He resumed. "What I've outlined was the general situation when I came here one summer afternoon, to read a book. About a half-hour later something happened that practically made me jump out of my skin. The air in the glade seemed suddenly to thicken, and the trees all around grew crazily twisted, as though seen through optical glass. I felt oddly light, dizzy and sick at the same time. And from somewhere came a deep, humming sound--the kind of sound that might have been made by a string on a giant harp. "The next thing I knew there was a sort of machine in the glade that seemed to have popped right out of nowhere. It was a metal globe about eight feet across, with tapering legs or supports on the bottom to keep it upright. There was the outline of a door in the side turned toward me. "I was scared stiff, of course, but I had been reading about this kind of thing happening in stories--and as far as I was concerned, there was hardly any dividing line between stories and real life. So I stayed put. I knew the machine was something special, because I'd never seen anything like it outside of the illustrations in the more imaginative type of magazines." * * * * * Pearce drew at his cigarette again. Fuller and Ellen were like store window figures, arranged in attitudes of rapt attention. "After several seconds the door in the side of the machine opened and a woman stepped out. I thought she was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, a princess--or an angel. She looked the way ancient Egyptian women must have looked. She made me think of a tropical flower, which wasn't far from truth, considering that she came from a time when the Earth was--or will be--a great deal warmer than it is now. She was wearing a sort of thin dress that sparkled as though covered with jewels, and over this she held a long cloak. It was summer, but I suppose it was a bit too cool for her. "She smiled at me--and I was glad I had stuck around. She said she hoped I hadn't been frightened by the appearance of her machine, and I guess I tried to sell her the idea that I strangled lions with my bare hands just for exercise. Then she explained that her name was Nela, and that she had come from two thousand years in the future especially to see me. Her machine, of course, was a time machine." "Good grief!" Fuller said explosively. "What kind of a gag are you trying to put over, Andy?" "I know just how it all sounds," Pearce returned. "But believe me, for one of the few times in my life I'm dead serious. Keep quiet and listen. I don't have much time left." "Go on, Andy," Ellen said. "I'm fascinated."