Flight From Tomorrow

_COMPLETE NOVELET_

_by H. Beam Piper_

 There was no stopping General Zarvas' rebellion

(Illustration by Lawrence)

[Illustration]

 _Hunted and hated in two worlds, Hradzka dreamed of a monomaniac's glory, stranded in the past with his knowledge of the future. But he didn't know the past quite well enough. .. . _

1

But yesterday, a whole planet had shouted: _Hail Hradzka! Hail theLeader!_ Today, they were screaming: _Death to Hradzka! Kill thetyrant!_

The Palace, where Hradzka, surrounded by his sycophants and guards, hadlorded it over a solar system, was now an inferno. Those who had beentoo closely identified with the dictator's rule to hope for forgivenesswere fighting to the last, seeking only a quick death in combat; one byone, their isolated points of resistance were being wiped out. Thecorridors and chambers of the huge palace were thronged with rebels, loud with their shouts, and with the rasping hiss of heat-beams and thecrash of blasters, reeking with the stench of scorched plastic andburned flesh, of hot metal and charred fabric. The living quarters wereoverrun; the mob smashed down walls and tore up floors in search ofsecret hiding-places. They found strange things--the space-ship that hadbeen built under one of the domes, in readiness for flight to thestill-loyal colonies on Mars or the Asteroid Belt, for instance--butHradzka himself they could not find. 

At last, the search reached the New Tower which reared its head fivethousand feet above the palace, the highest thing in the city. Theyblasted down the huge steel doors, cut the power from theenergy-screens. They landed from antigrav-cars on the upper levels. Butexcept for barriers of metal and concrete and energy, they met with noopposition. Finally, they came to the spiral stairway which led up tothe great metal sphere which capped the whole structure. 

General Zarvas, the Army Commander who had placed himself at the head ofthe revolt, stood with his foot on the lowest step, his followers behindhim. There was Prince Burvanny, the leader of the old nobility, andGhorzesko Orhm, the merchant, and between them stood Tobbh, thechieftain of the mutinous slaves. There were clerks; laborers; poor buthaughty nobles: and wealthy merchants who had long been forced to hidetheir riches from the dictator's tax-gatherers, and soldiers, andspacemen. 

"You'd better let some of us go first sir, " General Zarvas' orderly, ablood-stained bandage about his head, his uniform in rags, suggested. "You don't know what might be up there. "

The General shook his head. "I'll go first. " Zarvas Pol was not the manto send subordinates into danger ahead of himself. "To tell the truth, I'm afraid we won't find anything at all up there. "

"You mean. .. ?" Ghorzesko Orhm began. 

"The 'time-machine', " Zarvas Pol replied. "If he's managed to get itfinished, the Great Mind only knows where he may be, now. Or when. "

He loosened the blaster in his holster and started up the long spiral. His followers spread out, below; sharp-shooters took position to coverhis ascent. Prince Burvanny and Tobbh the Slave started to follow him. They hesitated as each motioned the other to precede him; then thenobleman followed the general, his blaster drawn, and the brawny slavebehind him. 

The door at the top was open, and Zarvas Pol stepped through but therewas nothing in the great spherical room except a raised dais some fiftyfeet in diameter, its polished metal top strangely clean and empty. Anda crumpled heap of burned cloth and charred flesh that had, not longago, been a man. An old man with a white beard, and the seven-pointedstar of the Learned Brothers on his breast, advanced to meet the armedintruders. 

"So he is gone, Kradzy Zago?" Zarvas Pol said, holstering his weapon. "Gone in the 'time-machine', to hide in yesterday or tomorrow. And youlet him go?"

The old one nodded. "He had a blaster, and I had none. " He indicated thebody on the floor. "Zoldy Jarv had no blaster, either, but he tried tostop Hradzka. See, he squandered his life as a fool squanders his money, getting nothing for it. And a man's life is not money, Zarvas Pol. "

"I do not blame you, Kradzy Zago, " General Zarvas said. "But now youmust get to work, and build us another 'time-machine', so that we canhunt him down. "

"Does revenge mean so much to you, then?"

