A Gleeb for Earth
 
 
 By CHARLES SHAFHAUSER
 
 Illustrated by EMSH
 
 [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction May 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
 
 

 Not to be or not to not be ... that was the not-question for the invader of the not-world.
 

 
 Dear Editor:
 
 My 14 year old boy, Ronnie, is typing this letter for me because he can do it neater and use better grammar. I had to get in touch with somebody about this because if there is something to it, then somebody, everybody, is going to point finger at me, Ivan Smernda, and say, "Why didn't you warn us?"
 
 I could not go to the police because they are not too friendly to me because of some of my guests who frankly are stew bums. Also they might think I was on booze, too, or maybe the hops, and get my license revoked. I run a strictly legit hotel even though some of my guests might be down on their luck now and then.
 
 What really got me mixed up in this was the mysterious disappearance of two of my guests. They both took a powder last Wednesday morning.
 
 Now get this. In one room, that of Joe Binkle, which maybe is an alias, I find nothing but a suit of clothes, some butts and the letters I include here in same package. Binkle had only one suit. That I know. And this was it laying right in the middle of the room. Inside the coat was the vest, inside the vest the shirt, inside the shirt the underwear. The pants were up in the coat and inside of them was also the underwear. All this was buttoned up like Binkle had melted out of it and dripped through a crack in the floor. In a bureau drawer were the letters I told you about.
 
 Now. In the room right under Binkle's lived another stew bum that checked in Thursday ... name Ed Smith, alias maybe, too. This guy was a real case. He brought with him a big mirror with a heavy bronze frame. Airloom, he says. He pays a week in advance, staggers up the stairs to his room with the mirror and that's the last I see of him.
 
 In Smith's room on Wednesday I find only a suit of clothes, the same suit he wore when he came in. In the coat the vest, in the vest the shirt, in the shirt the underwear. Also in the pants. Also all in the middle of the floor. Against the far wall stands the frame of the mirror. Only the frame!
 
 What a spot to be in! Now it might have been a gag. Sometimes these guys get funny ideas when they are on the stuff. But then I read the letters. This knocks me for a loop. They are all in different handwritings. All from different places. Stamps all legit, my kid says. India, China, England, everywhere.
 
 My kid, he reads. He says it's no joke. He wants to call the cops or maybe some doctor. But I say no. He reads your magazine so he says write to you, send you the letters. You know what to do. Now you have them. Maybe you print. Whatever you do, Mr. Editor, remember my place, the Plaza Ritz Arms, is straight establishment. I don't drink. I never touch junk, not even aspirin.
 
 
 Yours very truly, Ivan Smernda
 
 

 
 Bombay, India June 8
 
 Mr. Joe Binkle Plaza Ritz Arms New York City
 
 Dear Joe:
 
 Greetings, greetings, greetings. Hold firm in your wretched projection, for tomorrow you will not be alone in the not-world. In two days I, Glmpauszn, will be born.
 
 Today I hang in our newly developed not-pod just within the mirror gateway, torn with the agony that we calculated must go with such tremendous wavelength fluctuations. I have attuned myself to a fetus within the body of a not-woman in the not-world. Already I am static and for hours have looked into this weird extension of the Universe with fear and trepidation.
 
 As soon as my stasis was achieved, I tried to contact you, but got no response. What could have diminished your powers of articulate wave interaction to make you incapable of receiving my messages and returning them? My wave went out to yours and found it, barely pulsing and surrounded with an impregnable chimera.
 
 Quickly, from the not-world vibrations about you, I learned the not-knowledge of your location. So I must communicate with you by what the not-world calls "mail" till we meet. For this purpose I must utilize the feeble vibrations of various not-people through whose inadequate articulation I will attempt to make my moves known to you. Each time I will pick a city other than the one I am in at the time.
 
 I, Glmpauszn, come equipped with powers evolved from your fragmentary reports before you ceased to vibrate to us and with a vast treasury of facts from indirect sources. Soon our tortured people will be free of the fearsome not-folk and I will be their liberator. You failed in your task, but I will try to get you off with light punishment when we return again.
 
 The hand that writes this letter is that of a boy in the not-city of Bombay in the not-country of India. He does not know he writes it. Tomorrow it will be someone else. You must never know of my exact location, for the not-people might have access to the information.
 
 I must leave off now because the not-child is about to be born. When it is alone in the room, it will be spirited away and I will spring from the pod on the gateway into its crib and will be its exact vibrational likeness.
 
 I have tremendous powers. But the not-people must never know I am among them. This is the only way I could arrive in the room where the gateway lies without arousing suspicion. I will grow up as the not-child in order that I might destroy the not-people completely.
 
 All is well, only they shot this information file into my matrix too fast. I'm having a hard time sorting facts and make the right decision. Gezsltrysk, what a task!
 
 Farewell till later.
 
 
 Glmpauszn
 
 

 
 Wichita, Kansas June 13
 
 Dear Joe:
 
 Mnghjkl, fhfjgfhjklop phelnoprausynks. No. When I communicate with you, I see I must avoid those complexities of procedure for which there are no terms in this language. There is no way of describing to you in not-language what I had to go through during the first moments of my birth.
 
 Now I know what difficulties you must have had with your limited equipment. These not-people are unpredictable and strange. Their doctor came in and weighed me again the day after my birth. Consternation reigned when it was discovered I was ten pounds heavier. What difference could it possibly make? Many doctors then came in to see me. As they arrived hourly, they found me heavier and heavier. Naturally, since I am growing. This is part of my instructions. My not-mother
(Gezsltrysk!) then burst into tears. The doctors conferred, threw up their hands and left.
 
 I learned the following day that the opposite component of my not-mother, my not-father, had been away riding on some conveyance during my birth. He was out on ... what did they call it? Oh, yes, a bender. He did not arrive till three days after I was born.
 
 When I heard them say that he was straightening up to come see me, I made a special effort and grew marvelously in one afternoon. I was 36 not-world inches tall by evening. My not-father entered while I was standing by the crib examining a syringe the doctor had left behind. He stopped in his tracks on entering the room and seemed incapable of speech.
 
