Flint Eric - The Creatures of Man

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright 2003 by Howard L. Myers
"Partner" was first published in Analog in June, 1968, under the title "Duplex" (writing as "Verge Foray"). "The Creatures of Man" was first published in IF in May, 1968 (writing as "Verge Foray"). "All Around the Universe" was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in January, 1972. "Health Hazard" was first published in Analog in June, 1973. "Practice" was first published in Analog in March, 1968 (writing as "Verge Foray"). "Lost Calling" was first published in Analog in September, 1967 (writing as "Verge Foray"). "The Other Way Around" was first published in Infinity 2 in 1971. "The Reluctant Weapon" was first published in Galaxy in December, 1952. "Out, Wit!" was first published in Analog in June, 1972. "Fit for a Dog" was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in September, 1971. "Psychovore" was first published in Fantastic in June, 1970. "The Earth of Nenkunal" was first published in Fantastic in January, 1974. "Forever Enemy" was first published in Analog in December, 1970. "Heavy Thinker" was first published in Analog in August, 1970. "War in Our Time" was first published in Analog in March, 1972. "Misinformation" was first published in Analog in April, 1972. "Little Game" was first published in Galaxy in June, 1974. "The Frontliners" was first published in Galaxy in July, 1974. "Questor" was first published in Amazing in January, 1970.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com
ISBN: 0-7434-3607-5
Cover art by Bob Eggleton
First printing, May 2003
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Myers, Howard L., 1930-1971.

The creatures of man / by Howard L. Myers ; edited by Eric Flint and Guy Gordon.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7434-3607-5 (trade pb.)
1. Life on other planetsFiction. 2. Space coloniesFiction. 3. Space warfareFiction.
I. Flint, Eric. II. Gordon, Guy, 1951- III. Title.

PS3563.Y394C74 2003
813'.54dc21
2003041679
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Production by Windhaven Press, Auburn, NH
Printed in the United States of America

Howard L. Myers is almost completely forgotten today, although some people can still be found who remember the name "Verge Foray," under which he published many of his stories. But in the brief time his writing career lasted, from 1967 to 1971, he was a prominent figure in science fiction.

It's a sad tale. Myers was born in 1930, and published his first science fiction story at the age of twenty-two. That was "The Reluctant Weapon," published in the December 1952 issue of Galaxy. (The story is included in this volume.)

And... that was it, for another fifteen years. Why? We don't know. For whatever reasons, it wasn't until Myers was in his late thirties that he began writing again. And once he did, the stories practically came pouring outand almost every one of them excellent. His stories appeared in most of the premier science fiction and fantasy magazines of the dayAnalog, Galaxy, If, Amazing, The Magazine of F&SFand he seemed on the verge of becoming one of science fiction's top authors.

We'll never know. In the summer of 1971, against the advice of his mother, Howard Myers took a vacation to Florida. The combination of the heat and his medical condition combined to give him a massive heart attack which killed him. He was forty-one years old.

There have been other science fiction writers struck down in their prime, of course. Henry Kuttner and Cyril Kornbluth immediately come to mind; or Keith Laumer, who survived the stroke he suffered in his mid-forties, but was never the same writer afterward; or Randall Garrett, whose mind was destroyed in his early 50s by a viral brain infection. But at least those writers had enjoyed long and successful careers before the end came. That we can think of, only Stanley G. Weinbaum and Rosel George Brown suffered the same fate as Myers: felled, just on the eve of triumph.

There's something horribly poignant about it; as if Achilles, stepping ashore outside the walls of Troy, had lost his footing and drowned in the surf.

So be it. Achilles was a noted warrior even before the Trojan war, after all. And whatever Howard L. Myers might have become, what remains is what he did accomplish. And that was no small thing. In four short years, he produced a body of work which, though small in comparison to that of writers with longer careers, certainly does not suffer in terms of quality.

One novel, Cloud Chamber. Two, really, if we count the novellas "The Infinity Sense" and "The Mind-Changer" as parts of a single storywhich is how Myers intended them to be read.

A cycle of stories, usually called the "Econo-War series" but actually part of a broader framework, which are unique in science fiction. (The entirety of it, which we've titled "The Chalice Cycle," is included in this volume.)

And almost twenty other stories, ranging from the chilling "Fit for a Dog" to some of the wittiest science fiction stories ever written.

So, we invite you to make the acquaintance of an author who, had it not been for misfortune, would have been a well-known name in science fiction. And, who knows? Hopefully, this volume will go a long way toward restoring a reputation which deserves to be.

Eric Flint
Guy Gordon
January 2003

The one-man clopter was zipping over New Mexico when Kent Lindstrom's left hand dropped its side of the book of Beethoven sonatas. Kent stared with annoyance as the hand reached forward to fool with the manual control wheel.

Damn it all! he fretted. It was Pard's memory, not his own, that needed refreshing on some spots in the "Hammer-Klavier"! He had been looking over the sonata, instead of utilizing the flight to Los Angeles for a relaxing nap, purely for Pard's benefit.

But did Pard pay attention? Hell, no! He let his mind stray instead, ignoring Beethoven and indulging his childish fascination with gadgetry.

The sonata volume dangling neglected from his right hand, Kent watched his left hand turn the control wheel a few inches counterclockwise, then release it. The wheel automatically snapped back into place and the clopter, having been swerved slightly from the center of the traffic beam, started correction to get back on its course.

Kent opened his mouth to advise Pard, in words that left no doubt, that it was time to quit being a kid. But at that instant a thunderous Whap! shook the clopter. Kent dropped the music volume and gazed anxiously at the control panel, wondering if Pard's fooling around had busted something.

The only red on the panel was coming from the cabin-pressure indicator. The clopter had taken a puncture, and its air was whistling away into the stratosphere outside. Kent grabbed for the emergency oxygen mask before he realized his left hand had already put it on his face and was now tightening its strap, getting it a bit tangled in his long, thick hair.

Despite his faults, Pard could think fast in a pinch.

"What happened?" Kent asked under the mask.

Pard took control of his neck muscles and turned his head to look down and to the right. There, in the alumalloy floor, was a hole over an inch across, the shredded metal curled upward along its edges. Through it Kent could see hazily a tiny panorama of New Mexican landscape sliding by in the late afternoon sun.