hat was wrong with Ship I, and why it killed Mitch. We know--hell, we
don't even begin to realize what we have at our fingertips now. It's so
big it's impossible to evaluate."

"What? I don't--"

"Sound, Johnny, sound. Or rather, vibration. It's something we're just
beginning to learn about. We know a few things; we know you can boil
water with sound if the frequency is high enough. And you can drill
metal with it--and it does things to the human body.

"There are frequencies of sound which can act directly on human nerves,
directly on the human brain. It means that if we know the right
frequency, we'll be able to produce any state we want in a man, any
emotion. Fear, anguish, anything.

"When the steering rockets were cut in, the Ship began to vibrate. It
generated frequencies so high that ordinary human senses couldn't detect
them. And when your nerves were exposed to those vibrations, it produced
fear. Pure and absolute fear. Motor control went, rational processes
went, all the nervous functions of the body went out of control. Your
body became a giant tuning fork, and the frequency to which it vibrated
was fear.

"I can't remember--"

"Sanity went, too, Johnny," said the man softly. "You could not stand
that fear and remain sane, so something cut off. That was what happened
to Mitch."

"How did I get back?"

"We don't know. The films show your face suddenly going blank. Then you
flew. That's all. We hoped you could tell us."

"No. No--I don't remember--"

"There was something in you so strong it overrode everything else, even
the fear. We'd like to know what it is. We'll find out, Johnny, and it
will mean a lot to the human race when we do."

_This is my day._

"Is my wife here?"

There was a cool hand on his forehead. "Yes, Johnny."

"Well," he said helplessly. "Well, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Johnny," she whispered, and there was the sound of tears in
her voice. "I'm just fine."

He felt the warm softness of her lips on his.

_I had a true wife but I left her ... oh, oh, oh._

And then he came home again.

END

[Illustration]

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _If Worlds of Science Fiction_ June
1958. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sound of Terror, by