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diff --git a/31663.txt b/31663.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5fcb366 --- /dev/null +++ b/31663.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1617 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Six Fingers of Time, by Raphael Aloysius Lafferty + +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 Six Fingers of Time + +Author: Raphael Aloysius Lafferty + +Release Date: March 16, 2010 [EBook #31663] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SIX FINGERS OF TIME *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Irma Spehar and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +This etext was produced from the September 1960 issue of If. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U. S. +copyright on this publication was renewed. Obvious printer's and +punctuation errors have been fixed. Original page numbers have +been retained. + + + [Illustration] + + THE SIX FINGERS OF TIME + + [Illustration] + + _Time is money. + Time heals all wounds. + Given time, + anything is possible. + And now he had all the + time in the world!_ + + By R. A. LAFFERTY + + Illustrated by GAUGHAN + + +He began by breaking things that morning. He broke the glass of +water on his night stand. He knocked it crazily against the +opposite wall and shattered it. Yet it shattered slowly. This +would have surprised him if he had been fully awake, for he had +only reached out sleepily for it. + +Nor had he wakened regularly to his alarm; he had wakened to a +weird, slow, low booming, yet the clock said six, time for the +alarm. And the low boom, when it came again, seemed to come from +the clock. + +He reached out and touched it gently, but it floated off the +stand at his touch and bounced around slowly on the floor. And +when he picked it up again it had stopped, nor would shaking +start it. + +He checked the electric clock in the kitchen. This also said six +o'clock, but the sweep hand did not move. In his living room the +radio clock said six, but the second hand seemed stationary. + +"But the lights in both rooms work," said Vincent. "How are the +clocks stopped? Are they on a separate circuit?" + +He went back to his bedroom and got his wristwatch. It also said +six; and its sweep hand did not sweep. + +"Now this could get silly. What is it that would stop both +mechanical and electrical clocks?" + +He went to the window and looked out at the clock on the Mutual +Insurance Building. It said six o'clock, and the second hand did +not move. + +"Well, it is possible that the confusion is not limited to +myself. I once heard the fanciful theory that a cold shower will +clear the mind. For me it never has, but I will try it. I can +always use cleanliness for an excuse." + +The shower didn't work. Yes, it did: the water came now, but not +like water; like very slow syrup that hung in the air. He reached +up to touch it there hanging down and stretching. And it +shattered like glass when he touched it and drifted in fantastic +slow globs across the room. But it had the feel of water, wet and +pleasantly cool. And in a quarter of a minute or so it was down +over his shoulders and back, and he luxuriated in it. He let it +soak his head and it cleared his wits at once. + +"There is not a thing wrong with me. I am fine. It is not my +fault that the water is slow this morning and other things awry." + +He reached for the towel and it tore to pieces in his hands like +porous wet paper. + + +Now he became very careful in the way he handled things. Slowly, +tenderly, and deftly he took them so that they would not break. +He shaved himself without mishap in spite of the slow water in +the lavatory also. + +Then he dressed himself with the greatest caution and cunning, +breaking nothing except his shoe laces, a thing that is likely to +happen at any time. + +"If there is nothing the matter with me, then I will check and +see if there is anything seriously wrong with the world. The dawn +was fairly along when I looked out, as it should have been. +Approximately twenty minutes have passed; it is a clear morning; +the sun should now have hit the top several stories of the +Insurance Building." + +But it had not. It was a clear morning, but the dawn had not +brightened at all in the twenty minutes. And that big clock +still said six. It had not changed. + +Yet it had changed, and he knew it with a queer feeling. He +pictured it as it had been before. The hour and the minute hand +had not moved noticeably. But the second hand had moved. It had +moved a third of the dial. + +So he pulled up a chair to the window and watched it. He realized +that, though he could not see it move, yet it did make progress. +He watched it for perhaps five minutes. It moved through a space +of perhaps five seconds. + +"Well, that is not my problem. It is that of the clock maker, +either a terrestrial or a celestial one." + +But he left his rooms without a good breakfast, and he left them +very early. How did he know that it was early since there was +something wrong with the time? Well, it was early at least +according to the sun and according to the clocks, neither of +which institutions seemed to be working properly. + +He left without a good breakfast because the coffee would not +make and the bacon would not fry. And in plain point of fact the +fire would not heat. The gas flame came from the pilot light like +a slowly spreading stream or an unfolding flower. Then it burned +far too steadily. The skillet remained cold when placed over it; +nor would water even heat. It had taken at least five minutes to +get the water out of the faucet in the first place. + +He ate a few pieces of leftover bread and some scraps of meat. + +In the street there was no motion, no real motion. A truck, first +seeming at rest, moved very slowly. There was no gear in which it +could move so slowly. And there was a taxi which crept along, but +Charles Vincent had to look at it carefully for some time to be +sure that it was in motion. Then he received a shock. He realized +by the early morning light that the driver of it was dead. Dead +with his eyes wide open! + +Slowly as it was going, and by whatever means it was moving, it +should really be stopped. He walked over to it, opened the door, +and pulled on the brake. Then he looked into the eyes of the dead +man. Was he really dead? It was hard to be sure. He felt warm. +But, even as Vincent looked, the eyes of the dead man had begun +to close. And close they did and open again in a matter of about +twenty seconds. + + +This was weird. The slowly closing and opening eyes sent a chill +through Vincent. And the dead man had begun to lean forward in +his seat. Vincent put a hand