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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..9bb59cb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #65877 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65877) diff --git a/old/65877-0.txt b/old/65877-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9e11bbf..0000000 --- a/old/65877-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1854 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Destiny Uncertain, by Rog Phillips - -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: Destiny Uncertain - -Author: Rog Phillips - -Release Date: July 19, 2021 [eBook #65877] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESTINY UNCERTAIN *** - - - - - - DESTINY UNCERTAIN - - By Rog Phillips - - Is Fate a robot typing out the destiny of - the world? Lin knew it was true so with his own - future at stake--he stole a page from history! - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy - May 1952 - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -"I'm never going to take my last breath," Lin said with a gloating tone -that implied some deep secret. He waited until his remark had had its -full dramatic moment, then added, "I'm simply going to take my next to -last breath and hold it." - -Jerry Myer's voice emerged from the wave of laughter, serious. "But -there does often seem to be something predestined about death. Even -seemingly accidental death." He shuddered. "There were five hundred and -sixty-nine traffic deaths last Labor Day weekend. I wonder how those -victims would have felt if they had been told, say, a week before they -died? And been unable to avoid it, no matter what they did?" - -"Nonsense!" Phil Arnoff said. "What about surgery, serums, and safety -devices? They get demonstrable results in saving lives. A man has an -enlarged aorta. Ten years ago he would have been a goner. Today he has -an operation. They transplant a section of the aorta of a dead person, -and he lives another twenty years." - -Jerry sighed. "You're getting into a meaningless argument. It could be -answered that destiny brought the operation into the realm of actuality -to save him _because it wasn't his time to die_. There's a lot of -evidence to support predestination. Some of the oldest of philosophies -and religions are based on it. _It is written_ is a concept as old as -man." - -"And maybe as mistaken as the ancient belief in a god of thunder," Lin -scoffed. - -"And maybe not," Jerry said. "You read a book. Unless you cheat and -look at the ending first it's like life. Unpredictable. But you _can_ -skip to the end and see how it will come out, and then start in at -the beginning and read with that knowledge. And when you again reach -the end it's still the same, because it was already written and -unchangeable when you began reading the first page. Sometimes I think -real life is like that." - -Phil and Lin winked at each other. Then Phil said, "Let's suppose -that's true for the moment. Who does the writing?" - -Jerry shrugged. "What difference would that make? There's the old tale -of the Fates as weavers, weaving a cloth that becomes the events of -men's lives as it is woven. And there's another one I heard once, or -read someplace...." - -"What's that?" Lin prodded. - -"I was trying to remember where I got it," Jerry said. "It doesn't -matter. The way it goes, Fate is an old man with sightless eyes, -sitting at a typewriter, pecking out the events that will happen. -Beside him is a wastebasket affair with an eternal flame in it. When -the sightless old man finishes one page he yanks it out and drops it -in the wastebasket. The flame consumes it, and as it is consumed it -becomes the reality of life." - -"Say!" Phil said. "That's a darned cute idea. Writing on paper, -burning, and in the process of burning it transforms into reality by -some strange alchemy. I hope you can remember where you read that." - -Lin snorted. "Maybe he wrote it himself and burned the pages as they -were finished," he suggested. He glanced at the clock on the wall. His -eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't know it was that late," he said, -rising. "I've got to get to the city before the bank closes. Have to -really step on it." - -"Take it easy," Phil called after him. "Don't get killed." - -"Nothing to worry about," Lin called back. "If it isn't written it -won't happen, you know." - -"Don't tempt Fate!" Jerry said warningly. - -But Lin was out the door beyond hearing. - - * * * * * - -The sign read SLOW TO 35. Lin smiled. That was for ordinary cars. His -Hudson had a low center of gravity. But he took his foot off the gas -and the uphill drag slowed his car to seventy, sixty-five, sixty, then -fifty-five as he entered the first bend of the S curve. - -The pines were tall right to the edge of the shoulder, hiding what was -ahead. It was a bad gamble, he decided, but the dashboard clock told -him it was one he would have to take. Twenty-four miles to go yet and -in twenty-two minutes. Even fifty-five was going to make him late. He -edged up to fifty-eight, leaning his head over so he could see farther -around the bend of the two lane highway. - -A car was coming toward him. It was over on its side of the pavement, -which was well. There was a woman in it. The color and shape of the -hat, which was about all he could really see, told him that. - -The oncoming car vanished for a moment on the curve. Then it was -rushing toward him on the short stretch of straightaway between the two -curved sections of the S. - -Lin relaxed. There wasn't a thing to worry about. He'd taken the first -curve easily. The oncoming car was thirty yards away, then ten. Then-- - -It was one of those absolutely incredible instants of time. Something -had happened to his Hudson. A blowout? A wheel off? Whatever it was, he -had veered straight toward the oncoming car. - -Instinctively he turned his wheel to get back into his own lane. The -car responded by lifting into the air and turning over. - -There was a brief, photographic still picture of the other car poised -at a crazy angle scant inches in front of him. He could see the girl's -features clearly, etched in lines of horror. She was nice looking. Her -eyes were wide blue pools, and there were two sharp vertical lines -between them. - -She looked at him then, accusingly, reproachfully. He shook his head in -mute apology and wished he could do it over and go slower. - -Quite calmly, though, he knew they would probably both be killed. -And it was strange that time could speed up so quickly in the moment -before death. Even now, in this instant that hung poised in eternity -he could find time left to wonder what had happened. It couldn't have -been a tire. All four tires were less than five thousand miles old. It -couldn't have been a wheel either. - -It could have been something in the road. He had been looking at the -female hat behind the windshield of that car and could have missed -seeing something on the road. - -Forgetting what was in front of him, he started to turn his head to -look back. - - * * * * * - -He blinked his eyes. There was something wrong. It came to him. He had -been about to have a head-on collision with another car. He looked down -at the ground where he stood. His feet were resting on a well packed -dirt path that went forward across the grass and curved behind a clump -of large leaved shade trees. - -He looked around him. No one was in sight. The place was strange to -him. He'd never been here before. - -He closed his eyes and thought back. He was quite certain he had been -about to be killed in an accident. It couldn't have been a dream. He -opened his eyes again and looked about him curiously. This could be a -dream. Or was he dead and was this something after life? - -There was a test he could make. He tried to remember having reached -this point on the path. He turned around and looked back the way it -came up the gentle slope of the hill. He couldn't remember having -reached this spot at all. - -There was another test. He used the edge of his shoe to scrape a line -on the path. Then he got down on his haunches and studied the ground. -There was no sign of his footsteps. But the ground was well packed. - -He straightened up. There was no use just standing here, he decided. So -he started walking, the way he had been facing originally. - -Suddenly he thought of another test. Stopping, he went through his -pockets. Everything was where it should be. His billfold held his -identification cards and currency. He studied the currency. It was too -perfect in detail to be a figment of a dream. - -He shook his head in perplexity. Whatever had happened, it was beyond -his grasp. Shoving things back in his pockets he started forward again. - -The sky was blue, with billowing white clouds drifting lazily high -above the treetops. Ahead there was the sound of water. Shortly he came -to a foot bridge that spanned a small and turbulent stream. - - * * * * * - -The path followed the bank of the stream for a hundred yards, then -turned sharply and cut through the woods. The trees seemed to be some -kind of Maple. The ground was covered with short cropped meadow, as -though cattle had grazed here. But there was no sign of movement -anywhere. - -But there was. Something small and black was drifting down toward him -in the air. He stopped and waited until he could reach out and seize it -between his fingers. - -It crumpled at his touch. He rubbed it between thumb and finger, -examining its texture. It seemed to be a flake of burnt paper, as -though someone had tossed a piece of paper in a campfire, and a charred -piece of it had floated away on the breeze. - -He went forward more eagerly now. Undoubtedly someone was ahead of him. -Probably on a picnic. He could find out from them where he was. - -And there was a sensible explanation of things now. He had probably -been thrown clear of the car and knocked out. That could have lasted -for hours while he wandered through the woods. - -Of course that was it, he decided with relief. Now all he had to do was -find someone and tell them about it, and they would take him back to -the scene of the accident. - -Ahead through the trees he could see the steep bank of a tableland that -rose above the treetops. While he watched, there was a flurry of motion -that swept downward from up there. Black flakes that turned and tossed -in the breeze. More charred bits of paper. That was obviously where the -campfire was. - -"Hello up there!" he called. There was no answer. No sound at all. - -He broke into a trot, marvelling that he didn't feel groggy or upset. -The path turned in toward the steep bank and terminated at the foot of -concrete steps that went upward. When he reached them he paused to get -his breath, then started up the steps at a more leisurely pace. - -They zigzagged up the face of the steep bank, twelve steps to each -section. - -He paused half way up and looked over the treetops, which sloped gently -for several hundred yards, then dropped away. In the far distance was -the hazy panorama of a valley with two lakes that were irregular blue -splotches on a carpet of greens and browns. - -He resumed his upward climb. Finally there was only one more section of -steps before the top. - - * * * * * - -He sighed with relief and paused to look downward, almost regretting -that he hadn't chosen to go the other way on the path. He would almost -certainly have run into someone before this, going the other way, and -then he wouldn't have had all this climb. But.... He shrugged and -climbed the last of the steps. - -He was on a flat table of jigsaw design, flagstone cemented together. -Twenty feet away was a man. The man, his back to him, was seated on -a stone bench before a small stone table, intent on something he was -doing that was concealed by his back and hunched shoulders. - -In the incredible stillness came the staccato click of what sounded -exactly like typewriter keys. As Lin watched, the man jerked -something. A piece of paper appeared briefly, then was dropped into a -wire basket where almost invisible blue flames immediately licked at it -and began to consume it. - -Blackened bits floated upward and away. And even as they floated over -the edge of the table the rapid click of the typewriter began again. - -"Hello!" Lin said in good natured greeting. - -The head didn't turn. The clack of the typewriter continued without -pause. - -Lin hesitated a moment, then approached the man slowly, debating -whether he should speak to him again or wait until he paused to rest. -The man must not be doing so well with his writing, to toss a finished -page into the fire so casually. - -Lin's lips quirked into a smile. He would sneak up and glance over the -man's shoulder and read what he was typing. - -As he stole forward he studied what he could see of the man. Instead -of conventional attire he was wearing what seemed to be a heavy gray -robe. If he had any hair it was concealed under the black skull cap he -was wearing. The back of his neck was deeply wrinkled like that of a -man well past the prime of life. His ears were well formed, but stuck -out a trifle too much. And from the speed at which he was typing he was -probably completely unaware of his surroundings. - -Lin paused above him and admired the typewriter. It was the most -beautiful machine he had ever seen, and electric, he decided as the -man's fingers touched a key and the carriage swung back to starting -position on a new line. - - * * * * * - -The type on the paper wasn't standard. In fact, some of it didn't even -seem to be ordinary letters, but some strange type of symbols. Others -were almost ordinary. - -Lin leaned forward cautiously in order to make out what was already -typed. He saw only two words that were recognizable. One was _force_ in -the middle of the second line. The other was _late_ in the line that -had just been written. - -It was a foreign language. Lin decided. But the two words he could -recognize gave no clue to what language it might be. - -The page was finished. The man's hand seized it and jerked it from the -machine, dropping it into the flame in the wire wastebasket. - -And from some automatic feed a new sheet came into view on the platen, -and the man continued his typing, his fingers moving with great -rapidity and without letup. - -Lin straightened and stepped back a bit so as not to startle the man. -He coughed loudly and said, "Hello, there." - -The rhythm of the man's typing didn't vary. He gave no indication of -having heard. - -Slightly annoyed, Lin reached out and tapped him firmly on the -shoulder. Still no result. - -"Hey there!" Lin shouted, clamping fingers over the man's shoulders and -starling to shake him. "Hey!" he started to say again, then his voice -died away. - -The shoulder under his fingers was unyielding. Too unyielding. His lips -took on a stubborn line. He applied force. The shoulder was immovable. - -He released it and stared down, mystified. The fingers continued their -typing without pause, a blur of movement over the keys. - -With abrupt decision Lin stepped around so he could see the man's face. -He caught an impression of a lean face, intellectual and relaxed, with -firm lips and thin high bridged nose. But these were only vaguely -noticed, because his attention was immediately dominated by the man's -eyes. - -Or lack of eyes, that is. For where his eyes should have been was -nothing but tightly closed lids that, from their sunken contours, -covered no eyes at all, but only empty sockets. - - * * * * * - -Experimentally Lin reached out and touched the face. The pale skin was -as unyielding as rock. He pressed his finger against the right cheek -until his nail bent over. It should have left a mark on any living skin -and brought an exclamation of pain from any living person. But it left -no perceptible mark, and the man gave no sign of having noticed. And -the fingers continued their rapid movement over the typewriter keyboard. - -Incredulously Lin