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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/29720-8.txt b/29720-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c92fc74 --- /dev/null +++ b/29720-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,739 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hall of Mirrors, by Fredric Brown + +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: Hall of Mirrors + +Author: Fredric Brown + +Illustrator: Vidmer + +Release Date: August 17, 2009 [EBook #29720] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALL OF MIRRORS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Hall of Mirrors + +By FREDRIC BROWN + + + _It is a tough decision to make--whether to + give up your life so you can live it over again!_ + + +For an instant you think it is temporary blindness, this sudden dark +that comes in the middle of a bright afternoon. + +It _must_ be blindness, you think; could the sun that was tanning you +have gone out instantaneously, leaving you in utter blackness? + +Then the nerves of your body tell you that you are _standing_, whereas +only a second ago you were sitting comfortably, almost reclining, in a +canvas chair. In the patio of a friend's house in Beverly Hills. Talking +to Barbara, your fiancée. Looking at Barbara--Barbara in a swim +suit--her skin golden tan in the brilliant sunshine, beautiful. + +You wore swimming trunks. Now you do not feel them on you; the slight +pressure of the elastic waistband is no longer there against your waist. +You touch your hands to your hips. You are naked. And standing. + +Whatever has happened to you is more than a change to sudden darkness or +to sudden blindness. + +You raise your hands gropingly before you. They touch a plain smooth +surface, a wall. You spread them apart and each hand reaches a corner. +You pivot slowly. A second wall, then a third, then a door. You are in a +closet about four feet square. + +Your hand finds the knob of the door. It turns and you push the door +open. + +There is light now. The door has opened to a lighted room ... a room +that you have never seen before. + + * * * * * + +It is not large, but it is pleasantly furnished--although the furniture +is of a style that is strange to you. Modesty makes you open the door +cautiously the rest of the way. But the room is empty of people. + +You step into the room, turning to look behind you into the closet, +which is now illuminated by light from the room. The closet is and is +not a closet; it is the size and shape of one, but it contains nothing, +not a single hook, no rod for hanging clothes, no shelf. It is an empty, +blank-walled, four-by-four-foot space. + +You close the door to it and stand looking around the room. It is about +twelve by sixteen feet. There is one door, but it is closed. There are +no windows. Five pieces of furniture. Four of them you recognize--more +or less. One looks like a very functional desk. One is obviously a +chair ... a comfortable-looking one. There is a table, although its top +is on several levels instead of only one. Another is a bed, or couch. +Something shimmering is lying across it and you walk over and pick the +shimmering something up and examine it. It is a garment. + +You are naked, so you put it on. Slippers are part way under the bed (or +couch) and you slide your feet into them. They fit, and they feel warm +and comfortable as nothing you have ever worn on your feet has felt. +Like lamb's wool, but softer. + +You are dressed now. You look at the door--the only door of the room +except that of the closet (closet?) from which you entered it. You walk +to the door and before you try the knob, you see the small typewritten +sign pasted just above it that reads: + + This door has a time lock set to open in one hour. For reasons you + will soon understand, it is better that you do not leave this room + before then. There is a letter for you on the desk. Please read it. + +It is not signed. You look at the desk and see that there is an envelope +lying on it. + +You do not yet go to take that envelope from the desk and read the +letter that must be in it. + +Why not? Because you are frightened. + +You see other things about the room. The lighting has no source that you +can discover. It comes from nowhere. It is not indirect lighting; the +ceiling and the walls are not reflecting it at all. + +[Illustration: Illustrated by VIDMER] + +They didn't have lighting like that, back where you came from. What did +you mean by _back where you came from_? + +You close your eyes. You tell yourself: _I am Norman Hastings. I am an +associate professor of mathematics at the University of Southern +California. I am twenty-five years old, and this is the year nineteen +hundred and fifty-four._ + +You open your eyes and look again. + + * * * * * + +They didn't use that style of furniture in Los Angeles--or anywhere else +that you know of--in 1954. That thing over in the corner--you can't even +guess what it is. So might your grandfather, at your age, have looked at +a television set. + +You look down at yourself, at the shimmering garment that you found +waiting for you. With thumb and forefinger you feel its texture. + +It's like nothing you've ever touched before. + +_I am Norman Hastings. This is nineteen hundred and fifty-four._ + +Suddenly you must know, and at once. + +You go to the desk and pick up the envelope that lies upon it. Your name +is typed on the outside: _Norman Hastings_. + +Your hands shake a little as you open it. Do you blame them? + +There are several pages, typewritten. Dear Norman, it starts. You turn +quickly to the end to look for the signature. It is unsigned. + +You turn back and start reading. + +"Do not be afraid. There is nothing to fear, but much to explain. Much +that you must understand before the time lock opens