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diff --git a/28453.txt b/28453.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da118fc --- /dev/null +++ b/28453.txt @@ -0,0 +1,703 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Flight Through Tomorrow, by Stanton Arthur Coblentz + +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: Flight Through Tomorrow + +Author: Stanton Arthur Coblentz + +Release Date: March 30, 2009 [EBook #28453] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLIGHT THROUGH TOMORROW *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _Super warfare has destroyed the old race of man, but elsewhere a + new civilization is dawning...._ + + +FLIGHT THROUGH TOMORROW + +BY STANTON A. COBLENTZ + + +I + +Nothing was further from my mind, when I discovered the "Release Drug" +Relin, than the realization that it would lead me through as strange and +ghastly and revealing a series of adventures as any man has ever +experienced. I encountered it, in a way, as a mere by-product of my +experiments; I am a chemist by profession, and as one of the staff of +the Morganstern Foundation have access to some of the best equipped +laboratories in America. The startling new invention--I must call it +that, though I did not create it deliberately--came to me in the course +of my investigations into the obscure depths of the human personality. + +It has long been my theory that there is in man a psychic entity which +can exist for at least brief periods apart from the body, and have +perceptions which are not those of the physical senses. In accordance +with these views, I had been developing various drugs, compounded of +morphine and adrenalin, whose object was to shock the psychic entity +loose for limited periods and so to widen the range and powers of the +personality. I shall not go into the details of my researches, nor tell +by what accident I succeeded better than I had hoped; the all-important +fact--a fact so overwhelming that I shudder and gasp and marvel even as +I tell of it--is that I did obtain a minute quantity of a drug which, by +putting the body virtually in a state of suspended animation, could +release the mind to travel almost at will across time and space. + +Yes, across time and space!--for the drag of the physical having been +stricken off, I could enter literally into infinity and eternity. But +let me tell precisely what happened that night when at precisely 10:08 +in the solitude of my apartment room, I swallowed half an ounce of Relin +and stretched myself out on the bed, well knowing that I was taking +incalculable risks, and that insanity and even death were by no means +remote possibilities of the road ahead. But let that be as it may! In my +opinion, there is no coward more despicable than he who will not face +danger for the sake of knowledge. + +My head reeled, and something seemed to buzz inside it as soon as the +bitter half ounce of fluid slipped down my throat. I was barely able to +reach the bed and throw myself upon it when there came a snapping as of +something inside my brain ... then, for a period, blankness ... then a +gradual awakening with that feeling of exhilaration one experiences only +after the most blissful sleep. I opened my eyes, feeling strong and +light of limb and charged with a marvelous vital energy--but, as I +peered about me, my lips drew far apart in astonishment, and I am sure +that I gaped like one who has seen a ghost. + +Where were the familiar walls of my two-by-four room, the bureau, the +book-rack, the ancient portrait of Pasteur that hung in its glass frame +just above the foot of the bed? Gone! vanished as utterly as though they +had never been! I was standing on a wide and windy plain, with the gale +beating in my ears, and with rapid sunset-colored clouds scudding +across the blood-stained west. Mingled with the wailing of the blast, +there was a deep sobbing sound that struck me in successive waves, like +the ululations of great multitudes of far-off mourners. And while I was +wondering what this might mean and felt a prickling of horror along my +spine, the first of the portents swept across the sky. I say "portents," +for I do not know by what other term to describe the apparitions; high +in the heavens, certainly at an altitude of many miles, the flaming +thing swept across my view, comet-shaped and stretching over at least +ten degrees of arc, swift as a meteor, brilliantly flesh-red, sputtering +sparks like an anvil, and leaving behind it a long ruddy trail that only +slowly faded out amid the darkening skies. + +It must have been a full minute after its disappearance before the +hissing of its flight came to my ears--a hissing so sharp, so nastily +insistent that it reached me even above the noise of the wind. And more +than another minute had passed before the earth beneath me was wrenched +and jarred as if by an earthquake and the most thunderous detonations I +had ever heard burst over me in a prolonged series. + +Let me emphasize that none of this had the quality of a dream; it was +clear-cut, as vivid as anything I had ever experienced; my mind worked +with an unusual precision and clarity, and not even a fleeting doubt +came to me of the reality of my observations. "This is some sort of +bombing attack," I remember reflecting, "some assault of super-monsters +of the skies, perfected by a super science." And I did not have to be +told the fact; I knew, as by an all-illuminating inner knowledge, that I +had voyaged into the future. + +Even as this realization came to me, I made another flight--and one that +was in space more than in time. It did not surprise me, but I took it as +the most natural thing in the world when I seemed to rise and go +floating away through the air. It was still sunset-time, but I could see +clearly enough as I went drifting at a height of several hundred yards +above a vast desolated space near the junction of two rivers. Perhaps, +however, "desolated" is not the word I should use; I should say, rather, +"shattered, pulverized, obliterated," for a scene of more utter and +hopeless ruin I have never seen nor imagined. Over an area of many +square miles, there was nothing but heaps