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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/76503-0.txt b/76503-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b0e2dc --- /dev/null +++ b/76503-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6838 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76503 *** + + + + + + THE MAN WHO + MASTERED TIME + + RAY CUMMINGS + + ACE BOOKS + A Division of A. A. Wyn, Inc. + 23 West 47th Street, New York 36, N. Y. + + THE MAN WHO MASTERED TIME + + Copyright, 1929, by Ray Cummings + + An Ace Book, by arrangement with the author. + + TO GABRIELLE + Who has given me affectionate + assistance for a long, long time. + + Printed in U. S. A. + + + + + CHAPTER ONE + + +"Time," said George, "why I can give you a definition of time. It's what +keeps everything from happening at once." + +A ripple of laughter went about the little group of men. + +"Quite so," agreed the Chemist. "And, gentlemen, that's not nearly so +funny as it sounds. As a matter of fact, it is really not a bad +scientific definition. Time and space are all that separate one event +from another. Everything happens some_where_ at some_time_." + +"You intimated you had something vitally important to tell us," the Big + +Business Man suggested. "Something, Rogers, that would amaze us. Some +project you were about to undertake--" + +Rogers raised his hand. "In a moment, gentlemen. I want to prepare you +first--to some extent, at least. That's why I have led you into this +discussion. I want you to realize that your preconceived ideas of time +are wrong, inadequate. You must think along entirely different lines, in +terms of, I shall say, the _new science_." + +"I will," agreed George, "only tell me how." + +"You said that time, space, and matter are not separate, distinct +entities, but are blended together," the Doctor declared. "Just what do +you mean?" + +Rogers gazed earnestly about the room. "This, my friends. Those are the +three factors which make up our universe as we know it. I said they were +blended. I mean that the actual reality underlying all the +manifestations we experience is not temporal or spatial or material, but +a blend of all three. It is we who, in our minds, have split up the +original unity into three such supposedly different things as time, +space and matter." + +"Take space and time," said the Big Business Man. "Those two seem wholly +different to me. I shouldn't think they had the slightest connection." + +"But they have. Between the three planes of space--length, breadth and +thickness--and time, there is no essential distinction. We think of them +differently; we instinctively feel differently about them. But science +is not concerned with our feelings--and science recognizes today that +time is a property of space, just as are length, breadth and thickness." + +"That's easy to say," growled the Banker. "Any one can make statements +that can't be proven." + +"It has been proven," Rogers declared quietly. "The mathematical +language of science would bore you. Let me give you a popular +illustration--an illustration, by the way, that I saw in print long +before Einstein's theory was made public. For instance, think about +this: A house has length, breadth and thickness. The house is matter, +and it has three dimensions of space. But what else has it?" + +A blank silence followed his sudden question. + +"Hasn't it duration, gentlemen? Could a house have any real existence if +it did not exist for any time at all?" + +"Well," said George, "I guess that's something to think about." + +Rogers went on calmly: "You must admit, my friends, that the existence +of matter depends on time equally as on space. They are, as I said, +blended together. A house must have length, breadth, thickness and +duration, or it cannot exist. Matter, in other words, persists in time +and space. Let me give you another illustration of this blending. How +would you define motion?" + +Again there was a dubious silence. + +"Motion," said George suddenly, "why, that's when something--something +material changes place." He was blushing at his own temerity, and he sat +back in his leather chair, smoking furiously. + +"Quite so," smiled Rogers. "That, gentlemen, is about the way we all +conceive motion. Something material, a railroad train, for instance, +changes its position in space." He regarded the men before him, and this +time there was a touch of triumph in his manner. "But, my friends, +that's where our line of reasoning is inadequate. Time is involved +equally with space. The train was there _then_; it is here _now_. That +involves time." + +"In other words--" the Doctor began. + +"In other words, motion is the simultaneous change of the position of +matter in time and space. You see how impossible it is to speak of one +factor without involving the others? That is the mental attitude into +which I'm trying to get you. I want you to think of time exactly as you +think of length, breadth and thickness--as one of the properties of +space. Isn't that clear?" + +The Big Business Man answered him. "I think so. I can understand now +what you mean by a blending of--" + +"Oh, his words are clear enough," the Banker interjected testily. "But +what's the argument about? He started in by saying--" + +George sat up suddenly. "Mr. Rogers, you said we were to come here for +something vitally important to you. Something about time and space. You +said--" + +Rogers interrupted him. "I did indeed. I asked you all to come here to +the club tonight because you are my friends. Mine and Loto's. And the +affair concerns him more directly than it does me." + +He glanced across the room. "Come, Loto. You're the one to tell them." + +The Chemist's son, a young man of twenty, rose reluctantly from his +obscure seat in a corner of the room. He was tall, and slight of build, +with thick, wavy chestnut hair and blue eyes; his delicate features were +offset by a square firmness of chin. He came forward slowly, flushing as +the eyes of the men were turned on him; a poetic-looking boy, with only +the firm line of his lips and the set of his jaw to mark him for a man. + +"My son, gentlemen," Rogers added. "You all know Loto." + +"We do," said George enthusiastically. He vacated his own chair, shoving +it forward, and selected another, more retired position for himself. + +Loto settled himself in the chair and then hesitated, as though in doubt +how to begin. He was still flushing, and yet his manner was thoroughly +poised. His forehead was wrinkled in thought. + +"Father and I were experimenting," he began abruptly, "about two years +ago. We were interested in electrons. We were experimenting with the +fluorescence in a Crookes tube--breaking down the atoms into electrons. +Then we followed the experiments of Lenard and Roentgen. We darkened the +tube and prepared a chemical screen, which grew luminous." + +Loto turned to Rogers: "They don't want to hear all this. These +technicalities--" + +Rogers smiled. "We hit upon it quite by accident--an accident that we +have never been able to duplicate. We had, that evening, an adaptation +of the familiar Crookes tube. I do not know the exact conditions we +secured; we had no idea we were on the threshold of any discovery and we +kept no record of what we did. Nor am I sure just how I prepared the +screen--what proportions of the chemicals I used--" + +"You're worse than Loto," the Banker growled. "If you'll just tell us +what--" + +"I will," agreed Rogers good-naturedly. "We were working one night in my +laboratory on Forty-third Street--only a few hundred yards from the +Scientific Club here. The room was dark, and we had set up a small +chemical screen. It grew luminous as the electrons from the tube struck +it, but the glowing was not what we had expected--not what we had +observed before. The difference is unexplainable to you, but we both +noticed it. And then Loto noticed something else, something in the +darkness behind the screen." + +Loto was sitting upright on the edge of his chair; his eyes were +snapping with eagerness as he interrupted his father. + +"I'll tell them because it was I who saw it first. Behind the screen, +the darkness of the room itself was growing luminous with a glowing +radiance that seemed to spread out into rays that were not parallel, but +divergent. It looked almost as though the screen were a searchlight +sending a spreading beam out behind it. + +"Father saw it almost as soon as I did. It was a very curious light; it +did not illuminate the room about us. Then we suddenly discovered that +it went through the walls of the laboratory. We were looking into a +space that seemed to be opening up for miles ahead of us. The walls of +the room, the house itself, the city around us, were all blotted out. We +were looking into an empty distance." + +"Empty?" echoed George tensely. "Didn't you see anything?" + +"Not at first." Loto had relaxed; his earnest gaze passed from one to +the other of the intent faces of the men. "We were only conscious of +empty distance. It was not darkness nor was it light. It was more a dim +phosphorescence. We had forgotten the Crookes tube, the screen, +everything but that glowing, empty scene before us. + +"After a moment, or it may have been much longer, the scene seemed to +brighten. It turned to gleaming silver, and then we saw that we were +looking out over a snow-covered waste. Miles of it. Snow reaching back +to the horizon, and dull gray sky overhead. The ground seemed about +sixty feet below us, and we were poised in the air above it." + +Loto paused a moment, and Rogers added, "You understand, gentlemen, that +my laboratory is not on the ground floor of the building, but somewhat +above the level of that part of the city." + +"But--" began the Big Business Man. + +"Let him go on," growled the Banker. "Go on, boy. Didn't you see +anything but snow?" + +"No, not at once. It was all bleak and desolate. But it kept on +brightening, losing its silvery, glowing look until at last we could +see it was daylight. It was apparently late afternoon--or perhaps early +morning. The sun wasn't showing--it must have been behind a cloud. + +"We sat staring down at this cold, snowy landscape, and then, almost +from below us, something moving came into view. It had passed under +us--under the laboratory--and was traveling on away from us." + +"What was it?" the Banker demanded. + +"Well, it seemed to be a huge sled, with fur covered figures on it, and +pulled by an animal almost as large as a horse. But it wasn't a +horse--it was a dog." + +Loto paused, but no one else spoke. After a moment he resumed: + +"The sled slackened and stopped about a quarter of a mile north of the +laboratory--up toward where Central Park is now. And then we saw that +there was a building there, a large, oval-shaped structure. It may have +been built of snow, or ice--or perhaps some whitish stone. There seemed +to be an enclosed space behind it. The whole thing blended into the +landscape so that we had overlooked it before. + +"The sled stopped. We could see the figures climbing down from it. Then +there was sudden darkness. The scene went black. We were sitting facing +the side wall of the laboratory." + +"A wire in our apparatus had burned out," Rogers explained. "And that +night I was taken sick. It developed into pneumonia and I was laid up +for weeks. Loto was left alone to follow up our discovery." + +"Just a minute," the Banker interjected. "Do I understand you to imply +that you actually saw all this? It was not a vision, or an electrical +picture of some sort that you were reproducing?" + +"No, they mean it was an actual scene," the Big Business Man put in. +"They were seeing New York City at some other time. Isn't that so?" + +Rogers nodded. "Exactly. And while I was sick, Loto went ahead and--" + +"Was it the past?" the Doctor interposed. "Were you looking back into +the past?" + +"We were looking across countless centuries into the future," said Loto. + +"The future!" + +"Yes," declared Rogers. "Must you always think of the future as a +wonderful civilization of marvelous inventions, mammoth buildings and +airplanes like ocean steamships? All that lies ahead of us, no doubt. A +hundred years--two hundred--a thousand--will bring all that. But further +on? What about then, gentlemen? Ten thousand years from now? Or fifty +thousand? Do you anticipate that civilization will always climb steadily +upward? You are wrong. There must be a peak, and then a down grade--the +decadence of mankind." + +"Please, let me go on," Loto said eagerly. "I need not tell you all now +exactly how we knew we were looking into the future, and not the past. +We, ourselves, did not know it that first evening. But later, when I +studied the scene more closely, I could tell easily." + +"How?" the Banker demanded. + +"By the details I saw. The type of building. That animal that looked +like a dog. The sun--I'll tell you about that in a moment. An artificial +light in the house--I saw it once or twice when it was night there. And +the girl. Her manner of dress--" + +"There was a girl?" said George quickly. "A girl! Tell us about her, +Loto. Was she pretty? Was she--" + +"Go on, boy," growled the Banker. "Tell it from where you left off." + +"Yes, she was very pretty," said Loto gravely. "She--" He stopped +suddenly, his gaze drifting off into distance. + +"Oh boy!" breathed George, but at the Banker's glare he sat back, +abashed. + +Loto went on after a moment: "I won't go into details now. While my +father was sick, I was able to examine the scene many times. I even +think I--well, I sat watching it most of the time for a week at least. + +"The house had a sort of stable--or a kennel, if you want to call it +that--behind it. And there was an open space, like a garden, with a wall +around it. There was a little tree in the garden; a tree all covered +with snow. But after a few days the sun came out and melted the snow on +the tree branches. + +"The girl was a captive. I guess they were bringing her in on that sled +the night we first saw them. There was another woman about the place, +and an old man. And a younger man--the one who was holding the girl a +prisoner." + +"You said the house looked about a quarter of a mile away," the Banker +declared. "How could you see all these details?" + +"I had a small telescope, sir." + +"The scene actually was there," Rogers put in. "Loto used a telescope +quite as he would have used one through the window to see Central Park. +Go on, Loto." + +"The girl..." George prompted. + +"She was a small girl. Very slender--about sixteen, I guess. She had +long, golden hair, but it was red when she stood outside with the sun on +it. That's because the sun was red; an enormous glowing red ball, like +the end of a cigar. It tinged the snow with blood, but there didn't seem +to be much heat from it. + +"Sometimes I could see the girl through the doorway. There was a door, +but it was transparent--glass, perhaps--and the house was lighted +inside. She would sit on a low seat, with her hair in sort of braids +down over her shoulders. Once she played on some little stringed +instrument. And sang. I could see her so plainly it seemed curious not +to hear her voice. + +"They appeared to treat her kindly, even though she was a captive. But +once the man came in and tried to kiss her. She fended him off. Then he +went out and got on his sled and drove away. He was gone several hours. + +"The girl cried that night. She cried for a long time. Once she ran +outside, but one of those huge dogs came leaping out of the other +building and drove her back. The dog's baying must have aroused the +place. The old man and the woman appeared, and they locked the girl up +in some other room. I never saw her again. + +"A week or two went by and father was better. But the next time I went +to the laboratory, the apparatus wouldn't work. Perhaps the chemicals on +the screen were worn out--We're not really sure. But we've never been +able since to make a screen that would do more than glow. We've never +had another that would affect the time-space behind it." + +"You mean," said the Big Business Man softly, "that after those brief +glimpses into the future, it is closed again to you?" + +Rogers spoke. "Tell them the rest, Loto." + +The younger man was hesitant. "Perhaps you gentlemen wouldn't +understand. We have seen nothing more, but I couldn't forget that girl." + +"_I_ understand," George murmured. But Loto went on unheeding: + +"It wasn't the scientific part of our discovery that impressed me most. +We kept that secret because we had no proof of what we had done, and we +couldn't seem to get any. It was the girl that bothered me. That girl--a +captive--facing some danger.... You gentlemen will say she isn't living, +that she won't be alive for thousands of years yet. But _I_ say your +conception of it is wrong." + +Loto's voice had gained sudden power. He seemed abruptly years +older--forceful, commanding. + +"_You_ say that girl _will_ be living in the future. I say she _is_ +living in the future. She is living just as you and I are living--right +here in this exact space that we call New York--within a few hundred +yards of this room. She is separated from us, not by space, but only by +time. + +"You, gentlemen, perhaps cannot conceive of crossing that time. But if +it were a mile of space, or a thousand miles, you could imagine crossing +it very easily. Yet we know that time is a property of space; not one +iota different from length, breadth and thickness except that we think +of it differently." + +Loto's flashing eyes held his little audience. "Gentlemen, suppose +you--with your human intelligence--were trees, rooted to one spot here +in America. And suppose that the accustomed order of things was that +Asia would come slowly and steadily toward you and pass before you. That +is what time does for us. Do you suppose, under those circumstances, +that you could readily conceive of going across space and reaching Asia? +Think about that, gentlemen! It's easy for us to imagine moving through +space, because we've always done it. But a tree with your intelligence +would not feel that way about it. The tree would say: 'Asia will be +here.' And if you said: 'That's true. But Asia exists just the same in a +different part of space from you. If you go there, you will not have to +wait for it to come to you,' the tree--even if it had your present +intelligence in every other way--wouldn't understand that. Simply +because the tree had always conceived space as we are accustomed to +conceiving time. That conception of ours does not fit the real facts, +for--except for the way space and time affect us personally--there is +actually no distinction to be made between them. That is no original +theory of mine; it is modern scientific thought--mathematically proven +and accepted ever since Albert Einstein first made his theory public." + +A silence followed Loto's outburst. Rogers broke it: + +"We would like to have you gentlemen meet us here two weeks from +tonight. We are not quite ready yet. Will you do that?" + +Every one in the room signified assent. + +"But what for?" George asked earnestly. "Of course we will, but has Loto +discovered anything? Has he--" + +Loto interrupted him. "I have been working and experimenting for two +years." He had fallen back to his quiet manner. "Father has helped me, +of course. And given me money--more than he could afford." + +He smiled at Rogers, who returned it with a gaze of affection. + +"In two weeks I will be completely ready. Don't you think so, father?" + +"Yes," said Rogers, and a sudden cloud of anxiety crossed his face. He +was a scientist, but he was a father as well, and even his scientific +enthusiasm could not allay the fear for his son that was in his heart. + +"Yes," he repeated. "I think you will be quite ready, Loto." + +"Ready for what?" growled the Banker. He was mopping his forehead with a +huge white handkerchief. + +Loto's glance swept across all the men in the room. "I have found a way +to cross time, just as you are able to cross space. And two weeks from +tonight, gentlemen, with, your assistance, I propose to start forward +through the centuries that lie ahead of us. I'm going to find that +girl--if I can--and release her--help her out of whatever danger, +whatever trouble she is in!" + + + + + CHAPTER TWO + + +"Honor to Loto," cried the Big Business Man. "The youngest and greatest +scientist of all time!" + +"There's a double meaning in that," laughed the Doctor, amid the +applause. "The greatest scientist of time! He is, indeed." + +It was outwardly a gay little gathering, having dinner in a small +private room of the Scientific Club. But underneath the laughter there +was a note of tenseness, and two of the people--a man and a +woman--laughed infrequently with gayety that was forced. + +The man was Rogers; the woman, Lylda, his wife, mother of Loto. She was +the only woman in the room. At first glance she would have seemed no +more than thirty-five, though in reality she was several years older--a +small, slender figure in a simple black evening dress that covered her +shoulders, but left her throat bare. Her beauty was of a curious type; +her face was oval, her features delicately molded and of pronounced +Grecian cast. Yet there seemed about her, also, an indefinable touch of +the Orient; her eyes, perhaps, which were slate gray, large and very +slightly upturned at the corners. Her complexion was fair; her hair +thick, wavy and coal-black. + +That she was a woman of intellect, culture and refinement was obvious. +There was about her, too, a look of gentle sweetness, the air of a woman +who could be nothing less than charming. Her eyes, as she met those of +her men friends around her, were direct and honest. But when she +regarded Loto this evening, a yearning melancholy sprang into them, with +a mistiness as though the tears were restrained only by an effort. + +The laughter about the table died out. A waiter was removing the last of +the dishes; the men were lighting their cigars. + +"Well," said the Banker, breaking the silence, "now let us hear it. If +everyone is as curious as I am--" + +"More," put in George. "I'm more curious." + +"You're right," agreed Rogers. "We must get on." + +"First," the Big Business Man interrupted, "I want to know more about +that screen behind which you saw that other time world of the future." + +"I know very little myself," Rogers answered. "So little that Loto and I +could never duplicate it. But the theory is understandable. The space +where Central Park now is has a certain time factor allied to its other +properties. The light, the rays, from that screen, whatever may have +been their character, altered the time factor of that space. + +"As Loto told you, the modern conception of the reality of things is +that the future exists--but with a different time dimension. We have a +familiar axiom, 'No two masses of matter can occupy the same space _at +the same time_.' That is just another way of saying it. To reason +logically from that, an infinite number of masses of matter can, and +do, occupy the same space _at different times_." + +"I'd rather hear about this new experiment," the Banker said. "You made +the statement--" + +"So would I," agreed George. "That girl--" + +"You shall," said Rogers. His grave, troubled glance went to his wife's +face, but she smiled at him bravely. "You shall have all the facts as +briefly as I can give them to you. + +"Loto became obsessed--I can hardly call it anything less--with the idea +that he could alter the time factor of human consciousness. In theory it +was perfectly possible--I had to admit that. And so I let him go ahead. +He has worked feverishly, with an energy I feared would injure his +health, for nearly two years. But, gentlemen, this is all that counts: +he has succeeded. I'm sure of that; we have already made a test. The +apparatus is ready upstairs now, and--" + +"Let Loto tell it," grumbled the Banker. "Go on, boy, can't you tell us +how you did it?" + +"Yes, sir. I can in principle." Loto hesitated, then added with a +mixture of sarcasm and deference: "I can explain it to you in a general +way, but the details are very technical." + +He paused until the waiter had left the room; then he began speaking +slowly, evidently choosing his words with the utmost care. + +"Matter, as we know it now, has four dimensions; the three so-called +planes of space, and one of time. But what is matter? The new science +tells us it is molecules, composed of atoms. And atoms? An atom is a +ring of electrons, which are particles of negative, disembodied +electricity, revolving at enormously high speeds around a central +nucleus. Am I clear?" + +Loto's gaze rested on the Banker, who nodded somewhat dubiously. + +"Then," Loto went on, "we have resolved all matter to one common entity, +that central nucleus of positive electricity which is sometimes called +the proton. All this is now generally known and accepted. But of what +substance, what character, is the proton? For years now, the theory has +been fairly accepted that the proton is merely a vortex, or whirlpool. +And the electron is conceived to be something very similar. Do you grasp +the significance of that? It robs matter of what I, personally, always +instinctively feel is its chief characteristic--substance. We delve into +matter, resolving its complexities to find one basic substance, and we +find not substance but a whirlpool--electrical, doubtless--in space!" + +"That makes you rather gasp!" the Big Business Man exclaimed, gazing +about the table. + +"It is quite correct," affirmed Rogers. "It transforms our conception of +substance to motion. Of what? Motion of something intangible--the ether, +let us say. Or space itself." + +"I can't seem to get a mental grip on it," the Big Business Man +declared. "You--" + +"Think of it this way," Rogers went on earnestly. "Motion can easily +change our impression of solidity. This is not an analogous case, +perhaps, but it will give you something to think about. Water is +normally a fluid. You can pass your hand through a stream of water from +a garden hose. But set that water in more rapid motion, and what +physical impression do you get? At Fully, Switzerland, water for a +turbine emerges from a nozzle at a speed of four hundred miles per hour. +What would happen if you tried to pass your hand through that? I have +seen a jet no more than three inches in diameter of such rapidly moving +water, and you cannot cut through it with the blow of a crowbar! There +you have a physical substance--an impression of solidity--derived from +motion." + +"But what has all this to do with time?" the Banker objected, after a +moment of silence. + +"Everything," said Loto quickly. "Since we are changing the +time-dimension of matter, without altering its space-dimensions, you +must have some conception of what matter really is. When once you +realize the real intangibility of even our own bodies, or this house we +are in, you will be able to understand us better." + +The Banker relaxed. "Go on, boy. Let's hear it." + +"Yes, sir. Changing the time-dimension of substance amounts merely to a +change in the rate and character of the motion that constitutes the +electrical vortex we call a proton." + +Loto looked at Rogers somewhat helplessly, with a faintly quizzical +smile twitching at his lips. + +"I seem to be talking very ponderously tonight, father. I wonder if it +wouldn't be easier for us to show them the apparatus?" + +Rogers rose from his chair. "By all means. Gentlemen, Loto has completed +his apparatus on the roof of the club. You may have noticed for the past +month that one end is boarded up, and has a canvas roof over it. That is +where Loto has been working. Will you come up with us?" + +The building that houses the New York Scientific Club is a full block in +depth and twenty stories high. Its flat roof is surrounded by a parapet +of stone. One end of the roof is a garden, with pergolas, trellised +vines, and beds of flowers with white gravel walks between. At the other +end, on this particular evening, a twenty-foot, rough board wall +enclosed a space about a hundred feet square, with a canvas roof above +it. + +The night was calm and moonless, with a purple sky brilliantly studded +with stars. At this height the hum of the great city was stilled. Near +by, many buildings towered still higher, but for the most part the roofs +lay below, with their chimneys and pot-bellied water tanks set upon +spindly legs like huge, grotesque bugs on guard. A block away the roof +garden of a great hotel blazed with red and green lights. Spots of light +crawled through the streets below, with black blobs that were +pedestrians scurrying between them. Occasionally the drone of a plane +overhead broke the stillness. + +Rogers led the way across the roof top, and unlocked a tiny door that +led into the temporary board enclosure. Lylda and Loto entered last, +the woman clinging to her son's hand. The turn of a switch flooded the +place with light. + +At first glance one would have said it was a modern passenger airplane +that was standing there under the canvas--a huge, glistening dragonfly +of aluminum color with a long, narrow cabin below. + +"There," said Rogers, "is the product of Loto's work. What you see from +here is merely an adaptation of the Frazia plane--and the Frazia company +built it for us. The apparatus flies as any other Frazia plane does; it +has the same motors, the same equipment. Its other mechanism--by which +the time-dimension, the basic electrical nature of the whole apparatus, +and everything or everybody within its cabin can be changed at +will--that mechanism Loto constructed and installed himself." + +"There you go again," growled the Banker. "Let Loto tell it, won't you?" + +Rogers bridled a little. "I'll tell you this, Donald. That is the +apparatus in which Loto is going to cross time into the future. At least +you can understand that--if you keep your mind on it." + +There was a general laugh at the Banker's expense. But Lylda did not +laugh. She was leaning against a wooden post, clinging to her son's +hand, and staring at that sleek, shining thing with wide, terrified +eyes. + +"Come, Loto," said Rogers. "They want you to show it to them." + +The young man disengaged himself from his mother and went forward. In a +moment the men were scattered about, examining the plane. + +"You may not understand the Frazia model," Loto was saying. "It was only +put on the market recently. It's slightly larger than the average of the +older types--more stable in the air, but no faster. The 'copter-type, +variable-pitch propellers are powered by a Frazier atomic motor." + +The Banker called to them. He was standing on a box, looking into one of +the cabin windows. "You've got different rooms in here." + +"Yes, sir," said Loto. "I've divided it into three small compartments +according to my own needs." + +"Can we get inside?" + +"I think perhaps it would be better not to," said Rogers, coming +forward. "At least, not tonight. Loto wants to get started. There is--" + +"You plan to operate this _tonight_?" the Doctor asked. + +"Yes," answered Loto. "I am going forward in time, to--" + +"To find that girl," George finished eagerly. "To rescue her. Don't you +remember he saw her in that--" + +"Be quiet, boy," the Banker commanded. "Loto, what is this other +mechanism your father mentioned?" + +"It is not particularly complicated," the young man answered readily. +"In general principle, that is. The Frazia mechanism causes the machine +to travel through space--to change its space-factors at the will of the +operator. That's clear, isn't it?" + +"Of course it is," said the Banker impatiently. + +"It's clear because you've always been able to travel through space +yourself," interjected the Big Business Man. "Don't be so +self-satisfied, Donald. If you'd been rooted to one spot all your +life--like a tree--you wouldn't have a chance on earth of understanding +an airplane." + +"That's exactly what I mean," said Loto quickly. "My other mechanism +changes the time-factor of the entire apparatus. I can explain it best +this way: Every particle of matter in that machine--as well as my own +body--is electrical in its basic nature. My mechanism circulates a +current through every particle of that matter. Not an electrical +current, but something closely allied to it. The nature of this I do not +yet know. But it causes the inherent vibratory movements of the protons +of matter to change their character. The matter changes its state. It +acquires a different time-factor, in other words." + +"Is this change instantaneous?" the Doctor asked. + +"No, sir. It is progressive. To reach the time-factor of tomorrow night, +take the first few minutes of time as it seems to us to pass. The +time-factor of next week would be reached during the succeeding two or +three minutes." + +"In other words, it picks up speed," said the Big Business Man. + +"Yes. How long the acceleration will last I do not know. I have a series +of dials for registering the time-movement. By altering the strength, +the intensity of the current, I can vary the speed, or check it +entirely." + +"But why have this apparatus in the form of an airplane?" asked the +Banker. "You're going through time, not space." + +Rogers answered: "In a hundred years from now this building will not be +here. If we were to stop his time-movement at that point, he would drop +twenty stories through space to the ground." + +"Why, of course!" exclaimed the Big Business Man. "But in the air..." + +"Exactly," said Loto. "I shall not start the propellers until later; +until I am launched into future time, and need them." + +Rogers looked at his watch. "Have you much to do before you start, +Loto?" + +"No, sir--nothing. I have food and water, clothing, and everything else +I need. I filled our list very carefully, and checked over everything +this afternoon. I could have started then; I've left nothing to do +tonight." + +"Then you might as well get away at once. You'll remember everything +I've told you, Loto? You'll come back here, as quickly as possible? Here +to this rooftop?" + +The strain of anxiety under which Rogers was subconsciously laboring +came out suddenly in his voice. "You'll be careful, lad?" + +"Yes, sir, of course. I--well, I might as well say good-by now, Father." + +They shook hands silently, and Rogers abruptly turned away. + +Loto shook hands with the others. + +The Banker had withdrawn to the farthest corner of the enclosure, where +he stood regarding the airplane fearfully. Loto walked over to him. + +"Good-by, boy." The Banker's voice was gruff and a trifle unsteady. +"Take it easy. Don't be a reckless fool just because you're young." + +"I'll be all right, sir." Silently they shook hands. + +Loto met his mother a few paces away. He stood head and shoulders above +her, and her arms went around him hungrily as he bent down to kiss her. + +"You'll come back to me, little son?" she whispered. "You'll come back +safely?" + +"Yes, Mother. Of course." + +He met her eyes, with the terror lurking in their gray depths. + +"Don't look like that, _mamita_. I'll be all right." + +Rogers was calling to them. Loto disengaged himself gently. + +"Good-by, _mamita_. I'll be back tomorrow or the next day. Don't +worry--it's nothing." + +The last preparations took no more than a moment or two. Loto climbed to +the cabin and disappeared within it. + +"Be sure and take off the canvas roof later tonight," he called down to +them. "And leave it off so I can get back." + +"Yes," said Rogers, "we will. And one of us, at least, will be here +watching all the time you're away. Good-by, Loto." + +"Good-by, Father." The cabin door closed upon him. + +At a distance of twenty feet the men stood in a solemn group, watching. + +"What will it look like going?" George whispered. + +But no one answered him. + +Presently a low hum became audible. It grew in intensity, until it +sounded like the droning of a thousand winged insects. The airplane +rocked gently on its foundation. It was straining, trembling in every +fiber. + +A moment passed. Then the plane began to glow, seemingly phosphorescent +even in the light of the electric bulbs on the scaffolding beside it. +Another moment. There was a fleeting impression that the thing was +growing translucent--transparent--vapory. For one brief instant the +vision and sound of it persisted--_then it was gone_! + +The men stood facing a silent, empty space, where a few loose boards +were lying, with a discarded hammer, a saw, and a keg of nails. + +They had forgotten the woman. In an opposite corner of the enclosure +Lylda was seated alone, crying softly and miserably to herself. + + * * * * * + +George sat alone on a little bench in the roof garden of the Scientific +Club. On the ground beside him, stretched on a broad leather cushion, +Rogers lay asleep. It was well after midnight. There was hardly a breath +of air stirring, and only a few fleecy clouds to hide the stars. In the +east, a flattened moon was rising. + +George sat with his chin cupped in his hands, staring out over the +lights and the roofs of the city. The growing moonlight gleamed on his +soft white shirt and white flannel trousers. + +Rogers stirred and sat up. "Are you awake, George?" + +"Go on to sleep. I'm good for nearly all night." + +But Rogers rose, stretching. "What time is it?" + +"Quarter of two. Go on to sleep, I tell you." + +"I've had enough." The older man sat down on the bench and lighted a +cigar. "You'd better take a turn, George. You'll wear yourself out." + +"I can't. I'm too excited. How long has he been gone now?" + +Rogers calculated. "About twenty-eight hours." + +"Do you think he'll get back tonight?" + +"I don't know. Perhaps." + +"I wonder what he's doing right now," George persisted after a silence. + +Rogers did not answer. + +"You don't think anything could have happened to him, do you?" + +"No. I--I hope not." + +"I hope he brings that girl back with him," George said after another +silence. "I certainly would like to meet her." + +Rogers plucked a flower from the trellis beside them, breaking it in his +fingers idly. "He may get back tonight. It was our idea that--" + +He stopped abruptly, and simultaneously George gripped him by the arm. +They both saw it; a little blob of radiance in the air just beyond the +flower trellis; a shining spot small as a puff of tobacco smoke gleaming +silvery in the moonlight. + +George murmured tensely, "Over there...something." + +A transparent radiance. But in a moment it was congealing, turning into +a glistening, solid shape. The faint hum of it sounded as it hung in +mid-air by the trellis. + +"Not the plane," George murmured. "Then what is it?" + +The humming ceased. They could see the little object clearly now; a +metal cube, each of its faces some twenty inches in diameter. It hung +for another moment, then dropped with a little thump to the rooftop. + +Both the men were on their feet. Rogers said, "A message from him. An +emergency..." He picked up the cube. + +George stared wonderingly. "You know about this?" + +"We arranged it--only for an emergency. If he could not come, or felt +it unwise, he was to send this. We did not want to worry +anyone--particularly his mother--so we didn't mention this +possibility." + + * * * * * + +In a downstairs club room, the men and Lylda were gathered, all of them +gazing mute and solemn as Rogers opened the cube. Much of its interior +was filled with the intricate time-mechanisms. To one side a sheaf of +manuscript pages was crowded, closely written with Loto's script. + +"His message," George murmured. "I do hope he found the girl, and that +they're all right." + +"I'll read it to you." Rogers' fingers were trembling as he drew out the +pages. He lighted a cigarette, steadied himself. "The first thing he +says--he's all right--" + +"Of course he's all right," the Banker growled. "That boy is +resourceful." + +"He wants us to know that he's safe and well. It says...." + + + + + CHAPTER THREE + + +First I want you all to know, I'm quite safe and well. _Mamita_ dear, +please try not to worry about me. Remember, Father we anticipated I +might decide it best to send you a message. I do hope I have calculated +the space-and time-factors correctly, and that I've set the mechanisms +of the cube so that it will come back to you within a day or two after +my departure. I'm assuming that is so. + +You will understand, of course, that as I have lived time, it has been +far longer than that. Much has happened to me, and I want to tell you +now what I can of it. + +You recall that night when I left you--to me now it seems so long ago. I +remember your solemn faces as I closed the door of the cabin after me. I +was in the forward one of the three compartments--you saw it when you +inspected the plane the night I started. + +In this compartment are the controls for the Frazia motors and the +flying controls. The controls of my own mechanism are there also. These +are simple; merely a switch to regulate the proton current, as Father +and I call it, and a series of small dials for recording the +time-change. These dials are geared, with one for days, another for days +in multiples of ten, one for years, and others for years in multiples of +tens, hundreds, and thousands. + +I took my seat behind the Frazia controls. I was not going to use them +at once, because there was no immediate need to raise the plane into +the air. But I wanted to be seated; I could not tell what the shock of +starting might be. The dials and switch were on the wall at my right. I +moved the lever of the switch over to the first intensity. There was a +low hum. The floor seemed to rock under me. The humming increased; it +roared in my ears. Everything was vibrating with an infinitely tiny, +trembling quiver that penetrated into my body, into my bones, even +coursed through my blood. + +They were swift sensations, I suppose, lasting no more than a few +seconds. I felt, as near as I can explain it, as though some force that +holds my own body together, cell by cell, were being tampered with; as +if, had the struggle continued, I might be shattered into a myriad of +tiny fragments, like a puff of exploded powder. + +The humming grew still louder, and I remember trying to stand up. A wild +impulse to throw back the switch and stop the thing came to me, but I +resisted it. Then I was conscious of a sensation of falling headlong; a +dizzy, sickening reeling of the senses, rather than the body. + +I lost consciousness--for only a moment or two, I think. I was sitting +in my seat, uninjured. The humming was still in my ears, insistent. But +it was not so loud as I had thought, and after a time I forgot it almost +entirely. + +My first impression now was that everything about me was glowing, +radiating a phosphorescent light. I looked down at my knees; my clothes +were glowing. I could no longer distinguish color; my hands and my shoes +were the same--all that same glowing phosphorescence. It gave a sense of +unreality to everything. And then I saw that everything _was_ unreal; +nothing had any substance. I could distinguish the side of the cabin +through my hand, and beyond the cabin wall I could see the solidity of +the board enclosure where the plane was resting. It was as though my +body and the cabin interior were shimmering ghosts. But when I gripped +my knee with my hand, I felt solid enough. + +I have given you details of my sensations as I remember them now, but I +do not suppose that more than a minute or two had elapsed since I had +first pulled the switch. I glanced at the dial recording the passage of +days but there was no movement. + +I stood up, conscious of a nausea and a strong feeling of +light-headedness. I peered through one of the side windows. Outside, +everything looked at first glance as though I had not yet started. The +walls of the enclosure were clear, solid and as distinct as before. Then +I saw George staring directly at me, and I could tell by the expression +of his face that he was looking, not at the plane, but at an empty space +where the plane had been. + +It was all as real outside as though I had been part of it myself--until +I saw the others move across the enclosure. They were walking extremely +fast and their gestures were rapid; two or three times more rapid than +normal. + +For what seemed like five or ten minutes I stood there watching you all. +It was like a moving picture being run too fast--and being constantly +accelerated. I saw you roll back the canvas roof, and then you went +scurrying out through the door--the last of you so fast that the figure +blurred in my sight. + +I was left alone. For a while I sat there, a little dazed. There is a +small clock on the side wall of the cabin. It might have been completely +radium-painted, by the look of it at that moment, but even though it +glowed as intangible as a ghost, I could make out the hands. I was sure +they would be traveling through space at their accustomed speed and thus +give me the time of the world I had left. I had started at about ten +minutes of ten; the clock now showed about five minutes after ten. I had +been gone fifteen minutes. Above the enclosure, to the east, I saw the +moon. It was about an hour up, I judged. And that gave me a basis to +compute my starting acceleration. The moon an hour up would have made +your time ten minutes of two--four hours after I started. I had passed +through those first four hours in fifteen minutes! + +This was with my control at the weakest intensity of the current. There +are twenty subdivisions of power. I pushed the handle around from one +to the other of them quickly, pausing only an instant on each, and +stopping at the tenth. There was no change of sensation, except that the +humming seemed to grow, not louder exactly, but more powerful--more +penetrating. The interior of the cabin and my own body lost visible +density in appearance. You had switched off the electric lights outside, +but in the moonlight I could still see the board walls, not only through +the windows, but through the metallic sides of the cabin. + +I was tingling all over, but the sensation, now that I was used to it, +was pleasant rather than the reverse; a feeling of lightness, buoyancy +and strength. + +With the power increased tenfold, the acceleration of time-movement was +enormous. The movement of the rising moon became visible; the heavens +were turning over, the stars progressing from point to point with ever +increasing speed. + +About ten minutes after ten by the clock, the moon was near the zenith, +and the sun rose an instant later. I was conscious of a flash of +twilight, and the sun's disk shot up from the horizon. The world was +plunged into daylight. + +From my position inside the enclosure I could see nothing outside but +the sky and one or two of the tallest buildings near at hand. There was +no visible movement of anything but the sun. You can understand that, of +course. Had any of you come into the enclosure, or had an airplane +passed overhead, I would not have seen either one. The movement would +have been too rapid for my vision. + +In perhaps a minute or two the sun was directly overhead, and in another +fraction of a minute it had set. Darkness was upon me. Then the moon +rose again and flashed across the heavens. Clouds formed and disappeared +so quickly I could hardly see them. + +I glanced at the dial recording days. Its hand was moving. One day had +passed, and the hand was traveling toward the next. + +For ten minutes or so I sat there, while day succeeded night and night +came again, only to be followed almost instantly by the day light. Soon +I could distinguish only thin streaks of light as the sun and moon +crossed above me--streaks that came closer together, merged into one, +and separated again as the month passed. And then the days became so +brief that they blurred with the nights. A grayness settled upon +everything; the mingled twilight of light and darkness. + +The hand of the day dial was sweeping around swiftly. I looked at the +dial beside it, which recorded days in multiples of ten. Its pointer was +also moving. Forty odd days were recorded and the movement was +accelerating every instant. + +I thought then I had better leave the rooftop. I started the Frazia +'copters, and rose about a thousand feet. Then I slowed them down until +a balance with gravity was maintained, and I hung stationary. You may be +surprised that the flying mechanism was effective while I was sweeping +so swiftly through time. If our atmosphere did not persist in time, the +propellers would have exerted no pressure against it. But the air does +persist, and so does gravity. + +There was apparently no wind. The transient winds and storms of a few +hours were all blended. The result, however, must have been a slight +influence to the north, for I found myself drifting very slowly in that +direction. After a few moments my time-velocity had so increased that +even that drift was averaged. I hung motionless. + +From this height--a thousand feet above the southern boundary of Central +Park--the scene below me was a strange one. At first glance, I might +have been hanging in a balloon on a dull, soundless day very heavily +overcast. Except that the sky, instead of showing dark clouds, was a +queer, luminous gray blur that distinguished nothing. + +The city below me lay clear cut but absolutely shadowless, which gave it +a very extraordinary look of flatness--a vista of buildings painted upon +a huge, concave canvas. Colors were distinguishable, but they were +abnormally grayish and drab. Vague, unreal pencil points of light dotted +the scene--electric lights that were on every night in the same spots, +and off in the daytime--the blended effect of which was visible. There +was no sound. Nor was there motion. It looked like a dead, empty city. +The streets seemed deserted, with not even a blur to mark those millions +of transitory movements of humans and vehicles that I knew were taking +place. + +I had been conscious of a brief period of chill, and for a moment or two +the scene had assumed a whiter aspect, especially in the park. I +conceived this as a blending of several heavy, lingering snowfalls of +the winter. + +The lowest dial, marking days, now showed only a blur as its pointer +swept around. And the year-dial pointer was visibly moving. I had passed +one year and was well into the second. The clock showed ten thirty. I +had been gone forty minutes! + +I said there was no visible movement in the scene beneath me. That was +so, at first, but I soon began to see plenty of movement. The white look +had come and gone again--far briefer this time--when my attention was +caught by a building on Broadway, along in the Fifties somewhere. It was +a broad but low building, no more than eight or ten stories high; the +lowest in its immediate vicinity. It seemed now to be melting before my +eyes! That is the only way I can describe it--melting. Parts of it were +vanishing! It was dismembering, as though piece by piece it was being +taken apart and carried away. Which, of course, is exactly what was +happening. + +Can you form a mental picture of that? I hope so, for it was +characteristic of all the movement that now began to assume visibility +throughout the silent city. This building that melted--I come back to +that word because it seems the only one suitable--was gone in a moment +or two. Try to conceive that I did not see actual movement--not the +physical movement we are accustomed to. They were tearing down that +building--doubtless over a period of weeks. But I could not see any +specific thing being done, any part of the building come off and move +away. All such details were too rapid--far too rapid. What I saw, +rather, was the _effect_ of movement; a change of aspect, not the +movement itself. The building progressively looked smaller, until at +last it was not there. + +Then another building began rising in its place. It grew steadily. It +was as if I were blinking, and between each blink, with an unseen +movement, it had leaped upward another story. It seemed a skeleton at +first, and then it was clothed. I watched it, ignoring others further +away, until it stood complete--a full block in depth and thirty or forty +stories high. + +I began to realize now the tremendous acceleration of time velocity I +was undergoing. The year-dial pointer very soon had moved to ten years; +the pointer of the century-dial was stirring. Again I glanced at the +clock. It was after eleven; I had been gone about an hour and a quarter. + +There was nothing that I had to do, and I moved about the cabin, looking +out of each of the windows in turn. The city was rising; not one +building, but hundreds. As my time velocity increased, I could no longer +see them come and go individually. They were there--and then they were +were gone, and others always larger and higher were in their stead. + +So I say the city was rising, coming up to meet me as I hung a thousand +feet or more above it. Already one gigantic edifice to the south seemed +to rear its spire far above me. The edges of the island stayed low, a +fringe of the new and old mingled; but down the backbone, roughly +following Broadway, great piles of steel and masonry were coming up. + +To the southeast I could make out the bridges over the river. There were +others now, extraordinarily broad and high, dwarfing the older ones that +stood neglected beside them. + +It was a period of tremendous activity. And suddenly I discovered that +the southern half of Central Park was obliterated. I had drifted a +little further north and was over it. A building was rising, coming up +toward me so swiftly that its outlines were blurred and shadowy. I was +gazing down through the window in the floor of the cabin, and caught a +vague impression of a network of gigantic steel girders almost +underneath the machine. + +I was too low. I ascended perhaps another thousand feet. When I was +again hanging stationary, I found beneath me a tremendous terraced +building--a pyramid with its apex sliced off. To the north and south it +connected with others of its kind; giant structures generally of pyramid +shape, with streets running along their steplike terraces. Innumerable +bridges connected these mammoth buildings, so that north and south, and +for a few blocks east and west of the center, there were continuous +aerial streets, in some places as many as ten or fifteen, one above the +other. + +I turned to the window facing the north. There was now nothing but +buildings as far as my line of vision extended; buildings like a ridge +down the center, shading off to the lower areas of the east and west. +There were trees and parks in spots on the top, but the original ground +was covered. + +Some of the upper street levels--those alternate sections of terraces +and bridges over courtyards whose ground was merely the rooftops of +lower edifices--were laid with gleaming rails. And rearing itself above +everything, a skeleton structure of monorails stretched north and +south--eight or ten single rails paralleled at widths of some fifty +feet, which I realized must be carrying some system of aerial railroad. + +This towering pile was indeed the backbone of the city, extending +roughly north and south like a mountain range that forms the backbone of +a continent. The lower areas adjacent--five hundred feet above the +ground, perhaps--were for the most part buildings with broad, flat +roofs. + +In New Jersey, on Long Island, and north of Manhattan as far as I could +see, lesser cities had appeared, with occasional giants among buildings +that were lower. The whole was now welded into one, for the rivers on +each side of me were spanned by a bridge at almost every street; a +network of bridges under which the water flowed almost unnoticed. + +My time-velocity was still accelerating. I saw now, increasingly, many +things about the city that were shadowy--structures that were erected +and stood no more than twenty or thirty years, perhaps, which to my +vision now was only a moment. I became aware, not only below me, but +even above me, of occasional vague aerial structures; skeletons that +reared themselves up a few thousand feet and dissipated into nothing +before I could form a conception of their real nature. + +There was, indeed, everywhere this shadowy aspect as to detail. Changes +were taking place; things were being done even the effect of which was +too fleeting for my vision to grasp. + +I was constantly losing more details, but in general the growth of the +city was outward and upward. Presently there came a pause, as though the +city were resting. Occasional areas were blurred by their changing form; +across the river in Jersey a tremendous tower was rising into the sky +far above me. But as a whole the scene had quieted. My brain was +confused by what I had tried to observe and comprehend. I found myself +hungry and a little faint. I dropped into my seat. + +The dials beside me caught my attention. The century-dial pointer had +passed eighteen. Eighteen hundred years, and approaching two thousand +even as I sat staring at it. The clock marked one forty. I had been gone +almost four hours. I said the city was resting. That is true. The growth +of two thousand years had carried it to splendors of mechanical +perfection that I could only guess at. But now it seemed to have reached +its height; the summit of human achievement had been attained. + +I waited and watched through another period. There were changes, but +they were minor. I suppose all the buildings and various structures +decayed and were replenished. I do not know. The changes were too +fleeting for me to see, and the general form remained the same. + +I was at what seemed the pinnacle of civilization, where mankind was +resting and enjoying the results of its labors. Decadence was bound to +come, as truly as death followed birth. + +The clock now recorded two fifty. I had been gone five hours. The +century-dial was beyond thirty-seven hundred years. Two thousand years +of growth upward from our own time-world, and only two thousand more of +resting on the summit before the inevitable decline began. He who stands +still, goes backward. And so it is with mankind as a whole. This +triumphant city went down almost as quickly at it had come up. And +through the windows of that cabin I watched it--neglected a little at +first, then more and more as its softened masters, with nature turned +against them, became unable to cope with it, until at last it broke up +and sank back into ruin, decay and desolation. + + + + + CHAPTER FOUR + + +Occasionally, now, some brave effort seemed to be made to build the city +on a different scale. There were other types of architecture, always +smaller; little sections, newly built, stood heroically, surrounded by +gigantic, moldy ruins. Suddenly I realized that it was a dead city at +which I was staring. There were no longer changes, except those natural +to the passing years. The city was deserted; its inhabitants had died or +had fled--or both. + +It was after five o'clock. The dials registered just short of eight +thousand years. I had less to see now, and I could give my attention to +other things. The ruins of a dead city do not remain long in visible +existence. Two thousand years more were recorded. Beneath me the +vegetation seemed untouched by the hand of man; only in a few scattered +places were there any remaining ruins: a tumbledown segment of +building; the broken base of a tower; skeletons of crumbling steel here +and there; headstones on the grave of what once had been a city. + +With these changes the contour of the landscape itself was forced to my +attention. The rivers had changed; they were broader. South of Manhattan +Island, and somewhat to the west, I could distinguish a great expanse of +water. All the lowlands there--the "Meadows," as we call them--had sunk. +To the north, the land seemed higher than normal, and an arm of the sea +had crept in up there to lap the foothills. + +I have not told you of the temperature I was experiencing. When I +started there was an almost immediate drop--a blending of day and night, +winter and summer. It penetrated into the cabin, making the ship almost +cold after the warm August evening of my departure. + +Now, however, at seven o'clock, when I had been gone some nine hours, I +felt that it was growing noticeably colder. And the faintest suggestion +of a vague whiteness began to creep into the scene below me. That is an +odd way for me to phrase it. I was seeing each minute only the _effect_ +of the snowfalls of thirty winters, blended with all the other seasons. +The snowfalls were increasing in severity; I became aware of that in the +aspect of the scene, but I cannot describe it. + +It was after seven o'clock now. I had been gone about nine and a half +hours. The dials showed eleven thousand four hundred and fifty odd +years. I now faced a new problem: the landscape we had seen in our +experiment had nothing in it of great duration. How could I find it, or +tell when I had reached its time? That house in which the girl was held +captive could stand no more than a hundred years, if that. And it was +the only distinguishing mark in the whole scene. I would pass the +lifetime of that house in a minute or two. I puzzled over this for quite +a while. I had almost decided to stop and verify the actual, momentary +conditions beneath me. And then I realized I still had far to go. There +were trees, plenty of them, beneath me. They were constantly shifting +and changing, but quite distinguishable, nevertheless. And in the +enclosure about that house, Father and I had seen a tree--the only tree +in the landscape. It was a curious looking tree, stunted, and with a +look of the far north about it. These below me, at eleven and twelve +thousand years ahead of our present, were more or less normal looking +trees--or they probably would have been, had I stopped to examine them. + +I still had far to travel, so I increased the current from the tenth to +the fifteenth intensity. Again I was conscious of that feeling of +lightness in my head, and the humming and vibration of everything +increased. I had almost forgotten my personal sensations; had quite +forgotten them, in fact, for several hours past. + +I passed fifteen thousand years. I could see that the ocean to the north +had come further inland. There was now, from my altitude, no evidence of +mankind visible, nor anything to indicate that man had ever lived on +this earth. The scene was more blurred now and grayer. I could still +make out the bay to the south, with a range of hills on Staten Island +and water behind it and to the west as far as I could see. The rivers +bounding Manhattan were still there, but the Palisades along the Hudson +had broken down. + +Directly beneath me was forest. I believed I had not drifted much from +my original position. I was still over where Central Park had been some +twenty thousand years before. The forest--it was more like +woods--covered a narrow rolling country between the two rivers. I knew I +was moving through time much more swiftly now, perhaps twice as fast as +before. The vegetation was blurred, almost distorted. It was changing +constantly and, on the whole, was growing sparser, more stunted. It was +as though I were traveling northward, or ascending a mountain almost to +the timber line. Another interval passed. My time-velocity had so +increased that once I thought I could see a hill rising. But that +probably was imagination. + +I had been gone some twelve hours--it was almost ten o'clock--when I +realized I was about exhausted. My head was reeling; my eyes burned and +watered. It was growing much colder--so cold that I switched on the +electrical heating apparatus. + +That was when the dials recorded between twenty and thirty thousand +years. I don't remember exactly. I was confused. The scene beneath me +was noticeably whiter, and I was now drifting to the south. I felt +perturbed. I was going too far. + +I had reached about forty-five thousand years when abruptly I realized +that there was no vegetation in the scene! Just when it melted away I +had not noticed. It was all a whitish blur, now, that suggested very +snowy winters blended with a shorter summer season. I leaped to the +control, and threw its handle back, pausing an instant at each intensity +of current until I had come to the first. There I left it. + +These new sensations of decreasing my time-velocity so abruptly were +almost equally as severe as those when I started. The humming slowed up. +My whole body seemed to be turning to lead--or freezing. I was heavy, +stiff, and cold. I was standing up, and I managed to grip the side of +the cabin for support, and reaching down, I threw off the switch, +cutting off the current completely. There came a tremendous, soundless +clap in my head; I seemed tumbling headlong into an abyss of blackness. + +I do not think I lost consciousness. My senses reeled for what seemed an +age, but was doubtlessly only a second or two. I fell into a chair and +the horrible dizziness passed. I raised my head and looked about me. + +My first impression was of the extraordinary solidity of the cabin +interior. I had not realized how shadowy it had been before. Two little +electric bulbs were burning overhead. They illuminated the compartment. +The windows were black rectangles; It was night outside. + +I was cold; I could see my breath in the chill of the room, even though +one of the electric heaters was in operation. Everything close to me was +oppressively silent; the humming still seemed to persist vaguely, but I +knew it was only the reaction from it roaring in my ears. From the next +compartment came the drone of the Frazia motors. + +When I had fairly recovered normality, I went to the nearest window. The +sky was blue-black. There was no moon and the stars seemed a trifle +hazy. Beneath me I could make out a barren expanse of snow. I checked my +compass. Its needle had steadied now, and I saw that my drift was almost +directly south. The ship was moving rapidly, and I was alarmed. I knew +that, even with the compass, I could easily get lost--geographically, so +to speak. + +My first action was to ascend. When I was up some six thousand feet I +started back northward, against the wind. + +I was hopelessly lost, both in time and in space. I could distinguish +nothing in the starlit, snowy landscape that seemed familiar. Whether or +not I had passed the time world I was seeking, I had no idea. Then I +flew low, skimming the snow no more than one or two hundred feet above +it. There were houses! Huts would be a better word. I think they were +built of snow, but I could not tell. It seemed an Arctic world. + +I knew then I had gone too far in time. I decided to stay near here in +space until morning. Fortunately that proved only a short time away. +Within half an hour the stars paled; twilight came and passed, and the +sun rose--a huge, red, glowing ball. + +I was circling about, quite high--six or eight thousand feet possibly. +By this reddish light of early morning I could see the bay south of me. +There was no Long Island; the ocean had closed in to the north and east, +and I was near its shore--a cold, snowy beach, with lazy rollers. But +west of me there was a river--the Hudson, I was sure--double the breadth +of one I had known. It seemed to come from a mountainous region in the +northwest, and an arm of it north of Manhattan emptied into the sea. + +Everywhere there was snow. The bay was full of floating ice. Across the +river was an area of stunted trees. I was over Manhattan Island, I was +sure. I circled around, searching. It was not the time world I was +seeking--that was obvious. Should I go on, or go back through the +centuries I had passed? I decided on the latter. + +I had now been away from you nearly sixteen hours. I was worn out. I +flew across the river, found a level plateau to the north. There was no +sign of human habitation in the vicinity. Shutting off my Frazia motors +completely, I descended and came to rest on the surface of the snow, in +a time world forty-six thousand and eight years beyond our present. I +ate a little and, dropping to the floor of the cabin, fell asleep. +Unwise maybe, but I had to take a chance. + +At any rate, I awakened without having been disturbed. It was night +again; I had slept some twelve hours. I flew upward, back over Manhattan +Island, and threw the opposite proton current into its first intensity. + +I need not go into further details. My sensations were the same as +before, though they bothered me less as I grew more accustomed to them. +I came back through time. At intervals I stopped and examined the +landscape. + +The wind was blowing almost continually from the north during all these +centuries. I flew into it slowly, keeping my approximate position +without great difficulty. I tried to hold myself near the south center +of the island, and look northward. I was right in going back through +time, I soon discovered. From close to the ground where I stopped once, +I could see a rolling hill near by that had a familiar contour. I cannot +describe it to you, but once I saw it from that angle, I knew it was in +the landscape we had seen from the laboratory. + +Then I found the tree. There was no house. No snow, either, for I had +chanced then to stop in a summer season. The tree was too small. I chose +a ten years later time world, and watching the dials closely, descended +at a period ten and a half years later. I had struck it exactly; it must +have been within a week or two from the time world Father and I had +observed. + +I had occupied some eight hours with this search. The dials had stopped +now at twenty-eight thousand two hundred odd years. I was at that +instant flying at an altitude of no more than a few hundred feet. It +was again early morning, just after sunrise, and there was that +familiar, snowy landscape we had seen from the laboratory. + +The house, with its enclosure and outbuildings, lay below me. I circled +over it, staring down through the floor window. The Frazia motors are +greatly muffled, as you know, but, even so, their sound carried down to +the house. A figure came out into the enclosure, and stared upward at +me. It was the girl--in a fur garment, but bareheaded--watching my +plane. Before I could think what to do, three huge dogs, each of them +the size of a pony, came leaping from one of the outbuildings and stood +in a group, snarling at me with such volume and power that they made my +blood run cold. + +I was circling slowly over the house, cursing my lack of caution and +still too confused to do anything, when the figure of a man appeared in +the enclosure, clad in furs and bareheaded like the girl. He stood head +and shoulders over her. Evidently the noise of the dogs blotted out the +sound of my motors. He did not look up into the air, but striding +angrily to the girl, struck her in the face with the flat of his hand. +Then he dragged her, cowering, into the house. + +I straightened out, and flew south. The howling of the dogs died away. +Without realizing where I was going, I headed down the wind. Soon I was +over the water. I had risen, and in the morning light could see the +landlocked bay into which the main channel of the Hudson emptied. The +bay itself had an entrance to the sea almost at the river's mouth. + +It was midwinter, I learned afterward. The river and the bay both seemed +frozen over, with a mantle of snow on their ice. I passed above an +island--Staten Island, no doubt--and mechanically swung to the west. + +What was I to do? I had several rifles in the plane, as you know, and +one of the latest Collinger hand guns. My instinct was to land at the +house boldly, overawe its inmates with my weapons, and carry off the +girl. That was a fatuous thought. I very soon realized that for all I +knew they might have the power to strike me dead with some weapon +totally unknown. + +I was still flying west. I found myself far out over Jersey, and still I +had decided nothing. There were houses beneath me and even a little +village or two. But I did not heed them, though fortunately I had sense +enough to ascend to a higher altitude where I could escape observation. + +The sun was rising above the sea behind me, and at last I swung about to +face it. As it mounted higher--it was moving at about normal speed--some +of the red, glowing look was lost; it assumed more of its familiar +aspects of our own time world. But still an hour above the horizon as it +was now, I could stare at it quite steadily without being blinded. + +I was heading east. In another ten minutes I would have been back in +Manhattan. I decided that I would leave the plane secluded somewhere and +approach the house on foot, quietly. If I could only elude the dogs and +not arouse them, I hoped to be able to get into the house and get the +girl out. I realize now it was a foolhardy plan. + +I flew very low up the Hudson from its mouth. I was afraid I might be +seen. Then it suddenly occurred to me how easily I could avoid that with +certainty. I threw the switch of the proton current into the first and +then the second intensity, and began a slow time flight forward through +the day simultaneously with my flight up the river. + +I found a good hiding place for the plane on the east bank of the +river--a broad, flat sort of gully some two hundred feet wide. I figured +this was about abreast of the house, and I lowered the plane into it. It +was difficult to do because of my southward drift, but I managed it. As +I neared the ground I shut off the proton current and came to rest in +time and space almost at the same moment. + +The sun was just setting behind a line of hills across the river. As I +had not eaten for several hours, I sat in the cabin now and ate, +planning exactly what I should do to rescue the girl. + +You will not understand it, but as I sat there, alone, with no one to +consult, it did not seem to me so desperate an enterprise. My +Collinger, no bigger than your hand, would silently fire a dozen bullets +in as many seconds, each capable of killing a human, or one of those +dogs. + +It was the dogs I was most afraid of. And yet, as I had observed from +the laboratory, they did not run loose about the grounds at night, but +were trained to stay in the kennel, which was some distance from the +dwelling...three or four hundred feet, perhaps. + +I decided to start about midnight. My clock gave a totally different +hour, of course, from the correct one of that particular time world. But +I was planning to leave the plane about six hours after sunset. + +It was a long evening, but the time finally arrived. I put on my fur +coat and went bareheaded, because I wanted to look as rational to +the girl as possible. At best she would be afraid of me, a +stranger--probably more afraid of me than of her captors. I realized +fully what a difficulty that would be. An outcry from her, or any +resistance on her part, might lose me everything. But my intentions +were the best, though she could not know it. + +I left the plane. Besides the Collinger, I had a hand compass and a +small flashlight. It was very cold. I scrambled out through the snow, up +the side of the gulley to the level land above--a climb of sixty or +seventy feet. The snow was deep, with an underlying surface of ice that +would support my weight. Up here on the higher land it was colder than +ever. The north wind hit me full, and I had been walking no more than +five minutes when it began to snow--tremendous flakes, that soon came in +a thick, soft cloud, and blotted out everything around me. In my pocket +I had my fur cap with ear tabs, and I soon found I would have to wear +it. + +I was heading across the wind, plowing through the loose snow. I could +see only a few feet ahead of me. It was a pathless waste. And suddenly +the whimsical thought came over me that I was crossing Fifty-ninth +Street, and soon I would be near Columbus Circle. It was the same space, +the same location. Nothing was different but the time--the changes time +had brought. + +I took out my compass and, by the light of the flashlight, I consulted +it. I was heading as nearly as I could toward the house. So far as I had +been able to tell before, there was no other habitation on the island. I +suppose I struggled along for nearly an hour. I figured I must be in the +vicinity of the house now, though I could see nothing but the snow +covered ground a few feet ahead of me, the whirling flakes close at +hand, and the blackness overhead. Without warning, through a rift in the +clouds to the east, came moonlight; a gigantic, egg-shaped moon with a +reddish tinge to it that gave the scene a lurid, extremely weird look. + +The house was in sight, ahead and to the left, on a slight rise of +ground no more than a quarter of a mile away. I was faced now with the +necessity for a definite course of action. From the laboratory, with my +telescope, I had occasionally seen the girl late at night, sitting in +the central living room of the house. I had seen her through the +windows, and she had always left the living room in a southeast +direction. The house faced south; I felt that her room was in the +southeast end. The enclosure lay mostly behind the house, toward the +north, with the dog kennel in its extreme northern wall. + +This was all advantageous to me. I knew I had to keep away from those +dogs. With a wind of from twenty to thirty miles an hour blowing from +them to me, I felt sure that they would not get my scent. My plan was to +get into the house through either a sort of gateway in the southeast +wall of the enclosure, or directly in through a window. I expected to +locate the girl and carry here away--by force, I suppose. I was +confident--absurdly so, I realize now. I think it was the +enthusiasm--the excitement--of being actually engaged in what I had +contemplated for two long years and had worked so hard to attain. + +My heart was beating fast as I crept forward, the Collinger in my gloved +hand. It was still snowing hard, and presently the clouds swept back +over the newly risen moon; but I was now so close up that I could see +the dark outlines of the house, and the wall of the enclosure. + +The building was only one story, but quite high, with a queer looking +overhanging roof. The wall of the enclosure was some ten feet high. I +circled to the south, and was soon close up to the main doorway of the +house. The whole place was piled with snow. There was not a sound, only +the howling of the wind as it swept in gusts under the low eaves. + +The glass door--I suppose it was glass--was a single rectangular pane in +a dark, narrow frame. It was no more than three feet broad, and at least +twelve feet high. Behind it I could see the dimly lighted interior--a +soft, blue-white light. I could not see where it came from. + +For quite a while I must have stood there motionless, peering in. A +portion of a large room was in the line of my sight; It seemed +unoccupied. I could see a back wall hung with something dark; a sort of +low couch to one side; queerly shaped, low chairs and a table or two. +And there was a floor covering of some thick, soft textile, and several +furs lying about. A large fur rug covered the couch. + +To the right I could see a low archway, hung with a curtain. That was in +the direction of the girl's room. There were two other archways with +curtains, but evidently no interior doors to the house. + +I had been pressing against the glass pane; it seemed to give a little. +I pushed. The motion was inward, and greater at the bottom. I knelt down +and shoved it. The lower half swung silently and smoothly inward and +upward, while the upper half came out and down. The whole twelve foot +pane was pivoted at its center. When it paralleled the floor it stopped, +and there was a six foot opening leading into the house. + +I took a cautious step, listening intently, peering around me--behind +me--with the sudden feeling that something supernatural might leap forth +and spring at me any instant. + +But the Collinger, my finger on the trigger, gave me courage. In my left +hand I held the flashlight, and very slowly I crept toward the +curtained archway behind which I hoped the girl might be. Suddenly I +remembered my cap. I smiled at the absurdity of the detail, but, +nevertheless, I pulled it off and stuffed it in my pocket. Then I went +forward, pushed aside the curtain, and entered the space behind it. + +I was in darkness as the curtain dropped. It must have been a sort of +anteroom, or a short hallway, for some twenty feet ahead of me I saw +another curtain with a blue radiance beyond it. + +A moment more and I had pushed aside the second curtain and stood +peering into the room beyond. It was more dimly lighted than the living +room. Across it, in a angle of wall, the first thing my gaze caught was +a low couch or divan, bathed in the blue radiance from a brazier beside +it, which left the rest of the room in gloom. The girl lay there asleep. +A soft, pure-white fur was covering her, but her bare arms and shoulders +were above it. One arm was crooked under her head for a pillow; the +other, almost as white as the rug, lay stretched out over the fur. On +her breast, her golden hair lay in waves. + +I stood transfixed by the ethereal loveliness of the face, calm in deep +slumber. It was a small oval face of seemingly perfect features, with +soft, curving red lips, smooth, rosy cheeks and long, silken lashes that +lay motionless as she slept. + +My emotion at the picture was short lived; other thoughts crowded up me. +What was I to do? I could not awaken the girl and ask her to come with +me. She would not understand the words, and if she did, she would +probably have screamed before I could get them out. Seize her, stifle +her cries and carry her off forcibly? Perhaps that is what I should have +done; taken her to the plane and left explanations until afterward. + +But I could not bring myself to do that. Somehow, my whole instinct was +to retreat from the room. I felt myself a gross intruder in a sanctified +place, my very gaze an insult. What I would finally have done, I don't +know. Events took the decision out of my hands. The wind outside roared +with a sudden gust that must have pulled loose something under the +eaves. There came a rattle, a thump, loud in the silence of the house. +Then the wind died again. + +I glanced up to the ceiling, startled, with my heart pounding and the +Collinger pointed toward the sound. I could see nothing but the dark +rectangle of a window up there. My gaze fell again to the couch--and met +the opened eyes of the girl. She was sitting up, her hair tumbling over +her shoulders, one hand instinctively gripping the white fur to raise it +more closely about her, the other pressed against her mouth. I