Black Eyes and the Daily Grind Read online

said: "As closely aswe can tell, Black Eyes is the culprit."

  "What?" Lindy demanded.

  "Yes, Mrs. Whitney. Your pet, Black Eyes."

  "Oh, I don't believe it!"

  But Judd said, "Go ahead, Dr. Jamison. I'm listening."

  "Well, how does an animal--any animal--protect itself?"

  "Why, in any number of ways. If it has claws or a strong jaw and longteeth, it can fight. If it is fleet of foot, it can run. If it is bigand has a tough hide, most other animals can't hurt it anyway. Umm-mm,doesn't that about cover it?"

  "You left out protective coloration, defensive odors, and things likethat. Actually, those are most important from our point of view, forBlack Eyes' ability is a further ramification of that sort of thing.Your pet is not fast. It isn't strong. It can't change color and it hasno offensive odor to chase off predatory enemies. It has no armor. Inshort, can you think of a more helpless creature to put down in thoseVenusian swamps?"

  After Judd had shaken his head, Dr. Jamison continued: "Very well, BlackEyes should not be able to survive on Venus--and yet, obviously thecreature did. We can assume there are more of the breed, too. Anyway,Black Eyes survives. And I'll tell you why.

  "Black Eyes has a very uncommon ability to sense danger when itapproaches. And sensing danger, Black Eyes can thwart it. Your creaturesends out certain emanations--I won't pretend to know what theyare--which stamp aggression out of any predatory creatures. Neither ofyou could fire upon it--right?"

  "Umm-mm, that's true," Judd said.

  Lindy nodded.

  "Well, that's one half of it. There's so much about life we don'tunderstand. Black Eyes uses energy of an unknown intensity, and theresult maintains Black Eyes' life. Now, although that is the case, youranimal did not live a comfortable life in the Venusian swamp. Because noanimal would attack it, it could not be harmed. Still, from what youtell me about that swamp ...

  "Anyhow, Black Eyes was glad to come away with you, and everything wentwell until you landed in New York. The noises, the clattering, thecontinual bustle of a great city--all this frightened the creature. Itwas being attacked--or, at least that's what it must have figured.Result: it struck back the only way it knew how. Have you ever heardabout sub-sonic sound-waves, Mr. Whitney, waves of sound so low that ourears cannot pick them up--waves of sound which can nevertheless stir ouremotions? Such things exist, and, as a working hypothesis, I would sayBlack Eyes' strange powers rest along those lines. The whole city isidle because Black Eyes is afraid!"

  In his exploration of Mars, of Venus, of the Jovian moons, Judd Whitneyhad seen enough of extra-terrestrial life to know that virtuallyanything was possible, and Black Eyes would be no exception to thatrule.

  "What do you propose to do?" Judd demanded.

  "Do? Why, we'll have to kill your creature, naturally. You can set avalue on it and we will meet it, but Black Eyes must die."

  "No!" Lindy cried. "You can't be sure, you're only guessing, and itisn't fair!"

  "My dear woman, don't you realize this is a serious situation? Thecity's people will starve in time. No one can even bring food in becausethe trucks make too much noise! As an alternative, we could evacuate,but is your pet more valuable than the life of a great city?"

  "N-no...."

  "Then, please! Listen to reason!"

  "Kill it," Judd said. "Go ahead."

  Dr. Jamison withdrew from his pocket a small blasting pistol used by theDepartment of Domestic Animals for elimination of injured creatures. Headvanced on Black Eyes, who sat on its haunches in the center of theroom, surveying the scientist.

  Dr. Jamison put his blaster away. "I can't," he said. "I don't want to."

  Judd smiled. "I know it. No one--no _thing_--can kill Black Eyes. Yousaid so yourself. It was a waste of time to try it. In that case--"

  "In that case," Dr. Jamison finished for him, "we're helpless. Thereisn't a man--or an animal--on Earth that will destroy this thing. Waita minute--does it sleep, Mr. Whitney?"

  "I don't think so. At least, I never saw it sleep. And your team ofscientists, did they report anything?"

