World Upside-Down by Ray Cummings (Tubby) Read online

“We gotta see how dangerous it is. Can it

  The Professor was overcome by the

  talk?”

  magnitude of his scientific discovery. His

  “Oh I—I don’t know.”

  bony fingers plucked at Tubby’s arm.

  It had come almost to within twenty

  “Reversed!” he reiterated. “The image

  feet of them. Then, suddenly, it stopped. And of everything is refracted through the the eyes of all the upside-down little faces prismatic atmosphere so that we see it in were glowing with a baleful menacing look. It reverse!”

  seemed as if it were getting its minds made up

  “You mean,” Tubby said. “Everything

  to spring! Now Tubby saw other beings like it.

  looks upside down. Ain’t I right?”

  But the others were all further away, evidently A world upside down! It was amazing.

  more timid. This one here was the leader.

  Momentous. And it was confusing at first; but

  “We gotta capture it—him—them,”

  presently, as they took a few steps and could Tubby whispered. And now he saw what was

  feel the ground always solid under their feet even more important. Upside down here, on

  even though it looked as though it were over the upside-down rocks, a big complicated

  their heads, they began to get used to it. The looking apparatus was hanging downward.

  Professor was still mumbling with triumph

  The ray-projector! The diabolical weapon that over his analysis of the nature of this queer was wrecking the Earth! This multiple-headed atmosphere, but Tubby cut him short.

  leader had shut it off now, was waiting to see

  “We ain’t so interested in this Xenenon, what the invaders from Earth were going to Perfessor. You’re forgettin’ our Earth’s in do.

  danger. Hey, look! Here’s one of them beings

  “Oh, there it is,” the Professor

  what’s attackin’ our Earth!”

  suddenly murmured. “But that monster is

  From behind a rock-clump that hung

  guarding it. If only—”

  down overhead, quite near them, a big

  “We gotta capture that machine,”

  crawling thing had appeared. Tubby and the

  Tubby responded. “Smash it—ain’t I right?”

  Professor stared. It was a long, oblong thing,

  “I see its nature now,” the Professor

  with a body like a great smooth caterpillar

  was murmuring to himself. With his

  eight or ten feet in length. It had legs on top—

  absorption at the new scientific mechanical

  Short, crooked, jointed legs that scratched on wonder, he seemed to have forgotten their

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  7

  multiple-headed enemy. “It’s a ray that you

  back to Earth—”

  can make either repulse or attract It’s—”

  “All

  right,”

  Tubby

  agreed. “You carry

  “Hey, look out!” Tubby warned.

  it to the ship while I hold it—him—them—

  off.”

  THERE was no time to theorize on how the

  “B-but how are you going to do that?”

  ray might work. The monster was suddenly

  “Hypnotism!” Tubby whispered

  coming forward!

  triumphantly. “I been studying hypnotism for

  “Oh, my goodness—” the Professor

  years. I’ll hypnotize it—them, so them heads chattered.

  won’t know you’re stealin’ their weapon.”

  “Hey, you—all you people—get

  “But—” the Professor gasped.

  back!” Tubby shouted at the monster. He

  “You jus’ watch me.”

  thumped his chest and flailed his arms

  “But, oh, dear, we don’t know how to

  belligerently. The weird being stopped. All the work the apparatus,” the Professor moaned.

  twelve little faces looked startled.

  “I’ll make ’em tell me!” Tubby

  “That got ’em!” Tubby whispered chuckled. “You wait until I get ’em under my triumphantly to the frightened Professor. Then influence. Then we can question ’em—“

  to the monster, he yelled: “Hey, you—what

  “That’s a community body,” the

  language do you speak? Can’t any of you

  Professor murmured, “with each head

  talk?”

  developed to govern separate spheres of

  “We all speak every language,” two of

  influence of the body functions. One head for the heads suddenly popped. And then all the

  thinking, another for eating, and so on. That’s heads said at once: “You go back to Earth or a complex biological structure. Indeed it is.

  we’ll kill you and you’ll get killed there I’m not sure what hypnotism will—”

  anyway.”

  “But I’m an expert,” Tubby declared.

  It made Tubby wave his arms again.

  “You just watch me.”

  But though his fat fists were doubled, this time His hands making passes before him,

  the enemy didn’t look so startled. Little arms Tubby slowly advanced upon the staring

  were waving from it now. All its guttural little monster. For a moment the biological

  voices were muttering—a weird hissing, monstrosity stood seemingly fascinated as it muttering nimble. And now, a hundred feet or clung on the overhead ground, with the row of so behind it, several others like it had taken its little palpitating heads hanging downward.

  courage and were slowly advancing. And off

  “You can’t move,” Tubby was

  in the distance, all the upside-down ground-

  intoning. “You’re subject to my will.”

  ceiling seemed crawling with hundreds of

  The weird little faces all stared

  others, advancing to the attack! Something

  silently. Tubby took a few more steps, with

  had to be done at once!

  his hands slowly waving.

