The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Jupiter Weapon, by Charles Louis Fontenay
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Jupiter Weapon
Author: Charles Louis Fontenay
Release Date: December 22, 2008 [EBook #27588]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JUPITER WEAPON ***
Produced by Greg Weeks, Jana Srna and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
[ Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from "Amazing Science Fiction Stories" March
1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U. S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible; changes (corrections of spelling and punctuation) made to
the original text are listed at the end of this file.
]
THE
JUPITER
WEAPON
By CHARLES L. FONTENAY
He was a living weapon of
destruction--immeasurably
powerful, utterly invulnerable.
There was only one
question: Was he human?
Trella feared she was in for trouble even before Motwick's head dropped
forward on his arms in a drunken stupor. The two evil-looking men at the
table nearby had been watching her surreptitiously, and now they shifted
restlessly in their chairs.
Trella had not wanted to come to the Golden Satellite. It was a squalid
saloon in the rougher section of Jupiter's View, the terrestrial
dome-colony on Ganymede. Motwick, already drunk, had insisted.
A woman could not possibly make her way through these streets alone to
the better section of town, especially one clad in a silvery evening
dress. Her only hope was that this place had a telephone. Perhaps she
could call one of Motwick's friends; she had no one on Ganymede she
could call a real friend herself.
Tentatively, she pushed her chair back from the table and arose. She had
to brush close by the other table to get to the bar. As she did, the
dark, slick-haired man reached out and grabbed her around the waist with
a steely arm.
Trella swung with her whole body, and slapped him so hard he nearly fell
from his chair. As she walked swiftly toward the bar, he leaped up to
follow her.
There were only two other people in the Golden Satellite: the fat,
mustached bartender and a short, square-built man at the bar. The latter
swung around at the pistol-like report of her slap, and she saw that,
though no more than four and a half feet tall, he was as heavily muscled
as a lion.
His face was clean and open, with close-cropped blond hair and honest
blue eyes. She ran to him.
"Help me!" she cried. "Please help me!"
He began to back away from her.
"I can't," he muttered in a deep voice. "I can't help you. I can't do
anything."
* * * * *
The dark man was at her heels. In desperation, she dodged around the
short man and took refuge behind him. Her protector was obviously
unwilling, but the dark man, faced with his massiveness, took no
chances. He stopped and shouted:
"Kregg!"
The other man at the table arose, ponderously, and lumbered toward them.
He was immense, at least six and a half feet tall, with a brutal, vacant
face.
Evading her attempts to stay behind him, the squat man began to move
down the bar away from the approaching Kregg. The dark man moved in on
Trella again as Kregg overtook his quarry and swung a huge fist like a
sledgehammer.
Exactly what happened, Trella wasn't sure. She had the impression that
Kregg's fist connected squarely with the short man's chin _before_ he
dodged to one side in a movement so fast it was a blur. But that
couldn't have been, because the short man wasn't moved by that blow that
would have felled a steer, and Kregg roared in pain, grabbing his
injured fist.
"The bar!" yelled Kregg. "I hit the damn bar!"
At this juncture, the bartender took a hand. Leaning far over the bar,
he swung a full bottle in a complete arc. It smashed on Kregg's head,
splashing the floor with liquor, and Kregg sank stunned to his knees.
The dark man, who had grabbed Trella's arm, released her and ran for the
door.
Moving agilely around the end of the bar, the bartender stood over
Kregg, holding the jagged-edged bottleneck in his hand menacingly.
"Get out!" rumbled the bartender. "I'll have no coppers raiding my place
for the likes of you!"
Kregg stumbled to his feet and staggered out. Trella ran to the
unconscious Motwick's side.
"That means you, too, lady," said the bartender beside her. "You and
your boy friend get out of here. You oughtn't to have come here in the
first place."
"May I help you, Miss?" asked a deep, resonant voice behind her.
She straightened from her anxious examination of Motwick. The squat man
was standing there, an apologetic look on his face.
She looked contemptuously at the massive muscles whose help had been
denied her. Her arm ached where the dark man had grasped it. The broad
face before her was not unhandsome, and the blue eyes were
disconcertingly direct, but she despised him for a coward.