 Dredging into the treasury of knowledge I had come equipped with, I produced the proper phrase for occasions of this kind in the not-world.
 
 "Poppa," I said.
 
 This was the first use I had made of the so-called vocal cords that are now part of my extended matrix. The sound I emitted sounded low-pitched, guttural and penetrating even to myself. It must have jarred on my not-father's ears, for he turned and ran shouting from the room.
 
 They apprehended him on the stairs and I heard him babble something about my being a monster and no child of his. My not-mother appeared at the doorway and instead of being pleased at the progress of my growth, she fell down heavily. She made a distinct thump on the floor.
 
 This brought the rest of them on the run, so I climbed out the window and retreated across a nearby field. A prolonged search was launched, but I eluded them. What unpredictable beings!
 
 I reported my tremendous progress back to our world, including the cleverness by which I managed to escape my pursuers. I received a reply from Blgftury which, on careful analysis, seems to be small praise indeed. In fact, some of his phrases apparently contain veiled threats. But you know old Blgftury. He wanted to go on this expedition himself and it's his nature never to flatter anyone.
 
 From now on I will refer to not-people simply as people, dropping the qualifying preface except where comparisons must be made between this alleged world and our own. It is merely an offshoot of our primitive mythology when this was considered a spirit world, just as these people refer to our world as never-never land and other anomalies. But we learned otherwise, while they never have.
 
 New sensations crowd into my consciousness and I am having a hard time classifying them. Anyway, I shall carry on swiftly now to the inevitable climax in which I singlehanded will obliterate the terror of the not-world and return to our world a hero. I cannot understand your not replying to my letters. I have given you a box number. What could have happened to your vibrations?
 
 
 Glmpauszn
 
 

 
 Albuquerque, New Mexico June 15
 
 Dear Joe:
 
 I had tremendous difficulty getting a letter off to you this time. My process—original with myself, by the way—is to send out feeler vibrations for what these people call the psychic individual. Then I establish contact with him while he sleeps and compel him without his knowledge to translate my ideas into written language. He writes my letter and mails it to you. Of course, he has no awareness of what he has done.
 
 My first five tries were unfortunate. Each time I took control of an individual who could not read or write! Finally I found my man, but I fear his words are limited. Ah, well. I had great things to tell you about my progress, but I cannot convey even a hint of how I have accomplished these miracles through the thick skull of this incompetent.
 
 In simple terms then: I crept into a cave and slipped into a kind of sleep, directing my squhjkl ulytz & uhrytzg ... no, it won't come out. Anyway, I grew overnight to the size of an average person here.
 
 As I said before, floods of impressions are driving into my xzbyl ... my brain ... from various nerve and sense areas and I am having a hard time classifying them. My one idea was to get to a chemist and acquire the stuff needed for the destruction of these people.
 
 Sunrise came as I expected. According to my catalog of information, the impressions aroused by it are of beauty. It took little conditioning for me finally to react in this manner. This is truly an efficient mechanism I inhabit.
 
 I gazed about me at the mixture of lights, forms and impressions. It was strange and ... now I know ... beautiful. However, I hurried immediately toward the nearest chemist. At the same time I looked up and all about me at the beauty.
 
 Soon an individual approached. I knew what to do from my information. I simply acted natural. You know, one of your earliest instructions was to realize that these people see nothing unusual in you if you do not let yourself believe they do.
 
 This individual I classified as a female of a singular variety here. Her hair was short, her upper torso clad in a woolen garment. She wore ... what are they? ... oh, yes, sneakers. My attention was diverted by a scream as I passed her. I stopped.
 
 The woman gesticulated and continued to scream. People hurried from nearby houses. I linked my hands behind me and watched the scene with an attitude of mild interest. They weren't interested in me, I told myself. But they were.
 
 I became alarmed, dived into a bush and used a mechanism that you unfortunately do not have—invisibility. I lay there and listened.
 
 "He was stark naked," the girl with the sneakers said.
 
 A figure I recognized as a police officer spoke to her.
 
 "Lizzy, you'll just have to keep these crackpot friends of yours out of this area."
 
 "But—"
 
 "No more buck-bathing, Lizzy," the officer ordered. "No more speeches in the Square. Not when it results in riots at five in the morning. Now where is your naked friend? I'm going to make an example of him."
 
 That was it—I had forgotten clothes. There is only one answer to this oversight on my part. My mind is confused by the barrage of impressions that assault it. I must retire now and get them all classified. Beauty, pain, fear, hate, love, laughter. I don't know one from the other. I must feel each, become accustomed to it.
 
 The more I think about it, the more I realize that the information I have been given is very unrealistic. You have been inefficient, Joe. What will Blgftury and the others say of this? My great mission is impaired. Farewell, till I find a more intelligent mind so I can write you with more enlightenment.
 
 
 Glmpauszn
 
 

 
 Moscow, Idaho June 17
 
 Dear Joe:
 
 I received your first communication today. It baffles me. Do you greet me in the proper fringe-zone manner? No. Do you express joy, hope, pride, helpfulness at my arrival? No. You ask me for a loan of five bucks!
 
 It took me some time, culling my information catalog to come up with the correct variant of the slang term "buck." Is it possible that you are powerless even to provide yourself with the wherewithal to live in this inferior world?
 
 A reminder, please. You and I—I in particular—are now engaged in a struggle to free our world from the terrible, maiming intrusions of this not-world. Through many long gleebs, our people have lived a semi-terrorized existence while errant vibrations from this world ripped across the closely joined vibration flux, whose individual fluctuations make up our sentient population.
 
 Even our eminent, all-high Frequency himself has often been jeopardized by these people. The not-world and our world are like two baskets as you and I see them in our present forms. Baskets woven with the greatest intricacy, design and color; but baskets whose convex sides are joined by a thin fringe of filaments. Our world, on the vibrational plane, extends just a bit into this, the not-world. But being a world of higher vibration, it is ultimately tenuous to these gross peoples. While we vibrate only within a restricted plane because of our purer, more stable existence, these people radiate widely into our world.
 
 They even send what they call psychic reproductions of their own selves into ours. And most infamous of all, they sometimes are able to force some of our individuals over the fringe into their world temporarily, causing them much agony and fright.
 
