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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..887f36e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #64791 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64791) diff --git a/old/64791-0.txt b/old/64791-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 124c072..0000000 --- a/old/64791-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1262 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tickets to Paradise, by D. L. James - -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: Tickets to Paradise - -Author: D. L. James - -Release Date: March 11, 2021 [eBook #64791] - -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 TICKETS TO PARADISE *** - - - - - Tickets to Paradise - - by D. L. JAMES - - _The ice stone was a time warp, a - pathway through 500,000 years!_ - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Comet December 40. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -It all started at Bandar Shahpur. You see, I'm a railroad construction -man. Our job was finished, and the whole outfit was waiting at Bandar -Shahpur, which is on the inlet Khor Musa of the Persian Gulf, for a -boat to take us back to America. - -And there, out of nowhere, this Dr. Champ Chadwick showed up. He seemed -to be starving for a little good old U.S.A. palaver, and I guess that's -why we struck up an acquaintance. - -"I've been doing a little digging over in Iraq," he said offhand. -"But things quieted down there. So now I'm bound for the desert -and mountains to the north of here. This railroad has opened things -up. It's difficult to get an expedition financed, you know, and -transportation is sometimes the chief item." - -I began to catch on that he was one of those guys who dig up ruins -and things, and read a country's whole past from what they find. -Then he went on to tell that he'd been sent out by a university in -Pennsylvania, but that this present trip was just a sudden idea of his -own. - -And as he talked I began to like Dr. Chadwick. He was a serious-faced, -rawboned little guy--not half my size--with steady eyes, a firm chin, -and black hair plastered down slick on his head. By and by he got -around to mention that he was looking for a strong-backed man to take -along with him. - -"I intend to strike out from Qum, the holy city," he said. "I'll try to -get hold of a motor-truck there--and one of these desert men to drive -it. They're rotten drivers though," he added, "and next to a dead loss -on a trip like this." Then he sighed. "But I'm getting used to 'em." - -"What do you expect to find up there?" I asked. - -"The usual thing," he answered, as if that ought to explain everything. -"This country is full of ruins. It's so old, in fact, that sometimes I -think that everything that can happen has already happened here, at one -time or another. Take Qum, for instance. A few years back there were -twenty thousand ruined and deserted buildings still standing. These -walled towns are like coral islands, surrounded and upheld by the dust -and decay of their own past. But I'm looking for something farther -back--much farther back." - -He paused, then suddenly his eyes brightened. "There's one thing, -though. I may have a try at finding the Ice Stone." - -"The Ice Stone?" I echoed. "And what's that?" - -"Perhaps just a legend. It isn't likely you would ever have heard of -it. It's supposed to be a black stone, a huge, square block, set in -the side of a mountain. If a man touches it, his hand sinks in, and he -can get loose only by amputating. The queer part is, there seems to be -some basis for the legend. All down through Iran's history there are -disconnected references. The thing keeps cropping up. Vague reports -from wandering tribes, with one or more cripples, minus an arm or leg, -to verify the yarn. So, I may take a shot at locating the Ice Stone." - -Queer stories like that are quite common in Iran. Ordinarily I'd have -laughed and forgotten it. But as I say, I'd taken a sort of liking to -this serious-faced little Dr. Champ Chadwick. And when you like a man -you're bound to think twice before discrediting what he believes in. - -"So you'll be taking a ride over this crazy railroad," I remarked -thoughtfully, somewhat later. - -He nodded. "What makes you call it crazy?" - -Well, I told him. Of course he already knew quite a lot about Iran's -new railroad--the many-million dollar toy of the "Brother of the -Moon and Stars," as the fancy-tongued Iranians like to call their -shah. This road writhes and twists and climbs through eight hundred -miles of queer, mountainous country--a country of mud and rocks and -salt-swamps--and carefully avoids all the important towns. You see, -the "King of Kings"--another pet name for Shah Pahlavi--is afraid some -of his neighbors might get control of the road and use it against him. -These same neighbors sneeringly refer to it as the road that leads from -"nowhere to nowhere." - -Perhaps they aren't far wrong. But this road was the reason for my -meeting up with Dr. Champ Chadwick. - -The last spike, a gold one, had just been hammered into its tie by -the "Most Lofty of Living Men" himself. That put our outfit out of -a job temporarily. You see, I'd been working for McKardin-Malroy, an -American contracting company, to whom the Shah had let out part of the -constructional works on his railroad. - -So, in the end, I of course took the job this Chadwick had sort of -dangled under my nose. The pay wasn't anything worth mentioning; but, -as I found out later, he himself was supplying the cash for this trip -out of his own pocket. He didn't have much, and so expenses had to be -cut to the limit. - -Things moved fast after that. I'd always had an idea that such trips -were planned carefully, months in advance, detail by detail. But this -Doc Champ, as I got to calling him, didn't seem to plan anything--he -just acted. - -The next day Doc and I rode back over that crazy railroad I'd helped -build--a road that winds through a maze of tunnels, one a grotesque -spiral affair, over high bridges and gorge viaducts. We passed through -Dizful, famed city of rats; Sultanabad, city of rugs; and on to the -holy city of Qum. - -Two days later, with Doc's whole scant outfit stored in the truck he'd -managed to purchase, we were grinding out through squalid towns of -ancient, one-story huts toward the salt swamp of Kavir and the lonely -stretch of mountains to the north. - -"Notice the way the dew lies there on the grass?" he said to me one -morning, just as the sun was rising and we were breaking camp. "We -slept right over the foundation walls of what was once part of an -ancient city." - -I squinted at where he was pointing, and, sure enough, I could see the -grass was all marked out in big squares--showing up only in the way the -dew sparkled, or didn't sparkle, in the slanting sunlight. - -"Difference in heat and moisture conductivity," explained Doc. "Those -walls are probably only a little way beneath the surface." - -"You want to dig here?" I asked him. - -He shook his head. Since that time when he told me about the Ice Stone, -he'd never mentioned it again. But I had noticed him squinting at all -the mountains we passed, and sometimes I'd see a queer expression on -his face, like a man who catches himself doing something that hasn't -got good sense back of it. - -In fact, by the end of the week, I had about decided that he didn't -have any better idea as to why we'd come out here than I did. - -I think it was on the seventh day that we came upon a queer-looking -country--isolated masses of rock, like big blocks, sticking up out of -the ground. Beyond these was a range of low mountains, or big hills, -whichever way you look at it. - -"We'll camp here for a day," said Doc. "How's the water?" - -"About gone," I told him. - -"Good," he nodded. "We'll run the truck up to the foot of those big -hills and find some." - -I headed that old bus for a sort of fold in the hills ahead, and when -the ground began to get pretty rough we stopped and went on afoot, each -carrying a couple of empty water buckets. It wasn't long before we -found a shallow stream. - -"There may be a spring farther up," said Doc. - -He started splashing along the creek bed, for it was bordered by dense -thickets of "jangal"--birch and box--through which you could scarcely -squeeze. - -I followed him. Pretty soon I smelled smoke. - -"Hey, Doc!" I called, "something's burning." - -He stopped and turned around. There was a queer look in his eyes, -almost like he wasn't all there--dopey. - -"Yes," he said, not seeming surprised at all. Then he pointed ahead. -"Smoke--I saw it some time back." - -He started on again. The whole thing wasn't natural. For almost a week -we had seen no living human being. And now, smoke--a wood fire, as I -could tell by the scent--seemed to mean that we were getting near where -someone lived. And yet, Doc hadn't thought it worth mentioning! - -Well, I followed him on for a hundred yards. Then we turned a bend in -the creek. The jangal opened up, and there, under the spread of a huge -plane-tree, was the fire. - -It was a small fire. Over it, roasting to a turn, were three dangling -fowls; and near by stood a strange human figure--a man. - -He beckoned to us. And as we approached he stood with folded arms, -facing us. - -"I am Rog Tanlu," he said in stiff but absolutely correct English. "I -called you, and you came." - -Doc Champ, ahead of me, straightened with a start. It was almost as -though he had just realized the queerness of all this. - -"Good Lord!" I heard him gasp softly. - -Then we both stood there, staring at that chap who called himself Rog -Tanlu. He was dressed in a glove-fitting garment that appeared to be -made of fawn-colored silk--which was odd enough. But the man himself -looked still stranger. He was no Iranian--no Kurd, Kashgais nor -Bakhtiaris. I could have sworn to that. - -He was very light skinned--lighter than any Persian--with a kind of -pallor, although not an unhealthy look, as though he'd spent all his -life indoors. - -"Do not be alarmed," he said, smiling at us, and with a friendly look -in his light blue eyes. "I can well understand your surprise at finding -me here. But I shall explain everything. Meanwhile, I have prepared -food, thinking you might be hungry. Will you join me?" - -He started dishing out those broiled fowls--black