She seemed, aside from her snow-white hair, no more than a strangely
beautiful girl of earth. But to both Dan and Hulda came again, more
strongly than before, the feeling of her strangeness. There was
something singularly unusual in her aspect. And this they both recall
clearly; as they stood there for a silent instant confronting her, both
were conscious of sensations indescribable, as though they were feeling
something within themselves--something vague, elusive--something
no mortal of Earth had ever felt before. And, perhaps, hearing
something--so faint, so ethereal they could not define it--faint as
though it were sound heard not by their ears, but by their minds.
And they saw something, too, which perhaps no mortal eyes had ever seen
before. An aura, a dim, very faint red radiance shone around the three
of them as they stood there together in the moonlight. Hulda and Dan
remembered it was something like that.
They stood for a moment, stricken with wonder at their sensations; and
perhaps the strange girl was less timorous as she saw their attitude
of awe. She stared up into Dan's face, and smiled. Queerly wistful;
trusting. A gentle little creature! And he stared down into her dark
eyes and found them shimmering pools of iridescence. Then again she
spoke, other words in a strange, liquid tongue, soft, with curiously
clipped, intoned syllables.
Dan shook his head. "We can't understand you. Can you understand us?"
He smiled; and Hulda smiled.
"She's not afraid of us," said Dan. The girl was waving a hand with
what they knew was a gesture of negation. She could not understand
their language; and when Dan tried Spanish--realizing it was futile;
and tried his imperfect French--her gesture continued.
He tried again. "Dan! Dan! Dan!" he said, and struck his chest. And
Hulda indicated herself with "Hulda! Hulda!"
The girl's eager face brightened. They had established communication;
the first communication between Xenephrene and our earth!
The girl cried, "Zetta, Zetta," and laid her hand on her breast.
It was the first communication between the worlds. What dire events,
tragedies, amazing things to transpire before the last communication
was over!
* * * * *
It is not my purpose, and again, I have no space in which to narrate
all the details of these days. The girl was persuaded to follow Dan
and Hulda, and through all that February she lived with the Cains in
the plantation house, guarded and kept hidden, though the news of her
presence could not be entirely concealed.
The silver ball in the coconut grove was a vehicle in which, by
some method unknown to earth, this girl--this Zetta, as she called
herself--had come from her world, to ours. And she had not come alone.
A man had come with her--he seemed to be of middle age. He lay dead
near the vehicle. Perhaps the victim of an accident; or perhaps the
girl had killed him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account