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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f167b5b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63967 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63967) diff --git a/old/63967-0.txt b/old/63967-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cdd242c..0000000 --- a/old/63967-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,958 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Timeless Ones, by Frank Belknap Long - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: The Timeless Ones - -Author: Frank Belknap Long - -Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63967] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TIMELESS ONES *** - - - - - The TIMELESS ONES - - By FRANK BELKNAP LONG - - _It was a peaceful world, a green world, - where bright blossoms swayed beneath two - golden suns. Why did the visitors from Earth - sit in their rocket-ship--terrified?_ - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories July 1951. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -"There will be a great many changes, Ned," Cynthia Jackson said. She -stared out the viewport at the little green world which the contact -rocket _Star Mist_ was swiftly approaching on warp-drive. - -Her husband co-pilot nodded, remembering Clifton and Helen Sweeney, -and the Sweeney youngsters. Remembering with a smile Tommy Sweeney's -kite-flying antics, his freckles and mischievous eyes--a tow-headed kid -of ten with an Irish sense of humor, sturdily planted in a field of -alien corn five thousand light years from Earth. - -Sowing and reaping and bringing in the sheaves, in the blue light -of a great double sun, his dreams as vibrant with promise as the -interstellar warp-drive which, a century ago, had brought the first -prospect ship from Earth to the stars. - -He'd be a man grown now, as sturdy as his dad. You could almost take -that for granted. And his sister would be a willowy girl with clear -blue eyes, and she'd come out of a white plastic cottage with the -buoyancy of twenty summers in her carriage and smile. - -They'd be farmers still. You couldn't change the Sweeneys in a million -years, couldn't wean them away from the good earth. - -It was funny, but he couldn't even visualize the Sweeneys without -thinking of a little sleepy town, the kind of town he'd left himself as -a kid to strike out across the great curve of the universe. Dry dust -of Kansas and the Dakotas that would still be blowing after a thousand -years! - -"They've had time to build a town, Ned!" Cynthia said. "A really fine -town with broad streets and modern, dust-proof buildings!" - -Ned Jackson awoke from his reverie with a wry start. He nodded again, -remembering the many other colonists and the equipment which had been -shipped to the little green world across the years. Plastic materials -to build houses and schools and roadways, educational materials to -build eager young minds. - -Every ten years a contact rocket went out from Earth by interstellar -warp-drive to make a routine check. The trip was a long one--eight -months--but the Central Colonization Bureau had to make sure that -anarchy did not take the place of law on worlds where teeming jungles -encouraged the free exercise of man's best qualities--and his worst. - -From end to end of the Galaxy, on large planets and small, progress had -to be measured in terms of the greatest good for the greatest number. -There could be no other yardstick, for when man ceased to be a social -animal his star-conquering genius shriveled to the vanishing point. - -"The friends we made here were very special, Ned," Cynthia said. -"I guess people who dare greatly have to be a bit keener than the -stay-at-homes, a bit more eager and alive. But the Sweeneys had such a -tremendous zest for living--" - -"I know," Ned said. - -"They were wonderful--generous and kind. It will be good to see them -again. Good to--" Cynthia laughed. "I don't know why, but I was about -to say: 'Good to be home.'" - -Ned thought he knew why. - -They'd made their first flight for the Bureau exactly ten years before. -It had been a combined "official business" and honeymoon flight, and -almost the whole of it had been spent on the little green world. - -Did not the queen bee and her consort, flying high above the hive on -a night of perfumed darkness, remember best what was bliss to recall, -the shifting lights and shadows and honey-scented murmurings of their -nuptial trance? - -Would not the brightest, furthest star be "home" to the star-beguiled? - - * * * * * - -The rocket-ship was out of subspace now and traveling on its murmuring -overdrive. It was well within sight of green valleys and purple-rimmed -hills. - -The planet had grown from a tiny dot to a shining silver sphere -swimming in misty radiance; for a moment it had wavered against the -brightly burning stars, caught in a web of darkness-- - -Then, swiftly, had exploded into a close, familiar world, as beautiful -as a flower opening snowy petals to the dawn. - -It was a simple matter to bring the rocket down. The valley seemed to -sweep up toward them, and gravity jets took over in automatic sequence. -There was a gentle hiss of air as the _Star Mist_ settled to rest on -hard-packed soil, a scant fifty yards from a blue and vermillion flower -garden. - -Through a dancing blue haze a dwelling loomed, white and serene in the -rosy flush of evening. - -Cynthia looked at her husband, her eyes wide with surmise. - -"Just shows how close you can come when you follow dial readings!" Ned -said. "The first lean-to shack stood just about here. I remember the -slope of the soil--" - -Cynthia's eyes grew warm and eager. "Ned, I'm glad--it's no fun -searching for old friends with your heart in your throat! We'll step -right up and surprise them!" - -When they emerged from the ship the perfume of flowers mingled with the -richer scent of freshly-turned earth, bringing back memories of their -earlier visit. - -There had been no flower garden then, but the soil had possessed the -same April shower freshness. - -"I must look like a fright!" Cynthia said. "You didn't give me time