The Project Gutenberg eBook of "Next Stop, Nowhere!" 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: "Next Stop, Nowhere!" Author: Dick Purcell Illustrator: W. E. Terry Release date: November 17, 2021 [eBook #66760] Language: English Credits: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "NEXT STOP, NOWHERE!" *** "NEXT STOP, NOWHERE!" By Dick Purcell It's logical to assume that an elevator only travels from one floor to another; yet if you think about it--what's between the floors? [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy August 1956 Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] Four persons disappearing from an elevator should have caused concern--even excitement. Especially when the elevator was stuck between two floors. But the thing was handled quite casually. And with good reason. After all, when a thing is not understood the best defense against acknowledging ignorance is to insist that nothing extraordinary happened. In this case, four persons, a girl and three men, stepped into an elevator in the Kendall Building. They were all headed for the same suite--offices occupied by several medical men. The elevator jammed between the sixth and seventh floors and refused to budge. The operator, a salty little Brooklynite, swore quietly to himself and pushed the emergency signal. It rang but nothing happened. The operator waited for a few minutes, then spoke in a carefully casual voice, "The blessed engineer is out to supper. Now ain't that the way things always happen? When the blessed engineer goes out to supper the blessed elevator does a blessed sit-down between two floors." "What--what are we going to do?" This from the very pretty female passenger named Peggy Wilson who was afraid of almost everything and was going to a psychiatrist who was trying to root a dominating mother out of the poor girl's subconscious and put the old lady back in her grave where she belonged. "We aren't in any danger, miss. We could wait for the engineer but it might be quite a while." "It looks to me as though we'll have to wait for him," Walter Maltby said. Maltby was an ingrown little man who had had a toothache for three weeks and had finally been driven to the dentist by his dominating wife. "Oh, no. If one of you guys--men--will boost me through the trap in the roof of the car, I can get to the seventh floor door. I'll crawl out and go down in the basement and move the blessed car to seven by hand." "Okay," Wilmer Payton said. He was a six-feet-four Greek god with a body close to perfection and a handsome, intelligent face that was nothing more than a spate of false advertising pasted across the front of a vacant head. Wilmer was pretty much of a mental bankrupt. He didn't even own the furniture in his own cerebral attic, the pieces having been placed there by others. He had the look of a rising young executive and was the assistant mail room boy in a large publishing company. And a good one, too. Lately, they had been entrusting him with special delivery letters. He braced himself and the operator climbed on his shoulders and vanished through the ceiling. A moment later there was a sound of an opening door and a few grunts and scramblings after which the door closed and silence again prevailed. The three passengers glanced at each other fearfully. The fourth, a small, white-haired man in his late sixties had stood quietly in one corner during the whole procedure. He had a pair of bright black eyes and a look remindful of an alert fox terrier in a basement known to house rats. He was Fleming Carter, a psychiatrist by profession and a student of almost everything by choice. He was an accomplished linguist among other things and translated Sanskrit and Hebrew for the pleasure of it. He was an amateur chemist and also conducted himself ably on a pair of skis. So the quartette was not lacking in brilliance, Fleming Carter having enough to burnish all four. He had mentally taken his three fellow-prisoners apart and put them together again when he noticed the girl's trembling and saw her first tears. Only then did he step forward. "There is no cause for alarm, my dear--none at all. These lifts fairly bristle with safety devices. The insurance companies demand it." Peggy Wilson turned to him gratefully, a little like a kitten, he thought, which yearned for the reassurance of a soothing hand. _She would make a beautiful Persian_, he thought. A perfect house pet. "But to be trapped here--like--like animals," Peggy whimpered. "It's terrible!" She was moving toward Fleming Carter's shoulder, but Wilmer Payton took a single step forward and her head turned quite naturally to _his_ bosom. Fleming Carter smiled and estimated to a nicety the intelligence of any offspring that would result from a mating of these two vacuums. "It's all right, baby," Wilmer said. "I'll take care of you." Walter Maltby had troubles of his own. He now voiced them: "Jenny will be furious if we don't get out of here pretty quick. I'm