Black Bargain

by John Russell Fearn, Vargo Statten

Genres: Science Fiction; Sci-fi Action & Adventure; Space Opera

Synopsis

Earth is enveloped in what seems at first to be to be a harmless cloud of cosmic dust. But it leaves behind a deadly disease, dooming every human being on Earth unless an antidote can be found. Medical experts strive to find this antidote, but have to report failure. At this stage a mysterious woman arrives from Jupiter with the antidote mankind so desperately needs, but she demands in return the services of Doctor Meadows as her mate; he will have to return with her to Jupiter to help regenerate her race, where males are extinct. Meadows reluctantly agrees, and the antidote is given, saving humanity, so Meadows prepares to accept his fate...

Release date: March 31, 2015

Publisher: Gateway

Print pages: 90

Sample

It was in September, 2004, when the area of cosmic dust was first sighted. The mighty reflector of Mount Wilson was the first to pick it up. In the early stages it appeared as nothing more than a nebulous grey mist upon the everlasting darkness of space. Indeed, the only trace of its presence at first was in a slight masking of the stars to the north of the sidereal hemisphere. In general, the world’s astronomers regarded it as nothing more than one of those vast cosmic sluices of deposit perhaps produced from the shattered remains of a distant star, but none the less they went to work to laboriously chart and measure this unexpected “something” which had suddenly presented itself upon the eternal face of the deeps.

At first it was far too great a distance to be capable of correct measurement or analysis, and the general viewpoint of the world’s astronomers was that it would probably fade away as mysteriously as it had come—only it did not. With the passage of the months from September to Christmas it was more than evident, not only to the professional stargazers but also to that colossal band of earnest amateurs, that this nebulous dust far out to the north of the solar system was increasing in size, not lessening. Not that there was any reason to suspect it could be dangerous, but just the same the presence of anything unusual in the solar system could—and did—produce a certain amount of trepidation, particularly among those not thoroughly acquainted with all the laws of astronomy. Possibly the somewhat scarifying plots of the science fiction writers of the day had done something to cause the minds of imaginative people to expect the worst.

By February, 2005, this nebulous dust was evident, not only to the astronomers through their telescopes, but the public in general. It appeared as though half the heavens in the northern section were lighter than the rest of the sky, and at first this was taken to be some by-product of the auroral draperies from the magnetic pole. Until the astronomical correspondents of the daily papers began to ask certain pungent questions.

Why should the auroral draperies be so immoveable when normally they are in a constant state of agitation caused by the Earth’s own swift revolution? Would the scientists, and particularly the astronomers, be good enough to explain what was going on? Such were the first tentative questions put forward by the Press—but as February passed into March and the heavens became even brighter to the North, the questions were less politely couched. Instead, the daily papers, to say nothing of the radio, the news casts, the television commentators and so forth wanted to know point-blank what was wrong?

The astronomers evaded any direct reply, for the simple reason that they did not know themselves—or, more correctly, the cosmic dust had shown itself through spectroscope analysis to be something quite outside the normal knowledge of any astronomer. Mount Wilson had made the usual routine tests, and their spectroscopes had shown that the dust was made up of completely unknown gases—that is to say gases which had no parallel in the Earthly chemical scale. Their spectra seemed to be a composite of many colours, and in certain cases there were curious eye-tingling vibrations produced in these spectra which astronomers could only assume were caused by colours outside the range of the normal Earthly visual equipment. In other words, the cosmic dust, while analysed spectroscopically, had a blending of many of the normal spectrum colours known to Earth astronomers, but also a goodly supply of colours outside the normal range, which, since there are only a certain number of basic colours in Earthly knowledge, could only present themselves as vibrations—and very painful ones at that.

What the astronomers did do, of course, was to communicate with one another and meet in solemn conclave to discuss this strange cloud which had come into the heavens. Plainly it was not dangerous in the accepted sense, though there was the possibility that the mysterious gases of which it was composed might prove fatal, or at least injurious, to Earthly life—and that was the troublesome point. It had been shown by the most exact mathematical charting that this enormous field of faintly luminescent dust lay definitely in the track of Earth, or, more correctly, Earth’s orbit and the path of the cosmic dust would at one point intersect and nothing could prevent the Earth from swimming right through the midst of the phenomenon.

“To me,” said Dr. Reynolds, the chief curator of the Mount Wilson Observatory, “this cosmic something is a most alarming visitation. How the rest of you gentlemen feel about it I don’t know, but as far as I am concerned I believe that all the governments of the world should be informed immediately of our findings concerning this visitation—if I may call it such.”

