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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29418-h.zip b/29418-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0760d80 --- /dev/null +++ b/29418-h.zip diff --git a/29418-h/29418-h.htm b/29418-h/29418-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1b4f4e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/29418-h/29418-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1585 @@ +<!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 Man from Time, by Frank Belknap Long + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1,h2 {font-weight: normal; line-height: 2em;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .bk1 {margin: 1em auto 3em; border-top: solid 2px; border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bk2 {float: left; width: 15em; margin: 1em 2em 1em 0;} + .pr1 {line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 4em;} + hr {width: 45%; margin: 1em auto; visibility: hidden;} + .smcap,.smcapl {font-variant: small-caps;} + .smcapl {text-transform: lowercase;} + p.cap:first-letter {float: left; margin-right: .05em; padding-top: .05em; font-size: 300%; line-height: .8em; width: auto;} + .figt {float: left; clear: left; margin: 15px; padding: 0; width: 140px;} + .trn {border: solid 1px; margin: 3em 15%; min-height: 230px;} + .trn p {margin: 15px;} + img {border: none;} + a:link,a:visited {text-decoration: none;} + .bk3 {margin: 1em auto; width: 20em;} + h1,h2,.rgt {text-align: right;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Man from Time, by Frank Belknap Long + +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 Man from Time + +Author: Frank Belknap Long + +Release Date: July 15, 2009 [EBook #29418] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN FROM TIME *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="bk1"><p><i><small>The method by which one man might be pinpointed in the vastness of all +Eternity was the problem tackled by the versatile Frank Belknap Long in +this story. And as all minds of great perceptiveness know, it would be a +simple, human quality he'd find most effective even in solving Time-Space.</small></i></p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><h1><b>the<br /> +man<br /> +from<br /> +time</b></h1> + +<h2><small><i>by ... Frank Belknap Long</i></small></h2> + +<p class="pr1"><big><b>Deep in the Future he found the +answer to Man's age-old problem.</b></big></p></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="smcap">Daring Moonson</span>, he was +called. It was a proud name, a +brave name. But what good was +a name that rang out like a +summons to battle if the man who +bore it could not repeat it aloud +without fear?</p> + +<p>Moonson had tried telling himself +that a man could conquer +fear if he could but once summon +the courage to laugh at all the sins +that ever were, and do as he +damned well pleased. An ancient +phrase that—damned well. It went +clear back to the Elizabethan +Age, and Moonson had tried picturing +himself as an Elizabethan +man with a ruffle at his throat and +a rapier in his clasp, brawling +lustily in a tavern.</p> + +<p>In the Elizabethan Age men +had thrown caution to the winds +and lived with their whole bodies, +not just with their minds alone. +Perhaps that was why, even in +the year 3689, defiant names still +cropped up. Names like Independence +Forest and Man, Live +Forever!</p> + +<p>It was not easy for a man to +live up to a name like Man, Live +Forever! But Moonson was ready +to believe that it could be done. +There was something in human +nature which made a man abandon +caution and try to live up to +the claims made for him by his +parents at birth.</p> + +<p>It must be bad, Moonson +thought. It must be bad if I +can't control the trembling of my +hands, the pounding of the blood +at my temples. I am like a child +shut up alone in the dark, hearing +rats scurrying in a closet thick +with cobwebs and the tapping of +a blind man's cane on a deserted +street at midnight.</p> + +<p><i>Tap, tap, tap</i>—nearer and +nearer through the darkness. How +soon would the rats be swarming +out, blood-fanged and wholly +vicious? How soon would the +cane strike?</p> + +<p>He looked up quickly, his eyes +searching the shadows. For +almost a month now the gleaming +intricacies of the machine had +given him a complete sense of +security. As a scholar traveling +in Time he had been accepted by +his fellow travelers as a man of +great courage and firm determination.</p> + +<p>For twenty-seven days a smooth +surface of shining metal had +walled him in, enabling him to +grapple with reality on a completely +adult level. For twenty-seven +days he had gone pridefully +back through Time, taking +creative delight in watching the +heritage of the human race unroll +before him like a cineramoscope +under glass.</p> + +<p>Watching a green land in the +dying golden sunlight of an age +lost to human memory could restore +a man's strength of purpose +by its serenity alone. But even +an age of war and pestilence could +be observed without torment from +behind the protective shields of +the Time Machine. Danger, accidents, +catastrophe could not touch +him personally.</p> + +<p>To watch death and destruction +as a spectator in a traveling Time +Observatory was like watching a +cobra poised to strike from behind +a pane of crystal-bright glass +in a zoological garden.</p> + +<p>You got a tremendous thrill in +just thinking: How dreadful if +the glass should not be there! +How lucky I am to be alive, with +a thing so deadly and monstrous +within striking distance of me!</p> + +<p>For twenty-seven days now he +had traveled without fear. Sometimes +the Time Observatory would +pinpoint an age and hover over +it while his companions took +painstaking historical notes. Sometimes +it would retrace its course +and circle back. A new age would +come under scrutiny and more +notes would be taken.</p> + +<p>But a horrible thing that had +happened to him, had awakened +in him a lonely nightmare of restlessness. +Childhood fears he had +thought buried forever had returned +to plague him and he had +developed a sudden, terrible dread +of the fogginess outside the moving +viewpane, the way the machine +itself wheeled and dipped when +an ancient ruin came sweeping +toward him. He had developed a +fear of Time.</p> + +<p>There was no escape from that +Time Fear. The instant it came +upon him he lost all interest in +historical research. 1069, 732, +2407, 1928—every date terrified +him. The Black Plague in London, +the Great Fire, the Spanish +Armada in flames off the coast of +a bleak little island that would +soon mold the destiny of half the +world—how meaningless it all +seemed in the shadow of his fear!</p> + +<p>Had the human race really advanced +so much? Time had been +conquered but no man was yet +wise enough to heal himself if a +stark, unreasoning fear took possession +of his mind and heart, +giving him no peace.</p> + +<p>Moonson lowered his eyes, saw +that Rutella was watching him in +the manner of a shy woman not +wishing to break in too abruptly +on the thoughts of a stranger.</p> + +<p>Deep within him he knew that +he had become a stranger to his +own wife and the realization +sharply increased his torment. He +stared down at her head against +his knee, at her beautiful back and +sleek, dark hair. Violet eyes she +had, not black as they seemed at +first glance but a deep, lustrous +violet.</p> + +<p>He remembered suddenly that +he was still a young man, with a +young man's ardor surging strong +in him. He bent swiftly, kissed +her lips and eyes. As he did so +her arms tightened about him +until he found himself wondering +what he could have done to +deserve such a woman.</p> + +<p>She had never seemed more +precious to him and for an instant +he could feel his fear lessening +a little. But it came back +and was worse than before. It +was like an old pain returning at +an unexpected moment to chill a +man with the sickening reminder +that all joy must end.