by Anthology
“Looking back, I can see that the first sign of the crisis we were to face occurred about a year ago—to me—in the summer of 2134. An account was published by newspapers and radio of the derailing of a train. (It was still more economical for heavy, imperishable goods to be carried by rail.) An investigation of the accident, so far from clearing up the reason, had obscured it.
“Among the debris was found the crooked frame of what we later learned to call a ‘time traveller’. Attention was first attracted to the silvery bars by their strength. Though the joints of the structure had been strained by the impact, rods, a quarter of an inch thick, were found to be supporting tons of wreckage without a bend. This unknown, silvery metal itself set a problem, but a greater puzzle was the body found lying near the track.
“There could be no doubt that the corpse was human, though to us whose standards were still those of ancient Greece, the thing appeared a travesty.
“In height it must have stood about five feet. The head had twice the volume of ours though the enlargement was mainly frontal. The neck was thickened in order to support the weight until the shoulders barely projected. Puny arms ended in small hands of which no finger carried a nail and none was longer than two inches.
“Each foot was just a pad showing no articulation of the toes. When the dissectors got to work on the body, they noticed many other curious malformations such as abbreviated intestines, atrophied aural system and absence of teeth.
“Speculation ran rife. Everyone made the creature’s origin a sort of guessing game. It was suggested that the thing was a natural freak, a product of vivisectional experiment, a sensational hoax, an attempt at artificial creation and a dozen other things all equally wide of the mark.
“The only explanation which attempted to account for the machine was offered by an ingenious gentleman who claimed that the body was that of an interplanetary explorer who had selected a singularly unfortunate spot for his landing. It was curtly pointed out that a metal framework is not the best protection against a vacuum. It nevertheless transpired later that the only thing seriously wrong about this explanation was the inclusion of the word ‘interplanetary’.
“As the controversy began to cool, it suddenly received fresh fuel from the finding of a similar body in a coastal rock-pool. The boy who reported it said that there had been a shiny machine near, but when he touched a lever, it had disappeared. Again the crop of surmise sprouted. Every suggestion which could be made, was made; save the right one—that the people of 2134 had gazed on the bodies of their own remote descendants. Could we have read in the mystery the warning it carried, it would have been useless to us.
“Three months ago, the curtain rose on the last act of our drama—only three months.”
Jon paused and looked at us with bitterness in his eyes.
“Then,” he said, “it was a happy world. A civilization progressing serenely, as it thought, to its appointed goal. Now it is swept away. All time and space are warped, distorted and incomprehensible.
“It was my happiest night. A dream had started its flow towards reality—now Fate has ordained that the dream remains a dream. Somewhere in the intricate tissue of time, Mary may still live, but the dream can never be fulfilled now.
“Across that evening, which surely was made for lovers to discuss their future, clashed “the voice of our doom. Over the whole broadcast belt in all the world those unemotional tones were heard.
“ ‘People of the Twenty-Second Century,’ the voice began. ‘We of the five thousand and twenty-second century offer peace. We come from a period in the world’s history which holds no hope for us. We have conquered time that we may gain the Earth. We offer two kinds of peace, one is elimination, the other, submission to our will.’
“ ‘We are not cruel. We do not wish to kill you, our ancestors. Instead, we give transportation—you will exchange your world for ours. We will carry you across the gulf of half a million years to a world in which you, a short-lived race, will be well suited as will your sons and your sons’ sons. For us who count our years by thousands as you count by tens, the end is too near. We have broken through time that we may continue our work. Prepare yourselves and your possessions that you may be ready for the time and places we shall appoint.’
“Neither Mary nor I knew what to make of it—indeed, we heard it only subconsciously. Tomorrow would explain. Tonight we had more important matters to discuss.
“The next day did not explain; it complicated. Where did the voice originate? How had it compassed all wave lengths? How was it of equal strength at antipodes? Why did no picture of the speaker come through on the television screens? It caused a vague uneasiness. Though no one understood nor took much interest in the message itself, the curious form of transmission was disturbing to a world unused to new inventions.
“The general attitude to science had resulted in the feeling that things were very well as they stood and that tamperers should be put down with a firm hand. Even the type who immediately attributes the incomprehensible to a form of practical joke felt that easy solution to be inadequate. The mass of the people wondered unintelligently suggesting hazily that ‘something ought to be done about it’. Governments officially disregarded it and privately did not know what to make of it.
A few days later, came the second world wide call. Mary and I were sitting at the open window when the voice made us jump round.
“ ‘But I shut the radio off,’ said Mary in surprise.
“I crossed the room and inspected the switches. Undoubtedly they were out—there might be a short somewhere. I pulled the leads from the speaker and then stared at the thing in amazement, for the voice still continued:
“ ‘—seems in view of the fact that no preparations have been made, that you have not understood our intentions.’
“It was uncanny. I picked up the speaker and carried it across the room. I know a few tricks to make an unattached speaker work, but none of them was being used here. The voice went on:
“ ‘—not our wish to hurt anyone, but such as do not accede to our demands must be eliminated. It is suggested that for the purpose of convincing yourselves that this is no empty threat, a committee shall be appointed to visit us and report its findings to the world. Thus you shall be convinced that obedience to our will is the only course not leading to elimination. This committee will gather at the Paris Air Station whence we will provide a means of travel one week from today at exactly this hour.’
