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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..739186f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #65537 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65537) diff --git a/old/65537-0.txt b/old/65537-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 2f716d3..0000000 --- a/old/65537-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1021 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Harwood's Vortex, by Robert Silverberg - -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 -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Harwood's Vortex - -Author: Robert Silverberg - -Release Date: June 6, 2021 [eBook #65537] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARWOOD'S VORTEX *** - - - - - Imagine walking up a street and having - the sky literally burst open over your head; - imagine invaders pouring down and you have-- - - Harwood's Vortex - - By Robert Silverberg - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy - April 1957 - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -The vortex bubbled up out of nowhere, hung shimmering in the air in -front of me, glistened and gleamed brightly. There was a whirlpool of -twisting currents in the air, and I wavered dizzily for a second or two -while the Invaders poured through the newly-created gulf. - -Then someone had me by the hand, someone was pulling me away. Leading -me inside the house, behind a screen, safe from danger. - -I didn't understand what had happened. I was numb with shock, -half-blinded by the brightness. I felt Laura near me, and that was all -I cared to think about. - -After a couple of minutes, I opened my eyes. "What was that?" I asked -weakly. "What happened?" - -Two minutes before, I had been approaching the Harwood house, impatient -to see Laura, untroubled by the world around me. And suddenly-- - -"It was Daddy's experiment," Laura half-sobbed. "It--it worked!" - -"The old crackpot," I said. "The dimensional gulf--at last? I wouldn't -believe it, if I hadn't nearly fallen into it!" - -She nodded. "I saw you staggering around out there. I got out front -just in time to--to--" - -I held her tight against me, while she unloaded some of her anxiety. -She sobbed for a minute or two, not trying to say anything. I looked -uneasily out the window. Yes, it was still going on. - -Right in front of Abel Harwood's house, the vortex was open--and coming -up through it were what we later knew as the Invaders. Globes of -light, radiant and intangible, floating up out of nowhere and ringing -themselves in the air like so many loathsome jellyfish. - -"Why doesn't he close it?" I asked. "Those things are still coming -through! Laura, where's your father?" - -"I'm right here," said a cold, business-like voice from behind me. I -turned and saw Abel Harwood's husky frame in the door. "What do you -want of me?" Harwood asked. - -"Do you see what's going on out there?" - -He nodded. "So?" - -"Those _things_ out there--what are they? What are you letting into the -world, Harwood?" - -"It's an experiment, young man." He crossed his arms over his -dressing-gown. "Would you mind leaving my house, now?" - -"Daddy!" - -"You keep out of this, Laura." He turned to me. "I've asked you to -leave my house. I don't want you meddling in my experiments any more." - -I repressed an urge to aim a kick at his well-stuffed belly. Abel -Harwood was a crackpot, a crazy amateur scientist who had been riding -this other-dimension kick for years. Now, he'd let loose Lord knew -what upon the world--the things were still funnelling through the -gateway--and he was determined to see it continue. - -"Harwood, you're playing with something too big for you! You're foolish -and blind, and you--" - -"_You're_ a trespasser," he interrupted. "I've ordered you out of my -home twice, already. Will you go now--or do I have to get my gun?" - -"I'll go," I said. I broke loose from Laura and, with an uneasy look at -the gateway outside, headed for the door. - -"Wait, Dad--you can't make him go outside in _that_!" - -"Quiet, Laura." - -She started to say something else, but I put my hand on her arm. "Never -mind, Laura." - -I opened the front door and stepped outside. - - * * * * * - -It was hellish out there. The things had formed a circle around the -vortex in the air and hung there, humming and crackling. The air was -dry and strange-smelling. - -I paused on the porch of the Harwood house for just a moment, tucked my -head under my arm and ran--ran as fast as my legs would go. I charged -through the garden, carefully averting the vortex that had opened right -in front of me, circled the nest of things buzzing in the air, and -dashed down the street. - -One of the creatures followed me a short distance, hovering a foot or -two above my head. I watched it uneasily, dodged and ducked as it took -swipes at me. It caught me once, a grazing blow on the side of my -scalp. I smelled burned hair, and felt as if I'd stuck my head up an -electric socket. It drove low for another swipe. - -And just then it began to rain. - -The heavens opened and the water came pouring down and the sky was -bright with lightning. And the globes went up to meet it. The one that -had been tormenting me forgot me in an instant and went to join its -fellows. - -I stood there and watched them. They rose in a straight line--there -must have been a hundred of them by now--climbing upwards, toward the -black clouds overhead. The sky was split by a giant bolt of lightning, -and I saw all hundred of them limned grotesquely against it, enlarged -and given color by the lightning, _drinking_ it. Then I started running -again. - -I kept on running until I was home, in my two-room flat near the -University. I dove in, locked and bolted the door, threw off my soaking -clothing. I grabbed for the phone and dialed the Harwood number. - -"Hello?" - -It was Laura's voice. I sighed in relief. It could have been old Abel, -after all. - -"Laura? This is Chuck." - -Her voice dropped. "Daddy's right here. I can't talk very much." - -"Tell me--what the devil has he done? You should have seen those -things drinking up the lightning!" - -"I did," she said. "I know what you mean." - -"Is the gateway still open?" - -"Yes. They're still coming through. Chuck, I--I don't know what's going -to happen. I--_no_, Daddy!" - -There was a sound of a little scuffle, and then the phone went dead. -I stared at the silent receiver for a second, then let it thunk back -on the cradle. I sat down on the edge of my bed and stared at my soggy -socks for a long while. - -Abel Harwood fit the classic description of a crackpot perfectly. My -status as an authentic scientist--if only an underpaid engineer--gave -me every right to make that statement. - -I had been doing some experimental force-field work, and when I met -Laura she told me her father would be interested in talking to me about -my work. So I had dinner at their home one night, and started talking -about my project--and then old Harwood started talking about his. - -It was some hodge-podge. Dimensional tubes, and force vortices, and -subspace converters. A network of