</p> + +<p>His decision to act was made +quickly.</p> + +<p>The first step was the most difficult +but with a deliberate effort +of will he accomplished it to his +satisfaction. His secret thoughts +he buried beneath a continuous +mental preoccupation with the +vain and the trivial. It was important +to the success of his plan +that his companions should suspect +nothing.</p> + +<p>The second step was less difficult. +The mental block remained +firm and he succeeded in carrying +on actual preparations for his departure +in complete secrecy.</p> + +<p>The third step was the final one +and it took him from a large compartment +to a small one, from a +high-arching surface of metal to +a maze of intricate control +mechanisms in a space so narrow +that he had to crouch to work +with accuracy.</p> + +<p>Swiftly and competently his +fingers moved over instruments of +science which only a completely +sane man would have known how +to manipulate. It was an acid +test of his sanity and he knew as +he worked that his reasoning +faculties at least had suffered no +impairment.</p> + +<p>Beneath his hands the Time +Observatory's controls were solid +shafts of metal. But suddenly as +he worked he found himself thinking +of them as fluid abstractions, +each a milestone in man's long +progress from the jungle to the +stars. Time and space—mass and +velocity.</p> + +<p>How incredible that it had +taken centuries of patient technological +research to master in a +practical way the tremendous implications +of Einstein's original +postulate. Warp space with a +rapidly moving object, move away +from the observer with the speed +of light—and the whole of human +history assumed the firm contours +of a landscape in space. +Time and space merged and became +one. And a man in an +intricately-equipped Time Observatory +could revisit the past as +easily as he could travel across +the great curve of the universe to +the farthest planet of the farthest +star.</p> + +<p>The controls were suddenly +firm in his hands. He knew precisely +what adjustments to make. +The iris of the human eye dilates +and contracts with every shift of +illumination, and the Time Observatory +had an iris too. That +iris could be opened without endangering +his companions in the +least—if he took care to widen it +just enough to accommodate only +one sturdily built man of medium +height.</p> + +<p>Sweat came out in great beads +on his forehead as he worked. The +light that came through the +machine's iris was faint at first, +the barest glimmer of white in +deep darkness. But as he adjusted +controls the light grew brighter +and brighter, beating in upon him +until he was kneeling in a circle of +radiance that dazzled his eyes and +set his heart to pounding.</p> + +<p>I've lived too long with fear, +he thought. I've lived like a man +imprisoned, shut away from the +sunlight. Now, when freedom +beckons, I must act quickly or I +shall be powerless to act at all.</p> + +<p>He stood erect, took a slow +step forward, his eyes squeezed +shut. Another step, another—and +suddenly he knew he was at the +gateway to Time's sure knowledge, +in actual contact with the +past for his ears were now assailed +by the high confusion of +ancient sounds and voices!</p> + +<p>He left the Time machine in a +flying leap, one arm held before +his face. He tried to keep his eyes +covered as the ground seemed to +rise to meet him. But he lurched +in an agony of unbalance and +opened his eyes—to see the green +surface beneath him flashing like +a suddenly uncovered jewel.</p> + +<p>He remained on his feet just +long enough to see his Time Observatory +dim and vanish. Then +his knees gave way and he collapsed +with a despairing cry as +the fear enveloped him ...</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>There were daisies in the field +where he lay, his shoulders and +naked chest pressed to the earth. +A gentle wind stirred the grass, +and the flute-like warble of a +song bird was repeated close to +his ear, over and over with a tireless +persistence.</p> + +<p>Abruptly he sat up and stared +about him. Running parallel to +the field was a winding country +road and down it came a yellow +and silver vehicle on wheels, its +entire upper section encased in +glass which mirrored the autumnal +landscape with a startling clearness.</p> + +<p>The vehicle halted directly in +front of him and a man with +ruddy cheeks and snow-white hair +leaned out to wave at him.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, mister!" the +man shouted. "Can I give you a +lift into town?"</p> + +<p>Moonson rose unsteadily, alarm +and suspicion in his stare. Very +cautiously he lowered the mental +barrier and the man's thoughts +impinged on his mind in bewildering +confusion.</p> + +<p><i>He's not a farmer, that's sure +... must have been swimming in +the creek, but those bathing +trunks he's wearing are out of this +world!</i></p> + +<p><i>Huh! I wouldn't have the nerve +to parade around in trunks like +that even on a public beach. +Probably an exhibitionist ... +But why should he wear 'em out +here in the woods? No blonds or +redheads to knock silly out here!</i></p> + +<p><i>Huh! He might have the courtesy +to answer me ... Well, if he +doesn't want a lift into town it's +no concern of mine!</i></p> + +<p>Moonson stood watching the +vehicle sweep away out of sight. +Obviously he had angered the +man by his silence, but he could +answer only by shaking his head.</p> + +<p>He began to walk, pausing an +instant in the middle of the bridge +to stare down at a stream of +water that rippled in the sunlight +over moss-covered rocks. Tiny +silver fish darted to and fro beneath +a tumbling waterfall and he +felt calmed and reassured by the +sight. Shoulders erect now, he +walked on ...</p> + +<p>It was high noon when he +reached the tavern. He went inside, +saw men and women dancing +in a dim light, and there was a +huge, rainbow-colored musical instrument +by the door which +startled him by its resonance. The +music was wild, weird, a little +terrifying.</p> + +<p>He sat down at a table near the +door and searched the minds of +the dancers for a clue to the meaning +of what he saw.</p> + +<p>The thoughts which came to +him were startlingly primitive, +direct and sometimes meaningless +to him.</p> + +<p><i>Go easy, baby! Swing it! Sure, +we're in the groove now, but you +never can tell! I'll buy you an +orchid, honey! Not roses, just one +orchid—black like your hair! Ever +see a black orchid, hon? They're +rare and they're expensive!</i></p> + +<p><i>Oh, darl, darl, hold me closer! +The music goes round and round! +It will always be like that with us, +honey! Don't ever be a square! +That's all I ask! Don't ever be a +square! Cuddle up to me, let +yourself go! When you're dancing +with one girl you should never +look at another! Don't you know +that, Johnny!</i></p> + +<p><i>Sure I know it, Doll! But did I +ever claim I wasn't human?</i></p> + +<p><i>Darl, doll, doll baby! Look all +you want to! But if you ever +dare—</i></p> + +<p>Moonson found himself relaxing +a little. Dancing in all ages +was closely allied to love-making, +but it was pursued here with a +careless rapture which he found +creatively stimulating. People +came here not only to dance but +to eat, and the thoughts of the +dancers implied that there was +nothing stylized about a tavern. +The ritual was a completely +natural one.</p> + +<p>In Egyptian bas-reliefs you saw +the opposite in dancing. Every +movement rigidly prescribed, arms +held rigid and sharply bent at the +elbows. Slow movements rather +than lively ones, a bowing and a +scraping with bowls of fruit extended +in gift offerings at every +turn.</p> + +<p>There was obviously no enthroned +authority here, no bejeweled +king to pacify when +emotions ran wild, but complete +freedom to embrace joy with corybantic +abandonment.