in the middle of the man's chest to +hold him upright, but he found the forward pressure as relentless +as it was slow. He was unable to keep the dead man up. + +So he let him go, watching curiously; and in a few seconds the +driver's face was against the wheel. But it was almost as if it +had no intention of stopping there. It pressed into the wheel +with dogged force. He would surely break his face. Vincent took +several holds on the dead man and counteracted the pressure +somewhat. Yet the face was being damaged, and if things were +normal, blood would have flowed. + +The man had been dead so long however, that (though he was still +warm) his blood must have congealed, for it was fully two minutes +before it began to ooze. + +"Whatever I have done, I have done enough damage," said Vincent. +"And, in whatever nightmare I am in, I am likely to do further +harm if I meddle more. I had better leave it alone." + +He walked on down the morning street. Yet whatever vehicles he +saw were moving with an incredible slowness, as though driven by +some fantastic gear reduction. And there were people here and +there frozen solid. It was a chilly morning, but it was not that +cold. They were immobile in positions of motion, as though they +were playing the children's game of Statues. + +"How is it," said Charles Vincent, "that this young girl (who I +believe works across the street from us) should have died +standing up and in full stride? But, no. She is not dead. Or, if +so, she died with a very alert expression. And--oh, my God, she's +doing it too!" + +For he realized that the eyes of the girl were closing, and in +the space of no more than a quarter of a second they had +completed their cycle and were open again. Also, and this was +even stranger, she had moved, moved forward in full stride. He +would have timed her if he could, but how could he when all the +clocks were crazy? Yet she must have been taking about two steps +a minute. + +He went into the cafeteria. The early morning crowd that he had +often watched through the windows was there. The girl who made +flapjacks in the window had just flipped one and it hung in the +air. Then it floated over as if caught by a slight breeze, and +sank slowly down as if settling in water. + +The breakfasters, like the people in the street, were all dead in +this new way, moving with almost imperceptible motion. And all +had apparently died in the act of drinking coffee, eating eggs, +or munching toast. And if there were only time enough, there was +even a chance that they would get the drinking, eating, and +munching done with, for there was the shadow of movement in them +all. + +The cashier had the register drawer open and money in her hand, +and the hand of the customer was outstretched for it. In time, +somewhere in the new leisurely time, the hands would come +together and the change be given. And so it happened. It may have +been a minute and a half, or two minutes, or two and a half. It +is always hard to judge time, and now it had become all but +impossible. + +"I am still hungry," said Charles Vincent, "but it would be +foolhardy to wait for service here. Should I help myself? They +will not mind if they are dead. And if they are not dead, in any +case it seems that I am invisible to them." + + +He wolfed several rolls. He opened a bottle of milk and held it +upside down over his glass while he ate another roll. Liquids had +all become perversely slow. + +But he felt better for his erratic breakfast. He would have paid +for it, but how? + +He left the cafeteria and walked about the town as it seemed +still to be quite early, though one could depend on neither sun +nor clock for the time any more. The traffic lights were +unchanging. He sat for a long time in a little park and watched +the town and the big clock in the Commerce Building tower; but +like all the clocks it was either stopped or the hand would creep +too slowly to be seen. + +It must have been just about an hour till the traffic lights +changed, but change they did at last. By picking a point on the +building across the street and watching what moved past it, he +found that the traffic did indeed move. In a minute or so, the +entire length of a car would pass the given point. + +He had, he recalled, been very far behind in his work and it had +been worrying him. He decided to go to the office, early as it +was or seemed to be. + +He let himself in. Nobody else was there. He resolved not to look +at the clock and to be very careful of the way he handled all +objects because of his new propensity for breaking things. This +considered, all seemed normal there. He had said the day before +that he could hardly catch up on his work if he put in two days +solid. He now resolved at least to work steadily until something +happened, whatever it was. + +For hour after hour he worked on his tabulations and reports. +Nobody else had arrived. Could something be wrong? Certainly +something was wrong. But this was not a holiday. That was not it. + +Just how long can a stubborn and mystified man plug away at his +task? It was hour after hour after hour. He did not become hungry +nor particularly tired. And he did get through a lot of work. + +"It must be half done. However it has happened, I have caught up +on at least a day's work. I will keep on." + +He must have continued silently for another eight or ten hours. + +He was caught up completely on his back work. + +"Well, to some extent I can work into the future. I can head up +and carry over. I can put in everything but the figures of the +field reports." + +And he did so. + +"It will be hard to bury me in work again. I could almost coast +for a day. I don't even know what day it is, but I must have +worked twenty hours straight through and nobody has arrived. +Perhaps nobody ever will arrive. If they are moving with the +speed of the people in the nightmare outside, it is no wonder +they have not arrived." + +He put his head down on his arms on the desk. The last thing he +saw before he closed his eyes was the misshapen left thumb that +he had always tried to conceal a little by the way he handled his +hands. + +"At least I know that I am still myself. I'd know myself anywhere +by that." + +Then he went to sleep at his desk. + + +Jenny came in with a quick click-click-click of high heels, and +he wakened to the noise. + +"What are you doing dozing at your desk, Mr. Vincent? Have you +been here all night?" + +"I don't know, Jenny. Honestly I don't." + +"I was only teasing. Sometimes when I get here a little early I +take a catnap myself." + +The clock said six minutes till eight and the second hand was +sweeping normally. Time had returned to the world. Or to him. But +had all that early morning of