think I +could never imagine an expression of more utter terror than that on her +face. + +I murmured something intended to be reassuring and made the mistake of +taking a step forward. It was the worst thing I could have done, for her +frightened scream rang out through the house. I guess by then I was +thoroughly confused. I turned back toward the curtain. I would escape +from the house--come back some other time. Or should I pick her up now, +and run with her? She was small, frail. I could carry her easily; escape +almost as quickly with her, perhaps, as by myself. And shoot back at +anyone--anything--that followed. + +I found myself back at her couch. She had withdrawn to the further side +of it, huddled against the wall. Her horrified eyes were on my face, but +she did not scream again. + +There was a noise behind me, and I swung about. The curtain was parting. +There was a figure there. I could not see it plainly; it was in the +darkness, and I was in the light. I aimed the Collinger, pressed the +trigger. Simultaneously, a tiny pencil-point of light seemed to spring +at me from where the figure was standing. A brief, very tiny but +horribly intense glare flashed in my eyes. + +I was in darkness; everything went black. I did not fall, but reeled +sidewise. I heard a mocking laugh and footsteps coming toward me; a hand +struck me across the mouth. + +It is terrible to fight in total darkness. I stumbled aimlessly +somewhere, and felt the Collinger twisted from me. But when I lurched +in that direction, my outflung arms met only empty air. Again a hand +struck me across the mouth; again that mocking laugh. My assailant was +playing with me. + +I was unhurt, and desperately I rushed to where I thought the room's +exit might be. But strong fingers gripped my shoulder and I was flung +violently sidewise. I must have struck my head against something as I +went down. My senses faded; the last thing I remember was that jeering, +mocking laughter floating out of the darkness. + + + + + CHAPTER FIVE + + +When I came to, I was still lying where I had fallen. Striking my head +had knocked me out momentarily. I heard voices; some one was kneeling +beside me. I opened my eyes, but everything was black. I remember +feeling my head; It was not cut. I was unhurt, and I struggled to a +sitting position. Whoever it was beside me, now stood up and moved away. +The girl's voice came to me out of the darkness. The low words were +unintelligible--yet they were words not wholly unfamiliar in ring. + +The darkness was full of little darting red spots. And my eyes pained +me; the backs of my eyeballs were burning. I was blind. I had thought +the light in the room had suddenly been extinguished, and a vague idea +that my antagonist could see in the dark had possessed me. But it wasn't +so. He had blinded me with the tiny flash of light that had struck into +my eyes. + +My head was still reeling from the blow it had received when I fell. +They carried me, half conscious, into some other room, and left me +lying on something soft. I closed my eyes, but I could not shut out +those darting red spots. At last, I must have drifted off to sleep. + +When I awoke it was morning. The red glow of the sunrise was coming in +through a small aperture up near the ceiling. I could see it; the +blindness had passed. My head was still ringing and my eyes still pained +me, but I was uninjured. I was on a low couch, with a fur rug under me. +My overcoat lay beside me on the floor. The whole thing seemed like a +dream, but finally I got it straightened out in my mind. + +I was in a fairly large bedroom. Two windows of heavy transparent +material were up near the ceiling. Opposite the windows was a doorway +with a curtain. I slipped into my overcoat, searching its pockets. My +cap was there, but the compass and the flashlight were gone and my +Collinger had already been taken from me. + +The storm outside seemed to have passed. The house was dead silent. I +went to the curtain; beyond it was a small hall, empty, and with another +curtain at its further end. This I pushed aside cautiously. I was +looking into the main living room of the house, and met the direct gaze +of a man who was lounging there. + +I dropped the curtain hastily, but he had seen me and sprung to his +feet--a powerful man, taller than myself, with gray, loose-fitting +trousers and naked torso. I retreated back to the bedroom; the fear of +what he might do to me, blind me or worse, made me anything but anxious +to encounter him again. + +He followed and was upon me, twisting me by the shoulders to face him. +He was a man of about thirty-five with black hair, long to the base of +his neck; a smooth-shaven, strong, rugged face; keen gray eyes beneath +black, bushy brows; a nose a little like a hawk, and a wide mouth with +thin lips. It was the sort of face that bespoke power and cruelty--a +nature born to dominate its fellows. His gaze was searching, puzzled. I +knew he was trying to make me out--wondering what manner of man I was, +and where I had come from. He spoke to me. I could not understand the +words, but again I got the impression that they were familiar English +words spoken differently. I answered him. I don't remember what I said, +but he frowned and pushed me from him, toward the couch. + +I had decided to appear docile. I stumbled to the couch and sat down on +it. He stood in the center of the room, regarding me, and I managed what +I hoped might be an ingratiating smile. This seemed to appeal to him, +for he smiled back. Then he swung about and left the room. + +For a while I sat quiet. The girl--where she was I did not know. I would +have escaped without her if I could, but escape did not seem possible; +at least, it was more of a risk than I cared to take. The feeling came +to me that even now as I sat on the couch, I might be observed. How +could I tell whether someone was watching me from behind some hidden +orifice, through which, as I turned my gaze that way, that tiny, +blinding beam of light would spring at me? + +It was too big a chance. I would wait, and when I knew better what I had +to contend with, watch for an opportunity to escape. + +The room was fairly light now, with that queer, reddish light. I could +see the sky, brilliant with a glorious red sunrise, through the little +windows overhead. I moved the table and climbed on it; outside was snow, +tinged with red. I was at an east end of the house, perhaps next to the +girl's room. + +At a corner of the building nearby sat one of the dogs--like a gigantic +shaggy wolf, quiet but alert. His head was fully six feet above the +ground as he sat there, squatting on his haunches. He heard me open the +window, and trotted quietly over to look at me. My fascinated stare met +his eyes squarely--eyes that seemed to hold an almost uncanny human +intelligence. He seemed satisfied with the situation, for he trotted +back to the corner of the house and sat down again. But he was still +watching me. + +I dropped to the floor. The incident had left me shuddering. What manner +of brutes were these, with gleaming, tusk-like teeth, dripping jowls and +a power in those tremendous muscles that must have far exceeded the +strongest horse! And eyes that might have been human! At that moment, +escape seemed further away than ever. + +For three days they fed me in that room. A woman came mostly. She wore a +loose, shapeless robe of dark cloth. It was dowdy-looking. Her hair was +iron-gray, long to her waist, twisted into a bundle and bound with +strips of dark cloth. Her face was thin, careworn. She brought me my +food; some kinds of cooked meats and starchy vegetables, like potatoes. +She was kind enough, but grim, as though I were an unpleasant task that +her conscience made her discharge punctiliously. + +I tried to talk to her, but she couldn't understand me, nor I her. +Afterward, I learned she was the older man's old maid daughter. The old +man himself came in a few times; a smooth-shaven, stalwart man of about +seventy, dressed in wide, flowing trousers and naked above the waist. +Sometimes he wore a short little house jacket. His name was Bool. The +younger man--the master of the house--was named Toroh. He came in and +sat by me a few times, always intent on seeing that I was properly cared +for. But there was no mistaking the fact that he would have killed me +without compunction had I annoyed him; and I could not forget his +sardonic laughter when he had blinded me. + +I've been telling you about my first three days in the house. I did not +see the girl except once, just for a moment. I was not held to the room, +although I stayed there almost constantly. And one or the other of those +dogs was outside all the time. After the first day, I grew bold enough +to go into the living room. + +Once, when I was sitting alone in the main room, the girl entered. She +stood in the doorway, and for the first time I realized how small and +slight she was. She looked almost Egyptian--I mean her manner of dress. +She was wearing a blue-colored cloth wound wide about her hips, with a +dull red sash hanging knee-length down one side; sandals on her bare +feet; breastplates of metal, and a broad, low-cut collar of cloth with +little coins on it that widened to cover her shoulders. And her golden +hair was parted forward over her shoulders in plaits that ended with +little tassels. + +She was standing there staring at me, and this time there was no fear in +her eyes--only curiosity. My heart leaped; it was what I hoped for most. +I could do nothing toward planning to get her out of the house as long +as she continued to be afraid of me. + +I smiled at her in as inoffensive and friendly a fashion as I could. Her +eyes fell, then came up and I could see she was wondering at my clothes; +my shoes, trousers, shirt and tie. Abruptly I realized that, except for +my garb, I probably did not look extraordinary or frightening to her. +The thought gave me new courage. I stood up, and spoke. At once she +turned and ran from the room. + +We were a strange household, but after a time, except for having my +meals alone, I found I could move about pretty freely. Once Toroh +brought me my electric torch, and, making sure I did not aim it at him, +he made me light it. I knew he believed it a weapon. I thought this a +good chance to convince him I was friendly. I smiled and shined it into +my eyes, to show him it was harmless. He grunted and, taking the +flashlight from me, tossed it across the room, indicating it was of no +use or further interest. + +Then he produced my Collinger and made me show him how to operate it. +But he was too clever to let me hold it; he did not let it get out of +his hands. When he had fired it at a mark out the doorway, he grunted +again and laid it on the snow. At a distance of twenty feet he stood +with some object in his hand which he did not show me. Abruptly the +Collinger flew into fragments! All its cartridges had been exploded +simultaneously. The bullets whistled past us, startling Toroh as much as +they did me. Later I learned he had exploded it by something akin to +radio. He picked up the remains and when he got back into the house, he +tossed my broken weapon away disdainfully. It was the attitude a soldier +of today might have toward an Indian warrior and his bow and arrow. + +Toroh, I learned later, thought I had come from another planet. He had +seen my plane the morning I hovered over the house. No one from another +planet had been to the earth for centuries. But history told of them, +and he thought I was one of them, come again. He treated me kindly +enough--probably because I did not anger him or cross him in any way. +But I had seen him strike the girl in the face, and one day he struck +the woman. I have never seen such a look of sullen, repressed hatred as +she gave him. She seemed to hate her father, too. Later, I often saw him +cuff her when she annoyed him. + +I have so much to tell you. Toroh took two of his dogs and his sled and +went away after about a week. He was gone a month, and during that time +I stayed docilely in the house. I saw many opportunities when I might +have escaped. But now I would not, without taking the girl--whose name, +by the way, is Azeela--and I could not expose her to such danger as +always seemed imminent. + +I must have convinced them all that I was harmless. No one paid me great +attention except the woman, Koa. Often I would see her peering furtively +at me from some distant doorway. + +Azeela soon became friendly, and since we both had nothing to do, she +devoted herself to learning our language. I tried to learn hers and +failed miserably. But she picked ours up with extraordinary +rapidity--perhaps because her mind was quicker, her memory more +retentive. And I think, also, because she has behind her the inherited +instincts of knowledge through all the centuries from our own time-world +forward. + +Anyway, within the month she could speak English freely enough for us to +get along--with a quaint little accent that is wholly indescribable. + +I think her language was derived very nearly from the English we speak +today. Ours was, to her, merely archaic; but hers, modern beyond my +time, was too much for me. It was an extraordinary story that Azeela had +to tell me--as extraordinary as mine must have seemed to her. We became +friends, and with friendship came a renewed desire on both our parts to +escape. Her people were many hundred miles away, and, when I told her of +my plane, I very soon persuaded her to let me take her back to her own +country. + +Quite evidently my plane had not been discovered. If it had not snowed +so heavily that first night, the dogs would have led Toroh back over my +trail to it. But it was still safe, though I did not know it then; and +the thought that it might have been found bothered me a lot, I can tell +you. + +We decided to try and escape. Toroh was expected back any day. We spent +a morning discussing it, planning it in detail. My weapons were gone, +and Azeela did not know where they were. Bool had a cylinder of the +blinding-flash--I call it that because their name for it would mean +nothing to you--but we could not get it; he always kept it about his +person. The woman, Koa, we did not think was armed--though she might +have been. + +Toroh had taken two of the dogs. There was one left, and almost +continually it was pacing about the house outside. We realized that even +if we succeeded in getting away from the place, the dog would follow and +overtake us before we could reach the plane. + +Bool was in one of the outbuildings nearly all that morning. Koa was +moving about the house. We did not think she was listening to us; but +she was, and evidently she had picked up something of our +language--enough to give her the import of what we were discussing. + +She appeared suddenly, and with a furtive glance around, told Azeela she +would help us escape. Azeela translated it to me, and the woman nodded +grimly in confirmation. She was sorry for Azeela, and she hated Toroh +sufficiently to want the girl out of his clutches. + +Koa's plan was simple and it sounded eminently practical. She had no +weapons, and did not know where any were, except for her father's, and +that she would not dare try to secure. But late that afternoon Bool +would be in his room dozing. Koa would lock the dog in the kennel. Then +we would be free to depart. + +The sun was almost setting that day when Koa informed us that the time +had come. We had restrained our excitement; Bool had apparently not +noticed anything unusual in our outward appearance during the day. He +had retired to his room as customary, and Koa had taken the dog away. + +I did not altogether trust Koa, and it made me shudder to think of +taking Azeela outside and perhaps having the dog spring upon us from +somewhere. But we had to chance it, and the woman seemed sincere. + +We had searched the house as best we could without arousing Bool, but we +found no weapon of any kind. At last we were ready, I in my fur coat, +Azeela in furs; shoes, trousers and coat all in one piece. She looked +like a slender little Eskimo girl, and I smiled as she pulled up a fur +hood and fitted it close about her face, tucking her hair up under it. I +had been mistaken about headgear; it was just a coincidence that I had +never seen anyone in this time-world wearing a cap. + +I put on my own cap and we were ready. As we met in the main room, Koa +nodded sourly for us to be gone. At that instant the dog, outside in the +kennel, gave a long mournful howl. I don't know why; I suppose it was +just fate. Koa, waving us toward the doorway, hastened away to quiet the +dog. + +For a moment I hesitated. Should we start? Had the dog gotten loose? +That moment of hesitation was too long. Bool stood in the doorway, +staring at our fur-covered figures. Astonishment, anger, rage swept over +his face. His hand went to his belt; he jerked something loose. I heard +Azeela give a sharp cry of warning. Bool's hand held an object like a +little crescent of glass, with a tiny wire connecting its horns. Sparks +darted from the wire. + +I was about to leap forward when suddenly I was stricken. I can only +describe it as paralysis. I stood stock-still; my arms dropped to my +sides. I felt no pain, but I was rooted to the spot, without power to +lift my legs. Azeela, beside me, was evidently within the influence of +the weapon, also. She was standing rigid. Bool's face held a leer of +triumph. His left hand was fumbling at his belt for some other weapon. +I knew that in another moment he would have killed us, and still I could +not move. I tell you, it was a ghastly feeling. There was a numbness +creeping all over me. My hands were turning cold. My feet felt wooden. +My legs were giving way under me, and in a few seconds more I think I +should have fallen. + +It all happened very quickly. Behind Bool, Koa had appeared. He did not +hear her, and she darted forward and struck at his wrist. The little +crescent of glass dropped to the floor and was shattered. A wave of heat +swept over me--the blood rushing again to my limbs. + +Bool had turned furiously upon Koa, but my strength was coming back +fast. I jumped at them, caught Bool unprepared. My body struck his and +we went down. He fell backward with me on top of him. His hand now held +a metal cylinder; he was trying to get it up to my face. + +Azeela came darting across the room, threw herself upon us, and twisted +the weapon from Bool's fingers. I did not know she had done it. Bool was +kicking, squirming, and his left hand had me by the forehead, pushing my +head back to expose my face. Enraged, I flung myself down on him, my +forearm striking his head against the floor. His hold relaxed; he lay +still. + +When I got to my feet, Koa was stooping over Bool. She seemed frightened +at what she had done, although I knew well enough that the man had +mistreated her constantly, and that she could bear him no great love. +She waved us away, still with that same stolid grimness. + +"Ask her if the dog is locked up, Azeela," I said. + +The woman nodded at me vehemently, and I gripped Azeela's hand and we +hurried out. It was just sunset. The sky was like blood; the snowy +ground was all tinted with it. + +We ran west, so fast that Azeela could hardly keep on her feet. I +suppose we went a mile or two, then slowed up and walked a little, then +went back to a run. There was nothing but that unbroken expanse of snow, +with the drop that was the river ahead of us. + +At last I could make out the break in the plateau surface that marked +the gully. We were running, and were no more than fifty feet from it, +when from behind us we heard the loud baying of the dog--that eager +baying of a dog following a trail and closing in on its quarry. I went +cold all over. I knew what had happened. Bool had recovered, and, in +spite of his daughter, had let the dog loose upon us! + +I caught a glimpse of Azeela's white, frightened face as I gripped her +hand and jerked her forward. It was faster than carrying her. She +stumbled, almost fell headlong, but I pulled her up and onward. + +We came upon the gully. For one agonized instant I wondered if the +plane would still be there. The dog seemed almost upon us. I could +hear its eager whine as it came leaping along. Then I saw the +plane--snow-covered, but undisturbed. + +We flung ourselves down the gully side, sliding, falling to its bottom. +The deep snow there broke our fall. The dog was at the top; I saw its +huge head and bared fangs as it dashed along, selecting a place to +descend. + +I jumped to the cabin platform of the plane and shoved open the door. +Then I stooped, grasping Azeela under the armpits and lifting her. The +dog came sliding into the gully, and gathering itself up, it leaped. + +But we were inside, and I slid the door closed just as the brute's great +body struck the cabin with an impact that rocked the plane. The dog +fell, but was up again with a snarl, standing on its hind legs, its huge +paws scratching at the cabin wall. + +I had flung Azeela to the floor of the compartment. She shouted at me +reassuringly, and I jumped to the Frazia controls. + +A moment later the 'copters were raising us out of the gully. The dog's +baffled yelps grew fainter. As we rose into the air I saw Bool, a +quarter of the way from the house, stumbling along through the snow, +following the trail. + +I went up a thousand feet, dropped a little, and began horizontal +flight. To the south, perhaps a mile away, Toroh's sled, with its two +dogs, was swinging up toward the house. He saw the plane, and, as we +swept over him at an altitude of some five hundred feet, he turned and +followed us. + +It was amazing to see those two gigantic dogs run. They kept the sled +almost under us. We came to the south of the island and they went down a +declivity and out over the frozen, snow-covered water. Toroh was lashing +them with a long whip. + +I put on more power, and we gradually drew ahead. When we had crossed +the broad expanse of bay, the sled was no more than a black blob in the +distance. It swung to the right, turned and went back--lost to our sight +in the gathering darkness. + +We were alone, headed southward to Azeela's native country. + + * * * * * + +Azeela and her people live on an island which once was the mainland--the +southeastern corner of the United States, as you know it. It's a narrow, +crescent-shaped island, something like Cuba in outline, but smaller. +It's separated from the mainland by a channel some ten miles at its +greatest width. The climate, now, is vastly different from your +time-world. Climate is the most potent factor of all that influences +mankind. The change throughout ten thousand years was dramatic in its +effects: it hastened decadence, it drove civilization toward the +equator. And then, as though nature were bent upon destruction, disease +sprang up in the only warm regions left--disease that could not be coped +with. Insects, carrying and transmitting deadly bacteria, swarmed over +what we call the torrid zone, making it almost uninhabitable. You must +realize over how long a period this went on. + +Even that was thousands of years before Azeela's birth. This island had +formed, and nature had seemed to hold it the one place where humanity +could make its last stand. A volcano stood at each end; beneficent, +treasured because they contained heat. The internal fires of the earth +had broken through here. Hot springs and geysers dotted the land. A +river just below the boiling point rose from subterranean depths, flowed +for a hundred miles, and plunged down again. And a huge range of +mountains running east and west on the mainland to the north offered +shelter from the cold winds that were coming down. + +Anglo-Saxons with a strain of Latin had settled on this palm-covered, +tropical island long before the conditions farther north had become so +drastic. They kept to themselves and fought against the pollution of +their blood by others; they were descendents of the highest type of +Earth civilization. + +For centuries they were left to themselves, to drift along in their own +fashion. But with the coming of the cold, the mixed races of the north +began moving down--coveting the island. Then these island people +suddenly sprang into activity. Defense of the homeland brought action; +lost arts of war were revived. The Anglese--that is as near the sound of +their word for themselves as I can get--repulsed all comers. + +To the north was now a climate that held snow from September to June. +Only three brief months availed for agriculture. The mixed peoples there +did not rise to master such rigors. Centuries of struggle turned them +almost primitive, with arts and sciences and ways to conquer their +environment lost and forgotten. They became barbarians. + +Such is the condition as I have found it. I can give you details only of +our northern half of the western hemisphere. Transportation is back +nearly to the primitive; the rest of the world is almost unknown to +Azeela's race. + +Toroh, I've learned now, is an Anglese, but they banished him. He was +plotting to overthrow the government. When he was banished, he went +among the barbarians of the north and began organizing them for an +attack on the island. Toroh has scientific knowledge; up there in the +north he has been manufacturing weapons. Then he came back to the island +secretly, and abducted Azeela. She's the daughter of Fahn, the leading +scientist of the Anglese--he's the man who holds the reins of power. +With Azeela as hostage, Toroh planned to make Fahn yield. + +But now that I have released Azeela, Toroh's attack will come swiftly. +That is why I send you this message. Toroh is a menace--the greatest +figure of evil in this time-world. There will be war, a struggle in +which the Anglese may go down before the onslaught of Toroh and the +hordes of barbarians with whom he has allied himself. Oh, I can't tell +you all the details...I'm too tired. + +I'll stop now, and send this message back to you in the cube. And, +Father, you know what we arranged--that you would come and join me if I +needed you. Well, I do; I need you here now. + +As we agreed, I will raise a light-beam signal, which will mark the +exact point in space and the exact moment in time at which I want you to +be here. + +For me, that moment _is now_! + +So as soon as I dispatch this message off to you, I shall raise the +signal. It will be at the southeastern tip of our island. For you +geographically, it will be about Miami. From that point in space, you +cannot fail to see it, if your time-flight is slow enough. I will hold +it in the sky for as long as I can, so that it will have enough duration +for you not to miss it. + +Please tell _Mamita_ not to worry about me, or about you either. We will +both come back to her safely. You may bring one or two of our friends +who wish to make the trip. I think that George will want to come and I +would like to have him. You need bring no weapons; they would be worse +than useless. + +_Please hurry, Father. I need you!_ + + + + + CHAPTER SIX + + +Roger's slow, solemn voice died away. He rustled the pages of Loto's +message in his hand. + +"That's all, gentlemen. All of the message itself. The other pages give +detailed instructions--data based on Loto's flight and memoranda for the +construction of another plane, gathered from previous notes made by Loto +and myself." + +There was complete silence when Rogers paused. George decided to speak, +but checked himself and relaxed back in his chair. + +"I shall start the Frazia Company on another plane at once," Rogers +added. "And working on Loto's mechanism simultaneously, I should be +ready in ninety days." + +He waited, but again no one else spoke. Then he said: + +"I am going, of course. It is a great trial for my wife, but I know she +is willing." + +George turned and flashed an admiring glance at Lylda; her face was +strained, but she smiled at him gently. + +"Do not be hasty, my friends," Rogers went on quickly. "Any two of you +are free to come--or to stay, all of you--as you think best." + +"I'm going," said George suddenly. "Loto said I could. And you say so. +I'm going." + +He jumped to his feet and grasped Roger's hand. "You can count on me, +Mr. Rogers." + +Rogers smiled. "Thank you, George. I knew I could." + +George sat down again. Then he got up and crossed to Lylda, shaking her +hand also, and whispering to her. But in another instant he was pacing +the room, smoking violently, and frowning. + +Rogers was saying to the others, "I will take one more. I realize it is +a momentous question. Your lives may be at stake." + +The Big Business Man was deep in reverie. "I wonder," he murmured. "I +wonder if I _do_ want to go." + +"Come on," urged George, stopping suddenly before him. "Take a chance." +He did not wait for an answer, but went back to his pacing. + +The Banker said, half apologetically. "You don't really need me, do you, +Rogers?" + +"Of course not," Rogers said heartily. "Use your own judgement. But I +knew you'd be offended if I didn't give you the opportunity." + +The Banker nodded. "Yes, but you don't need me. I'm an old +man--seventy-three, though I hope you'd never guess it. I think I'd +better stay where I'm used to things." + +"Of course," agreed Rogers. + +"But if you need money," the Banker added hopefully, "and you will, +naturally--everybody needs money--you'll call on me, won't you? I'm +going to see this thing through." + +"I don't believe I'll go," the Business Man declared. He met the +Doctor's glance, and the Doctor seemed relieved. "You don't really need +us, Rogers. I think Frank would prefer to stay also." + +The Doctor nodded emphatic agreement. + +"Quite so," said Rogers. "I can understand perfectly how you feel." + +George stopped his pacing. "Then it's all settled, Mr. Rogers. You and I +go; the others stay on guard here. Now listen, everybody, I've got some +good ideas..." + + * * * * * + +Two days before Christmas, another plane lay glistening on the roof of +the Scientific Club, walled in from curious eyes by the board enclosure. +Sleek, self-satisfied, its every line denoting latent power, it lay +motionless, awaiting those human masters who soon were to launch it into +another time world. + +Occasionally during the afternoon George visited it, anxiously +verifying again and again that all was in readiness. + +Evening came. The others arrived, singly and in couples. For two hours a +bustle of final preparations went on--things forgotten, last minute +plans put into execution. But by nine o'clock the moment of departure +was finally at hand. + +The Banker was in a fluster of excitement. He had appointed himself the +leader of those who were to be left behind, and he felt the +responsibility keenly. + +"Tell me exactly what we've got to do," he insisted. "I don't want +anything to go wrong." + +Rogers slapped him on the back. "It's nothing to be alarmed over." + +"No. But I want to be sure I've got it straight. Tell me all over +again." + +Rogers repressed a smile. "When we have gone you will all wait some ten +minutes to be sure nothing has gone wrong to bring us immediately back. +Then you will lock up the enclosure and leave. I have made arrangements +with the club to have the enclosure left standing." + +"That's all?" asked the Banker anxiously. "We leave the roof open?" + +"Yes. In coming back we will want it open, and you cannot tell when we +may return." + +"But no more than six months," the Banker insisted. "You promise that?" + +Rogers nodded. + +"Come on," George's voice called. "Let's get started." He had shaken +hands with Lylda and climbed up to the doorway of the cabin. "Come on, +Mr. Rogers. Let's get started." + +Lylda stood apart. Her farewell to her husband was brief. The others +turned away, feeling that they should not intrude upon it. When Rogers +joined George on the platform of the plane, the Doctor was with Lylda, +comforting her. + +With a final good-by Rogers slid the door closed. The forward +compartment, with its low arch ceiling and its concave walls, was small, +but comfortably equipped. The side windows had upholstered seats running +under them. In front, to the right, were the Frazia controls, a low seat +for the pilot and a small window above the control panel. The time +dials and the proton current switch were on the wall to the right. To +the left of the seat was the main entrance door. + +The division wall between the forward compartment and the engine room +behind it held a small doorway with a sliding door. + +"Are we ready?" Rogers asked. "I think we should be sitting. The shock +of departure, new to us, may be more severe than we anticipate." + +His words were calm enough, but they sent a thrill of excitement through +George. "All ready," he said. "Go ahead!" + +Rogers took a last look about. Then without hesitation, he moved the +switch to the first intensity. To George, the humming seemed very +different now than when he had heard it outside the plane. It was no +louder, but it seemed to hum and vibrate inside his body. He was +quivering inside, his head began reeling dizzily; then came that +sickening, horrible sensation of falling headlong--a vertigo that turned +everything to blackness. + +"Are you all right? We've started." + +It was Rogers's anxious voice. George opened his eyes; everything seemed +glowing, unreal and ghostlike. But he was uninjured, and his head had +steadied. + +"I'm all right," he managed to say. + +The sickness passed quickly. George stood up, steadying himself. "Gosh, +how light I feel! Queer in the head--don't you? I never imagined--" + +He stopped abruptly. Through a side window the fur-coated figure of the +Banker was standing against the wall with the others around him. They +were staring toward the plane with an expression that clearly indicated +they could not see it. + +"We've started all right," George added. "Look at them! We're already in +future time to them. They can't see us!" + +Suddenly the Banker came forward walking with extraordinary swiftness, +and seemingly with little jerks, like a manikin. George held his +breath, for the Banker popped forward, his head and shoulders piercing +the glowing phosphorescent walls and floor of the cabin. He stood +motionless a brief instant, his face close to George's knees. Then, even +more rapidly than he had advanced, he threw a swift glance around and +retreated. + +George recovered himself. "Boy," he said. "Wasn't that weird though? But +we're all right. I feel fine now." + +The droning of the Frazia motors sounded very faintly above the humming. +It was a relief, a help toward normality. The plane was slowly raising +into the air. + +As it mounted, the roof of the Scientific Club dwindled away below. It +was a dark night, with heavy clouds and a cold wind from the east. The +city, with snow on its rooftops, was sliding eastward beneath them; +vague black shadows, dark buildings dotted with lights, and seemingly +empty streets. + +They were still mounting diagonally upward, and carried sidewise by the +wind, when the Hudson River slid into view. + +"Rotten weather, Mr. Rogers," George suggested. + +"Yes," Rogers agreed, "but that will not bother us for very long. Are +you warm enough?" + +"One heater is going," George responded. "I'll switch on another." He +had familiarized himself thoroughly with the various mechanical +appliances of the plane, and he turned a switch that threw current into +another of the small electric radiators. + +"Anything else?" he demanded. + +"No, I think I shall try the higher intensities of the proton current. I +want our time-progress accelerating as much as possible right from the +beginning." + +George selected a seat hastily. + +It was not much of an ordeal. The humming seemed to move up a scale to a +higher pitch as Rogers pulled the lever around. The reeling of the +senses came again, but passed almost at once. + +"There," said Rogers. "I'm glad that's accomplished." +"We're at the fifteenth intensity--the highest that Loto used." + +George was staring down through the floor window. "I can see lights down +here. Are you sure it's the highest speed Loto used? He didn't describe +it this way." + +"Our acceleration will pick up over several hours," Rogers replied. "Our +time-progress is still comparatively slow." + +The Frazia motors were still droning. + +"How high are we, do you suppose?" George demanded after a moment. + +"Possibly five thousand feet. We're blowing westward over New Jersey. +And a little to the south, I think. Soon it will be day." + +His words were anticipated. The scene lighted swiftly. It was day; a +dull, cold-looking, cloudy morning. Below them lay New Jersey, almost a +network of villages on the fringe of lowlands. A more congested area of +building was almost directly beneath and slid under them as they watched +it. + +"Newark!" exclaimed George. "And we're into tomorrow. We're making +it--we'll soon be with Loto." + +They were up higher than Rogers realized--ten thousand feet, at least. +And their drift seemed constantly of a more southern trend. It was still +uncomfortably cold in the cabin. + +"Perhaps we should stay at this level," Rogers remarked. "We seem to +have caught a wind from the north." + +Night came again in a few moments. Lights dotted the landscape below, +but they were vague, flickering lights. Then day, with sunlight. The +wind sudsided. The plane's southern drift was stilled. And then came +night with a moon plunging across the sky, and stars dizzily sweeping +past. Then day again, until presently the daylight and the darkness were +blended into gray. The drift was permanently passed. In a blending of +all the diversified air currents, the plane remained almost stationary. + +The white, snowy hills of New Jersey soon turned to green. The cabin air +warmed a little. Then autumn and winter came again--and passed in a +moment or two. + +Rogers sighed with relief. "We're fairly started. One year out of +twenty-eight thousand!" + +"And we've got eight hundred or a thousand miles of space to travel +also," said George. "We're going to make that simultaneously, aren't +we?" + +"Yes," agreed Rogers. + +George took a last look through the floor window at the blurring gray +landscape beneath, and stood up to join him. "Let's talk things over," +he suggested. "I've got a lot of questions--plans and things." + +Rogers had taken a sheaf of script from his pocket. + +"Loto's notes to guide us," he explained. "I've followed them closely so +far. We have a flight through time of something more than twenty-five +thousand years at the fifteenth intensity, and then we slacken. +Simultaneously, we must fly southward some thousand miles or more +through space, directing our course for the southern tip of Florida. +Loto specifies that we should, under all circumstances, reach the +latitude of north Florida coincident with twenty-five thousand years of +our time-progress. We will then--or perhaps a thousand years further +along--see the island. We cannot miss it, of course. It is so large, and +it must certainly endure over a great period of time." + +"How long did Loto take to reach twenty-five thousand years?" + +"About twelve hours," Rogers consulted the memoranda. "He computes his +average speed as equivalent to the twelfth intensity. We are using the +fifteenth continuously. Our clocks should register no more than ten +hours for the time-flight. + +"Ten hours," he added thoughtfully. "And flying directly south at a +hundred miles an hour we would reach the island in those ten hours." + +"But we haven't started south yet," George protested. "We're moving +through time all right, but we're still right over Newark--and look at +it!" + +The New Jersey metropolis was spreading west to the Orange Mountains, +and eastward it seemed to be linked solid with Jersey City. Factories +dotted the intervening meadows, which were drained of their stagnant +water. + +"You're right," exclaimed Rogers. "We have barely nine hours left; we +must start our horizontal flight." + +In a few moments more they were speeding south and slightly west, at an +altitude of some five thousand feet, with their progress through time +steadily accelerating. + +An hour, by their clocks, had passed. They were over Delaware Bay. Its +shores, in the more congested areas, were lined almost solid with +buildings. There was a great city on each side of the mouth of the +river, with a gigantic bridge connecting them. The bridge rose into +being under the eyes of the watchers in the flying plane, but they swept +on past and in a moment left it far in the distance behind them. + +George was seated on the floor watching the changing landscape; a huge, +concave gray surface, shadowless, stretching out and up to the circular +horizon. Steadily, like a panorama unrolled, it slid sidewise beneath +them. The motion was greatest directly below. To the west, the mountains +seemed, by an optical illusion, to be following, speeding forward with +them. + +The sea or its arms constantly occupied a portion of the scene, for they +were still flying south and somewhat west, following the Atlantic coast. +And of everything in sight, the sea alone seemed unchanging. + +In time-progressing, that height of civilization Loto had described lay +under them. They were flying lower now. + +Rogers, in his seat at the controls, said: "I think we're making it as +we should. That's the four thousand year mark just passed, and we're +flying at a hundred and ten miles an hour." + +"Are you sure we'll hit it right?" George asked anxiously. + +"I think so. It's about as Loto figured so far. Those buildings--what a +civilization that must be down there. It will fade presently...in +three or four thousand years." + +George joined him at the forward window. "Where are we? Are we still +over Virginia?" + +"Yes, at least I think we haven't crossed into North Carolina yet. That +was Chesapeake Bay a while ago. Look! That city over there is +melting--going down fast!" + +The cabin interior was unlighted and dark, except for that +phosphorescence with which everything glowed. In their absorption in the +scene below, the travelers had forgotten their own curious aspect, until +George suddenly remarked: + +"Look at us! Ghosts flying through space! Doesn't it make you feel +queer, Mr. Rogers?" + +The dim cabin interior, with its vague, luminous human figures, did +indeed seem unreal. But the unreality was matched now by the scene +beneath; their forward flight through space, combined with a +time-progress now tremendously accelerated, made everything below a +shifting, sliding kaleidoscope of changing effects. Details were +transient things, blurred one into the other. + +The broad fundamentals, however, were obvious. The gray, concave land, +ridged with mountains, the indented coast line, the gray, changeless +sea--all were distinguishable. And overhead the sky was luminous with +the mingled light of sun and moon and a myriad starry worlds, all +blended darker by nights of rain and snow and storm. + + * * * * * + +They were over North Carolina when Rogers, at the Frazia controls, grew +tired. The clock stood at two five. They had been gone some five hours. + +"I must rest," said Rogers. "George, can you take my place?" + +George hesitated. "I've flown a bit, but never in a Frazia. I think I'd +better not experiment--not on this flight." + +"All right," Rogers agreed. "I'll use the automatic 'copters for a +while. Half an hour will rest me up." + +In a few moments they were hovering, seemingly motionless, over North +Carolina. Far away to the east, over a bulge in the coast line, they +could just make out Cape Hatteras and the ocean beyond it. + +Rogers stretched himself out on one of the leather seats, and lighted a +cigar. George sat beside him. + +"I figure we should be at least halfway to the northern coast of the +island," the older man said. "We have flown some four hundred miles in +four hours." + +"But Loto will be waiting at the southeastern tip of the island," +protested George. "That will be easily two or three hundred miles +further, won't it? I wonder how far along we are in time." + +"Look at the dials." + +George bent over them. "About sixty-five hundred years. Some of the +hands are going too fast to read." + +"More than I had thought," commented Rogers. + +"Do you figure we're still accelerating?" + +"I think we have just about reached our greatest speed," Rogers answered +slowly. "Let us see. We've done an average of thirteen hundred years an +hour. We must be progressing at double that now." + +George was figuring on the back of an old envelope. "Twenty-six hundred +an hour. In five more hours at that rate we'll be close to twenty +thousand. We can fly down to the north coast of the island easily by +then." + +"Exactly. We're a little ahead in our space flight. I'm glad of it. We +shall have to slow our time-progress to almost nothing at the end. We +must take no chances of missing Loto's light signal." + +"Twenty-six hundred years an hour," mused George. "That's what we're +making now. Forty-five years a minute. A century almost every two +minutes!" + +The clock had registered thirty minutes more when Rogers declared he was +sufficiently rested. At George's suggestion they ate a light meal; then +they started their flight southward again. + +"How about looking at the dials now," George remarked. "They were at +sixty-five hundred, thirty minutes ago." + +"Eight thousand," Rogers read. "That's fifteen hundred more. It figures +out to three thousand an hour. That's our peak, I think." + +The flight now was passing through constantly changing conditions; every +two minutes the plane was covering some three or four miles of space and +a century of time. They crossed above North Carolina and came to the +coast again. The cities of the civilization beneath them seemed to be +breaking up. Here and there one stood in its glory; others were mere +deserted piles of ruins over which the vegetation crawled, eager to +devour. Still other cities and villages appeared over the southern +horizon, sturdy and whole--and they melted as they slid beneath the +plane, into crumbling piles that passed out of sight to the north. + +Soon desolate areas appeared. The scene grew vaguely whiter; the snow +was coming down from the north faster than the plane was flying. Changes +in the coast line became apparent; unfamiliar arms of the sea swept into +view, and were crossed and left behind. A small, unfamiliar island lay +close to the South Carolina coast. But as a whole, the land and sea held +their own, even against the ravages of so many centuries. + +"The north wind is with us--the wind Loto described that blew southward +almost all the year. What time is it?" + +"By the clock or the dials?" + +"The clock. I have the dials here. Eighteen thousand four hundred years +is their reading." + +"Quarter of six," announced George. + +"We should sight the island shortly," Rogers said. "I'll fly a trifle +slower. We must be nearly down to Georgia by now--to where Georgia used +to be, I should say. I want to sight the island at twenty thousand +years, or thereabouts." + +The land was growing white; the vegetation sparser. Small towns and +hamlets that endured for no more than fifty or a hundred years were +springing up everywhere, and melting into nothing in a moment or two. +The vegetation was shifting, changing, but always the scene was growing +whiter. The villages were sparser, smaller and shorter lived--the people +struggling southward against the threatening, unrelenting cold, which +spared nothing but the island of the Anglese. + +Rogers was first to notice a radical departure from the normal +conformation of the landscape. They were, by their own calculation, over +Georgia. George, watching the dials closely, had just noted twenty-two +thousand years. Far ahead, over the rim of the southwestern horizon, a +line of mountains was rising. + +"Look!" exclaimed Rogers softly. "The mountain chain running east and +west. The new mountains! The island must be just beyond them." + +He maneuvered the plane into a climb; the gray land and sea tilted and +began dropping away. The mountains seemed to be following them up, +higher and closer, until at last the plane was over them, barely a +thousand feet above their rocky spires. + +It was a scene of wild grandeur that now spread out beneath their eyes: +dark, craggy cliff faces, with snow capped summits, a pure white peak +and a gray blue valley beside it. And the whole mass reared ten thousand +feet above the sea. + +The plane swept forward; the jagged, tumbled land slid northward, close +beneath it. Then, abruptly, the crags and peaks dropped away; it was as +though the plane had leaped ten thousand feet into the air. Far below +lay a narrow channel of gray water, stretching east and west. And beyond +that lay another land, its outer coast curving to the south. + +"_The island!_" exclaimed Rogers softly. "What a cataclysm was here--a +rift that let the sea in and buckled up the mountains!" + +"The island!" echoed George. "And we're at twenty-three thousand five +hundred years! We've some distance yet to fly," he warned. "Hadn't we +better slacken our time progress?" + +With their flight through space temporarily checked, the 'copters +holding them motionless, Rogers cut down the proton current to the fifth +intensity. Eagerly they looked below them. + +Beyond the channel lay the island, curving up in an arc from the south +and out to the west. They could not see across it, but only to a ridge +of mountains at its center. Huge palms grew everywhere, and the +shoreline formed a broad, curving beach of white sand. An island +paradise--though their time progress still laid a gray cast over the +green, blurred the water into a formless haze along the beach and +shifted the vegetation into a confusion of changing forms. + +"We must get started," Rogers said at last. "At twenty-eight thousand +years we must be within sight of the southern tip." + +It was a flight almost due south. Lakes occasionally were visible, and +two or three small rivers, one of which changed its course suddenly +under their eyes; and everywhere that tropical verdure, mounting and +melting, always shifting with its rapid growth and decay. + +In some three hours more--with another longer rest for Rogers, during +which time the 'copters held them poised motionless--they sighted the +southern tip of the island. It had narrowed here to a point no more than +two miles wide, ending with a curving beach and the broad, empty ocean +beyond; a beach with a palm-covered mountain slope close behind it. + +Rogers had made several changes of time progress during the latter part +of the trip, and they were poised over the sea near the tip of the +island for no more than a few moments when the dials recorded +twenty-eight thousand two hundred years. + +Rogers consulted Loto's notes. "He landed in this time world at +twenty-eight thousand two hundred and four years. We must stop at the +beginning of that year and watch for his light." + +Using the fourth intensity, the daylight and darkness was separated into +two brief, but distinguishable periods. Thus the voyagers sped through +the days and nights, the weeks and months and forward into another year. +At the beginning of the fourth year, Rogers changed to the third +intensity. It was daylight--a yellow-red, swiftly mounting sun; flying +blurs of white clouds close overhead; a blue sea, and a bright green +island. + +The sun plunged across the sky and sank blood red, with an instant of +glorious colors suffusing the western sky. Night came, with its deep, +purple mystery. Then day again. + +Thus the days of that fourth year went by; each hardly a minute long, +but slow to the two men so anxiously watching. They were tired to the +point of exhaustion, but the excitement and anxiety kept them going. + +"He said from the tip of the island," Rogers murmured. "A blue-white, +vertical beam of light shining for a day and a night...we couldn't +miss it. A minute would show it to us plainly." + +"I haven't taken my eyes off that island for a second," commented George +from his seat on the floor. "Why doesn't he hurry up? He's down there, +why doesn't he give us the signal?" + +Rogers did not answer. The sun dropped below the horizon. The turning +world, with its motion made so visible, was dizzying to one who watched +the sky. + +The purple night was momentarily colored with a red moon; it rose and +swiftly plunged into a thick bank of clouds that swept down upon it. + +Abruptly, from the tip of the island, a shaft of blue-white light shot +into the sky. It wavered an instant, then stood motionless: _clear_, +_distinct_, _unmistakable_! + + + + + CHAPTER SEVEN + + +The proton current had been entirely cut off. The interior of the cabin +was solid in appearance once more. The Frazia motors were still droning +and the plane hung motionless in a night that was without wind. Below +it, now, lay a scene of complete normality: the sea was rolling up on +the white sand and the moon, almost at its zenith, bathed the green +island in a silvery, red-tinged light. And from the tip of the island, +quite near its southern branch, Loto's narrow beam of blue-white light +was flashing upward into the sky. + +They descended, in a gentle glide. The beach was broad and firm; they +landed upon it, swooping along. It was like racing an automobile along +the sand in the moonlight, with the ocean on one side--far out at low +tide now--and a jungle of green, tropical vegetation on the other. + +Rogers, at the controls, saw a number of human figures standing on the +beach ahead of him. They scattered hastily, and the plane, rapidly +losing velocity, went past them and stopped a hundred yards farther. + +"_We're here!_" George cried. "Let's get out. Was that Loto we passed? +Where's the light? Are we near it?" + +The light could be seen no more than a hundred feet away among the +palms. They climbed hastily from the plane. A figure was coming forward +along the beach at a run; a slight figure in wide trousers of white +cloth, and a short, flapping jacket. + +"Loto!" shouted George. "That you, Loto?" + +From a distance came a faint, "Hello-o... George!" The runner increased +his speed. It was Loto. + +"Well," he exclaimed, as he shook their hands. "You got here right away, +didn't you? I've only had that light up two or three hours." + +"We're tired out," said Rogers, when the greetings were over. "Do we +stay in the plane or can we leave it?" + +A man was standing fearfully at the edge of the green jungle nearby, and +Loto called him forward. He was dressed in wide trousers, like Loto's +except that they were smeared with dirt and sand, and his feet and torso +were bare. He came, timidly, and Loto spoke to him apart. The man nodded +his head, indicating that he understood his orders. Then he trotted +away, joining three or four others of his kind, gesticulating toward the +plane. They all approached it reluctantly. + +George plucked at the flaring sleeve of Loto's short jacket, his only +garment above the waist. "How's Azeela, Loto? Is she...is everything +all right?" + +"Yes, she's all right. But I needed you and father here. Wait! Not now. +I'll tell you later." + +Rogers joined them. "We're about exhausted, Loto. We must have some +sleep." + +"Yes, of course. I knew you'd be. I've a house near here--only a hundred +yards or so. They'll guard the plane." His gesture indicated the men who +were now on the sand, moving about the plane, but evidently afraid to +touch it. + +"You can trust them?" + +"Implicitly." + +They followed Loto. George was tired, but so excited that he did not +realize it. The night air was warm and heavy with moisture. It was +oppressive; it reminded him somehow of the steam room of a Turkish bath. +He found himself perspiring. + +They left the moonlit beach and, following a tiny, white-sand path, +plunged into the depths of the jungle. Palms of every variety stood +about, their graceful fronds interlacing overhead. There were huge trees +loaded with fruit, bananas, mangoes, grapefruit. Some of the other fruit +trees George dimly remembered having heard of but could not name, and +still others he was sure were entirely new. + +It was dark in the jungle here, and very silent. The steamy air was +redolent with perfume--orange blossoms, George thought. The light signal +was nowhere to be seen. George wondered if it had burned out, or if Loto +had ordered those men to extinguish it. + +"Here we are," said Loto abruptly. + +A house was standing at their right, in an open space with the moonlight +gleaming on it--a large, tropical-looking bungalow. There was a broad +veranda on three sides, with windows opening into the house. The house +itself was raised some four feet off the ground on coconut posts, and a +brown-thatched roof spread over everything like a mound. + +It seemed to be a house that would have ten rooms, at least. George +wondered what made it look so peculiar. Then he realized that its board +walls were not vertical, but sloped inward toward the top, so that its +rooms would be smaller at the ceiling than the floor. It looked like a +house of cards. + +Loto had turned into another path. A brown picket fence enclosed the +house with perhaps an acre of ground. Inside was a flower garden, abloom +with an extraordinary profusion of flowers. + +A short flight of wooden steps led to the veranda. There Loto stopped. + +"I think we should retire at once," Rogers said. "We have so much to +talk of--but it will wait." + +"Yes," Loto agreed. "Come with me, Father. George, you stay here. I'll +be right out." + +George sat down on the veranda, with his back against a round palm trunk +that was supporting its roof. He realized now how tired he was, and this +heavy air made him sleepy, he heard the others moving away, entering the +house. He took off his coat, then his shirt and, using them for a +pillow, stretched himself out at full length on the board flooring of +the veranda. + +In a moment, when Loto returned to take him to the room they were to +occupy together, he found George sleeping peacefully. + + * * * * * + +George awakened with the morning sun streaming through a window. He was +on a broad couch, and in a chair beside him, Loto was reclining +comfortably, smoking his black brier pipe. He smiled. + +"Oh, you're awake, are you? You ought to be--it's hours after sunrise." + +A vague memory of being taken into the house by Loto the night before +drifted back to George. He remembered being half-asleep and talking to +his friend, but it was all like a dream. + +The room was small, queer-looking, with its walls sloping together +toward the ceiling. But it was bright and clean, with brown fibre +matting on the floor. + +The air was as moist and heavy as ever, and even warmer. George sat up, +mopping his forehead with his shirt sleeve. + +"I've got your clothes," Loto said, indicating a stool with garments +lying on it. "You don't need much in this heat. Get up and try them on." + +George was presently arrayed, like Loto, in low, tight slippers of soft +hide--clipped dog-skin, Loto told him--with trousers of white material, +bulging above the knees and tight at the ankles, and a brown and green +cloth jacket, ornamented with little metal coins. The jacket was +square-cut and short; it just covered the waist-band of the trousers in +back. It was lined with something soft, thin and yet absorbent; it felt +smooth and comfortable next to George's skin. But it would not meet in +front; it left his chest and stomach bare. He stood regarding it +ruefully until Loto showed him how to fasten it closed across his +stomach. + +"Nice and cool--when you get used to it," George commented, staring down +at his exposed chest. "How do I look? Kind of queer, don't I?" He +twisted himself around, trying to see down over the side bulge of his +trousers. + +Roger's voice, calling, interrupted them. + +"I've got a million things to talk to you about," George was telling +Loto. "Hurry it up--I'll be out in the garden." + +They met, a few minutes later, on the side veranda where they were to +have breakfast. George's self-consciousness vanished immediately; Rogers +was dressed almost exactly as he was, and he flattered himself he looked +at least as well as his companion. + +It seemed to the new arrivals, at this first glance, a primitive world +indeed into which they had fallen, the heat, the palms, the thatched +bungalow, and their costumes all might have existed in some +out-of-the-way tropical land of their own time-world. + +During the meal George was insistent with questions, but Loto smilingly +refused to talk. Instead, he led his father into a brief description of +their flight forward through time and south through space. When the meal +was over Loto took them out to the front veranda. + +"I've a great deal to tell you," he said, "and I know you're as +impatient to hear it as I am to tell you. I've been here on the island +five months--" + +"We realize it," George murmured. "Didn't I watch for that light through +every day and night of 'em?" + +Loto smiled. "I put the signal up last night because I felt that I +needed you. Before we do anything, I must tell you of our affairs here. +You notice I say 'our affairs.' They are a part of me now. I don't +exactly know why, but the thing here grips me. I want to help these +people... I feel already that I am one of them." + +It was no mystery to George. + +"Where's Azeela?" he demanded with apparent irrelevancy. + +"In Anglese City, the capital and largest center of population on the +island. It's north of here--on the channel. I've been living there; I +came down here merely to meet you. The situation here is drastic, +Father. War has been impending, and now it will not be postponed much +longer. This Toroh--as I told you, he is an Anglese renegade--is +organizing the barbarians of the north, the Noths, as they are called. +They are a people of low intelligence--brutes of men with thick black +hair on their bodies. + +"God knows how many Noths there are--hordes of them are scattered about +the northern wastes. Toroh has been organizing them. He has a base up +north where he is manufacturing scientific weapons. There is class +hatred here on the island, but, thank Heaven, in the face of an outside +invasion, the Anglese will stick together." + +"You're preparing for war," George interposed. "You--" + +"Yes, of course. The Anglese have had no warfare for several +generations; they were totally unprepared, but now they're getting +things in shape." + +Loto's tone was optimistic, but the anxiety of his expression belied it. +"I wanted you here, Father--you and George. Without Toroh, we would not +fear the Noths. But Toroh is a scientist, and what weapons he will have +been able to manufacture we do not know. We can only--" + +A man came dashing up the garden path; a man in the familiar wide +trousers, torn and dirty. His red-brown, naked torso gleamed with sweat; +a white cloth was tied about his forehead to keep the damp hair from his +eyes. + +Loto leaped to his feet, and the man, gazing at the strangers with one +swift, surprised glance, flung himself prostrate on the steps. + +"What--" began Rogers. + +"Wait! A messenger from Azeela. Something has gone wrong." + +Loto raised the man up, and listened to his flood of frightened words +with obvious concern. A sharp question from Loto, a crisp order, and the +messenger was dashing away. Loto's gaze, following him, came back to his +companions on the porch. + +"Bad news, Father. We must get up to Anglese City at once. Spies have +appeared in Orleen--a city at the western end of the island--spies from +Toroh, former Anglese, banished like himself. They're being put to death +as fast as they can be caught. But meanwhile they're talking to the +lower class--telling the people that Toroh is for them, and only against +their government. There is class hatred here. The people are listening +to the emissaries. We may be facing a revolution--an internal break--on +the eve of fighting the Noths! We will lose if that happens--_lose to +Toroh inevitably_!" + +They were down on the beach in five minutes more. The plane stood there, +undisturbed. Half a dozen figures rose from the sand beside it and stood +respectfully waiting for Loto to approach. + +Rogers took his seat beside the Frazia controls. They were presently in +the air, flying northward over the palm-covered island that lay calm, +serene in its false security and peacefulness. + +Loto sat close to his father, with George beside them. + +"I must tell you briefly the conditions here," Loto said. "Then you will +be able to understand--be able to help with your advice and judgement as +well as actions." + +He spoke briskly but carefully, and his manner regained its poise. +George was gazing down through one of the side windows. + +"That's Azeela's messenger," Loto commented, "going back to Anglese +City." + +They were flying hardly five hundred feet above the palms. A white road +lay beneath them; along it a huge, shaggy dog was running, with the +figure of a man on its back. The dog's neck was stretched forward, its +body low to the ground as it ran with almost incredible speed, the man +lashing its flanks with a leather thong. The plane passed very slowly +and drew away. + +"We will not land in the heart of the city," Loto added. "He'll be with +Azeela before we are." + +"Go on and tell us about things," George urged. "We've got the time now; +maybe we won't have it later." + +Loto nodded. "I will. We have here on the island three social classes. +How they developed throughout the centuries you will have to imagine for +yourself. Ancient, almost prehistoric Egypt was no more than a quarter +as far into the past of our time-world as we are now ahead of it. +Considered in that light, the changes have been rather less radical than +you would anticipate. + +"The lowest class--you would call them peons in our old Latin +America--are now termed the Bas. They include more than nine-tenths of +all the inhabitants of the island. Most of them are ignorant, +uneducated; yet they include, also, many intelligent, learned +individuals. + +"It is the lowest class which is now plunged into almost intolerable +conditions. They are the workers. Through generations of working in the +sun, their skin has become a reddish brown. The higher class--the +nobility--are the Arans. As the governing class, the Arans live for the +most part in idleness and luxury, while the Bas are held down to almost +universal poverty. + +"You haven't seen the Arans yet. We will be in their chief city shortly. +You will find them white-skinned, their women especially, for they +shield themselves carefully from the sun. They are cultured, yet +without great learning. Can you appreciate that condition? They're the +ones who really show the decadence of this time-world." + +"Is there a third class?" Rogers prompted. + +"Yes. The Scientists--to me the most interesting of all. You will +appreciate that in long past ages, science was supreme. In war it was +everything. The Anglese came to this island and grew apathetic, but the +Scientists, in some measure, clung to their learning. Gradually, their +attitude must have changed to secrecy. They became a sect, holding +knowledge for its own sake, keeping it among themselves. + +"The real power lay with them, and they knew it. But curiously enough, +their science seemed all-sufficient. As a body, they never desired +governing power; no individual rose among them with a yearning for +conquest--except Toroh. + +"Foreign wars came. The Scientists offered their help, and when the wars +were over, retired with their knowledge to themselves. The sect, as you +will find it today, is on the downgrade. It has dwindled to a thousand +or two individuals who are scattered throughout the island. They call +themselves the League--I should say, a word that means about that. They +have their own officers; a council of a hundred in Anglese City, and a +lifetime president, Fahn, Azeela's father. + +"Thus, you understand, the League of Scientists really controls +everything. But its members are content with the prestige their position +gives them. The government itself has for centuries fostered this +secrecy of all that pertains to science. In times of war, the Arans are +helpless, and leave it all to the League. In times of peace they forget +the possibility of war and go back to ruling the Bas in their own +fashion." + +Loto glanced out one of the windows. "Look down there." + +The island was mountainous; a constant succession of green hills and +valleys. A small lake came into view, with steam rising from it. +Everywhere the scene was dotted with thatched huts and, occasionally, a +more pretentious bungalow like the one in which the visitors had passed +the previous night. As they flew low over the hills, they could see +small brown and white patches of cultivated land scattered everywhere. + +"That is the way the Bas live," Loto commented. "Sometimes they bring +their produce to the cities and sell it for ridiculously small sums. If +there's a food shortage, the Arans come out and take it--paying for it +nominally." + +"But their factories, their industries?" + +"In the cities, Father. Reduced to a minimum, and for the use and +welfare of the Arans and Scientists almost exclusively. Skilled labor is +performed by the higher types of the Bas. They are allowed to live in +the cities, but are paid so little that they must live unpretentiously. +Everything is done for the welfare of the Arans and the League of +Scientists." + +"And the government?" + +"A monarchy. A king, his council of fifty and his personal cabinet of +five. A hereditary monarch, wholly inefficient, except in forcing his +laws upon the Bas." + +"I should think that would be somewhat difficult," Rogers commented. + +"There is a large police force made up of swaggering young men of the +Arans. They serve for the joy of it; they're mostly arrogant individuals +who take pleasure in the enforcement of the personal power they hold. +And they abuse it, of course. Their task is easy, for they have the +Scientists behind them. If one of them were killed, or even attacked by +a Bas, it would mean the death of that Bas and all his family. + +"I said the Bas were under conditions almost intolerable. And that's +exactly why these spies of Toroh's are dangerous to us just now. The +whole social condition here is wretched, but, I suppose, logical enough +under the circumstances of environment and racial development. +Fundamentally, the difficulty has been a limited land area. The race +cannot expand, hence numerically it must be restrained." + +"How?" demanded Rogers. "By birth control?" + +"Obligatory birth control--applicable only to the Bas. More Bas are not +desired, hence births are limited. The desire just now--more than to +hold the population even--is to cut it down. Hence, a Bas woman is +allowed only two offspring." + +"But suppose she has three?" George suggested. + +"The mother and her child--illegitimate in a new sense--are banished +from the island." Loto's voice rose to sudden vehemence. "Can you +understand what that sometimes does? I have seen a mother with her +newborn infant, two or three weeks old, pleading before the King's +Council. She would not murder it at birth, as the Bas women sometimes +do, and I saw her plead for its right to live on the island. And then, +with her plea denied, she took it away into the frozen north. Her +husband did not follow her. That is optional. This one stayed behind, +keeping the other two children, and letting her take the infant alone. +And she went, to save its life--her child, born without a birthright." + +There was a silence. Rogers was staring down at a hilltop where, as the +plane swept past, a woman with two naked children at her side stood in +front of a small shack. + +"And when you have seen the Arans, living their life of luxury and +immorality," Loto went on, "you will wonder why the Bas have stood it so +long. 'After us--the deluge,' has always been the Aran reasoning." + +The plane was climbing to pass over a jagged, volcanic-looking peak. +Behind, nestled in a hollow, with a curving stretch of white sand and +the blue waters of the channel beyond, lay the capital city of the +Arans: reckless, pleasure-loving, secure in its beauty and supremacy, +yet trembling from so many causes upon the brink of disaster. + + + + + CHAPTER EIGHT + + +On the gently undulating floor of a valley, surrounded by three +mountains and with the sea rolling up on its beach to the north, lay the +Aran city. From an altitude of some three thousand feet, the travelers +gazed down upon a scene of extraordinary color and beauty: low, pure, +white buildings with many balconies and patios; gardens of vivid +flowers; white pergolas trellised with scarlet blossoms; sunken pools of +limpid water, with huge date palms curving over them. A grove of royal +palms grew close to the beach, near a huge, rectangular bathing pool and +a marble-white pavilion. A white palace stood on a rise of ground with a +balconied tower, five hundred feet high, beside it. On the top of the +tower was a beautiful flower garden. And everywhere was the romantic +green foliage of the tropics, the blue-red sky, the soft, red-white +clouds, and the azure waters of the channel. + +"Where do we land?" George asked. + +"To the west a little, Father," Loto directed. "See the cavern +entrance?" + +He pointed for George, explaining: "We will not land directly in the +city. I want the plane permanently guarded now, so we will leave it in +the Cavern of Thunderbolts." + +"The what?" George demanded. + +"That's what the Bas picturesquely call it. You see the cavern mouth?" + +Across the city, a yawning black hole gaped in the mountainside near its +base; an opening of irregularly circular shape, some two hundred feet in +diameter. A gentle slope led up to it from the city. + +"We can fly directly in," Loto added. "It's the entrance to the +subterranean chambers where the scientists work--and where they store +their apparatus under guard. It's also a museum, where relics of the +past are gathered." + +George relapsed into an awed silence, staring down at the city. In the +streets and on the housetops, people were standing, gazing up at the +plane curiously. + +The mouth of the cavern grew steadily larger as the plane swooped down +upon it. The yawning hole seemed to have a level floor extending +horizontally back into the mountain. Far back into the darkness, little +blue lights twinkled. + +"You'd better take the controls, Loto," Rogers said anxiously. "I don't +like the idea of flying into that." + +Loto slipped quietly into the seat. The Frazia motors stopped abruptly. +Silently, with only the sound of the air rushing past, the plane glided +swiftly downward. + +Around the cavern mouth was a small platform with a roof over it, built +on an overhanging ledge of rock. The figures of three men seated there +were visible. Abruptly one of the men rose, and from his upflung hand a +tiny flash of blue-white light shot into the clouds overhead. Even in +the daylight it was a plainly visible flash. + +"Lightning!" George exclaimed and, as though to confirm him, a little +miniature crack of thunder sounded an instant later. + +"They know I'm coming," Loto said. + +It was a queer sensation, darting into that blackness. The cave mouth +seemed to open and swallow them. The plane struck the ground with a +bump, lifted, bumped again and rolled forward. Points of light swept +past on either side; a blue-white glare lay ahead. + +The plane slackened its speed and came to a stop. + +"We're here," said Loto. "Take only what you will need at once. We can +come back here later today or tomorrow." + +Quickly, they descended from the plane. + +The hum of dynamos sounded from far away in the mountain's depths. The +roof high overhead was dimly visible, and great shadows, flickering +blue-white lights, were everywhere. Near at hand, where the cave +broadened, was a space more brightly lighted. Further along it narrowed +again, forming a dozen branching passages. An incline fifty feet wide +sloped down into blackness, with a faint pencil-point of blue light +shining from far down within its recesses. + +"Why, the whole mountain is honeycombed!" Rogers exclaimed. + +"Yes, sir. Just stand here a minute and I'll be with you. Don't move +about!" + +Figures were approaching, robed in black rubber garments, gloved and +hooded. Loto turned to greet them, and they drew back their hoods, +disclosing their heads and faces. There was a brief conversation, then +Loto turned back to his companions. + +"Fahn is at home in the city," he said swiftly, and his tone was +concerned. "We'll go there." + +The black-robed figures gazed at them curiously a moment; then went back +to their work. Led by Loto, the three started off toward the mouth of +the cave. + +"Is your plane in here, Loto?" Rogers asked. + +"No, sir. I left it at Orleen. There's a cavern there similar to this, +but smaller. It's there--in the other cavern." + +"You're sure it's safe?" + +"Of course." + +"Where are we going?" George demanded after a moment. + +"To Fahn's home," Loto answered. "He'll be there with Azeela and +Dianne." + +"Dianne?" George's voice took on a new note of interest. "Who is she?" + +"Azeela's younger sister," Loto explained briefly. He smiled. "I meant +to tell you about her, George. She's a little daredevil--you'll like +her." + +George just smiled, and for some time they walked on in silence. The +ground was wet, like muddy clay. There were no lights ahead, but the +daylight from the cave's mouth lighted their way. + +They emerged from the cave and came out onto a road of white sand and +clay that led down the mountain slope. Palms lined it thickly. Further +down, at the bottom of the quarter-mile descent, houses began; the +outskirts of the city. The road soon took on the aspect of a street. It +was broad, with narrow pedestrian paths on both sides. Flower gardens, +often with hedges of thick, bayonet-like plants, lined the walks. The +houses were for the most part almost obscured by palms and trellised +vines that were laden with scarlet blossoms. Private, outdoor bathing +pools occasionally showed through the garden foliage. + +It was obviously a residential section. As the party advanced, +passers-by grew more numerous. The Bas men were distinguishable by their +clipped, bullet-like heads, covered with broad, circular-brimmed hats of +straw; their sun-tanned bodies naked above the waist, bare feet, and the +wide trousers. The Bas women, also red-brown of skin, were usually +clothed merely with a loin cloth and a white sash bound over the +breasts, their hair twisted in plaits hanging down the back. + +The Bas walked always in the road itself. On the pedestrian paths, a few +Arans passed by; men with long hair to the base of the neck, and dressed +somewhat as Loto had garbed his father and friend. Most of them saluted +Loto--a queer, flowing gesture of the left hand--and all of them stared +with frank curiosity at the strangers. Occasionally an Aran woman came +along--white-swathed, mysterious figures; a twinkle of tiny, +black-slippered feet, a flash from alluring eyes veiled by lashes +heavily darkened. + +An Aran man riding a dog went slowly down a side street. A dog pulling a +small, three-wheeled cart piled high with merchandise passed in the +opposite direction. + +George edged toward Loto. "Those dogs," he whispered. "They're friendly? +Not vicious?" + +"Of course not," Loto laughed. "Just like regular dogs. Except...well, +I'll tell you later." + +George sighed with relief. "All right. But they're not like any dogs I +ever saw at home--they're nearly as big as a horse. And there's +something else wrong about them--they're too intelligent. You can see +that just by looking at them walk." + +Presently they turned into the gateway of a hedge solid with white and +scarlet blossoms. + +"Fahn's home," Loto said. "We'll go right in." + +They passed through a garden, colorful with its mass of vivid flowers, +and heavy with the languorous scent of magnolia and orange blossoms. The +house stood well back from the road. It was a low, broad building, white +in color, with, a low-hanging room--not thatched, but seemingly of blue +tiling. + +Then they were on the veranda. The walls of the house sloped inward at +the top. There was a window nearby--no glass--with a blue-white, silky +curtain shrouding it. The door stood open; inside was a hall, with +another door open to the sunlight of a patio banked with flowers. + +A girl came to the doorway. It was Azeela. George recognized her at +once: a slight little creature of blue eyes, golden hair and milk-white +skin; a pale blue sash wound wide about her hips and thighs, +breastplates of metal, with the broad, circular collar above them, and +her hair parted forward over her shoulders in plaits that ended with +little tassels. George decided she was the most beautiful girl he had +ever seen; Loto's description did not half do her justice. + +She stood hesitantly in the doorway then, smiling, advanced to Loto and +gave him both hands in a pretty gesture of welcome. + +George's decision that Azeela was the prettiest girl he had ever seen +was short lived, for behind Azeela now came another girl, her younger +sister, Dianne. Azeela might have been eighteen or nineteen; Dianne +obviously was no more than sixteen--a black-haired, dark-eyed girl, +dressed like Azeela, except that her sash was a deep red. + +"And this is Dianne," Loto was saying. "We call her Dee." + +"So will I," George answered promptly. He met the girl's eyes--snapping, +laughing eyes with the spirit of deviltry in them. + +"Loto told me about you," she said demurely. Her intonation was that of +a foreigner, but she spoke the ancient English with perfect ease and +fluency. "Loto said he thought I would like you a lot." + +"He didn't tell me about _you_," George responded. "Not till ten minutes +ago. But, anyway, he was right. No, what I mean is--" + +The rest of George's speech was lost, for they were inside the house and +Fahn was advancing to meet them. The leader of the Scientists was a man +of nearly seventy; a quiet, grave, dominating figure, tall and spare, +but perfectly erect. His face was smooth-shaven, his iron-gray hair long +to the base of the neck. He was dressed in a paneled robe of black, with +a pleated white collar and cuffs. + +"I am glad, indeed, to have you with us," he said cordially to Rogers. +He spoke precisely, slowly and carefully, as one speaks a language newly +mastered. "I feel very close to you, now that my daughter Azeela is to +marry Loto. It makes me--" + +Rogers stared blankly. "Loto engaged? Why, Loto, you--" + +"There was so much else to tell you, Father." Loto was covered with +confusion. "Besides, I wanted to have you meet Azeela first." + +Azeela was trying to escape from the room, but Dee captured her and +pushed her back. + +George was vigorously congratulating Loto, and Rogers, rising to the +occasion, kissed Azeela heartily. + + * * * * * + +It was an ominous crisis into which the visitors from a time world +twenty-eight thousand years previous had fallen. They discussed it with +Fahn and his daughters during the remainder of that morning, and at the +light noon meal, served in a shaded corner of the patio formed by the +enclosing wings of the house. Banks of vivid flowers surrounded them; +the quiet, warm air was redolent with perfume. A small fountain splashed +musically. The world was calm, languorous. + +Fahn had little to add to what they already knew. Toroh and the Noths +had not been expected to attack for a month or two at least, and the +Anglese scientists were going forward with their own preparations for +the war with utmost haste. + +But now these emissaries Toroh had smuggled to the island injected a new +and alarming factor into the situation. They had appeared only in +Orleen, but the Bas there were listening to them, and all over the +island the news was spreading among the Bas that Toroh was a friend, not +an enemy. The Bas might be incited to open revolt. + +"Morgruud is alarmed," Fahn said to Loto. He explained to the others +that Mogruud was one of the most intelligent of the Bas in Anglese City, +a leader of his people. Mogruud was not fooled by Toroh's emissaries, +but he feared now that he could not prevent an uprising. + +"And the most terrible part is the Bas are right," Fahn added. "I do not +mean in regard to Toroh--he is a scoundrel, of course. But the Bas must +have some relief. Their children--ten mothers and infants were ordered +exiled yesterday." + +"Why don't you fix it?" George asked. + +The Scientist leader shrugged slightly. "I do not make the laws; I obey +them. I have remonstrated with the king and the council many times." He +paused, then added thoughtfully: + +"The time may come when we of the League may be forced to act against +the laws of our king. He is wrong, and we scientists all know it. But to +take the law into our own hands--it is a very drastic thing...." + +During the meal, George was far more interested in the two sisters than +in the men's talk. He had opportunity now to study the girls, compare +them. In feature they were much alike; in expression and demeanor, +totally different. Azeela was calm, thoughtful--femininely wise and +patient. Dee was impulsive, vivacious--alternately demure and devilish. +Yet, in spite of the differences in temperament, there seemed a strange +bond between the sisters. Their regard for each other, the love between +them, was obvious. But it was more than that--a bond of mind and spirit. +George puzzled over it. Often when Azeela was about to speak, Dee would +impulsively speak for her, as though interpreting her sister's thoughts. + +The afternoon was one of inactivity. A Toroh emissary appeared in +Anglese City, but he was arrested before he had time to harangue the +people. + +"I had thought he was one of Toroh's brothers," Fahn remarked, "but it +is not so. I think now they would not dare come back to the island." + +He went on to explain that Toroh had two younger brothers, banished like +himself. + +"They might come--Toroh himself might come," Loto declared. "He will +dare anything that seems worth the risk." + +"If we take any one of them he will die," Fahn commented. + +It was at this juncture, in the late afternoon when the whole world was +bathed in the glorious colors of a sunset sky, that Azeela returned from +a short trip across the city. + +"The Aran Festival of the Flowers is tonight," she exclaimed excitedly. +"It has not been postponed. The Arans say it is clever to hold it now, +in spite of the news from Orleen. It will show the Bas how little they +care--how secure is the Aran power!" + +It seemed to presage evil events--the holding of this festival wherein +all the wanton luxury of the Arans could be flaunted in the faces of +those whom they ruled. And it was with foreboding in their hearts that +Fahn, his daughters and their friends, prepared that evening to go and +witness it. It was midnight when they started. Dee and Azeela were +swathed to the eyes in soft white robes, and the men carried tiny black +masks. + +The city streets, even at midnight, bore a holiday aspect. The moon had +risen but, in addition to its light, there were braziers strung above +every street crossing and they cast a soft blue light downward. + +Arans were hurrying along, alone and in groups--the women all shrouded +in white; the men, in clothes of gaudy colors, wearing masks, or +dangling them in their hands. Little phaetons drawn by dogs rolled by, +filled with gay figures in fancy dress; women leaned from them, waving +at the pedestrians and tossing out flowers as they swept past. + +Loto and Azeela, with George and Dee close behind them, led the way +swiftly in the direction that every one else was moving. Fahn and Rogers +followed behind. + +It was a fairy tale city of unreality: gaudy men and white robed women +hastening forward under the blue street lights; silent white houses +flushed with the reddish tinge of the moon; warm, moist air, almost +without a breath, heavy with sensuous perfume. + +And in the shadows of the streets, the brown skinned, half naked figure +of a Bas, skulking here and there! + +Azeela had, for some time, been walking in silence. She looked up at the +moon and, with a touch upon Loto's arm, indicated it. + +"You said the moon was blushing, my Loto--the blush of maiden modesty to +look down upon such a city. But I do not see it so...to me it is +stained with _blood_." + +The sweeping gesture of her white arm flashing from under the robe +indicated a garden beside them. + +"_Blood--staining everything!