reached out and tried to remove the skullcap. It -wouldn't budge, and was as unyieldingly hard as the face. - -"A robot!" The exclamation escaped Lin's lips in a hoarse whisper. -"Or--a statue?" - -In desperation he seized one of the man's arms at the elbow and tried -to interrupt the smooth flow of movement. All his strength couldn't -vary the motion of that arm enough to cause a finger to miss a key on -the typewriter. - -"Not a millionth of an inch of play in the joints!" he said, marvelling. - -For the first time he turned his attention from the figure before him -and examined his surroundings. The robot or statue or whatever it was -was seated at a spot practically perched on the edge of a cliff that -went down much farther than the stairs on the other side. Here there -was a sheer drop of at least a thousand feet, and probably more nearly -two thousand. - -Below, an immense valley stretched out toward the far horizon. - -Lin looked out over the valley with a puzzled frown, trying to recall -if there were any high mountains in this section of the country. There -were hills, but no real mountains. Nothing to compare with this. - -"How long have I been unconscious?" he muttered. - -His attention jerked back to the typist in time to see another sheet of -paper go into the flames. He watched it burn. The flame itself seemed -to come out of a round hole in the rock inside the area of the bottom -of the wire basket. From its color it was a gas flame. In the dark it -would be a bright blue. - -His attention turned to the typewriter and the stone table on which it -rested. An inscription was embossed on the smooth face of the front of -the table. - -Lin nodded in grim understanding. This was a statue. But a statue such -as never had existed on the Earth he lived in, or it would have been -considered the eighth wonder of the world and known to every school -child. - -An urgency possessed him to seize the next sheet of paper before the -flame could get it, and try to read it. He waited while the robot -statue typed, and when the hand jerked out the sheet to throw it into -the flames, he grabbed it, though part of it tore away and dropped into -the flame before he could rescue it. - -He examined the texture of the paper. It had the feel of plastic -more than paper. He studied the typing. It was sharp and clear, and -completely unintelligible. - -Or was it unintelligible? He could almost make sense out of the words. -Some of the letters that had been strange were taking on a feel of -familiarity. - - * * * * * - -He closed his eyes tightly and shook his head, then opened them and -looked again. It did make sense, but the sense was just beyond his -reach. - -He looked at the figure bent over the typewriter again, and it struck a -chord of familiarity somewhere in his mind. He had heard of this statue -somewhere.... - -He remembered now! This statue, or whatever it was, was the embodiment -of Fate. It was writing all that was in store for each individual, -and when it tossed the sheets that were written on in the flame -their burning brought what was written into being, and it happened, -somewhere, just as it had been written. - -He stared at the fragment of paper he held in his hand, and wondered -what was written on it, and what events he was holding up by not -tossing the sheet in the flame. - -A smile curved his lips. He held it over the basket. By releasing it, -it would drop down and burn. Then whatever event he was holding up -would happen. - -His fingers relaxed. The paper slipped a fraction of an inch. Suddenly -he clutched it tightly and drew it to safety. His forehead prickled. -Beads of perspiration dampened it. This puzzled him. It was almost as -though somewhere in his mind was terrible anxiety. But he was quite -calm. - -He stared at the torn sheet of paper again, the smile playing about -his lips. Slowly and deliberately he folded it and, taking out his -billfold, stored it safely away. - -He took a last look at the silent robot, the clicking typewriter, then -crossed the tablerock to the stairs and went down them to the path. - -Again he saw no sign of movement except for the occasional bit of -floating charred paper that came from above. He recrossed the stream at -the footbridge. He went slower then, looking for the mark he had made -in the hard packed path with the edge of his shoe. - -He nearly missed it, seeing it only as he stepped over it. Stopping, he -turned and looked back the way he had come. Ahead were the broad leaved -trees that looked so much like Maples, the path over which he had come. - -He started to turn--and the world turned topsy turvy around him. -There was the white face of the girl through the windshield of a car, -dropping away suddenly and rotating in a mad gyration until the face -was upside down, and then was gone past him. - -A dull booming sound exploded on his bewildered mind. Wild forces were -tossing him about inside the car so rapidly that there was no way to -tell which was up and which was down. - -As abruptly as it began, it ended. In the dead silence he heard the -screech of brakes. He wondered if it was the girl stopping her car to -come back, but he didn't turn his head to look. - -He was trying to reconcile the sequence of events brought by his -senses. It was impossible. He had spent at least two hours walking up -that path, watching the robot statue, and walking back down again to -where he had first appeared. - -Yet, if it had happened at all, it had happened in less than a split -second, for events in the collision had taken up _at the exact point -where they had left off_. - - * * * * * - -He opened his eyes and saw the creamy gloss surface of a ceiling and -knew at once he was in a hospital. Without moving his head he let his -fingers explore the clean smelling sheets, the hospital bed gown tied -around his neck. - -A footstep sounded. A nurse looked down at him with a quiet smile. -"Feel all right?" she asked. - -He dipped his head in an almost imperceptible nod. The nurse went away. -There was a swish of wind as the door closed behind her, but he didn't -bother to turn his head to look. - -After several minutes the swish of the door sounded again. More than -one pair of footsteps came toward the bed. Two men, probably doctors, -looked down at him. - -"How's the patient today?" one of them asked. - -"Today?" Lin echoed. "How long have I been here?" - -"Almost a week." - -It came flooding in. He could remember hours of torturous pain during -which he cried for them to put him out of his misery, of at least two -terrible nightmarish scenes where he was surrounded by gleaming chrome -things, and the awful odor of ether. - -"I remember now," he said weakly. "Will--will I live?" - -"If you'd asked us that yesterday we'd have said no," the doctor said, -"but--" He shrugged. - -"How badly am I hurt?" Lin asked the doctors. - -"Pretty badly," one of them said with grave frankness. "Broken back. -Severed spine. If you live you'll never walk again." - -"But I probably won't live?" Lin said. - -The doctors didn't reply. - -"The girl," Lin said, "the one who was driving the other car? Was she -hurt?" - -"Yes. Pretty badly. But she'll live." - -"What's her name?" - -The two doctors looked at each other. One of them said, "I believe she -gave her name as Dorothy Lake." - -"Tell me, what was it that caused my car to go out of control?" Lin -asked suddenly. - -"I can tell you that," one of the doctors said. "The mechanic reported -that your tierod, the rod that connects the front wheels together so -they stay in line, had come off one of its moorings." - -"Oh." Lin said vaguely. He was beginning to feel strange. The memory -of that interlude atop the mountain had come back. He was remembering -that bit of paper he had snatched from the flames. But of course there -was nothing in that.... "Are my things here?" he asked abruptly. "My -billfold?" - -"Yes," the nurse said. "Your billfold is in the drawer here." - -"Get it," Lin said. - -She opened the drawer and brought out the billfold. - -"Open it and see if there's a folded piece of paper that's torn off on -one corner," he demanded. - -He watched while she explored the contents. He recognized the texture -of the paper as it came to view. "That's it!" he said tensely. "Give it -to me!" - -He tried to lift an arm. He had to be content with taking it in his -fingers while his elbows rested on the bed. With shaking fingers he -opened it, and saw the typing that was so different from ordinary -typing. - -His fingers no longer shook. He folded the sheet of paper and handed it -back. "Don't put it back in my billfold," he said. "I want you to take -that down to the hospital office and have them put it in an envelope -and lock it in the safe. Do you understand? I want that taken care of -as though it were worth a million dollars. I don't want anything to -happen to it. Do you understand?" - -"Y-yes," she said. "I'll do that." - -Lin watched her leave the room, then turned with a grin to the doctors. - -"I'll live," he said confidently. "I'll live. _Nothing_ can kill me -now--so long as that sheet of paper remains intact." - -He didn't mind at all the way the two men looked at each other with -lifted eyebrows. - - * * * * * - -The door swished open. The nurse came in. "There's a man down in the -waiting room who wants to see you, Mr. Grant," she said. "He gave his -name as Hugo Fairchild." - -Lin frowned. "You sure he wants to see me?" he asked. "I don't know -anyone by that name." - -"Yes, it's you," the nurse said. "I told him you weren't in any shape -to see any visitors, but he said he would take only a moment of your -time." - -"All right," Lin sighed. "Send him up, but make sure he doesn't stay -any longer than that." - -Lin examined the man the nurse brought in. He was of medium height and -of ordinary appearance. A type that wouldn't attract a second glance on -the street or anywhere else. - -"I'm Hugo Fairchild," the man said. "You're Lin Grant." - -"That's right," Lin said. - -Fairchild looked down at Lin for a moment, then said abruptly, "I'll -come straight to the point. You have a piece of paper that doesn't -belong to you. I've come to get it." - -Lin's eyes narrowed. "How did you know about it, and why do _you_ want -it?" - -"There's no need to ask questions," Fairchild said. "I'm here to get -that piece of paper. It's of no importance to you." - -"You can't have it," Lin said. - -Fairchild looked around quickly. "We're alone," he said rapidly. "I -could knock you out with one blow of my fist. If you won't make any -outcry I'll just take it out of your billfold and leave." - -Lin watched, grinning, as Fairchild opened the drawer and took out the -billfold and searched it swiftly. When he saw it wasn't there he tossed -the billfold back in the drawer and looked grimly at Lin. "Where is it?" - -"You think I don't know the value of that bit of paper?" Lin said. -"You'll never get it. But you interest me. How did you _get_ here? You -know what I mean." - -"Look, Lin Grant," Fairchild said. "I'm desperate. I have to have that -paper. It means nothing to you. Please let me have it." - -"Means nothing to me?" Lin said, his voice soft and mocking. "If I -hadn't snatched that paper from the fire I would be dead right now. You -know that. And _so long as I keep it nothing can ever kill me_. That's -why you'll never get it." - -"You're insane," Fairchild said. "How could a mere piece of paper have -that power? It has no meaning whatever. The writing on it is merely -nonsense." - -"Then why are you so interested in getting it to put into the flame?" -Lin said. "If you hadn't shown up I might in time have rationalized my -memories some way and torn the thing up. But not now. Your coming after -it convinces me I'm right. You'll never get it!" - -"If I don't," Fairchild said, tight-lipped, "you'll regret every minute -you keep it. You're wrong about it. It has nothing to do with you at -all." His voice became pleading. "Give it to me and I promise you that -you will recover completely as though you were never in a wreck. The -doctors can tell you how much of a miracle that will be." - -Lin shook his head. "There's more to this than mere superstition or -fantastic miracles," he said. "I'll never give up that paper until I -know what it means and what it's all about. I know, I should have died. -I don't have anything to lose, whatever I do. So I'm keeping it." - -"You'll regret it," Fairchild said. He turned abruptly to the door just -as the nurse came in. "I was just going," he said calmly. - - * * * * * - -That night Lin slept, and in the morning when he awakened a nurse was -bringing in his breakfast tray. "Good morning!" she said brightly. - -Lin yawned and stretched a vague, "Mornin'" coming from his wide open -mouth. - -The nurse placed the tray where he could reach it easily, and started -to leave the room. At the door she stopped abruptly and gasped, then -turned and looked at him. She opened her lips to say something, thought -better of it and hurried out. - -Less than five minutes later she returned with one of the doctors. She -was saying, "He did. I saw him with my own eyes," as she opened the -door. - -"Good morning, Lin," the doctor said. "The nurse tells me she saw you -pull your legs up without touching them. Of course she's wrong." - -Lin looked at his knees where they pushed the blankets up, a startled -expression on his face. "So I did," he whispered in amazement. And he -moved his legs again. - -"That's impossible!" the doctor said sharply. - -"So it is," Lin said, grinning. "I must have established a telepathic -bridge across the severed nerves." - -"That's impossible too," the doctor said, but his first surprise was -wearing off. He came to the bed and pulled down the blankets, and stood -there watching Lin move his legs. "Better take it easy until we check -with fluoroscopy," he warned. "There's something mighty funny here. I -examined the X-ray plates myself. The spinal break was unmistakable!" - -Half an hour later Lin was relaxed on the table in the X-ray lab, while -a full half dozen doctors studied him through the fluoroscope screen -and all talked at once, with every once in a while one of them going to -an illuminated plate and tracing what was quite obviously a wide gap in -a spinal column. - -"I think I could walk without any trouble if you'd let me get up," Lin -remarked. - -"Good heavens no!" one doctor gasped. - -"I don't see why not," another said. "If we had nothing to go on but -what we see now you'd agree nothing's wrong with him. Why not let him -try?" - -There were uneasy mutterings that gradually drifted into a majority -opinion that he should try. The technician moved the fluoroscope screen -out of the way. - -Lin sat up, swiveled gently ninety degrees and lowered his legs over -the edge of the table. Cautiously he eased his feet to the floor. Even -more cautiously he let his weight gradually settle on them. While the -doctors watched without seeming to breathe, he stood up and took a -timid step, a more bold one, and then walked several steps and turned -around, coming back to the table. - -"Feels perfectly natural," he said. "I guess you'll have to admit you -were wrong about that spinal cord break." - -"But we weren't wrong!" It was the doctor who had had charge of Lin in -the first place. "The X-rays prove it!" - -"Are you sure they weren't mixed up with those of some other patient?" -another doctor suggested. - -"Find me another patient in this hospital who has a spinal break half -an inch wide and I'll--I'll--" - -"Eat him?" Lin suggested. - -"Yes. I'll eat him. Gladly. There was definitely no error. A miracle is -more possible than those X-ray plates getting mixed up." - -"Does this fix me up then?" Lin asked. "Can I leave the hospital?" - -"Not for another two or three days under any circumstances," his doctor -said. "Personally I think we should put you on display. Permanently. -The first proven miracle in two thousand years. Or more! But we'd like -you to remain long enough for us to make