Adventures in Time and Space

by Raymond J Healy

  At any rate: they did not flee to a faraway safe spot in the universe as they could have very easily done. Instead, they stayed; always one sphere ahead of the marauding machines, they must always be planning a means of wiping out the spreading evil they had loosed.

  It might be that the shell around the satellite was in some way a clever trap! But so thinking, I remembered again the white-flame machines and the deadly efficiency of the globe I had seen, and then my hopes faded away.

  Perhaps some day they would eventually find a way to check the spreading menace. But on some other extreme, the machines might spread out to other solar systems, other galaxies, until some day, a billion years hence, they would occupy every sphere in this universe …

  Such were my thoughts as I lay prone there upon the grassy slope and looked down into the plain, down upon the ceaseless clatter and the ceaseless moving of lights in the dark. I was very small now; soon, very soon, I would leave this world.

  My last impression was of a number of the space globes, barely discernible in the dusk below; and among them, towering up high and round, was one much larger than the others, and I could guess which machine would occupy that globe.

  And my last thought was a regret that I hadn’t made a more determined effort to destroy that malicious mechanism, The Brain.

  So I passed from this world of machines - the world that was an electron on a grain of sand that existed on a prehistoric world that was but an electron on a microscope slide that existed on a world that was but an electron in a piece of Rehyllium-X on the Professor’s laboratory table.

  VIII

  It is useless to go on. I have neither the time nor the desire to relate in detail all the adventures that have befallen me, the universes I have passed into, the things I have seen and experienced and learned on all the worlds since I left the planet of the machines.

  Ever smaller cycles … infinite universes … never ending … each presenting something new … some queer variation of life or intelligence … Life? Intelligence? Terms I once associated with things animate, things protoplasmic and understandable. I find it hard to apply them to all the divergencies of shape and form and construction I have encountered …

  Worlds young … warm … volcanic and steaming … the single cell emerging from the slime of warm oceans to propagate on primordial continents … other worlds, innumerable … life divergent in all branches from the single cell … amorphous globules … amphibian … crustacean … reptilian … plant … insect … bird … mammal … all possible variations of combinations … biological monstrosities indescribable …

  Other forms beyond any attempt at classification … beyond all reason or comprehension of my puny mind … essences of pure flame … others gaseous, incandescent and quiescent alike … plant forms encompassing an entire globe … crystalline beings sentient and reasoning … great shimmering columnar forms, seemingly liquid, defying gravity by some strange power of cohesion … a world of sound-vibrations, throbbing, expanding, reverberating in unbroken echoes that nearly drove me crazy … globular brain-like masses utterly dissociated from any material substance … intra-dimensional beings, all shapes and shapeless … entities utterly incapable of registration upon any of my senses except the sixth, that of instinct …

  Suns dying … planets cold and dark and airless … last vestiges of once proud races struggling for a few more meagre years of sustenance … great cavities … beds of evaporated seas … small furry animals scurrying to cover at my approach … desolation … ruins crumbling surely into the sands of barren deserts, the last mute evidence of vanished civilisations …

  Other worlds … a-flourished with life … blessed with light and heat … staggering cities … vast populations … ships plying the surface of oceans, and others in the air … huge observatories … tremendous strides in the sciences …

  Space flight … battles for the supremacy of worlds … blasting rays of super-destruction … collision of planets … disruption of solar systems … cosmic annihilation …

  Light space … a universe with a tenuous, filmy something around it, which I burst through … all around me not the customary blackness of outer space I had known, but light … filled with tiny dots that were globes of darkness … that were burnt-out suns and lifeless planets … nowhere a shimmering planet, nowhere a flaming sun … only remote specks of black amid the light-satiated emptiness …

  How many of the infinitely smaller atomic cycles I have passed into, I do not know. I tried to keep count of them at first, but somewhere between twenty and thirty I gave it up; and that was long ago.

  Each time I would think: “This cannot go on forever - it cannot; surely this next time I must reach the end.”

  But I have not reached the end.

  Good God - how can there be an end? Worlds composed of atoms … each atom similarly composed … The end would have to be an indestructible solid, and that cannot be; all matter divisible into smaller matter …

  What keeps me from going insane? I want to go insane!

  I am tired … a strange tiredness neither of mind nor body. Death would be a welcome release from the endless fate that is mine.

  But even death is denied me. I have sought it … I have prayed for it and begged for it … But it is not to be.

  On all the countless worlds I have contacted, the inhabitants were of two distinctions: they were either so low in the state of intelligence that they fled and barricaded themselves against me in superstitious terror - or were so highly intellectual that they recognised me for what I was and welcomed me among them. On all but a few worlds the latter was the case, and it is on these types that I will dwell briefly.

  These beings - or shapes or monstrosities or essences - were in every case mentally and scientifically far above me. In most cases they had observed me for years as a dark shadow looming beyond the farthest stars, blotting out certain star-fields and nebulae … and always when I came to their world they welcomed me with scientific enthusiasm.