_" + +The street topped a rise of ground, ahead, down another short slope, lay +the sea. And even there the silver path upon the water was tinged with +red. + + + + + CHAPTER NINE + + +A cordon of police stopped Fahn and his party at the edge of a grove of +palms near the beach. A moment more and they were inside. It was dim +under the palms; the white sand a lace pattern of shadow and moonlight. +Gay figures were moving about, all the men masked now. + +The grove covered perhaps a quarter of a mile. To the right lay the +gleaming white beach with the surf rolling up upon it. A tremendous pile +of scarlet and white blossoms stood near by under the palm trees. +Figures rushed to it, gathered up armfuls and darted away, shouting and +laughing. + +"We must keep together," Fahn warned. "Come this way." + +Half a dozen men had whirled up, pelting Azeela and Dee with flower +blossoms, and, under cover of the laughing attack, tried to separate the +girls from their escorts and carry them off. + +They moved slowly forward, George gripping Dee's arm tightly. They +passed a huge, rectangular swimming pool, deserted as yet--glassy, +moonlit water a foot or two below the surface of the ground, reflecting +the dark outlines of the date palms that curved above it. + +The whirling crowd constantly became thicker. There must have been +several thousand people within the grove: the white shrouded figure of a +woman flinging flowers against the attack of a man; a woman retreating, +her ammunition exhausted, to the flower pile to replenish, and being +caught in a smothering embrace before she could reach it; a group of +laughing girls, their robes torn from them in the fray, pelting a +defenseless man, flinging him finally into a huge pile of flower petals, +burying him until some other quarry distracted their attention, or a +stronger force of men separated them, sometimes carrying them off +bodily. + +And in nooks behind the hedges of flowers, couples stole silent +embraces, alone until marauding bands of men or girls found them out and +drove them from their seclusion. + +The white sand was thick with trampled flowers. Music came drifting +through the warm night air; music near at hand, but blurred by the +shouts of the whirling throng. The rich contralto voice of a woman +singing--a snatch cut off by laughter. + +A large white pavilion lay ahead, brilliant with flashing colored +lights--a kaleidoscope of shifting color. It seemed crowded with people, +and Fahn now led his little party toward it. + +They did not enter the pavilion, but stood in a group on its steps. The +music came from within, music that welled and throbbed, unfamiliar in +character, but with the age-old appeal to the senses--music sensuous, +barbaric. And yet was it barbaric? + +Rogers voiced the question in a whisper to Loto, who stood beside him. +Was it not rather supermodern, with the centuries of decadence that had +put into it that fire of the soul abandoned to the body? + +The throng on the floor was battling with flowers, drinking wine from +carved bowls of coconut shell, and dancing indiscriminately. The masked +men were robed in black and women shrouded in white, but the swinging +lights of vivid color stained everything, made the scene shift and blur +into fantasy. + +At one end of the room a huge circular table was loaded with food and +drink, fruits and confections. The table was slowly revolving; half of +its circumference was behind a partition--a kitchen where it was +constantly being replenished with other dainties. + +The visitors found it difficult to keep their place on the pavilion +steps. Masked men attacked the two girls with flowers; a black robed +figure in mock politeness and humility begged one or the other of them +to dance. A trio of girls tore George away, and then, at his resistance, +left him abruptly. + +"The king," whispered Loto, with a gesture. + +At one end of the pavilion, on a small raised platform, the king sat +smiling down upon the scene. He was robed in paneled cloth of rich, +gaudy colors--a man of middle age whose long, dark hair was shot through +with gray. + +The scene, with its confusion of shifting incidents, held too much for +the visitors to see or to understand. Half an hour went by, with the +merrymaking steadily increasing. Abruptly, the music stopped. The throng +stopped in its tracks, waiting expectantly. The swinging colored lights +died out; others took their place--pure blue-white, and motionless. A +solemn bell tolled out over the silence; with almost one motion the +masks and the robes were discarded. A woman's laugh rang out, carrying +in it the very essence of abandonment. Then the music began again and +the throng sprang back into motion. + +The riotous color had been supplied by the lights; now with the lights a +blue-white, steady glare, it was the riotous color of the costumes +themselves. Was it the Baghdad of the Ancients--manikins, with turbaned +headdresses, and flowing, vivid draperies with the gleaming white of +limbs beneath them? Or were these slave girls, with their wares +displayed for the bidders in the market? Or these others, were they +desert women, dancing with a pagan lust? + +Watching with the others, George's impressions were confused. Yet the +thought came to him that this was modern beyond his time--decadence, not +barbarism. + +Again Rogers murmured something, but his words were lost. A score of +figures came leaping from the pavilion, scattering the small group of +onlookers on its steps. + +Rogers recovered himself, turning to follow them with his gaze; white +nymphs with flowing hair, and draperies of gauze that bellowed behind +them as they ran for the moonlit beach and the surf. + +Loto, pulling at his father's arm, brought his attention back to the +pavilion. Through it, the palm grove on the other side was visible. + +The bathing pool was now a turmoil of splashing figures--slim white +shapes dove into it from the palm-lined banks. + +But Loto was indicating the pavilion's interior. The crowd was standing +motionless, gazing upward. A small dais was poised in mid-air above the +floor in the center of the room. It floated there, seemingly with +nothing to sustain it. Standing on tiptoe on the dais was a woman, +wrapped to the eyes in scarlet draperies. She was facing the king over a +distance of some twenty feet. The music, which had been stilled for a +moment, murmured softly from its unseen niche. + +Fahn whispered to Rogers, "Our workmen of the League equipped that dais +for the king. He begged us--and I feel now that it was a mistake." + +Loto added: "It is made from our newly invented war equipment. The dais +is covered with a fabric--electrically charged, and repulsive to the +earth. It's radio controlled, Father. A workman from the cavern is over +there in the corner, behind that drape. We've kept the fabric a secret, +but the king wanted to use it for the dais." + +The woman was singing in a throbbing contralto, very soft at first, then +gradually louder. As she sang, slowly she unwound the draperies, letting +them drop from her like quivering flame to a smoldering pile at her +feet. Beneath it were other draperies, flame-colored like the rest, but +her arms and face were bare--full, rounded, milk-white arms--a heavy +face with scarlet lips. + +"Helene," Loto whispered. "The Bas call her what means 'Mme. Voluptua.' +It is she who rules the king _and the nation_. Look at her!" + +The king was standing up. The music grew louder, fiercer, with a +thrilling minor cadence. The woman's arms were extended; she stood +poised, smiling as she sang to the king. From her outflung arms the +gauze drapery hung like quivering wings, with the white of her body +gleaming beneath it. The black hair piled high on her head held two +spangles of gold trembling at the end of delicate golden wires. She +stood, a great scarlet moth, hovering before flight. + +Staring in fascination, the king had left his seat and descended to the +floor. The crowd parted to make way for him as he slowly moved toward +the dais which floated down to meet him. Every eye was on him and on the +woman, who now was extending her arms down in invitation. + +The music and the song were at their height. The dais reached the floor; +the king stepped upon it and, as the woman's hand touched his shoulder, +he dropped on one knee before her, his lips at the hem of her scarlet +gauze. + +A leer of triumph on the woman's face; a murmur of applause from the +watching throng. Then a black cloak fell from a figure close beside the +dais; a man leaped upon it--the naked figure of a man in loin-cloth. A +knife flashed--blue-white steel in the light from above. The song rose +to a shuddering scream. The scarlet figure wilted and sank among its +draperies at the feet of the kneeling king. + +For an instant the colorful throng seemed frozen; then chaos and the +struggling, airless confusion of panic. The murderer had flung the king +and the body of the woman from the dais. The little platform was rising +into the air, carrying him with it. The movement was sidewise; in a +moment it would have been outside the pavilion. + +Rogers, standing beside Fahn, heard the Scientist leader mutter an oath. +Fahn's hand came up from his robe; a pencil-point of flame--a tiny +shaft, yellow-red--shot from his weapon. The platform crashed to the +floor of the pavilion; the murderer lay still, his body blackened and +charred. + +In the center of the room, the king had climbed to his feet, trembling. +He stood, staring down at the scarlet pile of gauze before him, the +crumbled white body stained red as the draperies in which it lay. + +The pavilion was emptying. The music was stilled; shouts of men, +terrified, hysterical cries of women filled the air. The visitors on the +steps were swept back by the crowds from within. Loto, clinging to his +father, struggled to hold them together. + +White figures were running from the beach; slim shapes were climbing +from the bathing pool. A woman hastened by, long black hair plastered +wet against her sleek white body. Her face, the allure gone from it, was +a white mask of horror; a scarlet mouth with lips parted to yield +babbling, terrified cries. She swept past, then disappeared into the +confusion of the night. + +Loto was still clutching his father; all the rest of their party had +disappeared. The pavilion now was empty of Arans, save for that huddled +scarlet form, deserted by all its kind. + +Fahn came hastening up. "That is one of Toroh's brothers." He pointed +to the motionless figure of the man his jet of flame had killed. "The +other brother murdered my operator. They planned to steal the fabric, to +duplicate it and use it against us in the war. I had no idea they would +dare come to the island." + +Fahn had found his radio operator lying dead in his place behind the +drape. Toroh's other brother had been there, trying to work the radio +and get the dais out of the pavilion so that in the confusion they might +escape with it. Fahn had caught a glimpse of the man running away as he +approached. They had not known of Fahn's presence at the festival; had +he not been there, the attempt probably would have succeeded. + +There was space around the three men now. The fleeing Aran figures were +vanishing through the palms; the confused cries were growing fainter. +But George and the two girls could not be found. + +"We must go back," Fahn said. "They must have tried to find us and could +not. They would go home at once." + +With a last search around them, the three men started off through the +now almost deserted grove. The cordon of police had disappeared. A few +hastening figures were scattered along the streets. + +"Come on," Loto cried anxiously. "We have to hurry." + +Keeping close together they hastened along. Aran figures scurried here +and there; lights twinkled in the houses, then were extinguished as +though the concealing darkness might offer protection. + +"Curious," murmured Rogers. "The entire city is in terror." + +"The guilt that has been within them for generations," Fahn answered. +"Toroh planned this well. The Bas will not know it was an attempt to +steal the fabric. Instead they will think that one of their own people +dared to murder Mme. Voluptua. The Arans think that now. They think the +Bas have risen to rebellion at last. It is not this one murder, but the +meaning of it that they fear--the confidence it will give the Bas." + +And as though to confirm his words, the figure of a Bas man stood +motionless on the next street corner. He was partly in shadow, but he +did not move as the three men came along; and as they passed, his body +seemed to straighten, with the consciousness of his own power sweeping +over it. + +They hurried across the city. As they went, they passed other Bas--Bas +who no longer skulked in the shadows. + +At last they came to the shimmering, moonlit garden of Fahn's home. The +house was dark. They called, but no one answered. A brief search +revealed the truth; Azeela, George and Dee were not to be found. The +place was undisturbed; there seemed no evidence of marauders. + +"We must wait," Fahn said. But his tone was anxious. "They have not yet +arrived from the grove. I cannot believe it is anything but that." + +For a time they waited, but none of the missing three appeared. A hum +had been growing in the city--a murmur of distant cries that now forced +itself on their attention. The murmur grew, resolving itself into shouts +and the scuffle of running feet. A mob of Bas rounded a nearby street +corner and swept past the house. The crowd might have held a thousand +persons. A giant, half-naked man with a curved sword-blade in his hand +was leading the way; behind him came hordes of brown-skinned men and +women. Most of the men carried curved swords; the women wielded +sticks--the heavy butts of palm-fronds with the green stripped off--and +a variety of agricultural implements. + +"The cane-cutters!" Loto exclaimed softly. "The knives with which they +cut the sugar cane. They--" + +He broke off, watching the grim mob as it swept by. At every corner it +was strengthened by others who joined it; Bas were springing up +miraculously from the shadows everywhere. + +Fahn's hand had gone to his belt; then it dropped to his side. Rogers +met the Scientist's glance with a nod of understanding. + +"It is what we of the League have feared for years," Fahn said +anxiously. "I cannot kill my own people. I am armed and they are not, +yet I cannot kill them--cannot look upon them as enemies. And I think, +even in their frenzy, they realize that and play upon it." + +The last stragglers had passed; the shouts of the mob were growing +fainter as it dashed across the city. The Aran houses were still dark +and silent, with only an occasional inmate slinking out to gaze +fearfully around. Directly across the street, the white figure of a +woman just returned from the grove showed for an instant in a doorway. +Then it fled inward, into the darkness. + +"_The palace!_" Loto explained abruptly. "_They're going to the +palace!_" + +The words seemed to bring to Fahn the realization that action by him was +needed. For the moment his anxiety over his daughters became secondary. + +"Come!" he cried. "We must protect the king." + +He hurried them through the garden and along the street. Almost running, +the three men headed toward where the mob could still be heard, shouting +in the distance. + + + + + CHAPTER TEN + + +George had been standing with his friends beside the pavilion, silently +watching the festival reach its height. The bell tolled; the masks and +cloaks were discarded. A bevy of nymphs draped in flowing gauze came +dashing out. As they passed, one of them caught George by the arm, +pulling him along a few steps; her eyes, half hidden by her tumbling +hair, mocked him provocatively. + +He jerked away. A tide of other figures flowed from the pavilion, +following the nymphs to the beach. George fought his way back, seeking +to rejoin his friends; in that crowd they could get lost so easily. + +He was looking about, wondering just where they had been standing +before, when he saw Dee. Her white cloak had fallen from her head to her +shoulders. She was standing alone, apparently lost in reverie. + +George hastened to her. "Where are--" + +But her vehement gesture silenced him; again she seemed lost in thought. +For a moment he stood wondering what was the matter with her. The music +from the pavilion throbbed out into the moonlit grove; gaiety was +surging all around them. + +Finally George could stand it no longer. "Dee, what is it? What's the +matter?" + +She looked up with an anxious frown. "Something is wrong with Azeela. +She's trying to tell me what's wrong." + +"Oh?" George glanced hastily about. "Where is Azeela? She was here a +minute ago. Where are the rest of them? Let's tell them." + +What did Dee mean? The girl seemed to have forgotten him again. She was +moving away, like one who walks under a spell. + +"Wait. Dee--_wait a minute_!" + +She kept on going. Figures were passing between them now. George hated +to leave his place. He'd never find the others--never get back again. +Even now he realized it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find +them in all that crowd of masked figures. If he lost Dee, too... He had +no choice; he darted after Dee. + +When he had overtaken her they were some distance from the pavilion. It +was more secluded here. George darted up and caught her by the arm. + +"Dee! What's the matter with you?" + +Her hand went over her eyes and she shook herself slightly. "It's hard +at first--getting Azeela's thoughts. I have them now." She spoke +swiftly, anxiously. "Toroh was here a moment ago. He seized Azeela and +took her out of the grove--right near here." + +Azeela's thoughts! George understood. He started forward, but she held +him. + +"Too late! Toroh had two dogs waiting for him--they're mounting them +now. He has tied Azeela. They're starting--the dogs are running." + +George stared at her blankly. "Where to? Where is he taking her? Can you +ask her that? Can she tell you?" + +The girl was hastening forward now, with George after her. "Yes. She +says to Orleen. I have told her we are coming." + +Abruptly, she stopped and faced him. "George, we have two dogs at home. +Shall you and I get them and go after Azeela?" + +"Yes," he exclaimed impulsively. + +"And I know where father keeps his weapons." + +"Good. We can't find Loto and your father in this crowd. Had we better +try, Dee?" + +They were hurrying forward again. + +"No, we'd lose too much time. Father forbade me touching his weapons," +she added as an afterthought, "but this is different, isn't it?" + +"Of course," he agreed excitedly. "You know how to work them, Dee?" + +"Yes, I experimented. He doesn't know it." + +They left the grove. + +"Dee, where's Azeela now?" + +"Crossing the city. West toward Orleen. We won't be far behind them." + +George was trembling with the excitement of it. "Is Toroh armed? Ask +Azeela that." + +"I did. She doesn't know. She thinks he is." + +"Oh!" + +"We'll do something. He won't know we're after him--that's our +advantage. Hurry, George!" + +There were a few figures in the almost deserted streets, but George and +Dee did not notice them. She was telling him of this branch of science +for which she and her sister were distinguished--this telepathy they had +developed. Bound in a union of thought by an unusual devotion, they had +perfected it until they could know, always vaguely, and, with effort, +quite distinctly, what was in the other's mind. + +"We mustn't waste any time getting started, Dee." + +They had entered the silent garden of Fahn's home. The city behind them +was humming with confusion now, but they did not hear it, did not know +that a murder had just been committed at the festival. + +Inside the house, Dee went at once to her father's room. George waited. +When she returned she held two weapons out for his inspection. One was a +crescent of transparent metal, with a tiny wire connecting its horns and +a black bone handle by which to grasp it. There was a firing mechanism +on the handle. It was the projector of the ray which caused muscular +paralysis--the weapon Bool had used against Loto. + +Dee described its operation briefly. + +The other weapon was a small black globe the size of a man's fist. It +also had a handle with a trigger; in the globe opposite was a tiny +orifice like the muzzle of a revolver. This was one of the smallest +models of the thunderbolt projectors. With it, a bolt of electrons could +be thrown over a distance of some twenty feet. + +The former weapon Dee kept; the little thunderbolt globe she handed to +George. + +Dee had discarded her white robe; a blue ribbon around her forehead held +the hair from her eyes. She had another in her hand, and she tied it +around George's head. + +"It's hot riding, even at night," she explained. "Your hair gets +moist--gets in your eyes." + +They had been delayed only a moment. + +"This way," she added. + +They ran outside, across the patio, through a dark room and into the +garden behind the house, where a small white outbuilding stood. A new +misgiving overcame George. + +"Oh, Dee--these dogs of yours..." + +"Can you ride a dog?" she asked over her shoulder. Her expression was +impish. + +"I can ride anything," he said stoutly, but his tone was dubious. "If +the dog is--" + +She must have understood him, for she laughed. + +"Wait! You will find these dogs your friends." + +George said nothing more, and in a moment they were within the kennel. +It was dark, very dimly lighted by the moon from outside. A gray-black +shape came toward them; a shaggy dog whose shoulders stood nearly as +high as his own. George's first instinct was to turn and run, but the +dog padded up to Dee, and she put her arms up around it. + +"Good, Rotan. Will you run fast for Dee?" + +She called it toward George, and patted him to show the dog he was her +friend. George impulsively put his hand up to the great shaggy neck, +felt the dog's warm tongue as it turned to lick his hand. This huge +brute was his friend. + +The other dog, Atal was a male, larger than its mate; and standing +beside it, George marveled at the power that its great body must hold. +The dogs knew they were going out. They whined with eagerness, and +leaping across the kennel, they came back to Dee with saddles in their +mouths with which she was to harness them. + +Rotan, which Dee was to ride, was saddled with a leather seat and a +pommel with a small stirrup on one side. It was not unlike the +sidesaddle for girls that had been in use just before George's time. On +Atal she strapped a thick leather pad with a stirrup on each side; men +rode astride. There were no bridles. + +"You tell Atal which way to go," she explained. "Right or left, slower +or faster. If you want him to run or walk or stop, he will understand. +Since Loto came we have taught them your way of saying it." + +It all took no more than a moment or two, for Dee was hurrying, and her +eagerness seemed to communicate itself to the dogs. They had barked at +first--barks of such volume that George was startled. But when Dee +silenced them, they stood trembling with impatience, their heads turned +to follow her as she adjusted the saddles. + +George mounted Atal. It was almost like mounting a horse; and yet not +like a horse either, for the dog's huge body under him was springy, +supple. As it moved toward the doorway, George was reminded of the lithe +grace and strength of a tiger. He missed the reins, and in lieu of them, +twisted up two handfuls of hair on the dog's neck and clung. + +Dee was ahead of him. "All right, George?" + +"Right," he said confidently. "But we might as well take it slow for a +minute or two." + +They moved silently through the garden. George leaned forward and down +to the dog's face. + +"Nice dog, Atal. You go slow till I tell you different." + +In the street, Dee was drawing away, and Atal broke into a run. + +George clung desperately. But it was unnecessary. The dog's strides were +even and long; its padded paws made no sound as they hit the ground; its +legs, all its muscles, seemed to give to the shock and absorb it. + +They were running faster now; the dog's body seemed to settle closer to +the ground. The wind whistled by George's ears, but he felt curiously +secure. There was no question of the dog stumbling, falling; and its +gait, now at a steady run, was far easier to ride than any horse he had +ever mounted. + +Dee was still ahead; the ends of the ribbon band about her head +fluttered out behind her. The white road was a blur; the houses and +gardens of the city were flying past. + +An exhilaration--a feeling of triumph and power--came over George. He +was perfectly at home on the dog's back now. This little Dee was a +daredevil, as Loto had said. Well, that was the sort of girl he liked. +They'll overtake Toroh, kill him with a flash from the thunderbolt +globes and rescue Azeela. + +George leaned forward over the dog's neck. + +"We might as well catch up with Dee," he said into the silky ear. +"Faster, Atal!" + +At once the dog increased its pace, overtaking its mate. Side by side, +they swept through the city. + +To George the ride soon became a blur: a white moonlit road passing +under him, palm trees flashing by, occasional houses, thatched shacks; +the wind whistling past his ears, and that lithe, powerful body beneath +him, with its rippling muscles. + +Dee rode gracefully and easily, leaning slightly forward into the rush +of air. Often she would draw ahead, but a whispered word from George to +the brute beneath him, and again the dogs were running side by side. + +Presently Dee stopped them; the dogs stood panting, with tongues lolling +out. + +"What is it?" George demanded. "Where are we?" + +The girl's face was drawn with anxiety. "Azeela had been trying to find +out from Toroh why he takes her to Orleen." + +"Yes?" he prompted. "And I wondered--" + +"Toroh has told her now. Loto's old plane is there. He wants the plane!" + +"Oh!" George's heart sank with dismay. "But the plane is in the Orleen +Cavern. How can they get to it? Isn't the cavern guarded?" + +"Yes. Wait. Toroh says he can get it. He has a spy there--a man whom we +trust. One of the guards." + +"Good grief! Dee, where are they now?" + +"A few miles west of here. I can't tell how far--Azeela does not know +just where we are, either." + +"Does Toroh know we're after him?" + +"No." + +George tried to think coherently. "Can't we overtake them, Dee? Before +they reach Orleen?" + +"I don't know. Azeela says not. Their dogs are very fast--perhaps faster +than ours." + +Suddenly George had an inspiration. The other plane--the one he and +Rogers had come in! It was back in the cavern in Anglese City. He and +Dee could get that, and he could operate it--he'd have to, now. Then +they could fly to Orleen, and perhaps by that method get there before +Toroh and Azeela. + +He explained this swiftly to Dee. "We're not so far from Anglese City, +are we?" + +"No," she agreed. "It's the best thing to do." + +They turned the dogs, starting back over the road they had come. + +A new thought occurred to George. "Dee, what does Toroh want with that +plane? Is he going to take Azeela north in it?" + +The dogs were already at a run, but he caught her answer. + +"No. He will take the plane back into time! He wants to get greater +weapons with which to conquer us!" + + * * * * * + +Fahn, Loto and Rogers hurried through the city streets. The faint +distant cries of the mob ahead drifted back to them. There were no Arans +to be seen, but the Bas men and women were everywhere, most of them +moving in the direction of the palace. + +As Fahn and his two companions advanced, the turmoil ahead grew louder. +The palace stood on a rise of ground in the midst of a lavish garden, +with its swimming pool, its trellised pergolas and its graceful palms. +The building was a two story rectangular, with huge white columns from +the ground to the roof. A broad balcony ran the length of the second +story. The roof was flat, with palms growing upon it. + +A crowd of Bas was surging up the hill toward the palace; in the +gardens, the armed mob was already massed, shouting, threatening, but +lacking, as yet, the courage to advance upon the building. + +Fahn had turned into a side street at the foot of the hill. + +"Where are we going?" Rogers demanded. + +"We've got to get into the palace unseen, so we'll go through the +tower," Loto explained. "There's a secret way into it that the Bas don't +know." + +The tower, which rose like the skeleton of a lighthouse, stood close +beside the main palace building; a covered bridge connecting the two as +the level of the second floor of the palace. + +Swiftly Fahn led the two men to the beach that lay behind the bluff on +which the palace and its tower stood. The moonlit strand was deserted. +They came to a thick clump of palmettos in the heavy sand at the foot of +the bluff--a green tangled clump higher than a man's head. Into this +Fahn plunged unhesitatingly, forcing the fronds aside, pushing his way +in with the others after him. Inside the palmetto thicket was a small +tunnel mouth, leading downward. + +It seemed an endless journey through a black underground passageway not +much higher than their heads and so narrow that they could always touch +both its walls with their outstretched arms. The air was heavy and +fetid. They went down a slope, across on a level, then up. Once they +arrived at an iron grating barring the way. But Fahn opened it in some +fashion and it swung on a central, horizontal pivot so that they might +crawl under it. + +Ahead of them, up the incline, a tiny blue light shone. They reached it, +found a small circular staircase and climbed upward into the tower. + +The whole process had taken perhaps fifteen minutes. The mob was still +in the garden; its shouts and mutterings sounded loud and ominous as the +little party ascended the interior of the tower and hastily crossed the +covered bridge. + +Fahn was still leading the way. They pushed aside a curtained doorway +and found themselves in a broad, second-floor corridor of the palace, +dimly lighted. A white-bearded old man was crossing it hastily, +disappearing into a room at its further end. + +Another room was near at hand, with a latticed grating in its doorway +that now stood open. A soft, blue-white light flooded out through it to +the hall. The castle's interior was evidently in confusion; cries +sounded, mingled with the threatening shouts of the mob outside. + +A girl, shaking with fright, stood in the nearer doorway, the light from +behind glowing through her soft draperies. Other girls crowded forward +from the room--a dozen frightened young girls, no more than matured. +They saw Fahn, and ran to him for protection. + +"The king's wives," Loto explained to his father. + +Fahn's face softened, and as the girls huddled round him, he tried to +comfort them. + +"The guilt within them," muttered Rogers. "They think the Bas are coming +to kill them--_only them_." + +Fahn caught the words and his eyes flashed. "There is no guilt here, my +friend. They are women born to such as this." + +With the girls in a clinging group around him, the scientist proceeded +down the hallway, followed by Loto and his father. + +The room at the end of the hall--it seemed a sort of audience room--was +in confusion; most of the occupants of the palace were gathered there. +The king was pacing up and down near the entrance, his frightened +councilors and advisors around him. + +On a low divan sat the queen, a woman of forty, regal in a paneled robe, +with her hair dressed high on her head. At her knees two children were +huddled--the little prince and princess of the Arans. The queen was +bending down over them as the strangers entered. When she saw Fahn with +the girl-wives of her king, she frowned, stood up, and with an imperious +gesture ordered the girls from the room. But Fahn, with a stern command, +bade them stay. The queen seemed amazed at the scientist's defiance; the +king looked undecided, but he did not interfere. + +With Fahn's arrival, the room quieted; its occupants gained confidence. +The king seemed utterly relieved. He spoke a few placating words to the +queen, but she had withdrawn haughtily to a corner, her eyes flashing at +the frightened girls who were huddled across the room. + +The mob outside was shouting, surging about, but still lacking the +courage for a concerted attack. Fahn went to a window, with Rogers and +Loto after him. The moonlight outside showed the crowd plainly. The Bas +were waving their weapons. + +"Look!" Loto exclaimed. + +A score or more of men were gathering in a group near the center of the +garden. A man mounted the rim of a fountain, inciting the group with his +shouts. His words had effect. The little knot of men waved their +cane-knives and came surging toward the palace entrance. The crowd made +way for them, following behind with shouts of triumph. Missiles were +thrown upward at the palace windows; one or two at first, then a +hailstorm. + +Fahn quietly stepped out on a balcony that ran along the entire front of +the building. Loto and his father followed. The moonlight fell full upon +them, and the crowd recognized the Scientists' leader. + +A great shout went up--a cry of defiance mingled with fear. The men +rushing at the building wavered and stopped; the crowd near at hand +began pressing backward. + +Slowly, Fahn advanced to the waist-high parapet; with his hands upon it +he stood like an orator facing a friendly throng and calmly waited for +silence. A stone whistled past his head, struck the building and +clattered to the stone floor of the balcony, but he did not heed it. + +His calmness, the confident power of his demeanor, quieted the mob. In a +little open space on the terrace, a leader of the Bas sprang into +prominence--a giant man who shouted a brief sentence. + +"Mogruud," whispered Loto. "He tells them to listen to what Fahn has to +say." + +Silence came at last, and then Fahn spoke, quietly, earnestly. He seemed +to be winning them over, when from the palace behind the king suddenly +appeared on the balcony. At the sight of him an angry shout rolled up +from the crowd. A long, thin knife, with a tail of feathers on it, flew +up from below and stuck, quivering, in the window casement beside the +king's head. The king retreated. + +Fahn continued speaking, but now the mob would not listen to him. A +woman's shrill laugh of derision floated upward. + +At once Fahn's tone changed. He rasped out a stern command, but a +scattering hail of stones was his answer. Then, without warning, his +hand went to his robe. He flung a little ball into the air. It burst +fifty feet from his hand with a shrill whistling scream, and a shower of +sparks scattered downward over the garden. They were harmless, but they +sent a mild electric shock through every individual member of the mob. +The Bas were frightened into silence. + +"He does not want to kill even one of them," Loto whispered. "Never +before have the Bas been in open demonstration. It might spread to other +cities--_anything might happen_." + +Fahn was now whispering into a tiny mouthpiece, talking to his guards at +the cavern a mile or so away. From the cavern-mountain across the city, +a blue-white shaft of light sprang into the sky. The Bas saw it and +stared. And then suddenly the air seemed to be bursting with +voices--four words, repeated by the audible radio that the cavern was +sending out. + +"_Death to disloyal Bas! Death to disloyal Bas!_" + +A million aerial voices were proclaiming it everywhere. And then the +words changed. + +"_We must win against Toroh! The Bas must help us win against Toroh!_" + +The threat and its so swiftly following appeal were irresistible. +Mogruud shouted an enthusiastic answer to Fahn, and the crowd applauded. + +The voices in the air were presently stilled; the light over the cavern +disappeared. And, still with his hands quietly on the parapet, Fahn +again addressed the people below him. + +"Mogruud says the laws should be changed," Loto whispered swiftly to his +father. "The Bas women should have their children without exile." + +Fahn seemed to make a sudden decision. He spoke again into his +mouthpiece. Again the light sprang over the cavern. From the air came +the words: + +"_Bas women will not be exiled! Bas children will be free!_" + +Surprised, awed, then frantic with joy, the crowd in the palace gardens +took up the cry, and all over the island the radio voices were +proclaiming it: + +"_Bas children will be free! The Scientists promise Bas children will be +free!_" + + + + + CHAPTER ELEVEN + + +Still side by side, George and Dee rode back toward Anglese City. It was +further than George had thought; then he realized that the girl had +turned into a different road. He shouted a question at her. + +"A shorter way to the cavern," she explained. + +The wind whistling past them made conversation difficult. George +understood that they were skirting the city to where the cavern stood on +the other side. They were still in the open country; a road of white +sand, palm lined, with a forest jungle all around, and only an +occasional house. + +George's mind was in a turmoil. Toroh taking the other plane into time! +Memory came to him of all those greater civilizations he and Rogers had +seen though the centuries they had passed. Toroh was going back to those +civilizations to secure weapons! The thought turned George cold all +over. With the weapons from former, greater ages, Toroh and his army of +Noths would be invincible. + +Words in the wind sweeping by startled George into sudden alertness. + +"_Death to disloyal Bas!_" + +It seemed as though some tiny voice had whispered it to him. + +Dee had checked both the dogs abruptly. + +"What's that?" George demanded. + +It came again: + +"_Death to disloyal Bas! Death to disloyal Bas!_" + +The air was whispering it, then calling it; a myriad voices echoed it +everywhere. + +"Look there!" cried Dee. + +Ahead of them, a mile or so away, a blue light was standing up into the +sky. There was a house near at hand, a Bas shack. From it a woman and +two naked children came running out into the moonlight, panic-stricken +at the dread words with which the air resounded. + +And then the words changed: + +"_Bas women will not be exiled! Bas children will be free!_" + +The woman in front of the shack clutched her children, listening, +rejoicing--almost unbelieving. + +Dee had started the dogs forward again. Swiftly she explained to George +what she thought it might mean--a radio proclamation from Fahn. In a few +moments the light over the cavern had vanished; the voices in the air +died away. + +George's mind reverted to their own situation; the incident had given +him an idea. + +"Dee, where are Azeela and Toroh now?" + +She thought an instant; momentarily the mental bond with her sister had +been broken. + +"Very near Orleen, she thinks. They have heard the voices. Toroh is very +angry. He had hoped much that the Bas would rebel. It would have helped +him." + +"Near Orleen!" George echoed. "Can't we get to the Anglese Cavern +first?" + +"I think so." She had started Rotan into a run, but George called her to +stop. Even at the risk of losing more precious time, he questioned her. + +"Dee, listen. Are the caverns of Orleen and Anglese City connected by +radio?" + +"Yes," she said. + +"Then listen. We'll get to Anglese City first and tell them to inform +the guards at Orleen. When Toroh and Azeela arrive they can seize +them--if we warn them ahead." + +She nodded with instant comprehension. + +"All radio isn't broadcast audibly, is it?" he added. + +"No," she said. The dogs were running faster. She called back over her +shoulder. "We'll do that. I'll tell Azeela." + +They swept forward, the dogs settling low to the ground as they ran. + +A great weight seemed to have lifted from George. It would be simple +enough, after all--merely notify the Orleen Cavern by radio, and Toroh +would be seized when he presented himself with Azeela. + +George contemplated the outcome. With Toroh in their hands, the Noth +attack would collapse. There would be no war. + +It was a race then; the only thing that could go wrong would be if Toroh +got to the other cavern first. Rotan and Dee were ahead; the girl's +slight figure clinging to the dog showed in the moonlight. George +whispered to Atal, thumped the dog's flank with his hand. + +As they caught up with Dee, he shouted, "Where's Azeela now? Will we +make it?" + +"Yes," she answered. "I think so." + +The mountain that housed the cavern loomed ahead through the palms; +houses lay to the right, the outskirts of Anglese City. Half a mile more +and they would be there. + +Atal's upflung head brought George out of another reverie. The dog, +still running at full speed, was sniffing the air. George heard Rotan +growl, and Dee's sharp command for silence. + +Another command from the girl, and both dogs stopped; Atal slid on his +haunches, checking himself so abruptly that George was flung to the +sand. + +He was unhurt. He picked himself up to find Dee beside him. + +"Someone is coming," she said sharply. "Someone the dogs know is not a +friend." + +She spoke to the dog, and pulled George to the side of the road where a +cluster of banana trees cast an inky shadow. Together they stood there +in silence. Atal and Rotan had disappeared. The road was a white ribbon +in the moonlight. George listened, but could hear nothing. He tried to +question Dee, but she silenced him. + +Presently there came the thud of running feet; from the direction of +Anglese City two running dogs with riders swept into view. The riders +were men, black cloaked and wearing masks. Arans, from the festival, +George thought. + +They would have passed without seeing the lurking figures under the +banana trees had not Atal and Rotan, in spite of Dee's command, suddenly +charged them from the shadows across the road. + +The two men, shouting in anger and alarm, tumbled from their mounts. The +four dogs tangled in a snarling, biting mass. + +Still George and Dee were unseen in the shadows. One of the men in the +road had lost his cloak and mask; the moonlight showed his face. + +"One of Toroh's brothers," Dee breathed into George's ear. In the +dimness he could see she was raising the small, crescent-shaped weapon. +Some noise that she or George made must have alarmed the men, who were +no more than ten feet away. They looked sharply across the road, and +then, evidently seeing nothing, they turned back to where the dogs were +still fighting with a deadly fury. + +Sparks leaped suddenly from Dee's outstretched hand. The men turned. One +of them cried out in terror, but they both stood stiff and motionless. + +"We've got 'em!" George shouted. "Good work, Dee!" + +He would have leaped forward, but her free hand gripped him. + +"_Quick! The globe!_" + +One of the men, supposedly stricken beyond the power to move, was, by +some superhuman effort of will, slowly raising his hand; his fingers +clutched a tiny black globe. It came up very slowly, as his almost +paralyzed muscles struggled with its weight. + +But George recovered his wits. He snatched his own globe from his +pocket, pointed it, pulled the trigger. + +The night was split by a flash, a tiny, sizzling snap of thunder; the +globe recoiled in George's hand. Across the road the bodies of the two +men lay motionless on the sand. + +Dee was leaning against a banana trunk panting. Her face had gone white, +but she smiled as George turned to her. + +"They almost got us," she said. + +George himself was trembling, but he would not let her see it. + +"Almost, Dee. Next time I'll be ready. I didn't realize..." + +Among the trees across the road the dogs were still fighting. One of the +Noth dogs lay motionless, torn and bleeding. Atal and Rotan together +were attacking the other--the three rolling and tumbling as they bit and +tore at each other, their huge bodies trampling down the banana trees as +they fought. + +"Dee, could I use the thunderbolt on them?" + +She shook her head. "Wait." + +It lasted only a moment more; the second Noth dog was down, with Atal's +fangs buried in its throat. + +The two dogs came leaping back to their mistress, their bodies torn, and +matted with dirt and blood. + +Dee patted them affectionately as they stood licking their wounds. "But +you should have minded me," she said. + +George had taken one look at the two charred figures lying in the road; +he drew the girl away. + +"Come on. I wouldn't look over there. We must hurry, Dee." + +They mounted the dogs and started forward, more slowly this time, for +the animals carried them with difficulty. + +Again George remembered. Toroh would be at the Orleen Cavern by this +time. They had lost! This delay had been the one unexpected thing that +could defeat them. + +"Dee--" + +But the girl had anticipated him. + +"They are in the plane." She half whispered the words. "Azeela has been +trying to tell me for a long time. Toroh had a spy at the cavern +entrance, a man whom we trust as a Scientist. He let them in--Azeela had +no chance to make an outcry. They are in the plane now. Azeela telling +Toroh she cannot operate it. Wait! Now he's trying the proton switch +himself." + +A silence. + +"Dee! What is it?" George pleaded. + +She shook her head. "Nothing comes. Nothing!" + +The connection was broken! Azeela was carried back into time. Had +something stopped her message? Would her thought-bond with her sister +hold across the centuries that now separated them? + +George could only ask himself these questions with a sinking heart. If +the bond would not hold, then Azeela was lost to them forever. Lost to +Loto, who loved her. And Toroh would get his weapons and win the +war--_inevitably_. + +"Nothing yet, Dee?" + +"No." + +They rode slowly onward. At last Dee gave a cry of joy. + +"It comes again! She is all right, George! _All right!_" Her voice rose +in triumph and thankfulness. + +George thumped Atal to urge the dog forward. "Then we must hurry, Dee. +They're going back into time?" + +"Yes. Azeela is looking at the dials. Twenty-five years back now. She +tells us to hurry. She will watch the dials and let me know where they +are. Toroh does not suspect anything. He is gloating. He thinks he has +won everything." + +At last they were ascending the slope to the mouth of the cavern. The +yawning hole showed black in the face of the cliff. On the small +platform above the mouth, a single light disclosed the figures of three +guards sitting there. + +In the moonlight the guards saw them coming. A bolt of lightning flashed +downward across the black hole; a peal of thunder rolled out. + +They stopped, and Dee called to the guards. One of them descended from +the platform, down a narrow flight of steps cut in the cliff face. He +came forward in the moonlight, a black robed figure. + +Dee spoke with him, and, recognizing a daughter of Fahn, he saluted +respectfully. There followed a brief colloquy, then the guard stood +aside. + +A moment later they were in the cavern. The huge tunnel was dark and +dank, but blue-white lights glimmered ahead in the darkness. The place +was silent, seemingly deserted. + +Down the length of the main tunnel they hurried. The plane stood there +in the open space, in the glare of blue-white light. They stood before +it. + +"Dee, shall we send for your father?" + +She hesitated. + +"Where is he?" George persisted. "Did you ask the guard?" + +"Yes. He and Loto and Loto's father are at the palace. There has been +rebellion and murder--the murder of Helene, Mme. Voluptua." + +She recounted succinctly the events of the night in Anglese City as the +guard had told them to her. + +George whistled. "They've got their hands full. Dee, are you still in +communication with Azeela?" + +"Yes. They are beyond fifty years." + +"Going how fast?" + +"Azeela says as fast as they can--the twentieth intensity." + +George made his decision. + +"Dee, we mustn't wait, mustn't stop for anything. You're willing to go?" + +"Yes," she declared soberly. + +She reached toward the platform. George locked his hands, and she put +her small foot into them. He lifted her--she seemed no heavier than a +child--and she swung herself up gracefully and easily to the platform. + +George followed and closed the cabin door after them. "Did you tell the +guard what we were going to do?" + +"Yes," she said. "I told him to tell father later tonight when things +were more quiet at the palace." + +"Good girl. Dee, have you ever been back into time?" + +"No. Azeela has. Just a little way--with Loto. He taught her to operate +the plane." + +"How fast are they going, Dee? The twentieth intensity?" + +"Yes." + +George's hand was on the proton switch. He took a last look around. + +"Sit down, Dee. Hold the arms of your chair. Don't be frightened." + +The cabin was dark; through its windows the blue-white glare outside +showed the jagged brown walls of the cavern. The twentieth intensity! +_Toroh was going as fast as he possibly could!_ + +George pulled the switch. There was a soundless clap in his head; a +plunge, headlong into some bottomless abyss, falling for hours--an +eternity. + + * * * * * + +Fahn's proclamation to the Bas had far-reaching effects. All over the +island that night and the next day there was rejoicing. The radio +proclaimed a national holiday, which the Bas gave over to festivities. + +The murder of Mme. Voluptua was forgotten; the rebellion in Anglese City +was a thing of the past. The work of Toroh's spies was completely +undone; everywhere they presented themselves they were seized by the Bas +and delivered to the authorities, until by mid-morning none dared show +himself. They remained in hiding in the mountains, and the following +night fled the island. + +Fahn's object had been attained. Everywhere, enthusiasm for the war soon +mounted to a patriotic frenzy. + +But it was not all smooth sailing for Fahn. Within an hour after the +first radio proclamation--just before dawn that day--the king called the +Scientist to his audience room and demanded that it be retracted. For +the first time within generations, a Scientist defied his king. + +Fahn gravely refused. The king, with his councilors--brave now since the +mob before the palace had dispersed--clustered around him, vigorously +tried to overawe the Scientist. But Fahn was obdurate; respectful to the +majesty of royalty--but obdurate nevertheless. + +The king was powerless, and he knew it. He raged, threatened, but to no +avail. + +That afternoon the king's council met. The Scientists were declared +outlaws; a call was issued for the Aran police, who were scattered +throughout the island, to come at once to the Anglese City to defend +their sovereign. + +It was a monarch struggling against all reason to defend what he +considered his birthright. Royalty outraged! + +But the Aran police did not come. Worse than that, those near at hand in +Anglese City prudently vanished. + +That same afternoon the Scientists met in Anglese City. Fahn's action +was upheld, and from other cities came similar decisions. The government +was taken over by the Scientists for the period of the war. Laws +ratifying the new status of the Bas women and children were hurriedly +passed, and made permanent. + +All that day the radio audibly proclaimed events as they transpired. The +Arans were not to be molested; their relations with the Bas were to +proceed as always, and the royal family was to be treated with the +outward respect to which its birth and position entitled it. + +Three days passed--days that for those in Anglese City were full of +activity and anxiety. The Arans kept sullenly to themselves; the king +and his councilors shut themselves in the palace; the Bas went about +their accustomed tasks feverishly, abstractedly, waiting for the call to +war. + +The Scientists, trusting nothing to chance, sought out all the Aran +police and disarmed them. All weapons were kept in the caverns, where +the manufacturing and assembling went steadily forward. + +Fahn, Loto, and Rogers, during these three days, stayed at Fahn's home. +Nothing had been heard from George and the two girls. They were days +full of anxiety--almost despair--for the three men. The guards at the +two caverns reported what had happened. Fahn cursed his inefficiency in +allowing a Toroh spy to remain unsuspected in the League. The man who +had given Toroh the plane was located and put to death, but that helped +matters little. + +In the brief interims of inactivity, the three men discussed what George +and Dee might be doing--what the outcome would be. The discussions were +futile; there was nothing to do but wait. + +The character of the two Frazia planes, the identity of the visitors, +had never been made public. Only Fahn, his two companions and a few of +the Scientist leaders were aware of the momentous outcome for which they +were so helplessly waiting. + +On the afternoon of the third day, Fahn took Loto and his father through +the cavern. Loto was pale and tight-lipped, but he seldom mentioned +Azeela, and never once had he given vent to his feelings. Rogers was +curious to see the cavern; older, more philosophical than Loto, he could +better withstand his anxiety over George and the girls. Yet he, too, was +more worried than he would have cared to admit, even to himself. The +war--the fate of the Anglese--was one thing; but that plane was all that +could take him back to Lylda, his wife. He could probably never +manufacture another plane in this time world; the materials were not +available. He realized now how wrong he had been not to bring Lylda with +him. + +It was late afternoon when they started. Work in the cavern now +proceeded day and night. + +To Rogers the place was one of romantic mystery, with a sinister air to +it that he could not shake off. + +The darkness of the cavern walls, the shadows, the flickering blue +lights, and the yawning holes with which the interior of the mountain +seemed honeycombed, awed and perturbed him. + +Far ahead, down a sharp slope, two blue lights shone. To the left a +passageway glowed dull red. + +Fahn turned toward it. They went into the passageway, and from it +emerged upon a narrow ledge with a metal railing. Before them spread a +huge pit, a great pool of lava a thousand feet down--lava that boiled +sluggishly, with tiny flames of burning gases licking upward from its +surface. To one side, overhead, a rift through the mountain showed a +patch of starlit sky. + +Visitors to an inferno, they stood clinging to the iron rail. The lurid +red light cast monstrous shadows of their figures upward to the rocky +ceiling. The sulphurous air was intolerably hot; it choked their +breathing. After a moment they all stumbled back into the passageway, +coughing, breathing deep of the purer air. + +"Fires of the earth so close!" murmured Rogers. + +Fahn was leading them forward again. "Yes, almost every mountain on the +island is like that. The fires are even closer to the surface at Orleen; +we use them in the cavern there." + +"And here is a room of medicine and surgery," he added. He had turned +unexpectedly into a side cave, a room furnished and draped, and dimly +lighted by braziers hanging from its low roof. Rows of bottles, cases of +instruments, a long, low table, littered with a variety of strange +objects; the room held a confusion of things, most of which were +incomprehensible. + +Something made Rogers shudder. "What is that?" he demanded. + +"To create human life," said Fahn. "For thousands of years, science has +tried to do that. We can make a man's body--but his soul and mind still +elude us." + +Rogers was staring at a metal framework, where the organs of a man were +hanging, joined together and with a network of blood vessels around +them; the fundamental, simplified mechanism of man, without the body. +And there was movement to the organs; the heart was beating, the lungs +breathing. + +It was gruesome; it made Rogers' gorge rise. + +"They will function for a little time," Fahn explained. "But our +surgeons have done better than that. They have made the living body--all +but the mind and the soul." + +A small case was standing on a pedestal, illuminated by a dim blue light +above it. A lump of living human flesh lay within, roughly fashioned +into human form, with arms and legs that kicked. + +Rogers backed away. + +It seemed like a dream, this trip through the Scientists' cavern. From +one room to another they wandered. Most of the caves were unoccupied; +occasionally a lone worker or a group would stop their tasks +momentarily to meet their leader and his visitors. + +From far away recesses, where the main work was going on, the hum of +dynamos sounded. + +"We will not go into the workrooms tonight," Fahn said. "I'll show them +to you later." + +They entered another inner cave, which was high-arched and unusually +large. It held relics of bygone ages. Broken mechanisms, that +inhabitants of other planets might have left on earth, had been dug +up and stored here as in a museum. They meant nothing to Rogers, nor +did Fahn offer to explain them. But this room more than any other in +the cavern seemed to carry with it the power of science, the greater +science that to Fahn's time world was in the prehistoric past. It +showed Fahn and his contemporaries in their true light; they were +archaeologists--imitators, reconstructors, not real creators. + +At last they reached a circular room equipped with the apparatus for +taking voices and images from the air. Its side walls were paneled with +huge crystals that mirrored distant scenes; and it was filled with +millions of tiny voices. + +Fahn stood before one of the crystals: his hand was on a lever; the +fingers of his other hand rested on a tiny row of buttons. Rogers +noticed that there were scores of similar mechanisms dispersed about the +room. + +"Let us look and listen, a mile away to the west," Fahn said. + +The crystal before them was some six feet square. It was gray and +cloudy. Fahn pressed one of the small black buttons, and moved the lever +over a notch; the crystal flooded with color. It was like looking +through a huge window. + +"The viewpoint of our station a mile north of here," Fahn pointed out. + +"A thirty foot tower," Loto explained. "The lens on it swings in a +circle. We are looking westward now toward Orleen." + +The scene in the crystal showed the red western sky; a white road in the +foreground, disappearing seemingly at Rogers' feet; the green, +palm-dotted island, with twilight shadows creeping upon it, and to the +left, the island mountain range, its peaks rising in serrated ranks, +with giant, snow-clad summits. + +"It was near here that day before yesterday they found the charred +bodies of Toroh's brother and his Noth companion," Loto added. "A Bas +woman--see that shack there by the road--she saw a girl and a man +passing the night before. It may have been George and Dee." + +The shack at the roadside showed plainly. A Bas woman was sitting at its +doorway, crooning to her infant. Her voice sounded almost as clearly as +though the watchers had been sitting on the small tower where the lens +and radio mechanism were perched. + +"We will turn," Fahn said. + +A panorama unfolding, the scene moved slowly sidewise: the sea to the +north, with the mountain range beyond it, dim in the gathering darkness; +east, back toward Anglese City, where the cavern-mountain itself showed +behind the palms; to the south past a distant vista of city houses; and +still swinging, it came back to the road and the house and stopped, +again facing the west. + +"Another station," Fahn added. + +The crystal-face went dark, and then relighted. It was a viewpoint of a +hundred feet in the air this time. Again it swung the points of the +compass. + +For half an hour Fahn continued his demonstration. There might have been +a hundred or more towers scattered over the island, and the scene from +any one of them sprang at Fahn's will into the crystal window. + +"What are the other crystal mirrors for?" Rogers asked Loto. + +"The island can be searched by several operators simultaneously. Any +viewpoint may be thrown into any crystal, and there are receivers for +your ears, so that the sounds you hear will not confuse others in the +room." + +The island was growing dark. The crystal showed a viewpoint from the +channel coast halfway to Orleen. It must have been from a very high +tower; the sea stretched several hundred feet beneath. + +"Those mountains across the water," Rogers remarked, "can't be over +twenty or thirty miles from our shores. Is that where Toroh's army will +gather?" + +"From behind them," said Loto. "To the east, nearer the Atlantic Coast, +we think. We--" + +Fahn had given a slight cry. The room was dark, but the reflected light +from the crystal showed the Scientist pointing into the mirrored scene. + +"Loto, what is that?" + +Above the mountains across the channel, the sky was rose-colored with +the fading daylight. A tiny gray shape showed there, silhouetted against +the clouds. It was moving. They watched it, breathlessly. + +"A Frazia plane!" Rogers murmured. + +It circled like a giant bird. A patch of lighter sky behind showed it +more plainly after a moment. It _was_ a Frazia plane! It was closer than +they had thought, but it seemed to be flying north, away from them. + +"Which one is it?" Loto whispered. "Father, which one is it?" + +But that they could not tell. George, or Toroh? One of them had +returned. The plane was flying lower, circling again. The dimness +absorbed it; then it reappeared. It seemed now to be flying crazily. + +"_Out of control!_" Loto whispered in horror. "_It's falling!_" + +The plane turned over, fluttered down, was swallowed by the shadows of +the distant mountains. + + + + + CHAPTER TWELVE + + +The interior of the plane was glowing. The familiar humming sounded. +George and Dee had started back into time. + +"Dee! Dee! You all right?" + +Her wan smile reassured him. "Where are we?" + +"Going back into time," he said cheerfully. The dials were beside him. +"Nearly forty years from where we started already. You'll feel all right +soon." + +"I am all right," she persisted. "I mean, George, are we still in the +cavern?" + +The question brought an idea to George that made his heart race. They +_were_ still in the cavern, at a time forty years previous. What was the +cavern like then? Suppose its entrance was closed? How could they get +out? + +Through the windows nothing could be seen but blackness. George +hesitated. + +"Dee, can your thoughts still reach Azeela?" + +"Yes," she said. "She was frightened for me. She knows now we are coming +after her. She and Toroh are past one hundred years." + +"Still going?" + +"Yes." + +"Where are they in space?" + +"She says in the air, over the Orleen Cavern. She thought it best to +show Toroh how to fly the plane; she was afraid to remain underground." + +"So am I," said George. "We'd better get out." + +There were headlights on the plane; their glare showed the tunnel. +George started up the Frazia motors, slowly; they rolled forward, +faster as they left the tunnel-mouth and took to the air. + +The scene was that familiar grayness, new to Dee. Beneath them lay the +island with the blurred, gray city to one side. + +"Over Orleen," George mused. "We must get there quickly. Further back in +time the city will not be there--we might get lost in space." + +At an altitude of perhaps a thousand feet they flew swiftly westward. +Orleen was there when they reached its space; the dials were beyond two +hundred years. + +"Azeela is here," Dee announced. "She says the city is dwindling." + +"What do her dials say? Will Toroh let her look at them?" + +"Yes. She is very careful. He suspects nothing. She says the dials are +nearly two hundred and thirty years." + +"We're catching up with them," George exclaimed triumphantly. "We've got +the faster plane. Where are they exactly? In space I mean." + +A brief pause. + +"Azeela says almost directly over the peak near the east edge of the +city--the cavern peak." + +There were twin peaks, not over six hundred feet apart. The cavern peak +was the northern one; through the floor window, George could see the +summit of the other, directly beneath his plane. + +"How high is Toroh? They're using the 'copters?" + +"Yes." + +"How high up?" + +"She says about five hundred feet." + +It was the altitude at which George and Dee were hovering. George gazed +through the side window. The other peak showed plainly. Above it was the +exact space Toroh and Azeela were occupying. Their plane was invisible, +of course--twenty-five years into the past. + +"They've passed three hundred years, George," the girl's voice informed +him. "Three hundred years just now." + +"Two hundred and ninety," he read from their own dials. "Only ten years +away! We'll overtake them shortly now." + +In the stress through which they had passed, and their excitement, +neither of them had considered what they would do when they overtook +Toroh. Indeed, it was Azeela who brought it to their minds with her +anxious questions to Dee. + +They stared at each other in dismay. + +"How about my thunderbolt glove?" George suggested. + +"We can't use it," she reminded him. "If we destroy the other plane, +Azeela would be killed." + +It was obvious. They could not attack the other plane under any +circumstances. But Toroh was going to stop for weapons. They would have +to stay near him, both in space and time, and when he stopped, and +perhaps left the plane, they would rush up and rescue Azeela. + +It was all either of them could plan. + +"Keep as near them as we can," George decided. "That's the idea. And +watch our chance. Tell Azeela to keep you posted on everything." + +They slowed their time-flight a trifle; it would have been foolish to +let Toroh see them--merely put him on his guard. At a distance of about +ten years they followed. + +At eight hundred years before the time they had left, the city of Orleen +had disappeared. The island looked almost the same; the peaks were still +there. But now among the palms there were only a few rude shacks--the +earliest Bas settlers. + +The time-velocity of both planes was steadily increasing. Azeela's +messages told them that the other plane was still hovering motionless. +There was nothing to do. They waited, anxiously at first, and then, +after an interval, fell into earnest conversation. + +"Suppose we can't rescue Azeela," George suggested once. "Toroh will use +her as a hostage against your father, won't he? Offer her life, perhaps, +if your father will help him in the war?" + +She nodded soberly. + +"That's why he abducted her before, Loto said. Did he make the offer +then?" + +"No. But he was going to." + +"Why didn't you go after her?" he suggested. "Didn't she send back +messages to you, Dee?" + +"Yes. But he took her north into the snow. She did not know where she +was. Father sent out an expedition, but they couldn't find her. The +Noths attacked them and they came back. They were going to start out +again when Loto returned her to us." + +"Oh," said George. He thought a moment. "I wonder what your father would +have done--what he would do now if Toroh holds Azeela and offers her +life against the war. Would your father let Toroh kill her?" + +She hesitated. "I think he would," she said at last. "It would be a +nation against one life. He would sacrifice himself, I know. And I think +he would even sacrifice Azeela." + +George met her earnest dark eyes, so sparkling, usually, but now so +sombre. + +"Would you, Dee?" + +"No," she said impulsively. + +"Neither would I," he declared. "I wouldn't let harm come to Azeela for +all the Anglese,--or harm to--to you, either." + +She did not answer. Presently he said: + +"I was thinking about that Aran Festival, Dee. You know you oughtn't to +go to affairs like that. _Do_ you know it?" + +Her gaze met his again, questioningly. "It is part of life," she said. +"My father thinks Azeela and I should know what life is. In your +time-world was it wrong?" + +George felt himself flushing. "Wrong? What, the festival?" + +"No. I mean my going there--a girl of the Scientists, who is not like +the Aran women?" + +"Yes," George said stoutly. "_I_ didn't want you to be there." His hand +impulsively touched hers. "I didn't like it, Dee. You're too nice a +girl. And I don't think Loto liked Azeela being there, either." + +Instead of answering, she gave a sudden cry. + +"What is it?" George demanded in alarm. + +She had no opportunity to reply. Through the side window the other +plane showed less than a thousand feet away; a shimmering ghost that was +gone as soon as they had seen it! + +George leaped to the proton switch, but Dee checked him. + +"Wait! Wait till Azeela tells me what happened." + +In the absorption of their conversation, Azeela's messages had been +ignored. Toroh had slackened his time-flight; he was preparing to land. +It was an unfortunate occurrence, for Toroh had seen the other plane. He +still did not guess that Azeela herself was guiding the pursuit. + +Again, without warning, the other plane appeared. This time it was +flying, coming directly toward them. George held his breath. Toroh's +plane was so close he had no opportunity even to move from his seat. It +was running level with them in time; _it was charging them! Had Toroh +gone mad? He would kill them all!_ + +It was no more than a second or two. Through the window George caught a +brief glimpse of the shimmering thing rushing at them. Then it swerved +upward. + +"_He's going to fire a thunderbolt!_" Dee gasped. + +George was aware of a flash; but he had not seen it, only imagined it. + +The attacking plane swept overhead and vanished-dissolved into +nothingness! + +Toroh had fired a thunderbolt. The rush of electrons traveling at the +speed of light from Toroh's plane to George's had been too slow. The +mark was gone into a different time before the thunderbolt could reach +it! + +The incident left George and Dee shuddering; but confident now that, so +long as they kept moving through time, Toroh could not harm them. + +George's dials now registered the passage of some sixty-eight hundred +years. He was amazed. Then he realized how long he and his companion had +been talking, and the time-velocity at the twentieth intensity had been +accelerating tremendously. He had forgotten to look beneath him; he did +so now, and the island was not there. The channel was gone; the +mountain range had disappeared. The cataclysm that had formed the island +had been passed. + +Azeela's messages told that her plane was now nearly a hundred years +nearer the Anglese time-world. Toroh, finding his attack ineffective, +had given it up. He had started a horizontal flight; he was looking for +a city in which he could land. + +George and Dee sat helpless, for Azeela could not describe which way she +was flying. + +"Lost!" George exclaimed. "We've lost them! Of course, she can't tell us +which way they're going when there's nothing down there but gray +forests--and blurred gray sky overhead." + +It seemed probable that they would never see Toroh's plane again. +Already it was many miles away from them in space, though in what +direction they could not guess. + +The two planes swept back through time, invisible to each other, yet no +more than a few hundred years apart. The rescue of Azeela--for the +present at least--was certainly impossible. Toroh was looking for a +civilization, some gigantic city where he might secure weapons. George +decided he must do the same. He discussed it earnestly with Dee, and +again, temporarily, Azeela's thought messages were ignored. + +At fifteen thousand years--more than halfway back to the time-world of +the New York City of George's birth--structures began rising out of the +forests. By retrograded changes made visible, at first they seemed +moldering ruins; then, broken, neglected areas of deserted cities; then +the inhabited cities themselves. + +At eighteen thousand years George and Dee were poised no more than a few +miles from where Orleen stood so many centuries later. A huge river with +a delta emptied into the open gulf; a broad expanse of lake was near by. +And on both sides of the river and around the lake a gigantic city rose +in terraced buildings of masonry and steel. Dee stared in awe at its +towers, bridges, aerial streets with the monorail structures stretching +above. + +"We might land here," George suggested. "Shall we, Dee? You'd think +they'd have _something_ to help your father in the Anglese war." + +She nodded, and he prepared to land on an open space a few miles north +of the city outskirts. They came to the ground at the third intensity of +proton current. Everything was gray, soundless. + +"All ready, Dee?" + +"Yes." + +He flung over the switch. When the shock had passed, George stood up; +Dee was already on her feet beside him. It was night outside; lights +were flashing. They rushed to the window. The sky was lurid with +bursting colored bombs; an inferno of noise sounded, an intermittent +pounding that seemed to shake the earth. + +From-almost directly overhead a red rocket exploded. Its light +persisted, illuminating the scene for miles around with a vivid red +glare. The giant city buildings were visible. As George stared, a great +flame seemed to leap from the sky. One of the buildings fell. + +Nearer at hand a cloud of swarming mechanisms burst out of the air, +swooping down, circling. Beams of light from them and from the city +crossed like swords in the sky. The earth under the plane was rocking. +Beside it, a green flash struck and sent rocks, boulders, and dirt +flying up like a waterspout. + +"George! _George!