sure this isn't some freak -happening that will undo itself. And also to give us time to get used -to the fact that you can walk." - -"Okay," Lin said. "I'd just as soon stay another couple of days anyway. -Can I go back to my room and have another breakfast? I didn't get a -chance to finish my first one." - - * * * * * - -As soon as he was alone in his room he went to the window and peeked -out. Below was the street, and to the left he could see the sidewalk -that led to the main entrance of the hospital. - -Across the street were office buildings, and after a moment he found -what he had half expected to find. Hugo Fairchild was standing on the -sidewalk watching the entrance of the hospital. - -"You should stay in bed." - -Lin whirled at the sound of the voice, then relaxed with a relieved -sigh. It was the doctor. - -"Okay, doc," he growled. He went and sat on the edge of the bed. - -A twisted smile curved the doctor's lips. "You know," he said, "you -aren't the only miracle that happened in this hospital today." - -Lin blinked. "Don't tell me Dorothy Lake, the girl in that other car, -is the other one!" - -"How did you know?" the doctor said. "Yes, it was she. Five fractured -ribs and a broken right arm. And a severe laceration on the cheek. And -not a sign of them now." - -"Where is she?" Lin demanded. "I've got to see her." - -"I wish I knew what was going on," the doctor said. He studied Lin -silently. "I'll ask Miss Lake if she will see you." - -Lin lay down and tried to relax while the doctor was gone, but his eyes -didn't leave the door. It was over an hour before the nurse came in -with a robe and the information that "Miss Lake wants to see you." - -He followed her the full length of the hallway. She opened the door -for him. He went past her into the room, and saw the face he had seen -through the windshield. - -"I'll leave you alone for ten minutes," the nurse said. - -"Hello," Dorothy Lake said nervously. - -Lin saw that she was afraid. "Hello," he said. "You don't need to be -afraid of me. I won't eat you. As a matter of fact, I'm awfully sorry -I ran into you. If there's anything I can do.... I'll pay the hospital -bill of course...." - -"I'm not afraid of you," she said. "It's the way I woke up this morning -with nothing wrong with me. It scares me. I don't know what to make of -it." - -Lin started to say something and thought better of it. - -"And there's something else," Dorothy went on. "It's the man that -insisted on seeing me yesterday. He demanded that I give him a paper I -was supposed to have. He wouldn't believe me when I told him I didn't -know anything about it." - -"Was his name Hugo Fairchild?" Lin asked. - -"Yes!" - -"I see it all now," Lin said grimly. "Your fate was written on that -slip of paper too." - -"My fate?" Dorothy said, bewildered. - -"And he made us get well so we would have to leave the hospital," Lin -went on. "When we leave he'll get us and take it away from me." - - * * * * * - -Dorothy laughed nervously. "Don't leave it there. I think I'm really -insane. The things that are happening can't happen. That's a good test -of insanity isn't it?" - -"Don't be silly," Lin said. "When a thing happens it _can_ happen, no -matter how impossible it may seem. Let me tell you what happened to -cause all this." - -"Please do," she said. "I'm sure it can't be any more impossible than -my bones healing up and a bad cut on my cheek vanishing overnight -without even leaving a scar." - -"You think not?" Lin said grimly. "Then listen to this. You remember -when we were about to hit? A fraction of a second before the crash? -At that precise instant when you were staring at me reproachfully -I suddenly found myself in--I don't know where it was, but I know -it wasn't on this earth. I followed a path up to a high tablerock -overlooking an immense valley, and there on that high perch was a -statue." - -"A statue?" Dorothy echoed. - -"Don't interrupt," Lin said. "You can't possibly understand. I don't -myself. So just listen to what happened and what I think it means. It -was a moving statue. Like a robot, in a way. But it was more than that. -I'm sure of that now. It was, in some way, a god. The god of Fate. It -was typing on a typewriter of some sort that had an automatic feed to -supply a new sheet of paper every time the old one was yanked out. -And beside the typewriter was a wastebasket sort of thing with a flame -burning at the bottom. This statue would fill a sheet of paper with -typing and then yank it out and drop it in the basket, and it would -instantly burn. And I know now that the very process of burning that -sheet of paper made reality out of whatever was written on it. And to -cut a long story short, I yanked a sheet of paper out of the statue's -fingers just as it was about to be dropped into the flame." - -"But--" Dorothy said weakly. - -"That piece of paper," Lin said firmly, "was our fate. Yours and mine. -On it was written that we were to die in that accident. And until that -paper is returned to that place and burned in the flame, _we cannot -die_!" - -She was looking at him queerly now. - -"You think I'm crazy?" Lin said. "Hugo Fairchild came to get that paper -didn't he? And I have it. Fairchild's waiting outside the hospital for -me--or you--to come out with it, too. I saw him from my room." - -"How...." Dorothy said weakly. "How did you get over into that--that -other world?" - -"I don't know," Lin said. "I just did, that's all." - -"Then ... then Hugo Fairchild is from this other world?" - -"It's obvious, isn't it?" Lin said. - -"But it's too late for it to do him any good now, isn't it?" she -persisted. "The accident is over. We weren't killed." - -Lin shook his head slowly. "It isn't too late, or he wouldn't want it. -Don't you see? We, you and I, can't die until he gets it. That's why -he wants it. Since it's written on it that we died in that crash, the -moment it burns we'll be back where we were when I snatched that paper -from the flames, and we'll die in that accident. Then all this, our -being in the hospital and all, will never have happened!" - - * * * * * - -It was the next day. Dorothy had come to Lin's room. She was peeking -out the window at Fairchild down on the sidewalk. - -"What will we do, Lin?" she asked, turning to him. "We can't hope to -fight him. He must have supernatural powers, or he couldn't have caused -us to recover so miraculously." - -"I don't know," Lin said. "We'll have to sneak out the back way or -something. We have to leave tomorrow, you know. Or--Look, he's after -the paper and you don't have it. It's me he wants. I'll leave first, -with that paper. Then you'll be free and can forget about it." - -"I still can't believe it," Dorothy said. "If it weren't for the fact -that my ribs were definitely broken, and I saw that nasty cut on my -cheek...." - -"You know there's no other explanation," Lin said. - -"But how could writing on a piece of paper _form_ reality?" she -objected. "It just can't!" - -"But it does," Lin said. "What is reality? Scientists have been trying -to find out since time began. There could be different kinds of -reality. Ours could be subject to the minds of beings on another plane -of it. This robot could sit there and write out things that happen, and -make them happen here. It has to be that." - -"I know," Dorothy said. "It has to be that, even if it doesn't seem -possible." - -She left the window and went to a chair and sat down. - -"Lin," she said. "If he gets that paper we both die. I'm going with -you. I couldn't stand going out alone and not knowing when he gets it." - -"Nonsense," Lin said. "He won't get it. You can forget about it." - -"What if he never gets it?" Dorothy asked. - -"Then we'd live forever." Lin grinned. "Maybe that's why he has to get -it back." - -"Suppose," Dorothy said. "Suppose--don't think I'm silly, but suppose -we destroyed it on this plane. Then it could never go into that flame." - -"I don't know," Lin frowned. "Maybe any flame would make it happen. It -would be an awful risk to take." - -"We wouldn't have to burn it," she said. "We could tear it into little -bits and let the wind carry them away, one at a time." - -"I'll have the nurse get it," Lin said. - -When the nurse brought it Dorothy examined it eagerly, trying to read -what was typed on it. A light of excitement danced in her bright blue -eyes. Finally she held it in a position to tear it. - -"Shall I?" she said. - - * * * * * - -Lin nodded. She hesitated a moment, dramatically, then abruptly pulled -her hands in a shearing movement that should have torn it easily. - -It didn't. - -"Here, let me do it," Lin said. - -He took it and tried to tear it, without success. He grunted, and -exerted every ounce of strength. It remained intact. - -"That's funny," he said. "It tore easily when I grabbed it from Fate." - -"Let's burn a little corner of it and see what happens," Dorothy -suggested. - -Lin went to the bedside stand and got his lighter. He held the flame to -one corner of the sheet of paper. A minute went by, two minutes. The -paper refused to burn or even char. - -"Huh!" Lin said, snapping his lighter shut. "Well, it's a cinch that -scissors will cut it. I'll ask the nurse to bring us a pair." - -Ten minutes later he was trying to cut it, without success. It would -bend between the blades of the scissors, or stop them from coming -together at all. But it wouldn't cut. - -"It's indestructible on this plane of existence," Dorothy said. "Now I -believe you, Lin." - -"I'm glad you do," Lin said dryly. "So now it's clear what I should do. -My job is to hide this someplace where Hugo Fairchild can never find -it. You can go your way and forget about it." - -Dorothy shook her head. "No," she said. "I'm going with you. We'll -face this together. I--I couldn't stand the suspense of wondering when -Fairchild would catch up with you and get it." - -"You'd get used to it," Lin said. "After all, everyone has to die -sometime, and no one spends much time worrying about when it will come." - -"But this isn't the same," Dorothy said stubbornly. "That man is after -it, and when he gets it we'll die. I'm sticking with you--and that -piece of paper." - -Lin went to the window and peeked out. Fairchild was still in sight, -watching the main entrance of the hospital. - -"Okay," he said, turning back to Dorothy. "Go to your room and put on -your street clothes. We're going to leave now. We'll sneak out the back -way." - - * * * * * - -Lin watched the door close, then went to work. Folding the piece of -paper several times until it was a compact square, he taped it to his -side under his left armpit where it couldn't be noticed. - -He dressed swiftly, wrote a hurried note informing the hospital he -wasn't sneaking out to avoid paying his bill. He left the note on the -bed in plain sight and started toward the door. Just as he reached it -he remembered Dorothy's hospital bill. He went back and added a P.S. -for the hospital to put her on his bill. - -Opening the door, he peeked out. A nurse was in the hall. He watched -her until she went into a room, then slipped out and hurried toward the -stairs. - -He was grinning to himself. Dorothy wouldn't have had time yet to get -dressed. And he had no intention of waiting for her. It would be too -dangerous. She would find him gone. She would be unable to find him. -And eventually she would take up her life where it had left off. In -time she would forget him and think the whole thing a dream. That was -the best way. - -He passed people on the stairway without meeting anyone who would -recognize him. In the basement the risk was greater. There were dozens -of people. But no one stopped him as he hurried toward the exit. They -considered him just a visitor, he reflected. - -The critical moment was just ahead of him now. A hundred questions -were tormenting him. How had Fairchild known which hospital he was in? -How had Fairchild known it was he who had stolen that paper? - -He shrugged the questions off. There was no way of knowing now. If -Fairchild had powers that would enable him to discern that he was -sneaking out the back way and be there waiting for him, he'd just have -to make the best of it. - -At the exit he paused and peeked out. There was a wide concrete -driveway. An ambulance was parked there. No one was in sight. - -He opened the door boldly and stepped out. He started along the -driveway with an appearance of casual unconcern, as though he were a -visitor taking a shortcut. - -"Not so fast, Lin!" - -He turned quickly. Dorothy was half running to catch up with him. He -felt his pulse leap and somehow couldn't feel anger. - -Dorothy smiled knowingly at him. "I figured you'd try to escape alone," -she said. "So I hurried." - -"Well, it was an idea," Lin said. "Come on. We've got to put distance -between us and Fairchild before he discovers we're gone." - -They reached the driveway exit. It was on a sidestreet from the main -entrance. Fairchild wasn't in sight. - -"Where'll we go?" Dorothy asked nervously. - -"How about my apartment?" Lin said. "We can stay there months at a time -without going outside." - - * * * * * - -She gasped, then saw that he was laughing at her with his eyes. "I'll -have you know ..." she said angrily. - -"Know what?" Lin prompted. - -"Let's go _some_ place," she said. "We can't just stand here." - -"There's a taxi," Lin said, taking her hand and pulling her after him -into the street. In the taxi he gave the driver directions. "First -National Bank down on Center Street," he said. "Wait there. We're going -to the airport from the bank." And to Dorothy in a lower voice, "We'll -put some real distance between us and Fairchild. After that you can go -your way and I'll go mine." - -"If that's what you want," she said. She broke suddenly. "Oh, Lin. I -don't know what I want. I don't want to leave you. I'm afraid. Or maybe -I'm not. I don't know. It's all a rotten mess. Why couldn't we have met -normally so that if--" She bit her lip and turned away. - -The taxi hummed along for several blocks while they were silent. When -Lin spoke his voice was low and serious. "Maybe I feel that way too," -he said. "But--you know what's wrong with it? We're running away. It's -like being an escaped criminal with a death sentence hanging over you." - -"But it needn't be!" she said, laying her hand on his arm. "The police -aren't after us or anything like that. We've given this Fairchild the -slip now. All we have to do is go away somewhere and he'll never find -us." - -"He'll be looking," Lin said, "and we'll wake up every morning with the -knowledge that this may be the day he finds us." He turned and looked -through the rear window of the taxi. "Actually I'm surprised we gave -him the slip. I can't understand it." - -"You feel that way?" Dorothy said with a shaky laugh. "I do too. He -found us in the hospital. I keep thinking he just knows things. You -know what I mean." - -"He didn't know which one of us took that paper," Lin said. He frowned. -"But he knew it was one of us. He must know what's on it. He has -supernatural powers, too. Look how he fixed us up." - -He looked through the back window again. When he straightened he fixed -his eyes on Dorothy's face. - -"Dorothy," he said, "maybe nothing can stop him from getting that paper -back soon. It may be hours or days. But--would you marry me and make -the most of it until...?" - -She began twisting her fingers together nervously. "I--I don't know -what to say," she hesitated. "It seems so wrong in a way. I don't mean -wrong. Unfair. That's it. Unfair to--to both of us. Like we were doing -this whether we love each other or not. It doesn't give whatever love -we could have had a chance." - -Lin stared at her a moment. "Then let's turn around and go back and -give it to him," he said quietly. - -"Let's--let's--" Suddenly she was in his arms, her face buried in his -collar, her body trembling. She lifted her head until her cheek rested -against his. Her voice was a whisper in his ear. "Let's--get married." - - * * * * * - -"Boy, have