  Always they were puzzled as to my steady shrinking, and always when they learned of my origin and the manner of my being there, they were surprised and excited.

  In most cases gratification was apparent when they learned definitely that there were indeed great ultramacrocosmic universes. It seemed that all of them had long held the theory that such was the case.

  On most of the worlds, too, the beings - or entities - or whatever the case might be - were surprised that the Professor, one of my fellow creatures, had invented such a marvellous vitalised element as ‘Shrinx’.

  ‘Almost unbelievable’ was the general consensus of opinion; ‘scientifically he must be centuries ahead of the time on his own planet, if we are to judge the majority of the race by this creature here’ - meaning me.

  In spite of the fact that on nearly every world I was looked upon as mentally inferior, they conversed with me and I with them, by various of their methods, in most cases different variations of telepathy. They learned in minute detail and with much interest all of my past experiences in other universes. They answered all of my questions and explained many things besides, about their own universe and world and civilisation and scientific achievements, most of which were completely beyond my comprehension, so alien were they in nature.

  And of all the intra-universal beings I have had converse with, the strangest were those essences who dwelt in outer space as well as on various planets; identifiable to me only as vague blobs of emptiness, total absences of light or colour or substance; who impressed upon me the fact that they were Pure Intelligences, far above and superior to any material plane; but who professed an interest in me, bearing me with them to various planets, revealing many things and treating me very kindly. During my sojourn with them I learned from experience the total subservience of matter to influences of mind. On a giant mountainous world I stepped out upon a thin beam of light stretched between two crags, and willed with all my consciousness that I would not fall. And I did not.

&nb
sp; I have learned many things. I know that my mind is much sharper, more penetrative, more grasping than ever before. And vast fields of wonder and knowledge lie before me in other universes yet to come.

  But in spite of this, I am ready for it all to end. This strange tiredness that is upon me - I cannot understand it. Perhaps some invisible radiation in empty space is satiating me with this tiredness.

  Perhaps it is only that I am very lonely. How very far away I am from my own tiny sphere! Millions upon millions … trillions upon trillions … of light-years … Light years! Light cannot measure the distance. And yet it is no distance: I am in a block of metal on the Professor’s laboratory table …

  Yet how far away into space and time I have gone! Years have passed, years far beyond my normal span of life. I am eternal.

  Yes, eternal life … that men have dreamed of … prayed for … sought after … is mine - and I dream and pray and seek for death!

  Death. All the strange beings I have seen and conversed with have denied it. I have implored many of them to release me painlessly and for all time - but to no avail. Many of them were possessed of the scientific means to stop my steady shrinkage - but they would not stop it. None of them would hinder me, none of them would tamper with the things that were. Why? Always I asked them why, and they would not answer.

  But I need no answer. I think I understand. These beings of science realised that such an entity as myself should never be … that I am a blasphemy upon all creation and beyond all reason … they realised that eternal life is a terrible thing … a thing not to be desired … and as punishment for delving into secrets never meant to be revealed, none of them will release me from my fate …

  Perhaps they are right, but oh, it is cruel! Cruel! The fault is not mine, I am here against my own will.

  And so I continue ever down, alone and lonely, yearning for others of my kind. Always hopeful - and always disappointed.

  So it was that I departed from a certain world of highly intelligent gaseous beings; a world that was in itself composed of a highly rarefied substance bordering on nebulosity. So it was that I became even smaller, was lifted up in a whirling, expanding vortex of the dense atmosphere, and entered the universe which it composed.

  Why I was attracted by that tiny, faraway speck of yellow, I do not know. It was near the centre of the nebula I had entered. There were other suns far brighter, far more attractive, very much nearer. This minute yellow sun was dwarfed by other suns and sun-clusters around it - seemed insignificant and lost among them. And why I was drawn to it, so far away, I cannot explain.

  But mere distance, even space distance, was nothing to me now. I had long since learned from the Pure Intelligence the secret of propulsion by mind influence, and by this means I propelled myself through space at any desired speed not exceeding that of light; as my mind was incapable of imagining speed faster than light, I of course could not cause my material body to exceed it.

  So I neared the yellow sun in a few minutes and observed that it had twelve planets. And as I was far too large to yet land on any sphere, I wandered far among other suns, observing the haphazard construction of this universe, but never losing sight of the small yellow sun that had so intrigued me. And at last, much smaller, I returned to it.

  And of all the twelve planets, one was particularly attractive to me. It was a tiny blue one. It made not much difference where I landed, so why should I have picked it from among the others? Perhaps only a whim - but I think the true reason was because of its constant pale blue twinkling, as though it were beckoning to me, inviting me to come to it. It was an unexplainable phenomenon; none of the others did that. So I moved closer to the orbit of the blue planet, and landed upon it.

  As usual, I didn’t move from where I stood for a time, until I could view the surrounding terrain; and then I observed that I had landed in a great lake - a chain of lakes. A short distance to my left was a city miles wide, a great part of which was inundated by the flood I had caused.

