just for argument? He glanced
up at the man across the table. Where do we
go from here? End of circus? By allan ed one
(19:07):
knows
Circus by allan at one's nose. Just suppose, said Morgan,
that I did believe ye. Just for argument, he glanced
up at the man across the restaurant table. Where would
we go from here? The man shifted uneasily in his seat.
(00:22):
He was silent, staring down at his plate. Not a
strange looking man, Morgan thought, read the ordinary in fact,
a plain face, nose, a little too long, fingers a
little too dainty, a souit that doesn't quite seem to fit.
But all in all, a perfectly ordinary looking man. Maybe
(00:46):
too ordinary, Morgan thought. Finally, the man looked up. His
eyes were dark, with a haunted look in their depths
that chilled Morgan a little. Where do we go? I
don't know. I'll try to think it out and I
get nowhere. But you've got to believe me, Morgen. I'm
(01:06):
lost a minute. If I can't get help, I don't
know where it's going to end. I'll tell you where
it's going to end, said Morgan. It's going to end
in a hospital, a mental hospital. They'll lock you up
and they'll lose the key somewhere. He pulled himself another
(01:26):
cup of coffee and sipped it scolding hot, and that,
he added, will be that the place was dark and
almost empty. Overhead, a rotary fan swished patiently. The man
across from Morgan ran a hand through his dark hair.
(01:48):
There must be some other way, he said, there has
to be. All right, let's start from the beginning again.
Morgan said, maybe we can pin something down a little better.
You say your name is Parks, right, The man nodded.
(02:08):
Jefferson heldman, Parks, if that helps any Helman was my
mother's maiden name. All right, and you got into town
on Friday, right, Parks nodded. Fine. Now go through the
whole story again. What happened first? The man thought for
(02:30):
a minute, as I said, First, there was a fall
about twenty feet. I didn't break any bones, but I
was shaken up and limping. The fall was near the
highway going to the George Washington Bridge. I got over
to the highway and tried to flag down a ride.
(02:51):
How did you feel, I mean, was there anything strange
that you noticed? Strange? Eyed widened, I was speechless at first.
I hadn't noticed too much. I was concerned with the
fool and whether I was hurt or not. I didn't
(03:13):
really think about much else until I hobbled up to
the highway and saw those cars coming. Then I could
hardly believe my eyes. I thought I was crazy, but
a car stopped and asked me if I was going
into the city, and I knew I wasn't crazy. Boonan's
(03:34):
mouth took a grim line. You understood the language. Oh yes,
I don't see how I could have, but I did.
We talked all the way into New York. Nothing very important,
but we understood each other. His speech had an odd sound,
but Morgan nodded, I know. I noticed. What did you
(03:56):
do when you got to New York? Well, obviously I
needed money. I had gold coin. There had been no
way of knowing if it would be useful, but I'd
taken it on chance. I tried to use it at
a new stand first, and the man wouldn't touch it.
(04:17):
Asked me if I thought I was a US treasury
or something. When he saw that I was serious, he
sent me to a money lender, a hog shop, I
think he called it. So I found a place. Let
me see the coins. Parks dropped two small gold discs
on the table. They were perfectly smooth and perfectly round,
(04:42):
tapered by where to a thin, blunt edge. There was
no design on them, and no printing. Morgan looked up
at the man sharply, what did you get for these parks?
Shrugged too little. I susp packed two dollars for the
(05:02):
small one, five for the larger. He should have gone
to a bank. I know that now I didn't. Then, naturally,
I assume that with everything else so similar, principles of
business would also be similar. Morgan sighed and leaned back
(05:22):
in his chair. Well, then, what puck spawed some more coffee?
His face was very pale, Morgan thought, and his hands
trembled as he raised the cup to his lips. Fright,
maybe hard to tell. The man put down the cup
(05:42):
and rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand.
First I went to the Mayor's office, he said. I
kept trying to think what anyone at home would do
in my place. That seemed a good bed. I asked
a poly man where it was, and then I went there.