that door. Much that +you must accept and--obey. + +"You have already guessed that you are in the future--in what, to you, +seems to be the future. The clothes and the room must have told you +that. I planned it that way so the shock would not be too sudden, so you +would realize it over the course of several minutes rather than read it +here--and quite probably disbelieve what you read. + +"The 'closet' from which you have just stepped is, as you have by now +realized, a time machine. From it you stepped into the world of 2004. +The date is April 7th, just fifty years from the time you last remember. + +"You cannot return. + +"I did this to you and you may hate me for it; I do not know. That is up +to you to decide, but it does not matter. What does matter, and not to +you alone, is another decision which you must make. I am incapable of +making it. + +"Who is writing this to you? I would rather not tell you just yet. By +the time you have finished reading this, even though it is not signed +(for I knew you would look first for a signature), I will not need to +tell you who I am. You will know. + +"I am seventy-five years of age. I have, in this year 2004, been +studying 'time' for thirty of those years. I have completed the first +time machine ever built--and thus far, its construction, even the fact +that it has been constructed, is my own secret. + +"You have just participated in the first major experiment. It will be +your responsibility to decide whether there shall ever be any more +experiments with it, whether it should be given to the world, or whether +it should be destroyed and never used again." + + * * * * * + +End of the first page. You look up for a moment, hesitating to turn the +next page. Already you suspect what is coming. + +You turn the page. + +"I constructed the first time machine a week ago. My calculations had +told me that it would work, but not how it would work. I had expected it +to send an object back in time--it works backward in time only, not +forward--physically unchanged and intact. + +"My first experiment showed me my error. I placed a cube of metal in the +machine--it was a miniature of the one you just walked out of--and set +the machine to go backward ten years. I flicked the switch and opened +the door, expecting to find the cube vanished. Instead I found it had +crumbled to powder. + +"I put in another cube and sent it two years back. The second cube came +back unchanged, except that it was newer, shinier. + +"That gave me the answer. I had been expecting the cubes to go back in +time, and they had done so, but not in the sense I had expected them to. +Those metal cubes had been fabricated about three years previously. I +had sent the first one back years before it had existed in its +fabricated form. Ten years ago it had been ore. The machine returned it +to that state. + +"Do you see how our previous theories of time travel have been wrong? We +expected to be able to step into a time machine in, say, 2004, set it +for fifty years back, and then step out in the year 1954 ... but it does +not work that way. The machine does not move in time. Only whatever is +within the machine is affected, and then just with relation to itself +and not to the rest of the Universe. + +"I confirmed this with guinea pigs by sending one six weeks old five +weeks back and it came out a baby. + +"I need not outline all my experiments here. You will find a record of +them in the desk and you can study it later. + +"Do you understand now what has happened to you, Norman?" + + * * * * * + +You begin to understand. And you begin to sweat. + +The _I_ who wrote that letter you are now reading is _you_, yourself at +the age of seventy-five, in this year of 2004. You are that +seventy-five-year-old man, with your body returned to what it had been +fifty years ago, with all the memories of fifty years of living wiped +out. + +_You_ invented the time machine. + +And before you used it on yourself, you made these arrangements to help +you orient yourself. You wrote yourself the letter which you are now +reading. + +But if those fifty years are--to you--gone, what of all your friends, +those you loved? What of your parents? What of the girl you are +going--were going--to marry? + +You read on: + +"Yes, you will want to know what has happened. Mom died in 1963, Dad in +1968. You married Barbara in 1956. I am sorry to tell you that she died +only three years later, in a plane crash. You have one son. He is still +living; his name is Walter; he is now forty-six years old and is an +accountant in Kansas City." + +Tears come into your eyes and for a moment you can no longer read. +Barbara dead--dead for forty-five years. And only minutes ago, in +subjective time, you were sitting next to her, sitting in the bright sun +in a Beverly Hills patio ... + +You force yourself to read again. + +"But back to the discovery. You begin to see some of its implications. +You will need time to think to see all of them. + +"It does not permit time travel as we have thought of time travel, but +it gives us immortality of a sort. Immortality of the kind I have +temporarily given us. + +"_Is it good?