his been a dream? Then it had been +a very efficient dream. He had accomplished work that he could +hardly have done in two days. And it was the same day that it was +supposed to be. + +He went to the water fountain. The water now behaved normally. He +went to the window. The traffic was behaving as it should. Though +sometimes slow and sometimes snarled, yet it was in the pace of +the regular world. + +The other workers arrived. They were not balls of fire, but +neither was it necessary to observe them for several minutes to +be sure they weren't dead. + +"It did have its advantages," Charles Vincent said. "I would be +afraid to live with it permanently, but it would be handy to go +into for a few minutes a day and accomplish the business of +hours. I may be a case for the doctor. But just how would I go +about telling a doctor what was bothering me?" + +Now it had surely been less than two hours from his first rising +till the time that he wakened to the noise of Jenny from his +second sleep. And how long that second sleep had been, or in +which time enclave, he had no idea. But how account for it all? +He had spent a long while in his own rooms, much longer than +ordinary in his confusion. He had walked the city mile after mile +in his puzzlement. And he had sat in the little park for hours +and studied the situation. And he had worked at his own desk for +an outlandish long time. + +Well, he would go to the doctor. A man is obliged to refrain from +making a fool of himself to the world at large, but to his own +lawyer, his priest, or his doctor he will sometimes have to come +as a fool. By their callings they are restrained from scoffing +openly. + +Dr. Mason was not particularly a friend. Charles Vincent realized +with some unease that he did not have any particular friends, +only acquaintances and associates. It was as though he were of a +species slightly apart from his fellows. He wished now a little +that he had a particular friend. + +But Dr. Mason was an acquaintance of some years, had the +reputation of being a good doctor, and besides Vincent had now +arrived at his office and been shown in. He would either have +to--well, that was as good a beginning as any. + +"Doctor, I am in a predicament. I will either have to invent some +symptoms to account for my visit here, or make an excuse and +bolt, or tell you what is bothering me, even though you will +think I am a new sort of idiot." + +"Vincent, every day people invent symptoms to cover their visits +here, and I know that they have lost their nerve about the real +reason for coming. And every day people do make excuses and bolt. +But experience tells me that I will get a larger fee if you +tackle the third alternative. And, Vincent, there is no new sort +of idiot." + + +Vincent said, "It may not sound so silly if I tell it quickly. I +awoke this morning to some very puzzling incidents. It seemed +that time itself had stopped, or that the whole world had gone +into super-slow motion. The water would neither flow nor boil, +and fire would not heat food. The clocks, which I first believed +had stopped, crept along at perhaps a minute an hour. The people +I met in the streets appeared dead, frozen in lifelike attitudes. +And it was only by watching them for a very long time that I +perceived that they did indeed have motion. One car I saw +creeping slower than the most backward snail, and a dead man at +the wheel of it. I went to it, opened the door, and put on the +brake. I realized after a time that the man was not dead. But he +bent forward and broke his face on the steering wheel. It must +have taken a full minute for his head to travel no more than ten +inches, yet I was unable to prevent his hitting the wheel. I then +did other bizarre things in a world that had died on its feet. I +walked many miles through the city, and then I sat for hours in +the park. I went to the office and let myself in. I accomplished +work that must have taken me twenty hours. I then took a nap at +my desk. When I awoke on the arrival of the others, it was six +minutes to eight in the morning of the same day, today. Not two +hours had passed from my rising, and time was back to normal. But +the things that happened in that time that could never be +compressed into two hours." + +"One question first, Vincent. Did you actually accomplish the +work of many hours?" + +"I did. It was done, and done in that time. It did not become +undone on the return of time to normal." + +"A second question. Had you been worried about your work, about +being behind?" + +"Yes. Emphatically." + +"Then here is one explanation. You retired last night. But very +shortly afterward you arose in a state of somnambulism. There are +facets of sleepwalking which we do not at all understand. The +time-out-of-focus interludes were parts of a walking dream of +yours. You dressed and went to your office and worked all night. +It is possible to do routine tasks in a somnambulistic state +rapidly and even feverishly, with an intense concentration--to +perform prodigies. You may have fallen into a normal sleep there +when you had finished, or you may have been awakened directly +from your somnambulistic trance on the arrival of your co-workers. +There, that is a plausible and workable explanation. In the case +of an apparently bizarre happening, it is always well to have a +rational explanation to fall back on. They will usually satisfy a +patient and put his mind at rest. But often they do not satisfy +me." + +"Your explanation very nearly satisfies me, Dr. Mason, and it +does put my mind considerably at rest. I am sure that in a short +while I will be able to accept it completely. But why does it not +satisfy you?" + +"One reason is a man I treated early this morning. He had his +face smashed, and he had seen--or almost seen--a ghost: a ghost of +incredible swiftness that was more sensed than seen. The ghost +opened the door of his car while it was going at full speed, +jerked on the brake, and caused him to crack his head. This man +was dazed and had a slight concussion. I have convinced him that +he did not see any ghost at all, that he must have dozed at the +wheel and run into something. As I say, I am harder to convince +than my patients. But it may have been coincidence." + +"I hope so. But you also seem to have another reservation." + +"After quite a few years in practice, I seldom see or hear +anything new. Twice before I have been told a happening or a +dream on the line of what you experienced." + +"Did you convince your patients that it was only a dream?" + +"I did. Both of them. That is, I convinced them the first few +times it happened to them." + +"Were they satisfied?" + +"At first. Later, not entirely. But they both died