(06:04):
But you didn't get to see him. No. I saw
a secretary. She said the mayors was in conference and
that I would have to have an appointment. She let
me speak to another man, one of the mayor's assistants,
and you told him no, I wanted to see the
(06:25):
mayors himself. I thought that was the best thing to do.
I waited for a couple of hours until another assistant
came along and told me flatly that the mayors wouldn't
see me unless I stated my business first. He drew
in a deep breath. So I stated it, and then
(06:48):
I was gently but firmly ushered back into the suite again.
They didn't believe you, said Morgan, not for a minute.
They laughed in my face. Morgan nodded, I'm beginning to
get the pattern. So what did you do next? Next?
(07:09):
I tried the police. I got the same treatment there,
and only they weren't so gentle. They wouldn't listen either.
They muttered something about cranks and their crazy notions, and
when they asked me where I lived, they thought I
was what did they call it? A wise guy? Told
(07:32):
me to get out and not come back with any
more wild stories. I see, said Morgan. Jefferson Parks finished
his last bite of pie and pushed the plate away.
By then, I didn't know quite what to do. I've
been prepared for almost anything excepting this. It was frightening.
(07:58):
I tried to rationalize it, and then I quit trying.
It wasn't that I attracted attention or anything like that.
Quite the contrary. Nobody even looked at me unless I
said something to them. I began to look for things
that were different, things that I could show them and say, see,
(08:22):
this proves that I am telling the truth. Look at it.
He looked up helplessly, and what did you find? Nothing? Oh,
little things, insignificant little things. Your calendars, for instance. Naturally
I couldn't understand your frame of reference, and the coinage,
(08:45):
your stamp, your coins we don't and cigarettes, we don't
have any such thing as tobacco, the man gave a
short laugh. And your house dogs, we have little animals
looked more like rabbits than poodles. But there was nothing
any more significant than that, Absolutely nothing except yourself. Morgan said, ah, yes,
(09:15):
I thought that over carefully. I looked for differences, obvious ones.
I couldn't find any. You can see that just looking
at me. So I searched for more supple things, skin texture, fingerprints,
bone structure, body proportion. I still couldn't find anything. Then
(09:39):
I went to a doctor. Morgan's eyebrows lifted. Good, he said,
Parks shrugged tiredly. Not really. He examined me. He practically
took me apart. I carefully refrained from saying anything about
who I was or where I came from. JAS said
(10:02):
I wanted a complete physical examination and let him go
to it. He was thorough, and when he finished, he
patted me on the back and said, Parks, you've got
nothing to worry about. You're as fine, strapping as peacemen
of a healthy human being as I've ever seen. And
(10:25):
that was that. Parks laughed bitterly. I guess I was
supposed to be happy with the verdict, and instead I
was ready to knock him down. It was idiotic. It's
a find reason it was infuriating. Morgan nodded sourly. Because
(10:45):
you're not a human being, he said, that's right, I'm
not a human being at all. How did it happen
to pick this planet or this sun? Morgan asked curiously.
There must have been a million others to choose from.
Parks unbuttoned his collar and rubbed his double chin. Unhappily.
(11:09):
I didn't make the choice. Neither did any one else.
Travel by warp is a little different from the travel
by the rocket. If fiction writers make so much of
with a rocket vehicle, you pick your destination, make your calculations,
and off you go. The WORP is blind, flying strictly blind.
(11:32):
We send an handman's scanner ahead. It probes around more
or less heat or miss until it to locate something
somewhere that looks habitable. When its pots a likely looking place,
we keep a tight beam on it and send it
through a man's scout. He grins sourly like me. If
(11:55):
it looks good to the scout, he signals back and
they leap. If the WORP anchored for a sort of
permanent gateway until we can get a transport beam built.
But we can't control the directional and dimensional scope of
the warp, there are an infinity of ways it can
go until we have a guide beam transmitting from the
(12:19):
other side. Then we can just scan a segment of
space with the warp and the scanner picks up the beam.
