The Runaway Skyscraper

by Murray Leinster

  IV.

  Arthur caught at Estelle's arm and the two made a dash for theelevators. Fortunately one was standing still, the door open, ontheir floor. The elevator-boy had deserted his post and was lookingwith all the rest of the occupants of the building at the strangelandscape that surrounded them.

  No sooner had the pair reached the car, however, than the boy camehurrying along the corridor, three or four other people followinghim also at a run. Without a word the boy rushed inside, the otherscrowded after him, and the car shot downward, all of the newcomerspanting from their sprint.

  Theirs was the first car to reach the bottom. They rushed out andto the western door.

  Here, where they had been accustomed to see Madison Square spreadout before them, a clearing of perhaps half an acre in extent showeditself. Where their eyes instinctively looked for the dark bronzefountain, near which soap-box orators aforetime held sway, they sawa tent, a wigwam of hides and bark gaily painted. And before thewigwam were two or three brown-skinned Indians, utterly petrifiedwith astonishment.

  Behind the first wigwam were others, painted like the first withdaubs of brightly colored clay. From them, too, Indians issued,and stared in incredulous amazement, their eyes growing widerand wider. When the group of white people confronted the Indiansthere was a moment's deathlike silence. Then, with a wild yell,the redskins broke and ran, not stopping to gather together theirbelongings, nor pausing for even a second glance at the weirdstrangers who invaded their domain.

  Arthur took two or three deep breaths of the fresh air andfound himself even then comparing its quality with that of thecity. Estelle stared about her with unbelieving eyes. She turnedand saw the great bulk of the office building behind her, thenfaced this small clearing with a virgin forest on its farther side.

  She found herself trembling from some undefined cause. Arthur glancedat her. He saw the trembling and knew she would have a fit of nervesin a moment if something did not come up demanding instant attention.

  "We'd better take a look at this village," he said in an off-handvoice. "We can probably find out how long ago it is from the weaponsand so on."

  He grasped her arm firmly and led her in the direction of thetents. The other people, left behind, displayed their emotions indifferent ways. Two or three of them--women--sat frankly down onthe steps and indulged in tears of bewilderment, fright and reliefin a peculiar combination defying analysis. Two or three of themen swore, in shaken voices.

  Meantime, the elevators inside the building were rushing andclanging, and the hall filled with a white-faced mob, desperatelyanxious to find out what had happened and why. The people pouredout of the door and stared about blankly. There was a peculiarexpression of doubt on every one of their faces. Each one was askinghimself if he were awake, and having proved that by pinches, openlyadministered, the next query was whether they had gone mad.

  Arthur led Estelle cautiously among the tents.

  The village contained about a dozen wigwams. Most of them were madeof strips of birch-bark, cleverly overlapping each other, the seamscemented with gum. All had hide flaps for doors, and one or two werebuilt almost entirely of hides, sewed together with strips of sinew.

  Arthur made only a cursory examination of the village. His principalmotive in taking Estelle there was to give her some mental occupationto ward off the reaction from the excitement of the cataclysm.

  He looked into one or two of the tents and found merely couches ofhides, with minor domestic utensils scattered about. He broughtfrom one tent a bow and quiver of arrows. The workmanship was good,but very evidently the maker had no knowledge of metal tools.

  Arthur's acquaintance with archeological subjects was very slight,but he observed that the arrow-heads were chipped, and not rubbedsmooth. They were attached to the shafts with strips of gut ortendon.

  Arthur was still pursuing his investigation when a sob from Estellemade him stop and look at her.

  "Oh, what are we going to do?" she asked tearfully. "What _are_we going to do? Where are we?"

  "You mean, _when_ are we," Arthur corrected with a grim smile. "Idon't know. Way back before the discovery of America, though. Youcan see in everything in the village that there isn't a traceof European civilization. I suspect that we are several thousandyears back. I can't tell, of course, but this pottery makes methink so. See this bowl?"

  He pointed to a bowl of red clay lying on the ground before one ofthe wigwams.

  "If you'll look, you'll see that it isn't really pottery at all. It'sa basket that was woven of reeds and then smeared with clay tomake it fire-resisting. The people who made that didn't know aboutbaking clay to make it stay put. When America was discovered nearlyall the tribes knew something about pottery."

  "But what are we going to do?" Estelle tearfully insisted.

  "We're going to muddle along as well as we can," answered Arthurcheerfully, "until we can get back to where we started from. Maybethe people back in the twentieth century can send a relief partyafter us. When the skyscraper vanished it must have left a holeof some sort, and it may be possible for them to follow us down."

  "If that's so," said Estelle quickly, "why can't we climb up itwithout waiting for them to come after us?"

  Arthur scratched his head. He looked across the clearing at theskyscraper. It seemed to rest very solidly on the ground. He lookedup. The sky seemed normal.

  "To tell the truth," he admitted, "there doesn't seem to be anyhole. I said that more to cheer you up than anything else."

  Estelle clenched her hands tightly and took a grip on herself.

  "Just tell me the truth," she said quietly. "I was rather foolish,but tell me what you honestly think."

  Arthur eyed her keenly.

  "In that case," he said reluctantly, "I'll admit we're in a prettybad fix. I don't know what has happened, how it happened, or anythingabout it. I'm just going to keep on going until I see a way clearto get out of this mess. There are two thousand of us people,more or less, and among all of us we must be able to find a way out."

  Estelle had turned very pale.

  "We're in no great danger from Indians," went on Arthur thoughtfully,"or from anything else that I know of--except one thing."

  "What is that?" asked Estelle quickly.

  Arthur shook his head and led her back toward the skyscraper, whichwas now thronged with the people from all the floors who had comedown to the ground and were standing excitedly about the concourseasking each other what had happened.

  Arthur led Estelle to one of the corners.

  "Wait for me here," he ordered. "I'm going to talk to this crowd."

  He pushed his way through until he could reach the confectionery andnews-stand in the main hallway. Here he climbed up on the counterand shouted:

  "People, listen to me! I'm going to tell you what's happened!"

  In an instant there was dead silence. He found himself the centerof a sea of white faces, every one contorted with fear and anxiety.

  "To begin with," he said confidently, "there's nothing to be afraidof. We're going to get back to where we started from! I don'tknow how, yet, but we'll do it. Don't get frightened. Now I'lltell you what's happened."

  He rapidly sketched out for them, in words as simple as he could makethem, his theory that a flaw in the rock on which the foundationsrested had developed and let the skyscraper sink, not downward,but into the Fourth Dimension.

  "I'm an engineer," he finished. "What nature can do, we canimitate. Nature let us into this hole. We'll climb out. In themean time, matters are serious. We needn't be afraid of not gettingback. We'll do that. What we've got to fight is--starvation!"