Horror tales; News agencies -- Fiction; Short stories
“Beneath me the wall of vapor is changing colors. It seems to be
lighted by internal fires. No, it isn’t. I have made a mistake.
The colors are from above, reflections from the sky.
“Look up! Look up! The whole sky is in flames. Colors as yet
unseen by man or demon. The flames are moving, they have started
to intermix, the colors rearrange themselves. They are so
brilliant that my eyes burn, yet they are a long way off.
“Now they have begun to swirl, to circle in and out, twisting in
intricate designs and patterns. The lights are racing each with
each, a kaleidoscope of unearthly brilliance.
“I have made a discovery. There is nothing harmful in the lights.
They radiate force and friendliness, almost cheeriness. But by
their very strength, they hurt.
“As I look they are swinging closer and closer, a million miles at
each jump. Millions of miles with the speed of light. Aye, it is
light, the quintessence of all light. Beneath it the fog melts
into a jeweled mist, radiant, rainbow-colored of a thousand varied
spectrums.
“I can see the streets. Why, they are filled with people! The
lights are coming closer. They are all around me. I am enveloped.
I----”
The message stopped abruptly. The wire to Xebico was dead. Beneath my
eyes in the narrow circle of light from under the green lampshade, the
black printing no longer spun itself, letter by letter, across the
page.
The room seemed filled with a solemn quiet, a silence vaguely
impressive. Powerful.
I looked down at Morgan. His hands had dropped nervelessly at his
sides while his body had hunched over peculiarly. I turned the
lampshade back, throwing the light squarely in his face. His eyes were
staring, fixed. Filled with a sudden foreboding, I stepped beside him
and called Chicago on the wire. After a second the sounder clicked its
answer.
Why? But there was something wrong. Chicago was reporting that Wire
Two had not been used throughout the evening.
“Morgan!” I shouted. “Morgan! Wake up, it isn’t true. Someone has been
hoaxing us. Why----” In my eagerness I grasped him by the shoulder. It
was only then that I understood.
The body was quite cold. Morgan had been dead for hours. Could it be
that his sensitized brain and automatic fingers had continued to
record impressions even after the end?
I shall never know, for I shall never again handle the night shift.
Search in a world atlas discloses no town of Xebico. Whatever it was
that killed John Morgan will forever remain a mystery.
[Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the September 1926 issue
of Weird Tales.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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