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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 60921 ***
+
+                                 VASSI
+
+                             By ART LEWIS
+
+                      The apartment was empty. So
+                      was she. But not for long.
+
+           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+              Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1961.
+         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+The apartment is called a single. It contains a Murphy bed, a chest of
+drawers, an overstuffed chair, a sofa, a coffee table, a seventeen-inch
+television set, a bookcase partially filled with the volumes A through
+F of an encyclopedia from the supermarket, assorted paperback books,
+and a radio that doesn't work. In the ceiling is a fixture with two
+twenty-five-watt bulbs. A short hallway leads to the bathroom and the
+kitchen.
+
+Julia Fenway stood outside her apartment, fumbling in her bag for her
+keys. She had never had any trouble finding her keys before. Her purse
+was always neat and orderly. And she was breathing hard. Breathing
+hard from the short walk from the bus at the corner and down the long
+corridor to the private, the lonesome apartment door.
+
+Those keys! Where are those keys! I'm becoming a regular pack rat
+lately. Look at that bag! Did you ever see so much junk? She thrust
+her hand deep inside and felt around. A crumpled kleenex, worn-out
+lipstick, change purse, pencils, movie stubs ... a coldness, the keys.
+Her heart was pounding. She pressed the hand with the keys to her
+bosom. It _was_ pounding. At least it was working.
+
+She managed to get the door open just as the landlady's door down the
+hall gushed forth cooked cabbage odor and Mrs. Shultz stuck her head
+out. Julia closed her door behind her until she heard the lock click.
+Of all the people in the world, why was it the Mrs. Shultzes she
+attracted?
+
+At the sound of the lock, the cat, Belle, poked her head out of the
+kitchen. She walked lazily into the room, rubbing her side along the
+wall to scratch off the sleep. Then she leaped to the top of the
+dresser and started to wash herself.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Julia stood with her back against the door. Her arms, tired of reaching
+out, hung limply against her sides. A ray of sunlight streamed through
+the partly open window and a little pool of it snuggled on her pillow.
+It had been such a long ride in from Beverly Hills and on two buses.
+She had sat in the back where it wasn't so crowded and the smell of
+exhaust was still in her nostrils.
+
+She walked over to the dresser and put her purse down beside the cat
+and ran her fingers caressingly through the soft fur. Belle took a
+swipe with a hind paw. Julia rested her head on the dresser.
+
+"I'm going to die, Belle."
+
+The cat sat up and lifted a front paw. She washed it with little
+delicate strokes from her tongue.
+
+Julia moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. She slipped
+her shoes off. Her feet hurt. They always hurt in heels. Why does one
+get dressed up to see the doctor? He could have told her she had six
+months to live while she was wearing flats.
+
+He didn't actually blurt it out as I walked in the door. He fooled
+around under that sheet for a long time. And then he said it. No, not
+then either. He just looked pained and hurt and a little white around
+the lips and he told me to get dressed and come into his office. He had
+the lab reports on his desk and he pounded on them and he said you're
+as good as dead now!
+
+I wish he had! Then I could hate him. I could hate instead of feeling
+numb all over. He didn't want to tell me anything. Just get ready for
+an operation. No, there really wasn't any rush. But soon. And then I
+dragged it out of him. I insisted I had a right to know. It was my
+life. No, I don't have any family here. No one ... no one! A brother in
+New York. Don't call him! The doctor stammered like a schoolboy who's
+unprepared in class.
+
+Julia fell back on the bed. She stared at the unlighted ceiling
+fixture. She should cry, but she'd cried in the doctor's office and
+there was nothing left to cry. Six months to live. Maybe only five
+months. Certainly no more than seven with the operation.
+
+A spring in the bed got her in the back. She ought to tell Mrs. Shultz
+to fix that. She certainly didn't want to spend her last six months
+sleeping on a loose spring. Spend her last six months!
+
+She turned over on her stomach and pressed her face into the blanket.
+Her body was rigid. She tried to contemplate her own death. She should
+call her brother. No, she would die first.
+
+"Hello, excuse me, my name is Vassi."
+
+Julia raised her head and looked around the room. It was empty.
+
+"Would you say this is a typical prior dwelling?"
+
+Julia sat up. There was no one.
+
+"Oh, I hadn't thought of that possibility. I suppose we don't have a
+similar frame of reference. You'll never understand my thoughts."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+She got off the bed. She walked around the room and her stocking feet
+made little padded sounds on the cotton carpet. Then she crossed to the
+door of the apartment and pressed her ear against it.
+
+"Are you a ventriloquist?" she said.
+
+"A ventriloquist? Oh, my, no. I'm an historian." The voice was in her
+head.
+
+"I'm insane." It had to happen. She touched her finger-tips to her
+mouth.
+
+"Is that so? That's too bad. We're over and done with that sort of
+thing."
+
+"I'll wash my face with cold water. It must be the strain. I shouldn't
+have forced the doctor...."
+
+"You _are_ alone, aren't you? I looked around rather carefully.
+I didn't see anyone except that ... that thing on that piece of
+furniture."
+
+Julia looked at Belle. The cat was asleep on the dresser. She started
+to walk to the bathroom but stopped in front of the bed and sat down.
+Her head was going to burst.
+
+"Please" she said. "Please stop."
+
+"I really don't want to intrude. But I have my recorder right here.
+It won't take long and then I must move on. Now I notice you're fully
+dressed. Most remarkable. We always thought you prior people indulged
+in sex orgies almost continuously."
+
+"My God!"
+
+"Your thoughts are confused. Is it because you're insane? You haven't
+had much experience in thought projection, have you?"
+
+Julia jumped from the bed and ran into the bathroom. She locked the
+door behind her and turned on the cold water full force. She cupped her
+hands under the faucet and plunged her face into the cascading coldness.
+
+My name is Julia Fenway. I'm a file clerk at Continental Insurance. I'm
+going to die and I'm not preoccupied with sex.
+
+She turned off the faucet and stared into the sink. The water gathered
+into a little whirlpool and disappeared down the drain. There was a
+knock on the bathroom door.
+
+The voice was in her head. "I wonder if I could see that. We have some
+rather indistinct writings on running water. I'd like to bring them up
+to date."
+
+The cold water didn't help. If anything, it was worse now. The knocking
+came from the door. She was sure of it. But the voice ... the voice was
+inside her.
+
+"May I come in?"
+
+Julia sat down on the edge of the tub. She squeezed her head between
+her hands. I don't deserve this. What did I do to deserve this?
+
+"Please. I'm on a tight schedule."
+
+"So am I! Go away!" She was talking to it. She was talking to the voice
+in her head.
+
+Then it was very quiet. Julia watched the door, waiting for someone to
+walk through its solidness. Nothing happened. She lowered her head and
+started to count the tiny tiles in the floor.
+
+If I count one row very carefully, it will take me five minutes, two
+rows ten minutes, three rows....
+
+She started to count.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As she was midway through the fourth row, the voice said, "I don't
+think you realize the importance of my visit. We recognize your right
+of privacy, but don't you feel in this case...?"
+
+Julia jumped up and pulled open the door. "Let me die in peace!"
+
+She ran into the other room and stood in the middle of it, looking all
+around, breathing hard. Belle leaped down from the dresser, her doze
+finished, and rubbed against Julia's leg.
+
+The water in the bathroom was running.
+
+She hadn't shut it off. But she had. She had.
+
+The water started again. It stopped. It started. It stopped.
+
+"How quaint."
+
+There is someone here!
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"Vassi."
+
+"Vassi?"
+
+"I'm chief historian, research division. It's my first trip in time.
+The scientists have been playing around with this thing for years and
+they've only just let us take it over."
+
+A time traveler! Julia stood very still. Her eyes searched the room
+slowly once again. The window was open about three inches. Too small
+for anyone to squeeze through. The door was locked from the inside.
+There was absolutely no one in the room. In her desperate state, she
+was hunting for an out. She was involved in a fairy story. Her body
+started to relax.
+
+"I can't see you, Mr. Vassi."
+
+I can't accept death. I'm looking for escape.
+
+"You can't see me? I'm standing right in front of you."
+
+"I can't see you."
+
+"I don't understand. I can see you. Here, take my hand."
+
+For a moment, Julia hoped. There was nothing.
+
+"Why, I can't touch you!"
+
+Not even a breath of wind.
+
+Julia walked over to the dresser and took a package of cigarettes out
+of her handbag. She carried it over to the sofa and sat down.
+
+"You walked through me!"
+
+She lit the cigarette, inhaled deeply and blew out the smoke in a long
+steady stream. When she was a little girl and she had a sharp pain in
+her side, her mother would say it's only gas, hold on, it'll pass.
+
+She would hold on.... Mother, help me!
+
+The voice in her head. "I wish I had paid more attention to those
+scientists. What was it they said? I had so much to do before I left.
+Something about transporting living matter.... Are you _sure_ I'm
+invisible?"
+
+"I can't see you."
+
+"Do you people have trouble with your eyes? No, that's not it. I can't
+touch you. And I'd expected to bring back some artifacts. I am terribly
+disappointed."
+
+"I'm sorry."
+
+"And well you might be. It's going to be extremely difficult going
+around asking people a lot of questions when they can't see me. You
+must have had quite a start."
+
+"Stop it! Stop it! My head. Oh, dear God, my head!" Julia got up. "I'm
+going out!"
+
+"You are having trouble with the thought projection. I'll sit down and
+be quiet for a moment."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The voice stopped. Julia paused at the door. The room was quiet.
+Breathing! She heard breathing. Her own? She held her breath. It was
+there in the room. She was sure of it.
+
+It was a whisper in her throat. "You are real."
+
+The faucet, the water, the knock on the door. "You are real!"
+
+If she held on, it would pass like gas. "You are real!"
+
+She moved trancelike back into the room.
+
+"You see me now."
+
+"No. I heard you breathe."
+
+"Can you touch me?"
+
+"No."
+
+She heard her own blood in her ears. Her own breath forced itself
+between her lips. His breathing was gone. It was a dream.
+
+She said, "You're gone."
+
+"Over here on the arm of the couch."
+
+She turned. She fought to silence herself. She heard the soft breathing
+from the direction of the couch.
+
+"Who are you, Mr. Vassi?"
+
+"It's just Vassi, no mister. I already told you who and what I am."
+
+"A time traveler from some distant future," she said.
+
+"Most of your records disappeared in the final war. We want to pick up
+the traces. Best way to do that is to travel back in time."
+
+"It sounds like such a long way. How long?"
+
+If it was true, it was a miracle. If it wasn't ... Julia, you're a
+realist!
+
+"It would be a meaningless term for you. It's an age, an eon away."
+
+Julia sat down on the edge of the overstuffed chair. She noticed a
+faint layer of dust on the coffee table. The apartment looked messy
+with the bed out of the wall. Ever since the first visit to the doctor
+three weeks ago, she hadn't thought of cleaning.
+
+"I'm afraid the apartment doesn't look very presentable."
+
+"Aren't you comforted to know that the world has survived?"
+
+"But I won't survive." She looked at the dust again. "You see, I don't
+do much entertaining."
+
+"Is that so? I wouldn't know. Do you mind if I record our conversation?"
+
+"I don't mind. It's nice to have someone to talk to, even if I can't
+see you." Julia, you're a realist!
+
+"Yes. Well, that is a bother. Now would you mind telling me a few
+pertinent facts about civilization as you know it?"
+
+"I don't think I know too much about that sort of thing," said Julia.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I'd hoped to land in the middle of a library of some sort...." His
+voice broke off. "You don't seem to have much of a collection of books
+here."
+
+Julia said, "Are you near the bookcase?"
+
+"No wonder the records didn't last, if this is the way they were kept."
+
+"Vassi, can you touch the books?" She got up and went to the bookcase.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Pick one up."
+
+"They're no use to me. This isn't history."
+
+"Pick one up!"
+
+"I haven't got the time. I have to move on."
+
+"Vassi, you touched the faucet, didn't you? And you knocked on the
+door."
+
+"Yes.... That _does_ mean I can bring back artifacts!"
+
+"Why can't you touch me?"
+
+"Now I have to get to a place that will do me some good. A library, a
+store, isn't that what you call them? A museum.... Are any of these
+things nearby?"
+
+"Let me go with you. I'll be your guide. I'll--I'll show you my time."
+
+"But won't you be uncomfortable? I'm invisible."
+
+"I don't care! No one can steal you from me this way."
+
+"Steal me?"
+
+"Vassi, why can't you touch me!"
+
+"I'm not too sure. I think it's because you're alive. You see, life is
+a transient thing. Matter is continuous in one form or another. Matter
+existing today always existed and will always exist, or something like
+that. I didn't listen too carefully. Anyhow, it's possible for someone
+to travel back in time but not ahead. Do I make myself clear? It's out
+of my line, you know."
+
+Julia reached down and scooped up Belle. "Can you touch her?"
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"My cat. Can you touch her?"
+
+"A cat? My, the anatomists would love to see that! But it's the same as
+with you. My hand passes right through her."
+
+Julia put Belle back on the floor. Her mind was racing.
+
+Vassi said, "She's sitting right where I'm standing."
+
+"I've got to believe it's not a nightmare. I've got to believe you're
+real and that you can help me."
+
+"If I can do it quickly. I have so much else to do. Others are waiting
+to use the machine."
+
+"Are people well where you come from?"
+
+"Very well, thank you."
+
+"Are there any incurable diseases?" She tried to listen for his
+breathing.
+
+"Incurable? You mean sickness that doesn't respond to treatment? No, of
+course not."
+
+"Then take me with you!" she cried.
+
+"You just said you wanted to guide me here."
+
+"Take me with you to your time."
+
+"I can't do that. I can't even touch you."
+
+"There must be a way. You have got to think of something."
+
+"Even if I could take you, I'm not supposed to."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"It would mix up history to remove persons from their time. It might
+even be dangerous with artifacts. I suppose we couldn't hold onto them
+very long."
+
+"History? I have no history. I'm going to die very soon. No one depends
+on me. I have no one. Please take me, Vassi."
+
+"I feel very strange."
+
+"Are you all right?"
+
+"Yes. I just feel--odd."
+
+"How...."
+
+"First you want to guide me, then you want to come with me, you don't
+care about mankind's survival. You sound so terrified and confused."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Julia sank down on the couch. If only she could see him. "Don't leave
+me to die."
+
+"How strange to talk about dying," said Vassi. "We all live so long we
+never think about it."
+
+"You will take me with you, Vassi?"
+
+"If people in your time have such short lives, then why does dying
+trouble you? It would seem a matter of course."
+
+"Vassi, I haven't lived yet."
+
+"This is out of my line. I'll tell you what. When I return, I'll talk
+to one of the scientists. If they're interested in the project, they'll
+send someone back."
+
+"How long will that be?"
+
+"Now let's see if I can figure in your time. Hmm.... I'd say about a
+year...."
+
+Julia closed her eyes. She felt dampness under the lids. Her voice was
+hollow as she spoke to the empty room. "I'll be dead in six months."
+
+And the voice in her head echoed, "Six months...."
+
+"Vassi, isn't there someone you can talk to now?"
+
+He didn't answer her.
+
+Julia looked around the room. "Vassi, are you still here? Vassi?
+Vassi, if you don't talk, I can't tell if you're still here! Vassi,
+please answer me. Did I talk too much? I didn't mean to run on about
+my problems. I know you have a job to do. Maybe you can squeeze me
+in. I don't want to keep you from your work. Vassi, you didn't go, did
+you? You didn't leave me! Don't leave. I believe in you. I believe in
+you...."
+
+And now she had the aloneness she had longed for. He was gone and she
+would be left with the Mrs. Shultzes and the doctor.
+
+She went from the living room to the kitchen to the bathroom and back
+into the living room, listening, hoping to catch the small sound of his
+breathing. But her body would not be quiet and she heard nothing except
+herself.
+
+She stood for a long while looking down at the bed. The sunlight
+drifted from the pillow onto the covers and finally spilled off the
+foot of the bed onto the floor and the room was a shade darker. She was
+a stone, but a stone whose blood gurgled and stomach rumbled and heart
+beat and pulse pounded, so loudly she could hear nothing else.
+
+Her legs gave way and she crumpled to the bed and she was silent at
+last.
+
+The breathing came from the direction of the window.
+
+She spoke into the covers. "Vassi, why didn't you answer me?"
+
+"You tempt me and I have so much to do, so much ground to cover."
+
+"You can come back."
+
+"We haven't got enough of these time centers. There's quite a lineup
+to use them. If I go now, there's no telling how long it'll take me to
+get back."
+
+Julia got up and went to the window. "Am I facing you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You're my only hope, wild as it seems. Vassi, wouldn't it be helpful
+to your research to have a real live person from my time to study?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Vassi spoke slowly. "You mean you would be willing to have us--study
+you?"
+
+"Within limits.... No, not within limits."
+
+"They'll be very angry if I come back without my research project."
+
+"Are people that cold in your time?" asked Julia.
+
+"Cold?" Vassi repeated in bewilderment.
+
+"Heartless?"
+
+"Heartless? I hardly think so."
+
+"I mean callous, without pity, without compassion."
+
+"I've been very busy. I haven't thought about it."
+
+"Do men and women marry in your time?"
+
+"Yes, they do."
+
+"Are you married?"
+
+"No, you see, I'm not very--presentable. Besides, I have my research."
+
+"To me you're the most beautiful man in the world."
+
+"You can't see me. If you saw me, you wouldn't think so."
+
+"I can hear you. That's all I need."
+
+Julia turned from the window and walked back to the couch. When she sat
+down she could feel herself trembling. Never, never in her life had she
+spoken to a man like that. Maybe, if she could see him, his eyes would
+be mocking her.
+
+She said, "If you take me back with you, then later when I'm well I
+could come back with you and show you everything you would want to see.
+Then I could be your guide."
+
+He was standing in front of her. She could hear him breathing again.
+There was excitement in his breathing; she was sure of it.
+
+He said, "I wish I could touch you. You're very beautiful."
+
+"Vassi, in my own time I'm ugly. Perhaps I belong in your time."
+
+Then the excitement that was in his breathing was in his voice. "All
+right. All right. I'll see what I can do. You wait right here. It may
+take me several years to get back. But I'll do it if I can...."
+
+"Several years! Vassi, I can't wait that long!" She was very near
+despair.
+
+"No, no, you don't understand. In your time it'll only be a matter of
+minutes. The controls would be set to right now, however long it may
+take to have the project approved in my time."
+
+The room was quiet. A slight breeze drifted in through the open window.
+Julia sat very still on the couch for a few moments. Belle rubbed
+herself against the coffee table and then climbed into Julia's lap.
+
+She had to hold on. She had to believe. A world with no illness. A
+world where people live practically forever. A world with Vassi.
+
+She scratched the cat behind the ears. Belle started to purr softly.
+
+"Belle," Julia said, "what am I going to do with you? Vassi will think
+of something. He's coming back, Belle. He's coming back and he'll take
+both of us with him."
+
+She picked up the cat and put it on the couch. Then she got up and went
+to the mirror over the dresser. She pushed her hair back from her face.
+
+He said I was beautiful. Not even my mother ever said I was beautiful.
+What will they think at the office when I don't come in tomorrow or
+even phone? They won't think anything. They'll get Sheila with the
+black hair and the big bust to do my work and they won't think about me
+at all.
+
+Even _that_ one didn't say I was beautiful. Not even right after I
+moved in here and he was a little drunk, and he could have said it
+then. Then, of all times, but he didn't. He just looked a little
+ashamed, maybe disgusted afterward, and he talked about being late for
+a dinner appointment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was a knock on the door. Julia whirled from the mirror. Vassi
+must have gotten a little off course. She hadn't thought of that
+possibility. She walked quickly to the door.
+
+"Vassi?" she asked.
+
+"It's me, Mrs. Shultz."
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"You went to the doctor today. I expected you'd come by. Tell me, how
+are you?"
+
+"Go away."
+
+"Julia, open up. Maybe I can do something for you."
+
+"Go away. Please go away."
+
+"You're not feeling so well?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Bad news, maybe?"
+
+"I don't want to see anyone, Mrs. Shultz."
+
+"I understand. I'll come back later."
+
+Footsteps went down the hallway. A door opened. The sound of a
+television set. A door closed.
+
+Vassi, hurry! I don't know whether or not it really happened. I'm not
+sure now, Vassi. I am going out of my mind. I am clutching at straws.
+Come back, Vassi. Come back. Reassure me.
+
+"They said it would work."
+
+"Vassi!"
+
+"They said it would work, but it sounds like a terrible risk. We'll do
+it with the cat first."
+
+"Vassi, where are you?"
+
+"Right in front of you. Now listen carefully."
+
+"Are you going to take me with you?"
+
+"We'll try the cat first. If it works with the cat, then we'll try you."
+
+Julia was trembling. "What do I do?"
+
+"The first thing we have to do is kill the cat."
+
+"What are you talking about!"
+
+"When the cat is dead, it will become as inanimate an object as any of
+those books over there. In that state I should be able to transport it
+to my time. There the doctors will revive it. Everything is ready."
+
+"I can't kill my cat!"
+
+"If it works, it's only temporary."
+
+"And if it doesn't work?" she whispered.
+
+"I'd rather it be the cat than you."
+
+"I never dreamed...."
+
+"We'll have to hurry. They are waiting."
+
+"I can't kill Belle."
+
+"You're not killing her. You're transporting her."
+
+The tears were in Julia's eyes again. "It's crazy. I'm crazy."
+
+"Look, I'd do it, but I can't physically touch the cat."
+
+"I know. I know."
+
+"They said suffocation was best. It leaves fewer complications."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Julia bent down and picked up the cat. Her tears fell on the animal's
+fur. She held it close to her. The cat was quiet, unknowing.
+
+Julia said, "Do me first."
+
+"Even if I could, I would not," said Vassi. "The cat first."
+
+"I've had her since she was a kitten, a little round ball with a button
+for a nose. I can't do this to her. If it does not work.... This is my
+madness, not hers!"
+
+"What were you going to do with her six months from now?"
+
+"Six months.... Alone, she would be left alone.... Belle has never
+been alone except for the hours when I'm at work. Who would take care
+of her? She's such a fussy eater. I have to feed her liver from my
+hand...."
+
+"You'll be together."
+
+"Together...."
+
+"Take one of the pillows on the bed. Don't think about it! Do it!"
+
+Julia carried Belle over to the bed. As she tried to put it down, one
+of its claws became entangled in her dress. The cat started to struggle
+as if finally awakened. Julia reached over for a pillow. Sweat stood
+out on her forehead. Her tears blinded her. She saw the mass of fur.
+She saw the softness. The claws were freed. She brought the pillow
+down over Belle.
+
+Julia blacked out, sprawled across the pillow.
+
+She couldn't have been out long. She pulled herself from the bed. The
+pillow was on the floor. Belle was gone.
+
+Vassi's voice was in her head. "It worked! The anatomists are wild!
+I've never seen so much excitement!"
+
+"Belle is all right?"
+
+"Wonderful. It took them no time at all to revive her. The laboratory
+is a bedlam. Everyone wants to examine her."
+
+"How should I do it? I'll never be able to suffocate myself." She
+laughed a little. "I can't even turn on the gas range. Mine is
+electric."
+
+She looked around the apartment. If she slashed her wrists there would
+be too much blood. She hated blood. The thought of poison repelled her.
+Wait--she had it.
+
+She pulled one of the sheets off the bed and twisted it. She pushed the
+overstuffed chair into the center of the room and stood on one of the
+arms to attach an end of the sheet to the ceiling fixture. At the other
+end she made a noose.
+
+There was a knock on the door again.
+
+"Julia, if you're not well, it's no good you should be alone," Mrs.
+Shultz said.
+
+Julia slipped the noose over her head.
+
+"Vassi, do you love me?"
+
+"Of course. I just hope you'll love me."
+
+Mrs. Shultz knocked hard. "Julia, I hear you talking. I know you're
+home. Let me in. I have some soup for you."
+
+"Vassi, do you think I'm beautiful?"
+
+"The most beautiful woman I have ever seen."
+
+Mrs. Shultz pounded on the door. "Julia, why don't you answer me?"
+
+As Julia stepped off the arm of the chair, she saw the open window. A
+thought crossed her mind before the noose tightened. Belle could have
+jumped out of the window when I passed out. _Julia, you're a realist!_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Shultz put down the pot of soup and opened the door.
+
+The apartment is called a single. It consists of a Murphy bed, a
+chest of drawers, an overstuffed chair, a sofa, a coffee table, a
+seventeen-inch television set, a bookcase partially filled with the
+volumes A through F of an encyclopedia from the supermarket, and
+assorted paperback books, and a radio that doesn't work. In the ceiling
+is a fixture with two twenty-five-watt bulbs. From the fixture hangs
+a twisted sheet with a hangman's knot in the end of it. The noose is
+quite empty. So is the apartment.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Vassi, by Art Lewis
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 60921 ***
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-<pre>

