all. And then I recalled that as far as I knew
“You have solved the problem of time
the year 1945 still existed somewhere in
and space,” he said at last. “I know you are
eternity.
Wonder Stories
14
I became strangely baffled as I rebelliously, but quailed when I caught his pondered over this anomaly. An overpowering
eyes. “You’ve stirred up enough trouble,” I
melancholy struck my heart as I recalled that
growled.
Clay and I were so wonderfully alive in the
“I guess I have.”
year 2418 against all the harsh logic of nature
The floor of the throne room was
that kills every being that breathes.
embossed with diamonds and huge emeralds.
Reaching the portal of the flying Here was wealth undreamed of in our time.
palace we entered a courtyard and then passed
Even the mansions of the wealthiest of our era
through a richly curtained door. Heavy were never such lavish splendor. I glanced incense greeted our nostrils, sickeningly upward at the khan, an impassive, regal figure sweet. I felt crushed by the power that had
on his throne. The huge head was erect,
woven itself about Clay and me. A corridor
surveying the humbled courtiers. He seemed
spread before us, unbroken for at least 100
like an Oriental monarch of unlimited power.
yards, upon the walls of which hung precious
The courtiers, followed by Clay,
tapestries, depicting what appeared to be myself and our guard, moved swiftly toward historical events in the lives of the gigantic
the throne. Never in my life had I gazed upon
race with the domed-heads.
such magnificence. Soft light melted through
windows of gorgeous colors despite the fact
AS I walked down the hall I studied the that the sun had long since vanished below the tapestries with great curiosity. The vivid story
horizon. The richest of tapestries hung on
of the destruction of the human race was jeweled walls. They depicted, like those in the depicted. A graphic tale of overwhelmed cities
hall, the crimson history of the breed of Pei.
and crushed nations was emblazoned on the
“I will question you creatures of the
tapestries. At the end of the hallway Slan Cho
past,” said the khan as we reached the foot of
halted us with upraised hands.
the throne of eighteen steps.
“You will fall on your faces when you
An ominous hush fell on the
enter,” ordered Slan Cho. “That is the way all
assemblage and I felt a premonition of
approach the mighty khan, viceroy of the ruler
unleashed cruelty. Somehow I could not help
of the Eastern World.”
but view Clay and myself as two little mice in
We stood at the threshold of the throne
the claws of a multitude of great cats. A
room and I stared through the portal, with eyes
strange fancy.
wide and startled. The khan sat on a peacock-
The khan’s eyes gleamed like the
hued throne, garbed in his gleaming robe of
jeweled optics of a cobra, venomously
jewels. A crown adorned his huge head. implacable. His mouth jutted forward like that Below him, on the golden floor, were the
of a serpent. He seemed far less human than
prostrated forms of his courtiers, their arms
any of his courtiers as his great arms waved
clumsily spread at their sides. They resembled
rhythmically in the cold air of the palace. The
obscene beetles in this posture. The khan’s
chill grew intense and I realized that we were
voice rose and five of the courtiers crawled,
high in the air, floating toward an unguessed
like water-bugs, toward the door.
destination.
The waiting warriors who formed our
“You came into our midst from out of
guard motioned to Clay and me, then flung
the long dead past,” the khan pursued
themselves in humble prostrate postures. I bit
thoughtfully, “through a means we never
my lip tightly, humiliated but curious to see
considered possible for you human beings.
what lay before us. Clay muttered Perhaps we underestimated your intelligence.
The Time Annihilator
15
You created a time machine which carried
sought.”
your bodies invisibly through time and space.
“And you know of the construction of
We realized that when you appeared so the time machine?”
unexpectedly in our sacred tomb.”
“I know nothing of its mechanical
“Yes, but the spell was broken there,” I
nature.”
remarked. “And where is the time machine?”