</p> + +<p>A tall man in ill-fitting black +clothes approached Moonson's +table, interrupting his reflections +with thoughts that seemed designed +to disturb and distract him +out of sheer perversity. So even +here there were flies in every ointment, +and no dream of perfection +could remain unchallenged.</p> + +<p>He sat unmoving, absorbing the +man's thoughts.</p> + +<p><i>What does he think this is, a +bath house? Mike says it's okay +to serve them if they come in +from the beach just as they are. +But just one quick beer, no more. +This late in the season you'd think +they'd have the decency to get +dressed!</i></p> + +<p>The sepulchrally-dressed man +gave the table a brush with a cloth +he carried, then thrust his head +forward like an ill-tempered scavenger +bird.</p> + +<p>"Can't serve you anything but +beer. Boss's orders. Okay?"</p> + +<p>Moonson nodded and the man +went away.</p> + +<p>Then he turned to watching the +girl. She was frightened. She sat +all alone, plucking nervously at +the red-and-white checkered tablecloth. +She sat with her back to +the light, bunching the cloth up +into little folds, then smoothing +it out again.</p> + +<p>She'd ground out lipstick-smudged +cigarettes until the ash +tray was spilling over.</p> + +<p>Moonson began to watch the +fear in her mind ...</p> + +<p>Her fear grew when she thought +that Mike wasn't gone for good. +The phone call wouldn't take long +and he'd be coming back any +minute now. And Mike wouldn't +be satisfied until she was broken +into little bits. Yes, Mike wanted +to see her on her knees, begging +him to kill her!</p> + +<p><i>Kill me, but don't hurt Joe! +It wasn't his fault! He's just a kid—he's +not twenty yet, Mike!</i></p> + +<p>That would be a lie but Mike +had no way of knowing that Joe +would be twenty-two on his next +birthday, although he looked +eighteen at most. There was no +pity in Mike but would his pride +let him hot-rod an eighteen-year-old?</p> + +<p><i>Mike won't care! Mike will kill +him anyway! Joe couldn't help +falling in love with me, but Mike +won't care what Joe could help! +Mike was never young himself, +never a sweet kid like Joe!</i></p> + +<p><i>Mike killed a man when he was +fourteen years old! He spent seven +years in a reformatory and the +kids there were never young. Joe +will be just one of those kids to +Mike ...</i></p> + +<p>Her fear kept growing.</p> + +<p>You couldn't fight men like +Mike. Mike was strong in too +many different ways. When you +ran a tavern with an upstairs room +for special customers you had to +be tough, strong. You sat in an +office and when people came to +you begging for favors you just +laughed. Ten grand isn't hay, +buddy! My wheels aren't rigged. +If you think they are get out. It's +your funeral.</p> + +<p>It's your funeral, Mike would +say, laughing until tears came +into his eyes.</p> + +<p>You couldn't fight that kind of +strength. Mike could push his +knuckles hard into the faces of +people who owed him money, and +he'd never even be arrested.</p> + +<p>Mike could take money crisp +and new out of his wallet, spread +it out like a fan, say to any girl +crazy enough to give him a second +glance: "I'm interested in you, +honey! Get rid of him and come +over to my table!"</p> + +<p>He could say worse things to +girls too decent and self-respecting +to look at him at all.</p> + +<p>You could be so cold and hard +nothing could ever hurt you. You +could be Mike Galante ...</p> + +<p>How could she have loved such +a man? And dragged Joe into it, +a good kid who had made only +one really bad mistake in his life—the +mistake of asking her to +marry him.</p> + +<p>She shivered with a chill of +self-loathing and turned her eyes +hesitantly toward the big man in +bathing trunks who sat alone by +the door.</p> + +<p>For a moment she met the big +man's eyes and her fears seemed +to fade away! She stared at +him ... sunburned almost black. +Muscles like a lifeguard. All alone +and not on the make. When he +returned her stare his eyes +sparkled with friendly interest, +but no suggestive, flirtatious intent.</p> + +<p>He was too rugged to be really +handsome, she thought, but he +wouldn't have to start digging in +his wallet to get a girl to change +tables, either.</p> + +<p>Guiltily she remembered Joe, +now it could only be Joe.</p> + +<p>Then she saw Joe enter the +room. He was deathly pale and +he was coming straight toward her +between the tables. Without pausing +to weigh his chances of staying +alive he passed a man and a +woman who relished Mike's company +enough to make them eager +to act ugly for a daily handout. +They did not look up at Joe as +he passed but the man's lips +curled in a sneer and the woman +whispered something that appeared +to fan the flames of her +companion's malice.</p> + +<p>Mike had friends—friends who +would never rat on him while +their police records remained in +Mike's safe and they could count +on him for protection.</p> + +<p>She started to rise, to go to +Joe and warn him that Mike +would be coming back. But +despair flooded her and the impulse +died. The way Joe felt +about her was a thing too big to +stop ...</p> + +<p>Joe saw her slim against the +light, and his thoughts were like +the sea surge, wild, unruly.</p> + +<p><i>Maybe Mike will get me. Maybe +I'll be dead by this time tomorrow. +Maybe I'm crazy to love +her the way I do ...</i></p> + +<p>Her hair against the light, a +tumbled mass of spun gold.</p> + +<p><i>Always a woman bothering me +for as long as I can remember. +Molly, Anne, Janice ... Some +were good for me and some were +bad.</i></p> + +<p><i>You see a woman on the street +walking ahead of you, hips swaying, +and you think: I don't even +know her name but I'd like to +crush her in my arms!</i></p> + +<p><i>I guess every guy feels like +that about every pretty woman he +sees. Even about some that aren't +so pretty. But then you get to +know and like a woman, and you +don't feel that way so much. You +respect her and you don't let +yourself feel that way.</i></p> + +<p><i>Then something happens. You +love her so much it's like the first +time again but with a whole lot +added. You love her so much +you'd die to make her happy.</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Joe was shaking when he +slipped into the chair left vacant +by Mike and reached out for +both her hands.</p> + +<p>"I'm taking you away tonight," +he said. "You're coming with +me."</p> + +<p>Joe was scared, she knew. But +he didn't want her to know. His +hands were like ice and his fear +blended with her own fear as their +hands met.</p> + +<p>"He'll kill you, Joe! You've +got to forget me!" she sobbed.</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid of him. I'm +stronger than you think. He won't +dare come at me with a gun, not +here before all these people. If +he comes at me with his fists I'll +hook a solid left to his jaw that +will stretch him out cold!"</p> + +<p>She knew he wasn't deceiving +himself. Joe didn't want to die +any more than she did.</p> + +<p>The Man from Time had an +impulse to get up, walk over to +the two frightened children and +comfort them with a reassuring +smile. He sat watching, feeling +their fear beating in tumultuous +waves into his brain. Fear in the +minds of a boy and a girl because +they desperately wanted one +another!</p> + +<p>He looked steadily at them and +his eyes spoke to them ...</p> + +<p><i>Life is greater than you know. +If you could travel in Time, and +see how great is man's courage—if +you could see all of his triumphs +over despair and grief and pain—you +would know that there is +nothing to fear! Nothing at all!</i></p> + +<p>Joe rose from the table, suddenly +calm, quiet.</p> + +<p>"Come on," he said quietly. +"We're getting out of here right +now. My car's outside and if +Mike tries to stop us I'll fix him!"</p> + +<p>The boy and the girl walked +toward the door together, a young +and extremely pretty girl and a +boy grown suddenly to the full +stature of a man.</p> + +<p>Rather regretfully Moonson +watched them go. As they reached +the door the girl turned and smiled +and the boy paused too—and +they both smiled suddenly at the +man in the bathing trunks.