-

-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vassi, by Art Lewis

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and

-most other parts of the world 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.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll

-have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using

-this ebook.

-

-

-

-Title: Vassi

-

-Author: Art Lewis

-

-Release Date: December 14, 2019 [EBook #60921]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: ASCII

-

-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VASSI ***

-

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-

-

-Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online

-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

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-</pre>

-

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt=""/>

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<div class="titlepage">

-

-<h1>VASSI</h1>

-

-<h2>By ART LEWIS</h2>

-

-<p class="ph1"><i>The apartment was empty. So<br />

-was she. But not for long.</i></p>

-

-<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br />

-Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1961.<br />

-Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br />

-the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>

-

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p>The apartment is called a single. It contains a Murphy bed, a chest of

-drawers, an overstuffed chair, a sofa, a coffee table, a seventeen-inch

-television set, a bookcase partially filled with the volumes A through

-F of an encyclopedia from the supermarket, assorted paperback books,

-and a radio that doesn't work. In the ceiling is a fixture with two

-twenty-five-watt bulbs. A short hallway leads to the bathroom and the

-kitchen.</p>

-

-<p>Julia Fenway stood outside her apartment, fumbling in her bag for her

-keys. She had never had any trouble finding her keys before. Her purse

-was always neat and orderly. And she was breathing hard. Breathing

-hard from the short walk from the bus at the corner and down the long

-corridor to the private, the lonesome apartment door.</p>

-

-<p>Those keys! Where are those keys! I'm becoming a regular pack rat

-lately. Look at that bag! Did you ever see so much junk? She thrust

-her hand deep inside and felt around. A crumpled kleenex, worn-out

-lipstick, change purse, pencils, movie stubs ... a coldness, the keys.

-Her heart was pounding. She pressed the hand with the keys to her

-bosom. It <i>was</i> pounding. At least it was working.</p>

-

-<p>She managed to get the door open just as the landlady's door down the

-hall gushed forth cooked cabbage odor and Mrs. Shultz stuck her head

-out. Julia closed her door behind her until she heard the lock click.

-Of all the people in the world, why was it the Mrs. Shultzes she

-attracted?</p>

-

-<p>At the sound of the lock, the cat, Belle, poked her head out of the

-kitchen. She walked lazily into the room, rubbing her side along the

-wall to scratch off the sleep. Then she leaped to the top of the

-dresser and started to wash herself.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Julia stood with her back against the door. Her arms, tired of reaching

-out, hung limply against her sides. A ray of sunlight streamed through

-the partly open window and a little pool of it snuggled on her pillow.

-It had been such a long ride in from Beverly Hills and on two buses.

-She had sat in the back where it wasn't so crowded and the smell of

-exhaust was still in her nostrils.</p>

-

-<p>She walked over to the dresser and put her purse down beside the cat

-and ran her fingers caressingly through the soft fur. Belle took a

-swipe with a hind paw. Julia rested her head on the dresser.</p>

-

-<p>"I'm going to die, Belle."</p>

-

-<p>The cat sat up and lifted a front paw. She washed it with little

-delicate strokes from her tongue.</p>

-

-<p>Julia moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. She slipped

-her shoes off. Her feet hurt. They always hurt in heels. Why does one

-get dressed up to see the doctor? He could have told her she had six

-months to live while she was wearing flats.</p>

-

-<p>He didn't actually blurt it out as I walked in the door. He fooled

-around under that sheet for a long time. And then he said it. No, not

-then either. He just looked pained and hurt and a little white around

-the lips and he told me to get dressed and come into his office. He had

-the lab reports on his desk and he pounded on them and he said you're

-as good as dead now!</p>

-

-<p>I wish he had! Then I could hate him. I could hate instead of feeling

-numb all over. He didn't want to tell me anything. Just get ready for

-an operation. No, there really wasn't any rush. But soon. And then I

-dragged it out of him. I insisted I had a right to know. It was my

-life. No, I don't have any family here. No one ... no one! A brother in

-New York. Don't call him! The doctor stammered like a schoolboy who's

-unprepared in class.</p>

-

-<p>Julia fell back on the bed. She stared at the unlighted ceiling

-fixture. She should cry, but she'd cried in the doctor's office and

-there was nothing left to cry. Six months to live. Maybe only five

-months. Certainly no more than seven with the operation.</p>

-

-<p>A spring in the bed got her in the back. She ought to tell Mrs. Shultz

-to fix that. She certainly didn't want to spend her last six months

-sleeping on a loose spring. Spend her last six months!</p>

-

-<p>She turned over on her stomach and pressed her face into the blanket.

-Her body was rigid. She tried to contemplate her own death. She should

-call her brother. No, she would die first.</p>

-

-<p>"Hello, excuse me, my name is Vassi."</p>

-

-<p>Julia raised her head and looked around the room. It was empty.</p>

-

-<p>"Would you say this is a typical prior dwelling?"</p>

-

-<p>Julia sat up. There was no one.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, I hadn't thought of that possibility. I suppose we don't have a

-similar frame of reference. You'll never understand my thoughts."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>She got off the bed. She walked around the room and her stocking feet

-made little padded sounds on the cotton carpet. Then she crossed to the

-door of the apartment and pressed her ear against it.</p>

-

-<p>"Are you a ventriloquist?" she said.</p>

-

-<p>"A ventriloquist? Oh, my, no. I'm an historian." The voice was in her

-head.</p>

-

-<p>"I'm insane." It had to happen. She touched her finger-tips to her

-mouth.</p>

-

-<p>"Is that so? That's too bad. We're over and done with that sort of

-thing."</p>

-

-<p>"I'll wash my face with cold water. It must be the strain. I shouldn't

-have forced the doctor...."</p>

-

-<p>"You <i>are</i> alone, aren't you? I looked around rather carefully.

-I didn't see anyone except that ... that thing on that piece of

-furniture."</p>

-

-<p>Julia looked at Belle. The cat was asleep on the dresser. She started

-to walk to the bathroom but stopped in front of the bed and sat down.

-Her head was going to burst.</p>

-

-<p>"Please" she said. "Please stop."</p>

-

-<p>"I really don't want to intrude. But I have my recorder right here.

-It won't take long and then I must move on. Now I notice you're fully

-dressed. Most remarkable. We always thought you prior people indulged

-in sex orgies almost continuously."</p>

-

-<p>"My God!"</p>

-

-<p>"Your thoughts are confused. Is it because you're insane? You haven't

-had much experience in thought projection, have you?"</p>

-

-<p>Julia jumped from the bed and ran into the bathroom. She locked the

-door behind her and turned on the cold water full force. She cupped her

-hands under the faucet and plunged her face into the cascading coldness.</p>

-

-<p>My name is Julia Fenway. I'm a file clerk at Continental Insurance. I'm

-going to die and I'm not preoccupied with sex.</p>

-

-<p>She turned off the faucet and stared into the sink. The water gathered

-into a little whirlpool and disappeared down the drain. There was a

-knock on the bathroom door.</p>

-

-<p>The voice was in her head. "I wonder if I could see that. We have some

-rather indistinct writings on running water. I'd like to bring them up

-to date."</p>

-

-<p>The cold water didn't help. If anything, it was worse now. The knocking

-came from the door. She was sure of it. But the voice ... the voice was

-inside her.</p>

-

-<p>"May I come in?"</p>

-

-<p>Julia sat down on the edge of the tub. She squeezed her head between

-her hands. I don't deserve this. What did I do to deserve this?</p>

-

-<p>"Please. I'm on a tight schedule."</p>

-

-<p>"So am I! Go away!" She was talking to it. She was talking to the voice

-in her head.</p>

-

-<p>Then it was very quiet. Julia watched the door, waiting for someone to

-walk through its solidness. Nothing happened. She lowered her head and

-started to count the tiny tiles in the floor.</p>

-

-<p>If I count one row very carefully, it will take me five minutes, two

-rows ten minutes, three rows....</p>

-

-<p>She started to count.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>As she was midway through the fourth row, the voice said, "I don't

-think you realize the importance of my visit. We recognize your right

-of privacy, but don't you feel in this case...?"</p>

-

-<p>Julia jumped up and pulled open the door. "Let me die in peace!"</p>

-

-<p>She ran into the other room and stood in the middle of it, looking all

-around, breathing hard. Belle leaped down from the dresser, her doze

-finished, and rubbed against Julia's leg.</p>

-

-<p>The water in the bathroom was running.</p>

-

-<p>She hadn't shut it off. But she had. She had.</p>

-

-<p>The water started again. It stopped. It started. It stopped.</p>

-

-<p>"How quaint."</p>

-

-<p>There is someone here!</p>

-

-<p>"Who are you?"</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi."</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi?"</p>

-

-<p>"I'm chief historian, research division. It's my first trip in time.

-The scientists have been playing around with this thing for years and

-they've only just let us take it over."</p>

-

-<p>A time traveler! Julia stood very still. Her eyes searched the room

-slowly once again. The window was open about three inches. Too small

-for anyone to squeeze through. The door was locked from the inside.

-There was absolutely no one in the room. In her desperate state, she

-was hunting for an out. She was involved in a fairy story. Her body

-started to relax.</p>

-

-<p>"I can't see you, Mr. Vassi."</p>

-

-<p>I can't accept death. I'm looking for escape.</p>

-

-<p>"You can't see me? I'm standing right in front of you."</p>

-

-<p>"I can't see you."</p>

-

-<p>"I don't understand. I can see you. Here, take my hand."</p>

-

-<p>For a moment, Julia hoped. There was nothing.</p>

-

-<p>"Why, I can't touch you!"</p>

-

-<p>Not even a breath of wind.</p>

-

-<p>Julia walked over to the dresser and took a package of cigarettes out

-of her handbag. She carried it over to the sofa and sat down.</p>

-

-<p>"You walked through me!"</p>

-

-<p>She lit the cigarette, inhaled deeply and blew out the smoke in a long

-steady stream. When she was a little girl and she had a sharp pain in

-her side, her mother would say it's only gas, hold on, it'll pass.</p>

-

-<p>She would hold on.... Mother, help me!</p>

-

-<p>The voice in her head. "I wish I had paid more attention to those

-scientists. What was it they said? I had so much to do before I left.

-Something about transporting living matter.... Are you <i>sure</i> I'm

-invisible?"</p>

-

-<p>"I can't see you."</p>

-

-<p>"Do you people have trouble with your eyes? No, that's not it. I can't

-touch you. And I'd expected to bring back some artifacts. I am terribly

-disappointed."</p>

-

-<p>"I'm sorry."</p>

-

-<p>"And well you might be. It's going to be extremely difficult going

-around asking people a lot of questions when they can't see me. You

-must have had quite a start."</p>

-

-<p>"Stop it! Stop it! My head. Oh, dear God, my head!" Julia got up. "I'm

-going out!"</p>

-

-<p>"You are having trouble with the thought projection. I'll sit down and

-be quiet for a moment."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>The voice stopped. Julia paused at the door. The room was quiet.

-Breathing! She heard breathing. Her own? She held her breath. It was

-there in the room. She was sure of it.</p>

-

-<p>It was a whisper in her throat. "You are real."</p>

-

-<p>The faucet, the water, the knock on the door. "You are real!"</p>

-

-<p>If she held on, it would pass like gas. "You are real!"</p>

-

-<p>She moved trancelike back into the room.</p>

-

-<p>"You see me now."</p>

-

-<p>"No. I heard you breathe."</p>

-

-<p>"Can you touch me?"</p>

-

-<p>"No."</p>

-

-<p>She heard her own blood in her ears. Her own breath forced itself

-between her lips. His breathing was gone. It was a dream.</p>

-

-<p>She said, "You're gone."</p>

-

-<p>"Over here on the arm of the couch."</p>

-

-<p>She turned. She fought to silence herself. She heard the soft breathing

-from the direction of the couch.</p>

-

-<p>"Who are you, Mr. Vassi?"</p>

-

-<p>"It's just Vassi, no mister. I already told you who and what I am."</p>

-

-<p>"A time traveler from some distant future," she said.</p>

-

-<p>"Most of your records disappeared in the final war. We want to pick up

-the traces. Best way to do that is to travel back in time."</p>

-

-<p>"It sounds like such a long way. How long?"</p>

-

-<p>If it was true, it was a miracle. If it wasn't ... Julia, you're a

-realist!</p>

-

-<p>"It would be a meaningless term for you. It's an age, an eon away."</p>

-

-<p>Julia sat down on the edge of the overstuffed chair. She noticed a

-faint layer of dust on the coffee table. The apartment looked messy

-with the bed out of the wall. Ever since the first visit to the doctor

-three weeks ago, she hadn't thought of cleaning.</p>

-

-<p>"I'm afraid the apartment doesn't look very presentable."</p>

-

-<p>"Aren't you comforted to know that the world has survived?"</p>

-

-<p>"But I won't survive." She looked at the dust again. "You see, I don't

-do much entertaining."</p>

-

-<p>"Is that so? I wouldn't know. Do you mind if I record our conversation?"</p>

-

-<p>"I don't mind. It's nice to have someone to talk to, even if I can't

-see you." Julia, you're a realist!</p>

-

-<p>"Yes. Well, that is a bother. Now would you mind telling me a few

-pertinent facts about civilization as you know it?"</p>

-

-<p>"I don't think I know too much about that sort of thing," said Julia.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>"I'd hoped to land in the middle of a library of some sort...." His

-voice broke off. "You don't seem to have much of a collection of books

-here."</p>

-

-<p>Julia said, "Are you near the bookcase?"</p>

-

-<p>"No wonder the records didn't last, if this is the way they were kept."</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi, can you touch the books?" She got up and went to the bookcase.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes."</p>

-

-<p>"Pick one up."</p>

-

-<p>"They're no use to me. This isn't history."</p>

-

-<p>"Pick one up!"</p>

-

-<p>"I haven't got the time. I have to move on."</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi, you touched the faucet, didn't you? And you knocked on the

-door."</p>

-

-<p>"Yes.... That <i>does</i> mean I can bring back artifacts!"</p>

-

-<p>"Why can't you touch me?"</p>

-

-<p>"Now I have to get to a place that will do me some good. A library, a

-store, isn't that what you call them? A museum.... Are any of these

-things nearby?"</p>

-

-<p>"Let me go with you. I'll be your guide. I'll&mdash;I'll show you my time."</p>

