The Project Gutenberg EBook of Oridin's Formula, by R. R. Winterbotham
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
Title: Oridin's Formula
Author: R. R. Winterbotham
Release Date: June 2, 2020 [EBook #62313]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORIDIN'S FORMULA ***
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
ORIDIN'S FORMULA
By R. R. WINTERBOTHAM
The formula was a simple equation, but
Caddo had to have it--for knowing its
answer meant he would rule the universe.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories March 1943.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Oridin the Recluse listened to the threat wirelessed from the spaceship
that was hoving to in a landing orbit about the planetoid Azair.
"I've a bead on your atmosphere plant," said the snarling voice. "One
false move and I'll blast it to star dust."
Oridin shrugged as he heard the words. One more fool had come to Azair
looking for the secret that the Recluse of the Asteroids was supposed
to possess.
"Your threats are unnecessary, stranger," Oridin replied in the
microphone of his radio. "Everyone is welcome here as long as he
behaves. I have ways of dealing with those who don't."
"I'm warning you," came the voice again, "that I will stand for no
foolishness. I'll kill you if you try to resist."
Oridin smiled. "Land, stranger, you need not fear me."
The hermit arose and went to the galley of the warm little house that
seemed to grow from the solid rocks of the tiny planet. He pressed a
button, waited a second and then opened a small compartment. In the box
was a steaming pot of coffee, freshly made by Oridin's automatic cook.
Outside the transparent shelter, the air grew blue from the reflection
of landing rockets. Oridin glanced to the leveled surface on which the
ship was coming to rest. He saw a turret training on the little house.
Oridin was not afraid; the visitor probably would be interesting. Even
a recluse can grow lonesome on a minor planet.
A figure emerged from the spaceship. He wore an oxygen helmet, although
Oridin plentifully supplied the planetoid with artificial atmosphere
from a small plant at the north pole. The stranger did not believe that
Oridin would not resist. Again Oridin smiled. Deep in the rocks of
Azair were guns that could have blasted the visitor a thousand times,
had Oridin wished. But there was nothing clever about blowing a foe to
pieces. The foe too often was killed before he sensed defeat. Oridin
enjoyed an equal battle, or even one against odds.
[Illustration: _"Open up," Caddo snarled, "or I'll blow my way in!"_]
"Open up! Open up, I tell you, or I'll burn my way in!" demanded the
visitor.
"He's certainly not deceiving me as to his intentions," Oridin decided.
The recluse pushed a button on the wall, and a giant gate swung outward
admitting the stranger.
The fellow was as tall and as muscular as Oridin himself, but the space
suit and the gaping blaster he held in his hand made the visitor seem
much more formidable. Oridin himself was dressed in bell-bottomed
slacks and a loosely fitting, slipover coat. His beard softened his
countenance and made him seem quite gentle, except for a certain
glitter in his eyes that seemed to warn that Oridin loved a contest.
And this would seem to be a deadly contest.
Oridin bowed.
"You are welcome, stranger," he said. "Take off your helmet, for the
air is pure. Put aside your gun, for I am unarmed and I do not intend
to harm you."
The stranger hesitated, uncertainly.
"No tricks, Oridin!" he warned.
"Tricks?" Oridin laughed tauntingly. "You are not very confident for a
man of your caliber. I've heard of you often, Caddo Velexis. They say
you have conquered whole nations single-handed, and yet you are afraid
of an unarmed hermit."
"I'm not afraid of you," Caddo said in a tone that hinted he was.
Caddo removed his helmet and holstered his blaster, but Oridin noted
that the terrestrial giant did not move the firing button to safety.
"Will you have some coffee?" Oridin asked. "It will refresh you after
your long trip, and you must have had a long trip, for we are in a very
sparsely filled part of the sky."
Oridin lifted the pot and poured the brown steaming liquid into a
thick, metal mug.
Caddo waved it aside.
"I have no time!"
"Do not be alarmed," Oridin said. "The patrol will not be near Azair
for three days."
Oridin sat down. His fingers felt under the arm of the chair where a
series of buttons controlled other mechanisms in the room. Caddo had
relaxed his watchfulness.
"In three days I'll be well toward the other side of the solar system,"
Caddo said.
Oridin lifted his eyebrows.
"Toward the earth? You have undertaken something this time!"
"Yes!" Caddo said. "It's the Earth I am after! I have all I want of the
outlying planets and planetoids. You can capture a hundred of them and
be no better off than you were at first. But if you capture the Earth,
you can rule the universe."
Oridin touched one of the buttons. A tiny pinhole in the wall of the
room seemed to blink. There was a blinding flash and the smell of
burned leather permeated the place.