gadgetry in the basement that had -taken twenty years and as many thousand dollars to build. A fantastic -theory of bordering dimensions and alien races. I listened as long as -I could, then made the mistake of expressing my honest opinion. - -Harwood looked at me a long time after I finished. Then he said, "Just -like all the others. Very well, Mr. Matthews. Kindly don't pay us a -second visit." - -"If that's the way you want it," I told him. "But I _still_ think it's -cockeyed!" - -And a month later, I still did. Only now there was this vortex in the -street, spewing forth alien entities that drank radiation. Crackpot or -not, Harwood had turned something on that might take some doing to turn -off. - -Outside, the storm was continuing. I snapped on my radio, listened -to the crackling of static that was the only sound it produced. Were -Harwood's pets blanketing the radio frequencies, I wondered, as I -twiddled the dials? Were they drinking _them_ too? - -I'd know soon enough, I thought. - - * * * * * - -That was just the beginning, that night when the Invaders came storming -out of Harwood's vortex. The next few days told of terror and panic, of -retreat and the swift crumbling of civilization. - -The Invaders, they were called. Thousands of them, wandering around -New York and the metropolitan area, devouring electricity, attacking -people, bringing a reign of terror to the city. - -The newspapers the second day said, in screaming two-inch headlines, - - ALIEN BEINGS LOOSE HERE - -The third day, there were no more newspapers. No one dared leave his -home--not with the Invaders at large. No newspapers, no radio, no -television--the channels of communication began to break down. - -On the fourth day, armed forces from the rest of the country began to -arrive. They combed the city, searching for the creatures. Bullets -had no effect, though. They passed right through the bodies of the -Invaders, splattered off buildings and lampposts as though there had -been nothing in the way. - - * * * * * - -Damn Harwood, I thought, as I stood at my window and watched the -fruitless attempts to drive away the Invaders. All the time, I knew, -that damnable vortex was still open, and more and more of them were -pouring through every second. - -It was funny, in a way, that the world should end this way. It _was_ -the end of the world, of course; we had no defense against them, and -they burned and killed unstoppably. The streets were blockaded; we -could go nowhere, see no one. Communication was impossible; telephones -were no longer working, ever since the Invaders had discovered what a -juicy supply of radiation the coaxial cables provided. We were walled -up with ourselves, waiting for the end. - -As I paced my room impatiently, I thought of Laura, there with her -father--her father who had, unwittingly or otherwise, brought this -destruction into the world. Then I looked around at my equipment, my -partially-designed force-field generators. An idea struck me. - -We were completely defenseless against the Invaders now. But maybe, if-- - -I worked through the night and on into the morning, soldering and -reconnecting. I had only the barest shred of a plan, and that a mostly -wishful one, but I had nothing else at all to do but work. - -Finally morning came. Again there was the booming of guns from outside, -as the army continued its attempts to drive out the Invaders. I glanced -out the window and saw three of the translucent globes hovering over -the charred body of a man in military uniform, and shuddered. I went -back to my generator, and worked until hunger reminded me that there -was no food left in the house. - -This was the end, then. I was nowhere near the solution of my problem, -and I knew I wouldn't be able to work for long without food. I glanced -outside again. The air was thick with the things; I didn't dare risk a -break. - -So I turned back to my generator and forced myself to keep working. -I did. I worked far on into the afternoon, getting more and more -tired--until, sometime near nightfall, I fell asleep. - -I slept. Suddenly, I was awakened by the simultaneous touch of a hand -on my shoulder and clap of thunder outside. I looked up. - -"Laura! What are you doing here?" - -"I had to get away," she said. She was soaked to the skin, cold and -shivering. She was wearing only a flimsy housecoat over some sort of -pajamas. "Daddy wasn't looking, and I ran out of the house. I ran all -the way." - -"But how'd you get past the--the--?" - -"The Invaders?" She pointed outside. "There's a storm going on. They're -all in the sky, drinking up the lightning again. They didn't bother -me at all on the way over. Much better food available, I guess." She -shivered again. - -"Look, you've got to get out of that wet stuff," I told her. I threw -her a towel and my bathrobe. "Here, get into this, and then we can -talk." - -"Okay." - -She disappeared into my other room, and returned a few minutes later, -looking drier but just as pale and frightened. She peered inquisitively -at the machine I had been building, then turned to me. - -"Chuck--Dad's out of his mind!" - -"I've known that a long time," I said. - -"No--I don't mean _that_ way. He's really insane, Chuck. You know that -he's been in contact with these Invaders? That he deliberately brought -them here!" - -"No!" - -She nodded. "He reached them through some short-wave transmitter of -his, and made mental contact with them. They showed him how to build -the Gateway--and he let them through! They promised to give him the -world, when they get through with it!" - -I clenched my fists and stared angrily at the cloud-swept sky. "The -madman! He was getting his revenge for the years people laughed at him, -I guess. But--what's to happen to us?" - -"I don't know. The creatures won't harm him, and they're under orders -not to touch me unless I leave his protection--which I have. But as for -you and the rest of the world, I don't think Daddy cares at all. Chuck, -he's out of his head!" - -"We've got to stop him," I said grimly. "We've got to close that -gateway and drive off the things he's let through. But how?" - -"The generator's in his basement," Laura said. "If we could get in -there and smash it, somehow, and--" - -"How would we kill the Invaders that have already come through? There -must be thousands of them!" - -"We'll find some way, Chuck. There _must_ be a way." I looked out the -window. The rain was letting up, and there were only occasional flashes -of lightning in the dark tormented-looking sky. "The Invaders will be -coming back soon," I said. "Do you want to risk a dash over to your -place to try to get at the generator?" - -She nodded. "If we wait any longer, we won't be able to make it. But--" - -She gasped and pointed to the rear window. I turned, saw what she was -trying to show me. Abel Harwood, hovering twenty feet off the ground, -riding on a cloud of Invaders. - - * * * * * - -"Come out of there, Laura!" His voice was somehow amplified and it -seemed to shake my little room. Horror-stricken, we watched as the -buzzing horrors bore Harwood closer and closer to my window. Laura -shrank back against the wall and tried