-

-<p>"But won't you be uncomfortable? I'm invisible."</p>

-

-<p>"I don't care! No one can steal you from me this way."</p>

-

-<p>"Steal me?"</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi, why can't you touch me!"</p>

-

-<p>"I'm not too sure. I think it's because you're alive. You see, life is

-a transient thing. Matter is continuous in one form or another. Matter

-existing today always existed and will always exist, or something like

-that. I didn't listen too carefully. Anyhow, it's possible for someone

-to travel back in time but not ahead. Do I make myself clear? It's out

-of my line, you know."</p>

-

-<p>Julia reached down and scooped up Belle. "Can you touch her?"</p>

-

-<p>"What is that?"</p>

-

-<p>"My cat. Can you touch her?"</p>

-

-<p>"A cat? My, the anatomists would love to see that! But it's the same as

-with you. My hand passes right through her."</p>

-

-<p>Julia put Belle back on the floor. Her mind was racing.</p>

-

-<p>Vassi said, "She's sitting right where I'm standing."</p>

-

-<p>"I've got to believe it's not a nightmare. I've got to believe you're

-real and that you can help me."</p>

-

-<p>"If I can do it quickly. I have so much else to do. Others are waiting

-to use the machine."</p>

-

-<p>"Are people well where you come from?"</p>

-

-<p>"Very well, thank you."</p>

-

-<p>"Are there any incurable diseases?" She tried to listen for his

-breathing.</p>

-

-<p>"Incurable? You mean sickness that doesn't respond to treatment? No, of

-course not."</p>

-

-<p>"Then take me with you!" she cried.</p>

-

-<p>"You just said you wanted to guide me here."</p>

-

-<p>"Take me with you to your time."</p>

-

-<p>"I can't do that. I can't even touch you."</p>

-

-<p>"There must be a way. You have got to think of something."</p>

-

-<p>"Even if I could take you, I'm not supposed to."</p>

-

-<p>"Why?"</p>

-

-<p>"It would mix up history to remove persons from their time. It might

-even be dangerous with artifacts. I suppose we couldn't hold onto them

-very long."</p>

-

-<p>"History? I have no history. I'm going to die very soon. No one depends

-on me. I have no one. Please take me, Vassi."</p>

-

-<p>"I feel very strange."</p>

-

-<p>"Are you all right?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes. I just feel&mdash;odd."</p>

-

-<p>"How...."</p>

-

-<p>"First you want to guide me, then you want to come with me, you don't

-care about mankind's survival. You sound so terrified and confused."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Julia sank down on the couch. If only she could see him. "Don't leave

-me to die."</p>

-

-<p>"How strange to talk about dying," said Vassi. "We all live so long we

-never think about it."</p>

-

-<p>"You will take me with you, Vassi?"</p>

-

-<p>"If people in your time have such short lives, then why does dying

-trouble you? It would seem a matter of course."</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi, I haven't lived yet."</p>

-

-<p>"This is out of my line. I'll tell you what. When I return, I'll talk

-to one of the scientists. If they're interested in the project, they'll

-send someone back."</p>

-

-<p>"How long will that be?"</p>

-

-<p>"Now let's see if I can figure in your time. Hmm.... I'd say about a

-year...."</p>

-

-<p>Julia closed her eyes. She felt dampness under the lids. Her voice was

-hollow as she spoke to the empty room. "I'll be dead in six months."</p>

-

-<p>And the voice in her head echoed, "Six months...."</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi, isn't there someone you can talk to now?"</p>

-

-<p>He didn't answer her.</p>

-

-<p>Julia looked around the room. "Vassi, are you still here? Vassi?

-Vassi, if you don't talk, I can't tell if you're still here! Vassi,

-please answer me. Did I talk too much? I didn't mean to run on about

-my problems. I know you have a job to do. Maybe you can squeeze me

-in. I don't want to keep you from your work. Vassi, you didn't go, did

-you? You didn't leave me! Don't leave. I believe in you. I believe in

-you...."</p>

-

-<p>And now she had the aloneness she had longed for. He was gone and she

-would be left with the Mrs. Shultzes and the doctor.</p>

-

-<p>She went from the living room to the kitchen to the bathroom and back

-into the living room, listening, hoping to catch the small sound of his

-breathing. But her body would not be quiet and she heard nothing except

-herself.</p>

-

-<p>She stood for a long while looking down at the bed. The sunlight

-drifted from the pillow onto the covers and finally spilled off the

-foot of the bed onto the floor and the room was a shade darker. She was

-a stone, but a stone whose blood gurgled and stomach rumbled and heart

-beat and pulse pounded, so loudly she could hear nothing else.</p>

-

-<p>Her legs gave way and she crumpled to the bed and she was silent at

-last.</p>

-

-<p>The breathing came from the direction of the window.</p>

-

-<p>She spoke into the covers. "Vassi, why didn't you answer me?"</p>

-

-<p>"You tempt me and I have so much to do, so much ground to cover."</p>

-

-<p>"You can come back."</p>

-

-<p>"We haven't got enough of these time centers. There's quite a lineup

-to use them. If I go now, there's no telling how long it'll take me to

-get back."</p>

-

-<p>Julia got up and went to the window. "Am I facing you?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes."</p>

-

-<p>"You're my only hope, wild as it seems. Vassi, wouldn't it be helpful

-to your research to have a real live person from my time to study?"</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Vassi spoke slowly. "You mean you would be willing to have us&mdash;study

-you?"</p>

-

-<p>"Within limits.... No, not within limits."</p>

-

-<p>"They'll be very angry if I come back without my research project."</p>

-

-<p>"Are people that cold in your time?" asked Julia.</p>

-

-<p>"Cold?" Vassi repeated in bewilderment.</p>

-

-<p>"Heartless?"</p>

-

-<p>"Heartless? I hardly think so."</p>

-

-<p>"I mean callous, without pity, without compassion."</p>

-

-<p>"I've been very busy. I haven't thought about it."</p>

-

-<p>"Do men and women marry in your time?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, they do."</p>

-

-<p>"Are you married?"</p>

-

-<p>"No, you see, I'm not very&mdash;presentable. Besides, I have my research."</p>

-

-<p>"To me you're the most beautiful man in the world."</p>

-

-<p>"You can't see me. If you saw me, you wouldn't think so."</p>

-

-<p>"I can hear you. That's all I need."</p>

-

-<p>Julia turned from the window and walked back to the couch. When she sat

-down she could feel herself trembling. Never, never in her life had she

-spoken to a man like that. Maybe, if she could see him, his eyes would

-be mocking her.</p>

-

-<p>She said, "If you take me back with you, then later when I'm well I

-could come back with you and show you everything you would want to see.

-Then I could be your guide."</p>

-

-<p>He was standing in front of her. She could hear him breathing again.

-There was excitement in his breathing; she was sure of it.</p>

-

-<p>He said, "I wish I could touch you. You're very beautiful."</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi, in my own time I'm ugly. Perhaps I belong in your time."</p>

-

-<p>Then the excitement that was in his breathing was in his voice. "All

-right. All right. I'll see what I can do. You wait right here. It may

-take me several years to get back. But I'll do it if I can...."</p>

-

-<p>"Several years! Vassi, I can't wait that long!" She was very near

-despair.</p>

-

-<p>"No, no, you don't understand. In your time it'll only be a matter of

-minutes. The controls would be set to right now, however long it may

-take to have the project approved in my time."</p>

-

-<p>The room was quiet. A slight breeze drifted in through the open window.

-Julia sat very still on the couch for a few moments. Belle rubbed

-herself against the coffee table and then climbed into Julia's lap.</p>

-

-<p>She had to hold on. She had to believe. A world with no illness. A

-world where people live practically forever. A world with Vassi.</p>

-

-<p>She scratched the cat behind the ears. Belle started to purr softly.</p>

-

-<p>"Belle," Julia said, "what am I going to do with you? Vassi will think

-of something. He's coming back, Belle. He's coming back and he'll take

-both of us with him."</p>

-

-<p>She picked up the cat and put it on the couch. Then she got up and went

-to the mirror over the dresser. She pushed her hair back from her face.</p>

-

-<p>He said I was beautiful. Not even my mother ever said I was beautiful.

-What will they think at the office when I don't come in tomorrow or

-even phone? They won't think anything. They'll get Sheila with the

-black hair and the big bust to do my work and they won't think about me

-at all.</p>

-

-<p>Even <i>that</i> one didn't say I was beautiful. Not even right after I

-moved in here and he was a little drunk, and he could have said it

-then. Then, of all times, but he didn't. He just looked a little

-ashamed, maybe disgusted afterward, and he talked about being late for

-a dinner appointment.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>There was a knock on the door. Julia whirled from the mirror. Vassi

-must have gotten a little off course. She hadn't thought of that

-possibility. She walked quickly to the door.</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi?" she asked.</p>

-

-<p>"It's me, Mrs. Shultz."</p>

-

-<p>"What do you want?"</p>

-

-<p>"You went to the doctor today. I expected you'd come by. Tell me, how

-are you?"</p>

-

-<p>"Go away."</p>

-

-<p>"Julia, open up. Maybe I can do something for you."</p>

-

-<p>"Go away. Please go away."</p>

-

-<p>"You're not feeling so well?"</p>

-

-<p>"No."</p>

-

-<p>"Bad news, maybe?"</p>

-

-<p>"I don't want to see anyone, Mrs. Shultz."</p>

-

-<p>"I understand. I'll come back later."</p>

-

-<p>Footsteps went down the hallway. A door opened. The sound of a

-television set. A door closed.</p>

-

-<p>Vassi, hurry! I don't know whether or not it really happened. I'm not

-sure now, Vassi. I am going out of my mind. I am clutching at straws.

-Come back, Vassi. Come back. Reassure me.</p>

-

-<p>"They said it would work."</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi!"</p>

-

-<p>"They said it would work, but it sounds like a terrible risk. We'll do

-it with the cat first."</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi, where are you?"</p>

-

-<p>"Right in front of you. Now listen carefully."</p>

-

-<p>"Are you going to take me with you?"</p>

-

-<p>"We'll try the cat first. If it works with the cat, then we'll try you."</p>

-

-<p>Julia was trembling. "What do I do?"</p>

-

-<p>"The first thing we have to do is kill the cat."</p>

-

-<p>"What are you talking about!"</p>

-

-<p>"When the cat is dead, it will become as inanimate an object as any of

-those books over there. In that state I should be able to transport it

-to my time. There the doctors will revive it. Everything is ready."</p>

-

-<p>"I can't kill my cat!"</p>

-

-<p>"If it works, it's only temporary."</p>

-

-<p>"And if it doesn't work?" she whispered.</p>

-

-<p>"I'd rather it be the cat than you."</p>

-

-<p>"I never dreamed...."</p>

-

-<p>"We'll have to hurry. They are waiting."</p>

-

-<p>"I can't kill Belle."</p>

-

-<p>"You're not killing her. You're transporting her."</p>

-

-<p>The tears were in Julia's eyes again. "It's crazy. I'm crazy."</p>

-

-<p>"Look, I'd do it, but I can't physically touch the cat."</p>

-

-<p>"I know. I know."</p>

-

-<p>"They said suffocation was best. It leaves fewer complications."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Julia bent down and picked up the cat. Her tears fell on the animal's

-fur. She held it close to her. The cat was quiet, unknowing.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="650" height="492" alt=""/>

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p>Julia said, "Do me first."</p>

-

-<p>"Even if I could, I would not," said Vassi. "The cat first."</p>

-

-<p>"I've had her since she was a kitten, a little round ball with a button

-for a nose. I can't do this to her. If it does not work.... This is my

-madness, not hers!"</p>

-

-<p>"What were you going to do with her six months from now?"</p>

-

-<p>"Six months.... Alone, she would be left alone.... Belle has never

-been alone except for the hours when I'm at work. Who would take care

-of her? She's such a fussy eater. I have to feed her liver from my

-hand...."</p>

-

-<p>"You'll be together."</p>

-

-<p>"Together...."</p>

-

-<p>"Take one of the pillows on the bed. Don't think about it! Do it!"</p>

-

-<p>Julia carried Belle over to the bed. As she tried to put it down, one

-of its claws became entangled in her dress. The cat started to struggle

-as if finally awakened. Julia reached over for a pillow. Sweat stood

-out on her forehead. Her tears blinded her. She saw the mass of fur.

-She saw the softness. The claws were freed. She brought the pillow

-down over Belle.</p>

-

-<p>Julia blacked out, sprawled across the pillow.</p>

-

-<p>She couldn't have been out long. She pulled herself from the bed. The

-pillow was on the floor. Belle was gone.</p>

-

-<p>Vassi's voice was in her head. "It worked! The anatomists are wild!

-I've never seen so much excitement!"</p>

-

-<p>"Belle is all right?"</p>

-

-<p>"Wonderful. It took them no time at all to revive her. The laboratory

-is a bedlam. Everyone wants to examine her."</p>

-

-<p>"How should I do it? I'll never be able to suffocate myself." She

-laughed a little. "I can't even turn on the gas range. Mine is

-electric."</p>

-

-<p>She looked around the apartment. If she slashed her wrists there would

-be too much blood. She hated blood. The thought of poison repelled her.

-Wait&mdash;she had it.</p>

-

-<p>She pulled one of the sheets off the bed and twisted it. She pushed the

-overstuffed chair into the center of the room and stood on one of the

-arms to attach an end of the sheet to the ceiling fixture. At the other

-end she made a noose.</p>

-

-<p>There was a knock on the door again.</p>

-

-<p>"Julia, if you're not well, it's no good you should be alone," Mrs.

-Shultz said.</p>

-

-<p>Julia slipped the noose over her head.</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi, do you love me?"</p>

-

-<p>"Of course. I just hope you'll love me."</p>

-

-<p>Mrs. Shultz knocked hard. "Julia, I hear you talking. I know you're

-home. Let me in. I have some soup for you."</p>

-

-<p>"Vassi, do you think I'm beautiful?"</p>

-

-<p>"The most beautiful woman I have ever seen."</p>

-

-<p>Mrs. Shultz pounded on the door. "Julia, why don't you answer me?"</p>

-

-<p>As Julia stepped off the arm of the chair, she saw the open window. A

-thought crossed her mind before the noose tightened. Belle could have

-jumped out of the window when I passed out. <i>Julia, you're a realist!</i></p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Mrs. Shultz put down the pot of soup and opened the door.</p>

-

-<p>The apartment is called a single. It consists of a Murphy bed, a

-chest of drawers, an overstuffed chair, a sofa, a coffee table, a

-seventeen-inch television set, a bookcase partially filled with the

-volumes A through F of an encyclopedia from the supermarket, and

-assorted paperback books, and a radio that doesn't work. In the ceiling

-is a fixture with two twenty-five-watt bulbs. From the fixture hangs

-a twisted sheet with a hangman's knot in the end of it. The noose is

-quite empty. So is the apartment.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="183" height="500" alt=""/>