</p> + +<p>Then they were gone.</p> + +<p>Moonson got up as they disappeared, +left the tavern.</p> + +<p>It was dark when he reached +the cabin. He was dog-tired, and +when he saw the seated man +through the lighted window a +great longing for companionship +came upon him.</p> + +<p>He forgot that he couldn't talk +to the man, forgot the language +difficulty completely. But before +this insurmountable element occurred +to him he was inside the +cabin.</p> + +<p>Once there he saw that the +problem solved itself—the man +was a writer and he had been +drinking steadily for hours. So +the man did all of the talking, not +wanting or waiting for an answer.</p> + +<p>A youngish, handsome man he +was, with graying temples and +keenly observant eyes. The instant +he saw Moonson he started +to talk.</p> + +<p>"Welcome, stranger," he said. +"Been taking a dip in the ocean, +eh? Can't say I'd enjoy it, this +late in the season!"</p> + +<p>Moonson was afraid at first that +his silence might discourage the +writer, but he did not know +writers ...</p> + +<p>"It's good to have someone to +talk to," the writer went on. "I've +been sitting here all day trying to +write. I'll tell you something you +may not know—you can go to the +finest hotels, and you can open +case after case of the finest wine, +and you still can't get started +sometimes."</p> + +<p>The writer's face seemed suddenly +to age. Fear came into his +eyes and he raised the bottle to +his lips, faced away from his guest +as he drank as if ashamed of what +he must do to escape despair +every time he faced his fear.</p> + +<p>He was trying to write himself +back into fame. His greatest +moment had come years before +when his golden pen had glorified +a generation of madcaps.</p> + +<p>For one deathless moment his +genius had carried him to the +heights, and a white blaze of publicity +had given him a halo of +glory. Later had come lean and +bitter years until finally his reputation +dwindled like a gutted +candle in a wintry room at midnight.</p> + +<p>He could still write but now +fear and remorse walked with him +and would give him no peace. He +was cruelly afraid most of the +time.</p> + +<p>Moonson listened to the writer's +thoughts in heart-stricken silence—thoughts +so tragic they seemed +out of keeping with the natural +and beautiful rhythms of his +speech. He had never imagined +that a sensitive and imaginative +man—an artist—could be so completely +abandoned by the society +his genius had helped to enrich.</p> + +<p>Back and forth the writer +paced, baring his inmost thoughts ... +His wife was desperately ill +and the future looked completely +black. How could he summon +the strength of will to go on, let +alone to write?</p> + +<p>He said fiercely, "It's all right +for you to talk—"</p> + +<p>He stopped, seeming to realize +for the first time that the big man +sitting in an easy chair by the +window had made no attempt to +speak.</p> + +<p>It seemed incredible, but the +big man had listened in complete +silence, and with such quiet assurance +that his silence had taken +on an eloquence that inspired absolute +trust.</p> + +<p>He had always known there +were a few people like that in the +world, people whose sympathy +and understanding you could take +for granted. There was a fearlessness +in such people which +made them stand out from the +crowd, stone-markers in a desert +waste to lend assurance to a tired +wayfarer by its sturdy permanence, +its sun-mirroring strength.</p> + +<p>There were a few people like +that in the world but you sometimes +went a lifetime without +meeting one. The big man sat +there smiling at him, calmly exuding +the serenity of one who has +seen life from its tangled, inaccessible +roots outward and testifies +from experience that the entire +growth is sound.</p> + +<p>The writer stopped pacing suddenly +and drew himself erect. As +he stared into the big man's eyes +his fears seemed to fade away. +Confidence returned to him like +the surge of the sea in great shining +waves of creativeness.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>He knew suddenly that he could +lose himself in his work again, +could tap the bright resonant bell +of his genius until its golden voice +rang out through eternity. He had +another great book in him and +it would get written now. It +would get written ...</p> + +<p>"You've helped me!" he almost +shouted. "You've helped me more +than you know. I can't tell you +how grateful I am to you. You +don't know what it means to be so +paralyzed with fright that you +can't write at all!"</p> + +<p>The Man from Time was silent +but his eyes shone curiously.</p> + +<p>The writer turned to a bookcase +and removed a volume in a +faded cover that had once been +bright with rainbow colors. He +sat down and wrote an inscription +on the flyleaf.</p> + +<p>Then he rose and handed the +book to his visitor with a slight +bow. He was smiling now.</p> + +<p>"This was my first-born!" he +said.</p> + +<p>The Man from Time looked at +the title first ... <span class="smcapl">THIS SIDE OF +PARADISE</span>.</p> + +<p>Then he opened the book and +read what the author had written +on the flyleaf:</p> + +<div class="bk3"><p><i>With warm gratefulness +for a courage which brought +back the sun.</i></p> + +<p class="rgt"><i>F. Scott Fitzgerald.</i></p></div> + +<p>Moonson bowed his thanks, +turned and left the cabin.</p> + +<p>Morning found him walking +across fresh meadowlands with +the dew glistening on his bare +head and broad, straight shoulders.</p> + +<p>They'd never find him, he told +himself hopelessly. They'd never +find him because Time was too +vast to pinpoint one man in such +a vast waste of years. The towering +crests of each age might be +visible but there could be no returning +to one tiny insignificant +spot in the mighty ocean of Time.</p> + +<p>As he walked his eyes searched +for the field and the winding road +he'd followed into town. Only +yesterday this road had seemed to +beckon and he had followed, eager +to explore an age so primitive that +mental communication from mind +to mind had not yet replaced human +speech.</p> + +<p>Now he knew that the speech +faculty which mankind had long +outgrown would never cease to +act as a barrier between himself +and the men and women of this +era of the past. Without it he +could not hope to find complete +understanding and sympathy here.</p> + +<p>He was still alone and soon +winter would come and the sky +grow cold and empty ...</p> + +<p>The Time machine materialized +so suddenly before him that for +an instant his mind refused to +accept it as more than a torturing +illusion conjured up by the turbulence +of his thoughts. All at +once it towered in his path, bright +and shining, and he moved forward +over the dew-drenched grass +until he was brought up short by +a joy so overwhelming that it +seemed to him that his heart must +burst.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Rutella emerged from the +machine with a gay little laugh, +as if his stunned expression was +the most amusing in the world.</p> + +<p>"Hold still and let me kiss you, +darling," her mind said to his.</p> + +<p>She stood in the dew-bright +grass on tiptoe, her sleek dark +hair falling to her shoulders, an +extraordinarily pretty girl to be +the wife of a man so tormented.</p> + +<p>"You found me!" his thoughts +exulted. "You came back alone +and searched until you found +me!"</p> + +<p>She nodded, her eyes shining. +So Time wasn't too vast to pinpoint +after all, not when two +people were so securely wedded +in mind and heart that their +thoughts could build a bridge +across Time.</p> + +<p>"The Bureau of Emotional Adjustment +analyzed everything I +told them. Your psycho-graph +ran to fifty-seven pages, but it +was your desperate loneliness +which guided me to you."</p> + +<p>She raised his hand to her lips +and kissed it.