PLEASANT JOURNEY
It's nice to go on a pleasant journey.
There is, however, a very difficult question concerning
the other half of the ticket ...
BY RICHARD F. THIEME
Illustrated by George Schelling
"What do you call it?" the buyer asked Jenkins.
"I named it 'Journey Home' but you can thinkup a better name for it if you want. I'll guarantee thatit sells, though. There's nothing like it on any midway."
"I'd like to try it out first, of course," Allenby said."Star-Time uses only the very best, you know."
"Yes, I know," Jenkins said. He had heard the linebefore, from almost every carnival buyer to whom hehad sold. He did not do much business with the carnivals;there weren't enough to keep him busy with largeor worthwhile rides and features. The amusement parksof the big cities were usually the best markets.
Allenby warily eyed the entrance, a room fashionedfrom a side-show booth. A rough red curtain concealedthe inside. Over the doorway, in crude dark blue paint,was lettered, "Journey Home." Behind the doorway wasa large barnlike structure, newly painted white, whereJenkins did his planning, his building, and his finishing.When he sold a new ride it was either transported frominside the building through the large, pull-away doors inback or taken apart piece by piece and shipped to thepark or carny that bought it.
"Six thousand's a lot of money," the buyer said.
"Just try it," Jenkins told him.
The buyer shrugged. "O.K.," he said. "Let's go in."They walked through the red curtain. Inside the booth-entrancewas a soft-cushioned easy-chair, also red, securedfirmly in place. It was a piece of salvage from atwo-engine commercial airplane. A helmet looking like aFlash Gordon accessory-hair drier combination was setover it. Jenkins flipped a switch and the room becamebright with light. "I thought you said this wasn't a thrillride," Allenby said, looking at the helmetlike structureominously hanging over the chair.
"It isn't," Jenkins said, smiling. "Sit down." He strappedthe buyer into place in the chair.
"Hey, wait a minute," Allenby protested. "Why thestraps?"
"Leave everything to me and don't worry," Jenkinssaid, fitting the headgear into place over the buyer's head.The back of it fitted easily over the entire rear of theskull, down to his neck. The front came just below theeyes. After turning the light off, Jenkins pulled the curtainclosed. It was completely black inside.
"Have a nice trip," Jenkins said, pulling a switch onthe wall and pushing a button on the back of the chairat the same time.
Currents shifted and repatterned themselves inside thehelmet and were fed into Allenby at the base of his skull,at the medulla. The currents of alternating ions mixedwith the currents of his varied and random brain waves,and the impulses of one became the impulses of the other.Allenby jerked once with the initial shock and was thenstill, his mind and body fused with the pulsating currentsof the chair.
Suddenly, Roger Allenby was almost blinded by bright,naked light. Allenby's first impression was one of disappointmentat the failure of the device. Jenkins wasreliable, usually, and hadn't come up with a fluke yet.
Allenby got out of the chair and called for Jenkins,holding on to the arm of the chair to keep his bearings."Hey! Where are you? Jenk