-</div>

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-<pre>

-

-

-

-

-

-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Vassi, by Art Lewis

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+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 60921 ***</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<h1>VASSI</h1>
+
+<h2>By ART LEWIS</h2>
+
+<p class="ph1"><i>The apartment was empty. So<br />
+was she. But not for long.</i></p>
+
+<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br />
+Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1961.<br />
+Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br />
+the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p>The apartment is called a single. It contains a Murphy bed, a chest of
+drawers, an overstuffed chair, a sofa, a coffee table, a seventeen-inch
+television set, a bookcase partially filled with the volumes A through
+F of an encyclopedia from the supermarket, assorted paperback books,
+and a radio that doesn't work. In the ceiling is a fixture with two
+twenty-five-watt bulbs. A short hallway leads to the bathroom and the
+kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>Julia Fenway stood outside her apartment, fumbling in her bag for her
+keys. She had never had any trouble finding her keys before. Her purse
+was always neat and orderly. And she was breathing hard. Breathing
+hard from the short walk from the bus at the corner and down the long
+corridor to the private, the lonesome apartment door.</p>
+
+<p>Those keys! Where are those keys! I'm becoming a regular pack rat
+lately. Look at that bag! Did you ever see so much junk? She thrust
+her hand deep inside and felt around. A crumpled kleenex, worn-out
+lipstick, change purse, pencils, movie stubs ... a coldness, the keys.
+Her heart was pounding. She pressed the hand with the keys to her
+bosom. It <i>was</i> pounding. At least it was working.</p>
+
+<p>She managed to get the door open just as the landlady's door down the
+hall gushed forth cooked cabbage odor and Mrs. Shultz stuck her head
+out. Julia closed her door behind her until she heard the lock click.
+Of all the people in the world, why was it the Mrs. Shultzes she
+attracted?</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of the lock, the cat, Belle, poked her head out of the
+kitchen. She walked lazily into the room, rubbing her side along the
+wall to scratch off the sleep. Then she leaped to the top of the
+dresser and started to wash herself.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Julia stood with her back against the door. Her arms, tired of reaching
+out, hung limply against her sides. A ray of sunlight streamed through
+the partly open window and a little pool of it snuggled on her pillow.
+It had been such a long ride in from Beverly Hills and on two buses.
+She had sat in the back where it wasn't so crowded and the smell of
+exhaust was still in her nostrils.</p>
+
+<p>She walked over to the dresser and put her purse down beside the cat
+and ran her fingers caressingly through the soft fur. Belle took a
+swipe with a hind paw. Julia rested her head on the dresser.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to die, Belle."</p>
+
+<p>The cat sat up and lifted a front paw. She washed it with little
+delicate strokes from her tongue.</p>
+
+<p>Julia moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. She slipped
+her shoes off. Her feet hurt. They always hurt in heels. Why does one
+get dressed up to see the doctor? He could have told her she had six
+months to live while she was wearing flats.</p>
+
+<p>He didn't actually blurt it out as I walked in the door. He fooled
+around under that sheet for a long time. And then he said it. No, not
+then either. He just looked pained and hurt and a little white around
+the lips and he told me to get dressed and come into his office. He had
+the lab reports on his desk and he pounded on them and he said you're
+as good as dead now!</p>
+
+<p>I wish he had! Then I could hate him. I could hate instead of feeling
+numb all over. He didn't want to tell me anything. Just get ready for
+an operation. No, there really wasn't any rush. But soon. And then I
+dragged it out of him. I insisted I had a right to know. It was my
+life. No, I don't have any family here. No one ... no one! A brother in
+New York. Don't call him! The doctor stammered like a schoolboy who's
+unprepared in class.</p>
+
+<p>Julia fell back on the bed. She stared at the unlighted ceiling
+fixture. She should cry, but she'd cried in the doctor's office and
+there was nothing left to cry. Six months to live. Maybe only five
+months. Certainly no more than seven with the operation.</p>
+
+<p>A spring in the bed got her in the back. She ought to tell Mrs. Shultz
+to fix that. She certainly didn't want to spend her last six months
+sleeping on a loose spring. Spend her last six months!</p>
+
+<p>She turned over on her stomach and pressed her face into the blanket.
+Her body was rigid. She tried to contemplate her own death. She should
+call her brother. No, she would die first.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, excuse me, my name is Vassi."</p>
+
+<p>Julia raised her head and looked around the room. It was empty.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you say this is a typical prior dwelling?"</p>
+
+<p>Julia sat up. There was no one.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I hadn't thought of that possibility. I suppose we don't have a
+similar frame of reference. You'll never understand my thoughts."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>She got off the bed. She walked around the room and her stocking feet
+made little padded sounds on the cotton carpet. Then she crossed to the
+door of the apartment and pressed her ear against it.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you a ventriloquist?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"A ventriloquist? Oh, my, no. I'm an historian." The voice was in her
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm insane." It had to happen. She touched her finger-tips to her
+mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that so? That's too bad. We're over and done with that sort of
+thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll wash my face with cold water. It must be the strain. I shouldn't
+have forced the doctor...."</p>
+
+<p>"You <i>are</i> alone, aren't you? I looked around rather carefully.
+I didn't see anyone except that ... that thing on that piece of
+furniture."</p>
+
+<p>Julia looked at Belle. The cat was asleep on the dresser. She started
+to walk to the bathroom but stopped in front of the bed and sat down.
+Her head was going to burst.</p>
+
+<p>"Please" she said. "Please stop."</p>
+
+<p>"I really don't want to intrude. But I have my recorder right here.
+It won't take long and then I must move on. Now I notice you're fully
+dressed. Most remarkable. We always thought you prior people indulged
+in sex orgies almost continuously."</p>
+
+<p>"My God!"</p>
+
+<p>"Your thoughts are confused. Is it because you're insane? You haven't
+had much experience in thought projection, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>Julia jumped from the bed and ran into the bathroom. She locked the
+door behind her and turned on the cold water full force. She cupped her
+hands under the faucet and plunged her face into the cascading coldness.</p>
+
+<p>My name is Julia Fenway. I'm a file clerk at Continental Insurance. I'm
+going to die and I'm not preoccupied with sex.</p>
+
+<p>She turned off the faucet and stared into the sink. The water gathered
+into a little whirlpool and disappeared down the drain. There was a
+knock on the bathroom door.</p>
+
+<p>The voice was in her head. "I wonder if I could see that. We have some
+rather indistinct writings on running water. I'd like to bring them up
+to date."</p>
+
+<p>The cold water didn't help. If anything, it was worse now. The knocking
+came from the door. She was sure of it. But the voice ... the voice was
+inside her.</p>
+
+<p>"May I come in?"</p>
+
+<p>Julia sat down on the edge of the tub. She squeezed her head between
+her hands. I don't deserve this. What did I do to deserve this?</p>
+
+<p>"Please. I'm on a tight schedule."</p>
+
+<p>"So am I! Go away!" She was talking to it. She was talking to the voice
+in her head.</p>
+
+<p>Then it was very quiet. Julia watched the door, waiting for someone to
+walk through its solidness. Nothing happened. She lowered her head and
+started to count the tiny tiles in the floor.</p>
+
+<p>If I count one row very carefully, it will take me five minutes, two
+rows ten minutes, three rows....</p>
+
+<p>She started to count.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>As she was midway through the fourth row, the voice said, "I don't
+think you realize the importance of my visit. We recognize your right
+of privacy, but don't you feel in this case...?"</p>
+
+<p>Julia jumped up and pulled open the door. "Let me die in peace!"</p>
+
+<p>She ran into the other room and stood in the middle of it, looking all
+around, breathing hard. Belle leaped down from the dresser, her doze
+finished, and rubbed against Julia's leg.</p>
+
+<p>The water in the bathroom was running.</p>
+
+<p>She hadn't shut it off. But she had. She had.</p>
+
+<p>The water started again. It stopped. It started. It stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"How quaint."</p>
+
+<p>There is someone here!</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm chief historian, research division. It's my first trip in time.
+The scientists have been playing around with this thing for years and
+they've only just let us take it over."</p>
+
+<p>A time traveler! Julia stood very still. Her eyes searched the room
+slowly once again. The window was open about three inches. Too small
+for anyone to squeeze through. The door was locked from the inside.
+There was absolutely no one in the room. In her desperate state, she
+was hunting for an out. She was involved in a fairy story. Her body
+started to relax.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't see you, Mr. Vassi."</p>
+
+<p>I can't accept death. I'm looking for escape.</p>
+
+<p>"You can't see me? I'm standing right in front of you."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't see you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand. I can see you. Here, take my hand."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, Julia hoped. There was nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I can't touch you!"</p>
+
+<p>Not even a breath of wind.</p>
+
+<p>Julia walked over to the dresser and took a package of cigarettes out
+of her handbag. She carried it over to the sofa and sat down.</p>
+
+<p>"You walked through me!"</p>
+
+<p>She lit the cigarette, inhaled deeply and blew out the smoke in a long
+steady stream. When she was a little girl and she had a sharp pain in
+her side, her mother would say it's only gas, hold on, it'll pass.</p>
+
+<p>She would hold on.... Mother, help me!</p>
+
+<p>The voice in her head. "I wish I had paid more attention to those
+scientists. What was it they said? I had so much to do before I left.
+Something about transporting living matter.... Are you <i>sure</i> I'm
+invisible?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you people have trouble with your eyes? No, that's not it. I can't
+touch you. And I'd expected to bring back some artifacts. I am terribly
+disappointed."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"And well you might be. It's going to be extremely difficult going
+around asking people a lot of questions when they can't see me. You
+must have had quite a start."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop it! Stop it! My head. Oh, dear God, my head!" Julia got up. "I'm
+going out!"</p>
+
+<p>"You are having trouble with the thought projection. I'll sit down and
+be quiet for a moment."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The voice stopped. Julia paused at the door. The room was quiet.
+Breathing! She heard breathing. Her own? She held her breath. It was
+there in the room. She was sure of it.</p>
+
+<p>It was a whisper in her throat. "You are real."</p>
+
+<p>The faucet, the water, the knock on the door. "You are real!"</p>
+
+<p>If she held on, it would pass like gas. "You are real!"</p>
+
+<p>She moved trancelike back into the room.</p>
+
+<p>"You see me now."</p>
+
+<p>"No. I heard you breathe."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you touch me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>She heard her own blood in her ears. Her own breath forced itself
+between her lips. His breathing was gone. It was a dream.</p>
+
+<p>She said, "You're gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Over here on the arm of the couch."</p>
+
+<p>She turned. She fought to silence herself. She heard the soft breathing
+from the direction of the couch.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you, Mr. Vassi?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's just Vassi, no mister. I already told you who and what I am."</p>
+
+<p>"A time traveler from some distant future," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Most of your records disappeared in the final war. We want to pick up
+the traces. Best way to do that is to travel back in time."</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds like such a long way. How long?"</p>
+
+<p>If it was true, it was a miracle. If it wasn't ... Julia, you're a
+realist!</p>
+
+<p>"It would be a meaningless term for you. It's an age, an eon away."</p>
+
+<p>Julia sat down on the edge of the overstuffed chair. She noticed a
+faint layer of dust on the coffee table. The apartment looked messy
+with the bed out of the wall. Ever since the first visit to the doctor
+three weeks ago, she hadn't thought of cleaning.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid the apartment doesn't look very presentable."</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't you comforted to know that the world has survived?"</p>
+
+<p>"But I won't survive." She looked at the dust again. "You see, I don't
+do much entertaining."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that so? I wouldn't know. Do you mind if I record our conversation?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mind. It's nice to have someone to talk to, even if I can't
+see you." Julia, you're a realist!</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Well, that is a bother. Now would you mind telling me a few
+pertinent facts about civilization as you know it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I know too much about that sort of thing," said Julia.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"I'd hoped to land in the middle of a library of some sort...." His
+voice broke off. "You don't seem to have much of a collection of books
+here."</p>
+
+<p>Julia said, "Are you near the bookcase?"</p>
+
+<p>"No wonder the records didn't last, if this is the way they were kept."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, can you touch the books?" She got up and went to the bookcase.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Pick one up."</p>
+
+<p>"They're no use to me. This isn't history."</p>
+
+<p>"Pick one up!"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't got the time. I have to move on."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, you touched the faucet, didn't you? And you knocked on the
+door."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes.... That <i>does</i> mean I can bring back artifacts!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why can't you touch me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Now I have to get to a place that will do me some good. A library, a
+store, isn't that what you call them? A museum.... Are any of these
+things nearby?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me go with you. I'll be your guide. I'll&mdash;I'll show you my time."</p>
+
+<p>"But won't you be uncomfortable? I'm invisible."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care! No one can steal you from me this way."</p>
+
+<p>"Steal me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, why can't you touch me!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not too sure. I think it's because you're alive. You see, life is
+a transient thing. Matter is continuous in one form or another. Matter
+existing today always existed and will always exist, or something like
+that. I didn't listen too carefully. Anyhow, it's possible for someone
+to travel back in time but not ahead. Do I make myself clear? It's out
+of my line, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Julia reached down and scooped up Belle. "Can you touch her?"</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"My cat. Can you touch her?"</p>
+
+<p>"A cat? My, the anatomists would love to see that! But it's the same as
+with you. My hand passes right through her."</p>
+
+<p>Julia put Belle back on the floor. Her mind was racing.</p>
+
+<p>Vassi said, "She's sitting right where I'm standing."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got to believe it's not a nightmare. I've got to believe you're
+real and that you can help me."</p>
+
+<p>"If I can do it quickly. I have so much else to do. Others are waiting
+to use the machine."</p>
+
+<p>"Are people well where you come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"Are there any incurable diseases?" She tried to listen for his
+breathing.</p>
+
+<p>"Incurable? You mean sickness that doesn't respond to treatment? No, of
+course not."</p>
+
+<p>"Then take me with you!" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>"You just said you wanted to guide me here."</p>
+
+<p>"Take me with you to your time."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't do that. I can't even touch you."</p>
+
+<p>"There must be a way. You have got to think of something."</p>
+
+<p>"Even if I could take you, I'm not supposed to."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would mix up history to remove persons from their time. It might
+even be dangerous with artifacts. I suppose we couldn't hold onto them
+very long."</p>
+
+<p>"History? I have no history. I'm going to die very soon. No one depends
+on me. I have no one. Please take me, Vassi."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel very strange."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you all right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I just feel&mdash;odd."</p>
+
+<p>"How...."</p>
+
+<p>"First you want to guide me, then you want to come with me, you don't
+care about mankind's survival. You sound so terrified and confused."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Julia sank down on the couch. If only she could see him. "Don't leave
+me to die."</p>
+
+<p>"How strange to talk about dying," said Vassi. "We all live so long we
+never think about it."</p>
+
+<p>"You will take me with you, Vassi?"</p>
+
+<p>"If people in your time have such short lives, then why does dying
+trouble you? It would seem a matter of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, I haven't lived yet."</p>
+
+<p>"This is out of my line. I'll tell you what. When I return, I'll talk
+to one of the scientists. If they're interested in the project, they'll
+send someone back."</p>
+
+<p>"How long will that be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Now let's see if I can figure in your time. Hmm.... I'd say about a
+year...."</p>
+
+<p>Julia closed her eyes. She felt dampness under the lids. Her voice was
+hollow as she spoke to the empty room. "I'll be dead in six months."</p>
+
+<p>And the voice in her head echoed, "Six months...."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, isn't there someone you can talk to now?"</p>
+
+<p>He didn't answer her.</p>
+
+<p>Julia looked around the room. "Vassi, are you still here? Vassi?
+Vassi, if you don't talk, I can't tell if you're still here! Vassi,
+please answer me. Did I talk too much? I didn't mean to run on about
+my problems. I know you have a job to do. Maybe you can squeeze me
+in. I don't want to keep you from your work. Vassi, you didn't go, did
+you? You didn't leave me! Don't leave. I believe in you. I believe in
+you...."</p>
+
+<p>And now she had the aloneness she had longed for. He was gone and she
+would be left with the Mrs. Shultzes and the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>She went from the living room to the kitchen to the bathroom and back
+into the living room, listening, hoping to catch the small sound of his
+breathing. But her body would not be quiet and she heard nothing except
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>She stood for a long while looking down at the bed. The sunlight
+drifted from the pillow onto the covers and finally spilled off the
+foot of the bed onto the floor and the room was a shade darker. She was
+a stone, but a stone whose blood gurgled and stomach rumbled and heart
+beat and pulse pounded, so loudly she could hear nothing else.</p>
+
+<p>Her legs gave way and she crumpled to the bed and she was silent at
+last.</p>
+
+<p>The breathing came from the direction of the window.</p>
+
+<p>She spoke into the covers. "Vassi, why didn't you answer me?"</p>
+
+<p>"You tempt me and I have so much to do, so much ground to cover."</p>
+
+<p>"You can come back."</p>
+
+<p>"We haven't got enough of these time centers. There's quite a lineup
+to use them. If I go now, there's no telling how long it'll take me to
+get back."</p>
+
+<p>Julia got up and went to the window. "Am I facing you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"You're my only hope, wild as it seems. Vassi, wouldn't it be helpful
+to your research to have a real live person from my time to study?"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Vassi spoke slowly. "You mean you would be willing to have us&mdash;study
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Within limits.... No, not within limits."</p>
+
+<p>"They'll be very angry if I come back without my research project."</p>
+
+<p>"Are people that cold in your time?" asked Julia.</p>
+
+<p>"Cold?" Vassi repeated in bewilderment.</p>
+
+<p>"Heartless?"</p>
+
+<p>"Heartless? I hardly think so."</p>
+
+<p>"I mean callous, without pity, without compassion."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been very busy. I haven't thought about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Do men and women marry in your time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they do."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you married?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, you see, I'm not very&mdash;presentable. Besides, I have my research."</p>
+
+<p>"To me you're the most beautiful man in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't see me. If you saw me, you wouldn't think so."</p>
+
+<p>"I can hear you. That's all I need."</p>
+
+<p>Julia turned from the window and walked back to the couch. When she sat
+down she could feel herself trembling. Never, never in her life had she
+spoken to a man like that. Maybe, if she could see him, his eyes would
+be mocking her.</p>
+
+<p>She said, "If you take me back with you, then later when I'm well I
+could come back with you and show you everything you would want to see.
+Then I could be your guide."</p>
+
+<p>He was standing in front of her. She could hear him breathing again.
+There was excitement in his breathing; she was sure of it.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "I wish I could touch you. You're very beautiful."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, in my own time I'm ugly. Perhaps I belong in your time."</p>
+
+<p>Then the excitement that was in his breathing was in his voice. "All
+right. All right. I'll see what I can do. You wait right here. It may
+take me several years to get back. But I'll do it if I can...."</p>
+
+<p>"Several years! Vassi, I can't wait that long!" She was very near
+despair.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, you don't understand. In your time it'll only be a matter of
+minutes. The controls would be set to right now, however long it may
+take to have the project approved in my time."</p>
+
+<p>The room was quiet. A slight breeze drifted in through the open window.
+Julia sat very still on the couch for a few moments. Belle rubbed
+herself against the coffee table and then climbed into Julia's lap.</p>
+
+<p>She had to hold on. She had to believe. A world with no illness. A
+world where people live practically forever. A world with Vassi.</p>
+
+<p>She scratched the cat behind the ears. Belle started to purr softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Belle," Julia said, "what am I going to do with you? Vassi will think
+of something. He's coming back, Belle. He's coming back and he'll take
+both of us with him."</p>
+
+<p>She picked up the cat and put it on the couch. Then she got up and went
+to the mirror over the dresser. She pushed her hair back from her face.</p>
+
+<p>He said I was beautiful. Not even my mother ever said I was beautiful.
+What will they think at the office when I don't come in tomorrow or
+even phone? They won't think anything. They'll get Sheila with the
+black hair and the big bust to do my work and they won't think about me
+at all.</p>
+
+<p>Even <i>that</i> one didn't say I was beautiful. Not even right after I
+moved in here and he was a little drunk, and he could have said it
+then. Then, of all times, but he didn't. He just looked a little
+ashamed, maybe disgusted afterward, and he talked about being late for
+a dinner appointment.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>There was a knock on the door. Julia whirled from the mirror. Vassi
+must have gotten a little off course. She hadn't thought of that
+possibility. She walked quickly to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It's me, Mrs. Shultz."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"You went to the doctor today. I expected you'd come by. Tell me, how
+are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Go away."</p>
+
+<p>"Julia, open up. Maybe I can do something for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Go away. Please go away."</p>
+
+<p>"You're not feeling so well?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Bad news, maybe?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to see anyone, Mrs. Shultz."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand. I'll come back later."</p>
+
+<p>Footsteps went down the hallway. A door opened. The sound of a
+television set. A door closed.</p>
+
+<p>Vassi, hurry! I don't know whether or not it really happened. I'm not
+sure now, Vassi. I am going out of my mind. I am clutching at straws.
+Come back, Vassi. Come back. Reassure me.</p>
+
+<p>"They said it would work."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi!"</p>
+
+<p>"They said it would work, but it sounds like a terrible risk. We'll do
+it with the cat first."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, where are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Right in front of you. Now listen carefully."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to take me with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll try the cat first. If it works with the cat, then we'll try you."</p>
+
+<p>Julia was trembling. "What do I do?"</p>
+
+<p>"The first thing we have to do is kill the cat."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you talking about!"</p>
+
+<p>"When the cat is dead, it will become as inanimate an object as any of
+those books over there. In that state I should be able to transport it
+to my time. There the doctors will revive it. Everything is ready."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't kill my cat!"</p>
+
+<p>"If it works, it's only temporary."</p>
+
+<p>"And if it doesn't work?" she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather it be the cat than you."</p>
+
+<p>"I never dreamed...."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to hurry. They are waiting."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't kill Belle."</p>
+
+<p>"You're not killing her. You're transporting her."</p>
+
+<p>The tears were in Julia's eyes again. "It's crazy. I'm crazy."</p>
+
+<p>"Look, I'd do it, but I can't physically touch the cat."</p>
+
+<p>"I know. I know."</p>
+
+<p>"They said suffocation was best. It leaves fewer complications."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Julia bent down and picked up the cat. Her tears fell on the animal's
+fur. She held it close to her. The cat was quiet, unknowing.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="650" height="492" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p>Julia said, "Do me first."</p>
+
+<p>"Even if I could, I would not," said Vassi. "The cat first."</p>
+
+<p>"I've had her since she was a kitten, a little round ball with a button
+for a nose. I can't do this to her. If it does not work.... This is my
+madness, not hers!"</p>
+
+<p>"What were you going to do with her six months from now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Six months.... Alone, she would be left alone.... Belle has never
+been alone except for the hours when I'm at work. Who would take care
+of her? She's such a fussy eater. I have to feed her liver from my
+hand...."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll be together."</p>
+
+<p>"Together...."</p>
+
+<p>"Take one of the pillows on the bed. Don't think about it! Do it!"</p>
+
+<p>Julia carried Belle over to the bed. As she tried to put it down, one
+of its claws became entangled in her dress. The cat started to struggle
+as if finally awakened. Julia reached over for a pillow. Sweat stood
+out on her forehead. Her tears blinded her. She saw the mass of fur.
+She saw the softness. The claws were freed. She brought the pillow
+down over Belle.</p>
+
+<p>Julia blacked out, sprawled across the pillow.</p>
+
+<p>She couldn't have been out long. She pulled herself from the bed. The
+pillow was on the floor. Belle was gone.</p>
+
+<p>Vassi's voice was in her head. "It worked! The anatomists are wild!
+I've never seen so much excitement!"</p>
+
+<p>"Belle is all right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wonderful. It took them no time at all to revive her. The laboratory
+is a bedlam. Everyone wants to examine her."</p>
+
+<p>"How should I do it? I'll never be able to suffocate myself." She
+laughed a little. "I can't even turn on the gas range. Mine is
+electric."</p>
+
+<p>She looked around the apartment. If she slashed her wrists there would
+be too much blood. She hated blood. The thought of poison repelled her.
+Wait&mdash;she had it.</p>
+
+<p>She pulled one of the sheets off the bed and twisted it. She pushed the
+overstuffed chair into the center of the room and stood on one of the
+arms to attach an end of the sheet to the ceiling fixture. At the other
+end she made a noose.</p>
+
+<p>There was a knock on the door again.</p>
+
+<p>"Julia, if you're not well, it's no good you should be alone," Mrs.
+Shultz said.</p>
+
+<p>Julia slipped the noose over her head.</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, do you love me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course. I just hope you'll love me."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shultz knocked hard. "Julia, I hear you talking. I know you're
+home. Let me in. I have some soup for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, do you think I'm beautiful?"</p>
+
+<p>"The most beautiful woman I have ever seen."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shultz pounded on the door. "Julia, why don't you answer me?"</p>
+
+<p>As Julia stepped off the arm of the chair, she saw the open window. A
+thought crossed her mind before the noose tightened. Belle could have
+jumped out of the window when I passed out. <i>Julia, you're a realist!</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Mrs. Shultz put down the pot of soup and opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>The apartment is called a single. It consists of a Murphy bed, a
+chest of drawers, an overstuffed chair, a sofa, a coffee table, a
+seventeen-inch television set, a bookcase partially filled with the
+volumes A through F of an encyclopedia from the supermarket, and
+assorted paperback books, and a radio that doesn't work. In the ceiling
+is a fixture with two twenty-five-watt bulbs. From the fixture hangs
+a twisted sheet with a hangman's knot in the end of it. The noose is
+quite empty. So is the apartment.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="183" height="500" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 60921 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Vassi, by Art Lewis.
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vassi, by Art Lewis