 The latter atrocity is perpetrated through what these people call mediums, spiritualists and other fatuous names. I intend to visit one of them at the first opportunity to see for myself.
 
 Meanwhile, as to you, I would offer a few words of advice. I picked them up while examining the "slang" portion of my information catalog which you unfortunately caused me to use. So, for the ultimate cause—in this, the penultimate adventure, and for the glory and peace of our world—shake a leg, bub. Straighten up and fly right. In short, get hep.
 
 As far as the five bucks is concerned, no dice.
 
 
 Glmpauszn
 
 

 
 Des Moines, Iowa June 19
 
 Dear Joe:
 
 Your letter was imponderable till I had thrashed through long passages in my information catalog that I had never imagined I would need. Biological functions and bodily processes which are labeled here
"revolting" are used freely in your missive. You can be sure they are all being forwarded to Blgftury. If I were not involved in the most important part of my journey—completion of the weapon against the not-worlders—I would come to New York immediately. You would rue that day, I assure you.
 
 
 Glmpauszn
 
 

 
 Boise, Idaho July 15
 
 Dear Joe:
 
 A great deal has happened to me since I wrote to you last. Systematically, I have tested each emotion and sensation listed in our catalog. I have been, as has been said in this world, like a reed bending before the winds of passion. In fact, I'm rather badly bent indeed. Ah! You'll pardon me, but I just took time for what is known quaintly in this tongue as a "hooker of red-eye." Ha! I've mastered even the vagaries of slang in the not-language.... Ahhh! Pardon me again. I feel much better now.
 
 You see, Joe, as I attuned myself to the various impressions that constantly assaulted my mind through this body, I conditioned myself to react exactly as our information catalog instructed me to.
 
 Now it is all automatic, pure reflex. A sensation comes to me when I am burned; then I experience a burning pain. If the sensation is a tickle, I experience a tickle.
 
 This morning I have what is known medically as a syndrome ... a group of symptoms popularly referred to as a hangover ... Ahhh! Pardon me again. Strangely ... now what was I saying? Oh, yes. Ha, ha. Strangely enough, the reactions that come easiest to the people in this world came most difficult to me. Money-love, for example. It is a great thing here, both among those who haven't got it and those who have.
 
 I went out and got plenty of money. I walked invisible into a bank and carried away piles of it. Then I sat and looked at it. I took the money to a remote room of the twenty room suite I have rented in the best hotel here in—no, sorry—and stared at it for hours.
 
 Nothing happened. I didn't love the stuff or feel one way or the other about it. Yet all around me people are actually killing one another for the love of it.
 
 Anyway.... Ahhh. Pardon me. I got myself enough money to fill ten or fifteen rooms. By the end of the week I should have all eighteen spare rooms filled with money. If I don't love it then, I'll feel I have failed. This alcohol is taking effect now.
 
 Blgftury has been goading me for reports. To hell with his reports! I've got a lot more emotions to try, such as romantic love. I've been studying this phenomenon, along with other racial characteristics of these people, in the movies. This is the best place to see these people as they really are. They all go into the movie houses and there do homage to their own images. Very quaint type of idolatry.
 
 Love. Ha! What an adventure this is becoming.
 
 By the way, Joe, I'm forwarding that five dollars. You see, it won't cost me anything. It'll come out of the pocket of the idiot who's writing this letter. Pretty shrewd of me, eh?
 
 I'm going out and look at that money again. I think I'm at last learning to love it, though not as much as I admire liquor. Well, one simply must persevere, I always say.
 
 
 Glmpauszn
 
 

 
 Penobscot, Maine July 20
 
 Dear Joe:
 
 Now you tell me not to drink alcohol. Why not? You never mentioned it in any of your vibrations to us, gleebs ago, when you first came across to this world. It will stint my powers? Nonsense! Already I have had a quart of the liquid today. I feel wonderful. Get that? I actually feel wonderful, in spite of this miserable imitation of a body.
 
 There are long hours during which I am so well-integrated into this body and this world that I almost consider myself a member of it. Now I can function efficiently. I sent Blgftury some long reports today outlining my experiments in the realm of chemistry where we must finally defeat these people. Of course, I haven't made the experiments yet, but I will. This is not deceit, merely realistic anticipation of the inevitable. Anyway, what the old xbyzrt doesn't know won't muss his vibrations.
 
 I went to what they call a nightclub here and picked out a blonde-haired woman, the kind that the books say men prefer. She was attracted to me instantly. After all, the body I have devised is perfect in every detail ... actually a not-world ideal.
 
 I didn't lose any time overwhelming her susceptibilities. I remember distinctly that just as I stooped to pick up a large roll of money I had dropped, her eyes met mine and in them I could see her admiration. We went to my suite and I showed her one of the money rooms. Would you believe it? She actually took off her shoes and ran around through the money in her bare feet! Then we kissed.
 
 Concealed in the dermis of the lips are tiny, highly sensitized nerve ends which send sensations to the brain. The brain interprets these impulses in a certain manner. As a result, the fate of secretion in the adrenals on the ends of the kidneys increases and an enlivening of the entire endocrine system follows. Thus I felt the beginnings of love.
 
 I sat her down on a pile of money and kissed her again. Again the tingling, again the secretion and activation. I integrated myself quickly.
 
 Now in all the motion pictures—true representations of life and love in this world—the man with a lot of money or virtue kisses the girl and tries to induce her to do something biological. She then refuses. This pleases both of them, for he wanted her to refuse. She, in turn, wanted him to want her, but also wanted to prevent him so that he would have a high opinion of her. Do I make myself clear?
 
 I kissed the blonde girl and gave her to understand what I then wanted. Well, you can imagine my surprise when she said yes! So I had failed. I had not found love.
 
 I became so abstracted by this problem that the blonde girl fell asleep. I thoughtfully drank quantities of excellent alcohol called gin and didn't even notice when the blonde girl left.
 
 I am now beginning to feel the effects of this alcohol again. Ha. Don't I wish old Blgftury were here in the vibrational pattern of an olive? I'd get the blonde in and have her eat him out of a Martini. That is a gin mixture.
 
