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diff --git a/27110-h/27110-h.htm b/27110-h/27110-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6bc5756 --- /dev/null +++ b/27110-h/27110-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1382 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Eternal Wall, by Raymond Z. Gallun + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1,h2 {text-align: left; clear: both; font-weight: normal;} + hr {width: 45%; margin: 1em auto; clear: both; visibility: hidden;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .center,.figc {text-align: center;} + .figc {margin: 1em auto; width: 600px;} + .trn {border: solid 1px; margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: justify;} + img {border: none;} + p.cap:first-letter {float: left; margin-right: .05em; padding-top: .05em; font-size: 300%; line-height: .8em;} + .dcap {text-transform: uppercase;} + .bk1 {margin: 2em auto; width: 20em;} + .p1 {margin-top: 2em;} + .rgt {text-align: right;} +// --> +/* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eternal Wall, by Raymond Zinke Gallun + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 + + +Title: The Eternal Wall + +Author: Raymond Zinke Gallun + +Release Date: October 31, 2008 [EBook #27110] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ETERNAL WALL *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1><big>THE<br /> +ETERNAL<br /> +WALL</big></h1> + +<h2>By RAYMOND Z. GALLUN</h2> + +<div class="bk1"><p><i><big>A scream of brakes, the splash +into icy waters, a long descent +into alkaline depths ... it was +death. But Ned Vince lived +again—a million years later!</big></i></p></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">"See</span> you in half an hour, +Betty," said Ned Vince +over the party telephone. "We'll +be out at the Silver Basket before +ten-thirty...."</p> + +<p>Ned Vince was eager for the +company of the girl he loved. +That was why he was in a hurry +to get to the neighboring town +of Hurley, where she lived. His +old car rattled and roared as he +swung it recklessly around Pit +Bend.</p> + +<p>There was where Death tapped +him on the shoulder. Another car +leaped suddenly into view, its +lights glaring blindingly past a +high, up-jutting mass of Jurassic +rock at the turn of the road.</p> + +<p>Dazzled, and befuddled by his +own rash speed, Ned Vince had +only swift young reflexes to rely +on to avoid a fearful, telescoping +collision. He flicked his wheel +smoothly to the right; but the +County Highway Commission +hadn't yet tarred the traffic-loosened +gravel at the Bend.</p> + +<div class="figc"> +<img src="images/001.png" width="600" height="568" alt="" title="" /> +<b><small>An incredible science, millions of years old, lay in the minds of these creatures.</small></b></div> + +<p>Ned could scarcely have chosen +a worse place to start sliding and +spinning. His car hit the white-painted +wooden rail sideways, +crashed through, tumbled down +a steep slope, struck a huge boulder, +bounced up a little, and +arced outward, falling as gracefully +as a swan-diver toward the +inky waters of the Pit, fifty feet +beneath....</p> + +<p>Ned Vince was still dimly conscious +when that black, quiet +pool geysered around him in a +mighty splash. He had only a +dazing welt on his forehead, and +a gag of terror in his throat.</p> + +<p>Movement was slower now, as +he began to sink, trapped inside +his wrecked car. Nothing that he +could imagine could mean doom +more certainly than this. The Pit +was a tremendously deep pocket +in the ground, spring-fed. The +edges of that almost bottomless +pool were caked with a rim of +white—for the water, on which +dead birds so often floated, was +surcharged with alkali. As that +heavy, natronous liquid rushed +up through the openings and +cracks beneath his feet, Ned +Vince knew that his friends and +his family would never see his +body again, lost beyond recovery +in this abyss.</p> + +<p>The car was deeply submerged. +The light had blinked out on the +dash-panel, leaving Ned in absolute +darkness. A flood rushed +in at the shattered window. He +clawed at the door, trying to +open it, but it was jammed in +the crash-bent frame, and he +couldn't fight against the force +of that incoming water. The +welt, left by the blow he had received +on his forehead, put a +thickening mist over his brain, +so that he could not think clearly. +Presently, when he could no +longer hold his breath, bitter +liquid was sucked into his lungs.</p> + +<p>His last thoughts were those +of a drowning man. The machine-shop +he and his dad had +had in Harwich. Betty Moore, +with the smiling Irish eyes—like +in the song. Betty and he +had planned to go to the State +University this Fall. They'd +planned to be married sometime.... +Goodbye, Betty ...