to -powder my nose!" - -They were within five yards of the dwelling when a door opened and a -child of ten or twelve emerged. She was blue-eyed, golden-haired, and -she stood for a moment blinking in the evening light, her hair whipped -by the wind. - -"Mary Sweeney!" Cynthia exclaimed, catching hold of Ned's arm. Then, in -a stunned whisper: "Oh, but it can't be! She'd be a grown woman!" - - * * * * * - -The child straightened at the sound of the voice, looking about. She -saw Ned and Cynthia, and blank amazement came into her eyes. Then she -gave a little glad cry, and ran toward them, her arms reaching out in -welcome. - -"You've come back!" she exclaimed. "Mom and dad thought it would be a -long time. But I knew you'd come soon! I knew! I was sure!" - -Nowhere any sign that this was not the child they had known ten years -before! Her voice, the peaches-and-cream color that flooded her cheeks, -the way her hair clung in little ringlets to her temples, all struck -memory chords from long ago. - -And now she was beckoning them into the dwelling, having moved a little -away from them. She was balancing herself in elfin lightness on one -toe, and smiling in warm gratefulness, the sun all blue and gold behind -her. - -She had always seemed an elfin and mischievous child. - -"What can it mean, Ned?" - -White-lipped, Ned shook his head. "I--I don't know! We'd better go -inside!" - -Helen Sweeney, her white-streaked auburn hair damp with steam vapor, -sent a frying pan crashing to the floor as she turned from the stove -with a startled cry. - -"Ned! Cynthia! Why, land sakes, it seems only yesterday--" - -Ned had a good look at her face. The eyes were the same, good-humored -and kindly and wise; and if she had been forty a decade before she -seemed now to be forcing herself back into an earlier instant of -time--the very evening of that last well-remembered birthday party, -with the candles all bright and gleaming, and the children refusing to -admit that she could ever be middle-aged. - -Old Clifton came in from his workshop out in back. He'd been whittling -away at a rocket-ship model, and he still held it firmly in the crook -of his arm, his eyes puckered in dust bowl grief. Like most men of the -soil, Clifton had difficulty with his whittling when he turned his -skill to rocketships. - -The grief vanished when he saw Ned and Cynthia. Pure delight took hold -of him, bringing a quick smile of welcome to his lips. - -"Back so soon? Seems only yesterday you folks went away!" - -"It was ten years ago!" Ned said, his throat strangely dry. - -Clifton looked at him and shook his head. "Ten years, Ned? Surely -you're joking!" - -"It was a good many years, Clifton," Helen Sweeney said quickly. "You -must forgive us, Ned, Cynthia. Time just doesn't seem to matter when -you're busy building for the future. Time goes fast, like a great ship -at sea, its sails ballooning out with a wind that keeps carrying it -faster and faster into the sunrise." - -"There are no ships here," Clifton said, chuckling. "Helen's -fancy-wedded to Earth, but she's forgetting the last sailing ship -rotted away a hundred years before she was born. It's a good thought -though. - -"Don't know what put a sailing ship in Helen's head, but I guess folks -who were born on Earth have a right to hark back a bit. It'll be -different with Tom and Mary." - -"Where's Tommy?" Ned asked. - -"Out shucking corn!" Clifton's voice was vibrant with sudden pride. -"He's still the same reckless young lad. He'd risk his neck to bring in -a full harvest. I keep warning him, but he goes right on worrying his -mother. - -"Fact is, he hasn't changed at all. No more than we have." - -So they knew! Cynthia looked at Ned, an unspoken question in her eyes. -How could they accept the tremendousness of not changing without -realizing that any arrest of the aging process must alter their daily -lives in a thousand intangible ways? - -How could they build for the future--when their children would never -grow up? - -It was Ned who discovered the mind block. - -Not only had the Sweeneys ceased to age physically--they lacked a -normal time sense. If you reminded them of the passing years their -minds cleared momentarily, and they could think back. - -But that link with the past had no staying power. It was like punching -pillows to get them to remember. They lived in the present, well -content to accept the world about them on a day-to-day basis, warmed by -the bright flame of their children growing up-- - -But their children weren't growing up--they had only the illusion of -change, the illusion of planning for their future; and that illusion -was terribly real to them--unless jolted by a question: - -"How's Tommy?" - -"Why, Tommy hasn't changed at all--" - -A puzzled frown. A moment's honest facing of the truth, an old memory -stirring into life. Then the mind block closing in, clamping down. - -"Ned, Cynthia, you'll stay for dinner?" - - * * * * * - -It was late and growing cold, and the stars had appeared in the sky. In -the rocket-ship Ned sat facing his wife. - -"That house was never built by human hands!" he said, a cold prickling -at the base of his scalp. He had suffered from the prickling off and on -for a full hour. He could still taste the strong coffee he'd downed at -a gulp before rising in haste at the end of an uneasy meal. - -He was sorry now they'd returned to the ship without waiting to say -"hello" to Tommy, fresh from his harvesting chores. Tommy was the -brightest member of the family. Perhaps Tommy knew more than the -others--or could remember better. - -"Not built by human hands! But that's insane, Ned." Cynthia's face, -shadowed from below by the cold light of the instrument board, was -harsh with concern. "The materials came from Earth." - -"They did," Ned acknowledged. "Grade A plastics--the best. And a good -engineer can build almost anything with malleable plastics. But not a -house without seams!" - -"Without--seams?" - -"Joints, connections, little rough places," Ned elaborated. "Inside -and out that house was smooth, all of a piece. Like a burst of frozen -energy. Like--oh, you know what I mean! Surely you must have noticed -it!" - -"There were other colonists," Cynthia said. "Some of them were -engineers. They've had time to work out new constructive techniques." - -"They've had time to disappear. Why did the Sweeneys act so funny when -I asked them about the other colonists? Why did Clifton refuse to look -at me? Why did I have to drag the answer out of him? 