 I think I'll get a hot report off to the old so-and-so right now. It'll take him a gleeb to figure this one out. I'll tell him I'm setting up an atomic reactor in the sewage systems here and that all we have to do is activate it and all the not-people will die of chain asphyxiation.
 
 Boy, what an easy job this turned out to be. It's just a vacation. Joe, you old gold-bricker, imagine you here all these gleebs living off the fat of the land. Yak, yak. Affectionately.
 
 
 Glmpauszn
 
 

 
 Sacramento, Calif. July 25
 
 Dear Joe:
 
 All is lost unless we work swiftly. I received your revealing letter the morning after having a terrible experience of my own. I drank a lot of gin for two days and then decided to go to one of these seance things.
 
 Somewhere along the way I picked up a red-headed girl. When we got to the darkened seance room, I took the redhead into a corner and continued my investigations into the realm of love. I failed again because she said yes immediately.
 
 The nerves of my dermis were working overtime when suddenly I had the most frightening experience of my life. Now I know what a horror these people really are to our world.
 
 The medium had turned out all the lights. He said there was a strong psychic influence in the room somewhere. That was me, of course, but I was too busy with the redhead to notice.
 
 Anyway, Mrs. Somebody wanted to make contact with her paternal grandmother, Lucy, from the beyond. The medium went into his act. He concentrated and sweated and suddenly something began to take form in the room. The best way to describe it in not-world language is a white, shapeless cascade of light.
 
 Mrs. Somebody reared to her feet and screeched, "Grandma Lucy!" Then I really took notice.
 
 Grandma Lucy, nothing! This medium had actually brought Blgftury partially across the vibration barrier. He must have been vibrating in the fringe area and got caught in the works. Did he look mad! His zyhku was open and his btgrimms were down.
 
 Worst of all, he saw me. Looked right at me with an unbelievable pattern of pain, anger, fear and amazement in his matrix. Me and the redhead.
 
 Then comes your letter today telling of the fate that befell you as a result of drinking alcohol. Our wrenchingly attuned faculties in these not-world bodies need the loathsome drug to escape from the reality of not-reality. It's true. I cannot do without it now. The day is only half over and I have consumed a quart and a half. And it is dulling all my powers as it has practically obliterated yours. I can't even become invisible any more.
 
 I must find the formula that will wipe out the not-world men quickly.
 
 Quickly!
 
 
 Glmpauszn
 
 

 
 Florence, Italy September 10
 
 Dear Joe:
 
 This telepathic control becomes more difficult every time. I must pick closer points of communication soon. I have nothing to report but failure. I bought a ton of equipment and went to work on the formula that is half complete in my instructions. Six of my hotel rooms were filled with tubes, pipes and apparatus of all kinds.
 
 I had got my mechanism as close to perfect as possible when I realized that, in my befuddled condition, I had set off a reaction that inevitably would result in an explosion. I had to leave there immediately, but I could not create suspicion. The management was not aware of the nature of my activities.
 
 I moved swiftly. I could not afford time to bring my baggage. I stuffed as much money into my pockets as I could and then sauntered into the hotel lobby. Assuming my most casual air, I told the manager I was checking out. Naturally he was stunned since I was his best customer.
 
 "But why, sir?" he asked plaintively.
 
 I was baffled. What could I tell him?
 
 "Don't you like the rooms?" he persisted. "Isn't the service good?"
 
 "It's the rooms," I told him. "They're—they're—"
 
 "They're what?" he wanted to know.
 
 "They're not safe."
 
 "Not safe? But that is ridiculous. This hotel is...."
 
 At this point the blast came. My nerves were a wreck from the alcohol.
 
 "See?" I screamed. "Not safe. I knew they were going to blow up!"
 
 He stood paralyzed as I ran from the lobby. Oh, well, never say die. Another day, another hotel. I swear I'm even beginning to think like the not-men, curse them.
 
 
 Glmpauszn
 
 

 
 Rochester, New York September 25
 
 Dear Joe:
 
 I have it! It is done! In spite of the alcohol, in spite of Blgftury's niggling criticism, I have succeeded. I now have developed a form of mold, somewhat similar to the antibiotics of this world, that, transmitted to the human organism, will cause a disease whose end will be swift and fatal.
 
 First the brain will dissolve and then the body will fall apart. Nothing in this world can stop the spread of it once it is loose. Absolutely nothing.
 
 We must use care. Stock in as much gin as you are able. I will bring with me all that I can. Meanwhile I must return to my original place of birth into this world of horrors. There I will secure the gateway, a large mirror, the vibrational point at which we shall meet and slowly climb the frequency scale to emerge into our own beautiful, now secure world. You and I together, Joe, conquerors, liberators.
 
 You say you eat little and drink as much as you can. The same with me. Even in this revolting world I am a sad sight. My not-world senses falter. This is the last letter. Tomorrow I come with the gateway. When the gin is gone, we will plant the mold in the hotel where you live.
 
 In only a single gleeb it will begin to work. The men of this queer world will be no more. But we can't say we didn't have some fun, can we, Joe?
 
 And just let Blgftury make one crack. Just one xyzprlt. I'll have hgutry before the ghjdksla!
 
 
 Glmpauszn
 
 

 
 Dear Editor:
 