_ Is it worth while to lose the memory of fifty years of +one's life in order to return one's body to relative youth? The only way +I can find out is to try, as soon as I have finished writing this and +made my other preparations. + +"You will know the answer. + +"But before you decide, remember that there is another problem, more +important than the psychological one. I mean overpopulation. + +"If our discovery is given to the world, if all who are old or dying +can make themselves young again, the population will almost double every +generation. Nor would the world--not even our own relatively enlightened +country--be willing to accept compulsory birth control as a solution. + +"Give this to the world, as the world is today in 2004, and within a +generation there will be famine, suffering, war. Perhaps a complete +collapse of civilization. + +"Yes, we have reached other planets, but they are not suitable for +colonizing. The stars may be our answer, but we are a long way from +reaching them. When we do, someday, the billions of habitable planets +that must be out there will be our answer ... our living room. But until +then, what is the answer? + +"Destroy the machine? But think of the countless lives it can save, the +suffering it can prevent. Think of what it would mean to a man dying of +cancer. Think ..." + + * * * * * + +Think. You finish the letter and put it down. + +You think of Barbara dead for forty-five years. And of the fact that you +were married to her for three years and that those years are lost to +you. + +Fifty years lost. You damn the old man of seventy-five whom you became +and who has done this to you ... who has given you this decision to +make. + +Bitterly, you know what the decision must be. You think that _he_ knew, +too, and realize that he could safely leave it in your hands. Damn him, +he _should_ have known. + +Too valuable to destroy, too dangerous to give. + +The other answer is painfully obvious. + +You must be custodian of this discovery and keep it secret until it is +safe to give, until mankind has expanded to the stars and has new worlds +to populate, or until, even without that, he has reached a state of +civilization where he can avoid overpopulation by rationing births to +the number of accidental--or voluntary--deaths. + +If neither of those things has happened in another fifty years (and are +they likely so soon?), then you, at seventy-five, will be writing +another letter like this one. You will be undergoing another experience +similar to the one you're going through now. And making the same +decision, of course. + +Why not? You'll be the same person again. + +Time and again, to preserve this secret until Man is ready for it. + +How often will you again sit at a desk like this one, thinking the +thoughts you are thinking now, feeling the grief you now feel? + +There is a click at the door and you know that the time lock has opened, +that you are now free to leave this room, free to start a new life for +yourself in place of the one you have already lived and lost. + +But you are in no hurry now to walk directly through that door. + +You sit there, staring straight ahead of you blindly, seeing in your +mind's eye the vista of a set of facing mirrors, like those in an +old-fashioned barber shop, reflecting the same thing over and over +again, diminishing into far distance. + + --FREDRIC BROWN + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Galaxy Science Fiction_ December 1953. + 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 Hall of Mirrors, by Fredric Brown + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALL OF MIRRORS *** + +***** This file should be named 29720-8.txt or 29720-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/7/2/29720/ + +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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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/29720-8.zip b/29720-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2eb3ea4 --- /dev/null +++ b/29720-8.zip diff --git a/29720-h.zip b/29720-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7024517 --- /dev/null +++ b/29720-h.zip diff --git a/29720-h/29720-h.htm b/29720-h/29720-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8fda0ff --- /dev/null +++ b/29720-h/29720-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1007 @@ +<!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 Hall of Mirrors, by Fredric Brown + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1,h2 {text-align: center;} + hr {width: 45%; margin: 2em auto; visibility: hidden;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .bk2 {margin: 1em 20%;} + .rgt,.figr {text-align: right;} + .figr {float: right; clear: right; margin: 1em 0 1em 1em; padding: 0; width: 314px;} + img {border: none;} + a:link,a:visited {text-decoration: none;} + p.cap:first-letter {float: left; margin-right: .05em; padding-top: .05em; font-size: 300%; line-height: .8em; width: auto;} + .dcap {text-transform: uppercase;} + .figt {float: left; clear: left; margin: 15px; padding: 0; width: 145px;} + .trn {border: solid 1px; margin: 3em 15%; min-height: 230px;} + .trn p {margin: 15px;} + .bk1 {margin: 2em auto 2em 0; width: 18em; line-height: 1.5;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hall of Mirrors, by Fredric Brown + +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: Hall of Mirrors + +Author: Fredric Brown + +Illustrator: Vidmer + +Release Date: August 17, 2009 [EBook #29720] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALL OF MIRRORS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1><big>Hall of Mirrors</big></h1> + +<h2>By FREDRIC BROWN</h2> + +<div class="bk1"><p><b><big><i>It is a tough decision to make—whether to +give up your life so you can live it over again!</i></big></b></p></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">For</span> an instant you think +it is temporary blindness, +this sudden dark that +comes in the middle of a bright +afternoon.</p> + +<p>It <i>must</i> be blindness, you +think; could the sun that was +tanning you have gone out instantaneously, +leaving you in utter +blackness?</p> + +<p>Then the nerves of your body +tell you that you are <i>standing</i>, +whereas only a second ago you +were sitting comfortably, almost +reclining, in a canvas chair. In +the patio of a friend's house in +Beverly Hills. Talking to Barbara, +your fiancée. Looking at +Barbara—Barbara in a swim suit—her +skin golden tan in the brilliant +sunshine, beautiful.