partridges, or -"durraj," I judged them to be--with the air of a man enjoying his first -outdoor picnic and getting a big kick out of it. - -"Here, Dr. Chadwick," he said, handing Doc one of those birds on a big -leaf for a dish. "And here's one for you, Mr. Lavin." - -Well, I took that broiled fowl and looked for a place to sit down. -You see my name is Lavin, Curt Lavin, but how he'd found it out was a -puzzler. I looked at Doc Champ. He was staring at this Rog Tanlu as if -seeing a ghost, or a man from Mars. - -That kind of knocked me out. I put a lot of dependence on Doc's -knowledge of human tribes and such. But evidently he couldn't tag on -our host any more than I could. - -I started to sit down on a flat rock near the fire. And then I saw -something standing on that rock--a thing like a tubular flashlight, -eight inches tall, with a globe of silvered glass at the upper end. - -"You are wondering at the way I speak your language," I heard this Rog -Tanlu saying to Doc Champ. "I have been learning it during the last few -days, but as yet am very lacking in fluency." - -"You--you've been learning English?" Doc Champ kind of gulped. - -Rog Tanlu waved the bird-leg he was nibbling on. - -"With the audio-visiscope," he explained. - -He reached over and did something to that flashlight thing on the rock -near me. Right away it started talking--like a radio. But I knew it -wasn't a radio. The speaker was someone cussing the King of Kings' -order forbidding veils for Iranian women. And then I saw that what I -had thought was a reflection in that silvered globe was moving. It -wasn't a reflection; it was a robed, turbaned mullah, and he went on -telling someone how unjust it was for a mullah to have to carry a -license. - -"Television," I heard Doc Champ mutter. - -I'll say it was, with a bang! And yet, not just that either. For you -may depend on it that no station was sending out such stuff. - -Rog Tanlu shut the thing off, and the silver of that globe became dead -black. I started eating. There was nothing but coarse salt to go along -with the bird--the kind you can scrape off rocks near those mud-salt -swamps--but the meat tasted okay. The others sat down and we finished -the three birds in no time. - -"How'd you bag 'em?" I asked Rog Tanlu, for I hadn't seen anything of a -gun, and black pheasants aren't easy to knock over with a stone. - -Rog Tanlu smiled and wiped his hands on that knit-silk outfit he was -wearing. All the time during that meal he'd been smiling, squinting up -at the sky and breathing deep--for all the world as though he'd never -been on an outdoor party before. - -"With this," he said, in answer to my question, picking up something -from the rock near where he was sitting--something that looked like -a black fountain-pen--for there didn't seem to be any pockets in his -clothing. Again he squinted up at the sky. - -Just then a buzzard came flying along slowlike, pretty high over our -heads. Rog Tanlu pointed that pen affair up at the bird. A thin little -ray of light flashed up--another and another. They wavered around for -a second, getting centered. And suddenly that buzzard started tumbling -out of the sky and crashed into the bushes near us. - -Doc Champ and I looked dumbly at each other. And then we stared at Rog -Tanlu. Grinning like a magician who has just pulled a fancy trick, he -held that ray-gun out for us to look at. - -"What did you mean when you said you had called us?" asked Doc Champ, -in that quiet way of his. - -"I had to get in communication with someone in this Age--someone who -could understand," said Rog Tanlu. "I chose you" (he was, of course, -speaking to Doc Champ) "because of your training and comprehension of -the Past. So I called you with the psycho-coil on the audio-visiscope, -by which means mental suggestions may be conveyed." - -Doc Champ swallowed hard. "What country are you from?" - -"Iralnard," said Rog Tanlu. "A nation which does not exist on earth -today, but which was contemporary with the beginning of the last Ice -Age. At that time my people occupied this very land. I am, as you might -say, a refugee from the Ice Age--the first to come through. But I -believe that others will follow. A number of my people. This possible -migration cannot help but result in discord with the present holders -of the land, unless some friendly agreement can be established. So I -called you." - -By this time I was up to my ears. I grabbed Doc Champ's arm. - -"Doc," I groaned, "are we awake? Is this guy joking? Or what's the -answer?" - -Doc pushed me away. - -"I shall make everything clear," said Rog Tanlu. - -"Let's get this straight," insisted Doc Champ. "You say you are a -refugee from the Ice Age? But that was some five hundred thousand years -ago. And you are in possession of at least two instruments of advanced -science. It doesn't match up." - -"It is quite necessary that you believe me." Rog Tanlu wasn't smiling -now, but was speaking very seriously. "Perhaps you realize that it is -a trait of the human mind to look upon the Past as uncultured. Such an -attitude is greatly in error." - -"You traveled here through Time?" asked Doc. - -"Not exactly," said Rog Tanlu. "Time, as you know, is merely the -illusion experienced by creatures endowed with memory living in -a universe of random energy distribution. Time is movement, the -rearrangement of matter--dependent upon the degree of entropy. I found -it impossible to travel in Time. That's why I constructed the Ice -Stone." - -"The Ice Stone!" There was a kind of awe in Doc's voice. "_You_ built -the Ice Stone?" - -Rog Tanlu nodded. "Of course I didn't call it that. But I happened to -overhear a conversation between you two, with the audio-visiscope, -some days ago, and thereby learned the name you have for it. A very -appropriate name! I also learned that neither of you had ever seen it. -So now, if you will accompany me, I will take you to my laboratory--or -rather to what still remains of my laboratory--and show you the Ice -Stone. That should simplify things, and may help us to solve the -problem of this impending migration--a problem which was forced on me -due to certain interference, as I will later explain." - -He picked up that flashlight thing and started off up the creek bank. - -Doc Champ shot a glance at me as he wiped beads of perspiration from -his face with his old felt hat. The shiny black locks plastered down on -his head glinted as he stepped into the sunshine. - -"Come along," he said to me. "We'll see this through." - -We followed Rog Tanlu. Presently he turned off the bank of the creek, -and the path he chose got rocky and wild as hell. I began to understand -why it was that so few people had ever run across the Ice Stone by -accident. - -"Doc," I whispered, "what do you make of this guy? Did you ever hear -such a crazy yarn?" - -"You forget," muttered Doc, "that we saw some things, too." - -I knew what he meant. You couldn't get around that buzzard tumbling out -of the sky, nor the mullah's image and voice in that silver globe. - -Rog Tanlu was walking a few yards ahead of us. Suddenly I saw a -queer-looking object hanging in one of those scraggly trees that were -having a hard time trying to grow there among the rocks. It looked -like a heavy blanket or garment, the same fawn-color as Rog Tanlu's -outfit. - -He stopped just opposite the tree where the thing was hanging from a -low branch. - -"After emerging from the Ice Stone," he explained, "I had to discard my -outer clothing. The sudden climatic change was almost shocking." Then -he pointed upward and to the left along a broad ledge that seemed to -zigzag down the rough face of a cliff, a hundred yards away. - -I guess Doc Champ had already caught sight of the Ice Stone. But I -hadn't; and now with my first glimpse of it, the thing did look exactly -like ice. It was like a huge, square block, set flush with the face of -the cliff, and with that ledge forming a pathway up to it. - -"Queer," I heard Doc Champ muttering. "All the legends pertaining to -the Ice Stone mention its black appearance. That stone doesn't look -black--it looks transparent." - -"Its color has recently changed," explained Rog Tanlu. "It isn't a -stone, or any material substance. It is a peculiar kind of space--space -with the third dimension, thickness in this instance, so twisted and -curved as to allow the fourth dimension to emerge from nothingness -into a certain hypostatic realness. Light has needed a long time to -penetrate through it, and for that reason the cube has only recently -assumed an apparent transparency. Now, if you will follow me, I will -lead you to my laboratory." - -He continued on around a shoulder of the cliff, so that we lost sight -of the Ice Stone. Gigantic boulders all but blocked the way. However, -our strange guide seemed to know where he was going and how to get -there. - -"All these rocks didn't used to be here," he said musingly. "They are -evidently glacier débris carried down since--well, since my time. Ah! -Here we are." - -He wormed his way through a narrow crevice. Doc and I followed. We -soon entered what at one time in the past must have been the wide mouth -of an underground cavern. - -For a moment we stood there, breathing the cold, moist air and staring -into the darkness. - -Suddenly a light flashed. I saw that Rog Tanlu was using that -fountain-pen thing like a flashlight, but now it was sending out a -blue-white radiance instead of those thin, death-dealing flashes. - -"This was my laboratory," he said, holding the light at arm's length -above his head. "There were big sliding doors that closed the place -up tight and kept out the ice and the cold. I had some rather unique -scientific apparatus here, but now it's all mouldering dust." - -His voice sounded flat, there with the weight of rocks around us, and -sad somehow. - -The floor of the cavern slanted stiffly upward. As we advanced, the air -around us kept getting colder and colder. It was like a gale from the -poles blowing in our faces. - -"We'll soon be directly behind the Ice Stone," said Rog Tanlu. - -A light began to appear ahead. I could see more of that cavern--even -the rock-ribbed ceiling high overhead. I can't express just what I -was thinking at that moment, but I saw Doc Champ kick at a mound of -something underfoot. The mound crumbled; Doc stooped and picked up a -round object, like a disk of rusted metal, and looked at it with