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diff --git a/18460.txt b/18460.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4acade9 --- /dev/null +++ b/18460.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1318 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Flight From Tomorrow, by Henry Beam Piper + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Flight From Tomorrow + +Author: Henry Beam Piper + +Release Date: May 27, 2006 [EBook #18460] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLIGHT FROM TOMORROW *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, L.N. Yaddanapudi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Flight From Tomorrow + +_COMPLETE NOVELET_ + +_by H. Beam Piper_ + + There was no stopping General Zarvas' rebellion + +(Illustration by Lawrence) + +[Illustration] + + _Hunted and hated in two worlds, Hradzka dreamed of a monomaniac's + glory, stranded in the past with his knowledge of the future. But + he didn't know the past quite well enough...._ + + + + +1 + + +But yesterday, a whole planet had shouted: _Hail Hradzka! Hail the +Leader!_ Today, they were screaming: _Death to Hradzka! Kill the +tyrant!_ + +The Palace, where Hradzka, surrounded by his sycophants and guards, had +lorded it over a solar system, was now an inferno. Those who had been +too closely identified with the dictator's rule to hope for forgiveness +were fighting to the last, seeking only a quick death in combat; one by +one, their isolated points of resistance were being wiped out. The +corridors and chambers of the huge palace were thronged with rebels, +loud with their shouts, and with the rasping hiss of heat-beams and the +crash of blasters, reeking with the stench of scorched plastic and +burned flesh, of hot metal and charred fabric. The living quarters were +overrun; the mob smashed down walls and tore up floors in search of +secret hiding-places. They found strange things--the space-ship that had +been built under one of the domes, in readiness for flight to the +still-loyal colonies on Mars or the Asteroid Belt, for instance--but +Hradzka himself they could not find. + +At last, the search reached the New Tower which reared its head five +thousand feet above the palace, the highest thing in the city. They +blasted down the huge steel doors, cut the power from the +energy-screens. They landed from antigrav-cars on the upper levels. But +except for barriers of metal and concrete and energy, they met with no +opposition. Finally, they came to the spiral stairway which led up to +the great metal sphere which capped the whole structure. + +General Zarvas, the Army Commander who had placed himself at the head of +the revolt, stood with his foot on the lowest step, his followers behind +him. There was Prince Burvanny, the leader of the old nobility, and +Ghorzesko Orhm, the merchant, and between them stood Tobbh, the +chieftain of the mutinous slaves. There were clerks; laborers; poor but +haughty nobles: and wealthy merchants who had long been forced to hide +their riches from the dictator's tax-gatherers, and soldiers, and +spacemen. + +"You'd better let some of us go first sir," General Zarvas' orderly, a +blood-stained bandage about his head, his uniform in rags, suggested. +"You don't know what might be up there." + +The General shook his head. "I'll go first." Zarvas Pol was not the man +to send subordinates into danger ahead of himself. "To tell the truth, +I'm afraid we won't find anything at all up there." + +"You mean...?" Ghorzesko Orhm began. + +"The 'time-machine'," Zarvas Pol replied. "If he's managed to get it +finished, the Great Mind only knows where he may be, now. Or when." + +He loosened the blaster in his holster and started up the long spiral. +His followers spread out, below; sharp-shooters took position to cover +his ascent. Prince Burvanny and Tobbh the Slave started to follow him. +They hesitated as each motioned the other to precede him; then the +nobleman followed the general, his blaster drawn, and the brawny slave +behind him. + +The door at the top was open, and Zarvas Pol stepped through but there +was nothing in the great spherical room except a raised dais some fifty +feet in diameter, its polished metal top strangely clean and empty. And +a crumpled heap of burned cloth and charred flesh that had, not long +ago, been a man. An old man with a white beard, and the seven-pointed +star of the Learned Brothers on his breast, advanced to meet the armed +intruders. + +"So he is gone, Kradzy Zago?" Zarvas Pol said, holstering his weapon. +"Gone in the 'time-machine', to hide in yesterday or tomorrow. And you +let him go?" + +The old one nodded. "He had a blaster, and I had none." He indicated the +body on the floor. "Zoldy Jarv had no blaster, either, but he tried to +stop Hradzka. See, he squandered his life as a fool squanders his money, +getting nothing for it. And a man's life is not money, Zarvas Pol." + +"I do not blame you, Kradzy Zago," General Zarvas said. "But now you +must get to work, and build us another 'time-machine', so that we can +hunt him down." + +"Does revenge mean so much to you, then?" + +The soldier made an impatient gesture. "Revenge is for fools, like that +pack of screaming beasts below. I do not kill for revenge; I kill +because dead men do no harm." + +"Hradzka will do us no more harm," the old scientist replied. "He is a +thing of yesterday; of a time long past and half-lost in the mists of +legend." + +"No matter. As long as he exists, at any point in space-time, Hradzka is +still a threat. Revenge means much to Hradzka; he will return for it, +when we least expect him." + +The old man shook his head. "No, Zarvas Pol, Hradzka will not return." + + * * * * * + +Hradzka holstered his blaster, threw the switch that sealed the +"time-machine", put on the antigrav-unit and started the time-shift +unit. He reached out and set the destination-dial for the +mid-Fifty-Second Century of the Atomic Era. That would land him in the +Ninth Age of Chaos, following the Two-Century War and the collapse of +the World Theocracy. A good time for his purpose: the world would be +slipping back into barbarism, and yet