</p> + +<p>You wore swimming trunks. +Now you do not feel them on +you; the slight pressure of the +elastic waistband is no longer +there against your waist. You +touch your hands to your hips. +You are naked. And standing.</p> + +<p>Whatever has happened to you +is more than a change to sudden +darkness or to sudden blindness.</p> + +<p>You raise your hands gropingly +before you. They touch a plain +smooth surface, a wall. You +spread them apart and each hand +reaches a corner. You pivot slowly. +A second wall, then a third, +then a door. You are in a closet +about four feet square.</p> + +<p>Your hand finds the knob of +the door. It turns and you push +the door open.</p> + +<p>There is light now. The door +has opened to a lighted room ... +a room that you have never seen +before.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">It</span> is not large, but it is pleasantly +furnished—although +the furniture is of a style that is +strange to you. Modesty makes +you open the door cautiously the +rest of the way. But the room is +empty of people.</p> + +<p>You step into the room, turning +to look behind you into the +closet, which is now illuminated +by light from the room. The closet +is and is not a closet; it is the +size and shape of one, but it +contains nothing, not a single +hook, no rod for hanging clothes, +no shelf. It is an empty, blank-walled, +four-by-four-foot space.</p> + +<p>You close the door to it and +stand looking around the room. +It is about twelve by sixteen feet. +There is one door, but it is closed. +There are no windows. Five +pieces of furniture. Four of them +you recognize—more or less. One +looks like a very functional desk. +One is obviously a chair ... a +comfortable-looking one. There +is a table, although its top is on +several levels instead of only one. +Another is a bed, or couch. +Something shimmering is lying +across it and you walk over and +pick the shimmering something +up and examine it. It is a garment.</p> + +<p>You are naked, so you put it +on. Slippers are part way under +the bed (or couch) and you slide +your feet into them. They fit, +and they feel warm and comfortable +as nothing you have ever +worn on your feet has felt. Like +lamb's wool, but softer.</p> + +<p>You are dressed now. You +look at the door—the only door +of the room except that of the +closet (closet?) from which you +entered it. You walk to the door +and before you try the knob, you +see the small typewritten sign +pasted just above it that reads:</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p><b>This door has a time lock set to +open in one hour. For reasons you +will soon understand, it is better +that you do not leave this room before +then. There is a letter for you +on the desk. Please read it.</b></p></div> + +<p>It is not signed. You look at +the desk and see that there is +an envelope lying on it.</p> + +<p>You do not yet go to take that +envelope from the desk and read +the letter that must be in it.</p> + +<p>Why not? Because you are +frightened.</p> + +<p>You see other things about the +room. The lighting has no source +that you can discover. It comes +from nowhere. It is not indirect +lighting; the ceiling and the walls +are not reflecting it at all.</p> + +<div class="figr"><img src="images/001.png" width="314" height="500" alt="" title="" /><small><b>Illustrated by VIDMER</b></small></div> + +<p>They didn't have lighting like +that, back where you came from. +What did you mean by <i>back +where you came from</i>?</p> + +<p>You close your eyes. You tell +yourself: <i>I am Norman Hastings. +I am an associate professor of +mathematics at the University of +Southern California. I am twenty-five +years old, and this is the +year nineteen hundred and fifty-four.</i></p> + +<p>You open your eyes and look +again.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">They</span> didn't use that style of +furniture in Los Angeles—or +anywhere else that you know of—in +1954. That thing over in the +corner—you can't even guess +what it is. So might your grandfather, +at your age, have looked +at a television set.</p> + +<p>You look down at yourself, at +the shimmering garment that +you found waiting for you. With +thumb and forefinger you feel its +texture.</p> + +<p>It's like nothing you've ever +touched before.</p> + +<p><i>I am Norman Hastings. This +is nineteen hundred and fifty-four.</i></p> + +<p>Suddenly you must know, and +at once.</p> + +<p>You go to the desk and pick +up the envelope that lies upon it. +Your name is typed on the outside: +<i>Norman Hastings</i>.</p> + +<p>Your hands shake a little as +you open it. Do you blame them?</p> + +<p>There are several pages, typewritten. +Dear Norman, it starts. +You turn quickly to the end to +look for the signature. It is unsigned.</p> + +<p>You turn back and start reading.</p> + +<p>"Do not be afraid. There is +nothing to fear, but much to explain. +Much that you must understand +before the time lock +opens that door. Much that you +must accept and—obey.</p> + +<p>"You have already guessed +that you are in the future—in +what, to you, seems to be the +future. The clothes and the room +must have told you that. I planned +it that way so the shock +would not be too sudden, so you +would realize it over the course +of several minutes rather than +read it here—and quite probably +disbelieve what you read.</p> + +<p>"The 'closet' from which you +have just stepped is, as you have +by now realized, a time machine. +From it you stepped into the +world of 2004. The date is April +7th, just fifty years from the time +you last remember.</p> + +<p>"You cannot return.</p> + +<p>"I did this to you and you may +hate me for it; I do not know. +That is up to you to decide, but +it does not matter. What does +matter, and not to you alone, is +another decision which you must +make. I am incapable of making +it.