_" + +Dee's terrified cry in his ear was almost drowned by the scream of +dynamos; the whistling, bursting, and pounding. + +George's trembling fingers found the proton switch; he pulled it. The +inferno of the night melted, slipped away into a gray, soundless blur. + +War! They had fallen into the midst of a battle--that giant Earth city +defending itself, perhaps against invaders from another planet. + +"We won't try that again," George murmured. + +"Azeela," said the girl suddenly. "She tells me that Toroh has secured +weapons! He is returning to our time-world!" + +Toroh had landed at another city, in another time, but still in that +same greater civilization. He had chosen a night, bound Azeela, left her +in the plane and stolen weapons. + +George listened blankly. "What sort of weapons?" + +"Azeela does not know. One large piece of apparatus. He has it in the +plane covered by a black bag. He will not let her touch it. And there +are other things--a pile of disks or something. White--like steel. She +can't see them well--he has covered them also. He is filled with +triumph. His plane is speeding toward Anglese City." + +"In space or time?" + +"In time. They are hovering in space. Azeela does not know where they +are. Toroh says he will wait, and when the time-world of the island is +reached they will recognize the land. Then Toroh will take Azeela to the +Noths. He says if our father does not yield, he will _kill her_. And +then he and the Noths will conquer the Anglese." + +George had lost. But still there seemed nothing that they could do but +try and keep as close to the other plane in time as they could. + +Toroh's plane was sweeping forward. He had released Azeela, commanding +her to instruct him in more detail in the handling of the Frazia motors. +Azeela's dials now read some fifty-five hundred years behind the Anglese +time-world. George's read about six thousand. + +They came to the cataclysm that formed the island. George had forgotten +it, but he chanced to be gazing down. The gray forests suddenly blurred; +vague chaos passed over the earth, the air, and the sky; then there were +the familiar mountains, the channel, the island! The myriad details of +those hours of upheaval had been compressed, blended into a fraction of +a second. The eye and the mind could not grasp it. The thing was past, +done and away, with only its _effect_ left as evidence that it had +occurred. + +George and Dee were above the channel and west of Orleen. No more than a +hundred years now separated the planes. + +"What shall we do?" George demanded for the tenth time. And then an +idea came to him. They could not attack Toroh until he reached his +destination. He would be among his own army then, and rescue of Azeela +would be impossible. But if Azeela could separate herself from Toroh +now, he could never find her in time and probably wouldn't try. + +George explained it to Dee. Azeela was not bound; could she persuade +Toroh on some pretext to land on the ground--then leap from the plane? +The shock of stopping in time should be no different than when the plane +itself stopped. + +Azeela had already thought of it; the idea had been prompted by the fact +that Toroh's plane was running out of fuel. He would have to conserve +it, not use the 'copters, or else he would have none left with which to +get up north. + +George was trembling with excitement. "Tell her to suggest that they +land." + +Toroh was, at that instant, landing. It was a familiar spot to Azeela; +she described it exactly to Dee, and the younger sister recognized it. + +Toroh's plane had entered the second century before Fahn's time-world +when George--some fifty years further back--arrived at the spot in space +Azeela was describing. There was the little rise of ground, with the +channel beyond. The vegetation was different, but the level rock was +there. And Toroh's plane was resting on that level rock. + +Dee's voice was shaking so that she could hardly talk. "Will it--kill +her, George?" + +He was white faced, tense. "Tell her to read the dials as exactly as she +can." + +Azeela read them. George held his watch in his hand; he noted the hour +and minute it gave. + +"She has called Toroh's attention to something outside," Dee's voice +translated swiftly. "She opens the cabin door. He is behind her but he +does not suspect." + +George kept his eyes on his watch. Two minutes since Azeela gave them +her dial-reading, and he knew the approximate time-velocity of the other +plane. + +Three minutes! + +"She is on the platform. The blurred rock is only a few feet below her. +Azeela is pretending something is wrong under the plane. Toroh is beside +her--but he does not touch her. He does not suspect she would dare...." + +Three minutes and a half. + +"She jumps--" + +George waited. "Is she all right? Is she all right?" + +Silence. + +"Can't you get her? Oh, Dee, can't you get her?" + +The communication was broken. + + + + + CHAPTER THIRTEEN + + +"It fell," Rogers murmured. "Was that Toroh's plane, or George's?" + +Loto did not answer; he stared with set face at the crystal mirror, +which was turning purple with the deepening shadows of nightfall. The +mountains into which the plane had fallen were a vague silhouette +against a sky of stars. + +"If we could only see over there," Rogers added wistfully. "Is this +tower we're looking from now the nearest to the mountains, Loto?" + +It was the nearest. But Fahn was talking swiftly into a small mouthpiece +beside him. + +"We may be able to see into the mountains," he said in a moment. "We +must find out which plane it was. Perhaps Toroh fell and was killed." + +The anxiety on his face belied the calmness of his tone. His two +daughters were out there; possibly one or both had met death in that +falling plane. + +A man entered the cave-room hurriedly, a solitary worker whom Fahn had +summoned from another part of the cavern. A youngish man, he wore dark +glasses, a black robe and gloves. + +Fahn questioned him briefly; he brightened, nodded, and hastened away +again. + +Loto explained: "He's been working on a new invention, Father. We hoped +to use it in the war, but now we fear the attack may come before it's +ready. There is only one small model constructed--finished today." + +The man returned with a small mechanism--a black circular disk, an inch +thick and two feet in diameter. On it was mounted a cone-shaped lens a +foot high. It looked something like a tiny model of the lighthouse lens. +An operating mechanism was fastened behind the lens; it was an open box +with tiny coils of wire inside. And near this was what looked like a +miniature searchlight. + +Fahn inspected the apparatus. His assistant made some connections, +adjusting another mechanism on the table. Then, turning the disk over +and holding it in the air above his head, he released it. The thing +floated, motionless, its lens-tower hanging downward. The small +searchlight also pointed downward and from it a beam of blue-white light +struck the cave-floor with a circle of brilliant illumination. + +Fahn smiled his approval; the young assistant seemed gratified. + +"It's a development of the communication towers, combined with the +levitation dais you saw at the Festival--the apparatus Toroh's brothers +tried to steal," Loto said to his father. + +A moment later the young scientist had disappeared with his flying lens, +taking it outside the cavern to release it into the air. + +Fahn sat at the table with the newly installed mechanism under his +fingers. In a few moments the assistant was back, empty-handed; he stood +before the now blank crystal mirror with the other men, anxiously +watching for the success of his work. + +"This was greatly used a few centuries ago," Fahn said. He sighed. "Our +ancestors knew so much; it is so hard to keep up with them." + +The crystal mirror presently became illumined. The scene was the +darkness of night; stars reflected moonlight from a moon just outside +the line of vision. Below--a thousand feet, perhaps--a vague palm-dotted +landscape was sliding into view. + +To the watchers, the illusion was like flying through the night, looking +downward. + +"I shall light the searchlights," Fahn said. + +A broad circle of blue-white illumination fell upon the shifting land. +Across it, the palms of the island were moving backward. The viewpoint +of the whole scene was unsteady. The horizon bobbed up and down, like +the horizon viewed from a plunging ship. The moon showed momentarily, +them swung sidewise out of sight. + +Soon the channel appeared; the dark mountains were coming nearer; they +tilted downward, almost out of sight, as the lens mounted an incline to +pass above them. + +"Can we find where the plane fell?" Loto asked anxiously. + +Fahn did not answer at once. At last he said: "It will be difficult. It +may have fallen behind the mountains, or into them. I do not know." + +In the mirror, the shifting viewpoint presently showed the mountains +from above; the searchlight circle was sweeping across a tumbled land of +crags, plateaus and ravines--a white band of snow lying thick on the +higher peaks. The lens was circling now; the turning, swaying viewpoint +made the watchers dizzy. + +Finally they saw it--a broken plane lying on its crumbled wing. The +searchlight clung to it; the lens lowered until the image of the plane +seemed more than a hundred feet below. + +"_Toroh's plane!_" Rogers exclaimed. + +There were figures moving about the plane, men and dogs. The men were +dragging some apparatus from it, loading it onto a sled. One of the men +was Toroh! The viewpoint was close enough now to distinguish +him--_alive!_ + +But the flying lens had descended too close; the Noths were staring +upward. A flash mounted from below; the crystal mirror turned a blinding +white--then went black. + +Toroh's thunderbolt had struck the flying lens and destroyed it. + + * * * * * + +George and Dee gazed from their hovering plane at the empty surface of +the level rock face below them. Somewhere in time Azeela was lying +there, unconscious, killed perhaps; the thought messages from her were +stilled. Had Toroh gone on? Or had he stopped to try and find her? + +They were anxious moments for George and Dee--moments that by George's +watch stretched into an hour or more. They were both at the point of +exhaustion. They had eaten a little--the plane was provisioned--but they +had not slept throughout the trip. George made a close calculation. He +knew the time-speed of Toroh's plane; he could estimate closely what +Toroh's dials must have read at the instant Azeela jumped. + +They found her at last, lying on the rock, unconscious. They stopped, +carried her into the plane, and, before they started again, revived her. +There was a heart stimulant among the plane's medicines; she drank it +gratefully. She was not injured, though badly bruised by her fall. She +had been knocked unconscious as she left the plane. The instant her body +parted contact with its vibrations, blackness had come to her; she did +not remember striking the rock. + +George was jubilant. Had he been able to rest, he would have wanted to +go on after Toroh. But he did not dare rest. + +"We'll go on home," he decided. "You're a brave girl, Azeela." He smiled +down at her as she lay stretched out on the leather seat. "I'll start +slowly; you've had all the shock you can stand." + +That same night in which the flying lens had been destroyed found George +piloting his plane into the cavern at Anglese City. Fahn and Rogers +were there to greet them. George handed down the girls, and descended +with a flourish. In the excitement of his triumphant return, he forgot +how tired and sleepy he was. + +At the moment Loto was in another part of the cavern. He came running +forward. He did not see Azeela at first. + +"George!" + +"Hello, Loto! Here we are. Were you worried?" + +Then Loto saw Azeela. + +"I brought her back to you," George said softly. "There she is, old +man--all safe and sound." + +But Loto did not hear him; his arms were around Azeela. + +George turned to Dee. "You think he'd sacrifice her for the whole nation +of the Anglese? I should say not!" + + + + + CHAPTER FOURTEEN + + +A month went by in days and weeks of activity throughout the island. To +the Scientists it was a time of unparalleled stress and anxiety. The +government was in their hands for the first time in history, and a +war--the first that anyone of that time-world had ever faced--was +impending. + +With Toroh's return his attack would not be long postponed. Fahn knew +it. The radio proclaimed it to the Bas everywhere. An army must be +trained at once; the Bas, Arans and Scientists were appealed to for +volunteers. + +It was Fahn's plan not to wait for the Noths to land on the island; but +to anticipate the attack and send an army to meet it. The nation +responded to the appeal. Conscription had been considered, but within a +day the Bas had offered themselves in such numbers that it was obvious +any form of conscription would be unnecessary. + +The second day after the radio appeal for volunteers, the fact became +evident that the Arans were refusing to go to war. In every village +recruiting stations were listing the names of the young men of the Bas +who presented themselves, but no Arans came. By the audible broadcasting +Fahn called them severely to account; but still they remained in hiding. +They were sought out. Cowardice, sullenness, declaration that their +birthright made it unnecessary--they seemed to have a score of reasons, +but the fact remained they would not willingly serve. + +Scenes of violence were reported the next day. A Bas father, giving two +sons to the coming war, had struck down an Aran youth whom he +encountered; a party of Bas, angered into unlawfulness, had entered an +Aran household in Orleen and beaten a group of Arans who were holding +festivities; an Aran woman had been killed. + +"Serves them right," George exclaimed indignantly. "I'd kill them all." + +Fahn was perturbed, but then he shrugged. "We have far more young men +from the Bas than we can use. I shall tell them to ignore the Arans. And +in warfare such as this, an unwilling fighter is worse than none." + +"Damned cowards," George muttered. "We'll save their hides for 'em, +while they stay home and have parties." + +The Scientist had caught the words. "Yes, George, because now that is +easiest for us. I want no trouble here on the island. But +afterward--when we have won--_then_ we can deal with the Arans." + +"I wouldn't have 'em on the island," George declared. It would have been +an unfortunate Aran youth who encountered George during the days that +followed. + +The recruiting, hand in hand with the manufacturing activities of the +cavern, went steadily on. In every principal village the Bas youths were +registered and drilled, as yet without weapons. Officered by older men +of the Bas, they waited for the equipment and orders to come to them +from Anglese City. + +The information Fahn had regarding Toroh and his Noth army was vague, +unsatisfactory; its very meagerness seemed to forecast disaster. +Somewhere beyond the mountains the Noths were gathering along the +Atlantic Coast. Hordes of men and fighting dogs were coming southward. +But their scientific weapons were practically unknown. The thunderbolt +globes--of what power Fahn could not say--were all that he was positive +they possessed. + +It was Toroh's trip back into time that seemed to hold the greatest +menace. He had secured some apparatus. What was it? Something +invincible, perhaps; something so completely different from anything +with which the Anglese were familiar that they could not hope to cope +with it. + +There were no answers to these questions. + +The flying lens--the only one the Anglese possessed--had been destroyed. +Others were now being hastily constructed, and with them Fahn intended +to reconnoiter extensively over the Noth territory. The information thus +attained would be immensely valuable. + +The principle of this radio-controlled flying platform, as Fahn had +said, was newly invented. It was not yet wholly practical. The dais at +the Festival was the first crude model; the flying lens was the second. +It had been so successful a model for a beginning that Fahn was +encouraged to use it with a broader scope. Larger platforms were now +being built, and thunderbolt projectors were to be mounted on +them--projectors with an effective radius of a thousand feet. A number +of these flying platforms would constitute a mechanical army. Controlled +by radios whose operators stayed safely at home, it could be sent forth +to battle--with the human army to follow behind it. + +The perfecting of the electric fabric repulsive to the earth--an +invention revived out of the past and brought to practicability only +within the last few months--was the basis of the equipment for the +Anglese army now being mobilized. It was kept secret until the last +moment. + +Two weeks after George's return, the first flying organization was +equipped. Two hundred young men selected from the ranks of the +Scientists began drilling secretly at night in an open space near +Anglese City. Among them were George and Loto. For the men from our +time-world, the experience was the most extraordinary they had ever +undergone. The fabric was like thin black gauze. A loose suit of it +encased each man, bound tightly at his wrists, throat and ankles. About +his waist was strapped a broad, cloth belt with several pockets in which +to carry various weapons. There was some sort of a battery attached to +the belt, from which a current was turned into the gauze suit. + +One of Fahns assistants came over to George and adjusted the current to +his normal weight, while George stood eyeing the man fearsomely. He +could feel the current as it was turned on. It was not unpleasant; it +made him tingle all over. + +In another moment George was ready. Thin cloth slippers were on his +feet; by the pressure against the soles he felt as though he weighed not +more than five pounds. Involuntarily, he clutched at Loto, who stood +beside him. He felt that a breath of wind would blow him away. + +"Let go," Loto grinned. "Make a leap, George." + +Obediently George leaped gingerly into the air. He floated upward, +turned over, arms and legs flying, and floated downward, landing gently +on his face in the sand. But after a few trials he could hold his +balance; the air seemed fluid, like water. With wings fastened to his +arms and legs, he could have swum through it. + +He suggested that to Loto. "Why, with practice, a man could swim through +the air, darting about like a fish through water." + +Loto laughed. "You'd make a fine inventor, George. That probably was the +first crude way it was used. But later they developed a much better way +of propulsion, and we have revived it now." + +The motive power consisted of a single metal cylinder to be held in the +left hand--an apparatus which in weight and shape was not unlike an +ordinary flashlight. As George understood its fundamental principle, the +thing altered the density of the air in whatever direction it was +pointed. + +Loto tried to explain it with as few technical words as he could. A +spreading, invisible ray from the cylinder penetrated the air for a +distance of some ten feet. It separated the molecules of the air, drove +them apart. Its action was incredibly swift. + +"Well?" demanded George. + +"The atmosphere exerts a pressure here of some sixteen pounds to the +square inch," Loto said. "The air immediately in advance of this +cylinder mouth is almost instantly thinned out. The ray charges the +molecules of air and makes them slightly repellent. The result is, +George, that immediately in advance of your body the atmospheric +pressure is somewhat lessened. Thus, your body moves forward, pushed by +the air pressure from behind." + +The cylinder had a sliding lever by which its ray was turned on or off. +George held it over his head and moved the lever. His body left the +ground and shot straight up at increasing speed. There was no rush of +wind toward him; instead the air from below seemed to be wafting him +upward. + +The ground was dropping away. Fifty feet! A hundred feet! Panic struck +George; all he could think of to do was shut off the cylinder power. At +once he floated down, turning over helplessly. He landed quite gently, +several hundred feet from where he had started, with Loto running there +to meet him, laughing at his discomfiture. + +You couldn't very well get hurt, that was the beauty of the thing. +George plunged enthusiastically into learning how to handle himself in +the air. + +With a week this organization of two hundred Scientist young men were +fairly expert with the new flying apparatus. There were several thousand +Bas youths now registered in different parts of the island; but the +suits and air cylinders for them were not ready. Finally, another +hundred were released, and at Anglese City, Mogruud, the Bas leader, and +a hundred selected Bas young men began learning to use them. + +In spite of the indignant protests of Loto and George, both Fahn's +daughters urged that they be allowed to try the apparatus, and Fahn gave +his permission. + +"I have no sons to give," he said quietly. "And this warfare is of +skill, not strength or endurance. If my girls can help their country, it +is their duty--and mine--to make the sacrifice." + +With this precedent, other Scientist girls--several at Orleen, and +twenty at Anglese City--enthusiastically volunteered. Without exception, +the girls proved superior to the men. The new art demanded a deft +agility, a quickness of thought and movement, which seemed to come to +the girls more naturally. + +Within a few days, Azeela and Dee could dart through the air with +incredible dexterity. The cylinder held in the left hand could be +pointed quickly in any direction and the body would be drawn that way. +Dee, especially, became proficient. She could dart upward, turn, come +swooping down head-first or with slow somersaults, graceful as a dancer, +to right herself a few feet above the ground and land on tiptoe. + +The result of the girls' proficiency was that they were organized into a +separate squad. There were twenty-eight girls in all; thirteen commanded +by Azeela, and thirteen by Dee. + +During all this time, the Arans had remained in seclusion, keeping off +the streets as much as possible. The Bas, drilling without weapons, were +eager to be equipped. The king and his council confined themselves to +the palace at Anglese City. + +There were no boats on the island except crude sailing canoes. A few of +the newly equipped flying corps went northward; but Fahn, anticipating +the completion of other flying lenses, ordered them not to cross the +channel. In the cavern, day and night, operators watched the mirrors, +flashing the viewpoints from every coast tower on the island, to guard +against a surprise attack. + +A month had passed since George's return in the plane. He had suggested +several times that the plane might be used in the war. But Rogers +refused this. George had exhausted the proton current to the point where +there was barely enough left for a return to Roger's time-world. And the +plane in itself, as a means of flying through space, would have been of +little value in this warfare. + +The flying discs, mounted with observing lenses and thunderbolt +projectors, were now ready. They were sent out one night, controlled +from the cavern. + +It was the first aggressive act of the war; a mechanical army sweeping +northward to attack the enemy. + +In the cavern room, Fahn and his friends sat watching the mirrors, which +showed the scene from the viewpoint of the flying mechanisms. + +The discs swept northward, following the coastline. Beyond the +mountains, far ahead, loomed a great encampment close to the shore, dim +and vague in the moonlight. In a few minutes the mechanisms would be +there. + +Suddenly, one of the mirrors in operation went black. In the others, the +scene showed that Toroh was sending up some opposing mechanisms. Dots of +silver were mounting from the encampment. They floated slowly upward, +but they seemed to seek out the Anglese flying platforms, pursuing them +as though with human intelligence. + +One by one the mirrors were going black, as the flying lenses were being +destroyed. In a moment only one was left. It was almost over Toroh's +encampment--almost in range where it could have discharged its bolt. + +In the mirrored scene, a white dot was growing as it came closer to the +lens. Its image grew; it resolved itself from a dot, so what Fahn saw +was a thin, gleaming disc. It looked as though it might be whirling. The +thing turned, pursued the lens, overtook it--the last mirror went dark. + +The operators, greatly upset, left their instruments and gathered around +Fahn. Toroh had sent up some unknown mechanisms; the flying thunderbolt +platforms had crashed to the ground before any of them had come within +range of the enemy. + +It was during this same night that Toroh first used his audible +broadcasting beams. Fahn's audible voices in the air had constantly been +encouraging his people. Now, abruptly, the air burst forth with other +voices. Somewhere in the mountains across the channel, Toroh had erected +a broadcasting station. He was sending threats through the air to the +Anglese! + +It was a surprise, and it disturbed Fahn greatly. Everywhere on the +island aerial voices of the enemy were leering, threatening, boasting of +the coming triumph of the Noths. Would the Bas be intimidated? It might +be disastrous; with the defeat of the flying discs, Fahn was depending +more than ever now upon the Bas army. + +All that night and next day, the sender from the cavern sent forth its +cheering messages. + +By the following noon information began coming to Anglese City that the +Bas were apparently not alarmed. They were jeering back at Toroh's +aerial voices; but they were demanding vigorously that the Scientists +give them weapons. + +"In a week we shall be ready," Fahn told Rogers. "Five thousand +air-pressure cylinders are now in the last process of manufacture. The +other weapons are ready. One week more is all we need." + +Amid Toroh's aerial threats that day had come the reiterated, triumphant +statement that in two weeks more his attack would come. Two weeks still! +It was more than Fahn had hoped for. + +The statement was Toroh's trickery. Eighteen hours later--the next +morning at dawn--a member of the aerial patrol over the channel returned +hurriedly to Anglese City with the news that Toroh's expedition had +started by water. Huge barges were coming down the coast, pulled by the +giant dogs swimming before them--_barges crowded with men and dogs and +apparatus_. + +That morning was one of almost complete chaos. The invaders would enter +the channel near Anglese City. The thunderbolt projectors which had been +distributed thinly about the coast were rushed eastward and +concentrated at the channel-mouth. There was no time now to equip the +main Bas army. The attack would have to be repelled by the coast +defense, and by the small aerial army already formed: one hundred Bas +led by Mogruud; two hundred Scientists with whom Loto and George were to +serve, and the twenty-six Scientist girls, led by Azeela and Dee. + +That morning the aerial voices ordered every able-bodied Bas man on the +island to come toward Anglese City with every dog that could be +procured. If the invaders landed, the dogs could best oppose them. + +It was at this juncture that the king announced the change of his royal +capital to Orleen. The royal family, the councilors, their +retainers--all fled in their dog carriages from Anglese City. Orleen, +much further down the channel, would be safe. News of the king's action +spread over the island. Arans from everywhere fled after him, huddling +in Orleen. + +In the confusion of those hours, the contempt for the Arans passed +almost without comment. Orleen was the safest place, and the Bas +there--men and women both--scornful of remaining among the cowards, came +eastward. + +By noon the flying army was fully accoutered and waiting in a field near +Anglese City. Loto, equipped to remain in constant telephonic +communication with Fahn, was virtually the leader. George, with his +several weapons in his belt, stood beside Loto. Mogruud had his hundred +Bas around him. The girls were in two small groups apart. + +At a signal from Fahn, the little army rose swiftly into the sunlit sky. +The watching throng was stricken silent with awe. The figures in the air +arranged themselves in a broad arc, with the officers in front, and then +swept forward, over the channel toward the mountains and the distant +sea. + + + + + CHAPTER FIFTEEN + + +The palm-dotted island fell silently away. Ahead lay the blue channel; +to the right the open sea. To George the flight--the first of any +duration he had taken--was exhilarating. It was soundless; the absence +of any rush of air against him made it totally unlike flying in a plane. +He seemed to be wafting forward as though the air were his native +element. + +Loto was just ahead of him. Behind him came the army, maintaining its +arc-like formation. A little in front, and at a slightly lower level, +were the two squads of girls. They were all slim, graceful creatures, +most of them under twenty. The black gauze--loose trousers and +blouse--showed the white of their limbs beneath. Their heads were bound +in deep-red rubber cloth, tight over the forehead and tied in back with +flowing ends. With cylinders extended from the left hand they slid +gracefully forward through the air. + +Though George felt no rush of air, he found he could not talk to Loto, +even though no more than twenty feet separated them. The rushing wind +between them tore away the words. + +Soon they were over the channel. The girls were drifting much lower now. +Loto darted down a few feet; then as though he had changed his mind, he +came up again. He reached for a mouthpiece that dangled under his chin +and fitted it to his lips. His voice, magnified to a stentorian roar, +rolled out. + +"_Azeela! Dee! Come higher! You must not go so low!_" + +Obediently the two girls rose to the higher level, their little squads +following them. When they were over the mouth of the channel, George saw +Toroh's barges--tiny dark smudges on the water some miles up the coast +and a mile or so off shore. His heart leaped, began pounding in spite of +his efforts to quiet it. + +Following Loto he swept diagonally upward and forward. Presently he +could count six barges. They were tremendous things, crowded with men +and dogs and mechanical apparatus. Spread over each was a huge caging of +flashing silver metal. One barge was some distance in the lead; the +others straggled out irregularly behind it for about a mile. All the +Noth vessels were being drawn slowly through the water by ranks of +harnessed dogs. + +Loto momentarily shut off his cylinder; his speed was slackening. George +overtook him, put an arm on his shoulder. The nearest of the barges was +now less than a mile ahead. + +An upward flash from the leading barge was followed in a few seconds by +a crack of thunder. The bolt dissipated harmlessly into the air. But +obviously it was powerful, with an effective range of two thousand +feet--twice that of the Anglese defense. + +Toroh's plan now became apparent. He would batter the Anglese coast +projectors while still beyond reach of them, and then make his landing. +The cages over the barges were for protection from the smaller +thunderbolts of the attacking aerial army. + +George knew the cages were only partially effective. A bolt was +difficult to aim, but it did queer things when it struck. From a short +distance--a hundred feet or less--the barges could be set on fire and +sunk. Their thin metal hulls were not protected. They could be pierced. +The wooden super-structure could be fired; the swimming dogs struck and +killed. + +In hurried whispers Loto was constantly talking with Fahn back in the +cavern. The Scientist's orders he repeated with his electrically +magnified voice that could be heard easily by every one of the little +aerial army. + +For a time they circled about, above the barges, but keeping well +beyond the two-thousand foot range. Against the blue of the sky their +figures must have shown plainly to the Noths. Occasionally a bolt would +flash up, but they were harmless at that distance. And the barges pushed +steadily forward. + +At last Fahn decided the moment for attack had arrived. Loto repeated +the order. George's division and Mogruud's separated from the rest. One +hundred turned seaward, the others toward land. They dropped swiftly; +straight down, like divers, heavily laden with lead, dropping through +water. And then a darting, twisting swarm of insects--from every side at +once they attacked the leading barge. + +In the depths of the cavern at Anglese City, Fahn sat in his room of +mirrors. A metal band about his head held a receiver to his ear. A black +mouthpiece hung against his chest and by lowering his head he could +bring his lips to it. Rogers was at his side. The mirrors in every part +of the room were lighted, giving the viewpoints of the coast towers near +the mouth of the channel. In several of the mirrored scenes, over the +distant water and in the air, black specks were visible; the enemy and +Fahn's army above them. + +But these were not the vital crystal mirrors. A small one--a foot square +perhaps--stood on the table before Fahn. He and Rogers were gazing into +it intently. The mirror was connected with a tiny lens strapped to +Loto's forehead; it gave Loto's viewpoint of the battle, showed the +scene exactly as Loto saw it. + +Fahn was silent; a stern, anxious old man, with all his science around +him, sitting in seclusion to direct this warfare upon which the fate of +his people depended. Occasionally he would murmur something to Rogers, +and the other man would speak into a mouthpiece--an order for the +operator of the broadcasted aerial voices, controlled from another part +of the cavern. Then throughout the island, cheering words to the Bas +would resound, news of the progress of the battle. But Fahn's gaze never +wavered from the little mirror. + +George's and Mogruud's divisions descended upon the leading barge. The +barge spat forth its bolts, but it could discharge only one or two +against a hundred of the tiny ones from its attackers. Looking down, +from Loto's viewpoint overhead, the barge was assailed on every side by +the pencils of electrical flame. Figures dropped, inert, into the water; +others, wounded, wavered upward. The wire cage over the barge was +sizzling and crackling; the swimming dogs, a dozen or more of them, +crumpled in the water and were dragged forward in their harness by the +others. + +The engagement had lasted no more than a minute when the air about the +barge was suddenly plunged into blackness. Everything down there was +blotted out--a patch of solid ink on the sea. The Noth vessel had +exploded a bomb whose etheric vibration absorbed all light over a radius +of five hundred feet. + +Fahn smiled grimly. The darkness there would pass presently. His own +leaders, Loto, George, Mogruud and the two girls, had the same +equipment. Each of them could discharge such a bomb; a puff of darkness, +cloaking everything around them in temporary invisibility. + +Fahn heard his own orders roared by Loto. The attacking figures came up. +But there were not two hundred of them now: about twenty lay down there +in the water; a dozen more were wounded; a few were moving slowly +homeward through the air. + +The darkness still hung around the attacked Noth vessel. But it was +thinning out; now the vague outlines of the barge could be seen. Within +a minute the dark patch was gone. One end of the barge was blazing, but +the Noths were extinguishing the flames. Other figures were cutting +loose the dead dogs in the water, while new dogs were leaping overboard +to take their places. + +The attacked barge presently moved onward; slowly, inexorably, they were +all coming down the coast. They were no more than a mile or two now from +the estuary of the channel-mouth. + +Three times more Fahn ordered a division down at the same barge. The +Noth tactics were repeated. The barge discharged a few of its bolts and +then enveloped itself in blackness--an absence of light that even the +thunderbolts could not illumine. + +These brief engagements were largely a matter of individual action. +Warfare was new to the Anglese, but they were learning. The huge bolts +from the barge could not parallel the water level for long; inevitably +they turned downward to discharge themselves. Close to the water the +attackers were comparatively safe. + +When the Anglese came up after these attacks and reformed themselves in +orderly array, there were only ten more of their number missing. But it +was fifty in all, and a score of wounded. + +The attacked barge was blazing end to end. Its crowded deck was a +turmoil of figures. They were plunging overboard--men and dogs--to avoid +the flames. In a moment the barge tilted upward at its stern. Its torn +bow was admitting the water; it slid downward, hissing, and disappeared +beneath the surface. Figures bobbed up from the swirl, inert, charred +figures; others among them, still alive, swam about in aimless +confusion. + +One barge! But there were five more. And these others had all pushed +forward until now they were almost down to the channel. Fahn realized +that there were five hundred Noths and as many dogs crowded into each of +them. They could take to the water while they were still beyond range of +his coast projectors and come forward individually, each man mounted +upon his swimming dog. The coast defense could strike down no more than +a few of them if they came in that fashion. Twenty-five hundred men and +their giant brutes, landing on the island. + +Azeela and Dee were hovering close to Loto; they were asking their +father's permission to try a new plan. The battle could not be +maintained as it was going; the hand thunderbolt globes held but ten +charges each, and the equipment of each individual was only three +globes. A third of the thunderbolts were already exhausted in sinking +one barge. + +Fahn's expression did not change; only the grip of his fingers as he +clenched them and the rising muscles under his thin cheeks betokened his +emotion. His voice was steady, grim as always, when he ordered his +daughters to their desperate venture. + +Azeela and Dee, with their twenty-six comrades, selected the barge that +had replaced the leader. In a closely knit group they hovered above it. +Thunderbolts shot up, but could not reach them. The girls aimed a +pure-white beam of light downward--twenty-six tiny rays blending into +one. Rogers, bending over Fahn to gaze into the little mirror, was +amazed. Unlike any beam of light he had ever seen, this one was curved; +It descended in a slightly bent bow, ending at the barge. + +Fahn whispered a swift explanation to Rogers. To the Noths, looking +upward along the beam, it would not appear curved, but straight. The +figures of the girls, by an optical illusion, would be seen, not where +they actually were, but to one side. + +The girls held their curved ray steady. And plunging down the beam, +following its slightly curved path, were the figures of Azeela and Dee. + +The Noths saw them coming; a dozen bolts leaped into the air, one upon +the other, but they flashed harmlessly to one side of their mark. + +Within twenty seconds the two girls were close to the barge; yellow-red +spurts of flame leaped from their weapons--flame that could be hurled +thirty feet but no farther. It enveloped the barge with licking, +seething, burning liquid gases that withered everything they touched. A +puff of darkness, which the retreating girls had left behind them, +blotted out the scene. An instant later Azeela and Dee emerged from the +darkness, safe. The shaft of light from the girls above was extinguished +as the two rose to join them. + +When light shone again around the barge, it was sinking. Soon the +swirling water held nothing but black, twisted figures. + +The maneuver could not be repeated successfully. From the other barges +the Noths would have seen the curved beam, understood it and made +allowances for it. Azeela and Dee, triumphant and flushed with their +success, pleaded to try it again, but Fahn would not let them. + +The afternoon was waning; the western sky was red and overhead clouds +were gathering. And then Fahn ordered a general attack on all the +barges. + +The sun had set; the twilight deepened into night--a night of flashing +lights, crackling, artificial thunder, spurts of lurid flame and the +hissing of fire against water. At intervals, rockets came up; bursting, +they cast a blue-white glare that for the space of a minute clearly +outlined the menacing, darting figures for the Noths. + +The atmospheric disturbance of the past hours suddenly brought forth an +electrical storm. Nature, more powerful than man, shot forth her own +bolts to add to the din. They were, in character, very different from +the harnessed, man-made lightning; forked, jagged, crackling with their +nearness, they leaped downward out of the low-hanging clouds. + +The storm was as brief as it was severe. It swept away and the moon +rose, blood-red, casting its lurid light over the water. + +Another Noth vessel had been sunk. There were only three barges left +afloat, and they were in distress. Many of their swimming dogs lay dead +in harness. Aboard all three of them, figures were fighting the flames. +They clustered in a group near the center of the channel. + +Loto had withdrawn his forces, reduced now to half their original +number. With ammunition almost exhausted, they hovered out of range +above their adversaries. The wounded were still straggling back through +the air; a few of them had already arrived at the cavern. + +Again Fahn ordered his army down. It would be the last attempt. + +In the cavern room, Fahn had not moved from his seat for hours. Often he +could not see the battle plainly, for Loto, disobeying orders, had many +times cast himself into the thick of it. + +But now Loto was aloft; by the moonlight and the glare of the rockets +and bombs, Fahn saw that another Noth vessel had appeared--a very small +barge. It was close to shore, coming swiftly forward and little objects +of gleaming silver were mounting from it. One after the other they came +sailing up. + +Fahn rasped an order; Loto's voice roared it out. The men and girls who +were descending to the attack halted, circling about, wondering what had +happened. + +The first of the white objects came sailing slowly horizontally across +the channel. It seemed to be a whirling white disc some foot or two in +diameter. + +Loto was still some distance away from it when a group of girls passed +between him and the disc. The thing seemed to turn toward them. One of +the girls became confused; it struck her and she fell. The disc, its +rotation halted, fell also. Loto saw then what it was: broad, thin, +crossed blades of steel, inclined to each other like the blades of a +propeller. It had risen up and sustained itself in the air by rotation. +Loto remembered the defeat of the flying thunderbolt platforms which +Fahn had sent northward to Toroh's encampment. These whirling knives +were what had destroyed them! + +The newly arrived barge was now sending up, in every direction, a slow +but steady stream of the whirling knives. They seemed so easy to avoid +that the aerial army at first paid them little heed. Loto's warning from +Fahn rang out, but it came almost too late. The knives sought out the +figures in the air. They began falling--cut, mangled by the whirling +blades. There was confusion. The army mounted higher, but other knives +had been sent straight upward and were floating down. Uncannily, they +seemed to single out their victims. + +Fahn understood now. This was the weapon Toroh had procured from that +time-world of the past. These whirling knives were strangely, powerfully +magnetized; they followed the human bodies passing near them, seeking +contact. + +The Scientist leader had ordered his fighters to the sea level; the +knives, as they came lower, seemed to have spent themselves. They could +be avoided. But nearly forty of the Anglese had met death before the +lesson was learned. + +The three larger barges were again advancing toward the Anglese coast. +Without warning, without orders from Fahn, the little remnant of girls +led by Azeela and Dee, darted at them. It was a movement, not foolhardy, +but well and swiftly planned. The girls, holding close to the surface, +got themselves between two of the barges. The Noths could not fire, for +they would have struck each other. A puff of inky darkness spread over +the ships, and out of it, at close range, jets of fire sprang at the +Noths; then the girls came back. One of the Noth vessels was a mass of +flames; the other two wavered--and began retreating. + +For a moment there was silence and darkness, lighted only by the moon +and the flickering light from the blazing barge. The whirling blades +were no longer being launched; the Anglese were again poised in the air. + +Fahn had ordered that the small barge be attacked when, abruptly, a low +hum sounded from it. George and Loto were hovering together at the +moment; the barge was some five hundred feet below them and slightly off +to one side. There didn't seem to be any dogs on it; only a few men +under its wire cage, and a single large piece of apparatus. + +The hum grew louder, more intense, as though some gigantic dynamo had +been set into motion. + +"What's that?" George demanded. + +But Loto did not know. + +Mogruud, with the remains of his division, was in the air half a mile +away. He was on the other side of the small barge; his men, moving in +scattered groups, began passing over it. + +The hum was rising in pitch, up the scale until it became a shrill +electrical scream. Mogruud's men wavered--struggled as though to avoid +being pulled downward. + +Then Loto realized that it must be the rest of the apparatus Toroh had +secured out of the past--a giant electromagnet of some unknown variety. +It was pulling at every figure in the air, drawing them irresistibly +toward it. + +Loto and George could feel the pull; invisible fingers were snatching at +them. The girls near at hand were fighting against it. Mogruud was +moving forward with an effort, like a swimmer struggling with the clutch +of an undertow. Several of his men, closer to the barge, had been drawn +to it, flattened helplessly against its wire caging. Fire was leaping +through their bodies...they were electrocuted. + +In the cavern Fahn sat tense, impotent. He could hear, as plainly as +though he were out there over the sea, the scream of that uncanny thing +that was reaching out its invisible electrical fingers to gather in its +victims. + +At his side, for the past hour, Rogers had been operating the larger +mirrors, flashing into them scenes from the various towers along the +coast. Now Fahn heard him give a sharp, horrified exclamation. + +Rogers was staring at a mirrored scene from a coast tower near Orleen: +moonlight, purple, starry sky and the deep purple of the channel; to one +side, the dim outlines of the Orleen houses. And from the channel off +Orleen, lights were flashing; a bomb burst and its glare shone on +crowded barges close inshore! One of them, already at the beach, was +disgorging its men and brutes! + + + + + CHAPTER SIXTEEN + + +Once again, Toroh's trickery was disclosed. To Fahn, the tactics of the +Noths were now understandable. The Noth attack on Anglese City, at which +Fahn had hurled all his armed forces, had been no more than a ruse to +cover up Toroh's main offensive at Orleen. + +Toroh's orders, doubtless, had been to prolong the engagement until, +under cover of night, his main forces could effect their landing at the +other end of the island. This small barge with the magnet had probably +been ordered to slip by, hugging the north shore of the channel, and +proceed to Orleen. But its commander had, at what he must have +considered a decisive moment, used it against the remnant of the little +aerial army. + +Toroh's landing at Orleen was taking place; the channel expedition had +served its purpose. The two remaining barges off Anglese City were in +full retreat toward the open sea. The smaller barge, with its screaming +magnet, was heading swiftly down the channel toward Orleen. The figures +in the air were struggling against its pull. Some were losing, being +hurled forward with control of themselves lost; others were forcing +their way down to the water-level where the attraction seemed less. +Still others had succeeded in escaping upward beyond its range. They +circled high overhead, seeking some way of helping their unfortunate +comrades. + +The double disaster was more than Fahn could cope with, or even watch +closely in the two mirrors. Orleen lay on a peninsula some ten miles +broad, with water on three sides of the city. The Noths were landing, +spreading around the shores; across the land from shore to shore they +were massed, but as yet they had not entered the city. Thousands of +Arans were there--the king and his royal family--penned like rats in a +trap. And there was only the small cavern with its meager garrison of +Scientists to defend them. + +George found himself near the outer edge of the magnetic attraction. He +could see the figures in the air nearer the barge struggling to escape +from it. He did not know where Loto was, or Azeela or Dee. He saw +Mogruud, with fifteen or twenty of the Bas about him. They were passing +swiftly below. + +George wondered what he should do. The two larger barges were +withdrawing. Some of the aerial figures were following them, and George +started moving that way. The figures were attacking the barges from down +near the surface of the water. Mogruud and his men were there now. +George hastened. + +This last attack of the Anglese was one of desperate fury. George could +see the flash of the bolts close to the water. One of the barges must +have fired through its own darkness and struck its mate. As the +blackness cleared, George saw that both the Noth vessels were blazing. +One of them sank a moment later; from the flames on the other, figures +were plunging into the water. + +The Anglese--one of them mounting--cast loose a light-bomb. In the +brilliant glare, the aerial figures were darting about over the surface +of the water, seeking out the Noth men and dogs who were swimming toward +the island and striking them with the little thunderbolts, or with +spurts of yellow-red flame at closer range. George arrived to join them. +It was ghastly but necessary work. He used his weapons until they were +exhausted. + +The battle was won--all but the giant magnet. In the distance its +blood-curdling scream still sounded. + +And then George saw Dee. She had been several thousand feet up, flying +with another girl, when the magnet was first put into operation. They +were not close enough to feel its pull. A whirling knife had approached +them; struck the other girl, killed her. It was spent, but a corner of +it had knocked Dee's motor-cylinder from her hand. She had begun +floating down. Ever since, she had been trying to swim through the air; +with arms and legs kicking, she had fought to sustain herself. + +She was almost at the surface when George saw her struggling, +ineffectually, like a swimmer exhausted. He darted to her and gathered +her in his arms. His cylinder drew them both upward. + +"Dee," he whispered. "My little Dee You're safe!" + +Loto had dropped close to the surface. The magnet was pulling him, but +with his cylinder held against it, he could make headway. By now the +magnet had done most of its work; those in the air had either succumbed +or escaped beyond range. + +To one side, Loto could see the attack on the other two barges. Fahn's +voice in his ear told him of the landing at Orleen. The Scientist +ordered them all back. They were needed at Orleen; they must return. + +But the magnetic barge was heading down the channel. It would be used at +Orleen. It must be stopped--_destroyed now_. Loto disobeyed Fahn. He +headed for the little barge. + +It was a plunge of no more than a few minutes. Soon Loto was well within +the field of magnetism; he could not withdraw now. He tried to think +clearly. Those others of the Anglese who had met this death had lost +control of themselves in the air. They had plunged forward, struggling, +whirling so that they had not been able to use their weapons. + +Loto had no thunderbolts left. His only weapon was the flaming liquid +gas which he could project some fifty feet. + +Just above the surface, head first, like an arrow, he slid forward +through the air. He did not fight against the magnet; he used his +cylinder only to keep himself from turning sidewise. + +He was conscious of the dark outlines of the barge rushing up at him. He +fired his jet of flame; though he did not know it then, he had fired too +soon. The flames fell short. A downward thrust of his cylinder power +forced him upward. He barely missed the wire caging as his body shot +over it, past it. + +The magnet's scream was deafening. The Noths on the barge had fired a +small thunderbolt between the wires, but had missed the swiftly passing +mark. + +Loto's momentum carried him a hundred feet or more beyond the barge. The +magnet stopped him, drew him swiftly back. He was turning over now; he +had lost control of himself. The sea, the sky, the approaching barge +were mingled in whirling confusion. He knew he could never escape; he +must strike the magnet with his flame, this time or never. A moment more +and he would be electrocuted against the cage. + +A tiny bolt cracked past him. He turned over again, righted himself +momentarily, and fired. The electrical scream died into abrupt silence; +the flames had caught the magnet, burned out its coils. + +Released suddenly, Loto's body shot upward with the pull of his +cylinder. The cage, with flames spreading under it, dropped away beneath +him. + +He righted himself, and at a distance of about three hundred feet, hung +poised in the air. The flames spread over the barge; a few Noth figures +plunged frantically into the water. + +Loto mounted upward to join his comrades. Barely seventy-five of the +original three hundred and twenty-eight, were left. Ten of them were +girls. Loto found Azeela safe. George still carried Dee in his arms. + +The flames from the burning barges died out; the silent moonlit channel +was strewn with floating bodies. It seemed almost futile to search for +their wounded, but they descended, and for a time moved about near the +surface. They found two still alive--one burned, the other, a girl, +mangled by a flying knife. + +Silently, with their burdens, they took their way back through the air +to the cavern. + +It was a night of confusion. The Noths were clustered around Orleen, +waiting for the dawn before they entered the city. They were still +coming across the channel on swimming dogs. All night they came. The +puny garrison at the Orleen cavern was powerless to stop them. It +exhausted its bolts and began sending out calls for help. + +The Bas around Anglese City were mobilizing with their dogs. Hastily, +Fahn equipped them with weapons--hand thunderbolts and flame projectors. +An hour-and-a-half before dawn, they were ready to start their almost +hopeless attempt to stem the horde of invaders who now held the entire +western end of the island. + +The little rag-end of the aerial army that returned from the battle was +exhausted, but in a few hours, it too, was ready to start. + +Fahn, with his two daughters, and Rogers, Loto and George, took the +Frazia plane. On its platform Fahn mounted a single projector, the most +powerful he possessed. + +They started an hour before dawn--silent as they gazed down at the +island of palms that was passing beneath them. They overtook their Bas +army and left it behind them. In the air, back over Anglese City, tiny +specks showed that the aerial army was starting. Above the hum of the +Frazia motors they hear the aerial voices of Anglese City telling the +Bas peasants who lived between the two cities to come eastward. They +were obeying; little groups of refugees--old men, women and +children--were moving along all the roads. In the sky ahead, occasional +flashes shot up from Orleen. + +"The Arans went there to avoid the deluge," Rogers said suddenly, and +his laugh was grim. + +No one answered him. + +Behind them the eastern sky was brightening. Loto was piloting the +plane, with Rogers beside him. The daylight grew, began reddening. + +"Look, Father, there's Orleen!" + + * * * * * + +The second largest city on the island, Orleen lay in a hollow, with twin +peaks close behind it, the mouth of the channel and the gulf in front +and to the sides. It was an Aran city, more beautiful even than the +capital. + +The plane, flying high, was circling. Loto's gaze went to the dawn. The +sun came up a huge, distorted ball of crimson fire, with lines of flame +radiating from it to the zenith. A dark mass of rain cloud, hanging low +above Orleen, lost its blackness as it soaked up the crimson light. The +sky, even to the western horizon, was steeped in blood; the water +reflected it; the air itself seemed to hold it suspended. + +"The day of deluge," murmured Loto. "The blood that will be spilled +today--" + +As though in answer to his words, the clouds above Orleen began spilling +rain. And as the water fell, it caught the crimson sunlight--myriad +drops of blood falling upon the Aran city. + +The storm was transitory the rain cloud swept past, but the blood in the +sky remained. + +In the hours that had passed since the plane left Anglese City, the +Noths had occupied Orleen. Its cavern was taken. The Noth men and dogs +stood in solid ranks around the mountain base; the beaches were black +with them. They were still coming across the channel--riders mounted +upon swimming dogs, an occasional barge. + +There were no sounds of thunderbolts in the city, no flashes. But as the +plane descended, human sounds were heard--faint screams. And the city +streets were in confusion. + +Fahn was staring down into the city through lenses mounted in short +black tubes. He murmured something that his companions did not catch. +His face was white and set; he was struggling to hold his composure. + +"Descend, Loto. They are not armed with thunderbolts; those are all with +Toroh and his men in the cavern." + +The plane glided down, circling low above the city. The scene of carnage +there became a series of brief, fragmentary pictures. Above the drone of +the Frazia motors, they could hear the snarling of fighting dogs, the +screams of men and women, the shrill treble of children--human screams +of agony as the fangs of the brutes tore at them. + +The plane passed low above a city street, following its length to the +blue water that lapped the white sand at its end. The street was full of +dogs. A Noth rider--sinister, animal-like, with his black-bound head and +his naked torso covered with black hair--arrived at a silent white +house, with its white columns, splashing fountain, and vivid trellised +flowers. The Noth dismounted, rushed into the house. He came out +dragging an Aran woman--flung her white body to the eager, snarling +brute. At the beach, hundreds of terrified Arans sprang into the water; +the dogs followed them, pulled them under, released them at last, and +the surf flung their mangled bodies up on the sand. + +There was a public square where a hundred or more Arans had gathered. +The dogs charged them, tore at them, flung them into the air--fought +over their broken bodies long after life had gone. + +The dogs spread to every corner of the city. A child climbed a +pergola--a little Aran boy, white skinned, with long golden curls and a +plump baby face. The dogs could not reach him; a Noth man climbed up, +pulled him down. + +Loto had given the Frazia controls to his father. With a small +thunderbolt globe at his belt he went to the platform outside the cabin. +Presently he found Azeela beside him. Her arm was around him; together +they clung to their insecure footing, watching the scenes below as the +plane made its swift circle over the city. + +What could Fahn do? The thunderbolt projector, here on the platform, +could kill a few Noths, a few dogs here and there. But of what avail +would that be among these hordes? The Orleen Cavern? Could they attack +that? Toroh was probably there in the cavern. If they could kill him, +these Noth barbarians, without a leader... + +Confused and sick from what he was seeing, Loto tried to force Azeela +into the cabin, but the white lipped girl would not go. The plane +approached a house where an Aran woman crouched on the roof top with two +little girls huddled at her feet. A Noth appeared from below, dashed at +them across the roof. Beneath the eaves a dozen dogs stood with bared, +drippings fangs pointed upward. + +The plane was almost over the house. Loto pointed his globe downward, +pressed its lever. There was a flash, a miniature crack of thunder and +the globe recoiled in his hand. On the roof top the Noth man and the +Aran woman and her children lay dead. The woman's white robe was +blackened, the children's bodies were burned, shriveled; a cornice of +the building was ripped off and the woodwork was blazing. + +It was so useless! Loto flung the globe from him, loathing it for having +killed that woman and her little girls. He drew Azeela back with him +into the cabin. + +The king's palace in Orleen stood near the waterfront, in the midst of +broad, magnificent gardens. A mob of Noths surged around it, into the +lower doors, on the balconies and roof top. As the plane passed +overhead, its occupants caught a fleeting glimpse of the queen and her +children, the girl wives of the king and the king himself--in the face +of death with petty barriers at last broken down--all huddled together +in a corner of the roof. The Noths rushed at them, broad, heavy swords +flashing. + +The plane swept past. + +The twin peaks of Orleen stood six hundred feet apart, just behind the +city. The one that housed the cavern had a broad, circular base, with a +ragged, volcanic looking cone above. The other peak was considerably +higher; it looked down upon its fellow. + +Fahn had directed Rogers to fly the plane to the higher of the peaks. +The Scientist had hardly spoken. He was pale, grim as ever, but his +gaze, when he looked upon his daughters held a curious softness. What +were his plans. What were they going to do? George asked the questions, +but Fahn ignored them. + +The little aerial army approaching from Anglese City was now in sight. +Fahn radioed them to move back, descend, and stop the Bas army and its +dogs. All of them were to return to the capital. + +The plane landed on a small level rock near the summit of the higher +peak. On top of the cavern, six hundred feet away, a solitary male +figure stood. The blood light of the sunrise fell full upon it. _Toroh!_ +He was standing there, regarding the city. + +Fahn leaped to the projector, but Toroh had disappeared. + +"Hurry!" exclaimed the Scientist. He still would not let them question +him. He unlashed the projector and they helped him lower it to the +ground. He leaped down after it, adjusting it, swinging it to bear down +upon the lower peak. + +"We must hurry," he repeated. He was back on the cabin platform. "They +will be out of the cavern, firing upon us." + +The Noths down there were gazing up at the plane; others were now +pouring out of the cavern entrance. + +Fahn's projector was trained on the crater of the lower mountain. From +this greater height its depths were visible. + +In the cabin of the plane the Scientist's arms went around his +daughters. "Good-by, my girls--for a little time," he whispered in their +own tongue. + +They were frightened; suddenly Dee was crying. But he pushed them from +him. He would attack the cavern; they must all stay in the plane--rise +high--very high. + +Something in the man's look, the command in his voice, struck them all +silent. They obeyed. He climbed down to the rock. The plane mounted +swiftly into the air. + +The sun was above the eastern horizon; the sky was an inverted bowl of +blood. Beneath the plane Fahn's figure, standing beside his projector, +showed clear-cut against the black rock under him. At the base of the +cavern mountain Noths had appeared with apparatus. They were adjusting +it hurriedly. + +A blue-white flash from Fahn's projector spat downward across the six +hundred feet and into the crater mouth. Thunder rolled out. Another +flash, another--until they became almost continuous. Far down in the +earth within the crater, the slumbering forces began to answer. A +rumbling sounded--a low, ominous muttering, pregnant with infinite +power. Steam hissed upward; a puff of smoke.... + +The plane had been ascending rapidly; it was thousands of feet up now. +Fahn's thunderbolts persisted, and at last the angered fires of the +earth were unleashed. The mountain seemed to split apart; the report was +deafening; flaming gases, cinders and ashes were hurled upward and +outward. + +The main force of the explosion was sidewise toward the city, but even +so the plane barely avoided the torrent of molten rock and blazing gas +that mounted from below. + +The city was engulfed in flames over which a heavy smoke hung like a +pall. A tremendous lake of viscous liquid fire lay where the peaks and +the cavern once had been. The earth was rumbling, shaking, splitting +apart. The scene was vague--dulled by a lurid red glare that struggled +with the blackness of the smoke. + +A moment, and a rift appeared. The smoke seemed to part, roll aside. +Through the rift, the burning city showed for an instant clear and +distinct--the crowded city in which no single human or beast could have +remained alive. + +Still not content, the earth was heaving over the whole western end of +the island. And from the sea a great tidal wave came rolling up over the +sinking land, hissing, quenching the fires, obscuring everything in a +cloud of steam. Like a mist, the steam presently dissipated. The turgid +waters lashed themselves into furious waves that gradually were stilled. + +And then it was daylight, sullen red day, with only the wreckage on the +waters--charred fragments of bodies, thousands of them floating for +miles around--mute evidence of what had gone before. + + + + + CHAPTER SEVENTEEN + + +Once again the plane hung like a shimmering ghost above the towering +piles of steel and masonry--New York City at the peak of its +civilization. For Azeela and Dee, it had been a brief trip of awe and +wonder; a trip northward through space and back through time. + +After the cataclysm, they had stayed but a week back in Anglese City. +The entire western end of the island had sunk into the gulf, carrying +Toroh and his Noths and the Arans and their King to destruction. In +Anglese City a new government was formed--a democracy of the Bas, with +Mogruud at its head. + +Rogers was impatient to return to his wife in New York City. Azeela and +Dee, left orphans, had no wish to stay. Unobtrusively as it had come, +the Frazia plane departed. + +In the humming, glowing cabin of the plane the voyagers were waiting for +the dials to reach the time world for which they were headed. On one of +the side benches, the ghostlike figures of Loto and Azeela sat a little +apart from the others; they were talking softly as they gazed down +through the window beside them. + +"You think Mogruud will make a good leader?" she asked. "My father would +have been so strong, so stern, but always just and fair...." Her eyes +had filled with tears. + +He pressed her hand sympathetically. "I know, Azeela. But you mustn't +grieve. He gave his life for his people." + +"Yes. And he said 'Good-by--for a little time.' Oh, Loto--I did not +realize then what he meant." + +"He knew--someday--you would be with him again. And you will." His arm +went around her tenderly. "I shall always try to make you happy. I +promise it, Azeela. Always, as long as we live." + +"Beloved," she murmured. "Beloved, who always understands." + +Rogers had been talking to George and Dee. He left them to attend to the +motors. Dee was watching the scene beneath the plane; as they fled back +through the centuries the great city was melting away. + +"Your city that we're going to," she said after a long silence. "George, +is it like this? Are we almost to its time now?" + +"No," he laughed. "It's a very little, puny city I have to show you, +Dee. I used to think it was wonderful. But it's only a conceited +child--learning as fast as it can and thinking it knows everything. I +used to be like that myself. But this sort of trip changes one." + +She did not answer. + +"I'm glad you're coming back with us, Dee." + +"Yes," she said abstractedly. + +"Dee," he persisted out of another silence, "I wonder if you know how +happy it makes me to have you--here where we're going. I've wanted to +tell you for a long time--maybe you don't know how I feel. I--" + + * * * * * + +On this return journey, the plane had now reached the height of its time +velocity. The swiftly changing form of the city blurred the scene into a +confusion of shifting details, among which only the broadest +fundamentals were discernible. The northern section of Central Park +presently lay open. Then the great building that covered its southern +end melted into nothingness, and trees and water were in its stead. + +George was at the dials. "One hundred years! We're almost into our own +century!" + +Through decreasing intensities of the proton current, they slackened +their time velocity. The park, whitened with winter, turned green again +as the previous summer was reached. Soon the days separated from the +nights. The sun came up from the west, plunged swiftly across the sky, +and dropped into the east. + +It was spring, but the retrogression soon brought winter again. A +January snowfall lay white beneath the naked trees of the park. But it +was autumn in a moment. + +Rogers was watching the dials closely. Summer again; then spring. In one +of the brief periods of night he threw the switch to the first +intensity. The plane began drifting to the south. The dim stars were +swinging eastward in a murky sky. The city lights shone yellow. + +The roof of the Scientific Club came into view among the buildings south +of the plane. Rogers threw off the current completely. + +"Look, Dee!" cried George. "Look, Azeela! There it is at last! See the +board enclosure?" + + * * * * * + +An evening in March. In the large living room of the Banker's Park +Avenue apartment, a group of his friends were gathered. Dinner was over; +a butler was serving coffee and the men were lighting their cigars. + +A woman and four men--all in evening dress--were sitting in a group; +mingled with their voices came the soft, limpid tones of a piano. It +stood in a secluded alcove--a grand piano of carved mahogany. On a bench +before its keyboard, a young man in a Tuxedo was playing. George. Dee +stood beside him, leaning against the instrument. She was gazing first +at the page of music with a puzzled frown, then at his fingers as they +roamed the keys, and then, in admiration, at his face. + +On a high-back davenport before an open fireplace, Loto sat with Azeela. +There was an artificial black flower in her spun-gold hair; the mourning +custom of her time world. Her milk-white throat was bare, and the blue +of her dress was mirrored in her eyes. She was silent, staring into the +flames licking upward from the huge logs. + +"That's very pretty music," she said finally. "So big an +instrument--this piano as you call it--you never would think one could +play it." + +"Chopin," he answered. "A piece by Chopin. George plays Chopin mighty +well. Azeela, there is so much I have to show you. Just that one little +thing--Chopin, for instance. I want you to hear the music of some of the +great composers and pianists." + +"And the opera," she prompted. "And you promised you would take me to a +theater." + +"I will, of course. There are so many things for you to see. Why, it +will be just like a new world, a new life that you're just beginning, +Azeela." + +"Yes," she murmured. "A new life in a new world. It seems like that +already." + +"And wait till you ride in the subways! You'll be surprised how--" + +But she shuddered. "I do not believe I want to do that. It would bring +back memory of the cavern...other things." + +George and Dee left the piano and walked over to the fireplace. Azeela +moved over on the davenport. Loto stood up, but George shook his head. + +"Thanks. Dee and I thought we'd try the window seat." + +Across the room the Big Business Man, the Doctor, and the Banker were +demanding additional details from Rogers. + +"That Toroh and his Noths were in the cavern at Orleen" the Banker said +gruffly. "Can't you keep the thing straight? I want to hear it +consecutively--not jumped around in this way." + +Ensconced in the window seat, George and Dee gazed out at the yellow +lights of the city around them--a city so different from anything Dee +could have even imagined. + +There was a soft, rose-shaded light beside the girl. George was not +looking out of the window, but at her. He had seen Dee in many costumes, +but never, he thought, was she so beautiful as right now. + +A girl of his own time world. He had not realized that this was the way +he had always wanted her to look. Her dress, dropping to a few inches +above her ankles, was soft and clinging. Her black hair, like Azeela's, +was dressed high on her head. Like Azeela, too, she wore the dark +mourning flower. The soft light beside her cast a flush on her +milk-white throat and cheeks. + +Feeling his gaze, she turned. + +"You like the way Lylda has clothed me? It feels very strange." + +"Yes," he said. "You look beautiful, Dee." + +She turned back to the window in confusion. From below, the hum of the +city floated up to them; the raucous sirens of automobiles. + +"Yes," he repeated. "I do like it very much, Dee." + +Abruptly his arms were around her; he was kissing her. + +"George! Some one will see us!" + +"No," he protested. "No, they won't. Anyway suppose they do? I don't +care--do you?" + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76503 *** diff --git a/76503-h/76503-h.htm b/76503-h/76503-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..50779b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/76503-h/76503-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6907 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset= UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Man Who Mastered Time | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +/* Transcriber's Note and Corrections */ + + .tnote { border: dashed 1px; + padding: 1em; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-right: 0%; + margin-bottom: 3em; + margin-left: 0%; + page-break-after: always; } + + .tnote p { text-indent: 0em; margin-left: 2em; margin-top: .5em; font-size: 90%; } + + .tnote h3 { text-indent: 0em; margin-left: 0em; text-align: center; font-size: 100%; + font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; } + + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76503 ***</div> + +<h1><i>THE MAN WHO MASTERED TIME</i><br /><br /></h1> + + +<h3>RAY CUMMINGS<br /><br /><br /></h3> + + +<h3>ACE BOOKS</h3> +<h4>A Division of A. A. Wyn, Inc.<br /> +23 West 47th Street, New York 36, N. Y. +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></h4> + + + + +<h4>THE MAN WHO MASTERED TIME<br /></h4> + +<h4>Copyright, 1929, by Ray Cummings<br /><br /> + +An Ace Book, by arrangement with the author.<br /><br /><br /><br /></h4> + +<h4><span class="smcap">To Gabrielle</span><br /> +Who has given me affectionate<br /> +assistance for a long, long time.<br /><br /></h4> + +<h4>Printed in U. S. A.<br /></h4> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER ONE</h2> + + +<p>"Time," said George, "why I can give you a definition of time. It's what +keeps everything from happening at once."</p> + +<p>A ripple of laughter went about the little group of men.</p> + +<p>"Quite so," agreed the Chemist. "And, gentlemen, that's not nearly so +funny as it sounds. As a matter of fact, it is really not a bad +scientific definition. Time and space are all that separate one event +from another. Everything happens some<i>where</i> at some<i>time</i>."</p> + +<p>"You intimated you had something vitally important to tell us," the Big +Business Man suggested. "Something, Rogers, that would amaze us. Some +project you were about to undertake—"</p> + +<p>Rogers raised his hand. "In a moment, gentlemen. I want to prepare you +first—to some extent, at least. That's why I have led you into this +discussion. I want you to realize that your preconceived ideas of time +are wrong, inadequate. You must think along entirely different lines, in +terms of, I shall say, the <i>new science</i>."</p> + +<p>"I will," agreed George, "only tell me how."</p> + +<p>"You said that time, space, and matter are not separate, distinct +entities, but are blended together," the Doctor declared. "Just what do +you mean?"</p> + +<p>Rogers gazed earnestly about the room. "This, my friends. Those are the +three factors which make up our universe as we know it. I said they were +blended. I mean that the actual reality underlying all the +manifestations we experience is not temporal or spatial or material, but +a blend of all three. It is we who, in our minds, have split up the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>original unity into three such supposedly different things as time, +space and matter."</p> + +<p>"Take space and time," said the Big Business Man. "Those two seem wholly +different to me. I shouldn't think they had the slightest connection."</p> + +<p>"But they have. Between the three planes of space—length, breadth and +thickness—and time, there is no essential distinction. We think of them +differently; we instinctively feel differently about them. But science +is not concerned with our feelings—and science recognizes today that +time is a property of space, just as are length, breadth and thickness."</p> + +<p>"That's easy to say," growled the Banker. "Any one can make statements +that can't be proven."</p> + +<p>"It has been proven," Rogers declared quietly. "The mathematical +language of science would bore you. Let me give you a popular +illustration—an illustration, by the way, that I saw in print long +before Einstein's theory was made public. For instance, think about +this: A house has length, breadth and thickness. The house is matter, +and it has three dimensions of space. But what else has it?"</p> + +<p>A blank silence followed his sudden question.</p> + +<p>"Hasn't it duration, gentlemen? Could a house have any real existence if +it did not exist for any time at all?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said George, "I guess that's something to think about."</p> + +<p>Rogers went on calmly: "You must admit, my friends, that the existence +of matter depends on time equally as on space. They are, as I said, +blended together. A house must have length, breadth, thickness and +duration, or it cannot exist. Matter, in other words, persists in time +and space. Let me give you another illustration of this blending. How +would you define motion?"</p> + +<p>Again there was a dubious silence.</p> + +<p>"Motion," said George suddenly, "why, that's when something—something +material changes place." He was blushing at his own temerity, and he sat +back in his leather chair, smoking furiously.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Quite so," smiled Rogers. "That, gentlemen, is about the way we all +conceive motion. Something material, a railroad train, for instance, +changes its position in space." He regarded the men before him, and this +time there was a touch of triumph in his manner. "But, my friends, +that's where our line of reasoning is inadequate. Time is involved +equally with space. The train was there <i>then</i>; it is here <i>now</i>. That +involves time."</p> + +<p>"In other words—" the Doctor began.</p> + +<p>"In other words, motion is the simultaneous change of the position of +matter in time and space. You see how impossible it is to speak of one +factor without involving the others? That is the mental attitude into +which I'm trying to get you. I want you to think of time exactly as you +think of length, breadth and thickness—as one of the properties of +space. Isn't that clear?"</p> + +<p>The Big Business Man answered him. "I think so. I can understand now +what you mean by a blending of—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, his words are clear enough," the Banker interjected testily. "But +what's the argument about? He started in by saying—"</p> + +<p>George sat up suddenly. "Mr. Rogers, you said we were to come here for +something vitally important to you. Something about time and space. You +said—"</p> + +<p>Rogers interrupted him. "I did indeed. I asked you all to come here to +the club tonight because you are my friends. Mine and Loto's. And the +affair concerns him more directly than it does me."</p> + +<p>He glanced across the room. "Come, Loto. You're the one to tell them."</p> + +<p>The Chemist's son, a young man of twenty, rose reluctantly from his +obscure seat in a corner of the room. He was tall, and slight of build, +with thick, wavy chestnut hair and blue eyes; his delicate features were +offset by a square firmness of chin. He came forward slowly, flushing as +the eyes of the men were turned on him; a poetic-looking boy, with only +the firm line of his lips and the set of his jaw to mark him for a man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + +<p>"My son, gentlemen," Rogers added. "You all know Loto."</p> + +<p>"We do," said George enthusiastically. He vacated his own chair, shoving +it forward, and selected another, more retired position for himself.</p> + +<p>Loto settled himself in the chair and then hesitated, as though in doubt +how to begin. He was still flushing, and yet his manner was thoroughly +poised. His forehead was wrinkled in thought.</p> + +<p>"Father and I were experimenting," he began abruptly, "about two years +ago. We were interested in electrons. We were experimenting with the +fluorescence in a Crookes tube—breaking down the atoms into electrons. +Then we followed the experiments of Lenard and Roentgen. We darkened the +tube and prepared a chemical screen, which grew luminous."</p> + +<p>Loto turned to Rogers: "They don't want to hear all this. These +technicalities—"</p> + +<p>Rogers smiled. "We hit upon it quite by accident—an accident that we +have never been able to duplicate. We had, that evening, an adaptation +of the familiar Crookes tube. I do not know the exact conditions we +secured; we had no idea we were on the threshold of any discovery and we +kept no record of what we did. Nor am I sure just how I prepared the +screen—what proportions of the chemicals I used—"</p> + +<p>"You're worse than Loto," the Banker growled. "If you'll just tell us +what—"</p> + +<p>"I will," agreed Rogers good-naturedly. "We were working one night in my +laboratory on Forty-third Street—only a few hundred yards from the +Scientific Club here. The room was dark, and we had set up a small +chemical screen. It grew luminous as the electrons from the tube struck +it, but the glowing was not what we had expected—not what we had +observed before. The difference is unexplainable to you, but we both +noticed it. And then Loto noticed something else, something in the +darkness behind the screen."</p> + +<p>Loto was sitting upright on the edge of his chair; his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> eyes were +snapping with eagerness as he interrupted his father.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell them because it was I who saw it first. Behind the screen, +the darkness of the room itself was growing luminous with a glowing +radiance that seemed to spread out into rays that were not parallel, but +divergent. It looked almost as though the screen were a searchlight +sending a spreading beam out behind it.</p> + +<p>"Father saw it almost as soon as I did. It was a very curious light; it +did not illuminate the room about us. Then we suddenly discovered that +it went through the walls of the laboratory. We were looking into a +space that seemed to be opening up for miles ahead of us. The walls of +the room, the house itself, the city around us, were all blotted out. We +were looking into an empty distance."</p> + +<p>"Empty?" echoed George tensely. "Didn't you see anything?"</p> + +<p>"Not at first." Loto had relaxed; his earnest gaze passed from one to +the other of the intent faces of the men. "We were only conscious of +empty distance. It was not darkness nor was it light. It was more a dim +phosphorescence. We had forgotten the Crookes tube, the screen, +everything but that glowing, empty scene before us.</p> + +<p>"After a moment, or it may have been much longer, the scene seemed to +brighten. It turned to gleaming silver, and then we saw that we were +looking out over a snow-covered waste. Miles of it. Snow reaching back +to the horizon, and dull gray sky overhead. The ground seemed about +sixty feet below us, and we were poised in the air above it."</p> + +<p>Loto paused a moment, and Rogers added, "You understand, gentlemen, that +my laboratory is not on the ground floor of the building, but somewhat +above the level of that part of the city."</p> + +<p>"But—" began the Big Business Man.</p> + +<p>"Let him go on," growled the Banker. "Go on, boy. Didn't you see +anything but snow?"</p> + +<p>"No, not at once. It was all bleak and desolate. But it kept on +brightening, losing its silvery, glowing look until at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> last we could +see it was daylight. It was apparently late afternoon—or perhaps early +morning. The sun wasn't showing—it must have been behind a cloud.