a kind -of stark wonder. Then he threw it away and we followed Rog Tanlu. - -The light grew brighter, became a huge square of blustery, blue-white -chaos. We were standing as if just within the maws of a Gargantuan -doorway--an open doorway through which we could look out over a scene -of inexpressible dreariness. - -You've seen pictures of the Antarctic? Titanic masses and pinnacles of -ice, frozen white barrens, a land without feeling or soul? It was like -that. - -"We are looking through the Ice Stone." Rog Tanlu's voice was all but -snatched away by that glacial blast swishing in our faces. "I set it -up like a door--a door leading from my laboratory to the outside. The -light you see, and the wind, has taken half a million years to get -through." - -Doc Champ was tugging at the collar of his coat, and my own teeth were -chattering. Rog Tanlu motioned us to one side, out of that freezing -blast. - -"You see what we were up against?" he smiled. "Our space explorations -had killed the hope that some other planet in the system might offer -a suitable refuge where humans could live under anything like natural -conditions. - -"Moreover, there were social troubles. Politicians, philosophers and -sociologists all combined to control science. A scientist had to get a -special permit before he could conduct any new line of inquiry. - -"So I built this laboratory--ten miles from the vitro-domed city of -Iralnard--partly to escape governmental interference and partly to -keep from being spied upon by Darlu Marc, another experimentalist and -personal enemy of mine. I worked here alone, except for one laboratory -assistant--Eyoaoc Eiioiei, as I called him. And here we created the Ice -Stone. - -"As I have already explained, it is no material thing--merely a cube -of specialized space, foreshortened, warped and curved to attain -a specific result. Its action is very simple. It slows up a beam -of light exactly as does a lens, but to an incomparably greater -degree. And being composed of nothing tangible, it acts on any moving -thing--particle, atom or electron--exactly as it does on light photons. - -"Thus a man can walk through the Ice Stone without sensing any -change. Yet every function of his being is retarded, including mental -processes. And when he emerges from the other side, approximately half -a million years have elapsed. But once having touched it, say with his -hand, he must not try to withdraw, for his hand will then be within a -separate and distinct macrocosm, uninfluenced by anything outside, and -he must follow on through. - -"My intentions were, of course, to provide an avenue of escape from the -Ice Age we were entering, for I knew it wouldn't last indefinitely. -But I needed some sort of proof as to what conditions would be like -in half a million years before I could offer the Ice Stone as a -possible refuge. With Eyoaoc Eiioiei's help I managed to obtain several -chemically depicted approximations of the nearby landscape as it would -be likely to appear after the Ice Age. - -"These were very beautiful--or thus they seem to me--for you must -remember that in my time no one had ever seen trees or grass or flowers -growing naturally in the open. - -"We had just completed all this when, as we were working one day here -in the laboratory, my assistant sensed a snooper-ray on us. I myself -am not sensitive to an audio-visiscope emanation--sometimes called the -'snooper-ray'--but Eyoaoc Eiioiei sensed it, and he warned me. - -"However, the warning came too late. Darlu Marc, my enemy, was the spy. -Within a few hours I was thrown in prison. Eyoaoc Eiioiei escaped. He -was almost immune to the outside cold. - -"Darlu Marc had inveigled himself in with certain politicians and, -as a reward for reporting my misconduct, he received charge of my -laboratory. But I knew that the Ice Stone was safe, being practically -indestructible. - -"Shortly thereafter, word came to me in prison that a company had been -formed under Marc--a company that was selling tickets to the poorer -class of Iralnard City, entitling the holder to emigrate through the -Ice Stone. Their slogan was 'Tickets to Paradise.' - -"Naturally, this injustice made me desperate. I swore that I'd be the -first to pass through. In the meantime Eyoaoc Eiioiei had managed to -enter Iralnard City, disguised. He was very attached to me. He helped -me escape, helped me reach the laboratory. However, at the last moment, -we became separated. To avoid recapture I was forced to pass through -the Ice Stone alone. - -"Now, my friends, you know why I am here." - -Doc was beating his arms to keep from freezing. - -"If I understand you," he puffed, "that thing"--pointing toward the Ice -Stone--"affords a short-cut into the future, by a kind of suspended -animation. And once there, you can't go back." - -"Quite correct." Rog Tanlu seemed pleased. "If I were to pass through -it again, in either direction, I would not return to the Ice Age but -would take another jump into the future." - -It sounded simple, as he told it, even to me, and Doc nodded. - -"What seems queer," he observed, "is about this cold and wind. I -understand it's blowing from the outside cliff into the Ice Stone--from -way back in the Ice Age--and is only now emerging here. In that case -the cube must have swallowed a tremendous amount of air--and energy!" - -"You grasp the idea," said Rog Tanlu, with quiet satisfaction. "But -you must not judge the capacity of the Ice Stone by its external -dimensions. They are quite deceptive. I assure you that its -ramifications in the fourth dimension would enable it to absorb a total -of all telluric energies, and still have room to spare.... Come, my -friends, I had not realized that you were suffering from the cold! Let -us return to the balmy open. I find your climate--inexpressible!" - -Well, I wasn't sorry to hear this proposal. And judging by the way Doc -Champ was frostily puffing and rubbing his ears, I guess he wasn't, -either. - -We soon got down to where the wind didn't hit so strong, and Doc -started asking questions. - -When would the refugees start coming? Would Darlu Marc--Rog Tanlu's -enemy--be among the first? - -"He may never come," said Rog Tanlu bitterly. "His purpose is to bleed -the people, sell them passage to this paradise. That would enable him -to live in comparative security and comfort back in Iralnard City for -the remainder of his lifetime." - -I could see by the way he spoke that those half-million years -separating him from this guy Marc were pretty galling on Rog Tanlu. - -We were moving slowly down toward that all-but-closed entrance, and now -and then he would flash his light to show the way. - -"Here's a strange thought," said Doc Champ suddenly, as he stumbled -along at my elbow. "Why can't we go up on that ledge and look through -the Ice Stone from that direction? We ought to be able to see right -into your laboratory, as it was a short time after you left, and find -out what's going on." - -Rog Tanlu chuckled. "Of course," he agreed eagerly. "That's right -where we're bound now. I've been hanging around there for nine -days--watching. But so far--" - -A funny sound cut in on him--a sound coming from somewhere ahead. It -was like a voice--a metallic voice--thin and clear. - -"_Rog Tanlu ... Rog Tanlu ... Rog Tan-lu._..." - -Then I saw something move, there in the shadows, and goose-pimples -sprang out on me. For as the light glinted on that thing, I saw it -wasn't human. - -"Eyoaoc Eiioiei!" cried Rog Tanlu. "He's come through--he has followed -me!" - -[Illustration: _"Eyoaoc Eiioiei!" cried Rog Tanlu, "He's come through. -He has followed me!"_] - -Did you ever see a dog frisk around someone he likes, someone he's been -separated from for a long time? Then picture the dog as no dog at all, -but a madhouse thing prancing on two jointed-metal legs, as thick as -stovepipes, its eyes glinting ruby-red when they catch the light-- - -But the part that made cold shivers run up my back was the thing's -head--a round globe from which those ruby eyes sparkled. That head -wasn't attached in any visible manner to its short, squat body, but -seemed to float, six inches above its shoulders, as if poised there by -some magnetic force. - -All the while the thing was capering around Rog Tanlu, it was jabbering -at him in some outlandish tongue, and he was jabbering back at it. - -Doc Champ and I stood there staring. - -But by and by I heard Doc's voice. - -"A robot," he said, speaking softly and in kind of an awed tone. "So -his laboratory assistant is a robot." - -"No wonder it was immune to the cold," I gulped, swallowing hard. - -Presently Rog Tanlu swung around toward us and commenced to talk so we -could understand. - -"Serious news," he bit out. "Darlu Marc has delayed the emigration. -But he is sending a party of his vassals to wipe me out. He thinks -I possess means to destroy the Ice Stone--thinks I'd do it out of -sheer spite. He's wrong of course, in both instances. But the idea -is hindering the sale of tickets. Eyoaoc Eiioiei learned of Marc's -intentions. He managed at last to reach the Ice Stone, and bring me -warning. He emerged on the cliff side while we were in here. But an -armed band of Marc's vassals are right on his heels!" - -I couldn't tear my gaze from that thing he called Eyoaoc Eiioiei. It -had stopped frisking around him and was now blinking its ruby-red eyes -at Doc Champ and me; and, I swear, I believe that damned thing was just -as amazed and curious as I was. - -"Do you mean," asked Doc, "that these killers are outside now?" - -"I do not know," answered Rog Tanlu. "If so, they will soon find the -entrance to my laboratory, since they are familiar with the terrain." - -"Then we better sneak out of here," I suggested, not liking the idea -of being bottled up, there in that hole. - -"My friends," said Rog Tanlu, "I regret having drawn you into this. -Leave now; you may be able to escape undetected. But I shall await them -here, in this cavern which is very familiar to me." - -Doc Champ shook his head. I knew he wouldn't fall in with that plan. - -"We're both armed," he told Rog Tanlu, slapping the automatic that -sagged in his pocket. "We'll hang around awhile." - -I guess I like this quality in Doc. Maybe it was partly the reason why -I took to him. - -Well, I backed up the little guy ... but I thought he was wrong. That -fight--if there was going to be a fight--wasn't