</p> + +<p>"Who is writing this to you? I +would rather not tell you just +yet. By the time you have finished +reading this, even though it is +not signed (for I knew you would +look first for a signature), I will +not need to tell you who I am. +You will know.</p> + +<p>"I am seventy-five years of +age. I have, in this year 2004, +been studying 'time' for thirty +of those years. I have completed +the first time machine ever built—and +thus far, its construction, +even the fact that it has been +constructed, is my own secret.</p> + +<p>"You have just participated in +the first major experiment. It +will be your responsibility to decide +whether there shall ever be +any more experiments with it, +whether it should be given to the +world, or whether it should be +destroyed and never used again."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">End</span> of the first page. You +look up for a moment, hesitating +to turn the next page. Already +you suspect what is coming.</p> + +<p>You turn the page.</p> + +<p>"I constructed the first time +machine a week ago. My calculations +had told me that it would +work, but not how it would work. +I had expected it to send an object +back in time—it works backward +in time only, not forward—physically +unchanged and intact.</p> + +<p>"My first experiment showed +me my error. I placed a cube of +metal in the machine—it was a +miniature of the one you just +walked out of—and set the machine +to go backward ten years. I +flicked the switch and opened +the door, expecting to find the +cube vanished. Instead I found it +had crumbled to powder.</p> + +<p>"I put in another cube and sent +it two years back. The second +cube came back unchanged, except +that it was newer, shinier.</p> + +<p>"That gave me the answer. I +had been expecting the cubes to +go back in time, and they had +done so, but not in the sense I +had expected them to. Those +metal cubes had been fabricated +about three years previously. I +had sent the first one back years +before it had existed in its fabricated +form. Ten years ago it had +been ore. The machine returned it +to that state.</p> + +<p>"Do you see how our previous +theories of time travel have been +wrong? We expected to be able +to step into a time machine in, +say, 2004, set it for fifty years +back, and then step out in the +year 1954 ... but it does not +work that way. The machine +does not move in time. Only +whatever is within the machine +is affected, and then just with +relation to itself and not to the +rest of the Universe.</p> + +<p>"I confirmed this with guinea +pigs by sending one six weeks +old five weeks back and it came +out a baby.</p> + +<p>"I need not outline all my experiments +here. You will find a +record of them in the desk and +you can study it later.</p> + +<p>"Do you understand now what +has happened to you, Norman?"</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">You</span> begin to understand. And +you begin to sweat.</p> + +<p>The <i>I</i> who wrote that letter +you are now reading is <i>you</i>, +yourself at the age of seventy-five, +in this year of 2004. You +are that seventy-five-year-old +man, with your body returned to +what it had been fifty years ago, +with all the memories of fifty +years of living wiped out.</p> + +<p><i>You</i> invented the time machine.</p> + +<p>And before you used it on +yourself, you made these arrangements +to help you orient yourself. +You wrote yourself the letter +which you are now reading.</p> + +<p>But if those fifty years are—to +you—gone, what of all your +friends, those you loved? What +of your parents? What of the girl +you are going—were going—to +marry?</p> + +<p>You read on:</p> + +<p>"Yes, you will want to know +what has happened. Mom died in +1963, Dad in 1968. You married +Barbara in 1956. I am sorry to +tell you that she died only three +years later, in a plane crash. You +have one son. He is still living; +his name is Walter; he is now +forty-six years old and is an accountant +in Kansas City."</p> + +<p>Tears come into your eyes and +for a moment you can no longer +read. Barbara dead—dead for +forty-five years. And only minutes +ago, in subjective time, you +were sitting next to her, sitting +in the bright sun in a Beverly +Hills patio ...</p> + +<p>You force yourself to read +again.</p> + +<p>"But back to the discovery. +You begin to see some of its +implications. You will need time +to think to see all of them.</p> + +<p>"It does not permit time travel +as we have thought of time travel, +but it gives us immortality of +a sort. Immortality of the kind +I have temporarily given us.</p> + +<p>"<i>Is it good?</i> Is it worth while to +lose the memory of fifty years of +one's life in order to return one's +body to relative youth? The only +way I can find out is to try, as +soon as I have finished writing +this and made my other preparations.</p> + +<p>"You will know the answer.</p> + +<p>"But before you decide, remember +that there is another +problem, more important than +the psychological one. I mean +overpopulation.</p> + +<p>"If our discovery is given to +the world, if all who are old or +dying can make themselves +young again, the population will +almost double every generation. +Nor would the world—not even +our own relatively enlightened +country—be willing to accept +compulsory birth control as a +solution.</p> + +<p>"Give this to the world, as the +world is today in 2004, and within +a generation there will be famine, +suffering, war. Perhaps a +complete collapse of civilization.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we have reached other +planets, but they are not suitable +for colonizing. The stars may +be our answer, but we are a long +way from reaching them. When +we do, someday, the billions of +habitable planets that must be +out there will be our answer ... +our living room. But until then, +what is the answer?