He shook his head wearily when new at it, Morgan,
we've only tried a few dozen runs. We're not too
far ahead of view in technology. We've been using rocket
(12:40):
vehicles just like yours for over a century. That's fine
for a solar system, but it's not much good for
the stars. When the Worp principle was discovered, it looked
like the answer, but something went wrong. The scanner picked
up this planet, and I was coming through, and then
(13:02):
something blue. Next thing I knew, I was falling. When
I try to make contact again, the scanner was gone.
And you found things here the same as back home,
said Morgan, the same. Your planet and mine are practically twins,
similar cities, similar technology, everything, The people are the same,
(13:27):
with precisely the same anatomy and physiology, the same sort
of laws, the same institutions, even compatible languages. Can't you
see the importance of it. This planet is on the
other side of the universe from mine, with the first
intelligent life we have yet encountered anywhere. But when I
(13:50):
try to tell your people that I am a native
of another star system, they won't believe me. Why should,
they asked Morgan, you looked like a human being, you
talk like one, you eat like one, you act like one.
What you're asking them to believe is utterly incredible. But
(14:12):
it's true, Morgan shrugged. So it's true. I won't argue
with you, But as I asked before, even if I
did believe you, what do you expect me to do
about it? Why pick me of all the people you've seen?
There was a desperate light in Bark's eyes. I was tired,
(14:38):
tired of being a laughed at, tired of having people
looking at me as though I lost my wits when
I tried to tell them the truth. You were here,
you were alone, so I started talking, and then I
found out you wrote stories. He looked up eagerly. I've
(14:58):
got to get back, Morgan, some how. My life is there,
my family, and think what it would mean to both
of our words contact with another intelligent race, combine our knowledge,
our technologies, and we could explore the galaxy. He leaned forward,
(15:18):
his thin face intense. I need money and I need help.
I know some of the mathematics of the war principle,
know some of the design, some of the power and
wiring principles. You have engineers here, technologists, physicists. They could
(15:40):
fill in what they don't know and build a guide beam.
But they won't do it if they don't believe me.
Your government won't listen to me, they won't appropriate any money.
Of course, they won't they've got a war or two
in their hands. They have public welfare and atomic bombs
(16:03):
and rockets to the moon to sing their money into.
Morgan stared at the man. But what can I do?
You can write, That's what you can do. You can
tell the word about me. You can tell exactly what
has happened. I know how public interest can be aroused
(16:25):
in my word. It must be the same in yours.
Morgan didn't move, He just stared. How many people have
you talked to? He asked? A dozen, a hundred, maybe
a thousand, And how many believed you? None? You mean,
(16:47):
nobody would believe you, not one soul until I talk
to you. And then Morgan was laughing, laughing bitterly, tears
rolling down his cheeks. And I'm the one man who
couldn't help you if my life depended on it. He gasped.
(17:08):
You believe me, Morgan nodded sadly. I believe you. Yes.
I think your work brought you through to a parallel
universe of your own planet, not to another star. But
I think you're telling the truth. Then you can help me.
I'm afraid not. Why not, because I'd be worse than
(17:33):
no help at all. Jefferson. Parks gripped the table, his
knuckles white. Why, he cried hoarsely. If you believe me,
why can't you help me? Morgan pointed to the magazine
lying on the table. I write, yes, he said, sadly,
ever read stories like this before? Parks picked up the
(17:56):
magazine glanced at the bright covert. I barely looked at it.
You should look more closely. I have a storry in
this issue. The readers thought it was very interesting. Morgan grinned,
go ahead, look at it. The Stranger from the Stars
(18:17):
leafed through the magazine, stopped at the page that carried
Rogers Morgan's name. His eyes caught the first paragraph, and
he turned white. He set the magazine down with a
trembling hand. I see, he said, and the life was
gone out of his voice. He spread the pages viciously,
(18:43):
read the lines again. The paragraph said, just suppose, said Martin,
that I did believe you? Just for argument? He glanced
up at the man across the table. Where do we
go from here? End of circus? By allan ed one
(19:07):
knows
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