always home for Television Theater and if I don't make it--" He got no further because at that moment the foundations of the world seemed to give way and the four of them were hurled into a heap on the floor. Or were they? This question was in Fleming Carter's mind as Peggy Wilson screamed, Walter Maltby whimpered, and Wilmer Payton bellowed in terror. _Had_ the lift fallen--the building collapsed--an atom bomb exploded? His instincts told him no. This because--while all the outward manifestations of such catastrophes seemed apparent--there was something strangely different about the sudden chaos into which the group had been thrown. Fleming Carter felt they should all be dead. But they remained very much alive. They should have been at least mangled and maimed. None appeared even scratched. All this, Carter told himself firmly, was a chaos of the mind and nothing more. It was mental panic of such violence that it was manifesting in the physical. He told himself this while he sought to maintain equilibrium while standing upon nothing and wondering where such a terrific wind could come from in a sheltered elevator shaft. Then it was over. The hurricane subsided; the floor stiffened beneath them and they were lying in a heap--a heap made interesting by Peggy Wilson's legs sprawled above the others in a very unladylike manner. Wilmer Payton groaned. "Shut up," Fleming Carter said sharply. "Don't start a wave of panic and hysteria. You aren't hurt!" "How the hell do you know I ain't?" Wilmer Payton demanded with childlike docility. "Because I'm not and no one else seems to be and we all fell the same distance." Fleming Carter began to extricate himself from the pack. This necessitated pressing rather personally against Peggy Wilson. He did what he had to do and then drew the girl's skirt down as gently and hastily as possible. He was relieved to find she was in no shape to care what anyone did with her skirt. * * * * * Meanwhile, the elevator operator, upon finding he could not move the elevator, returned to reassure the occupants. He went to the seventh floor and called down very cheerily, "Everything's all right, folks. If this'd happened before six o'clock there'd be plenty of blessed people around, but it's almost seven and the engineer ain't back from supper yet. It won't be but a little while though, and then--" The operator became aware that only silence answered him. Had they been scared dumb? "You--hey you--down there--" More silence. The operator frowned and crawled down into the shaft. He looked through the trap. Empty. "Well I'll be damned!" he said. And because an obvious situation was covered by an obvious answer, added, "All four of them crawled out and went home. Funny they couldn't stick around a few minutes." He did not ponder the difficulties involved in such an escape. The only direction they could have gone was up and out on the seventh floor. He thus accepted the obvious. And his only thought on the subject was that he'd like to have been the one to boost the girl up. Later, he bawled the engineer out and that was that so far as he was concerned. But the situation was far less simple for the four passengers. As Fleming Carter struggled to his feet, Walter Maltby used his leg for a ladder and came erect also and said, "I'll bet Jenny will sue somebody for this! Jenny won't let them get away with it! Not for a minute." Wilmer Payton was also on his feet looking dully about him. Fleming Carter said, "Why don't you help the lady, young man? I'm sure she would appreciate the courtesy from you more than myself or--?" He looked questioningly at the other male member of the quartette. "Walter Maltby--and as I was saying, Jenny will never--" "I'm sure she won't." "What happened?" Wilmer Payton asked of no one in particular as he hauled Peggy Wilson to her feet. The girl was biting her lip, trying hard to be brave. "The elevator must have fallen. It's a wonder we weren't all killed!" They agreed. All save Fleming Carter who was looking around with bright interest. "It seems to me that we are no longer in the elevator." Walter Maltby's jaw dropped. "No longer in the--" "This is a somewhat larger area. And I fail to see any walls. Also, the ceiling seems to have vanished." The other three gazed about in shocked silence and the truth of Fleming Carter's statements dawned on them. No walls, no ceiling. Nothing but hard earth under their feet and a high blue sky above. "Why we're out--out in the country!" Peggy Wilson babbled. "I agree," Fleming Carter said. "But let's not get panicky. We are still alive and unhurt." "But I don't understand it," Walter Maltby said, plaintively. "I just don't understand it." Fleming Carter regarded the little man with pity. No Jenny around to reassure the little man with her domineering bulk. Carter knew as a matter of course that Jenny would be both bulky and domineering. Carter looked about him. They were out in open country--that was obvious. There was a huge sun and a