Prison of a Billion Years
by Stephen Marlowe · English · Gutenberg #32150 · 38,954 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Prison of a Billion Years
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: Prison of a Billion Years
Author: Stephen Marlowe
Illustrator: Harold W. McCauley
Release date: April 27, 2010 [eBook #32150]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32150
Credits: Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRISON OF A BILLION YEARS ***
Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from Imagination April 1956. Extensive
research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this
publication was renewed.
Prison Of A Billion Years
_by_
_C. H. Thames_
Illustrated by H. W. McCauley
Adam Slade was a man who had nothing to lose by making a
break for it. The trouble was, he knew that no one had ever
escaped from the--
* * * * *
Adam Slade crushed the guard's skull with a two foot length of iron
pipe. No one ever knew where Slade got the iron pipe, but it did not
seem so important.
The guard was dead. That was important.
And Slade was on the loose. With a hostage.
That was even more important.
The hostage's name was Marcia Lawrence. She was twenty-two years old
and pretty and scared half out of her wits. She was, before she became
a hostage, a reporter for Interplanetary Video. She had been granted
the final pre-execution interview with Adam Slade and she had looked
forward to it a long time but it had not worked out as planned.
It had not worked out as planned because Slade, only hours from the
execution chamber with absolutely nothing to lose, had splattered the
guard's brains around the inside of his cell and marched outside with
a frightened Marcia Lawrence.
Outside. Outside the cell block while other condemned prisoners roared
and shouted and banged tin cups on bars and metal walls and
judas-hole-grills. Outside the prison compound and across the
dome-enclosed city which served the prison.
Then outside the dome.
[Illustration]
Outside the dome there was rock. Rock only, twisted and convoluted and
thrusting and gigantic like monoliths of a race of giants. Rock alone
under the awesome gray sky. Steaming rock, for some of the terrestrial
waters were still trapped at great depths. And the sea far off,
booming against rocky headlands, hissing tidally and slowly, in an
age-long process, pulverizing the rock. The sea far off, a clean sea,
not sea-smelling sea, a sea whose waters must evaporate countless
times and be borne up over the naked rocks in vapor and clouds and
come down in pelting, endless rain and rush across the rock, frothing
and steaming--a sea which must do this countless times in the eons to
come, and would do it, to bring salinity to its own waters.
"It kind of scares the hell out of you, doesn't it?" Adam Slade said.
He was a big man with a thick neck and heavy, sleepy-looking eyes and
a blue beard-shadow on his stubborn jaw. He said those words as he
climbed out of the prison tank with Marcia Lawrence. The tank's metal
was still warm from over-heated travel.
"I didn't think anything would scare you," Marcia Lawrence said. She
had conquered her initial terror in the five hours of clanking tank
flight from the prison. They had come a great many miles from the
prison dome, paralleling the edge of the saltless sea and then
finally, when their fuel was almost gone, clanking and rattling down
toward the sea. She was a newspaperwoman, that above all now. She must
not be afraid. She had a story here. A story.
"Get moving," Adam Slade said. "I got nothing against you, lady," he
told her for the tenth time. "But you try anything, you're dead. You
get that? I got nothing to lose. One time is all they can kill me. But
first they got to find me, but they won't be able to take me as long
as you're here. Just stay meek and you'll stay alive."
"How long do you think you can hold out?" Marcia Lawrence asked
practically. They had begun to walk away from the now useless tank.
Adam Slade was carrying the dead guard's M-gun in the crook of his
bent left arm and walking with long, easy, ground-consuming strides.
Marcia almost had to run to keep up with him as they went down a
stretch of slightly sloping black rock toward the steaming, hissing,
pounding, roaring, exploding surf.
Slade smiled. "Plenty of water," he said.
"But no food, Mr. Slade. There is absolutely no food on earth now and
no possible way of getting food unless you want to stick around for a
few million years."
"You think I came out here without a plan?" Slade asked with some
hostility.
"I don't know. You were desperate."
"As long as you're with me I figure they might follow, but they won't
rush me. They might even send over a 'copter, but it won't try
anything. Not with you here. Desperate? I'm not desperate, and don't
you forget it. Desperate you don't think straight. Once is all they
can execute me. I stayed behind, they'd of done it. If they catch me,
they'll do it. What's the difference?"
"You said you had a plan."
* * * * *
They reached the edge of a thrusting headland, an enormous beak-shaped
cliff of beetling black rock which leaned out over the young, still
saltless ocean. Slade paced back and forth quickly, with a powerful
leonine grace, until he found a fault in the rock. The fault tumbled
jaggedly, steeply down almost to the edge of the sea.