</p> + +<p>"You see, darling, a compulsive +fear isn't easy to conquer. No +man or woman can conquer it +alone. Historians tell us that when +the first passenger rocket started +out for Mars, Space Fear took +men by surprise in the same way +your fear gripped you. The loneliness, +the utter desolation of +space, was too much for a human +mind to endure."</p> + +<p>She smiled her love. "We're +going back. We'll face it together +and we'll conquer it together. +You won't be alone now. Darling, +don't you see—it's because +you aren't a clod, because you're +sensitive and imaginative that you +experience fear. It's not anything +to be ashamed of. You were +simply the first man on Earth to +develop a new and completely +different kind of fear—Time +Fear."</p> + +<p>Moonson put out his hand and +gently touched his wife's hair.</p> + +<p>Ascending into the Time Observatory +a thought came unbidden +into his mind: <i>Others he +saved, himself he could not save.</i></p> + +<p>But that wasn't true at all now.</p> + +<p>He <i>could</i> help himself now. He +would never be alone again! When +guided by the sure hand of love +and complete trust, self-knowledge +could be a shining weapon. +The trip back might be difficult, +but holding tight to his wife's +hand he felt no misgivings, no +fear.</p> + +<div class="trn"><div class="figt"><a href="images/001-2.jpg"><img src="images/001-1.jpg" width="140" height="200" alt="" title="" /></a></div> + +<p><b><big>Transcriber's Note:</big></b></p> + +<p>This etext was produced from <i>Fantastic Universe</i> March 1954. +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.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Man from Time, by Frank Belknap Long + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN FROM TIME *** + +***** This file should be named 29418-h.htm or 29418-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/4/1/29418/ + +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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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 Man from Time + +Author: Frank Belknap Long + +Release Date: July 15, 2009 [EBook #29418] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN FROM TIME *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _The method by which one man might be pinpointed in the vastness of + all Eternity was the problem tackled by the versatile Frank Belknap + Long in this story. And as all minds of great perceptiveness know, + it would be a simple, human quality he'd find most effective even in + solving Time-Space._ + + + the + man + from + time + + _by ... Frank Belknap Long_ + + + Deep in the Future he found the + answer to Man's age-old problem. + + +Daring Moonson, he was called. It was a proud name, a brave name. But +what good was a name that rang out like a summons to battle if the man +who bore it could not repeat it aloud without fear? + +Moonson had tried telling himself that a man could conquer fear if he +could but once summon the courage to laugh at all the sins that ever +were, and do as he damned well pleased. An ancient phrase that--damned +well. It went clear back to the Elizabethan Age, and Moonson had tried +picturing himself as an Elizabethan man with a ruffle at his throat and +a rapier in his clasp, brawling lustily in a tavern. + +In the Elizabethan Age men had thrown caution to the winds and lived +with their whole bodies, not just with their minds alone. Perhaps that +was why, even in the year 3689, defiant names still cropped up. Names +like Independence Forest and Man, Live Forever! + +It was not easy for a man to live up to a name like Man, Live Forever! +But Moonson was ready to believe that it could be done. There was +something in human nature which made a man abandon caution and try to +live up to the claims made for him by his parents at birth. + +It must be bad, Moonson thought. It must be bad if I can't control the +trembling of my hands, the pounding of the blood at my temples. I am +like a child shut up alone in the dark, hearing rats scurrying in a +closet thick with cobwebs and the tapping of a blind man's cane on a +deserted street at midnight. + +_Tap, tap, tap_--nearer and nearer through the darkness. How soon would +the rats be swarming out, blood-fanged and wholly vicious? How soon +would the cane strike? + +He looked up quickly, his eyes searching the shadows. For almost a month +now the gleaming intricacies of the machine had given him a complete +sense of security. As a scholar traveling in Time he had been accepted +by his fellow travelers as a man of great courage and firm +determination. + +For twenty-seven days a smooth surface of shining metal had walled him +in, enabling him to grapple with reality on a completely adult level. +For twenty-seven days he had gone pridefully back through Time, taking +creative delight in watching the heritage of the human race unroll +before him like a cineramoscope under glass. + +Watching a green land in the dying golden sunlight of an age lost to +human memory could restore a man's strength of purpose by its serenity +alone. But even an age of war and pestilence could be observed without +torment from behind the protective shields of the Time Machine. Danger, +accidents, catastrophe could not touch him personally. + +To watch death and destruction as a spectator in a traveling Time +Observatory was like watching a cobra poised to strike from behind a +pane of crystal-bright glass in a zoological garden. + +You got a tremendous thrill in just thinking: How dreadful if the glass +should not be there! How lucky I am to be alive, with a thing so deadly +and monstrous within striking distance of me! + +For twenty-seven days now he had traveled without fear. Sometimes the +Time Observatory would pinpoint an age and hover over it while his +companions took painstaking historical notes. Sometimes it would retrace +its course and circle back. A new age would come under scrutiny and more +notes would be taken. + +But a horrible thing that had happened to him, had awakened in him a +lonely nightmare of restlessness. Childhood fears he had thought buried +forever had returned to plague him and he had developed a sudden, +terrible dread of the fogginess outside the moving viewpane, the way the +machine itself wheeled and dipped when an ancient ruin came sweeping +toward him. He had developed a fear of Time. + +There was no escape from that Time Fear. The instant it came upon him he +lost all interest in historical research. 1069, 732, 2407, 1928--every +date terrified him. The Black Plague in London, the Great Fire, the +Spanish Armada in flames off the coast of a bleak little island that +would soon mold the destiny of half the world--how meaningless it all +seemed in the shadow of his fear! + +Had the human race really advanced so much? Time had been conquered but +no man was yet wise enough to heal himself if a stark, unreasoning fear +took possession of his mind and heart, giving him no peace. + +Moonson lowered his eyes, saw that Rutella was watching him in the +manner of a shy woman not wishing to break in too abruptly on the +thoughts of a stranger. + +Deep within him he knew that he had become a stranger to his own wife +and the realization sharply increased his torment. He stared down at her +head against his knee, at her beautiful back and sleek, dark hair. +Violet eyes she had, not black as they seemed at first glance but a +deep, lustrous violet. + +He remembered suddenly that he was still a young man, with a young man's +ardor surging strong in him. He bent swiftly, kissed her lips and eyes. +As he did so her arms tightened about him until he found himself +wondering what he could have done to deserve such a woman. + +She had never seemed more precious to him and for an instant he could +feel his fear lessening a little. But it came back and was worse than +before. It was like an old pain returning at an unexpected moment to +chill a man with the sickening reminder that all joy must end. + +His decision to act was made quickly. + +The first step was the most difficult but