possess the technologies of former +civilizations. A hundred little national states would be trying to +regain social stability, competing and warring with one another. Hradzka +glanced back over his shoulder at the cases of books, record-spools, +tri-dimensional pictures, and scale-models. These people of the past +would welcome him and his science of the future, would make him their +leader. + +He would start in a small way, by taking over the local feudal or tribal +government, would arm his followers with weapons of the future. Then he +would impose his rule upon neighboring tribes, or princedoms, or +communes, or whatever, and build a strong sovereignty; from that he +envisioned a world empire, a Solar System empire. + +Then, he would build "time-machines", many "time-machines". He would +recruit an army such as the universe had never seen, a swarm of men from +every age in the past. At that point, he would return to the Hundredth +Century of the Atomic Era, to wreak vengeance upon those who had risen +against him. A slow smile grew on Hradzka's thin lips as he thought of +the tortures with which he would put Zarvas Pol to death. + +He glanced up at the great disc of the indicator and frowned. Already he +was back to the year 7500, A.E., and the temporal-displacement had not +begun to slow. The disc was turning even more rapidly--7000, 6000, 5500; +he gasped slightly. Then he had passed his destination; he was now in +the Fortieth Century, but the indicator was slowing. The hairline +crossed the Thirtieth Century, the Twentieth, the Fifteenth, the Tenth. +He wondered what had gone wrong, but he had recovered from his fright by +this time. When this insane machine stopped, as it must around the First +Century of the Atomic Era, he would investigate, make repairs, then +shift forward to his target-point. Hradzka was determined upon the +Fifty-Second Century; he had made a special study of the history of that +period, had learned the language spoken then, and he understood the +methods necessary to gain power over the natives of that time. + +The indicator-disc came to a stop, in the First Century. He switched on +the magnifier and leaned forward to look; he had emerged into normal +time in the year 10 of the Atomic Era, a decade after the first +uranium-pile had gone into operation, and seven years after the first +atomic bombs had been exploded in warfare. The altimeter showed that he +was hovering at eight thousand feet above ground-level. + +Slowly, he cut out the antigrav, letting the "time machine" down easily. +He knew that there had been no danger of materializing inside anything; +the New Tower had been built to put it above anything that had occupied +that space-point at any moment within history, or legend, or even the +geological knowledge of man. What lay below, however, was uncertain. It +was night--the visi-screen showed only a star-dusted, moonless-sky, and +dark shadows below. He snapped another switch; for a few micro-seconds a +beam of intense light was turned on, automatically photographing the +landscape under him. A second later, the developed picture was projected +upon another screen; it showed only wooded mountains and a barren, +brush-grown valley. + + * * * * * + +The "time-machine" came to rest with a soft jar and a crashing of broken +bushes that was audible through the sound pickup. Hradzka pulled the +main switch; there was a click as the shielding went out and the door +opened. A breath of cool night air drew into the hollow sphere. + +Then there was a loud _bang_ inside the mechanism, and a flash of +blue-white light which turned to pinkish flame with a nasty crackling. +Curls of smoke began to rise from the square black box that housed the +"time-shift" mechanism, and from behind the instrument-board. In a +moment, everything was glowing-hot: driblets of aluminum and silver were +running down from the instruments. Then the whole interior of the +"time-machine" was afire; there was barely time for Hradzka to leap +through the open door. + +The brush outside impeded him, and he used his blaster to clear a path +for himself away from the big sphere, which was now glowing faintly on +the outside. The heat grew in intensity, and the brush outside was +taking fire. It was not until he had gotten two hundred yards from the +machine that he stopped, realizing what had happened. + +The machine, of course, had been sabotaged. That would have been young +Zoldy, whom he had killed, or that old billy-goat, Kradzy Zago; the +latter, most likely. He cursed both of them for having marooned him in +this savage age, at the very beginning of atomic civilization, with all +his printed and recorded knowledge destroyed. Oh, he could still gain +mastery over these barbarians; he knew enough to fashion a crude +blaster, or a heat-beam gun, or an atomic-electric conversion unit. But +without his books and records, he could never build an antigrav unit, +and the secret of the "temporal shift" was lost. + +For "Time" is not an object, or a medium which can be travelled along. +The "Time-Machine" was not a vehicle; it was a mechanical process of +displacement within the space-time continuum, and those who constructed +it knew that it could not be used with the sort of accuracy that the +dials indicated. Hradzka had ordered his scientists to produce a "Time +Machine", and they had combined the possible--displacement within the +space-time continuum--with the sort of fiction the dictator demanded, +for their own well-being. Even had there been no sabotage, his return to +his own "time" was nearly of zero probability. + +The fire, spreading from the "time-machine", was blowing toward him; he +observed the wind-direction and hurried around out of the path of the +flames. The light enabled him to pick his way through the brush, and, +after crossing a small stream, he found a rutted road and followed it up +the mountainside until he came to a place where he could rest concealed +until morning. + + + + +2 + + +It was broad daylight when he woke, and there was a strange throbbing +sound; Hradzka lay motionless under the brush where he had slept, his +blaster ready. In a few minutes, a