"Down there," Slade said. "We'll follow the sea coast back to the
prison."
"Back?" Marcia said in disbelief.
"Hell yes, back. You said it yourself. There's no food out here. Since
there ain't no life, of course there's no food. Oh, it's a great place
for a prison, all right. Whoever thought of it ought to win a prize. A
prison--a billion years in the past. What's the word?"
"Archaeozoic," she supplied.
"Yeah, archaeozoic. An archaeozoic prison. You can escape to your
heart's content, but what the hell's the difference. There's no life
back here, not yet. The Earth's just a baby. So you escape--and you
starve to death. It makes every maximum security jail before this one
look like a kid's piggy bank."
"There hasn't ever been an escape," Marcia said hopefully as they made
their way down to the sea, she in front and Slade behind her with the
M-gun.
"There ain't never been a hostage before."
"No-o."
"There's a hostage now."
Marcia Lawrence took a deep breath and asked suddenly, "Are you going
to kill me?"
"Hell, I don't know. I got no reason to--unless you make me. We're
going back there. We're double-tracking along the beach, get me? Back
to the prison dome."
"But--"
"Adam Slade won't starve to death out here. We'll double back to the
dome--and the time machine."
"Oh," she said. They began to walk along the edge of the sea, its
waters sullen gray, mirroring the sky. Here on this dawn earth the sky
has as yet never been blue, for the primordial waters were still
falling, falling. It rained almost all the time and the air was thick
with moisture and every night when the sun--as yet unseen by the dawn
earth except as an invisible source of light--went down and darkness
came, the mists rolled in from the sea. In the morning whether rains
had fallen or not the ground was soaked and tiny freshets rushed down
to the sea, returning to it.
"Look out!" he cried suddenly, and shoved her against the base of the
cliff which overlooked the water. The cliff top thrust out over them,
umbrella-wise. The base of the cliff was thus a concavity and they
pressed themselves against it now, in shadow. The waters of the infant
sea were a hundred yards away, surging and booming against the rock.
She heard it soon after he did. A helicopter. She wanted to scream.
She wondered if they would hear her scream. But she looked at Adam
Slade's face and did nothing. Soon the helicopter came, buzzing low
over them, searching. It circled a great many times because the
abandoned tank was there. It circled and came down on the beach and
two uniformed figures got out. Now she really wanted to scream. One
sound. One sound and they would hear her. One quick filling of the
lungs and--
Adam Slade hit her suddenly and savagely and the black loomed up at
her but she did not remember striking it.
When she awoke, the helicopter was gone.
"Sorry I had to poke you one," Slade said. He did not seem sorry at
all. He said it automatically and then added: "You ready to walk?"
She nodded. She got up and staggered a few steps before her legs
steadied under her. Then with Slade she walked down along the rocky
beach. This, she thought, was a story. It was the only big story she
had ever had and probably she would not live to write it. As a woman,
she was almost hysterical with fear, but as a videocaster she was
angry. The story was hers--if she lived to tell it.
Then she had to live.
Time prison. Sure, she thought. Utterly escape proof--unless someone
like Slade could take a hostage, double back to the prison dome, the
hermetically sealed dome and somehow trick or overpower the guards who
watched the time traveling machine outside the prison dome.
Outside. Naturally, it would be outside. That way the prisoners
couldn't get at it.
Unless, like Slade, they too were outside.
Outside, where life had not yet been born. Outside, the infant earth.
Let a man escape. What did his escape matter? He would live exactly
as long as it took a man, reasonably healthy, to starve to death.
Unless he had a hostage and a plan....
* * * * *
She became aware of rain when they left the cliff overhang. There was
almost no wind and the rain came down slowly at first, huge slow drops
which splattered on the black rock.
"If it gets any harder," Slade said, "we'll have to duck under the
cliff for protection. You don't know what a rain can be like back
here. I seen them through the dome."
But they couldn't go under the cliff for protection, not if they
wanted to keep going. For the cliff dropped suddenly in a wild jumble
of rocks and then there was nothing but the sloping black beach,
sloping down to the sea.
Then, all at once, someone opened the sluicegates and the rain
bombarded them. It slapped and bounced off the rock like pistol shots.
It struck them like hammers. They staggered under its weight.
"We'll have to go back to the cliffs!" Marcia cried. She yelled it
again at the top of her voice because she realized Slade would not
hear her otherwise as the rain cracked and exploded and splattered and
crashed. There were no droplets of water. For each one had size and
shape and weight, swift-falling, hammering weight as it came down.