"I'm sorry I couldn't fight those men for you, Miss, but I just
couldn't," he said miserably, as though reading her thoughts. "But no
one will bother you on the street if I'm with you."
"A lot of protection you'd be if they did!" she snapped. "But I'm
desperate. You can carry him to the Stellar Hotel for me."
* * * * *
The gravity of Ganymede was hardly more than that of Earth's moon, but
the way the man picked up the limp Motwick with one hand and tossed him
over a shoulder was startling: as though he lifted a feather pillow. He
followed Trella out the door of the Golden Satellite and fell in step
beside her. Immediately she was grateful for his presence. The dimly
lighted street was not crowded, but she didn't like the looks of the men
she saw.
The transparent dome of Jupiter's View was faintly visible in the
reflected night lights of the colonial city, but the lights were
overwhelmed by the giant, vari-colored disc of Jupiter itself, riding
high in the sky.
"I'm Quest Mansard, Miss," said her companion. "I'm just in from
Jupiter."
"I'm Trella Nuspar," she said, favoring him with a green-eyed glance.
"You mean Io, don't you--or Moon Five?"
"No," he said, grinning at her. He had an engaging grin, with even white
teeth. "I meant Jupiter."
"You're lying," she said flatly. "No one has ever landed on Jupiter. It
would be impossible to blast off again."
"My parents landed on Jupiter, and I blasted off from it," he said
soberly. "I was born there. Have you ever heard of Dr. Eriklund
Mansard?"
"I certainly have," she said, her interest taking a sudden upward turn.
"He developed the surgiscope, didn't he? But his ship was drawn into
Jupiter and lost."
"It was drawn into Jupiter, but he landed it successfully," said Quest.
"He and my mother lived on Jupiter until the oxygen equipment wore out
at last. I was born and brought up there, and I was finally able to
build a small rocket with a powerful enough drive to clear the planet."
She looked at him. He was short, half a head shorter than she, but broad
and powerful as a man might be who had grown up in heavy gravity. He
trod the street with a light, controlled step, seeming to deliberately
hold himself down.
"If Dr. Mansard succeeded in landing on Jupiter, why didn't anyone ever
hear from him again?" she demanded.
"Because," said Quest, "his radio was sabotaged, just as his ship's
drive was."
"Jupiter strength," she murmured, looking him over coolly. "You wear
Motwick on your shoulder like a scarf. But you couldn't bring yourself
to help a woman against two thugs."
He flushed.
"I'm sorry," he said. "That's something I couldn't help."
"Why not?"
"I don't know. It's not that I'm afraid, but there's something in me
that makes me back away from the prospect of fighting anyone."
Trella sighed. Cowardice was a state of mind. It was peculiarly
inappropriate, but not unbelievable, that the strongest and most agile
man on Ganymede should be a coward. Well, she thought with a rush of
sympathy, he couldn't help being what he was.
* * * * *
They had reached the more brightly lighted section of the city now.
Trella could get a cab from here, but the Stellar Hotel wasn't far. They
walked on.
Trella had the desk clerk call a cab to deliver the unconscious Motwick
to his home. She and Quest had a late sandwich in the coffee shop.
"I landed here only a week ago," he told her, his eyes frankly admiring
her honey-colored hair and comely face. "I'm heading for Earth on the
next spaceship."
"We'll be traveling companions, then," she said. "I'm going back on that
ship, too."
For some reason she decided against telling him that the assignment on
which she had come to the Jupiter system was to gather his own father's
notebooks and take them back to Earth.
* * * * *
Motwick was an irresponsible playboy whom Trella had known briefly on
Earth, and Trella was glad to dispense with his company for the
remaining three weeks before the spaceship blasted off. She found
herself enjoying the steadier companionship of Quest.
As a matter of fact, she found herself enjoying his companionship more
than she intended to. She found herself falling in love with him.
Now this did not suit her at all. Trella had always liked her men tall
and dark. She had determined that when she married it would be to a
curly-haired six-footer.
She was not at all happy about being so strongly attracted to a man
several inches shorter than she. She was particularly unhappy about
feeling drawn to a man who was a coward.
