"And Something led me here, Lee," the gentle old voice was saying.
"Perhaps not such a coincidence. On this great Inner Surface of gentle
light and gentle warmth--with Nature offering nothing against which one
must strive--there must be many groups of simple people like these. They
have no thought of evil--there is nothing--no one, to teach it to them.
If I had not landed here, I think I would have found much the same thing
almost anywhere else on the Inner Surface."
"The Inner Surface? I don't understand, grandfather."
A conception--a reality here--that was numbing in its vastness. This was
the concave, inner surface, doubtless deep within the atom of some
material substance. A little empty Space here, surrounded by solidity.
"And that--" Lee murmured, "then that little space is our Inter-Stellar
abyss?"
"Yes. Of course. The stars, as we call them--from here you could call
them tiny particles--like electrons whirling. All of them in this little
void. With good eyesight, you can sometimes see them there--"
"I did."
And to this viewpoint which Lee had now--so gigantic, compared to
Earth--all the Inter-Stellar universe was a void here of what old
Anthony considered would be perhaps eight or ten thousand miles. A void,
to Lee now, was itself of no greater volume than the Earth had been to
him before!
Silently he pondered it. This Inner Surface--not much bigger, to him
now, than the surface of the Earth is to its humans.... Suddenly
he felt small--infinitely tiny. Out here beyond the stars, he was
only within the atom of something larger, a human, partly on his
way--emerging--outward--
* * * * *
It gave him a new vague conception. As though now, because he was partly
emerged, the all-wise Creator was giving him a new insight. Surely in
this simple form of existence humans were totally unaware of what evil
could be. Was not this a higher form of life than down there on his tiny
Earth?
The conception numbed him with awe....
"You see, Lee, I have been looking forward to having you become a
man--to having you here," old Anthony was saying. As he lay, so utterly
motionless, only his voice, his face, his eyes, seemed alive. It was an
amazingly expressive old face, radiant, transfigured. "I shall not be
here long. You see? And when I have--gone on--when I can only come back
here as a Visitor--like Anna Green, you have been aware of her, Lee?"
"Yes, grandfather. Yes, I think I have."
"The awareness is more acute, here, than it was back on Earth. A very
comforting thing, Lee. I was saying--I want you here. These people, so
simple--you might almost think them childlike--they need someone to
guide them. The one who did that--just as I came, was dying.
Maybe--maybe that is what led me here. So now I need you."
It welled in Lee with an awe, and a feeling suddenly of humbleness--and
of his own inadequacy, so that he murmured,
"But grandfather--I would do my best--but surely--"
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