  Very carefully, so as not to cause further tidal waves, I stepped from the lake to solid ground, and the waters receded somewhat.

  Soon I saw a group of five machines flying toward me; each of them had two wings held stiffly at right angles to the body. Looking around me I saw others of these machines winging toward me from every direction, always in groups of five, in V formation. When they had come very close they began to dart and swoop in a most peculiar manner, from them came sharp staccato sounds, and I felt the impact of many tiny pellets upon my skin! These beings were very warlike, I thought, or else very excitable.

  Their bombardment continued for some time, and I began to find it most irritating; these tiny pellets could not harm me seriously, could not even pierce my skin, but the impact of them stung. I could not account for their attack upon me, unless it be that they were angry at the flood I had caused by my landing. If that were the case they were very unreasonable, I thought; any damage I had done was purely unintentional, and they should realise that.

  But I was soon to learn that these creatures were very foolish in many of their actions and manners; they were to prove puzzling to me in more ways than one.

  I waved my arms around, and presently they ceased their futile bombardment, but continued to fly around me.

  I wished I could see what manner of beings flew these machines. They were continually landing and rising again from a wide, level field below.

  For several hours they buzzed all around while I became steadily smaller. Below me I could now see long ribbons of white that I guessed were roads. Along these roads crawled tiny vehicles, which soon became so numerous that all movement came to a standstill, so congested were they. In the fields a large part of the populace had gathered, and was being constantly augmented by others.

  At last I was sufficiently small so that I could make out closer details, and I looked more intently at the beings who inhabited this world. My heart gave a quick leap then, for they somewhat resembled myself in structure. They were four-limbed and stood erect, their method of locomotion consisting of short, jerky hops, very different from the smooth gliding movement of my own race. Their general features were somewhat different too - seemed grotesque to me - but the only main difference between them and myself was that their bodies were somewhat more columnar, roughly oval in shape and very thin. I would say almost frail.

  Among the thousands gathered there were perhaps a score who seemed in authority. They rode upon the backs of clumsy-looking, four-footed animals, and seemed to have difficulty in keeping the excited crowd under control. I, of course, was the centre of their excitement; my presence seemed to have caused more consternation here than upon any other world.

  Eventually a way was made through the crowd and one of the ponderous four-wheeled vehicles was brought along the road opposite to where I stood. I supposed they wanted me to enter the rough boxlike affair, so I did so, and was hauled with many bumps and jolts over the rough road toward the city I had seen to the left. I could have rebelled at this barbarous treatment, but I reflected that I was still very large and this was probably the only way they had of transporting me to wherever I was going.

  It had become quite dark, and the city was aglow with thousands of lights. I was taken into a certain building, and at once many important looking persons came to observe me.

  I have stated that my mind had become much more penetrative than ever before, so I was not surprised that I could read many of the thoughts of these persons without much difficulty. I learned that these were scientists who had come here from other immediate cities as quickly as possible - most of them in the winged machines, which they called ‘planes’ - when they had learned of my landing here. For many months they had been certain that I would land. They had observed me through their telescopes, and their period of waiting had been a speculative one. And I could now see that they were greatly puzzled, filled with much wonderment, and no more enlightenment about me than they had been possessed of before.

 
Though still very large, I was becoming surely smaller, and it was this aspect that puzzled them most, just as it had on all the other worlds. Secondly in their speculations was the matter of where I had come from.

  Many were the theories that passed among them. Certain they were that I had come a far distance. Uranus? Neptune? Pluto? I learned that these were the names of the outmost planets of this system. No, they decided; I must have come a much farther distance than that. Perhaps from another faraway galaxy of this universe! Their minds were staggered at that thought. Yet how very far away they were from the truth.

  They addressed me in their own language, and seemed to realise that it was futile. Although I understood everything they said and everything that was in their minds, they could not know that I did, for I could not answer them. Their minds seemed utterly closed to all my attempts at thought communication, so I gave it up.

  They conversed then among themselves, and I could read the hopelessness in their minds. I could see, too, as they discussed me, that they looked upon me as being abhorrent, a monstrosity. And as I searched the recesses of their minds, I found many things.

  I found that it was the inherent instinct of this race to look upon all unnatural occurrences and phenomena with suspicion and disbelief and prejudiced mind.

  I found that they had great pride for their accomplishments in the way of scientific and inventive progress. Their astronomers had delved a short distance into outer space, but considered it a very great distance; and having failed to find signs of intelligent life upon any immediate sphere, they leaped blindly and fondly to the conclusion that their own species of life was the dominant one in this solar system and perhaps - it was a reluctant perhaps - in the entire universe.

  Their conception of the universe was a puny one. True, at the present time there was extant a theory of an expanding universe, and in that theory at least they were correct, I knew, remembering the former world I had left - the swirling, expanding wisp of gaseous atmosphere of which this tiny blue sphere was an electron. Yes, their ‘expanding universe’ theory was indeed correct. But very few of their thinkers went beyond their own immediate universe - went deeply enough to even remotely glimpse the vast truth.