“I looked at Mary and she at me. There was trouble in our eyes. There was something behind that unemotional voice which told us that this affair was far from a practical joke. Feeling, not reason, told us it was serious.
“ ‘I am going on that committee’, I said at last. ‘Somehow or other I’ll join it and find out what’s at the bottom of all this.’
“Mary nodded.
“ ‘Good, Jon, that’s like you,” she approved. Then a little frown appeared.
“ ‘You don’t think it’s dangerous?’
“ ‘Not a bit,’ I assured her. ‘There’d be no point in assembling a committee just to kill its members—or ‘eliminate’ them, as the voice puts it. They might just as well start ‘eliminating’ right away. No, I think whoever they are, they’re on the square and though the whole show sounds insane, there’s something pretty big behind it.’
Chapter III
A Mysterious Adventure
“Far below we had seen the coast of France slip away from beneath our queer craft. Now, through the thick glass windows, the blue waves of the Mediterranean twinkled at us. Around me, as I gazed down, buzzed the tentative suggestion of a puzzled committee.
“Such influence as I possessed had been exerted with successful results. A large air liner had carried me rapidly from home to drop our gliding tender at Le Bourget, the Paris airport. There I had found a group awaiting the craft promised by the radio voice. It was a cosmopolitan collection of Americans, Germans, English, French, Japanese, Chinese, Indian and
most other nationalities.
“Not one of them officially represented ‘his government. The rulers assumed an ignorance of the ultimatum, nevertheless they had assisted brilliant men to attend. The unknown had managed to infuse into his short speeches some quality which attracted many intellectuals.
“I had left myself a narrow margin, for, within an hour of my arrival our craft was sighted. At a great height the watchers saw a silver cylinder hurling itself towards us. At that moment, I believe, some began to realize the possibility of a menace. All eyes gazed up.
“Only random guesses as to its size could be made at such a distance, but as it drew nearer we judged it to be about equal to one of our larger airships. Built of silvery metal, it tapered at each end. Along the sides there ran rows of windows. Nothing more was to be seen, it gave no clue to the manner of its propulsion.
“Suddenly from all the loudspeakers both in the control tower and around the ground snapped the one word:
“ ‘Landing.’
“The ground crew used for the lighter-than-air machines hurriedly assembled and then found that there was nothing for them to do. Down and down the great cylinder dropped to land as lightly as a leaf.
“ ‘The committee will come aboard,’ said the voice we were beginning to know so well.
“Simultaneously sections of the hull opened outwards, the hinges at the bottom so that the doors themselves formed ramps.
“For a moment we looked at one another in hesitation, then we stepped forward as though by common consent. There was no one to welcome us on board. Into a great saloon—seemingly the full length of the ship—we flocked, with a click the doors closed and we were off to heaven knew where. Thousands of feet above the ordinary traffic levels we turned and sped to the south.
“After the first surprise of departure had worn off, we found our tongues again. It seemed as though most of us found them at the same moment.
“ ‘I do not like this affair, not at all, no,’ said a little Frenchman whom I recognized as M. Duvain of the French Air Roads.
“ ‘It is all too mysterious. Are we children that they make to us the effect of the stage thrill? It is a bad begin, such nonsense, for the serious investigation, no?’
“ ‘Damn ridiculous, the whole thing,’ replied Sir Henry Deen, standing near. ‘Silly scare by some jokers in my opinion. However, they’ve in for it now, we’ll soon show ’em what’s what.’
“ ‘The Frenchman nodded his agreement.
“ ‘And you, m’sieur,’ he said turning to me. ‘Do you not think it is as an insult to treat a so distinguished party as a flock of the sheep? No reception, no speeches.’
“ ‘If it is a practical joke,’ I suggested, ‘you don’t want to be made more of a fool, do you?’
“ ‘Then you, too, think that it may be a practical joke?’ asked Sir Henry.
“I informed him that I had come to observe and to draw conclusions from those observations. I had no intention of muddling myself by prejudice nor of building theories without foundation. Not a polite answer, but the pair irritated me.
“ ‘The desert,’ shouted someone. I turned back to the window and saw that we were heading over miles of rolling sands towards the heart of the Sahara.
“Three quarters of an hour later, the familiar voice gave its laconic ‘Landing’.
“Below us lay a building. It was shorter than the craft we were in, some three hundred feet by one hundred and fifty and rising about sixty. The whole place was entirely constructed of the silvery metal.
“The ship settled without a jar. The doors fell open and we walked out to find ourselves face to face with a seamless, shining wall in which one patch of darkness framed a waiting figure.
“Exclamations of surprise rose from the party. There can hardly have been one of us who did not realize in that moment that we now faced a living replica of those two bodies which had puzzled the medical world. The same massive neck supported the same front-heavy head from which two intelligent eyes examined us. For clothing he wore nothing but a brown, shapeless tunic and a pair of soft boots. As we stared, a voice commanded us to follow, but the dwarf’s lips showed no movement.