Each one, Marcia thought wildly, struggling to keep her feet, was the
size of your clenched fist there in the gray dawn of Earth.
"The cliffs!" she cried again.
But Adam Slade shook his head, grabbed her arm above the wrist and
pulled her after him. He pointed ahead, in the direction they had been
going. He said nothing. There was no need to talk. They were going
forward and if it killed them probably Adam Slade did not care much.
He wanted that prison time machine for his escape and he was either
going to get it or die in the attempt.
They went on slowly. First one would fall and then the other and when
it was Slade who had fallen, she would wait patiently, hopefully. If
he ever released his hold on the M-gun--
But if it were Marcia who fell, Slade would yank her to her feet
savagely, yelling words which she had heard at first but which after a
while, after an eternity of the storm, seemed to merge with the sound
of the rain and the far booming of thunder out over the water and
then, as if by magic, she was walking again and stumbling along with
Slade, drenched and beaten and half-drowned.
She hardly remembered when night came, but presently she was aware of
the darkness and the mist over the sea and over the rock and now
engulfing them with its white ectoplasmic tendrils. In the mist she
knew she could escape Slade, and yet she did not. Without Slade now,
now in the middle of nowhere there by the sea on the shores of the
young Earth, she would die in the storm. With Slade--at least for
now--was life. And she went on.
The thunder followed them--and came closer.
By the middle of the night it sounded like artillery at a distance of
half a mile, like a barrage of big atomic shells just out of sight
behind a black ridgeline which wasn't there. And through the deeper
rain-wet darkness of early morning, through the mist, tearing the mist
to tatters, shredding it, came the spears and forks and lances of
lightning. It was, Marcia thought, a nightmare of a storm. And she
must remember it, for it would make a story, a real story, if ever she
lived to tell it.
By morning, the air smelled of ozone. It reeked of ozone and around
them as the gray light seeped out of the wet sky and the rain suddenly
slackened as if the weak daylight dispelled it, the black rocks were
blasted and broken where lightning had struck.
In the dawn's first light another helicopter came.
"Get down!" Slade shouted, and they dropped among the blasted black
rocks, hiding there, not moving. The helicopter came on through the
slackening rain, buzzing a few hundred feet over them but not
circling. It was heading for the abandoned tank, Marcia thought. It
wasn't looking for them here--
But suddenly the rain came down in all its savage force again,
blinding bounding off the rocks, pounding relentlessly.
Overhead, the helicopter seemed to pause like a bird stricken in
flight. The rotors whirled a silver shield against the rain, the great
drops splattering off the shield.
And the helicopter came down under the weight of the rain.
* * * * *
It landed a hundred and fifty yards from them down the beach and
Marcia watched breathlessly while three men got out and looked at each
other and at the rain. The dawn light was still only a dim gray and
Marcia could not see the men clearly, but abruptly a jagged spear of
lightning blasted rock midway between where they were hiding and the
helicopter and in the after-glare through the wet and almost crackling
air, the men were very clear. And clearer still when other lightning
came down around them, ringing them in, it seemed, like a tent. There
was now so much lightning it looked more like an aurora than an
electric storm.
The dawn earth, before life, spending itself in fury....
All at once Marcia was running down toward the edge of the water,
where the helicopter was. She ran screaming and shouting but the
thunder swallowed her puny voice. At every moment she expected Adam
Slade to kill her, to merely stand up with the M-gun and shoot her,
but he did not and perhaps her unconscious mind in the instant she had
fled had instinctively known he would not. For if Adam Slade killed
her, he had no hostage. If he killed her and they found him, he would
have absolutely no chance.
She turned and looked behind her. There was Slade, silhouetted against
the lightning, running, covering the ground in huge strides, gaining
on her. She did not look back again. The whole world was lightning and
thunder and her legs striking earth under her, up and down, up and
down, pounding, running, fleeing, and the rain, Slade's ally, beating
her, buffeting her, exploding against her.
She stumbled and fell but she was up and running again in a moment.
Now Slade was very close. But the helicopter was close too. She did
not think the men there had seen them yet. She waved her arms and
screamed although she knew the screams would not be heard--and then
Slade was on her.
They went down together and she knew she was frail and helpless before
his great strength. He grabbed her, his hands, angry hands on her
throat--
And lightning struck.
It bounded and bounced off rock a dozen feet from them. It shook the
earth and blasted the rock and pieces like shrapnel cluttered all
around them and struck them too and Marcia felt hot blood on her arm
and it was her own blood.
