The Second Mack Reynolds Megapack. Mack Reynolds
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The Second Algernon Blackwood Megapack
The Max Brand Megapack
The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack
The Fredric Brown Megapack
The Second Fredric Brown Megapack
The Wilkie Collins Megapack
The Stephen Crane Megapack
The Ray Cummings Megapack
The Guy de Maupassant Megapack
The Philip K. Dick Megapack
The Frederick Douglass Megapack
The Erckmann-Chatrian Megapack
The F. Scott Fitzgerald Megapack
The First R. Austin Freeman Megapack
The Second R. Austin Freeman Megapack*
The Third R. Austin Freeman Megapack*
The Jacques Futrelle Megapack
The Randall Garrett Megapack
The Second Randall Garrett Megapack
The Anna Katharine Green Megapack
The Zane Grey Megapack
The Edmond Hamilton Megapack
The Dashiell Hammett Megapack
The C.J. Henderson Megapack
The M.R. James Megapack
The Selma Lagerlof Megapack
The Harold Lamb Megapack
The Murray Leinster Megapack***
The Second Murray Leinster Megapack***
The Jonas Lie Megapack
The Arthur Machen Megapack**
The Katherine Mansfield Megapack
The George Barr McCutcheon Megapack
The A. Merritt Megapack*
The Talbot Mundy Megapack
The E. Nesbit Megapack
The Andre Norton Megapack
The H. Beam Piper Megapack
The Mack Reynolds Megapack
The Rafael Sabatini Megapack
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The Darrell Schweitzer Megapack
The Robert Sheckley Megapack
The Bram Stoker Megapack
The Lon Williams Weird Western Megapack
The Virginia Woolf Megapack
The William Hope Hodgson Megapack
* Not available in the United States
** Not available in the European Union
***Out of print.
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COME IN, SPACEPORT
AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION
This is a type of story undreamed of a quarter of a century ago. It’s a juvenile and written on order for a child’s textbook, GO: Reading in the Content Areas, edited by Harold L. Herber of Syracuse University. Heavens to Betsy, who would have thought that science fiction would one day be turning up in children’s textbooks? When I was a lad, we fans used to have to hide our magazines from our parents.
—Mack Reynolds
* * * *
Bruce Camaroon was on duty as repeat man for the monitoring computers when the first call came through. There was precious little to do. He just had to be there, in case something did come up. This job was going to go down the drain one of these days; the computers didn’t really need him. He could have handled the duties, home in bed. All he’d have to do was have an alarm, so they could rouse him up, if anything developed.
Radio technician Dick MaGruder was sitting across the desk from him, chewing the rag, and Jill Farnsworth, the secretary, who was just about as useful as Bruce was, was on the other side of the control room, using her voco-typer. She was probably doing personal letters.
One of the computers had evidently picked up something out of the way. His screen clicked.
A rather high-pitched voice said: ‘‘Emergency, emergency. Please come in. This is Jimmy… uh, James Barry. In Lifeboat 2, of Spaceship Promised Land. There are two of us. My sister and me. She’s hurt. We’re all that’s left. They… they’re all dead. Our parents… and everybody. Jane’s burnt bad. Please have an ambulance at the spaceport. Please put me in contact with a doctor, right away. I have to ask him what to do.”
Bruce Camaroon’s eyes were bugging. “The Promised Land! It blew! There were no survivors!”
MaGruder snarled, “Shut up, listen!”
The voice went on. “I smeared all the ointments in the medicine chest on her and bandaged her all up. My father is… my father was, a doctor. I also stuck one, uh, Syrette of, I think, a sedative into her. It said on the tube, Pseudo-Morphine. I don’t know if I should give her any more or not. She’s asleep. She’s not very big. Ten years old. I don’t know if she should have been given a full Syrette or not. Or maybe she even needs another one. She’s burnt pretty bad, all over, almost.”
He took a deep, tear-choked breath, and went on. “Anyway, I’m following the space lifeboat instruction book as good as I can. I think I’m doing all right. I think we’re heading for the Northern Hemisphere. The book says there are four spaceports there. So I’m calling New Denver Spaceport. Calling New Denver Spaceport, for landing instructions. Please come in, New Denver Spaceport. Uh, over and out.”
“Holy smokes,” Bruce yelled. “Jill! Get one of the pilots. I think Bill is on standby.”
Jill was ahead of him. “He’s on his way already,” she snapped. Into her auto-secretary she was saying, “Locate Mr. Zimmerman, locate Mr. Barkley, locate Mr. Rykov. Instruct them to check in with control tower immediately.”
Bruce said to Dick MaGruder, who lunged into the seat before the set on the space pick-up, “Try to get video on this and more amplification. He sounds pretty far out.”
“Right.”
Bruce went back to his own screen and said, “New Denver Spaceport, calling James Barry, Lifeboat 2, of Promised Land. Come in, Barry.”
“Emergency, emergency. Space Lifeboat 2 of Promised Land, calling New Denver Spaceport. Require landing instructions. Require landing instructions.”
Bill Wellingham came bursting into the office. He slid into the pilot’s seat and took over.
“Okay. This is New Denver. We’re getting you fairly clear. Now listen. Right on your left is a small switch painted green and labeled Control Release. Pull it down. We’ll lock in on you.”
Dick MaGruder said, “Here’s your video, Bruce.