* * * * *
Caddo gave a cry of alarm and sprang back, knocking over his chair. He
was on his feet holding his blaster in his hand in a second. Across the
top of his helmet was a scorched streak.
"You tried to kill me!" Caddo screamed. "You dirty swine."
Oridin's lips parted in a smile as he looked without fear into the
mouth of the trembling weapon.
"Don't underestimate yourself, Caddo," he said. "The hot beam was only
a warning--something to let you know that I could kill you anytime
I wished. Even now, before you could squeeze the trigger on the
weapon, I could cause certain things to happen--no, no! You are safe,
Caddo--I could cause you to die if I wish, but you are interesting, a
dangerous man. It would be a better accomplishment for me to give you a
punishment you deserve."
The fear that shone in Caddo's eyes faded away. For a moment he watched
Oridin. Then he laughed.
"So it's that kind of a game, is it? I can play it too! Your threats do
not frighten me. Nor am I afraid of your hot beam. Look!"
Caddo thrust his arm forward into the path of the beam. There was a
puff of smoke as the tremendous heat vaporized particles of dust on the
leather sleeves. Then nothing happened.
"I have a neutralizing force, powered with a small battery in my
clothing," Caddo said. "Foolishly, I did not have it turned on a moment
ago. But you can't hurt me now."
Oridin shrugged. "I am still not afraid of you Caddo. If you had come
here to loot, you would have killed me long ago. But what you want is
something you cannot gain by killing me. What is it?"
"You are going to give me the secret that will make me the master of
the earth, and the master of the universe," Caddo announced.
Oridin poured himself a mug of coffee.
"I knew you did not want gold, although Azair is filthy with the
stuff," he said. "But what secret have I that is so powerful?"
"The _Discovery_!" Caddo said.
"I have many." Oridin nodded toward the wall, and the pinhole of light
blinked out.
"I want the secret of the universe!" Caddo spoke tensely.
"Come! Don't be so melodramatic," Oridin chided. "The universe is full
of secrets."
"You're stalling. You know what I mean!"
"I think I do," Oridin agreed. "My erratic experiments have revealed a
certain mathematical function, _J_, which theoretically opens the door
to action without probability. Is that what you want, Caddo? The value
of _J_?"
"The mathematical bombsight!" Caddo said. "It removes probability and
makes certainty of everything. With my calculations based on certainty,
I'll be fate itself! I can conquer the world, chain the universe and
govern creation."
Oridin laughed quietly.
"Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Genghis Khan and Hitler spoke those words
and they were willing to bargain with the devil himself to make them
come true," he said. "I suppose I am the devil, for I know the answer
and I can tell you the answer--for a price."
"You'll give it to me for nothing!" Caddo patted the blister, now in
the holster at his side.
"Is that your only offer?" Oridin asked, still wearing an amused
half-smile.
"It is!"
Oridin rose and moved toward a safe under two clocks on the wall across
the room. One of these clocks gave the terrestrial days, hours and
minutes according to the General Meridian time. The other registered
the four-hour rotation of Azair.
"Wait!" Caddo halted Oridin. "No tricks. Give me the combination and
I'll open the safe!"
Oridin turned to the space pirate.
"The safe is unlocked. The formula is inside."
Caddo's eyes betrayed his suspicion. The most valuable secret in
the world was in an unlocked safe! Warily Caddo stepped forward. He
hesitated, wondering if even his neutralizing force was enough to
protect him.
"There's no danger. Go ahead. Help yourself," Oridin urged.
Caddo was desperate. He touched the handle of the door. It was
unlocked. He flung it open. Inside the safe was a single sheet of white
paper.
Caddo seized it eagerly. His eyes widened in amazement as he read:
"The certainty of success in any course of operations, expressed in
mathematical terms, represents the sum of all factors, beginning at the
starting point, which must be described as _real zero_, and ending with
the objective, also reduced to a real numerical value. The constant of
certainty, _J_, can be the determining factor which leads an operation
from the beginning to the objective."
Caddo read the paper and reread it again and again.
"Is this all of it?" he asked, turning to Oridin.
"Every bit," Oridin replied. "The formula is simple, like the one to
determine the sum of an arithmetical progression--the first number of
the progression plus the last number, multiplied by the number of terms
in the progression and divided by two. In your case the progression
lies between what you have and what you want. The certainty of getting
it is the sum of all the factors."
* * * * *
Caddo sat down in a chair at the desk. He seemed to forget his
suspicions of Oridin, who had placed a stack of paper beside him.
Caddo was engrossed in the formula and Caddo, as a mathematician, knew
that everything in the world could be expressed in figures. What would
Napoleon, or Hitler, have given for this formula!
