DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Spaceways, v. 4, issue 1, whole no. 24, December 1941

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Spaceways, v. 4, issue 1, whole no. 24, December 1941

10                                              SPACEWAYS 
                  IF I WEREWOLF
at well over two miles a minute. An hour later, and still three hours till sunrise, found me circling over LaKuslan's domicile, while a tired tiger lolled on the doorstep catching his breath. In a few moments, we rejoined forces, and, calling on all our as yet incomplete mastery of our physiques, went streaming through the keyhole, and between door and doorsill, to re-form presently in Trudy's own room. Still in my claw I held the sombre secret of our power, and when she waked, if she could be persuaded—and I curved and uncurved my keen claws for practice—there would be three of us. 
   We looked at Trudy, sleeping, and laughed inwardly. She lay almost face down, snoring gently and rhythmically, and the target was tempting. I wished for a ping-pong paddle, and half spread my wings, only to fold them againas the tiger, acting with swift precision, lashed his tail twice, and then brought it down on the sleeping figure, THWACK, just where it was likely to do the most good.
   "Oof. Ugh," said Trudy, and perhaps she might have said more and harsher things had not the blankets somewhat muffled the blow. Then she saw the shining eyes of the great cat beside her, and started to scream. But Art and I both held hard on her mind, so that the scream began as a yawn and turned into a sigh. Then we explained, as best we could, and waited to see how she would take it.
   "Andyou mean," she asked us, "that if it works with me I can become anything I like?"
   "Anything alive," I answered, and for a few moments we could not follow the twining paths of her thought. Then evidently she had decided, for she opened her mind again and told us to wait outside; she would join us at the back door. And so she did. With little hesitation she jumped on the tiger's back—I smiled to myself at Art's surprise—and ordered him toward the beach, a few hundred yards away. There, on this deserted stretch of sand, with the lights of the manmade city behind us, and the rolling ocean in front of us, we held a brief conclave. Then, while I still kept the crystal, Trudy touched it, dismounting from the tiger, and letting me perch on her shoulder. She walked along the edge of the tide, where the water swirled in riplets about her feet, and then to my astonishment, as the power of the graven black rhombohedron began to work in her blood, she waded further and further out—and began to change! I soared free above the waves, as there began to take form in their shallow depth the great shape of a feminine whale. As she grew, she worked her way ever into the deeper waters, until presently some miles at sea off the Connecticut coast there disported herself in the billows a particularly large and frisky whale. She splashed, she stood on her tail, and she churned the water to spray and foam with her great flukes. I followed, flying above, while Art, the tiger, prowled lonelily up and down the beach, only to retreat in dismay when the playful whale surged in from the sea to set up a mild tidal wave which broke far up the beach, splashing the tiger with salt spray. In his tigroid form, Art loved water as little as any cat; he shook himself, angrily, and began to dry his fur. I caught a stray thought of his on the general lines of becoming a killer whale the next time and having a go at that ------, but as he grew drier he seemed to calm down, and, answering our mental calls, the huge whale rolled in from the sea to become just visible at the limit of shallow water.
   "This is glorious fun," said Trudy; "I can't think when I've enjoyed myself so."
   "How'll you get ashore again?" we asked.
   "Drive in hard, at full speed, strand as high on the beach as I can, and then change back to myself," she replied. "I'm a good swimmer, anyway."
   "All right, then. Now, what are our plans for the future?"
   "The Futurians. Do you have to be told every little thing?"

Saving...

10 SPACEWAYS IF I WEREWOLF at well over two miles a minute. An hour later, and still three hours till sunrise, found me circling over LaKuslan's domicile, while a tired tiger lolled on the doorstep catching his breath. In a few moments, we rejoined forces, and, calling on all our as yet incomplete mastery of our physiques, went streaming through the keyhole, and between door and doorsill, to re-form presently in Trudy's own room. Still in my claw I held the sombre secret of our power, and when she waked, if she could be persuaded—and I curved and uncurved my keen claws for practice—there would be three of us. We looked at Trudy, sleeping, and laughed inwardly. She lay almost face down, snoring gently and rhythmically, and the target was tempting. I wished for a ping-pong paddle, and half spread my wings, only to fold them againas the tiger, acting with swift precision, lashed his tail twice, and then brought it down on the sleeping figure, THWACK, just where it was likely to do the most good. "Oof. Ugh," said Trudy, and perhaps she might have said more and harsher things had not the blankets somewhat muffled the blow. Then she saw the shining eyes of the great cat beside her, and started to scream. But Art and I both held hard on her mind, so that the scream began as a yawn and turned into a sigh. Then we explained, as best we could, and waited to see how she would take it. "Andyou mean," she asked us, "that if it works with me I can become anything I like?" "Anything alive," I answered, and for a few moments we could not follow the twining paths of her thought. Then evidently she had decided, for she opened her mind again and told us to wait outside; she would join us at the back door. And so she did. With little hesitation she jumped on the tiger's back—I smiled to myself at Art's surprise—and ordered him toward the beach, a few hundred yards away. There, on this deserted stretch of sand, with the lights of the manmade city behind us, and the rolling ocean in front of us, we held a brief conclave. Then, while I still kept the crystal, Trudy touched it, dismounting from the tiger, and letting me perch on her shoulder. She walked along the edge of the tide, where the water swirled in riplets about her feet, and then to my astonishment, as the power of the graven black rhombohedron began to work in her blood, she waded further and further out—and began to change! I soared free above the waves, as there began to take form in their shallow depth the great shape of a feminine whale. As she grew, she worked her way ever into the deeper waters, until presently some miles at sea off the Connecticut coast there disported herself in the billows a particularly large and frisky whale. She splashed, she stood on her tail, and she churned the water to spray and foam with her great flukes. I followed, flying above, while Art, the tiger, prowled lonelily up and down the beach, only to retreat in dismay when the playful whale surged in from the sea to set up a mild tidal wave which broke far up the beach, splashing the tiger with salt spray. In his tigroid form, Art loved water as little as any cat; he shook himself, angrily, and began to dry his fur. I caught a stray thought of his on the general lines of becoming a killer whale the next time and having a go at that ------, but as he grew drier he seemed to calm down, and, answering our mental calls, the huge whale rolled in from the sea to become just visible at the limit of shallow water. "This is glorious fun," said Trudy; "I can't think when I've enjoyed myself so." "How'll you get ashore again?" we asked. "Drive in hard, at full speed, strand as high on the beach as I can, and then change back to myself," she replied. "I'm a good swimmer, anyway." "All right, then. Now, what are our plans for the future?" "The Futurians. Do you have to be told every little thing?"