vehicle came into sight, following +the road down the mountainside. + +It was a large thing, four-wheeled, with a projection in front which +probably housed the engine and a cab for the operator. The body of the +vehicle was simply an open rectangular box. There were two men in the +cab, and about twenty or thirty more crowded into the box body. These +were dressed in faded and nondescript garments of blue and gray and +brown; all were armed with crude weapons--axes, bill-hooks, long-handled +instruments with serrated edges, and what looked like broad-bladed +spears. The vehicle itself, which seemed to be propelled by some sort of +chemical-explosion engine, was dingy and mud-splattered; the men in it +were ragged and unshaven. Hradzka snorted in contempt; they were +probably warriors of the local tribe, going to the fire in the belief +that it had been started by raiding enemies. When they found the +wreckage of the "time-machine", they would no doubt believe that it was +the chariot of some god and drag it home to be venerated. + +A plan of action was taking shape in his mind. First, he must get +clothing of the sort worn by these people, and find a safe hiding-place +for his own things. Then, pretending to be a deaf-mute, he would go +among them to learn something of their customs and pick up the language. +When he had done that, he would move on to another tribe or village, +able to tell a credible story for himself. For a while, it would be +necessary for him to do menial work, but in the end, he would establish +himself among these people. Then he could gather around him a faction of +those who were dissatisfied with whatever conditions existed, organize a +conspiracy, make arms for his followers, and start his program of +power-seizure. + +The matter of clothing was attended to shortly after he had crossed the +mountain and descended into the valley on the other side. Hearing a +clinking sound some distance from the road, as of metal striking stone, +Hradzka stole cautiously through the woods until he came within sight of +a man who was digging with a mattock, uprooting small bushes of a +particular sort, with rough gray bark and three-pointed leaves. When he +had dug one up, he would cut off the roots and then slice away the +root-bark with a knife, putting it into a sack. Hradzka's lip curled +contemptuously; the fellow was gathering the stuff for medicinal use. He +had heard of the use of roots and herbs for such purposes by the ancient +savages. + +The blaster would be no use here; it was too powerful, and would destroy +the clothing that the man was wearing. He unfastened a strap from his +belt and attached it to a stone to form a hand-loop, then, inched +forward behind the lone herb-gatherer. When he was close enough, he +straightened and rushed forward, swinging his improvised weapon. The man +heard him and turned, too late. + + * * * * * + +After undressing his victim, Hradzka used the mattock to finish him, and +then to dig a grave. The fugitive buried his own clothes with the +murdered man, and donned the faded blue shirt, rough shoes, worn +trousers and jacket. The blaster he concealed under the jacket, and he +kept a few other Hundredth Century gadgets; these he would hide +somewhere closer to his center of operations. + +He had kept, among other things, a small box of food-concentrate +capsules, and in one pocket of the newly acquired jacket he found a +package containing food. It was rough and unappetizing fare--slices of +cold cooked meat between slices of some cereal substance. He ate these +before filling in the grave, and put the paper wrappings in with the +dead man. Then, his work finished, he threw the mattock into the brush +and set out again, grimacing disgustedly and scratching himself. The +clothing he had appropriated was verminous. + +Crossing another mountain, he descended into a second valley, and, for a +time, lost his way among a tangle of narrow ravines. It was dark by the +time he mounted a hill and found himself looking down another valley, in +which a few scattered lights gave evidence of human habitations. Not +wishing to arouse suspicion by approaching these in the night-time, he +found a place among some young evergreens where he could sleep. + +The next morning, having breakfasted on a concentrate capsule, he found +a hiding-place for his blaster in a hollow tree. It was in a +sufficiently prominent position so that he could easily find it again, +and at the same time unlikely to be discovered by some native. Then he +went down into the inhabited valley. + +He was surprised at the ease with which he established contact with the +natives. The first dwelling which he approached, a cluster of +farm-buildings at the upper end of the valley, gave him shelter. There +was a man, clad in the same sort of rough garments Hradzka had taken +from the body of the herb-gatherer, and a woman in a faded and shapeless +dress. The man was thin and work-bent; the woman short and heavy. Both +were past middle age. + +He made inarticulate sounds to attract their attention, then gestured to +his mouth and ears to indicate his assumed affliction. He rubbed his +stomach to portray hunger. Looking about, he saw an ax sticking in a +chopping-block, and a pile of wood near it, probably the fuel used by +these people. He took the ax, split up some of the wood, then repeated +the hunger-signs. The man and the woman both nodded, laughing; he was +shown a pile of tree-limbs, and the man picked up a short billet of wood +and used it like a measuring-rule, to indicate that all the wood was to +be cut to that length. + +Hradzka fell to work, and by mid-morning, he had all the wood cut. He +had seen a circular stone, mounted on a trestle with a metal axle +through it, and judged it to be some sort of a grinding-wheel, since it +was fitted with a foot-pedal and a rusty metal can was set above it to +spill water onto the grinding-edge. After chopping the wood, he +carefully sharpened the ax, handing it to the man for inspection. This +seemed to please the man; he clapped Hradzka on the shoulder, making +commendatory sounds. + + * * * * * + +It required considerable time and