</p> + +<p>"Destroy the machine? But +think of the countless lives it can +save, the suffering it can prevent. +Think of what it would +mean to a man dying of cancer. +Think ..."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Think</span>. You finish the letter +and put it down.</p> + +<p>You think of Barbara dead for +forty-five years. And of the fact +that you were married to her for +three years and that those years +are lost to you.</p> + +<p>Fifty years lost. You damn the +old man of seventy-five whom +you became and who has done +this to you ... who has given you +this decision to make.</p> + +<p>Bitterly, you know what the +decision must be. You think that +<i>he</i> knew, too, and realize that he +could safely leave it in your +hands. Damn him, he <i>should</i> +have known.</p> + +<p>Too valuable to destroy, too +dangerous to give.</p> + +<p>The other answer is painfully +obvious.</p> + +<p>You must be custodian of this +discovery and keep it secret until +it is safe to give, until mankind +has expanded to the stars and +has new worlds to populate, or +until, even without that, he has +reached a state of civilization +where he can avoid overpopulation +by rationing births to the +number of accidental—or voluntary—deaths.</p> + +<p>If neither of those things has +happened in another fifty years +(and are they likely so soon?), +then you, at seventy-five, will be +writing another letter like this +one. You will be undergoing another +experience similar to the +one you're going through now. +And making the same decision, +of course.</p> + +<p>Why not? You'll be the same +person again.</p> + +<p>Time and again, to preserve +this secret until Man is ready for +it.</p> + +<p>How often will you again sit +at a desk like this one, thinking +the thoughts you are thinking +now, feeling the grief you now +feel?</p> + +<p>There is a click at the door and +you know that the time lock has +opened, that you are now free +to leave this room, free to start +a new life for yourself in place of +the one you have already lived +and lost.</p> + +<p>But you are in no hurry now to +walk directly through that door.</p> + +<p>You sit there, staring straight +ahead of you blindly, seeing in +your mind's eye the vista of a set +of facing mirrors, like those in +an old-fashioned barber shop, reflecting +the same thing over and +over again, diminishing into far +distance.</p> + +<p class="rgt"><b>—FREDRIC BROWN</b></p> + +<div class="trn"><div class="figt"><a href="images/002-2.jpg"><img src="images/002-1.jpg" width="145" height="200" alt="" title="" /></a></div> + +<p><big><b>Transcriber's Note:</b></big></p> + +<p>This etext was produced from <i>Galaxy Science Fiction</i> December 1953. +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 Hall of Mirrors, by Fredric Brown + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALL OF MIRRORS *** + +***** This file should be named 29720-h.htm or 29720-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/7/2/29720/ + +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: Hall of Mirrors + +Author: Fredric Brown + +Illustrator: Vidmer + +Release Date: August 17, 2009 [EBook #29720] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALL OF MIRRORS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Hall of Mirrors + +By FREDRIC BROWN + + + _It is a tough decision to make--whether to + give up your life so you can live it over again!_ + + +For an instant you think it is temporary blindness, this sudden dark +that comes in the middle of a bright afternoon. + +It _must_ be blindness, you think; could the sun that was tanning you +have gone out instantaneously, leaving you in utter blackness? + +Then the nerves of your body tell you that you are _standing_, whereas +only a second ago you were sitting comfortably, almost reclining, in a +canvas chair. In the patio of a friend's house in Beverly Hills. Talking +to Barbara, your fiancee. Looking at Barbara--Barbara in a swim +suit--her skin golden tan in the brilliant sunshine, beautiful. + +You wore swimming trunks. Now you do not feel them on you; the slight +pressure of the elastic waistband is no longer there against your waist. +You touch your hands to your hips. You are naked. And standing. + +Whatever has happened to you is more than a change to sudden darkness or +to sudden blindness. + +You raise your hands gropingly before you. They touch a plain smooth +surface, a wall. You spread them apart and each hand reaches a corner. +You pivot slowly. A second wall, then a third, then a door. You are in a +closet about four feet square. + +Your hand finds the knob of the door. It turns and you push the door +open. + +There is light now. The door has opened to a lighted room ... a room +that you have never seen before. + + * * * * * + +It is not large, but it is pleasantly furnished--although the furniture +is of a style that is strange to you. Modesty makes you open the door +cautiously the rest of the way. But the room is empty of people. + +You step into the room, turning to look behind you into the closet, +which is now illuminated by light from the room. The closet is and is +not a closet; it is the size and shape of one, but it contains nothing, +not a single hook, no rod for hanging clothes, no shelf. It is an empty, +blank-walled, four-by-four-foot space. + +You close the door to it and stand looking around the room. It is about +twelve by sixteen feet. There is one door, but it is closed. There are +no windows. Five pieces of furniture. Four of them you recognize--more +or less. One looks like a very functional desk. One is obviously a +chair ... a comfortable-looking one. There is a table, although its top +is on several levels instead of only one. Another is a bed, or couch. +Something shimmering is lying across it and you walk over and