  Tubby gripped the Professor.

  “You’re helpless,” he intoned.

  “Now listen,” he whispered hurriedly,

  “Who is—I’m not—why should we

  “I’ll hold it off—an’ you go smash that ray-

  be?” three of the twelve little voices popped projector—”

  abruptly.

  “S-smash

  it?”

  the

  Professor chattered.

  “You are helpless,” Tubby insisted. He

  “Oh, my goodness, we don’t want to smash it!

  made more passes with his hands. “You’re all Our Earth is rotating too fast. This is the only subject to my stronger will. Your minds are

  thing that can bring Earth’s rotation back to drifting, held in abeyance subject to the

  normal! If we could only take this apparatus Master’s control.”

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  8

  “Good work!” he heard the little Tubby

  nodded.

  Professor murmur encouragingly at his elbow.

  “You’re completely under my control

  “Keep it up, Tubby. Put them to sleep.”

  now,” he told the creature. “It is necessary for

  “Shut up!” Tubby hissed under his you to speak the truth. You cannot do breath. “You’ll break the spell. An’ I don’t anything else. Now tell me which of them

  want to put ’em to sleep. Ain’t I gotta make levers—the right-hand or the left-hand one—

  ’em tell us how to work that ray-machine? ...

  is the repulsive ray? Keep your mind on that,”

  You can’t move,” he intoned impressively to

  he added softly to the Professor. “Don’t let’s his victim. “You are forced to do what I say—

  forget. I’m asking ’em—which is the repulsive an’ like it”

  ray.”

  Tubby could see he was making

  For a minute there was a horrible

  progress. Every face, as he stared hypnotically silence, with Tubby making steady passes at

  into its weird triangle of green-glowing eyes, his gruesomely twitching victim. Then one of responded with a vacant helpless stare. But it the little voices popped.

  was confusing, having them upside down.

  “The left-band lever is for the

  And it was hard—almost impossible—to stare

  repulsive ray.”

  at all twelve of them at once. Three of four,

  “Swell!” Tubby chuckled. “Got ’em,

  yes. But as soon as he had them properly

  Perfessor. Hear that? The left-hand lever is for hypnotized, when his dominating gaze moved

  the repulsive ray. Make it snappy now? Hurry on down the line, the first ones came to life, it! Get that machine on board an we’ll get out with little guttural muttering voices of of here!”

  rebellion.

  Tubby didn’t dare take his gaze off the

  hypnotized victim. Out of the tails of his eyes AND the weird community body was acting

  he could see the little Professor struggling strangely. Parts of it were quiet, hypnotized.

  with the big machine, dragging it around past But other parts were twitching, quivering, the helplessly hypnotized biological monster.

  straining—as though some of it was trying to Tubby felt himself slipping. Could he

  jump into action and the res
t of it couldn’t hold his victim long enough? The hypnotized

  move!

  monster was twitching harder now, almost

  “Oh, dear,” Tubby heard the Professor

  about to break the spell, lashing itself with murmuring. “That’s what I was afraid of. It’s awakening fury. And worse—much worse—

  a complicated organism—a biological on the ground overhead now, other multiple-monstrosity amazingly complex—”

  headed beings were crawling forward—a

  “Sh-h-h!” Tubby hissed.

  whole army of them outraged by the

  But the being did look as if it was

  subjection of their leader and the theft of their liable to burst.

  machine. A whole army—none of it

  “Just relax,” Tubby intoned hypnotized—coming rapidly to the attack!

  soothingly. “You must answer now what I ask

  “Hey! Hurry it, Perfessor!” Tubby

  you ... What do I ask ’em, Perfessor?” he

  desperately shouted. “I can’t hypnotize no

  demanded in an undertone.

  whole army!”

  “There’s a left-hand and a right-hand

  “I am—hurrying it. Oh, dear—I’ve

  starting lever on the machine,” the Professor almost got it in. Come on!”

  prompted briskly. “One is obviously the

  Tubby turned and ran. The space ship

  repulsive ray, and the other is the attractive was upside down, which was confusing. And

  ray. Find out which is which.”

  it was worse to find Professor Newt struggling

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  9

  with the big machine stuck crosswise in the

  had come out so nicely. The whole world

  doorway!

  needed help; there was no argument on that.