ingenuity to make himself a more or +less permanent member of the household. Hradzka had made a survey of the +farmyard, noting the sorts of work that would normally be performed on +the farm, and he pantomimed this work in its simpler operations. He +pointed to the east, where the sun would rise, and to the zenith, and to +the west. He made signs indicative of eating, and of sleeping, and of +rising, and of working. At length, he succeeded in conveying his +meaning. + +There was considerable argument between the man and the woman, but his +proposal was accepted, as he expected that it would. It was easy to see +that the work of the farm was hard for this aging couple; now, for a +place to sleep and a little food, they were able to acquire a strong and +intelligent slave. + +In the days that followed, he made himself useful to the farm people; he +fed the chickens and the livestock, milked the cow, worked in the +fields. He slept in a small room at the top of the house, under the +eaves, and ate with the man and woman in the farmhouse kitchen. + +It was not long before he picked up a few words which he had heard his +employers using, and related them to the things or acts spoken of. And +he began to notice that these people, in spite of the crudities of their +own life, enjoyed some of the advantages of a fairly complex +civilization. Their implements were not hand-craft products, but showed +machine workmanship. There were two objects hanging on hooks on the +kitchen wall which he was sure were weapons. Both had wooden +shoulder-stocks, and wooden fore-pieces; they had long tubes extending +to the front, and triggers like blasters. One had double tubes mounted +side-by-side, and double triggers; the other had an octagonal tube +mounted over a round tube, and a loop extension on the trigger-guard. +Then, there was a box on the kitchen wall, with a mouthpiece and a +cylindrical tube on a cord. Sometimes a bell would ring out of the box, +and the woman would go to this instrument, take down the tube and hold +it to her ear, and talk into the mouthpiece. There was another box from +which voices would issue, of people conversing, or of orators, or of +singing, and sometimes instrumental music. None of these were objects +made by savages; these people probably traded with some fairly high +civilization. They were not illiterate; he found printed matter, +indicating the use of some phonetic alphabet, and paper pamphlets +containing printed reproductions of photographs as well as verbal text. + +There was also a vehicle on the farm, powered, like the one he had seen +on the road, by an engine in which a hydrocarbon liquid-fuel was +exploded. He made it his business to examine this minutely, and to study +its construction and operation until he was thoroughly familiar with it. + +It was not until the third day after his arrival that the chickens began +to die. In the morning, Hradzka found three of them dead when he went to +feed them, the rest drooping unhealthily; he summoned the man and showed +him what he had found. The next morning, they were all dead, and the cow +was sick. She gave bloody milk, that evening, and the next morning she +lay in her stall and would not get up. + +The man and the woman were also beginning to sicken, though both of them +tried to continue their work. It was the woman who first noticed that +the plants around the farmhouse were withering and turning yellow. + + * * * * * + +The farmer went to the stable with Hradzka and looked at the cow. +Shaking his head, he limped back to the house, and returned carrying one +of the weapons from the kitchen--the one with the single trigger and the +octagonal tube. As he entered the stable, he jerked down and up on the +loop extension of the trigger-guard, then put the weapon to his shoulder +and pointed it at the cow. It made a flash, and roared louder even than +a hand-blaster, and the cow jerked convulsively and was dead. The man +then indicated by signs that Hradzka was to drag the dead cow out of the +stable, dig a hole, and bury it. This Hradzka did, carefully examining +the wound in the cow's head--the weapon, he decided, was not an +energy-weapon, but a simple solid-missile projector. + +By evening, neither the man nor the woman were able to eat, +and both seemed to be suffering intensely. The man used the +communicating-instrument on the wall, probably calling on his friends +for help. Hradzka did what he could to make them comfortable, cooked his +own meal, washed the dishes as he had seen the woman doing, and tidied +up the kitchen. + +It was not long before people, men and women whom he had seen on the +road or who had stopped at the farmhouse while he had been there, began +arriving, some carrying baskets of food; and shortly after Hradzka had +eaten, a vehicle like the farmer's, but in better condition and of +better quality, arrived and a young man got out of it and entered the +house, carrying a leather bag. He was apparently some sort of a +scientist; he examined the man and his wife, asked many questions, and +administered drugs. He also took samples for blood-tests and urinalysis. +This, Hradzka considered, was another of the many contradictions he had +encountered among these people--this man behaved like an educated +scientist, and seemingly had nothing in common with the peasant +herb-gatherer on the mountainside. + +The fact was that Hradzka was worried. The strange death of the animals, +the blight which had smitten the trees and vegetables around the farm, +and the sickness of the farmer and his woman, all mystified him. He did +not know of any disease which would affect plants and animals and +humans; he wondered if some poisonous gas might not be escaping from the +earth near the farmhouse. However, he had not, himself, been affected. +He also disliked the way in which the doctor and the neighbors seemed to +be talking about him. While he had come to a considerable revision of +his original opinion about the culture-level of these people, it was not +impossible that they might suspect him of having caused the whole thing +by witchcraft; at any moment, they might fall upon him and put him to +death. In