With an inarticulate cry Ray threw himself at that. But his hands did not touch earth, even though he could see it. He pulled himself up. There was the mound, but though he drove his fist at its solid surface-What solid surface? His hand went into
– through-what his eyes assured him was frozen earth.
He backed away a step or two, his hands still up and out. Shadows running toward him from behind the mound, less stable than the earth he could not touch. Men-he could see faces, uniforms, but they were misty. He watched them throw out hands, try to hold him. One launched himself in a tackle aimed at Ray’s knees-to go sprawling along the ground, his hands grasping the same nothingness that Ray had met in the mound.
“No-no!” Ray heard his own wild shout. This was the end of the nightmare, the end he had never met in sleep but had to face waking. He-retreated again. The shadow men-one raised a gun-fired.
“No!” Ray cried again. The forest, safety in the forest. Will it to return, will the trees back again!
The shadow men and the mound which was and yet was not-no!
A wild rebellion burst in him. And that cord which had pulled him back to this insanity broke. Trees-trees- Ray closed his eyes and thought of trees. Suddenly in his mind they stood, tall, strong, alive again. Will it, urged that inner part of him. Remember, you held against the Loving One; you must hold now-or else be lost in a shadow world where you cannot exist. Trees!
Substance against his shoulder. Not daring to open his eyes, Ray put out his hand, and it struck the roughness of bark. He curled his fingers tight, trying to anchor himself to that. A tree!
Salt sweat trickled down his cheeks. Trees-around him trees and not a world of substanceless shadows!
He dared now to open his eyes. Yes, there were trees about him. But ahead-as if he looked through an open door or window-he saw the lift of the mound’s sides, and against it men-soldiers. They were more real than shadows now-but that was because they were in their place and he in his, not trying to move across a forbidden barrier. The cord that had drawn him here was broken. Instead he looked at strangers in a strange and forbidden world. For a long moment they stood so. Then that window -in what, time or space?-vanished. He was alone in the forest. With a gasp, Ray leaned against the tree at his side.
What had happened? He had surely half returned to his own time. The mound, the uniforms on the men, were eye-proof of that. But he had not been able to go wholly through. See but touch not-never again. He must accept that there was to be no return. But for the moment the sheer relief of escape from that half-world was all that he knew.
“What happened?” General Colfax broke the silence first.
Burton sat still, staring into the screen, his fingers gripping the edge of the board before him, a look of complete disbelief on his face. Fordham answered first.
“We’re finished-for the present. The installations are burned out-completely.” He tapped the surface of some of the dials before him. Their needles remained fixed and quiet.
“You saw him.” Burton turned his head, looking to Hargreaves in appeal. “You did see him?”
“A shadow-a ghost-” Hargreaves fumbled for the proper word of description.
“He wore armor,” the general supplied, “and a sword. Not your man. Or, if he was, what has he been doing over there? But why didn’t he come through?”
“He can’t,” Fordham answered. “If that was Osborne and we brought him back, he’s no longer of our world. There were plenty of theories we studied when we set up Operation Atlantis. You know the old paradox they always cite when one discusses time travel-that a man could go back and alter his own family history and the result would be that he himself would never be born at all. We weren’t attempting that type of time travel. But suppose Osborne in some way did something important to the history on that level-became involved in action that gave him roots there. Then well-he might become fixed in that world.”
The general got to his feet. “If you’re right-then the same thing might happen to anyone who tried to cross over?”
Fordham nodded. The general turned his small com unit around.
“I’ll make my report.”
“To suspend the project,” Fordham said, rather than questioned.
“To suspend. Maybe we can look through. But I’d advise no going through-.not until we know more much more-”
“And Osborne?” asked Burton.
“If that was Osborne, he seems to have found a place for himself. Unless we can learn more, he’ll stay-” Fordham replied.
“I think,” said Hargreaves, “that maybe he’s not too badly off-always supposing we did catch Osborne in that mind-beam. He’s been gone some weeks, lost in an unknown world. When he returns, or half returns, he’s wearing armor, carrying a weapon. Apparently he’s made a good contact with whoever inhabits that level and found so much of a place among them that he has been provided with clothing and arms. Also-if Dr. Fordham is right-perhaps he has accomplished something important over there. I wonder”- he looked at the blank screen-“I wonder what it was.”
“Well”-Burton arose slowly-“we’ll probably never know. He’s somewhere we can’t reachin safety.”
“Not somewhere”-Fordham shook his head-“but some when, an uncharted somewhen.”
The com in General Colfax’s hand crackled. He raised it to his ear. “Colfax here, come in.” He listened for a moment and then turned to face the others. There was shocked amazement in his face.
“Report from the Pentagon. A new landmass in the Atlantic, another in the Pacific-not rising from the sea bottom just suddenly there! Right there, as if they had always been-”
“Atlantis-” Fordham half whispered. “But howwhy-?” “Ask your computers for a new equation. We plant a man over there by mistake-and we get two continents in exchange. It seems we may have a somewhen on this side, too. Only it’s in the here and now, and we have to deal with it. Those lands-if they have people-if they are open-they’ll have to be dealt with.” “Up for grabs, unless they’ve arrived complete with inhabitants,” commented Hargreaves. “Perhaps we had better begin wondering about that. Maybe Osborne-will have the best of two possible worlds from now on.”
Tall trees, but nothing alarming about them now in spite of the gloom beneath their sky-piercing branches. Ray moved easily. He only hoped that he could find his way back to the shore now that the guide that had brought him no longer operated. The sense of security that had come with the return of the trees still held. It was as if his escape from the shadowy half world was an escape from a danger threatening more than his body. There was no going back. He accepted that now. What U-Cha had warned must be the truth. His actions here had set a barrier between him and the past. Now that he knew that and accepted it, the reality he had lost in the Five Walled City enclosed him again. This was the here and now and was all he had-or needed. After all, his own time had no more to offer-rather less than he had found here. He was out of the forest, and now he fell into a jog trot. How long had he been ashore? It was still far from evening. Perhaps the raider still hung close enough to see his signal soon. Now Ray was running, as he had once run from the same wood before. What had the Re Mu promised-whatever he asked for? Now, now he was beginning to know what he did want—a-stake in this land. There might be those willing to settle here. But it was his own land, his last link with the past—though he must not hold to it for that reason. The Barren Lands-that name was all wrong. They were not barren-look at
that forest, this plain! Good land just waiting for man. Overhead, the clouds parted, letting through the brightness of the sun. The dried grasses of the plains turned golden under his feet. Barren? No! Someday there would be cities here, people-Ray was breathing hard. He slowed to a walk as he came at last to the seashore. But in spite of the pain beneath his ribs, the weariness settling on him, he began to comb the rocks for driftwood. A big pile, enough to make a pillar of smoke once some brush was added to it. Taut’s lookout ought to catch sight of it soon. He squatted on his heels to touch the fire stick from his belt pouch to that fire. He blew it into vigorous life. Barren Lands-real lands-He thought of that win-dow and the shadows moving beyond it. This was the here and now. What was that? Somewhere-no, somewhen. And it had no life for him any more. He threw on some more brush and watched the dark smoke spiral up under the sun, a warm and now comforting sun.