to flatten herself into -invisibility. With a sudden nervous gesture I pushed the table -containing my unfinished generator into the closet, and turned to face -Harwood. - -He was right outside the window now. I saw the old man's staring eyes -blazing at me, as he stood there astride two of the Invaders. They -droned like defective neon signs, a horrifying slow buzz. - -I picked up a heavy soldering iron and waited as they reached the -window. Then Harwood reached out and contemptuously smashed the glass -and stepped through--stepped right off the backs of his hideous mounts -and into my room. One of the Invaders entered also, squeezing its bulk -through the window. There was a pungent odor of ozone in the air. - -"Get back, Harwood. You can't have her," I said. - -He laughed. "Who are you to give me orders? Come here, Laura." - -Laura shrank back even further. I gripped the hot soldering iron -tightly and sprang forward, plunging it into the Invader that hovered -between me and Harwood. I stabbed again and again--and it was like -stabbing air. Finally Harwood made an impatient gesture, and the -Invader glowed a brilliant red for an instant. - -I dropped the soldering iron and clutched at my burned hand. - -"For the last time, Laura--will you come with me?" - -"No! I hate you!" she shrieked. - -Harwood frowned and started toward her. As he came past me, I grabbed -him with my one good hand and tried to pull him back. I had thirty -years on him, but my right hand was badly seared and he was no weakling -even at his age. He shoved me away and sent me sprawling against the -wall. I saw him grab Laura roughly. The alien hummed ominously above my -head. - -I made a mad dash for Harwood, caught him by the throat, started to -squeeze. The humming sound grew louder, and then suddenly there was a -blinding wave of heat sweeping through the apartment, and I fell back, -clawing at the floor. - -When I was able to open my eyes, a few minutes later, I dashed to the -window just in time to see Harwood holding the struggling form of Laura -and riding off into the night on the backs of his extra-dimensional -Invaders. - - * * * * * - -I sat down heavily on the bed and stayed there for what might have been -hours, recovering my strength. The Invader had given me just a glancing -shock, just enough to stun me and singe my eyebrows--and Harwood had -grabbed Laura. - -Now I _had_ to find the answer. I had to close the gateway and find -some way of killing the Invaders--and get Laura out of her father's -clutches. - -It was nearly morning by the time I shook off the last effects of my -stunning and was able to think clearly again. I pulled my generator out -of the closet and looked at it, wondering what needed to be done. - -The gateway, first of all. It was a doorway to some alien dimension, -Harwood had said. All right. I'd accept that at face value. - -The Invaders--what were they? Pure radiation? Energy-eaters? They were -intangible, immaterial, but yet very much present. Perhaps, I thought -wildly, their corporeal bodies were still in whatever dimension of -infraspace they came from, and merely their essences, their _elans_, -had come through? - -Could be, I thought. And if it were true, I might have the answer. - -Ignoring the fierce pangs of hunger shooting through me, I got back -to work and concentrated steadily. The thought of Laura was with me -always--the image of her riding off in the sky with her father's arms -locked tightly around her. Riding off as if kidnapped by a witch on a -broomstick. - -I don't know how long it took, but finally my generator was finished. -Finished, and portable. I strapped it to my back and picked up my -longest and sharpest kitchen knife. I didn't have a gun, but it didn't -matter. If my theory was correct, a knife would be just as good--and if -I were wrong, a gun wouldn't help anyway. - -Then, without stopping to ponder, I ran downstairs and out into the -street for the test. - -Fresh air smelled good after days of being cooped up in my little -apartment. I stood in the middle of the street and surveyed the -wreckage. - -Bodies lay everywhere, charred and lifeless. Overturned automobiles lay -piled here and there, stalled trucks, artillery batteries and tanks. -The defensive maneuver had failed, and what few people remained were in -hiding. I stood alone in the middle of the street, the heavy generator -on my back, and waved my kitchen knife as triumphantly as if it were -Excalibur. - -"Come and get me," I yelled. "Come on Invaders. Let's see what you can -do!" - -I looked up. There were a few clusters of them, browsing idly around -some television antennas atop a neighboring building. They ignored me -for a few minutes; maybe they were so surprised to see a living human -in the streets that they were unable to move. I shook my fists at them. - -"Come down here where I can get at you!" I shouted. - -They hovered uncertainly--and then they came. - - * * * * * - -Six of them swooped down, humming and buzzing, glowing faintly and -billowing in and out as they dropped toward me. I waited, waited until -they were no more than three or four feet above my head, waited until I -was dizzy with the strain and suspense and could wait no more. - -Then I snapped on the generator. - -It was like catching flies in molasses. The six aliens stopped dead -in their tracks as my force-field spread out around them, engulfed -them, imprisoned them. Suddenly they were forced to contend with more -radiation than they could possibly swallow. It pinned them there, nine -feet above the ground. - -I listened to their frenzied buzzing as they stretched themselves, -elongated fantastically in an attempt to free themselves from the -unexpected thing that had grabbed them. And then I stretched up on -tiptoes and began to stab. - -My knife flashed once, twice--and the buzzing became an unbearable -shriek. My heart surged as I struck home again and again. Now we had -them! Now they were vulnerable! - -Snared in the force-field, they no longer were able to flicker out of -phase with our dimension every time a weapon approached. They were -anchored now, mired in our continuum, helpless before my savage attack. - -I kept stabbing until all six of them were torn and wounded, and then -I snapped off the force-field. And they were gone. Instantly, without -lapse, they popped out of existence like so many snuffed flames. - -_Six down_, I thought grimly. _Six down, and untold thousands to go. -But now we have a weapon._ - -I thumbed my power-pack and the field spread out around me. I began to -cut my way through the streets to the Harwood house. - -The aliens took notice of me, now. No more hovering around tv antennae; -they clustered in the air, just outside range of my force-field, and -chattered and buzzed for all they were worth. Every once in a while, -one would blunder into my field, and a swift upward cut with the knife -would take care of him. One cut. They were like balloons, and the -first puncture did it. I didn't dare shut off the force-field to see -if they'd pop out of existence, for fear the clouds of them in the air -would swoop in on me before I could turn it on again--but