any case, there was no longer any use in his staying here, and +it might be wise if he left at once. + +Accordingly, he filled his pockets with food from the pantry and slipped +out of the farmhouse; before his absence was discovered he was well on +his way down the road. + + + + +3 + + +That night, Hradzka slept under a bridge across a fairly wide stream; +the next morning, he followed the road until he came to a town. It was +not a large place; there were perhaps four or five hundred houses and +other buildings in it. Most of these were dwellings like the farmhouse +where he had been staying, but some were much larger, and seemed to be +places of business. One of these latter was a concrete structure with +wide doors at the front; inside, he could see men working on the +internal-combustion vehicles which seemed to be in almost universal use. +Hradzka decided to obtain employment here. + +It would be best, he decided, to continue his pretense of being a +deaf-mute. He did not know whether a world-language were in use at this +time or not, and even if not, the pretense of being a foreigner unable +to speak the local dialect might be dangerous. So he entered the +vehicle-repair shop and accosted a man in a clean shirt who seemed to be +issuing instructions to the workers, going into his pantomime of the +homeless mute seeking employment. + +The master of the repair-shop merely laughed at him, however. Hradzka +became more insistent in his manner, making signs to indicate his hunger +and willingness to work. The other men in the shop left their tasks and +gathered around; there was much laughter and unmistakably ribald and +derogatory remarks. Hradzka was beginning to give up hope of getting +employment here when one of the workmen approached the master and +whispered something to him. + +The two of them walked away, conversing in low voices. Hradzka thought +he understood the situation; no doubt the workman, thinking to lighten +his own labor, was urging that the vagrant be employed, for no other pay +than food and lodging. At length, the master assented to his employee's +urgings; he returned, showed Hradzka a hose and a bucket and sponges and +cloths, and set him to work cleaning the mud from one of the vehicles. +Then, after seeing that the work was being done properly, he went away, +entering a room at one side of the shop. + +About twenty minutes later, another man entered the shop. He was not +dressed like any of the other people whom Hradzka had seen; he wore a +gray tunic and breeches, polished black boots, and a cap with a visor +and a metal insignia on it; on a belt, he carried a holstered weapon +like a blaster. + +After speaking to one of the workers, who pointed Hradzka out to him, he +approached the fugitive and said something. Hradzka made gestures at his +mouth and ears and made gargling sounds; the newcomer shrugged and +motioned him to come with him, at the same time producing a pair of +handcuffs from his belt and jingling them suggestively. + +In a few seconds, Hradzka tried to analyze the situation and estimate +its possibilities. The newcomer was a soldier, or, more likely, a +policeman, since manacles were a part of his equipment. Evidently, since +the evening before, a warning had been made public by means of +communicating devices such as he had seen at the farm, advising people +that a man of his description, pretending to be a deaf-mute, should be +detained and the police notified; it had been for that reason that the +workman had persuaded his master to employ Hradzka. No doubt he would be +accused of causing the conditions at the farm by sorcery. + + * * * * * + +Hradzka shrugged and nodded, then went to the water-tap to turn off the +hose he had been using. He disconnected it, coiled it and hung it up, +and then picked up the water-bucket. Then, without warning, he hurled +the water into the policeman's face, sprang forward, swinging the bucket +by the bale, and hit the man on the head. Releasing his grip on the +bucket, he tore the blaster or whatever it was from the holster. + +One of the workers swung a hammer, as though to throw it. Hradzka aimed +the weapon at him and pulled the trigger; the thing belched fire and +kicked back painfully in his hand, and the man fell. He used it again to +drop the policeman, then thrust it into the waistband of his trousers +and ran outside. The thing was not a blaster at all, he realized--only a +missile-projector like the big weapons at the farm, utilizing the force +of some chemical explosive. + +The policeman's vehicle was standing outside. It was a small, +single-seat, two wheeled affair. Having become familiar with the +principles of these hydro-carbon engines from examination of the vehicle +of the farm, and accustomed as he was to far more complex mechanisms +than this crude affair, Hradzka could see at a glance how to operate it. +Springing onto the saddle, he kicked away the folding support and +started the engine. Just as he did, the master of the repair-shop ran +outside, one of the small hand-weapons in his hand, and fired several +shots. They all missed, but Hradzka heard the whining sound of the +missiles passing uncomfortably close to him. + +It was imperative that he recover the blaster he had hidden in the +hollow tree at the head of the valley. By this time, there would be a +concerted search under way for him, and he needed a better weapon than +the solid-missile projector he had taken from the policeman. He did not +know how many shots the thing contained, but if it propelled solid +missiles by chemical explosion, there could not have been more than five +or six such charges in the cylindrical part of the weapon which he had +assumed to be the charge-holder. On the other hand, his blaster, a +weapon of much greater power, contained enough energy for five hundred +blasts, and with it were eight extra energy-capsules, giving him a total +of four thousand five hundred blasts. + +Handling the two-wheeled vehicle was no particular problem; although he +had never ridden on anything of the sort before, it was child's play +compared to controlling a Hundredth Century strato-rocket, and Hradzka +was a