The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Long, Silvery Day, by Magnus Ludens
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Title: The Long, Silvery Day
Author: Magnus Ludens
Release Date: March 25, 2016 [EBook #51550]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LONG, SILVERY DAY ***
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
THE LONG SILVERY DAY
By MAGNUS LUDENS
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Galaxy Magazine April 1962.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
It was one of those days--perhaps you've
had them--when everything went right!
"Let's go slumming," said Powers-of-pearl. "Let's give an earthman his
wish for a day. We haven't played that game in ages."
"How do we pick him?" Firepride asked indulgently. "Phone book?"
"Intensity's more fun. But no more nomads, I got so bored putting
connoisseur features on synthetic camels!"
Peter Stone put on his hat and started for the station. Every third
step he inhaled and told himself: "It isn't that bad." Peter had a good
job, a good wife, and commuting was wearing him down to a twitch. Sooty
teeth-rattling train, Penn Station's steaming caverns, a soggy lurching
bus, lunch down in sun-seared, exhaust-ventilated streets and the ride
home ... as the hated maroon dot of his train appeared, a convulsion of
revulsion shook him.
"I _wish_ it weren't that bad!" he thought with every fiber. And
Powers-of-pearl, suffused with the glow of challenge, laughed.
Peter Stone, fighting at the newsstand, noted with annoyance that a
crew of maintenance men swarmed about the train. "Broke down _again_,"
he thought bitterly. Halfway down his car two men ran a vacuum cleaner
over the tired plush. Keeping pace behind them, two others aimed
wide-mouth silver hoses upwards, spreading thick sheets of foam on the
ceiling. It wasn't until Peter Stone unfolded his newspaper that he
noticed how quiet had spread with that foam. Next, his ears registered
with surprise the purr of freshly-oiled machinery, and his eyes the
sight of a tree, for once without its double window screen of hair-oil
and dried grime droplets.
When he boarded his bus, a maintenance man was just hanging a sign over
the gagged fare box:
Due to Tax Readjustment, Urban Transportation Free.
The driver, liberated from change-making and police duties, smiled a
greeting at him. No crush in the bus, perhaps because there seemed so
many about. The silver one coming towards him had a big green and white
sign: DOWN FIFTH TO 33rd. WEST ON 33rd TO SEVENTH. PENN STATION LAST
STOP. It was the first readable bus sign he remembered seeing.
Whenever the light turned red, he found, squads of maintenance men
darted about the stopped cars and trucks, slapping silver cylinders
over each exhaust pipe. He could hear snatches of explanations: "City
ordinance," "Free service." As soon as a cylinder was in place, smoke
and noise stopped coming out of the exhaust.
* * * * *
When his hat sailed gaily towards the hook, Peter Stone realized that,
incredibly, he wasn't tired. Work flowed through his fingers, his
secretary smiled, his boss looked in once and whistled. At noon only
the thought of paraffined carton coffee restrained him from staying in.
"Coming right up, Seventeen!" said the new silver grille next to the
elevator button. Cheered, he clove the mindless rush downstairs and
pushed inside a luncheonette where maintenance men were finishing the
removal of every second stool and the re-upholstery of the remainder
with foam cushions. A smiling waitress brought him a menu and a pencil.
Opposite each item was a small circle, and a line at the top explained:
THIS IS YOUR MENUCHECK. PLEASE MARK WANTED ITEMS, DROP MENUCHECK IN
SLOT.
Served incredibly fast, Peter Stone ate in blissful peace. On his way
out he saw that the cashier's cage had been replaced with three silver
cabinets with hoppers for Menuchecks and money, recessed cups for
change and a turnstile each. When he walked through he found that he
still had forty minutes of his lunch hour left.
Forty minutes! He could walk to a bookshop, or the park ... walk,
through exhaust fumes and the belches of airconditioner waste? But
silver mesh covered the noisome vents. A cautious sniff assured him it
worked.
He decided to walk to the Library newsstands for a foreign magazine.
As he reached 42nd and Fifth an army of workmen were putting the last
touches on a structure of dull silver that spanned the four sides of
the intersection. Airy and elegant, with faint echoes of Library style,
the quadruple arch provided the perfect finishing touch for the square.
Each side was composed of three escalators and moving platforms in both
directions, with a set of stairs and a promenade.
Timidly, he set foot on the silver filigree. He was wafted up,
across and down. Beneath him flowed a brilliant river of quiet cars.
Fascinated, he took the trip back, then stood on the promenade watching
the pattern, breathing in incredulous lungfuls of clean air.
The afternoon fled on newly silent feet. Once more he put on his hat to
face the ride home.
* * * * *
His small, air-conditioned silver bus reached Penn Station ten minutes
earlier than usual. By now Peter Stone was not overly surprised to
see silver moving ways disappearing into the Station's maw, nor, once
inside, to feel breezes that blew silently from silver gadgets like jet
engines. He also accepted the waiting passengers dancing in the great
lobby--the piped music there had long been excellent.
A low, pleasant voice announced his train in diamond-cut syllables
that floated from silver-dollar speakers spangling the walls. Silver
escalators swept to a bright platform covered in springy non-skid
green plastic.
One wall of his train was made up of clear plastic sliding doors.
Inside, there were deep pile carpets, reclining chairs, low blue
overheads and movable reading lights. As the doors slid softly shut,
Peter Stone remembered as usual the letter he'd forgotten to mail for
his wife; but this time he could see a stamp machine and mail box at
the end of the car. When he got up he saw that there were also milk,
coffee, soda, fruit, cigarette, aspirin and newspaper vending machines,
and three telephone booths.
The train glided to a hushed halt three minutes after a speaker at his
elbow had murmured the name of his station. Before his wife's goggling
eyes, Peter Stone bounded down the steps and ran to their car. She
remembered that evening the rest of her life.
Powers-of-pearl let the silver evaporate, and with it the memory of it.
"The best game yet," she smiled, leaning in happy exhaustion against
Firepride's shoulder.
"You were magnificent," laughed Firepride. "One step ahead of an entire
city!" Powers-of-pearl blushed radiantly.
No trace of their game remained. But for some obscure reason, Peter
Stone decided that one day he would run for Mayor.
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