  "No. As far as they could see, the creature never slept. We can't catchit unawares."

  "Could you anesthetize it?"

  "How? It can sense danger, and long before you could do that, it wouldstop you. It's only made one mistake, Mr. Whitney: it believes thenoises of the city represent a danger. And that's only a negativemistake. Noise won't hurt Black Eyes, of course. It simply makes theanimal unnecessarily cautious. But we cannot anesthetize it any morethan we can kill it."

  "I could take it back to Venus."

  "Could you? Could you? I hadn't thought of that."

  Judd shook his head. "I can't."

  "What do you mean you can't?"

  "It won't let me. Somehow it can sense our thoughts when we thinksomething it doesn't want. I can't take it to Venus! No man could,because it doesn't want to go."

  "My dear Mr. Whitney--do you mean to say you believe it can _think_?"

  "Uh-uh. Didn't say that. It can sense our thoughts, and that's somethingelse again."

  Dr. Jamison threw his hands up over his head in a dramatic gesture."It's hopeless," he said.

  * * * * *

  Things grew worse. New York crawled along to a standstill. People beganto move from the city. In trickles, at first, but the trickles becametorrents, as New York's ten million people began to depart for sanerplaces. It might take months--it might even take years, but the exodushad begun. Nothing could stop it. Because of a harmless little beastwith the eyes of a tarsier, the life of a great city was coming to anend.

  Word spread. Scientists all over the world studied reports on BlackEyes. No one had any ideas. Everyone was stumped. Black Eyes had noparticular desire to go outside. Black Eyes merely remained in theWhitney house, contemplating nothing in particular, and stoppingeverything.

  Dr. Jamison, however, was a persistent man. Judd got a letter from himone day, and the following afternoon he kept his appointment with thescientist.

  "It's good to get out," Judd said, after a three hour walk to theDepartment of Science Building. "I can go crazy just staring at thatthing."

  "I have it, Whitney."

  "You have what? Not the way to destroy Black Eyes? I don't believe it!"

  "It's true. Consider. Everyone in the world does not yet know of yourpet, correct?"

  "I suppose there are a few people who don't--"

  "There are many. Among them, are the crew of a jet-bomber which has beenon maneuvers in Egypt. We have arranged everything."

  "Yes? How?"

  "At noon tomorrow, the bomber will appear over your home with one ofthe ancient, high-explosive missiles. Your neighbors will be removedfrom the vicinity, and, precisely at twelve-o-three in the afternoon,the bomb will be dropped. Your home will be destroyed. Black Eyes willbe destroyed with it."

  Judd looked uncomfortable. "I dunno," he said. "Sounds too easy."

  "Too easy? I doubt if the animal will ever sense what is going on--notwhen the crew of the bomber doesn't know, either. They'll consider it amighty peculiar order, to destroy one harmless, rather large and ratherelaborate suburban home. But they'll do it. See you tomorrow, Whitney,after this mess is behind us."

  "Yeah," Judd said. "Yeah." But somehow, the scientist had failed toinstill any of his confidence in Judd.

  * * * * *

  With Lindy, he left home at eleven the following morning, after making athorough list of all their properties which the City had promised toduplicate. Judd did not look at Black Eyes as he left, and the animalremained where it was, seated on its haunches under the dining roomtable, nibbling crumbs. Judd could almost feel the big round eyes boringa pair of twin holes in his back, and he dared not turn around to facethem....

  They were a mile away at eleven forty-five, making their way through thenearly deserted streets. Judd stopped walking. He looked at Lindy. Lindylooked at him.

  "
They're going to destroy it," he said.

  "I know."

  "Do you want them to?"

  "I--I--"

  Judd knew that something had to be done with Black Eyes. He didn't likethe little beast, and, anyway, that had nothing to do with it. BlackEyes was a menace. And yet, something whispered in Judd's ear, _Don'tlet them, don't let them ..._ It wasn't Judd and it wasn't Judd'ssubconscious. It was Black Eyes, and he knew it. But he couldn't do athing about