Adventure stories; Science fiction; Time travel -- Fiction
"I staggered weakly back, and screamed. But that arm circled and
gripped me, then pulled me in toward the central mass of the thing.
It was cold to the touch, an utter, numbing cold, like the chill of
something from outer space, utterly alien to our earth and life.
That cold shock stabbed through me and paralyzed me, and I dangled
helplessly in the thing's grip, while at its center, seen, somehow,
_through_ the mass of the thing, the triangle of purple orbs seemed to
watch me.
"All this had been enacted in a few moments, and now the inexplicable
thing that held me began to rise again, to float up some distance
above the ground. It still gripped me tightly, and now the purple orbs
changed again to brilliant green, while again the solid, twisting mass
of the thing changed, expanding and swirling, until it was again the
drifting, spinning mass of vapor which I had first glimpsed. I floated
in those mists, gripped as tightly as ever by their unseen holds, and
now began again the shrill, piercing whistling, from all around me,
while a rising torrent of wind roared around the thing that held me.
"At the same time, glancing up, I saw the moon racing across the sky
above with incredible speed, bounding across the zenith like a shooting
star and sinking down in the west. Hardly had it disappeared when
there was an up-gush of gray light from the eastern horizon, and then
the sun leapt up, red and flaming, and hurtled across the sky with even
greater speed. I caught a glimpse of Angkor beneath, bathed in tropical
sunlight. And a half-minute before it had been deepest night!
"A deadly sickness seized me, and while I strove against it the sun
raced down into the west and it was night again, with the shining
moon again flashing across the sky with nightmare speed. Again it
disappeared and again the sun sprang up and rocketed headlong across
the zenith. And for the first time there came to my numbed brain some
realization of what was happening.
"This inexplicable thing that held me--this being of changing mists and
vapors--was taking me on through time. It was whirling me on into the
future, with some undreamed-of power of its own.
"The sun was racing across the sky with comet speed, now, a streak of
golden light, and day and night followed each other like the flipped
leaves of a book, faster and faster. In a few minutes they had become
indistinguishable, had merged into a green twilight in which I could
see but dimly the ground below. And even as we thus sped on through
time, with ever-increasing speed, the thing that held me began to move
through space also, and I caught a glimpse of ruined Angkor sliding
away from beneath me.
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