with a deliberate effort of +will he accomplished it to his satisfaction. His secret thoughts he +buried beneath a continuous mental preoccupation with the vain and the +trivial. It was important to the success of his plan that his companions +should suspect nothing. + +The second step was less difficult. The mental block remained firm and +he succeeded in carrying on actual preparations for his departure in +complete secrecy. + +The third step was the final one and it took him from a large +compartment to a small one, from a high-arching surface of metal to a +maze of intricate control mechanisms in a space so narrow that he had to +crouch to work with accuracy. + +Swiftly and competently his fingers moved over instruments of science +which only a completely sane man would have known how to manipulate. It +was an acid test of his sanity and he knew as he worked that his +reasoning faculties at least had suffered no impairment. + +Beneath his hands the Time Observatory's controls were solid shafts of +metal. But suddenly as he worked he found himself thinking of them as +fluid abstractions, each a milestone in man's long progress from the +jungle to the stars. Time and space--mass and velocity. + +How incredible that it had taken centuries of patient technological +research to master in a practical way the tremendous implications of +Einstein's original postulate. Warp space with a rapidly moving object, +move away from the observer with the speed of light--and the whole of +human history assumed the firm contours of a landscape in space. Time +and space merged and became one. And a man in an intricately-equipped +Time Observatory could revisit the past as easily as he could travel +across the great curve of the universe to the farthest planet of the +farthest star. + +The controls were suddenly firm in his hands. He knew precisely what +adjustments to make. The iris of the human eye dilates and contracts +with every shift of illumination, and the Time Observatory had an iris +too. That iris could be opened without endangering his companions in the +least--if he took care to widen it just enough to accommodate only one +sturdily built man of medium height. + +Sweat came out in great beads on his forehead as he worked. The light +that came through the machine's iris was faint at first, the barest +glimmer of white in deep darkness. But as he adjusted controls the light +grew brighter and brighter, beating in upon him until he was kneeling in +a circle of radiance that dazzled his eyes and set his heart to +pounding. + +I've lived too long with fear, he thought. I've lived like a man +imprisoned, shut away from the sunlight. Now, when freedom beckons, I +must act quickly or I shall be powerless to act at all. + +He stood erect, took a slow step forward, his eyes squeezed shut. +Another step, another--and suddenly he knew he was at the gateway to +Time's sure knowledge, in actual contact with the past for his ears were +now assailed by the high confusion of ancient sounds and voices! + +He left the Time machine in a flying leap, one arm held before his face. +He tried to keep his eyes covered as the ground seemed to rise to meet +him. But he lurched in an agony of unbalance and opened his eyes--to see +the green surface beneath him flashing like a suddenly uncovered jewel. + +He remained on his feet just long enough to see his Time Observatory dim +and vanish. Then his knees gave way and he collapsed with a despairing +cry as the fear enveloped him ... + + * * * * * + +There were daisies in the field where he lay, his shoulders and naked +chest pressed to the earth. A gentle wind stirred the grass, and the +flute-like warble of a song bird was repeated close to his ear, over and +over with a tireless persistence. + +Abruptly he sat up and stared about him. Running parallel to the field +was a winding country road and down it came a yellow and silver vehicle +on wheels, its entire upper section encased in glass which mirrored the +autumnal landscape with a startling clearness. + +The vehicle halted directly in front of him and a man with ruddy cheeks +and snow-white hair leaned out to wave at him. + +"Good morning, mister!" the man shouted. "Can I give you a lift into +town?" + +Moonson rose unsteadily, alarm and suspicion in his stare. Very +cautiously he lowered the mental barrier and the man's thoughts impinged +on his mind in bewildering confusion. + +_He's not a farmer, that's sure ... must have been swimming in the +creek, but those bathing trunks he's wearing are out of this world!_ + +_Huh! I wouldn't have the nerve to parade around in trunks like that +even on a public beach. Probably an exhibitionist ... But why should he +wear 'em out here in the woods? No blonds or redheads to knock silly out +here!_ + +_Huh! He might have the courtesy to answer me ... Well, if he doesn't +want a lift into town it's no concern of mine!_ + +Moonson stood watching the vehicle sweep away out of sight. Obviously he +had angered the man by his silence, but he could answer only by shaking +his head. + +He began to walk, pausing an instant in the middle of the bridge to +stare down at a stream of water that rippled in the sunlight over +moss-covered rocks. Tiny silver fish darted to and fro beneath a +tumbling waterfall and he felt calmed and reassured by the sight. +Shoulders erect now, he walked on ... + +It was high noon when he reached the tavern. He went inside, saw men and +women dancing in a dim light, and there was a huge, rainbow-colored +musical instrument by the door which startled him by its resonance. The +music was wild, weird, a little terrifying. + +He sat down at a table near the door and searched the minds of the +dancers for a clue to the meaning of what he saw. + +The thoughts which came to him were startlingly primitive, direct and +sometimes meaningless to him. + +_Go easy, baby! Swing it! Sure, we're in the groove now, but you never +can tell! I'll buy you an orchid, honey! Not roses, just one +orchid--black like your hair! Ever see a black orchid, hon? They're rare +and they're expensive!_ + +_Oh, darl, darl, hold me closer! The music goes round and round! It will +always be like that with us, honey! Don't ever be a square! That's all I +ask! Don't ever be a square! Cuddle up to me, let yourself go! When +you're dancing with one girl you should never look at another! Don't you +know that, Johnny!_ + +_Sure I know it, Doll! But did I ever claim I wasn't human?_ + +_Darl, doll, doll baby! Look all you want to! But if you ever dare--_ + +Moonson found himself relaxing a little. Dancing in all ages was closely +allied to love-making, but it was pursued here with a careless rapture +which he found creatively stimulating. People came here not only to +dance but to eat, and the thoughts of the dancers implied that there was +nothing stylized about a tavern. The ritual was a completely natural +one. + +In Egyptian bas-reliefs you saw the opposite in dancing. Every movement +rigidly prescribed, arms held rigid and sharply bent at the elbows. Slow +movements rather than lively ones, a bowing and a scraping with bowls of +fruit extended in gift offerings at every turn. + +There was obviously no enthroned authority here, no bejeweled king to +pacify when emotions ran wild, but complete freedom to embrace joy with +corybantic abandonment. + +A tall man in ill-fitting black clothes approached Moonson's table, +interrupting his reflections with thoughts that seemed designed to +disturb and distract him out of sheer perversity. So even here there +were flies in every ointment, and no dream of perfection could remain +unchallenged. + +He sat unmoving, absorbing the man's thoughts. + +_What does he think this is, a bath house? Mike says it's okay to serve +them if they come in from the beach just as they are. But just one quick +beer, no more. This late in the season you'd think they'd have the +decency to get dressed!