</p> + +<p>"We sat staring down at this cold, snowy landscape, and then, almost +from below us, something moving came into view. It had passed under +us—under the laboratory—and was traveling on away from us."</p> + +<p>"What was it?" the Banker demanded.</p> + +<p>"Well, it seemed to be a huge sled, with fur covered figures on it, and +pulled by an animal almost as large as a horse. But it wasn't a +horse—it was a dog."</p> + +<p>Loto paused, but no one else spoke. After a moment he resumed:</p> + +<p>"The sled slackened and stopped about a quarter of a mile north of the +laboratory—up toward where Central Park is now. And then we saw that +there was a building there, a large, oval-shaped structure. It may have +been built of snow, or ice—or perhaps some whitish stone. There seemed +to be an enclosed space behind it. The whole thing blended into the +landscape so that we had overlooked it before.</p> + +<p>"The sled stopped. We could see the figures climbing down from it. Then +there was sudden darkness. The scene went black. We were sitting facing +the side wall of the laboratory."</p> + +<p>"A wire in our apparatus had burned out," Rogers explained. "And that +night I was taken sick. It developed into pneumonia and I was laid up +for weeks. Loto was left alone to follow up our discovery."</p> + +<p>"Just a minute," the Banker interjected. "Do I understand you to imply +that you actually saw all this? It was not a vision, or an electrical +picture of some sort that you were reproducing?"</p> + +<p>"No, they mean it was an actual scene," the Big Business Man put in. +"They were seeing New York City at some other time. Isn't that so?"</p> + +<p>Rogers nodded. "Exactly. And while I was sick, Loto went ahead and—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Was it the past?" the Doctor interposed. "Were you looking back into +the past?"</p> + +<p>"We were looking across countless centuries into the future," said Loto.</p> + +<p>"The future!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," declared Rogers. "Must you always think of the future as a +wonderful civilization of marvelous inventions, mammoth buildings and +airplanes like ocean steamships? All that lies ahead of us, no doubt. A +hundred years—two hundred—a thousand—will bring all that. But further +on? What about then, gentlemen? Ten thousand years from now? Or fifty +thousand? Do you anticipate that civilization will always climb steadily +upward? You are wrong. There must be a peak, and then a down grade—the +decadence of mankind."</p> + +<p>"Please, let me go on," Loto said eagerly. "I need not tell you all now +exactly how we knew we were looking into the future, and not the past. +We, ourselves, did not know it that first evening. But later, when I +studied the scene more closely, I could tell easily."</p> + +<p>"How?" the Banker demanded.</p> + +<p>"By the details I saw. The type of building. That animal that looked +like a dog. The sun—I'll tell you about that in a moment. An artificial +light in the house—I saw it once or twice when it was night there. And +the girl. Her manner of dress—"</p> + +<p>"There was a girl?" said George quickly. "A girl! Tell us about her, +Loto. Was she pretty? Was she—"</p> + +<p>"Go on, boy," growled the Banker. "Tell it from where you left off."</p> + +<p>"Yes, she was very pretty," said Loto gravely. "She—" He stopped +suddenly, his gaze drifting off into distance.</p> + +<p>"Oh boy!" breathed George, but at the Banker's glare he sat back, +abashed.</p> + +<p>Loto went on after a moment: "I won't go into details now. While my +father was sick, I was able to examine the scene many times. I even +think I—well, I sat watching it most of the time for a week at least.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The house had a sort of stable—or a kennel, if you want to call it +that—behind it. And there was an open space, like a garden, with a wall +around it. There was a little tree in the garden; a tree all covered +with snow. But after a few days the sun came out and melted the snow on +the tree branches.</p> + +<p>"The girl was a captive. I guess they were bringing her in on that sled +the night we first saw them. There was another woman about the place, +and an old man. And a younger man—the one who was holding the girl a +prisoner."</p> + +<p>"You said the house looked about a quarter of a mile away," the Banker +declared. "How could you see all these details?"</p> + +<p>"I had a small telescope, sir."</p> + +<p>"The scene actually was there," Rogers put in. "Loto used a telescope +quite as he would have used one through the window to see Central Park. +Go on, Loto."</p> + +<p>"The girl..." George prompted.</p> + +<p>"She was a small girl. Very slender—about sixteen, I guess. She had +long, golden hair, but it was red when she stood outside with the sun on +it. That's because the sun was red; an enormous glowing red ball, like +the end of a cigar. It tinged the snow with blood, but there didn't seem +to be much heat from it.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes I could see the girl through the doorway. There was a door, +but it was transparent—glass, perhaps—and the house was lighted +inside. She would sit on a low seat, with her hair in sort of braids +down over her shoulders. Once she played on some little stringed +instrument. And sang. I could see her so plainly it seemed curious not +to hear her voice.</p> + +<p>"They appeared to treat her kindly, even though she was a captive. But +once the man came in and tried to kiss her. She fended him off. Then he +went out and got on his sled and drove away. He was gone several hours.</p> + +<p>"The girl cried that night. She cried for a long time. Once she ran +outside, but one of those huge dogs came leaping out of the other +building and drove her back. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> dog's baying must have aroused the +place. The old man and the woman appeared, and they locked the girl up +in some other room. I never saw her again.</p> + +<p>"A week or two went by and father was better. But the next time I went +to the laboratory, the apparatus wouldn't work. Perhaps the chemicals on +the screen were worn out—We're not really sure. But we've never been +able since to make a screen that would do more than glow. We've never +had another that would affect the time-space behind it."</p> + +<p>"You mean," said the Big Business Man softly, "that after those brief +glimpses into the future, it is closed again to you?"</p> + +<p>Rogers spoke. "Tell them the rest, Loto."</p> + +<p>The younger man was hesitant. "Perhaps you gentlemen wouldn't +understand. We have seen nothing more, but I couldn't forget that girl."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> understand," George murmured. But Loto went on unheeding:</p> + +<p>"It wasn't the scientific part of our discovery that impressed me most. +We kept that secret because we had no proof of what we had done, and we +couldn't seem to get any. It was the girl that bothered me. That girl—a +captive—facing some danger.... You gentlemen will say she isn't living, +that she won't be alive for thousands of years yet. But <i>I</i> say your +conception of it is wrong."</p> + +<p>Loto's voice had gained sudden power. He seemed abruptly years +older—forceful, commanding.</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> say that girl <i>will</i> be living in the future. I say she <i>is</i> +living in the future. She is living just as you and I are living—right +here in this exact space that we call New York—within a few hundred +yards of this room. She is separated from us, not by space, but only by +time.</p> + +<p>"You, gentlemen, perhaps cannot conceive of crossing that time. But if +it were a mile of space, or a thousand miles, you could imagine crossing +it very easily. Yet we know that time is a property of space; not one +iota different from length, breadth and thickness except that we think +of it differently."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<p>Loto's flashing eyes held his little audience. "Gentlemen, suppose +you—with your human intelligence—were trees, rooted to one spot here +in America. And suppose that the accustomed order of things was that +Asia would come slowly and steadily toward you and pass before you. That +is what time does for us. Do you suppose, under those circumstances, +that you could readily conceive of going across space and reaching Asia? +Think about that, gentlemen! It's easy for us to imagine moving through +space, because we've always done it. But a tree with your intelligence +would not feel that way about it. The tree would say: 'Asia will be +here.' And if you said: 'That's true. But Asia exists just the same in a +different part of space from you. If you go there, you will not have to +wait for it to come to you,' the tree—even if it had your present +intelligence in every other way—wouldn't understand that. Simply +because the tree had always conceived space as we are accustomed to +conceiving time. That conception of ours does not fit the real facts, +for—except for the way space and time affect us personally—there is +actually no distinction to be made between them. That is no original +theory of mine; it is modern scientific thought—mathematically proven +and accepted ever since Albert Einstein first made his theory public."</p> + +<p>A silence followed Loto's outburst. Rogers broke it:</p> + +<p>"We would like to have you gentlemen meet us here two weeks from +tonight. We are not quite ready yet. Will you do that?"</p> + +<p>Every one in the room signified assent.</p> + +<p>"But what for?" George asked earnestly. "Of course we will, but has Loto +discovered anything? Has he—"</p> + +<p>Loto interrupted him. "I have been working and experimenting for two +years." He had fallen back to his quiet manner. "Father has helped me, +of course. And given me money—more than he could afford."</p> + +<p>He smiled at Rogers, who returned it with a gaze of affection.</p> + +<p>"In two weeks I will be completely ready. Don't you think so, father?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," said Rogers, and a sudden cloud of anxiety crossed his face. He +was a scientist, but he was a father as well, and even his scientific +enthusiasm could not allay the fear for his son that was in his heart.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he repeated. "I think you will be quite ready, Loto."</p> + +<p>"Ready for what?" growled the Banker. He was mopping his forehead with a +huge white handkerchief.</p> + +<p>Loto's glance swept across all the men in the room. "I have found a way +to cross time, just as you are able to cross space. And two weeks from +tonight, gentlemen, with, your assistance, I propose to start forward +through the centuries that lie ahead of us. I'm going to find that +girl—if I can—and release her—help her out of whatever danger, +whatever trouble she is in!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER TWO</h2> + + +<p>"Honor to Loto," cried the Big Business Man. "The youngest and greatest +scientist of all time!"</p> + +<p>"There's a double meaning in that," laughed the Doctor, amid the +applause. "The greatest scientist of time! He is, indeed."</p> + +<p>It was outwardly a gay little gathering, having dinner in a small +private room of the Scientific Club. But underneath the laughter there +was a note of tenseness, and two of the people—a man and a +woman—laughed infrequently with gayety that was forced.</p> + +<p>The man was Rogers; the woman, Lylda, his wife, mother of Loto. She was +the only woman in the room. At first glance she would have seemed no +more than thirty-five,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> though in reality she was several years older—a +small, slender figure in a simple black evening dress that covered her +shoulders, but left her throat bare. Her beauty was of a curious type; +her face was oval, her features delicately molded and of pronounced +Grecian cast. Yet there seemed about her, also, an indefinable touch of +the Orient; her eyes, perhaps, which were slate gray, large and very +slightly upturned at the corners. Her complexion was fair; her hair +thick, wavy and coal-black.</p> + +<p>That she was a woman of intellect, culture and refinement was obvious. +There was about her, too, a look of gentle sweetness, the air of a woman +who could be nothing less than charming. Her eyes, as she met those of +her men friends around her, were direct and honest. But when she +regarded Loto this evening, a yearning melancholy sprang into them, with +a mistiness as though the tears were restrained only by an effort.</p> + +<p>The laughter about the table died out. A waiter was removing the last of +the dishes; the men were lighting their cigars.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the Banker, breaking the silence, "now let us hear it. If +everyone is as curious as I am—"</p> + +<p>"More," put in George. "I'm more curious."</p> + +<p>"You're right," agreed Rogers. "We must get on."</p> + +<p>"First," the Big Business Man interrupted, "I want to know more about +that screen behind which you saw that other time world of the future."</p> + +<p>"I know very little myself," Rogers answered. "So little that Loto and I +could never duplicate it. But the theory is understandable. The space +where Central Park now is has a certain time factor allied to its other +properties. The light, the rays, from that screen, whatever may have +been their character, altered the time factor of that space.</p> + +<p>"As Loto told you, the modern conception of the reality of things is +that the future exists—but with a different time dimension. We have a +familiar axiom, 'No two masses of matter can occupy the same space <i>at +the same time</i>.' That is just another way of saying it. To reason +logically from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> that, an infinite number of masses of matter can, and +do, occupy the same space <i>at different times</i>."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather hear about this new experiment," the Banker said. "You made +the statement—"</p> + +<p>"So would I," agreed George. "That girl—"</p> + +<p>"You shall," said Rogers. His grave, troubled glance went to his wife's +face, but she smiled at him bravely. "You shall have all the facts as +briefly as I can give them to you.</p> + +<p>"Loto became obsessed—I can hardly call it anything less—with the idea +that he could alter the time factor of human consciousness. In theory it +was perfectly possible—I had to admit that. And so I let him go ahead. +He has worked feverishly, with an energy I feared would injure his +health, for nearly two years. But, gentlemen, this is all that counts: +he has succeeded. I'm sure of that; we have already made a test. The +apparatus is ready upstairs now, and—"</p> + +<p>"Let Loto tell it," grumbled the Banker. "Go on, boy, can't you tell us +how you did it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. I can in principle." Loto hesitated, then added with a +mixture of sarcasm and deference: "I can explain it to you in a general +way, but the details are very technical."</p> + +<p>He paused until the waiter had left the room; then he began speaking +slowly, evidently choosing his words with the utmost care.</p> + +<p>"Matter, as we know it now, has four dimensions; the three so-called +planes of space, and one of time. But what is matter? The new science +tells us it is molecules, composed of atoms. And atoms? An atom is a +ring of electrons, which are particles of negative, disembodied +electricity, revolving at enormously high speeds around a central +nucleus. Am I clear?"</p> + +<p>Loto's gaze rested on the Banker, who nodded somewhat dubiously.</p> + +<p>"Then," Loto went on, "we have resolved all matter to one common entity, +that central nucleus of positive electricity which is sometimes called +the proton. All this is now generally known and accepted. But of what +substance, what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> character, is the proton? For years now, the theory has +been fairly accepted that the proton is merely a vortex, or whirlpool. +And the electron is conceived to be something very similar. Do you grasp +the significance of that? It robs matter of what I, personally, always +instinctively feel is its chief characteristic—substance. We delve into +matter, resolving its complexities to find one basic substance, and we +find not substance but a whirlpool—electrical, doubtless—in space!"</p> + +<p>"That makes you rather gasp!" the Big Business Man exclaimed, gazing +about the table.</p> + +<p>"It is quite correct," affirmed Rogers. "It transforms our conception of +substance to motion. Of what? Motion of something intangible—the ether, +let us say. Or space itself."</p> + +<p>"I can't seem to get a mental grip on it," the Big Business Man +declared. "You—"</p> + +<p>"Think of it this way," Rogers went on earnestly. "Motion can easily +change our impression of solidity. This is not an analogous case, +perhaps, but it will give you something to think about. Water is +normally a fluid. You can pass your hand through a stream of water from +a garden hose. But set that water in more rapid motion, and what +physical impression do you get? At Fully, Switzerland, water for a +turbine emerges from a nozzle at a speed of four hundred miles per hour. +What would happen if you tried to pass your hand through that? I have +seen a jet no more than three inches in diameter of such rapidly moving +water, and you cannot cut through it with the blow of a crowbar! There +you have a physical substance—an impression of solidity—derived from +motion."</p> + +<p>"But what has all this to do with time?" the Banker objected, after a +moment of silence.</p> + +<p>"Everything," said Loto quickly. "Since we are changing the +time-dimension of matter, without altering its space-dimensions, you +must have some conception of what matter really is. When once you +realize the real intangibility of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> even our own bodies, or this house we +are in, you will be able to understand us better."</p> + +<p>The Banker relaxed. "Go on, boy. Let's hear it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Changing the time-dimension of substance amounts merely to a +change in the rate and character of the motion that constitutes the +electrical vortex we call a proton."</p> + +<p>Loto looked at Rogers somewhat helplessly, with a faintly quizzical +smile twitching at his lips.</p> + +<p>"I seem to be talking very ponderously tonight, father. I wonder if it +wouldn't be easier for us to show them the apparatus?"</p> + +<p>Rogers rose from his chair. "By all means. Gentlemen, Loto has completed +his apparatus on the roof of the club. You may have noticed for the past +month that one end is boarded up, and has a canvas roof over it. That is +where Loto has been working. Will you come up with us?"</p> + +<p>The building that houses the New York Scientific Club is a full block in +depth and twenty stories high. Its flat roof is surrounded by a parapet +of stone. One end of the roof is a garden, with pergolas, trellised +vines, and beds of flowers with white gravel walks between. At the other +end, on this particular evening, a twenty-foot, rough board wall +enclosed a space about a hundred feet square, with a canvas roof above +it.</p> + +<p>The night was calm and moonless, with a purple sky brilliantly studded +with stars. At this height the hum of the great city was stilled. Near +by, many buildings towered still higher, but for the most part the roofs +lay below, with their chimneys and pot-bellied water tanks set upon +spindly legs like huge, grotesque bugs on guard. A block away the roof +garden of a great hotel blazed with red and green lights. Spots of light +crawled through the streets below, with black blobs that were +pedestrians scurrying between them. Occasionally the drone of a plane +overhead broke the stillness.</p> + +<p>Rogers led the way across the roof top, and unlocked a tiny door that +led into the temporary board enclosure. Lylda<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> and Loto entered last, +the woman clinging to her son's hand. The turn of a switch flooded the +place with light.</p> + +<p>At first glance one would have said it was a modern passenger airplane +that was standing there under the canvas—a huge, glistening dragonfly +of aluminum color with a long, narrow cabin below.</p> + +<p>"There," said Rogers, "is the product of Loto's work. What you see from +here is merely an adaptation of the Frazia plane—and the Frazia company +built it for us. The apparatus flies as any other Frazia plane does; it +has the same motors, the same equipment. Its other mechanism—by which +the time-dimension, the basic electrical nature of the whole apparatus, +and everything or everybody within its cabin can be changed at +will—that mechanism Loto constructed and installed himself."</p> + +<p>"There you go again," growled the Banker. "Let Loto tell it, won't you?"</p> + +<p>Rogers bridled a little. "I'll tell you this, Donald. That is the +apparatus in which Loto is going to cross time into the future. At least +you can understand that—if you keep your mind on it."</p> + +<p>There was a general laugh at the Banker's expense. But Lylda did not +laugh. She was leaning against a wooden post, clinging to her son's +hand, and staring at that sleek, shining thing with wide, terrified +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Come, Loto," said Rogers. "They want you to show it to them."</p> + +<p>The young man disengaged himself from his mother and went forward. In a +moment the men were scattered about, examining the plane.</p> + +<p>"You may not understand the Frazia model," Loto was saying. "It was only +put on the market recently. It's slightly larger than the average of the +older types—more stable in the air, but no faster. The 'copter-type, +variable-pitch propellers are powered by a Frazier atomic motor."</p> + +<p>The Banker called to them. He was standing on a box, looking into one of +the cabin windows. "You've got different rooms in here."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said Loto. "I've divided it into three small compartments +according to my own needs."</p> + +<p>"Can we get inside?"</p> + +<p>"I think perhaps it would be better not to," said Rogers, coming +forward. "At least, not tonight. Loto wants to get started. There is—"</p> + +<p>"You plan to operate this <i>tonight</i>?" the Doctor asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Loto. "I am going forward in time, to—"</p> + +<p>"To find that girl," George finished eagerly. "To rescue her. Don't you +remember he saw her in that—"</p> + +<p>"Be quiet, boy," the Banker commanded. "Loto, what is this other +mechanism your father mentioned?"</p> + +<p>"It is not particularly complicated," the young man answered readily. +"In general principle, that is. The Frazia mechanism causes the machine +to travel through space—to change its space-factors at the will of the +operator. That's clear, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Of course it is," said the Banker impatiently.</p> + +<p>"It's clear because you've always been able to travel through space +yourself," interjected the Big Business Man. "Don't be so +self-satisfied, Donald. If you'd been rooted to one spot all your +life—like a tree—you wouldn't have a chance on earth of understanding +an airplane."</p> + +<p>"That's exactly what I mean," said Loto quickly. "My other mechanism +changes the time-factor of the entire apparatus. I can explain it best +this way: Every particle of matter in that machine—as well as my own +body—is electrical in its basic nature. My mechanism circulates a +current through every particle of that matter. Not an electrical +current, but something closely allied to it. The nature of this I do not +yet know. But it causes the inherent vibratory movements of the protons +of matter to change their character. The matter changes its state. It +acquires a different time-factor, in other words."</p> + +<p>"Is this change instantaneous?" the Doctor asked.</p> + +<p>"No, sir. It is progressive. To reach the time-factor of tomorrow night, +take the first few minutes of time as it seems<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> to us to pass. The +time-factor of next week would be reached during the succeeding two or +three minutes."</p> + +<p>"In other words, it picks up speed," said the Big Business Man.</p> + +<p>"Yes. How long the acceleration will last I do not know. I have a series +of dials for registering the time-movement. By altering the strength, +the intensity of the current, I can vary the speed, or check it +entirely."</p> + +<p>"But why have this apparatus in the form of an airplane?" asked the +Banker. "You're going through time, not space."</p> + +<p>Rogers answered: "In a hundred years from now this building will not be +here. If we were to stop his time-movement at that point, he would drop +twenty stories through space to the ground."</p> + +<p>"Why, of course!" exclaimed the Big Business Man. "But in the air..."</p> + +<p>"Exactly," said Loto. "I shall not start the propellers until later; +until I am launched into future time, and need them."</p> + +<p>Rogers looked at his watch. "Have you much to do before you start, +Loto?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir—nothing. I have food and water, clothing, and everything else +I need. I filled our list very carefully, and checked over everything +this afternoon. I could have started then; I've left nothing to do +tonight."</p> + +<p>"Then you might as well get away at once. You'll remember everything +I've told you, Loto? You'll come back here, as quickly as possible? Here +to this rooftop?"</p> + +<p>The strain of anxiety under which Rogers was subconsciously laboring +came out suddenly in his voice. "You'll be careful, lad?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, of course. I—well, I might as well say good-by now, Father."</p> + +<p>They shook hands silently, and Rogers abruptly turned away.</p> + +<p>Loto shook hands with the others.</p> + +<p>The Banker had withdrawn to the farthest corner of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> enclosure, where +he stood regarding the airplane fearfully. Loto walked over to him.</p> + +<p>"Good-by, boy." The Banker's voice was gruff and a trifle unsteady. +"Take it easy. Don't be a reckless fool just because you're young."</p> + +<p>"I'll be all right, sir." Silently they shook hands.</p> + +<p>Loto met his mother a few paces away. He stood head and shoulders above +her, and her arms went around him hungrily as he bent down to kiss her.</p> + +<p>"You'll come back to me, little son?" she whispered. "You'll come back +safely?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mother. Of course."</p> + +<p>He met her eyes, with the terror lurking in their gray depths.</p> + +<p>"Don't look like that, <i>mamita</i>. I'll be all right."</p> + +<p>Rogers was calling to them. Loto disengaged himself gently.</p> + +<p>"Good-by, <i>mamita</i>. I'll be back tomorrow or the next day. Don't +worry—it's nothing."</p> + +<p>The last preparations took no more than a moment or two. Loto climbed to +the cabin and disappeared within it.</p> + +<p>"Be sure and take off the canvas roof later tonight," he called down to +them. "And leave it off so I can get back."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Rogers, "we will. And one of us, at least, will be here +watching all the time you're away. Good-by, Loto."</p> + +<p>"Good-by, Father." The cabin door closed upon him.</p> + +<p>At a distance of twenty feet the men stood in a solemn group, watching.</p> + +<p>"What will it look like going?" George whispered.</p> + +<p>But no one answered him.</p> + +<p>Presently a low hum became audible. It grew in intensity, until it +sounded like the droning of a thousand winged insects. The airplane +rocked gently on its foundation. It was straining, trembling in every +fiber.</p> + +<p>A moment passed. Then the plane began to glow, seemingly phosphorescent +even in the light of the electric bulbs on the scaffolding beside it. +Another moment. There was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> fleeting impression that the thing was +growing translucent—transparent—vapory. For one brief instant the +vision and sound of it persisted—<i>then it was gone</i>!</p> + +<p>The men stood facing a silent, empty space, where a few loose boards +were lying, with a discarded hammer, a saw, and a keg of nails.</p> + +<p>They had forgotten the woman. In an opposite corner of the enclosure +Lylda was seated alone, crying softly and miserably to herself.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>George sat alone on a little bench in the roof garden of the Scientific +Club. On the ground beside him, stretched on a broad leather cushion, +Rogers lay asleep. It was well after midnight. There was hardly a breath +of air stirring, and only a few fleecy clouds to hide the stars. In the +east, a flattened moon was rising.</p> + +<p>George sat with his chin cupped in his hands, staring out over the +lights and the roofs of the city. The growing moonlight gleamed on his +soft white shirt and white flannel trousers.</p> + +<p>Rogers stirred and sat up. "Are you awake, George?"</p> + +<p>"Go on to sleep. I'm good for nearly all night."</p> + +<p>But Rogers rose, stretching. "What time is it?"</p> + +<p>"Quarter of two. Go on to sleep, I tell you."</p> + +<p>"I've had enough." The older man sat down on the bench and lighted a +cigar. "You'd better take a turn, George. You'll wear yourself out."</p> + +<p>"I can't. I'm too excited. How long has he been gone now?"</p> + +<p>Rogers calculated. "About twenty-eight hours."</p> + +<p>"Do you think he'll get back tonight?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Perhaps."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what he's doing right now," George persisted after a silence.</p> + +<p>Rogers did not answer.</p> + +<p>"You don't think anything could have happened to him, do you?"</p> + +<p>"No. I—I hope not."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I hope he brings that girl back with him," George said after another +silence. "I certainly would like to meet her."</p> + +<p>Rogers plucked a flower from the trellis beside them, breaking it in his +fingers idly. "He may get back tonight. It was our idea that—"</p> + +<p>He stopped abruptly, and simultaneously George gripped him by the arm. +They both saw it; a little blob of radiance in the air just beyond the +flower trellis; a shining spot small as a puff of tobacco smoke gleaming +silvery in the moonlight.</p> + +<p>George murmured tensely, "Over there...something."</p> + +<p>A transparent radiance. But in a moment it was congealing, turning into +a glistening, solid shape. The faint hum of it sounded as it hung in +mid-air by the trellis.</p> + +<p>"Not the plane," George murmured. "Then what is it?"</p> + +<p>The humming ceased. They could see the little object clearly now; a +metal cube, each of its faces some twenty inches in diameter. It hung +for another moment, then dropped with a little thump to the rooftop.</p> + +<p>Both the men were on their feet. Rogers said, "A message from him. An +emergency..." He picked up the cube.</p> + +<p>George stared wonderingly. "You know about this?"</p> + +<p>"We arranged it—only for an emergency. If he could not come, or felt +it unwise, he was to send this. We did not want to worry +anyone—particularly his mother—so we didn't mention this +possibility."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In a downstairs club room, the men and Lylda were gathered, all of them +gazing mute and solemn as Rogers opened the cube. Much of its interior +was filled with the intricate time-mechanisms. To one side a sheaf of +manuscript pages was crowded, closely written with Loto's script.</p> + +<p>"His message," George murmured. "I do hope he found the girl, and that +they're all right."</p> + +<p>"I'll read it to you." Rogers' fingers were trembling as he drew out the +pages. He lighted a cigarette, steadied himself. "The first thing he +says—he's all right—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course he's all right," the Banker growled. "That boy is +resourceful."</p> + +<p>"He wants us to know that he's safe and well. It says...."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER THREE</h2> + + +<p>First I want you all to know, I'm quite safe and well. <i>Mamita</i> dear, +please try not to worry about me. Remember, Father we anticipated I +might decide it best to send you a message. I do hope I have calculated +the space-and time-factors correctly, and that I've set the mechanisms +of the cube so that it will come back to you within a day or two after +my departure. I'm assuming that is so.</p> + +<p>You will understand, of course, that as I have lived time, it has been +far longer than that. Much has happened to me, and I want to tell you +now what I can of it.</p> + +<p>You recall that night when I left you—to me now it seems so long ago. I +remember your solemn faces as I closed the door of the cabin after me. I +was in the forward one of the three compartments—you saw it when you +inspected the plane the night I started.</p> + +<p>In this compartment are the controls for the Frazia motors and the +flying controls. The controls of my own mechanism are there also. These +are simple; merely a switch to regulate the proton current, as Father +and I call it, and a series of small dials for recording the +time-change. These dials are geared, with one for days, another for days +in multiples of ten, one for years, and others for years in multiples of +tens, hundreds, and thousands.</p> + +<p>I took my seat behind the Frazia controls. I was not going to use them +at once, because there was no immediate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> need to raise the plane into +the air. But I wanted to be seated; I could not tell what the shock of +starting might be. The dials and switch were on the wall at my right. I +moved the lever of the switch over to the first intensity. There was a +low hum. The floor seemed to rock under me. The humming increased; it +roared in my ears. Everything was vibrating with an infinitely tiny, +trembling quiver that penetrated into my body, into my bones, even +coursed through my blood.</p> + +<p>They were swift sensations, I suppose, lasting no more than a few +seconds. I felt, as near as I can explain it, as though some force that +holds my own body together, cell by cell, were being tampered with; as +if, had the struggle continued, I might be shattered into a myriad of +tiny fragments, like a puff of exploded powder.</p> + +<p>The humming grew still louder, and I remember trying to stand up. A wild +impulse to throw back the switch and stop the thing came to me, but I +resisted it. Then I was conscious of a sensation of falling headlong; a +dizzy, sickening reeling of the senses, rather than the body.</p> + +<p>I lost consciousness—for only a moment or two, I think. I was sitting +in my seat, uninjured. The humming was still in my ears, insistent. But +it was not so loud as I had thought, and after a time I forgot it almost +entirely.</p> + +<p>My first impression now was that everything about me was glowing, +radiating a phosphorescent light. I looked down at my knees; my clothes +were glowing. I could no longer distinguish color; my hands and my shoes +were the same—all that same glowing phosphorescence. It gave a sense of +unreality to everything. And then I saw that everything <i>was</i> unreal; +nothing had any substance. I could distinguish the side of the cabin +through my hand, and beyond the cabin wall I could see the solidity of +the board enclosure where the plane was resting. It was as though my +body and the cabin interior were shimmering ghosts. But when I gripped +my knee with my hand, I felt solid enough.</p> + +<p>I have given you details of my sensations as I remember them now, but I +do not suppose that more than a minute<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> or two had elapsed since I had +first pulled the switch. I glanced at the dial recording the passage of +days but there was no movement.</p> + +<p>I stood up, conscious of a nausea and a strong feeling of +light-headedness. I peered through one of the side windows. Outside, +everything looked at first glance as though I had not yet started. The +walls of the enclosure were clear, solid and as distinct as before. Then +I saw George staring directly at me, and I could tell by the expression +of his face that he was looking, not at the plane, but at an empty space +where the plane had been.</p> + +<p>It was all as real outside as though I had been part of it myself—until +I saw the others move across the enclosure. They were walking extremely +fast and their gestures were rapid; two or three times more rapid than +normal.</p> + +<p>For what seemed like five or ten minutes I stood there watching you all. +It was like a moving picture being run too fast—and being constantly +accelerated. I saw you roll back the canvas roof, and then you went +scurrying out through the door—the last of you so fast that the figure +blurred in my sight.</p> + +<p>I was left alone. For a while I sat there, a little dazed. There is a +small clock on the side wall of the cabin. It might have been completely +radium-painted, by the look of it at that moment, but even though it +glowed as intangible as a ghost, I could make out the hands. I was sure +they would be traveling through space at their accustomed speed and thus +give me the time of the world I had left. I had started at about ten +minutes of ten; the clock now showed about five minutes after ten. I had +been gone fifteen minutes. Above the enclosure, to the east, I saw the +moon. It was about an hour up, I judged. And that gave me a basis to +compute my starting acceleration. The moon an hour up would have made +your time ten minutes of two—four hours after I started. I had passed +through those first four hours in fifteen minutes!</p> + +<p>This was with my control at the weakest intensity of the current. There +are twenty subdivisions of power. I pushed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> the handle around from one +to the other of them quickly, pausing only an instant on each, and +stopping at the tenth. There was no change of sensation, except that the +humming seemed to grow, not louder exactly, but more powerful—more +penetrating. The interior of the cabin and my own body lost visible +density in appearance. You had switched off the electric lights outside, +but in the moonlight I could still see the board walls, not only through +the windows, but through the metallic sides of the cabin.</p> + +<p>I was tingling all over, but the sensation, now that I was used to it, +was pleasant rather than the reverse; a feeling of lightness, buoyancy +and strength.</p> + +<p>With the power increased tenfold, the acceleration of time-movement was +enormous. The movement of the rising moon became visible; the heavens +were turning over, the stars progressing from point to point with ever +increasing speed.</p> + +<p>About ten minutes after ten by the clock, the moon was near the zenith, +and the sun rose an instant later. I was conscious of a flash of +twilight, and the sun's disk shot up from the horizon. The world was +plunged into daylight.</p> + +<p>From my position inside the enclosure I could see nothing outside but +the sky and one or two of the tallest buildings near at hand. There was +no visible movement of anything but the sun. You can understand that, of +course. Had any of you come into the enclosure, or had an airplane +passed overhead, I would not have seen either one. The movement would +have been too rapid for my vision.</p> + +<p>In perhaps a minute or two the sun was directly overhead, and in another +fraction of a minute it had set. Darkness was upon me. Then the moon +rose again and flashed across the heavens. Clouds formed and disappeared +so quickly I could hardly see them.</p> + +<p>I glanced at the dial recording days. Its hand was moving. One day had +passed, and the hand was traveling toward the next.</p> + +<p>For ten minutes or so I sat there, while day succeeded night and night +came again, only to be followed almost in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>stantly by the day light. Soon +I could distinguish only thin streaks of light as the sun and moon +crossed above me—streaks that came closer together, merged into one, +and separated again as the month passed. And then the days became so +brief that they blurred with the nights. A grayness settled upon +everything; the mingled twilight of light and darkness.</p> + +<p>The hand of the day dial was sweeping around swiftly. I looked at the +dial beside it, which recorded days in multiples of ten. Its pointer was +also moving. Forty odd days were recorded and the movement was +accelerating every instant.</p> + +<p>I thought then I had better leave the rooftop. I started the Frazia +'copters, and rose about a thousand feet. Then I slowed them down until +a balance with gravity was maintained, and I hung stationary. You may be +surprised that the flying mechanism was effective while I was sweeping +so swiftly through time. If our atmosphere did not persist in time, the +propellers would have exerted no pressure against it. But the air does +persist, and so does gravity.</p> + +<p>There was apparently no wind. The transient winds and storms of a few +hours were all blended. The result, however, must have been a slight +influence to the north, for I found myself drifting very slowly in that +direction. After a few moments my time-velocity had so increased that +even that drift was averaged. I hung motionless.</p> + +<p>From this height—a thousand feet above the southern boundary of Central +Park—the scene below me was a strange one. At first glance, I might +have been hanging in a balloon on a dull, soundless day very heavily +overcast. Except that the sky, instead of showing dark clouds, was a +queer, luminous gray blur that distinguished nothing.</p> + +<p>The city below me lay clear cut but absolutely shadowless, which gave it +a very extraordinary look of flatness—a vista of buildings painted upon +a huge, concave canvas. Colors were distinguishable, but they were +abnormally grayish and drab. Vague, unreal pencil points of light dotted +the scene—electric lights that were on every night in the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> spots, +and off in the daytime—the blended effect of which was visible. There +was no sound. Nor was there motion. It looked like a dead, empty city. +The streets seemed deserted, with not even a blur to mark those millions +of transitory movements of humans and vehicles that I knew were taking +place.</p> + +<p>I had been conscious of a brief period of chill, and for a moment or two +the scene had assumed a whiter aspect, especially in the park. I +conceived this as a blending of several heavy, lingering snowfalls of +the winter.</p> + +<p>The lowest dial, marking days, now showed only a blur as its pointer +swept around. And the year-dial pointer was visibly moving. I had passed +one year and was well into the second. The clock showed ten thirty. I +had been gone forty minutes!</p> + +<p>I said there was no visible movement in the scene beneath me. That was +so, at first, but I soon began to see plenty of movement. The white look +had come and gone again—far briefer this time—when my attention was +caught by a building on Broadway, along in the Fifties somewhere. It was +a broad but low building, no more than eight or ten stories high; the +lowest in its immediate vicinity. It seemed now to be melting before my +eyes! That is the only way I can describe it—melting. Parts of it were +vanishing! It was dismembering, as though piece by piece it was being +taken apart and carried away. Which, of course, is exactly what was +happening.</p> + +<p>Can you form a mental picture of that? I hope so, for it was +characteristic of all the movement that now began to assume visibility +throughout the silent city. This building that melted—I come back to +that word because it seems the only one suitable—was gone in a moment +or two. Try to conceive that I did not see actual movement—not the +physical movement we are accustomed to. They were tearing down that +building—doubtless over a period of weeks. But I could not see any +specific thing being done, any part of the building come off and move +away. All such details were too rapid—far too rapid. What I saw, +rather, was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> <i>effect</i> of movement; a change of aspect, not the +movement itself. The building progressively looked smaller, until at +last it was not there.</p> + +<p>Then another building began rising in its place. It grew steadily. It +was as if I were blinking, and between each blink, with an unseen +movement, it had leaped upward another story. It seemed a skeleton at +first, and then it was clothed. I watched it, ignoring others further +away, until it stood complete—a full block in depth and thirty or forty +stories high.</p> + +<p>I began to realize now the tremendous acceleration of time velocity I +was undergoing. The year-dial pointer very soon had moved to ten years; +the pointer of the century-dial was stirring. Again I glanced at the +clock. It was after eleven; I had been gone about an hour and a quarter.</p> + +<p>There was nothing that I had to do, and I moved about the cabin, looking +out of each of the windows in turn. The city was rising; not one +building, but hundreds. As my time velocity increased, I could no longer +see them come and go individually. They were there—and then they were +were gone, and others always larger and higher were in their stead.</p> + +<p>So I say the city was rising, coming up to meet me as I hung a thousand +feet or more above it. Already one gigantic edifice to the south seemed +to rear its spire far above me. The edges of the island stayed low, a +fringe of the new and old mingled; but down the backbone, roughly +following Broadway, great piles of steel and masonry were coming up.</p> + +<p>To the southeast I could make out the bridges over the river. There were +others now, extraordinarily broad and high, dwarfing the older ones that +stood neglected beside them.</p> + +<p>It was a period of tremendous activity. And suddenly I discovered that +the southern half of Central Park was obliterated. I had drifted a +little further north and was over it. A building was rising, coming up +toward me so swiftly that its outlines were blurred and shadowy. I was +gazing down through the window in the floor of the cabin, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> caught a +vague impression of a network of gigantic steel girders almost +underneath the machine.</p> + +<p>I was too low. I ascended perhaps another thousand feet. When I was +again hanging stationary, I found beneath me a tremendous terraced +building—a pyramid with its apex sliced off. To the north and south it +connected with others of its kind; giant structures generally of pyramid +shape, with streets running along their steplike terraces. Innumerable +bridges connected these mammoth buildings, so that north and south, and +for a few blocks east and west of the center, there were continuous +aerial streets, in some places as many as ten or fifteen, one above the +other.</p> + +<p>I turned to the window facing the north. There was now nothing but +buildings as far as my line of vision extended; buildings like a ridge +down the center, shading off to the lower areas of the east and west. +There were trees and parks in spots on the top, but the original ground +was covered.</p> + +<p>Some of the upper street levels—those alternate sections of terraces +and bridges over courtyards whose ground was merely the rooftops of +lower edifices—were laid with gleaming rails. And rearing itself above +everything, a skeleton structure of monorails stretched north and +south—eight or ten single rails paralleled at widths of some fifty +feet, which I realized must be carrying some system of aerial railroad.</p> + +<p>This towering pile was indeed the backbone of the city, extending +roughly north and south like a mountain range that forms the backbone of +a continent. The lower areas adjacent—five hundred feet above the +ground, perhaps—were for the most part buildings with broad, flat +roofs.</p> + +<p>In New Jersey, on Long Island, and north of Manhattan as far as I could +see, lesser cities had appeared, with occasional giants among buildings +that were lower. The whole was now welded into one, for the rivers on +each side of me were spanned by a bridge at almost every street; a +network of bridges under which the water flowed almost unnoticed.</p> + +<p>My time-velocity was still accelerating. I saw now, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>creasingly, many +things about the city that were shadowy—structures that were erected +and stood no more than twenty or thirty years, perhaps, which to my +vision now was only a moment. I became aware, not only below me, but +even above me, of occasional vague aerial structures; skeletons that +reared themselves up a few thousand feet and dissipated into nothing +before I could form a conception of their real nature.</p> + +<p>There was, indeed, everywhere this shadowy aspect as to detail. Changes +were taking place; things were being done even the effect of which was +too fleeting for my vision to grasp.</p> + +<p>I was constantly losing more details, but in general the growth of the +city was outward and upward. Presently there came a pause, as though the +city were resting. Occasional areas were blurred by their changing form; +across the river in Jersey a tremendous tower was rising into the sky +far above me. But as a whole the scene had quieted. My brain was +confused by what I had tried to observe and comprehend. I found myself +hungry and a little faint. I dropped into my seat.</p> + +<p>The dials beside me caught my attention. The century-dial pointer had +passed eighteen. Eighteen hundred years, and approaching two thousand +even as I sat staring at it. The clock marked one forty. I had been gone +almost four hours. I said the city was resting. That is true. The growth +of two thousand years had carried it to splendors of mechanical +perfection that I could only guess at. But now it seemed to have reached +its height; the summit of human achievement had been attained.</p> + +<p>I waited and watched through another period. There were changes, but +they were minor. I suppose all the buildings and various structures +decayed and were replenished. I do not know. The changes were too +fleeting for me to see, and the general form remained the same.</p> + +<p>I was at what seemed the pinnacle of civilization, where mankind was +resting and enjoying the results of its labors.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> Decadence was bound to +come, as truly as death followed birth.</p> + +<p>The clock now recorded two fifty. I had been gone five hours. The +century-dial was beyond thirty-seven hundred years. Two thousand years +of growth upward from our own time-world, and only two thousand more of +resting on the summit before the inevitable decline began. He who stands +still, goes backward. And so it is with mankind as a whole. This +triumphant city went down almost as quickly at it had come up. And +through the windows of that cabin I watched it—neglected a little at +first, then more and more as its softened masters, with nature turned +against them, became unable to cope with it, until at last it broke up +and sank back into ruin, decay and desolation.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER FOUR</h2> + + +<p>Occasionally, now, some brave effort seemed to be made to build the city +on a different scale. There were other types of architecture, always +smaller; little sections, newly built, stood heroically, surrounded by +gigantic, moldy ruins. Suddenly I realized that it was a dead city at +which I was staring. There were no longer changes, except those natural +to the passing years. The city was deserted; its inhabitants had died or +had fled—or both.</p> + +<p>It was after five o'clock. The dials registered just short of eight +thousand years. I had less to see now, and I could give my attention to +other things. The ruins of a dead city do not remain long in visible +existence. Two thousand years more were recorded. Beneath me the +vegetation seemed untouched by the hand of man; only in a few scattered +places<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> were there any remaining ruins: a tumbledown segment of +building; the broken base of a tower; skeletons of crumbling steel here +and there; headstones on the grave of what once had been a city.</p> + +<p>With these changes the contour of the landscape itself was forced to my +attention. The rivers had changed; they were broader. South of Manhattan +Island, and somewhat to the west, I could distinguish a great expanse of +water. All the lowlands there—the "Meadows," as we call them—had sunk. +To the north, the land seemed higher than normal, and an arm of the sea +had crept in up there to lap the foothills.</p> + +<p>I have not told you of the temperature I was experiencing. When I +started there was an almost immediate drop—a blending of day and night, +winter and summer. It penetrated into the cabin, making the ship almost +cold after the warm August evening of my departure.</p> + +<p>Now, however, at seven o'clock, when I had been gone some nine hours, I +felt that it was growing noticeably colder. And the faintest suggestion +of a vague whiteness began to creep into the scene below me. That is an +odd way for me to phrase it. I was seeing each minute only the <i>effect</i> +of the snowfalls of thirty winters, blended with all the other seasons. +The snowfalls were increasing in severity; I became aware of that in the +aspect of the scene, but I cannot describe it.</p> + +<p>It was after seven o'clock now. I had been gone about nine and a half +hours. The dials showed eleven thousand four hundred and fifty odd +years. I now faced a new problem: the landscape we had seen in our +experiment had nothing in it of great duration. How could I find it, or +tell when I had reached its time? That house in which the girl was held +captive could stand no more than a hundred years, if that. And it was +the only distinguishing mark in the whole scene. I would pass the +lifetime of that house in a minute or two. I puzzled over this for quite +a while. I had almost decided to stop and verify the actual, momentary +conditions beneath me. And then I realized I still had far to go. There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +were trees, plenty of them, beneath me. They were constantly shifting +and changing, but quite distinguishable, nevertheless. And in the +enclosure about that house, Father and I had seen a tree—the only tree +in the landscape. It was a curious looking tree, stunted, and with a +look of the far north about it. These below me, at eleven and twelve +thousand years ahead of our present, were more or less normal looking +trees—or they probably would have been, had I stopped to examine them.</p> + +<p>I still had far to travel, so I increased the current from the tenth to +the fifteenth intensity. Again I was conscious of that feeling of +lightness in my head, and the humming and vibration of everything +increased. I had almost forgotten my personal sensations; had quite +forgotten them, in fact, for several hours past.</p> + +<p>I passed fifteen thousand years. I could see that the ocean to the north +had come further inland. There was now, from my altitude, no evidence of +mankind visible, nor anything to indicate that man had ever lived on +this earth. The scene was more blurred now and grayer. I could still +make out the bay to the south, with a range of hills on Staten Island +and water behind it and to the west as far as I could see. The rivers +bounding Manhattan were still there, but the Palisades along the Hudson +had broken down.</p> + +<p>Directly beneath me was forest. I believed I had not drifted much from +my original position. I was still over where Central Park had been some +twenty thousand years before. The forest—it was more like +woods—covered a narrow rolling country between the two rivers. I knew I +was moving through time much more swiftly now, perhaps twice as fast as +before. The vegetation was blurred, almost distorted. It was changing +constantly and, on the whole, was growing sparser, more stunted. It was +as though I were traveling northward, or ascending a mountain almost to +the timber line. Another interval passed. My time-velocity had so +increased that once I thought I could see a hill rising. But that +probably was imagination.</p> + +<p>I had been gone some twelve hours—it was almost ten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> o'clock—when I +realized I was about exhausted. My head was reeling; my eyes burned and +watered. It was growing much colder—so cold that I switched on the +electrical heating apparatus.</p> + +<p>That was when the dials recorded between twenty and thirty thousand +years. I don't remember exactly. I was confused. The scene beneath me +was noticeably whiter, and I was now drifting to the south. I felt +perturbed. I was going too far.</p> + +<p>I had reached about forty-five thousand years when abruptly I realized +that there was no vegetation in the scene! Just when it melted away I +had not noticed. It was all a whitish blur, now, that suggested very +snowy winters blended with a shorter summer season. I leaped to the +control, and threw its handle back, pausing an instant at each intensity +of current until I had come to the first. There I left it.</p> + +<p>These new sensations of decreasing my time-velocity so abruptly were +almost equally as severe as those when I started. The humming slowed up. +My whole body seemed to be turning to lead—or freezing. I was heavy, +stiff, and cold. I was standing up, and I managed to grip the side of +the cabin for support, and reaching down, I threw off the switch, +cutting off the current completely. There came a tremendous, soundless +clap in my head; I seemed tumbling headlong into an abyss of blackness.</p> + +<p>I do not think I lost consciousness. My senses reeled for what seemed an +age, but was doubtlessly only a second or two. I fell into a chair and +the horrible dizziness passed. I raised my head and looked about me.</p> + +<p>My first impression was of the extraordinary solidity of the cabin +interior. I had not realized how shadowy it had been before. Two little +electric bulbs were burning overhead. They illuminated the compartment. +The windows were black rectangles; It was night outside.</p> + +<p>I was cold; I could see my breath in the chill of the room, even though +one of the electric heaters was in operation. Everything close to me was +oppressively silent; the humming still seemed to persist vaguely, but I +knew it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> only the reaction from it roaring in my ears. From the next +compartment came the drone of the Frazia motors.</p> + +<p>When I had fairly recovered normality, I went to the nearest window. The +sky was blue-black. There was no moon and the stars seemed a trifle +hazy. Beneath me I could make out a barren expanse of snow. I checked my +compass. Its needle had steadied now, and I saw that my drift was almost +directly south. The ship was moving rapidly, and I was alarmed. I knew +that, even with the compass, I could easily get lost—geographically, so +to speak.</p> + +<p>My first action was to ascend. When I was up some six thousand feet I +started back northward, against the wind.</p> + +<p>I was hopelessly lost, both in time and in space. I could distinguish +nothing in the starlit, snowy landscape that seemed familiar. Whether or +not I had passed the time world I was seeking, I had no idea. Then I +flew low, skimming the snow no more than one or two hundred feet above +it. There were houses! Huts would be a better word. I think they were +built of snow, but I could not tell. It seemed an Arctic world.</p> + +<p>I knew then I had gone too far in time. I decided to stay near here in +space until morning. Fortunately that proved only a short time away. +Within half an hour the stars paled; twilight came and passed, and the +sun rose—a huge, red, glowing ball.</p> + +<p>I was circling about, quite high—six or eight thousand feet possibly. +By this reddish light of early morning I could see the bay south of me. +There was no Long Island; the ocean had closed in to the north and east, +and I was near its shore—a cold, snowy beach, with lazy rollers. But +west of me there was a river—the Hudson, I was sure—double the breadth +of one I had known. It seemed to come from a mountainous region in the +northwest, and an arm of it north of Manhattan emptied into the sea.</p> + +<p>Everywhere there was snow. The bay was full of floating ice. Across the +river was an area of stunted trees. I was over Manhattan Island, I was +sure. I circled around, searching. It was not the time world I was +seeking—that was obvious.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> Should I go on, or go back through the +centuries I had passed? I decided on the latter.</p> + +<p>I had now been away from you nearly sixteen hours. I was worn out. I +flew across the river, found a level plateau to the north. There was no +sign of human habitation in the vicinity. Shutting off my Frazia motors +completely, I descended and came to rest on the surface of the snow, in +a time world forty-six thousand and eight years beyond our present. I +ate a little and, dropping to the floor of the cabin, fell asleep. +Unwise maybe, but I had to take a chance.</p> + +<p>At any rate, I awakened without having been disturbed. It was night +again; I had slept some twelve hours. I flew upward, back over Manhattan +Island, and threw the opposite proton current into its first intensity.</p> + +<p>I need not go into further details. My sensations were the same as +before, though they bothered me less as I grew more accustomed to them. +I came back through time. At intervals I stopped and examined the +landscape.</p> + +<p>The wind was blowing almost continually from the north during all these +centuries. I flew into it slowly, keeping my approximate position +without great difficulty. I tried to hold myself near the south center +of the island, and look northward. I was right in going back through +time, I soon discovered. From close to the ground where I stopped once, +I could see a rolling hill near by that had a familiar contour. I cannot +describe it to you, but once I saw it from that angle, I knew it was in +the landscape we had seen from the laboratory.</p> + +<p>Then I found the tree. There was no house. No snow, either, for I had +chanced then to stop in a summer season. The tree was too small. I chose +a ten years later time world, and watching the dials closely, descended +at a period ten and a half years later. I had struck it exactly; it must +have been within a week or two from the time world Father and I had +observed.</p> + +<p>I had occupied some eight hours with this search. The dials had stopped +now at twenty-eight thousand two hundred odd years. I was at that +instant flying at an altitude<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> of no more than a few hundred feet. It +was again early morning, just after sunrise, and there was that +familiar, snowy landscape we had seen from the laboratory.</p> + +<p>The house, with its enclosure and outbuildings, lay below me. I circled +over it, staring down through the floor window. The Frazia motors are +greatly muffled, as you know, but, even so, their sound carried down to +the house. A figure came out into the enclosure, and stared upward at +me. It was the girl—in a fur garment, but bareheaded—watching my +plane. Before I could think what to do, three huge dogs, each of them +the size of a pony, came leaping from one of the outbuildings and stood +in a group, snarling at me with such volume and power that they made my +blood run cold.</p> + +<p>I was circling slowly over the house, cursing my lack of caution and +still too confused to do anything, when the figure of a man appeared in +the enclosure, clad in furs and bareheaded like the girl. He stood head +and shoulders over her. Evidently the noise of the dogs blotted out the +sound of my motors. He did not look up into the air, but striding +angrily to the girl, struck her in the face with the flat of his hand. +Then he dragged her, cowering, into the house.</p> + +<p>I straightened out, and flew south. The howling of the dogs died away. +Without realizing where I was going, I headed down the wind. Soon I was +over the water. I had risen, and in the morning light could see the +landlocked bay into which the main channel of the Hudson emptied. The +bay itself had an entrance to the sea almost at the river's mouth.</p> + +<p>It was midwinter, I learned afterward. The river and the bay both seemed +frozen over, with a mantle of snow on their ice. I passed above an +island—Staten Island, no doubt—and mechanically swung to the west.</p> + +<p>What was I to do? I had several rifles in the plane, as you know, and +one of the latest Collinger hand guns. My instinct was to land at the +house boldly, overawe its inmates with my weapons, and carry off the +girl. That was a fatuous thought. I very soon realized that for all I +knew they might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> have the power to strike me dead with some weapon +totally unknown.</p> + +<p>I was still flying west. I found myself far out over Jersey, and still I +had decided nothing. There were houses beneath me and even a little +village or two. But I did not heed them, though fortunately I had sense +enough to ascend to a higher altitude where I could escape observation.</p> + +<p>The sun was rising above the sea behind me, and at last I swung about to +face it. As it mounted higher—it was moving at about normal speed—some +of the red, glowing look was lost; it assumed more of its familiar +aspects of our own time world. But still an hour above the horizon as it +was now, I could stare at it quite steadily without being blinded.</p> + +<p>I was heading east. In another ten minutes I would have been back in +Manhattan. I decided that I would leave the plane secluded somewhere and +approach the house on foot, quietly. If I could only elude the dogs and +not arouse them, I hoped to be able to get into the house and get the +girl out. I realize now it was a foolhardy plan.</p> + +<p>I flew very low up the Hudson from its mouth. I was afraid I might be +seen. Then it suddenly occurred to me how easily I could avoid that with +certainty. I threw the switch of the proton current into the first and +then the second intensity, and began a slow time flight forward through +the day simultaneously with my flight up the river.</p> + +<p>I found a good hiding place for the plane on the east bank of the +river—a broad, flat sort of gully some two hundred feet wide. I figured +this was about abreast of the house, and I lowered the plane into it. It +was difficult to do because of my southward drift, but I managed it. As +I neared the ground I shut off the proton current and came to rest in +time and space almost at the same moment.</p> + +<p>The sun was just setting behind a line of hills across the river. As I +had not eaten for several hours, I sat in the cabin now and ate, +planning exactly what I should do to rescue the girl.</p> + +<p>You will not understand it, but as I sat there, alone, with no one to +consult, it did not seem to me so desperate an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> enterprise. My +Collinger, no bigger than your hand, would silently fire a dozen bullets +in as many seconds, each capable of killing a human, or one of those +dogs.</p> + +<p>It was the dogs I was most afraid of. And yet, as I had observed from +the laboratory, they did not run loose about the grounds at night, but +were trained to stay in the kennel, which was some distance from the +dwelling...three or four hundred feet, perhaps.</p> + +<p>I decided to start about midnight. My clock gave a totally different +hour, of course, from the correct one of that particular time world. But +I was planning to leave the plane about six hours after sunset.</p> + +<p>It was a long evening, but the time finally arrived. I put on my fur +coat and went bareheaded, because I wanted to look as rational to +the girl as possible. At best she would be afraid of me, a +stranger—probably more afraid of me than of her captors. I realized +fully what a difficulty that would be. An outcry from her, or any +resistance on her part, might lose me everything. But my intentions +were the best, though she could not know it.</p> + +<p>I left the plane. Besides the Collinger, I had a hand compass and a +small flashlight. It was very cold. I scrambled out through the snow, up +the side of the gulley to the level land above—a climb of sixty or +seventy feet. The snow was deep, with an underlying surface of ice that +would support my weight. Up here on the higher land it was colder than +ever. The north wind hit me full, and I had been walking no more than +five minutes when it began to snow—tremendous flakes, that soon came in +a thick, soft cloud, and blotted out everything around me. In my pocket +I had my fur cap with ear tabs, and I soon found I would have to wear +it.</p> + +<p>I was heading across the wind, plowing through the loose snow. I could +see only a few feet ahead of me. It was a pathless waste. And suddenly +the whimsical thought came over me that I was crossing Fifty-ninth +Street, and soon I would be near Columbus Circle. It was the same space, +the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> location. Nothing was different but the time—the changes time +had brought.</p> + +<p>I took out my compass and, by the light of the flashlight, I consulted +it. I was heading as nearly as I could toward the house. So far as I had +been able to tell before, there was no other habitation on the island. I +suppose I struggled along for nearly an hour. I figured I must be in the +vicinity of the house now, though I could see nothing but the snow +covered ground a few feet ahead of me, the whirling flakes close at +hand, and the blackness overhead. Without warning, through a rift in the +clouds to the east, came moonlight; a gigantic, egg-shaped moon with a +reddish tinge to it that gave the scene a lurid, extremely weird look.</p> + +<p>The house was in sight, ahead and to the left, on a slight rise of +ground no more than a quarter of a mile away. I was faced now with the +necessity for a definite course of action. From the laboratory, with my +telescope, I had occasionally seen the girl late at night, sitting in +the central living room of the house. I had seen her through the +windows, and she had always left the living room in a southeast +direction. The house faced south; I felt that her room was in the +southeast end. The enclosure lay mostly behind the house, toward the +north, with the dog kennel in its extreme northern wall.</p> + +<p>This was all advantageous to me. I knew I had to keep away from those +dogs. With a wind of from twenty to thirty miles an hour blowing from +them to me, I felt sure that they would not get my scent. My plan was to +get into the house through either a sort of gateway in the southeast +wall of the enclosure, or directly in through a window. I expected to +locate the girl and carry here away—by force, I suppose. I was +confident—absurdly so, I realize now. I think it was the +enthusiasm—the excitement—of being actually engaged in what I had +contemplated for two long years and had worked so hard to attain.</p> + +<p>My heart was beating fast as I crept forward, the Collinger in my gloved +hand. It was still snowing hard, and presently the clouds swept back +over the newly risen moon; but I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> now so close up that I could see +the dark outlines of the house, and the wall of the enclosure.</p> + +<p>The building was only one story, but quite high, with a queer looking +overhanging roof. The wall of the enclosure was some ten feet high. I +circled to the south, and was soon close up to the main doorway of the +house. The whole place was piled with snow. There was not a sound, only +the howling of the wind as it swept in gusts under the low eaves.</p> + +<p>The glass door—I suppose it was glass—was a single rectangular pane in +a dark, narrow frame. It was no more than three feet broad, and at least +twelve feet high. Behind it I could see the dimly lighted interior—a +soft, blue-white light. I could not see where it came from.</p> + +<p>For quite a while I must have stood there motionless, peering in. A +portion of a large room was in the line of my sight; It seemed +unoccupied. I could see a back wall hung with something dark; a sort of +low couch to one side; queerly shaped, low chairs and a table or two. +And there was a floor covering of some thick, soft textile, and several +furs lying about. A large fur rug covered the couch.</p> + +<p>To the right I could see a low archway, hung with a curtain. That was in +the direction of the girl's room. There were two other archways with +curtains, but evidently no interior doors to the house.</p> + +<p>I had been pressing against the glass pane; it seemed to give a little. +I pushed. The motion was inward, and greater at the bottom. I knelt down +and shoved it. The lower half swung silently and smoothly inward and +upward, while the upper half came out and down. The whole twelve foot +pane was pivoted at its center. When it paralleled the floor it stopped, +and there was a six foot opening leading into the house.</p> + +<p>I took a cautious step, listening intently, peering around me—behind +me—with the sudden feeling that something supernatural might leap forth +and spring at me any instant.</p> + +<p>But the Collinger, my finger on the trigger, gave me courage. In my left +hand I held the flashlight, and very slow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>ly I crept toward the +curtained archway behind which I hoped the girl might be. Suddenly I +remembered my cap. I smiled at the absurdity of the detail, but, +nevertheless, I pulled it off and stuffed it in my pocket. Then I went +forward, pushed aside the curtain, and entered the space behind it.</p> + +<p>I was in darkness as the curtain dropped. It must have been a sort of +anteroom, or a short hallway, for some twenty feet ahead of me I saw +another curtain with a blue radiance beyond it.</p> + +<p>A moment more and I had pushed aside the second curtain and stood +peering into the room beyond. It was more dimly lighted than the living +room. Across it, in a angle of wall, the first thing my gaze caught was +a low couch or divan, bathed in the blue radiance from a brazier beside +it, which left the rest of the room in gloom. The girl lay there asleep. +A soft, pure-white fur was covering her, but her bare arms and shoulders +were above it. One arm was crooked under her head for a pillow; the +other, almost as white as the rug, lay stretched out over the fur. On +her breast, her golden hair lay in waves.</p> + +<p>I stood transfixed by the ethereal loveliness of the face, calm in deep +slumber. It was a small oval face of seemingly perfect features, with +soft, curving red lips, smooth, rosy cheeks and long, silken lashes that +lay motionless as she slept.</p> + +<p>My emotion at the picture was short lived; other thoughts crowded up me. +What was I to do? I could not awaken the girl and ask her to come with +me. She would not understand the words, and if she did, she would +probably have screamed before I could get them out. Seize her, stifle +her cries and carry her off forcibly? Perhaps that is what I should have +done; taken her to the plane and left explanations until afterward.</p> + +<p>But I could not bring myself to do that. Somehow, my whole instinct was +to retreat from the room. I felt myself a gross intruder in a sanctified +place, my very gaze an insult. What I would finally have done, I don't +know. Events<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> took the decision out of my hands. The wind outside roared +with a sudden gust that must have pulled loose something under the +eaves. There came a rattle, a thump, loud in the silence of the house. +Then the wind died again.</p> + +<p>I glanced up to the ceiling, startled, with my heart pounding and the +Collinger pointed toward the sound. I could see nothing but the dark +rectangle of a window up there. My gaze fell again to the couch—and met +the opened eyes of the girl. She was sitting up, her hair tumbling over +her shoulders, one hand instinctively gripping the white fur to raise it +more closely about her, the other pressed against her mouth. I think I +could never imagine an expression of more utter terror than that on her +face.</p> + +<p>I murmured something intended to be reassuring and made the mistake of +taking a step forward. It was the worst thing I could have done, for her +frightened scream rang out through the house. I guess by then I was +thoroughly confused. I turned back toward the curtain. I would escape +from the house—come back some other time. Or should I pick her up now, +and run with her? She was small, frail. I could carry her easily; escape +almost as quickly with her, perhaps, as by myself. And shoot back at +anyone—anything—that followed.</p> + +<p>I found myself back at her couch. She had withdrawn to the further side +of it, huddled against the wall. Her horrified eyes were on my face, but +she did not scream again.</p> + +<p>There was a noise behind me, and I swung about. The curtain was parting. +There was a figure there. I could not see it plainly; it was in the +darkness, and I was in the light. I aimed the Collinger, pressed the +trigger. Simultaneously, a tiny pencil-point of light seemed to spring +at me from where the figure was standing. A brief, very tiny but +horribly intense glare flashed in my eyes.</p> + +<p>I was in darkness; everything went black. I did not fall, but reeled +sidewise. I heard a mocking laugh and footsteps coming toward me; a hand +struck me across the mouth.</p> + +<p>It is terrible to fight in total darkness. I stumbled aimlessly +somewhere, and felt the Collinger twisted from me. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> when I lurched +in that direction, my outflung arms met only empty air. Again a hand +struck me across the mouth; again that mocking laugh. My assailant was +playing with me.</p> + +<p>I was unhurt, and desperately I rushed to where I thought the room's +exit might be. But strong fingers gripped my shoulder and I was flung +violently sidewise. I must have struck my head against something as I +went down. My senses faded; the last thing I remember was that jeering, +mocking laughter floating out of the darkness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER FIVE</h2> + + +<p>When I came to, I was still lying where I had fallen. Striking my head +had knocked me out momentarily. I heard voices; some one was kneeling +beside me. I opened my eyes, but everything was black. I remember +feeling my head; It was not cut. I was unhurt, and I struggled to a +sitting position. Whoever it was beside me, now stood up and moved away. +The girl's voice came to me out of the darkness. The low words were +unintelligible—yet they were words not wholly unfamiliar in ring.</p> + +<p>The darkness was full of little darting red spots. And my eyes pained +me; the backs of my eyeballs were burning. I was blind. I had thought +the light in the room had suddenly been extinguished, and a vague idea +that my antagonist could see in the dark had possessed me. But it wasn't +so. He had blinded me with the tiny flash of light that had struck into +my eyes.</p> + +<p>My head was still reeling from the blow it had received when I fell. +They carried me, half conscious, into some other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> room, and left me +lying on something soft. I closed my eyes, but I could not shut out +those darting red spots. At last, I must have drifted off to sleep.</p> + +<p>When I awoke it was morning. The red glow of the sunrise was coming in +through a small aperture up near the ceiling. I could see it; the +blindness had passed. My head was still ringing and my eyes still pained +me, but I was uninjured. I was on a low couch, with a fur rug under me. +My overcoat lay beside me on the floor. The whole thing seemed like a +dream, but finally I got it straightened out in my mind.</p> + +<p>I was in a fairly large bedroom. Two windows of heavy transparent +material were up near the ceiling. Opposite the windows was a doorway +with a curtain. I slipped into my overcoat, searching its pockets. My +cap was there, but the compass and the flashlight were gone and my +Collinger had already been taken from me.</p> + +<p>The storm outside seemed to have passed. The house was dead silent. I +went to the curtain; beyond it was a small hall, empty, and with another +curtain at its further end. This I pushed aside cautiously. I was +looking into the main living room of the house, and met the direct gaze +of a man who was lounging there.</p> + +<p>I dropped the curtain hastily, but he had seen me and sprung to his +feet—a powerful man, taller than myself, with gray, loose-fitting +trousers and naked torso. I retreated back to the bedroom; the fear of +what he might do to me, blind me or worse, made me anything but anxious +to encounter him again.</p> + +<p>He followed and was upon me, twisting me by the shoulders to face him. +He was a man of about thirty-five with black hair, long to the base of +his neck; a smooth-shaven, strong, rugged face; keen gray eyes beneath +black, bushy brows; a nose a little like a hawk, and a wide mouth with +thin lips. It was the sort of face that bespoke power and cruelty—a +nature born to dominate its fellows. His gaze was searching, puzzled. I +knew he was trying to make me out—wondering what manner of man I was, +and where I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> had come from. He spoke to me. I could not understand the +words, but again I got the impression that they were familiar English +words spoken differently. I answered him. I don't remember what I said, +but he frowned and pushed me from him, toward the couch.