The Gostak and the DoshesBreuer, Miles J. (Miles John)
Science
The Gostak and the Doshes
Breuer, Miles J. (Miles John)
Fourth dimension -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories
Half credulous, half wondering, I walked slowly out of the door; I
noticed that Woleshensky settled himself down to the table with a pad
and a pencil to some kind of study, and forgot me before I had finished
turning around. I looked curiously at the familiar wall of the building
and the still more familiar poplar walk, expecting to see some strange
scenery, some unknown view from another world. But there were the same
old bricks and trees that I had known so long; though my disturbed
and wondering frame of mind endowed them with a sudden strangeness
and unwontedness. Things I had known for some years, they were, yet
so powerfully had Woleshensky’s arguments impressed me that I already
fancied myself in a different universe. According to the conception
of relativity, objects of the _x_, _y_, _z_ universe ought to look
different when viewed from the _x_, _y_, _t_ universe.
Strange to say, I had no difficulty at all in imagining myself as going
_upwards_ on my stroll along the slope. I told myself that the building
was behind and below me, and indeed it seemed real that it was that
way. I walked some distance along the little avenue of poplars, which
seemed familiar enough in all its details; though after a few minutes
it struck me that the avenue seemed rather long. In fact, it was much
longer than I had ever known it to be before.
With a queer Alice-in-Wonderland feeling I noted it stretching way on
ahead of me. Then I looked back.
[Illustration: _I gasped in astonishment. The building was indeed below
me. I looked down upon it from an elevation._]
I gasped in astonishment. The building was indeed _below_ me. I looked
down upon it from the top of an elevation. The astonishment of that
realization had barely broken over me, when I admitted that there was
a building down there; but what building? Not the new Morton Hall, at
least. It was a long, three-story brick building, quite resembling
Morton Hall, but it was not the same. And on beyond there were trees
with buildings among them; but it was not the campus that I knew.
I paused in a kind of panic. What was I to do now? Here I was in a
strange place. How I had gotten there I had no idea. What ought I do
about it? Where should I go? How was I to get back? Odd that I had
neglected the precaution of how to get back. I surmised that I must be
on the _t_ dimension. Stupid blunder on my part, neglecting to find out
how to get back.
I walked rapidly down the slope toward the building. Any hopes that I
might have had about its being Morton Hall were thoroughly dispelled
in a moment. It was a totally strange building, old, and old-fashioned
looking. I had never seen it before in my life. Yet it looked perfectly
ordinary and natural, and was obviously a University class-room
building.
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