The ship that they boarded on Moon Nine was one of the newer ships that
could attain a hundred-mile-per-second velocity and take a hyperbolic
path to Earth, but it would still require fifty-four days to make the
trip. So Trella was delighted to find that the ship was the _Cometfire_
and its skipper was her old friend, dark-eyed, curly-haired Jakdane
Gille.
"Jakdane," she said, flirting with him with her eyes as in days gone
by, "I need a chaperon this trip, and you're ideal for the job."
"I never thought of myself in quite that light, but maybe I'm getting
old," he answered, laughing. "What's your trouble, Trella?"
"I'm in love with that huge chunk of man who came aboard with me, and
I'm not sure I ought to be," she confessed. "I may need protection
against myself till we get to Earth."
"If it's to keep you out of another fellow's clutches, I'm your man,"
agreed Jakdane heartily. "I always had a mind to save you for myself.
I'll guarantee you won't have a moment alone with him the whole trip."
"You don't have to be that thorough about it," she protested hastily. "I
want to get a little enjoyment out of being in love. But if I feel
myself weakening too much, I'll holler for help."
The _Cometfire_ swung around great Jupiter in an opening arc and
plummeted ever more swiftly toward the tight circles of the inner
planets. There were four crew members and three passengers aboard the
ship's tiny personnel sphere, and Trella was thrown with Quest almost
constantly. She enjoyed every minute of it.
She told him only that she was a messenger, sent out to Ganymede to pick
up some important papers and take them back to Earth. She was tempted to
tell him what the papers were. Her employer had impressed upon her that
her mission was confidential, but surely Dom Blessing could not object
to Dr. Mansard's son knowing about it.
All these things had happened before she was born, and she did not know
what Dom Blessing's relation to Dr. Mansard had been, but it must have
been very close. She knew that Dr. Mansard had invented the surgiscope.
This was an instrument with a three-dimensional screen as its heart. The
screen was a cubical frame in which an apparently solid image was built
up of an object under an electron microscope.
* * * * *
The actual cutting instrument of the surgiscope was an ion stream. By
operating a tool in the three-dimensional screen, corresponding
movements were made by the ion stream on the object under the
microscope. The principle was the same as that used in operation of
remote control "hands" in atomic laboratories to handle hot material,
and with the surgiscope very delicate operations could be performed at
the cellular level.
Dr. Mansard and his wife had disappeared into the turbulent atmosphere
of Jupiter just after his invention of the surgiscope, and it had been
developed by Dom Blessing. Its success had built Spaceway Instruments,
Incorporated, which Blessing headed.
Through all these years since Dr. Mansard's disappearance, Blessing had
been searching the Jovian moons for a second, hidden laboratory of Dr.
Mansard. When it was found at last, he sent Trella, his most trusted
secretary, to Ganymede to bring back to him the notebooks found there.
Blessing would, of course, be happy to learn that a son of Dr. Mansard
lived, and would see that he received his rightful share of the
inheritance. Because of this, Trella was tempted to tell Quest the good
news herself; but she decided against it. It was Blessing's privilege to
do this his own way, and he might not appreciate her meddling.
* * * * *
At midtrip, Trella made a rueful confession to Jakdane.
"It seems I was taking unnecessary precautions when I asked you to be a
chaperon," she said. "I kept waiting for Quest to do something, and when
he didn't I told him I loved him."
"What did he say?"
"It's very peculiar," she said unhappily. "He said he _can't_ love me.
He said he wants to love me and he feels that he should, but there's
something in him that refuses to permit it."
She expected Jakdane to salve her wounded feelings with a sympathetic
pleasantry, but he did not. Instead, he just looked at her very
thoughtfully and said no more about the matter.
He explained his attitude after Asrange ran amuck.
Asrange was the third passenger. He was a lean, saturnine individual who
said little and kept to himself as much as possible. He was distantly
polite in his relations with both crew and other passengers, and never
showed the slightest spark of emotion ... until the day Quest squirted
coffee on him.
It was one of those accidents that can occur easily in space. The
passengers and the two crewmen on that particular waking shift
(including Jakdane) were eating lunch on the center-deck. Quest picked
up his bulb of coffee, but inadvertently pressed it before he got it to
his lips. The coffee squirted all over the front of Asrange's clean
white tunic.
