Science fiction; Sex role -- Fiction; Short stories
He found himself five hundred years
into the future, a man eagerly sought
and he didn't know why. Then he
found out. The future was a--
Woman's World
By Robert Silverberg
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
June 1957
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Coming up out of five centuries of sleep was like fighting my way up
from the bottom of the sea. I was blind, I was choking, I was mangled
by the pressure. All I could think was that I had to get up and out, up
and out.
My sleep-cramped brain battled toward consciousness. The blackness
around me gave way to deep violet, then gray, then a vague colorless
dinginess as I rose to wakefulness. I moved my arms, tentatively,
feeling the centuries-old numbness starting to give way. _This is what
it feels like to be born_, my mind said.
Then, voices. Loud, strident, horribly painful to nerves that hadn't
felt the impact of sound in five hundred years. A kind of terror ran
through me; I cringed at the thought of the unknown future into which
I had so boldly plunged. It had seemed like a joke, once--but I had
slept away half a millennium, and time for awakening was here.
Voices. Someone shouting, "He's mine! I got here before you did, Sam!"
Another voice: "The hell you did, Phil. _I_ was here. You get out of
here."
I shook my head foggily and stirred. Sam and Phil, whoever they were,
were making much too much noise. I wanted them to go away; I was
terribly tired, wanting nothing but another few hundred years of sleep.
I yawned and sat up. And gasped. For as I opened my eyes and gradually
focussed them, I saw Sam and Phil. They were having a knockdown tussle,
and it was hard to tell which one was on top.
But there was one thing I could tell: they were both female. One
seemed to be a magnificent brunette, wide-shouldered and fiery-eyed;
the other, a redhead, lithe and wiry. They wore only skin-tight blue
trunks; as they rolled over and over on the floor, I caught occasional
glimpses of bare breasts and lovely flashing thighs.
I climbed out of my somno-casket and lowered myself to the floor of the
chamber, wobbling unsteadily. They ignored me, and continued to battle
it out.
"Hold on, girls," I said finally. "This is no way to welcome a man from
the distant past."
At my words they cut out the wrestling instantly. They clambered to
their feet, glaring bitterly at each other, and turned to look at me.
They were really stacked. To my astonishment I discovered that they
stood nearly six feet tall, both of them, with high, proud breasts and
tapering, well-muscled bodies. _What a pair of amazons_, I thought
admiringly.
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