within a year +of their first coming to me." + +"Nothing violent, I hope." + +"Both had the gentlest deaths. That of senility extreme." + +"Oh. Well, I'm too young for that." + +"I would like you to come back in a month or so." + +"I will, if the delusion or the dream returns. Or if I do not +feel well." + +After this Charles Vincent began to forget about the incident. He +only recalled it with humor sometimes when again he was behind in +his work. + +"Well, if it gets bad enough I may do another sleepwalking act +and catch up. But if there is another aspect of time and I could +enter it at will, it might often be handy." + + +Charles Vincent never saw his face at all. It is very dark in +some of those clubs and the Coq Bleu is like the inside of a +tomb. He went to the clubs only about once a month, sometimes +after a show when he did not want to go home to bed, sometimes +when he was just plain restless. + +Citizens of the more fortunate states may not know of the +mysteries of the clubs. In Vincent's the only bars are beer bars, +and only in the clubs can a person get a drink, and only members +are admitted. It is true that even such a small club as the Coq +Bleu had thirty thousand members, and at a dollar a year that is +a nice sideline. The little numbered membership cards cost a +penny each for the printing, and the member wrote in his own +name. But he had to have a card--or a dollar for a card--to gain +admittance. + +But there could be no entertainments in the clubs. There was +nothing there but the little bar room in the near darkness. + +The man was there, and then he was not, and then he was there +again. And always where he sat it was too dark to see his face. + +"I wonder," he said to Vincent (or to the bar at large, though +there were no other customers and the bartender was asleep), "I +wonder if you have ever read Zurbarin on the Relationship of +Extradigitalism to Genius?" + +"I have never heard of the work nor of the man," said Vincent. "I +doubt if either exists." + +"I am Zurbarin," said the man. + +Vincent hid his misshapen left thumb. Yet it could not have been +noticed in that light, and he must have been crazy to believe +there was any connection between it and the man's remark. It was +not truly a double thumb. He was not an extradigital, nor was he +a genius. + +"I refuse to become interested in you," said Vincent. "I am on +the verge of leaving. I dislike waking the bartender, but I did +want another drink." + +"Sooner done than said." + +"What is?" + +"Your glass is full." + +"It is? So it is. Is it a trick?" + +"Trick is the name for anything either too frivolous or too +mystifying for us to comprehend. But on one long early morning of +a month ago, you also could have done the trick, and nearly as +well." + +"Could I have? How would you know about my long early +morning--assuming there to have been such?" + +"I watched you for a while. Few others have the equipment to +watch you with when you're in the aspect." + + +So they were silent for some time, and Vincent watched the clock +and was ready to go. + +"I wonder," said the man in the dark, "if you have read +Schimmelpenninck on the Sexagintal and the Duodecimal in the +Chaldee Mysteries?" + +"I have not and I doubt if anyone else has. I would guess that +you are also Schimmelpenninck and that you have just made up the +name on the spur of the moment." + +"I am Schimm, it is true, but I made up the name on the spur of a +moment many years ago." + +"I am a little bored with you," said Vincent, "but I would +appreciate it if you'd do your glass-filling trick once more." + +"I have just done so. And you are not bored; you are frightened." + +"Of what?" asked Vincent, whose glass was in fact full again. + +"Of reentering a dread that you are not sure was a dream. But +there are advantages to being both invisible and inaudible." + +"Can you be invisible?" + +"Was I not when I went behind the bar just now and fixed you a +drink?" + +"How?" + +"A man in full stride goes at the rate of about five miles an +hour. Multiply that by sixty, which is the number of time. When I +leave my stool and go behind the bar, I go and return at the rate +of three hundred miles an hour. So I am invisible to you, +particularly if I move while you blink." + +"One thing does not match. You might have got around there and +back, but you could not have poured." + +"Shall I say that mastery over liquids is not given to beginners? +But for us there are many ways to outwit the slowness of matter." + +"I believe that you are a hoaxer. Do you know Dr. Mason?" + +"I know that you went to see him. I know of his futile attempts +to penetrate a certain mystery. But I have not talked to him of +you." + +"I still believe that you are a phony. Could you put me back into +the state of my dream of a month ago?" + +"It was not a dream. But I could put you again into that state." + +"Prove it." + +"Watch the clock. Do you believe that I can point my finger at it +and stop it for you? It is already stopped for me." + +"No, I don't believe it. Yes, I guess I have to, since I see that +you have just done it. But it may be another trick. I don't know +where the clock is plugged in." + +"Neither do I. Come to the door. Look at every clock you can see. +Are they not all stopped?" + +"Yes. Maybe the power has gone off all over town." + +"You know it has not. There are still lighted windows in those +buildings, though it is quite late." + +"Why are you playing with me? I am neither on the inside nor the +outside. Either tell me the secret or say that you will not tell +me." + +"The secret isn't a simple one. It can only be arrived at after +all philosophy and learning have been assimilated." + +"One man cannot arrive at that in one lifetime." + +"Not in an ordinary lifetime. But the secret of the secret (if I +may put it that way) is that one must use part of it as a tool in +learning. You could not learn all in one lifetime, but by being +permitted the first step--to be able to read, say, sixty books in +the time it took you to read one, to pause for a minute in +thought and use up only one second, to get a day's work +accomplished in eight minutes and so have time for other +things--by such ways one may make a beginning. I will warn you, +though. Even for the most intelligent, it is a race." + +"A race? What race?" + +"It is a race between success, which is life, and failure, which +is death." + +"Let's skip the melodrama. How do I get into the state and out of +it?" + +"Oh, that is simple, so easy that it seems like a gadget. Here +are two diagrams I will draw. Note them carefully. This first, +envision it in your mind and you are in the state. Now this +second one, envision, and you are out of it." + +"That