"I'm sorry!" exclaimed Quest in distress.
The man's eyes went wide and he snarled. So quickly it seemed
impossible, he had unbuckled himself from his seat and hurled himself
backward from the table with an incoherent cry. He seized the first
object his hand touched--it happened to be a heavy wooden cane leaning
against Jakdane's bunk--propelled himself like a projectile at Quest.
Quest rose from the table in a sudden uncoiling of movement. He did not
unbuckle his safety belt--he rose and it snapped like a string.
For a moment Trella thought he was going to meet Asrange's assault. But
he fled in a long leap toward the companionway leading to the
astrogation deck above. Landing feet-first in the middle of the table
and rebounding, Asrange pursued with the stick upraised.
In his haste, Quest missed the companionway in his leap and was cornered
against one of the bunks. Asrange descended on him like an avenging
angel and, holding onto the bunk with one hand, rained savage blows on
his head and shoulders with the heavy stick.
Quest made no effort to retaliate. He cowered under the attack, holding
his hands in front of him as if to ward it off. In a moment, Jakdane and
the other crewman had reached Asrange and pulled him off.
* * * * *
When they had Asrange in irons, Jakdane turned to Quest, who was now
sitting unhappily at the table.
"Take it easy," he advised. "I'll wake the psychosurgeon and have him
look you over. Just stay there."
Quest shook his head.
"Don't bother him," he said. "It's nothing but a few bruises."
"Bruises? Man, that club could have broken your skull! Or a couple of
ribs, at the very least."
"I'm all right," insisted Quest; and when the skeptical Jakdane insisted
on examining him carefully, he had to admit it. There was hardly a mark
on him from the blows.
"If it didn't hurt you any more than that, why didn't you take that
stick away from him?" demanded Jakdane. "You could have, easily."
"I couldn't," said Quest miserably, and turned his face away.
Later, alone with Trella on the control deck, Jakdane gave her some
sober advice.
"If you think you're in love with Quest, forget it," he said.
"Why? Because he's a coward? I know that ought to make me despise him,
but it doesn't any more."
"Not because he's a coward. Because he's an android!"
"What? Jakdane, you can't be serious!"
"I am. I say he's an android, an artificial imitation of a man. It all
figures.
"Look, Trella, he said he was born on Jupiter. A human could stand the
gravity of Jupiter, inside a dome or a ship, but what human could stand
the rocket acceleration necessary to break free of Jupiter? Here's a man
strong enough to break a spaceship safety belt just by getting up out of
his chair against it, tough enough to take a beating with a heavy stick
without being injured. How can you believe he's really human?"
Trella remembered the thug Kregg striking Quest in the face and then
crying that he had injured his hand on the bar.
"But he said Dr. Mansard was his father," protested Trella.
"Robots and androids frequently look on their makers as their parents,"
said Jakdane. "Quest may not even know he's artificial. Do you know how
Mansard died?"
"The oxygen equipment failed, Quest said."
"Yes. Do you know when?"
"No. Quest never did tell me, that I remember."
"He told me: a year before Quest made his rocket flight to Ganymede! If
the oxygen equipment failed, how do you think _Quest_ lived in the
poisonous atmosphere of Jupiter, if he's human?"
Trella was silent.
"For the protection of humans, there are two psychological traits built
into every robot and android," said Jakdane gently. "The first is that
they can never, under any circumstances, attack a human being, even in
self defense. The second is that, while they may understand sexual
desire objectively, they can never experience it themselves.
"Those characteristics fit your man Quest to a T, Trella. There is no
other explanation for him: he must be an android."
* * * * *
Trella did not want to believe Jakdane was right, but his reasoning
was unassailable. Looking upon Quest as an android, many things were
explained: his great strength, his short, broad build, his immunity to
injury, his refusal to defend himself against a human, his inability
to return Trella's love for him.
It was not inconceivable that she should have unknowingly fallen in love
with an android. Humans could love androids, with real affection, even
knowing that they were artificial. There were instances of android
nursemaids who were virtually members of the families owning them.
She was glad now that she had not told Quest of her mission to Ganymede.
He thought he was Dr. Mansard's son, but an android had no legal right
of inheritance from his owner. She would leave it to Dom Blessing to
decide what to do about Quest.