as I moved -on, through the dead and deserted streets, I could see the string of -dead Invaders hanging in the air vanishing one by one as I moved out of -range. - -And then I was standing in front of Laura's home, right in front of -the vortex itself. It was still there, and the aliens came thundering -through at a rate of ten or twenty a minute. - -I stepped past the vortex, ignoring the aliens that clustered around -me, as helpless against me as humanity had been against them only a few -hours before. There was no point in dealing with the Invaders yet--not -until the source was cut off. - - * * * * * - -I strode up to the porch and peered in the window. I saw Laura huddled -in a far corner of the sitting-room, and behind her Abel Harwood -marching up and down, probably delivering a fiery parental harangue. -It was a nightmare scene, with a dead city outside, hordes of alien -invaders swarming in the air--and the man responsible for it busy -delivering a lecture to his unruly daughter! - -I banged on the door. - -"Come on out of there, Harwood!" - -He looked up, astonished. I saw Laura's pale face brighten as she -recognized me, then grow downcast as Harwood started to come toward me. - -I walked off the porch into the garden and waited there for him. He -emerged, eyes blazing, and said, "How did you get here? How did you get -past my guards?" - -"Your guards don't worry me any more, Harwood. I'm going to put a stop -to all this now!" - -He chuckled. "You're a very troublesome young man, Mr. Matthews. I -spared you once, for my daughter's sake--but I'll have no such scruples -this time." He gestured imperiously to the thick swarm of Invaders -billowing out of the vortex. - -"You don't scare me, Harwood." I drew a deep breath, reached around -back, and cut off the force-field for the barest fraction of a second, -then restored it. It was just enough time to trap twenty or so aliens -in a glowing ring right above my head. - -Smiling, I drew my trusty kitchen knife and began to lay about. I -heard Harwood's flustered exclamations as, one by one, the imprisoned -Invaders winked out, darkened, and died. - -I finished off the twenty and folded my arms. "Care to send some more, -Harwood? It's easier than swatting gnats!" - -He sputtered a few unintelligible words, then rushed from the porch -toward me. - -He was a big man--big, and heavy. I was under the handicap of the -heavy force-field generator, which I knew I had to keep from his grasp -or else I was finished. All he had to do was to smash the generator, -and I'd be roasted the next second. - -Harwood barrelled into me, sweeping away the kitchen knife while I was -still debating whether or not to use it. It went clattering into a pile -of rocks in one corner of the garden, and then his fists hit me. - -I backed away, making sure I kept the generator out of his reach, and -flicked out a few defensive gestures. His face was contorted with rage. -He was almost blind with fury, and I could hardly blame him. Here I -stood, threatening to wreck whatever monument of villainy it was that -he had been erecting for twenty years. - -We closed in a tight clinch, and his fists pummelled my stomach. I -drove upward and felt teeth splinter as I connected. He spat out a -mouthful of blood and backed off. - -"Why did you have to do it?" he muttered. "Why did you ruin everything?" - -"You pitiful madman," I said. "For the sake of silly revenge on a world -that rightfully regarded you as a crackpot, you--" - -His eyes blazed and he came driving in at me again. In the background, -I heard the continuing buzzing of the Invaders, who hovered out of -reach of my force-field, unable to help their master. And overriding -the dull droning of the aliens was a steady pattern of sobbing coming -from the porch. - -Laura. Watching her father and the man she loved fighting to the death -in her front yard. - -Harwood grasped me in a tight bear-hug, his thick fingers reaching for -the power-pack on my back. I danced away and landed a solid punch in -the midsection, and he countered with a wild roundhouse that staggered -me and knocked me within a few inches of the garden fence. - -He came lumbering after me, obviously determined to flatten me against -the fence and crush the generator that way. I didn't have any way of -escaping to the right or the left; I could only wait there and hope to -withstand his assault. - -As he drew near, I tensed my legs and crouched. Then he hit me, and -I pushed upward with all my strength. The fate of a whole world--and -Laura and me--depended on my strength at that instant. - -It worked. His heavy body lifted, and he grunted in pain as I rammed -upward. He went up, up, over the garden fence-- - -And then, to my horror, he cleared the garden fence and, with a -soul-splitting cry, fell into the gaping mouth of his own vortex! - -I leaned against the fence, gaping--and before I could think of what to -do, the vortex was gone, winked out as if it had never been! - -Then Laura was on the porch, white-faced, terrified. - -"What happened? Where's Daddy?" - -I ran to her side. "He's gone," I said. "Tripped and fell into the -vortex, and then--" - -"Oh!" She gave a little cry and I thought she was going to -faint, but she caught herself with an effort and straightened -up. Speaking carefully, syllable by syllable, she said, -"I--just--smashed--Daddy's--machinery." - -"You _what_?" - -"While you were fighting--I ran down to the basement and wrecked -everything. Everything!" - -I shivered. No wonder the vortex had vanished. At the very instant Abel -Harwood was tumbling into it, his daughter was busily destroying the -generator that operated it. - -Her control broke. She burst into sobs and huddled in my arms. Finally -she said, "I--hated him. He was out of his mind." - -"Try not to think about it," I told her. "Try to forget him. It's all -over. There's just _us_ now." - -"I know," she said. - -I looked up at the sky, which was dark with the Invaders. It was a -frightening sight--but I no longer feared them. The Gateway was closed, -and Abel Harwood dead, so far as we were concerned. I didn't want to -think of what might be happening to him in whatever universe he was in. - -There would be a lot of work to do. I would have to find the -authorities, if any were left, and show them how to build my generator. -Then would begin the long, slow war of eradication against the -remaining Invaders. - -Laura was still sobbing. "Don't worry," I said soothingly. "It's all -over now." - -We had won. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARWOOD'S VORTEX *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Harwood's Vortex</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Robert Silverberg</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 6, 2021 [eBook #65537]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARWOOD'S VORTEX ***</div> - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<p>Imagine walking up a street and having<br /> -the sky literally burst open over your head;<br /> -imagine invaders pouring down and you have—</p> - -<h1>Harwood's Vortex</h1> - -<h2>By Robert Silverberg</h2> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy<br /> -April 1957<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 vortex bubbled up out of nowhere, hung shimmering in the air in -front of me, glistened and gleamed brightly. There was a whirlpool of -twisting currents in the air, and I wavered dizzily for a second or two -while the Invaders poured through the newly-created gulf.