But Slade had been momentarily stunned and she was running again. Away
from him.
But away from the helicopter too. At first she did not realize that
but when she did realize it, it was too late. If she doubled back now,
she would rush into Slade's arms.
She ran--into the sea.
It was suddenly, unexpectedly calm. It merely eddied around her
ankles, as if waiting for something. The storm seemed to be waiting
too, lightning holding back, the thunder stilled, even the rain
hanging there in the black heavy sky, waiting....
Slade came after her, stalking through the surf.
A single bolt of lightning lanced down at them and a great engulfing
roar lifted Marcia, carried her, stunned her, and then the rain pelted
down again and the sea was an angry sea and the air was supercharged
with ozone and another smell. Like seared flesh.
Like seared flesh.
She saw Adam Slade then. Slade was down in a foot of water, face down.
He was not moving and the water lapped around him, over him. She went
to him, walking slowly.
The men from the helicopter were there too. They had seen in that
final flash of lightning.
"Are you all right, miss?" one of them shouted.
"Yes. Slade?"
They turned him over. They looked at him. "Dead," one of them said.
"Dead," she echoed. She would have collapsed, but they caught her.
* * * * *
Then the rain really came down, not as it had come before, which was
hard enough. It came in huge globes of water and each globe was as big
as your head and if it hit it could stun you.
"Slade?" someone cried as the globes exploded violently in the surf
around them.
"He's dead. He'll keep."
And they went back to the helicopter with Marcia, to await the end of
the storm there.
When it was over, when the sky was not black but merely the color of
lead, they returned down the beach for Slade's body.
But Slade wasn't there.
"But he was dead!" Marcia said incredulously.
One of the men smiled. "He didn't go anyplace under his own power. He
was dead, all right. The storm took his body out to sea, is all."
They stood there for a moment, gazing out across the black troubled
water of the infant ocean on the infant earth. A billion years ago....
Slade was out there. Slade, dead. Out there with the tides and the
waters and the frequent electric storms--
"Out there with a million bacteriological parasites on his dead body
and in his dead body, which he brought with him," Marcia said,
dreamily.
"What are you talking about, miss?"
Out there in the electric dawn of earth, with the bacteria which lived
in his body as they lived in all other bodies. Out there with them,
dead.
Food for them.
Food and water and air heavy with ozone and the electric storms.
Marcia laughed hysterically. It was a story she wanted to write.
But she wouldn't write it.
Slade was a killer, condemned to die. But Slade, dead out there with
his bacteria, Slade evil to man and human society but not necessarily
evil in the implacable ways of nature or perhaps grimly, terribly
evil--Slade out there, dead on the bosom of the primordial waters,
Slade back in time a billion years before life had been born on
Earth....
She laughed hysterically as they led her away from the water. They
slapped her face, gently at first, then harder. "I'll be all right,"
she managed to say.
She would be all right. She could live to forget it.
But Slade out there.
Slade.
Slade fathering all life on earth there in the sea with his dead body.
Slade who had sinned and was taken back here to die for his sins so
that life could be born.
Slade, whose first name was Adam.
* * * * *
End of Project Gutenberg's Prison of a Billion Years, by C.H. Thames
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRISON OF A BILLION YEARS ***
Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.
Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
States without permission and without paying copyright
royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™
concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may
do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
license, especially commercial redistribution.
START: FULL LICENSE
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person
or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg
electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
of Project Gutenberg electronic works. Nearly all the individual
works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
that you will support the Project Gutenberg mission of promoting
free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg
works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
Project Gutenberg name associated with the work. You can easily
comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg License when
you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
other Project Gutenberg work. The Foundation makes no
representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
country other than the United States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg License must appear
prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg work (any work
on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed,
performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg™ License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws
of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg electronic work is
derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg
trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg License for all works
posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg work in a format
other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official
version posted on the official Project Gutenberg website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain
Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg electronic works
provided that:
• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
to the owner of the Project Gutenberg trademark, but he has
agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation.”
• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™
works.
• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
receipt of the work.
• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than
are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
cannot be read by your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
without further opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in
accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
or any Project Gutenberg work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
from people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg’s
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg and future
generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.
The Foundation’s business office is located at 41 Watchung Plaza #516,
Montclair NJ 07042, USA, +1 (862) 621-9288. Email contact links and up
to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website
and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread
public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state
visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg electronic works
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.
Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.
This website includes information about Project Gutenberg,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/32150