Project Mastodon Read online

  Produced by Greg Weeks, dpcfmander and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

  [Transcriber's Note: This story was first published in March 1955_Galaxy_ and the etext was produced from the anthology "All theTraps of Earth and other stories". Extensive research did notuncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publicationwas renewed.]

  PROJECT MASTODON

  By

  Clifford D. Simak

  The chief of protocol said, "Mr. Hudson of--ah--Mastodonia."

  The secretary of state held out his hand. "I'm glad to see you,Mr. Hudson. I understand you've been here several times."

  "That's right," said Hudson. "I had a hard time making your peoplebelieve I was in earnest."

  "And are you, Mr. Hudson?"

  "Believe me, sir, I would not try to fool you."

  "And this Mastodonia," said the secretary, reaching down to tapthe document upon the desk. "You will pardon me, but I've neverheard of it."

  "It's a new nation," Hudson explained, "but quite legitimate. Wehave a constitution, a democratic form of government, duly electedofficials, and a code of laws. We are a free, peace-loving peopleand we are possessed of a vast amount of natural resources and--"

  "Please tell me, sir," interrupted the secretary, "just where areyou located?"

  "Technically, you are our nearest neighbors."

  "But that is ridiculous!" exploded Protocol.

  "Not at all," insisted Hudson. "If you will give me a moment, Mr.Secretary, I have considerable evidence."

  He brushed the fingers of Protocol off his sleeve and steppedforward to the desk, laying down the portfolio he carried.

  "Go ahead, Mr. Hudson," said the secretary. "Why don't we all sitdown and be comfortable while we talk this over?"

  "You have my credentials, I see. Now here is a propos--"

  "I have a document signed by a certain Wesley Adams."

  "He's our first president," said Hudson. "Our George Washington,you might say."

  "What is the purpose of this visit, Mr. Hudson?"

  "We'd like to establish diplomatic relations. We think it would beto our mutual benefit. After all, we are a sister republic inperfect sympathy with your policies and aims. We'd like tonegotiate trade agreements and we'd be grateful for some PointFour aid."

  The secretary smiled. "Naturally. Who doesn't?"

  "We're prepared to offer something in return," Hudson told himstiffly. "For one thing, we could offer sanctuary."

  "Sanctuary!"

  "I understand," said Hudson, "that in the present state ofinternational tensions, a foolproof sanctuary is not something tobe sneezed at."

  The secretary turned stone cold. "I'm an extremely busy man."

  Protocol took Hudson firmly by the arm. "Out you go."

  General Leslie Bowers put in a call to State and got thesecretary.

  "I don't like to bother you, Herb," he said, "but there'ssomething I want to check. Maybe you can help me."

  "Glad to help you if I can."

  "There's a fellow hanging around out here at the Pentagon, tryingto get in to see me. Said I was the only one he'd talk to, but youknow how it is."

  "I certainly do."

  "Name of Huston or Hudson or something like that."

  "He was here just an hour or so ago," said the secretary."Crackpot sort of fellow."

  "He's gone now?"

  "Yes. I don't think he'll be back."

  "Did he say where you could reach him?"

  "No, I don't believe he did."

  "How did he strike you? I mean what kind of impression did you getof him?"

  "I told you. A crackpot."

  "I suppose he is. He said something to one of the colonels thatgot me worrying. Can't pass up anything, you know--not in theDirty Tricks Department. Even if it's crackpot, these days you gotto have a look at it."

  "He offered sanctuary," said the secretary indignantly. "Can youimagine that!"

  "He's been making the rounds, I guess," the general said. "He wasover at AEC. Told them some sort of tale about knowing where therewere vast uranium deposits. It was the AEC that told me he washeading your way."

  "We get them all the time. Usually we can ease them out. ThisHudson was just a little better than the most of them. He got into see me."

  "He told the colonel something about having a plan that wouldenable us to establish secret bases anywhere we wished, even inthe territory of potential enemies. I know it sounds crazy...."

  "Forget it, Les."

  "You're probably right," said the general, "but this idea sendsme. Can you imagine the look on their Iron Curtain faces?"

  The scared little government clerk, darting conspiratorial glancesall about him, brought the portfolio to the FBI.

  "I found it in a bar down the street," he told the man who tookhim in tow. "Been going there for years. And I found thisportfolio laying in the booth. I saw the man who must have left itthere and I tried to find him later, but I couldn't."

  "How do you know he left it there?"

  "I just figured he did. He left the booth just as I came in and itwas sort of dark in there and it took a minute to see this thinglaying there. You see, I always take the same booth every day andJoe sees me come in and he brings me the usual and--"

  "You saw this man leave the booth you usually sit in?"

  "That's right."

  "Then you saw the portfolio."

  "Yes, sir."

  "You tried to find the man, thinking it must have been his."

  "That's exactly what I did."

  "But by the time you went to look for him, he had disappeared."

  "That's the way it was."

  "Now tell me--why did you bring it here? Why didn't you turn it into the management so the man could come back and claim it?"

  "Well, sir, it was like this. I had a drink or two and I waswondering all the time what was in that portfolio. So finally Itook a peek and--"

  "And what you saw decided you to bring it here to us."