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world 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.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll
+have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using
+this ebook.
+
+
+
+Title: Vassi
+
+Author: Art Lewis
+
+Release Date: December 14, 2019 [EBook #60921]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VASSI ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<h1>VASSI</h1>
+
+<h2>By ART LEWIS</h2>
+
+<p class="ph1"><i>The apartment was empty. So<br />
+was she. But not for long.</i></p>
+
+<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br />
+Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1961.<br />
+Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br />
+the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p>The apartment is called a single. It contains a Murphy bed, a chest of
+drawers, an overstuffed chair, a sofa, a coffee table, a seventeen-inch
+television set, a bookcase partially filled with the volumes A through
+F of an encyclopedia from the supermarket, assorted paperback books,
+and a radio that doesn't work. In the ceiling is a fixture with two
+twenty-five-watt bulbs. A short hallway leads to the bathroom and the
+kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>Julia Fenway stood outside her apartment, fumbling in her bag for her
+keys. She had never had any trouble finding her keys before. Her purse
+was always neat and orderly. And she was breathing hard. Breathing
+hard from the short walk from the bus at the corner and down the long
+corridor to the private, the lonesome apartment door.</p>
+
+<p>Those keys! Where are those keys! I'm becoming a regular pack rat
+lately. Look at that bag! Did you ever see so much junk? She thrust
+her hand deep inside and felt around. A crumpled kleenex, worn-out
+lipstick, change purse, pencils, movie stubs ... a coldness, the keys.
+Her heart was pounding. She pressed the hand with the keys to her
+bosom. It <i>was</i> pounding. At least it was working.</p>
+
+<p>She managed to get the door open just as the landlady's door down the
+hall gushed forth cooked cabbage odor and Mrs. Shultz stuck her head
+out. Julia closed her door behind her until she heard the lock click.
+Of all the people in the world, why was it the Mrs. Shultzes she
+attracted?</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of the lock, the cat, Belle, poked her head out of the
+kitchen. She walked lazily into the room, rubbing her side along the
+wall to scratch off the sleep. Then she leaped to the top of the
+dresser and started to wash herself.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Julia stood with her back against the door. Her arms, tired of reaching
+out, hung limply against her sides. A ray of sunlight streamed through
+the partly open window and a little pool of it snuggled on her pillow.
+It had been such a long ride in from Beverly Hills and on two buses.
+She had sat in the back where it wasn't so crowded and the smell of
+exhaust was still in her nostrils.</p>
+
+<p>She walked over to the dresser and put her purse down beside the cat
+and ran her fingers caressingly through the soft fur. Belle took a
+swipe with a hind paw. Julia rested her head on the dresser.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to die, Belle."</p>
+
+<p>The cat sat up and lifted a front paw. She washed it with little
+delicate strokes from her tongue.</p>
+
+<p>Julia moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. She slipped
+her shoes off. Her feet hurt. They always hurt in heels. Why does one
+get dressed up to see the doctor? He could have told her she had six
+months to live while she was wearing flats.</p>
+
+<p>He didn't actually blurt it out as I walked in the door. He fooled
+around under that sheet for a long time. And then he said it. No, not
+then either. He just looked pained and hurt and a little white around
+the lips and he told me to get dressed and come into his office. He had
+the lab reports on his desk and he pounded on them and he said you're
+as good as dead now!</p>
+
+<p>I wish he had! Then I could hate him. I could hate instead of feeling
+numb all over. He didn't want to tell me anything. Just get ready for
+an operation. No, there really wasn't any rush. But soon. And then I
+dragged it out of him. I insisted I had a right to know. It was my
+life. No, I don't have any family here. No one ... no one! A brother in
+New York. Don't call him! The doctor stammered like a schoolboy who's
+unprepared in class.</p>
+
+<p>Julia fell back on the bed. She stared at the unlighted ceiling
+fixture. She should cry, but she'd cried in the doctor's office and
+there was nothing left to cry. Six months to live. Maybe only five
+months. Certainly no more than seven with the operation.</p>
+
+<p>A spring in the bed got her in the back. She ought to tell Mrs. Shultz
+to fix that. She certainly didn't want to spend her last six months
+sleeping on a loose spring. Spend her last six months!</p>
+
+<p>She turned over on her stomach and pressed her face into the blanket.
+Her body was rigid. She tried to contemplate her own death. She should
+call her brother. No, she would die first.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, excuse me, my name is Vassi."</p>
+
+<p>Julia raised her head and looked around the room. It was empty.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you say this is a typical prior dwelling?"</p>
+
+<p>Julia sat up. There was no one.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I hadn't thought of that possibility. I suppose we don't have a
+similar frame of reference. You'll never understand my thoughts."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>She got off the bed. She walked around the room and her stocking feet
+made little padded sounds on the cotton carpet. Then she crossed to the
+door of the apartment and pressed her ear against it.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you a ventriloquist?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"A ventriloquist? Oh, my, no. I'm an historian." The voice was in her
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm insane." It had to happen. She touched her finger-tips to her
+mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that so? That's too bad. We're over and done with that sort of
+thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll wash my face with cold water. It must be the strain. I shouldn't
+have forced the doctor...."</p>
+
+<p>"You <i>are</i> alone, aren't you? I looked around rather carefully.
+I didn't see anyone except that ... that thing on that piece of
+furniture."</p>
+
+<p>Julia looked at Belle. The cat was asleep on the dresser. She started
+to walk to the bathroom but stopped in front of the bed and sat down.
+Her head was going to burst.</p>
+
+<p>"Please" she said. "Please stop."</p>
+
+<p>"I really don't want to intrude. But I have my recorder right here.
+It won't take long and then I must move on. Now I notice you're fully
+dressed. Most remarkable. We always thought you prior people indulged
+in sex orgies almost continuously."</p>
+
+<p>"My God!"</p>
+
+<p>"Your thoughts are confused. Is it because you're insane? You haven't
+had much experience in thought projection, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>Julia jumped from the bed and ran into the bathroom. She locked the
+door behind her and turned on the cold water full force. She cupped her
+hands under the faucet and plunged her face into the cascading coldness.</p>
+
+<p>My name is Julia Fenway. I'm a file clerk at Continental Insurance. I'm
+going to die and I'm not preoccupied with sex.</p>
+
+<p>She turned off the faucet and stared into the sink. The water gathered
+into a little whirlpool and disappeared down the drain. There was a
+knock on the bathroom door.</p>
+
+<p>The voice was in her head. "I wonder if I could see that. We have some
+rather indistinct writings on running water. I'd like to bring them up
+to date."</p>
+
+<p>The cold water didn't help. If anything, it was worse now. The knocking
+came from the door. She was sure of it. But the voice ... the voice was
+inside her.</p>
+
+<p>"May I come in?"</p>
+
+<p>Julia sat down on the edge of the tub. She squeezed her head between
+her hands. I don't deserve this. What did I do to deserve this?</p>
+
+<p>"Please. I'm on a tight schedule."</p>
+
+<p>"So am I! Go away!" She was talking to it. She was talking to the voice
+in her head.</p>
+
+<p>Then it was very quiet. Julia watched the door, waiting for someone to
+walk through its solidness. Nothing happened. She lowered her head and
+started to count the tiny tiles in the floor.</p>
+
+<p>If I count one row very carefully, it will take me five minutes, two
+rows ten minutes, three rows....</p>
+
+<p>She started to count.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>As she was midway through the fourth row, the voice said, "I don't
+think you realize the importance of my visit. We recognize your right
+of privacy, but don't you feel in this case...?"</p>
+
+<p>Julia jumped up and pulled open the door. "Let me die in peace!"</p>
+
+<p>She ran into the other room and stood in the middle of it, looking all
+around, breathing hard. Belle leaped down from the dresser, her doze
+finished, and rubbed against Julia's leg.</p>
+
+<p>The water in the bathroom was running.</p>
+
+<p>She hadn't shut it off. But she had. She had.</p>
+
+<p>The water started again. It stopped. It started. It stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"How quaint."</p>
+
+<p>There is someone here!</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm chief historian, research division. It's my first trip in time.
+The scientists have been playing around with this thing for years and
+they've only just let us take it over."</p>
+
+<p>A time traveler! Julia stood very still. Her eyes searched the room
+slowly once again. The window was open about three inches. Too small
+for anyone to squeeze through. The door was locked from the inside.
+There was absolutely no one in the room. In her desperate state, she
+was hunting for an out. She was involved in a fairy story. Her body
+started to relax.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't see you, Mr. Vassi."</p>
+
+<p>I can't accept death. I'm looking for escape.</p>
+
+<p>"You can't see me? I'm standing right in front of you."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't see you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand. I can see you. Here, take my hand."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, Julia hoped. There was nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I can't touch you!"</p>
+
+<p>Not even a breath of wind.</p>
+
+<p>Julia walked over to the dresser and took a package of cigarettes out
+of her handbag. She carried it over to the sofa and sat down.</p>
+
+<p>"You walked through me!"</p>
+
+<p>She lit the cigarette, inhaled deeply and blew out the smoke in a long
+steady stream. When she was a little girl and she had a sharp pain in
+her side, her mother would say it's only gas, hold on, it'll pass.</p>
+
+<p>She would hold on.... Mother, help me!</p>
+
+<p>The voice in her head. "I wish I had paid more attention to those
+scientists. What was it they said? I had so much to do before I left.
+Something about transporting living matter.... Are you <i>sure</i> I'm
+invisible?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you people have trouble with your eyes? No, that's not it. I can't
+touch you. And I'd expected to bring back some artifacts. I am terribly
+disappointed."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"And well you might be. It's going to be extremely difficult going
+around asking people a lot of questions when they can't see me. You
+must have had quite a start."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop it! Stop it! My head. Oh, dear God, my head!" Julia got up. "I'm
+going out!"</p>
+
+<p>"You are having trouble with the thought projection. I'll sit down and
+be quiet for a moment."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The voice stopped. Julia paused at the door. The room was quiet.
+Breathing! She heard breathing. Her own? She held her breath. It was
+there in the room. She was sure of it.</p>
+
+<p>It was a whisper in her throat. "You are real."</p>
+
+<p>The faucet, the water, the knock on the door. "You are real!"</p>
+
+<p>If she held on, it would pass like gas. "You are real!"</p>
+
+<p>She moved trancelike back into the room.</p>
+
+<p>"You see me now."</p>
+
+<p>"No. I heard you breathe."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you touch me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>She heard her own blood in her ears. Her own breath forced itself
+between her lips. His breathing was gone. It was a dream.</p>
+
+<p>She said, "You're gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Over here on the arm of the couch."</p>
+
+<p>She turned. She fought to silence herself. She heard the soft breathing
+from the direction of the couch.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you, Mr. Vassi?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's just Vassi, no mister. I already told you who and what I am."</p>
+
+<p>"A time traveler from some distant future," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Most of your records disappeared in the final war. We want to pick up
+the traces. Best way to do that is to travel back in time."</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds like such a long way. How long?"</p>
+
+<p>If it was true, it was a miracle. If it wasn't ... Julia, you're a
+realist!</p>
+
+<p>"It would be a meaningless term for you. It's an age, an eon away."</p>
+
+<p>Julia sat down on the edge of the overstuffed chair. She noticed a
+faint layer of dust on the coffee table. The apartment looked messy
+with the bed out of the wall. Ever since the first visit to the doctor
+three weeks ago, she hadn't thought of cleaning.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid the apartment doesn't look very presentable."</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't you comforted to know that the world has survived?"</p>
+
+<p>"But I won't survive." She looked at the dust again. "You see, I don't
+do much entertaining."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that so? I wouldn't know. Do you mind if I record our conversation?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mind. It's nice to have someone to talk to, even if I can't
+see you." Julia, you're a realist!</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Well, that is a bother. Now would you mind telling me a few
+pertinent facts about civilization as you know it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I know too much about that sort of thing," said Julia.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"I'd hoped to land in the middle of a library of some sort...." His
+voice broke off. "You don't seem to have much of a collection of books
+here."</p>
+
+<p>Julia said, "Are you near the bookcase?"</p>
+
+<p>"No wonder the records didn't last, if this is the way they were kept."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, can you touch the books?" She got up and went to the bookcase.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Pick one up."</p>
+
+<p>"They're no use to me. This isn't history."</p>
+
+<p>"Pick one up!"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't got the time. I have to move on."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, you touched the faucet, didn't you? And you knocked on the
+door."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes.... That <i>does</i> mean I can bring back artifacts!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why can't you touch me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Now I have to get to a place that will do me some good. A library, a
+store, isn't that what you call them? A museum.... Are any of these
+things nearby?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me go with you. I'll be your guide. I'll&mdash;I'll show you my time."</p>
+
+<p>"But won't you be uncomfortable? I'm invisible."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care! No one can steal you from me this way."</p>
+
+<p>"Steal me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, why can't you touch me!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not too sure. I think it's because you're alive. You see, life is
+a transient thing. Matter is continuous in one form or another. Matter
+existing today always existed and will always exist, or something like
+that. I didn't listen too carefully. Anyhow, it's possible for someone
+to travel back in time but not ahead. Do I make myself clear? It's out
+of my line, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Julia reached down and scooped up Belle. "Can you touch her?"</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"My cat. Can you touch her?"</p>
+
+<p>"A cat? My, the anatomists would love to see that! But it's the same as
+with you. My hand passes right through her."</p>
+
+<p>Julia put Belle back on the floor. Her mind was racing.</p>
+
+<p>Vassi said, "She's sitting right where I'm standing."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got to believe it's not a nightmare. I've got to believe you're
+real and that you can help me."</p>
+
+<p>"If I can do it quickly. I have so much else to do. Others are waiting
+to use the machine."</p>
+
+<p>"Are people well where you come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"Are there any incurable diseases?" She tried to listen for his
+breathing.</p>
+
+<p>"Incurable? You mean sickness that doesn't respond to treatment? No, of
+course not."</p>
+
+<p>"Then take me with you!" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>"You just said you wanted to guide me here."</p>
+
+<p>"Take me with you to your time."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't do that. I can't even touch you."</p>
+
+<p>"There must be a way. You have got to think of something."</p>
+
+<p>"Even if I could take you, I'm not supposed to."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would mix up history to remove persons from their time. It might
+even be dangerous with artifacts. I suppose we couldn't hold onto them
+very long."</p>
+
+<p>"History? I have no history. I'm going to die very soon. No one depends
+on me. I have no one. Please take me, Vassi."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel very strange."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you all right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I just feel&mdash;odd."</p>
+
+<p>"How...."</p>
+
+<p>"First you want to guide me, then you want to come with me, you don't
+care about mankind's survival. You sound so terrified and confused."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Julia sank down on the couch. If only she could see him. "Don't leave
+me to die."</p>
+
+<p>"How strange to talk about dying," said Vassi. "We all live so long we
+never think about it."</p>
+
+<p>"You will take me with you, Vassi?"</p>
+
+<p>"If people in your time have such short lives, then why does dying
+trouble you? It would seem a matter of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, I haven't lived yet."</p>
+
+<p>"This is out of my line. I'll tell you what. When I return, I'll talk
+to one of the scientists. If they're interested in the project, they'll
+send someone back."</p>
+
+<p>"How long will that be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Now let's see if I can figure in your time. Hmm.... I'd say about a
+year...."</p>
+
+<p>Julia closed her eyes. She felt dampness under the lids. Her voice was
+hollow as she spoke to the empty room. "I'll be dead in six months."</p>
+
+<p>And the voice in her head echoed, "Six months...."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, isn't there someone you can talk to now?"</p>
+
+<p>He didn't answer her.</p>
+
+<p>Julia looked around the room. "Vassi, are you still here? Vassi?
+Vassi, if you don't talk, I can't tell if you're still here! Vassi,
+please answer me. Did I talk too much? I didn't mean to run on about
+my problems. I know you have a job to do. Maybe you can squeeze me
+in. I don't want to keep you from your work. Vassi, you didn't go, did
+you? You didn't leave me! Don't leave. I believe in you. I believe in
+you...."</p>
+
+<p>And now she had the aloneness she had longed for. He was gone and she
+would be left with the Mrs. Shultzes and the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>She went from the living room to the kitchen to the bathroom and back
+into the living room, listening, hoping to catch the small sound of his
+breathing. But her body would not be quiet and she heard nothing except
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>She stood for a long while looking down at the bed. The sunlight
+drifted from the pillow onto the covers and finally spilled off the
+foot of the bed onto the floor and the room was a shade darker. She was
+a stone, but a stone whose blood gurgled and stomach rumbled and heart
+beat and pulse pounded, so loudly she could hear nothing else.</p>
+
+<p>Her legs gave way and she crumpled to the bed and she was silent at
+last.</p>
+
+<p>The breathing came from the direction of the window.</p>
+
+<p>She spoke into the covers. "Vassi, why didn't you answer me?"</p>
+
+<p>"You tempt me and I have so much to do, so much ground to cover."</p>
+
+<p>"You can come back."</p>
+
+<p>"We haven't got enough of these time centers. There's quite a lineup
+to use them. If I go now, there's no telling how long it'll take me to
+get back."</p>
+
+<p>Julia got up and went to the window. "Am I facing you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"You're my only hope, wild as it seems. Vassi, wouldn't it be helpful
+to your research to have a real live person from my time to study?"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Vassi spoke slowly. "You mean you would be willing to have us&mdash;study
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Within limits.... No, not within limits."</p>
+
+<p>"They'll be very angry if I come back without my research project."</p>
+
+<p>"Are people that cold in your time?" asked Julia.</p>
+
+<p>"Cold?" Vassi repeated in bewilderment.</p>
+
+<p>"Heartless?"</p>
+
+<p>"Heartless? I hardly think so."</p>
+
+<p>"I mean callous, without pity, without compassion."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been very busy. I haven't thought about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Do men and women marry in your time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they do."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you married?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, you see, I'm not very&mdash;presentable. Besides, I have my research."</p>
+
+<p>"To me you're the most beautiful man in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't see me. If you saw me, you wouldn't think so."</p>
+
+<p>"I can hear you. That's all I need."</p>
+
+<p>Julia turned from the window and walked back to the couch. When she sat
+down she could feel herself trembling. Never, never in her life had she
+spoken to a man like that. Maybe, if she could see him, his eyes would
+be mocking her.</p>
+
+<p>She said, "If you take me back with you, then later when I'm well I
+could come back with you and show you everything you would want to see.
+Then I could be your guide."</p>
+
+<p>He was standing in front of her. She could hear him breathing again.
+There was excitement in his breathing; she was sure of it.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "I wish I could touch you. You're very beautiful."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, in my own time I'm ugly. Perhaps I belong in your time."</p>
+
+<p>Then the excitement that was in his breathing was in his voice. "All
+right. All right. I'll see what I can do. You wait right here. It may
+take me several years to get back. But I'll do it if I can...."</p>
+
+<p>"Several years! Vassi, I can't wait that long!" She was very near
+despair.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, you don't understand. In your time it'll only be a matter of
+minutes. The controls would be set to right now, however long it may
+take to have the project approved in my time."</p>
+
+<p>The room was quiet. A slight breeze drifted in through the open window.
+Julia sat very still on the couch for a few moments. Belle rubbed
+herself against the coffee table and then climbed into Julia's lap.</p>
+
+<p>She had to hold on. She had to believe. A world with no illness. A
+world where people live practically forever. A world with Vassi.</p>
+
+<p>She scratched the cat behind the ears. Belle started to purr softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Belle," Julia said, "what am I going to do with you? Vassi will think
+of something. He's coming back, Belle. He's coming back and he'll take
+both of us with him."</p>
+
+<p>She picked up the cat and put it on the couch. Then she got up and went
+to the mirror over the dresser. She pushed her hair back from her face.</p>
+
+<p>He said I was beautiful. Not even my mother ever said I was beautiful.
+What will they think at the office when I don't come in tomorrow or
+even phone? They won't think anything. They'll get Sheila with the
+black hair and the big bust to do my work and they won't think about me
+at all.</p>
+
+<p>Even <i>that</i> one didn't say I was beautiful. Not even right after I
+moved in here and he was a little drunk, and he could have said it
+then. Then, of all times, but he didn't. He just looked a little
+ashamed, maybe disgusted afterward, and he talked about being late for
+a dinner appointment.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>There was a knock on the door. Julia whirled from the mirror. Vassi
+must have gotten a little off course. She hadn't thought of that
+possibility. She walked quickly to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It's me, Mrs. Shultz."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"You went to the doctor today. I expected you'd come by. Tell me, how
+are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Go away."</p>
+
+<p>"Julia, open up. Maybe I can do something for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Go away. Please go away."</p>
+
+<p>"You're not feeling so well?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Bad news, maybe?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to see anyone, Mrs. Shultz."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand. I'll come back later."</p>
+
+<p>Footsteps went down the hallway. A door opened. The sound of a
+television set. A door closed.</p>
+
+<p>Vassi, hurry! I don't know whether or not it really happened. I'm not
+sure now, Vassi. I am going out of my mind. I am clutching at straws.
+Come back, Vassi. Come back. Reassure me.</p>
+
+<p>"They said it would work."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi!"</p>
+
+<p>"They said it would work, but it sounds like a terrible risk. We'll do
+it with the cat first."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, where are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Right in front of you. Now listen carefully."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to take me with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll try the cat first. If it works with the cat, then we'll try you."</p>
+
+<p>Julia was trembling. "What do I do?"</p>
+
+<p>"The first thing we have to do is kill the cat."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you talking about!"</p>
+
+<p>"When the cat is dead, it will become as inanimate an object as any of
+those books over there. In that state I should be able to transport it
+to my time. There the doctors will revive it. Everything is ready."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't kill my cat!"</p>
+
+<p>"If it works, it's only temporary."</p>
+
+<p>"And if it doesn't work?" she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather it be the cat than you."</p>
+
+<p>"I never dreamed...."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to hurry. They are waiting."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't kill Belle."</p>
+
+<p>"You're not killing her. You're transporting her."</p>
+
+<p>The tears were in Julia's eyes again. "It's crazy. I'm crazy."</p>
+
+<p>"Look, I'd do it, but I can't physically touch the cat."</p>
+
+<p>"I know. I know."</p>
+
+<p>"They said suffocation was best. It leaves fewer complications."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Julia bent down and picked up the cat. Her tears fell on the animal's
+fur. She held it close to her. The cat was quiet, unknowing.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="650" height="492" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p>Julia said, "Do me first."</p>
+
+<p>"Even if I could, I would not," said Vassi. "The cat first."</p>
+
+<p>"I've had her since she was a kitten, a little round ball with a button
+for a nose. I can't do this to her. If it does not work.... This is my
+madness, not hers!"</p>
+
+<p>"What were you going to do with her six months from now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Six months.... Alone, she would be left alone.... Belle has never
+been alone except for the hours when I'm at work. Who would take care
+of her? She's such a fussy eater. I have to feed her liver from my
+hand...."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll be together."</p>
+
+<p>"Together...."</p>
+
+<p>"Take one of the pillows on the bed. Don't think about it! Do it!"</p>
+
+<p>Julia carried Belle over to the bed. As she tried to put it down, one
+of its claws became entangled in her dress. The cat started to struggle
+as if finally awakened. Julia reached over for a pillow. Sweat stood
+out on her forehead. Her tears blinded her. She saw the mass of fur.
+She saw the softness. The claws were freed. She brought the pillow
+down over Belle.</p>
+
+<p>Julia blacked out, sprawled across the pillow.</p>
+
+<p>She couldn't have been out long. She pulled herself from the bed. The
+pillow was on the floor. Belle was gone.</p>
+
+<p>Vassi's voice was in her head. "It worked! The anatomists are wild!
+I've never seen so much excitement!"</p>
+
+<p>"Belle is all right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wonderful. It took them no time at all to revive her. The laboratory
+is a bedlam. Everyone wants to examine her."</p>
+
+<p>"How should I do it? I'll never be able to suffocate myself." She
+laughed a little. "I can't even turn on the gas range. Mine is
+electric."</p>
+
+<p>She looked around the apartment. If she slashed her wrists there would
+be too much blood. She hated blood. The thought of poison repelled her.
+Wait&mdash;she had it.</p>
+
+<p>She pulled one of the sheets off the bed and twisted it. She pushed the
+overstuffed chair into the center of the room and stood on one of the
+arms to attach an end of the sheet to the ceiling fixture. At the other
+end she made a noose.</p>
+
+<p>There was a knock on the door again.</p>
+
+<p>"Julia, if you're not well, it's no good you should be alone," Mrs.
+Shultz said.</p>
+
+<p>Julia slipped the noose over her head.</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, do you love me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course. I just hope you'll love me."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shultz knocked hard. "Julia, I hear you talking. I know you're
+home. Let me in. I have some soup for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Vassi, do you think I'm beautiful?"</p>
+
+<p>"The most beautiful woman I have ever seen."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shultz pounded on the door. "Julia, why don't you answer me?"</p>
+
+<p>As Julia stepped off the arm of the chair, she saw the open window. A
+thought crossed her mind before the noose tightened. Belle could have
+jumped out of the window when I passed out. <i>Julia, you're a realist!</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Mrs. Shultz put down the pot of soup and opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>The apartment is called a single. It consists of a Murphy bed, a
+chest of drawers, an overstuffed chair, a sofa, a coffee table, a
+seventeen-inch television set, a bookcase partially filled with the
+volumes A through F of an encyclopedia from the supermarket, and
+assorted paperback books, and a radio that doesn't work. In the ceiling
+is a fixture with two twenty-five-watt bulbs. From the fixture hangs
+a twisted sheet with a hangman's knot in the end of it. The noose is
+quite empty. So is the apartment.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="183" height="500" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Vassi, by Art Lewis
+
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -1,1209 +1,1209 @@
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vassi, by Art Lewis