 These guys might be queer drunk hopheads. But if not? If soon brain dissolve, body fall apart, how long have we got? Please, anybody who knows answer, write to me—Ivan Smernda, Plaza Ritz Arms—how long is a gleeb?
What is the plot of the story?
10
c85226d86cf94433893692238d1e4cfe
A Gleeb for Earth is a collection of letters, signed by two characters - Ivan Smernda (a human on Earth who owns the Plaza Ritz Arms hotel in New York City) and Glmpauszn (an alien from a world that is entwined with Earth through a spiritual fringe). 
Ivan dictates the first letter through his son Ronnie (14 years old) and sends it to the Editor of a print publication, feeling responsible for publicizing what he witnessed to save humanity. Ivan recounts an occurrence in the Plaza Ritz Arms where two alcoholic guests that he calls “stew bums”, Joe Binkle and Ed Smith (an alias for Glmpauszn), mysteriously disappeared, leaving their suits behind as if they had melted out of them. Ed had checked in with a mirror with a heavy bronze frame. After their disappearance, Ivan found only their clothes, the frame of the mirror in Ed’s room, and a stack of letters in the bureau in Joe’s room, which are the letters that tell the remaining story.
The vibrational plane of an alien world extends into Earth’s (which they call the not-world), allowing intrusive vibrations from Earth to semi-terrorize sentient alien vibrations. Human spiritual mediums can force psychic reproductions of themselves into the alien world, and conversely pull alien vibrations over the “fringe”. The aliens can’t tolerate it, and send Glmpauszn and Joe to take on human form and develop a chemical weapon to kill all humans.
Glmpauszn crosses the fringe through a vibrational gateway that allows his consciousness to move into a newborn baby. Joe has already arrived in human form. Glmpauszn quickly grows the baby into an adult man. At three days old, he is 36 inches tall and talking, and a couple of days later is an adult man. Glmpauszn writes to Joe by controlling the minds of sleeping people around the world to pen the letters and then mail them to Joe at the Plaza Ritz Arms in New York City. He wonders why Joe won’t write to him, and can’t contact him spiritually, like normal, since Joe has fallen into alcoholism. Glmpauszn forgets to wear clothes and is nearly arrested, but escapes by becoming invisible. When Joe finally writes, it is to ask for money, enraging Glmpauszn who reports Joe’s actions to their boss, Blgftury. Glmpauszn becomes distracted by exploring human emotions like intimacy with women and love of money, which causes him to rob a bank and fill 18 rooms of a hotel with money. He also falls into alcoholism. Blgftury is accidentally summoned into a seance by a human medium who pulls Blgftury’s vibrations through the fringe (the very thing they are trying to stop from happening), and Glmpauszn is caught with a red-haired woman by his boss not doing his job. Glmpauszn finally develops a mold that can kill humans, and meets with Joe at the Plaza Ritz Arms with lots of gin that they consume before successfully returning to the vibrational frequency of their world, releasing the mold in the room.

2
0ee7e5e19f5444b29790387160211461

	The story begins with a letter to the editor of a magazine describing two unusual incidents in a hotel in New York. In both cases, two men checked into the hotel and then mysteriously disappeared, leaving all of their belongings behind, including the clothes they were wearing. The man who owns the hotel doesn’t want to involve the police for fear of reprisals against him; therefore, he sends the letters to the magazine, hoping they will print them. 
	The rest of the story is a series of letters, all addressed to Joe Binkle but written in different handwritings and from other parts of the US and the world. They trace the progress of a being named Glmpauszn who, in the first letter, is preparing to be born so that he can enter human society. Once he is born, he grows quickly, and within days, he escapes the hospital and hides in a cave until he has grown into a man. At that point, he makes his way to a chemist to procure the chemicals he needs for his mission: to destroy humanity for encroaching on his world. He walks down the street trying to act normal, but a young lady sees him and begins screaming: he has forgotten to wear clothes. Glmpauszn blames part of his failure on Joe, who apparently is supposed to provide him with the background information he needs to succeed.
	Glmpauszn often comments that he has yet to receive a return letter from Joe, but when he does, he complains that Joe has asked him for a $5.00 loan. Glmpauszn refuses the loan initially, making much of the fact that Joe didn’t greet him or express pleasure at his arrival. Glmpauszn alludes to the fact that humans have encroached on their world through the use of mediums or spiritualists. 
	Glmpauszn takes time to experience various aspects of humanity, including emotions and impressions, such as love of money, love, beauty, pain, etc. He thinks he is on the verge of love until he suggests a biological exploration of it and the women say yes, leading him to conclude it isn’t love. In the meantime, Glmpauszn drinks more and more and accidentally sets off an explosion in his hotel rooms. 
	Glmpauszn keeps Joe up to date on what he is doing but complains about Blgrtury’s criticism and demands for reports. Finally, Glmpauszn tells Joe that he has successfully created a mold that will destroy humans by dissolving their brains and then their bodies. He also tells Joe to meet him at his original place of birth, and he will bring the gateway, a large mirror. The plan is to drink all the gin they have and then plant the mold in the hotel.
	The hotel owner has read all the letters and wants to know if anyone can tell him how long a gleeb is, as several times in his letters, Glmpauszn refers to this length of time.