ours. And I couldn't -just see men with pistols getting very far against those fountain-pen -affairs, like Rog Tanlu had. And then, there was that Eyoaoc -Eiioiei.... The whole thing was a little beyond my depths. I thought -Doc was wrong to mix up in something we didn't know a cussed thing -about--and I still think so! - -Rog Tanlu had switched off his light. We stood there in the dark -listening. But we didn't hear a sound. - -I groped around and touched Doc's arm. - -"Doc," I whispered, "let's slip down to the entrance and find out -what's going on." - -Although my words shouldn't have carried six feet, that robot thing -must have heard me--and, stranger still, must have understood. - -For immediately I heard a subdued, metallic jabbering, then Rog Tanlu's -voice speaking urgently to Doc and me. - -"That would be very unwise. Eyoaoc Eiioiei suggests that it would be -better for us three to withdraw farther from the entrance. He will -remain here and act as guard. Moreover, I can easily learn, with the -audio-visiscope, what is taking place outside--just as soon as I have -a moment of leisure. Come, my friends." - -Well, we faced around and started back. And I could hear that nightmare -thing he called Eyoaoc Eiioiei moving on down toward the rock-choked -entrance--its steps surprisingly soundless, considering its clumsy -appearance. - -However, the entire arrangement didn't seem right to me, especially -letting that thing plan our line of action as if it was one of us and, -well, alive. - -But that robot-thing could certainly think, and fight, as I was shortly -to learn! - -Doc Champ and I groped along after Rog Tanlu. He seemed to know right -where he was going, and after a hundred feet or so he stopped. - -It was not quite dark here--just enough light for us to see, in a -vague sort of fashion, that he was bending over a low, flat block of -stone, a stone suggesting that it had once served as the foundation for -some huge machine. I realized that he was setting up that flashlight -contraption with the black bulb at one end. - -And suddenly that bulb began to glow softly. - -"Now," said Rog Tanlu, "we'll see what's going on." - -The three of us bent over the thing. What looked like reflections in it -were shifting around and around, and abruptly the steep face of a cliff -swung into view. We could see the Ice Stone as it appeared from the -outside, and the ledge running up to it. - -We saw no one near the Ice Stone. But suddenly, under Rog Tanlu's -swift adjustment, the image shifted and enlarged--like a movie -close-up--magnifying a certain portion of that ledge. - -And there, in a heap like cast-off cocoons, were some half-dozen of -those heavy, fawn-colored garments, identical with the one we had seen -hanging in the tree. - -"So-o-o," Rog Tanlu breathed tensely, "Eyoaoc Eiioiei was right! They -_have_ come! They must be--" - -A startled shout cut off his words. It was followed by a blinding flash -of light. Then hell suddenly broke loose down below us.... - -In that cavern-darkness the blast of light was, in itself, almost -stunning; and following it were other blasts of equal intensity. Vision -was a torturing thing. It was like those brief but vivid glimpses -presented by lightning during a summer storm at night. - -But with hurting eyes I managed to discern a group of figures jamming -the entrance-way to the cavern, with Eyoaoc Eiioiei's weird shape -looming between us and them. - -"Down!" shouted Rog Tanlu to Doc and me. "Down, behind the rock!" - -In a dim, bewildered way I realized that those flashes of light were -from weapons in the hands of invaders--weapons trained on Eyoaoc -Eiioiei. But we, also, were directly in line. - -Doc Champ didn't seem to hear Rog Tanlu's order. He was staring down at -that weird sight--staring at Eyoaoc Eiioiei. And for a moment I, too, -ignored the warning. For that grotesque thing was fighting--fighting in -a way that was an astonishing sight to witness. - -Thin, dazzling, rapierlike beams were flashing up at him and past him. -But Eyoaoc Eiioiei was avoiding those hissing shafts with a skill not -human--a dancing, cavorting nightmare thing, silhouetted against and -enmeshed by those lethal streaks of fire; and I saw that now and then -from his metal hand flashed a return blast of radiance. He was standing -between his master and his master's assassins, and such wild courage -and savagery brought into my throat a choked feeling of admiration. - -A hissing white shaft flashed within a foot of my head, bringing me to -my senses. I made a grab at Doc Champ, intending to drag him down to -safety. Then I realized that he was already lying flat behind that -ancient block of rock. - -Rog Tanlu was on his knees. He had jerked that fountain-pen affair into -action. Again and again I saw its belching bar of whiteness blast down -toward the entrance. This man from the Past, despite his thin, pale -face and affable manner, was also a fighter! - -And strangely, watching him and that wildly cavorting shadow that was -Eyoaoc Eiioiei, I forgot all about the automatic in my pocket. For -somehow this fantastic meeting of forces seemed remotely withdrawn from -the affairs of Doc Champ and myself--although heaven knows we were -mixed up in it at that moment close enough! - -I do not know for how long that flaming barrage lasted--perhaps only -a moment or so, although it seemed longer. But suddenly it was over. -Darkness and silence blotted down on us there in the cavern. - -"Doc!" I gasped. - -He didn't answer. But I heard someone moaning softly. - -I groped around in the darkness. Then my hand touched him. He didn't -move, and somehow it needed only that touch to tell me the truth. - -"Rog Tanlu," I called hoarsely. "Rog Tanlu--!" - -"Here," came a voice, followed by a moan. - -The temporary blindness caused by those recent blasts of light was -leaving my eyes. I began to see dimly. - -I crawled over to where Rog Tanlu was lying. - -"They accomplished their purpose," he muttered. "I--I'm--" - -"Where are you hurt?" I asked, my hands running over his shoulder and -arm. That glove-fitting silk garment over his right arm and part of his -chest felt strangely altered, brittle, charred. - -"The healing ray," he muttered. "The orlex ray--only that could help -me ... and I know that you do not have it." - -A sound, the clump of heavy metal feet, caused me suddenly to jerk -erect. My eyes tried to pierce the darkness. - -A grotesque form was emerging from the gloom--Eyoaoc Eiioiei. - -I drew back as that metal thing bent over Rog Tanlu. - -There followed a moment of excited voice-sounds, and once or twice Rog -Tanlu answered, faintly, words I could not understand. - -Suddenly, reaching down, the thing picked him up in its jointed metal -arms and started to carry him on up the passageway. - -For a moment I stood there, saddened and appalled by this grim turn of -fate. Then I began running up the slope after them. But so swiftly did -that metal thing stride on before me that the blast of glacial air from -the Ice Stone was hissing in my ears before I overtook them. - -"Rog Tanlu!" I cried. "Where--?" - -"The healing ray," his voice came back to me. "You do not have it ... -my good friend.... But somewhere ... in the Future ... it will be -rediscovered. Eyoaoc Eiioiei will take me ... on into the Future ... -through the Ice Stone ... again and again if necessary ... until we -find it--" - -His voice ceased. For Eyoaoc Eiioiei had not paused, but had continued -on straight into that frigid blast. - -I caught a last vague glimpse of that nightmare shape disappearing into -the Ice Stone. - - * * * * * - -There is but little more to tell. Those assassins from the Past -were all dead, as I discovered when I left the cavern--Rog Tanlu's -laboratory. - -I buried what was left of little rawboned Doctor Champ in the sand at -the foot of that cliff below the Ice Stone. - -Then I headed back in the truck for Qum, the Holy City. Three days -later the fuel ran out. I do not know what plans Doc had made for -replenishing it, but whatever they were he hadn't put me wise. So I -left the truck there at the edge of a mud-salt swamp and went on afoot. - -Two weeks later, more dead than alive, I arrived at Qum and tried to -give warning. - -It may seem queer, but until that moment I had not worried over the -chance of my word being doubted. Moreover, the one substantiating -exhibit I had thought to bring along--that fawn-colored silk garment of -Rog Tanlu's--I had been forced to abandon along with the truck. - -I soon realized that if I persisted in trying to tell the truth, one of -two things would happen: I would either be locked up as a nut, or, if I -managed to convince certain Iranian officials, then the "Most Lofty of -Living Men"--the Shah--might possibly send a few airplanes out there to -bomb the Ice Stone "out of existence," as they lightly and humorously -suggested. - -I doubt that this could be done. If the Ice Stone were dislodged from -its setting, there in the mountain-cliff where it was installed by its -maker--Rog Tanlu--who knows what world-catastrophe might not result? - -So at last I gave up. - -At Bandar Shahpur I caught a boat for home. - -But I am now dickering with a certain Pennsylvania university. They -are interested in the disappearance of Dr. Champ Chadwick, and I've -offered to act as guide if they will send a party of scientists out to -investigate the Ice Stone. Perhaps something may come of it--before it -is too late. - -But then I get to thinking of how Eyoaoc Eiioiei is carrying his -wounded master on and on into the Future in search of a "healing ray!" - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TICKETS TO PARADISE *** - -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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L. James</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Tickets to Paradise</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: D. L. James</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: March 11, 2021 [eBook #64791]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TICKETS TO PARADISE ***</div> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>Tickets to Paradise</h1> - -<p>by D. L. JAMES</p> - -<p><i>The ice stone was a time warp, a<br /> -pathway through 500,000 years!</i></p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Comet December 40.