</p> + +<p>I had decided to appear docile. I stumbled to the couch and sat down on +it. He stood in the center of the room, regarding me, and I managed what +I hoped might be an ingratiating smile. This seemed to appeal to him, +for he smiled back. Then he swung about and left the room.</p> + +<p>For a while I sat quiet. The girl—where she was I did not know. I would +have escaped without her if I could, but escape did not seem possible; +at least, it was more of a risk than I cared to take. The feeling came +to me that even now as I sat on the couch, I might be observed. How +could I tell whether someone was watching me from behind some hidden +orifice, through which, as I turned my gaze that way, that tiny, +blinding beam of light would spring at me?</p> + +<p>It was too big a chance. I would wait, and when I knew better what I had +to contend with, watch for an opportunity to escape.</p> + +<p>The room was fairly light now, with that queer, reddish light. I could +see the sky, brilliant with a glorious red sunrise, through the little +windows overhead. I moved the table and climbed on it; outside was snow, +tinged with red. I was at an east end of the house, perhaps next to the +girl's room.</p> + +<p>At a corner of the building nearby sat one of the dogs—like a gigantic +shaggy wolf, quiet but alert. His head was fully six feet above the +ground as he sat there, squatting on his haunches. He heard me open the +window, and trotted quietly over to look at me. My fascinated stare met +his eyes squarely—eyes that seemed to hold an almost uncanny human +intelligence. He seemed satisfied with the situation, for he trotted +back to the corner of the house and sat down again. But he was still +watching me.</p> + +<p>I dropped to the floor. The incident had left me shuddering. What manner +of brutes were these, with gleaming, tusk-like teeth, dripping jowls and +a power in those tre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>mendous muscles that must have far exceeded the +strongest horse! And eyes that might have been human! At that moment, +escape seemed further away than ever.</p> + +<p>For three days they fed me in that room. A woman came mostly. She wore a +loose, shapeless robe of dark cloth. It was dowdy-looking. Her hair was +iron-gray, long to her waist, twisted into a bundle and bound with +strips of dark cloth. Her face was thin, careworn. She brought me my +food; some kinds of cooked meats and starchy vegetables, like potatoes. +She was kind enough, but grim, as though I were an unpleasant task that +her conscience made her discharge punctiliously.</p> + +<p>I tried to talk to her, but she couldn't understand me, nor I her. +Afterward, I learned she was the older man's old maid daughter. The old +man himself came in a few times; a smooth-shaven, stalwart man of about +seventy, dressed in wide, flowing trousers and naked above the waist. +Sometimes he wore a short little house jacket. His name was Bool. The +younger man—the master of the house—was named Toroh. He came in and +sat by me a few times, always intent on seeing that I was properly cared +for. But there was no mistaking the fact that he would have killed me +without compunction had I annoyed him; and I could not forget his +sardonic laughter when he had blinded me.</p> + +<p>I've been telling you about my first three days in the house. I did not +see the girl except once, just for a moment. I was not held to the room, +although I stayed there almost constantly. And one or the other of those +dogs was outside all the time. After the first day, I grew bold enough +to go into the living room.</p> + +<p>Once, when I was sitting alone in the main room, the girl entered. She +stood in the doorway, and for the first time I realized how small and +slight she was. She looked almost Egyptian—I mean her manner of dress. +She was wearing a blue-colored cloth wound wide about her hips, with a +dull red sash hanging knee-length down one side; sandals on her bare +feet; breastplates of metal, and a broad, low-cut collar of cloth with +little coins on it that widened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> to cover her shoulders. And her golden +hair was parted forward over her shoulders in plaits that ended with +little tassels.</p> + +<p>She was standing there staring at me, and this time there was no fear in +her eyes—only curiosity. My heart leaped; it was what I hoped for most. +I could do nothing toward planning to get her out of the house as long +as she continued to be afraid of me.</p> + +<p>I smiled at her in as inoffensive and friendly a fashion as I could. Her +eyes fell, then came up and I could see she was wondering at my clothes; +my shoes, trousers, shirt and tie. Abruptly I realized that, except for +my garb, I probably did not look extraordinary or frightening to her. +The thought gave me new courage. I stood up, and spoke. At once she +turned and ran from the room.</p> + +<p>We were a strange household, but after a time, except for having my +meals alone, I found I could move about pretty freely. Once Toroh +brought me my electric torch, and, making sure I did not aim it at him, +he made me light it. I knew he believed it a weapon. I thought this a +good chance to convince him I was friendly. I smiled and shined it into +my eyes, to show him it was harmless. He grunted and, taking the +flashlight from me, tossed it across the room, indicating it was of no +use or further interest.</p> + +<p>Then he produced my Collinger and made me show him how to operate it. +But he was too clever to let me hold it; he did not let it get out of +his hands. When he had fired it at a mark out the doorway, he grunted +again and laid it on the snow. At a distance of twenty feet he stood +with some object in his hand which he did not show me. Abruptly the +Collinger flew into fragments! All its cartridges had been exploded +simultaneously. The bullets whistled past us, startling Toroh as much as +they did me. Later I learned he had exploded it by something akin to +radio. He picked up the remains and when he got back into the house, he +tossed my broken weapon away disdainfully. It was the attitude a soldier +of today might have toward an Indian warrior and his bow and arrow.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<p>Toroh, I learned later, thought I had come from another planet. He had +seen my plane the morning I hovered over the house. No one from another +planet had been to the earth for centuries. But history told of them, +and he thought I was one of them, come again. He treated me kindly +enough—probably because I did not anger him or cross him in any way. +But I had seen him strike the girl in the face, and one day he struck +the woman. I have never seen such a look of sullen, repressed hatred as +she gave him. She seemed to hate her father, too. Later, I often saw him +cuff her when she annoyed him.</p> + +<p>I have so much to tell you. Toroh took two of his dogs and his sled and +went away after about a week. He was gone a month, and during that time +I stayed docilely in the house. I saw many opportunities when I might +have escaped. But now I would not, without taking the girl—whose name, +by the way, is Azeela—and I could not expose her to such danger as +always seemed imminent.</p> + +<p>I must have convinced them all that I was harmless. No one paid me great +attention except the woman, Koa. Often I would see her peering furtively +at me from some distant doorway.</p> + +<p>Azeela soon became friendly, and since we both had nothing to do, she +devoted herself to learning our language. I tried to learn hers and +failed miserably. But she picked ours up with extraordinary +rapidity—perhaps because her mind was quicker, her memory more +retentive. And I think, also, because she has behind her the inherited +instincts of knowledge through all the centuries from our own time-world +forward.</p> + +<p>Anyway, within the month she could speak English freely enough for us to +get along—with a quaint little accent that is wholly indescribable.</p> + +<p>I think her language was derived very nearly from the English we speak +today. Ours was, to her, merely archaic; but hers, modern beyond my +time, was too much for me. It was an extraordinary story that Azeela had +to tell me—as extraordinary as mine must have seemed to her. We be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>came +friends, and with friendship came a renewed desire on both our parts to +escape. Her people were many hundred miles away, and, when I told her of +my plane, I very soon persuaded her to let me take her back to her own +country.</p> + +<p>Quite evidently my plane had not been discovered. If it had not snowed +so heavily that first night, the dogs would have led Toroh back over my +trail to it. But it was still safe, though I did not know it then; and +the thought that it might have been found bothered me a lot, I can tell +you.</p> + +<p>We decided to try and escape. Toroh was expected back any day. We spent +a morning discussing it, planning it in detail. My weapons were gone, +and Azeela did not know where they were. Bool had a cylinder of the +blinding-flash—I call it that because their name for it would mean +nothing to you—but we could not get it; he always kept it about his +person. The woman, Koa, we did not think was armed—though she might +have been.</p> + +<p>Toroh had taken two of the dogs. There was one left, and almost +continually it was pacing about the house outside. We realized that even +if we succeeded in getting away from the place, the dog would follow and +overtake us before we could reach the plane.</p> + +<p>Bool was in one of the outbuildings nearly all that morning. Koa was +moving about the house. We did not think she was listening to us; but +she was, and evidently she had picked up something of our +language—enough to give her the import of what we were discussing.</p> + +<p>She appeared suddenly, and with a furtive glance around, told Azeela she +would help us escape. Azeela translated it to me, and the woman nodded +grimly in confirmation. She was sorry for Azeela, and she hated Toroh +sufficiently to want the girl out of his clutches.</p> + +<p>Koa's plan was simple and it sounded eminently practical. She had no +weapons, and did not know where any were, except for her father's, and +that she would not dare try to secure. But late that afternoon Bool +would be in his room dozing. Koa would lock the dog in the kennel. Then +we would be free to depart.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<p>The sun was almost setting that day when Koa informed us that the time +had come. We had restrained our excitement; Bool had apparently not +noticed anything unusual in our outward appearance during the day. He +had retired to his room as customary, and Koa had taken the dog away.</p> + +<p>I did not altogether trust Koa, and it made me shudder to think of +taking Azeela outside and perhaps having the dog spring upon us from +somewhere. But we had to chance it, and the woman seemed sincere.</p> + +<p>We had searched the house as best we could without arousing Bool, but we +found no weapon of any kind. At last we were ready, I in my fur coat, +Azeela in furs; shoes, trousers and coat all in one piece. She looked +like a slender little Eskimo girl, and I smiled as she pulled up a fur +hood and fitted it close about her face, tucking her hair up under it. I +had been mistaken about headgear; it was just a coincidence that I had +never seen anyone in this time-world wearing a cap.</p> + +<p>I put on my own cap and we were ready. As we met in the main room, Koa +nodded sourly for us to be gone. At that instant the dog, outside in the +kennel, gave a long mournful howl. I don't know why; I suppose it was +just fate. Koa, waving us toward the doorway, hastened away to quiet the +dog.</p> + +<p>For a moment I hesitated. Should we start? Had the dog gotten loose? +That moment of hesitation was too long. Bool stood in the doorway, +staring at our fur-covered figures. Astonishment, anger, rage swept over +his face. His hand went to his belt; he jerked something loose. I heard +Azeela give a sharp cry of warning. Bool's hand held an object like a +little crescent of glass, with a tiny wire connecting its horns. Sparks +darted from the wire.</p> + +<p>I was about to leap forward when suddenly I was stricken. I can only +describe it as paralysis. I stood stock-still; my arms dropped to my +sides. I felt no pain, but I was rooted to the spot, without power to +lift my legs. Azeela, beside me, was evidently within the influence of +the weapon, also. She was standing rigid. Bool's face held a leer of +triumph. His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> left hand was fumbling at his belt for some other weapon. +I knew that in another moment he would have killed us, and still I could +not move. I tell you, it was a ghastly feeling. There was a numbness +creeping all over me. My hands were turning cold. My feet felt wooden. +My legs were giving way under me, and in a few seconds more I think I +should have fallen.</p> + +<p>It all happened very quickly. Behind Bool, Koa had appeared. He did not +hear her, and she darted forward and struck at his wrist. The little +crescent of glass dropped to the floor and was shattered. A wave of heat +swept over me—the blood rushing again to my limbs.</p> + +<p>Bool had turned furiously upon Koa, but my strength was coming back +fast. I jumped at them, caught Bool unprepared. My body struck his and +we went down. He fell backward with me on top of him. His hand now held +a metal cylinder; he was trying to get it up to my face.</p> + +<p>Azeela came darting across the room, threw herself upon us, and twisted +the weapon from Bool's fingers. I did not know she had done it. Bool was +kicking, squirming, and his left hand had me by the forehead, pushing my +head back to expose my face. Enraged, I flung myself down on him, my +forearm striking his head against the floor. His hold relaxed; he lay +still.</p> + +<p>When I got to my feet, Koa was stooping over Bool. She seemed frightened +at what she had done, although I knew well enough that the man had +mistreated her constantly, and that she could bear him no great love. +She waved us away, still with that same stolid grimness.</p> + +<p>"Ask her if the dog is locked up, Azeela," I said.</p> + +<p>The woman nodded at me vehemently, and I gripped Azeela's hand and we +hurried out. It was just sunset. The sky was like blood; the snowy +ground was all tinted with it.</p> + +<p>We ran west, so fast that Azeela could hardly keep on her feet. I +suppose we went a mile or two, then slowed up and walked a little, then +went back to a run. There was nothing but that unbroken expanse of snow, +with the drop that was the river ahead of us.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + +<p>At last I could make out the break in the plateau surface that marked +the gully. We were running, and were no more than fifty feet from it, +when from behind us we heard the loud baying of the dog—that eager +baying of a dog following a trail and closing in on its quarry. I went +cold all over. I knew what had happened. Bool had recovered, and, in +spite of his daughter, had let the dog loose upon us!</p> + +<p>I caught a glimpse of Azeela's white, frightened face as I gripped her +hand and jerked her forward. It was faster than carrying her. She +stumbled, almost fell headlong, but I pulled her up and onward.</p> + +<p>We came upon the gully. For one agonized instant I wondered if the +plane would still be there. The dog seemed almost upon us. I could +hear its eager whine as it came leaping along. Then I saw the +plane—snow-covered, but undisturbed.</p> + +<p>We flung ourselves down the gully side, sliding, falling to its bottom. +The deep snow there broke our fall. The dog was at the top; I saw its +huge head and bared fangs as it dashed along, selecting a place to +descend.</p> + +<p>I jumped to the cabin platform of the plane and shoved open the door. +Then I stooped, grasping Azeela under the armpits and lifting her. The +dog came sliding into the gully, and gathering itself up, it leaped.</p> + +<p>But we were inside, and I slid the door closed just as the brute's great +body struck the cabin with an impact that rocked the plane. The dog +fell, but was up again with a snarl, standing on its hind legs, its huge +paws scratching at the cabin wall.</p> + +<p>I had flung Azeela to the floor of the compartment. She shouted at me +reassuringly, and I jumped to the Frazia controls.</p> + +<p>A moment later the 'copters were raising us out of the gully. The dog's +baffled yelps grew fainter. As we rose into the air I saw Bool, a +quarter of the way from the house, stumbling along through the snow, +following the trail.</p> + +<p>I went up a thousand feet, dropped a little, and began horizontal +flight. To the south, perhaps a mile away, Toroh's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> sled, with its two +dogs, was swinging up toward the house. He saw the plane, and, as we +swept over him at an altitude of some five hundred feet, he turned and +followed us.</p> + +<p>It was amazing to see those two gigantic dogs run. They kept the sled +almost under us. We came to the south of the island and they went down a +declivity and out over the frozen, snow-covered water. Toroh was lashing +them with a long whip.</p> + +<p>I put on more power, and we gradually drew ahead. When we had crossed +the broad expanse of bay, the sled was no more than a black blob in the +distance. It swung to the right, turned and went back—lost to our sight +in the gathering darkness.</p> + +<p>We were alone, headed southward to Azeela's native country.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Azeela and her people live on an island which once was the mainland—the +southeastern corner of the United States, as you know it. It's a narrow, +crescent-shaped island, something like Cuba in outline, but smaller. +It's separated from the mainland by a channel some ten miles at its +greatest width. The climate, now, is vastly different from your +time-world. Climate is the most potent factor of all that influences +mankind. The change throughout ten thousand years was dramatic in its +effects: it hastened decadence, it drove civilization toward the +equator. And then, as though nature were bent upon destruction, disease +sprang up in the only warm regions left—disease that could not be coped +with. Insects, carrying and transmitting deadly bacteria, swarmed over +what we call the torrid zone, making it almost uninhabitable. You must +realize over how long a period this went on.</p> + +<p>Even that was thousands of years before Azeela's birth. This island had +formed, and nature had seemed to hold it the one place where humanity +could make its last stand. A volcano stood at each end; beneficent, +treasured because they contained heat. The internal fires of the earth +had broken through here. Hot springs and geysers dotted the land.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> A +river just below the boiling point rose from subterranean depths, flowed +for a hundred miles, and plunged down again. And a huge range of +mountains running east and west on the mainland to the north offered +shelter from the cold winds that were coming down.</p> + +<p>Anglo-Saxons with a strain of Latin had settled on this palm-covered, +tropical island long before the conditions farther north had become so +drastic. They kept to themselves and fought against the pollution of +their blood by others; they were descendents of the highest type of +Earth civilization.</p> + +<p>For centuries they were left to themselves, to drift along in their own +fashion. But with the coming of the cold, the mixed races of the north +began moving down—coveting the island. Then these island people +suddenly sprang into activity. Defense of the homeland brought action; +lost arts of war were revived. The Anglese—that is as near the sound of +their word for themselves as I can get—repulsed all comers.</p> + +<p>To the north was now a climate that held snow from September to June. +Only three brief months availed for agriculture. The mixed peoples there +did not rise to master such rigors. Centuries of struggle turned them +almost primitive, with arts and sciences and ways to conquer their +environment lost and forgotten. They became barbarians.</p> + +<p>Such is the condition as I have found it. I can give you details only of +our northern half of the western hemisphere. Transportation is back +nearly to the primitive; the rest of the world is almost unknown to +Azeela's race.</p> + +<p>Toroh, I've learned now, is an Anglese, but they banished him. He was +plotting to overthrow the government. When he was banished, he went +among the barbarians of the north and began organizing them for an +attack on the island. Toroh has scientific knowledge; up there in the +north he has been manufacturing weapons. Then he came back to the island +secretly, and abducted Azeela. She's the daughter of Fahn, the leading +scientist of the Anglese—he's the man who holds the reins of power. +With Azeela as hostage, Toroh planned to make Fahn yield.</p> + +<p>But now that I have released Azeela, Toroh's attack will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> come swiftly. +That is why I send you this message. Toroh is a menace—the greatest +figure of evil in this time-world. There will be war, a struggle in +which the Anglese may go down before the onslaught of Toroh and the +hordes of barbarians with whom he has allied himself. Oh, I can't tell +you all the details...I'm too tired.</p> + +<p>I'll stop now, and send this message back to you in the cube. And, +Father, you know what we arranged—that you would come and join me if I +needed you. Well, I do; I need you here now.</p> + +<p>As we agreed, I will raise a light-beam signal, which will mark the +exact point in space and the exact moment in time at which I want you to +be here.</p> + +<p>For me, that moment <i>is now</i>!</p> + +<p>So as soon as I dispatch this message off to you, I shall raise the +signal. It will be at the southeastern tip of our island. For you +geographically, it will be about Miami. From that point in space, you +cannot fail to see it, if your time-flight is slow enough. I will hold +it in the sky for as long as I can, so that it will have enough duration +for you not to miss it.</p> + +<p>Please tell <i>Mamita</i> not to worry about me, or about you either. We will +both come back to her safely. You may bring one or two of our friends +who wish to make the trip. I think that George will want to come and I +would like to have him. You need bring no weapons; they would be worse +than useless.</p> + +<p><i>Please hurry, Father. I need you!</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER SIX</h2> + + +<p>Roger's slow, solemn voice died away. He rustled the pages of Loto's +message in his hand.</p> + +<p>"That's all, gentlemen. All of the message itself. The other pages give +detailed instructions—data based on Loto's flight and memoranda for the +construction of another plane, gathered from previous notes made by Loto +and myself."</p> + +<p>There was complete silence when Rogers paused. George decided to speak, +but checked himself and relaxed back in his chair.</p> + +<p>"I shall start the Frazia Company on another plane at once," Rogers +added. "And working on Loto's mechanism simultaneously, I should be +ready in ninety days."</p> + +<p>He waited, but again no one else spoke. Then he said:</p> + +<p>"I am going, of course. It is a great trial for my wife, but I know she +is willing."</p> + +<p>George turned and flashed an admiring glance at Lylda; her face was +strained, but she smiled at him gently.</p> + +<p>"Do not be hasty, my friends," Rogers went on quickly. "Any two of you +are free to come—or to stay, all of you—as you think best."</p> + +<p>"I'm going," said George suddenly. "Loto said I could. And you say so. +I'm going."</p> + +<p>He jumped to his feet and grasped Roger's hand. "You can count on me, +Mr. Rogers."</p> + +<p>Rogers smiled. "Thank you, George. I knew I could."</p> + +<p>George sat down again. Then he got up and crossed to Lylda, shaking her +hand also, and whispering to her. But in another instant he was pacing +the room, smoking violently, and frowning.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rogers was saying to the others, "I will take one more. I realize it is +a momentous question. Your lives may be at stake."</p> + +<p>The Big Business Man was deep in reverie. "I wonder," he murmured. "I +wonder if I <i>do</i> want to go."</p> + +<p>"Come on," urged George, stopping suddenly before him. "Take a chance." +He did not wait for an answer, but went back to his pacing.</p> + +<p>The Banker said, half apologetically. "You don't really need me, do you, +Rogers?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not," Rogers said heartily. "Use your own judgement. But I +knew you'd be offended if I didn't give you the opportunity."</p> + +<p>The Banker nodded. "Yes, but you don't need me. I'm an old +man—seventy-three, though I hope you'd never guess it. I think I'd +better stay where I'm used to things."</p> + +<p>"Of course," agreed Rogers.</p> + +<p>"But if you need money," the Banker added hopefully, "and you will, +naturally—everybody needs money—you'll call on me, won't you? I'm +going to see this thing through."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I'll go," the Business Man declared. He met the +Doctor's glance, and the Doctor seemed relieved. "You don't really need +us, Rogers. I think Frank would prefer to stay also."</p> + +<p>The Doctor nodded emphatic agreement.</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said Rogers. "I can understand perfectly how you feel."</p> + +<p>George stopped his pacing. "Then it's all settled, Mr. Rogers. You and I +go; the others stay on guard here. Now listen, everybody, I've got some +good ideas..."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Two days before Christmas, another plane lay glistening on the roof of +the Scientific Club, walled in from curious eyes by the board enclosure. +Sleek, self-satisfied, its every line denoting latent power, it lay +motionless, awaiting those human masters who soon were to launch it into +another time world.</p> + +<p>Occasionally during the afternoon George visited it, an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>xiously +verifying again and again that all was in readiness.</p> + +<p>Evening came. The others arrived, singly and in couples. For two hours a +bustle of final preparations went on—things forgotten, last minute +plans put into execution. But by nine o'clock the moment of departure +was finally at hand.</p> + +<p>The Banker was in a fluster of excitement. He had appointed himself the +leader of those who were to be left behind, and he felt the +responsibility keenly.</p> + +<p>"Tell me exactly what we've got to do," he insisted. "I don't want +anything to go wrong."</p> + +<p>Rogers slapped him on the back. "It's nothing to be alarmed over."</p> + +<p>"No. But I want to be sure I've got it straight. Tell me all over +again."</p> + +<p>Rogers repressed a smile. "When we have gone you will all wait some ten +minutes to be sure nothing has gone wrong to bring us immediately back. +Then you will lock up the enclosure and leave. I have made arrangements +with the club to have the enclosure left standing."</p> + +<p>"That's all?" asked the Banker anxiously. "We leave the roof open?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. In coming back we will want it open, and you cannot tell when we +may return."</p> + +<p>"But no more than six months," the Banker insisted. "You promise that?"</p> + +<p>Rogers nodded.</p> + +<p>"Come on," George's voice called. "Let's get started." He had shaken +hands with Lylda and climbed up to the doorway of the cabin. "Come on, +Mr. Rogers. Let's get started."</p> + +<p>Lylda stood apart. Her farewell to her husband was brief. The others +turned away, feeling that they should not intrude upon it. When Rogers +joined George on the platform of the plane, the Doctor was with Lylda, +comforting her.</p> + +<p>With a final good-by Rogers slid the door closed. The forward +compartment, with its low arch ceiling and its concave walls, was small, +but comfortably equipped. The side windows had upholstered seats running +under them. In front, to the right, were the Frazia controls, a low seat +for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> the pilot and a small window above the control panel. The time +dials and the proton current switch were on the wall to the right. To +the left of the seat was the main entrance door.</p> + +<p>The division wall between the forward compartment and the engine room +behind it held a small doorway with a sliding door.</p> + +<p>"Are we ready?" Rogers asked. "I think we should be sitting. The shock +of departure, new to us, may be more severe than we anticipate."</p> + +<p>His words were calm enough, but they sent a thrill of excitement through +George. "All ready," he said. "Go ahead!"</p> + +<p>Rogers took a last look about. Then without hesitation, he moved the +switch to the first intensity. To George, the humming seemed very +different now than when he had heard it outside the plane. It was no +louder, but it seemed to hum and vibrate inside his body. He was +quivering inside, his head began reeling dizzily; then came that +sickening, horrible sensation of falling headlong—a vertigo that turned +everything to blackness.</p> + +<p>"Are you all right? We've started."</p> + +<p>It was Rogers's anxious voice. George opened his eyes; everything seemed +glowing, unreal and ghostlike. But he was uninjured, and his head had +steadied.</p> + +<p>"I'm all right," he managed to say.</p> + +<p>The sickness passed quickly. George stood up, steadying himself. "Gosh, +how light I feel! Queer in the head—don't you? I never imagined—"</p> + +<p>He stopped abruptly. Through a side window the fur-coated figure of the +Banker was standing against the wall with the others around him. They +were staring toward the plane with an expression that clearly indicated +they could not see it.</p> + +<p>"We've started all right," George added. "Look at them! We're already in +future time to them. They can't see us!"</p> + +<p>Suddenly the Banker came forward walking with extraordinary swiftness, +and seemingly with little jerks, like a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> manikin. George held his +breath, for the Banker popped forward, his head and shoulders piercing +the glowing phosphorescent walls and floor of the cabin. He stood +motionless a brief instant, his face close to George's knees. Then, even +more rapidly than he had advanced, he threw a swift glance around and +retreated.</p> + +<p>George recovered himself. "Boy," he said. "Wasn't that weird though? But +we're all right. I feel fine now."</p> + +<p>The droning of the Frazia motors sounded very faintly above the humming. +It was a relief, a help toward normality. The plane was slowly raising +into the air.</p> + +<p>As it mounted, the roof of the Scientific Club dwindled away below. It +was a dark night, with heavy clouds and a cold wind from the east. The +city, with snow on its rooftops, was sliding eastward beneath them; +vague black shadows, dark buildings dotted with lights, and seemingly +empty streets.</p> + +<p>They were still mounting diagonally upward, and carried sidewise by the +wind, when the Hudson River slid into view.</p> + +<p>"Rotten weather, Mr. Rogers," George suggested.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Rogers agreed, "but that will not bother us for very long. Are +you warm enough?"</p> + +<p>"One heater is going," George responded. "I'll switch on another." He +had familiarized himself thoroughly with the various mechanical +appliances of the plane, and he turned a switch that threw current into +another of the small electric radiators.</p> + +<p>"Anything else?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"No, I think I shall try the higher intensities of the proton current. I +want our time-progress accelerating as much as possible right from the +beginning."</p> + +<p>George selected a seat hastily.</p> + +<p>It was not much of an ordeal. The humming seemed to move up a scale to a +higher pitch as Rogers pulled the lever around. The reeling of the +senses came again, but passed almost at once.</p> + +<p>"There," said Rogers. "I'm glad that's accomplished.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>" +"We're at the fifteenth intensity—the highest that Loto used."</p> + +<p>George was staring down through the floor window. "I can see lights down +here. Are you sure it's the highest speed Loto used? He didn't describe +it this way."</p> + +<p>"Our acceleration will pick up over several hours," Rogers replied. "Our +time-progress is still comparatively slow."</p> + +<p>The Frazia motors were still droning.</p> + +<p>"How high are we, do you suppose?" George demanded after a moment.</p> + +<p>"Possibly five thousand feet. We're blowing westward over New Jersey. +And a little to the south, I think. Soon it will be day."</p> + +<p>His words were anticipated. The scene lighted swiftly. It was day; a +dull, cold-looking, cloudy morning. Below them lay New Jersey, almost a +network of villages on the fringe of lowlands. A more congested area of +building was almost directly beneath and slid under them as they watched +it.</p> + +<p>"Newark!" exclaimed George. "And we're into tomorrow. We're making +it—we'll soon be with Loto."</p> + +<p>They were up higher than Rogers realized—ten thousand feet, at least. +And their drift seemed constantly of a more southern trend. It was still +uncomfortably cold in the cabin.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we should stay at this level," Rogers remarked. "We seem to +have caught a wind from the north."</p> + +<p>Night came again in a few moments. Lights dotted the landscape below, +but they were vague, flickering lights. Then day, with sunlight. The +wind sudsided. The plane's southern drift was stilled. And then came +night with a moon plunging across the sky, and stars dizzily sweeping +past. Then day again, until presently the daylight and the darkness were +blended into gray. The drift was permanently passed. In a blending of +all the diversified air currents, the plane remained almost stationary.</p> + +<p>The white, snowy hills of New Jersey soon turned to green. The cabin air +warmed a little. Then autumn and winter came again—and passed in a +moment or two.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rogers sighed with relief. "We're fairly started. One year out of +twenty-eight thousand!"</p> + +<p>"And we've got eight hundred or a thousand miles of space to travel +also," said George. "We're going to make that simultaneously, aren't +we?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," agreed Rogers.</p> + +<p>George took a last look through the floor window at the blurring gray +landscape beneath, and stood up to join him. "Let's talk things over," +he suggested. "I've got a lot of questions—plans and things."</p> + +<p>Rogers had taken a sheaf of script from his pocket.</p> + +<p>"Loto's notes to guide us," he explained. "I've followed them closely so +far. We have a flight through time of something more than twenty-five +thousand years at the fifteenth intensity, and then we slacken. +Simultaneously, we must fly southward some thousand miles or more +through space, directing our course for the southern tip of Florida. +Loto specifies that we should, under all circumstances, reach the +latitude of north Florida coincident with twenty-five thousand years of +our time-progress. We will then—or perhaps a thousand years further +along—see the island. We cannot miss it, of course. It is so large, and +it must certainly endure over a great period of time."</p> + +<p>"How long did Loto take to reach twenty-five thousand years?"</p> + +<p>"About twelve hours," Rogers consulted the memoranda. "He computes his +average speed as equivalent to the twelfth intensity. We are using the +fifteenth continuously. Our clocks should register no more than ten +hours for the time-flight.</p> + +<p>"Ten hours," he added thoughtfully. "And flying directly south at a +hundred miles an hour we would reach the island in those ten hours."</p> + +<p>"But we haven't started south yet," George protested. "We're moving +through time all right, but we're still right over Newark—and look at +it!"</p> + +<p>The New Jersey metropolis was spreading west to the Orange Mountains, +and eastward it seemed to be linked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> solid with Jersey City. Factories +dotted the intervening meadows, which were drained of their stagnant +water.</p> + +<p>"You're right," exclaimed Rogers. "We have barely nine hours left; we +must start our horizontal flight."</p> + +<p>In a few moments more they were speeding south and slightly west, at an +altitude of some five thousand feet, with their progress through time +steadily accelerating.</p> + +<p>An hour, by their clocks, had passed. They were over Delaware Bay. Its +shores, in the more congested areas, were lined almost solid with +buildings. There was a great city on each side of the mouth of the +river, with a gigantic bridge connecting them. The bridge rose into +being under the eyes of the watchers in the flying plane, but they swept +on past and in a moment left it far in the distance behind them.</p> + +<p>George was seated on the floor watching the changing landscape; a huge, +concave gray surface, shadowless, stretching out and up to the circular +horizon. Steadily, like a panorama unrolled, it slid sidewise beneath +them. The motion was greatest directly below. To the west, the mountains +seemed, by an optical illusion, to be following, speeding forward with +them.</p> + +<p>The sea or its arms constantly occupied a portion of the scene, for they +were still flying south and somewhat west, following the Atlantic coast. +And of everything in sight, the sea alone seemed unchanging.</p> + +<p>In time-progressing, that height of civilization Loto had described lay +under them. They were flying lower now.</p> + +<p>Rogers, in his seat at the controls, said: "I think we're making it as +we should. That's the four thousand year mark just passed, and we're +flying at a hundred and ten miles an hour."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure we'll hit it right?" George asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"I think so. It's about as Loto figured so far. Those buildings—what a +civilization that must be down there. It will fade presently...in +three or four thousand years."</p> + +<p>George joined him at the forward window. "Where are we? Are we still +over Virginia?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, at least I think we haven't crossed into North Carolina yet. That +was Chesapeake Bay a while ago. Look! That city over there is +melting—going down fast!"</p> + +<p>The cabin interior was unlighted and dark, except for that +phosphorescence with which everything glowed. In their absorption in the +scene below, the travelers had forgotten their own curious aspect, until +George suddenly remarked:</p> + +<p>"Look at us! Ghosts flying through space! Doesn't it make you feel +queer, Mr. Rogers?"</p> + +<p>The dim cabin interior, with its vague, luminous human figures, did +indeed seem unreal. But the unreality was matched now by the scene +beneath; their forward flight through space, combined with a +time-progress now tremendously accelerated, made everything below a +shifting, sliding kaleidoscope of changing effects. Details were +transient things, blurred one into the other.</p> + +<p>The broad fundamentals, however, were obvious. The gray, concave land, +ridged with mountains, the indented coast line, the gray, changeless +sea—all were distinguishable. And overhead the sky was luminous with +the mingled light of sun and moon and a myriad starry worlds, all +blended darker by nights of rain and snow and storm.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>They were over North Carolina when Rogers, at the Frazia controls, grew +tired. The clock stood at two five. They had been gone some five hours.</p> + +<p>"I must rest," said Rogers. "George, can you take my place?"</p> + +<p>George hesitated. "I've flown a bit, but never in a Frazia. I think I'd +better not experiment—not on this flight."</p> + +<p>"All right," Rogers agreed. "I'll use the automatic 'copters for a +while. Half an hour will rest me up."</p> + +<p>In a few moments they were hovering, seemingly motionless, over North +Carolina. Far away to the east, over a bulge in the coast line, they +could just make out Cape Hatteras and the ocean beyond it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rogers stretched himself out on one of the leather seats, and lighted a +cigar. George sat beside him.</p> + +<p>"I figure we should be at least halfway to the northern coast of the +island," the older man said. "We have flown some four hundred miles in +four hours."</p> + +<p>"But Loto will be waiting at the southeastern tip of the island," +protested George. "That will be easily two or three hundred miles +further, won't it? I wonder how far along we are in time."</p> + +<p>"Look at the dials."</p> + +<p>George bent over them. "About sixty-five hundred years. Some of the +hands are going too fast to read."</p> + +<p>"More than I had thought," commented Rogers.</p> + +<p>"Do you figure we're still accelerating?"</p> + +<p>"I think we have just about reached our greatest speed," Rogers answered +slowly. "Let us see. We've done an average of thirteen hundred years an +hour. We must be progressing at double that now."</p> + +<p>George was figuring on the back of an old envelope. "Twenty-six hundred +an hour. In five more hours at that rate we'll be close to twenty +thousand. We can fly down to the north coast of the island easily by +then."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. We're a little ahead in our space flight. I'm glad of it. We +shall have to slow our time-progress to almost nothing at the end. We +must take no chances of missing Loto's light signal."</p> + +<p>"Twenty-six hundred years an hour," mused George. "That's what we're +making now. Forty-five years a minute. A century almost every two +minutes!"</p> + +<p>The clock had registered thirty minutes more when Rogers declared he was +sufficiently rested. At George's suggestion they ate a light meal; then +they started their flight southward again.</p> + +<p>"How about looking at the dials now," George remarked. "They were at +sixty-five hundred, thirty minutes ago."</p> + +<p>"Eight thousand," Rogers read. "That's fifteen hundred more. It figures +out to three thousand an hour. That's our peak, I think."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<p>The flight now was passing through constantly changing conditions; every +two minutes the plane was covering some three or four miles of space and +a century of time. They crossed above North Carolina and came to the +coast again. The cities of the civilization beneath them seemed to be +breaking up. Here and there one stood in its glory; others were mere +deserted piles of ruins over which the vegetation crawled, eager to +devour. Still other cities and villages appeared over the southern +horizon, sturdy and whole—and they melted as they slid beneath the +plane, into crumbling piles that passed out of sight to the north.</p> + +<p>Soon desolate areas appeared. The scene grew vaguely whiter; the snow +was coming down from the north faster than the plane was flying. Changes +in the coast line became apparent; unfamiliar arms of the sea swept into +view, and were crossed and left behind. A small, unfamiliar island lay +close to the South Carolina coast. But as a whole, the land and sea held +their own, even against the ravages of so many centuries.</p> + +<p>"The north wind is with us—the wind Loto described that blew southward +almost all the year. What time is it?"</p> + +<p>"By the clock or the dials?"</p> + +<p>"The clock. I have the dials here. Eighteen thousand four hundred years +is their reading."</p> + +<p>"Quarter of six," announced George.</p> + +<p>"We should sight the island shortly," Rogers said. "I'll fly a trifle +slower. We must be nearly down to Georgia by now—to where Georgia used +to be, I should say. I want to sight the island at twenty thousand +years, or thereabouts."</p> + +<p>The land was growing white; the vegetation sparser. Small towns and +hamlets that endured for no more than fifty or a hundred years were +springing up everywhere, and melting into nothing in a moment or two. +The vegetation was shifting, changing, but always the scene was growing +whiter. The villages were sparser, smaller and shorter lived—the people +struggling southward against the threatening, unrelenting cold, which +spared nothing but the island of the Anglese.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rogers was first to notice a radical departure from the normal +conformation of the landscape. They were, by their own calculation, over +Georgia. George, watching the dials closely, had just noted twenty-two +thousand years. Far ahead, over the rim of the southwestern horizon, a +line of mountains was rising.</p> + +<p>"Look!" exclaimed Rogers softly. "The mountain chain running east and +west. The new mountains! The island must be just beyond them."</p> + +<p>He maneuvered the plane into a climb; the gray land and sea tilted and +began dropping away. The mountains seemed to be following them up, +higher and closer, until at last the plane was over them, barely a +thousand feet above their rocky spires.</p> + +<p>It was a scene of wild grandeur that now spread out beneath their eyes: +dark, craggy cliff faces, with snow capped summits, a pure white peak +and a gray blue valley beside it. And the whole mass reared ten thousand +feet above the sea.</p> + +<p>The plane swept forward; the jagged, tumbled land slid northward, close +beneath it. Then, abruptly, the crags and peaks dropped away; it was as +though the plane had leaped ten thousand feet into the air. Far below +lay a narrow channel of gray water, stretching east and west. And beyond +that lay another land, its outer coast curving to the south.</p> + +<p>"<i>The island!</i>" exclaimed Rogers softly. "What a cataclysm was here—a +rift that let the sea in and buckled up the mountains!"</p> + +<p>"The island!" echoed George. "And we're at twenty-three thousand five +hundred years! We've some distance yet to fly," he warned. "Hadn't we +better slacken our time progress?"</p> + +<p>With their flight through space temporarily checked, the 'copters +holding them motionless, Rogers cut down the proton current to the fifth +intensity. Eagerly they looked below them.</p> + +<p>Beyond the channel lay the island, curving up in an arc from the south +and out to the west. They could not see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> across it, but only to a ridge +of mountains at its center. Huge palms grew everywhere, and the +shoreline formed a broad, curving beach of white sand. An island +paradise—though their time progress still laid a gray cast over the +green, blurred the water into a formless haze along the beach and +shifted the vegetation into a confusion of changing forms.</p> + +<p>"We must get started," Rogers said at last. "At twenty-eight thousand +years we must be within sight of the southern tip."</p> + +<p>It was a flight almost due south. Lakes occasionally were visible, and +two or three small rivers, one of which changed its course suddenly +under their eyes; and everywhere that tropical verdure, mounting and +melting, always shifting with its rapid growth and decay.</p> + +<p>In some three hours more—with another longer rest for Rogers, during +which time the 'copters held them poised motionless—they sighted the +southern tip of the island. It had narrowed here to a point no more than +two miles wide, ending with a curving beach and the broad, empty ocean +beyond; a beach with a palm-covered mountain slope close behind it.</p> + +<p>Rogers had made several changes of time progress during the latter part +of the trip, and they were poised over the sea near the tip of the +island for no more than a few moments when the dials recorded +twenty-eight thousand two hundred years.</p> + +<p>Rogers consulted Loto's notes. "He landed in this time world at +twenty-eight thousand two hundred and four years. We must stop at the +beginning of that year and watch for his light."</p> + +<p>Using the fourth intensity, the daylight and darkness was separated into +two brief, but distinguishable periods. Thus the voyagers sped through +the days and nights, the weeks and months and forward into another year. +At the beginning of the fourth year, Rogers changed to the third +intensity. It was daylight—a yellow-red, swiftly mounting sun; flying +blurs of white clouds close overhead; a blue sea, and a bright green +island.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<p>The sun plunged across the sky and sank blood red, with an instant of +glorious colors suffusing the western sky. Night came, with its deep, +purple mystery. Then day again.</p> + +<p>Thus the days of that fourth year went by; each hardly a minute long, +but slow to the two men so anxiously watching. They were tired to the +point of exhaustion, but the excitement and anxiety kept them going.</p> + +<p>"He said from the tip of the island," Rogers murmured. "A blue-white, +vertical beam of light shining for a day and a night...we couldn't +miss it. A minute would show it to us plainly."</p> + +<p>"I haven't taken my eyes off that island for a second," commented George +from his seat on the floor. "Why doesn't he hurry up? He's down there, +why doesn't he give us the signal?"</p> + +<p>Rogers did not answer. The sun dropped below the horizon. The turning +world, with its motion made so visible, was dizzying to one who watched +the sky.</p> + +<p>The purple night was momentarily colored with a red moon; it rose and +swiftly plunged into a thick bank of clouds that swept down upon it.</p> + +<p>Abruptly, from the tip of the island, a shaft of blue-white light shot +into the sky. It wavered an instant, then stood motionless: <i>clear</i>, +<i>distinct</i>, <i>unmistakable</i>!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER SEVEN</h2> + + +<p>The proton current had been entirely cut off. The interior of the cabin +was solid in appearance once more. The Frazia motors were still droning +and the plane hung motionless in a night that was without wind. Below +it, now, lay a scene<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> of complete normality: the sea was rolling up on +the white sand and the moon, almost at its zenith, bathed the green +island in a silvery, red-tinged light. And from the tip of the island, +quite near its southern branch, Loto's narrow beam of blue-white light +was flashing upward into the sky.</p> + +<p>They descended, in a gentle glide. The beach was broad and firm; they +landed upon it, swooping along. It was like racing an automobile along +the sand in the moonlight, with the ocean on one side—far out at low +tide now—and a jungle of green, tropical vegetation on the other.</p> + +<p>Rogers, at the controls, saw a number of human figures standing on the +beach ahead of him. They scattered hastily, and the plane, rapidly +losing velocity, went past them and stopped a hundred yards farther.</p> + +<p>"<i>We're here!</i>" George cried. "Let's get out. Was that Loto we passed? +Where's the light? Are we near it?"</p> + +<p>The light could be seen no more than a hundred feet away among the +palms. They climbed hastily from the plane. A figure was coming forward +along the beach at a run; a slight figure in wide trousers of white +cloth, and a short, flapping jacket.</p> + +<p>"Loto!" shouted George. "That you, Loto?"</p> + +<p>From a distance came a faint, "Hello-o... George!" The runner increased +his speed. It was Loto.</p> + +<p>"Well," he exclaimed, as he shook their hands. "You got here right away, +didn't you? I've only had that light up two or three hours."</p> + +<p>"We're tired out," said Rogers, when the greetings were over. "Do we +stay in the plane or can we leave it?"</p> + +<p>A man was standing fearfully at the edge of the green jungle nearby, and +Loto called him forward. He was dressed in wide trousers, like Loto's +except that they were smeared with dirt and sand, and his feet and torso +were bare. He came, timidly, and Loto spoke to him apart. The man nodded +his head, indicating that he understood his orders. Then he trotted +away, joining three or four others of his kind, gesticulating toward the +plane. They all approached it reluctantly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<p>George plucked at the flaring sleeve of Loto's short jacket, his only +garment above the waist. "How's Azeela, Loto? Is she...is everything +all right?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she's all right. But I needed you and father here. Wait! Not now. +I'll tell you later."</p> + +<p>Rogers joined them. "We're about exhausted, Loto. We must have some +sleep."</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course. I knew you'd be. I've a house near here—only a hundred +yards or so. They'll guard the plane." His gesture indicated the men who +were now on the sand, moving about the plane, but evidently afraid to +touch it.</p> + +<p>"You can trust them?"</p> + +<p>"Implicitly."</p> + +<p>They followed Loto. George was tired, but so excited that he did not +realize it. The night air was warm and heavy with moisture. It was +oppressive; it reminded him somehow of the steam room of a Turkish bath. +He found himself perspiring.</p> + +<p>They left the moonlit beach and, following a tiny, white-sand path, +plunged into the depths of the jungle. Palms of every variety stood +about, their graceful fronds interlacing overhead. There were huge trees +loaded with fruit, bananas, mangoes, grapefruit. Some of the other fruit +trees George dimly remembered having heard of but could not name, and +still others he was sure were entirely new.</p> + +<p>It was dark in the jungle here, and very silent. The steamy air was +redolent with perfume—orange blossoms, George thought. The light signal +was nowhere to be seen. George wondered if it had burned out, or if Loto +had ordered those men to extinguish it.</p> + +<p>"Here we are," said Loto abruptly.</p> + +<p>A house was standing at their right, in an open space with the moonlight +gleaming on it—a large, tropical-looking bungalow. There was a broad +veranda on three sides, with windows opening into the house. The house +itself was raised some four feet off the ground on coconut posts, and a +brown-thatched roof spread over everything like a mound.</p> + +<p>It seemed to be a house that would have ten rooms, at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> least. George +wondered what made it look so peculiar. Then he realized that its board +walls were not vertical, but sloped inward toward the top, so that its +rooms would be smaller at the ceiling than the floor. It looked like a +house of cards.</p> + +<p>Loto had turned into another path. A brown picket fence enclosed the +house with perhaps an acre of ground. Inside was a flower garden, abloom +with an extraordinary profusion of flowers.</p> + +<p>A short flight of wooden steps led to the veranda. There Loto stopped.</p> + +<p>"I think we should retire at once," Rogers said. "We have so much to +talk of—but it will wait."</p> + +<p>"Yes," Loto agreed. "Come with me, Father. George, you stay here. I'll +be right out."</p> + +<p>George sat down on the veranda, with his back against a round palm trunk +that was supporting its roof. He realized now how tired he was, and this +heavy air made him sleepy, he heard the others moving away, entering the +house. He took off his coat, then his shirt and, using them for a +pillow, stretched himself out at full length on the board flooring of +the veranda.</p> + +<p>In a moment, when Loto returned to take him to the room they were to +occupy together, he found George sleeping peacefully.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>George awakened with the morning sun streaming through a window. He was +on a broad couch, and in a chair beside him, Loto was reclining +comfortably, smoking his black brier pipe. He smiled.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're awake, are you? You ought to be—it's hours after sunrise."</p> + +<p>A vague memory of being taken into the house by Loto the night before +drifted back to George. He remembered being half-asleep and talking to +his friend, but it was all like a dream.</p> + +<p>The room was small, queer-looking, with its walls sloping together +toward the ceiling. But it was bright and clean, with brown fibre +matting on the floor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + +<p>The air was as moist and heavy as ever, and even warmer. George sat up, +mopping his forehead with his shirt sleeve.</p> + +<p>"I've got your clothes," Loto said, indicating a stool with garments +lying on it. "You don't need much in this heat. Get up and try them on."</p> + +<p>George was presently arrayed, like Loto, in low, tight slippers of soft +hide—clipped dog-skin, Loto told him—with trousers of white material, +bulging above the knees and tight at the ankles, and a brown and green +cloth jacket, ornamented with little metal coins. The jacket was +square-cut and short; it just covered the waist-band of the trousers in +back. It was lined with something soft, thin and yet absorbent; it felt +smooth and comfortable next to George's skin. But it would not meet in +front; it left his chest and stomach bare. He stood regarding it +ruefully until Loto showed him how to fasten it closed across his +stomach.</p> + +<p>"Nice and cool—when you get used to it," George commented, staring down +at his exposed chest. "How do I look? Kind of queer, don't I?" He +twisted himself around, trying to see down over the side bulge of his +trousers.</p> + +<p>Roger's voice, calling, interrupted them.</p> + +<p>"I've got a million things to talk to you about," George was telling +Loto. "Hurry it up—I'll be out in the garden."</p> + +<p>They met, a few minutes later, on the side veranda where they were to +have breakfast. George's self-consciousness vanished immediately; Rogers +was dressed almost exactly as he was, and he flattered himself he looked +at least as well as his companion.</p> + +<p>It seemed to the new arrivals, at this first glance, a primitive world +indeed into which they had fallen, the heat, the palms, the thatched +bungalow, and their costumes all might have existed in some +out-of-the-way tropical land of their own time-world.</p> + +<p>During the meal George was insistent with questions, but Loto smilingly +refused to talk. Instead, he led his father into a brief description of +their flight forward through time and south through space. When the meal +was over Loto took them out to the front veranda.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I've a great deal to tell you," he said, "and I know you're as +impatient to hear it as I am to tell you. I've been here on the island +five months—"</p> + +<p>"We realize it," George murmured. "Didn't I watch for that light through +every day and night of 'em?"</p> + +<p>Loto smiled. "I put the signal up last night because I felt that I +needed you. Before we do anything, I must tell you of our affairs here. +You notice I say 'our affairs.' They are a part of me now. I don't +exactly know why, but the thing here grips me. I want to help these +people... I feel already that I am one of them."</p> + +<p>It was no mystery to George.</p> + +<p>"Where's Azeela?" he demanded with apparent irrelevancy.</p> + +<p>"In Anglese City, the capital and largest center of population on the +island. It's north of here—on the channel. I've been living there; I +came down here merely to meet you. The situation here is drastic, +Father. War has been impending, and now it will not be postponed much +longer. This Toroh—as I told you, he is an Anglese renegade—is +organizing the barbarians of the north, the Noths, as they are called. +They are a people of low intelligence—brutes of men with thick black +hair on their bodies.</p> + +<p>"God knows how many Noths there are—hordes of them are scattered about +the northern wastes. Toroh has been organizing them. He has a base up +north where he is manufacturing scientific weapons. There is class +hatred here on the island, but, thank Heaven, in the face of an outside +invasion, the Anglese will stick together."</p> + +<p>"You're preparing for war," George interposed. "You—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course. The Anglese have had no warfare for several +generations; they were totally unprepared, but now they're getting +things in shape."</p> + +<p>Loto's tone was optimistic, but the anxiety of his expression belied it. +"I wanted you here, Father—you and George. Without Toroh, we would not +fear the Noths. But Toroh is a scientist, and what weapons he will have +been able to manufacture we do not know. We can only—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<p>A man came dashing up the garden path; a man in the familiar wide +trousers, torn and dirty. His red-brown, naked torso gleamed with sweat; +a white cloth was tied about his forehead to keep the damp hair from his +eyes.</p> + +<p>Loto leaped to his feet, and the man, gazing at the strangers with one +swift, surprised glance, flung himself prostrate on the steps.</p> + +<p>"What—" began Rogers.</p> + +<p>"Wait! A messenger from Azeela. Something has gone wrong."</p> + +<p>Loto raised the man up, and listened to his flood of frightened words +with obvious concern. A sharp question from Loto, a crisp order, and the +messenger was dashing away. Loto's gaze, following him, came back to his +companions on the porch.</p> + +<p>"Bad news, Father. We must get up to Anglese City at once. Spies have +appeared in Orleen—a city at the western end of the island—spies from +Toroh, former Anglese, banished like himself. They're being put to death +as fast as they can be caught. But meanwhile they're talking to the +lower class—telling the people that Toroh is for them, and only against +their government. There is class hatred here. The people are listening +to the emissaries. We may be facing a revolution—an internal break—on +the eve of fighting the Noths! We will lose if that happens—<i>lose to +Toroh inevitably</i>!"</p> + +<p>They were down on the beach in five minutes more. The plane stood there, +undisturbed. Half a dozen figures rose from the sand beside it and stood +respectfully waiting for Loto to approach.</p> + +<p>Rogers took his seat beside the Frazia controls. They were presently in +the air, flying northward over the palm-covered island that lay calm, +serene in its false security and peacefulness.</p> + +<p>Loto sat close to his father, with George beside them.</p> + +<p>"I must tell you briefly the conditions here," Loto said. "Then you will +be able to understand—be able to help with your advice and judgement as +well as actions."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<p>He spoke briskly but carefully, and his manner regained its poise. +George was gazing down through one of the side windows.</p> + +<p>"That's Azeela's messenger," Loto commented, "going back to Anglese +City."</p> + +<p>They were flying hardly five hundred feet above the palms. A white road +lay beneath them; along it a huge, shaggy dog was running, with the +figure of a man on its back. The dog's neck was stretched forward, its +body low to the ground as it ran with almost incredible speed, the man +lashing its flanks with a leather thong. The plane passed very slowly +and drew away.</p> + +<p>"We will not land in the heart of the city," Loto added. "He'll be with +Azeela before we are."</p> + +<p>"Go on and tell us about things," George urged. "We've got the time now; +maybe we won't have it later."</p> + +<p>Loto nodded. "I will. We have here on the island three social classes. +How they developed throughout the centuries you will have to imagine for +yourself. Ancient, almost prehistoric Egypt was no more than a quarter +as far into the past of our time-world as we are now ahead of it. +Considered in that light, the changes have been rather less radical than +you would anticipate.</p> + +<p>"The lowest class—you would call them peons in our old Latin +America—are now termed the Bas. They include more than nine-tenths of +all the inhabitants of the island. Most of them are ignorant, +uneducated; yet they include, also, many intelligent, learned +individuals.</p> + +<p>"It is the lowest class which is now plunged into almost intolerable +conditions. They are the workers. Through generations of working in the +sun, their skin has become a reddish brown. The higher class—the +nobility—are the Arans. As the governing class, the Arans live for the +most part in idleness and luxury, while the Bas are held down to almost +universal poverty.</p> + +<p>"You haven't seen the Arans yet. We will be in their chief city shortly. +You will find them white-skinned, their women especially, for they +shield themselves carefully from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> the sun. They are cultured, yet +without great learning. Can you appreciate that condition? They're the +ones who really show the decadence of this time-world."</p> + +<p>"Is there a third class?" Rogers prompted.</p> + +<p>"Yes. The Scientists—to me the most interesting of all. You will +appreciate that in long past ages, science was supreme. In war it was +everything. The Anglese came to this island and grew apathetic, but the +Scientists, in some measure, clung to their learning. Gradually, their +attitude must have changed to secrecy. They became a sect, holding +knowledge for its own sake, keeping it among themselves.</p> + +<p>"The real power lay with them, and they knew it. But curiously enough, +their science seemed all-sufficient. As a body, they never desired +governing power; no individual rose among them with a yearning for +conquest—except Toroh.</p> + +<p>"Foreign wars came. The Scientists offered their help, and when the wars +were over, retired with their knowledge to themselves. The sect, as you +will find it today, is on the downgrade. It has dwindled to a thousand +or two individuals who are scattered throughout the island. They call +themselves the League—I should say, a word that means about that. They +have their own officers; a council of a hundred in Anglese City, and a +lifetime president, Fahn, Azeela's father.</p> + +<p>"Thus, you understand, the League of Scientists really controls +everything. But its members are content with the prestige their position +gives them. The government itself has for centuries fostered this +secrecy of all that pertains to science. In times of war, the Arans are +helpless, and leave it all to the League. In times of peace they forget +the possibility of war and go back to ruling the Bas in their own +fashion."</p> + +<p>Loto glanced out one of the windows. "Look down there."</p> + +<p>The island was mountainous; a constant succession of green hills and +valleys. A small lake came into view, with steam rising from it. +Everywhere the scene was dotted with thatched huts and, occasionally, a +more pretentious bunga<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>low like the one in which the visitors had passed +the previous night. As they flew low over the hills, they could see +small brown and white patches of cultivated land scattered everywhere.</p> + +<p>"That is the way the Bas live," Loto commented. "Sometimes they bring +their produce to the cities and sell it for ridiculously small sums. If +there's a food shortage, the Arans come out and take it—paying for it +nominally."</p> + +<p>"But their factories, their industries?"</p> + +<p>"In the cities, Father. Reduced to a minimum, and for the use and +welfare of the Arans and Scientists almost exclusively. Skilled labor is +performed by the higher types of the Bas. They are allowed to live in +the cities, but are paid so little that they must live unpretentiously. +Everything is done for the welfare of the Arans and the League of +Scientists."</p> + +<p>"And the government?"</p> + +<p>"A monarchy. A king, his council of fifty and his personal cabinet of +five. A hereditary monarch, wholly inefficient, except in forcing his +laws upon the Bas."</p> + +<p>"I should think that would be somewhat difficult," Rogers commented.</p> + +<p>"There is a large police force made up of swaggering young men of the +Arans. They serve for the joy of it; they're mostly arrogant individuals +who take pleasure in the enforcement of the personal power they hold. +And they abuse it, of course. Their task is easy, for they have the +Scientists behind them. If one of them were killed, or even attacked by +a Bas, it would mean the death of that Bas and all his family.</p> + +<p>"I said the Bas were under conditions almost intolerable. And that's +exactly why these spies of Toroh's are dangerous to us just now. The +whole social condition here is wretched, but, I suppose, logical enough +under the circumstances of environment and racial development. +Fundamentally, the difficulty has been a limited land area. The race +cannot expand, hence numerically it must be restrained."</p> + +<p>"How?" demanded Rogers. "By birth control?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Obligatory birth control—applicable only to the Bas. More Bas are not +desired, hence births are limited. The desire just now—more than to +hold the population even—is to cut it down. Hence, a Bas woman is +allowed only two offspring."</p> + +<p>"But suppose she has three?" George suggested.</p> + +<p>"The mother and her child—illegitimate in a new sense—are banished +from the island." Loto's voice rose to sudden vehemence. "Can you +understand what that sometimes does? I have seen a mother with her +newborn infant, two or three weeks old, pleading before the King's +Council. She would not murder it at birth, as the Bas women sometimes +do, and I saw her plead for its right to live on the island. And then, +with her plea denied, she took it away into the frozen north. Her +husband did not follow her. That is optional. This one stayed behind, +keeping the other two children, and letting her take the infant alone. +And she went, to save its life—her child, born without a birthright."</p> + +<p>There was a silence. Rogers was staring down at a hilltop where, as the +plane swept past, a woman with two naked children at her side stood in +front of a small shack.</p> + +<p>"And when you have seen the Arans, living their life of luxury and +immorality," Loto went on, "you will wonder why the Bas have stood it so +long. 'After us—the deluge,' has always been the Aran reasoning."</p> + +<p>The plane was climbing to pass over a jagged, volcanic-looking peak. +Behind, nestled in a hollow, with a curving stretch of white sand and +the blue waters of the channel beyond, lay the capital city of the +Arans: reckless, pleasure-loving, secure in its beauty and supremacy, +yet trembling from so many causes upon the brink of disaster.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER EIGHT</h2> + + +<p>On the gently undulating floor of a valley, surrounded by three +mountains and with the sea rolling up on its beach to the north, lay the +Aran city. From an altitude of some three thousand feet, the travelers +gazed down upon a scene of extraordinary color and beauty: low, pure, +white buildings with many balconies and patios; gardens of vivid +flowers; white pergolas trellised with scarlet blossoms; sunken pools of +limpid water, with huge date palms curving over them. A grove of royal +palms grew close to the beach, near a huge, rectangular bathing pool and +a marble-white pavilion. A white palace stood on a rise of ground with a +balconied tower, five hundred feet high, beside it. On the top of the +tower was a beautiful flower garden. And everywhere was the romantic +green foliage of the tropics, the blue-red sky, the soft, red-white +clouds, and the azure waters of the channel.</p> + +<p>"Where do we land?" George asked.</p> + +<p>"To the west a little, Father," Loto directed. "See the cavern +entrance?"</p> + +<p>He pointed for George, explaining: "We will not land directly in the +city. I want the plane permanently guarded now, so we will leave it in +the Cavern of Thunderbolts."</p> + +<p>"The what?" George demanded.</p> + +<p>"That's what the Bas picturesquely call it. You see the cavern mouth?"</p> + +<p>Across the city, a yawning black hole gaped in the mountainside near its +base; an opening of irregularly circular shape, some two hundred feet in +diameter. A gentle slope led up to it from the city.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We can fly directly in," Loto added. "It's the entrance to the +subterranean chambers where the scientists work—and where they store +their apparatus under guard. It's also a museum, where relics of the +past are gathered."</p> + +<p>George relapsed into an awed silence, staring down at the city. In the +streets and on the housetops, people were standing, gazing up at the +plane curiously.</p> + +<p>The mouth of the cavern grew steadily larger as the plane swooped down +upon it. The yawning hole seemed to have a level floor extending +horizontally back into the mountain. Far back into the darkness, little +blue lights twinkled.</p> + +<p>"You'd better take the controls, Loto," Rogers said anxiously. "I don't +like the idea of flying into that."</p> + +<p>Loto slipped quietly into the seat. The Frazia motors stopped abruptly. +Silently, with only the sound of the air rushing past, the plane glided +swiftly downward.</p> + +<p>Around the cavern mouth was a small platform with a roof over it, built +on an overhanging ledge of rock. The figures of three men seated there +were visible. Abruptly one of the men rose, and from his upflung hand a +tiny flash of blue-white light shot into the clouds overhead. Even in +the daylight it was a plainly visible flash.</p> + +<p>"Lightning!" George exclaimed and, as though to confirm him, a little +miniature crack of thunder sounded an instant later.</p> + +<p>"They know I'm coming," Loto said.</p> + +<p>It was a queer sensation, darting into that blackness. The cave mouth +seemed to open and swallow them. The plane struck the ground with a +bump, lifted, bumped again and rolled forward. Points of light swept +past on either side; a blue-white glare lay ahead.</p> + +<p>The plane slackened its speed and came to a stop.</p> + +<p>"We're here," said Loto. "Take only what you will need at once. We can +come back here later today or tomorrow."</p> + +<p>Quickly, they descended from the plane.</p> + +<p>The hum of dynamos sounded from far away in the mountain's depths. The +roof high overhead was dimly visible, and great shadows, flickering +blue-white lights, were everywhere.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> Near at hand, where the cave +broadened, was a space more brightly lighted. Further along it narrowed +again, forming a dozen branching passages. An incline fifty feet wide +sloped down into blackness, with a faint pencil-point of blue light +shining from far down within its recesses.</p> + +<p>"Why, the whole mountain is honeycombed!" Rogers exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Just stand here a minute and I'll be with you. Don't move +about!"</p> + +<p>Figures were approaching, robed in black rubber garments, gloved and +hooded. Loto turned to greet them, and they drew back their hoods, +disclosing their heads and faces. There was a brief conversation, then +Loto turned back to his companions.</p> + +<p>"Fahn is at home in the city," he said swiftly, and his tone was +concerned. "We'll go there."</p> + +<p>The black-robed figures gazed at them curiously a moment; then went back +to their work. Led by Loto, the three started off toward the mouth of +the cave.</p> + +<p>"Is your plane in here, Loto?" Rogers asked.</p> + +<p>"No, sir. I left it at Orleen. There's a cavern there similar to this, +but smaller. It's there—in the other cavern."</p> + +<p>"You're sure it's safe?"</p> + +<p>"Of course."</p> + +<p>"Where are we going?" George demanded after a moment.</p> + +<p>"To Fahn's home," Loto answered. "He'll be there with Azeela and +Dianne."</p> + +<p>"Dianne?" George's voice took on a new note of interest. "Who is she?"</p> + +<p>"Azeela's younger sister," Loto explained briefly. He smiled. "I meant +to tell you about her, George. She's a little daredevil—you'll like +her."</p> + +<p>George just smiled, and for some time they walked on in silence. The +ground was wet, like muddy clay. There were no lights ahead, but the +daylight from the cave's mouth lighted their way.</p> + +<p>They emerged from the cave and came out onto a road<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> of white sand and +clay that led down the mountain slope. Palms lined it thickly. Further +down, at the bottom of the quarter-mile descent, houses began; the +outskirts of the city. The road soon took on the aspect of a street. It +was broad, with narrow pedestrian paths on both sides. Flower gardens, +often with hedges of thick, bayonet-like plants, lined the walks. The +houses were for the most part almost obscured by palms and trellised +vines that were laden with scarlet blossoms. Private, outdoor bathing +pools occasionally showed through the garden foliage.</p> + +<p>It was obviously a residential section. As the party advanced, +passers-by grew more numerous. The Bas men were distinguishable by their +clipped, bullet-like heads, covered with broad, circular-brimmed hats of +straw; their sun-tanned bodies naked above the waist, bare feet, and the +wide trousers. The Bas women, also red-brown of skin, were usually +clothed merely with a loin cloth and a white sash bound over the +breasts, their hair twisted in plaits hanging down the back.</p> + +<p>The Bas walked always in the road itself. On the pedestrian paths, a few +Arans passed by; men with long hair to the base of the neck, and dressed +somewhat as Loto had garbed his father and friend. Most of them saluted +Loto—a queer, flowing gesture of the left hand—and all of them stared +with frank curiosity at the strangers. Occasionally an Aran woman came +along—white-swathed, mysterious figures; a twinkle of tiny, +black-slippered feet, a flash from alluring eyes veiled by lashes +heavily darkened.</p> + +<p>An Aran man riding a dog went slowly down a side street. A dog pulling a +small, three-wheeled cart piled high with merchandise passed in the +opposite direction.</p> + +<p>George edged toward Loto. "Those dogs," he whispered. "They're friendly? +Not vicious?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not," Loto laughed. "Just like regular dogs. Except...well, +I'll tell you later."</p> + +<p>George sighed with relief. "All right. But they're not like any dogs I +ever saw at home—they're nearly as big as a horse. And there's +something else wrong about them—they're<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> too intelligent. You can see +that just by looking at them walk."</p> + +<p>Presently they turned into the gateway of a hedge solid with white and +scarlet blossoms.</p> + +<p>"Fahn's home," Loto said. "We'll go right in."</p> + +<p>They passed through a garden, colorful with its mass of vivid flowers, +and heavy with the languorous scent of magnolia and orange blossoms. The +house stood well back from the road. It was a low, broad building, white +in color, with, a low-hanging room—not thatched, but seemingly of blue +tiling.</p> + +<p>Then they were on the veranda. The walls of the house sloped inward at +the top. There was a window nearby—no glass—with a blue-white, silky +curtain shrouding it. The door stood open; inside was a hall, with +another door open to the sunlight of a patio banked with flowers.</p> + +<p>A girl came to the doorway. It was Azeela. George recognized her at +once: a slight little creature of blue eyes, golden hair and milk-white +skin; a pale blue sash wound wide about her hips and thighs, +breastplates of metal, with the broad, circular collar above them, and +her hair parted forward over her shoulders in plaits that ended with +little tassels. George decided she was the most beautiful girl he had +ever seen; Loto's description did not half do her justice.</p> + +<p>She stood hesitantly in the doorway then, smiling, advanced to Loto and +gave him both hands in a pretty gesture of welcome.</p> + +<p>George's decision that Azeela was the prettiest girl he had ever seen +was short lived, for behind Azeela now came another girl, her younger +sister, Dianne. Azeela might have been eighteen or nineteen; Dianne +obviously was no more than sixteen—a black-haired, dark-eyed girl, +dressed like Azeela, except that her sash was a deep red.</p> + +<p>"And this is Dianne," Loto was saying. "We call her Dee."</p> + +<p>"So will I," George answered promptly. He met the girl's eyes—snapping, +laughing eyes with the spirit of deviltry in them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Loto told me about you," she said demurely. Her intonation was that of +a foreigner, but she spoke the ancient English with perfect ease and +fluency. "Loto said he thought I would like you a lot."</p> + +<p>"He didn't tell me about <i>you</i>," George responded. "Not till ten minutes +ago. But, anyway, he was right. No, what I mean is—"</p> + +<p>The rest of George's speech was lost, for they were inside the house and +Fahn was advancing to meet them. The leader of the Scientists was a man +of nearly seventy; a quiet, grave, dominating figure, tall and spare, +but perfectly erect. His face was smooth-shaven, his iron-gray hair long +to the base of the neck. He was dressed in a paneled robe of black, with +a pleated white collar and cuffs.</p> + +<p>"I am glad, indeed, to have you with us," he said cordially to Rogers. +He spoke precisely, slowly and carefully, as one speaks a language newly +mastered. "I feel very close to you, now that my daughter Azeela is to +marry Loto. It makes me—"</p> + +<p>Rogers stared blankly. "Loto engaged? Why, Loto, you—"</p> + +<p>"There was so much else to tell you, Father." Loto was covered with +confusion. "Besides, I wanted to have you meet Azeela first."</p> + +<p>Azeela was trying to escape from the room, but Dee captured her and +pushed her back.</p> + +<p>George was vigorously congratulating Loto, and Rogers, rising to the +occasion, kissed Azeela heartily.