I probably read it in the early '70s. A prehistoric civilisation has developed a way to somehow draw power from [possibly from beyond] the atmosphere. The power plant suffers a catastrophe that destroys the civilisation. The Great Pyramid had something to do with the power plant, which made a “shee-ops” sound whilst in operation – hence the name Cheops.
I’m certain I read this one before I moved to Illinois in 1967. Something is causing people to “freeze” in place, as if they were playing state tag – paralysed and unable to move, but still alive. Our hero is for some reason believed to be the source of the problem, and to be spreading it as if it were a contagious disease. He finds out the actual cause, but is not believed. He writes a letter explaining how to “cure” the paralysed people, and somehow gets the letter to the officer in charge of an army unit hunting for him. The officer opens the letter, glances at the signature at the bottom of the single page, and immediately throws the letter into the fire without reading it.
I’d like to reread these, but have no idea what the titles are or who wrote them. Anybody recognise either of them?
Just a guess, but might the second one be Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut? It features a form of ice (called “ice-nine”) which is stable at room temperature and pressure, and which acts as a seed crystal to turn ordinary liquid water into more ice-nine.
The Chandler, it seems, was The Road to the Rim, the first book in the John Grimes series – one of my favourite.
And Cat’s Cradle definitely isn’t the other book I’m looking for (which I think might also have been an Ace double). Maybe someone else can come up with it…
Crikey! My b.i.l. told me that, stating it as a fact (!) back around that time. He must either have read the story, or had someone else try to tell him about it. (He was a sucker for urban legends.)