</p> + +<p>The ripples that had ruffled +the surface waters in the Pit, +quieted again to glassy smoothness. +The eternal stars shone +calmly. The geologic Dakota +hills, which might have seen the +dinosaurs, still bulked along the +highway. Time, the Brother of +Death, and the Father of +Change, seemed to wait....</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>"Kaalleee! Tik!... Tik, tik, +tik!... Kaalleee!..."</p> + +<p>The excited cry, which no human +throat could quite have duplicated +accurately, arose thinly +from the depths of a powder-dry +gulch, water-scarred from an inconceivable +antiquity. The noon-day +Sun was red and huge. The +air was tenuous, dehydrated, +chill.</p> + +<p>"Kaalleee!... Tik, tik, +tik!..."</p> + +<p>At first there was only one +voice uttering those weird, triumphant +sounds. Then other +vocal organs took up that trilling +wail, and those short, sharp +chuckles of eagerness. Other +questioning, wondering notes +mixed with the cadence. Lacking +qualities identifiable as human, +the disturbance was still like the +babble of a group of workmen +who have discovered something +remarkable.</p> + +<p>The desolate expanse around +the gulch, was all but without +motion. The icy breeze tore tiny +puffs of dust from grotesque, +angling drifts of soil, nearly +waterless for eons. Patches of +drab lichen grew here and there +on the up-jutting rocks, but in +the desert itself, no other life +was visible. Even the hills had +sagged away, flattened by incalculable +ages of erosion.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>At a mile distance, a crumbling +heap of rubble arose. Once +it had been a building. A gigantic, +jagged mass of detritus +slanted upward from its crest—red +debris that had once been +steel. A launching catapult for +the last space ships built by the +gods in exodus, perhaps it was—half +a million years ago. Man +was gone from the Earth. Glacial +ages, war, decadence, disease, +and a final scattering of those +ultimate superhumans to newer +worlds in other solar systems, +had done that.</p> + +<p>"Kaalleee!... Tik, tik, tik!..." +The sounds were not human. +They were more like the chatter +and wail of small desert animals.</p> + +<p>But there was a seeming paradox +here in the depths of that +gulch, too. The glint of metal, +sharp and burnished. The flat, +streamlined bulk of a flying machine, +shiny and new. The bell-like +muzzle of a strange excavator-apparatus, +which seemed to +depend on a blast of atoms to +clear away rock and soil. Thus +the gulch had been cleared of the +accumulated rubbish of antiquity. +Man, it seemed, had a successor, +as ruler of the Earth.</p> + +<p>Loy Chuk had flown his geological +expedition out from the +far lowlands to the east, out +from the city of Kar-Rah. And +he was very happy now—flushed +with a vast and unlooked-for +success.</p> + +<p>He crouched there on his +haunches, at the dry bottom of +the Pit. The breeze rumpled his +long, brown fur. He wasn't very +different in appearance from his +ancestors. A foot tall, perhaps, +as he squatted there in that antique +stance of his kind. His tail +was short and furred, his undersides +creamy. White whiskers +spread around his inquisitive, +pink-tipped snout.</p> + +<p>But his cranium bulged up and +forward between shrewd, beady +eyes, betraying the slow heritage +of time, of survival of the fittest, +of evolution. He could think and +dream and invent, and the civilization +of his kind was already +far beyond that of the ancient +Twentieth Century.</p> + +<p>Loy Chuk and his fellow workers +were gathered, tense and +gleeful, around the things their +digging had exposed to the daylight. +There was a gob of junk—scarcely +more than an irregular +formation of flaky rust. But imbedded +in it was a huddled form, +brown and hard as old wood. The +dry mud that had encased it +like an airtight coffin, had by +now been chipped away by the +tiny investigators; but soiled +clothing still clung to it, after +perhaps a million years. Metal +had gone into decay—yes. But +not this body. The answer to this +was simple—alkali. A mineral +saturation that had held time +and change in stasis. A perfect +preservative for organic tissue, +aided probably during most of +those passing eras by desert dryness. +The Dakotas had turned +arid very swiftly. This body was +not a mere fossil. It was a +mummy.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>"Kaalleee!" Man, that meant. +Not the star-conquering demi-gods, +but the ancestral stock +that had built the first +machines on Earth, and in the +early Twenty-first Century, the +first interplanetary rockets. No +wonder Loy Chuk and his co-workers +were happy in their +paleontological enthusiasm! A +strange accident, happening in a +legendary antiquity, had aided +them in their quest for knowledge.