you two got it!" Phil Arnoff said. "You get me on the phone -and tell me to rush to town, and you can't wait five minutes. What's -the matter? Afraid you'll fall out of love if you don't plunge?" - -"We wouldn't have waited for you to get here," Lin said, "only we -have to have a witness, they said when we got the license." He looked -pleadingly at Dorothy. "Please, honey. Let's skip the church. You don't -_have_ to be married in one do you?" - -"It's got to be a church," she said. "That's the one thing I've always -been certain of." - -"Why not?" Phil said. "There's a dozen churches that exist on weddings. -Don't even have a congregation. Just weddings. One of 'em ought to have -a vacant ten minutes today." - -They found a phone booth and Lin began making calls. The third number -was answered by a man with an Irish brogue who blessed them for their -eagerness and agreed to perform the ceremony at once. - -"Hah!" Lin said when he hung up. "We'd have got along without you -okay, Phil. Reverend O'Hara said he has a witness on hand all the time -for couples like us." - -"I'll trail along anyway," Phil grinned, "What _is_ the rush though? -How long have you two known each other?" - -"We ran into each other a few days ago," Dorothy said, taking Lin's -hand and leading him toward the sidewalk. - -Phil followed them and noted silently the way they glanced anxiously -about when they were out in the open, as though afraid of being seen by -someone. - -Lin flagged a cruising taxi again. The three of them piled into it and -Lin gave the address of the church. - -Phil broke the silence after a few blocks. "I'm being nosey, I know. -But you two were obviously looking to see if you were being followed. -Why don't you tell old uncle Phil about it? Huh?" - -"About what?" Lin said, turning innocent eyes on him. - -"Nothing," Phil said. "Only, sometimes three heads are better than one. -If you two, or one of you, is in trouble, maybe I could be of help if I -knew what to look out for." - -"I doubt it," Lin grunted. "In fact, if we told you you wouldn't -believe it, so skip it." - -"So it is trouble," Phil murmured. "I thought so." He grunted. "Count -me in on it. What is it. Bank robbery?" - -"Worse than that," Dorothy said. "But let's forget it. I want to -relish every minute of my wedding." - -"Just like a woman," Phil said, lifting his eyes upward. "_My_ wedding, -she says." - -The taxi chose that moment to pull to the curb and stop. Outside was a -small and picturesque church. - -"Go on in and get things started," Phil said. "I'll pay the driver." - -"Tell him to wait," Lin said. "This shouldn't take more than ten -minutes." He took Dorothy by the hand and led her toward the entrance. -Phil grinned at the taxi driver and shrugged. - - * * * * * - -"As best man I get to kiss the bride first," Phil said fifteen minutes -later. - -Lin jumped, startled. "Huh uh!" he exclaimed. "I've never kissed her -yet myself!" He put his arms around her and kissed her lingeringly. - -She pulled away from his embrace finally, one hand trying to keep her -hat on her head, murmuring, "It's about time!" But the bright lights in -her eyes said that it was worth waiting for. - -"Bless you, my children," the minister said, smiling. - -"Oh yes, how much do I owe you?" Lin said. Realizing his mistake he -hurriedly took out his billfold and handed the man a twenty dollar -bill. He turned to Dorothy, not waiting for the thanks he expected. - -Phil correctly interpreted the minister's dismayed look and slipped -him another ten. "He doesn't realize the overhead ate that up," he -whispered. "He doesn't get married very often." - -"Oh, I see," Reverend O'Hara whispered. - -Phil hurried after Lin and Dorothy, catching up with them just outside -the front entrance. - -"Now," he said grimly as they got into the taxi again, "you want to be -alone. My price for leaving you alone is for us to go somewhere first -and have a drink or two--which you would anyway--and listen while you -tell me what's behind all this rush." He looked sidelong at Dorothy and -chuckled. "Surely it wasn't a race with the stork! Or is the hospital -our next stop?" - -"Of course not!" Dorothy said indignantly. "We just came from there -this morning." - -"Then this was...?" Phil said, half seriously. - -"Not what you think," Lin said. "There's the Shangri-La ahead. We can -have a couple of drinks there and something to eat. And we'll tell you -all about it, though you won't believe a word." - - * * * * * - -It was almost two hours later. And four drinks later. "So you see why," -Lin was saying while Phil stared at them with round eyes, "we don't -know how long we have. Maybe--" He looked anxiously toward the gloom -of the entrance across the room. "He could walk in during the next -minute. I can't see why he doesn't. I _know_ he knows where we are. I -feel it." - -"And you have this paper taped to your side under your shirt?" Phil -said. "Let me see it." - -"No!" Dorothy said. - -"I've known Phil most of my life," Lin said. "He's all right. Anyway, -you know the thing's indestructible on this plane." - -Dorothy hesitated, then reluctantly nodded her agreement. Lin yanked -the folded paper from under his shirt. - -Phil took it, unfolded it curiously, and frowned at the strange -typewritten characters on it. - -"You say it's indestructible?" he asked after a moment. - -"We tried to tear it, to burn it, and to cut it with the scissors," Lin -said. "All it does is bend." - -Phil tried to tear it, cautiously at first, then exerting every ounce -of strength in his fingers. He gave up and examined the paper with a -new respect in his eyes. "I almost think I believe your tall tale," he -said musingly. - -He dipped a finger in his cocktail and rubbed it over the characters on -the paper. Though they became wet they didn't blur or fade. - -He took out his lighter and touched the corner of the paper to the -flame. When it didn't char he touched it again and let the flame play -on one corner for a moment, then touched the corner with his fingers. - -"Just warm," he grunted. He began folding the paper up the way it had -been. "Of course there's one way I could help you," he said slowly. -"You could let me keep this. I could hide it where even you wouldn't -know how to find it. That way when this character catches up with you -it's out of your hands." - -"That's an idea," Lin said. "But we would know you had it. Maybe he -could worm it out of us and then he'd be after you. And it wouldn't be -your life that hung in the balance." - -"True enough," Phil said. He cupped the folded paper in his hand, -closing his fingers over it. "There's one or two points I'm not clear -on, Lin. You say you grabbed it when it was still in Fate's fingers, -and that's when that part tore off? You were able to tear it then. Why -can't you now?" - -"I don't know," Lin said. "Things are different over there, I guess. It -burns over there, too, remember. In that flame." - -"Yes, I know," Phil said. "I just--" - -A terrified gasp from Dorothy interrupted what he had been about to -say. Her eyes were wide and round, and fixed on the entrance across the -room. - -"Fairchild!" Lin gasped. - - * * * * * - -Phil turned his head and glanced briefly at the man who stood there -surveying the occupants of the room. He got swiftly to his feet just as -Fairchild saw them and started toward them. - -"Well, goodbye, kids," he said casually. But his broad wink warned them -to let him escape with the paper that was still hidden in the palm of -his hand. - -"Give me back--" Lin blurted. But Phil was hurrying toward the -entrance, passing Hugo Fairchild. Lin sighed in relief as Phil made it -to the door and vanished. - -"Well, well," Fairchild said. "I finally tracked you two down. So -you're married now." He slid into the seat Phil had occupied. - -"Yes, we're married," Lin said coldly. "And we want to be alone." - -"I don't doubt that," Fairchild said. "I don't doubt it at all. I -sympathize with you, but I have my job to do, you know." - -"I'll bet you sympathize with us," Dorothy said worriedly. - -"But I do, really," Fairchild said. "And to prove it I'm going to make -you a nice offer. I don't have to, but I can, and I will. Give me the -paper and I'll promise not to toss it into the Flame for a whole year. -That will give you a year of happiness. It won't do any harm in the -long run, because the instant that paper is consumed everything goes -right back to the instant of the crash, and world events go on as they -should have in the first place. But I'll stick to my bargain. If you -give me the paper without trouble." - -"But we don't have it!" Dorothy blurted. - -"You don't?" Fairchild exclaimed. His eyes widened in sudden -comprehension. "That fellow...." He half rose and looked toward the -exit. He glanced back at their faces and saw that he had guessed right. -Waiting for no more he leaped across the room, bumping into a waiter -and causing him to spill a tray of drinks. Then he was out the door -before anyone could stop him. - -"I hope Phil had sense enough to get far away, and quick," Lin groaned. -"Come on, Dorothy, let's see." He dropped enough money on the table to -take care of the check and, taking her arm, hurried after Fairchild. - -Twenty feet away a crowd had gathered about a central point. They ran -to the crowd and pushed their way toward its center. Dorothy gasped and -Lin tensed at what they saw. - -Phil was getting slowly to his feet, nursing a large bruise under one -eye with gentle fingers. - -"The other guy just vanished!" someone said unbelieving. "I saw him! He -just vanished in thin air where he was standing!" - -"Did he get it?" Lin said, helping Phil to his feet. - -Phil nodded, then muttered, "Let's get away from here. I think I need -another drink." - -Lin's legs were suddenly watery. Dorothy's lip was trembling. - -"A drink," Lin said dully, then, determinedly, "Yes, a drink." He took -Dorothy's arm in his fingers. "Come on, honey. Maybe we'll have time." - -"A drink?" Dorothy said shrilly. "We're going to be dead in another -minute and all you want is time enough to have a drink?" - -"That isn't it at all," Lin said. "Let's get off the street." - - * * * * * - -He guided her firmly through the crowd, Phil following in their wake. -They went back into the Shangri-La once more and back to their table -where their unfinished drinks still rested. - -"I'm sorry you took what I said the wrong way," Lin said. "Believe me--" - -"It's all right, darling," Dorothy said. "I know you didn't mean it -that way. It's just that, well, we haven't had a chance together...." -Her lips started to tremble again, then she was smiling bravely. - -"That's the girl," Phil said. - -"You should talk," Lin growled. "You aren't going to die." - -"Let's drink to that, or something," Phil said. "I need one, and I'm -sure you both do too." - -They drank solemnly. Lin and Dorothy were looking into each other's -eyes as they drank. - -"I wish--" Lin choked. - -"I know," Dorothy said. She leaned across the table and Lin kissed her. - -"Cigarette?" Phil asked, holding out his pack. They each took one and -he lit them with his lighter. - -"Three on a match," Dorothy said nervously. "I guess it's all right -this time though. The conclusion is foregone." - -"Wonder how long it will take," Lin said, sucking in the smoke hungrily. - -"That's another thing," Phil said. "That other time you took that long -walk and got the paper and walked back to where you started from, and -it all happened in less than an instant." - -"That's right," Lin said. "He should be...." - -"As a matter of fact," Phil said, "I think he should. So it worked -after all. I'd really hoped it would. Or maybe ... but I think it -worked." - -"What worked?" Lin and Dorothy demanded together. - -"He must have tossed that paper into the flame by now, unless he read -what was on it," Phil said. He spread his hands apologetically. "You -see I knew this couldn't go on forever. The only way to fight the -supernatural is to outsmart it, I figured. So I wrote on it. Simple as -that. I bore down good too so that if the ink came off, the writing -would still be creased in good. On the theory that _whatever_ was on -that paper would come true when it got burned." - -"_What did you write?_" Again Lin and Dorothy spoke in unison. - -"I didn't have time for anything involved," Phil apologized. "I rather -expected him to be after me before I could go far." - -"_What did you write?_" - -"Just one word," Phil said, "_Cancelled_." - -"Cancelled?" Lin and Dorothy echoed dumbly, then, comprehendingly, -"Cancelled!" - -"Sure," Phil said. "That way when it was burned it wouldn't do -anything. They'll have to start over on you." - -They stared at him wordlessly. - -"It must have been burned by now," he added weakly. "So my scheme -worked." - -They turned their heads and looked into each other's eyes. Two ghostly -windshields obscured their vision. The tables and people about them -faded, to be replaced by ghostly pines, a more solid concrete highway. - -They stared into each other's eyes, knowing all that had been, feeling -it slip away. - -But abruptly it vanished and they were looking at each other across -the table while a waiter asked them if they wanted another drink. For a -long second their minds hovered in that other stream of time before the -realization came that it was over and they were safe. - -"Another?" Lin said. "Yes. Sure. You want one, Dorothy?" - -She nodded and watched the waiter's back as he hurried away. - -"You two look as if you'd seen a ghost," Phil said. "I would almost -swear that paper reached the flame a second ago." - -Dorothy turned to him. "It did," she said. "And I don't know whether to -be happy about it or--never forgive you." - -"Why?" Phil asked. - -She looked at Lin, her eyes soft and luminous. Her hand reached out and -nestled in his. - -"Well," she said, "it seems to me the least you could have done while -you had the opportunity was write on it for us to live forever!" - -She laughed nervously. - -Lin flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette and grinned at her. -"That would have been tempting Fate!" he said.... - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESTINY UNCERTAIN *** - -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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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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> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Destiny Uncertain</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Rog Phillips</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 19, 2021 [eBook #65877]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESTINY UNCERTAIN ***</div> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>DESTINY UNCERTAIN</h1> - -<h2>By Rog Phillips</h2> - -<p>Is Fate a robot typing out the destiny of<br /> -the world? Lin knew it was true so with his own<br /> -future at stake—he stole a page from history!</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy<br /> -May 1952<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"I'm never going to take my last breath," Lin said with a gloating tone -that implied some deep secret. He waited until his remark had had its -full dramatic moment, then added, "I'm simply going to take my next to -last breath and hold it."</p> - -<p>Jerry Myer's voice emerged from the wave of laughter, serious. "But -there does often seem to be something predestined about death. Even -seemingly accidental death." He shuddered. "There were five hundred and -sixty-nine traffic deaths last Labor Day weekend. I wonder how those -victims would have felt if they had been told, say, a week before they -died? And been unable to avoid it, no matter what they did?"</p> - -<p>"Nonsense!" Phil Arnoff said. "What about surgery, serums, and safety -devices? They get demonstrable results in saving lives. A man has an -enlarged aorta. Ten years ago he would have been a goner. Today he has -an operation. They transplant a section of the aorta of a dead person, -and he lives another twenty years."