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It was an ominous crisis into which the visitors from a time world +twenty-eight thousand years previous had fallen. They discussed it with +Fahn and his daughters during the remainder of that morning, and at the +light noon meal, served in a shaded corner of the patio formed by the +enclosing wings of the house. Banks of vivid flowers surrounded them; +the quiet, warm air was redolent with perfume. A small fountain splashed +musically. The world was calm, languorous.</p> + +<p>Fahn had little to add to what they already knew. Toroh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> and the Noths +had not been expected to attack for a month or two at least, and the +Anglese scientists were going forward with their own preparations for +the war with utmost haste.</p> + +<p>But now these emissaries Toroh had smuggled to the island injected a new +and alarming factor into the situation. They had appeared only in +Orleen, but the Bas there were listening to them, and all over the +island the news was spreading among the Bas that Toroh was a friend, not +an enemy. The Bas might be incited to open revolt.</p> + +<p>"Morgruud is alarmed," Fahn said to Loto. He explained to the others +that Mogruud was one of the most intelligent of the Bas in Anglese City, +a leader of his people. Mogruud was not fooled by Toroh's emissaries, +but he feared now that he could not prevent an uprising.</p> + +<p>"And the most terrible part is the Bas are right," Fahn added. "I do not +mean in regard to Toroh—he is a scoundrel, of course. But the Bas must +have some relief. Their children—ten mothers and infants were ordered +exiled yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you fix it?" George asked.</p> + +<p>The Scientist leader shrugged slightly. "I do not make the laws; I obey +them. I have remonstrated with the king and the council many times." He +paused, then added thoughtfully:</p> + +<p>"The time may come when we of the League may be forced to act against +the laws of our king. He is wrong, and we scientists all know it. But to +take the law into our own hands—it is a very drastic thing...."</p> + +<p>During the meal, George was far more interested in the two sisters than +in the men's talk. He had opportunity now to study the girls, compare +them. In feature they were much alike; in expression and demeanor, +totally different. Azeela was calm, thoughtful—femininely wise and +patient. Dee was impulsive, vivacious—alternately demure and devilish. +Yet, in spite of the differences in temperament, there seemed a strange +bond between the sisters. Their regard for each other, the love between +them, was obvious. But it was more than that—a bond of mind and spirit. +George<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> puzzled over it. Often when Azeela was about to speak, Dee would +impulsively speak for her, as though interpreting her sister's thoughts.</p> + +<p>The afternoon was one of inactivity. A Toroh emissary appeared in +Anglese City, but he was arrested before he had time to harangue the +people.</p> + +<p>"I had thought he was one of Toroh's brothers," Fahn remarked, "but it +is not so. I think now they would not dare come back to the island."</p> + +<p>He went on to explain that Toroh had two younger brothers, banished like +himself.</p> + +<p>"They might come—Toroh himself might come," Loto declared. "He will +dare anything that seems worth the risk."</p> + +<p>"If we take any one of them he will die," Fahn commented.</p> + +<p>It was at this juncture, in the late afternoon when the whole world was +bathed in the glorious colors of a sunset sky, that Azeela returned from +a short trip across the city.</p> + +<p>"The Aran Festival of the Flowers is tonight," she exclaimed excitedly. +"It has not been postponed. The Arans say it is clever to hold it now, +in spite of the news from Orleen. It will show the Bas how little they +care—how secure is the Aran power!"</p> + +<p>It seemed to presage evil events—the holding of this festival wherein +all the wanton luxury of the Arans could be flaunted in the faces of +those whom they ruled. And it was with foreboding in their hearts that +Fahn, his daughters and their friends, prepared that evening to go and +witness it. It was midnight when they started. Dee and Azeela were +swathed to the eyes in soft white robes, and the men carried tiny black +masks.</p> + +<p>The city streets, even at midnight, bore a holiday aspect. The moon had +risen but, in addition to its light, there were braziers strung above +every street crossing and they cast a soft blue light downward.</p> + +<p>Arans were hurrying along, alone and in groups—the women all shrouded +in white; the men, in clothes of gaudy colors, wearing masks, or +dangling them in their hands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> Little phaetons drawn by dogs rolled by, +filled with gay figures in fancy dress; women leaned from them, waving +at the pedestrians and tossing out flowers as they swept past.</p> + +<p>Loto and Azeela, with George and Dee close behind them, led the way +swiftly in the direction that every one else was moving. Fahn and Rogers +followed behind.</p> + +<p>It was a fairy tale city of unreality: gaudy men and white robed women +hastening forward under the blue street lights; silent white houses +flushed with the reddish tinge of the moon; warm, moist air, almost +without a breath, heavy with sensuous perfume.</p> + +<p>And in the shadows of the streets, the brown skinned, half naked figure +of a Bas, skulking here and there!</p> + +<p>Azeela had, for some time, been walking in silence. She looked up at the +moon and, with a touch upon Loto's arm, indicated it.</p> + +<p>"You said the moon was blushing, my Loto—the blush of maiden modesty to +look down upon such a city. But I do not see it so...to me it is +stained with <i>blood</i>."</p> + +<p>The sweeping gesture of her white arm flashing from under the robe +indicated a garden beside them.</p> + +<p>"<i>Blood—staining everything!</i>"</p> + +<p>The street topped a rise of ground, ahead, down another short slope, lay +the sea. And even there the silver path upon the water was tinged with +red.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER NINE</h2> + + +<p>A cordon of police stopped Fahn and his party at the edge of a grove of +palms near the beach. A moment more and they were inside. It was dim +under the palms; the white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> sand a lace pattern of shadow and moonlight. +Gay figures were moving about, all the men masked now.</p> + +<p>The grove covered perhaps a quarter of a mile. To the right lay the +gleaming white beach with the surf rolling up upon it. A tremendous pile +of scarlet and white blossoms stood near by under the palm trees. +Figures rushed to it, gathered up armfuls and darted away, shouting and +laughing.</p> + +<p>"We must keep together," Fahn warned. "Come this way."</p> + +<p>Half a dozen men had whirled up, pelting Azeela and Dee with flower +blossoms, and, under cover of the laughing attack, tried to separate the +girls from their escorts and carry them off.</p> + +<p>They moved slowly forward, George gripping Dee's arm tightly. They +passed a huge, rectangular swimming pool, deserted as yet—glassy, +moonlit water a foot or two below the surface of the ground, reflecting +the dark outlines of the date palms that curved above it.</p> + +<p>The whirling crowd constantly became thicker. There must have been +several thousand people within the grove: the white shrouded figure of a +woman flinging flowers against the attack of a man; a woman retreating, +her ammunition exhausted, to the flower pile to replenish, and being +caught in a smothering embrace before she could reach it; a group of +laughing girls, their robes torn from them in the fray, pelting a +defenseless man, flinging him finally into a huge pile of flower petals, +burying him until some other quarry distracted their attention, or a +stronger force of men separated them, sometimes carrying them off +bodily.</p> + +<p>And in nooks behind the hedges of flowers, couples stole silent +embraces, alone until marauding bands of men or girls found them out and +drove them from their seclusion.</p> + +<p>The white sand was thick with trampled flowers. Music came drifting +through the warm night air; music near at hand, but blurred by the +shouts of the whirling throng. The rich contralto voice of a woman +singing—a snatch cut off by laughter.</p> + +<p>A large white pavilion lay ahead, brilliant with flashing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> colored +lights—a kaleidoscope of shifting color. It seemed crowded with people, +and Fahn now led his little party toward it.</p> + +<p>They did not enter the pavilion, but stood in a group on its steps. The +music came from within, music that welled and throbbed, unfamiliar in +character, but with the age-old appeal to the senses—music sensuous, +barbaric. And yet was it barbaric?</p> + +<p>Rogers voiced the question in a whisper to Loto, who stood beside him. +Was it not rather supermodern, with the centuries of decadence that had +put into it that fire of the soul abandoned to the body?</p> + +<p>The throng on the floor was battling with flowers, drinking wine from +carved bowls of coconut shell, and dancing indiscriminately. The masked +men were robed in black and women shrouded in white, but the swinging +lights of vivid color stained everything, made the scene shift and blur +into fantasy.</p> + +<p>At one end of the room a huge circular table was loaded with food and +drink, fruits and confections. The table was slowly revolving; half of +its circumference was behind a partition—a kitchen where it was +constantly being replenished with other dainties.</p> + +<p>The visitors found it difficult to keep their place on the pavilion +steps. Masked men attacked the two girls with flowers; a black robed +figure in mock politeness and humility begged one or the other of them +to dance. A trio of girls tore George away, and then, at his resistance, +left him abruptly.</p> + +<p>"The king," whispered Loto, with a gesture.</p> + +<p>At one end of the pavilion, on a small raised platform, the king sat +smiling down upon the scene. He was robed in paneled cloth of rich, +gaudy colors—a man of middle age whose long, dark hair was shot through +with gray.</p> + +<p>The scene, with its confusion of shifting incidents, held too much for +the visitors to see or to understand. Half an hour went by, with the +merrymaking steadily increasing. Abruptly, the music stopped. The throng +stopped in its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> tracks, waiting expectantly. The swinging colored lights +died out; others took their place—pure blue-white, and motionless. A +solemn bell tolled out over the silence; with almost one motion the +masks and the robes were discarded. A woman's laugh rang out, carrying +in it the very essence of abandonment. Then the music began again and +the throng sprang back into motion.</p> + +<p>The riotous color had been supplied by the lights; now with the lights a +blue-white, steady glare, it was the riotous color of the costumes +themselves. Was it the Baghdad of the Ancients—manikins, with turbaned +headdresses, and flowing, vivid draperies with the gleaming white of +limbs beneath them? Or were these slave girls, with their wares +displayed for the bidders in the market? Or these others, were they +desert women, dancing with a pagan lust?</p> + +<p>Watching with the others, George's impressions were confused. Yet the +thought came to him that this was modern beyond his time—decadence, not +barbarism.</p> + +<p>Again Rogers murmured something, but his words were lost. A score of +figures came leaping from the pavilion, scattering the small group of +onlookers on its steps.</p> + +<p>Rogers recovered himself, turning to follow them with his gaze; white +nymphs with flowing hair, and draperies of gauze that bellowed behind +them as they ran for the moonlit beach and the surf.</p> + +<p>Loto, pulling at his father's arm, brought his attention back to the +pavilion. Through it, the palm grove on the other side was visible.</p> + +<p>The bathing pool was now a turmoil of splashing figures—slim white +shapes dove into it from the palm-lined banks.</p> + +<p>But Loto was indicating the pavilion's interior. The crowd was standing +motionless, gazing upward. A small dais was poised in mid-air above the +floor in the center of the room. It floated there, seemingly with +nothing to sustain it. Standing on tiptoe on the dais was a woman, +wrapped to the eyes in scarlet draperies. She was facing the king over a +distance of some twenty feet. The music, which had been stilled for a +moment, murmured softly from its unseen niche.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> + +<p>Fahn whispered to Rogers, "Our workmen of the League equipped that dais +for the king. He begged us—and I feel now that it was a mistake."</p> + +<p>Loto added: "It is made from our newly invented war equipment. The dais +is covered with a fabric—electrically charged, and repulsive to the +earth. It's radio controlled, Father. A workman from the cavern is over +there in the corner, behind that drape. We've kept the fabric a secret, +but the king wanted to use it for the dais."</p> + +<p>The woman was singing in a throbbing contralto, very soft at first, then +gradually louder. As she sang, slowly she unwound the draperies, letting +them drop from her like quivering flame to a smoldering pile at her +feet. Beneath it were other draperies, flame-colored like the rest, but +her arms and face were bare—full, rounded, milk-white arms—a heavy +face with scarlet lips.</p> + +<p>"Helene," Loto whispered. "The Bas call her what means 'Mme. Voluptua.' +It is she who rules the king <i>and the nation</i>. Look at her!"</p> + +<p>The king was standing up. The music grew louder, fiercer, with a +thrilling minor cadence. The woman's arms were extended; she stood +poised, smiling as she sang to the king. From her outflung arms the +gauze drapery hung like quivering wings, with the white of her body +gleaming beneath it. The black hair piled high on her head held two +spangles of gold trembling at the end of delicate golden wires. She +stood, a great scarlet moth, hovering before flight.</p> + +<p>Staring in fascination, the king had left his seat and descended to the +floor. The crowd parted to make way for him as he slowly moved toward +the dais which floated down to meet him. Every eye was on him and on the +woman, who now was extending her arms down in invitation.</p> + +<p>The music and the song were at their height. The dais reached the floor; +the king stepped upon it and, as the woman's hand touched his shoulder, +he dropped on one knee before her, his lips at the hem of her scarlet +gauze.</p> + +<p>A leer of triumph on the woman's face; a murmur of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> applause from the +watching throng. Then a black cloak fell from a figure close beside the +dais; a man leaped upon it—the naked figure of a man in loin-cloth. A +knife flashed—blue-white steel in the light from above. The song rose +to a shuddering scream. The scarlet figure wilted and sank among its +draperies at the feet of the kneeling king.</p> + +<p>For an instant the colorful throng seemed frozen; then chaos and the +struggling, airless confusion of panic. The murderer had flung the king +and the body of the woman from the dais. The little platform was rising +into the air, carrying him with it. The movement was sidewise; in a +moment it would have been outside the pavilion.</p> + +<p>Rogers, standing beside Fahn, heard the Scientist leader mutter an oath. +Fahn's hand came up from his robe; a pencil-point of flame—a tiny +shaft, yellow-red—shot from his weapon. The platform crashed to the +floor of the pavilion; the murderer lay still, his body blackened and +charred.</p> + +<p>In the center of the room, the king had climbed to his feet, trembling. +He stood, staring down at the scarlet pile of gauze before him, the +crumbled white body stained red as the draperies in which it lay.</p> + +<p>The pavilion was emptying. The music was stilled; shouts of men, +terrified, hysterical cries of women filled the air. The visitors on the +steps were swept back by the crowds from within. Loto, clinging to his +father, struggled to hold them together.</p> + +<p>White figures were running from the beach; slim shapes were climbing +from the bathing pool. A woman hastened by, long black hair plastered +wet against her sleek white body. Her face, the allure gone from it, was +a white mask of horror; a scarlet mouth with lips parted to yield +babbling, terrified cries. She swept past, then disappeared into the +confusion of the night.</p> + +<p>Loto was still clutching his father; all the rest of their party had +disappeared. The pavilion now was empty of Arans, save for that huddled +scarlet form, deserted by all its kind.</p> + +<p>Fahn came hastening up. "That is one of Toroh's brothers."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> He pointed +to the motionless figure of the man his jet of flame had killed. "The +other brother murdered my operator. They planned to steal the fabric, to +duplicate it and use it against us in the war. I had no idea they would +dare come to the island."</p> + +<p>Fahn had found his radio operator lying dead in his place behind the +drape. Toroh's other brother had been there, trying to work the radio +and get the dais out of the pavilion so that in the confusion they might +escape with it. Fahn had caught a glimpse of the man running away as he +approached. They had not known of Fahn's presence at the festival; had +he not been there, the attempt probably would have succeeded.</p> + +<p>There was space around the three men now. The fleeing Aran figures were +vanishing through the palms; the confused cries were growing fainter. +But George and the two girls could not be found.</p> + +<p>"We must go back," Fahn said. "They must have tried to find us and could +not. They would go home at once."</p> + +<p>With a last search around them, the three men started off through the +now almost deserted grove. The cordon of police had disappeared. A few +hastening figures were scattered along the streets.</p> + +<p>"Come on," Loto cried anxiously. "We have to hurry."</p> + +<p>Keeping close together they hastened along. Aran figures scurried here +and there; lights twinkled in the houses, then were extinguished as +though the concealing darkness might offer protection.</p> + +<p>"Curious," murmured Rogers. "The entire city is in terror."</p> + +<p>"The guilt that has been within them for generations," Fahn answered. +"Toroh planned this well. The Bas will not know it was an attempt to +steal the fabric. Instead they will think that one of their own people +dared to murder Mme. Voluptua. The Arans think that now. They think the +Bas have risen to rebellion at last. It is not this one murder, but the +meaning of it that they fear—the confidence it will give the Bas."</p> + +<p>And as though to confirm his words, the figure of a Bas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> man stood +motionless on the next street corner. He was partly in shadow, but he +did not move as the three men came along; and as they passed, his body +seemed to straighten, with the consciousness of his own power sweeping +over it.</p> + +<p>They hurried across the city. As they went, they passed other Bas—Bas +who no longer skulked in the shadows.</p> + +<p>At last they came to the shimmering, moonlit garden of Fahn's home. The +house was dark. They called, but no one answered. A brief search +revealed the truth; Azeela, George and Dee were not to be found. The +place was undisturbed; there seemed no evidence of marauders.</p> + +<p>"We must wait," Fahn said. But his tone was anxious. "They have not yet +arrived from the grove. I cannot believe it is anything but that."</p> + +<p>For a time they waited, but none of the missing three appeared. A hum +had been growing in the city—a murmur of distant cries that now forced +itself on their attention. The murmur grew, resolving itself into shouts +and the scuffle of running feet. A mob of Bas rounded a nearby street +corner and swept past the house. The crowd might have held a thousand +persons. A giant, half-naked man with a curved sword-blade in his hand +was leading the way; behind him came hordes of brown-skinned men and +women. Most of the men carried curved swords; the women wielded +sticks—the heavy butts of palm-fronds with the green stripped off—and +a variety of agricultural implements.</p> + +<p>"The cane-cutters!" Loto exclaimed softly. "The knives with which they +cut the sugar cane. They—"</p> + +<p>He broke off, watching the grim mob as it swept by. At every corner it +was strengthened by others who joined it; Bas were springing up +miraculously from the shadows everywhere.</p> + +<p>Fahn's hand had gone to his belt; then it dropped to his side. Rogers +met the Scientist's glance with a nod of understanding.</p> + +<p>"It is what we of the League have feared for years," Fahn said +anxiously. "I cannot kill my own people. I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> armed and they are not, +yet I cannot kill them—cannot look upon them as enemies. And I think, +even in their frenzy, they realize that and play upon it."</p> + +<p>The last stragglers had passed; the shouts of the mob were growing +fainter as it dashed across the city. The Aran houses were still dark +and silent, with only an occasional inmate slinking out to gaze +fearfully around. Directly across the street, the white figure of a +woman just returned from the grove showed for an instant in a doorway. +Then it fled inward, into the darkness.</p> + +<p>"<i>The palace!</i>" Loto explained abruptly. "<i>They're going to the +palace!</i>"</p> + +<p>The words seemed to bring to Fahn the realization that action by him was +needed. For the moment his anxiety over his daughters became secondary.</p> + +<p>"Come!" he cried. "We must protect the king."</p> + +<p>He hurried them through the garden and along the street. Almost running, +the three men headed toward where the mob could still be heard, shouting +in the distance.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER TEN</h2> + + +<p>George had been standing with his friends beside the pavilion, silently +watching the festival reach its height. The bell tolled; the masks and +cloaks were discarded. A bevy of nymphs draped in flowing gauze came +dashing out. As they passed, one of them caught George by the arm, +pulling him along a few steps; her eyes, half hidden by her tumbling +hair, mocked him provocatively.</p> + +<p>He jerked away. A tide of other figures flowed from the pavilion, +following the nymphs to the beach. George fought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> his way back, seeking +to rejoin his friends; in that crowd they could get lost so easily.</p> + +<p>He was looking about, wondering just where they had been standing +before, when he saw Dee. Her white cloak had fallen from her head to her +shoulders. She was standing alone, apparently lost in reverie.</p> + +<p>George hastened to her. "Where are—"</p> + +<p>But her vehement gesture silenced him; again she seemed lost in thought. +For a moment he stood wondering what was the matter with her. The music +from the pavilion throbbed out into the moonlit grove; gaiety was +surging all around them.</p> + +<p>Finally George could stand it no longer. "Dee, what is it? What's the +matter?"</p> + +<p>She looked up with an anxious frown. "Something is wrong with Azeela. +She's trying to tell me what's wrong."</p> + +<p>"Oh?" George glanced hastily about. "Where is Azeela? She was here a +minute ago. Where are the rest of them? Let's tell them."</p> + +<p>What did Dee mean? The girl seemed to have forgotten him again. She was +moving away, like one who walks under a spell.</p> + +<p>"Wait. Dee—<i>wait a minute</i>!"</p> + +<p>She kept on going. Figures were passing between them now. George hated +to leave his place. He'd never find the others—never get back again. +Even now he realized it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find +them in all that crowd of masked figures. If he lost Dee, too... He had +no choice; he darted after Dee.</p> + +<p>When he had overtaken her they were some distance from the pavilion. It +was more secluded here. George darted up and caught her by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Dee! What's the matter with you?"</p> + +<p>Her hand went over her eyes and she shook herself slightly. "It's hard +at first—getting Azeela's thoughts. I have them now." She spoke +swiftly, anxiously. "Toroh was here a moment ago. He seized Azeela and +took her out of the grove—right near here."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> + +<p>Azeela's thoughts! George understood. He started forward, but she held +him.</p> + +<p>"Too late! Toroh had two dogs waiting for him—they're mounting them +now. He has tied Azeela. They're starting—the dogs are running."</p> + +<p>George stared at her blankly. "Where to? Where is he taking her? Can you +ask her that? Can she tell you?"</p> + +<p>The girl was hastening forward now, with George after her. "Yes. She +says to Orleen. I have told her we are coming."</p> + +<p>Abruptly, she stopped and faced him. "George, we have two dogs at home. +Shall you and I get them and go after Azeela?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he exclaimed impulsively.</p> + +<p>"And I know where father keeps his weapons."</p> + +<p>"Good. We can't find Loto and your father in this crowd. Had we better +try, Dee?"</p> + +<p>They were hurrying forward again.</p> + +<p>"No, we'd lose too much time. Father forbade me touching his weapons," +she added as an afterthought, "but this is different, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," he agreed excitedly. "You know how to work them, Dee?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I experimented. He doesn't know it."</p> + +<p>They left the grove.</p> + +<p>"Dee, where's Azeela now?"</p> + +<p>"Crossing the city. West toward Orleen. We won't be far behind them."</p> + +<p>George was trembling with the excitement of it. "Is Toroh armed? Ask +Azeela that."</p> + +<p>"I did. She doesn't know. She thinks he is."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>"We'll do something. He won't know we're after him—that's our +advantage. Hurry, George!"</p> + +<p>There were a few figures in the almost deserted streets, but George and +Dee did not notice them. She was telling him of this branch of science +for which she and her sister were distinguished—this telepathy they had +developed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> Bound in a union of thought by an unusual devotion, they had +perfected it until they could know, always vaguely, and, with effort, +quite distinctly, what was in the other's mind.</p> + +<p>"We mustn't waste any time getting started, Dee."</p> + +<p>They had entered the silent garden of Fahn's home. The city behind them +was humming with confusion now, but they did not hear it, did not know +that a murder had just been committed at the festival.</p> + +<p>Inside the house, Dee went at once to her father's room. George waited. +When she returned she held two weapons out for his inspection. One was a +crescent of transparent metal, with a tiny wire connecting its horns and +a black bone handle by which to grasp it. There was a firing mechanism +on the handle. It was the projector of the ray which caused muscular +paralysis—the weapon Bool had used against Loto.</p> + +<p>Dee described its operation briefly.</p> + +<p>The other weapon was a small black globe the size of a man's fist. It +also had a handle with a trigger; in the globe opposite was a tiny +orifice like the muzzle of a revolver. This was one of the smallest +models of the thunderbolt projectors. With it, a bolt of electrons could +be thrown over a distance of some twenty feet.</p> + +<p>The former weapon Dee kept; the little thunderbolt globe she handed to +George.</p> + +<p>Dee had discarded her white robe; a blue ribbon around her forehead held +the hair from her eyes. She had another in her hand, and she tied it +around George's head.</p> + +<p>"It's hot riding, even at night," she explained. "Your hair gets +moist—gets in your eyes."</p> + +<p>They had been delayed only a moment.</p> + +<p>"This way," she added.</p> + +<p>They ran outside, across the patio, through a dark room and into the +garden behind the house, where a small white outbuilding stood. A new +misgiving overcame George.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dee—these dogs of yours..."</p> + +<p>"Can you ride a dog?" she asked over her shoulder. Her expression was +impish.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I can ride anything," he said stoutly, but his tone was dubious. "If +the dog is—"</p> + +<p>She must have understood him, for she laughed.</p> + +<p>"Wait! You will find these dogs your friends."</p> + +<p>George said nothing more, and in a moment they were within the kennel. +It was dark, very dimly lighted by the moon from outside. A gray-black +shape came toward them; a shaggy dog whose shoulders stood nearly as +high as his own. George's first instinct was to turn and run, but the +dog padded up to Dee, and she put her arms up around it.</p> + +<p>"Good, Rotan. Will you run fast for Dee?"</p> + +<p>She called it toward George, and patted him to show the dog he was her +friend. George impulsively put his hand up to the great shaggy neck, +felt the dog's warm tongue as it turned to lick his hand. This huge +brute was his friend.</p> + +<p>The other dog, Atal was a male, larger than its mate; and standing +beside it, George marveled at the power that its great body must hold. +The dogs knew they were going out. They whined with eagerness, and +leaping across the kennel, they came back to Dee with saddles in their +mouths with which she was to harness them.</p> + +<p>Rotan, which Dee was to ride, was saddled with a leather seat and a +pommel with a small stirrup on one side. It was not unlike the +sidesaddle for girls that had been in use just before George's time. On +Atal she strapped a thick leather pad with a stirrup on each side; men +rode astride. There were no bridles.</p> + +<p>"You tell Atal which way to go," she explained. "Right or left, slower +or faster. If you want him to run or walk or stop, he will understand. +Since Loto came we have taught them your way of saying it."</p> + +<p>It all took no more than a moment or two, for Dee was hurrying, and her +eagerness seemed to communicate itself to the dogs. They had barked at +first—barks of such volume that George was startled. But when Dee +silenced them, they stood trembling with impatience, their heads turned +to follow her as she adjusted the saddles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + +<p>George mounted Atal. It was almost like mounting a horse; and yet not +like a horse either, for the dog's huge body under him was springy, +supple. As it moved toward the doorway, George was reminded of the lithe +grace and strength of a tiger. He missed the reins, and in lieu of them, +twisted up two handfuls of hair on the dog's neck and clung.</p> + +<p>Dee was ahead of him. "All right, George?"</p> + +<p>"Right," he said confidently. "But we might as well take it slow for a +minute or two."</p> + +<p>They moved silently through the garden. George leaned forward and down +to the dog's face.</p> + +<p>"Nice dog, Atal. You go slow till I tell you different."</p> + +<p>In the street, Dee was drawing away, and Atal broke into a run.</p> + +<p>George clung desperately. But it was unnecessary. The dog's strides were +even and long; its padded paws made no sound as they hit the ground; its +legs, all its muscles, seemed to give to the shock and absorb it.</p> + +<p>They were running faster now; the dog's body seemed to settle closer to +the ground. The wind whistled by George's ears, but he felt curiously +secure. There was no question of the dog stumbling, falling; and its +gait, now at a steady run, was far easier to ride than any horse he had +ever mounted.</p> + +<p>Dee was still ahead; the ends of the ribbon band about her head +fluttered out behind her. The white road was a blur; the houses and +gardens of the city were flying past.</p> + +<p>An exhilaration—a feeling of triumph and power—came over George. He +was perfectly at home on the dog's back now. This little Dee was a +daredevil, as Loto had said. Well, that was the sort of girl he liked. +They'll overtake Toroh, kill him with a flash from the thunderbolt +globes and rescue Azeela.</p> + +<p>George leaned forward over the dog's neck.</p> + +<p>"We might as well catch up with Dee," he said into the silky ear. +"Faster, Atal!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + +<p>At once the dog increased its pace, overtaking its mate. Side by side, +they swept through the city.</p> + +<p>To George the ride soon became a blur: a white moonlit road passing +under him, palm trees flashing by, occasional houses, thatched shacks; +the wind whistling past his ears, and that lithe, powerful body beneath +him, with its rippling muscles.</p> + +<p>Dee rode gracefully and easily, leaning slightly forward into the rush +of air. Often she would draw ahead, but a whispered word from George to +the brute beneath him, and again the dogs were running side by side.</p> + +<p>Presently Dee stopped them; the dogs stood panting, with tongues lolling +out.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" George demanded. "Where are we?"</p> + +<p>The girl's face was drawn with anxiety. "Azeela had been trying to find +out from Toroh why he takes her to Orleen."</p> + +<p>"Yes?" he prompted. "And I wondered—"</p> + +<p>"Toroh has told her now. Loto's old plane is there. He wants the plane!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" George's heart sank with dismay. "But the plane is in the Orleen +Cavern. How can they get to it? Isn't the cavern guarded?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Wait. Toroh says he can get it. He has a spy there—a man whom we +trust. One of the guards."</p> + +<p>"Good grief! Dee, where are they now?"</p> + +<p>"A few miles west of here. I can't tell how far—Azeela does not know +just where we are, either."</p> + +<p>"Does Toroh know we're after him?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>George tried to think coherently. "Can't we overtake them, Dee? Before +they reach Orleen?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Azeela says not. Their dogs are very fast—perhaps faster +than ours."</p> + +<p>Suddenly George had an inspiration. The other plane—the one he and +Rogers had come in! It was back in the cavern in Anglese City. He and +Dee could get that, and he could operate it—he'd have to, now. Then +they could fly to Orleen,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> and perhaps by that method get there before +Toroh and Azeela.</p> + +<p>He explained this swifty to Dee. "We're not so far from Anglese City, +are we?"</p> + +<p>"No," she agreed. "It's the best thing to do."</p> + +<p>They turned the dogs, starting back over the road they had come.</p> + +<p>A new thought occurred to George. "Dee, what does Toroh want with that +plane? Is he going to take Azeela north in it?"</p> + +<p>The dogs were already at a run, but he caught her answer.</p> + +<p>"No. He will take the plane back into time! He wants to get greater +weapons with which to conquer us!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Fahn, Loto and Rogers hurried through the city streets. The faint +distant cries of the mob ahead drifted back to them. There were no Arans +to be seen, but the Bas men and women were everywhere, most of them +moving in the direction of the palace.</p> + +<p>As Fahn and his two companions advanced, the turmoil ahead grew louder. +The palace stood on a rise of ground in the midst of a lavish garden, +with its swimming pool, its trellised pergolas and its graceful palms. +The building was a two story rectangular, with huge white columns from +the ground to the roof. A broad balcony ran the length of the second +story. The roof was flat, with palms growing upon it.</p> + +<p>A crowd of Bas was surging up the hill toward the palace; in the +gardens, the armed mob was already massed, shouting, threatening, but +lacking, as yet, the courage to advance upon the building.</p> + +<p>Fahn had turned into a side street at the foot of the hill.</p> + +<p>"Where are we going?" Rogers demanded.</p> + +<p>"We've got to get into the palace unseen, so we'll go through the +tower," Loto explained. "There's a secret way into it that the Bas don't +know."</p> + +<p>The tower, which rose like the skeleton of a lighthouse, stood close +beside the main palace building; a covered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> bridge connecting the two as +the level of the second floor of the palace.</p> + +<p>Swiftly Fahn led the two men to the beach that lay behind the bluff on +which the palace and its tower stood. The moonlit strand was deserted. +They came to a thick clump of palmettos in the heavy sand at the foot of +the bluff—a green tangled clump higher than a man's head. Into this +Fahn plunged unhesitatingly, forcing the fronds aside, pushing his way +in with the others after him. Inside the palmetto thicket was a small +tunnel mouth, leading downward.</p> + +<p>It seemed an endless journey through a black underground passageway not +much higher than their heads and so narrow that they could always touch +both its walls with their outstretched arms. The air was heavy and +fetid. They went down a slope, across on a level, then up. Once they +arrived at an iron grating barring the way. But Fahn opened it in some +fashion and it swung on a central, horizontal pivot so that they might +crawl under it.</p> + +<p>Ahead of them, up the incline, a tiny blue light shone. They reached it, +found a small circular staircase and climbed upward into the tower.</p> + +<p>The whole process had taken perhaps fifteen minutes. The mob was still +in the garden; its shouts and mutterings sounded loud and ominous as the +little party ascended the interior of the tower and hastily crossed the +covered bridge.</p> + +<p>Fahn was still leading the way. They pushed aside a curtained doorway +and found themselves in a broad, second-floor corridor of the palace, +dimly lighted. A white-bearded old man was crossing it hastily, +disappearing into a room at its further end.</p> + +<p>Another room was near at hand, with a latticed grating in its doorway +that now stood open. A soft, blue-white light flooded out through it to +the hall. The castle's interior was evidently in confusion; cries +sounded, mingled with the threatening shouts of the mob outside.</p> + +<p>A girl, shaking with fright, stood in the nearer doorway, the light from +behind glowing through her soft draperies. Other girls crowded forward +from the room—a dozen fright<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>ened young girls, no more than matured. +They saw Fahn, and ran to him for protection.</p> + +<p>"The king's wives," Loto explained to his father.</p> + +<p>Fahn's face softened, and as the girls huddled round him, he tried to +comfort them.</p> + +<p>"The guilt within them," muttered Rogers. "They think the Bas are coming +to kill them—<i>only them</i>."</p> + +<p>Fahn caught the words and his eyes flashed. "There is no guilt here, my +friend. They are women born to such as this."</p> + +<p>With the girls in a clinging group around him, the scientist proceeded +down the hallway, followed by Loto and his father.</p> + +<p>The room at the end of the hall—it seemed a sort of audience room—was +in confusion; most of the occupants of the palace were gathered there. +The king was pacing up and down near the entrance, his frightened +councilors and advisors around him.</p> + +<p>On a low divan sat the queen, a woman of forty, regal in a paneled robe, +with her hair dressed high on her head. At her knees two children were +huddled—the little prince and princess of the Arans. The queen was +bending down over them as the strangers entered. When she saw Fahn with +the girl-wives of her king, she frowned, stood up, and with an imperious +gesture ordered the girls from the room. But Fahn, with a stern command, +bade them stay. The queen seemed amazed at the scientist's defiance; the +king looked undecided, but he did not interfere.</p> + +<p>With Fahn's arrival, the room quieted; its occupants gained confidence. +The king seemed utterly relieved. He spoke a few placating words to the +queen, but she had withdrawn haughtily to a corner, her eyes flashing at +the frightened girls who were huddled across the room.</p> + +<p>The mob outside was shouting, surging about, but still lacking the +courage for a concerted attack. Fahn went to a window, with Rogers and +Loto after him. The moonlight outside showed the crowd plainly. The Bas +were waving their weapons.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Look!" Loto exclaimed.</p> + +<p>A score or more of men were gathering in a group near the center of the +garden. A man mounted the rim of a fountain, inciting the group with his +shouts. His words had effect. The little knot of men waved their +cane-knives and came surging toward the palace entrance. The crowd made +way for them, following behind with shouts of triumph. Missiles were +thrown upward at the palace windows; one or two at first, then a +hailstorm.</p> + +<p>Fahn quietly stepped out on a balcony that ran along the entire front of +the building. Loto and his father followed. The moonlight fell full upon +them, and the crowd recognized the Scientists' leader.</p> + +<p>A great shout went up—a cry of defiance mingled with fear. The men +rushing at the building wavered and stopped; the crowd near at hand +began pressing backward.</p> + +<p>Slowly, Fahn advanced to the waist-high parapet; with his hands upon it +he stood like an orator facing a friendly throng and calmly waited for +silence. A stone whistled past his head, struck the building and +clattered to the stone floor of the balcony, but he did not heed it.</p> + +<p>His calmness, the confident power of his demeanor, quieted the mob. In a +little open space on the terrace, a leader of the Bas sprang into +prominence—a giant man who shouted a brief sentence.</p> + +<p>"Mogruud," whispered Loto. "He tells them to listen to what Fahn has to +say."</p> + +<p>Silence came at last, and then Fahn spoke, quietly, earnestly. He seemed +to be winning them over, when from the palace behind the king suddenly +appeared on the balcony. At the sight of him an angry shout rolled up +from the crowd. A long, thin knife, with a tail of feathers on it, flew +up from below and stuck, quivering, in the window casement beside the +king's head. The king retreated.</p> + +<p>Fahn continued speaking, but now the mob would not listen to him. A +woman's shrill laugh of derision floated upward.</p> + +<p>At once Fahn's tone changed. He rasped out a stern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> command, but a +scattering hail of stones was his answer. Then, without warning, his +hand went to his robe. He flung a little ball into the air. It burst +fifty feet from his hand with a shrill whistling scream, and a shower of +sparks scattered downward over the garden. They were harmless, but they +sent a mild electric shock through every individual member of the mob. +The Bas were frightened into silence.</p> + +<p>"He does not want to kill even one of them," Loto whispered. "Never +before have the Bas been in open demonstration. It might spread to other +cities—<i>anything might happen</i>."</p> + +<p>Fahn was now whispering into a tiny mouthpiece, talking to his guards at +the cavern a mile or so away. From the cavern-mountain across the city, +a blue-white shaft of light sprang into the sky. The Bas saw it and +stared. And then suddenly the air seemed to be bursting with +voices—four words, repeated by the audible radio that the cavern was +sending out.</p> + +<p>"<i>Death to disloyal Bas! Death to disloyal Bas!</i>"</p> + +<p>A million aerial voices were proclaiming it everywhere. And then the +words changed.</p> + +<p>"<i>We must win against Toroh! The Bas must help us win against Toroh!</i>"</p> + +<p>The threat and its so swiftly following appeal were irresistible. +Mogruud shouted an enthusiastic answer to Fahn, and the crowd applauded.</p> + +<p>The voices in the air were presently stilled; the light over the cavern +disappeared. And, still with his hands quietly on the parapet, Fahn +again addressed the people below him.</p> + +<p>"Mogruud says the laws should be changed," Loto whispered swiftly to his +father. "The Bas women should have their children without exile."</p> + +<p>Fahn seemed to make a sudden decision. He spoke again into his +mouthpiece. Again the light sprang over the cavern. From the air came +the words:</p> + +<p>"<i>Bas women will not be exiled! Bas children will be free!</i>"</p> + +<p>Surprised, awed, then frantic with joy, the crowd in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> palace gardens +took up the cry, and all over the island the radio voices were +proclaiming it:</p> + +<p>"<i>Bas children will be free! The Scientists promise Bas children will be +free!</i>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER ELEVEN</h2> + + +<p>Still side by side, George and Dee rode back toward Anglese City. It was +further than George had thought; then he realized that the girl had +turned into a different road. He shouted a question at her.</p> + +<p>"A shorter way to the cavern," she explained.</p> + +<p>The wind whistling past them made conversation difficult. George +understood that they were skirting the city to where the cavern stood on +the other side. They were still in the open country; a road of white +sand, palm lined, with a forest jungle all around, and only an +occasional house.</p> + +<p>George's mind was in a turmoil. Toroh taking the other plane into time! +Memory came to him of all those greater civilizations he and Rogers had +seen though the centuries they had passed. Toroh was going back to those +civilizations to secure weapons! The thought turned George cold all +over. With the weapons from former, greater ages, Toroh and his army of +Noths would be invincible.</p> + +<p>Words in the wind sweeping by startled George into sudden alertness.</p> + +<p>"<i>Death to disloyal Bas!</i>"</p> + +<p>It seemed as though some tiny voice had whispered it to him.</p> + +<p>Dee had checked both the dogs abruptly.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" George demanded.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + +<p>It came again:</p> + +<p>"<i>Death to disloyal Bas! Death to disloyal Bas!</i>"</p> + +<p>The air was whispering it, then calling it; a myriad voices echoed it +everywhere.</p> + +<p>"Look there!" cried Dee.</p> + +<p>Ahead of them, a mile or so away, a blue light was standing up into the +sky. There was a house near at hand, a Bas shack. From it a woman and +two naked children came running out into the moonlight, panic-stricken +at the dread words with which the air resounded.</p> + +<p>And then the words changed:</p> + +<p>"<i>Bas women will not be exiled! Bas children will be free!</i>"</p> + +<p>The woman in front of the shack clutched her children, listening, +rejoicing—almost unbelieving.</p> + +<p>Dee had started the dogs forward again. Swiftly she explained to George +what she thought it might mean—a radio proclamation from Fahn. In a few +moments the light over the cavern had vanished; the voices in the air +died away.</p> + +<p>George's mind reverted to their own situation; the incident had given +him an idea.</p> + +<p>"Dee, where are Azeela and Toroh now?"</p> + +<p>She thought an instant; momentarily the mental bond with her sister had +been broken.</p> + +<p>"Very near Orleen, she thinks. They have heard the voices. Toroh is very +angry. He had hoped much that the Bas would rebel. It would have helped +him."</p> + +<p>"Near Orleen!" George echoed. "Can't we get to the Anglese Cavern +first?"</p> + +<p>"I think so." She had started Rotan into a run, but George called her to +stop. Even at the risk of losing more precious time, he questioned her.</p> + +<p>"Dee, listen. Are the caverns of Orleen and Anglese City connected by +radio?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said.</p> + +<p>"Then listen. We'll get to Anglese City first and tell them to inform +the guards at Orleen. When Toroh and Azeela arrive they can seize +them—if we warn them ahead."</p> + +<p>She nodded with instant comprehension.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<p>"All radio isn't broadcast audibly, is it?" he added.</p> + +<p>"No," she said. The dogs were running faster. She called back over her +shoulder. "We'll do that. I'll tell Azeela."</p> + +<p>They swept forward, the dogs settling low to the ground as they ran.</p> + +<p>A great weight seemed to have lifted from George. It would be simple +enough, after all—merely notify the Orleen Cavern by radio, and Toroh +would be seized when he presented himself with Azeela.</p> + +<p>George contemplated the outcome. With Toroh in their hands, the Noth +attack would collapse. There would be no war.</p> + +<p>It was a race then; the only thing that could go wrong would be if Toroh +got to the other cavern first. Rotan and Dee were ahead; the girl's +slight figure clinging to the dog showed in the moonlight. George +whispered to Atal, thumped the dog's flank with his hand.</p> + +<p>As they caught up with Dee, he shouted, "Where's Azeela now? Will we +make it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she answered. "I think so."</p> + +<p>The mountain that housed the cavern loomed ahead through the palms; +houses lay to the right, the outskirts of Anglese City. Half a mile more +and they would be there.</p> + +<p>Atal's upflung head brought George out of another reverie. The dog, +still running at full speed, was sniffing the air. George heard Rotan +growl, and Dee's sharp command for silence.</p> + +<p>Another command from the girl, and both dogs stopped; Atal slid on his +haunches, checking himself so abruptly that George was flung to the +sand.</p> + +<p>He was unhurt. He picked himself up to find Dee beside him.</p> + +<p>"Someone is coming," she said sharply. "Someone the dogs know is not a +friend."</p> + +<p>She spoke to the dog, and pulled George to the side of the road where a +cluster of banana trees cast an inky shadow. Together they stood there +in silence. Atal and Rotan had disappeared. The road was a white ribbon +in the moon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>light. George listened, but could hear nothing. He tried to +question Dee, but she silenced him.</p> + +<p>Presently there came the thud of running feet; from the direction of +Anglese City two running dogs with riders swept into view. The riders +were men, black cloaked and wearing masks. Arans, from the festival, +George thought.</p> + +<p>They would have passed without seeing the lurking figures under the +banana trees had not Atal and Rotan, in spite of Dee's command, suddenly +charged them from the shadows across the road.</p> + +<p>The two men, shouting in anger and alarm, tumbled from their mounts. The +four dogs tangled in a snarling, biting mass.</p> + +<p>Still George and Dee were unseen in the shadows. One of the men in the +road had lost his cloak and mask; the moonlight showed his face.</p> + +<p>"One of Toroh's brothers," Dee breathed into George's ear. In the +dimness he could see she was raising the small, crescent-shaped weapon. +Some noise that she or George made must have alarmed the men, who were +no more than ten feet away. They looked sharply across the road, and +then, evidently seeing nothing, they turned back to where the dogs were +still fighting with a deadly fury.</p> + +<p>Sparks leaped suddenly from Dee's outstretched hand. The men turned. One +of them cried out in terror, but they both stood stiff and motionless.</p> + +<p>"We've got 'em!" George shouted. "Good work, Dee!"</p> + +<p>He would have leaped forward, but her free hand gripped him.</p> + +<p>"<i>Quick! The globe!</i>"</p> + +<p>One of the men, supposedly stricken beyond the power to move, was, by +some superhuman effort of will, slowly raising his hand; his fingers +clutched a tiny black globe. It came up very slowly, as his almost +paralyzed muscles struggled with its weight.</p> + +<p>But George recovered his wits. He snatched his own globe from his +pocket, pointed it, pulled the trigger.</p> + +<p>The night was split by a flash, a tiny, sizzling snap of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> thunder; the +globe recoiled in George's hand. Across the road the bodies of the two +men lay motionless on the sand.</p> + +<p>Dee was leaning against a banana trunk panting. Her face had gone white, +but she smiled as George turned to her.</p> + +<p>"They almost got us," she said.</p> + +<p>George himself was trembling, but he would not let her see it.</p> + +<p>"Almost, Dee. Next time I'll be ready. I didn't realize..."</p> + +<p>Among the trees across the road the dogs were still fighting. One of the +Noth dogs lay motionless, torn and bleeding. Atal and Rotan together +were attacking the other—the three rolling and tumbling as they bit and +tore at each other, their huge bodies trampling down the banana trees as +they fought.</p> + +<p>"Dee, could I use the thunderbolt on them?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head. "Wait."</p> + +<p>It lasted only a moment more; the second Noth dog was down, with Atal's +fangs buried in its throat.</p> + +<p>The two dogs came leaping back to their mistress, their bodies torn, and +matted with dirt and blood.</p> + +<p>Dee patted them affectionately as they stood licking their wounds. "But +you should have minded me," she said.</p> + +<p>George had taken one look at the two charred figures lying in the road; +he drew the girl away.</p> + +<p>"Come on. I wouldn't look over there. We must hurry, Dee."</p> + +<p>They mounted the dogs and started forward, more slowly this time, for +the animals carried them with difficulty.</p> + +<p>Again George remembered. Toroh would be at the Orleen Cavern by this +time. They had lost! This delay had been the one unexpected thing that +could defeat them.</p> + +<p>"Dee—"</p> + +<p>But the girl had anticipated him.</p> + +<p>"They are in the plane." She half whispered the words. "Azeela has been +trying to tell me for a long time. Toroh had a spy at the cavern +entrance, a man whom we trust as a Scientist. He let them in—Azeela had +no chance to make an outcry. They are in the plane now. Azeela telling +Toroh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> she cannot operate it. Wait! Now he's trying the proton switch +himself."</p> + +<p>A silence.</p> + +<p>"Dee! What is it?" George pleaded.</p> + +<p>She shook her head. "Nothing comes. Nothing!"</p> + +<p>The connection was broken! Azeela was carried back into time. Had +something stopped her message? Would her thought-bond with her sister +hold across the centuries that now separated them?</p> + +<p>George could only ask himself these questions with a sinking heart. If +the bond would not hold, then Azeela was lost to them forever. Lost to +Loto, who loved her. And Toroh would get his weapons and win the +war—<i>inevitably</i>.</p> + +<p>"Nothing yet, Dee?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>They rode slowly onward. At last Dee gave a cry of joy.</p> + +<p>"It comes again! She is all right, George! <i>All right!</i>" Her voice rose +in triumph and thankfulness.</p> + +<p>George thumped Atal to urge the dog forward. "Then we must hurry, Dee. +They're going back into time?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Azeela is looking at the dials. Twenty-five years back now. She +tells us to hurry. She will watch the dials and let me know where they +are. Toroh does not suspect anything. He is gloating. He thinks he has +won everything."</p> + +<p>At last they were ascending the slope to the mouth of the cavern. The +yawning hole showed black in the face of the cliff. On the small +platform above the mouth, a single light disclosed the figures of three +guards sitting there.</p> + +<p>In the moonlight the guards saw them coming. A bolt of lightning flashed +downward across the black hole; a peal of thunder rolled out.</p> + +<p>They stopped, and Dee called to the guards. One of them descended from +the platform, down a narrow flight of steps cut in the cliff face. He +came forward in the moonlight, a black robed figure.</p> + +<p>Dee spoke with him, and, recognizing a daughter of Fahn, he saluted +respectfully. There followed a brief colloquy, then the guard stood +aside.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + +<p>A moment later they were in the cavern. The huge tunnel was dark and +dank, but blue-white lights glimmered ahead in the darkness. The place +was silent, seemingly deserted.</p> + +<p>Down the length of the main tunnel they hurried. The plane stood there +in the open space, in the glare of blue-white light. They stood before +it.</p> + +<p>"Dee, shall we send for your father?"</p> + +<p>She hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Where is he?" George persisted. "Did you ask the guard?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. He and Loto and Loto's father are at the palace. There has been +rebellion and murder—the murder of Helene, Mme. Voluptua."</p> + +<p>She recounted succinctly the events of the night in Anglese City as the +guard had told them to her.</p> + +<p>George whistled. "They've got their hands full. Dee, are you still in +communication with Azeela?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. They are beyond fifty years."</p> + +<p>"Going how fast?"</p> + +<p>"Azeela says as fast as they can—the twentieth intensity."</p> + +<p>George made his decision.</p> + +<p>"Dee, we mustn't wait, mustn't stop for anything. You're willing to go?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she declared soberly.</p> + +<p>She reached toward the platform. George locked his hands, and she put +her small foot into them. He lifted her—she seemed no heavier than a +child—and she swung herself up gracefully and easily to the platform.</p> + +<p>George followed and closed the cabin door after them. "Did you tell the +guard what we were going to do?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said. "I told him to tell father later tonight when things +were more quiet at the palace."</p> + +<p>"Good girl. Dee, have you ever been back into time?"</p> + +<p>"No. Azeela has. Just a little way—with Loto. He taught her to operate +the plane."</p> + +<p>"How fast are they going, Dee? The twentieth intensity?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>George's hand was on the proton switch. He took a last look around.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Sit down, Dee. Hold the arms of your chair. Don't be frightened."</p> + +<p>The cabin was dark; through its windows the blue-white glare outside +showed the jagged brown walls of the cavern. The twentieth intensity! +<i>Toroh was going as fast as he possibly could!</i></p> + +<p>George pulled the switch. There was a soundless clap in his head; a +plunge, headlong into some bottomless abyss, falling for hours—an +eternity.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Fahn's proclamation to the Bas had far-reaching effects. All over the +island that night and the next day there was rejoicing. The radio +proclaimed a national holiday, which the Bas gave over to festivities.</p> + +<p>The murder of Mme. Voluptua was forgotten; the rebellion in Anglese City +was a thing of the past. The work of Toroh's spies was completely +undone; everywhere they presented themselves they were seized by the Bas +and delivered to the authorities, until by mid-morning none dared show +himself. They remained in hiding in the mountains, and the following +night fled the island.</p> + +<p>Fahn's object had been attained. Everywhere, enthusiasm for the war soon +mounted to a patriotic frenzy.</p> + +<p>But it was not all smooth sailing for Fahn. Within an hour after the +first radio proclamation—just before dawn that day—the king called the +Scientist to his audience room and demanded that it be retracted. For +the first time within generations, a Scientist defied his king.</p> + +<p>Fahn gravely refused. The king, with his councilors—brave now since the +mob before the palace had dispersed—clustered around him, vigorously +tried to overawe the Scientist. But Fahn was obdurate; respectful to the +majesty of royalty—but obdurate nevertheless.</p> + +<p>The king was powerless, and he knew it. He raged, threatened, but to no +avail.</p> + +<p>That afternoon the king's council met. The Scientists were declared +outlaws; a call was issued for the Aran police,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> who were scattered +throughout the island, to come at once to the Anglese City to defend +their sovereign.</p> + +<p>It was a monarch struggling against all reason to defend what he +considered his birthright. Royalty outraged!</p> + +<p>But the Aran police did not come. Worse than that, those near at hand in +Anglese City prudently vanished.</p> + +<p>That same afternoon the Scientists met in Anglese City. Fahn's action +was upheld, and from other cities came similar decisions. The government +was taken over by the Scientists for the period of the war. Laws +ratifying the new status of the Bas women and children were hurriedly +passed, and made permanent.</p> + +<p>All that day the radio audibly proclaimed events as they transpired. The +Arans were not to be molested; their relations with the Bas were to +proceed as always, and the royal family was to be treated with the +outward respect to which its birth and position entitled it.</p> + +<p>Three days passed—days that for those in Anglese City were full of +activity and anxiety. The Arans kept sullenly to themselves; the king +and his councilors shut themselves in the palace; the Bas went about +their accustomed tasks feverishly, abstractedly, waiting for the call to +war.</p> + +<p>The Scientists, trusting nothing to chance, sought out all the Aran +police and disarmed them. All weapons were kept in the caverns, where +the manufacturing and assembling went steadily forward.</p> + +<p>Fahn, Loto, and Rogers, during these three days, stayed at Fahn's home. +Nothing had been heard from George and the two girls. They were days +full of anxiety—almost despair—for the three men. The guards at the +two caverns reported what had happened. Fahn cursed his inefficiency in +allowing a Toroh spy to remain unsuspected in the League. The man who +had given Toroh the plane was located and put to death, but that helped +matters little.</p> + +<p>In the brief interims of inactivity, the three men discussed what George +and Dee might be doing—what the outcome would be. The discussions were +futile; there was nothing to do but wait.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<p>The character of the two Frazia planes, the identity of the visitors, +had never been made public. Only Fahn, his two companions and a few of +the Scientist leaders were aware of the momentous outcome for which they +were so helplessly waiting.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of the third day, Fahn took Loto and his father through +the cavern. Loto was pale and tight-lipped, but he seldom mentioned +Azeela, and never once had he given vent to his feelings. Rogers was +curious to see the cavern; older, more philosophical than Loto, he could +better withstand his anxiety over George and the girls. Yet he, too, was +more worried than he would have cared to admit, even to himself. The +war—the fate of the Anglese—was one thing; but that plane was all that +could take him back to Lylda, his wife. He could probably never +manufacture another plane in this time world; the materials were not +available. He realized now how wrong he had been not to bring Lylda with +him.</p> + +<p>It was late afternoon when they started. Work in the cavern now +proceeded day and night.</p> + +<p>To Rogers the place was one of romantic mystery, with a sinister air to +it that he could not shake off.</p> + +<p>The darkness of the cavern walls, the shadows, the flickering blue +lights, and the yawning holes with which the interior of the mountain +seemed honeycombed, awed and perturbed him.</p> + +<p>Far ahead, down a sharp slope, two blue lights shone. To the left a +passageway glowed dull red.</p> + +<p>Fahn turned toward it. They went into the passageway, and from it +emerged upon a narrow ledge with a metal railing. Before them spread a +huge pit, a great pool of lava a thousand feet down—lava that boiled +sluggishly, with tiny flames of burning gases licking upward from its +surface. To one side, overhead, a rift through the mountain showed a +patch of starlit sky.</p> + +<p>Visitors to an inferno, they stood clinging to the iron rail. The lurid +red light cast monstrous shadows of their figures upward to the rocky +ceiling. The sulphurous air was in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>tolerably hot; it choked their +breathing. After a moment they all stumbled back into the passageway, +coughing, breathing deep of the purer air.</p> + +<p>"Fires of the earth so close!" murmured Rogers.</p> + +<p>Fahn was leading them forward again. "Yes, almost every mountain on the +island is like that. The fires are even closer to the surface at Orleen; +we use them in the cavern there."</p> + +<p>"And here is a room of medicine and surgery," he added. He had turned +unexpectedly into a side cave, a room furnished and draped, and dimly +lighted by braziers hanging from its low roof. Rows of bottles, cases of +instruments, a long, low table, littered with a variety of strange +objects; the room held a confusion of things, most of which were +incomprehensible.</p> + +<p>Something made Rogers shudder. "What is that?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"To create human life," said Fahn. "For thousands of years, science has +tried to do that. We can make a man's body—but his soul and mind still +elude us."</p> + +<p>Rogers was staring at a metal framework, where the organs of a man were +hanging, joined together and with a network of blood vessels around +them; the fundamental, simplified mechanism of man, without the body. +And there was movement to the organs; the heart was beating, the lungs +breathing.</p> + +<p>It was gruesome; it made Rogers' gorge rise.</p> + +<p>"They will function for a little time," Fahn explained. "But our +surgeons have done better than that. They have made the living body—all +but the mind and the soul."</p> + +<p>A small case was standing on a pedestal, illuminated by a dim blue light +above it. A lump of living human flesh lay within, roughly fashioned +into human form, with arms and legs that kicked.</p> + +<p>Rogers backed away.</p> + +<p>It seemed like a dream, this trip through the Scientists' cavern. From +one room to another they wandered. Most of the caves were unoccupied; +occasionally a lone worker<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> or a group would stop their tasks +momentarily to meet their leader and his visitors.</p> + +<p>From far away recesses, where the main work was going on, the hum of +dynamos sounded.</p> + +<p>"We will not go into the workrooms tonight," Fahn said. "I'll show them +to you later."</p> + +<p>They entered another inner cave, which was high-arched and unusually +large. It held relics of bygone ages. Broken mechanisms, that +inhabitants of other planets might have left on earth, had been dug +up and stored here as in a museum. They meant nothing to Rogers, nor +did Fahn offer to explain them. But this room more than any other in +the cavern seemed to carry with it the power of science, the greater +science that to Fahn's time world was in the prehistoric past. It +showed Fahn and his contemporaries in their true light; they were +archaeologists—imitators, reconstructors, not real creators.</p> + +<p>At last they reached a circular room equipped with the apparatus for +taking voices and images from the air. Its side walls were paneled with +huge crystals that mirrored distant scenes; and it was filled with +millions of tiny voices.</p> + +<p>Fahn stood before one of the crystals: his hand was on a lever; the +fingers of his other hand rested on a tiny row of buttons. Rogers +noticed that there were scores of similar mechanisms dispersed about the +room.</p> + +<p>"Let us look and listen, a mile away to the west," Fahn said.</p> + +<p>The crystal before them was some six feet square. It was gray and +cloudy. Fahn pressed one of the small black buttons, and moved the lever +over a notch; the crystal flooded with color. It was like looking +through a huge window.</p> + +<p>"The viewpoint of our station a mile north of here," Fahn pointed out.</p> + +<p>"A thirty foot tower," Loto explained. "The lens on it swings in a +circle. We are looking westward now toward Orleen."</p> + +<p>The scene in the crystal showed the red western sky; a white road in the +foreground, disappearing seemingly at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> Rogers' feet; the green, +palm-dotted island, with twilight shadows creeping upon it, and to the +left, the island mountain range, its peaks rising in serrated ranks, +with giant, snow-clad summits.</p> + +<p>"It was near here that day before yesterday they found the charred +bodies of Toroh's brother and his Noth companion," Loto added. "A Bas +woman—see that shack there by the road—she saw a girl and a man +passing the night before. It may have been George and Dee."</p> + +<p>The shack at the roadside showed plainly. A Bas woman was sitting at its +doorway, crooning to her infant. Her voice sounded almost as clearly as +though the watchers had been sitting on the small tower where the lens +and radio mechanism were perched.</p> + +<p>"We will turn," Fahn said.</p> + +<p>A panorama unfolding, the scene moved slowly sidewise: the sea to the +north, with the mountain range beyond it, dim in the gathering darkness; +east, back toward Anglese City, where the cavern-mountain itself showed +behind the palms; to the south past a distant vista of city houses; and +still swinging, it came back to the road and the house and stopped, +again facing the west.</p> + +<p>"Another station," Fahn added.</p> + +<p>The crystal-face went dark, and then relighted. It was a viewpoint of a +hundred feet in the air this time. Again it swung the points of the +compass.</p> + +<p>For half an hour Fahn continued his demonstration. There might have been +a hundred or more towers scattered over the island, and the scene from +any one of them sprang at Fahn's will into the crystal window.</p> + +<p>"What are the other crystal mirrors for?" Rogers asked Loto.</p> + +<p>"The island can be searched by several operators simultaneously. Any +viewpoint may be thrown into any crystal, and there are receivers for +your ears, so that the sounds you hear will not confuse others in the +room."</p> + +<p>The island was growing dark. The crystal showed a viewpoint from the +channel coast halfway to Orleen. It must have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> been from a very high +tower; the sea stretched several hundred feet beneath.</p> + +<p>"Those mountains across the water," Rogers remarked, "can't be over +twenty or thirty miles from our shores. Is that where Toroh's army will +gather?"</p> + +<p>"From behind them," said Loto. "To the east, nearer the Atlantic Coast, +we think. We—"</p> + +<p>Fahn had given a slight cry. The room was dark, but the reflected light +from the crystal showed the Scientist pointing into the mirrored scene.</p> + +<p>"Loto, what is that?"</p> + +<p>Above the mountains across the channel, the sky was rose-colored with +the fading daylight. A tiny gray shape showed there, silhouetted against +the clouds. It was moving. They watched it, breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"A Frazia plane!" Rogers murmured.</p> + +<p>It circled like a giant bird. A patch of lighter sky behind showed it +more plainly after a moment. It <i>was</i> a Frazia plane! It was closer than +they had thought, but it seemed to be flying north, away from them.</p> + +<p>"Which one is it?" Loto whispered. "Father, which one is it?"</p> + +<p>But that they could not tell. George, or Toroh? One of them had +returned. The plane was flying lower, circling again. The dimness +absorbed it; then it reappeared. It seemed now to be flying crazily.</p> + +<p>"<i>Out of control!</i>" Loto whispered in horror. "<i>It's falling!</i>"</p> + +<p>The plane turned over, fluttered down, was swallowed by the shadows of +the distant mountains.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER TWELVE</h2> + + +<p>The interior of the plane was glowing. The familiar humming sounded. +George and Dee had started back into time.</p> + +<p>"Dee! Dee! You all right?"</p> + +<p>Her wan smile reassured him. "Where are we?"</p> + +<p>"Going back into time," he said cheerfully. The dials were beside him. +"Nearly forty years from where we started already. You'll feel all right +soon."</p> + +<p>"I am all right," she persisted. "I mean, George, are we still in the +cavern?"</p> + +<p>The question brought an idea to George that made his heart race. They +<i>were</i> still in the cavern, at a time forty years previous. What was the +cavern like then? Suppose its entrance was closed? How could they get +out?</p> + +<p>Through the windows nothing could be seen but blackness. George +hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Dee, can your thoughts still reach Azeela?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said. "She was frightened for me. She knows now we are coming +after her. She and Toroh are past one hundred years."</p> + +<p>"Still going?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Where are they in space?"</p> + +<p>"She says in the air, over the Orleen Cavern. She thought it best to +show Toroh how to fly the plane; she was afraid to remain underground."</p> + +<p>"So am I," said George. "We'd better get out."</p> + +<p>There were headlights on the plane; their glare showed the tunnel. +George started up the Frazia motors, slowly;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> they rolled forward, +faster as they left the tunnel-mouth and took to the air.</p> + +<p>The scene was that familiar grayness, new to Dee. Beneath them lay the +island with the blurred, gray city to one side.</p> + +<p>"Over Orleen," George mused. "We must get there quickly. Further back in +time the city will not be there—we might get lost in space."</p> + +<p>At an altitude of perhaps a thousand feet they flew swiftly westward. +Orleen was there when they reached its space; the dials were beyond two +hundred years.</p> + +<p>"Azeela is here," Dee announced. "She says the city is dwindling."</p> + +<p>"What do her dials say? Will Toroh let her look at them?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. She is very careful. He suspects nothing. She says the dials are +nearly two hundred and thirty years."</p> + +<p>"We're catching up with them," George exclaimed triumphantly. "We've got +the faster plane. Where are they exactly? In space I mean."</p> + +<p>A brief pause.</p> + +<p>"Azeela says almost directly over the peak near the east edge of the +city—the cavern peak."</p> + +<p>There were twin peaks, not over six hundred feet apart. The cavern peak +was the northern one; through the floor window, George could see the +summit of the other, directly beneath his plane.</p> + +<p>"How high is Toroh? They're using the 'copters?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"How high up?"</p> + +<p>"She says about five hundred feet."</p> + +<p>It was the altitude at which George and Dee were hovering. George gazed +through the side window. The other peak showed plainly. Above it was the +exact space Toroh and Azeela were occupying. Their plane was invisible, +of course—twenty-five years into the past.</p> + +<p>"They've passed three hundred years, George," the girl's voice informed +him. "Three hundred years just now."</p> + +<p>"Two hundred and ninety," he read from their own dials.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> "Only ten years +away! We'll overtake them shortly now."</p> + +<p>In the stress through which they had passed, and their excitement, +neither of them had considered what they would do when they overtook +Toroh. Indeed, it was Azeela who brought it to their minds with her +anxious questions to Dee.</p> + +<p>They stared at each other in dismay.</p> + +<p>"How about my thunderbolt glove?" George suggested.</p> + +<p>"We can't use it," she reminded him. "If we destroy the other plane, +Azeela would be killed."</p> + +<p>It was obvious. They could not attack the other plane under any +circumstances. But Toroh was going to stop for weapons. They would have +to stay near him, both in space and time, and when he stopped, and +perhaps left the plane, they would rush up and rescue Azeela.</p> + +<p>It was all either of them could plan.</p> + +<p>"Keep as near them as we can," George decided. "That's the idea. And +watch our chance. Tell Azeela to keep you posted on everything."</p> + +<p>They slowed their time-flight a trifle; it would have been foolish to +let Toroh see them—merely put him on his guard. At a distance of about +ten years they followed.</p> + +<p>At eight hundred years before the time they had left, the city of Orleen +had disappeared. The island looked almost the same; the peaks were still +there. But now among the palms there were only a few rude shacks—the +earliest Bas settlers.</p> + +<p>The time-velocity of both planes was steadily increasing. Azeela's +messages told them that the other plane was still hovering motionless. +There was nothing to do. They waited, anxiously at first, and then, +after an interval, fell into earnest conversation.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we can't rescue Azeela," George suggested once. "Toroh will use +her as a hostage against your father, won't he? Offer her life, perhaps, +if your father will help him in the war?"</p> + +<p>She nodded soberly.</p> + +<p>"That's why he abducted her before, Loto said. Did he make the offer +then?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No. But he was going to."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you go after her?" he suggested. "Didn't she send back +messages to you, Dee?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But he took her north into the snow. She did not know where she +was. Father sent out an expedition, but they couldn't find her. The +Noths attacked them and they came back. They were going to start out +again when Loto returned her to us."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said George. He thought a moment. "I wonder what your father would +have done—what he would do now if Toroh holds Azeela and offers her +life against the war. Would your father let Toroh kill her?"</p> + +<p>She hesitated. "I think he would," she said at last. "It would be a +nation against one life. He would sacrifice himself, I know. And I think +he would even sacrifice Azeela."</p> + +<p>George met her earnest dark eyes, so sparkling, usually, but now so +sombre.</p> + +<p>"Would you, Dee?"</p> + +<p>"No," she said impulsively.</p> + +<p>"Neither would I," he declared. "I wouldn't let harm come to Azeela for +all the Anglese,—or harm to—to you, either."</p> + +<p>She did not answer. Presently he said:</p> + +<p>"I was thinking about that Aran Festival, Dee. You know you oughtn't to +go to affairs like that. <i>Do</i> you know it?"</p> + +<p>Her gaze met his again, questioningly. "It is part of life," she said. +"My father thinks Azeela and I should know what life is. In your +time-world was it wrong?"</p> + +<p>George felt himself flushing. "Wrong? What, the festival?"</p> + +<p>"No. I mean my going there—a girl of the Scientists, who is not like +the Aran women?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," George said stoutly. "<i>I</i> didn't want you to be there." His hand +impulsively touched hers. "I didn't like it, Dee. You're too nice a +girl. And I don't think Loto liked Azeela being there, either."</p> + +<p>Instead of answering, she gave a sudden cry.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" George demanded in alarm.</p> + +<p>She had no opportunity to reply. Through the side win<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>dow the other +plane showed less than a thousand feet away; a shimmering ghost that was +gone as soon as they had seen it!</p> + +<p>George leaped to the proton switch, but Dee checked him.</p> + +<p>"Wait! Wait till Azeela tells me what happened."</p> + +<p>In the absorption of their conversation, Azeela's messages had been +ignored. Toroh had slackened his time-flight; he was preparing to land. +It was an unfortunate occurrence, for Toroh had seen the other plane. He +still did not guess that Azeela herself was guiding the pursuit.</p> + +<p>Again, without warning, the other plane appeared. This time it was +flying, coming directly toward them. George held his breath. Toroh's +plane was so close he had no opportunity even to move from his seat. It +was running level with them in time; <i>it was charging them! Had Toroh +gone mad? He would kill them all!</i></p> + +<p>It was no more than a second or two. Through the window George caught a +brief glimpse of the shimmering thing rushing at them. Then it swerved +upward.</p> + +<p>"<i>He's going to fire a thunderbolt!</i>" Dee gasped.</p> + +<p>George was aware of a flash; but he had not seen it, only imagined it.</p> + +<p>The attacking plane swept overhead and vanished-dissolved into +nothingness!</p> + +<p>Toroh had fired a thunderbolt. The rush of electrons traveling at the +speed of light from Toroh's plane to George's had been too slow. The +mark was gone into a different time before the thunderbolt could reach +it!</p> + +<p>The incident left George and Dee shuddering; but confident now that, so +long as they kept moving through time, Toroh could not harm them.</p> + +<p>George's dials now registered the passage of some sixty-eight hundred +years. He was amazed. Then he realized how long he and his companion had +been talking, and the time-velocity at the twentieth intensity had been +accelerating tremendously. He had forgotten to look beneath him; he did +so now, and the island was not there. The channel was gone;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> the +mountain range had disappeared. The cataclysm that had formed the island +had been passed.