easy?" + +"That deceptively easy. The trick is to learn why it works--if you +want to succeed, meaning to live." + +So Charles Vincent left him and went home, walking the mile in a +little less than fifteen normal seconds. But he still had not +seen the face of the man. + + +There are advantages intellectual, monetary, and amorous in being +able to enter the accelerated state at will. It is a fox game. +One must be careful not to be caught at it, nor to break or harm +that which is in the normal state. + +Vincent could always find eight or ten minutes unobserved to +accomplish the day's work. And a fifteen-minute coffee break +could turn into a fifteen-hour romp around the town. + +There was this boyish pleasure in becoming a ghost: to appear and +stand motionless in front of an onrushing train and to cause the +scream of the whistle, and to be in no danger, being able to move +five or ten times as fast as the train; to enter and to sit +suddenly in the middle of a select group and see them stare, and +then disappear from the middle of them; to interfere in sports +and games, entering a prize ring and tripping, hampering, or +slugging the unliked fighter; to blue-shot down the hockey ice, +skating at fifteen hundred miles an hour and scoring dozens of +goals at either end while the people only know that something odd +is happening. + +There was pleasure in being able to shatter windows by chanting +little songs, for the voice (when in the state) will be to the +world at sixty times its regular pitch, though normal to oneself. +And for this reason also he was inaudible to others. + +There was fun in petty thieving and tricks. He would take a +wallet from a man's pocket and be two blocks away when the victim +turned at the feel. He would come back and stuff it into the +man's mouth as he bleated to a policeman. + +He would come into the home of a lady writing a letter, snatch +up the paper and write three lines and vanish before the scream +got out of her throat. + +He would take food off forks, put baby turtles and live fish into +bowls of soup between spoonfuls of the eater. + +He would lash the hands of handshakers tightly together with +stout cord. He unzippered persons of both sexes when they were at +their most pompous. He changed cards from one player's hand to +another's. He removed golf balls from tees during the backswing +and left notes written large "YOU MISSED ME" pinned to the ground +with the tee. + +Or he shaved mustaches and heads. Returning repeatedly to one +woman he disliked, he gradually clipped her bald and finally +gilded her pate. + +With tellers counting their money, he interfered outrageously and +enriched himself. He snipped cigarettes in two with a scissors +and blew out matches, so that one frustrated man broke down and +cried at his inability to get a light. + +He removed the weapons from the holsters of policemen and put cap +pistols and water guns in their places. He unclipped the leashes +of dogs and substituted little toy dogs rolling on wheels. + +He put frogs in water glasses and left lighted firecrackers on +bridge tables. + +He reset wrist watches on wrists, and played pranks in men's +rooms. + +"I was always a boy at heart," said Charles Vincent. + + +Also during those first few days of the controlled new state, he +established himself materially, acquiring wealth by devious ways, +and opening bank accounts in various cities under various names, +against a time of possible need. + +Nor did he ever feel any shame for the tricks he played on +unaccelerated humanity. For the people, when he was in the state, +were as statues to him, hardly living, barely moving, unseeing, +unhearing. And it is no shame to show disrespect to such comical +statues. + +And also, and again because he was a boy at heart, he had fun +with the girls. + +"I am one mass of black and blue marks," said Jenny one day. "My +lips are sore and my front teeth feel loosened. I don't know what +in the world is the matter with me." + +Yet he had not meant to bruise or harm her. He was rather fond of +her and he resolved to be much more careful. Yet it was fun, when +he was in the state and invisible to her because of his speed, to +kiss her here and there in out-of-the-way places. She made a +nice statue and it was good sport. And there were others. + +"You look older," said one of his co-workers one day. "Are you +taking care of yourself? Are you worried?" + +"I am not," said Vincent. "I never felt better or happier in my +life." + +But now there was time for so many things--time, in fact, for +everything. There was no reason why he could not master anything +in the world, when he could take off for fifteen minutes and gain +fifteen hours. Vincent was a rapid but careful reader. He could +now read from a hundred and twenty to two hundred books in an +evening and night; and he slept in the accelerated state and +could get a full night's sleep in eight minutes. + +He first acquired a knowledge of languages. A quite extensive +reading knowledge of a language can be acquired in three hundred +hours world time, or three hundred minutes (five hours) +accelerated time. And if one takes the tongues in order, from the +most familiar to the most remote, there is no real difficulty. He +acquired fifty for a starter, and could always add any other any +evening that he found he had a need for it. And at the same time +he began to assemble and consolidate knowledge. Of literature, +properly speaking, there are no more than ten thousand books that +are really worth reading and falling in love with. These were +gone through with high pleasure, and two or three thousand of +them were important enough to be reserved for future rereading. + +History, however, is very uneven; and it is necessary to read +texts and sources that for form are not worth reading. And the +same with philosophy. Mathematics and science, pure or physical, +could not, of course, be covered with the same speed. Yet, with +time available, all could be mastered. There is no concept ever +expressed by any human mind that cannot be comprehended by any +other normal human mind, if time is available and it is taken in +the proper order and context and with the proper preparatory +work. + +And often, and now more often, Vincent felt that he was touching +the fingers of the secret; and always, when he came near it, it +had a little bit the smell of the pit. + +For he had pegged out all the main points of the history of man; +or rather most of the tenable, or at least possible, theories of +the history of man. It was hard to hold the main line of it, that +double road of rationality and revelation that should lead always +to a fuller and fuller development (not the fetish of progress, +that toy word used