'Oh, we spread -out. Enough land here for all of us--' Does that ring true to you?" - -"They didn't want us to stay together!" Tommy Sweeney said. - -Ned leapt up with a startled cry. Cynthia swayed, her eyes widening in -stark disbelief. - -Tommy Sweeney walked smiling into the compartment, his shoulders -squared. He came through the pilot-room wall in a blaze of light, and -stood between Ned and Helen, his lips quivering in boyish earnestness. - -"Take any school," Tommy said. "Some of the pupils are bright. Some are -just good students who work hard at their homework. Some are stupid and -dull. If you let them stay together the bright ones, the really bright -ones, get held back." - -Tommy seemed suddenly to realize he was seeing Ned and Cynthia for the -first time in ten years. His good friends, Ned and Cynthia. A Cynthia -who was as beautiful as ever, though deathly pale now, and a Ned who -was just a little older and grayer. - -A broad grin overspread his face. "I knew you'd come back!" he said. - -"You--you came through a solid metal wall!" Ned said, feeling as though -an earthquake had taken place inside of him. - -"It's easy when you know how!" Tommy said. - -"Who taught you how?" Cynthia asked, in a voice so emotional Ned forgot -his own horror in concern for her sanity. "Who taught you, Tommy?" - -"The Green People!" Tommy said. - -"The Green--People?" - -"They live in the forest," Tommy said. "They come out at night and -dance around the house. They hold hands and dance and sing. Then they -talk to us. To mom, dad and sis--but mostly to me. They taught me how -to play, to really have fun." - -"Did they teach you how to change the atoms of your body so that you -could pass through a solid metal wall?" Ned asked, framing the question -very carefully. - -"Shucks, it was nothing like that!" Tommy said. "They just told me that -if I forgot about walls I could go anywhere." - -"And you believed them!" - -Suddenly Cynthia was laughing. Her laughter rang out wild and -uncontrollable in the pilot-room. - -"He believed them, Ned! He believed them!" - -Ned went up to her and took her by the shoulders and shook her. - -Tommy looked shamefaced. He shuffled his feet, ill at ease in the -presence of adult hysteria. - -"I've got to go now!" he stammered. "Mom will be awful mad if I'm late -for dinner again." - -"You _are_ late, Tommy!" Cynthia said. "The joke's on you. We just had -dinner with your parents in a house Ned claims wasn't built by human -hands." - -She laughed wildly. "Your parents are sensible people, though. They -didn't even try to walk through the kitchen wall." - -"They could if they tried hard enough," Tommy said. "Someday they will." - -Tommy looked almost apologetic. "I can't stay any longer. I saw your -ship, and wanted to see if you really had come back. I thought it -might be someone else. I'm sure glad it's you." - -Tommy turned abruptly and walked straight out of the pilot-room, his -small body lighting up the wall until he vanished. - - * * * * * - -Cynthia stared at her husband, her eyes dark with a questioning horror. - -"The Green People," Ned said. "Think, Cynthia. Does the name mean -anything to you?" - -Cynthia shook her head, her lips shaping a soundless _No_. - -Ned sat down slowly, rubbing his jaw. "I just thought you might know -something about Druidism, and what the strange rites of that mysterious -cult meant to the ancient inhabitants of Gaul and the British Isles. -According to the Roman historian Pliny, the Druids built stone houses -for their pupils and called themselves the Green People." - -Starlight from the viewport illuminated Ned's pale face. He paused, -then said: "The Druids were soothsayers and sorcerers who disappeared -from history at the time of the Roman conquest. It was widely believed -they had the power of conferring eternal youth. They taught that time -was an illusion, space the shadow of a dream." - -His eyes were grim with speculation. "The Druids were teachers almost -in the modern sense. Pliny records that they had a passion for -teaching, and thought of their worshippers as pupils, as children with -much to learn. Instruction in physical science formed the cornerstone -of the Druidic cult." - -Cynthia leaned forward, her face strained and intense as he went on. - -"The Romans hated and feared them. There was a terrible, bloody battle -and the Druids no longer danced in their groves of oak, in slow -procession to a weird dirge-like chanting. They vanished from Earth and -almost from the memory of man." - -Ned took a deep breath. - -"Man fears the unknown, and knowledge is a source of danger. Maybe the -Druids were never really native to Earth. What if this were their home -planet--" - -"Ned, you can't really believe--" - -"Listen!" Ned said. - -The sound was clearly audible through the thin walls of the -rocket-ship. It was a steady, dull droning--an eerie, terrifying sound. - -Ned got up and walked to the viewport. He stared out-- - -He could see the Sweeney's dwelling clearly. It was bathed in an -unearthly green light, and around it in a circle robed figures moved -through shadows the color of blood. Around and around in ever widening -circles, their tall gaunt bodies strangely bent. - -For a full minute he stared out. When his wife joined him he stretched -out a hand and let it rest lightly on her shoulder. - -"Perhaps we wouldn't be far wrong if we thought of the Sweeneys as -catalysts!" he said. - -Cynthia stood very straight and quiet, a great fear growing in her. - -"Catalysts, Ned?" - -"It's just a wild guess, of course. I can't even tell you what made me -think of it. But it does have a certain relevancy. In chemistry, as you -know, a catalytic agent is a substance which promotes chemical action, -but is _in itself unchanged_." - -"Well?" - -"Why do men and women who surrender themselves to sorcery