Short Fiction Robert Sheckley (best romantic books to read TXT) đ
- Author: Robert Sheckley
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âAll right,â Hellman said sulkily.
Casker watched his partner wander off among the cans, bottles and cases. He wondered vaguely where Hellman got the energy, and decided that he was just too cerebral to know when he was starving.
âHereâs something,â Hellman called out, standing in front of a large yellow vat.
âWhat does it say?â Casker asked.
âLittle bit hard to translate. But rendered freely, it reads: Morishilleâs Voozy, with lacto-ecto added for a new taste sensation. Everyone drinks Voozy. Good before and after meals, no unpleasant aftereffects. Good for children! The drink of the universe!â
âThat sounds good,â Casker admitted, thinking that Hellman might not be so stupid after all.
âThis should tell us once and for all if their meat is our meat,â Hellman said. âThis Voozy seems to be the closest thing to a universal drink Iâve found yet.â
âMaybe,â Casker said hopefully, âmaybe itâs just plain water!â
âWeâll see.â Hellman pried open the lid with the edge of the burner.
Within the vat was a crystal-clear liquid.
âNo odor,â Casker said, bending over the vat.
The crystal liquid lifted to meet him.
Casker retreated so rapidly that he fell over a box. Hellman helped him to his feet, and they approached the vat again. As they came near, the liquid lifted itself three feet into the air and moved toward them.
âWhatâve you done now?â Casker asked, moving back carefully. The liquid flowed slowly over the side of the vat. It began to flow toward him.
âHellman!â Casker shrieked.
Hellman was standing to one side, perspiration pouring down his face, reading his dictionary with a preoccupied frown.
âGuess I bumbled the translation,â he said.
âDo something!â Casker shouted. The liquid was trying to back him into a corner.
âNothing I can do,â Hellman said, reading on. âAh, hereâs the error. It doesnât say âEveryone drinks Voozy.â Wrong subject. âVoozy drinks everyone.â That tells us something! The Helgans must have soaked liquid in through their pores. Naturally, they would prefer to be drunk, instead of to drink.â
Casker tried to dodge around the liquid, but it cut him off with a merry gurgle. Desperately he picked up a small bale and threw it at the Voozy. The Voozy caught the bale and drank it. Then it discarded that and turned back to Casker.
Hellman tossed another box. The Voozy drank this one and a third and fourth that Casker threw in. Then, apparently exhausted, it flowed back into its vat.
Casker clapped down the lid and sat on it, trembling violently.
âNot so good,â Hellman said. âWeâve been taking it for granted that the Helgans had eating habits like us. But, of course, it doesnât necessarilyâ ââ
âNo, it doesnât. No, sir, it certainly doesnât. I guess we can see that it doesnât. Anyone can see that it doesnâtâ ââ
âStop that,â Hellman ordered sternly. âWeâve no time for hysteria.â
âSorry.â Casker slowly moved away from the Voozy vat.
âI guess weâll have to assume that their meat is our poison,â Hellman said thoughtfully. âSo now weâll see if their poison is our meat.â
Casker didnât say anything. He was wondering what would have happened if the Voozy had drunk him.
In the corner, the rubbery block was still giggling to itself.
âNow hereâs a likely-looking poison,â Hellman said, half an hour later.
Casker had recovered completely, except for an occasional twitch of the lips.
âWhat does it say?â he asked.
Hellman rolled a tiny tube in the palm of his hand. âItâs called Pvastkinâs Plugger. The label reads: Warning! Highly dangerous! Pvastkinâs Plugger is designed to fill holes or cracks of not more than two cubic vims. Howeverâ âthe Plugger is not to be eaten under any circumstances. The active ingredient, ramotol, which makes Pvastkinâs so excellent a plugger renders it highly dangerous when taken internally.â
âSounds great,â Casker said. âItâll probably blow us sky-high.â
âDo you have any other suggestions?â Hellman asked.
Casker thought for a moment. The food of Helg was obviously unpalatable for humans. So perhaps was their poisonâ ââ ⊠but wasnât starvation better than this sort of thing?
After a momentâs communion with his stomach, he decided that starvation was not better.
âGo ahead,â he said.
Hellman slipped the burner under his arm and unscrewed the top of the little bottle. He shook it.
Nothing happened.
âItâs got a seal,â Casker pointed out.
Hellman punctured the seal with his fingernail and set the bottle on the floor. An evil-smelling green froth began to bubble out.
Hellman looked dubiously at the froth. It was congealing into a glob and spreading over the floor.
âYeast, perhaps,â he said, gripping the burner tightly.
âCome, come. Faint heart never filled an empty stomach.â
âIâm not holding you back,â Hellman said.
The glob swelled to the size of a manâs head.
âHow long is that supposed to go on?â Casker asked.
âWell,â Hellman said, âitâs advertised as a Plugger. I suppose thatâs what it doesâ âexpands to plug up holes.â
âSure. But how much?â
âUnfortunately, I donât know how much two cubic vims are. But it canât go on muchâ ââ
Belatedly, they noticed that the Plugger had filled almost a quarter of the room and was showing no signs of stopping.
âWe should have believed the label!â Casker yelled to him, across the spreading glob. âIt is dangerous!â
As the Plugger produced more surface, it began to accelerate in its growth. A sticky edge touched Hellman, and he jumped back.
âWatch out!â
He couldnât reach Casker, on the other side of the gigantic sphere of blob. Hellman tried to run around, but the Plugger had spread, cutting the room in half. It began to swell toward the walls.
âRun for it!â Hellman yelled, and rushed to the door behind him.
He flung it open just as the expanding glob reached him. On the other side of the room, he heard a door slam shut. Hellman didnât wait any longer. He sprinted through and slammed the door behind him.
He stood for a moment, panting, the burner in his hand. He hadnât realized how weak he was. That sprint had cut his reserves
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