The Beyonders by Manly Wade Wellman & Lou Feck

Author:Manly Wade Wellman & Lou Feck [Wellman, Manly Wade & Feck, Lou]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, General
ISBN: 9780671698539
Google: VKjEAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 044688202X
Publisher: Baen Books
Published: 1977-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

IX

Next morning came with slaty clouds and repeated gusts of rain. Crispin had invited Doc to eat breakfast with him, and Doc enjoyed it immensely.

"I've eaten eggs morning after another, during a longish life, but these are about the best I've ever tasted," said Doc laying down his fork. "What's your secret formula, Jim?"

"Oh, nothing exactly secret," smiled Crispin, refilling both their coffee cups. "The most important thing I did, I think, was separate the yolks and whites and beat them both. Then I stirred grated cheese and shredded green pepper into the yolks, and finally I put the whites back in."

"Give your recipe to Slowly," requested Doc. "Or, better still, come over and show her how to do it. As a former research scientist, I'll watch with considerable interest."

"Research scientist," Crispin said after him, and spread jam on a fragment of toast. "You were a research scientist, you say. You must have known some distinguished men in various fields of research."

"Several," nodded Doc. "I remember having a quarrel with one. He was dead against any effort to reach the moon. Said it would never succeed, which of course it did. He felt that the money should be spent in cancer research."

"And you disagreed with him?" prompted Crispin.

"I said that there's enough money in America for the successful handling of both moon shots and cancer research, and that I'd gladly pay my share of the taxes needed to get to the moon. I honor those adventurers. If I were a younger man, I'd like to go flying to some other world."

Crispin eyed him thoughtfully, hand to brown-bearded chin. "You don't feel that your friend was a true scientist, then."

"Oh, he was a true scientist, all right," said Doc, nodding his head. "He was such a damned true scientist, there wasn't any room in his thoughts for anything but science. He reminded me of what Aristippus said about men who studied only the sciences and neglected the philosophies—that they were like those ancient idlers who came to pay suit to Penelope and then stayed out in the antechamber, making love to the servant girls."

"Aristippus?" said Crispin.

"He was a Greek philosopher who had the bad judgment to be philosophizing around the time of Plato and Aristotle, who took up most of the attention then and later," Doc informed him. "Probably I'd never have noticed him myself if I hadn't read about him in Francis Bacon."

"You're a philosopher yourself," said Crispin. "Let me ask, how would your philosophy serve you if you happened to meet members of an expedition from another world, an unknown world beyond any star we know?"

"I'd be dazzled, naturally. I'd consider such an experience a privilege and an inspiration."

"Then—"

Crispin broke off. There was a knock at the door. Crispin rose and opened it, and in came Gander Eye, shedding his waterproof coat and shaking drops from the brim of his old slouch hat. "Howdy," he greeted them.

"Good morning, Gander Eye," said Doc. "You're too late if you came looking for breakfast.

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