Prisoner of Time
Page 8
"Yes, that's what I was trying to say. Exactly that!"
"And all that inside a small energy bell?"
"Yes, because in it I can produce the conditions I want. I can adjust the gravity, create any temperature I like and change my location at any time without altering the conditions inside..."
"But you can't alter the existing time, can you?"
Ragov still smiled modestly. "Who says so? You seem to have forgotten that the speed of light is a close relative of time itself. And as we've conclusively found out, speol in this world is only four kilometers a second. But in the energy bell, men, I'll be safe from the heat barrier. What would happen if I zip around the area at Mach 12 or 13 under these conditions?"
Rous stared at him without comprehension but the first glimmer of understanding shone in his eyes. Even Steiner nodded slowly and hesitantly. Noir showed open admiration for the scholar's daring conclusions. Josua stood by, waiting.
When Harras landed, he arrived just in time to witness the beginning of the great experiment.
One of the Druufs stood somewhat to the side of the group. Ragov took up a position next to it and turned on the energy bell with a decisive motion of his hand. The shimmering dome had a diameter of 19 meters and was three meters high and entirely enclosed the scholar and the apparently petrified caterpillar.
Then Ragov activated another switch on his suit. He held himself still so that he would not float up and strike the roof of the energy-field, for as gravity had been neutralized he too lost all his weight.
The Terrans outside watched him smile faintly as he bent over and raised the Druuf with a light hand motion. Yes, he had lifted it! Though virtually frozen into time itself, the creature had suddenly become movable. Although it still looked made of stone and apparently dead, as before, it had lost some of its stiffness. The giant caterpillar with the crystalline wings floated slowly by Ragov's side.
And then, when the zoologist touched another switch, the energy bell and its living contents rose into the air, climbing rapidly into the sky. In just a few seconds Ragov had surpassed the previously safe speed and not many minutes later had disappeared from the sight of his friends.
Rous looked at Steiner. "We shouldn't have let him fly off like that," the Lieutenant said. "Who knows if his theories are correct?"
"That's something we should have thought about beforehand," the physicist replied. "But I hardly believe we need worry. Can you reach him with the radio?"
Rous tried but the result was negative.
"Perhaps he doesn't have the time," Harras suggested after being brought up to date by Noir. "That's it! When I was up there destroying the ship, I would have all but forgotten that I had a radio myself."
"Ragov doesn't have any time?" Steiner said, shrugging. "He's out there now trying to change time, so he must have some."
No one gave him an answer.
Immobility lay heavily upon them.
And the quiet, broken only by the long and drawn out "ruuf... druuuf..."
• • •
"We'll look into the matter of the aliens who have penetrated our dimension later; now we must see to it that the slaves take the captured populations into their care. The population of an entire planet-won't that cause an appreciable assimilation?"
"The scientists maintain that the others are gradually adapting to our time stream and will no longer affect it. A complete synchronization of the two planes is not expected."
"But the synchronization must be attained or we'll be alone again, as we were up to now. Who knows if we'll ever get another such chance to establish contact with the other intelligences in the Universe?"
The great ship moved out once more and attained the speed of the colonial planet's rotation.
Then alarms shrilled through the wide corridors and rooms a few minutes later.
Minutes that could mean weeks or months somewhere else.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know. The Master will tell us..."
"Attention all on board! There has been a penetration of our dimension from the other time plane!
The penetration has been achieved by force! We are being attacked!"
"Attacked...?"
"Attacked!"
But all of five seconds went by before counteraction could be undertaken.
Five valuable seconds! Five entire seconds too many...
6/ A MYSTERIOUS REAPPEARANCE
Ivan Ragov was alone-assuming one ignored the motionless Druuf.
He sped through the atmosphere of the alien planet at an altitude of 10 kilometers, encased in the protective energy bell. The reactor of his battle-suit gave him a constantly increasing speed. Contrary to Lt. Rous' opinion, Ragov was convinced that exceeding the speed of light in effect here would create certain effects.
Three kilometers per second!
That was equal to about 225,000 km/sec in the home dimension. The Einstein dilation had as yet not made an appearance; or at least if it had, it was not yet strong enough to be noticed.
The Druuf did not stir. It floated motionless next to Ragov inside the energy bell. Yet... it had raised its right grasping arm a few centimeters in the meantime.
As Ragov read from his instruments that he had attained a speed of 3.99 km/sec, he noticed the first change in his companion. At first it was only the two arms which moved, then the feet and finally the fine wings and the eyes.
The eyes! They were looking at Ragov!
Four kilometers per second! Just under the speed of light! Perhaps it would be enough.
The Druuf seemed to be waking from sleep. An intelligent expression came into his eyes and he seemed to understand that something unusual was happening to him or his surroundings. He made a movement and was driven by momentum against the invisible barrier of the energy bell. He bounced off and floated in the opposite direction.
He gave out a short, shrill cry.
Ragov grinned contentedly. The acoustic adjustment already followed the optical: a shrill peeping had emerged from the long and deep "druuuuf". Perhaps the caterpillar still lived at a rate a bit slower than Ragov's but anyway it had been broken out of the death-like immobility.
