Eye in the Sky (1957) Read Online Free Page A

Hamilton, Marsha had retreated to the rear of the platform. He
followed after her. “Try to act like an adult,”
he said in a low, angry whisper. “As long as we’re here, I want to see what’s going on.”
    “You
and your science. Wires and tubes—this stuff is more important to you than my
life.”
    “I came here to see this and
I’m going to. Don’t spoil it for me; don’t make a scene.”
    “You’re
the one who’s making a scene.”
    “Haven’t you done enough harm
already?” Moodily turning his back to
her, Hamilton pushed past the compe tent business woman, past McFeyffe,
to the ramp that led from the observation platform back into the hallway. He
was fumbling in his pockets for his pack of cigarettes
when the first ominous wail of the emergency sirens shrieked up above
the quiet hum of the magnet.
    “Back!” the guide shouted, his lean,
dark arms raised and flailing.
“The radiation screen—”
    A
furious buzzing roar burst over the platform. Clouds of incandescent particles flamed up, exploded, and
rained down on the terrified people. The ugly stench of burn ing stung their noses; wildly, they struggled and
shoved toward the rear of the platform.
    A crack appeared. A metal strut,
burned through by the play of hard
radiation, melted, sagged, and gave way. The middle-aged mother opened
her mouth and screeched loudly and
piercingly. In a frenzied scramble, McFeyffe struggled to get away from the
corroded platform and the blinding display of hard radiation that siz zled
everywhere. He collided with Hamilton; shoving the panic-stricken cop aside, Hamilton jumped past him and reached
desperately for Marsha.
    His own clothes were on fire. Around
him, flaming people struggled and fought to clamber off, as slowly,
ponderously, the platform spilled forward, hung for an instant, and then dissolved.
    All over the Bevatron building,
automatic warning bells squealed. Human and mechanical screams of terror mixed
together in a cacophony of noise. The floor under Hamilton majestically
collapsed. Ceasing to be solid, the steel and concrete and plastic and wiring
became random particles. Instinctively, he threw up his hands; he was tumbling face-forward into the
vague blur of machinery below. A sickening whoosh as the air
rushed from his lungs; plaster rained down on him, scorched particles of ash that flickered and seared. Then, briefly,
he was ripping through the tangled metal mesh that protected the magnet. The
shriek of tearing ma terial and the furious
presence of hard radiation sweep ing over him …
    He struck violently. Pain became
visible: a luminous ingot that grew soft
and absorbing, like radioactive steel- wool. It undulated, expanded, and
quietly absorbed him. He was, in his agony,
a spot of moist organic mat ter,
being soundlessly sopped up by the unlimited sheet of dense metallic fiber.
    Then,
even that ebbed out. Conscious of the grotesque brokenness of his body,
he lay in an inert heap, trying aimlessly,
reflexively, to get up. And realizing at the same time, that there would be no getting up for any
of them. Not for a while.

    III

    in the darkness, something
stirred.
    For
a long time he lay listening. Eyes shut, body limp, he refrained from motion, and became, as much as
pos sible, a single giant ear. The sound was a rhythmic tap- tap , asif
something had gotten into the darkness and was blindly feeling around. For an
endless time he as giant ear examined it,
and then he as giant brain realized foolishly that it was a Venetian
bund tapping against a window, and that he was in a hospital ward.
    As ordinary eye, optic nerve, and human brain, he per ceived the dim shape of his wife, wavering and receding, a
few feet from the bed. Thankfulness enveloped him.
Marsha hadn’t been incinerated by the hard radia tion; thank God for
that. A mute prayer of thanks clouded his brain; he relaxed and enjoyed the
sheer joy of it
    “He’s
coming around,” a doctor’s deep, authoritative voice observed.
    I