</p> + +<p>At last Loy Chuk gave a soft, +chirping signal. The chant of +triumph ended, while instruments +flicked in his tiny hands. +The final instrument he used to +test the mummy, looked like a +miniature stereoscope, with complicated +details. He held it over +his eyes. On the tiny screen +within, through the agency of +focused X-rays, he saw magnified +images of the internal organs +of this ancient human +corpse.</p> + +<p>What his probing gaze revealed +to him, made his pleasure +even greater than before. In +twittering, chattering sounds, he +communicated his further knowledge +to his henchmen. Though +devoid of moisture, the mummy +was perfectly preserved, even to +its brain cells! Medical and biological +sciences were far advanced +among Loy Chuk's kind. +Perhaps, by the application of +principles long known to them, +this long-dead body could be +made to live again! It might +move, speak, remember its past! +What a marvelous subject for +study it would make, back there +in the museums of Kar-Rah!</p> + +<p>"Tik, tik, tik!..."</p> + +<p>But Loy silenced this fresh, +eager chattering with a command. +Work was always more +substantial than cheering.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>With infinite care—small, +sharp hand-tools were used, now—the +mummy of Ned Vince was +disengaged from the worthless +rust of his primitive automobile. +With infinite care it was crated +in a metal case, and hauled into +the flying machine.</p> + +<p>Flashing flame, the latter +arose, bearing the entire hundred +members of the expedition. +The craft shot eastward at bullet-like +speed. The spreading +continental plateau of North +America seemed to crawl backward, +beneath. A tremendous +sand desert, marked with low, +washed-down mountains, and the +vague, angular, geometric +mounds of human cities that +were gone forever.</p> + +<p>Beyond the eastern rim of the +continent, the plain dipped downward +steeply. The white of dried +salt was on the hills, but there +was a little green growth here, +too. The dead sea-bottom of the +vanished Atlantic was not as +dead as the highlands.</p> + +<p>Far out in a deep valley, Kar-Rah, +the city of the rodents, +came into view—a crystalline +maze of low, bubble-like structures, +glinting in the red sunshine. +But this was only its surface +aspect. Loy Chuk's people +had built their homes mostly underground, +since the beginning +of their foggy evolution. Besides, +in this latter day, the +nights were very cold, the shelter +of subterranean passages and +rooms was welcome.</p> + +<p>The mummy was taken to Loy +Chuk's laboratory, a short distance +below the surface. Here at +once, the scientist began his +work. The body of the ancient +man was put in a large vat. +Fluids submerged it, slowly +soaking from that hardened flesh +the alkali that had preserved it +for so long. The fluid was +changed often, until woody muscles +and other tissues became +pliable once more.</p> + +<p>Then the more delicate processes +began. Still submerged in +liquid, the corpse was submitted +to a flow of restorative energy, +passing between complicated +electrodes. The cells of antique +flesh and brain gradually took on +a chemical composition nearer to +that of the life that they had +once known.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>At last the final liquid was +drained away, and the mummy +lay there, a mummy no more, but +a pale, silent figure in its tatters +of clothing. Loy Chuk put an odd, +metal-fabric helmet on its head, +and a second, much smaller helmet +on his own. Connected with +this arrangement, was a black +box of many uses. For hours he +worked with his apparatus, +studying, and guiding the recording +instruments. The time +passed swiftly.</p> + +<p>At last, eager and ready for +whatever might happen now, +Loy Chuk pushed another switch. +With a cold, rosy flare, energy +blazed around that moveless +form.</p> + +<p>For Ned Vince, timeless eternity +ended like a gradual fading +mist. When he could see clearly +again, he experienced that inevitable +shock of vast change +around him. Though it had been +dehydrated, his brain had been +kept perfectly intact through the +ages, and now it was restored. +So his memories were as vivid as +yesterday.</p> + +<p>Yet, through that crystalline +vat in which he lay, he could see +a broad, low room, in which he +could barely have stood erect. He +saw instruments and equipment +whose weird shapes suggested +alienness, and knowledge beyond +the era he had known! The walls +were lavender and phosphorescent. +Fossil bone-fragments were +mounted in shallow cases. Dinosaur +bones, some of them +seemed, from their size. But +there was a complete skeleton of +a dog, too, and the skeleton of a +man, and a second man-skeleton +that was not quite human. Its +neck-vertebrae were very thick +and solid, its shoulders were +wide, and its skull was gigantic.