The Time Annihilator by Edgar A, Manley and Walter Thode Read online

  generation that included that of my great

  gripped each other’s arms, as slowly, oh! so

  grandparents. I am Professor Alexis Halden of

  slowly that circle of death contracted toward

  Europolis, the capital of the United States of

  us. Thru a haze I saw the leering faces of the

  Europe. And my era is that of 2045.”

  creatures outside and the cool indifferent gaze

  “And how did you come to fit into this

  of the Khan. Madness struck me then, I guess.

  particular adventure,” pursued Clay, rather

  Wonder Stories

  18

  truculently. “It seemed a mighty funny story

  journey.”

  that you tell.”

  “Yes, I see.”

  “It certainly is,” said Halden. “Perhaps

  “We’re all ears, professor.”

  I can enlighten you on some phases of it. To

  Halden smiled. “To make my story

  begin with I met your friend, Mr. Stenson,

  short, Mr. Stenson invited me to accompany

  when his time machine invaded my laboratory

  him on his journey. This caprice of your friend

  at the University of Europolis. You can at first startled me. Really I have always been imagine my astonishment, gentlemen, when

  a timid soul, gentlemen, but the marvelous

  Mr. Stenson appeared before me. Never possibilities of journeying into the future before had I seen a man attired as he was. He

  struck me as worth any risk. I accepted the

  seemed to have stepped out of the air.

  invitation.

  “And where is Stenson now?” I

  “And then the trouble started?” I

  demanded.

  laughed.

  “Indeed, yes. I will not bore

  “He is back in the year 2250—the you with details, except to say that we reached period of the blackest tragedy of history. But

  the year 2418, to which you in turn had

  please, gentlemen, let me continue. I want to

  journeyed, and I decided to leave the time

  make my story coherent.”

  machine the better to explore conditions

  “And you will pardon our existing at that period. Mr. Stenson said he interruptions, I hope,” said Clay in a quiet

  would go to the period of 2250 in order to

  tone.

  learn about the tragic destruction of humanity

  “And let us thank you for saving us,” I

  occurring in that year.”

  said. “But please continue.”

  “And you left the time machine?”

  asked Clay incredulously.

  “Yes, I very foolishly did. And I

  CHAPTER VI

  suppose by doing so I let loose all sorts of

  A Chase Thru Time

  complications. Because I can plainly see that

  Mr. Stenson must have left the time machine

  himself at 2250, but inadvertently failed to

  PROFESSOR Halden cleared his throat rather

  safeguard the machine against a journey of its

  primly, like a teacher about to lecture on own accord back to its starting point.”

  science. I smiled, forgetting my raw wounds

  “He left a scratch on the indicator at

  in contemplation of our new acquaintance. But

  2250,” I remarked.

  his serious face checked me and my lips grew

  “So I’ve observed,” said the Savant.

  somber.

  “Doubtless, he realized that in leaving it, with

  “I will make my explanation rather

  none in the machine, that the machine might

  short, my friends,” said Halden. “You can

  became unmanageable—returning as I’ve said

  readily imagine my utter astonishment when

  to its original point.”

  Mr. Stenson appeared. The doors of my

  “You mean the machinery or

  laboratory were locked. While I had heard, of

  mechanics of the thing went wild or

  course, of time machine theories, the something?” I inquired.

  possibility of their being actually used for a

  “Something like that. I really can’t say.

  voyage through time had never struck me. Mr.

  But I’m convinced you’ll find Mr. Stenson at

  Stenson told me he had just stepped out of a

  2250. That is unless some catastrophe has

  time machine, having been attracted by my

  befallen him.”

  laboratory as he sped on his marvelous

  “But how was it that I came to stop

  The Time Annihilator

  19

  this machine at the year 2418?” said Clay

  whose labors had changed the climate of the

  nonplused.

  globe and reared an industrial civilization

  “You understand, of course, that the

  surpassing anything we had ever seen in the

  time machine describes a parabolic course in

  twentieth century.

  time. It would be an error to assume that it

  “Where did these creatures come

  moves—if I might use such terms—in lateral

  from?” asked Clay.

  as well as horizontal planes at one and the

  “I do not know,” said Halden gravely.

  same time. No, Mr. Stenson explained it to

  “There is a mystery about their origin that is

  me. He said the machine follows an baffling.”

  undeviating line.”