  The swarm of hissing, muttering Tubby could see as soon as the space ship monsters was almost upon them when at last

  drew closer how swiftly the Earth was now

  the Professor and Tubby tumbled the machine

  rotating. One minute the outlines of the

  into the ship and slammed the door against a Pacific Ocean were facing them; and in only a line of hissing faces. Other monsters were

  few minutes more, here was the Atlantic.

  climbing onto the turtle back of the ship

  As they got down into the stratosphere,

  outside. But the Professor jumped to the the chaos became still more apparent. The controls and, as the ship rose, one by one the lower atmosphere was lashed with storm-scrambling monsters fell off.

  winds; the oceans were a white churn. Worse

  “Did it!” Tubby exulted. “We got the

  than that—even out into space, things were

  world saved now, Perfessor. Ain’t I right?”

  streaming—blobs of things—human bodies—

  and great masses of wreckage, torn loose by

  IT WAS a return voyage of triumph. The

  the wind and flung off by centrifugal force.

  workings of the ray-machine, now that the

  “To become little satellites, forever to

  Professor had time to examine it carefully,

  revolve in their own newly determined orbits,”

  were all perfectly simple. At each end it had a the Professor murmured with awe. “Nature is

  big starting lever. The left-hand one would

  so wonderful. Such a nice balancing of

  turn on the pallid green repulsive radiance, forces—”

  streaming for millions of miles into space,

  “It don’t look so nice to me,” Tubby

  shoving at anything it touched.

  declared indignantly. “But we’ll fix

  Jubilantly, the Professor and Tubby everything up swell. Just the way it was before planned just what should be done. The Earth

  them Xenenonites messed it up.”

  was undoubtedly spinning on its axis very fast The Professor was clever. He got the

  now. It would have to be slowed down to

  space ship down through a dozen maelstroms

  normal.

  and he landed without any crash on a fiat

  “We’ll work it like this,” the Professor

  desert of sand with the ship at the bottom of a explained. “The Sun is the largest body close big perpendicular cliff. Fortunately, there was to the Earth. We’ll set up our machine at

  no wind blowing here—a dead calm in the

  night, somewhere in an open space on Earth—

  center of a dozen lashing storms.

  somewhere near the Equator would be best—

  It was night. The stars glittered in a

  and we’ll wait until dawn. When the sun rises, moonless, cloudless sky. As Tubby and the

  at that moment on the rotating Earth-surface, Professor tugged the big ray-machine from the we will be moving directly toward the Sun.

  space ship and set it up with its back braced You get the idea? We’ll turn on the repulsive against the giant cliff-mountain, Tubby could radiance—push a little at the Sun. That force feel how fearfully light everything had

  will retard the axial rotation of the Earth a become. It was no trouble at all to carry the little. Then, the next morning, we’ll slow it big machine in one hand. And as he walked he down a little more, until finally we get it back had to be careful; too violent a step would toss to normal. Get the idea?”

  him up into the air.

  “No—yes,” said Tubby. “You set up

  They trained the big machine almost

  the machine, an’ I’ll pull the left-hand lever.

  horizontally to the east.

  We’ll fix things swell for Earth. Ain’t I right?”

  “We gotta hurry if we want to catch

  It was lucky for the Earth that things

  this next sunrise,” Tubby warned. “Make it

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  snappy, Perfessor. Get them adjustments made was completely halted!

  quick.”

  Tubby was conscious of a great

  The stars were crawling across the sky

  surging, forward movement. The desert and

  with amazing speed. In another minute or two the mountain seemed to slide away as he and

  the sun would rise.

  the Professor were hurled eastward and

  upward. Where was the Professor? In a second TUBBY stood ready at the big left-hand lever.

  Tubby couldn’t see him. The air was full of

  “Okay, Perfessor?” he asked.

  flying things now. Where was the ground? It

  “Yes—yes, Tubby. As soon as the sun

  seemed for a second that he could see it

  is fully up, give it a little repulsive force.

  dwindling far below—the curving surface of

  The left-hand lever for repulsive force.

  Earth with clouds of wreckage hurtling up

  There was no mistake. But now Tubby from it—huge cities and everything in them suddenly remembered how the faces of that

  torn away, hurtling off into space....

  biological monstrosity had seemed to leer as And now the Earth Itself was gone.

  one of the voices gave the answer. The answer Tubby was a satellite, forever to revolve with had to be true—the monster was hypnotized

  a balancing of forces in his new, destined

  and had to speak the truth. Then why that

  orbit....

  triumphant leer? Suddenly it dawned on

  Tubby.

  “HEY, quit it! Stop shovin’ me!” Was that

  “My Gawd, Perfessor,” he exclaimed.

  Jake’s voice? Was Jake here, a satellite among That Xenenonite almost tricked me. This is

  the stars?

  the wrong lever!”

  He could feel Jake pulling at him;

  “Wrong lever?” the Professor echoed.