<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>It all started at Bandar Shahpur. You see, I'm a railroad construction -man. Our job was finished, and the whole outfit was waiting at Bandar -Shahpur, which is on the inlet Khor Musa of the Persian Gulf, for a -boat to take us back to America.</p> - -<p>And there, out of nowhere, this Dr. Champ Chadwick showed up. He seemed -to be starving for a little good old U.S.A. palaver, and I guess that's -why we struck up an acquaintance.</p> - -<p>"I've been doing a little digging over in Iraq," he said offhand. -"But things quieted down there. So now I'm bound for the desert -and mountains to the north of here. This railroad has opened things -up. It's difficult to get an expedition financed, you know, and -transportation is sometimes the chief item."</p> - -<p>I began to catch on that he was one of those guys who dig up ruins -and things, and read a country's whole past from what they find. -Then he went on to tell that he'd been sent out by a university in -Pennsylvania, but that this present trip was just a sudden idea of his -own.</p> - -<p>And as he talked I began to like Dr. Chadwick. He was a serious-faced, -rawboned little guy—not half my size—with steady eyes, a firm chin, -and black hair plastered down slick on his head. By and by he got -around to mention that he was looking for a strong-backed man to take -along with him.</p> - -<p>"I intend to strike out from Qum, the holy city," he said. "I'll try to -get hold of a motor-truck there—and one of these desert men to drive -it. They're rotten drivers though," he added, "and next to a dead loss -on a trip like this." Then he sighed. "But I'm getting used to 'em."</p> - -<p>"What do you expect to find up there?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"The usual thing," he answered, as if that ought to explain everything. -"This country is full of ruins. It's so old, in fact, that sometimes I -think that everything that can happen has already happened here, at one -time or another. Take Qum, for instance. A few years back there were -twenty thousand ruined and deserted buildings still standing. These -walled towns are like coral islands, surrounded and upheld by the dust -and decay of their own past. But I'm looking for something farther -back—much farther back."</p> - -<p>He paused, then suddenly his eyes brightened. "There's one thing, -though. I may have a try at finding the Ice Stone."</p> - -<p>"The Ice Stone?" I echoed. "And what's that?"</p> - -<p>"Perhaps just a legend. It isn't likely you would ever have heard of -it. It's supposed to be a black stone, a huge, square block, set in -the side of a mountain. If a man touches it, his hand sinks in, and he -can get loose only by amputating. The queer part is, there seems to be -some basis for the legend. All down through Iran's history there are -disconnected references. The thing keeps cropping up. Vague reports -from wandering tribes, with one or more cripples, minus an arm or leg, -to verify the yarn. So, I may take a shot at locating the Ice Stone."</p> - -<p>Queer stories like that are quite common in Iran. Ordinarily I'd have -laughed and forgotten it. But as I say, I'd taken a sort of liking to -this serious-faced little Dr. Champ Chadwick. And when you like a man -you're bound to think twice before discrediting what he believes in.</p> - -<p>"So you'll be taking a ride over this crazy railroad," I remarked -thoughtfully, somewhat later.</p> - -<p>He nodded. "What makes you call it crazy?"</p> - -<p>Well, I told him. Of course he already knew quite a lot about Iran's -new railroad—the many-million dollar toy of the "Brother of the -Moon and Stars," as the fancy-tongued Iranians like to call their -shah. This road writhes and twists and climbs through eight hundred -miles of queer, mountainous country—a country of mud and rocks and -salt-swamps—and carefully avoids all the important towns. You see, -the "King of Kings"—another pet name for Shah Pahlavi—is afraid some -of his neighbors might get control of the road and use it against him. -These same neighbors sneeringly refer to it as the road that leads from -"nowhere to nowhere."</p> - -<p>Perhaps they aren't far wrong. But this road was the reason for my -meeting up with Dr. Champ Chadwick.</p> - -<p>The last spike, a gold one, had just been hammered into its tie by -the "Most Lofty of Living Men" himself. That put our outfit out of -a job temporarily. You see, I'd been working for McKardin-Malroy, an -American contracting company, to whom the Shah had let out part of the -constructional works on his railroad.</p> - -<p>So, in the end, I of course took the job this Chadwick had sort of -dangled under my nose. The pay wasn't anything worth mentioning; but, -as I found out later, he himself was supplying the cash for this trip -out of his own pocket. He didn't have much, and so expenses had to be -cut to the limit.</p> - -<p>Things moved fast after that. I'd always had an idea that such trips -were planned carefully, months in advance, detail by detail. But this -Doc Champ, as I got to calling him, didn't seem to plan anything—he -just acted.</p> - -<p>The next day Doc and I rode back over that crazy railroad I'd helped -build—a road that winds through a maze of tunnels, one a grotesque -spiral affair, over high bridges and gorge viaducts. We passed through -Dizful, famed city of rats; Sultanabad, city of rugs; and on to the -holy city of Qum.</p> - -<p>Two days later, with Doc's whole scant outfit stored in the truck he'd -managed to purchase, we were grinding out through squalid towns of -ancient, one-story huts toward the salt swamp of Kavir and the lonely -stretch of mountains to the north.</p> - -<p>"Notice the way the dew lies there on the grass?" he said to me one -morning, just as the sun was rising and we were breaking camp. "We -slept right over the foundation walls of what was once part of an -ancient city."</p> - -<p>I squinted at where he was pointing, and, sure enough, I could see the -grass was all marked out in big squares—showing up only in the way the -dew sparkled, or didn't sparkle, in the slanting sunlight.</p> - -<p>"Difference in heat and moisture conductivity," explained Doc. "Those -walls are probably only a little way beneath the surface."</p> - -<p>"You want to dig here?" I asked him.</p> - -<p>He shook his head. Since that time when he told me about the Ice Stone, -he'd never mentioned it again. But I had noticed him squinting at all -the mountains we passed, and sometimes I'd see a queer expression on -his face, like a man who catches himself doing something that hasn't -got good sense back of it.</p> - -<p>In fact, by the end of the week, I had about decided that he didn't -have any better idea as to why we'd come out here than I did.</p> - -<p>I think it was on the seventh day that we came upon a queer-looking -country—isolated masses of rock, like big blocks, sticking up out of -the ground. Beyond these was a range of low mountains, or big hills, -whichever way you look at it.</p> - -<p>"We'll camp here for a day," said Doc. "How's the water?"</p> - -<p>"About gone," I told him.</p> - -<p>"Good," he nodded. "We'll run the truck up to the foot of those big -hills and find some."</p> - -<p>I headed that old bus for a sort of fold in the hills ahead, and when -the ground began to get pretty rough we stopped and went on afoot, each -carrying a couple of empty water buckets. It wasn't long before we -found a shallow stream.</p> - -<p>"There may be a spring farther up," said Doc.</p> - -<p>He started splashing along the creek bed, for it was bordered by dense -thickets of "jangal"—birch and box—through which you could scarcely -squeeze.</p> - -<p>I followed him. Pretty soon I smelled smoke.</p> - -<p>"Hey, Doc!" I called, "something's burning."</p> - -<p>He stopped and turned around. There was a queer look in his eyes, -almost like he wasn't all there—dopey.</p> - -<p>"Yes," he said, not seeming surprised at all. Then he pointed ahead. -"Smoke—I saw it some time back."</p> - -<p>He started on again. The whole thing wasn't natural. For almost a week -we had seen no living human being. And now, smoke—a wood fire, as I -could tell by the scent—seemed to mean that we were getting near where -someone lived. And yet, Doc hadn't thought it worth mentioning!</p> - -<p>Well, I followed him on for a hundred yards. Then we turned a bend in -the creek. The jangal opened up, and there, under the spread of a huge -plane-tree, was the fire.</p> - -<p>It was a small fire. Over it, roasting to a turn, were three dangling -fowls; and near by stood a strange human figure—a man.</p> - -<p>He beckoned to us. And as we approached he stood with folded arms, -facing us.</p> - -<p>"I am Rog Tanlu," he said in stiff but absolutely correct English. "I -called you, and you came."</p> - -<p>Doc Champ, ahead of me, straightened with a start. It was almost as -though he had just realized the queerness of all this.</p> - -<p>"Good Lord!" I heard him gasp softly.</p> - -<p>Then we both stood there, staring at that chap who called himself Rog -Tanlu. He was dressed in a glove-fitting garment that appeared to be -made of fawn-colored silk—which was odd enough. But the man himself -looked still stranger. He was no Iranian—no Kurd, Kashgais nor -Bakhtiaris. I could have sworn to that.</p> - -<p>He was very light skinned—lighter than any Persian—with a kind of -pallor, although not an unhealthy look, as though he'd spent all his -life indoors.</p> - -<p>"Do not be alarmed," he said, smiling at us, and with a friendly look -in his light blue eyes. "I can well understand your surprise at finding -me here. But I shall explain everything. Meanwhile, I have prepared -food, thinking you might be hungry. Will you join me?"</p> - -<p>He started dishing out those broiled fowls—black partridges, or -"durraj," I judged them to be—with the air of a man enjoying his first -outdoor picnic and getting a big kick out of it.</p> - -<p>"Here, Dr. Chadwick," he said, handing Doc one of those birds on a big -leaf for a dish. "And here's one for you, Mr. Lavin."</p> - -<p>Well, I took that broiled fowl and looked for a place to sit down. -You see my name is Lavin, Curt Lavin, but how he'd found it out was a -puzzler. I looked at Doc Champ. He was staring at this Rog Tanlu as if -seeing a ghost, or a man from Mars.</p> - -<p>That kind of knocked me out. I put a lot of dependence on Doc's -knowledge of human tribes and such. But evidently he couldn't tag on -our host any more than I could.