</p> - -<p>Jerry sighed. "You're getting into a meaningless argument. It could be -answered that destiny brought the operation into the realm of actuality -to save him <i>because it wasn't his time to die</i>. There's a lot of -evidence to support predestination. Some of the oldest of philosophies -and religions are based on it. <i>It is written</i> is a concept as old as -man."</p> - -<p>"And maybe as mistaken as the ancient belief in a god of thunder," Lin -scoffed.</p> - -<p>"And maybe not," Jerry said. "You read a book. Unless you cheat and -look at the ending first it's like life. Unpredictable. But you <i>can</i> -skip to the end and see how it will come out, and then start in at -the beginning and read with that knowledge. And when you again reach -the end it's still the same, because it was already written and -unchangeable when you began reading the first page. Sometimes I think -real life is like that."</p> - -<p>Phil and Lin winked at each other. Then Phil said, "Let's suppose -that's true for the moment. Who does the writing?"</p> - -<p>Jerry shrugged. "What difference would that make? There's the old tale -of the Fates as weavers, weaving a cloth that becomes the events of -men's lives as it is woven. And there's another one I heard once, or -read someplace...."</p> - -<p>"What's that?" Lin prodded.</p> - -<p>"I was trying to remember where I got it," Jerry said. "It doesn't -matter. The way it goes, Fate is an old man with sightless eyes, -sitting at a typewriter, pecking out the events that will happen. -Beside him is a wastebasket affair with an eternal flame in it. When -the sightless old man finishes one page he yanks it out and drops it -in the wastebasket. The flame consumes it, and as it is consumed it -becomes the reality of life."</p> - -<p>"Say!" Phil said. "That's a darned cute idea. Writing on paper, -burning, and in the process of burning it transforms into reality by -some strange alchemy. I hope you can remember where you read that."</p> - -<p>Lin snorted. "Maybe he wrote it himself and burned the pages as they -were finished," he suggested. He glanced at the clock on the wall. His -eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't know it was that late," he said, -rising. "I've got to get to the city before the bank closes. Have to -really step on it."</p> - -<p>"Take it easy," Phil called after him. "Don't get killed."</p> - -<p>"Nothing to worry about," Lin called back. "If it isn't written it -won't happen, you know."</p> - -<p>"Don't tempt Fate!" Jerry said warningly.</p> - -<p>But Lin was out the door beyond hearing.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The sign read SLOW TO 35. Lin smiled. That was for ordinary cars. His -Hudson had a low center of gravity. But he took his foot off the gas -and the uphill drag slowed his car to seventy, sixty-five, sixty, then -fifty-five as he entered the first bend of the S curve.</p> - -<p>The pines were tall right to the edge of the shoulder, hiding what was -ahead. It was a bad gamble, he decided, but the dashboard clock told -him it was one he would have to take. Twenty-four miles to go yet and -in twenty-two minutes. Even fifty-five was going to make him late. He -edged up to fifty-eight, leaning his head over so he could see farther -around the bend of the two lane highway.</p> - -<p>A car was coming toward him. It was over on its side of the pavement, -which was well. There was a woman in it. The color and shape of the -hat, which was about all he could really see, told him that.</p> - -<p>The oncoming car vanished for a moment on the curve. Then it was -rushing toward him on the short stretch of straightaway between the two -curved sections of the S.</p> - -<p>Lin relaxed. There wasn't a thing to worry about. He'd taken the first -curve easily. The oncoming car was thirty yards away, then ten. Then—</p> - -<p>It was one of those absolutely incredible instants of time. Something -had happened to his Hudson. A blowout? A wheel off? Whatever it was, he -had veered straight toward the oncoming car.</p> - -<p>Instinctively he turned his wheel to get back into his own lane. The -car responded by lifting into the air and turning over.</p> - -<p>There was a brief, photographic still picture of the other car poised -at a crazy angle scant inches in front of him. He could see the girl's -features clearly, etched in lines of horror. She was nice looking. Her -eyes were wide blue pools, and there were two sharp vertical lines -between them.</p> - -<p>She looked at him then, accusingly, reproachfully. He shook his head in -mute apology and wished he could do it over and go slower.</p> - -<p>Quite calmly, though, he knew they would probably both be killed. -And it was strange that time could speed up so quickly in the moment -before death. Even now, in this instant that hung poised in eternity -he could find time left to wonder what had happened. It couldn't have -been a tire. All four tires were less than five thousand miles old. It -couldn't have been a wheel either.</p> - -<p>It could have been something in the road. He had been looking at the -female hat behind the windshield of that car and could have missed -seeing something on the road.</p> - -<p>Forgetting what was in front of him, he started to turn his head to -look back.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He blinked his eyes. There was something wrong. It came to him. He had -been about to have a head-on collision with another car. He looked down -at the ground where he stood. His feet were resting on a well packed -dirt path that went forward across the grass and curved behind a clump -of large leaved shade trees.</p> - -<p>He looked around him. No one was in sight. The place was strange to -him. He'd never been here before.</p> - -<p>He closed his eyes and thought back. He was quite certain he had been -about to be killed in an accident. It couldn't have been a dream. He -opened his eyes again and looked about him curiously. This could be a -dream. Or was he dead and was this something after life?</p> - -<p>There was a test he could make. He tried to remember having reached -this point on the path. He turned around and looked back the way it -came up the gentle slope of the hill. He couldn't remember having -reached this spot at all.</p> - -<p>There was another test. He used the edge of his shoe to scrape a line -on the path. Then he got down on his haunches and studied the ground. -There was no sign of his footsteps. But the ground was well packed.</p> - -<p>He straightened up. There was no use just standing here, he decided. So -he started walking, the way he had been facing originally.</p> - -<p>Suddenly he thought of another test. Stopping, he went through his -pockets. Everything was where it should be. His billfold held his -identification cards and currency. He studied the currency. It was too -perfect in detail to be a figment of a dream.</p> - -<p>He shook his head in perplexity. Whatever had happened, it was beyond -his grasp. Shoving things back in his pockets he started forward again.</p> - -<p>The sky was blue, with billowing white clouds drifting lazily high -above the treetops. Ahead there was the sound of water. Shortly he came -to a foot bridge that spanned a small and turbulent stream.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The path followed the bank of the stream for a hundred yards, then -turned sharply and cut through the woods. The trees seemed to be some -kind of Maple. The ground was covered with short cropped meadow, as -though cattle had grazed here. But there was no sign of movement -anywhere.</p> - -<p>But there was. Something small and black was drifting down toward him -in the air. He stopped and waited until he could reach out and seize it -between his fingers.</p> - -<p>It crumpled at his touch. He rubbed it between thumb and finger, -examining its texture. It seemed to be a flake of burnt paper, as -though someone had tossed a piece of paper in a campfire, and a charred -piece of it had floated away on the breeze.</p> - -<p>He went forward more eagerly now. Undoubtedly someone was ahead of him. -Probably on a picnic. He could find out from them where he was.</p> - -<p>And there was a sensible explanation of things now. He had probably -been thrown clear of the car and knocked out. That could have lasted -for hours while he wandered through the woods.</p> - -<p>Of course that was it, he decided with relief. Now all he had to do was -find someone and tell them about it, and they would take him back to -the scene of the accident.</p> - -<p>Ahead through the trees he could see the steep bank of a tableland that -rose above the treetops. While he watched, there was a flurry of motion -that swept downward from up there. Black flakes that turned and tossed -in the breeze. More charred bits of paper. That was obviously where the -campfire was.</p> - -<p>"Hello up there!" he called. There was no answer. No sound at all.</p> - -<p>He broke into a trot, marvelling that he didn't feel groggy or upset. -The path turned in toward the steep bank and terminated at the foot of -concrete steps that went upward. When he reached them he paused to get -his breath, then started up the steps at a more leisurely pace.</p> - -<p>They zigzagged up the face of the steep bank, twelve steps to each -section.</p> - -<p>He paused half way up and looked over the treetops, which sloped gently -for several hundred yards, then dropped away. In the far distance was -the hazy panorama of a valley with two lakes that were irregular blue -splotches on a carpet of greens and browns.</p> - -<p>He resumed his upward climb. Finally there was only one more section of -steps before the top.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He sighed with relief and paused to look downward, almost regretting -that he hadn't chosen to go the other way on the path. He would almost -certainly have run into someone before this, going the other way, and -then he wouldn't have had all this climb. But.... He shrugged and -climbed the last of the steps.</p> - -<p>He was on a flat table of jigsaw design, flagstone cemented together. -Twenty feet away was a man. The man, his back to him, was seated on -a stone bench before a small stone table, intent on something he was -doing that was concealed by his back and hunched shoulders.</p> - -<p>In the incredible stillness came the staccato click of what sounded -exactly like typewriter keys. As Lin watched, the man jerked -something. A piece of paper appeared briefly, then was dropped into a -wire basket where almost invisible blue flames immediately licked at it -and began to consume it.</p> - -<p>Blackened bits floated upward and away. And even as they floated over -the edge of the table the rapid click of the typewriter began again.</p> - -<p>"Hello!" Lin said in good natured greeting.</p> - -<p>The head didn't turn. The clack of the typewriter continued without -pause.</p> - -<p>Lin hesitated a moment, then approached the man slowly, debating -whether he should speak to him again or wait until he paused to rest. -The man must not be doing so well with his writing, to toss a finished -page into the fire so casually.</p> - -<p>Lin's lips quirked into a smile. He would sneak up and glance over the -man's shoulder and read what he was typing.</p> - -<p>As he stole forward he studied what he could see of the man. Instead -of conventional attire he was wearing what seemed to be a heavy gray -robe. If he had any hair it was concealed under the black skull cap he -was wearing. The back of his neck was deeply wrinkled like that of a -man well past the prime of life. His ears were well formed, but stuck -out a trifle too much. And from the speed at which he was typing he was -probably completely unaware of his surroundings.</p> - -<p>Lin paused above him and admired the typewriter. It was the most -beautiful machine he had ever seen, and electric, he decided as the -man's fingers touched a key and the carriage swung back to starting -position on a new line.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The type on the paper wasn't standard. In fact, some of it didn't even -seem to be ordinary letters, but some strange type of symbols. Others -were almost ordinary.</p> - -<p>Lin leaned forward cautiously in order to make out what was already -typed. He saw only two words that were recognizable. One was <i>force</i> in -the middle of the second line. The other was <i>late</i> in the line that -had just been written.</p> - -<p>It was a foreign language. Lin decided. But the two words he could -recognize gave no clue to what language it might be.</p> - -<p>The page was finished. The man's hand seized it and jerked it from the -machine, dropping it into the flame in the wire wastebasket.</p> - -<p>And from some automatic feed a new sheet came into view on the platen, -and the man continued his typing, his fingers moving with great -rapidity and without letup.</p> - -<p>Lin straightened and stepped back a bit so as not to startle the man. -He coughed loudly and said, "Hello, there."</p> - -<p>The rhythm of the man's typing didn't vary. He gave no indication of -having heard.</p> - -<p>Slightly annoyed, Lin reached out and tapped him firmly on the -shoulder. Still no result.</p> - -<p>"Hey there!" Lin shouted, clamping fingers over the man's shoulders and -starling to shake him. "Hey!" he started to say again, then his voice -died away.</p> - -<p>The shoulder under his fingers was unyielding. Too unyielding. His lips -took on a stubborn line. He applied force. The shoulder was immovable.</p> - -<p>He released it and stared down, mystified. The fingers continued their -typing without pause, a blur of movement over the keys.</p> - -<p>With abrupt decision Lin stepped around so he could see the man's face. -He caught an impression of a lean face, intellectual and relaxed, with -firm lips and thin high bridged nose. But these were only vaguely -noticed, because his attention was immediately dominated by the man's -eyes.</p> - -<p>Or lack of eyes, that is. For where his eyes should have been was -nothing but tightly closed lids that, from their sunken contours, -covered no eyes at all, but only empty sockets.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Experimentally Lin reached out and touched the face. The pale skin was -as unyielding as rock. He pressed his finger against the right cheek -until his nail bent over. It should have left a mark on any living skin -and brought an exclamation of pain from any living person. But it left -no perceptible mark, and the man gave no sign of having noticed. And -the fingers continued their rapid movement over the typewriter keyboard.</p> - -<p>Incredulously Lin reached out and tried to remove the skullcap. It -wouldn't budge, and was as unyieldingly hard as the face.</p> - -<p>"A robot!" The exclamation escaped Lin's lips in a hoarse whisper. -"Or—a statue?"</p> - -<p>In desperation he seized one of the man's arms at the elbow and tried -to interrupt the smooth flow of movement. All his strength couldn't -vary the motion of that arm enough to cause a finger to miss a key on -the typewriter.</p> - -<p>"Not a millionth of an inch of play in the joints!" he said, marvelling.</p> - -<p>For the first time he turned his attention from the figure before him -and examined his surroundings. The robot or statue or whatever it was -was seated at a spot practically perched on the edge of a cliff that -went down much farther than the stairs on the other side. Here there -was a sheer drop of at least a thousand feet, and probably more nearly -two thousand.</p> - -<p>Below, an immense valley stretched out toward the far horizon.</p> - -<p>Lin looked out over the valley with a puzzled frown, trying to recall -if there were any high mountains in this section of the country. There -were hills, but no real mountains. Nothing to compare with this.</p> - -<p>"How long have I been unconscious?" he muttered.