only by toy people), to an unfolding and +growth and perfectibility. + +But the main line was often obscure and all but obliterated, and +traced through fog and miasma. He had accepted the Fall of Man +and the Redemption as the cardinal points of history. But he +understood now that neither happened only once, that both were of +constant occurrence; that there was a hand reaching up from that +old pit with its shadow over man. And he had come to picture that +hand in his dreams (for his dreams were especially vivid when in +the state) as a six-digited monster reaching out. He began to +realize that the thing he was caught in was dangerous and deadly. + +Very dangerous. + +Very deadly. + +One of the weird books that he often returned to and which +continually puzzled him was the Relationship of Extradigitalism +to Genius, written by the man whose face he had never seen, in +one of his manifestations. + +It promised more than it delivered, and it intimated more than it +said. Its theory was tedious and tenuous, bolstered with +undigested mountains of doubtful data. It left him unconvinced +that persons of genius (even if it could be agreed who or what +they were) had often the oddity of extra fingers and toes, or the +vestiges of them. And it puzzled him what possible difference it +could make. + + +Yet there were hints here of a Corsican who commonly kept a hand +hidden, or an earlier and more bizarre commander who wore always +a mailed glove, of another man with a glove between the two; +hints that the multiplex-adept, Leonardo himself, who sometimes +drew the hands of men and often those of monsters with six +fingers, may himself have had the touch. There was a comment of +Caesar, not conclusive, to the same effect. It is known that +Alexander had a minor peculiarity; it is not known what it was; +this man made it seem that this was it. And it was averred of +Gregory and Augustine, of Benedict and Albert and Acquinas. Yet a +man with a deformity could not enter the priesthood; if they had +it, it must have been in vestigial form. + +There were cases for Charles Magnut and Mahmud, for Saladin the +Horseman and for Akhnaton the King; for Homer (a Seleuciad-Greek +statuette shows him with six fingers strumming an unidentified +instrument while reciting); for Pythagoras, for Buonarroti, +Santi, Theotokopolous, van Rijn, Robusti. + +Zurbarin catalogued eight thousand names. He maintained that they +were geniuses. And that they were extradigitals. + +Charles Vincent grinned and looked down at his misshapen or +double thumb. + +"At least I am in good though monotonous company. But what in the +name of triple time is he driving at?" + +And it was not long afterward that Vincent was examining +cuneiform tablets in the State Museum. These were a broken and +not continuous series on the theory of numbers, tolerably legible +to the now encyclopedic Charles Vincent. And the series read in +part: + +"On the divergence of the basis itself and the confusion +caused--for it is five, or it is six, or ten or twelve, or sixty +or a hundred, or three hundred and sixty or the double hundred, +the thousand. The reason, not clearly understood by the people, +is that Six and the Dozen are first, and Sixty is a compromise in +condescending to the people. For the five, the ten are late, and +are no older than the people themselves. It is said, and +credited, that people began to count by fives and tens from the +number of fingers on their hands. But before the people the--by +the reason that they had--counted by sixes and twelves. But Sixty +is the number of time, divisible by both, for both must live +together in time, though not on the same plane of time--" Much of +the rest was scattered. And it was while trying to set the +hundreds of unordered clay tablets in proper sequence that +Charles Vincent created the legend of the ghost in the museum. + +For he spent his multi-hundred-hour nights there studying and +classifying. Naturally he could not work without light, and +naturally he could be seen when he sat still at his studies. But +as the slow-moving guards attempted to close in on him, he would +move to avoid them, and his speed made him invisible to them. +They were a nuisance and had to be discouraged. He belabored them +soundly and they became less eager to try to capture him. + +His only fear was that they would some time try to shoot him to +see if he were ghost or human. He could avoid a seen shot, which +would come at no more than two and a half times his own greatest +speed. But an unperceived shot could penetrate dangerously, even +fatally, before he twisted away from it. + +He had fathered legends of other ghosts, that of the Central +Library, that of University Library, that of the John Charles +Underwood Jr. Technical Library. This plurality of ghosts tended +to cancel out each other and bring believers into ridicule. Even +those who had seen him as a ghost did not admit that they +believed in the ghosts. + + +He went back to Dr. Mason for his monthly checkup. + +"You look terrible," said the Doctor. "Whatever it is, you have +changed. If you can afford it, you should take a long rest." + +"I have the means," said Charles Vincent, "and that is just what +I will do. I'll take a rest for a year or two." + +He had begun to begrudge the time that he must spend at the +world's pace. From now on he was regarded as a recluse. He was +silent and unsociable, for he found it a nuisance to come back to +the common state to engage in conversation, and in his special +state voices were too slow-pitched to intrude into his consciousness. + +Except that of the man whose face he had never seen. + +"You are making very tardy progress," said the man. Once more +they were in a dark club. "Those who do not show more progress we +cannot use. After all, you are only a vestigial. It is probable +that you have very little of the ancient race in you. Fortunately +those who do not show progress destroy themselves. You had not +imagined that there were only two phases of time, had you?" + +"Lately I have come to suspect that there are many more," said +Charles Vincent. + +"And you understand that only one step cannot succeed?" + +"I understand that the life I have been living is in direct +violation of all that we know of the laws of mass, momentum, and +acceleration, as well as those of conservation of energy, the +potential of the human person, the moral compensation, the golden +mean, and the capacity of human organs. I know that I cannot +multiply energy and experience sixty times without a compensating +increase of food intake, and yet I do it. I know that I cannot +live on eight minutes' sleep in twenty-four hours, but I do that +also. I know that I cannot reasonably crowd