</p> - -<p>Then someone had me by the hand, someone was pulling me away. Leading -me inside the house, behind a screen, safe from danger.</p> - -<p>I didn't understand what had happened. I was numb with shock, -half-blinded by the brightness. I felt Laura near me, and that was all -I cared to think about.</p> - -<p>After a couple of minutes, I opened my eyes. "What was that?" I asked -weakly. "What happened?"</p> - -<p>Two minutes before, I had been approaching the Harwood house, impatient -to see Laura, untroubled by the world around me. And suddenly—</p> - -<p>"It was Daddy's experiment," Laura half-sobbed. "It—it worked!"</p> - -<p>"The old crackpot," I said. "The dimensional gulf—at last? I wouldn't -believe it, if I hadn't nearly fallen into it!"</p> - -<p>She nodded. "I saw you staggering around out there. I got out front -just in time to—to—"</p> - -<p>I held her tight against me, while she unloaded some of her anxiety. -She sobbed for a minute or two, not trying to say anything. I looked -uneasily out the window. Yes, it was still going on.</p> - -<p>Right in front of Abel Harwood's house, the vortex was open—and coming -up through it were what we later knew as the Invaders. Globes of -light, radiant and intangible, floating up out of nowhere and ringing -themselves in the air like so many loathsome jellyfish.</p> - -<p>"Why doesn't he close it?" I asked. "Those things are still coming -through! Laura, where's your father?"</p> - -<p>"I'm right here," said a cold, business-like voice from behind me. I -turned and saw Abel Harwood's husky frame in the door. "What do you -want of me?" Harwood asked.</p> - -<p>"Do you see what's going on out there?"</p> - -<p>He nodded. "So?"</p> - -<p>"Those <i>things</i> out there—what are they? What are you letting into the -world, Harwood?"</p> - -<p>"It's an experiment, young man." He crossed his arms over his -dressing-gown. "Would you mind leaving my house, now?"</p> - -<p>"Daddy!"</p> - -<p>"You keep out of this, Laura." He turned to me. "I've asked you to -leave my house. I don't want you meddling in my experiments any more."</p> - -<p>I repressed an urge to aim a kick at his well-stuffed belly. Abel -Harwood was a crackpot, a crazy amateur scientist who had been riding -this other-dimension kick for years. Now, he'd let loose Lord knew -what upon the world—the things were still funnelling through the -gateway—and he was determined to see it continue.</p> - -<p>"Harwood, you're playing with something too big for you! You're foolish -and blind, and you—"</p> - -<p>"<i>You're</i> a trespasser," he interrupted. "I've ordered you out of my -home twice, already. Will you go now—or do I have to get my gun?"</p> - -<p>"I'll go," I said. I broke loose from Laura and, with an uneasy look at -the gateway outside, headed for the door.</p> - -<p>"Wait, Dad—you can't make him go outside in <i>that</i>!"</p> - -<p>"Quiet, Laura."</p> - -<p>She started to say something else, but I put my hand on her arm. "Never -mind, Laura."</p> - -<p>I opened the front door and stepped outside.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was hellish out there. The things had formed a circle around the -vortex in the air and hung there, humming and crackling. The air was -dry and strange-smelling.</p> - -<p>I paused on the porch of the Harwood house for just a moment, tucked my -head under my arm and ran—ran as fast as my legs would go. I charged -through the garden, carefully averting the vortex that had opened right -in front of me, circled the nest of things buzzing in the air, and -dashed down the street.</p> - -<p>One of the creatures followed me a short distance, hovering a foot or -two above my head. I watched it uneasily, dodged and ducked as it took -swipes at me. It caught me once, a grazing blow on the side of my -scalp. I smelled burned hair, and felt as if I'd stuck my head up an -electric socket. It drove low for another swipe.</p> - -<p>And just then it began to rain.</p> - -<p>The heavens opened and the water came pouring down and the sky was -bright with lightning. And the globes went up to meet it. The one that -had been tormenting me forgot me in an instant and went to join its -fellows.</p> - -<p>I stood there and watched them. They rose in a straight line—there -must have been a hundred of them by now—climbing upwards, toward the -black clouds overhead. The sky was split by a giant bolt of lightning, -and I saw all hundred of them limned grotesquely against it, enlarged -and given color by the lightning, <i>drinking</i> it. Then I started running -again.</p> - -<p>I kept on running until I was home, in my two-room flat near the -University. I dove in, locked and bolted the door, threw off my soaking -clothing. I grabbed for the phone and dialed the Harwood number.</p> - -<p>"Hello?"</p> - -<p>It was Laura's voice. I sighed in relief. It could have been old Abel, -after all.</p> - -<p>"Laura? This is Chuck."</p> - -<p>Her voice dropped. "Daddy's right here. I can't talk very much."</p> - -<p>"Tell me—what the devil has he done? You should have seen those -things drinking up the lightning!"</p> - -<p>"I did," she said. "I know what you mean."</p> - -<p>"Is the gateway still open?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. They're still coming through. Chuck, I—I don't know what's going -to happen. I—<i>no</i>, Daddy!"</p> - -<p>There was a sound of a little scuffle, and then the phone went dead. -I stared at the silent receiver for a second, then let it thunk back -on the cradle. I sat down on the edge of my bed and stared at my soggy -socks for a long while.</p> - -<p>Abel Harwood fit the classic description of a crackpot perfectly. My -status as an authentic scientist—if only an underpaid engineer—gave -me every right to make that statement.</p> - -<p>I had been doing some experimental force-field work, and when I met -Laura she told me her father would be interested in talking to me about -my work. So I had dinner at their home one night, and started talking -about my project—and then old Harwood started talking about his.</p> - -<p>It was some hodge-podge. Dimensional tubes, and force vortices, and -subspace converters. A network of gadgetry in the basement that had -taken twenty years and as many thousand dollars to build. A fantastic -theory of bordering dimensions and alien races. I listened as long as -I could, then made the mistake of expressing my honest opinion.</p> - -<p>Harwood looked at me a long time after I finished. Then he said, "Just -like all the others. Very well, Mr. Matthews. Kindly don't pay us a -second visit."</p> - -<p>"If that's the way you want it," I told him. "But I <i>still</i> think it's -cockeyed!"</p> - -<p>And a month later, I still did. Only now there was this vortex in the -street, spewing forth alien entities that drank radiation. Crackpot or -not, Harwood had turned something on that might take some doing to turn -off.