skilled rocket-pilot. + +Several times he passed vehicles on the road--the passenger vehicles +with enclosed cabins, and cargo-vehicles piled high with farm produce. +Once he encountered a large number of children, gathered in front of a +big red building with a flagstaff in front, from which a queer flag, +with horizontal red and white stripes and a white-spotted blue device in +the corner, flew. They scattered off the road in terror at his approach; +fortunately, he hit none of them, for at the speed at which he was +traveling, such a collision would have wrecked his light vehicle. + + * * * * * + +As he approached the farm where he had spent the past few days, he saw +two passenger-vehicles standing by the road. One was a black one, +similar to the one in which the physician had come to the farm, and the +other was white with black trimmings and bore the same device he had +seen on the cap of the policeman. A policeman was sitting in the +driver's seat of this vehicle, and another policeman was standing beside +it, breathing smoke with one of the white paper cylinders these people +used. In the farm-yard, two men were going about with a square black +box; to this box, a tube was connected by a wire, and they were passing +the tube about over the ground. + +The policeman who was standing beside the vehicle saw him approach, and +blew his whistle, then drew the weapon from his belt. Hradzka, who had +been expecting some attempt to halt him, had let go the right-hand +steering handle and drawn his own weapon; as the policeman drew, he +fired at him. Without observing the effect of the shot, he sped on; +before he had rounded the bend above the farm, several shots were fired +after him. + +A mile beyond, he came to the place where he had hidden the blaster. He +stopped the vehicle and jumped off, plunging into the brush and racing +toward the hollow tree. Just as he reached it, he heard a vehicle +approach and stop, and the door of the police vehicle slam. Hradzka's +fingers found the belt of his blaster; he dragged it out and buckled it +on, tossing away the missile weapon he had been carrying. + +Then, crouching behind the tree, he waited. A few moments later, he +caught a movement in the brush toward the road. He brought up the +blaster, aimed and squeezed the trigger. There was a faint bluish glow +at the muzzle, and a blast of energy tore through the brush, smashing +the molecular structure of everything that stood in the way. There was +an involuntary shout of alarm from the direction of the road; at least +one of the policemen had escaped the blast. Hradzka holstered his weapon +and crept away for some distance, keeping under cover, then turned and +waited for some sign of the presence of his enemies. For some time +nothing happened; he decided to turn hunter against the men who were +hunting him. He started back in the direction of the road, making a wide +circle, flitting silently from rock to bush and from bush to tree, +stopping often to look and listen. + +This finally brought him upon one of the policemen, and almost +terminated his flight at the same time. He must have grown +over-confident and careless; suddenly a weapon roared, and a missile +smashed through the brush inches from his face. The shot had come from +his left and a little to the rear. Whirling, he blasted four times, in +rapid succession, then turned and fled for a few yards, dropping and +crawling behind a rock. When he looked back, he could see wisps of smoke +rising from the shattered trees and bushes which had absorbed the +energy-output of his weapon, and he caught a faint odor of burned flesh. +One of his pursuers, at least, would pursue him no longer. + +He slipped away, down into the tangle of ravines and hollows in which he +had wandered the day before his arrival at the farm. For the time being, +he felt safe, and finally confident that he was not being pursued, he +stopped to rest. The place where he stopped seemed familiar, and he +looked about. In a moment, he recognized the little stream, the pool +where he had bathed his feet, the clump of seedling pines under which he +had slept. He even found the silver-foil wrapping from the food +concentrate capsule. + +But there had been a change, since the night when he had slept here. +Then the young pines had been green and alive; now they were blighted, +and their needles had turned brown. Hradzka stood for a long time, +looking at them. It was the same blight that had touched the plants +around the farmhouse. And here, among the pine needles on the ground, +lay a dead bird. + +It took some time for him to admit, to himself, the implications of +vegetation, the chickens, the cow, the farmer and his wife, had all +sickened and died. He had been in this place, and now, when he had +returned, he found that death had followed him here, too. + + * * * * * + +During the early centuries of the Atomic Era, he knew, there had been +great wars, the stories of which had survived even to the Hundredth +Century. Among the weapons that had been used, there had been artificial +plagues and epidemics, caused by new types of bacteria developed in +laboratories, against which the victims had possessed no protection. +Those germs and viruses had persisted for centuries, and gradually had +lost their power to harm mankind. Suppose, now, that he had brought some +of them back with him, to a century before they had been developed. +Suppose, that was, that he were a human plague-carrier. He thought of +the vermin that had infested the clothing he had taken from the man he +had killed on the other side of the mountain; they had not troubled him +after the first day. + +There was a throbbing mechanical sound somewhere in the air; he looked +about, and finally identified its source. A small aircraft had come over +the valley from the other side of the mountain and was circling lazily +overhead. He froze, shrinking back under a pine-tree; as long as he +remained motionless, he would not be seen, and soon the thing would go +away. He was beginning to understand why the search for him was being +pressed so relentlessly; as long as he remained alive, he was a menace +to everybody in