</p> + +<p>All this weirdness had a violent +effect on Ned Vince—a sudden, +nostalgic panic. Something +was fearfully wrong!</p> + +<p>The nervous terror of the unknown +was on him. Feeble and +dizzy after his weird resurrection, +which he could not understand, +remembering as he did +that moment of sinking to certain +death in the pool at Pit +Bend, he caught the edge of the +transparent vat, and pulled himself +to a sitting posture. There +was a muffled murmur around +him, as of some vast, un-Earthly +metropolis.</p> + +<p>"Take it easy, Ned Vince...."</p> + +<p>The words themselves, and the +way they were assembled, were +old, familiar friends. But the +tone was wrong. It was high, +shrill, parrot-like, and mechanical. +Ned's gaze searched for the +source of the voice—located the +black box just outside of his +crystal vat. From that box the +voice seemed to have originated. +Before it crouched a small, +brownish animal with a bulging +head. The animal's tiny-fingered +paws—hands they were, really—were +touching rows of keys.</p> + +<p>To Ned Vince, it was all utterly +insane and incomprehensible. +A rodent, looking like a prairie dog, +a little; but plainly possessing +a high order of intelligence. +And a voice whose soothingly +familiar words were more repugnant +somehow, simply because +they could never belong in a +place as eerie as this.</p> + +<p>Ned Vince did not know how +Loy Chuk had probed his brain, +with the aid of a pair of helmets, +and the black box apparatus. He +did not know that in the latter, +his language, taken from his +own revitalized mind, was recorded, +and that Loy Chuk had +only to press certain buttons to +make the instrument express his +thoughts in common, long-dead +English. Loy, whose vocal organs +were not human, would have had +great difficulty speaking English +words, anyway.</p> + +<p>Ned's dark hair was wildly +awry. His gaunt, young face +held befuddled terror. He gasped +in the thin atmosphere. "I've +gone nuts," he pronounced with +a curious calm. "Stark—starin'—nuts...."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Loy's box, with its recorded +English words and its sonic detectors, +could translate for its +master, too. As the man spoke, +Loy read the illuminated symbols +in his own language, flashed +on a frosted crystal plate before +him. Thus he knew what Ned +Vince was saying.</p> + +<p>Loy Chuk pressed more keys, +and the box reproduced his answer: +"No, Ned, not nuts. Not a +bit of it! There are just a lot of +things that you've got to get +used to, that's all. You drowned +about a million years ago. I discovered +your body. I brought you +back to life. We have science +that can do that. I'm Loy +Chuk...."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>It took only a moment for the +box to tell the full story in clear, +bold, friendly terms. Thus Loy +sought, with calm, human logic, +to make his charge feel at home. +Probably, though, he was a fool, +to suppose that he could succeed, +thus.</p> + +<p>Vince started to mutter, +struggling desperately to reason +it out. "A prairie dog," he said. +"Speaking to me. One million +years. Evolution. The scientists +say that people grew up from +fishes in the sea. Prairie dogs +are smart. So maybe super-prairie-dogs +could come from +them. A lot easier than men +from fish...."</p> + +<p>It was all sound logic. Even +Ned Vince knew that. Still, his +mind, tuned to ordinary, simple +things, couldn't quite realize all +the vast things that had happened +to himself, and to the +world. The scope of it all was too +staggeringly big. One million +years. God!...</p> + +<p>Ned Vince made a last effort +to control himself. His knuckles +tightened on the edge of the vat. +"I don't know what you've been +talking about," he grated wildly. +"But I want to get out of here! +I want to go back where I came +from! Do you understand—whoever, +or whatever you are?"</p> + +<p>Loy Chuk pressed more keys. +"But you can't go back to the +Twentieth Century," said the +box. "Nor is there any better +place for you to be now, than +Kar-Rah. You are the only man +left on Earth. Those men that +exist in other star systems are +not really your kind anymore, +though their forefathers originated +on this planet. They have +gone far beyond you in evolution. +To them you would be only a +senseless curiosity. You are +much better off with my people—our +minds are much more like +yours. We will take care of you, +and make you comfortable...."