</p> - -<p>Outside, the storm was continuing. I snapped on my radio, listened -to the crackling of static that was the only sound it produced. Were -Harwood's pets blanketing the radio frequencies, I wondered, as I -twiddled the dials? Were they drinking <i>them</i> too?</p> - -<p>I'd know soon enough, I thought.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>That was just the beginning, that night when the Invaders came storming -out of Harwood's vortex. The next few days told of terror and panic, of -retreat and the swift crumbling of civilization.</p> - -<p>The Invaders, they were called. Thousands of them, wandering around -New York and the metropolitan area, devouring electricity, attacking -people, bringing a reign of terror to the city.</p> - -<p>The newspapers the second day said, in screaming two-inch headlines,</p> - -<p class="ph1">ALIEN BEINGS LOOSE HERE</p> - -<p>The third day, there were no more newspapers. No one dared leave his -home—not with the Invaders at large. No newspapers, no radio, no -television—the channels of communication began to break down.</p> - -<p>On the fourth day, armed forces from the rest of the country began to -arrive. They combed the city, searching for the creatures. Bullets -had no effect, though. They passed right through the bodies of the -Invaders, splattered off buildings and lampposts as though there had -been nothing in the way.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Damn Harwood, I thought, as I stood at my window and watched the -fruitless attempts to drive away the Invaders. All the time, I knew, -that damnable vortex was still open, and more and more of them were -pouring through every second.</p> - -<p>It was funny, in a way, that the world should end this way. It <i>was</i> -the end of the world, of course; we had no defense against them, and -they burned and killed unstoppably. The streets were blockaded; we -could go nowhere, see no one. Communication was impossible; telephones -were no longer working, ever since the Invaders had discovered what a -juicy supply of radiation the coaxial cables provided. We were walled -up with ourselves, waiting for the end.</p> - -<p>As I paced my room impatiently, I thought of Laura, there with her -father—her father who had, unwittingly or otherwise, brought this -destruction into the world. Then I looked around at my equipment, my -partially-designed force-field generators. An idea struck me.</p> - -<p>We were completely defenseless against the Invaders now. But maybe, if—</p> - -<p>I worked through the night and on into the morning, soldering and -reconnecting. I had only the barest shred of a plan, and that a mostly -wishful one, but I had nothing else at all to do but work.</p> - -<p>Finally morning came. Again there was the booming of guns from outside, -as the army continued its attempts to drive out the Invaders. I glanced -out the window and saw three of the translucent globes hovering over -the charred body of a man in military uniform, and shuddered. I went -back to my generator, and worked until hunger reminded me that there -was no food left in the house.</p> - -<p>This was the end, then. I was nowhere near the solution of my problem, -and I knew I wouldn't be able to work for long without food. I glanced -outside again. The air was thick with the things; I didn't dare risk a -break.</p> - -<p>So I turned back to my generator and forced myself to keep working. -I did. I worked far on into the afternoon, getting more and more -tired—until, sometime near nightfall, I fell asleep.</p> - -<p>I slept. Suddenly, I was awakened by the simultaneous touch of a hand -on my shoulder and clap of thunder outside. I looked up.</p> - -<p>"Laura! What are you doing here?"</p> - -<p>"I had to get away," she said. She was soaked to the skin, cold and -shivering. She was wearing only a flimsy housecoat over some sort of -pajamas. "Daddy wasn't looking, and I ran out of the house. I ran all -the way."</p> - -<p>"But how'd you get past the—the—?"</p> - -<p>"The Invaders?" She pointed outside. "There's a storm going on. They're -all in the sky, drinking up the lightning again. They didn't bother -me at all on the way over. Much better food available, I guess." She -shivered again.</p> - -<p>"Look, you've got to get out of that wet stuff," I told her. I threw -her a towel and my bathrobe. "Here, get into this, and then we can -talk."</p> - -<p>"Okay."</p> - -<p>She disappeared into my other room, and returned a few minutes later, -looking drier but just as pale and frightened. She peered inquisitively -at the machine I had been building, then turned to me.</p> - -<p>"Chuck—Dad's out of his mind!"</p> - -<p>"I've known that a long time," I said.</p> - -<p>"No—I don't mean <i>that</i> way. He's really insane, Chuck. You know that -he's been in contact with these Invaders? That he deliberately brought -them here!"</p> - -<p>"No!"</p> - -<p>She nodded. "He reached them through some short-wave transmitter of -his, and made mental contact with them. They showed him how to build -the Gateway—and he let them through! They promised to give him the -world, when they get through with it!"</p> - -<p>I clenched my fists and stared angrily at the cloud-swept sky. "The -madman! He was getting his revenge for the years people laughed at him, -I guess. But—what's to happen to us?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know. The creatures won't harm him, and they're under orders -not to touch me unless I leave his protection—which I have. But as for -you and the rest of the world, I don't think Daddy cares at all. Chuck, -he's out of his head!"</p> - -<p>"We've got to stop him," I said grimly. "We've got to close that -gateway and drive off the things he's let through. But how?"</p> - -<p>"The generator's in his basement," Laura said. "If we could get in -there and smash it, somehow, and—"</p> - -<p>"How would we kill the Invaders that have already come through? There -must be thousands of them!"</p> - -<p>"We'll find some way, Chuck. There <i>must</i> be a way." I looked out the -window. The rain was letting up, and there were only occasional flashes -of lightning in the dark tormented-looking sky. "The Invaders will be -coming back soon," I said. "Do you want to risk a dash over to your -place to try to get at the generator?"</p> - -<p>She nodded. "If we wait any longer, we won't be able to make it. But—"</p> - -<p>She gasped and pointed to the rear window. I turned, saw what she was -trying to show me. Abel Harwood, hovering twenty feet off the ground, -riding on a cloud of Invaders.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Come out of there, Laura!" His voice was somehow amplified and it -seemed to shake my little room. Horror-stricken, we watched as the -buzzing horrors bore Harwood closer and closer to my window. Laura -shrank back against the wall and tried to flatten herself into -invisibility. With a sudden nervous gesture I pushed the table -containing my unfinished generator into the closet, and turned to face -Harwood.