Some of the assembled scientists nodded slowly; others shook their heads with a certain fatalism. Each one of them was an expert in his own particular line. There were mathematicians, straight-forward astronomers, experts on cosmical calculus and specialists in the analysis of cosmic spectra. Each one of them had contributed something to the pool of knowledge which had accumulated concerning the mystery dust, and each one therefore felt a definite responsibility for what must now be done.

“Obviously,” Dr. Reynolds continued, “it is no use us having made all these investigations just to keep them to ourselves. Besides, we have to acknowledge the clamour that has arisen in all parts of the world. The public is demanding to know what has so changed the sky to the north, and quite rightly! The average man or woman who hardly knows a star from a planet is entitled to know the face of this Earth is going to be involved in this cosmic dust. Whether it will mean our extinction, or whether we shall sail through it without any ill effect, only time can show.”

“To the best of my belief,” one of the spectrographists commented, “I don’t regard this nebulous gas as dangerous. The elements in it which have been analysed are all more or less harmless. There is a considerable amount of hydrogen, oxygen and a rather unstable form of nitrogen, but not in enough quantity to be dangerous. Those three gases of themselves cannot do any harm, the only debatable point lies in whatever other gases there may be, those gases which we cannot analyse and which appear only as a vibration on our spectroscopic screens.”

Another astronomer came forth with an observation, glancing through his papers as he spoke.

“According to my calculations, Dr. Reynolds—and I’m reasonably sure that they will concur with yours—Earth will enter into this gas field, or rather this cosmic field within about fourteen days. My approximate calculation is that the first contact with the gas will take place on the fifth of March next. The whole world is bound to see this grey field to the north gradually reaching up to the zenith of the sky, so there is no point in any longer holding out against the demand for information. I believe that special couriers should be sent to all governments immediately with sealed information explaining the situation. It is not for us to take the responsibility; that is for the particular governments to do themselves since they know how their own particular people will react.”

“I agree with you,” Dr. Reynolds said, nodding. “The matter is out of our hands now. We’ve done all the necessary astronomical calculations, and since we are all agreed that Earth is bound to enter this cosmic field we must obviously inform the necessary authorities.”

So the necessary steps were taken. The courier flew from Mount Wilson to Washington, and others to all the other capitals of the world. In the case of Britain Greenwich Observatory, a mighty new building which had been erected only within the last five years, was in full possession of the facts which had been gained already by Mount Wilson and promptly informed the Government of the details.

There was, of course, nothing that could be done to stop the newspapers using their largest type and their most frightening headlines. Some said: “EARTH DOOMED IN FOURTEEN DAYS,” or “WORLD’S END AT HAND!” The radio and television commentators were much more reserved in their statements, but no matter how they put it, and indeed no matter how much the pill was sugar-coated, there was no doubt in the mind of the average man or woman that something most unpleasant was due to happen within a fortnight. Hence there rose yet another clamour for more explanation of what was supposed to be transpiring. The observatories obliged in so far as they could, and to all the big television and movie theatres there were rushed special films showing exactly what had been viewed through the giant Mount Wilson telescope. To this was added a commentary given in the best lecture hall manner, but since these commentators in the main had adopted an air of intolerable condescension and used the most highly technical terms, the explanation—if that was what it was meant to be—sailed right over the heads of the man and woman in the street. All they knew was that a grey cloud was going to descend upon them and it might mean death. Nobody could say for certain whether it meant the end of the world or not.

Undoubtedly the ones who got the most fun and financial return from the announcement were the religious revivalists, those strange fanatically earnest beings who cash in on the unusual to proclaim the power of the Almighty and His wrath upon those who have dared to ignore Him. Yes, in those bright spring days of the year 2005 there was the biggest tumult of unrest that had ever been known throughout the world. Stock Markets rose and fell, the suicide rate reached an absolutely unheard of peak, marriages increased a thousandfold and most extraordinary of all interplanetary and international matters were pushed into the background. Indeed, a stranger arriving on Earth in 2005 would almost have thought that such things as space travel and business matters connected with the inner worlds of Mars and Venus, did not even exist so little was this normal everyday subject mentioned. For of course space travel had been an accomplished thing for over half a century.

But here was something new! A gathering mist to the north, rising higher every night, riding up high into the sky towards the zenith as the fourteen days slowly passed.

The calculations of March the fifth for the Earth’s entry into the cosmic cloud proved to be remarkably accurate, and later calculations made on March the third showed that the actual entry into the field would be at approximately ten fifteen a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. By this time, of course, all normal business and social activities, even home life itself, had come to a standstill. Every living soul on the face of the Earth . . .