Thus she did not, as she had intended originally, speak to Quest about
seeing him again after she had completed her assignment. Even if Jakdane
was wrong and Quest was human--as now seemed unlikely--Quest had told
her he could not love her. Her best course was to try to forget him.
Nor did Quest try to arrange with her for a later meeting.
"It has been pleasant knowing you, Trella," he said when they left the
G-boat at White Sands. A faraway look came into his blue eyes, and he
added: "I'm sorry things couldn't have been different, somehow."
"Let's don't be sorry for what we can't help," she said gently, taking
his hand in farewell.
Trella took a fast plane from White Sands, and twenty-four hours later
walked up the front steps of the familiar brownstone house on the
outskirts of Washington.
Dom Blessing himself met her at the door, a stooped, graying man who
peered at her over his spectacles.
"You have the papers, eh?" he said, spying the brief case. "Good, good.
Come in and we'll see what we have, eh?"
She accompanied him through the bare, windowless anteroom which had
always seemed to her such a strange feature of this luxurious house,
and they entered the big living room. They sat before a fire in the
old-fashioned fireplace and Blessing opened the brief case with
trembling hands.
"There are things here," he said, his eyes sparkling as he glanced
through the notebooks. "Yes, there are things here. We shall make
something of these, Miss Trella, eh?"
"I'm glad they're something you can use, Mr. Blessing," she said.
"There's something else I found on my trip, that I think I should tell
you about."
She told him about Quest.
"He thinks he's the son of Dr. Mansard," she finished, "but apparently
he is, without knowing it, an android Dr. Mansard built on Jupiter."
"He came back to Earth with you, eh?" asked Blessing intently.
"Yes. I'm afraid it's your decision whether to let him go on living as a
man or to tell him he's an android and claim ownership as Dr. Mansard's
heir."
Trella planned to spend a few days resting in her employer's spacious
home, and then to take a short vacation before resuming her duties as
his confidential secretary. The next morning when she came down from her
room, a change had been made.
Two armed men were with Dom Blessing at breakfast and accompanied him
wherever he went. She discovered that two more men with guns were
stationed in the bare anteroom and a guard was stationed at every
entrance to the house.
"Why all the protection?" she asked Blessing.
"A wealthy man must be careful," said Blessing cheerfully. "When we
don't understand all the implications of new circumstances, we must be
prepared for anything, eh?"
There was only one new circumstance Trella could think of. Without
actually intending to, she exclaimed:
"You aren't afraid of Quest? Why, an android can't hurt a human!"
Blessing peered at her over his spectacles.
"And what if he isn't an android, eh? And if he is--what if old Mansard
didn't build in the prohibition against harming humans that's required
by law? What about that, eh?"
Trella was silent, shocked. There was something here she hadn't known
about, hadn't even suspected. For some reason, Dom Blessing feared Dr.
Eriklund Mansard ... or his heir ... or his mechanical servant.
* * * * *
She was sure that Blessing was wrong, that Quest, whether man or android,
intended no harm to him. Surely, Quest would have said something of
such bitterness during their long time together on Ganymede and aspace,
since he did not know of Trella's connection with Blessing. But, since
this was to be the atmosphere of Blessing's house, she was glad that he
decided to assign her to take the Mansard papers to the New York
laboratory.
Quest came the day before she was scheduled to leave.
Trella was in the living room with Blessing, discussing the instructions
she was to give to the laboratory officials in New York. The two
bodyguards were with them. The other guards were at their posts.
Trella heard the doorbell ring. The heavy oaken front door was kept
locked now, and the guards in the anteroom examined callers through a
tiny window.
Suddenly alarm bells rang all over the house. There was a terrific crash
outside the room as the front door splintered. There were shouts and the
sound of a shot.
"The steel doors!" cried Blessing, turning white. "Let's get out of
here."
He and his bodyguards ran through the back of the house out of the
garage.
Blessing, ahead of the rest, leaped into one of the cars and started the
engine.
The door from the house shattered and Quest burst through. The two
guards turned and fired together.
He could be hurt by bullets. He was staggered momentarily.