</p> + +<p>But Ned Vince wasn't listening, +now. "You are the only +man left on Earth." That had +been enough for him to hear. He +didn't more than half believe it. +His mind was too confused for +conviction about anything. Everything +he saw and felt and +heard might be some kind of +nightmare. But then it might all +be real instead, and that was +abysmal horror. Ned was no +coward—death and danger of +any ordinary Earthly kind, he +could have faced bravely. But the +loneliness here, and the utter +strangeness, were hideous like +being stranded alone on another +world!</p> + +<p>His heart was pounding heavily, +and his eyes were wide. He +looked across this eerie room. +There was a ramp there at the +other side, leading upward instead +of a stairway. Fierce impulse +to escape this nameless +lair, to try to learn the facts for +himself, possessed him. He +bounded out of the vat, and +with head down, dashed for the +ramp.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>He had to go most of the way +on his hands and knees, for the +up-slanting passage was low. Excited +animal chucklings around +him, and the occasional touch of +a furry body, hurried his feverish +scrambling. But he emerged +at last at the surface.</p> + +<p>He stood there panting in that +frigid, rarefied air. It was night. +The Moon was a gigantic, pock-marked +bulk. The constellations +were unrecognizable. The rodent +city was a glowing expanse of +shallow, crystalline domes, set +among odd, scrub trees and +bushes. The crags loomed on all +sides, all their jaggedness lost +after a million years of erosion +under an ocean that was gone. +In that ghastly moonlight, the +ground glistened with dry salt.</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess it's all true, +huh?" Ned Vince muttered in a +flat tone.</p> + +<p>Behind him he heard an excited, +squeaky chattering. Rodents +in pursuit. Looking back, +he saw the pinpoint gleams of +countless little eyes. Yes, he +might as well be an exile on another +planet—so changed had the +Earth become.</p> + +<p>A wave of intolerable homesickness +came over him as he +sensed the distances of time that +had passed—those inconceivable +eons, separating himself from +his friends, from Betty, from almost +everything that was familiar. +He started to run, away +from those glittering rodent +eyes. He sensed death in that +cold sea-bottom, but what of it? +What reason did he have left to +live? He'd be only a museum +piece here, a thing to be caged +and studied....</p> + +<p>Prison or a madhouse would +be far better. He tried to get +hold of his courage. But what +was there to inspire it? Nothing! +He laughed harshly as he +ran, welcoming that bitter, killing +cold. Nostalgia had him in +its clutch, and there was no answer +in his hell-world, lost beyond +the barrier of the years....</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Loy Chuk and his followers +presently came upon Ned Vince's +unconscious form, a mile from +the city of Kar-Rah. In a flying +machine they took him back, and +applied stimulants. He came to, +in the same laboratory room as +before. But he was firmly +strapped to a low platform this +time, so that he could not escape +again. There he lay, helpless, +until presently an idea occurred +to him. It gave him a few crumbs +of hope.</p> + +<p>"Hey, somebody!" he called.</p> + +<p>"You'd better get some rest, +Ned Vince," came the answer +from the black box. It was Loy +Chuk speaking again.</p> + +<p>"But listen!" Ned protested. +"You know a lot more than we +did in the Twentieth Century. +And—well—there's that thing +called time-travel, that I used to +read about. Maybe you know how +to make it work! Maybe you +could send me back to my own +time after all!"</p> + +<p>Little Loy Chuk was in a +black, discouraged mood, himself. +He could understand the +utter, sick dejection of this +giant from the past, lost from +his own kind. Probably insanity +looming. In far less extreme circumstances +than this, death from +homesickness had come.</p> + +<p>Loy Chuk was a scientist. In +common with all real scientists, +regardless of the species from +which they spring, he loved the +subjects of his researches. He +wanted this ancient man to live +and to be happy. Or this creature +would be of scant value for +study.</p> + +<p>So Loy considered carefully +what Ned Vince had suggested. +Time-travel. Almost a legend. An +assault upon an intangible wall +that had baffled far keener wits +than Loy's. But he was bent, +now, on the well-being of this +anachronism he had so miraculously +resurrected—this human, +this Kaalleee....