remain, in -legend, eternally young? Young, unchanging. It's a belief as old as -prehistory and all the ages since. Only in the Middle Ages were witches -pictured as shrunken, hideous old women. The ancient world pictured -witches as eternally youthful, unaging." - -A long pause, and then Ned said: "As unaging as the forests of oak -where they served as human catalysts for the Druids before the Druids -left Earth forever?" - -He suddenly seemed to be thinking aloud rather than addressing his wife. - -"Well--and why not? The Druids must change, for change is the first -law of life. But perhaps they can only find complete fulfillment, can -only grow in wisdom and strength, by using human beings as little hard -grains of chemical substance which must remain forever bright and -shining. - -"Human catalysts, imprisoned in a horrible little test tube of a house. -If human beings aged and changed they would cease to be catalysts. -They would become valueless to the Druids. And when the Romans -discovered the truth--" - -Agreement was clearly in Cynthia's eyes. She moved closer to the -viewport, her face pale. - -"Fear, and a merciless hatred," Ned said. "Pursuing the Druids, driving -them from Earth. And dim, fearful legends remaining of a dark magic -older than the human race." - -"Ned, they've stopped dancing!" Cynthia's voice rang out sharply in the -silence. "They're coming toward the ship!" - -[Illustration: "_Ned, they've stopped dancing ... they're coming toward -the ship!_"] - -"I know," Ned said. - -"But we don't know what they're planning to do!" Cynthia's voice rose. -"We've got to get out!" - -"Steady," Ned said, turning. "If we take off at peak acceleration I -just can't picture them stopping us!" - - * * * * * - -"Ned, the Sweeneys may be happier than we know," Cynthia said, hours -later. They were deep in subspace, a hundred light years from the -little green world; and, in the warm security of the pilot-room, its -menacing shadows seemed immeasurably remote. - -"Happy?" Ned laughed harshly. "Kids who'll never grow up. Adults cut -off from all further growth. The same today, tomorrow and forever." - -"Their minds may change," Cynthia said. "Their minds may grow, Ned. -Tommy said that bright pupils could go far." - -"As catalysts, caught in a ghastly trap." - -"How can you be so sure, Ned? A wild guess, you called it. How do you -know the Druids and the Sweeneys don't learn from one another? Perhaps -they grow wise together, in a wonderful bright sharing of knowledge and -happiness that's like nothing we can imagine." - -Ned looked at his wife. "Why say a thing like that? Why even think of -it?" - -"Pandora, I guess." - -"What do you mean?" - -"I'm a woman and the Pandora complex is pretty basic, darling. I'd be -tempted to go back and throw open the box." - -"Something pretty black and horrible would come out," Ned said sharply. -"You can take my word for that. I hope you're not forgetting that -Pandora was the first woman chosen by Zeus to bring complete ruin on -the human race." - -"She didn't quite succeed. And how can we know for sure, Ned? If what -you say is true, if the Druids were really driven from Earth, we -haven't done so well since. Wars and madness for two thousand years. -Destruction and cruelty and death." - -"All you have to do is prove we'd be better off if the Druids had -stayed," Ned said. - -"Darling, think. If people grew wiser all the time, if they never aged, -would they want to murder one another?" - -"Now see here--" - -Cynthia smiled. "Think of having our own beautiful little home forever, -in a fragrant woody patch, with shining kitchen utensils on the wall. -Think of being spared all the miseries of old age and poverty and -sickness and death. - -"Think of having neighbors like the Sweeneys to grow young with, to -grow wise and young with, day by splendid day until the end of time." - -There was a long silence, and then Cynthia said: "I'd trust them, Ned. -The Druids, I mean. I'd take the chance. What have we to lose that's -really great, that can hold a candle to what the Sweeneys have?" - -"You can go anywhere if you just remember how close you are to where -you want to be!" Tommy Sweeney said, coming through the pilot-room -wall in a blaze of light. He grinned. "I asked mom and dad to try real -hard this time and here they are!" - -All of the Sweeneys came into the pilot-room as Tommy spoke, their -faces incredibly radiant. - -"I never really believed Tommy until this minute!" Clifton Sweeney -said. "If you just forget about walls you're where you want to be!" - -"Sure you are!" Tommy said. "It's as easy as skinning a chipmunk." - -"Ned, Cynthia," Helen Sweeney said. "Come back!" - -Tommy's sister simply smiled, a mischievous elfin smile which seemed -to mock the vast loneliness of space. It was as if some wizard game, -played by laughing children and wise forest creatures through long -golden afternoons, had become a universe-spanning web, embracing -everything in its path in a warm and radiant way. - -Cynthia looked at Dan. "Well, darling?" - -"Yes," Ned said, with quick decision. "We'll go back!" - - * * * * * - -_And at that moment, in the forest deep and dark, the Druids built -another house. It was designed to appeal to a man and a woman who -had traveled far and grown weary of human cruelty and death. It -was designed for gracious living; but whether the Druids, in their -inscrutable wisdom, wished mankind well or ill, who could say?_ - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TIMELESS ONES *** - -***** This file should be named 63967-0.txt or 63967-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/9/6/63967/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: The Timeless Ones - -Author: Frank Belknap Long - -Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63967] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TIMELESS ONES *** -</pre> -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>The TIMELESS ONES</h1> - -<h2>By FRANK BELKNAP LONG</h2> - -<p><i>It was a peaceful world, a green world,<br /> -where bright blossoms swayed beneath two<br /> -golden suns. Why did the visitors from Earth<br /> -sit in their rocket-ship—terrified?