pick the +shimmering something up and examine it. It is a garment. + +You are naked, so you put it on. Slippers are part way under the bed (or +couch) and you slide your feet into them. They fit, and they feel warm +and comfortable as nothing you have ever worn on your feet has felt. +Like lamb's wool, but softer. + +You are dressed now. You look at the door--the only door of the room +except that of the closet (closet?) from which you entered it. You walk +to the door and before you try the knob, you see the small typewritten +sign pasted just above it that reads: + + This door has a time lock set to open in one hour. For reasons you + will soon understand, it is better that you do not leave this room + before then. There is a letter for you on the desk. Please read it. + +It is not signed. You look at the desk and see that there is an envelope +lying on it. + +You do not yet go to take that envelope from the desk and read the +letter that must be in it. + +Why not? Because you are frightened. + +You see other things about the room. The lighting has no source that you +can discover. It comes from nowhere. It is not indirect lighting; the +ceiling and the walls are not reflecting it at all. + +[Illustration: Illustrated by VIDMER] + +They didn't have lighting like that, back where you came from. What did +you mean by _back where you came from_? + +You close your eyes. You tell yourself: _I am Norman Hastings. I am an +associate professor of mathematics at the University of Southern +California. I am twenty-five years old, and this is the year nineteen +hundred and fifty-four._ + +You open your eyes and look again. + + * * * * * + +They didn't use that style of furniture in Los Angeles--or anywhere else +that you know of--in 1954. That thing over in the corner--you can't even +guess what it is. So might your grandfather, at your age, have looked at +a television set. + +You look down at yourself, at the shimmering garment that you found +waiting for you. With thumb and forefinger you feel its texture. + +It's like nothing you've ever touched before. + +_I am Norman Hastings. This is nineteen hundred and fifty-four._ + +Suddenly you must know, and at once. + +You go to the desk and pick up the envelope that lies upon it. Your name +is typed on the outside: _Norman Hastings_. + +Your hands shake a little as you open it. Do you blame them? + +There are several pages, typewritten. Dear Norman, it starts. You turn +quickly to the end to look for the signature. It is unsigned. + +You turn back and start reading. + +"Do not be afraid. There is nothing to fear, but much to explain. Much +that you must understand before the time lock opens that door. Much that +you must accept and--obey. + +"You have already guessed that you are in the future--in what, to you, +seems to be the future. The clothes and the room must have told you +that. I planned it that way so the shock would not be too sudden, so you +would realize it over the course of several minutes rather than read it +here--and quite probably disbelieve what you read. + +"The 'closet' from which you have just stepped is, as you have by now +realized, a time machine. From it you stepped into the world of 2004. +The date is April 7th, just fifty years from the time you last remember. + +"You cannot return. + +"I did this to you and you may hate me for it; I do not know. That is up +to you to decide, but it does not matter. What does matter, and not to +you alone, is another decision which you must make. I am incapable of +making it. + +"Who is writing this to you? I would rather not tell you just yet. By +the time you have finished reading this, even though it is not signed +(for I knew you would look first for a signature), I will not need to +tell you who I am. You will know. + +"I am seventy-five years of age. I have, in this year 2004, been +studying 'time' for thirty of those years. I have completed the first +time machine ever built--and thus far, its construction, even the fact +that it has been constructed, is my own secret. + +"You have just participated in the first major experiment. It will be +your responsibility to decide whether there shall ever be any more +experiments with it, whether it should be given to the world, or whether +it should be destroyed and never used again." + + * * * * * + +End of the first page. You look up for a moment, hesitating to turn the +next page. Already you suspect what is coming. + +You turn the page. + +"I constructed the first time machine a week ago. My calculations had +told me that it would work, but not how it would work. I had expected it +to send an object back in time--it works backward in time only, not +forward--physically unchanged and intact. + +"My first experiment showed me my error. I placed a cube of metal in the +machine--it was a miniature of the one you just walked out of--and set +the machine to go backward ten years. I flicked the switch and opened +the door, expecting to find the cube vanished. Instead I found it had +crumbled to powder. + +"I put in another cube and sent it two years back. The second cube came +back unchanged, except that it was newer, shinier. + +"That gave me the answer. I had been expecting the cubes to go back in +time, and they had done so, but not in the sense I had expected them to. +Those metal cubes had been fabricated about three years previously. I +had sent the first one back years before it had existed in its +fabricated form. Ten years ago it had been ore. The machine returned it +to that state. + +"Do you see how our previous theories of time travel have been wrong? We +expected to be able to step into a time machine in, say, 2004, set it +for fifty years back, and then step out in the year 1954 ... but it does +not work that way. The machine does not move in time. Only whatever is +within the machine is affected, and