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and

-most other parts of the world 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.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll

-have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using

-this ebook.

-

-

-

-Title: Vassi

-

-Author: Art Lewis

-

-Release Date: December 14, 2019 [EBook #60921]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: ASCII

-

-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VASSI ***

-

-

-

-

-Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online

-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-                                 VASSI

-

-                             By ART LEWIS

-

-                      The apartment was empty. So

-                      was she. But not for long.

-

-           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

-              Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1961.

-         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that

-         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

-

-

-The apartment is called a single. It contains a Murphy bed, a chest of

-drawers, an overstuffed chair, a sofa, a coffee table, a seventeen-inch

-television set, a bookcase partially filled with the volumes A through

-F of an encyclopedia from the supermarket, assorted paperback books,

-and a radio that doesn't work. In the ceiling is a fixture with two

-twenty-five-watt bulbs. A short hallway leads to the bathroom and the

-kitchen.

-

-Julia Fenway stood outside her apartment, fumbling in her bag for her

-keys. She had never had any trouble finding her keys before. Her purse

-was always neat and orderly. And she was breathing hard. Breathing

-hard from the short walk from the bus at the corner and down the long

-corridor to the private, the lonesome apartment door.

-

-Those keys! Where are those keys! I'm becoming a regular pack rat

-lately. Look at that bag! Did you ever see so much junk? She thrust

-her hand deep inside and felt around. A crumpled kleenex, worn-out

-lipstick, change purse, pencils, movie stubs ... a coldness, the keys.

-Her heart was pounding. She pressed the hand with the keys to her

-bosom. It _was_ pounding. At least it was working.

-

-She managed to get the door open just as the landlady's door down the

-hall gushed forth cooked cabbage odor and Mrs. Shultz stuck her head

-out. Julia closed her door behind her until she heard the lock click.

-Of all the people in the world, why was it the Mrs. Shultzes she

-attracted?

-

-At the sound of the lock, the cat, Belle, poked her head out of the

-kitchen. She walked lazily into the room, rubbing her side along the

-wall to scratch off the sleep. Then she leaped to the top of the

-dresser and started to wash herself.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Julia stood with her back against the door. Her arms, tired of reaching

-out, hung limply against her sides. A ray of sunlight streamed through

-the partly open window and a little pool of it snuggled on her pillow.

-It had been such a long ride in from Beverly Hills and on two buses.

-She had sat in the back where it wasn't so crowded and the smell of

-exhaust was still in her nostrils.

-

-She walked over to the dresser and put her purse down beside the cat

-and ran her fingers caressingly through the soft fur. Belle took a

-swipe with a hind paw. Julia rested her head on the dresser.

-

-"I'm going to die, Belle."

-

-The cat sat up and lifted a front paw. She washed it with little

-delicate strokes from her tongue.

-

-Julia moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. She slipped

-her shoes off. Her feet hurt. They always hurt in heels. Why does one

-get dressed up to see the doctor? He could have told her she had six

-months to live while she was wearing flats.

-

-He didn't actually blurt it out as I walked in the door. He fooled

-around under that sheet for a long time. And then he said it. No, not

-then either. He just looked pained and hurt and a little white around

-the lips and he told me to get dressed and come into his office. He had

-the lab reports on his desk and he pounded on them and he said you're

-as good as dead now!

-

-I wish he had! Then I could hate him. I could hate instead of feeling

-numb all over. He didn't want to tell me anything. Just get ready for

-an operation. No, there really wasn't any rush. But soon. And then I

-dragged it out of him. I insisted I had a right to know. It was my

-life. No, I don't have any family here. No one ... no one! A brother in

-New York. Don't call him! The doctor stammered like a schoolboy who's

-unprepared in class.

-

-Julia fell back on the bed. She stared at the unlighted ceiling

-fixture. She should cry, but she'd cried in the doctor's office and

-there was nothing left to cry. Six months to live. Maybe only five

-months. Certainly no more than seven with the operation.

-

-A spring in the bed got her in the back. She ought to tell Mrs. Shultz

-to fix that. She certainly didn't want to spend her last six months

-sleeping on a loose spring. Spend her last six months!

-

-She turned over on her stomach and pressed her face into the blanket.

-Her body was rigid. She tried to contemplate her own death. She should

-call her brother. No, she would die first.

-

-"Hello, excuse me, my name is Vassi."

-

-Julia raised her head and looked around the room. It was empty.

-

-"Would you say this is a typical prior dwelling?"

-

-Julia sat up. There was no one.

-

-"Oh, I hadn't thought of that possibility. I suppose we don't have a

-similar frame of reference. You'll never understand my thoughts."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-She got off the bed. She walked around the room and her stocking feet

-made little padded sounds on the cotton carpet. Then she crossed to the

-door of the apartment and pressed her ear against it.

-

-"Are you a ventriloquist?" she said.

-

-"A ventriloquist? Oh, my, no. I'm an historian." The voice was in her

-head.

-

-"I'm insane." It had to happen. She touched her finger-tips to her

-mouth.

-

-"Is that so? That's too bad. We're over and done with that sort of

-thing."

-

-"I'll wash my face with cold water. It must be the strain. I shouldn't

-have forced the doctor...."

-

-"You _are_ alone, aren't you? I looked around rather carefully.

-I didn't see anyone except that ... that thing on that piece of

-furniture."

-

-Julia looked at Belle. The cat was asleep on the dresser. She started

-to walk to the bathroom but stopped in front of the bed and sat down.

-Her head was going to burst.

-

-"Please" she said. "Please stop."

-

-"I really don't want to intrude. But I have my recorder right here.

-It won't take long and then I must move on. Now I notice you're fully

-dressed. Most remarkable. We always thought you prior people indulged

-in sex orgies almost continuously."

-

-"My God!"

-

-"Your thoughts are confused. Is it because you're insane? You haven't

-had much experience in thought projection, have you?"

-

-Julia jumped from the bed and ran into the bathroom. She locked the

-door behind her and turned on the cold water full force. She cupped her

-hands under the faucet and plunged her face into the cascading coldness.

-

-My name is Julia Fenway. I'm a file clerk at Continental Insurance. I'm

-going to die and I'm not preoccupied with sex.

-

-She turned off the faucet and stared into the sink. The water gathered

-into a little whirlpool and disappeared down the drain. There was a

-knock on the bathroom door.

-

-The voice was in her head. "I wonder if I could see that. We have some

-rather indistinct writings on running water. I'd like to bring them up

-to date."

-

-The cold water didn't help. If anything, it was worse now. The knocking

-came from the door. She was sure of it. But the voice ... the voice was

-inside her.

-

-"May I come in?"

-

-Julia sat down on the edge of the tub. She squeezed her head between

-her hands. I don't deserve this. What did I do to deserve this?

-

-"Please. I'm on a tight schedule."

-

-"So am I! Go away!" She was talking to it. She was talking to the voice

-in her head.

-

-Then it was very quiet. Julia watched the door, waiting for someone to

-walk through its solidness. Nothing happened. She lowered her head and

-started to count the tiny tiles in the floor.

-

-If I count one row very carefully, it will take me five minutes, two

-rows ten minutes, three rows....

-

-She started to count.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-As she was midway through the fourth row, the voice said, "I don't

-think you realize the importance of my visit. We recognize your right

-of privacy, but don't you feel in this case...?"

-

-Julia jumped up and pulled open the door. "Let me die in peace!"

-

-She ran into the other room and stood in the middle of it, looking all

-around, breathing hard. Belle leaped down from the dresser, her doze

-finished, and rubbed against Julia's leg.

-

-The water in the bathroom was running.

-

-She hadn't shut it off. But she had. She had.

-

-The water started again. It stopped. It started. It stopped.

-

-"How quaint."

-

-There is someone here!

-

-"Who are you?"

-

-"Vassi."

-

-"Vassi?"

-

-"I'm chief historian, research division. It's my first trip in time.

-The scientists have been playing around with this thing for years and

-they've only just let us take it over."

-

-A time traveler! Julia stood very still. Her eyes searched the room

-slowly once again. The window was open about three inches. Too small

-for anyone to squeeze through. The door was locked from the inside.

-There was absolutely no one in the room. In her desperate state, she

-was hunting for an out. She was involved in a fairy story. Her body

-started to relax.

-

-"I can't see you, Mr. Vassi."

-

-I can't accept death. I'm looking for escape.

-

-"You can't see me? I'm standing right in front of you."

-

-"I can't see you."

-

-"I don't understand. I can see you. Here, take my hand."

-

-For a moment, Julia hoped. There was nothing.

-

-"Why, I can't touch you!"

-

-Not even a breath of wind.

-

-Julia walked over to the dresser and took a package of cigarettes out

-of her handbag. She carried it over to the sofa and sat down.

-

-"You walked through me!"

-

-She lit the cigarette, inhaled deeply and blew out the smoke in a long

-steady stream. When she was a little girl and she had a sharp pain in

-her side, her mother would say it's only gas, hold on, it'll pass.

-

-She would hold on.... Mother, help me!

-

-The voice in her head. "I wish I had paid more attention to those

-scientists. What was it they said? I had so much to do before I left.

-Something about transporting living matter.... Are you _sure_ I'm

-invisible?"

-

-"I can't see you."

-

-"Do you people have trouble with your eyes? No, that's not it. I can't

-touch you. And I'd expected to bring back some artifacts. I am terribly

-disappointed."

-

-"I'm sorry."

-

-"And well you might be. It's going to be extremely difficult going

-around asking people a lot of questions when they can't see me. You

-must have had quite a start."

-

-"Stop it! Stop it! My head. Oh, dear God, my head!" Julia got up. "I'm

-going out!"

-

-"You are having trouble with the thought projection. I'll sit down and

-be quiet for a moment."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-The voice stopped. Julia paused at the door. The room was quiet.

-Breathing! She heard breathing. Her own? She held her breath. It was

-there in the room. She was sure of it.

-

-It was a whisper in her throat. "You are real."

-

-The faucet, the water, the knock on the door. "You are real!"

-

-If she held on, it would pass like gas. "You are real!"

-

-She moved trancelike back into the room.

-

-"You see me now."

-

-"No. I heard you breathe."

-

-"Can you touch me?"

-

-"No."

-

-She heard her own blood in her ears. Her own breath forced itself

-between her lips. His breathing was gone. It was a dream.

-

-She said, "You're gone."

-

-"Over here on the arm of the couch."

-

-She turned. She fought to silence herself. She heard the soft breathing

-from the direction of the couch.

-

-"Who are you, Mr. Vassi?"

-

-"It's just Vassi, no mister. I already told you who and what I am."

-

-"A time traveler from some distant future," she said.

-

-"Most of your records disappeared in the final war. We want to pick up

-the traces. Best way to do that is to travel back in time."

-

-"It sounds like such a long way. How long?"

-

-If it was true, it was a miracle. If it wasn't ... Julia, you're a

-realist!

-

-"It would be a meaningless term for you. It's an age, an eon away."

-

-Julia sat down on the edge of the overstuffed chair. She noticed a

-faint layer of dust on the coffee table. The apartment looked messy

-with the bed out of the wall. Ever since the first visit to the doctor

-three weeks ago, she hadn't thought of cleaning.

-

-"I'm afraid the apartment doesn't look very presentable."

-

-"Aren't you comforted to know that the world has survived?"

-

-"But I won't survive." She looked at the dust again. "You see, I don't

-do much entertaining."

-

-"Is that so? I wouldn't know. Do you mind if I record our conversation?"

-

-"I don't mind. It's nice to have someone to talk to, even if I can't

-see you." Julia, you're a realist!

-

-"Yes. Well, that is a bother. Now would you mind telling me a few

-pertinent facts about civilization as you know it?"

