I reached the cage. It was a room about ten feet square and equally as
high. Walled solid, top and bottom, and on three sides. The front was a
lattice of bars, with a narrow six-foot doorway, standing open now.
I dashed in. The interior was not wholly bare. There was a metal-wrought
couch fastened to the wall, with a railing around it and handles. It
suggested a ship's bunk. There was a railing at convenient height all
around the wall.
I sought a hiding place. I saw just one--under the couch. It was
secluded enough. There was a grillelike lattice extending down from the
seat to the floor. I squeezed under one end, and lay wedged behind the
grille.
How much time passed I don't know. My thoughts were racing. Babs would
be coming.
I heard the distant approaching rumble of Polter's voice. Through the
grille I could see across the floor of the ten foot cage to the front
lattice bars. Outside, there appeared a huge, pink-white, mottled
blob--Polter's hand, a ridged and pitted surface with great, bristling
black stalks of hair.
The figure of Babs came through the cage doorway. Blessed normality! The
same slim little Babs who always stood, since we were both matured, with
her head about level with my shoulders.
The latticed door swung shut with a reverberating metallic clank. Babs
stood tense, clinging to the wall railing. I heard the blurred rumble of
Polter's voice.
"Hold tightly, my little Babs!"
The room lurched; went upward and sidewise with a wild dizzying swoop.
Babs clung to the rail and I was wedged prone under the couch. Then the
movement stopped; there was a jolting, rocking, and outside I heard the
clank of metal. Polter was fastening the chains of the cage to his
chest.
A white glow now came through the bars. It was starlight reflecting from
Polter's shirt bosom. An abyss of distance was outside. I could see
nothing but the white glow.
Momentarily there was very little movement in the room. Only the
rhythmic sway of Polter's breathing and an occasional jolt as he shifted
his position. The floor was tilted at a sharp angle. Babs came toward
the couch, pulling herself along the wall railing.
I called softly, "Babs!"
She stopped. I called again, "Babs! Don't cry out! It's George!
Here--stand still!"
She gave a little cry. "George--where are you? I don't--"
I slid out from my concealment and stood up, holding to the railing.
Blessed normality of size! She cried again, "George! You! How did you
get here?"
She edged along the railing, a step or two down the tilting floor, then
released her hold and flung herself into my waiting arms.
"I think we are landing. Hold on to the railing, George. When the room
moves it goes with a rush."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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