and mounds of broken stone, +charred and crumbling brick, fire-scarred timbers, and huge contorted +masses of rusting steel like the decaying bones of superhuman monsters. +From the great height and extent of the piles of debris, and from the +occasional sight of the splintered cornice of a roof or of some battered +window-frame or door, I knew that this had once been a city, one of the +world's greatest; but no other recognizable feature remained amid the +gray masses of ruins, and the very streets and avenues had been erased. +But here and there a tremendous crater, three hundred feet across and a +hundred to a hundred and fifty feet deep, indicated the source of the +destruction. + +As if to reinforce the dread idea that had taken possession of my +brain, one of the comet-like red prodigies went streaking across the sky +even as I gazed down at the dead city; and I knew--as clearly as if I +had seen the whole spectacle with my own eyes--that the missile had +sprung from a source hundreds or thousands of miles away, possibly +across the ocean; and that, laden with scores of tons of explosives, it +had been hurled with unerring mechanical accuracy upon its mission of +annihilation. + +Then I seemed to float over vast distances of that sunset-tinted land, +and saw great craters in the fields, and villages shot to ribbons, and +farms abandoned; and the wild dogs fought for the wild cattle; and +thistles grew deep on acres where wheat had been planted, and weeds +sprouted thickly in the orchards, and blight and mildew competed for the +crops. But though here and there I could see a dugout, with traces of +fire and abandoned tools flung about at random, nowhere in all that +dismal world did I observe a living man. + +After a time I returned to a place near the ruined city by the two +rivers; and in the rocky palisades above one of the streams, I made out +some small circular holes barely large enough to admit a man. And, borne +onward by some impulse of curiosity and despair, I entered one of these +holes, and went downward, far downward into the dim recesses. And now +for the first time, at a depth of hundreds of yards, I did at last +encounter living men. My first thought was that I had gone back to the +day of the cave-man, for a cave-like hollow had been scooped out in the +solid rock. It was true that the few hundreds of people huddled together +there had the dress and looks of moderns; it was true, also, that the +gloom was lighted for them by electric bulbs, and that electric +radiators kept them warm; yet Dante himself, in painting the ninth +circle of his Inferno, could not have imagined a drearier and more +despondent group than these that slouched and drooped and muttered in +that cavernous recess, seated with their heads fallen low upon their +knees, or moodily pacing back and forth like captives who can hope for +no escape. "Here at least we will be safe from the sky marauders," I +heard one of them muttering. Yet I could not help wondering what the +mere safety of the body could mean when all the glories of man's +civilization were annihilated. + + +II + +There came a whirring in my head, and another blank interval; and when I +regained my senses I knew that another period of time had passed, +possibly months or even years. I stood on the palisade above the river, +near the entrance of the caves; and the sun was bright above me; but +there was no brightness in the men and women that trailed out of a small +circular hole in the ground. Drab as dock-rats, and pasty pale of +countenance as hospital inmates, and with bent backs and dirty, tattered +clothes and a mouse-like nosing manner, they emerged with the wariness +of hunted refugees; and they flung up their hands with low cries to +shield them from the brilliance of the sun, to which they were evidently +unaccustomed. From the packs on their backs and the bundles in their +hands, I knew that they were emerging from their subterranean refuge, to +try to begin a new life in the ravaged world above; and my heart went +out to them, for I saw that, few as they were--not more than fifty in +all--they were the sole survivors of a once-populous region, and would +have a bitter fight to wage in the man-made wilderness that had been a +world metropolis. + +But as they roamed above through the waste of ash and rubble, and as +they wandered abroad where the fields had been and saw how every brush +and tree had been seared from the earth or poisoned by chemical brews, I +knew that their fight was not merely a bitter one--it was hopeless. And +I heard them muttering among themselves, "We have not even any tools!", +and again, "We have no fuel left for the great machines!" ... For they +had lived in a highly mechanical world, and the technicians who alone +understood the workings of that world had all been destroyed, and the +sources of power had all been cut off--and power was the food without +which they could not long survive. + +Unable to endure their haggard, hangdog looks and grim, despondent eyes, +I went wandering far away, over the length and breadth of many lands. +And nowhere did I see a factory that had not been hammered to dust, nor +a village that had not been unroofed or burnt, nor a farm where the +workers went humming on their merry, toilsome way. Yet here and there I +did observe little knots of survivors. Sometimes they were half-clad +groups, lean and ferocious as famished wolves, who roamed the houseless +countryside with stones and clubs, hunting the wild birds and hares, or +making meager meals from bark and roots. Sometimes three or four men, +with the frenzied eyes and hysterical shrieks and shouts of maniacs, +would emerge from a brush hut by a river flat. Sometimes little bands of +men and women, in a dazed aimless way, would go wandering about a huge +jagged hole in the ground, where their homes and their loved ones lay +buried. I came upon solitary refugees high up on the scarred mountain +slopes, with nothing but a staff to lean upon and a deer-skin to keep +them warm. I saw more than one twisted form lying motionless at the foot +of a precipice. I witnessed a battle between two half-crazed, ravenous +bands, with murder, and