-

-"I don't think I know too much about that sort of thing," said Julia.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-"I'd hoped to land in the middle of a library of some sort...." His

-voice broke off. "You don't seem to have much of a collection of books

-here."

-

-Julia said, "Are you near the bookcase?"

-

-"No wonder the records didn't last, if this is the way they were kept."

-

-"Vassi, can you touch the books?" She got up and went to the bookcase.

-

-"Yes."

-

-"Pick one up."

-

-"They're no use to me. This isn't history."

-

-"Pick one up!"

-

-"I haven't got the time. I have to move on."

-

-"Vassi, you touched the faucet, didn't you? And you knocked on the

-door."

-

-"Yes.... That _does_ mean I can bring back artifacts!"

-

-"Why can't you touch me?"

-

-"Now I have to get to a place that will do me some good. A library, a

-store, isn't that what you call them? A museum.... Are any of these

-things nearby?"

-

-"Let me go with you. I'll be your guide. I'll--I'll show you my time."

-

-"But won't you be uncomfortable? I'm invisible."

-

-"I don't care! No one can steal you from me this way."

-

-"Steal me?"

-

-"Vassi, why can't you touch me!"

-

-"I'm not too sure. I think it's because you're alive. You see, life is

-a transient thing. Matter is continuous in one form or another. Matter

-existing today always existed and will always exist, or something like

-that. I didn't listen too carefully. Anyhow, it's possible for someone

-to travel back in time but not ahead. Do I make myself clear? It's out

-of my line, you know."

-

-Julia reached down and scooped up Belle. "Can you touch her?"

-

-"What is that?"

-

-"My cat. Can you touch her?"

-

-"A cat? My, the anatomists would love to see that! But it's the same as

-with you. My hand passes right through her."

-

-Julia put Belle back on the floor. Her mind was racing.

-

-Vassi said, "She's sitting right where I'm standing."

-

-"I've got to believe it's not a nightmare. I've got to believe you're

-real and that you can help me."

-

-"If I can do it quickly. I have so much else to do. Others are waiting

-to use the machine."

-

-"Are people well where you come from?"

-

-"Very well, thank you."

-

-"Are there any incurable diseases?" She tried to listen for his

-breathing.

-

-"Incurable? You mean sickness that doesn't respond to treatment? No, of

-course not."

-

-"Then take me with you!" she cried.

-

-"You just said you wanted to guide me here."

-

-"Take me with you to your time."

-

-"I can't do that. I can't even touch you."

-

-"There must be a way. You have got to think of something."

-

-"Even if I could take you, I'm not supposed to."

-

-"Why?"

-

-"It would mix up history to remove persons from their time. It might

-even be dangerous with artifacts. I suppose we couldn't hold onto them

-very long."

-

-"History? I have no history. I'm going to die very soon. No one depends

-on me. I have no one. Please take me, Vassi."

-

-"I feel very strange."

-

-"Are you all right?"

-

-"Yes. I just feel--odd."

-

-"How...."

-

-"First you want to guide me, then you want to come with me, you don't

-care about mankind's survival. You sound so terrified and confused."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Julia sank down on the couch. If only she could see him. "Don't leave

-me to die."

-

-"How strange to talk about dying," said Vassi. "We all live so long we

-never think about it."

-

-"You will take me with you, Vassi?"

-

-"If people in your time have such short lives, then why does dying

-trouble you? It would seem a matter of course."

-

-"Vassi, I haven't lived yet."

-

-"This is out of my line. I'll tell you what. When I return, I'll talk

-to one of the scientists. If they're interested in the project, they'll

-send someone back."

-

-"How long will that be?"

-

-"Now let's see if I can figure in your time. Hmm.... I'd say about a

-year...."

-

-Julia closed her eyes. She felt dampness under the lids. Her voice was

-hollow as she spoke to the empty room. "I'll be dead in six months."

-

-And the voice in her head echoed, "Six months...."

-

-"Vassi, isn't there someone you can talk to now?"

-

-He didn't answer her.

-

-Julia looked around the room. "Vassi, are you still here? Vassi?

-Vassi, if you don't talk, I can't tell if you're still here! Vassi,

-please answer me. Did I talk too much? I didn't mean to run on about

-my problems. I know you have a job to do. Maybe you can squeeze me

-in. I don't want to keep you from your work. Vassi, you didn't go, did

-you? You didn't leave me! Don't leave. I believe in you. I believe in

-you...."

-

-And now she had the aloneness she had longed for. He was gone and she

-would be left with the Mrs. Shultzes and the doctor.

-

-She went from the living room to the kitchen to the bathroom and back

-into the living room, listening, hoping to catch the small sound of his

-breathing. But her body would not be quiet and she heard nothing except

-herself.

-

-She stood for a long while looking down at the bed. The sunlight

-drifted from the pillow onto the covers and finally spilled off the

-foot of the bed onto the floor and the room was a shade darker. She was

-a stone, but a stone whose blood gurgled and stomach rumbled and heart

-beat and pulse pounded, so loudly she could hear nothing else.

-

-Her legs gave way and she crumpled to the bed and she was silent at

-last.

-

-The breathing came from the direction of the window.

-

-She spoke into the covers. "Vassi, why didn't you answer me?"

-

-"You tempt me and I have so much to do, so much ground to cover."

-

-"You can come back."

-

-"We haven't got enough of these time centers. There's quite a lineup

-to use them. If I go now, there's no telling how long it'll take me to

-get back."

-

-Julia got up and went to the window. "Am I facing you?"

-

-"Yes."

-

-"You're my only hope, wild as it seems. Vassi, wouldn't it be helpful

-to your research to have a real live person from my time to study?"

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Vassi spoke slowly. "You mean you would be willing to have us--study

-you?"

-

-"Within limits.... No, not within limits."

-

-"They'll be very angry if I come back without my research project."

-

-"Are people that cold in your time?" asked Julia.

-

-"Cold?" Vassi repeated in bewilderment.

-

-"Heartless?"

-

-"Heartless? I hardly think so."

-

-"I mean callous, without pity, without compassion."

-

-"I've been very busy. I haven't thought about it."

-

-"Do men and women marry in your time?"

-

-"Yes, they do."

-

-"Are you married?"

-

-"No, you see, I'm not very--presentable. Besides, I have my research."

-

-"To me you're the most beautiful man in the world."

-

-"You can't see me. If you saw me, you wouldn't think so."

-

-"I can hear you. That's all I need."

-

-Julia turned from the window and walked back to the couch. When she sat

-down she could feel herself trembling. Never, never in her life had she

-spoken to a man like that. Maybe, if she could see him, his eyes would

-be mocking her.

-

-She said, "If you take me back with you, then later when I'm well I

-could come back with you and show you everything you would want to see.

-Then I could be your guide."

-

-He was standing in front of her. She could hear him breathing again.

-There was excitement in his breathing; she was sure of it.

-

-He said, "I wish I could touch you. You're very beautiful."

-

-"Vassi, in my own time I'm ugly. Perhaps I belong in your time."

-

-Then the excitement that was in his breathing was in his voice. "All

-right. All right. I'll see what I can do. You wait right here. It may

-take me several years to get back. But I'll do it if I can...."

-

-"Several years! Vassi, I can't wait that long!" She was very near

-despair.

-

-"No, no, you don't understand. In your time it'll only be a matter of

-minutes. The controls would be set to right now, however long it may

-take to have the project approved in my time."

-

-The room was quiet. A slight breeze drifted in through the open window.

-Julia sat very still on the couch for a few moments. Belle rubbed

-herself against the coffee table and then climbed into Julia's lap.

-

-She had to hold on. She had to believe. A world with no illness. A

-world where people live practically forever. A world with Vassi.

-

-She scratched the cat behind the ears. Belle started to purr softly.

-

-"Belle," Julia said, "what am I going to do with you? Vassi will think

-of something. He's coming back, Belle. He's coming back and he'll take

-both of us with him."

-

-She picked up the cat and put it on the couch. Then she got up and went

-to the mirror over the dresser. She pushed her hair back from her face.

-

-He said I was beautiful. Not even my mother ever said I was beautiful.

-What will they think at the office when I don't come in tomorrow or

-even phone? They won't think anything. They'll get Sheila with the

-black hair and the big bust to do my work and they won't think about me

-at all.

-

-Even _that_ one didn't say I was beautiful. Not even right after I

-moved in here and he was a little drunk, and he could have said it

-then. Then, of all times, but he didn't. He just looked a little

-ashamed, maybe disgusted afterward, and he talked about being late for

-a dinner appointment.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-There was a knock on the door. Julia whirled from the mirror. Vassi

-must have gotten a little off course. She hadn't thought of that

-possibility. She walked quickly to the door.

-

-"Vassi?" she asked.

-

-"It's me, Mrs. Shultz."

-

-"What do you want?"

-

-"You went to the doctor today. I expected you'd come by. Tell me, how

-are you?"

-

-"Go away."

-

-"Julia, open up. Maybe I can do something for you."

-

-"Go away. Please go away."

-

-"You're not feeling so well?"

-

-"No."

-

-"Bad news, maybe?"

-

-"I don't want to see anyone, Mrs. Shultz."

-

-"I understand. I'll come back later."

-

-Footsteps went down the hallway. A door opened. The sound of a

-television set. A door closed.

-

-Vassi, hurry! I don't know whether or not it really happened. I'm not

-sure now, Vassi. I am going out of my mind. I am clutching at straws.

-Come back, Vassi. Come back. Reassure me.

-

-"They said it would work."

-

-"Vassi!"

-

-"They said it would work, but it sounds like a terrible risk. We'll do

-it with the cat first."

-

-"Vassi, where are you?"

-

-"Right in front of you. Now listen carefully."

-

-"Are you going to take me with you?"

-

-"We'll try the cat first. If it works with the cat, then we'll try you."

-

-Julia was trembling. "What do I do?"

-

-"The first thing we have to do is kill the cat."

-

-"What are you talking about!"

-

-"When the cat is dead, it will become as inanimate an object as any of

-those books over there. In that state I should be able to transport it

-to my time. There the doctors will revive it. Everything is ready."

-

-"I can't kill my cat!"

-

-"If it works, it's only temporary."

-

-"And if it doesn't work?" she whispered.

-

-"I'd rather it be the cat than you."

-

-"I never dreamed...."

-

-"We'll have to hurry. They are waiting."

-

-"I can't kill Belle."

-

-"You're not killing her. You're transporting her."

-

-The tears were in Julia's eyes again. "It's crazy. I'm crazy."

-

-"Look, I'd do it, but I can't physically touch the cat."

-

-"I know. I know."

-

-"They said suffocation was best. It leaves fewer complications."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Julia bent down and picked up the cat. Her tears fell on the animal's

-fur. She held it close to her. The cat was quiet, unknowing.

-

-Julia said, "Do me first."

-

-"Even if I could, I would not," said Vassi. "The cat first."

-

-"I've had her since she was a kitten, a little round ball with a button

-for a nose. I can't do this to her. If it does not work.... This is my

-madness, not hers!"

-

-"What were you going to do with her six months from now?"

-

-"Six months.... Alone, she would be left alone.... Belle has never

-been alone except for the hours when I'm at work. Who would take care

-of her? She's such a fussy eater. I have to feed her liver from my

-hand...."

-

-"You'll be together."

-

-"Together...."

-

-"Take one of the pillows on the bed. Don't think about it! Do it!"

-

-Julia carried Belle over to the bed. As she tried to put it down, one

-of its claws became entangled in her dress. The cat started to struggle

-as if finally awakened. Julia reached over for a pillow. Sweat stood

-out on her forehead. Her tears blinded her. She saw the mass of fur.

-She saw the softness. The claws were freed. She brought the pillow

-down over Belle.

-

-Julia blacked out, sprawled across the pillow.

-

-She couldn't have been out long. She pulled herself from the bed. The

-pillow was on the floor. Belle was gone.

-

-Vassi's voice was in her head. "It worked! The anatomists are wild!

-I've never seen so much excitement!"

-

-"Belle is all right?"

-

-"Wonderful. It took them no time at all to revive her. The laboratory

-is a bedlam. Everyone wants to examine her."

-

-"How should I do it? I'll never be able to suffocate myself." She

-laughed a little. "I can't even turn on the gas range. Mine is

-electric."

-

-She looked around the apartment. If she slashed her wrists there would

-be too much blood. She hated blood. The thought of poison repelled her.

-Wait--she had it.

-

-She pulled one of the sheets off the bed and twisted it. She pushed the

-overstuffed chair into the center of the room and stood on one of the

-arms to attach an end of the sheet to the ceiling fixture. At the other

-end she made a noose.

-

-There was a knock on the door again.

-

-"Julia, if you're not well, it's no good you should be alone," Mrs.

-Shultz said.

-

-Julia slipped the noose over her head.

-

-"Vassi, do you love me?"

-

-"Of course. I just hope you'll love me."

-

-Mrs. Shultz knocked hard. "Julia, I hear you talking. I know you're

-home. Let me in. I have some soup for you."

-

-"Vassi, do you think I'm beautiful?"

-

-"The most beautiful woman I have ever seen."

-

-Mrs. Shultz pounded on the door. "Julia, why don't you answer me?"

-

-As Julia stepped off the arm of the chair, she saw the open window. A

-thought crossed her mind before the noose tightened. Belle could have

-jumped out of the window when I passed out. _Julia, you're a realist!_

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Mrs. Shultz put down the pot of soup and opened the door.

-

-The apartment is called a single. It consists of a Murphy bed, a

-chest of drawers, an overstuffed chair, a sofa, a coffee table, a

-seventeen-inch television set, a bookcase partially filled with the

-volumes A through F of an encyclopedia from the supermarket, and

-assorted paperback books, and a radio that doesn't work. In the ceiling

-is a fixture with two twenty-five-watt bulbs. From the fixture hangs

-a twisted sheet with a hangman's knot in the end of it. The noose is

-quite empty. So is the apartment.