</i></p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories July 1951.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"There will be a great many changes, Ned," Cynthia Jackson said. She -stared out the viewport at the little green world which the contact -rocket <i>Star Mist</i> was swiftly approaching on warp-drive.</p> - -<p>Her husband co-pilot nodded, remembering Clifton and Helen Sweeney, -and the Sweeney youngsters. Remembering with a smile Tommy Sweeney's -kite-flying antics, his freckles and mischievous eyes—a tow-headed kid -of ten with an Irish sense of humor, sturdily planted in a field of -alien corn five thousand light years from Earth.</p> - -<p>Sowing and reaping and bringing in the sheaves, in the blue light -of a great double sun, his dreams as vibrant with promise as the -interstellar warp-drive which, a century ago, had brought the first -prospect ship from Earth to the stars.</p> - -<p>He'd be a man grown now, as sturdy as his dad. You could almost take -that for granted. And his sister would be a willowy girl with clear -blue eyes, and she'd come out of a white plastic cottage with the -buoyancy of twenty summers in her carriage and smile.</p> - -<p>They'd be farmers still. You couldn't change the Sweeneys in a million -years, couldn't wean them away from the good earth.</p> - -<p>It was funny, but he couldn't even visualize the Sweeneys without -thinking of a little sleepy town, the kind of town he'd left himself as -a kid to strike out across the great curve of the universe. Dry dust -of Kansas and the Dakotas that would still be blowing after a thousand -years!</p> - -<p>"They've had time to build a town, Ned!" Cynthia said. "A really fine -town with broad streets and modern, dust-proof buildings!"</p> - -<p>Ned Jackson awoke from his reverie with a wry start. He nodded again, -remembering the many other colonists and the equipment which had been -shipped to the little green world across the years. Plastic materials -to build houses and schools and roadways, educational materials to -build eager young minds.</p> - -<p>Every ten years a contact rocket went out from Earth by interstellar -warp-drive to make a routine check. The trip was a long one—eight -months—but the Central Colonization Bureau had to make sure that -anarchy did not take the place of law on worlds where teeming jungles -encouraged the free exercise of man's best qualities—and his worst.</p> - -<p>From end to end of the Galaxy, on large planets and small, progress had -to be measured in terms of the greatest good for the greatest number. -There could be no other yardstick, for when man ceased to be a social -animal his star-conquering genius shriveled to the vanishing point.</p> - -<p>"The friends we made here were very special, Ned," Cynthia said. -"I guess people who dare greatly have to be a bit keener than the -stay-at-homes, a bit more eager and alive. But the Sweeneys had such a -tremendous zest for living—"</p> - -<p>"I know," Ned said.</p> - -<p>"They were wonderful—generous and kind. It will be good to see them -again. Good to—" Cynthia laughed. "I don't know why, but I was about -to say: 'Good to be home.'"</p> - -<p>Ned thought he knew why.</p> - -<p>They'd made their first flight for the Bureau exactly ten years before. -It had been a combined "official business" and honeymoon flight, and -almost the whole of it had been spent on the little green world.</p> - -<p>Did not the queen bee and her consort, flying high above the hive on -a night of perfumed darkness, remember best what was bliss to recall, -the shifting lights and shadows and honey-scented murmurings of their -nuptial trance?</p> - -<p>Would not the brightest, furthest star be "home" to the star-beguiled?</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The rocket-ship was out of subspace now and traveling on its murmuring -overdrive. It was well within sight of green valleys and purple-rimmed -hills.</p> - -<p>The planet had grown from a tiny dot to a shining silver sphere -swimming in misty radiance; for a moment it had wavered against the -brightly burning stars, caught in a web of darkness—</p> - -<p>Then, swiftly, had exploded into a close, familiar world, as beautiful -as a flower opening snowy petals to the dawn.</p> - -<p>It was a simple matter to bring the rocket down. The valley seemed to -sweep up toward them, and gravity jets took over in automatic sequence. -There was a gentle hiss of air as the <i>Star Mist</i> settled to rest on -hard-packed soil, a scant fifty yards from a blue and vermillion flower -garden.</p> - -<p>Through a dancing blue haze a dwelling loomed, white and serene in the -rosy flush of evening.</p> - -<p>Cynthia looked at her husband, her eyes wide with surmise.</p> - -<p>"Just shows how close you can come when you follow dial readings!" Ned -said. "The first lean-to shack stood just about here. I remember the -slope of the soil—"</p> - -<p>Cynthia's eyes grew warm and eager. "Ned, I'm glad—it's no fun -searching for old friends with your heart in your throat! We'll step -right up and surprise them!"</p> - -<p>When they emerged from the ship the perfume of flowers mingled with the -richer scent of freshly-turned earth, bringing back memories of their -earlier visit.</p> - -<p>There had been no flower garden then, but the soil had possessed the -same April shower freshness.</p> - -<p>"I must look like a fright!" Cynthia said. "You didn't give me time to -powder my nose!"</p> - -<p>They were within five yards of the dwelling when a door opened and a -child of ten or twelve emerged. She was blue-eyed, golden-haired, and -she stood for a moment blinking in the evening light, her hair whipped -by the wind.</p> - -<p>"Mary Sweeney!" Cynthia exclaimed, catching hold of Ned's arm. Then, in -a stunned whisper: "Oh, but it can't be! She'd be a grown woman!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The child straightened at the sound of the voice, looking about. She -saw Ned and Cynthia, and blank amazement came into her eyes. Then she -gave a little glad cry, and ran toward them, her arms reaching out in -welcome.