</p> - -<p>He was right outside the window now. I saw the old man's staring eyes -blazing at me, as he stood there astride two of the Invaders. They -droned like defective neon signs, a horrifying slow buzz.</p> - -<p>I picked up a heavy soldering iron and waited as they reached the -window. Then Harwood reached out and contemptuously smashed the glass -and stepped through—stepped right off the backs of his hideous mounts -and into my room. One of the Invaders entered also, squeezing its bulk -through the window. There was a pungent odor of ozone in the air.</p> - -<p>"Get back, Harwood. You can't have her," I said.</p> - -<p>He laughed. "Who are you to give me orders? Come here, Laura."</p> - -<p>Laura shrank back even further. I gripped the hot soldering iron -tightly and sprang forward, plunging it into the Invader that hovered -between me and Harwood. I stabbed again and again—and it was like -stabbing air. Finally Harwood made an impatient gesture, and the -Invader glowed a brilliant red for an instant.</p> - -<p>I dropped the soldering iron and clutched at my burned hand.</p> - -<p>"For the last time, Laura—will you come with me?"</p> - -<p>"No! I hate you!" she shrieked.</p> - -<p>Harwood frowned and started toward her. As he came past me, I grabbed -him with my one good hand and tried to pull him back. I had thirty -years on him, but my right hand was badly seared and he was no weakling -even at his age. He shoved me away and sent me sprawling against the -wall. I saw him grab Laura roughly. The alien hummed ominously above my -head.</p> - -<p>I made a mad dash for Harwood, caught him by the throat, started to -squeeze. The humming sound grew louder, and then suddenly there was a -blinding wave of heat sweeping through the apartment, and I fell back, -clawing at the floor.</p> - -<p>When I was able to open my eyes, a few minutes later, I dashed to the -window just in time to see Harwood holding the struggling form of Laura -and riding off into the night on the backs of his extra-dimensional -Invaders.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I sat down heavily on the bed and stayed there for what might have been -hours, recovering my strength. The Invader had given me just a glancing -shock, just enough to stun me and singe my eyebrows—and Harwood had -grabbed Laura.</p> - -<p>Now I <i>had</i> to find the answer. I had to close the gateway and find -some way of killing the Invaders—and get Laura out of her father's -clutches.</p> - -<p>It was nearly morning by the time I shook off the last effects of my -stunning and was able to think clearly again. I pulled my generator out -of the closet and looked at it, wondering what needed to be done.</p> - -<p>The gateway, first of all. It was a doorway to some alien dimension, -Harwood had said. All right. I'd accept that at face value.</p> - -<p>The Invaders—what were they? Pure radiation? Energy-eaters? They were -intangible, immaterial, but yet very much present. Perhaps, I thought -wildly, their corporeal bodies were still in whatever dimension of -infraspace they came from, and merely their essences, their <i>elans</i>, -had come through?</p> - -<p>Could be, I thought. And if it were true, I might have the answer.</p> - -<p>Ignoring the fierce pangs of hunger shooting through me, I got back -to work and concentrated steadily. The thought of Laura was with me -always—the image of her riding off in the sky with her father's arms -locked tightly around her. Riding off as if kidnapped by a witch on a -broomstick.</p> - -<p>I don't know how long it took, but finally my generator was finished. -Finished, and portable. I strapped it to my back and picked up my -longest and sharpest kitchen knife. I didn't have a gun, but it didn't -matter. If my theory was correct, a knife would be just as good—and if -I were wrong, a gun wouldn't help anyway.</p> - -<p>Then, without stopping to ponder, I ran downstairs and out into the -street for the test.</p> - -<p>Fresh air smelled good after days of being cooped up in my little -apartment. I stood in the middle of the street and surveyed the -wreckage.</p> - -<p>Bodies lay everywhere, charred and lifeless. Overturned automobiles lay -piled here and there, stalled trucks, artillery batteries and tanks. -The defensive maneuver had failed, and what few people remained were in -hiding. I stood alone in the middle of the street, the heavy generator -on my back, and waved my kitchen knife as triumphantly as if it were -Excalibur.</p> - -<p>"Come and get me," I yelled. "Come on Invaders. Let's see what you can -do!"</p> - -<p>I looked up. There were a few clusters of them, browsing idly around -some television antennas atop a neighboring building. They ignored me -for a few minutes; maybe they were so surprised to see a living human -in the streets that they were unable to move. I shook my fists at them.</p> - -<p>"Come down here where I can get at you!" I shouted.</p> - -<p>They hovered uncertainly—and then they came.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Six of them swooped down, humming and buzzing, glowing faintly and -billowing in and out as they dropped toward me. I waited, waited until -they were no more than three or four feet above my head, waited until I -was dizzy with the strain and suspense and could wait no more.</p> - -<p>Then I snapped on the generator.</p> - -<p>It was like catching flies in molasses. The six aliens stopped dead -in their tracks as my force-field spread out around them, engulfed -them, imprisoned them. Suddenly they were forced to contend with more -radiation than they could possibly swallow. It pinned them there, nine -feet above the ground.</p> - -<p>I listened to their frenzied buzzing as they stretched themselves, -elongated fantastically in an attempt to free themselves from the -unexpected thing that had grabbed them. And then I stretched up on -tiptoes and began to stab.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>My knife flashed once, twice—and the buzzing became an unbearable -shriek. My heart surged as I struck home again and again. Now we had -them! Now they were vulnerable!</p> - -<p>Snared in the force-field, they no longer were able to flicker out of -phase with our dimension every time a weapon approached. They were -anchored now, mired in our continuum, helpless before my savage attack.</p> - -<p>I kept stabbing until all six of them were torn and wounded, and then -I snapped off the force-field. And they were gone. Instantly, without -lapse, they popped out of existence like so many snuffed flames.</p> - -<p><i>Six down</i>, I thought grimly. <i>Six down, and untold thousands to go. -But now we have a weapon.</i></p> - -<p>I thumbed my power-pack and the field spread out around me. I began to -cut my way through the streets to the Harwood house.</p> - -<p>The aliens took notice of me, now. No more hovering around tv antennae; -they clustered in the air, just outside range of my force-field, and -chattered and buzzed for all they were worth. Every once in a while, -one would blunder into my field, and a swift upward cut with the knife -would take care of him. One cut. They were like balloons, and the -first puncture did it. I didn't dare shut off the force-field to see -if they'd pop out of existence, for fear the clouds of them in the air -would swoop in on me before I could turn it on again—but as I moved -on, through the dead and deserted streets, I could see the string of -dead Invaders hanging in the air vanishing one by one as I moved out of -range.