-

-

-

-

-

-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Vassi, by Art Lewis

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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vassi, by Art Lewis
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world 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.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll
+have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using
+this ebook.
+
+
+
+Title: Vassi
+
+Author: Art Lewis
+
+Release Date: December 14, 2019 [EBook #60921]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VASSI ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                 VASSI
+
+                             By ART LEWIS
+
+                      The apartment was empty. So
+                      was she. But not for long.
+
+           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+              Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1961.
+         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+The apartment is called a single. It contains a Murphy bed, a chest of
+drawers, an overstuffed chair, a sofa, a coffee table, a seventeen-inch
+television set, a bookcase partially filled with the volumes A through
+F of an encyclopedia from the supermarket, assorted paperback books,
+and a radio that doesn't work. In the ceiling is a fixture with two
+twenty-five-watt bulbs. A short hallway leads to the bathroom and the
+kitchen.
+
+Julia Fenway stood outside her apartment, fumbling in her bag for her
+keys. She had never had any trouble finding her keys before. Her purse
+was always neat and orderly. And she was breathing hard. Breathing
+hard from the short walk from the bus at the corner and down the long
+corridor to the private, the lonesome apartment door.
+
+Those keys! Where are those keys! I'm becoming a regular pack rat
+lately. Look at that bag! Did you ever see so much junk? She thrust
+her hand deep inside and felt around. A crumpled kleenex, worn-out
+lipstick, change purse, pencils, movie stubs ... a coldness, the keys.
+Her heart was pounding. She pressed the hand with the keys to her
+bosom. It _was_ pounding. At least it was working.
+
+She managed to get the door open just as the landlady's door down the
+hall gushed forth cooked cabbage odor and Mrs. Shultz stuck her head
+out. Julia closed her door behind her until she heard the lock click.
+Of all the people in the world, why was it the Mrs. Shultzes she
+attracted?
+
+At the sound of the lock, the cat, Belle, poked her head out of the
+kitchen. She walked lazily into the room, rubbing her side along the
+wall to scratch off the sleep. Then she leaped to the top of the
+dresser and started to wash herself.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Julia stood with her back against the door. Her arms, tired of reaching
+out, hung limply against her sides. A ray of sunlight streamed through
+the partly open window and a little pool of it snuggled on her pillow.
+It had been such a long ride in from Beverly Hills and on two buses.
+She had sat in the back where it wasn't so crowded and the smell of
+exhaust was still in her nostrils.
+
+She walked over to the dresser and put her purse down beside the cat
+and ran her fingers caressingly through the soft fur. Belle took a
+swipe with a hind paw. Julia rested her head on the dresser.
+
+"I'm going to die, Belle."
+
+The cat sat up and lifted a front paw. She washed it with little
+delicate strokes from her tongue.
+
+Julia moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. She slipped
+her shoes off. Her feet hurt. They always hurt in heels. Why does one
+get dressed up to see the doctor? He could have told her she had six
+months to live while she was wearing flats.
+
+He didn't actually blurt it out as I walked in the door. He fooled
+around under that sheet for a long time. And then he said it. No, not
+then either. He just looked pained and hurt and a little white around
+the lips and he told me to get dressed and come into his office. He had
+the lab reports on his desk and he pounded on them and he said you're
+as good as dead now!
+
+I wish he had! Then I could hate him. I could hate instead of feeling
+numb all over. He didn't want to tell me anything. Just get ready for
+an operation. No, there really wasn't any rush. But soon. And then I
+dragged it out of him. I insisted I had a right to know. It was my
+life. No, I don't have any family here. No one ... no one! A brother in
+New York. Don't call him! The doctor stammered like a schoolboy who's
+unprepared in class.
+
+Julia fell back on the bed. She stared at the unlighted ceiling
+fixture. She should cry, but she'd cried in the doctor's office and
+there was nothing left to cry. Six months to live. Maybe only five
+months. Certainly no more than seven with the operation.
+
+A spring in the bed got her in the back. She ought to tell Mrs. Shultz
+to fix that. She certainly didn't want to spend her last six months
+sleeping on a loose spring. Spend her last six months!
+
+She turned over on her stomach and pressed her face into the blanket.
+Her body was rigid. She tried to contemplate her own death. She should
+call her brother. No, she would die first.
+
+"Hello, excuse me, my name is Vassi."
+
+Julia raised her head and looked around the room. It was empty.
+
+"Would you say this is a typical prior dwelling?"
+
+Julia sat up. There was no one.
+
+"Oh, I hadn't thought of that possibility. I suppose we don't have a
+similar frame of reference. You'll never understand my thoughts."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+She got off the bed. She walked around the room and her stocking feet
+made little padded sounds on the cotton carpet. Then she crossed to the
+door of the apartment and pressed her ear against it.
+
+"Are you a ventriloquist?" she said.
+
+"A ventriloquist? Oh, my, no. I'm an historian." The voice was in her
+head.
+
+"I'm insane." It had to happen. She touched her finger-tips to her
+mouth.
+
+"Is that so? That's too bad. We're over and done with that sort of
+thing."
+
+"I'll wash my face with cold water. It must be the strain. I shouldn't
+have forced the doctor...."
+
+"You _are_ alone, aren't you? I looked around rather carefully.
+I didn't see anyone except that ... that thing on that piece of
+furniture."
+
+Julia looked at Belle. The cat was asleep on the dresser. She started
+to walk to the bathroom but stopped in front of the bed and sat down.
+Her head was going to burst.
+
+"Please" she said. "Please stop."
+
+"I really don't want to intrude. But I have my recorder right here.
+It won't take long and then I must move on. Now I notice you're fully
+dressed. Most remarkable. We always thought you prior people indulged
+in sex orgies almost continuously."
+
+"My God!"
+
+"Your thoughts are confused. Is it because you're insane? You haven't
+had much experience in thought projection, have you?"
+
+Julia jumped from the bed and ran into the bathroom. She locked the
+door behind her and turned on the cold water full force. She cupped her
+hands under the faucet and plunged her face into the cascading coldness.
+
+My name is Julia Fenway. I'm a file clerk at Continental Insurance. I'm
+going to die and I'm not preoccupied with sex.
+
+She turned off the faucet and stared into the sink. The water gathered
+into a little whirlpool and disappeared down the drain. There was a
+knock on the bathroom door.
+
+The voice was in her head. "I wonder if I could see that. We have some
+rather indistinct writings on running water. I'd like to bring them up
+to date."
+
+The cold water didn't help. If anything, it was worse now. The knocking
+came from the door. She was sure of it. But the voice ... the voice was
+inside her.
+
+"May I come in?"
+
+Julia sat down on the edge of the tub. She squeezed her head between
+her hands. I don't deserve this. What did I do to deserve this?
+
+"Please. I'm on a tight schedule."
+
+"So am I! Go away!" She was talking to it. She was talking to the voice
+in her head.
+
+Then it was very quiet. Julia watched the door, waiting for someone to
+walk through its solidness. Nothing happened. She lowered her head and
+started to count the tiny tiles in the floor.
+
+If I count one row very carefully, it will take me five minutes, two
+rows ten minutes, three rows....
+
+She started to count.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As she was midway through the fourth row, the voice said, "I don't
+think you realize the importance of my visit. We recognize your right
+of privacy, but don't you feel in this case...?"
+
+Julia jumped up and pulled open the door. "Let me die in peace!"
+
+She ran into the other room and stood in the middle of it, looking all
+around, breathing hard. Belle leaped down from the dresser, her doze
+finished, and rubbed against Julia's leg.
+
+The water in the bathroom was running.
+
+She hadn't shut it off. But she had. She had.
+
+The water started again. It stopped. It started. It stopped.
+
+"How quaint."
+
+There is someone here!
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"Vassi."
+
+"Vassi?"
+
+"I'm chief historian, research division. It's my first trip in time.
+The scientists have been playing around with this thing for years and
+they've only just let us take it over."
+
+A time traveler! Julia stood very still. Her eyes searched the room
+slowly once again. The window was open about three inches. Too small
+for anyone to squeeze through. The door was locked from the inside.
+There was absolutely no one in the room. In her desperate state, she
+was hunting for an out. She was involved in a fairy story. Her body
+started to relax.
+
+"I can't see you, Mr. Vassi."
+
+I can't accept death. I'm looking for escape.
+
+"You can't see me? I'm standing right in front of you."
+
+"I can't see you."
+
+"I don't understand. I can see you. Here, take my hand."
+
+For a moment, Julia hoped. There was nothing.
+
+"Why, I can't touch you!"
+
+Not even a breath of wind.
+
+Julia walked over to the dresser and took a package of cigarettes out
+of her handbag. She carried it over to the sofa and sat down.
+
+"You walked through me!"
+
+She lit the cigarette, inhaled deeply and blew out the smoke in a long
+steady stream. When she was a little girl and she had a sharp pain in
+her side, her mother would say it's only gas, hold on, it'll pass.
+
+She would hold on.... Mother, help me!
+
+The voice in her head. "I wish I had paid more attention to those
+scientists. What was it they said? I had so much to do before I left.
+Something about transporting living matter.... Are you _sure_ I'm
+invisible?"
+
+"I can't see you."
+
+"Do you people have trouble with your eyes? No, that's not it. I can't
+touch you. And I'd expected to bring back some artifacts. I am terribly
+disappointed."
+
+"I'm sorry."
+
+"And well you might be. It's going to be extremely difficult going
+around asking people a lot of questions when they can't see me. You
+must have had quite a start."
+
+"Stop it! Stop it! My head. Oh, dear God, my head!" Julia got up. "I'm
+going out!"
+
+"You are having trouble with the thought projection. I'll sit down and
+be quiet for a moment."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The voice stopped. Julia paused at the door. The room was quiet.
+Breathing! She heard breathing. Her own? She held her breath. It was
+there in the room. She was sure of it.
+
+It was a whisper in her throat. "You are real."
+
+The faucet, the water, the knock on the door. "You are real!"
+
+If she held on, it would pass like gas. "You are real!"
+
+She moved trancelike back into the room.
+
+"You see me now."
+
+"No. I heard you breathe."
+
+"Can you touch me?"
+
+"No."
+
+She heard her own blood in her ears. Her own breath forced itself
+between her lips. His breathing was gone. It was a dream.
+
+She said, "You're gone."
+
+"Over here on the arm of the couch."
+
+She turned. She fought to silence herself. She heard the soft breathing
+from the direction of the couch.
+
+"Who are you, Mr. Vassi?"
+
+"It's just Vassi, no mister. I already told you who and what I am."
+
+"A time traveler from some distant future," she said.
+
+"Most of your records disappeared in the final war. We want to pick up
+the traces. Best way to do that is to travel back in time."
+
+"It sounds like such a long way. How long?"
+
+If it was true, it was a miracle. If it wasn't ... Julia, you're a
+realist!
+
+"It would be a meaningless term for you. It's an age, an eon away."
+
+Julia sat down on the edge of the overstuffed chair. She noticed a
+faint layer of dust on the coffee table. The apartment looked messy
+with the bed out of the wall. Ever since the first visit to the doctor
+three weeks ago, she hadn't thought of cleaning.
+
+"I'm afraid the apartment doesn't look very presentable."
+
+"Aren't you comforted to know that the world has survived?"
+
+"But I won't survive." She looked at the dust again. "You see, I don't
+do much entertaining."
+
+"Is that so? I wouldn't know. Do you mind if I record our conversation?"
+
+"I don't mind. It's nice to have someone to talk to, even if I can't
+see you." Julia, you're a realist!
+
+"Yes. Well, that is a bother. Now would you mind telling me a few
+pertinent facts about civilization as you know it?"
+
+"I don't think I know too much about that sort of thing," said Julia.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I'd hoped to land in the middle of a library of some sort...." His
+voice broke off. "You don't seem to have much of a collection of books
+here."
+
+Julia said, "Are you near the bookcase?"
+
+"No wonder the records didn't last, if this is the way they were kept."
+
+"Vassi, can you touch the books?" She got up and went to the bookcase.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Pick one up."
+
+"They're no use to me. This isn't history."
+
+"Pick one up!"
+
+"I haven't got the time. I have to move on."
+
+"Vassi, you touched the faucet, didn't you? And you knocked on the
+door."
+
+"Yes.... That _does_ mean I can bring back artifacts!"
+
+"Why can't you touch me?"
+
+"Now I have to get to a place that will do me some good. A library, a
+store, isn't that what you call them? A museum.... Are any of these
+things nearby?"
+
+"Let me go with you. I'll be your guide. I'll--I'll show you my time."
+
+"But won't you be uncomfortable? I'm invisible."
+
+"I don't care! No one can steal you from me this way."
+
+"Steal me?"
+
+"Vassi, why can't you touch me!"
+
+"I'm not too sure. I think it's because you're alive. You see, life is
+a transient thing. Matter is continuous in one form or another. Matter
+existing today always existed and will always exist, or something like
+that. I didn't listen too carefully. Anyhow, it's possible for someone
+to travel back in time but not ahead. Do I make myself clear? It's out
+of my line, you know."
+
+Julia reached down and scooped up Belle. "Can you touch her?"
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"My cat. Can you touch her?"
+
+"A cat? My, the anatomists would love to see that! But it's the same as
+with you. My hand passes right through her."
+
+Julia put Belle back on the floor. Her mind was racing.
+
+Vassi said, "She's sitting right where I'm standing."
+
+"I've got to believe it's not a nightmare. I've got to believe you're
+real and that you can help me."
+
+"If I can do it quickly. I have so much else to do. Others are waiting
+to use the machine."
+
+"Are people well where you come from?"
+
+"Very well, thank you."
+
+"Are there any incurable diseases?" She tried to listen for his
+breathing.
+
+"Incurable? You mean sickness that doesn't respond to treatment? No, of
+course not."
+
+"Then take me with you!" she cried.
+
+"You just said you wanted to guide me here."
+
+"Take me with you to your time."
+
+"I can't do that. I can't even touch you."
+
+"There must be a way. You have got to think of something."
+
+"Even if I could take you, I'm not supposed to."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"It would mix up history to remove persons from their time. It might
+even be dangerous with artifacts. I suppose we couldn't hold onto them
+very long."
+
+"History? I have no history. I'm going to die very soon. No one depends
+on me. I have no one. Please take me, Vassi."
+
+"I feel very strange."
+
+"Are you all right?"
+
+"Yes. I just feel--odd."
+
+"How...."
+
+"First you want to guide me, then you want to come with me, you don't
+care about mankind's survival. You sound so terrified and confused."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Julia sank down on the couch. If only she could see him. "Don't leave
+me to die."
+
+"How strange to talk about dying," said Vassi. "We all live so long we
+never think about it."
+
+"You will take me with you, Vassi?"
+
+"If people in your time have such short lives, then why does dying
+trouble you? It would seem a matter of course."
+
+"Vassi, I haven't lived yet."
+
+"This is out of my line. I'll tell you what. When I return, I'll talk
+to one of the scientists. If they're interested in the project, they'll
+send someone back."
+
+"How long will that be?"
+
+"Now let's see if I can figure in your time. Hmm.... I'd say about a
+year...."
+
+Julia closed her eyes. She felt dampness under the lids. Her voice was
+hollow as she spoke to the empty room. "I'll be dead in six months."
+
+And the voice in her head echoed, "Six months...."
+
+"Vassi, isn't there someone you can talk to now?"
+
+He didn't answer her.
+
+Julia looked around the room. "Vassi, are you still here? Vassi?
+Vassi, if you don't talk, I can't tell if you're still here! Vassi,
+please answer me. Did I talk too much? I didn't mean to run on about
+my problems. I know you have a job to do. Maybe you can squeeze me
+in. I don't want to keep you from your work. Vassi, you didn't go, did
+you? You didn't leave me! Don't leave. I believe in you. I believe in
+you...."
+
+And now she had the aloneness she had longed for. He was gone and she
+would be left with the Mrs. Shultzes and the doctor.
+
+She went from the living room to the kitchen to the bathroom and back
+into the living room, listening, hoping to catch the small sound of his
+breathing. But her body would not be quiet and she heard nothing except
+herself.
+
+She stood for a long while looking down at the bed. The sunlight
+drifted from the pillow onto the covers and finally spilled off the
+foot of the bed onto the floor and the room was a shade darker. She was
+a stone, but a stone whose blood gurgled and stomach rumbled and heart
+beat and pulse pounded, so loudly she could hear nothing else.
+
+Her legs gave way and she crumpled to the bed and she was silent at
+last.
+
+The breathing came from the direction of the window.
+
+She spoke into the covers. "Vassi, why didn't you answer me?"
+
+"You tempt me and I have so much to do, so much ground to cover."
+
+"You can come back."
+
+"We haven't got enough of these time centers. There's quite a lineup
+to use them. If I go now, there's no telling how long it'll take me to
+get back."
+
+Julia got up and went to the window. "Am I facing you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You're my only hope, wild as it seems. Vassi, wouldn't it be helpful
+to your research to have a real live person from my time to study?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Vassi spoke slowly. "You mean you would be willing to have us--study
+you?"
+
+"Within limits.... No, not within limits."
+
+"They'll be very angry if I come back without my research project."
+
+"Are people that cold in your time?" asked Julia.
+
+"Cold?" Vassi repeated in bewilderment.
+
+"Heartless?"
+
+"Heartless? I hardly think so."
+
+"I mean callous, without pity, without compassion."
+
+"I've been very busy. I haven't thought about it."
+
+"Do men and women marry in your time?"
+
+"Yes, they do."
+
+"Are you married?"
+
+"No, you see, I'm not very--presentable. Besides, I have my research."
+
+"To me you're the most beautiful man in the world."
+
+"You can't see me. If you saw me, you wouldn't think so."
+
+"I can hear you. That's all I need."
+
+Julia turned from the window and walked back to the couch. When she sat
+down she could feel herself trembling. Never, never in her life had she
+spoken to a man like that. Maybe, if she could see him, his eyes would
+be mocking her.
+
+She said, "If you take me back with you, then later when I'm well I
+could come back with you and show you everything you would want to see.
+Then I could be your guide."
+
+He was standing in front of her. She could hear him breathing again.
+There was excitement in his breathing; she was sure of it.
+
+He said, "I wish I could touch you. You're very beautiful."
+
+"Vassi, in my own time I'm ugly. Perhaps I belong in your time."
+
+Then the excitement that was in his breathing was in his voice. "All
+right. All right. I'll see what I can do. You wait right here. It may
+take me several years to get back. But I'll do it if I can...."
+
+"Several years! Vassi, I can't wait that long!" She was very near
+despair.
+
+"No, no, you don't understand. In your time it'll only be a matter of
+minutes. The controls would be set to right now, however long it may
+take to have the project approved in my time."
+
+The room was quiet. A slight breeze drifted in through the open window.
+Julia sat very still on the couch for a few moments. Belle rubbed
+herself against the coffee table and then climbed into Julia's lap.
+
+She had to hold on. She had to believe. A world with no illness. A
+world where people live practically forever. A world with Vassi.
+
+She scratched the cat behind the ears. Belle started to purr softly.
+
+"Belle," Julia said, "what am I going to do with you? Vassi will think
+of something. He's coming back, Belle. He's coming back and he'll take
+both of us with him."
+
+She picked up the cat and put it on the couch. Then she got up and went
+to the mirror over the dresser. She pushed her hair back from her face.
+
+He said I was beautiful. Not even my mother ever said I was beautiful.
+What will they think at the office when I don't come in tomorrow or
+even phone? They won't think anything. They'll get Sheila with the
+black hair and the big bust to do my work and they won't think about me
+at all.
+
+Even _that_ one didn't say I was beautiful. Not even right after I
+moved in here and he was a little drunk, and he could have said it
+then. Then, of all times, but he didn't. He just looked a little
+ashamed, maybe disgusted afterward, and he talked about being late for
+a dinner appointment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was a knock on the door. Julia whirled from the mirror. Vassi
+must have gotten a little off course. She hadn't thought of that
+possibility. She walked quickly to the door.
+
+"Vassi?" she asked.
+
+"It's me, Mrs. Shultz."
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"You went to the doctor today. I expected you'd come by. Tell me, how
+are you?"
+
+"Go away."
+
+"Julia, open up. Maybe I can do something for you."
+
+"Go away. Please go away."
+
+"You're not feeling so well?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Bad news, maybe?"
+
+"I don't want to see anyone, Mrs. Shultz."
+
+"I understand. I'll come back later."
+
+Footsteps went down the hallway. A door opened. The sound of a
+television set. A door closed.
+
+Vassi, hurry! I don't know whether or not it really happened. I'm not
+sure now, Vassi. I am going out of my mind. I am clutching at straws.
+Come back, Vassi. Come back. Reassure me.
+
+"They said it would work."
+
+"Vassi!"
+
+"They said it would work, but it sounds like a terrible risk. We'll do
+it with the cat first."
+
+"Vassi, where are you?"
+
+"Right in front of you. Now listen carefully."
+
+"Are you going to take me with you?"
+
+"We'll try the cat first. If it works with the cat, then we'll try you."
+
+Julia was trembling. "What do I do?"
+
+"The first thing we have to do is kill the cat."
+
+"What are you talking about!"
+
+"When the cat is dead, it will become as inanimate an object as any of
+those books over there. In that state I should be able to transport it
+to my time. There the doctors will revive it. Everything is ready."
+
+"I can't kill my cat!"
+
+"If it works, it's only temporary."
+
+"And if it doesn't work?" she whispered.
+
+"I'd rather it be the cat than you."
+
+"I never dreamed...."
+
+"We'll have to hurry. They are waiting."
+
+"I can't kill Belle."
+
+"You're not killing her. You're transporting her."
+
+The tears were in Julia's eyes again. "It's crazy. I'm crazy."
+
+"Look, I'd do it, but I can't physically touch the cat."
+
+"I know. I know."
+
+"They said suffocation was best. It leaves fewer complications."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Julia bent down and picked up the cat. Her tears fell on the animal's
+fur. She held it close to her. The cat was quiet, unknowing.
+
+Julia said, "Do me first."
+
+"Even if I could, I would not," said Vassi. "The cat first."
+
+"I've had her since she was a kitten, a little round ball with a button
+for a nose. I can't do this to her. If it does not work.... This is my
+madness, not hers!"
+
+"What were you going to do with her six months from now?"
+
+"Six months.... Alone, she would be left alone.... Belle has never
+been alone except for the hours when I'm at work. Who would take care
+of her? She's such a fussy eater. I have to feed her liver from my
+hand...."
+
+"You'll be together."
+
+"Together...."
+
+"Take one of the pillows on the bed. Don't think about it! Do it!"
+
+Julia carried Belle over to the bed. As she tried to put it down, one
+of its claws became entangled in her dress. The cat started to struggle
+as if finally awakened. Julia reached over for a pillow. Sweat stood
+out on her forehead. Her tears blinded her. She saw the mass of fur.
+She saw the softness. The claws were freed. She brought the pillow
+down over Belle.
+
+Julia blacked out, sprawled across the pillow.
+
+She couldn't have been out long. She pulled herself from the bed. The
+pillow was on the floor. Belle was gone.
+
+Vassi's voice was in her head. "It worked! The anatomists are wild!
+I've never seen so much excitement!"
+
+"Belle is all right?"
+
+"Wonderful. It took them no time at all to revive her. The laboratory
+is a bedlam. Everyone wants to examine her."
+
+"How should I do it? I'll never be able to suffocate myself." She
+laughed a little. "I can't even turn on the gas range. Mine is
+electric."
+
+She looked around the apartment. If she slashed her wrists there would
+be too much blood. She hated blood. The thought of poison repelled her.
+Wait--she had it.
+
+She pulled one of the sheets off the bed and twisted it. She pushed the
+overstuffed chair into the center of the room and stood on one of the
+arms to attach an end of the sheet to the ceiling fixture. At the other
+end she made a noose.
+
+There was a knock on the door again.
+
+"Julia, if you're not well, it's no good you should be alone," Mrs.
+Shultz said.
+
+Julia slipped the noose over her head.
+
+"Vassi, do you love me?"
+
+"Of course. I just hope you'll love me."
+
+Mrs. Shultz knocked hard. "Julia, I hear you talking. I know you're
+home. Let me in. I have some soup for you."
+
+"Vassi, do you think I'm beautiful?"
+
+"The most beautiful woman I have ever seen."
+
+Mrs. Shultz pounded on the door. "Julia, why don't you answer me?"
+
+As Julia stepped off the arm of the chair, she saw the open window. A
+thought crossed her mind before the noose tightened. Belle could have
+jumped out of the window when I passed out. _Julia, you're a realist!_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Shultz put down the pot of soup and opened the door.
+
+The apartment is called a single. It consists of a Murphy bed, a
+chest of drawers, an overstuffed chair, a sofa, a coffee table, a
+seventeen-inch television set, a bookcase partially filled with the
+volumes A through F of an encyclopedia from the supermarket, and
+assorted paperback books, and a radio that doesn't work. In the ceiling
+is a fixture with two twenty-five-watt bulbs. From the fixture hangs
+a twisted sheet with a hangman's knot in the end of it. The noose is
+quite empty. So is the apartment.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Vassi, by Art Lewis
+
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