</p> + +<p>Azeela's messages told that her plane was now nearly a hundred years +nearer the Anglese time-world. Toroh, finding his attack ineffective, +had given it up. He had started a horizontal flight; he was looking for +a city in which he could land.</p> + +<p>George and Dee sat helpless, for Azeela could not describe which way she +was flying.</p> + +<p>"Lost!" George exclaimed. "We've lost them! Of course, she can't tell us +which way they're going when there's nothing down there but gray +forests—and blurred gray sky overhead."</p> + +<p>It seemed probable that they would never see Toroh's plane again. +Already it was many miles away from them in space, though in what +direction they could not guess.</p> + +<p>The two planes swept back through time, invisible to each other, yet no +more than a few hundred years apart. The rescue of Azeela—for the +present at least—was certainly impossible. Toroh was looking for a +civilization, some gigantic city where he might secure weapons. George +decided he must do the same. He discussed it earnestly with Dee, and +again, temporarily, Azeela's thought messages were ignored.</p> + +<p>At fifteen thousand years—more than halfway back to the time-world of +the New York City of George's birth—structures began rising out of the +forests. By retrograded changes made visible, at first they seemed +moldering ruins; then, broken, neglected areas of deserted cities; then +the inhabited cities themselves.</p> + +<p>At eighteen thousand years George and Dee were poised no more than a few +miles from where Orleen stood so many centuries later. A huge river with +a delta emptied into the open gulf; a broad expanse of lake was near by. +And on both sides of the river and around the lake a gigantic city rose +in terraced buildings of masonry and steel. Dee stared in awe at its +towers, bridges, aerial streets with the monorail structures stretching +above.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We might land here," George suggested. "Shall we, Dee? You'd think +they'd have <i>something</i> to help your father in the Anglese war."</p> + +<p>She nodded, and he prepared to land on an open space a few miles north +of the city outskirts. They came to the ground at the third intensity of +proton current. Everything was gray, soundless.</p> + +<p>"All ready, Dee?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>He flung over the switch. When the shock had passed, George stood up; +Dee was already on her feet beside him. It was night outside; lights +were flashing. They rushed to the window. The sky was lurid with +bursting colored bombs; an inferno of noise sounded, an intermittent +pounding that seemed to shake the earth.</p> + +<p>From-almost directly overhead a red rocket exploded. Its light +persisted, illuminating the scene for miles around with a vivid red +glare. The giant city buildings were visible. As George stared, a great +flame seemed to leap from the sky. One of the buildings fell.</p> + +<p>Nearer at hand a cloud of swarming mechanisms burst out of the air, +swooping down, circling. Beams of light from them and from the city +crossed like swords in the sky. The earth under the plane was rocking. +Beside it, a green flash struck and sent rocks, boulders, and dirt +flying up like a waterspout.</p> + +<p>"George! <i>George!</i>"</p> + +<p>Dee's terrified cry in his ear was almost drowned by the scream of +dynamos; the whistling, bursting, and pounding.</p> + +<p>George's trembling fingers found the proton switch; he pulled it. The +inferno of the night melted, slipped away into a gray, soundless blur.</p> + +<p>War! They had fallen into the midst of a battle—that giant Earth city +defending itself, perhaps against invaders from another planet.</p> + +<p>"We won't try that again," George murmured.</p> + +<p>"Azeela," said the girl suddenly. "She tells me that Toroh has secured +weapons! He is returning to our time-world!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<p>Toroh had landed at another city, in another time, but still in that +same greater civilization. He had chosen a night, bound Azeela, left her +in the plane and stolen weapons.</p> + +<p>George listened blankly. "What sort of weapons?"</p> + +<p>"Azeela does not know. One large piece of apparatus. He has it in the +plane covered by a black bag. He will not let her touch it. And there +are other things—a pile of disks or something. White—like steel. She +can't see them well—he has covered them also. He is filled with +triumph. His plane is speeding toward Anglese City."</p> + +<p>"In space or time?"</p> + +<p>"In time. They are hovering in space. Azeela does not know where they +are. Toroh says he will wait, and when the time-world of the island is +reached they will recognize the land. Then Toroh will take Azeela to the +Noths. He says if our father does not yield, he will <i>kill her</i>. And +then he and the Noths will conquer the Anglese."</p> + +<p>George had lost. But still there seemed nothing that they could do but +try and keep as close to the other plane in time as they could.</p> + +<p>Toroh's plane was sweeping forward. He had released Azeela, commanding +her to instruct him in more detail in the handling of the Frazia motors. +Azeela's dials now read some fifty-five hundred years behind the Anglese +time-world. George's read about six thousand.</p> + +<p>They came to the cataclysm that formed the island. George had forgotten +it, but he chanced to be gazing down. The gray forests suddenly blurred; +vague chaos passed over the earth, the air, and the sky; then there were +the familiar mountains, the channel, the island! The myriad details of +those hours of upheaval had been compressed, blended into a fraction of +a second. The eye and the mind could not grasp it. The thing was past, +done and away, with only its <i>effect</i> left as evidence that it had +occurred.</p> + +<p>George and Dee were above the channel and west of Orleen. No more than a +hundred years now separated the planes.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" George demanded for the tenth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> time. And then an +idea came to him. They could not attack Toroh until he reached his +destination. He would be among his own army then, and rescue of Azeela +would be impossible. But if Azeela could separate herself from Toroh +now, he could never find her in time and probably wouldn't try.</p> + +<p>George explained it to Dee. Azeela was not bound; could she persuade +Toroh on some pretext to land on the ground—then leap from the plane? +The shock of stopping in time should be no different than when the plane +itself stopped.</p> + +<p>Azeela had already thought of it; the idea had been prompted by the fact +that Toroh's plane was running out of fuel. He would have to conserve +it, not use the 'copters, or else he would have none left with which to +get up north.</p> + +<p>George was trembling with excitement. "Tell her to suggest that they +land."</p> + +<p>Toroh was, at that instant, landing. It was a familiar spot to Azeela; +she described it exactly to Dee, and the younger sister recognized it.</p> + +<p>Toroh's plane had entered the second century before Fahn's time-world +when George—some fifty years further back—arrived at the spot in space +Azeela was describing. There was the little rise of ground, with the +channel beyond. The vegetation was different, but the level rock was +there. And Toroh's plane was resting on that level rock.</p> + +<p>Dee's voice was shaking so that she could hardly talk. "Will it—kill +her, George?"</p> + +<p>He was white faced, tense. "Tell her to read the dials as exactly as she +can."</p> + +<p>Azeela read them. George held his watch in his hand; he noted the hour +and minute it gave.</p> + +<p>"She has called Toroh's attention to something outside," Dee's voice +translated swiftly. "She opens the cabin door. He is behind her but he +does not suspect."</p> + +<p>George kept his eyes on his watch. Two minutes since Azeela gave them +her dial-reading, and he knew the approximate time-velocity of the other +plane.</p> + +<p>Three minutes!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She is on the platform. The blurred rock is only a few feet below her. +Azeela is pretending something is wrong under the plane. Toroh is beside +her—but he does not touch her. He does not suspect she would dare...."</p> + +<p>Three minutes and a half.</p> + +<p>"She jumps—"</p> + +<p>George waited. "Is she all right? Is she all right?"</p> + +<p>Silence.</p> + +<p>"Can't you get her? Oh, Dee, can't you get her?"</p> + +<p>The communication was broken.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER THIRTEEN</h2> + + +<p>"It fell," Rogers murmured. "Was that Toroh's plane, or George's?"</p> + +<p>Loto did not answer; he stared with set face at the crystal mirror, +which was turning purple with the deepening shadows of nightfall. The +mountains into which the plane had fallen were a vague silhouette +against a sky of stars.</p> + +<p>"If we could only see over there," Rogers added wistfully. "Is this +tower we're looking from now the nearest to the mountains, Loto?"</p> + +<p>It was the nearest. But Fahn was talking swiftly into a small mouthpiece +beside him.</p> + +<p>"We may be able to see into the mountains," he said in a moment. "We +must find out which plane it was. Perhaps Toroh fell and was killed."</p> + +<p>The anxiety on his face belied the calmness of his tone. His two +daughters were out there; possibly one or both had met death in that +falling plane.</p> + +<p>A man entered the cave-room hurriedly, a solitary worker<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> whom Fahn had +summoned from another part of the cavern. A youngish man, he wore dark +glasses, a black robe and gloves.</p> + +<p>Fahn questioned him briefly; he brightened, nodded, and hastened away +again.</p> + +<p>Loto explained: "He's been working on a new invention, Father. We hoped +to use it in the war, but now we fear the attack may come before it's +ready. There is only one small model constructed—finished today."</p> + +<p>The man returned with a small mechanism—a black circular disk, an inch +thick and two feet in diameter. On it was mounted a cone-shaped lens a +foot high. It looked something like a tiny model of the lighthouse lens. +An operating mechanism was fastened behind the lens; it was an open box +with tiny coils of wire inside. And near this was what looked like a +miniature searchlight.</p> + +<p>Fahn inspected the apparatus. His assistant made some connections, +adjusting another mechanism on the table. Then, turning the disk over +and holding it in the air above his head, he released it. The thing +floated, motionless, its lens-tower hanging downward. The small +searchlight also pointed downward and from it a beam of blue-white light +struck the cave-floor with a circle of brilliant illumination.</p> + +<p>Fahn smiled his approval; the young assistant seemed gratified.</p> + +<p>"It's a development of the communication towers, combined with the +levitation dais you saw at the Festival—the apparatus Toroh's brothers +tried to steal," Loto said to his father.</p> + +<p>A moment later the young scientist had disappeared with his flying lens, +taking it outside the cavern to release it into the air.</p> + +<p>Fahn sat at the table with the newly installed mechanism under his +fingers. In a few moments the assistant was back, empty-handed; he stood +before the now blank crystal mirror with the other men, anxiously +watching for the success of his work.</p> + +<p>"This was greatly used a few centuries ago," Fahn said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> He sighed. "Our +ancestors knew so much; it is so hard to keep up with them."</p> + +<p>The crystal mirror presently became illumined. The scene was the +darkness of night; stars reflected moonlight from a moon just outside +the line of vision. Below—a thousand feet, perhaps—a vague palm-dotted +landscape was sliding into view.</p> + +<p>To the watchers, the illusion was like flying through the night, looking +downward.</p> + +<p>"I shall light the searchlights," Fahn said.</p> + +<p>A broad circle of blue-white illumination fell upon the shifting land. +Across it, the palms of the island were moving backward. The viewpoint +of the whole scene was unsteady. The horizon bobbed up and down, like +the horizon viewed from a plunging ship. The moon showed momentarily, +them swung sidewise out of sight.</p> + +<p>Soon the channel appeared; the dark mountains were coming nearer; they +tilted downward, almost out of sight, as the lens mounted an incline to +pass above them.</p> + +<p>"Can we find where the plane fell?" Loto asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>Fahn did not answer at once. At last he said: "It will be difficult. It +may have fallen behind the mountains, or into them. I do not know."</p> + +<p>In the mirror, the shifting viewpoint presently showed the mountains +from above; the searchlight circle was sweeping across a tumbled land of +crags, plateaus and ravines—a white band of snow lying thick on the +higher peaks. The lens was circling now; the turning, swaying viewpoint +made the watchers dizzy.</p> + +<p>Finally they saw it—a broken plane lying on its crumbled wing. The +searchlight clung to it; the lens lowered until the image of the plane +seemed more than a hundred feet below.</p> + +<p>"<i>Toroh's plane!</i>" Rogers exclaimed.</p> + +<p>There were figures moving about the plane, men and dogs. The men were +dragging some apparatus from it, loading it onto a sled. One of the men +was Toroh! The view<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>point was close enough now to distinguish +him—<i>alive!</i></p> + +<p>But the flying lens had descended too close; the Noths were staring +upward. A flash mounted from below; the crystal mirror turned a blinding +white—then went black.</p> + +<p>Toroh's thunderbolt had struck the flying lens and destroyed it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>George and Dee gazed from their hovering plane at the empty surface of +the level rock face below them. Somewhere in time Azeela was lying +there, unconscious, killed perhaps; the thought messages from her were +stilled. Had Toroh gone on? Or had he stopped to try and find her?</p> + +<p>They were anxious moments for George and Dee—moments that by George's +watch stretched into an hour or more. They were both at the point of +exhaustion. They had eaten a little—the plane was provisioned—but they +had not slept throughout the trip. George made a close calculation. He +knew the time-speed of Toroh's plane; he could estimate closely what +Toroh's dials must have read at the instant Azeela jumped.</p> + +<p>They found her at last, lying on the rock, unconscious. They stopped, +carried her into the plane, and, before they started again, revived her. +There was a heart stimulant among the plane's medicines; she drank it +gratefully. She was not injured, though badly bruised by her fall. She +had been knocked unconscious as she left the plane. The instant her body +parted contact with its vibrations, blackness had come to her; she did +not remember striking the rock.</p> + +<p>George was jubilant. Had he been able to rest, he would have wanted to +go on after Toroh. But he did not dare rest.</p> + +<p>"We'll go on home," he decided. "You're a brave girl, Azeela." He smiled +down at her as she lay stretched out on the leather seat. "I'll start +slowly; you've had all the shock you can stand."</p> + +<p>That same night in which the flying lens had been destroyed found George +piloting his plane into the cavern at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> Anglese City. Fahn and Rogers +were there to greet them. George handed down the girls, and descended +with a flourish. In the excitement of his triumphant return, he forgot +how tired and sleepy he was.</p> + +<p>At the moment Loto was in another part of the cavern. He came running +forward. He did not see Azeela at first.</p> + +<p>"George!"</p> + +<p>"Hello, Loto! Here we are. Were you worried?"</p> + +<p>Then Loto saw Azeela.</p> + +<p>"I brought her back to you," George said softly. "There she is, old +man—all safe and sound."</p> + +<p>But Loto did not hear him; his arms were around Azeela.</p> + +<p>George turned to Dee. "You think he'd sacrifice her for the whole nation +of the Anglese? I should say not!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER FOURTEEN</h2> + + +<p>A month went by in days and weeks of activity throughout the island. To +the Scientists it was a time of unparalleled stress and anxiety. The +government was in their hands for the first time in history, and a +war—the first that anyone of that time-world had ever faced—was +impending.</p> + +<p>With Toroh's return his attack would not be long postponed. Fahn knew +it. The radio proclaimed it to the Bas everywhere. An army must be +trained at once; the Bas, Arans and Scientists were appealed to for +volunteers.</p> + +<p>It was Fahn's plan not to wait for the Noths to land on the island; but +to anticipate the attack and send an army to meet it. The nation +responded to the appeal. Conscription had been considered, but within a +day the Bas had offered themselves in such numbers that it was obvious +any form of conscription would be unnecessary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + +<p>The second day after the radio appeal for volunteers, the fact became +evident that the Arans were refusing to go to war. In every village +recruiting stations were listing the names of the young men of the Bas +who presented themselves, but no Arans came. By the audible broadcasting +Fahn called them severely to account; but still they remained in hiding. +They were sought out. Cowardice, sullenness, declaration that their +birthright made it unnecessary—they seemed to have a score of reasons, +but the fact remained they would not willingly serve.</p> + +<p>Scenes of violence were reported the next day. A Bas father, giving two +sons to the coming war, had struck down an Aran youth whom he +encountered; a party of Bas, angered into unlawfulness, had entered an +Aran household in Orleen and beaten a group of Arans who were holding +festivities; an Aran woman had been killed.</p> + +<p>"Serves them right," George exclaimed indignantly. "I'd kill them all."</p> + +<p>Fahn was perturbed, but then he shrugged. "We have far more young men +from the Bas than we can use. I shall tell them to ignore the Arans. And +in warfare such as this, an unwilling fighter is worse than none."</p> + +<p>"Damned cowards," George muttered. "We'll save their hides for 'em, +while they stay home and have parties."</p> + +<p>The Scientist had caught the words. "Yes, George, because now that is +easiest for us. I want no trouble here on the island. But +afterward—when we have won—<i>then</i> we can deal with the Arans."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't have 'em on the island," George declared. It would have been +an unfortunate Aran youth who encountered George during the days that +followed.</p> + +<p>The recruiting, hand in hand with the manufacturing activities of the +cavern, went steadily on. In every principal village the Bas youths were +registered and drilled, as yet without weapons. Officered by older men +of the Bas, they waited for the equipment and orders to come to them +from Anglese City.</p> + +<p>The information Fahn had regarding Toroh and his Noth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> army was vague, +unsatisfactory; its very meagerness seemed to forecast disaster. +Somewhere beyond the mountains the Noths were gathering along the +Atlantic Coast. Hordes of men and fighting dogs were coming southward. +But their scientific weapons were practically unknown. The thunderbolt +globes—of what power Fahn could not say—were all that he was positive +they possessed.</p> + +<p>It was Toroh's trip back into time that seemed to hold the greatest +menace. He had secured some apparatus. What was it? Something +invincible, perhaps; something so completely different from anything +with which the Anglese were familiar that they could not hope to cope +with it.</p> + +<p>There were no answers to these questions.</p> + +<p>The flying lens—the only one the Anglese possessed—had been destroyed. +Others were now being hastily constructed, and with them Fahn intended +to reconnoiter extensively over the Noth territory. The information thus +attained would be immensely valuable.</p> + +<p>The principle of this radio-controlled flying platform, as Fahn had +said, was newly invented. It was not yet wholly practical. The dais at +the Festival was the first crude model; the flying lens was the second. +It had been so successful a model for a beginning that Fahn was +encouraged to use it with a broader scope. Larger platforms were now +being built, and thunderbolt projectors were to be mounted on +them—projectors with an effective radius of a thousand feet. A number +of these flying platforms would constitute a mechanical army. Controlled +by radios whose operators stayed safely at home, it could be sent forth +to battle—with the human army to follow behind it.</p> + +<p>The perfecting of the electric fabric repulsive to the earth—an +invention revived out of the past and brought to practicability only +within the last few months—was the basis of the equipment for the +Anglese army now being mobilized. It was kept secret until the last +moment.</p> + +<p>Two weeks after George's return, the first flying organization was +equipped. Two hundred young men selected from the ranks of the +Scientists began drilling secretly at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> night in an open space near +Anglese City. Among them were George and Loto. For the men from our +time-world, the experience was the most extraordinary they had ever +undergone. The fabric was like thin black gauze. A loose suit of it +encased each man, bound tightly at his wrists, throat and ankles. About +his waist was strapped a broad, cloth belt with several pockets in which +to carry various weapons. There was some sort of a battery attached to +the belt, from which a current was turned into the gauze suit.</p> + +<p>One of Fahns assistants came over to George and adjusted the current to +his normal weight, while George stood eyeing the man fearsomely. He +could feel the current as it was turned on. It was not unpleasant; it +made him tingle all over.</p> + +<p>In another moment George was ready. Thin cloth slippers were on his +feet; by the pressure against the soles he felt as though he weighed not +more than five pounds. Involuntarily, he clutched at Loto, who stood +beside him. He felt that a breath of wind would blow him away.</p> + +<p>"Let go," Loto grinned. "Make a leap, George."</p> + +<p>Obediently George leaped gingerly into the air. He floated upward, +turned over, arms and legs flying, and floated downward, landing gently +on his face in the sand. But after a few trials he could hold his +balance; the air seemed fluid, like water. With wings fastened to his +arms and legs, he could have swum through it.</p> + +<p>He suggested that to Loto. "Why, with practice, a man could swim through +the air, darting about like a fish through water."</p> + +<p>Loto laughed. "You'd make a fine inventor, George. That probably was the +first crude way it was used. But later they developed a much better way +of propulsion, and we have revived it now."</p> + +<p>The motive power consisted of a single metal cylinder to be held in the +left hand—an apparatus which in weight and shape was not unlike an +ordinary flashlight. As George understood its fundamental principle, the +thing altered the density of the air in whatever direction it was +pointed.</p> + +<p>Loto tried to explain it with as few technical words as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> he could. A +spreading, invisible ray from the cylinder penetrated the air for a +distance of some ten feet. It separated the molecules of the air, drove +them apart. Its action was incredibly swift.</p> + +<p>"Well?" demanded George.</p> + +<p>"The atmosphere exerts a pressure here of some sixteen pounds to the +square inch," Loto said. "The air immediately in advance of this +cylinder mouth is almost instantly thinned out. The ray charges the +molecules of air and makes them slightly repellent. The result is, +George, that immediately in advance of your body the atmospheric +pressure is somewhat lessened. Thus, your body moves forward, pushed by +the air pressure from behind."</p> + +<p>The cylinder had a sliding lever by which its ray was turned on or off. +George held it over his head and moved the lever. His body left the +ground and shot straight up at increasing speed. There was no rush of +wind toward him; instead the air from below seemed to be wafting him +upward.</p> + +<p>The ground was dropping away. Fifty feet! A hundred feet! Panic struck +George; all he could think of to do was shut off the cylinder power. At +once he floated down, turning over helplessly. He landed quite gently, +several hundred feet from where he had started, with Loto running there +to meet him, laughing at his discomfiture.</p> + +<p>You couldn't very well get hurt, that was the beauty of the thing. +George plunged enthusiastically into learning how to handle himself in +the air.</p> + +<p>With a week this organization of two hundred Scientist young men were +fairly expert with the new flying apparatus. There were several thousand +Bas youths now registered in different parts of the island; but the +suits and air cylinders for them were not ready. Finally, another +hundred were released, and at Anglese City, Mogruud, the Bas leader, and +a hundred selected Bas young men began learning to use them.</p> + +<p>In spite of the indignant protests of Loto and George,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> both Fahn's +daughters urged that they be allowed to try the apparatus, and Fahn gave +his permission.</p> + +<p>"I have no sons to give," he said quietly. "And this warfare is of +skill, not strength or endurance. If my girls can help their country, it +is their duty—and mine—to make the sacrifice."</p> + +<p>With this precedent, other Scientist girls—several at Orleen, and +twenty at Anglese City—enthusiastically volunteered. Without exception, +the girls proved superior to the men. The new art demanded a deft +agility, a quickness of thought and movement, which seemed to come to +the girls more naturally.</p> + +<p>Within a few days, Azeela and Dee could dart through the air with +incredible dexterity. The cylinder held in the left hand could be +pointed quickly in any direction and the body would be drawn that way. +Dee, especially, became proficient. She could dart upward, turn, come +swooping down head-first or with slow somersaults, graceful as a dancer, +to right herself a few feet above the ground and land on tiptoe.</p> + +<p>The result of the girls' proficiency was that they were organized into a +separate squad. There were twenty-eight girls in all; thirteen commanded +by Azeela, and thirteen by Dee.</p> + +<p>During all this time, the Arans had remained in seclusion, keeping off +the streets as much as possible. The Bas, drilling without weapons, were +eager to be equipped. The king and his council confined themselves to +the palace at Anglese City.</p> + +<p>There were no boats on the island except crude sailing canoes. A few of +the newly equipped flying corps went northward; but Fahn, anticipating +the completion of other flying lenses, ordered them not to cross the +channel. In the cavern, day and night, operators watched the mirrors, +flashing the viewpoints from every coast tower on the island, to guard +against a surprise attack.</p> + +<p>A month had passed since George's return in the plane. He had suggested +several times that the plane might be used<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> in the war. But Rogers +refused this. George had exhausted the proton current to the point where +there was barely enough left for a return to Roger's time-world. And the +plane in itself, as a means of flying through space, would have been of +little value in this warfare.</p> + +<p>The flying discs, mounted with observing lenses and thunderbolt +projectors, were now ready. They were sent out one night, controlled +from the cavern.</p> + +<p>It was the first aggressive act of the war; a mechanical army sweeping +northward to attack the enemy.</p> + +<p>In the cavern room, Fahn and his friends sat watching the mirrors, which +showed the scene from the viewpoint of the flying mechanisms.</p> + +<p>The discs swept northward, following the coastline. Beyond the +mountains, far ahead, loomed a great encampment close to the shore, dim +and vague in the moonlight. In a few minutes the mechanisms would be +there.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, one of the mirrors in operation went black. In the others, the +scene showed that Toroh was sending up some opposing mechanisms. Dots of +silver were mounting from the encampment. They floated slowly upward, +but they seemed to seek out the Anglese flying platforms, pursuing them +as though with human intelligence.</p> + +<p>One by one the mirrors were going black, as the flying lenses were being +destroyed. In a moment only one was left. It was almost over Toroh's +encampment—almost in range where it could have discharged its bolt.</p> + +<p>In the mirrored scene, a white dot was growing as it came closer to the +lens. Its image grew; it resolved itself from a dot, so what Fahn saw +was a thin, gleaming disc. It looked as though it might be whirling. The +thing turned, pursued the lens, overtook it—the last mirror went dark.</p> + +<p>The operators, greatly upset, left their instruments and gathered around +Fahn. Toroh had sent up some unknown mechanisms; the flying thunderbolt +platforms had crashed to the ground before any of them had come within +range of the enemy.</p> + +<p>It was during this same night that Toroh first used his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> audible +broadcasting beams. Fahn's audible voices in the air had constantly been +encouraging his people. Now, abruptly, the air burst forth with other +voices. Somewhere in the mountains across the channel, Toroh had erected +a broadcasting station. He was sending threats through the air to the +Anglese!</p> + +<p>It was a surprise, and it disturbed Fahn greatly. Everywhere on the +island aerial voices of the enemy were leering, threatening, boasting of +the coming triumph of the Noths. Would the Bas be intimidated? It might +be disastrous; with the defeat of the flying discs, Fahn was depending +more than ever now upon the Bas army.</p> + +<p>All that night and next day, the sender from the cavern sent forth its +cheering messages.</p> + +<p>By the following noon information began coming to Anglese City that the +Bas were apparently not alarmed. They were jeering back at Toroh's +aerial voices; but they were demanding vigorously that the Scientists +give them weapons.</p> + +<p>"In a week we shall be ready," Fahn told Rogers. "Five thousand +air-pressure cylinders are now in the last process of manufacture. The +other weapons are ready. One week more is all we need."</p> + +<p>Amid Toroh's aerial threats that day had come the reiterated, triumphant +statement that in two weeks more his attack would come. Two weeks still! +It was more than Fahn had hoped for.</p> + +<p>The statement was Toroh's trickery. Eighteen hours later—the next +morning at dawn—a member of the aerial patrol over the channel returned +hurriedly to Anglese City with the news that Toroh's expedition had +started by water. Huge barges were coming down the coast, pulled by the +giant dogs swimming before them—<i>barges crowded with men and dogs and +apparatus</i>.</p> + +<p>That morning was one of almost complete chaos. The invaders would enter +the channel near Anglese City. The thunderbolt projectors which had been +distributed thinly about the coast were rushed eastward and +concentrated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> at the channel-mouth. There was no time now to equip the +main Bas army. The attack would have to be repelled by the coast +defense, and by the small aerial army already formed: one hundred Bas +led by Mogruud; two hundred Scientists with whom Loto and George were to +serve, and the twenty-six Scientist girls, led by Azeela and Dee.</p> + +<p>That morning the aerial voices ordered every able-bodied Bas man on the +island to come toward Anglese City with every dog that could be +procured. If the invaders landed, the dogs could best oppose them.</p> + +<p>It was at this juncture that the king announced the change of his royal +capital to Orleen. The royal family, the councilors, their +retainers—all fled in their dog carriages from Anglese City. Orleen, +much further down the channel, would be safe. News of the king's action +spread over the island. Arans from everywhere fled after him, huddling +in Orleen.</p> + +<p>In the confusion of those hours, the contempt for the Arans passed +almost without comment. Orleen was the safest place, and the Bas +there—men and women both—scornful of remaining among the cowards, came +eastward.</p> + +<p>By noon the flying army was fully accoutered and waiting in a field near +Anglese City. Loto, equipped to remain in constant telephonic +communication with Fahn, was virtually the leader. George, with his +several weapons in his belt, stood beside Loto. Mogruud had his hundred +Bas around him. The girls were in two small groups apart.</p> + +<p>At a signal from Fahn, the little army rose swiftly into the sunlit sky. +The watching throng was stricken silent with awe. The figures in the air +arranged themselves in a broad arc, with the officers in front, and then +swept forward, over the channel toward the mountains and the distant +sea.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER FIFTEEN</h2> + + +<p>The palm-dotted island fell silently away. Ahead lay the blue channel; +to the right the open sea. To George the flight—the first of any +duration he had taken—was exhilarating. It was soundless; the absence +of any rush of air against him made it totally unlike flying in a plane. +He seemed to be wafting forward as though the air were his native +element.</p> + +<p>Loto was just ahead of him. Behind him came the army, maintaining its +arc-like formation. A little in front, and at a slightly lower level, +were the two squads of girls. They were all slim, graceful creatures, +most of them under twenty. The black gauze—loose trousers and +blouse—showed the white of their limbs beneath. Their heads were bound +in deep-red rubber cloth, tight over the forehead and tied in back with +flowing ends. With cylinders extended from the left hand they slid +gracefully forward through the air.</p> + +<p>Though George felt no rush of air, he found he could not talk to Loto, +even though no more than twenty feet separated them. The rushing wind +between them tore away the words.</p> + +<p>Soon they were over the channel. The girls were drifting much lower now. +Loto darted down a few feet; then as though he had changed his mind, he +came up again. He reached for a mouthpiece that dangled under his chin +and fitted it to his lips. His voice, magnified to a stentorian roar, +rolled out.</p> + +<p>"<i>Azeela! Dee! Come higher! You must not go so low!</i>"</p> + +<p>Obediently the two girls rose to the higher level, their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> little squads +following them. When they were over the mouth of the channel, George saw +Toroh's barges—tiny dark smudges on the water some miles up the coast +and a mile or so off shore. His heart leaped, began pounding in spite of +his efforts to quiet it.</p> + +<p>Following Loto he swept diagonally upward and forward. Presently he +could count six barges. They were tremendous things, crowded with men +and dogs and mechanical apparatus. Spread over each was a huge caging of +flashing silver metal. One barge was some distance in the lead; the +others straggled out irregularly behind it for about a mile. All the +Noth vessels were being drawn slowly through the water by ranks of +harnessed dogs.</p> + +<p>Loto momentarily shut off his cylinder; his speed was slackening. George +overtook him, put an arm on his shoulder. The nearest of the barges was +now less than a mile ahead.</p> + +<p>An upward flash from the leading barge was followed in a few seconds by +a crack of thunder. The bolt dissipated harmlessly into the air. But +obviously it was powerful, with an effective range of two thousand +feet—twice that of the Anglese defense.</p> + +<p>Toroh's plan now became apparent. He would batter the Anglese coast +projectors while still beyond reach of them, and then make his landing. +The cages over the barges were for protection from the smaller +thunderbolts of the attacking aerial army.</p> + +<p>George knew the cages were only partially effective. A bolt was +difficult to aim, but it did queer things when it struck. From a short +distance—a hundred feet or less—the barges could be set on fire and +sunk. Their thin metal hulls were not protected. They could be pierced. +The wooden super-structure could be fired; the swimming dogs struck and +killed.</p> + +<p>In hurried whispers Loto was constantly talking with Fahn back in the +cavern. The Scientist's orders he repeated with his electrically +magnified voice that could be heard easily by every one of the little +aerial army.</p> + +<p>For a time they circled about, above the barges, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> keeping well +beyond the two-thousand foot range. Against the blue of the sky their +figures must have shown plainly to the Noths. Occasionally a bolt would +flash up, but they were harmless at that distance. And the barges pushed +steadily forward.</p> + +<p>At last Fahn decided the moment for attack had arrived. Loto repeated +the order. George's division and Mogruud's separated from the rest. One +hundred turned seaward, the others toward land. They dropped swiftly; +straight down, like divers, heavily laden with lead, dropping through +water. And then a darting, twisting swarm of insects—from every side at +once they attacked the leading barge.</p> + +<p>In the depths of the cavern at Anglese City, Fahn sat in his room of +mirrors. A metal band about his head held a receiver to his ear. A black +mouthpiece hung against his chest and by lowering his head he could +bring his lips to it. Rogers was at his side. The mirrors in every part +of the room were lighted, giving the viewpoints of the coast towers near +the mouth of the channel. In several of the mirrored scenes, over the +distant water and in the air, black specks were visible; the enemy and +Fahn's army above them.</p> + +<p>But these were not the vital crystal mirrors. A small one—a foot square +perhaps—stood on the table before Fahn. He and Rogers were gazing into +it intently. The mirror was connected with a tiny lens strapped to +Loto's forehead; it gave Loto's viewpoint of the battle, showed the +scene exactly as Loto saw it.</p> + +<p>Fahn was silent; a stern, anxious old man, with all his science around +him, sitting in seclusion to direct this warfare upon which the fate of +his people depended. Occasionally he would murmur something to Rogers, +and the other man would speak into a mouthpiece—an order for the +operator of the broadcasted aerial voices, controlled from another part +of the cavern. Then throughout the island, cheering words to the Bas +would resound, news of the progress of the battle. But Fahn's gaze never +wavered from the little mirror.</p> + +<p>George's and Mogruud's divisions descended upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> leading barge. The +barge spat forth its bolts, but it could discharge only one or two +against a hundred of the tiny ones from its attackers. Looking down, +from Loto's viewpoint overhead, the barge was assailed on every side by +the pencils of electrical flame. Figures dropped, inert, into the water; +others, wounded, wavered upward. The wire cage over the barge was +sizzling and crackling; the swimming dogs, a dozen or more of them, +crumpled in the water and were dragged forward in their harness by the +others.</p> + +<p>The engagement had lasted no more than a minute when the air about the +barge was suddenly plunged into blackness. Everything down there was +blotted out—a patch of solid ink on the sea. The Noth vessel had +exploded a bomb whose etheric vibration absorbed all light over a radius +of five hundred feet.</p> + +<p>Fahn smiled grimly. The darkness there would pass presently. His own +leaders, Loto, George, Mogruud and the two girls, had the same +equipment. Each of them could discharge such a bomb; a puff of darkness, +cloaking everything around them in temporary invisibility.</p> + +<p>Fahn heard his own orders roared by Loto. The attacking figures came up. +But there were not two hundred of them now: about twenty lay down there +in the water; a dozen more were wounded; a few were moving slowly +homeward through the air.</p> + +<p>The darkness still hung around the attacked Noth vessel. But it was +thinning out; now the vague outlines of the barge could be seen. Within +a minute the dark patch was gone. One end of the barge was blazing, but +the Noths were extinguishing the flames. Other figures were cutting +loose the dead dogs in the water, while new dogs were leaping overboard +to take their places.</p> + +<p>The attacked barge presently moved onward; slowly, inexorably, they were +all coming down the coast. They were no more than a mile or two now from +the estuary of the channel-mouth.</p> + +<p>Three times more Fahn ordered a division down at the same barge. The +Noth tactics were repeated. The barge dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>charged a few of its bolts and +then enveloped itself in blackness—an absence of light that even the +thunderbolts could not illumine.</p> + +<p>These brief engagements were largely a matter of individual action. +Warfare was new to the Anglese, but they were learning. The huge bolts +from the barge could not parallel the water level for long; inevitably +they turned downward to discharge themselves. Close to the water the +attackers were comparatively safe.</p> + +<p>When the Anglese came up after these attacks and reformed themselves in +orderly array, there were only ten more of their number missing. But it +was fifty in all, and a score of wounded.</p> + +<p>The attacked barge was blazing end to end. Its crowded deck was a +turmoil of figures. They were plunging overboard—men and dogs—to avoid +the flames. In a moment the barge tilted upward at its stern. Its torn +bow was admitting the water; it slid downward, hissing, and disappeared +beneath the surface. Figures bobbed up from the swirl, inert, charred +figures; others among them, still alive, swam about in aimless +confusion.</p> + +<p>One barge! But there were five more. And these others had all pushed +forward until now they were almost down to the channel. Fahn realized +that there were five hundred Noths and as many dogs crowded into each of +them. They could take to the water while they were still beyond range of +his coast projectors and come forward individually, each man mounted +upon his swimming dog. The coast defense could strike down no more than +a few of them if they came in that fashion. Twenty-five hundred men and +their giant brutes, landing on the island.</p> + +<p>Azeela and Dee were hovering close to Loto; they were asking their +father's permission to try a new plan. The battle could not be +maintained as it was going; the hand thunderbolt globes held but ten +charges each, and the equipment of each individual was only three +globes. A third of the thunderbolts were already exhausted in sinking +one barge.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> + +<p>Fahn's expression did not change; only the grip of his fingers as he +clenched them and the rising muscles under his thin cheeks betokened his +emotion. His voice was steady, grim as always, when he ordered his +daughters to their desperate venture.</p> + +<p>Azeela and Dee, with their twenty-six comrades, selected the barge that +had replaced the leader. In a closely knit group they hovered above it. +Thunderbolts shot up, but could not reach them. The girls aimed a +pure-white beam of light downward—twenty-six tiny rays blending into +one. Rogers, bending over Fahn to gaze into the little mirror, was +amazed. Unlike any beam of light he had ever seen, this one was curved; +It descended in a slightly bent bow, ending at the barge.</p> + +<p>Fahn whispered a swift explanation to Rogers. To the Noths, looking +upward along the beam, it would not appear curved, but straight. The +figures of the girls, by an optical illusion, would be seen, not where +they actually were, but to one side.</p> + +<p>The girls held their curved ray steady. And plunging down the beam, +following its slightly curved path, were the figures of Azeela and Dee.</p> + +<p>The Noths saw them coming; a dozen bolts leaped into the air, one upon +the other, but they flashed harmlessly to one side of their mark.</p> + +<p>Within twenty seconds the two girls were close to the barge; yellow-red +spurts of flame leaped from their weapons—flame that could be hurled +thirty feet but no farther. It enveloped the barge with licking, +seething, burning liquid gases that withered everything they touched. A +puff of darkness, which the retreating girls had left behind them, +blotted out the scene. An instant later Azeela and Dee emerged from the +darkness, safe. The shaft of light from the girls above was extinguished +as the two rose to join them.</p> + +<p>When light shone again around the barge, it was sinking. Soon the +swirling water held nothing but black, twisted figures.</p> + +<p>The maneuver could not be repeated successfully. From<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> the other barges +the Noths would have seen the curved beam, understood it and made +allowances for it. Azeela and Dee, triumphant and flushed with their +success, pleaded to try it again, but Fahn would not let them.</p> + +<p>The afternoon was waning; the western sky was red and overhead clouds +were gathering. And then Fahn ordered a general attack on all the +barges.</p> + +<p>The sun had set; the twilight deepened into night—a night of flashing +lights, crackling, artificial thunder, spurts of lurid flame and the +hissing of fire against water. At intervals, rockets came up; bursting, +they cast a blue-white glare that for the space of a minute clearly +outlined the menacing, darting figures for the Noths.</p> + +<p>The atmospheric disturbance of the past hours suddenly brought forth an +electrical storm. Nature, more powerful than man, shot forth her own +bolts to add to the din. They were, in character, very different from +the harnessed, man-made lightning; forked, jagged, crackling with their +nearness, they leaped downward out of the low-hanging clouds.</p> + +<p>The storm was as brief as it was severe. It swept away and the moon +rose, blood-red, casting its lurid light over the water.</p> + +<p>Another Noth vessel had been sunk. There were only three barges left +afloat, and they were in distress. Many of their swimming dogs lay dead +in harness. Aboard all three of them, figures were fighting the flames. +They clustered in a group near the center of the channel.</p> + +<p>Loto had withdrawn his forces, reduced now to half their original +number. With ammunition almost exhausted, they hovered out of range +above their adversaries. The wounded were still straggling back through +the air; a few of them had already arrived at the cavern.</p> + +<p>Again Fahn ordered his army down. It would be the last attempt.</p> + +<p>In the cavern room, Fahn had not moved from his seat for hours. Often he +could not see the battle plainly, for Loto, disobeying orders, had many +times cast himself into the thick of it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> + +<p>But now Loto was aloft; by the moonlight and the glare of the rockets +and bombs, Fahn saw that another Noth vessel had appeared—a very small +barge. It was close to shore, coming swiftly forward and little objects +of gleaming silver were mounting from it. One after the other they came +sailing up.</p> + +<p>Fahn rasped an order; Loto's voice roared it out. The men and girls who +were descending to the attack halted, circling about, wondering what had +happened.</p> + +<p>The first of the white objects came sailing slowly horizontally across +the channel. It seemed to be a whirling white disc some foot or two in +diameter.</p> + +<p>Loto was still some distance away from it when a group of girls passed +between him and the disc. The thing seemed to turn toward them. One of +the girls became confused; it struck her and she fell. The disc, its +rotation halted, fell also. Loto saw then what it was: broad, thin, +crossed blades of steel, inclined to each other like the blades of a +propeller. It had risen up and sustained itself in the air by rotation. +Loto remembered the defeat of the flying thunderbolt platforms which +Fahn had sent northward to Toroh's encampment. These whirling knives +were what had destroyed them!</p> + +<p>The newly arrived barge was now sending up, in every direction, a slow +but steady stream of the whirling knives. They seemed so easy to avoid +that the aerial army at first paid them little heed. Loto's warning from +Fahn rang out, but it came almost too late. The knives sought out the +figures in the air. They began falling—cut, mangled by the whirling +blades. There was confusion. The army mounted higher, but other knives +had been sent straight upward and were floating down. Uncannily, they +seemed to single out their victims.</p> + +<p>Fahn understood now. This was the weapon Toroh had procured from that +time-world of the past. These whirling knives were strangely, powerfully +magnetized; they followed the human bodies passing near them, seeking +contact.</p> + +<p>The Scientist leader had ordered his fighters to the sea level; the +knives, as they came lower, seemed to have spent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> themselves. They could +be avoided. But nearly forty of the Anglese had met death before the +lesson was learned.</p> + +<p>The three larger barges were again advancing toward the Anglese coast. +Without warning, without orders from Fahn, the little remnant of girls +led by Azeela and Dee, darted at them. It was a movement, not foolhardy, +but well and swiftly planned. The girls, holding close to the surface, +got themselves between two of the barges. The Noths could not fire, for +they would have struck each other. A puff of inky darkness spread over +the ships, and out of it, at close range, jets of fire sprang at the +Noths; then the girls came back. One of the Noth vessels was a mass of +flames; the other two wavered—and began retreating.</p> + +<p>For a moment there was silence and darkness, lighted only by the moon +and the flickering light from the blazing barge. The whirling blades +were no longer being launched; the Anglese were again poised in the air.</p> + +<p>Fahn had ordered that the small barge be attacked when, abruptly, a low +hum sounded from it. George and Loto were hovering together at the +moment; the barge was some five hundred feet below them and slightly off +to one side. There didn't seem to be any dogs on it; only a few men +under its wire cage, and a single large piece of apparatus.</p> + +<p>The hum grew louder, more intense, as though some gigantic dynamo had +been set into motion.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" George demanded.</p> + +<p>But Loto did not know.</p> + +<p>Mogruud, with the remains of his division, was in the air half a mile +away. He was on the other side of the small barge; his men, moving in +scattered groups, began passing over it.</p> + +<p>The hum was rising in pitch, up the scale until it became a shrill +electrical scream. Mogruud's men wavered—struggled as though to avoid +being pulled downward.</p> + +<p>Then Loto realized that it must be the rest of the apparatus Toroh had +secured out of the past—a giant electromagnet of some unknown variety. +It was pulling at every figure in the air, drawing them irresistibly +toward it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> + +<p>Loto and George could feel the pull; invisible fingers were snatching at +them. The girls near at hand were fighting against it. Mogruud was +moving forward with an effort, like a swimmer struggling with the clutch +of an undertow. Several of his men, closer to the barge, had been drawn +to it, flattened helplessly against its wire caging. Fire was leaping +through their bodies...they were electrocuted.</p> + +<p>In the cavern Fahn sat tense, impotent. He could hear, as plainly as +though he were out there over the sea, the scream of that uncanny thing +that was reaching out its invisible electrical fingers to gather in its +victims.</p> + +<p>At his side, for the past hour, Rogers had been operating the larger +mirrors, flashing into them scenes from the various towers along the +coast. Now Fahn heard him give a sharp, horrified exclamation.</p> + +<p>Rogers was staring at a mirrored scene from a coast tower near Orleen: +moonlight, purple, starry sky and the deep purple of the channel; to one +side, the dim outlines of the Orleen houses. And from the channel off +Orleen, lights were flashing; a bomb burst and its glare shone on +crowded barges close inshore! One of them, already at the beach, was +disgorging its men and brutes!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER SIXTEEN</h2> + + +<p>Once again, Toroh's trickery was disclosed. To Fahn, the tactics of the +Noths were now understandable. The Noth attack on Anglese City, at which +Fahn had hurled all his armed forces, had been no more than a ruse to +cover up Toroh's main offensive at Orleen.</p> + +<p>Toroh's orders, doubtless, had been to prolong the en<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>gagement until, +under cover of night, his main forces could effect their landing at the +other end of the island. This small barge with the magnet had probably +been ordered to slip by, hugging the north shore of the channel, and +proceed to Orleen. But its commander had, at what he must have +considered a decisive moment, used it against the remnant of the little +aerial army.</p> + +<p>Toroh's landing at Orleen was taking place; the channel expedition had +served its purpose. The two remaining barges off Anglese City were in +full retreat toward the open sea. The smaller barge, with its screaming +magnet, was heading swiftly down the channel toward Orleen. The figures +in the air were struggling against its pull. Some were losing, being +hurled forward with control of themselves lost; others were forcing +their way down to the water-level where the attraction seemed less. +Still others had succeeded in escaping upward beyond its range. They +circled high overhead, seeking some way of helping their unfortunate +comrades.</p> + +<p>The double disaster was more than Fahn could cope with, or even watch +closely in the two mirrors. Orleen lay on a peninsula some ten miles +broad, with water on three sides of the city. The Noths were landing, +spreading around the shores; across the land from shore to shore they +were massed, but as yet they had not entered the city. Thousands of +Arans were there—the king and his royal family—penned like rats in a +trap. And there was only the small cavern with its meager garrison of +Scientists to defend them.</p> + +<p>George found himself near the outer edge of the magnetic attraction. He +could see the figures in the air nearer the barge struggling to escape +from it. He did not know where Loto was, or Azeela or Dee. He saw +Mogruud, with fifteen or twenty of the Bas about him. They were passing +swiftly below.</p> + +<p>George wondered what he should do. The two larger barges were +withdrawing. Some of the aerial figures were following them, and George +started moving that way. The figures were attacking the barges from down +near the surface<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> of the water. Mogruud and his men were there now. +George hastened.</p> + +<p>This last attack of the Anglese was one of desperate fury. George could +see the flash of the bolts close to the water. One of the barges must +have fired through its own darkness and struck its mate. As the +blackness cleared, George saw that both the Noth vessels were blazing. +One of them sank a moment later; from the flames on the other, figures +were plunging into the water.</p> + +<p>The Anglese—one of them mounting—cast loose a light-bomb. In the +brilliant glare, the aerial figures were darting about over the surface +of the water, seeking out the Noth men and dogs who were swimming toward +the island and striking them with the little thunderbolts, or with +spurts of yellow-red flame at closer range. George arrived to join them. +It was ghastly but necessary work. He used his weapons until they were +exhausted.</p> + +<p>The battle was won—all but the giant magnet. In the distance its +blood-curdling scream still sounded.</p> + +<p>And then George saw Dee. She had been several thousand feet up, flying +with another girl, when the magnet was first put into operation. They +were not close enough to feel its pull. A whirling knife had approached +them; struck the other girl, killed her. It was spent, but a corner of +it had knocked Dee's motor-cylinder from her hand. She had begun +floating down. Ever since, she had been trying to swim through the air; +with arms and legs kicking, she had fought to sustain herself.</p> + +<p>She was almost at the surface when George saw her struggling, +ineffectually, like a swimmer exhausted. He darted to her and gathered +her in his arms. His cylinder drew them both upward.</p> + +<p>"Dee," he whispered. "My little Dee You're safe!"</p> + +<p>Loto had dropped close to the surface. The magnet was pulling him, but +with his cylinder held against it, he could make headway. By now the +magnet had done most of its work; those in the air had either succumbed +or escaped beyond range.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> + +<p>To one side, Loto could see the attack on the other two barges. Fahn's +voice in his ear told him of the landing at Orleen. The Scientist +ordered them all back. They were needed at Orleen; they must return.</p> + +<p>But the magnetic barge was heading down the channel. It would be used at +Orleen. It must be stopped—<i>destroyed now</i>. Loto disobeyed Fahn. He +headed for the little barge.</p> + +<p>It was a plunge of no more than a few minutes. Soon Loto was well within +the field of magnetism; he could not withdraw now. He tried to think +clearly. Those others of the Anglese who had met this death had lost +control of themselves in the air. They had plunged forward, struggling, +whirling so that they had not been able to use their weapons.</p> + +<p>Loto had no thunderbolts left. His only weapon was the flaming liquid +gas which he could project some fifty feet.</p> + +<p>Just above the surface, head first, like an arrow, he slid forward +through the air. He did not fight against the magnet; he used his +cylinder only to keep himself from turning sidewise.</p> + +<p>He was conscious of the dark outlines of the barge rushing up at him. He +fired his jet of flame; though he did not know it then, he had fired too +soon. The flames fell short. A downward thrust of his cylinder power +forced him upward. He barely missed the wire caging as his body shot +over it, past it.</p> + +<p>The magnet's scream was deafening. The Noths on the barge had fired a +small thunderbolt between the wires, but had missed the swiftly passing +mark.</p> + +<p>Loto's momentum carried him a hundred feet or more beyond the barge. The +magnet stopped him, drew him swiftly back. He was turning over now; he +had lost control of himself. The sea, the sky, the approaching barge +were mingled in whirling confusion. He knew he could never escape; he +must strike the magnet with his flame, this time or never. A moment more +and he would be electrocuted against the cage.</p> + +<p>A tiny bolt cracked past him. He turned over again, righted himself +momentarily, and fired. The electrical scream died<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> into abrupt silence; +the flames had caught the magnet, burned out its coils.</p> + +<p>Released suddenly, Loto's body shot upward with the pull of his +cylinder. The cage, with flames spreading under it, dropped away beneath +him.</p> + +<p>He righted himself, and at a distance of about three hundred feet, hung +poised in the air. The flames spread over the barge; a few Noth figures +plunged frantically into the water.</p> + +<p>Loto mounted upward to join his comrades. Barely seventy-five of the +original three hundred and twenty-eight, were left. Ten of them were +girls. Loto found Azeela safe. George still carried Dee in his arms.</p> + +<p>The flames from the burning barges died out; the silent moonlit channel +was strewn with floating bodies. It seemed almost futile to search for +their wounded, but they descended, and for a time moved about near the +surface. They found two still alive—one burned, the other, a girl, +mangled by a flying knife.</p> + +<p>Silently, with their burdens, they took their way back through the air +to the cavern.</p> + +<p>It was a night of confusion. The Noths were clustered around Orleen, +waiting for the dawn before they entered the city. They were still +coming across the channel on swimming dogs. All night they came. The +puny garrison at the Orleen cavern was powerless to stop them. It +exhausted its bolts and began sending out calls for help.</p> + +<p>The Bas around Anglese City were mobilizing with their dogs. Hastily, +Fahn equipped them with weapons—hand thunderbolts and flame projectors. +An hour-and-a-half before dawn, they were ready to start their almost +hopeless attempt to stem the horde of invaders who now held the entire +western end of the island.</p> + +<p>The little rag-end of the aerial army that returned from the battle was +exhausted, but in a few hours, it too, was ready to start.</p> + +<p>Fahn, with his two daughters, and Rogers, Loto and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> George, took the +Frazia plane. On its platform Fahn mounted a single projector, the most +powerful he possessed.</p> + +<p>They started an hour before dawn—silent as they gazed down at the +island of palms that was passing beneath them. They overtook their Bas +army and left it behind them. In the air, back over Anglese City, tiny +specks showed that the aerial army was starting. Above the hum of the +Frazia motors they hear the aerial voices of Anglese City telling the +Bas peasants who lived between the two cities to come eastward. They +were obeying; little groups of refugees—old men, women and +children—were moving along all the roads. In the sky ahead, occasional +flashes shot up from Orleen.</p> + +<p>"The Arans went there to avoid the deluge," Rogers said suddenly, and +his laugh was grim.</p> + +<p>No one answered him.</p> + +<p>Behind them the eastern sky was brightening. Loto was piloting the +plane, with Rogers beside him. The daylight grew, began reddening.</p> + +<p>"Look, Father, there's Orleen!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The second largest city on the island, Orleen lay in a hollow, with twin +peaks close behind it, the mouth of the channel and the gulf in front +and to the sides. It was an Aran city, more beautiful even than the +capital.</p> + +<p>The plane, flying high, was circling. Loto's gaze went to the dawn. The +sun came up a huge, distorted ball of crimson fire, with lines of flame +radiating from it to the zenith. A dark mass of rain cloud, hanging low +above Orleen, lost its blackness as it soaked up the crimson light. The +sky, even to the western horizon, was steeped in blood; the water +reflected it; the air itself seemed to hold it suspended.</p> + +<p>"The day of deluge," murmured Loto. "The blood that will be spilled +today—"</p> + +<p>As though in answer to his words, the clouds above Orleen began spilling +rain. And as the water fell, it caught<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> the crimson sunlight—myriad +drops of blood falling upon the Aran city.</p> + +<p>The storm was transitory the rain cloud swept past, but the blood in the +sky remained.</p> + +<p>In the hours that had passed since the plane left Anglese City, the +Noths had occupied Orleen. Its cavern was taken. The Noth men and dogs +stood in solid ranks around the mountain base; the beaches were black +with them. They were still coming across the channel—riders mounted +upon swimming dogs, an occasional barge.</p> + +<p>There were no sounds of thunderbolts in the city, no flashes. But as the +plane descended, human sounds were heard—faint screams. And the city +streets were in confusion.</p> + +<p>Fahn was staring down into the city through lenses mounted in short +black tubes. He murmured something that his companions did not catch. +His face was white and set; he was struggling to hold his composure.</p> + +<p>"Descend, Loto. They are not armed with thunderbolts; those are all with +Toroh and his men in the cavern."</p> + +<p>The plane glided down, circling low above the city. The scene of carnage +there became a series of brief, fragmentary pictures. Above the drone of +the Frazia motors, they could hear the snarling of fighting dogs, the +screams of men and women, the shrill treble of children—human screams +of agony as the fangs of the brutes tore at them.</p> + +<p>The plane passed low above a city street, following its length to the +blue water that lapped the white sand at its end. The street was full of +dogs. A Noth rider—sinister, animal-like, with his black-bound head and +his naked torso covered with black hair—arrived at a silent white +house, with its white columns, splashing fountain, and vivid trellised +flowers. The Noth dismounted, rushed into the house. He came out +dragging an Aran woman—flung her white body to the eager, snarling +brute. At the beach, hundreds of terrified Arans sprang into the water; +the dogs followed them, pulled them under, released them at last, and +the surf flung their mangled bodies up on the sand.</p> + +<p>There was a public square where a hundred or more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> Arans had gathered. +The dogs charged them, tore at them, flung them into the air—fought +over their broken bodies long after life had gone.</p> + +<p>The dogs spread to every corner of the city. A child climbed a +pergola—a little Aran boy, white skinned, with long golden curls and a +plump baby face. The dogs could not reach him; a Noth man climbed up, +pulled him down.</p> + +<p>Loto had given the Frazia controls to his father. With a small +thunderbolt globe at his belt he went to the platform outside the cabin. +Presently he found Azeela beside him. Her arm was around him; together +they clung to their insecure footing, watching the scenes below as the +plane made its swift circle over the city.</p> + +<p>What could Fahn do? The thunderbolt projector, here on the platform, +could kill a few Noths, a few dogs here and there. But of what avail +would that be among these hordes? The Orleen Cavern? Could they attack +that? Toroh was probably there in the cavern. If they could kill him, +these Noth barbarians, without a leader...</p> + +<p>Confused and sick from what he was seeing, Loto tried to force Azeela +into the cabin, but the white lipped girl would not go. The plane +approached a house where an Aran woman crouched on the roof top with two +little girls huddled at her feet. A Noth appeared from below, dashed at +them across the roof. Beneath the eaves a dozen dogs stood with bared, +drippings fangs pointed upward.</p> + +<p>The plane was almost over the house. Loto pointed his globe downward, +pressed its lever. There was a flash, a miniature crack of thunder and +the globe recoiled in his hand. On the roof top the Noth man and the +Aran woman and her children lay dead. The woman's white robe was +blackened, the children's bodies were burned, shriveled; a cornice of +the building was ripped off and the woodwork was blazing.</p> + +<p>It was so useless! Loto flung the globe from him, loathing it for having +killed that woman and her little girls. He drew Azeela back with him +into the cabin.</p> + +<p>The king's palace in Orleen stood near the waterfront,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> in the midst of +broad, magnificent gardens. A mob of Noths surged around it, into the +lower doors, on the balconies and roof top. As the plane passed +overhead, its occupants caught a fleeting glimpse of the queen and her +children, the girl wives of the king and the king himself—in the face +of death with petty barriers at last broken down—all huddled together +in a corner of the roof. The Noths rushed at them, broad, heavy swords +flashing.</p> + +<p>The plane swept past.</p> + +<p>The twin peaks of Orleen stood six hundred feet apart, just behind the +city. The one that housed the cavern had a broad, circular base, with a +ragged, volcanic looking cone above. The other peak was considerably +higher; it looked down upon its fellow.</p> + +<p>Fahn had directed Rogers to fly the plane to the higher of the peaks. +The Scientist had hardly spoken. He was pale, grim as ever, but his +gaze, when he looked upon his daughters held a curious softness. What +were his plans. What were they going to do? George asked the questions, +but Fahn ignored them.</p> + +<p>The little aerial army approaching from Anglese City was now in sight. +Fahn radioed them to move back, descend, and stop the Bas army and its +dogs. All of them were to return to the capital.</p> + +<p>The plane landed on a small level rock near the summit of the higher +peak. On top of the cavern, six hundred feet away, a solitary male +figure stood. The blood light of the sunrise fell full upon it. <i>Toroh!</i> +He was standing there, regarding the city.</p> + +<p>Fahn leaped to the projector, but Toroh had disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Hurry!" exclaimed the Scientist. He still would not let them question +him. He unlashed the projector and they helped him lower it to the +ground. He leaped down after it, adjusting it, swinging it to bear down +upon the lower peak.</p> + +<p>"We must hurry," he repeated. He was back on the cabin platform. "They +will be out of the cavern, firing upon us."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Noths down there were gazing up at the plane; others were now +pouring out of the cavern entrance.</p> + +<p>Fahn's projector was trained on the crater of the lower mountain. From +this greater height its depths were visible.</p> + +<p>In the cabin of the plane the Scientist's arms went around his +daughters. "Good-by, my girls—for a little time," he whispered in their +own tongue.</p> + +<p>They were frightened; suddenly Dee was crying. But he pushed them from +him. He would attack the cavern; they must all stay in the plane—rise +high—very high.</p> + +<p>Something in the man's look, the command in his voice, struck them all +silent. They obeyed. He climbed down to the rock. The plane mounted +swiftly into the air.</p> + +<p>The sun was above the eastern horizon; the sky was an inverted bowl of +blood. Beneath the plane Fahn's figure, standing beside his projector, +showed clear-cut against the black rock under him. At the base of the +cavern mountain Noths had appeared with apparatus. They were adjusting +it hurriedly.</p> + +<p>A blue-white flash from Fahn's projector spat downward across the six +hundred feet and into the crater mouth. Thunder rolled out. Another +flash, another—until they became almost continuous. Far down in the +earth within the crater, the slumbering forces began to answer. A +rumbling sounded—a low, ominous muttering, pregnant with infinite +power. Steam hissed upward; a puff of smoke....</p> + +<p>The plane had been ascending rapidly; it was thousands of feet up now. +Fahn's thunderbolts persisted, and at last the angered fires of the +earth were unleashed. The mountain seemed to split apart; the report was +deafening; flaming gases, cinders and ashes were hurled upward and +outward.</p> + +<p>The main force of the explosion was sidewise toward the city, but even +so the plane barely avoided the torrent of molten rock and blazing gas +that mounted from below.</p> + +<p>The city was engulfed in flames over which a heavy smoke hung like a +pall. A tremendous lake of viscous liquid fire lay where the peaks and +the cavern once had been.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> The earth was rumbling, shaking, splitting +apart. The scene was vague—dulled by a lurid red glare that struggled +with the blackness of the smoke.</p> + +<p>A moment, and a rift appeared. The smoke seemed to part, roll aside. +Through the rift, the burning city showed for an instant clear and +distinct—the crowded city in which no single human or beast could have +remained alive.</p> + +<p>Still not content, the earth was heaving over the whole western end of +the island. And from the sea a great tidal wave came rolling up over the +sinking land, hissing, quenching the fires, obscuring everything in a +cloud of steam. Like a mist, the steam presently dissipated. The turgid +waters lashed themselves into furious waves that gradually were stilled.</p> + +<p>And then it was daylight, sullen red day, with only the wreckage on the +waters—charred fragments of bodies, thousands of them floating for +miles around—mute evidence of what had gone before.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER SEVENTEEN</h2> + + +<p>Once again the plane hung like a shimmering ghost above the towering +piles of steel and masonry—New York City at the peak of its +civilization. For Azeela and Dee, it had been a brief trip of awe and +wonder; a trip northward through space and back through time.</p> + +<p>After the cataclysm, they had stayed but a week back in Anglese City. +The entire western end of the island had sunk into the gulf, carrying +Toroh and his Noths and the Arans and their King to destruction. In +Anglese City a new government was formed—a democracy of the Bas, with +Mogruud at its head.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rogers was impatient to return to his wife in New York City. Azeela and +Dee, left orphans, had no wish to stay. Unobtrusively as it had come, +the Frazia plane departed.</p> + +<p>In the humming, glowing cabin of the plane the voyagers were waiting for +the dials to reach the time world for which they were headed. On one of +the side benches, the ghostlike figures of Loto and Azeela sat a little +apart from the others; they were talking softly as they gazed down +through the window beside them.</p> + +<p>"You think Mogruud will make a good leader?" she asked. "My father would +have been so strong, so stern, but always just and fair...." Her eyes +had filled with tears.</p> + +<p>He pressed her hand sympathetically. "I know, Azeela. But you mustn't +grieve. He gave his life for his people."</p> + +<p>"Yes. And he said 'Good-by—for a little time.' Oh, Loto—I did not +realize then what he meant."</p> + +<p>"He knew—someday—you would be with him again. And you will." His arm +went around her tenderly. "I shall always try to make you happy. I +promise it, Azeela. Always, as long as we live."</p> + +<p>"Beloved," she murmured. "Beloved, who always understands."</p> + +<p>Rogers had been talking to George and Dee. He left them to attend to the +motors. Dee was watching the scene beneath the plane; as they fled back +through the centuries the great city was melting away.</p> + +<p>"Your city that we're going to," she said after a long silence. "George, +is it like this? Are we almost to its time now?"</p> + +<p>"No," he laughed. "It's a very little, puny city I have to show you, +Dee. I used to think it was wonderful. But it's only a conceited +child—learning as fast as it can and thinking it knows everything. I +used to be like that myself. But this sort of trip changes one."</p> + +<p>She did not answer.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you're coming back with us, Dee."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said abstractedly.</p> + +<p>"Dee," he persisted out of another silence, "I wonder if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> you know how +happy it makes me to have you—here where we're going. I've wanted to +tell you for a long time—maybe you don't know how I feel. I—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On this return journey, the plane had now reached the height of its time +velocity. The swiftly changing form of the city blurred the scene into a +confusion of shifting details, among which only the broadest +fundamentals were discernible. The northern section of Central Park +presently lay open. Then the great building that covered its southern +end melted into nothingness, and trees and water were in its stead.</p> + +<p>George was at the dials. "One hundred years! We're almost into our own +century!"</p> + +<p>Through decreasing intensities of the proton current, they slackened +their time velocity. The park, whitened with winter, turned green again +as the previous summer was reached. Soon the days separated from the +nights. The sun came up from the west, plunged swiftly across the sky, +and dropped into the east.</p> + +<p>It was spring, but the retrogression soon brought winter again. A +January snowfall lay white beneath the naked trees of the park. But it +was autumn in a moment.</p> + +<p>Rogers was watching the dials closely. Summer again; then spring. In one +of the brief periods of night he threw the switch to the first +intensity. The plane began drifting to the south. The dim stars were +swinging eastward in a murky sky. The city lights shone yellow.</p> + +<p>The roof of the Scientific Club came into view among the buildings south +of the plane. Rogers threw off the current completely.</p> + +<p>"Look, Dee!" cried George. "Look, Azeela! There it is at last! See the +board enclosure?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>An evening in March. In the large living room of the Banker's Park +Avenue apartment, a group of his friends were gathered. Dinner was over; +a butler was serving coffee and the men were lighting their cigars.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> + +<p>A woman and four men—all in evening dress—were sitting in a group; +mingled with their voices came the soft, limpid tones of a piano. It +stood in a secluded alcove—a grand piano of carved mahogany. On a bench +before its keyboard, a young man in a Tuxedo was playing. George. Dee +stood beside him, leaning against the instrument. She was gazing first +at the page of music with a puzzled frown, then at his fingers as they +roamed the keys, and then, in admiration, at his face.</p> + +<p>On a high-back davenport before an open fireplace, Loto sat with Azeela. +There was an artificial black flower in her spun-gold hair; the mourning +custom of her time world. Her milk-white throat was bare, and the blue +of her dress was mirrored in her eyes. She was silent, staring into the +flames licking upward from the huge logs.</p> + +<p>"That's very pretty music," she said finally. "So big an +instrument—this piano as you call it—you never would think one could +play it."</p> + +<p>"Chopin," he answered. "A piece by Chopin. George plays Chopin mighty +well. Azeela, there is so much I have to show you. Just that one little +thing—Chopin, for instance. I want you to hear the music of some of the +great composers and pianists."</p> + +<p>"And the opera," she prompted. "And you promised you would take me to a +theater."</p> + +<p>"I will, of course. There are so many things for you to see. Why, it +will be just like a new world, a new life that you're just beginning, +Azeela."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she murmured. "A new life in a new world. It seems like that +already."</p> + +<p>"And wait till you ride in the subways! You'll be surprised how—"</p> + +<p>But she shuddered. "I do not believe I want to do that. It would bring +back memory of the cavern...other things."</p> + +<p>George and Dee left the piano and walked over to the fireplace. Azeela +moved over on the davenport. Loto stood up, but George shook his head.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Thanks. Dee and I thought we'd try the window seat."</p> + +<p>Across the room the Big Business Man, the Doctor, and the Banker were +demanding additional details from Rogers.</p> + +<p>"That Toroh and his Noths were in the cavern at Orleen" the Banker said +gruffly. "Can't you keep the thing straight? I want to hear it +consecutively—not jumped around in this way."</p> + +<p>Ensconced in the window seat, George and Dee gazed out at the yellow +lights of the city around them—a city so different from anything Dee +could have even imagined.</p> + +<p>There was a soft, rose-shaded light beside the girl. George was not +looking out of the window, but at her. He had seen Dee in many costumes, +but never, he thought, was she so beautiful as right now.</p> + +<p>A girl of his own time world. He had not realized that this was the way +he had always wanted her to look. Her dress, dropping to a few inches +above her ankles, was soft and clinging. Her black hair, like Azeela's, +was dressed high on her head. Like Azeela, too, she wore the dark +mourning flower. The soft light beside her cast a flush on her +milk-white throat and cheeks.</p> + +<p>Feeling his gaze, she turned.</p> + +<p>"You like the way Lylda has clothed me? It feels very strange."</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said. "You look beautiful, Dee."</p> + +<p>She turned back to the window in confusion. From below, the hum of the +city floated up to them; the raucous sirens of automobiles.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he repeated. "I do like it very much, Dee."</p> + +<p>Abruptly his arms were around her; he was kissing her.</p> + +<p>"George! Some one will see us!"</p> + +<p>"No," he protested. "No, they won't. Anyway suppose they do? I don't +care—do you?"<br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76503 ***</div> + </body> +</html> + diff --git a/76503-h/images/cover.jpg b/76503-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4477af8 --- /dev/null +++ b/76503-h/images/cover.jpg 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. 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