</p> - -<p>"You've come back!" she exclaimed. "Mom and dad thought it would be a -long time. But I knew you'd come soon! I knew! I was sure!"</p> - -<p>Nowhere any sign that this was not the child they had known ten years -before! Her voice, the peaches-and-cream color that flooded her cheeks, -the way her hair clung in little ringlets to her temples, all struck -memory chords from long ago.</p> - -<p>And now she was beckoning them into the dwelling, having moved a little -away from them. She was balancing herself in elfin lightness on one -toe, and smiling in warm gratefulness, the sun all blue and gold behind -her.</p> - -<p>She had always seemed an elfin and mischievous child.</p> - -<p>"What can it mean, Ned?"</p> - -<p>White-lipped, Ned shook his head. "I—I don't know! We'd better go -inside!"</p> - -<p>Helen Sweeney, her white-streaked auburn hair damp with steam vapor, -sent a frying pan crashing to the floor as she turned from the stove -with a startled cry.</p> - -<p>"Ned! Cynthia! Why, land sakes, it seems only yesterday—"</p> - -<p>Ned had a good look at her face. The eyes were the same, good-humored -and kindly and wise; and if she had been forty a decade before she -seemed now to be forcing herself back into an earlier instant of -time—the very evening of that last well-remembered birthday party, -with the candles all bright and gleaming, and the children refusing to -admit that she could ever be middle-aged.</p> - -<p>Old Clifton came in from his workshop out in back. He'd been whittling -away at a rocket-ship model, and he still held it firmly in the crook -of his arm, his eyes puckered in dust bowl grief. Like most men of the -soil, Clifton had difficulty with his whittling when he turned his -skill to rocketships.</p> - -<p>The grief vanished when he saw Ned and Cynthia. Pure delight took hold -of him, bringing a quick smile of welcome to his lips.</p> - -<p>"Back so soon? Seems only yesterday you folks went away!"</p> - -<p>"It was ten years ago!" Ned said, his throat strangely dry.</p> - -<p>Clifton looked at him and shook his head. "Ten years, Ned? Surely -you're joking!"</p> - -<p>"It was a good many years, Clifton," Helen Sweeney said quickly. "You -must forgive us, Ned, Cynthia. Time just doesn't seem to matter when -you're busy building for the future. Time goes fast, like a great ship -at sea, its sails ballooning out with a wind that keeps carrying it -faster and faster into the sunrise."</p> - -<p>"There are no ships here," Clifton said, chuckling. "Helen's -fancy-wedded to Earth, but she's forgetting the last sailing ship -rotted away a hundred years before she was born. It's a good thought -though.</p> - -<p>"Don't know what put a sailing ship in Helen's head, but I guess folks -who were born on Earth have a right to hark back a bit. It'll be -different with Tom and Mary."</p> - -<p>"Where's Tommy?" Ned asked.</p> - -<p>"Out shucking corn!" Clifton's voice was vibrant with sudden pride. -"He's still the same reckless young lad. He'd risk his neck to bring in -a full harvest. I keep warning him, but he goes right on worrying his -mother.</p> - -<p>"Fact is, he hasn't changed at all. No more than we have."</p> - -<p>So they knew! Cynthia looked at Ned, an unspoken question in her eyes. -How could they accept the tremendousness of not changing without -realizing that any arrest of the aging process must alter their daily -lives in a thousand intangible ways?</p> - -<p>How could they build for the future—when their children would never -grow up?</p> - -<p>It was Ned who discovered the mind block.</p> - -<p>Not only had the Sweeneys ceased to age physically—they lacked a -normal time sense. If you reminded them of the passing years their -minds cleared momentarily, and they could think back.</p> - -<p>But that link with the past had no staying power. It was like punching -pillows to get them to remember. They lived in the present, well -content to accept the world about them on a day-to-day basis, warmed by -the bright flame of their children growing up—</p> - -<p>But their children weren't growing up—they had only the illusion of -change, the illusion of planning for their future; and that illusion -was terribly real to them—unless jolted by a question:</p> - -<p>"How's Tommy?"</p> - -<p>"Why, Tommy hasn't changed at all—"</p> - -<p>A puzzled frown. A moment's honest facing of the truth, an old memory -stirring into life. Then the mind block closing in, clamping down.</p> - -<p>"Ned, Cynthia, you'll stay for dinner?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was late and growing cold, and the stars had appeared in the sky. In -the rocket-ship Ned sat facing his wife.</p> - -<p>"That house was never built by human hands!" he said, a cold prickling -at the base of his scalp. He had suffered from the prickling off and on -for a full hour. He could still taste the strong coffee he'd downed at -a gulp before rising in haste at the end of an uneasy meal.</p> - -<p>He was sorry now they'd returned to the ship without waiting to say -"hello" to Tommy, fresh from his harvesting chores. Tommy was the -brightest member of the family. Perhaps Tommy knew more than the -others—or could remember better.</p> - -<p>"Not built by human hands! But that's insane, Ned." Cynthia's face, -shadowed from below by the cold light of the instrument board, was -harsh with concern. "The materials came from Earth."</p> - -<p>"They did," Ned acknowledged. "Grade A plastics—the best. And a good -engineer can build almost anything with malleable plastics. But not a -house without seams!"</p> - -<p>"Without—seams?"</p> - -<p>"Joints, connections, little rough places," Ned elaborated. "Inside -and out that house was smooth, all of a piece. Like a burst of frozen -energy. Like—oh, you know what I mean! Surely you must have noticed -it!"</p> - -<p>"There were other colonists," Cynthia said. "Some of them were -engineers. They've had time to work out new constructive techniques."</p> - -<p>"They've had time to disappear. Why did the Sweeneys act so funny when -I asked them about the other colonists? Why did Clifton refuse to look -at me? Why did I have to drag the answer out of him? 'Oh, we spread -out. Enough land here for all of us—' Does that ring true to you?"