huge blue sky and huge clouds floating overhead. Everything in place but something very wrong. Things were just too big. That was it, Carter told himself. The size of this new world was far out of proportion to the size of him and his new friends. They were all standing in coarse grass that reached their knees--high grass--but Carter realized instantly that the grass was not high. They themselves were short! * * * * * Wilmer Payton, holding Peggy Wilson in the crook of one arm, looked about through eyes that obviously sent no intelligent messages to his brain. He turned them on Carter and said, "I don't get any of this." "I think I know what happened," Carter said. This even caught the interest of Walter Maltby who was wondering what Jenny would have to say about his not arriving home on schedule. "What _did_ happen?" "We've fallen--or were snatched--through some sort of a space-time warp." Wilmer Payton gaped idiotically and said, "We did _which_ through a _what_?" Fleming Carter seemed not to hear. He was staring pensively at the thick blades of grass that brushed his knees. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio--" he mused. "There ain't nobody here named Horatio," Wilmer said sullenly. "Excuse me. My mind was wandering," Carter's mind was not wandering at all, however. He said, "There are certain unexplained phenomena that are believed to have happened in our world. People have been known to disappear mysteriously and those who remain behind formulate theories as to the how and the why of their vanishing. It is believed by some that people can be moved, under certain conditions from one plane of existence to another--that there are many of these so-called planes of existence where many and varied peoples live and breathe upon them. "Of course, no proof has ever been found for these theories because the vanished persons never came back to testify, but--" Carter stopped suddenly and regarded the three with a touch of compassion. "You haven't the least idea what I'm talking about, do you?" "I'm afraid not," Walter Maltby said timidly. "Well, never mind. Perhaps I don't either. In any case, existence is its own excuse for accepting any locale. Suffice it to say we are now in a world that was not built for us--a world for creatures of far greater dimensions than ourselves--and how we got here is really of little importance." Peggy Wilson was now snugly in Wilmer Payton's arms, her head tight against his chest. Wilmer was just opening his mouth to say something when, over the slope of the land, a huge form appeared. There was nothing mystifying about it. The creature was obviously a man. He wore rather strange loose clothing that, Carter thought, had some resemblance to those of the ancient Greeks. But otherwise there was nothing different about him except his size. As he approached, Fleming Carter estimated that Wilmer Payton--the tallest of the four--would about come to the top of his odd sandal-like footgear. There was no panic now--the three being completely frozen with terror and Carter statue-quiet and sharply alert. The giant, he was sure, would pass within two hundred yards of them. A distance dangerously close considering the man's size. Still, Carter was optimistic. There was no reason why the giant should see them. As things were, they could certainly hope to be overlooked. But Peggy Wilson dashed this hope as the pressure within her became too strong to contain and broke out in the form of a scream. The giant stopped, took a few quick steps in their direction and was upon them. Carter knew then, that they were lost. A huge hand swooped down and lifted Walter Maltby into the air. Far above, Carter saw the terrified Maltby being transferred carefully to the giant's other hand. Now Wilmer Payton and Peggy Wilson were running blindly in two directions, Peggy having been suddenly deserted by her protector. Twice more the huge hand descended and the two also vanished into the vast palm. Apparently, the giant overlooked Fleming Carter who had stood quite still during the whole time. But Carter made a swift decision based more on charity than good sense. Somehow, he could not leave those three to their fate. So he cried out and waved his arms. "Just a moment! You overlooked me!" The hand swooped down again as the giant saw him. * * * * * Carter Fleming found himself resting comfortably with his face against someone's back. Otherwise he was completely surrounded by soft flesh. He realized they were being handled carefully however so he felt that death, while definitely a threat had been at least postponed. He wondered about the others, so close to him and yet so far away so far as contact was concerned. He knew the terror that raced through their minds and he pitied them.... The giant was continuing on, Carter decided, and he endured the ride as best he could. Then it terminated suddenly as Carter and the others were very gently tumbled into a room. The room had no ceiling but this situation was