</p> - -<p>I started to sit down on a flat rock near the fire. And then I saw -something standing on that rock—a thing like a tubular flashlight, -eight inches tall, with a globe of silvered glass at the upper end.</p> - -<p>"You are wondering at the way I speak your language," I heard this Rog -Tanlu saying to Doc Champ. "I have been learning it during the last few -days, but as yet am very lacking in fluency."</p> - -<p>"You—you've been learning English?" Doc Champ kind of gulped.</p> - -<p>Rog Tanlu waved the bird-leg he was nibbling on.</p> - -<p>"With the audio-visiscope," he explained.</p> - -<p>He reached over and did something to that flashlight thing on the rock -near me. Right away it started talking—like a radio. But I knew it -wasn't a radio. The speaker was someone cussing the King of Kings' -order forbidding veils for Iranian women. And then I saw that what I -had thought was a reflection in that silvered globe was moving. It -wasn't a reflection; it was a robed, turbaned mullah, and he went on -telling someone how unjust it was for a mullah to have to carry a -license.</p> - -<p>"Television," I heard Doc Champ mutter.</p> - -<p>I'll say it was, with a bang! And yet, not just that either. For you -may depend on it that no station was sending out such stuff.</p> - -<p>Rog Tanlu shut the thing off, and the silver of that globe became dead -black. I started eating. There was nothing but coarse salt to go along -with the bird—the kind you can scrape off rocks near those mud-salt -swamps—but the meat tasted okay. The others sat down and we finished -the three birds in no time.</p> - -<p>"How'd you bag 'em?" I asked Rog Tanlu, for I hadn't seen anything of a -gun, and black pheasants aren't easy to knock over with a stone.</p> - -<p>Rog Tanlu smiled and wiped his hands on that knit-silk outfit he was -wearing. All the time during that meal he'd been smiling, squinting up -at the sky and breathing deep—for all the world as though he'd never -been on an outdoor party before.</p> - -<p>"With this," he said, in answer to my question, picking up something -from the rock near where he was sitting—something that looked like -a black fountain-pen—for there didn't seem to be any pockets in his -clothing. Again he squinted up at the sky.</p> - -<p>Just then a buzzard came flying along slowlike, pretty high over our -heads. Rog Tanlu pointed that pen affair up at the bird. A thin little -ray of light flashed up—another and another. They wavered around for -a second, getting centered. And suddenly that buzzard started tumbling -out of the sky and crashed into the bushes near us.</p> - -<p>Doc Champ and I looked dumbly at each other. And then we stared at Rog -Tanlu. Grinning like a magician who has just pulled a fancy trick, he -held that ray-gun out for us to look at.</p> - -<p>"What did you mean when you said you had called us?" asked Doc Champ, -in that quiet way of his.</p> - -<p>"I had to get in communication with someone in this Age—someone who -could understand," said Rog Tanlu. "I chose you" (he was, of course, -speaking to Doc Champ) "because of your training and comprehension of -the Past. So I called you with the psycho-coil on the audio-visiscope, -by which means mental suggestions may be conveyed."</p> - -<p>Doc Champ swallowed hard. "What country are you from?"</p> - -<p>"Iralnard," said Rog Tanlu. "A nation which does not exist on earth -today, but which was contemporary with the beginning of the last Ice -Age. At that time my people occupied this very land. I am, as you might -say, a refugee from the Ice Age—the first to come through. But I -believe that others will follow. A number of my people. This possible -migration cannot help but result in discord with the present holders -of the land, unless some friendly agreement can be established. So I -called you."</p> - -<p>By this time I was up to my ears. I grabbed Doc Champ's arm.</p> - -<p>"Doc," I groaned, "are we awake? Is this guy joking? Or what's the -answer?"</p> - -<p>Doc pushed me away.</p> - -<p>"I shall make everything clear," said Rog Tanlu.</p> - -<p>"Let's get this straight," insisted Doc Champ. "You say you are a -refugee from the Ice Age? But that was some five hundred thousand years -ago. And you are in possession of at least two instruments of advanced -science. It doesn't match up."</p> - -<p>"It is quite necessary that you believe me." Rog Tanlu wasn't smiling -now, but was speaking very seriously. "Perhaps you realize that it is -a trait of the human mind to look upon the Past as uncultured. Such an -attitude is greatly in error."</p> - -<p>"You traveled here through Time?" asked Doc.</p> - -<p>"Not exactly," said Rog Tanlu. "Time, as you know, is merely the -illusion experienced by creatures endowed with memory living in -a universe of random energy distribution. Time is movement, the -rearrangement of matter—dependent upon the degree of entropy. I found -it impossible to travel in Time. That's why I constructed the Ice -Stone."</p> - -<p>"The Ice Stone!" There was a kind of awe in Doc's voice. "<i>You</i> built -the Ice Stone?"</p> - -<p>Rog Tanlu nodded. "Of course I didn't call it that. But I happened to -overhear a conversation between you two, with the audio-visiscope, -some days ago, and thereby learned the name you have for it. A very -appropriate name! I also learned that neither of you had ever seen it. -So now, if you will accompany me, I will take you to my laboratory—or -rather to what still remains of my laboratory—and show you the Ice -Stone. That should simplify things, and may help us to solve the -problem of this impending migration—a problem which was forced on me -due to certain interference, as I will later explain."</p> - -<p>He picked up that flashlight thing and started off up the creek bank.</p> - -<p>Doc Champ shot a glance at me as he wiped beads of perspiration from -his face with his old felt hat. The shiny black locks plastered down on -his head glinted as he stepped into the sunshine.</p> - -<p>"Come along," he said to me. "We'll see this through."</p> - -<p>We followed Rog Tanlu. Presently he turned off the bank of the creek, -and the path he chose got rocky and wild as hell. I began to understand -why it was that so few people had ever run across the Ice Stone by -accident.</p> - -<p>"Doc," I whispered, "what do you make of this guy? Did you ever hear -such a crazy yarn?"</p> - -<p>"You forget," muttered Doc, "that we saw some things, too."</p> - -<p>I knew what he meant. You couldn't get around that buzzard tumbling out -of the sky, nor the mullah's image and voice in that silver globe.</p> - -<p>Rog Tanlu was walking a few yards ahead of us. Suddenly I saw a -queer-looking object hanging in one of those scraggly trees that were -having a hard time trying to grow there among the rocks. It looked -like a heavy blanket or garment, the same fawn-color as Rog Tanlu's -outfit.</p> - -<p>He stopped just opposite the tree where the thing was hanging from a -low branch.</p> - -<p>"After emerging from the Ice Stone," he explained, "I had to discard my -outer clothing. The sudden climatic change was almost shocking." Then -he pointed upward and to the left along a broad ledge that seemed to -zigzag down the rough face of a cliff, a hundred yards away.</p> - -<p>I guess Doc Champ had already caught sight of the Ice Stone. But I -hadn't; and now with my first glimpse of it, the thing did look exactly -like ice. It was like a huge, square block, set flush with the face of -the cliff, and with that ledge forming a pathway up to it.</p> - -<p>"Queer," I heard Doc Champ muttering. "All the legends pertaining to -the Ice Stone mention its black appearance. That stone doesn't look -black—it looks transparent."</p> - -<p>"Its color has recently changed," explained Rog Tanlu. "It isn't a -stone, or any material substance. It is a peculiar kind of space—space -with the third dimension, thickness in this instance, so twisted and -curved as to allow the fourth dimension to emerge from nothingness -into a certain hypostatic realness. Light has needed a long time to -penetrate through it, and for that reason the cube has only recently -assumed an apparent transparency. Now, if you will follow me, I will -lead you to my laboratory."</p> - -<p>He continued on around a shoulder of the cliff, so that we lost sight -of the Ice Stone. Gigantic boulders all but blocked the way. However, -our strange guide seemed to know where he was going and how to get -there.</p> - -<p>"All these rocks didn't used to be here," he said musingly. "They are -evidently glacier débris carried down since—well, since my time. Ah! -Here we are."</p> - -<p>He wormed his way through a narrow crevice. Doc and I followed. We -soon entered what at one time in the past must have been the wide mouth -of an underground cavern.</p> - -<p>For a moment we stood there, breathing the cold, moist air and staring -into the darkness.</p> - -<p>Suddenly a light flashed. I saw that Rog Tanlu was using that -fountain-pen thing like a flashlight, but now it was sending out a -blue-white radiance instead of those thin, death-dealing flashes.</p> - -<p>"This was my laboratory," he said, holding the light at arm's length -above his head. "There were big sliding doors that closed the place -up tight and kept out the ice and the cold. I had some rather unique -scientific apparatus here, but now it's all mouldering dust."</p> - -<p>His voice sounded flat, there with the weight of rocks around us, and -sad somehow.</p> - -<p>The floor of the cavern slanted stiffly upward. As we advanced, the air -around us kept getting colder and colder. It was like a gale from the -poles blowing in our faces.</p> - -<p>"We'll soon be directly behind the Ice Stone," said Rog Tanlu.</p> - -<p>A light began to appear ahead. I could see more of that cavern—even -the rock-ribbed ceiling high overhead. I can't express just what I -was thinking at that moment, but I saw Doc Champ kick at a mound of -something underfoot. The mound crumbled; Doc stooped and picked up a -round object, like a disk of rusted metal, and looked at it with a kind -of stark wonder. Then he threw it away and we followed Rog Tanlu.</p> - -<p>The light grew brighter, became a huge square of blustery, blue-white -chaos. We were standing as if just within the maws of a Gargantuan -doorway—an open doorway through which we could look out over a scene -of inexpressible dreariness.