“We passed into a large hall lit by some sourceless diffused radiance. In rows of chairs we seated ourselves as if for a lecture. The five-foot figure took a chair in front of us. It was curious that in facing the man I felt none of the distaste one has for an abnormality. It became forgotten that by our standards he was stunted, malformed, hairless, toothless and deaf. He was of another race—no more abnormal than a pigmy or a Tibetan. He addressed us, but still no movement broke his lips.
“ ‘People of the Twenty-Second Century,’ he formally began, ‘you are evidently less advanced than we had anticipated. So far, it would appear that you do not accept our offer of transportation, but neither do you reject it—you completely fail to understand it. You must therefore be treated like children to some simple demonstrations of our power. First, you shall see the world we offer.’
“Upon the wall behind him a scene ‘faded in’. Not like a picture, but rather as if we gazed at a real if fantastic countryside. A level plain stretched away to the distant mountains. In the foreground stood buildings; a city of gleaming metal, each structure beautiful in line and proportion, but none rising higher than two or three floors.
“ ‘The town of Cyp,’ said the voice. ‘It stands on the bottom of the old Mediterranean Sea close by Mount Cyprus. You will notice that it is low built. This is necessary as the air at such high altitudes is rarefied. On the Atlantic or Pacific beds’—here the scene changed—‘the towns are loftier since the atmosphere remains dense at such depths. Though the oceans have dried, it is no barren world. The great deeps still contain enough water and will do so for some hundreds of years. After that is gone, there are the machines.’
“A gloomy looking tarn flashed before us. Deep in its darkness was a reflected glimmer of the red ball of fire above.
“ ‘The sun is getting old,’ said the voice. ‘Slowly he is dying as he must, but there is a long time yet before his end.’
A Confusion of Time
“View began to chase view rapidly across the screen. The voice went on:
“ ‘All this is what we offer in exchange for your world. Buildings which will still be standing proudly when the Earth has become cosmic rubbish as the moon. Machines to make food, supplement air, create warmth and produce water, all are waiting for you. Machines which are proof against wear; proof against breakdown; wheels which will go on turning when the untenanted world snuffs out the last smouldering fragment of her fiery life.
“ ‘Though much of it will defy your minds, you will have all the accumulation of wisdom and invention that the wit of man has produced since he began—all save one thing—the secret of time, that is our safeguard which even we must use with care lest order become chaos.’
“Still the scenes flashed and faded before us. Mighty machines, beautiful cities, intricate flowers, limitless plains, vast halls, huge flying cylinders, a panorama of a world shown to us half a million years before it should exist.
“Most of us were dazed, but we did not doubt. Conviction that this was the truth came not entirely from the voice, nor yet entirely from the pictures, but from some power which seemed to accompany both. In the presence of the dwarf the fantastic ceased to be fantastic and any thought of bluff. had long been banished. The case was stated with plain force. He had made us feel that the plan was as feasible as for two nations to change territories—as feasible and as inconceivable.
“That our population could, if it chose, move half a million years, we had no doubt. But that it would not so choose, we were certain. If the invaders thought that they had but to say the word and we would relinquish our healthy middle-aged world for one tottering on the brink of senility, they could not know much of our stubb6rness.
“The tall Professor Toone of Harvard rose from his seat.
“ ‘On behalf of all of us, I shoul
d like to know the reason for this plan,’ he said. ‘You appear to offer us much—what do you gain that we lose?’
“ ‘You lose,’ came the reply, ‘nothing but familiar surroundings—we offer better surroundings.’
“ ‘But,’ objected someone, ‘what about our children? Several generations are safe, you say, but you condemn the rest to extinction?’
“ ‘Some, but not all. You ensure for the others an infinite future (if you understand such a term)—that is the object of the plan.’
“ ‘But—’
“ ‘Do you not yet realize that we are your descendants—the descendants of your children? We are the race your stock has bred and, though we have climbed far, the end is too near for us. Were we to stay in our age we should die when the earth died. Instead we shall take the more youthful earth, for our need is the greater. From it we shall climb to infinity as life climbed from the sea to the land. Thus will we, your children, approach the closer to our destiny. It was not meant that life should cease with the earth—evolution was delayed. Do you understand?’
“ ‘Hanged if I do,’ murmured the man next to me. ‘What’s he getting at? Is it religion?’
“I did not answer him. I was trying to understand. The speech had been far longer than the repetition I have given you. Much of it I still cannot grasp. The vista was too big, the muddle of time too involved, but I thought I had the main drift. The next speaker almost voiced one of the questions which troubled me though his manner was facetious. He was an Englishman whose voice sounded tired as he asked:
“ ‘Am I to understand that though we are at present your ancestors, you are shortly likely to become your own ancestors?’
“ ‘Yes,’ said the voice, ‘and no.’
“The Englishman looked helpless round.
“ ‘I give it up,’ he announced in tones even more tired than before.
“ ‘You cannot understand that until you know the nature of time,’ was the reply. ‘While you continue to imagine time in terms of progression, you put more stumbling blocks before you than did ever the flat-earth theorists.’