Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Neptune (Planet) -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories; Time -- Fiction
Driven by inexplicable impulse, Darrel drew a pad from his shirt pocket
and wrote on it, "Who are you?" and showed it to the girl, Leyloon. It
was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous! Asking a question after it had
been answered. But the inner compulsion had been irresistible.
He was silent for a long time. An hour ... two hours. Leyloon
chatted gaily, even affectionately, in her strange tongue. She wrote
incomprehensible things on pieces of paper that flew up from where
they lay on the ground and from the waste receptacle beside the bench.
She bewildered him, and yet.... Her every action was in reverse, but,
despite the weirdness of the effect, hers were graceful and lovely
actions.
Finally she left, rising to her feet and setting off down the
parkway--walking backwards. She waved near a bend of the walk, then
backed rapidly around it and out of sight.
Darrel returned to the ship. He weaved his way slowly and drunkenly
through the crowds of this crazy world going in reverse.
The ship was a lifesaver. It sat there as solidly as a rock. He rubbed
his hand over the smooth metal hull and began to regain his sense of
reality.
Over twenty-four hours already and none of the gravity plates was
repaired. At this rate he would never get off Neptune ... that is, if
he wanted to.
He attacked the job with more energy than enthusiasm.
* * * * *
The third day began with two realizations. The first realization was
that he was very definitely in love with Leyloon.
The second, that time here was moving in the opposite direction from
the time-stream in which he existed. It was the only way to explain all
these strange happenings. He had thought about it half the night.
It was urgent that he find Leyloon and explain both these things. But
he shouldn't go off half cocked. He was too excited to permit rational
behavior, and might only confuse the problems which already were
confused almost beyond comprehension.
With an effort of will, he lit a cigarette and dragged at it with
deliberate slowness. When the cigarette was finished he threw it away
and picked up his tools to begin work on the gravity plates.
He worked until he was calm.
Only then did he leave the ship, squatting in the hollow below the
hill, and set out for the fantastic Neptunian city. How could he find
Leyloon? The city was labyrinthine. It would be impossible.
But on the other side of the hill he met her. She was coming slowly up
the gentle slope, backing up as usual.
Obeying an impulsive thought, Darrel moved twenty yards off the path
and waited.
As though he were a magnet, Leyloon left the path and backed up to him.
She turned then and exposed a face that was radiantly happy.
Before Darrel could collect himself to explain what was on his mind,
the weird things began again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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