As the khan went on to question us
“It has vanished. Strangely enough we
about how we got here, I pondered. Stenson
were unable to find a trace of it in the tomb.”
could not have been the man who had plunged
“It vanished!” I exclaimed. “Surely into the time machine. He was not of middle it—”
age and was of sturdy build. Besides I could
“It was taken while you were being
not picture Stenson in a flowing purple robe.
made captives,” the khan remarked slowly. “A
Some interloper had seized the machine. The
human being was seen to dart across the dim recesses of the cavern had hidden a man cavern toward the machine. He vanished into
of mind scientific enough to realize that a time
nothingness. I know now that he was machine had carried us into the tomb; and swallowed up in the time machine. When my
courageous enough to have seized the
subjects closed in on the space where the time
chamber to effect an escape. But the question
machine had stood they were unable to touch
was— Did the man who entered it leave our
this man. He had ceased to exist as far as they
time with it or was he still in the cavern
were concerned.”
invisible and impalpable?
Who was this third man? I wracked my
THE interrogation of my activities by the khan
brains over this problem. How did he come to
I perceived was in the nature of leading enter into the calculations? The problem was questions. There was a profound shrewdness
beyond my power to solve. If Stenson had
in this method of attack. He merely played his
hidden in the tomb, and seized the time
hand with sublime cleverness, informing me
machine, we might hope for escape. But as far
of events that had taken place and waiting for
as I knew Stenson might have been lost in the
me to entrap myself. And, after all, there was
year 5000. I wondered for a time how the time
little of which I could inform him. He should
machine, after his disappearance, could have
have known that the machine was non-existent
swept back to 1945. There was only one
both to sight and touch of everything outside
plausible solution for this. The year 1945
of it. He had spoken of a man vanishing into
represented
a “deadline” for the machine.
the time machine. My thoughts swept back to
Released of its own accord it would follow the
the journey of Larry Stenson and his startling
physical law that probably governed such
disappearance. There was little doubt in my
matters and returned to its original
mind that Stenson was the man who had condition—back in Stenson’s laboratory.
leaped into the time machine in the tomb of
Finally the khan ceased to question us
Chang Hsu.
and stared at us, his jeweled robe aflame with
“The man—was he your companion?”
light reflected from the walls, a means of
the khan asked.
illumination that surpassed the crude electric
“I cannot tell,” I replied. “What did he
system of our own time. The khan spoke at
look like?”
last:
“He was a man of middle age,
“I can learn nothing from you,” he said
extremely thin and wearing a purple robe.”
indifferently. “It is my order that you both be
“He was not the companion we had
destroyed. Only death can disperse you to
Wonder Stories
16
your proper condition!”
time travel machine into a substantial reality
for the man of 2418 who had obtained
possession of it.
CHAPTER V
Whoever the time interloper was, he
A Timely Interloper
had attempted to rescue us. He had stuck his
head and right arm through the door, striving
to attract our attention. The fact that the time
A FACE and shoulders, apparently machine had been in action at the time disembodied, appeared suddenly before me;
resulted in the rest of his body being invisible.
and an arm motioned beckoningly. The And now, I was convinced, the time machine apparition was startling, causing goose-flesh
had swept away. Again; we were lost!
to rise on my body. Again the arm motioned
“Kill them at once,” the khan ordered.
impatiently and I leaped to my feet, shouting
“They must not escape.”
to Clay. The realization that the time machine,
The philosophic ruler, who had so
operated by the strange interloper, was in the
suavely discussed time travel with me only a
throne room of the floating palace, dawned on
few moments before, had become a cruel
me like a flash of lightning.
despot. There was no use in pleading for him
“Clay, come on!” I yelled.
to spare us. I knew that nothing could move
My companion darted toward the him. Possibly fear of ruin, through the agency spectral head and arms, shouting defiantly as a
of the strange time machine, impelled him to
group of the domed-headed monsters leaped
have us destroyed without delay.
to detain us. There was no doubt in my mind
Then I recalled the pitiful human
that they had glanced up and seen the head.
slaves of these monsters of the future. A
I did not take two steps toward the
vision of the struggling men in humble black,
invisible time machine, with its beckoning
panting under the weight of the golden throne
pilot, before detaining hands seized me. The
that bore the khan to the tomb of Chang Hsu,
arm vanished within the time machine and the
burned into my brain. It would be better to
face of the stranger, a gray-haired man, was
die—a thousand times preferable—than to be
clouded with a very evident look of horror.
a slave under these tyrannical monsters.