four thousand years +of experience into one lifetime, yet unreasonably I do not see +what will prevent it. But you say I will destroy myself." + +"Those who take only the first step destroy themselves." + +"And how does one take the second step?" + +"At the proper moment you will be given the choice." + +"I have the most uncanny feeling that I will refuse the choice." + +"From present indications, you will refuse it. You are +fastidious." + +"You have a smell about you, Old Man without a face. I know now +what it is. It is the smell of the pit." + +"Are you so slow to learn that?" + +"It is the mud from the pit, the same from which the clay tablets +were formed, from the old land between the rivers. I've dreamed +of the six-fingered hand reaching up from the pit and overshadowing +us all. And I have read: 'The people first counted by fives and +tens from the number of fingers on their hands. But before the +people--for the reason that they had--counted by sixes and +twelves.' But time has left blanks in those tablets." + +"Yes, time in one of its manifestations has deftly and with a +purpose left those blanks." + +"I cannot discover the name of the thing that goes in one of +those blanks. Can you?" + +"I am part of the name that goes into one of those blanks." + +"And you are the man without a face. But why is it that you +overshadow and control people? And to what purpose?" + +"It will be long before you know those answers." + +"When the choice comes to me, it will bear very careful +weighing." + + +After that a chill descended on the life of Charles Vincent, for +all that he still possessed his exceptional powers. And he seldom +now indulged in pranks. + +Except for Jennifer Parkey. + +It was unusual that he should be drawn to her. He knew her only +slightly in the common world and she was at least fifteen years +his senior. But now she appealed to him for her youthful +qualities, and all his pranks with her were gentle ones. + +For one thing this spinster did not frighten, nor did she begin +locking her doors, never having bothered about such things +before. He would come behind her and stroke her hair, and she +would speak out calmly with that sort of quickening in her voice: +"Who are you? Why won't you let me see you? You are a friend, +aren't you? Are you a man, or are you something else? If you can +caress me, why can't you talk to me? Please let me see you. I +promise that I won't hurt you." + +It was as though she could not imagine that anything strange +would hurt her. Or again when he hugged her or kissed her on the +nape, she would call: "You must be a little boy, or very like a +little boy, whoever you are. You are good not to break my things +when you move about. Come here and let me hold you." + +It is only very good people who have no fear at all of the +unknown. + +When Vincent met Jennifer in the regular world, as he more often +now found occasion to do, she looked at him appraisingly, as +though she guessed some sort of connection. + +She said one day: "I know it is an impolite thing to say, but you +do not look well at all. Have you been to a doctor?" + +"Several times. But I think it is my doctor who should go to a +doctor. He was always given to peculiar remarks, but now he is +becoming a little unsettled." + +"If I were your doctor, I believe I would also become a little +unsettled. But you should find out what is wrong. You look +terrible." + +He did not look terrible. He had lost his hair, it is true, but +many men lose their hair by thirty, though not perhaps as +suddenly as he had. He thought of attributing it to the air +resistance. After all, when he was in the state he did stride at +some three hundred miles an hour. And enough of that is likely to +blow the hair right off your head. And might that not also be the +reason for his worsened complexion and the tireder look that +appeared in his eyes? But he knew that this was nonsense. He felt +no more air pressure when in his accelerated state than when in +the normal one. + +He had received his summons. He chose not to answer it. He did +not want to be presented with the choice; he had no wish to be +one with those of the pit. But he had no intention of giving up +the great advantage which he now held over nature. + +"I will have it both ways," he said. "I am already a +contradiction and an impossibility. The proverb was only the +early statement of the law of moral compensation: 'You can't take +more out of a basket than it holds.' But for a long time I have +been in violation of the laws and balances. 'There is no road +without a turning,' 'Those who dance will have to pay the +fiddler,' 'Everything that goes up comes down,' But are proverbs +really universal laws? Certainly. A sound proverb has the force +of universal law; it is but another statement of it. But I have +contradicted the universal laws. It remains to be seen whether I +have contradicted them with impunity. 'Every action has its +reaction.' If I refuse to deal with them, I will provoke a strong +reaction. The man without a face said that it was always a race +between full knowing and destruction. Very well, I will race them +for it." + + +They began to persecute him then. He knew that they were in a +state as accelerated from his as his was from the normal. To them +he was the almost motionless statue, hardly to be told from a +dead man. To him they were by their speed both invisible and +inaudible. They hurt him and haunted him. But still he would not +answer the summons. + +When the meeting took place, it was they who had to come to him, +and they materialized there in his room, men without faces. + +"The choice," said one. "You force us to be so clumsy as to have +to voice it." + +"I will have no part of you. You all smell of the pit, of that +old mud of the cuneiforms of the land between the rivers, of the +people who were before the people." + +"It has endured a long time, and we consider it as enduring +forever. But the Garden which was in the neighborhood--do you know +how long the Garden lasted?" + +"I don't know." + +"That all happened in a single day, and before nightfall they +were outside. You want to throw in with something more permanent, +don't you." + +"No. I don't believe I do." + +"What have you to lose?" + +"Only my hope of eternity." + +"But you don't believe in that. No man has ever really believed +in eternity." + +"No man has ever either entirely believed or disbelieved in it," +said Charles Vincent. + +"At least it cannot be proved," said one of the faceless men. +"Nothing is proved until it is over with. And in this case, if it +is ever over with, then it is disproved. And all that time would +one not be tempted to wonder, 'What if, after all, it ends in the +next minute?'" + +"I