12
461d6a004d694cb09b5b06532aba5a67
The story begins with a hotel owner, Ivan Smernda, writing to the editor of a magazine about two strange guests at his hotel. Ivan has found only their suits, some letters, and the frame of a mirror left over after their stay. Ivan has forwarded these letters he has found to the editors of the magazine. These letters tell a story of two alien visitors to Ivan's world that intend to destroy all of humanity because the vibrations from Ivan's world sometimes cross over into their world. The alien visitors become addicted to alcohol and human feelings, but ultimately they succeed in developing a mold that will spread across humanity and kill everyone.
8
e9ccfbd0134146d68a93e26318eb6d47
This epistolary narrative begins with a letter to the editor of a paranormal-themed magazine. The letter's author, Ivan Smernda, owns a hotel called Plaza Ritz Arms, and recently two of his guests mysteriously vanished leaving behind several letters, a mirror frame without the mirror, and each of their suit of clothes, perfectly intact. The men are named Ed Smith and Joe Binkle, although Ivan guesses these are aliases. Ivan shares the men's letters with the editor in the hopes that they will be printed and serve as a warning for humanity. The first letter reveals Ed Smith's true name, which is Glmpauszn. Glmpauszn and Joe are Frequencies, ghost-like entities that exist in a spirit dimension adjacent to human reality. Due to the rise of humans using the services of mediums and fortune tellers to make contact with loved ones in the spirit world, the Frequencies feel terrorized. Glmpauszn has been sent to inhabit the human dimension, what he calls the "not-world", in order to find a way to destroy humanity and end its assault upon the vibrations of the Frequencies. Joe has already spent several "gleebs" (an unspecified amount of time) on Earth studying human ways in order to prepare Glmpauszn for his mission. They write to each other by possessing the minds and bodies of sleeping humans who can translate the language and write the letters. Glmpauszn details how he attuned himself to a human fetus and then sped up the growing process upon his birth, believing that the speed of his growth would impress his not-mother and not-father. Instead, he only frightens them both, and he runs away to a cave whereupon he accelerates his growth until he becomes an adult. As he begins to seek out a chemist to help him begin to plan the destruction of humanity, he runs into a woman who screams when she sees he is totally naked. Embarrassed, Glmpauszn lashes out at Joe, complaining that he has not prepared him sufficiently for his mission, and he must better learn human customs and emotions. He slowly adapts the forms and impressions of the human dimension. Not only does he love drinking hard liquor, but he also uses his invisibility power to rob a bank and fill his eighteen-room suite at the hotel with money. As Glmpauszn grows increasingly enamored with the human experience, he begins to neglect his mission, including reporting to his boss, Blgftury. Glmpauszn drinks excessively and starts to court women, seeking out the elusive feeling of love. One night he even attends a seance, and the medium summons Blgftury, who glares at him in anger. As Glmpauszn falls deeper into alcoholism, his neglect of the mission becomes so bad that he accidentally blows up his suite of rooms at the hotel. Eventually, he devises a kind of mold that can cause a fatal disease to spread throughout the planet. Mission accomplished, Glmpauszn suggests he and Joe rendezvous at Joe's hotel and return to their home dimension through the mirror gateway.
Describe the setting of the story.
10
c85226d86cf94433893692238d1e4cfe
A Gleeb for Earth takes place on Earth, where the spiritual vibrations of human mediums and psychics are intruding upon and semi-terrorizing another world populated by sentient vibrational beings. The vibrational plane of the alien world extends just a tiny bit into Earth (referred to as the not-world by the aliens), and the fringe between the two allows for human psychics to intrude into the alien’s realm, or for human seance practises to summon alien vibrations on Earth in ways that are terrifying for the aliens. The aliens can’t tolerate these vibrational intrusions any longer and have embarked on a mission to destroy all life on Earth by having two of their own take the form of humans and develop a chemical weapon (a mold) to wipe them out.
The mission of Glmpauszn and Joe takes place on Earth between June 8th and September 25th of an unknown year. Glmpauszn mails letters from various international locations to Joe at the Plaza Ritz Arms in New York City by controlling the minds of unknown sleeping humans to pen what he spiritually dictates, and mail the letters without ever knowing they have done it. Glmpauszn’s physical location is not explicitly discussed, but it is possibly nearby to New York City since he does not mention the need for any long-distance or international travel in his letters. Both Glmpauszn and Joe become distracted from their mission at times by drugs, alcohol, stealing money using their invisibility, and the sensations of experiencing human emotions like love.
The Plaza Ritz Arms hotel in New York City is an especially important location in the story, because it is the final meeting place where Glmpauszn and Joe return to their vibrational realm through a mirror with a heavy bronze frame, leaving their clothes in heaps as if they had melted out of them, only the frame of the mirror, and the pile of letters from Glmpauszn to Joe that detail their entire mission on Earth.

2
0ee7e5e19f5444b29790387160211461
The story is set in various locations on Earth. It begins and ends in the Plaza Ritz Arms Hotel in Rochester, New York, where two residents mysteriously disappear, leaving all of their belongings behind, including their one suit of clothes that appears to have just dropped off their bodies as they wore them. In between, the setting moves from place to place as Glmpauszn moves around, beginning in Bombay, India and moving to Wichita, Kansas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Moscow, Idaho; Des Moines, Iowa; Boise, Idaho; Penobscot, Maine; Sacramento, California; and Florence, Italy. 
12
461d6a004d694cb09b5b06532aba5a67
The story takes place at Ivan Smernda's hotel. The hotel is home to an alien that goes by the name "Joe Binkle." Joe is an alcoholic and this consumption of alcohol has dulled his alien powers. The story also involves letters from an alien named Glmpauszn who went by the alias "Ed Smith" in this world. Glmpauszn has traveled to many different areas of the world in his quest to find something to destroy humanity once and for all. 
8
e9ccfbd0134146d68a93e26318eb6d47
Glmpauszn and Joe come from a dimension that can be described as a kind of spirit world. The population of this dimension are referred to as Frequencies and are individual fluctuations within a larger vibration flux. They are able to enter the human dimension, which they refer to as "not-world", by attuning their vibrations to the human frequency because the dimensions are loosely joined together through the vibrational plane. They return to their dimension by using a "gateway" hidden in a normal-looking mirror. When Glmpauszn is sent to figure out a way to destroy humanity, he rents a suite of eighteen rooms at a hotel and fills it with stolen money as well as tubes, pipes, and other kinds of apparatus intended to be used to build a weapon of some kind. Joe lives at the Plaza Ritz Arms in New York City, which is where Ivan Smernda discovers his clothes as well as Glmpauszn’s. Throughout the story, Glmpauszn writes to Joe from a number of locations including Florence, Italy, Rochester, New York, Sacramento, California, Penobscot, Maine, Moscow and Boise, Idaho, Des Moines, Iowa, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Wichita, Kansas, and Bombay, India. However, he is never physically in any of these locations. Instead, he possesses people sleeping in these cities to write the letters for him in order to avoid detection. During his time in the human dimension, Glmpauszn visits a darkened seance room, a movie theater, a nightclub, a bank, a cave, and a hospital.
Why does Glmpauszn want to take the form of a person on Earth?
10
c85226d86cf94433893692238d1e4cfe
Glmpauszn’s consciousness takes the form of spiritual vibrations that can cross from his world into Earth’s, allowing him to take control of humans on Earth and even insert his consciousness into a human fetus. He describes Earth as a “weird extension of the Universe”, because from his perspective the vibrational plane of his world extends just a tiny bit into Earth (which he calls the not-world). This is unacceptable to his people since human spiritual mediums on Earth have been able to force psychic reproductions of themselves into his world, and conversely temporarily kidnap some individuals from his planet over the “fringe” between the two worlds, frightening them. The intrusive vibrations from Earth have semi-terrorized the sentient vibrations that make up the population of Glmpauszn’s world. Thus, Glmpauszn will now take on the form of a human on Earth and destroy the entirety of human existence to stop their intrusions.