Then the face vanished too.
A group of human serfs, guarded by
A horde of the khan’s courtiers closed
warriors, wheeled a strange looking altar into
about the spot where the time machine had
the throne room. Two of the men were white
stood, their heavy bodies surging about the
and the other six were evidently Orientals. But
golden floor, but they met absolutely none of
all wore the look of crushed dogs. I thought
the resistance that would have been for a time of appealing to them to join Clay encountered if a solid had occupied the space.
and me in a struggle. If we could kill the khan
A shout of disappointment burst from
and start a revolt there might be a faint chance
my lips at the realization that Clay and I had
of ultimate victory. It was a mad thought.
missed rescue by a fraction of a second. The
There could not have been a chance in a
events of the late afternoon and evening million, I realize now, of winning against such surged rapidly through my mind. I was certain
overwhelming odds. And the slaves were too
that through some mishap Clay had shut off
terrified of their masters to revolt.
the motivating power of the time machine just
before his mad dash through the door. And I
THE altar was circular, its platform standing
knew that this very fact had converted the
about six feet from the floor. Near the edge we
The Time Annihilator
17
saw a circle of small tube-like objects, each
I raised my fists toward that merciless figure,
resting on a groove that ran radially to the
shouting, screaming, raging. A buzzing was
center of the altar. What strange death did they
filling my head, the desire to throw myself
have in store for us now? We knew that into the flame was becoming overwhelming, whatever it might be, it would be in keeping
and by the increasing pressure of Clay’s arm
with the cruelty depicted on the faces of these
on mine, I knew he was giving way too. It was
beings. It would be some slow lingering a matter of minutes, perhaps seconds...
torturous death.
Then suddenly just beyond the wall of
Roughly we were lifted to the altar and
narrowing flame, I saw the face of that old
placed in the center surrounded by the circle
man again. His torso was projected toward us
of strange tubes.
out of nothingness. He motioned to us, and
All eyes were turned toward the Khan.
then slowly approached us.
With an imperial gesture he raised a hand and
Consternation broke out among the
then dropped it swiftly. At once from the tubes
dome-shaped creatures. At a command from
there issued strange sheets of flame-like vapor
the Khan they rushed toward us. The old man
that reaching out hungrily toward each other
reached us not a moment too soon. We felt his
formed gradually a wall about five feet high
helping arm about us, I saw the familiar walls
and surrounding us. Strange to say, there was
of the time machine.
little heat from the wall of flame. Instead I
Clay at my side was in a state of
was conscious of a slight drowsiness and a
collapse. His clothing was half burned from
prickly feeling over my body.
his body and his hands and f
ace scorched. I
I am no scientist, yet I felt at this
knew that I was equally as marked. The
moment that here was some ultra-modern stranger, gray-haired and blue-eyed, laid his torture device, that could provide for the hand reassuringly on my arm. He wore a spectators a scene of the utmost agony in his
purple tunic, badly ripped.
victim.
“It is all right,” he said in English.
I looked at Clay. On his face too there
“You are safe now.”
was depicted a look of mingled amazement,
The forms of the domed-headed men
horror and weariness (as though he were moved upon us, but the stranger laughed. He trying to fight off some terrifying power over
pressed down the controls of the time machine
his brain.) Now I saw what was in store for us.
and we felt ourselves being swept resistlessly
Slowly the tubes were moving on the grooves
into the current of time. The indicator started
toward us, the circle of flame slowly to drop rapidly and we curved along the contracting. A new impulse was entering my
parabolic course, back toward our own era.
brain a desire to throw myself into the flames.
Many minutes passed in silence.
I looked at Clay and gripped his arm. “Is it
“And who the devil are you?”
getting you too?” I whispered huskily.
demanded Clay finally.
“Yes.” his voice was low, horrified. He
“A perfectly reasonable question,” the
had hardly control of it.
other laughed, “coming especially from a
“Hold on to me,” I whispered. We
The Time Annihilator by Edgar A, Manley and Walter Thode Page 4