  "That's right. I saw--"

  "Don't tell me what you saw. Give me your name and address anddon't say anything about this. You understand that we're gratefulto you for thinking of us, but we'd rather you said nothing."

  "Mum's the word," the little clerk assured him, full of vastimportance.

  The FBI phoned Dr. Ambrose Amberly, Smithsonian expert onpaleontology.

  "We've got something, Doctor, that we'd like you to have a lookat. A lot of movie film."

  "I'll be most happy to. I'll come down as soon as I get clear. Endof the week, perhaps?"

  "This is very urgent, Doctor. Damnest thing you ever saw. Big,shaggy elephants and tigers with teeth down to their necks.There's a beaver the size of a bear."

  "Fakes," said Amberly, disgusted. "Clever gadgets. Camera angles."

  "That's what we thought first, but there are no gadgets, no cameraangles. This is the real McCoy."

  "I'm on my way," the paleontologist said, hanging up.

  _Snide item in smug, smartaleck gossip column: Saucers are passeat the Pentagon. There's another mystery that's got the high brassvery high._

  II

  President Wesley Adams and Secretary of State John Cooper satglumly under a tree in the capital of Mastodonia and waited forthe ambassador extraordinary to return.

  "I tell you, Wes," said Cooper, who, under various pseudonyms, wasalso the secretaries of commerce, treasury and war, "this is acrazy thing we did. What if Chuck can't get back? They might throwhim in jail or something might happen to the time unit or thehelicopter. We should have gone along."

  "We had to stay," Adams said. "You know what would happen to thiscamp and our supplies if we weren't around here to guard them."

  "The only thing t
hat's given us any trouble is that old mastodon.If he comes around again, I'm going to take a skillet and bang himin the brisket."

  "That isn't the only reason, either," said President Adams, "andyou know it. We can't go deserting this nation now that we'vecreated it. We have to keep possession. Just planting a flag andsaying it's ours wouldn't be enough. We might be called upon forproof that we've established residence. Something like the oldhomestead laws, you know."

  "We'll establish residence sure enough," growled Secretary Cooper,"if something happens to that time unit or the helicopter."

  "You think they'll do it, Johnny?"

  "Who do what?"

  "The United States. Do you think they'll recognize us?"

  "Not if they know who we are."

  "That's what I'm afraid of."

  "Chuck will talk them into it. He can talk the skin right off acat."

  "Sometimes I think we're going at this wrong. Sure, Chuck's gotthe long-range view and I suppose it's best. But maybe what weought to do is grab a good, fast profit and get out of here. Wecould take in hunting parties at ten thousand a head or maybe wecould lease it to a movie company."

  "We can do all that and do it legally and with full protection,"Cooper told him, "if we can get ourselves recognized as asovereign nation. If we negotiate a mutual defense pact, no onewould dare get hostile because we could squawk to Uncle Sam."

  "All you say is true," Adams agreed, "but there are going to bequestions. It isn't just a matter of walking into Washington andgetting recognition. They'll want to know about us, such as ourpopulation. What if Chuck has to tell them it's a total of threepersons?"

  Cooper shook his head. "He wouldn't answer that way, Wes. He'dduck the question or give them some diplomatic double-talk. Afterall, how can we be _sure_ there are only three of us? We took overthe whole continent, remember."

  "You know well enough, Johnny, there are no other humans back herein North America. The farthest back any scientist will place themigrations from Asia is 30,000 years. They haven't got here yet."

  "Maybe we should have done it differently," mused Cooper. "Maybewe should have included the whole world in our proclamation, notjust the continent. That way, we could claim quite a population."

  "It wouldn't have held water. Even as it is, we went a littlefurther than precedent allows. The old explorers usually laidclaim to certain watersheds. They'd find a river and lay claim toall the territory drained by the river. They didn't go grabbingoff whole continents."

  "That's because they were never sure of exactly what they had,"said Cooper. "We are. We have what you might call the advantage ofhindsight."

  He leaned back against the tree and stared across the land. It wasa pretty place, he thought--the rolling ridges covered by vastgrazing areas and small groves, the forest-covered, ten-mile rivervalley. And everywhere one looked, the grazing herds of mastodon,giant bison and wild horses, with the less gregarious faunascattered hit and miss.

  Old Buster, the troublesome mastodon, a lone bull which had beenprobably run out of a herd by a younger rival, stood at the edgeof a grove a quarter-mile away. He had his head down and wascurling and uncurling his trunk in an aimless sort of way while heteetered slowly in a lazy-crazy fashion by lifting first one footand then another.

  The old cuss was lonely, Cooper told himself. That was why he hungaround like a homeless dog--except that he was too big and awkwardto have much pet-appeal and, more than likely, his temper wasunstable.

  The afternoon sun was pleasantly warm and the air, it seemed toCooper, was the freshest he had ever smelled. It was, altogether,a very pleasant place, an Indian-summer sort of land, ideal for aSunday picnic or a camping trip.

  The breeze was just enough to float out from its flagstaff beforethe tent the national banner of Mastodonia--a red rampant mastodonupon a field of green.