</p> - -<p>You've seen pictures of the Antarctic? Titanic masses and pinnacles of -ice, frozen white barrens, a land without feeling or soul? It was like -that.</p> - -<p>"We are looking through the Ice Stone." Rog Tanlu's voice was all but -snatched away by that glacial blast swishing in our faces. "I set it -up like a door—a door leading from my laboratory to the outside. The -light you see, and the wind, has taken half a million years to get -through."</p> - -<p>Doc Champ was tugging at the collar of his coat, and my own teeth were -chattering. Rog Tanlu motioned us to one side, out of that freezing -blast.</p> - -<p>"You see what we were up against?" he smiled. "Our space explorations -had killed the hope that some other planet in the system might offer -a suitable refuge where humans could live under anything like natural -conditions.</p> - -<p>"Moreover, there were social troubles. Politicians, philosophers and -sociologists all combined to control science. A scientist had to get a -special permit before he could conduct any new line of inquiry.</p> - -<p>"So I built this laboratory—ten miles from the vitro-domed city of -Iralnard—partly to escape governmental interference and partly to -keep from being spied upon by Darlu Marc, another experimentalist and -personal enemy of mine. I worked here alone, except for one laboratory -assistant—Eyoaoc Eiioiei, as I called him. And here we created the Ice -Stone.</p> - -<p>"As I have already explained, it is no material thing—merely a cube -of specialized space, foreshortened, warped and curved to attain -a specific result. Its action is very simple. It slows up a beam -of light exactly as does a lens, but to an incomparably greater -degree. And being composed of nothing tangible, it acts on any moving -thing—particle, atom or electron—exactly as it does on light photons.</p> - -<p>"Thus a man can walk through the Ice Stone without sensing any -change. Yet every function of his being is retarded, including mental -processes. And when he emerges from the other side, approximately half -a million years have elapsed. But once having touched it, say with his -hand, he must not try to withdraw, for his hand will then be within a -separate and distinct macrocosm, uninfluenced by anything outside, and -he must follow on through.</p> - -<p>"My intentions were, of course, to provide an avenue of escape from the -Ice Age we were entering, for I knew it wouldn't last indefinitely. -But I needed some sort of proof as to what conditions would be like -in half a million years before I could offer the Ice Stone as a -possible refuge. With Eyoaoc Eiioiei's help I managed to obtain several -chemically depicted approximations of the nearby landscape as it would -be likely to appear after the Ice Age.</p> - -<p>"These were very beautiful—or thus they seem to me—for you must -remember that in my time no one had ever seen trees or grass or flowers -growing naturally in the open.</p> - -<p>"We had just completed all this when, as we were working one day here -in the laboratory, my assistant sensed a snooper-ray on us. I myself -am not sensitive to an audio-visiscope emanation—sometimes called the -'snooper-ray'—but Eyoaoc Eiioiei sensed it, and he warned me.</p> - -<p>"However, the warning came too late. Darlu Marc, my enemy, was the spy. -Within a few hours I was thrown in prison. Eyoaoc Eiioiei escaped. He -was almost immune to the outside cold.</p> - -<p>"Darlu Marc had inveigled himself in with certain politicians and, -as a reward for reporting my misconduct, he received charge of my -laboratory. But I knew that the Ice Stone was safe, being practically -indestructible.</p> - -<p>"Shortly thereafter, word came to me in prison that a company had been -formed under Marc—a company that was selling tickets to the poorer -class of Iralnard City, entitling the holder to emigrate through the -Ice Stone. Their slogan was 'Tickets to Paradise.'</p> - -<p>"Naturally, this injustice made me desperate. I swore that I'd be the -first to pass through. In the meantime Eyoaoc Eiioiei had managed to -enter Iralnard City, disguised. He was very attached to me. He helped -me escape, helped me reach the laboratory. However, at the last moment, -we became separated. To avoid recapture I was forced to pass through -the Ice Stone alone.</p> - -<p>"Now, my friends, you know why I am here."</p> - -<p>Doc was beating his arms to keep from freezing.</p> - -<p>"If I understand you," he puffed, "that thing"—pointing toward the Ice -Stone—"affords a short-cut into the future, by a kind of suspended -animation. And once there, you can't go back."</p> - -<p>"Quite correct." Rog Tanlu seemed pleased. "If I were to pass through -it again, in either direction, I would not return to the Ice Age but -would take another jump into the future."</p> - -<p>It sounded simple, as he told it, even to me, and Doc nodded.</p> - -<p>"What seems queer," he observed, "is about this cold and wind. I -understand it's blowing from the outside cliff into the Ice Stone—from -way back in the Ice Age—and is only now emerging here. In that case -the cube must have swallowed a tremendous amount of air—and energy!"</p> - -<p>"You grasp the idea," said Rog Tanlu, with quiet satisfaction. "But -you must not judge the capacity of the Ice Stone by its external -dimensions. They are quite deceptive. I assure you that its -ramifications in the fourth dimension would enable it to absorb a total -of all telluric energies, and still have room to spare.... Come, my -friends, I had not realized that you were suffering from the cold! Let -us return to the balmy open. I find your climate—inexpressible!"</p> - -<p>Well, I wasn't sorry to hear this proposal. And judging by the way Doc -Champ was frostily puffing and rubbing his ears, I guess he wasn't, -either.</p> - -<p>We soon got down to where the wind didn't hit so strong, and Doc -started asking questions.</p> - -<p>When would the refugees start coming? Would Darlu Marc—Rog Tanlu's -enemy—be among the first?</p> - -<p>"He may never come," said Rog Tanlu bitterly. "His purpose is to bleed -the people, sell them passage to this paradise. That would enable him -to live in comparative security and comfort back in Iralnard City for -the remainder of his lifetime."</p> - -<p>I could see by the way he spoke that those half-million years -separating him from this guy Marc were pretty galling on Rog Tanlu.</p> - -<p>We were moving slowly down toward that all-but-closed entrance, and now -and then he would flash his light to show the way.</p> - -<p>"Here's a strange thought," said Doc Champ suddenly, as he stumbled -along at my elbow. "Why can't we go up on that ledge and look through -the Ice Stone from that direction? We ought to be able to see right -into your laboratory, as it was a short time after you left, and find -out what's going on."</p> - -<p>Rog Tanlu chuckled. "Of course," he agreed eagerly. "That's right -where we're bound now. I've been hanging around there for nine -days—watching. But so far—"</p> - -<p>A funny sound cut in on him—a sound coming from somewhere ahead. It -was like a voice—a metallic voice—thin and clear.</p> - -<p>"<i>Rog Tanlu ... Rog Tanlu ... Rog Tan-lu.</i>..."</p> - -<p>Then I saw something move, there in the shadows, and goose-pimples -sprang out on me. For as the light glinted on that thing, I saw it -wasn't human.</p> - -<p>"Eyoaoc Eiioiei!" cried Rog Tanlu. "He's come through—he has followed -me!"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>"Eyoaoc Eiioiei!" cried Rog Tanlu, "He's come through. He has followed me!"</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Did you ever see a dog frisk around someone he likes, someone he's been -separated from for a long time? Then picture the dog as no dog at all, -but a madhouse thing prancing on two jointed-metal legs, as thick as -stovepipes, its eyes glinting ruby-red when they catch the light—</p> - -<p>But the part that made cold shivers run up my back was the thing's -head—a round globe from which those ruby eyes sparkled. That head -wasn't attached in any visible manner to its short, squat body, but -seemed to float, six inches above its shoulders, as if poised there by -some magnetic force.</p> - -<p>All the while the thing was capering around Rog Tanlu, it was jabbering -at him in some outlandish tongue, and he was jabbering back at it.</p> - -<p>Doc Champ and I stood there staring.</p> - -<p>But by and by I heard Doc's voice.</p> - -<p>"A robot," he said, speaking softly and in kind of an awed tone. "So -his laboratory assistant is a robot."</p> - -<p>"No wonder it was immune to the cold," I gulped, swallowing hard.</p> - -<p>Presently Rog Tanlu swung around toward us and commenced to talk so we -could understand.</p> - -<p>"Serious news," he bit out. "Darlu Marc has delayed the emigration. -But he is sending a party of his vassals to wipe me out. He thinks -I possess means to destroy the Ice Stone—thinks I'd do it out of -sheer spite. He's wrong of course, in both instances. But the idea -is hindering the sale of tickets. Eyoaoc Eiioiei learned of Marc's -intentions. He managed at last to reach the Ice Stone, and bring me -warning. He emerged on the cliff side while we were in here. But an -armed band of Marc's vassals are right on his heels!"</p> - -<p>I couldn't tear my gaze from that thing he called Eyoaoc Eiioiei. It -had stopped frisking around him and was now blinking its ruby-red eyes -at Doc Champ and me; and, I swear, I believe that damned thing was just -as amazed and curious as I was.</p> - -<p>"Do you mean," asked Doc, "that these killers are outside now?"</p> - -<p>"I do not know," answered Rog Tanlu. "If so, they will soon find the -entrance to my laboratory, since they are familiar with the terrain."</p> - -<p>"Then we better sneak out of here," I suggested, not liking the idea -of being bottled up, there in that hole.</p> - -<p>"My friends," said Rog Tanlu, "I regret having drawn you into this. -Leave now; you may be able to escape undetected. But I shall await them -here, in this cavern which is very familiar to me."</p> - -<p>Doc Champ shook his head. I knew he wouldn't fall in with that plan.</p> - -<p>"We're both armed," he told Rog Tanlu, slapping the automatic that -sagged in his pocket. "We'll hang around awhile."</p> - -<p>I guess I like this quality in Doc. Maybe it was partly the reason why -I took to him.