speedily remedied when a ceiling was lowered and set into place above them. In the resulting darkness, Carter heard Peggy Wilson sobbing and various unintelligible noises from Maltby and Payton. Then the room began suddenly to move in haphazard directions. Possibly this was finally the end, but Fleming Carter could not bring himself to think so. Because even though the room pitched and tossed, Carter felt it was being done rather gently by the giant hands. Then it was over. The room settled down and remained on solid base. Immediately there was a rending sound and a vast finger was thrust through the wall just below ceiling level. The finger was withdrawn but only to reappear when thrust through the other side. It vanished again and the two resulting holes let in ample air and light. For a few moments Carter and the other three sat motionless, waiting. Something was going on outside the room--the room itself moving slightly--but the violent tossing was evidently over. Peggy Wilson spoke first--or rather, sobbed. "Where are we?" "I'm sure I don't know, my dear, but if I stood on the young man's shoulders I could look out through one of those openings and perhaps learn a little something." "You want me to lift you?" Wilmer Payton said dully. "That is the general idea," Carter replied in a gentle voice. Wilmer braced himself against the wall and Carter clambered to his shoulders and cautiously pushed his head through the opening. He remained thus for quite a while--until Wilmer Payton began moving restlessly. Then he clambered down. They waited for him to speak but he said nothing. He stared at the hole with a look of amazement upon his face as though, for the first time the wonder of this strange transition had struck him forcibly. Then he turned his eyes upon his three companions and there was a look in his eyes that had not been there before; personal, yet impersonally analytical. A hard look to read, so they could have no way of knowing that he was trying to forecast how they would react to the fate that awaited them. "Well," Wilmer Payton demanded impatiently. "Did you see anything?" "Yes. This is not a room. It is a huge box of some sort. It is bound around on all sides by what looks like red carpeting of a width used in hallways. I believe such carpetings are called runners. Attached to the top is a large white sail although it appears to be made of paper rather than canvas." He was watching them closely as he spoke. "It took you all that time to see those things?" Walter Maltby asked a trifle plaintively. "No. There were other things." At this point Peggy Wilson, coming out of her shock, began to cry hysterically. "My God! What's to become of us? We'll all be killed--murdered!" "I don't think so," Carter said. "Then we'll be held prisoner. That will be just as bad!" "In a sense, you will be held prisoner--but I don't think it will be bad. I think our jailer will probably be a rather kindly person who will give us every consideration." "How could a jailer do that?" Peggy Wilson moaned. * * * * * Carter laid a hand upon her shoulder. "Consider, my dear. All your life you have needed a mother. Now you will have the equivalent of one." He turned to Walter Maltby. "And you. You have learned to function only as a result of a dominating wife's promptings. Our jailer will fill that role for you." Lastly he regarded Wilmer Payton. "You, young man will be directed and guided. You will not have need of the brain power with which you are not equipped. "All of you will be content. None will have any decisions to make--all will be taken care of. Can you think of a more pleasant destiny?" Walter Maltby said, "You're talking in circles. Talking but not saying anything!" Carter had turned away, smiling. "This is very strange. We were transported to another plane, but not snatched up willy-nilly. There was a pattern behind it. Three people admirably suited to their new fate." Wilmer Payton seized Fleming Carter by the arm and whirled him around. "Will you please tell us what you're talking about?" "Of course," Carter said quietly. "To speak the absolute truth, we are in a box. The box is tied with a wide red ribbon. The thing I called a sail is in reality a greeting card upon which certain words are written; words not too difficult to decipher." "Well, go on--what are the words." "In English, they would read--'Happy Birthday, Darling.' You are someone's birthday present." Peggy's face was ashen. "You speak of _us_," she whispered. "How well suited _we_ are for this fate. What about yourself?" Carter smiled. "I expect this to be the most interesting period of my life," he said. "You see, the present is for me. I picked it out." And as they watched in stunned amazement, Carter began to grow. *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "NEXT STOP, NOWHERE!" *** 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 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. 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.