</p> - -<p>His attention jerked back to the typist in time to see another sheet of -paper go into the flames. He watched it burn. The flame itself seemed -to come out of a round hole in the rock inside the area of the bottom -of the wire basket. From its color it was a gas flame. In the dark it -would be a bright blue.</p> - -<p>His attention turned to the typewriter and the stone table on which it -rested. An inscription was embossed on the smooth face of the front of -the table.</p> - -<p>Lin nodded in grim understanding. This was a statue. But a statue such -as never had existed on the Earth he lived in, or it would have been -considered the eighth wonder of the world and known to every school -child.</p> - -<p>An urgency possessed him to seize the next sheet of paper before the -flame could get it, and try to read it. He waited while the robot -statue typed, and when the hand jerked out the sheet to throw it into -the flames, he grabbed it, though part of it tore away and dropped into -the flame before he could rescue it.</p> - -<p>He examined the texture of the paper. It had the feel of plastic -more than paper. He studied the typing. It was sharp and clear, and -completely unintelligible.</p> - -<p>Or was it unintelligible? He could almost make sense out of the words. -Some of the letters that had been strange were taking on a feel of -familiarity.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He closed his eyes tightly and shook his head, then opened them and -looked again. It did make sense, but the sense was just beyond his -reach.</p> - -<p>He looked at the figure bent over the typewriter again, and it struck a -chord of familiarity somewhere in his mind. He had heard of this statue -somewhere....</p> - -<p>He remembered now! This statue, or whatever it was, was the embodiment -of Fate. It was writing all that was in store for each individual, -and when it tossed the sheets that were written on in the flame -their burning brought what was written into being, and it happened, -somewhere, just as it had been written.</p> - -<p>He stared at the fragment of paper he held in his hand, and wondered -what was written on it, and what events he was holding up by not -tossing the sheet in the flame.</p> - -<p>A smile curved his lips. He held it over the basket. By releasing it, -it would drop down and burn. Then whatever event he was holding up -would happen.</p> - -<p>His fingers relaxed. The paper slipped a fraction of an inch. Suddenly -he clutched it tightly and drew it to safety. His forehead prickled. -Beads of perspiration dampened it. This puzzled him. It was almost as -though somewhere in his mind was terrible anxiety. But he was quite -calm.</p> - -<p>He stared at the torn sheet of paper again, the smile playing about -his lips. Slowly and deliberately he folded it and, taking out his -billfold, stored it safely away.</p> - -<p>He took a last look at the silent robot, the clicking typewriter, then -crossed the tablerock to the stairs and went down them to the path.</p> - -<p>Again he saw no sign of movement except for the occasional bit of -floating charred paper that came from above. He recrossed the stream at -the footbridge. He went slower then, looking for the mark he had made -in the hard packed path with the edge of his shoe.</p> - -<p>He nearly missed it, seeing it only as he stepped over it. Stopping, he -turned and looked back the way he had come. Ahead were the broad leaved -trees that looked so much like Maples, the path over which he had come.</p> - -<p>He started to turn—and the world turned topsy turvy around him. -There was the white face of the girl through the windshield of a car, -dropping away suddenly and rotating in a mad gyration until the face -was upside down, and then was gone past him.</p> - -<p>A dull booming sound exploded on his bewildered mind. Wild forces were -tossing him about inside the car so rapidly that there was no way to -tell which was up and which was down.</p> - -<p>As abruptly as it began, it ended. In the dead silence he heard the -screech of brakes. He wondered if it was the girl stopping her car to -come back, but he didn't turn his head to look.</p> - -<p>He was trying to reconcile the sequence of events brought by his -senses. It was impossible. He had spent at least two hours walking up -that path, watching the robot statue, and walking back down again to -where he had first appeared.</p> - -<p>Yet, if it had happened at all, it had happened in less than a split -second, for events in the collision had taken up <i>at the exact point -where they had left off</i>.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He opened his eyes and saw the creamy gloss surface of a ceiling and -knew at once he was in a hospital. Without moving his head he let his -fingers explore the clean smelling sheets, the hospital bed gown tied -around his neck.</p> - -<p>A footstep sounded. A nurse looked down at him with a quiet smile. -"Feel all right?" she asked.</p> - -<p>He dipped his head in an almost imperceptible nod. The nurse went away. -There was a swish of wind as the door closed behind her, but he didn't -bother to turn his head to look.</p> - -<p>After several minutes the swish of the door sounded again. More than -one pair of footsteps came toward the bed. Two men, probably doctors, -looked down at him.</p> - -<p>"How's the patient today?" one of them asked.</p> - -<p>"Today?" Lin echoed. "How long have I been here?"</p> - -<p>"Almost a week."</p> - -<p>It came flooding in. He could remember hours of torturous pain during -which he cried for them to put him out of his misery, of at least two -terrible nightmarish scenes where he was surrounded by gleaming chrome -things, and the awful odor of ether.</p> - -<p>"I remember now," he said weakly. "Will—will I live?"</p> - -<p>"If you'd asked us that yesterday we'd have said no," the doctor said, -"but—" He shrugged.</p> - -<p>"How badly am I hurt?" Lin asked the doctors.</p> - -<p>"Pretty badly," one of them said with grave frankness. "Broken back. -Severed spine. If you live you'll never walk again."</p> - -<p>"But I probably won't live?" Lin said.</p> - -<p>The doctors didn't reply.</p> - -<p>"The girl," Lin said, "the one who was driving the other car? Was she -hurt?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. Pretty badly. But she'll live."</p> - -<p>"What's her name?"</p> - -<p>The two doctors looked at each other. One of them said, "I believe she -gave her name as Dorothy Lake."</p> - -<p>"Tell me, what was it that caused my car to go out of control?" Lin -asked suddenly.</p> - -<p>"I can tell you that," one of the doctors said. "The mechanic reported -that your tierod, the rod that connects the front wheels together so -they stay in line, had come off one of its moorings."</p> - -<p>"Oh." Lin said vaguely. He was beginning to feel strange. The memory -of that interlude atop the mountain had come back. He was remembering -that bit of paper he had snatched from the flames. But of course there -was nothing in that.... "Are my things here?" he asked abruptly. "My -billfold?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," the nurse said. "Your billfold is in the drawer here."</p> - -<p>"Get it," Lin said.</p> - -<p>She opened the drawer and brought out the billfold.</p> - -<p>"Open it and see if there's a folded piece of paper that's torn off on -one corner," he demanded.</p> - -<p>He watched while she explored the contents. He recognized the texture -of the paper as it came to view. "That's it!" he said tensely. "Give it -to me!"</p> - -<p>He tried to lift an arm. He had to be content with taking it in his -fingers while his elbows rested on the bed. With shaking fingers he -opened it, and saw the typing that was so different from ordinary -typing.</p> - -<p>His fingers no longer shook. He folded the sheet of paper and handed it -back. "Don't put it back in my billfold," he said. "I want you to take -that down to the hospital office and have them put it in an envelope -and lock it in the safe. Do you understand? I want that taken care of -as though it were worth a million dollars. I don't want anything to -happen to it. Do you understand?"</p> - -<p>"Y-yes," she said. "I'll do that."</p> - -<p>Lin watched her leave the room, then turned with a grin to the doctors.</p> - -<p>"I'll live," he said confidently. "I'll live. <i>Nothing</i> can kill me -now—so long as that sheet of paper remains intact."</p> - -<p>He didn't mind at all the way the two men looked at each other with -lifted eyebrows.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The door swished open. The nurse came in. "There's a man down in the -waiting room who wants to see you, Mr. Grant," she said. "He gave his -name as Hugo Fairchild."</p> - -<p>Lin frowned. "You sure he wants to see me?" he asked. "I don't know -anyone by that name."</p> - -<p>"Yes, it's you," the nurse said. "I told him you weren't in any shape -to see any visitors, but he said he would take only a moment of your -time."</p> - -<p>"All right," Lin sighed. "Send him up, but make sure he doesn't stay -any longer than that."</p> - -<p>Lin examined the man the nurse brought in. He was of medium height and -of ordinary appearance. A type that wouldn't attract a second glance on -the street or anywhere else.</p> - -<p>"I'm Hugo Fairchild," the man said. "You're Lin Grant."</p> - -<p>"That's right," Lin said.</p> - -<p>Fairchild looked down at Lin for a moment, then said abruptly, "I'll -come straight to the point. You have a piece of paper that doesn't -belong to you. I've come to get it."</p> - -<p>Lin's eyes narrowed. "How did you know about it, and why do <i>you</i> want -it?"</p> - -<p>"There's no need to ask questions," Fairchild said. "I'm here to get -that piece of paper. It's of no importance to you."</p> - -<p>"You can't have it," Lin said.</p> - -<p>Fairchild looked around quickly. "We're alone," he said rapidly. "I -could knock you out with one blow of my fist. If you won't make any -outcry I'll just take it out of your billfold and leave."</p> - -<p>Lin watched, grinning, as Fairchild opened the drawer and took out the -billfold and searched it swiftly. When he saw it wasn't there he tossed -the billfold back in the drawer and looked grimly at Lin. "Where is it?"</p> - -<p>"You think I don't know the value of that bit of paper?" Lin said. -"You'll never get it. But you interest me. How did you <i>get</i> here? You -know what I mean."</p> - -<p>"Look, Lin Grant," Fairchild said. "I'm desperate. I have to have that -paper. It means nothing to you. Please let me have it."</p> - -<p>"Means nothing to me?" Lin said, his voice soft and mocking. "If I -hadn't snatched that paper from the fire I would be dead right now. You -know that. And <i>so long as I keep it nothing can ever kill me</i>. That's -why you'll never get it."</p> - -<p>"You're insane," Fairchild said. "How could a mere piece of paper have -that power? It has no meaning whatever. The writing on it is merely -nonsense."</p> - -<p>"Then why are you so interested in getting it to put into the flame?" -Lin said. "If you hadn't shown up I might in time have rationalized my -memories some way and torn the thing up. But not now. Your coming after -it convinces me I'm right. You'll never get it!"</p> - -<p>"If I don't," Fairchild said, tight-lipped, "you'll regret every minute -you keep it. You're wrong about it. It has nothing to do with you at -all." His voice became pleading. "Give it to me and I promise you that -you will recover completely as though you were never in a wreck. The -doctors can tell you how much of a miracle that will be."</p> - -<p>Lin shook his head. "There's more to this than mere superstition or -fantastic miracles," he said. "I'll never give up that paper until I -know what it means and what it's all about. I know, I should have died. -I don't have anything to lose, whatever I do. So I'm keeping it."</p> - -<p>"You'll regret it," Fairchild said. He turned abruptly to the door just -as the nurse came in. "I was just going," he said calmly.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>That night Lin slept, and in the morning when he awakened a nurse was -bringing in his breakfast tray. "Good morning!" she said brightly.</p> - -<p>Lin yawned and stretched a vague, "Mornin'" coming from his wide open -mouth.</p> - -<p>The nurse placed the tray where he could reach it easily, and started -to leave the room. At the door she stopped abruptly and gasped, then -turned and looked at him. She opened her lips to say something, thought -better of it and hurried out.</p> - -<p>Less than five minutes later she returned with one of the doctors. She -was saying, "He did. I saw him with my own eyes," as she opened the -door.</p> - -<p>"Good morning, Lin," the doctor said. "The nurse tells me she saw you -pull your legs up without touching them. Of course she's wrong."</p> - -<p>Lin looked at his knees where they pushed the blankets up, a startled -expression on his face. "So I did," he whispered in amazement. And he -moved his legs again.</p> - -<p>"That's impossible!" the doctor said sharply.</p> - -<p>"So it is," Lin said, grinning. "I must have established a telepathic -bridge across the severed nerves."</p> - -<p>"That's impossible too," the doctor said, but his first surprise was -wearing off. He came to the bed and pulled down the blankets, and stood -there watching Lin move his legs. "Better take it easy until we check -with fluoroscopy," he warned. "There's something mighty funny here. I -examined the X-ray plates myself. The spinal break was unmistakable!"</p> - -<p>Half an hour later Lin was relaxed on the table in the X-ray lab, while -a full half dozen doctors studied him through the fluoroscope screen -and all talked at once, with every once in a while one of them going to -an illuminated plate and tracing what was quite obviously a wide gap in -a spinal column.</p> - -<p>"I think I could walk without any trouble if you'd let me get up," Lin -remarked.</p> - -<p>"Good heavens no!" one doctor gasped.</p> - -<p>"I don't see why not," another said. "If we had nothing to go on but -what we see now you'd agree nothing's wrong with him. Why not let him -try?"</p> - -<p>There were uneasy mutterings that gradually drifted into a majority -opinion that he should try. The technician moved the fluoroscope screen -out of the way.</p> - -<p>Lin sat up, swiveled gently ninety degrees and lowered his legs over -the edge of the table. Cautiously he eased his feet to the floor. Even -more cautiously he let his weight gradually settle on them. While the -doctors watched without seeming to breathe, he stood up and took a -timid step, a more bold one, and then walked several steps and turned -around, coming back to the table.</p> - -<p>"Feels perfectly natural," he said. "I guess you'll have to admit you -were wrong about that spinal cord break."</p> - -<p>"But we weren't wrong!" It was the doctor who had had charge of Lin in -the first place. "The X-rays prove it!"</p> - -<p>"Are you sure they weren't mixed up with those of some other patient?" -another doctor suggested.</p> - -<p>"Find me another patient in this hospital who has a spinal break half -an inch wide and I'll—I'll—"</p> - -<p>"Eat him?" Lin suggested.</p> - -<p>"Yes. I'll eat him. Gladly. There was definitely no error. A miracle is -more possible than those X-ray plates getting mixed up."</p> - -<p>"Does this fix me up then?" Lin asked. "Can I leave the hospital?"</p> - -<p>"Not for another two or three days under any circumstances," his doctor -said. "Personally I think we should put you on display. Permanently. -The first proven miracle in two thousand years. Or more! But we'd like -you to remain long enough for us to make sure this isn't some freak -happening that will undo itself. And also to give us time to get used -to the fact that you can walk."</p> - -<p>"Okay," Lin said. "I'd just as soon stay another couple of days anyway. -Can I go back to my room and have another breakfast? I didn't get a -chance to finish my first one."