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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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