this First Century world. + +He got out his supply of food concentrates, saw that he had only three +capsules left, and put them away again. For a long time, he sat under +the dying tree, chewing on a twig and thinking. There must be some way +in which he could overcome, or even utilize, his inherent deadliness to +these people. He might find some isolated community, conceal himself +near it, invade it at night and infect it, and then, when everybody was +dead, move in and take it for himself. But was there any such isolated +community? The farmhouse where he had worked had been fairly remote, yet +its inhabitants had been in communication with the outside world, and +the physician had come immediately in response to their call for help. + +The little aircraft had been circling overhead, directly above the place +where he lay hidden. For a while, Hradzka was afraid it had spotted him, +and was debating the advisability of using his blaster on it. Then it +banked, turned and went away. He watched it circle over the valley on +the other side of the mountain, and got to his feet. + + + + +4 + + +Almost at once, there was a new sound--a multiple throbbing, at a quick, +snarling tempo that hinted at enormous power, growing louder each +second. Hradzka stiffened and drew his blaster; as he did, five more +aircraft swooped over the crest of the mountain and came rushing down +toward him; not aimlessly, but as though they knew exactly where he was. +As they approached, the leading edges of their wings sparkled with +light, branches began flying from the trees about him, and there was a +loud hammering noise. + +He aimed a little in front of them and began blasting. A wing flew from +one of the aircraft, and it plunged downward. Another came apart in the +air; a third burst into flames. The other two zoomed upward quickly. +Hradzka swung his blaster after them, blasting again and again. He hit a +fourth with a blast of energy, knocking it to pieces, and then the fifth +was out of range. He blasted at it twice, but without effect; a +hand-blaster was only good for a thousand yards at the most. + +Holstering his weapon, he hurried away, following the stream and keeping +under cover of trees. The last of the attacking aircraft had gone away, +but the little scout-plane was still circling about, well out of +blaster-range. + +Once or twice, Hradzka was compelled to stay hidden for some time, not +knowing the nature of the pilot's ability to detect him. It was during +one of these waits that the next phase of the attack developed. + +It began, like the last one, with a distant roar that swelled in volume +until it seemed to fill the whole world. Then, fifteen or twenty +thousand feet out of blaster-range, the new attackers swept into sight. + +There must have been fifty of them, huge tapering things with +wide-spread wings, flying in close formation, wave after V-shaped wave. +He stood and stared at them, amazed; he had never imagined that such +aircraft existed in the First Century. Then a high-pitched screaming +sound cut through the roar of the propellers, and for an instant he saw +countless small specks in the sky, falling downward. + +The first bomb-salvo landed in the young pines, where he had fought +against the first air attack. Great gouts of flame shot upward, and +smoke, and flying earth and debris. Hradzka turned and started to run. +Another salvo fell in front of him; he veered to the left and plunged on +through the undergrowth. Now the bombs were falling all about him, +deafening him with their thunder, shaking him with concussion. He +dodged, frightened, as the trunk of a tree came crashing down beside +him. Then something hit him across the back, knocking him flat. For a +moment, he lay stunned, then tried to rise. As he did, a searing light +filled his eyes and a wave of intolerable heat swept over him. Then +darkness... + + * * * * * + +"No, Zarvas Pol," Kradzy Zago repeated. "Hradzka will not return; the +'time-machine' was sabotaged." + +"So? By you?" the soldier asked. + +The scientist nodded. "I knew the purpose for which he intended it. +Hradzka was not content with having enslaved a whole Solar System: he +hungered to bring tyranny and serfdom to all the past and all the future +as well; he wanted to be master not only of the present but of the +centuries that were and were to be, as well. I never took part in +politics, Zarvas Pol; I had no hand in this revolt. But I could not be +party to such a crime as Hradzka contemplated when it lay within my +power to prevent it." + +"The machine will take him out of our space-time continuum, or back to a +time when this planet was a swirling cloud of flaming gas?" Zarvas Pol +asked. + +Kradzy Zago shook his head. "No, the unit is not powerful enough for +that. It will only take him about ten thousand years into the past. But +then, when it stops, the machine will destroy itself. It may destroy +Hradzka with it or he may escape. But if he does, he will be left +stranded ten thousand years ago, when he can do us no harm. + +"Actually, it did not operate as he imagined and there is an infinitely +small chance that he could have returned to our 'time', in any event. +But I wanted to insure against even so small a chance." + +"We can't be sure of that," Zarvas Pol objected. "He may know more about +the machine than you think; enough more to build another like it. So you +must build me a machine and I'll take back a party of volunteers and +hunt him down." + +"That would not be necessary, and you would only share his fate." Then, +apparently changing the subject, Kradzy Zago asked: "Tell me, Zarvas +Pol; have you never heard the legends of the Deadly Radiations?" + +General Zarvas smiled. "Who has not? Every cadet at the Officers' +College dreams of re-discovering them, to use as a weapon, but nobody +ever has. We hear these tales of how, in the early days, atomic engines +and piles and fission-bombs emitted particles which were utterly deadly, +which would make anything with which they came in contact deadly, which +would bring a horrible death to any human being. But these are only +myths. All the ancient experiments have been duplicated