  “But I can’t understand how I came to

  WE huddled together in the whirling time-

  stop at 2418, just as you and Stenson had done

  girdling machine, cutting through the year as a

  before,” said Clay. “I was at the controls and

  ship’s prow breasts surging waves. I could not

  just picked out that particular date offhand.”

  help but think of the years as waves, beating

  “There is such a thing as thought in endless succession on the sands of eternity.

  waves,” said Halden with a slow smile. They wore all away before them with pitiless

  “When you stopped at the year 2418, near the

  attrition. Time seemed to eat all with dragon

  very spot of the tomb of Chang Hsu, you

  jaws.

  merely followed out an old law of telepathy.

  “We are the creatures, the playtoys of

  You stopped—because somewhere along the

  time,” said Halden.

  line of travel, subconsciously of course, you

  “It just juggles us about and casts us

  obeyed that law. The thought of making your

  aside,” remarked Clay.

  destination there was too impelling to be

  The year 2250 loomed before us.

  resisted.”

  Never had a single year been so filled with

  “And you waited in the tomb?”

  catastrophe for humanity. We were hovering

  “Yes, I was in hiding there. I nearly

  above a world of ruins. Below us, drawing

  was captured twice by the guards, but I eluded

  nearer, was New York.

  them. I waited there for the machine to come

  New York, with buildings crumbling,

  for me. Now I know, from the fact that you

  swept into nothingness, was a city in the midst

  are here instead of Mr. Stenson, that of despair. From the roof of a building that something has befallen him. See, I have set

  soared a third of a mile into the air, where the

  th
e indicator for the year 2250. That was time machine had landed, we watched throngs where he said he would be. The course of the

  of refugees pour through the streets far below,

  machine will bring us over the same path he

  lashed into frenzy of fear by the tragedy that

  traveled. If he is still alive I am sure we can

  engulfed them. We descended to the streets.

  save him.”

  For a few moments I studied the great

  “I’m glad you’ve got some track of

  metropolis of the future, spellbound by its

  him,” I said. “We would have been lost in the

  immensity. Buildings rose above us, 2,500

  hunt. Imagine looking over half of eternity for

  feet into the air with ground bases that

  any one.”

  covered thousands of square feet. Aerial

  Again the panorama of passing years

  roadways wound amid these huge structures

  swept past. We saw cities of marble, rising

  and fleets of airships sped through the wind

  like mountain peaks, with gigantic aircraft seeking safety from the cloud of doom.

  winging overhead. Again we had brief

  The unbelievable had happened.

  glimpses of the dome-headed men of Pei Doomsday had come to humanity and death

  Wonder Stories

  20

  laid leprous hands on millions throughout the

  If we left the confines of the time machine,

  world.

  abandoning the anomalous invisibility that

  Flames leaped into the sky, adding to

  confined us, we would share their dangers, be

  the destruction carried on the wind by of them in their period of tribulation.

  invisible death rays. We knew that the brood

  That was what Stenson had done. The

  of domed-headed men, brought into being by

  adventurous heart of the young scientist had

  Chang Hsu, were starting their career of prompted him to desert the confines of the destruction, the fruition of which we had seen

  machine—only to have it swept away back to

  in the year 2418.

  1945. He was stranded on the vague shore of

  I stared at the scene before me in the future.

  horror, realizing I was gazing upon the

  We walked for perhaps a mile down a

  supreme tragedy in the history of the world.

  wide boulevard. Palm trees rose in majestic

  Before my eyes a city of at least 25,000.000

  splendor and I marveled at their presence.

  people was being laid waste. We mingled There was no smoke in this New York of the invisible in the streets amid scurrying throngs.

  future; indeed the air had a tropical aroma that

  Moving sidewalks were filled with men, caused me to believe that a change in the Gulf women and children, clad in brilliant silk Stream, brought about possibly by human robes, who passed us unseeing. Cries of ingenuity, had given the metropolis a climate despair arose on all sides.

  such as Florida had enjoyed during the early

  “This is dreadful,” said Professor part of the twentieth century.

  Halden. “It is an awful sight.”

  “We must find Stenson,” I cried.

  I QUESTIONED Professor Halden on this

  “The airships have all gone,” a heavy

  point and he nodded.

  set man shouted.