2
0ee7e5e19f5444b29790387160211461
Glmpauszn wants to take the form of a person on Earth to find a way to destroy the human race because humans are torturing his people, and he wants to be their liberator. The only way he can take the form of a person without arousing suspicion is to arrive as a newborn baby, which he does. The human world is intruding upon his world, which is terrorizing his people. While his world is on a higher plane with higher vibrations than the human world, sometimes the humans encroach on their world. At times, humans even send psychic reproductions of themselves into their world, causing agony and fright. This is accomplished through mediums and spiritualists. And to understand humans, Glmpauszn wants to experience their emotions. At the same time, Glmpauszn falls prey to the lure of alcohol and finds himself needing it to escape from the reality of the human world. In the end, he has created a mold that will destroy humans by dissolving the brain and then ruining the body. The mold will be planted in the hotel where Joe lives, and together, they will exit the human world through the mirror gateway.

12
461d6a004d694cb09b5b06532aba5a67
Glmpauszn wishes to take the form of a human from Earth in order to avoid detection. Glmpauszn has been tasked with ending the human race so that they can no longer pull beings from their homeworld anymore and cause them great pain. Glmpauszn needs to travel to do this, and taking the form of a person on Earth means he can move freely, despite the fact that there is quite a learning curve in becoming disguised as a human.
8
e9ccfbd0134146d68a93e26318eb6d47
Thanks to an increase in the number of humans using the services of mediums, fortune tellers, and séances, there has been substantial interference in the vibrational plane that connects the human dimension with the real of the Frequencies. The humans see this as a meaningful way to interact with deceased loved ones, while the Frequencies view this as an invasive practice that terrorizes their way of life. Glmpauszn has been sent from the Frequency realm to the human dimension in order to find a way to destroy humanity and restore peace to their society. By attuning himself to a human fetus, Glmpauszn believes he will be able to better disguise himself and avoid detection. He experiences growing pains as he works to assimilate to human customs and emotions. He struggles with alcoholism and begins dating women in order to find love. Glmpauszn grows to enjoy being human, but it also distracts him from his ultimate mission.
What is the relationship like between Glmpauszn and Joe?
10
c85226d86cf94433893692238d1e4cfe
Glmpauszn is a sentient being from an alien world that takes the form of spiritual vibrations that are capable of controlling humans on Earth (which he refers to as the non-world), or entering the body of a human to take their form. He travels through a gateway (a vibrational point that alters the frequency of those who enter in the form of a mirror with a heavy bronze frame), allowing Glmpauszn to take on the frequency of a human and move his consciousness into a newborn baby. Once on Earth in newborn form, Glmpauszn quickly grows the body of the newborn baby into that of an adult man over a matter of days, and begins using the alias Ed Smith. He writes to Joe by vibrationaly controlling the minds of a variety of literate people around the world to pen the letters and then mail them to Joe at the Plaza Ritz Arms in New York City. The people he uses the mind of never become aware that they have written or mailed the letters.
Joe (an alias name) is of the same world as Glmpauszn, and they are on a mission together to destroy all human life on Earth in order to stop the intrusive vibrations of Earth polluting their spiritually sentient world. There is a rocky start to their mission as Glmpauszn is not receiving any contact back from Joe who has become distracted by drugs and alcohol in his human form on Earth. Normally, Glmpauszn would be able to reach Joe through spiritual vibrations instead of letters, but Joe’s vibrations are very weak due to the substances he takes. Joe eventually does write to Glmpauszn, but only to ask for money, which greatly offends Glmpauszn who becomes furious with him for abandoning their mission. However, their relationship changes as Glmpauszn begins to experiment with the feelings of being human, and tries to feel love and consume alcohol. Glmpauszn starts to relate to Joe’s experience with alcohol, and they even decide to bring lots of gin to consume when they finally meet at the Plaza Ritz Arms to re-enter the gateway to their own world together after releasing the deadly mold that will kill all humans on Earth and complete their mission. They finish the mission triumphantly together, with Glmpauszn referring to them together in one of his final letters as conquerors and liberators for their world.

2
0ee7e5e19f5444b29790387160211461
The relationship between Glmpauszn and Joe is much like that of brothers. Joe is like an older brother who gives Glmpauszn advice, but when Glmpauszn doesn’t like what Joe writes in his letters, he makes sure to send them on to Blgftury to “tell on him.” Glmpauszn relies on Joe’s information, based on his experience in the human world. In his first letter to Joe, though, Glmpauszn blames him for not responding to his vibrations, forcing Glmpauszn to communicate with Joe by mail. By his second letter, however, Glmpauszn is more sympathetic to complications that Joe must have encountered due to humans, although he still doesn’t understand why he hasn’t received letters in response to his own. 
       Interestingly, Glmpauszn tells Joe all about what he is doing but is less forthcoming with Blgftury. Yet Glmpauszn blames Joe for being inefficient in providing the information he needs to succeed in his mission. Interestingly, at one point, Glmpauszn complains that Joe has asked for a loan of $5.00, which Glmpauszn refuses until later. Glmpauszn confesses that he is trying to learn to love money as humans do and has been amassing large amounts of it; he agrees to loan Joe the $5.00 he requested earlier but only by sending it through the person writing the letter for him.
	Like a big brother, Joe gives Glmpauszn advice. He specifically advises him not to drink alcohol. By the time Glmpauszn receives this letter, he is already heavily imbibing and learning the impact of hangovers. Glmpauszn confesses that he needs the alcohol to escape from the reality of human life. He also acknowledges that it is dulling his abilities, including the ability to become invisible. For their final encounter, which will be when Glmpauszn launches his attack on humanity, he wants Joe to bring as much gin as he can, and he will do the same. Together, after all the gin is gone, Glmpauszn and Joe will return to their world through the gateway of the mirror.