imagine that if we survive the flesh we will receive some sort +of surety," said Vincent. + +"But you are not sure either of such surviving or receiving. Now +_we_ have a very close approximation of eternity. When time is +multiplied by itself, and that repeated again and again, does +that not approximate eternity?" + +"I don't believe it does. But I will not be of you. One of you +has said that I am too fastidious. So now will you say that +you'll destroy me?" + +"No. We will only let you be destroyed. By yourself, you cannot +win the race with destruction." + +After that Charles Vincent somehow felt more mature. He knew he +was not really meant to be a six-fingered thing of the pit. He +knew that in some way he would have to pay for every minute and +hour that he had gained. But what he had gained he would use to +the fullest. And whatever could be accomplished by sheer +acquisition of human knowledge, he would try to accomplish. + +And he now startled Dr. Mason by the medical knowledge he had +picked up, the while the doctor amused him by the concern he +showed for Vincent. For he felt fine. He was perhaps not as +active as he had been, but that was only because he had become +dubious of aimless activity. He was still the ghost of the +libraries and museums, but was puzzled that the published reports +intimated that an old ghost had replaced a young one. + + +He now paid his mystic visits to Jennifer Parkey less often. For +he was always dismayed to hear her exclaim to him in his ghostly +form: "Your touch is so changed. You poor thing! Is there +anything at all I can do to help you?" + +He decided that somehow she was too immature to understand him, +though he was still fond of her. He transferred his affections to +Mrs. Milly Maltby, a widow at least thirty years his senior. Yet +here it was a sort of girlishness in her that appealed to him. +She was a woman of sharp wit and real affection, and she also +accepted his visitations without fear, following a little initial +panic. + +They played games, writing games, for they communicated by +writing. She would scribble a line, then hold the paper up in the +air whence he would cause it to vanish into his sphere. He would +return it in half a minute, or half a second by her time, with +his retort. He had the advantage of her in time with greatly more +opportunity to think up responses, but she had the advantage over +him in natural wit and was hard to top. + +They also played checkers, and he often had to retire apart and +read a chapter of a book on the art between moves, and even so +she often beat him; for native talent is likely to be a match for +accumulated lore and codified procedure. + +But to Milly also he was unfaithful in his fashion, being now +interested (he no longer became enamored or entranced) in a Mrs. +Roberts, a great-grandmother who was his elder by at least fifty +years. He had read all the data extant on the attraction of the +old for the young, but he still could not explain his successive +attachments. He decided that these three examples were enough to +establish a universal law: that a woman is simply not afraid of a +ghost, though he touches her and is invisible, and writes her +notes without hands. It is possible that amorous spirits have +known this for a long time, but Charles Vincent had made the +discovery himself independently. + +When enough knowledge is accumulated on any subject, the pattern +will sometimes emerge suddenly, like a form in a picture revealed +where before it was not seen. And when enough knowledge is +accumulated on all subjects, is there not a chance that a pattern +governing all subjects will emerge? + +Charles Vincent was caught up in one last enthusiasm. On a long +vigil, as he consulted source after source and sorted them in his +mind, it seemed that the pattern was coming out clearly and +simply, for all its amazing complexity of detail. + +"I know everything that they know in the pit, and I know a +secret that they do not know. I have not lost the race--I have won +it. I can defeat them at the point where they believe themselves +invulnerable. If controlled hereafter, we need at least not be +controlled by them. It is all falling together now. I have found +the final truth, and it is they who have lost the race. I hold +the key. I will now be able to enjoy the advantage without paying +the ultimate price of defeat and destruction, or of collaboration +with them. + +"Now I have only to implement my knowledge, to publish the fact, +and one shadow at least will be lifted from mankind. I will do it +at once. Well, nearly at once. It is almost dawn in the normal +world. I will sit here a very little while and rest. Then I will +go out and begin to make contact with the proper persons for the +disposition of this thing. But first I will sit here a little +while and rest." + +And he died quietly in his chair as he sat there. + + +Dr. Mason made an entry in his private journal: "Charles Vincent, +a completely authenticated case of premature aging, one of the +most clear-cut in all gerontology. This man was known to me for +years, and I here aver that as of one year ago he was of normal +appearance and physical state, and that his chronology is also +correct, I having also known his father. I examined the subject +during the period of his illness, and there is no question at all +of his identity, which has also been established for the record +by fingerprinting and other means. I aver that Charles Vincent at +the age of thirty is dead of old age, having the appearance and +organic condition of a man of ninety." + +Then the doctor began to make another note: "As in two other +cases of my own observation, the illness was accompanied by a +certain delusion and series of dreams, so nearly identical in the +three men as to be almost unbelievable. And for the record, and +no doubt to the prejudice of my own reputation, I will set down +the report of them here." + +But when Dr. Mason had written that, he thought about it for a +while. + +"No, I will do no such thing," he said, and he struck out the +last lines he had written. "It is best to let sleeping dragons +lie." + +And somewhere the faceless men with the smell of the pit on them +smiled to themselves in quiet irony. + + +END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Six Fingers of Time, by +Raphael Aloysius Lafferty + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SIX FINGERS OF TIME *** + +***** This file should be named 31663.txt or 31663.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/6/6/31663/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Irma Spehar 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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