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>As soon as he was alone in his room he went to the window and peeked -out. Below was the street, and to the left he could see the sidewalk -that led to the main entrance of the hospital.</p> - -<p>Across the street were office buildings, and after a moment he found -what he had half expected to find. Hugo Fairchild was standing on the -sidewalk watching the entrance of the hospital.</p> - -<p>"You should stay in bed."</p> - -<p>Lin whirled at the sound of the voice, then relaxed with a relieved -sigh. It was the doctor.</p> - -<p>"Okay, doc," he growled. He went and sat on the edge of the bed.</p> - -<p>A twisted smile curved the doctor's lips. "You know," he said, "you -aren't the only miracle that happened in this hospital today."</p> - -<p>Lin blinked. "Don't tell me Dorothy Lake, the girl in that other car, -is the other one!"</p> - -<p>"How did you know?" the doctor said. "Yes, it was she. Five fractured -ribs and a broken right arm. And a severe laceration on the cheek. And -not a sign of them now."</p> - -<p>"Where is she?" Lin demanded. "I've got to see her."</p> - -<p>"I wish I knew what was going on," the doctor said. He studied Lin -silently. "I'll ask Miss Lake if she will see you."</p> - -<p>Lin lay down and tried to relax while the doctor was gone, but his eyes -didn't leave the door. It was over an hour before the nurse came in -with a robe and the information that "Miss Lake wants to see you."</p> - -<p>He followed her the full length of the hallway. She opened the door -for him. He went past her into the room, and saw the face he had seen -through the windshield.</p> - -<p>"I'll leave you alone for ten minutes," the nurse said.</p> - -<p>"Hello," Dorothy Lake said nervously.</p> - -<p>Lin saw that she was afraid. "Hello," he said. "You don't need to be -afraid of me. I won't eat you. As a matter of fact, I'm awfully sorry -I ran into you. If there's anything I can do.... I'll pay the hospital -bill of course...."</p> - -<p>"I'm not afraid of you," she said. "It's the way I woke up this morning -with nothing wrong with me. It scares me. I don't know what to make of -it."</p> - -<p>Lin started to say something and thought better of it.</p> - -<p>"And there's something else," Dorothy went on. "It's the man that -insisted on seeing me yesterday. He demanded that I give him a paper I -was supposed to have. He wouldn't believe me when I told him I didn't -know anything about it."</p> - -<p>"Was his name Hugo Fairchild?" Lin asked.</p> - -<p>"Yes!"</p> - -<p>"I see it all now," Lin said grimly. "Your fate was written on that -slip of paper too."</p> - -<p>"My fate?" Dorothy said, bewildered.</p> - -<p>"And he made us get well so we would have to leave the hospital," Lin -went on. "When we leave he'll get us and take it away from me."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Dorothy laughed nervously. "Don't leave it there. I think I'm really -insane. The things that are happening can't happen. That's a good test -of insanity isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"Don't be silly," Lin said. "When a thing happens it <i>can</i> happen, no -matter how impossible it may seem. Let me tell you what happened to -cause all this."</p> - -<p>"Please do," she said. "I'm sure it can't be any more impossible than -my bones healing up and a bad cut on my cheek vanishing overnight -without even leaving a scar."</p> - -<p>"You think not?" Lin said grimly. "Then listen to this. You remember -when we were about to hit? A fraction of a second before the crash? -At that precise instant when you were staring at me reproachfully -I suddenly found myself in—I don't know where it was, but I know -it wasn't on this earth. I followed a path up to a high tablerock -overlooking an immense valley, and there on that high perch was a -statue."</p> - -<p>"A statue?" Dorothy echoed.</p> - -<p>"Don't interrupt," Lin said. "You can't possibly understand. I don't -myself. So just listen to what happened and what I think it means. It -was a moving statue. Like a robot, in a way. But it was more than that. -I'm sure of that now. It was, in some way, a god. The god of Fate. It -was typing on a typewriter of some sort that had an automatic feed to -supply a new sheet of paper every time the old one was yanked out. -And beside the typewriter was a wastebasket sort of thing with a flame -burning at the bottom. This statue would fill a sheet of paper with -typing and then yank it out and drop it in the basket, and it would -instantly burn. And I know now that the very process of burning that -sheet of paper made reality out of whatever was written on it. And to -cut a long story short, I yanked a sheet of paper out of the statue's -fingers just as it was about to be dropped into the flame."</p> - -<p>"But—" Dorothy said weakly.</p> - -<p>"That piece of paper," Lin said firmly, "was our fate. Yours and mine. -On it was written that we were to die in that accident. And until that -paper is returned to that place and burned in the flame, <i>we cannot -die</i>!"</p> - -<p>She was looking at him queerly now.</p> - -<p>"You think I'm crazy?" Lin said. "Hugo Fairchild came to get that paper -didn't he? And I have it. Fairchild's waiting outside the hospital for -me—or you—to come out with it, too. I saw him from my room."</p> - -<p>"How...." Dorothy said weakly. "How did you get over into that—that -other world?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," Lin said. "I just did, that's all."</p> - -<p>"Then ... then Hugo Fairchild is from this other world?"</p> - -<p>"It's obvious, isn't it?" Lin said.</p> - -<p>"But it's too late for it to do him any good now, isn't it?" she -persisted. "The accident is over. We weren't killed."</p> - -<p>Lin shook his head slowly. "It isn't too late, or he wouldn't want it. -Don't you see? We, you and I, can't die until he gets it. That's why -he wants it. Since it's written on it that we died in that crash, the -moment it burns we'll be back where we were when I snatched that paper -from the flames, and we'll die in that accident. Then all this, our -being in the hospital and all, will never have happened!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was the next day. Dorothy had come to Lin's room. She was peeking -out the window at Fairchild down on the sidewalk.</p> - -<p>"What will we do, Lin?" she asked, turning to him. "We can't hope to -fight him. He must have supernatural powers, or he couldn't have caused -us to recover so miraculously."</p> - -<p>"I don't know," Lin said. "We'll have to sneak out the back way or -something. We have to leave tomorrow, you know. Or—Look, he's after -the paper and you don't have it. It's me he wants. I'll leave first, -with that paper. Then you'll be free and can forget about it."</p> - -<p>"I still can't believe it," Dorothy said. "If it weren't for the fact -that my ribs were definitely broken, and I saw that nasty cut on my -cheek...."</p> - -<p>"You know there's no other explanation," Lin said.</p> - -<p>"But how could writing on a piece of paper <i>form</i> reality?" she -objected. "It just can't!"</p> - -<p>"But it does," Lin said. "What is reality? Scientists have been trying -to find out since time began. There could be different kinds of -reality. Ours could be subject to the minds of beings on another plane -of it. This robot could sit there and write out things that happen, and -make them happen here. It has to be that."</p> - -<p>"I know," Dorothy said. "It has to be that, even if it doesn't seem -possible."</p> - -<p>She left the window and went to a chair and sat down.</p> - -<p>"Lin," she said. "If he gets that paper we both die. I'm going with -you. I couldn't stand going out alone and not knowing when he gets it."</p> - -<p>"Nonsense," Lin said. "He won't get it. You can forget about it."</p> - -<p>"What if he never gets it?" Dorothy asked.</p> - -<p>"Then we'd live forever." Lin grinned. "Maybe that's why he has to get -it back."</p> - -<p>"Suppose," Dorothy said. "Suppose—don't think I'm silly, but suppose -we destroyed it on this plane. Then it could never go into that flame."</p> - -<p>"I don't know," Lin frowned. "Maybe any flame would make it happen. It -would be an awful risk to take."</p> - -<p>"We wouldn't have to burn it," she said. "We could tear it into little -bits and let the wind carry them away, one at a time."</p> - -<p>"I'll have the nurse get it," Lin said.</p> - -<p>When the nurse brought it Dorothy examined it eagerly, trying to read -what was typed on it. A light of excitement danced in her bright blue -eyes. Finally she held it in a position to tear it.</p> - -<p>"Shall I?" she said.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Lin nodded. She hesitated a moment, dramatically, then abruptly pulled -her hands in a shearing movement that should have torn it easily.</p> - -<p>It didn't.</p> - -<p>"Here, let me do it," Lin said.</p> - -<p>He took it and tried to tear it, without success. He grunted, and -exerted every ounce of strength. It remained intact.</p> - -<p>"That's funny," he said. "It tore easily when I grabbed it from Fate."</p> - -<p>"Let's burn a little corner of it and see what happens," Dorothy -suggested.</p> - -<p>Lin went to the bedside stand and got his lighter. He held the flame to -one corner of the sheet of paper. A minute went by, two minutes. The -paper refused to burn or even char.</p> - -<p>"Huh!" Lin said, snapping his lighter shut. "Well, it's a cinch that -scissors will cut it. I'll ask the nurse to bring us a pair."</p> - -<p>Ten minutes later he was trying to cut it, without success. It would -bend between the blades of the scissors, or stop them from coming -together at all. But it wouldn't cut.</p> - -<p>"It's indestructible on this plane of existence," Dorothy said. "Now I -believe you, Lin."</p> - -<p>"I'm glad you do," Lin said dryly. "So now it's clear what I should do. -My job is to hide this someplace where Hugo Fairchild can never find -it. You can go your way and forget about it."</p> - -<p>Dorothy shook her head. "No," she said. "I'm going with you. We'll -face this together. I—I couldn't stand the suspense of wondering when -Fairchild would catch up with you and get it."</p> - -<p>"You'd get used to it," Lin said. "After all, everyone has to die -sometime, and no one spends much time worrying about when it will come."</p> - -<p>"But this isn't the same," Dorothy said stubbornly. "That man is after -it, and when he gets it we'll die. I'm sticking with you—and that -piece of paper."</p> - -<p>Lin went to the window and peeked out. Fairchild was still in sight, -watching the main entrance of the hospital.</p> - -<p>"Okay," he said, turning back to Dorothy. "Go to your room and put on -your street clothes. We're going to leave now. We'll sneak out the back -way."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Lin watched the door close, then went to work. Folding the piece of -paper several times until it was a compact square, he taped it to his -side under his left armpit where it couldn't be noticed.</p> - -<p>He dressed swiftly, wrote a hurried note informing the hospital he -wasn't sneaking out to avoid paying his bill. He left the note on the -bed in plain sight and started toward the door. Just as he reached it -he remembered Dorothy's hospital bill. He went back and added a P.S. -for the hospital to put her on his bill.</p> - -<p>Opening the door, he peeked out. A nurse was in the hall. He watched -her until she went into a room, then slipped out and hurried toward the -stairs.</p> - -<p>He was grinning to himself. Dorothy wouldn't have had time yet to get -dressed. And he had no intention of waiting for her. It would be too -dangerous. She would find him gone. She would be unable to find him. -And eventually she would take up her life where it had left off. In -time she would forget him and think the whole thing a dream. That was -the best way.</p> - -<p>He passed people on the stairway without meeting anyone who would -recognize him. In the basement the risk was greater. There were dozens -of people. But no one stopped him as he hurried toward the exit. They -considered him just a visitor, he reflected.</p> - -<p>The critical moment was just ahead of him now. A hundred questions -were tormenting him. How had Fairchild known which hospital he was in? -How had Fairchild known it was he who had stolen that paper?</p> - -<p>He shrugged the questions off. There was no way of knowing now. If -Fairchild had powers that would enable him to discern that he was -sneaking out the back way and be there waiting for him, he'd just have -to make the best of it.</p> - -<p>At the exit he paused and peeked out. There was a wide concrete -driveway. An ambulance was parked there. No one was in sight.</p> - -<p>He opened the door boldly and stepped out. He started along the -driveway with an appearance of casual unconcern, as though he were a -visitor taking a shortcut.</p> - -<p>"Not so fast, Lin!"</p> - -<p>He turned quickly. Dorothy was half running to catch up with him. He -felt his pulse leap and somehow couldn't feel anger.</p> - -<p>Dorothy smiled knowingly at him. "I figured you'd try to escape alone," -she said. "So I hurried."</p> - -<p>"Well, it was an idea," Lin said. "Come on. We've got to put distance -between us and Fairchild before he discovers we're gone."</p> - -<p>They reached the driveway exit. It was on a sidestreet from the main -entrance. Fairchild wasn't in sight.</p> - -<p>"Where'll we go?" Dorothy asked nervously.</p> - -<p>"How about my apartment?" Lin said. "We can stay there months at a time -without going outside."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>She gasped, then saw that he was laughing at her with his eyes. "I'll -have you know ..." she said angrily.</p> - -<p>"Know what?" Lin prompted.</p> - -<p>"Let's go <i>some</i> place," she said. "We can't just stand here."</p> - -<p>"There's a taxi," Lin said, taking her hand and pulling her after him -into the street. In the taxi he gave the driver directions. "First -National Bank down on Center Street," he said. "Wait there. We're going -to the airport from the bank." And to Dorothy in a lower voice, "We'll -put some real distance between us and Fairchild. After that you can go -your way and I'll go mine."</p> - -<p>"If that's what you want," she said. She broke suddenly. "Oh, Lin. I -don't know what I want. I don't want to leave you. I'm afraid. Or maybe -I'm not. I don't know. It's all a rotten mess. Why couldn't we have met -normally so that if—" She bit her lip and turned away.</p> - -<p>The taxi hummed along for several blocks while they were silent. When -Lin spoke his voice was low and serious. "Maybe I feel that way too," -he said. "But—you know what's wrong with it? We're running away. It's -like being an escaped criminal with a death sentence hanging over you."</p> - -<p>"But it needn't be!" she said, laying her hand on his arm. "The police -aren't after us or anything like that. We've given this Fairchild the -slip now. All we have to do is go away somewhere and he'll never find -us."</p> - -<p>"He'll be looking," Lin said, "and we'll wake up every morning with the -knowledge that this may be the day he finds us." He turned and looked -through the rear window of the taxi. "Actually I'm surprised we gave -him the slip. I can't understand it."</p> - -<p>"You feel that way?" Dorothy said with a shaky laugh. "I do too. He -found us in the hospital. I keep thinking he just knows things. You -know what I mean."</p> - -<p>"He didn't know which one of us took that paper," Lin said. He frowned. -"But he knew it was one of us. He must know what's on it. He has -supernatural powers, too. Look how he fixed us up."</p> - -<p>He looked through the back window again. When he straightened he fixed -his eyes on Dorothy's face.</p> - -<p>"Dorothy," he said, "maybe nothing can stop him from getting that paper -back soon. It may be hours or days. But—would you marry me and make -the most of it until...?"