  "You know, Johnny," said Adams, "there's one thing that worries mea lot. If we're going to base our claim on precedent, we may beway off base. The old explorers always claimed their discoveriesfor their nations or their king, never for themselves."

  "The principle was entirely different," Cooper told him. "Nobodyever did anything for himself in those days. Everyone was alwaysunder someone else's protection. The explorers either werefinanced by their governments or were sponsored by them oroperated under a royal charter or a patent. With us, it'sdifferent. Ours is a private enterprise. You dreamed up the timeunit and built it. The three of us chipped in to buy thehelicopter. We've paid all of our expenses out of our own pockets.We never got a dime from anyone. What we found is ours."

  "I hope you're right," said Adams uneasily.

  Old Buster had moved out from the grove and was shuffling warilytoward the camp. Adams picked up the rifle that lay across hisknees.

  "Wait," said Cooper sharply. "Maybe he's just bluffing. It wouldbe a shame to plaster him; he's such a nice old guy."

  Adams half raised the rifle.

  "I'll give him three steps more," he announced. "I've had enoughof him."

  Suddenly a roar burst out of the air just above their heads. Thetwo leaped to their feet.

  "It's Chuck!" Cooper yelled. "He's back!"

  The helicopter made a half-turn of the camp and came rapidly toEarth.

  Trumpeting with terror, Old Buster was a dwindling dot far downthe grassy ridge.

  III

  They built the nightly fires circling the camp to keep out theanimals.

  "It'll be the death of me yet," said Adams wearily, "cutting allthis wood."

  "We have to get to work on that stockade," Cooper said. "We'vefooled around too long. Some night, fire or no fire, a herd ofmastodon will come busting in here and if they ever hit thehelicopter, we'll be dead ducks. It wouldn't take more than justfive seconds to turn us into Robinson Crusoes of the Pleistocene."

  "Well, now that this recognition thing has petered out on us,"said Adams, "maybe we can get down to business."

  "Trouble is," Cooper answered, "we spent about the last of ourmoney on the chain saw to cut this wood and on Chuck's trip toWashington. To build a stockade, we need a tractor. We'd killourselves if we tried to rassle that many logs bare-handed."

  "Maybe we could catch some of those horses running around outthere."

  "Have you ever broken a horse?"

  "No, that's one thing I never tried."

  "Me, either. How about you, Chuck?"

  "Not me," said the ex-ambassador extraordinary bluntly.

  Cooper squatted down beside the coals of the cooking fire andtwirled the spit. Upon the spit were three grouse and half a dozenquail. The huge coffee pot was sending out a nose-tingling aroma.Biscuits were baking in the reflector.

  "We've been here six weeks," he said, "and we're still living in atent and cooking on an open fire. We better get busy and getsomething done."

  "The stockade first," said Adams, "and that means a tractor."

  "We could use the helicopter."

  "Do you want to take the chance? That's our getaway. Oncesomething happens to it...."

  "I guess not," Cooper admitted, gulping.

  "We could use some of that Point Four aid right now," commentedAdams.

  "They threw me out," said Hudson. "Everywhere I went, sooner orlater they got around to throwing me out. They were real organizedabout it."

  "Well, we tried," Adams said.

  "And to top it off," added Hudson, "I had to go and lose all thatfilm and now we'll have to waste our time taking more of it.Personally, I don't ever want to let another saber-tooth get thatclose to me while I hold the camera."

  "You didn't have a thing to worry about," Adams objected. "Johnnywas right there behind you with the gun."

  "Yeah, with the muzzle about a foot from my head when he let go."

  "I stopped him, didn't I?" demanded Cooper.

  "With his head right in my lap."

  "Maybe we won't have to take any more pictures," Adams suggested.

  "We'll have to," Cooper said. "There are sportsmen u
p ahead who'dfork over ten thousand bucks easy for two weeks of hunting here.But before we could sell them on it, we'd have to show themmovies. That scene with the saber-tooth would cinch it."

  "If it didn't scare them off," Hudson pointed out. "The last fewfeet showed nothing but the inside of his throat."

  Ex-ambassador Hudson looked unhappy. "I don't like the wholesetup. As soon as we bring someone in, the news is sure to leak.And once the word gets out, there'll be guys lying in ambush forus--maybe even nations--scheming to steal the know-how, legally orviolently. That's what scares me the most about those films Ilost. Someone will find them and they may guess what it's allabout, but I'm hoping they either won't believe it or can't manageto trace us."

  "We could swear the hunting parties to secrecy," said Cooper.

  "How could a sportsman keep still about the mounted head of asaber-tooth or a record piece of ivory?" And the same thing wouldapply to anyone we approached. Some university could raise doughto send a team of scientists back here and a movie company wouldcough up plenty to use this place as a location for a cavemanepic. But it wouldn't be worth a thing to either of them if theycouldn't tell about it.

  "Now if we could have gotten recognition as a nation, we'd havebeen all set. We could make our own laws and regulations and beable to enforce them. We could bring in settlers and establishtrade. We could exploit our natural resources. It would all belegal and aboveboard. We could tell who we were and where we wereand what we had to offer."