12
461d6a004d694cb09b5b06532aba5a67
Glmpauszn writes Joe as a companion on this quest to destroy humanity, but his written communications only go one way as far as the reader can tell. Joe never writes back, but can communicate with Glmpauszn via psychic ability, or "vibrations." Glmpauszn quickly sours on Joe as he realizes that Joe has lost most of his alien abilities due to being addicted to alcohol and obsessed with money. However, Glmpauszn comes around on his fellow alien as he falls victim to alcoholism and "money-love" himself.
8
e9ccfbd0134146d68a93e26318eb6d47
Glmpauszn and Joe are both Frequencies who have attuned themselves to different humans in order to disguise themselves and gather information that will assist them in a plot to destroy humanity. Joe has spent a significant amount of time longer on Earth than Glmpauszn, and therefore he has had more time to adapt to human customs and emotions. Joe lives in New York at Plaza Ritz Arms, a hotel where the two eventually rendezvous in order to return to their home dimension when they accomplish their mission.  Glmpauszn sends Joe a number of letters describing his slow adjustment to human form. Although Joe's communications are never explicitly shared, his replies to Glmpauszn are minimal and often unrelated  to the letter to which he's responding. For example, Joe asks Glmpauszn for five dollars in response to a letter about Glmpauszn's rocky entry into the human dimension. This anger Glmpauszn, and he is further incensed when he receives a nonsensical, insulting communication later. However, after Glmpauszn discovers alcohol, he begins to relate to Joe, who has also succumbed to the struggles of alcoholism. Eventually, Glmpauszn develops a mold that can eliminate humanity, and they rendezvous at Joe's hotel to make their re-entrance to the vibrational plane via the mirror gateway.
Who is Blgftury and what happens to them in the story?
10
c85226d86cf94433893692238d1e4cfe
Blgftury is an alien of the same world as Glmpauszn and Joe, which is being semi-terrorized by intrusive vibrations from Earth (which they refer to as non-world) that pollute their world’s sentient frequency. Their world wishes to destroy all human life on Earth to become free from these intrusions. Blgftury is the boss of the other two, and Glmpauszn often refers to having to write reports for him begrudgingly to update on the status of the mission.
Blgftury is not a supportive boss, because he wished to go on this mission himself. Glmpauszn describes that Blgftury gave him little praise, and even wrote thinly-veiled threats, in his response to Glmpauszn’s report on how he escaped the pursuit of the police when he was caught naked in public after forgetting humans need to put on clothes. Blgftury has the authority to take corrective action related to the mission, evidenced by how Glmpauszn doesn’t hesitate to forward him the letters from Joe that he finds offensive about asking for money and discussing “revolting bodily processes.” 
Blgftury has to pester Glmpauszn for reports when he begins to go off the plan and experiment with human feelings like falling in love and alcohol. Glmpauszn does finally successfully develop a mold that will kill all humans on Earth and sends detailed chemistry reports back to Blgftury on the subject. 
Blgftury spends a lot of time sending vibrations in the fringe area between Earth and their world, and by accident his vibrations are summoned by a spiritual medium into a white, shapeless cascade of light at a human seance gathering that Glmpauszn happens to be attending on Earth where he is fooling around with a red-headed woman in the corner of the room (flagrantly not doing the work of the mission) in full visibility to Blgftury. Blgftury responded with a pattern in his matrix that showed pain, anger, fear and amazement. Glmpauszn goes on to complete the mission and return with Joe to their home world without further interaction with Blgftury.

2
0ee7e5e19f5444b29790387160211461
Blgftury is the being who supervises Glmpauszn and whom Glmpauszn seems to dislike and want to impress at the same time. Glmpauszn thinks that Blgftury’s criticism and threats are actually praise; he also thinks that Blgftury wanted to be the one to go on the expedition that Glmpauszn is on and is jealous that he didn’t get to. At the same time, Glmpauszn wants to impress Blgftury. And when Glmpauszn has a complaint against Joe, he forwards it to Blgftury so that he is aware of what Joe is doing, most likely to make himself look better. Glmpauszn grows annoyed with Blgftury’s requests for reports because he thinks he has other, more important things to do, such as exploring human emotions. To pacify Blgftury, Glmpauszn sends him reports about his experiments with chemistry that he plans to use to defeat humans, although he has not actually carried out these experiments. Glmpauszn doesn’t have much respect for Blgftury and envisions an incident where Blgftury is present as an olive and is eaten by the blonde girl. 
At a seance that Glmpauszn attends, the medium actually brings Blgftury across when she is trying to bring over a woman’s grandmother. Blgftury looks angry and sees Glmpauszn, peering at him with an expression of pain, anger, fear, and amazement. At the end of the story, Glmpauszn has succeeded in his mission of creating a way to destroy the human race in the form of a mold. This mold will dissolve the brain and then cause the body to fall apart. Glmpauszn is pleased to have succeeded, and he dares Blgftury to make any criticism against what he has accomplished. 

12
461d6a004d694cb09b5b06532aba5a67
Blgftury is the alien in charge of this operation to destroy the "not-world," which the reader would know better as Earth. Blgftury is concerned with the success of this mission and constantly badgers Glmpauszn for status reports. Blgftury appears briefly on Earth during a human seance, and this causes him great pain. Glmpauszn becomes quite annoyed with Blgftury, describing Blgftury's attempts to get updates about the mission as an annoyance. This is likely due to Glmpauszn becoming an alcoholic and being more interested in learning about human emotions like love instead of the mission at hand. 
8
e9ccfbd0134146d68a93e26318eb6d47
Blgftury is a fellow Frequency to whom Glmpauszn is supposed to send consistent status updates on his mission to develop a way to destroy humanity. Blgftury had wanted to complete the mission himself, and he is rarely complimentary, so his communications with Glmpauszn are often curt. At first, Glmpauszn warns Joe he has forwarded his inappropriate, insulting letters to Blgftury. As time goes on, however, Glmpauszn reveals a growing distaste and impatience for Blgftury's grumpiness, criticisms, and bureaucratic oversight. At one point, he even expresses a desire for Blgftury to enter the human dimension in the vibrational pattern of an olive so that his blonde date could eat him. When Glmpauszn attends a séance conducted by Mrs. Somebody, he is horrified to see an angry Blgftury summoned instead of Grandma Lucy. 