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man's voice, a sleepy voice, saying, "Hello. Yes."
"Dr Scott?" he said.
"Yes. Speaking."
"Dr Scott. You must come at once - quickly, please."
"Who is it speaking?"
"Klausner here and you remember what I told you last
night about my experience with sound, and how I hoped I
might --"
"Yes, yes, of course, but what's the matter? Are
you ill?"
"No, I'm not ill, but --
"It's half-past six in the morning," the doctor said,
"and you call me but you are not ill."
"Please come. Come quickly. I want someone to hear it.
It's driving me mad! I can't believe it ..."
The doctor heard the frantic, almost hysterical note in
the man's voice, the same note he was used to hearing in the
voices of people who called up and said, "There's been an
accident. Come quickly." He said slowly, "You really want me
to get out of bed and come over now?"
"Yes, now. At once, please."
"All right, then - I'll come."
Klausner sat down beside the telephone and waited. He
tried to remember what the shriek of the tree had sounded
like, but he couldn't. He could remember only that it had
been enormous and frightful and that it had made him feel
sick with horror. He tried to imagine what sort of noise a
human would make if he had to stand anchored to the ground
while someone deliberately swung a small sharp thing at his
leg so that the blade cut in deep and wedged itself in the
cut. Same sort of noise perhaps? No. Quite different. The
noise of the tree was worse than any known human noise
because of that frightening, toneless, throatless quality.
He began to wonder about other living things and he thought
immediately of a field of wheat, a field of wheat standing
up straight and yellow and alive, with the mower going
through it, cutting the stems, five hundred stems a second,
every second. Oh, my God, what would that noise be like?
Five hundred wheat plants screaming together and every
second another five hundred being cut and screaming and -
no, he thought, I do not want to go to a wheat field with my
machine. I would never eat bread after that. But what about
potatoes and cabbages and carrots and onions? And what about
apples? Ah, no. Apples are all right. They fall off
naturally when they are ripe. Apples are all right if you
let them fall off instead of tearing them from the tree
branch. But not vegetables. Not a potato for example. A
potato would surely shriek; so would a carrot and an onion
and a cabbage ...
He heard the click of the front-gate latch and he jumped
up and went out and saw the tall doctor coming down the
path, little black bag in hand.
"Well," the doctor said. "Well, what's all the trouble?"
"Come with me, doctor. I want you to hear it. I called
you because you're the only one I've told. It's over the
road in the park. Will you come now?"
The doctor looked at him. He seemed calmer now. There was
no sign of madness or hysteria, he was merely disturbed and
excited.
They went across the road into the park and Klausner led
the way to the great beech tree at the foot of which stood
the long black coffin-box of the machine - and the axe.
"Why did you bring it out here?" the doctor asked. "
I wanted a tree. There aren't any big trees in the
garden."
"And why the axe?"
"You'll see in a moment. But now please put on these
earphones and listen. Listen carefully and tell me
afterwards precisely what you hear. I want to make quite
sure ..."
The doctor smiled and took the earphones and put them
over his ears.
Klausner bent down and flicked the switch on the panel of
the machine, then he picked up the axe and took his stance
with his legs apart, ready to wing. For a moment he paused.
"Can you hear anything?" he said to the doctor.
"Can I what?"
"Can you hear anything?"
"Just a humming noise."
Klausner stood there with the axe in his hands trying to
bring himself to swing, but the thought of the noise that
the tree would make made him pause again.
"What are you waiting for?" the doctor asked.
"Nothing," Klausner answered and then he lifted the axe
and swung it at the tree and as he swung, he thought he
felt, he could swear he felt a movement of the ground on
which he stood. He felt a slight shifting of the earth
beneath his feet as though the roots of the tree were moving
under- neath the soil, but it was too late to check the blow
and the axe blade struck the tree and wedged deep into the
wood. At that moment, high overhead, there was the cracking
sound of wood splintering and the swishing sound of leaves
brushing against other leaves and they both looked up and
the doctor cried, "Watch Out! Run, man! Quickly, run!"