cannibalism, and horrors too grisly to report. I +observed brave men resolutely trying to till the soil, whose productive +powers had been ruined by a poison spray from the sky; and I noted some +who, though the fields remained fertile enough, had not the seed to +plant; and others who had not the tools with which to plow and reap. And +some who, with great labor, managed to produce enough for three or four +mouths, had twenty or thirty to feed; and where the three or four might +have lived, the twenty or thirty perished. + +Then, with a great sadness, I knew that man, having become civilized, +cannot make himself into a savage again. He has come to depend upon +science for his sustenance, and when he himself has destroyed the means +of employing that science, he is as a babe without milk. And it is not +necessary to destroy all men in order to exterminate mankind; one need +only take from him the prop of his mechanical inventions. + + +III + +Again there came a blankness, and I passed over a stretch of time, +perhaps over years or even decades. And I had wandered far in space, to +an island somewhere on a sunny sea; and there once more I heard the +sound of voices. And somehow, through some deeper sense, I knew that +these were the voices of the only men left anywhere on the whole wide +planet. And I looked down on them, and saw that they were but few, no +more than a dozen men and women in all, with three or four children +among them. But their faces, unlike those which I had seen before, were +not haggard and seamed, nor avid like those of hunting beasts, nor +distorted by fury or famine. Their brows were broad and noble, and their +eyes shone with the sweetness of great thoughts, and their smiles were +as unuttered music; and when they glanced at me with their clear, level +gaze, I knew that they were such beings as poets had pictured as +dwellers in a far tomorrow. And I did not feel sad, though I could not +forget that they were the only things in human form that one could find +on all earth's shores, and though I knew that they were too few to +perpetuate their kind for long. Somehow I felt some vast benevolent +spirit in control, that these most perfect specimens of our race should +endure when all the wreckers had vanished. + +As I watched, I saw the people all turning their eyes to an eastern +mountain, whose summit still trailed the golden of the dawn-clouds. And +from above the peak a great illuminated sphere, like a chariot of +light, miraculously came floating down; and the blaze was such that I +could hardly bear to look at it. And exclamations of wonder and joy came +from the people's throats; and I too cried out in joy and wonder as the +radiant globe descended, and as it alighted on the plain before us, +casting a sunlike aura over everything in sight. Then through the sides +of the enormous ball--I would not say, through the door, for nothing of +the kind was visible--a glorious being emerged, followed by several of +his kind. He was shaped like a man, and was no taller than a man, and +yet there was that about him which said that he was greater than a man, +for light seemed to pour from every cell of his body, and a golden halo +was about his head, and his eyes shot forth golden beams so intense and +so magnetic that, once having observed them, I could hardly take my gaze +away. + +With slow steps he advanced, motioning the people to him; and they drew +near, and flung themselves before him on the ground, and cried out in +adoration. And I too threw myself to earth, in worship of this +superhuman creature; and I heard the words he spoke, and with some +deeper sense I translated them, though they were not uttered in any +language I knew: + +"Out of the stars we come, O men! and back to the stars we shall go, +that the best of your race may be transplanted there, and survive +through means known to us, and again be populous and great. Through the +immense evil within the breasts of your kind, you have been purged and +all but annihilated; but the good within your race has also been mighty, +and can never be expunged; and that good has called through you +surviving few to us your guardians, that we may take you to another +planet, and replenish you there, and teach you that lore of love and +truth and beauty which the blind members of your species have neglected +here while they unfitted the earth for human habitation." + +So speaking, the radiant one motioned to the people, who arose, and +followed him inside the great sphere of light; and when they had all +entered, it slowly began to ascend, and slowly dwindled and disappeared +against the morning skies. And now, I knew, there was no longer a man +left anywhere on earth; yet as I gazed at the deserted shore, the empty +beach and the bare mountainside, a sense of supreme satisfaction came +over me, as though I knew that in the end, after fire and agony and +degradation, all was eternally well. + + * * * * * + +That sense of supreme satisfaction remained with me when, after still +another blank interval, I opened my eyes as from a deep slumber, and +stared at the familiar book-rack, the bureau, the mottled paper walls of +my own room. The clock on the little table at my side indicated the hour +of 10:09--in other words, all that had happened had occupied the space +of one minute! Yet I know as surely as I know that I write these +words--that the Release Drug had freed my spirit to range over thousands +of miles of space, and that I have looked on people and events which no +other eye will view for scores, hundreds or even thousands of years to +come. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Fantasy Book_ Vol. 1 number 1 (1947). + 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. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Flight Through Tomorrow, by Stanton Arthur Coblentz + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLIGHT THROUGH TOMORROW *** + +***** This file should be named 28453.txt or 28453.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/4/5/28453/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://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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