The Devolutionist and the EmancipatrixFlint, Homer Eon
Science
The Devolutionist and the Emancipatrix
Flint, Homer Eon
Life on other planets -- Fiction; Science fiction
The first thing that met the doctor's gaze, when his mind entered
that of his distant agent, was a clock. It was a very ordinary sort
of an instrument, such as one sees in schools and offices; it had
two hands, and a pendulum of the usual size and length.
However, this pendulum was swinging at a very rapid rate; nearly
twice as fast, judged the doctor, as that of his own chronometer.
And its dial was divided into twenty-five equal parts, instead of
twelve, each of these parts being further divided into five equal
portions. At the moment, these two hands indicated what would have
been called, on the earth, about half past three.
Before the doctor could speculate on this, his unknown agent shifted
his gaze to a newspaper on a desk before him. Apparently he was
thinking of something entirely different; for he absently turned the
pages, one by one, his subconscious mind taking it all in.
And the doctor saw that the paper was called simply The Hourly
Journal; that it was of very nearly the size of most sheets; and
that it consisted of about ten pages. The front and back pages,
only, contained news items; the remainder were packed solid with
advertisements. Not one of these were striking enough for the doctor
to remember; he said they were exactly like large-size professional
"cards," except that they applied to every business, from candy to
bridges. As for the news items, each was short, unsensational, with
the simplest kind of head-lines. More the doctor had no chance to
observe.
Abruptly the agent stowed the paper away, and looked up. Presumably
he was seated in some sort of a theater. Directly ahead was the
familiar white rectangle of a photoplay-house screen. And all about
him were heads and shoulders, seemingly belonging to young folks, of
about high-school age. Even to "low necks" for the girls and white
collars for the boys, they were identically like people of the
earth.
In fact, if it had not been for that clock the doctor would have
concluded that there was some mistake, and have ended the
experiment. For some time he learned little; the place was filled
with a confused murmur. His agent, however, took no part in the
conversation that produced this effect; once or twice he yawned.
Suddenly the buzz came to a stop; and next moment a tall figure
stepped upon the platform in front of the screen.
"Class," began this person immediately, "to-day we will summarize
what we have learned during the past week about the solar system of
which our planet is one element."
And as he spoke the doctor saw that there had been no mistake. For,
although the agent's subconscious mind had served to translate what
was said into language understandable by the doctor, yet his eyes
plainly told him that the professor's lips were saying something
else.
There was no doubt about it. For all that the doctor could tell by
watching the speaker's mouth, he might have been talking in Eskimo.
But his meaning was quite as clear as though he had said it in
English.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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