"The beginning is _real zero_!" Caddo spoke aloud.
"Which is different from a mathematical zero," Oridin said. "I might
say that zero, like absolute vacuum, never occurs. Even if we have two
apples and eat two of them the atoms of the apples continue to exist.
In the formula you have a small fraction instead of zero. It serves the
same purpose. If you multiply a number X by zero, the answer is zero.
Multiply a fraction approaching zero, .000,000,001 by another number
and that number approaches zero too. If that number is a fraction it
will be even closer to zero than our _real zero_. In fact, we are
dealing with trans-zero numbers, just like the transfinite numbers
discovered by Georg Cantor."
"Yes, yes!" Caddo said eagerly. He picked up a pencil. He scribbled
furiously. His objective was all of the power in the world expressed in
ergs; all of the gold in the world, expressed in dollars; all of the
land, expressed in acres; the people, in individuals.
Oridin moved softly behind him. A multiple-calculator made its
appearance in the room. Paper flew from under Caddo's pencil. Sweat
poured from his space-browned face.
The two clocks on the wall recorded the turning of the earth and the
planetoid Azair.
Caddo forgot about Oridin. He forgot about everything except the
figures that revolved in his brain.
Oridin moved out into the warm artificial atmosphere of his planetoid.
He was a recluse again. He was alone. A momentary contact with the
greed, and avarice of the human race had been wiped away.
Far out in space was a glow of rockets. A ship was going to land. It
had seemed only a short time since Caddo had landed. But that was three
terrestrial days ago. This was the patrol.
"I've a prisoner for you," Oridin informed the captain. "It's Caddo."
"Caddo! He's the No. 1 universal enemy. Man, you'll grow rich with the
rewards offered on nine planets for his capture."
"You can have the reward," Oridin said. "Take him away. He's a
nuisance."
They found Caddo in the lounge of Oridin's house chewing on a book
of logarithms. His mind was gone. He could only babble figures. His
fingers twitched with cramps from writing with a pencil and punching
the keys of the calculating machine. Every spark of vitality had been
taken from his body. The batteries of his force armor had burned out.
"What's the matter with him?" the captain asked.
"He wanted too much," Oridin replied. "I gave him a simple little
formula for success, but the formula ceases to be simple as the
definition for success grows more demanding. Had he sought perfection,
Caddo would have seen that even this was unrecognizable, although the
certainty was only halfway to infinity--"
"Sorry, Mr. Oridin, but I'm not a mathematician," the captain said.
"There's nothing difficult in the formula. It proves that certainty
is unrecognizable. You'll have to admit that a goal, to be reached
has to follow a path and that path is determined by two points. The
beginning is one and the second one makes the ultimate objective
certain. Therefore the second point is certainty. But certainty is
unrecognizable--"
Oridin brought forth his formula and allowed the captain to read it.
The patrol officer blinked his eyes and scratched his head. Oridin
wrote his formula out:
J = (a + 1) times infinity/2
"_J_ is certainty, _a_ our starting point and 1 is unity, or
perfection," Oridin explained. "Our starting point is close to zero,
but not zero. But for convenience we'll say that it's a fraction so
close that we can call it zero. Then certainty, _J_, is one-half of
infinity, which you'll have to agree does not approach infinity and may
be well within the realm of human comprehension, although we will not
recognize perfection because we do not know what number is halfway to
infinity. Caddo overlooked the fact that he went further and further
into the transinfinite with each number he added to his equation, for
there are an infinity of numbers between any two whole numbers and any
two fractions and their sum is always infinity."
The patrol captain already was muttering to himself and Oridin hurried
him out of the house and into the patrol ship with his prisoner.
After the space craft had gone, Oridin returned to his living quarters
and replaced his formula in the unlocked safe. He cleaned the litter
made by Caddo and sat down. Once again, Oridin was a recluse and he
would remain so until someone else had a dream of conquering the
universe.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Oridin's Formula, by R. R. Winterbotham
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORIDIN'S FORMULA ***
***** This file should be named 62313.txt or 62313.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/3/1/62313/
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan 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 print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
law 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 in the United States with eBooks
not protected by U.S. copyright law. 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
www.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 unprotected by copyright law 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 in the United States and
most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the
United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you
are located before using this ebook.
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (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 The
Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, 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
works not protected by U.S. copyright law 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 1.F.3. 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 MERCHANTABILITY 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 are 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 information page at
www.gutenberg.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. 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 in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, 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 contact links and up to
date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and
official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
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 www.gutenberg.org/donate
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: www.gutenberg.org/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty 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 not protected by copyright 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: 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.