Then, in a blur of motion, he sprang forward and swept the guards aside
with one hand with such force that they skidded across the floor and lay
in an unconscious heap against the rear of the garage. Trella had opened
the door of the car, but it was wrenched from her hand as Blessing
stepped on the accelerator and it leaped into the driveway with spinning
wheels.
Quest was after it, like a chunky deer, running faster than Trella had
ever seen a man run before.
Blessing slowed for the turn at the end of the driveway and glanced back
over his shoulder. Seeing Quest almost upon him, he slammed down the
accelerator and twisted the wheel hard.
The car whipped into the street, careened, and rolled over and over,
bringing up against a tree on the other side in a twisted tangle of
wreckage.
With a horrified gasp, Trella ran down the driveway toward the smoking
heap of metal. Quest was already beside it, probing it. As she reached
his side, he lifted the torn body of Dom Blessing. Blessing was dead.
"I'm lucky," said Quest soberly. "I would have murdered him."
"But why, Quest? I knew he was afraid of you, but he didn't tell me
why."
"It was conditioned into me," answered Quest "I didn't know it until
just now, when it ended, but my father conditioned me psychologically
from my birth to the task of hunting down Dom Blessing and killing him.
It was an unconscious drive in me that wouldn't release me until the
task was finished.
"You see, Blessing was my father's assistant on Ganymede. Right after my
father completed development of the surgiscope, he and my mother blasted
off for Io. Blessing wanted the valuable rights to the surgiscope, and
he sabotaged the ship's drive so it would fall into Jupiter.
"But my father was able to control it in the heavy atmosphere of Jupiter,
and landed it successfully. I was born there, and he conditioned me to
come to Earth and track down Blessing. I know now that it was part of
the conditioning that I was unable to fight any other man until my task
was finished: it might have gotten me in trouble and diverted me from
that purpose."
More gently than Trella would have believed possible for his
Jupiter-strong muscles, Quest took her in his arms.
"Now I can say I love you," he said. "That was part of the conditioning
too: I couldn't love any woman until my job was done."
Trella disengaged herself.
"I'm sorry," she said. "Don't you know this, too, now: that you're not a
man, but an android?"
He looked at her in astonishment, stunned by her words.
"What in space makes you think that?" he demanded.
"Why, Quest, it's obvious," she cried, tears in her eyes. "Everything
about you ... your build, suited for Jupiter's gravity ... your strength
... the fact that you were able to live in Jupiter's atmosphere after
the oxygen equipment failed. I know you think Dr. Mansard was your
father, but androids often believe that."
He grinned at her.
"I'm no android," he said confidently. "Do you forget my father was
inventor of the surgiscope? He knew I'd have to grow up on Jupiter, and
he operated on the genes before I was born. He altered my inherited
characteristics to adapt me to the climate of Jupiter ... even to being
able to breathe a chlorine atmosphere as well as an oxygen atmosphere."
Trella looked at him. He was not badly hurt, any more than an elephant
would have been, but his tunic was stained with red blood where the
bullets had struck him. Normal android blood was green.
"How can you be sure?" she asked doubtfully.
"Androids are made," he answered with a laugh. "They don't grow up. And
I remember my boyhood on Jupiter very well."
He took her in his arms again, and this time she did not resist. His
lips were very human.
THE END
[ Transcriber's Note:
The following is a list of corrections made to the original. The first
line is the original line, the second the corrected one.
destruction--immeasureably
destruction--immeasurably
dome-colony on Ganymede. Motwick, already, drunk, had insisted.
dome-colony on Ganymede. Motwick, already drunk, had insisted.
her mission was confidential, but surely Dom Blesssing could not object
her mission was confidential, but surely Dom Blessing could not object
microscope. The principal was the same as that used in operation of
microscope. The principle was the same as that used in operation of
]
End of Project Gutenberg's The Jupiter Weapon, by Charles Louis Fontenay
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JUPITER WEAPON ***
***** This file should be named 27588.txt or 27588.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/5/8/27588/
Produced by Greg Weeks, Jana Srna and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg-tm works.
- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
of receipt of the work.
- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
[email protected]. Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at http://pglaf.org
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
[email protected]
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit http://pglaf.org
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.
Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
http://www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