</p> - -<p>Well, I backed up the little guy ... but I thought he was wrong. That -fight—if there was going to be a fight—wasn't ours. And I couldn't -just see men with pistols getting very far against those fountain-pen -affairs, like Rog Tanlu had. And then, there was that Eyoaoc -Eiioiei.... The whole thing was a little beyond my depths. I thought -Doc was wrong to mix up in something we didn't know a cussed thing -about—and I still think so!</p> - -<p>Rog Tanlu had switched off his light. We stood there in the dark -listening. But we didn't hear a sound.</p> - -<p>I groped around and touched Doc's arm.</p> - -<p>"Doc," I whispered, "let's slip down to the entrance and find out -what's going on."</p> - -<p>Although my words shouldn't have carried six feet, that robot thing -must have heard me—and, stranger still, must have understood.</p> - -<p>For immediately I heard a subdued, metallic jabbering, then Rog Tanlu's -voice speaking urgently to Doc and me.</p> - -<p>"That would be very unwise. Eyoaoc Eiioiei suggests that it would be -better for us three to withdraw farther from the entrance. He will -remain here and act as guard. Moreover, I can easily learn, with the -audio-visiscope, what is taking place outside—just as soon as I have -a moment of leisure. Come, my friends."</p> - -<p>Well, we faced around and started back. And I could hear that nightmare -thing he called Eyoaoc Eiioiei moving on down toward the rock-choked -entrance—its steps surprisingly soundless, considering its clumsy -appearance.</p> - -<p>However, the entire arrangement didn't seem right to me, especially -letting that thing plan our line of action as if it was one of us and, -well, alive.</p> - -<p>But that robot-thing could certainly think, and fight, as I was shortly -to learn!</p> - -<p>Doc Champ and I groped along after Rog Tanlu. He seemed to know right -where he was going, and after a hundred feet or so he stopped.</p> - -<p>It was not quite dark here—just enough light for us to see, in a -vague sort of fashion, that he was bending over a low, flat block of -stone, a stone suggesting that it had once served as the foundation for -some huge machine. I realized that he was setting up that flashlight -contraption with the black bulb at one end.</p> - -<p>And suddenly that bulb began to glow softly.</p> - -<p>"Now," said Rog Tanlu, "we'll see what's going on."</p> - -<p>The three of us bent over the thing. What looked like reflections in it -were shifting around and around, and abruptly the steep face of a cliff -swung into view. We could see the Ice Stone as it appeared from the -outside, and the ledge running up to it.</p> - -<p>We saw no one near the Ice Stone. But suddenly, under Rog Tanlu's -swift adjustment, the image shifted and enlarged—like a movie -close-up—magnifying a certain portion of that ledge.</p> - -<p>And there, in a heap like cast-off cocoons, were some half-dozen of -those heavy, fawn-colored garments, identical with the one we had seen -hanging in the tree.</p> - -<p>"So-o-o," Rog Tanlu breathed tensely, "Eyoaoc Eiioiei was right! They -<i>have</i> come! They must be—"</p> - -<p>A startled shout cut off his words. It was followed by a blinding flash -of light. Then hell suddenly broke loose down below us....</p> - -<p>In that cavern-darkness the blast of light was, in itself, almost -stunning; and following it were other blasts of equal intensity. Vision -was a torturing thing. It was like those brief but vivid glimpses -presented by lightning during a summer storm at night.</p> - -<p>But with hurting eyes I managed to discern a group of figures jamming -the entrance-way to the cavern, with Eyoaoc Eiioiei's weird shape -looming between us and them.</p> - -<p>"Down!" shouted Rog Tanlu to Doc and me. "Down, behind the rock!"</p> - -<p>In a dim, bewildered way I realized that those flashes of light were -from weapons in the hands of invaders—weapons trained on Eyoaoc -Eiioiei. But we, also, were directly in line.</p> - -<p>Doc Champ didn't seem to hear Rog Tanlu's order. He was staring down at -that weird sight—staring at Eyoaoc Eiioiei. And for a moment I, too, -ignored the warning. For that grotesque thing was fighting—fighting in -a way that was an astonishing sight to witness.</p> - -<p>Thin, dazzling, rapierlike beams were flashing up at him and past him. -But Eyoaoc Eiioiei was avoiding those hissing shafts with a skill not -human—a dancing, cavorting nightmare thing, silhouetted against and -enmeshed by those lethal streaks of fire; and I saw that now and then -from his metal hand flashed a return blast of radiance. He was standing -between his master and his master's assassins, and such wild courage -and savagery brought into my throat a choked feeling of admiration.</p> - -<p>A hissing white shaft flashed within a foot of my head, bringing me to -my senses. I made a grab at Doc Champ, intending to drag him down to -safety. Then I realized that he was already lying flat behind that -ancient block of rock.</p> - -<p>Rog Tanlu was on his knees. He had jerked that fountain-pen affair into -action. Again and again I saw its belching bar of whiteness blast down -toward the entrance. This man from the Past, despite his thin, pale -face and affable manner, was also a fighter!</p> - -<p>And strangely, watching him and that wildly cavorting shadow that was -Eyoaoc Eiioiei, I forgot all about the automatic in my pocket. For -somehow this fantastic meeting of forces seemed remotely withdrawn from -the affairs of Doc Champ and myself—although heaven knows we were -mixed up in it at that moment close enough!</p> - -<p>I do not know for how long that flaming barrage lasted—perhaps only -a moment or so, although it seemed longer. But suddenly it was over. -Darkness and silence blotted down on us there in the cavern.</p> - -<p>"Doc!" I gasped.</p> - -<p>He didn't answer. But I heard someone moaning softly.</p> - -<p>I groped around in the darkness. Then my hand touched him. He didn't -move, and somehow it needed only that touch to tell me the truth.</p> - -<p>"Rog Tanlu," I called hoarsely. "Rog Tanlu—!"</p> - -<p>"Here," came a voice, followed by a moan.</p> - -<p>The temporary blindness caused by those recent blasts of light was -leaving my eyes. I began to see dimly.</p> - -<p>I crawled over to where Rog Tanlu was lying.</p> - -<p>"They accomplished their purpose," he muttered. "I—I'm—"</p> - -<p>"Where are you hurt?" I asked, my hands running over his shoulder and -arm. That glove-fitting silk garment over his right arm and part of his -chest felt strangely altered, brittle, charred.</p> - -<p>"The healing ray," he muttered. "The orlex ray—only that could help -me ... and I know that you do not have it."</p> - -<p>A sound, the clump of heavy metal feet, caused me suddenly to jerk -erect. My eyes tried to pierce the darkness.</p> - -<p>A grotesque form was emerging from the gloom—Eyoaoc Eiioiei.</p> - -<p>I drew back as that metal thing bent over Rog Tanlu.</p> - -<p>There followed a moment of excited voice-sounds, and once or twice Rog -Tanlu answered, faintly, words I could not understand.</p> - -<p>Suddenly, reaching down, the thing picked him up in its jointed metal -arms and started to carry him on up the passageway.</p> - -<p>For a moment I stood there, saddened and appalled by this grim turn of -fate. Then I began running up the slope after them. But so swiftly did -that metal thing stride on before me that the blast of glacial air from -the Ice Stone was hissing in my ears before I overtook them.</p> - -<p>"Rog Tanlu!" I cried. "Where—?"</p> - -<p>"The healing ray," his voice came back to me. "You do not have it ... -my good friend.... But somewhere ... in the Future ... it will be -rediscovered. Eyoaoc Eiioiei will take me ... on into the Future ... -through the Ice Stone ... again and again if necessary ... until we -find it—"</p> - -<p>His voice ceased. For Eyoaoc Eiioiei had not paused, but had continued -on straight into that frigid blast.</p> - -<p>I caught a last vague glimpse of that nightmare shape disappearing into -the Ice Stone.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There is but little more to tell. Those assassins from the Past -were all dead, as I discovered when I left the cavern—Rog Tanlu's -laboratory.</p> - -<p>I buried what was left of little rawboned Doctor Champ in the sand at -the foot of that cliff below the Ice Stone.</p> - -<p>Then I headed back in the truck for Qum, the Holy City. Three days -later the fuel ran out. I do not know what plans Doc had made for -replenishing it, but whatever they were he hadn't put me wise. So I -left the truck there at the edge of a mud-salt swamp and went on afoot.</p> - -<p>Two weeks later, more dead than alive, I arrived at Qum and tried to -give warning.</p> - -<p>It may seem queer, but until that moment I had not worried over the -chance of my word being doubted. Moreover, the one substantiating -exhibit I had thought to bring along—that fawn-colored silk garment of -Rog Tanlu's—I had been forced to abandon along with the truck.</p> - -<p>I soon realized that if I persisted in trying to tell the truth, one of -two things would happen: I would either be locked up as a nut, or, if I -managed to convince certain Iranian officials, then the "Most Lofty of -Living Men"—the Shah—might possibly send a few airplanes out there to -bomb the Ice Stone "out of existence," as they lightly and humorously -suggested.</p> - -<p>I doubt that this could be done. If the Ice Stone were dislodged from -its setting, there in the mountain-cliff where it was installed by its -maker—Rog Tanlu—who knows what world-catastrophe might not result?</p> - -<p>So at last I gave up.</p> - -<p>At Bandar Shahpur I caught a boat for home.</p> - -<p>But I am now dickering with a certain Pennsylvania university. They -are interested in the disappearance of Dr. Champ Chadwick, and I've -offered to act as guide if they will send a party of scientists out to -investigate the Ice Stone. Perhaps something may come of it—before it -is too late.</p> - -<p>But then I get to thinking of how Eyoaoc Eiioiei is carrying his -wounded master on and on into the Future in search of a "healing ray!"</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TICKETS TO PARADISE ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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. 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