"Calm yourself, old caterpillar," said the scholar, pointing to the depths below where cloud cover obscured all view of the planet's surface. "If you fall out, returning to your old lazy-bones time-plane won't be the worst of what happens to you."
The Druuf cocked his head slightly and listened to the tone of the words. He did not understand their sense but he seemed to comprehend the warning in them. His expression betrayed astonishment, then showed panic.
Ragov lessened the speed of the energy bells-and the Druuf's movements immediately grew slower. Then as the velocity decreased, the Druuf returned to his own time plane.
The scholar uttered a light curse. "Then I'll have to try something else!" he murmured obstinately and accelerated again. Neither he nor the Druuf felt anything: the antigravity field created its own realm in which nothing from outside could affect it. "I'm curious to see what will happen."
The tiny needle on the dial neared a point that had not been specially marked for it meant nothing on Earth and in the normal universe.
4,160 meters a second; 4.16 km/sec.
That was the speed of light! Here, at any rate...
The Druuf's movements were now fully normal and in terms of speed corresponded exactly with Ragov's. The absolute synchronization of the two time planes had been attained but it was not permanent. A slight change in the flying speed resulted in a new difference between the two rates of time.
4,160 meters a second.
At least that was certainly the case when one dropped beneath speol again. But what would happen if he went over the speed of light? Ragov had already considered this question but without coming to any logical conclusion. Practically speaking, there could be no exceeding of the ultimate speed but on this plane of a slower time lapse it was possible.
What would happen?
That was far beyond speol. Ragov regarded the Druuf carefully but there was no sign of any change. The caterpillar moved in fully normal fashion although it was attempting to accustom itself to weightlessness.
Ragov turned on his radio and called Rous. An answer came only minutes later. The others were 300 kilometers ahead of him. He himself had already gone around the planet once.
"What is it?" Rous wanted to know. "Where are you keeping yourself, Ragov? We've been worried about you."
"As usual, that wasn't necessary!" The Russian replied laconically. "At the moment I'm streaking
through the upper levels of the atmosphere at a speed relatively faster than light. The Druuf is behaving normally and has adjusted his time rate to ours."
"Are you going to land?"
The answer came hesitantly. "I'd like to but I'm afraid my subject for study will slip back to lifeless stone again. But I still have one crazy hope...
"Well, out with it!"
"I'm surpassing speol. Perhaps an unknown effect will stabilize the time rate."
"That's only another one of your ideas!" Rous said, disappointed. "You'd better land!"
Ragov rapidly diminished his flight speed in the meantime and did not let the Druuf out of his view.
Three kilometers a second... two...
The Druuf moved normally. Nothing was to be seen of a relapse into the slower time plane.
One kilometer per second.
Ragov could hardly believe it but there could be no more doubt: the Druufs time rate had synchronized with his own. The surpassing of the speed of light had fused the two dimensions into one!
The future would show if the results were lasting or only temporary.
Ragov continued to decelerate his speed and let himself drop lower. Just as he touched the planet's rocky surface he turned off the energy field and let the normal gravity return. The upright-standing Druuf was shorter than he by only a head. The strange creature looked around to all sides attentively and curiously. It was quite apparent that the sight of humanoids was nothing new, to him.
"Cute little fellow," Steiner said in acknowledgment. "Is he quite normal now...? I mean, he moves just as fast as we do? How is it possible?"
Ragov shrugged. "We can rack our brains over that as much as we like but this much I do know: we can bring any creature we choose up to our own time rate. It's easier for the Druufs. They can just roll over us with their time-front-and we're on their time just like that."
"What are you going to do with him?"
Ragov did not answer. He watched with interest as the Druuf went down on his short legs and walked away. Then the Druuf called out some of his shrill cries: no one could have guessed that when slowed down they sounded like "druuf!"
The caterpillar-being went up to the eaves and then suddenly stopped short. Ragov, who had followed him, realized why: the Druuf had spotted his immobile fellows.
The first visible proof of the caterpillar's intelligence! The possibility that there could truly be dealings with the lords of the other dimension was thereby relatively strengthened.
Ragov was almost frightened when he saw the questioning expression in the Druufs eyes, which were focused fully on him. Then the strange creature began to touch and examine his stiff compatriots. For 10 minutes this went on. The six men watched breathless and mute, standing ready at all times to protect themselves from a sudden attack.
But then the Druuf turned and came towards them. He stopped in front of Ragov.
He knew Ragov; then...?
Rous whispered to Noir: "Is he a telepath? Can you make anything out?"
"I'm a hypno, no more," Noir replied. "I can't read thoughts; I can only influence other brains. But I can create some thought images in the Druuf's mind which will help him understand what we want to say to him. What I visually imagine will be seen by the Druuf, too. And finally, I can order him not to run off if you like."
Ragov broke in. "I would prefer it if he retained his own will. Limit yourself to communicating by thought pictures, Noir."
"Alright," said the hypno and went to work.
He found a very receptive student...
