The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Valley, by Richard Stockham

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Title: The Valley

Author: Richard Stockham

Illustrator: Ed Emsh

Release Date: June 8, 2010 [EBook #32744]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from IF Worlds of Science Fiction June 1954.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.

THE VALLEY

By Richard Stockham

Illustrated by Ed Emsh

_If you can't find it countless millions of miles in space,
come back to Earth. You might find it just on the other side
of the fence--where the grass is always greener._

* * * * *

The Ship dove into Earth's sea of atmosphere like a great, silver
fish.

Inside the ship, a man and woman stood looking down at the expanse of
land that curved away to a growing horizon. They saw the yellow ground
cracked like a dried skin; and the polished stone of the mountains and
the seas that were shrunken away in the dust. And they saw how the
city circled the sea, as a circle of men surround a water hole in a
desert under a blazing sun.

The ship's radio cried out. "You've made it! Thank God! You've made
it!"

Another voice, shaking, said, "President--Davis is--overwhelmed. He
can't go on. On his behalf and on behalf of all the people--with our
hope that was almost dead, we greet you." A pause. "Please come in!"

The voice was silent. The air screamed against the hull of the ship.

"I can't tell them," said the man.

"Please come in!" said the radio. "Do you hear me?"

The woman looked up at the man. "You've got to Michael!"

"Two thousand years. From one end of the galaxy to the other. Not one
grain of dust we can live on. Just Earth. And it's burned to a
cinder."

A note of hysteria stabbed into the radio voice. "Are you al