_ + +The sepulchrally-dressed man gave the table a brush with a cloth he +carried, then thrust his head forward like an ill-tempered scavenger +bird. + +"Can't serve you anything but beer. Boss's orders. Okay?" + +Moonson nodded and the man went away. + +Then he turned to watching the girl. She was frightened. She sat all +alone, plucking nervously at the red-and-white checkered tablecloth. She +sat with her back to the light, bunching the cloth up into little folds, +then smoothing it out again. + +She'd ground out lipstick-smudged cigarettes until the ash tray was +spilling over. + +Moonson began to watch the fear in her mind ... + +Her fear grew when she thought that Mike wasn't gone for good. The phone +call wouldn't take long and he'd be coming back any minute now. And Mike +wouldn't be satisfied until she was broken into little bits. Yes, Mike +wanted to see her on her knees, begging him to kill her! + +_Kill me, but don't hurt Joe! It wasn't his fault! He's just a kid--he's +not twenty yet, Mike!_ + +That would be a lie but Mike had no way of knowing that Joe would be +twenty-two on his next birthday, although he looked eighteen at most. +There was no pity in Mike but would his pride let him hot-rod an +eighteen-year-old? + +_Mike won't care! Mike will kill him anyway! Joe couldn't help falling +in love with me, but Mike won't care what Joe could help! Mike was never +young himself, never a sweet kid like Joe!_ + +_Mike killed a man when he was fourteen years old! He spent seven years +in a reformatory and the kids there were never young. Joe will be just +one of those kids to Mike ..._ + +Her fear kept growing. + +You couldn't fight men like Mike. Mike was strong in too many different +ways. When you ran a tavern with an upstairs room for special customers +you had to be tough, strong. You sat in an office and when people came +to you begging for favors you just laughed. Ten grand isn't hay, buddy! +My wheels aren't rigged. If you think they are get out. It's your +funeral. + +It's your funeral, Mike would say, laughing until tears came into his +eyes. + +You couldn't fight that kind of strength. Mike could push his knuckles +hard into the faces of people who owed him money, and he'd never even be +arrested. + +Mike could take money crisp and new out of his wallet, spread it out +like a fan, say to any girl crazy enough to give him a second glance: +"I'm interested in you, honey! Get rid of him and come over to my +table!" + +He could say worse things to girls too decent and self-respecting to +look at him at all. + +You could be so cold and hard nothing could ever hurt you. You could be +Mike Galante ... + +How could she have loved such a man? And dragged Joe into it, a good kid +who had made only one really bad mistake in his life--the mistake of +asking her to marry him. + +She shivered with a chill of self-loathing and turned her eyes +hesitantly toward the big man in bathing trunks who sat alone by the +door. + +For a moment she met the big man's eyes and her fears seemed to fade +away! She stared at him ... sunburned almost black. Muscles like a +lifeguard. All alone and not on the make. When he returned her stare his +eyes sparkled with friendly interest, but no suggestive, flirtatious +intent. + +He was too rugged to be really handsome, she thought, but he wouldn't +have to start digging in his wallet to get a girl to change tables, +either. + +Guiltily she remembered Joe, now it could only be Joe. + +Then she saw Joe enter the room. He was deathly pale and he was coming +straight toward her between the tables. Without pausing to weigh his +chances of staying alive he passed a man and a woman who relished Mike's +company enough to make them eager to act ugly for a daily handout. They +did not look up at Joe as he passed but the man's lips curled in a sneer +and the woman whispered something that appeared to fan the flames of her +companion's malice. + +Mike had friends--friends who would never rat on him while their police +records remained in Mike's safe and they could count on him for +protection. + +She started to rise, to go to Joe and warn him that Mike would be coming +back. But despair flooded her and the impulse died. The way Joe felt +about her was a thing too big to stop ... + +Joe saw her slim against the light, and his thoughts were like the sea +surge, wild, unruly. + +_Maybe Mike will get me. Maybe I'll be dead by this time tomorrow. Maybe +I'm crazy to love her the way I do ..._ + +Her hair against the light, a tumbled mass of spun gold. + +_Always a woman bothering me for as long as I can remember. Molly, Anne, +Janice ... Some were good for me and some were bad._ + +_You see a woman on the street walking ahead of you, hips swaying, and +you think: I don't even know her name but I'd like to crush her in my +arms!_ + +_I guess every guy feels like that about every pretty woman he sees. +Even about some that aren't so pretty. But then you get to know and like +a woman, and you don't feel that way so much. You respect her and you +don't let yourself feel that way._ + +_Then something happens. You love her so much it's like the first time +again but with a whole lot added. You love her so much you'd die to make +her happy._ + + * * * * * + +Joe was shaking when he slipped into the chair left vacant by Mike and +reached out for both her hands. + +"I'm taking you away tonight," he said. "You're coming with me." + +Joe was scared, she knew. But he didn't want her to know. His hands were +like ice and his fear blended with her own fear as their hands met. + +"He'll kill you, Joe! You've got to forget me!" she sobbed. + +"I'm not afraid of him. I'm stronger than you think. He won't dare come +at me with a gun, not here before all these people. If he comes at me +with his fists I'll hook a solid left to his jaw that will stretch him +out cold!" + +She knew he wasn't deceiving himself. Joe didn't want to die any more +than she did. + +The Man from Time had an impulse to get up, walk over to the two +frightened children and comfort them with a reassuring smile. He sat +watching, feeling their fear beating in tumultuous waves into his brain. +Fear in the minds of a boy and a girl because they desperately wanted +one another! + +He looked steadily at them and his eyes spoke to them ... + +_Life is greater than you know. If you could travel in Time, and see how +great is man's courage--if you could see all of his triumphs over +despair and grief and pain--you would know that there is nothing to +fear! Nothing at all!_ + +Joe rose from the table, suddenly calm, quiet. + +"Come on," he said quietly. "We're getting out of here right now. My +car's outside and if Mike tries to stop us I'll fix him!" + +The boy and the girl walked toward the door together, a young and +extremely pretty girl and a boy grown suddenly to the full stature of a +man. + +Rather regretfully Moonson watched them go. As they reached the door the +girl turned and smiled and the boy paused too--and they both smiled +suddenly at the man in the bathing trunks. + +Then they were gone. + +Moonson got up as they disappeared, left the tavern. + +It was dark when he reached the cabin. He was dog-tired, and when he saw +the seated man through the lighted window a great longing for +companionship came upon him. + +He forgot that he couldn't talk to the man, forgot the language +difficulty completely. But before this insurmountable element occurred +to him he was inside the cabin. + +Once there he saw that the problem solved itself--the man was a writer +and he had been drinking steadily for hours. So the man did all of the +talking, not wanting or waiting for an answer. + +A youngish, handsome man he was, with graying temples and keenly +observant eyes. The instant he saw Moonson he started to talk. + +"Welcome, stranger," he said. "Been taking a dip in the ocean, eh? Can't +say I'd enjoy it, this late in the season!" + +Moonson was afraid at first that his silence might discourage the +writer, but he did not know writers ... + +"It's good to have someone to talk to," the writer went on. "I've been +sitting here all day trying to write. I'll tell you something you may +not know--you can go to the finest hotels, and you can open case after +case of the finest wine, and you still can't get started sometimes." + +The writer's face seemed suddenly to age. Fear came into his eyes and he +raised the bottle to his lips, faced away from his guest as he drank as +if ashamed of what he must do to escape despair every time he faced his +fear. + +He was trying to write himself back into fame. His greatest moment had +come years before when his golden pen had glorified a generation of +madcaps. + +For one deathless moment his genius had carried him to the heights, and +a white blaze of publicity had given him a halo of glory. Later had come +lean and bitter years until finally his reputation dwindled like a +gutted candle in a wintry room at midnight. + +He could still write but now fear and remorse walked with him and would +give him no peace. He was cruelly afraid most of the time. + +Moonson listened to the writer's thoughts in heart-stricken +silence--thoughts so tragic they seemed out of keeping with the natural +and beautiful rhythms of his speech. He had never imagined that a +sensitive and imaginative man--an artist--could be so completely +abandoned by the society his genius had helped to enrich. + +Back and forth the writer paced, baring his inmost thoughts ... His wife +was desperately ill and the future looked completely black. How could he +summon the strength of will to go on, let alone to write? + +He said fiercely, "It's all right for you to talk--" + +He stopped, seeming to realize for the first time that the big man +sitting in an easy chair by the window had made no attempt to speak. + +It seemed incredible, but the big man had listened in complete silence, +and with such quiet assurance that his silence had taken on an eloquence +that inspired absolute trust. + +He had always known there were a few people like that in the world, +people whose sympathy and understanding you could take for granted. +There was a fearlessness in such people which made them stand out from +the crowd, stone-markers in a desert waste to lend assurance to a tired +wayfarer by its sturdy permanence, its sun-mirroring strength. + +There were a few people like that in the world but you sometimes went a +lifetime without meeting one. The big man sat there smiling at him, +calmly exuding the serenity of one who has seen life from its tangled, +inaccessible roots outward and testifies from experience that the +entire growth is sound. + +The writer stopped pacing suddenly and drew himself erect. As he stared +into the big man's eyes his fears seemed to fade away. Confidence +returned to him like the surge of the sea in great shining waves of +creativeness. + + * * * * * + +He knew suddenly that he could lose himself in his work again, could tap +the bright resonant bell of his genius until its golden voice rang out +through eternity. He had another great book in him and it would get +written now. It would get written ... + +"You've helped me!" he almost shouted. "You've helped me more than you +know. I can't tell you how grateful I am to you. You don't know what it +means to be so paralyzed with fright that you can't write at all!" + +The Man from Time was silent but his eyes shone curiously. + +The writer turned to a bookcase and removed a volume in a faded cover +that had once been bright with rainbow colors. He sat down and wrote an +inscription on the flyleaf. + +Then he rose and handed the book to his visitor with a slight bow. He +was smiling now. + +"This was my first-born!" he said. + +The Man from Time looked at the title first ... THIS SIDE OF PARADISE. + +Then he opened the book and read what the author had written on the +flyleaf: + + _With warm gratefulness for a courage which brought back the sun._ + + _F. Scott Fitzgerald._ + +Moonson bowed his thanks, turned and left the cabin. + +Morning found him walking across fresh meadowlands with the dew +glistening on his bare head and broad, straight shoulders. + +They'd never find him, he told himself hopelessly. They'd never find him +because Time was too vast to pinpoint one man in such a vast waste of +years. The towering crests of each age might be visible but there could +be no returning to one tiny insignificant spot in the mighty ocean of +Time. + +As he walked his eyes searched for the field and the winding road he'd +followed into town. Only yesterday this road had seemed to beckon and he +had followed, eager to explore an age so primitive that mental +communication from mind to mind had not yet replaced human speech. + +Now he knew that the speech faculty which mankind had long outgrown +would never cease to act as a barrier between himself and the men and +women of this era of the past. Without it he could not hope to find +complete understanding and sympathy here. + +He was still alone and soon winter would come and the sky grow cold and +empty ... + +The Time machine materialized so suddenly before him that for an instant +his mind refused to accept it as more than a torturing illusion conjured +up by the turbulence of his thoughts. All at once it towered in his +path, bright and shining, and he moved forward over the dew-drenched +grass until he was brought up short by a joy so overwhelming that it +seemed to him that his heart must burst. + + * * * * * + +Rutella emerged from the machine with a gay little laugh, as if his +stunned expression was the most amusing in the world. + +"Hold still and let me kiss you, darling," her mind said to his. + +She stood in the dew-bright grass on tiptoe, her sleek dark hair falling +to her shoulders, an extraordinarily pretty girl to be the wife of a man +so tormented. + +"You found me!" his thoughts exulted. "You came back alone and searched +until you found me!" + +She nodded, her eyes shining. So Time wasn't too vast to pinpoint after +all, not when two people were so securely wedded in mind and heart that +their thoughts could build a bridge across Time. + +"The Bureau of Emotional Adjustment analyzed everything I told them. +Your psycho-graph ran to fifty-seven pages, but it was your desperate +loneliness which guided me to you." + +She raised his hand to her lips and kissed it. + +"You see, darling, a compulsive fear isn't easy to conquer. No man or +woman can conquer it alone. Historians tell us that when the first +passenger rocket started out for Mars, Space Fear took men by surprise +in the same way your fear gripped you. The loneliness, the utter +desolation of space, was too much for a human mind to endure." + +She smiled her love. "We're going back. We'll face it together and we'll +conquer it together. You won't be alone now. Darling, don't you +see--it's because you aren't a clod, because you're sensitive and +imaginative that you experience fear. It's not anything to be ashamed +of. You were simply the first man on Earth to develop a new and +completely different kind of fear--Time Fear." + +Moonson put out his hand and gently touched his wife's hair. + +Ascending into the Time Observatory a thought came unbidden into his +mind: _Others he saved, himself he could not save._ + +But that wasn't true at all now. + +He _could_ help himself now. He would never be alone again! When guided +by the sure hand of love and complete trust, self-knowledge could be a +shining weapon. The trip back might be difficult, but holding tight to +his wife's hand he felt no misgivings, no fear. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Fantastic Universe_ March 1954. + 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 the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Man from Time, by Frank Belknap Long + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN FROM TIME *** + +***** This file should be named 29418.txt or 29418.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/4/1/29418/ + +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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