</p> + +<p>Loy jabbed buttons on the +black box. "Yes, Ned Vince," +said the sonic apparatus. "Time-travel. +Perhaps that is the only +thing to do—to send you back +to your own period of history. +For I see that you will never be +yourself, here. It will be hard to +accomplish, but we'll try. Now +I shall put you under an anesthetic...."</p> + +<p>Ned felt better immediately, +for there was real hope now, +where there had been none before. +Maybe he'd be back in his +home-town of Harwich again. +Maybe he'd see the old machine-shop, +there. And the trees greening +out in Spring. Maybe he'd +be seeing Betty Moore in Hurley, +soon.... Ned relaxed, as a tiny +hypo-needle bit into his arm....</p> + +<p>As soon as Ned Vince passed +into unconsciousness, Loy Chuk +went to work once more, using +that pair of brain-helmets again, +exploring carefully the man's +mind. After hours of research, +he proceeded to prepare his +plans. The government of Kar-Rah +was a scientific oligarchy, +of which Loy was a prime member. +It would be easy to get the +help he needed.</p> + +<p>A horde of small, grey-furred +beings and their machines, toiled +for many days.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Ned Vince's mind swam +gradually out of the blur that +had enveloped it. He was wandering +aimlessly about in a familiar +room. The girders of the +roof above were of red-painted +steel. His tool-benches were +there, greasy and littered with +metal filings, just as they had +always been. He had a tractor to +repair, and a seed-drill. Outside +of the machine-shop, the old, +familiar yellow sun was shining. +Across the street was the small +brown house, where he lived.</p> + +<p>With a sudden startlement, he +saw Betty Moore in the doorway. +She wore a blue dress, and a mischievous +smile curved her lips. +As though she had succeeded in +creeping up on him, for a surprise.</p> + +<p>"Why, Ned," she chuckled. +"You look as though you've been +dreaming, and just woke up!"</p> + +<p>He grimaced ruefully as she +approached. With a kind of fierce +gratitude, he took her in his +arms. Yes, she was just like +always.</p> + +<p>"I guess I <i>was</i> dreaming, +Betty," he whispered, feeling +that mighty sense of relief. "I +must have fallen asleep at the +bench, here, and had a nightmare. +I thought I had an accident +at Pit Bend—and that a +lot of worse things happened.... +But it wasn't true ..."</p> + +<p>Ned Vince's mind, over which +there was still an elusive fog that +he did not try to shake off, accepted +apparent facts simply.</p> + +<p>He did not know anything +about the invisible radiations +beating down upon him, soothing +and dimming his brain, so that +it would never question or doubt, +or observe too closely the incongruous +circumstances that must +often appear. The lack of traffic +in the street without, for instance—and +the lack of people +besides himself and Betty.</p> + +<p>He didn't know that this machine-shop +was built from his +own memories of the original. +He didn't know that this Betty +was of the same origin—a miraculous +fabrication of metal +and energy-units and soft plastic. +The trees outside were only +lantern-slide illusions.</p> + +<p>It was all built inside a great, +opaque dome. But there were +hidden television systems, too. +Thus Loy Chuk's kind could +study this ancient man—this +Kaalleee. Thus, their motives +were mostly selfish.</p> + +<p>Loy, though, was not observing, +now. He had wandered far +out into cold, sad sea-bottom, to +ponder. He squeaked and chatted +to himself, contemplating the +magnificent, inexorable march of +the ages. He remembered the ancient +ruins, left by the final supermen.</p> + +<p>"The Kaalleee believes himself +home," Loy was thinking. "He +will survive and be happy. But +there was no other way. Time is +an Eternal Wall. Our archeological +researches among the cities +of the supermen show the truth. +Even they, who once ruled Earth, +never escaped from the present +by so much as an instant...."</p> + +<div class="p1"><p class="rgt"><b>THE END</b></p></div> + +<div class="p1"><p class="center"><small>PRINTED IN U. S. A.</small></p></div> + +<div class="trn"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> +This etext was produced from <i>Amazing Stories</i> April 1956 and +was first published in <i>Amazing Stories</i> November 1942. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and +typographical errors have been corrected without note.</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Eternal Wall, by Raymond Zinke Gallun + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ETERNAL WALL *** + +***** This file should be named 27110-h.htm or 27110-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/1/1/27110/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions 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. 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