</p> - -<p>"They didn't want us to stay together!" Tommy Sweeney said.</p> - -<p>Ned leapt up with a startled cry. Cynthia swayed, her eyes widening in -stark disbelief.</p> - -<p>Tommy Sweeney walked smiling into the compartment, his shoulders -squared. He came through the pilot-room wall in a blaze of light, and -stood between Ned and Helen, his lips quivering in boyish earnestness.</p> - -<p>"Take any school," Tommy said. "Some of the pupils are bright. Some are -just good students who work hard at their homework. Some are stupid and -dull. If you let them stay together the bright ones, the really bright -ones, get held back."</p> - -<p>Tommy seemed suddenly to realize he was seeing Ned and Cynthia for the -first time in ten years. His good friends, Ned and Cynthia. A Cynthia -who was as beautiful as ever, though deathly pale now, and a Ned who -was just a little older and grayer.</p> - -<p>A broad grin overspread his face. "I knew you'd come back!" he said.</p> - -<p>"You—you came through a solid metal wall!" Ned said, feeling as though -an earthquake had taken place inside of him.</p> - -<p>"It's easy when you know how!" Tommy said.</p> - -<p>"Who taught you how?" Cynthia asked, in a voice so emotional Ned forgot -his own horror in concern for her sanity. "Who taught you, Tommy?"</p> - -<p>"The Green People!" Tommy said.</p> - -<p>"The Green—People?"</p> - -<p>"They live in the forest," Tommy said. "They come out at night and -dance around the house. They hold hands and dance and sing. Then they -talk to us. To mom, dad and sis—but mostly to me. They taught me how -to play, to really have fun."</p> - -<p>"Did they teach you how to change the atoms of your body so that you -could pass through a solid metal wall?" Ned asked, framing the question -very carefully.</p> - -<p>"Shucks, it was nothing like that!" Tommy said. "They just told me that -if I forgot about walls I could go anywhere."</p> - -<p>"And you believed them!"</p> - -<p>Suddenly Cynthia was laughing. Her laughter rang out wild and -uncontrollable in the pilot-room.</p> - -<p>"He believed them, Ned! He believed them!"</p> - -<p>Ned went up to her and took her by the shoulders and shook her.</p> - -<p>Tommy looked shamefaced. He shuffled his feet, ill at ease in the -presence of adult hysteria.</p> - -<p>"I've got to go now!" he stammered. "Mom will be awful mad if I'm late -for dinner again."</p> - -<p>"You <i>are</i> late, Tommy!" Cynthia said. "The joke's on you. We just had -dinner with your parents in a house Ned claims wasn't built by human -hands."</p> - -<p>She laughed wildly. "Your parents are sensible people, though. They -didn't even try to walk through the kitchen wall."</p> - -<p>"They could if they tried hard enough," Tommy said. "Someday they will."</p> - -<p>Tommy looked almost apologetic. "I can't stay any longer. I saw your -ship, and wanted to see if you really had come back. I thought it -might be someone else. I'm sure glad it's you."</p> - -<p>Tommy turned abruptly and walked straight out of the pilot-room, his -small body lighting up the wall until he vanished.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Cynthia stared at her husband, her eyes dark with a questioning horror.</p> - -<p>"The Green People," Ned said. "Think, Cynthia. Does the name mean -anything to you?"</p> - -<p>Cynthia shook her head, her lips shaping a soundless <i>No</i>.</p> - -<p>Ned sat down slowly, rubbing his jaw. "I just thought you might know -something about Druidism, and what the strange rites of that mysterious -cult meant to the ancient inhabitants of Gaul and the British Isles. -According to the Roman historian Pliny, the Druids built stone houses -for their pupils and called themselves the Green People."</p> - -<p>Starlight from the viewport illuminated Ned's pale face. He paused, -then said: "The Druids were soothsayers and sorcerers who disappeared -from history at the time of the Roman conquest. It was widely believed -they had the power of conferring eternal youth. They taught that time -was an illusion, space the shadow of a dream."</p> - -<p>His eyes were grim with speculation. "The Druids were teachers almost -in the modern sense. Pliny records that they had a passion for -teaching, and thought of their worshippers as pupils, as children with -much to learn. Instruction in physical science formed the cornerstone -of the Druidic cult."</p> - -<p>Cynthia leaned forward, her face strained and intense as he went on.</p> - -<p>"The Romans hated and feared them. There was a terrible, bloody battle -and the Druids no longer danced in their groves of oak, in slow -procession to a weird dirge-like chanting. They vanished from Earth and -almost from the memory of man."</p> - -<p>Ned took a deep breath.</p> - -<p>"Man fears the unknown, and knowledge is a source of danger. Maybe the -Druids were never really native to Earth. What if this were their home -planet—"</p> - -<p>"Ned, you can't really believe—"</p> - -<p>"Listen!" Ned said.</p> - -<p>The sound was clearly audible through the thin walls of the -rocket-ship. It was a steady, dull droning—an eerie, terrifying sound.</p> - -<p>Ned got up and walked to the viewport. He stared out—</p> - -<p>He could see the Sweeney's dwelling clearly. It was bathed in an -unearthly green light, and around it in a circle robed figures moved -through shadows the color of blood. Around and around in ever widening -circles, their tall gaunt bodies strangely bent.</p> - -<p>For a full minute he stared out. When his wife joined him he stretched -out a hand and let it rest lightly on her shoulder.</p> - -<p>"Perhaps we wouldn't be far wrong if we thought of the Sweeneys as -catalysts!" he said.</p> - -<p>Cynthia stood very straight and quiet, a great fear growing in her.</p> - -<p>"Catalysts, Ned?"</p> - -<p>"It's just a wild guess, of course. I can't even tell you what made me -think of it. But it does have a certain relevancy. In chemistry, as you -know, a catalytic agent is a substance which promotes chemical action, -but is <i>in itself unchanged</i>."</p> - -<p>"Well?"