</p> - -<p>And then I was standing in front of Laura's home, right in front of -the vortex itself. It was still there, and the aliens came thundering -through at a rate of ten or twenty a minute.</p> - -<p>I stepped past the vortex, ignoring the aliens that clustered around -me, as helpless against me as humanity had been against them only a few -hours before. There was no point in dealing with the Invaders yet—not -until the source was cut off.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I strode up to the porch and peered in the window. I saw Laura huddled -in a far corner of the sitting-room, and behind her Abel Harwood -marching up and down, probably delivering a fiery parental harangue. -It was a nightmare scene, with a dead city outside, hordes of alien -invaders swarming in the air—and the man responsible for it busy -delivering a lecture to his unruly daughter!</p> - -<p>I banged on the door.</p> - -<p>"Come on out of there, Harwood!"</p> - -<p>He looked up, astonished. I saw Laura's pale face brighten as she -recognized me, then grow downcast as Harwood started to come toward me.</p> - -<p>I walked off the porch into the garden and waited there for him. He -emerged, eyes blazing, and said, "How did you get here? How did you get -past my guards?"</p> - -<p>"Your guards don't worry me any more, Harwood. I'm going to put a stop -to all this now!"</p> - -<p>He chuckled. "You're a very troublesome young man, Mr. Matthews. I -spared you once, for my daughter's sake—but I'll have no such scruples -this time." He gestured imperiously to the thick swarm of Invaders -billowing out of the vortex.</p> - -<p>"You don't scare me, Harwood." I drew a deep breath, reached around -back, and cut off the force-field for the barest fraction of a second, -then restored it. It was just enough time to trap twenty or so aliens -in a glowing ring right above my head.</p> - -<p>Smiling, I drew my trusty kitchen knife and began to lay about. I -heard Harwood's flustered exclamations as, one by one, the imprisoned -Invaders winked out, darkened, and died.</p> - -<p>I finished off the twenty and folded my arms. "Care to send some more, -Harwood? It's easier than swatting gnats!"</p> - -<p>He sputtered a few unintelligible words, then rushed from the porch -toward me.</p> - -<p>He was a big man—big, and heavy. I was under the handicap of the -heavy force-field generator, which I knew I had to keep from his grasp -or else I was finished. All he had to do was to smash the generator, -and I'd be roasted the next second.</p> - -<p>Harwood barrelled into me, sweeping away the kitchen knife while I was -still debating whether or not to use it. It went clattering into a pile -of rocks in one corner of the garden, and then his fists hit me.</p> - -<p>I backed away, making sure I kept the generator out of his reach, and -flicked out a few defensive gestures. His face was contorted with rage. -He was almost blind with fury, and I could hardly blame him. Here I -stood, threatening to wreck whatever monument of villainy it was that -he had been erecting for twenty years.</p> - -<p>We closed in a tight clinch, and his fists pummelled my stomach. I -drove upward and felt teeth splinter as I connected. He spat out a -mouthful of blood and backed off.</p> - -<p>"Why did you have to do it?" he muttered. "Why did you ruin everything?"</p> - -<p>"You pitiful madman," I said. "For the sake of silly revenge on a world -that rightfully regarded you as a crackpot, you—"</p> - -<p>His eyes blazed and he came driving in at me again. In the background, -I heard the continuing buzzing of the Invaders, who hovered out of -reach of my force-field, unable to help their master. And overriding -the dull droning of the aliens was a steady pattern of sobbing coming -from the porch.</p> - -<p>Laura. Watching her father and the man she loved fighting to the death -in her front yard.</p> - -<p>Harwood grasped me in a tight bear-hug, his thick fingers reaching for -the power-pack on my back. I danced away and landed a solid punch in -the midsection, and he countered with a wild roundhouse that staggered -me and knocked me within a few inches of the garden fence.</p> - -<p>He came lumbering after me, obviously determined to flatten me against -the fence and crush the generator that way. I didn't have any way of -escaping to the right or the left; I could only wait there and hope to -withstand his assault.</p> - -<p>As he drew near, I tensed my legs and crouched. Then he hit me, and -I pushed upward with all my strength. The fate of a whole world—and -Laura and me—depended on my strength at that instant.</p> - -<p>It worked. His heavy body lifted, and he grunted in pain as I rammed -upward. He went up, up, over the garden fence—</p> - -<p>And then, to my horror, he cleared the garden fence and, with a -soul-splitting cry, fell into the gaping mouth of his own vortex!</p> - -<p>I leaned against the fence, gaping—and before I could think of what to -do, the vortex was gone, winked out as if it had never been!</p> - -<p>Then Laura was on the porch, white-faced, terrified.</p> - -<p>"What happened? Where's Daddy?"</p> - -<p>I ran to her side. "He's gone," I said. "Tripped and fell into the -vortex, and then—"</p> - -<p>"Oh!" She gave a little cry and I thought she was going to -faint, but she caught herself with an effort and straightened -up. Speaking carefully, syllable by syllable, she said, -"I—just—smashed—Daddy's—machinery."</p> - -<p>"You <i>what</i>?"</p> - -<p>"While you were fighting—I ran down to the basement and wrecked -everything. Everything!"</p> - -<p>I shivered. No wonder the vortex had vanished. At the very instant Abel -Harwood was tumbling into it, his daughter was busily destroying the -generator that operated it.</p> - -<p>Her control broke. She burst into sobs and huddled in my arms. Finally -she said, "I—hated him. He was out of his mind."</p> - -<p>"Try not to think about it," I told her. "Try to forget him. It's all -over. There's just <i>us</i> now."</p> - -<p>"I know," she said.</p> - -<p>I looked up at the sky, which was dark with the Invaders. It was a -frightening sight—but I no longer feared them. The Gateway was closed, -and Abel Harwood dead, so far as we were concerned. I didn't want to -think of what might be happening to him in whatever universe he was in.</p> - -<p>There would be a lot of work to do. I would have to find the -authorities, if any were left, and show them how to build my generator. -Then would begin the long, slow war of eradication against the -remaining Invaders.</p> - -<p>Laura was still sobbing. "Don't worry," I said soothingly. "It's all -over now."</p> - -<p>We had won.</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARWOOD'S VORTEX ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. 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