• • •
They brought two more Druufs back into their own time rate and thereby found the proof that the outcome of Ragov's first experiment had not been the result of chance. Even Steiner was not able to give a well-founded explanation for the phenomenon. The fact had to be accepted for what it was and the questions of how and why left open.
Rous and Harras went off a bit to one side, not wanting to disturb Noir with his experiments. Ragov, too, seemed extremely busy and like he would rather be left alone. Steiner had flown off to begin his investigation of still-falling debris from the camera ship and Josua stood watch on a large rock outcropping.
"Perhaps we should bring one of the Arkonides up to our time rate," Rous suggested, pointing down into the plain where the petrified police troop of the Administrator of Tats-Tor endured an apparently motionless existence.
"What would be the point of that?" Harras demanded. "We don't owe those stuck-ups any thanks. Quite the contrary! Besides, they wouldn't understand and they'd blame us for it all."
"I agree with you, Harras, but it isn't important. We've carried out the mission Rhodan gave us for the most part: everything but getting back and making our report. Somebody's going to get worried about us and perhaps do something soon. The Gazelle must be still standing on the old spot."
"Assuming it survived the attack and the LFG is still intact!"
A shadow crossed Rous' face. "That would have to be our main concern. Why did the device fail? It must have happened without any human interference, since when it happened there weren't any people left on Tats-Tor anymore. I'm also convinced that where we are now..." he gestured expansively across the plain to the distant horizon... "is not Tats-Tor! We're on another planet-and yet our Gazelle must be standing right where the gallows tree was. Is it possible that two planets can exist simultaneously at one and the same time?"
Harras shook his head. "Never at the same time, Lieutenant. But when the two planets exist in different times, they can very well seem to occupy the same place. In reality, they occupied the same place only for a millionth of a second-in that millionth of a second when the two time planes intersected."
Rous stood with his arms akimbo. "You know what, Harras? You shouldn't think about these things too much. We'll never figure them out, or at least not with philosophic hair-splitting. If we're ever able to explain everything, it will be with the help of mathematics or physics. Steiner ought to be able to help us."
The name reminded them of what the physicist was planning. They looked up. They saw the man clearly in the middle of the ship debris about 50 meters above the ground. Steiner was still busy capturing important-looking pieces one by one with his energy bell and with the help of his antigravity field.
Rous switched on his radio. "Having any luck, Steiner?"
"As much as can be expected," came the prompt reply. "But I'm still wondering how I'm going to examine the pieces. They're subject to the laws of the other time rate. As soon as I let them out of the range of my suit's gravity field, I can't move them anymore."
"Try Ragov's method. What works for organic creatures ought to work for inorganic material. Take the stuff on a trip."
Steiner understood immediately. "Good idea. I'll surpass the speed of light and bring the material into our time rate. It's really nonsense, though, when you stop to think about it..."
He left the contradiction of his statement to the two men below and flew off in his energy bell. The debris which remained behind continued to sink slowly downwards as though nothing had happened. Their interminably slow impact with the ground would probably bend and twist them just as slowly, if not break them apart.
"You know what I'm think about now?" asked Harras, looking out at the point on the horizon where Steiner had vanished.
"We're existing here in the other dimension and we're been able to fend off all attacks up to now. We're even superior to the aliens. But... the time relations are confusing me. Like the business with Ragov when he managed to... well, reverse the Druuf's poles, so to speak.
So what I want to know is... how much time has really passed by? At home, on the other side, I mean."
Rous looked at him attentively. "That, Harras, none of us can answer. We can only hope that the difference isn't all too great." He fell silent because at that moment the tiny receiver built into his ring hummed. He turned it on with the press of a button. "Yes-who is it?"
"Steiner here! Listen, Rous-I found something about 100 kilometers west of you on the high plateau. Can you get out here as fast as possible?"
"What is it?"
Short pause. Then Steiner said: "It's one of our Guppies-landed! 60-meter class! And if my eyes don't deceive me, it bears one of our usual identification insignias: K-7."
Lt. Marcel Rous felt as though his heart had stopped.
The K-7 had been under his command just three months before when the planet Mirsal 3 was overtaken by the aliens and depopulated. Cadet Becker and two men had been captured first, disappearing without a trace. Then, as he had returned from an excursion into the deserted city, there was no more auxiliary vessel K-7 anymore, either. The aliens had kidnapped the ship along with its entire crew and it had been listed for three months as lost.
And now... months later!
Rous took a deep breath as he said: "Wait there and transmit a homing signal, Steiner. I'm coming immediately..."
I'm going with you, sir," added Harras determinedly.
7/ IMPRISONED IN PARATIME
They found Steiner thanks only to the homing signal beamed out by his transmitter. The Guppy could barely be made out from a high altitude for it did not stand out prominently from the rocky terrain around it. However, as the two men descended farther, the spherical ship became more clearly visible. With a wide-open main hatch, it stood down there on the plateau as though it were the most natural thing in the world. At the time the K-7 disappeared, no one suspected what was going on with the two intersecting time dimensions.