</p> - -<p>She began twisting her fingers together nervously. "I—I don't know -what to say," she hesitated. "It seems so wrong in a way. I don't mean -wrong. Unfair. That's it. Unfair to—to both of us. Like we were doing -this whether we love each other or not. It doesn't give whatever love -we could have had a chance."</p> - -<p>Lin stared at her a moment. "Then let's turn around and go back and -give it to him," he said quietly.</p> - -<p>"Let's—let's—" Suddenly she was in his arms, her face buried in his -collar, her body trembling. She lifted her head until her cheek rested -against his. Her voice was a whisper in his ear. "Let's—get married."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Boy, have you two got it!" Phil Arnoff said. "You get me on the phone -and tell me to rush to town, and you can't wait five minutes. What's -the matter? Afraid you'll fall out of love if you don't plunge?"</p> - -<p>"We wouldn't have waited for you to get here," Lin said, "only we -have to have a witness, they said when we got the license." He looked -pleadingly at Dorothy. "Please, honey. Let's skip the church. You don't -<i>have</i> to be married in one do you?"</p> - -<p>"It's got to be a church," she said. "That's the one thing I've always -been certain of."</p> - -<p>"Why not?" Phil said. "There's a dozen churches that exist on weddings. -Don't even have a congregation. Just weddings. One of 'em ought to have -a vacant ten minutes today."</p> - -<p>They found a phone booth and Lin began making calls. The third number -was answered by a man with an Irish brogue who blessed them for their -eagerness and agreed to perform the ceremony at once.</p> - -<p>"Hah!" Lin said when he hung up. "We'd have got along without you -okay, Phil. Reverend O'Hara said he has a witness on hand all the time -for couples like us."</p> - -<p>"I'll trail along anyway," Phil grinned, "What <i>is</i> the rush though? -How long have you two known each other?"</p> - -<p>"We ran into each other a few days ago," Dorothy said, taking Lin's -hand and leading him toward the sidewalk.</p> - -<p>Phil followed them and noted silently the way they glanced anxiously -about when they were out in the open, as though afraid of being seen by -someone.</p> - -<p>Lin flagged a cruising taxi again. The three of them piled into it and -Lin gave the address of the church.</p> - -<p>Phil broke the silence after a few blocks. "I'm being nosey, I know. -But you two were obviously looking to see if you were being followed. -Why don't you tell old uncle Phil about it? Huh?"</p> - -<p>"About what?" Lin said, turning innocent eyes on him.</p> - -<p>"Nothing," Phil said. "Only, sometimes three heads are better than one. -If you two, or one of you, is in trouble, maybe I could be of help if I -knew what to look out for."</p> - -<p>"I doubt it," Lin grunted. "In fact, if we told you you wouldn't -believe it, so skip it."</p> - -<p>"So it is trouble," Phil murmured. "I thought so." He grunted. "Count -me in on it. What is it. Bank robbery?"</p> - -<p>"Worse than that," Dorothy said. "But let's forget it. I want to -relish every minute of my wedding."</p> - -<p>"Just like a woman," Phil said, lifting his eyes upward. "<i>My</i> wedding, -she says."</p> - -<p>The taxi chose that moment to pull to the curb and stop. Outside was a -small and picturesque church.</p> - -<p>"Go on in and get things started," Phil said. "I'll pay the driver."</p> - -<p>"Tell him to wait," Lin said. "This shouldn't take more than ten -minutes." He took Dorothy by the hand and led her toward the entrance. -Phil grinned at the taxi driver and shrugged.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"As best man I get to kiss the bride first," Phil said fifteen minutes -later.</p> - -<p>Lin jumped, startled. "Huh uh!" he exclaimed. "I've never kissed her -yet myself!" He put his arms around her and kissed her lingeringly.</p> - -<p>She pulled away from his embrace finally, one hand trying to keep her -hat on her head, murmuring, "It's about time!" But the bright lights in -her eyes said that it was worth waiting for.</p> - -<p>"Bless you, my children," the minister said, smiling.</p> - -<p>"Oh yes, how much do I owe you?" Lin said. Realizing his mistake he -hurriedly took out his billfold and handed the man a twenty dollar -bill. He turned to Dorothy, not waiting for the thanks he expected.</p> - -<p>Phil correctly interpreted the minister's dismayed look and slipped -him another ten. "He doesn't realize the overhead ate that up," he -whispered. "He doesn't get married very often."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I see," Reverend O'Hara whispered.</p> - -<p>Phil hurried after Lin and Dorothy, catching up with them just outside -the front entrance.</p> - -<p>"Now," he said grimly as they got into the taxi again, "you want to be -alone. My price for leaving you alone is for us to go somewhere first -and have a drink or two—which you would anyway—and listen while you -tell me what's behind all this rush." He looked sidelong at Dorothy and -chuckled. "Surely it wasn't a race with the stork! Or is the hospital -our next stop?"</p> - -<p>"Of course not!" Dorothy said indignantly. "We just came from there -this morning."</p> - -<p>"Then this was...?" Phil said, half seriously.</p> - -<p>"Not what you think," Lin said. "There's the Shangri-La ahead. We can -have a couple of drinks there and something to eat. And we'll tell you -all about it, though you won't believe a word."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was almost two hours later. And four drinks later. "So you see why," -Lin was saying while Phil stared at them with round eyes, "we don't -know how long we have. Maybe—" He looked anxiously toward the gloom -of the entrance across the room. "He could walk in during the next -minute. I can't see why he doesn't. I <i>know</i> he knows where we are. I -feel it."</p> - -<p>"And you have this paper taped to your side under your shirt?" Phil -said. "Let me see it."</p> - -<p>"No!" Dorothy said.</p> - -<p>"I've known Phil most of my life," Lin said. "He's all right. Anyway, -you know the thing's indestructible on this plane."</p> - -<p>Dorothy hesitated, then reluctantly nodded her agreement. Lin yanked -the folded paper from under his shirt.</p> - -<p>Phil took it, unfolded it curiously, and frowned at the strange -typewritten characters on it.</p> - -<p>"You say it's indestructible?" he asked after a moment.</p> - -<p>"We tried to tear it, to burn it, and to cut it with the scissors," Lin -said. "All it does is bend."</p> - -<p>Phil tried to tear it, cautiously at first, then exerting every ounce -of strength in his fingers. He gave up and examined the paper with a -new respect in his eyes. "I almost think I believe your tall tale," he -said musingly.</p> - -<p>He dipped a finger in his cocktail and rubbed it over the characters on -the paper. Though they became wet they didn't blur or fade.</p> - -<p>He took out his lighter and touched the corner of the paper to the -flame. When it didn't char he touched it again and let the flame play -on one corner for a moment, then touched the corner with his fingers.</p> - -<p>"Just warm," he grunted. He began folding the paper up the way it had -been. "Of course there's one way I could help you," he said slowly. -"You could let me keep this. I could hide it where even you wouldn't -know how to find it. That way when this character catches up with you -it's out of your hands."</p> - -<p>"That's an idea," Lin said. "But we would know you had it. Maybe he -could worm it out of us and then he'd be after you. And it wouldn't be -your life that hung in the balance."</p> - -<p>"True enough," Phil said. He cupped the folded paper in his hand, -closing his fingers over it. "There's one or two points I'm not clear -on, Lin. You say you grabbed it when it was still in Fate's fingers, -and that's when that part tore off? You were able to tear it then. Why -can't you now?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," Lin said. "Things are different over there, I guess. It -burns over there, too, remember. In that flame."</p> - -<p>"Yes, I know," Phil said. "I just—"</p> - -<p>A terrified gasp from Dorothy interrupted what he had been about to -say. Her eyes were wide and round, and fixed on the entrance across the -room.</p> - -<p>"Fairchild!" Lin gasped.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Phil turned his head and glanced briefly at the man who stood there -surveying the occupants of the room. He got swiftly to his feet just as -Fairchild saw them and started toward them.</p> - -<p>"Well, goodbye, kids," he said casually. But his broad wink warned them -to let him escape with the paper that was still hidden in the palm of -his hand.</p> - -<p>"Give me back—" Lin blurted. But Phil was hurrying toward the -entrance, passing Hugo Fairchild. Lin sighed in relief as Phil made it -to the door and vanished.</p> - -<p>"Well, well," Fairchild said. "I finally tracked you two down. So -you're married now." He slid into the seat Phil had occupied.</p> - -<p>"Yes, we're married," Lin said coldly. "And we want to be alone."</p> - -<p>"I don't doubt that," Fairchild said. "I don't doubt it at all. I -sympathize with you, but I have my job to do, you know."</p> - -<p>"I'll bet you sympathize with us," Dorothy said worriedly.</p> - -<p>"But I do, really," Fairchild said. "And to prove it I'm going to make -you a nice offer. I don't have to, but I can, and I will. Give me the -paper and I'll promise not to toss it into the Flame for a whole year. -That will give you a year of happiness. It won't do any harm in the -long run, because the instant that paper is consumed everything goes -right back to the instant of the crash, and world events go on as they -should have in the first place. But I'll stick to my bargain. If you -give me the paper without trouble."</p> - -<p>"But we don't have it!" Dorothy blurted.</p> - -<p>"You don't?" Fairchild exclaimed. His eyes widened in sudden -comprehension. "That fellow...." He half rose and looked toward the -exit. He glanced back at their faces and saw that he had guessed right. -Waiting for no more he leaped across the room, bumping into a waiter -and causing him to spill a tray of drinks. Then he was out the door -before anyone could stop him.</p> - -<p>"I hope Phil had sense enough to get far away, and quick," Lin groaned. -"Come on, Dorothy, let's see." He dropped enough money on the table to -take care of the check and, taking her arm, hurried after Fairchild.</p> - -<p>Twenty feet away a crowd had gathered about a central point. They ran -to the crowd and pushed their way toward its center. Dorothy gasped and -Lin tensed at what they saw.</p> - -<p>Phil was getting slowly to his feet, nursing a large bruise under one -eye with gentle fingers.</p> - -<p>"The other guy just vanished!" someone said unbelieving. "I saw him! He -just vanished in thin air where he was standing!"</p> - -<p>"Did he get it?" Lin said, helping Phil to his feet.</p> - -<p>Phil nodded, then muttered, "Let's get away from here. I think I need -another drink."</p> - -<p>Lin's legs were suddenly watery. Dorothy's lip was trembling.</p> - -<p>"A drink," Lin said dully, then, determinedly, "Yes, a drink." He took -Dorothy's arm in his fingers. "Come on, honey. Maybe we'll have time."</p> - -<p>"A drink?" Dorothy said shrilly. "We're going to be dead in another -minute and all you want is time enough to have a drink?"</p> - -<p>"That isn't it at all," Lin said. "Let's get off the street."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He guided her firmly through the crowd, Phil following in their wake. -They went back into the Shangri-La once more and back to their table -where their unfinished drinks still rested.</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry you took what I said the wrong way," Lin said. "Believe me—"</p> - -<p>"It's all right, darling," Dorothy said. "I know you didn't mean it -that way. It's just that, well, we haven't had a chance together...." -Her lips started to tremble again, then she was smiling bravely.</p> - -<p>"That's the girl," Phil said.</p> - -<p>"You should talk," Lin growled. "You aren't going to die."</p> - -<p>"Let's drink to that, or something," Phil said. "I need one, and I'm -sure you both do too."</p> - -<p>They drank solemnly. Lin and Dorothy were looking into each other's -eyes as they drank.</p> - -<p>"I wish—" Lin choked.</p> - -<p>"I know," Dorothy said. She leaned across the table and Lin kissed her.</p> - -<p>"Cigarette?" Phil asked, holding out his pack. They each took one and -he lit them with his lighter.</p> - -<p>"Three on a match," Dorothy said nervously. "I guess it's all right -this time though. The conclusion is foregone."</p> - -<p>"Wonder how long it will take," Lin said, sucking in the smoke hungrily.</p> - -<p>"That's another thing," Phil said. "That other time you took that long -walk and got the paper and walked back to where you started from, and -it all happened in less than an instant."</p> - -<p>"That's right," Lin said. "He should be...."</p> - -<p>"As a matter of fact," Phil said, "I think he should. So it worked -after all. I'd really hoped it would. Or maybe ... but I think it -worked."</p> - -<p>"What worked?" Lin and Dorothy demanded together.</p> - -<p>"He must have tossed that paper into the flame by now, unless he read -what was on it," Phil said. He spread his hands apologetically. "You -see I knew this couldn't go on forever. The only way to fight the -supernatural is to outsmart it, I figured. So I wrote on it. Simple as -that. I bore down good too so that if the ink came off, the writing -would still be creased in good. On the theory that <i>whatever</i> was on -that paper would come true when it got burned."</p> - -<p>"<i>What did you write?</i>" Again Lin and Dorothy spoke in unison.</p> - -<p>"I didn't have time for anything involved," Phil apologized. "I rather -expected him to be after me before I could go far."</p> - -<p>"<i>What did you write?</i>"</p> - -<p>"Just one word," Phil said, "<i>Cancelled</i>."</p> - -<p>"Cancelled?" Lin and Dorothy echoed dumbly, then, comprehendingly, -"Cancelled!"</p> - -<p>"Sure," Phil said. "That way when it was burned it wouldn't do -anything. They'll have to start over on you."</p> - -<p>They stared at him wordlessly.</p> - -<p>"It must have been burned by now," he added weakly. "So my scheme -worked."</p> - -<p>They turned their heads and looked into each other's eyes. Two ghostly -windshields obscured their vision. The tables and people about them -faded, to be replaced by ghostly pines, a more solid concrete highway.</p> - -<p>They stared into each other's eyes, knowing all that had been, feeling -it slip away.</p> - -<p>But abruptly it vanished and they were looking at each other across -the table while a waiter asked them if they wanted another drink. For a -long second their minds hovered in that other stream of time before the -realization came that it was over and they were safe.</p> - -<p>"Another?" Lin said. "Yes. Sure. You want one, Dorothy?"</p> - -<p>She nodded and watched the waiter's back as he hurried away.</p> - -<p>"You two look as if you'd seen a ghost," Phil said. "I would almost -swear that paper reached the flame a second ago."</p> - -<p>Dorothy turned to him. "It did," she said. "And I don't know whether to -be happy about it or—never forgive you."</p> - -<p>"Why?" Phil asked.</p> - -<p>She looked at Lin, her eyes soft and luminous. Her hand reached out and -nestled in his.</p> - -<p>"Well," she said, "it seems to me the least you could have done while -you had the opportunity was write on it for us to live forever!"</p> - -<p>She laughed nervously.</p> - -<p>Lin flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette and grinned at her. -"That would have been tempting Fate!" he said....</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESTINY UNCERTAIN ***</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. 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