The doctor had ripped off the earphones and was running
away fast, but Klausner stood spellbound, staring up at the
great branch, sixty feet long at least, that was bending
slowly downward, breaking and crackling and splintering at
its thickest point, where it joined the main trunk of the
tree. The branch came crashing down and Klausner leapt aside
just in time. It fell upon the machine and smashed it into
pieces.
"Great heavens!" shouted the doctor as he came running
hack. "That was a near one! I thought it had got you!"
Klausner was staring at the tree. His large head was
leaning to one side and upon his smooth white face there was
a tense, horrified expression. Slowly he walked up to the
tree and gently, he prised the blade loose from the trunk.
"Did you hear it?" he said, turning to the doctor. His
voice was barely audible.
The doctor was still out of breath from running and the
excitement. "Hear what?"
"In the earphones. Did you hear anything when the axe
struck?"
The doctor began to rub the back of his neck. "Well," he
said, "as a matter of fact..." He paused and frowned and bit
his lower lip. "No, I'm not sure. I couldn't be sure. I
don't suppose I had the earphones on for more than a second
after the axe struck."
"Yes, yes, but what did you hear?"
"I don't know," the doctor said. "I don't know what I
heard. Probably the noise of the branch breaking," He was
speaking rapidly, rather irritably.
"What did it sound like?" Klausner leaned forward
slightly, staring hard at the doctor. "Exactly what did it
sound like?" "Oh, hell!" the doctor said. "I really don't
know. I was more interested in getting out of the way. Let's
leave it."
"Dr Scott, what-did-it-sound-like?"
"For God's sake, how could I tell, what with half the
tree falling on me and having to run for my life?" The
doctor certainly seemed nervous. Klausner had sensed it now.
He stood quite still, staring at the doctor and for fully
half a minute he didn't speak. The doctor moved his feet,
shrugged his shoulders and half-turned to go. "Well," he
said, "we'd better get back."
"Look," said the little man and now his smooth
white face became suddenly suffused with colour. "Look," he
said, "you stitch this up." He pointed to the last gash that
the axe had made in the tree trunk. "You stitch this up
quickly."
"Don't be silly," the doctor said.
"You do as I say. Stitch it up." Klausner was gripping
the axe handle and he spoke softly, in a curious, almost a
threatening tone.
"Don't be silly," the doctor said. "I can't stitch
through wood. Come on. Let's get back."
"So you can't stitch through wood?"
"No, of course not." "Have you got any iodine in your
bag?"
"What if I have?"
"Then paint the cut with iodine. It'll sting, but that
can't be helped."
"Now look," the doctor said and again he turned as if to
go. "Let's not be ridiculous. Let's get back to the house
and then ... "
"Paint-the-cut-with-iodine."
The doctor hesitated. He saw Klausner's hands tightening
on the handle of the axe. He decided that his only
alternative was to run away fast, and he certainly wasn't
going to do that.
"All right," he said. "I'll paint it with iodine."
He got his black bag which was lying on the grass about
ten yards away, opened it and took out a bottle of iodine
and some cotton wool. He went up to the tree trunk, uncorked
the bottle, tipped some of the iodine on to the cotton wool,
bent down and began to dab it into the cut. He kept one eye
on Klausner who was standing motionless with the axe in his
hands, watching him.
"Make sure you get it right in."
"Yes," the doctor said.
"Now do the other one - the one just above it!"
The doctor did as he was told
"There you are," he said. "It's done."
He straightened up and surveyed his work in a very
serious manner. "That should do nicely."
Klausner came closer and gravely examined the two wounds.
"Yes," he said, nodding his huge head slowly up and down.
"Yes, that will do nicely." He stepped back a pace. "You'll
come and look at them again tomorrow?"
"Oh, yes," the doctor said. "Of course."
"And put some more iodine on?"
"If necessary, yes."
"Thank you, doctor," Klausner said and he nodded his head
again and he dropped the axe and all at once he smiled a
wild, excited smile and quickly the doctor went over to him
and gently he took him by the arm and he said, "Come on, we
must go now," and suddenly they were walking away, the two
of them, walking silently, rather hurriedly across the park,
over the road, back to the house.
End |
