Two days later, Clewson Jetcraft had to lay off all its help. They put
ads in all the papers seeking new personnel but no one showed up.
Clewson was forced to shut down.
* * * * *
The crack Boston to New York pneumo-tube commuter's special pulled to a
bone-jarring stop immediately outside the New York station. Some angry
commuters pried open the conductor's cab, and found the man snoozing
quite contentedly. They awakened him, but he refused to drive the train
any further. All the commuters had to leave the pneumo-train and edge
their way along three miles of catwalk to the station. No one was very
happy about it, but the feeling of well-being which came over them all
nipped any possible protest in the bud.
* * * * *
Black Eyes whimpered again when Judd and Lindy reached home but after
that it was quiet. It just sat on its haunches near the window and
stared out at the city.
The quiet city.
Nothing moved in the streets. Nothing stirred. People remained at home
watching local video or the new space-video from Mars. At first it was a
good joke, and the newspapers could have had a field day with it, had
the newspapers remained in circulation. After four days, however, they
suspended publication. On the fifth day, there was a shortage of food in
the city, great stores of it spoiling in the warehouses. Heat and light
failed after a week, and the fire department ignored all alarms a day
later.
But everything did not stop. School teachers still taught their classes;
clerks still sold whatever goods were left on local shelves. Librarians
were still at their desks.
Conservatives said it was a liberal plot to undermine capital and demand
higher wages; liberals said big business could afford the temporary
layoff and wanted to squeeze out the small businessman and labor unions.
Scientists pondered and city officials made speeches over video.
"Something," one of them observed, "has hit our city. Work that requires
anything above a modicum of sound has become impossible; in regards to
such work people have become lazy. No one can offer any valid
suggestions concerning the malady. It merely exists. However, if a stop
is not put to it--and soon--our fair city will disintegrate. Something
is making us lazy, and that laziness can spell doom, being a compulsive
lack of desire to create any noise or disturbance. If anyone believes he
has the solution, he should contact the Department of Science at once.
If you can't use the video-phone, come in person. But come! Every hour
which passes adds to the city's woes."
Nothing but scatter-brained ideas for a week, none of them worth
consideration. Then the bespectacled customs official who had bypassed
quarantine for Black Eyes, got in touch with the authorities. He had
always been a conscientious man--except for that one lapse. Maybe the
queer little beast had nothing to do with this crisis. But then again,
the customs official had never before--or since--had that strange
feeling of lassitude. Could there be some connection?
A staff of experts on extra-terrestrial fauna was dispatched to the
Whitney residence, although, indeed, the chairman of the Department of
Science secretly considered the whole idea ridiculous.
The staff of experts introduced themselves. Then, ignoring the protests
of Lindy, went to work on Black Eyes. At first Judd thought the animal
would object, but apparently it did not. While conditions all about them
in the city worsened, the experts spent three days studying Black Eyes.
They found nothing out of the ordinary.
Black Eyes merely stared back at them, and but for an accident, they
would have departed without a lead. On the third day, a huge mongrel dog
which belonged to the Whitneys' next-door neighbors somehow slipped its
leash. It was a fierce and ugly animal, and it was known to attack
anything smaller than itself. It jumped the fence and landed in Judd
Whitney's yard. A few loping bounds took it through an open window,
ground level. Inside, it spied Black Eyes and made for the creature at
once, howling furiously.
Black Eyes didn't budge.
And the mongrel changed its mind! The slavering tongue withdrew inside
the chops, the howling stopped. The mongrel lay down on the floor and
whined. Presently it lost all interest, got to its feet, and left as it
had come.
Other animals were brought to the Whitney home. Cats. Dogs. A lion from
the city zoo, starved for two days and brought in a special mobile cage
by its keeper. Black Eyes was thrust into the cage and the lion gave
forth with a hideous yowling. Soon it stopped, rolled over, and slept.
* * * * *
The scientists correlated their reports, returned with them to the
Whitney house. The leader, whose name was Jamison, said: "As closely as
we can tell, Black Eyes is the culprit."
"What?" Lindy demanded.
"Yes, Mrs. Whitney. Your pet, Black Eyes."
"Oh, I don't believe it!"