time and again, +and the deadly radiation effect has never been observed. Some say that +it is a mere old-wives' terror tale; some say that the deaths were +caused by fear of atomic energy, when it was still unfamiliar; others +contend that the fundamental nature of atomic energy has altered by the +degeneration of the fissionable matter. For my own part, I'm not enough +of a scientist to have an opinion." + + * * * * * + +The old one smiled wanly. "None of these theories are correct. In the +beginning of the Atomic Era, the Deadly Radiations existed. They still +exist, but they are no longer deadly, because all life on this planet +has adapted itself to such radiations, and all living things are now +immune to them." + +"And Hradzka has returned to a time when such immunity did not exist? +But would that not be to his advantage?" + +"Remember, General, that man has been using atomic energy for ten +thousand years. Our whole world has become drenched with radioactivity. +The planet, the seas, the atmosphere, and every living thing, are all +radioactive, now. Radioactivity is as natural to us as the air we +breathe. Now, you remember hearing of the great wars of the first +centuries of the Atomic Era, in which whole nations were wiped out, +leaving only hundreds of survivors out of millions. You, no doubt, think +that such tales are products of ignorant and barbaric imagination, but I +assure you, they are literally true. It was not the blast-effect of a +few bombs which created such holocausts, but the radiations released by +the bombs. And those who survived to carry on the race were men and +women whose systems resisted the radiations, and they transmitted to +their progeny that power of resistance. In many cases, their children +were mutants--not monsters, although there were many of them, too, which +did not survive--but humans who were immune to radioactivity." + +"An interesting theory, Kradzy Zago," the soldier commented. "And one +which conforms both to what we know of atomic energy and to the ancient +legends. Then you would say that those radiations are still deadly--to +the non-immune?" + +"Exactly. And Hradzka, his body emitting those radiations, has returned +to the First Century of the Atomic Era--to a world without immunity." + +General Zarvas' smile vanished. "Man!" he cried in horror. "You have +loosed a carrier of death among those innocent people of the past!" + +Kradzy Zago nodded. "That is true. I estimate that Hradzka will probably +cause the death of a hundred or so people, before he is dealt with. But +dealt with he will be. Tell me, General; if a man should appear now, out +of nowhere, spreading a strange and horrible plague wherever he went, +what would you do?" + +"Why, I'd hunt him down and kill him," General Zarvas replied. "Not for +anything he did, but for the menace he was. And then, I'd cover his body +with a mass of concrete bigger than this palace." + +"Precisely." Kradzy Zago smiled. "And the military commanders and +political leaders of the First Century were no less ruthless or +efficient than you. You know how atomic energy was first used? There was +an ancient nation, upon the ruins of whose cities we have built our own, +which was famed for its idealistic humanitarianism. Yet that nation, +treacherously attacked, created the first atomic bombs in self defense, +and used them. It is among the people of that nation that Hradzka has +emerged." + +"But would they recognize him as the cause of the calamity he brings +among them?" + +"Of course. He will emerge at the time when atomic energy is first being +used. They will have detectors for the Deadly Radiations--detectors we +know nothing of, today, for a detection instrument must be free from the +thing it is intended to detect, and today everything is radioactive. It +will be a day or so before they discover what is happening to them, and +not a few will die in that time, I fear; but once they have found out +what is killing their people, Hradzka's days--no, his hours--will be +numbered." + +"A mass of concrete bigger than this place," Tobbh the Slave repeated +General Zarvas' words. "_The Ancient Spaceport!_" + +Prince Burvanny clapped him on the shoulder. "Tobbh, man! You've hit +it!" + +"You mean...?" Kradzy Zago began. + +"Yes. You all know of it. It's stood for nobody knows how many +millennia, and nobody's ever decided what it was, to begin with, except +that somebody, once, filled a valley with concrete, level from +mountain-top to mountain-top. The accepted theory is that it was done +for a firing-stand for the first Moon-rocket. But gentlemen, our friend +Tobbh's explained it. It is the tomb of Hradzka, and it has been the +tomb of Hradzka for ten thousand years before Hradzka was born!" + + + + ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's Note | +| | +| | +| This etext was produced from "Future" combined with "Science | +| Fiction Stories" September/October 1950. Extensive research | +| did not uncover any evidence that the copyright on this | +| publication was renewed. | +| | +| Section Number "1" has been added at the beginning of the | +| narrative. | +| | +| The following typos have been corrected in the text. | +| | +| I'll go first, I'll go first. | +| himseelf himself | +| dias dais | +| posess possess | +| vengance vengeance | +| alitmeter altimeter | +| Hrakzka Hradzka | +| insigna insignia | +| posessed possessed | +| instand instant | +| none," He indicated had none." He indicated | +| | +| One instance of "spacetime" has been changed to "space-time" | +| to conform with the majority usage in the text. | +| | +| The following words occur with equal frequency in both the | +| hyphenated and unhyphenated forms. | +| | +| farm-yard farmyard | +| hydro-carbon hydrocarbon | ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Flight From Tomorrow, by Henry Beam Piper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLIGHT FROM TOMORROW *** + +***** This file should be named 18460.txt or 18460.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/4/6/18460/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, L.N. 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