  “Yes, that is exactly what has taken

  He was at my side, barely three feet

  place,” he said. “But it came about through

  away, and I turned to ask him where they had

  natural causes. Even in my own era, in 2045,

  gone; but my voice failed to reach him out of

  the Gulf Stream had changed so that New

  the cycle of time that separated us, confined as

  York was converted into a semi-tropical city.

  we were by the machine’s walls.

  The condition has brought about all these

  A woman was at his right, her changes of verdure which doubtless seem beautiful face torn with fear. Two little astonishing to you men from more than a children trailed at her skirts, clinging to her as

  hundred years before my period.”

  if for protection. They were without doubt a

  Passing through a wide side street,

  father, mother and their brood.

  blooming with gorgeous flowers along a

  “Do you think Stenson is still here,

  parkway in the center, we came to a great

  professor?” asked Clay.

  square. This open space was the scene of wild

  “I cannot say. But he told me he would

  pandemonium. As we crossed the square,

  be in New York in the middle of May, year

  which was adorned with marble statuary, we

  2250.”

  ran into currents of humanity in terrified

  “It will be impossible to find him, I’m

  flight.

  afraid,” I remarked as our machine moved

  “There is a vast park over there,” said

  through the crowds. The passing multitudes

  Halden. “Let us go there.”

  swept at our side, utterly oblivious of our

  “Look—quick!”

  presence. They moved like astral shadows.

  Clay seized my arm and pointed. A

  The strangeness of our position troubled me.

  great building was in the process of

  The Time Annihilator

  21

  destruction. The annihilating waves touched

  that the people of 2250 had developed an ease

  the structure and it vanished rapidly. A cloud

  of life incomparably beyond the crude era of

  of dust rose in the air. Terrible cries arose

  1945. As we crossed the park we watched the

  from the stampeded multitude.

  white, frightened faces of the refugees. They

  “The domed-headed devils are live in my memory yet as visions of a wrecking civilization,” I cried. “Is there no

  nightmare. They were our own people,

  way to stop all this horror, professor?”

  descendants of the early Americans of our

  “I’m afraid we are utterly powerless.

  own day.

  We saw the future holds when we were in the

  Again the time machine rose to a high

  year 2418. Here we are less than two hundred

  building and I glanced at the golden sunlight.

  years before the epoch we visited in Pei. We

  The day was like other days since time

  are gazing into inevitable consequences.”

  immemorial in its general aspects. A clear,

  We reached the park and found almost cloudless sky, blue and benevolent, ourselves amid magnificent palms and flowers

  spread above us. But invisible death rained out

  of all the hues of the rainbow. I abandoned

  of the sky upon a people who had long

  hope of ever finding Stenson. Doubt filled my

  abolished war and poverty. Humanity at the

  mind that he still survived. We reached a

  peak of its glory was doomed.

  boulevard that bisected the park and saw

  My memory swept to the scenes in the

  round machines, that bore a faint resemblance

  desert of Pei where the three domed men had

  to automobiles, moving about on the ground.

  guarded the floating palace. I recalled their

  Struggling throngs were fighting to get into

  conversation. The words had sunk deep into

  these vehicles. Two o
f the machines shot my memory: vertically into the air and sped into the sky.

  “After the electric air rays Invented by

  They were little airships.

  Chang Hsu brought about the destruction of

  I watched a group of men attack a third

  most of the human race, did not our forebears

  machine, hurling two women, a man and three

  spread about the globe taking over many

  children into the street. The women and lands?”

  children screamed and their male escort

  So, one of the guardians of the gate

  battled with his fists. But the group that had

  had asked Slan Cho. And I recalled Slan

  seized the machine were brutal in their Cho’s answer: determination to retain possession. The thin

  “Yes, Chang Hsu left us the rays of

  veneer of civilization which surrounded these

  death. As we grew strong in numbers, here in

  beings of the future, was swept away in the

  the desolate land of Pei, we plotted the

  struggle for existence. The attackers leaped

  destruction of the earthmen who called

  into the air machine and rose into the faint

  themselves human.”

  breeze.

  The guardians of the flying palace had

  But if cowardice played its part in this

  spoken of events that took place centuries

  tragedy that shook the world, there was before their own time. Now we were gazing glorious heroism. Three young men turned

  into these tragic happenings. We had seen the

  over their air machine to the ejected party. A

  cause long after observing the effect.

  glow of admiration shone in Halden’s eyes.

  “Look,” he said, “they are going afoot.

  CHAPTER VII