THINK YOURSELF TO DEATH
A "JOHNNY MAYHEM" ADVENTURE
By C. H. THAMES
[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Amazing Stories March1957. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.copyright on this publication was renewed.]
When he reached Ophiuchus, Johnny Mayhem was wearing the body of anelderly Sirian gentleman.
Nothing could have been more incongruous. The Sirian wore a pince-nez, adignified two-piece jumper in a charcoal color, sedate two-tone bootsand a black string-tie.
The loiterers in the street near the Galactic Observer's buildinglooked, and pointed, and laughed. Using the dignity of the dead Sirian,whose body he wore like other people wear clothing, Johnny Mayhemignored them. They had a point, of course. It was hot and humid onOphiuchus IX. The loiterers in the dusty, evil-smelling streets worenothing but loin cloths.
Mayhem went inside the building, which was air-conditioned. Probably itwas the only air-conditioned structure on the entire planet. Mayhemdabbed at his Sirian forehead gratefully, mopping at sweat. As near ashe could figure, his life expectancy in this body was down to threedays, Earth style. He wondered fleetingly why the Galactic League hadsent him here to Ophiuchus. He shrugged, knowing he would find out soonenough.
The Galactic Observer on Ophiuchus IX, a middle-aged Indian from Bombaynamed Kovandaswamy, wore an immaculate white linen loin cloth on hisplump body and a relieved smile on his worried face when Mayhem enteredhis office. The two men shook hands.
"So you're Mayhem?" Kovandaswamy said in English. "They told me toexpect you, sir. Pardon my staring, but I've never been face to facewith a legend before. I'm impressed."
Mayhem laughed. "You'll get over it."
"Well, at least as a Sirian gentleman, you're not very prepossessing.That helps."
"It wasn't my idea. It never is."
"I know. I know that, sir." Kovandaswamy got up nervously from his deskand paced across the room. "Do you know anything about Ophiuchus IX,Mayhem?"
"Not much. It's one of the Forgotten Worlds, isn't it?"
"Precisely, sir. Ophiuchus IX is one of scores of interstellar worldscolonized in the first great outflux from Earth."
"You mean during the population pressure of the 24th century?"
"Exactly. Then Ophiuchus IX, like the other Forgotten Worlds, was allbut forgotten. As you know, Mayhem, the first flux of colonizationreceded like a wave, inertia set in, and the so-called Forgotten Worldsbecame isolated from the rest of the galaxy for generations. Only in thepast fifty years are we finding them again, one by one. Ophiuchus IX istypical, isolated from the galaxy at large by a dust cloud that—"
"I know. I came through it."
"It was colonized originally with Indians from southern and easternIndia, on Earth. That's why the Galactic League appointed me Observer.I'm an Indian. These people—well, they're what my people might havedeveloped into if they'd lived for hundreds of years in perfectisolation."
"What's the trouble?"
Kovandaswamy answered with a question of his own. "You are aware of theGalactic League's chief aim?"
"Sure. To see that no outworld, however small or distant, is left inisolation. Is that what you mean?"
"Yes," agreed Kovandaswamy. "Th