Out of the Earth
Page 4
glass as if from a very greatheat. There are more passages in the sides of this cavern than the mindcan imagine. But after this rest there is nothing else we can do but tryone of them.
For five hours we have been lost in passages that curve and turn andjoin with each other as madly as if they were made by lost-mind men. Nowwe have found our way back to the Great Cavern. We shall stay here thetwo hours longer our light and lives will last.
It is easier now that our hope is nothing.
We can rest and wait, and even our fear becomes less in our tiredness.
The time has gone slowly, but the light from the lamp is becoming lessnow. In a few seconds it will go out, and the Groles will come, and ourlives will be over. Perhaps for an instant before we die, we shall knowwhat the Groles are; or perhaps it happens so quickly we will never knowanything. This may be the better way. Nina trembles in my arms.
We wait in the blackness. The lamp has been out for many minutes but theGroles have not come.
How can this be? Can the mind conceive that there are no such things asGroles, that, like so many other things, they are only a lie of theState?
These last words I write now.
The Groles are coming! We can hear their murmuring sounds through thepassages. We say goodbye to each other.
They are very close now--very--
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ALVAREZ COUNTY DAILY RECORD
_Inhabitants of Earth's Interior Come to Alvarez_ by Franklin Williams, Staff Writer
Alvarez, May 9, 2204.--An almost unbelievable event of the greatestsignificance not only to Alvarez, or the United States of the WesternHemisphere, but to the entire world, occurred in our Alvarez Countyyesterday. Visitors on the early morning tour through Alvarez Caverns,came upon an astonishing spectacle. Two men and a young girl ofindescribable strangeness of manner and dress were seated on the floorof Atom Cave. All were in the last stages of exhaustion and exposure,and even the little light from the electric hand lamps seemed to blindthem. Fortunately, in the tour was Dr. and Mrs. Ferguson of NewWashington, and Dr. Ferguson, appraising himself rapidly of thesituation, led the trio out of the Caverns and drove them to AlvarezHospital. Dr. Ferguson says they seemed completely dazed and unable tospeak. They came with him without resistance.
After an examination by Dr. Stutfeldt of Alvarez Hospital whichcompletely confirmed Dr. Ferguson's earlier diagnosis, the strangevisitors were put in a darkened room, in which they surprisingly had nodifficulty seeing, and were given simple nourishment.
Late in the evening, after they had slept and rested for many hours,they were questioned. In the presence of a distinguished group whichincluded Mayor Whitehead, Professor Lorraine Johnson (a very charmingyoung lady) of the Alvarez University, J. W. Wilson, Chairman of theAlvarez Chamber of Commerce, and your reporter, they told an amazing,but according to Professor Johnson, entirely credible story.
Speaking slowly with an accent strongly reminiscent of twenty-firstcentury North American, but with somewhat peculiar grammaticalformations, the oldest of the group told of their having walked for manyweeks from their State deep within the Earth.
Undoubtedly, they will have much more of interest to tell, but Dr.Stutfeldt refused to let them talk for more than a few minutes. He saysit will be many weeks before they will regain their strength, and muchlonger before they will be able to adjust to the tremendous differencesbetween their old life and life on the surface of the earth. It isentirely possible, Dr. Stutfeldt says, that they may never be able tomake this adjustment.
An interesting sidelight of their within-the-earth civilization is that,although they apparently have the same calendar system as ours, in someway their time seems to have gotten out of step. According to theirreckoning it is now some three years and two months later than it is.
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NEW WASHINGTON SUN
What's New Under the Sun by Dick Richard
The (very) little furor that has been caused by the recent report fromAlvarez County of the arrival of visitors from inside the earth showssigns of abating completely. Very likely it is just a case of poortiming, (three reports of flying saucers and one of Saturnian birdmen inless than a month has pretty well saturated the gullibility market). Butperhaps it is just as well. Not that we are skeptical by nature, but wecannot help wondering at the somewhat amazing coincidence of the Alvarezreport being issued just two weeks before the start of the AlvarezCounty Festival.
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_UNITED STATES OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE DEPARTMENT OF STATE DIVISION OFINVESTIGATION_
Report on Supernatural Phenomena: File No. B5138.
Subject: Subterranean Inhabitants.
Reference: Alvarez County Record, News Item of May 9, 2204, et al. (SeeFile).
On January 3, 2206, in performance of the subject investigation, a visitwas made to the Alvarez Hospital at Alvarez, Alvarez County. Dr. ErnestStutfeldt was contacted, and upon being questioned, expressed surpriseand some annoyance that an investigation was being conducted, in hiswords, "so damned long after everything was over." It was pointed out toDr. Stutfeldt that qualified investigative personnel was limited, thatthese matters had to be taken in their proper turn, and that a year anda half interval for an investigation of this nature was not consideredexcessive. The information was then elicited from Dr. Stutfeldt that the"earth visitors" were no longer patients at the hospital, that two ofthem, a Mr. and Mrs. Jon Farmer, were living on their farm about tenmiles out of Alvarez, and that the third, a Dr. Dorn Smith, was studyingmedicine at Alvarez University.
Transportation to the university was thereupon obtained, and afterconsiderable time and difficulty, Dr. Dorn Smith was located. When askedfor some proof of his subterranean origin, the doctor was unable toprovide same. His descriptions of the life and government of his claimedunderground "State" could with a little imagination, have been derivedfrom any textbook on the absolute governments of the twenty-firstcentury.
A certain measure of authenticity was temporarily ascribed to Dr. DornSmith's statements, when these were termed as "entirely credible" byProfessor Lorraine Johnson of the university. However, the explanationfor Professor Johnson's corroboration became obvious when it was learnedthat the professor and Dr. Dorn Smith were engaged to be married.
Although it was apparent by this time that the claims made by thesubject investigatees had no information in fact, in order to insure acompletely comprehensive inquiry, a visit was made to the Farmers'domicile. Obviously alerted by a phonovision from Dr. Dorn Smith, Mr.and Mrs. Farmer were cordial, but no more informative than theirthree-month-old baby daughter. The inquiry was then terminated.
A verbatim account of all questions and answers pertaining to the aboveinvestigation is affixed hereto.
Therefore, and in consequence of this inquiry, it is recommended thatthe subject supernatural phenomenon be classified as "Not Verified," andthat the file be closed.
Respectfully submitted, Clarence B. Pendergast, Special Investigator of Supernatural Phenomena DEPARTMENT OF STATE January 5, 2206.
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Fantastic Universe_ August 1957. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.