</p> - -<p>"Why do men and women who surrender themselves to sorcery remain, in -legend, eternally young? Young, unchanging. It's a belief as old as -prehistory and all the ages since. Only in the Middle Ages were witches -pictured as shrunken, hideous old women. The ancient world pictured -witches as eternally youthful, unaging."</p> - -<p>A long pause, and then Ned said: "As unaging as the forests of oak -where they served as human catalysts for the Druids before the Druids -left Earth forever?"</p> - -<p>He suddenly seemed to be thinking aloud rather than addressing his wife.</p> - -<p>"Well—and why not? The Druids must change, for change is the first -law of life. But perhaps they can only find complete fulfillment, can -only grow in wisdom and strength, by using human beings as little hard -grains of chemical substance which must remain forever bright and -shining.</p> - -<p>"Human catalysts, imprisoned in a horrible little test tube of a house. -If human beings aged and changed they would cease to be catalysts. -They would become valueless to the Druids. And when the Romans -discovered the truth—"</p> - -<p>Agreement was clearly in Cynthia's eyes. She moved closer to the -viewport, her face pale.</p> - -<p>"Fear, and a merciless hatred," Ned said. "Pursuing the Druids, driving -them from Earth. And dim, fearful legends remaining of a dark magic -older than the human race."</p> - -<p>"Ned, they've stopped dancing!" Cynthia's voice rang out sharply in the -silence. "They're coming toward the ship!"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p>"<i>Ned, they've stopped dancing ... they're coming toward the ship!</i>"</p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"I know," Ned said.</p> - -<p>"But we don't know what they're planning to do!" Cynthia's voice rose. -"We've got to get out!"</p> - -<p>"Steady," Ned said, turning. "If we take off at peak acceleration I -just can't picture them stopping us!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Ned, the Sweeneys may be happier than we know," Cynthia said, hours -later. They were deep in subspace, a hundred light years from the -little green world; and, in the warm security of the pilot-room, its -menacing shadows seemed immeasurably remote.</p> - -<p>"Happy?" Ned laughed harshly. "Kids who'll never grow up. Adults cut -off from all further growth. The same today, tomorrow and forever."</p> - -<p>"Their minds may change," Cynthia said. "Their minds may grow, Ned. -Tommy said that bright pupils could go far."</p> - -<p>"As catalysts, caught in a ghastly trap."</p> - -<p>"How can you be so sure, Ned? A wild guess, you called it. How do you -know the Druids and the Sweeneys don't learn from one another? Perhaps -they grow wise together, in a wonderful bright sharing of knowledge and -happiness that's like nothing we can imagine."</p> - -<p>Ned looked at his wife. "Why say a thing like that? Why even think of -it?"</p> - -<p>"Pandora, I guess."</p> - -<p>"What do you mean?"</p> - -<p>"I'm a woman and the Pandora complex is pretty basic, darling. I'd be -tempted to go back and throw open the box."</p> - -<p>"Something pretty black and horrible would come out," Ned said sharply. -"You can take my word for that. I hope you're not forgetting that -Pandora was the first woman chosen by Zeus to bring complete ruin on -the human race."</p> - -<p>"She didn't quite succeed. And how can we know for sure, Ned? If what -you say is true, if the Druids were really driven from Earth, we -haven't done so well since. Wars and madness for two thousand years. -Destruction and cruelty and death."</p> - -<p>"All you have to do is prove we'd be better off if the Druids had -stayed," Ned said.</p> - -<p>"Darling, think. If people grew wiser all the time, if they never aged, -would they want to murder one another?"</p> - -<p>"Now see here—"</p> - -<p>Cynthia smiled. "Think of having our own beautiful little home forever, -in a fragrant woody patch, with shining kitchen utensils on the wall. -Think of being spared all the miseries of old age and poverty and -sickness and death.</p> - -<p>"Think of having neighbors like the Sweeneys to grow young with, to -grow wise and young with, day by splendid day until the end of time."</p> - -<p>There was a long silence, and then Cynthia said: "I'd trust them, Ned. -The Druids, I mean. I'd take the chance. What have we to lose that's -really great, that can hold a candle to what the Sweeneys have?"</p> - -<p>"You can go anywhere if you just remember how close you are to where -you want to be!" Tommy Sweeney said, coming through the pilot-room -wall in a blaze of light. He grinned. "I asked mom and dad to try real -hard this time and here they are!"</p> - -<p>All of the Sweeneys came into the pilot-room as Tommy spoke, their -faces incredibly radiant.</p> - -<p>"I never really believed Tommy until this minute!" Clifton Sweeney -said. "If you just forget about walls you're where you want to be!"</p> - -<p>"Sure you are!" Tommy said. "It's as easy as skinning a chipmunk."</p> - -<p>"Ned, Cynthia," Helen Sweeney said. "Come back!"</p> - -<p>Tommy's sister simply smiled, a mischievous elfin smile which seemed -to mock the vast loneliness of space. It was as if some wizard game, -played by laughing children and wise forest creatures through long -golden afternoons, had become a universe-spanning web, embracing -everything in its path in a warm and radiant way.</p> - -<p>Cynthia looked at Dan. "Well, darling?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," Ned said, with quick decision. "We'll go back!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><i>And at that moment, in the forest deep and dark, the Druids built -another house. It was designed to appeal to a man and a woman who -had traveled far and grown weary of human cruelty and death. It -was designed for gracious living; but whether the Druids, in their -inscrutable wisdom, wished mankind well or ill, who could say?</i></p> - -<pre style='margin-top:6em'> -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TIMELESS ONES *** - -This file should be named 63967-h.htm or 63967-h.zip - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/9/6/63967/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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