then just with relation to itself +and not to the rest of the Universe. + +"I confirmed this with guinea pigs by sending one six weeks old five +weeks back and it came out a baby. + +"I need not outline all my experiments here. You will find a record of +them in the desk and you can study it later. + +"Do you understand now what has happened to you, Norman?" + + * * * * * + +You begin to understand. And you begin to sweat. + +The _I_ who wrote that letter you are now reading is _you_, yourself at +the age of seventy-five, in this year of 2004. You are that +seventy-five-year-old man, with your body returned to what it had been +fifty years ago, with all the memories of fifty years of living wiped +out. + +_You_ invented the time machine. + +And before you used it on yourself, you made these arrangements to help +you orient yourself. You wrote yourself the letter which you are now +reading. + +But if those fifty years are--to you--gone, what of all your friends, +those you loved? What of your parents? What of the girl you are +going--were going--to marry? + +You read on: + +"Yes, you will want to know what has happened. Mom died in 1963, Dad in +1968. You married Barbara in 1956. I am sorry to tell you that she died +only three years later, in a plane crash. You have one son. He is still +living; his name is Walter; he is now forty-six years old and is an +accountant in Kansas City." + +Tears come into your eyes and for a moment you can no longer read. +Barbara dead--dead for forty-five years. And only minutes ago, in +subjective time, you were sitting next to her, sitting in the bright sun +in a Beverly Hills patio ... + +You force yourself to read again. + +"But back to the discovery. You begin to see some of its implications. +You will need time to think to see all of them. + +"It does not permit time travel as we have thought of time travel, but +it gives us immortality of a sort. Immortality of the kind I have +temporarily given us. + +"_Is it good?_ Is it worth while to lose the memory of fifty years of +one's life in order to return one's body to relative youth? The only way +I can find out is to try, as soon as I have finished writing this and +made my other preparations. + +"You will know the answer. + +"But before you decide, remember that there is another problem, more +important than the psychological one. I mean overpopulation. + +"If our discovery is given to the world, if all who are old or dying +can make themselves young again, the population will almost double every +generation. Nor would the world--not even our own relatively enlightened +country--be willing to accept compulsory birth control as a solution. + +"Give this to the world, as the world is today in 2004, and within a +generation there will be famine, suffering, war. Perhaps a complete +collapse of civilization. + +"Yes, we have reached other planets, but they are not suitable for +colonizing. The stars may be our answer, but we are a long way from +reaching them. When we do, someday, the billions of habitable planets +that must be out there will be our answer ... our living room. But until +then, what is the answer? + +"Destroy the machine? But think of the countless lives it can save, the +suffering it can prevent. Think of what it would mean to a man dying of +cancer. Think ..." + + * * * * * + +Think. You finish the letter and put it down. + +You think of Barbara dead for forty-five years. And of the fact that you +were married to her for three years and that those years are lost to +you. + +Fifty years lost. You damn the old man of seventy-five whom you became +and who has done this to you ... who has given you this decision to +make. + +Bitterly, you know what the decision must be. You think that _he_ knew, +too, and realize that he could safely leave it in your hands. Damn him, +he _should_ have known. + +Too valuable to destroy, too dangerous to give. + +The other answer is painfully obvious. + +You must be custodian of this discovery and keep it secret until it is +safe to give, until mankind has expanded to the stars and has new worlds +to populate, or until, even without that, he has reached a state of +civilization where he can avoid overpopulation by rationing births to +the number of accidental--or voluntary--deaths. + +If neither of those things has happened in another fifty years (and are +they likely so soon?), then you, at seventy-five, will be writing +another letter like this one. You will be undergoing another experience +similar to the one you're going through now. And making the same +decision, of course. + +Why not? You'll be the same person again. + +Time and again, to preserve this secret until Man is ready for it. + +How often will you again sit at a desk like this one, thinking the +thoughts you are thinking now, feeling the grief you now feel? + +There is a click at the door and you know that the time lock has opened, +that you are now free to leave this room, free to start a new life for +yourself in place of the one you have already lived and lost. + +But you are in no hurry now to walk directly through that door. + +You sit there, staring straight ahead of you blindly, seeing in your +mind's eye the vista of a set of facing mirrors, like those in an +old-fashioned barber shop, reflecting the same thing over and over +again, diminishing into far distance. + + --FREDRIC BROWN + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Galaxy Science Fiction_ December 1953. + 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 Hall of Mirrors, by Fredric Brown + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALL OF MIRRORS *** + +***** This file should be named 29720.txt or 29720.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/7/2/29720/ + +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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