Question of Comfort.
by Les Collins.
_The Gravity Gang was a group of geniuses--devoting its brilliance to creating a realistic Solar System for Disneyland. That was the story, anyway. No one would have believed all that stuff about cops and robbers from outer s.p.a.ce._
My job, finished now, had been getting them to Disneyland. The problem was bringing one in particular--one I had to find. The timing was uncomfortably close.
I"d taken the last of the yellow pills yesterday, tossing the bottle away with a sort of indifferent frustration. I won or lost on the validity of my logic--and whether I"d built a better mousetrap.
The pills had given me 24 hours before the fatal weakness took hold; nevertheless, I waited as long as I could. That left me less than an hour, now; strangely, as I walked in the eerie darkness of an early morning, virtually deserted Disneyland, I felt calm. And yet, my life depended on the one I sought being inside the Tour building.
I was seeking a monster of terrible potential, yet so innocuous looking that he"d not stand out. I couldn"t produce him, couldn"t say where in the world he was. Nevertheless he was the basis, the motivation second only to mine. I took the long, hard way--three years--making him come to me.
Two years were devoted to acclimatization, learning, and then swinging this job: just to put the idea across.
a.s.signed to Disneyland Public Relations in the offices at Burbank, I"d begun with the usual low-pay, low-level jobs. I didn"t, couldn"t mind; at least I had a foot in the right door. Within six months, I reached a point where I could present the idea.
It had enough merit. My boss--35 years" experience enabled him to recognize a good idea--took it to his boss who took it to The Boss.
Tomorrowland is the orphan division of Disneyland, thrown in as sop to those interested more in the future than the past. My idea was to s.e.x up Tomorrowland: Tour the Solar System.
Not really, but we"d bill it that way. The Tour of the Solar System Building was to be large. Its rooms would reproduce environments of parts of the System, as best we knew them.
I"ll never forget the first planning session when we realists were underdogs, yet swung the basic direction. By then, the Hollywood Mind had appeared. The Hollywood Mind is definitely a real thing, a vicious thing, a blank thing, that paternalistically insists It knows what the public wants.
There was general agreement on broad outlines. Trouble began over Venus.
"Of course," said one of the Minds, "we"ll easily create a swampy environment--"
I burst out with quiet desperation: "May I comment?"
The realists were churning. Right there, sides were being chosen. I let all know my side immediately.
"Venus is hot, but it"s desert heat. Continuous dust storms with fantastic winds--"
"People"d never go for that junk," interrupted the Mind. "Everyone knows Venus is swampy."
"Everyone whose reading tastes matured no further than Edgar Rice Burroughs!"
The Mind, with a if-you-know-so-much-why-aintcha-rich look, sneered, "How come you know all about it?"
Speechless, I spread my hands. This joker was leading with his chin, forcing the fight. I had to hit him again; if I lost, I lost good. "A person," I said slowly and rhythmically, "with normal intelligence and a minute interest in the universe, will keep step with the major sciences, at least on an elementary level. I must stress the qualification of normal intelligence."
The Mind, face contorted, was determined to get me. I was in a very vulnerable spot; more important, so was the idea.
Mind began an emotional tirade, and mentally I d.a.m.ned him. It couldn"t have mattered to him what environment we used, but he was politicking where he shouldn"t.
There was silence when he stopped. This was the crux; The Boss would decide. I held my breath.
He said, "We"ll make it hot and dusty." The realists had won; the rest climbed on the bandwagon but quick; and the temple was cleansed.
It was natural--because at the moment I was fair-haired--for the project to become mine. G.o.d knows, I worked hard for it. I"d have to watch the Mind, though; he would make things as difficult as possible.
However, he"d proved he was the one person I wasn"t seeking. One down and 2,499,999,999 to go.
Within a few days, a new opposition coalition formed, headed by the Mind. Fortunately, they helped. I"d hesitated on one last point. Pushed.
I gambled the momentum of the initial enthusiasm would carry it.
Originally the plan was a series of rooms, gla.s.sed off, that people could stare into. There was something much better; engineering and I spent 36 hours straight, figuring costs, juggling s.p.a.ce and equipment, until the modification didn"t look too expensive--juggling is always possible in technical proposals. For the results, the cost was worth it.
I hand-carried the proposal in.
Why not take people _through_ the rooms? We could even design a simulated, usable s.p.a.cesuit. There"d be airlock doors between the rooms for effectiveness, insulation, economy. No children under ten allowed; no adults over 50. They"d go through in groups of 10 or 11.
Sure, I realized this was the most elaborate, most ambitious concession ever planned. The greatest ever attempted in its line, it would cost--both us and the public. But people will pay for value. They"d go for a buck-and-a-half or even two; the lines of those filing past the windows, at 50 cents a crack, would also bring in the dough.
They bought it. Not all--they nixed my idea of creating exact environmental conditions; and I didn"t insist, luck and Hollywood being what they are.
From the first, I established a special group to work on one problem.
They were dubbed the Gravity Gang, and immediately after, the GG. I hired them for the gravity of the situation, a standard gag that, once uttered, became as trite as the phrase. The Tour"s realism would be affected by normal weight sensations.
The team consisted of a female set designer--who"d turn any male head--from the Studio, a garage mechanic with 30 years" experience, an electronics engineer, a science fiction writer, and the prettiest competent secretary available. I found Hazel, discovering with delight she"d had three years of anthropology at UCLA.
As soon as they a.s.sembled, I explained their job: find a way to give the illusion of lessened gravity.
Working conditions would be the best possible--why I"d wanted the women pretty--and their time was their own. I found the GG responded by working 10 hours a day and thinking another 14. They were that sort.
I couldn"t know the GG was foredoomed to failure by its very collective nature; nor could I know, by its nature, the GG meant the difference between my success and failure.
The opposition put one over; we"d started referring to the job as Tour of the System Project. Next day, it was going the rounds as TS project.
Words, words, and men will always fight with words.
Actually, the initials were worthy of the name. The engineering problems mounted like crazy. Words, words, and one of them got to the outside world. Or maybe it was the additional construction crew we hired.
One logical spot for the building was next to the moon flight. The Tour building now would be bigger than first planned, so we extended it southeasterly. This meant changing the roadbed of the Santa Fe & Disneyland R.R. It put me up to my ears in plane surveying--and gave me a nasty shock.
I looked up at someone"s shout, in time to see a ton of cat rolling down the embankment at me.
What we were doing was easy. Using a spiral to transition gradually from tangent to circular curve and from circular curve to tangent. Easy?
Yeah. Sure.