The soldier made an impatient gesture. "Revenge is for fools, like thatpack of screaming beasts below. I do not kill for revenge; I killbecause dead men do no harm. "

"Hradzka will do us no more harm, " the old scientist replied. "He is athing of yesterday; of a time long past and half-lost in the mists oflegend. "

"No matter. As long as he exists, at any point in space-time, Hradzka isstill a threat. Revenge means much to Hradzka; he will return for it, when we least expect him. "

The old man shook his head. "No, Zarvas Pol, Hradzka will not return. "

 * * * * *

Hradzka holstered his blaster, threw the switch that sealed the"time-machine", put on the antigrav-unit and started the time-shiftunit. He reached out and set the destination-dial for themid-Fifty-Second Century of the Atomic Era. That would land him in theNinth Age of Chaos, following the Two-Century War and the collapse ofthe World Theocracy. A good time for his purpose: the world would beslipping back into barbarism, and yet possess the technologies of formercivilizations. A hundred little national states would be trying toregain social stability, competing and warring with one another. Hradzkaglanced back over his shoulder at the cases of books, record-spools, tri-dimensional pictures, and scale-models. These people of the pastwould welcome him and his science of the future, would make him theirleader. 

He would start in a small way, by taking over the local feudal or tribalgovernment, would arm his followers with weapons of the future. Then hewould impose his rule upon neighboring tribes, or princedoms, orcommunes, or whatever, and build a strong sovereignty; from that heenvisioned a world empire, a Solar System empire. 

Then, he would build "time-machines", many "time-machines". He wouldrecruit an army such as the universe had never seen, a swarm of men fromevery age in the past. At that point, he would return to the HundredthCentury of the Atomic Era, to wreak vengeance upon those who had risenagainst him. A slow smile grew on Hradzka's thin lips as he thought ofthe tortures with which he would put Zarvas Pol to death. 

He glanced up at the great disc of the indicator and frowned. Already hewas back to the year 7500, A. E. , and the temporal-displacement had notbegun to slow. The disc was turning even more rapidly--7000, 6000, 5500;he gasped slightly. Then he had passed his destination; he was now inthe Fortieth Century, but the indicator was slowing. The hairlinecrossed the Thirtieth Century, the Twentieth, the Fifteenth, the Tenth. He wondered what had gone wrong, but he had recovered from his fright bythis time. When this insane machine stopped, as it must around the FirstCentury of the Atomic Era, he would investigate, make repairs, thenshift forward to his target-point. Hradzka was determined upon theFifty-Second Century; he had made a special study of the history of thatperiod, had learned the language spoken then, and he understood themethods necessary to gain power over the natives of that time. 

The indicator-disc came to a stop, in the First Century. He switched onthe magnifier and leaned forward to look; he had emerged into normaltime in the year 10 of the Atomic Era, a decade after the firsturanium-pile had gone into operation, and seven years after the firstatomic bombs had been exploded in warfare. The altimeter showed that hewas hovering at eight thousand feet above ground-level. 

Slowly, he cut out the antigrav, letting the "time machine" down easily. He knew that there had been no danger of materializing inside anything;the New Tower had been built to put it above anything that had occupiedthat space-point at any moment within history, or legend, or even thegeological knowledge of man. What lay below, however, was uncertain. Itwas night--the visi-screen showed only a star-dusted, moonless-sky, anddark shadows below. He snapped another switch; for a few micro-seconds abeam of intense light was turned on, automatically photographing thelandscape under him. A second later, the developed picture was projectedupon another screen; it showed only wooded mountains and a barren, brush-grown valley. 

 * * * * *

The "time-machine" came to rest with a soft jar and a crashing of brokenbushes that was audible through the sound pickup. Hradzka pulled themain switch; there was a click as the shielding went out and the dooropened. A breath of cool night air drew into the hollow sphere. 

Then there was a loud _bang_ inside the mechanism, and a flash ofblue-white light which turned to pinkish flame with a nasty crackling. Curls of smoke began to rise from the square black box that housed the"time-shift" mechanism, and from behind the instrument-board. In amoment, everything was glowing-hot: driblets of aluminum and silver wererunning down from the instruments. Then the whole interior of the"time-machine" was afire; there was barely time for Hradzka to leapthrough the open door. 

The brush outside impeded him, and he used his blaster to clear a pathfor himself away from the big sphere, which was now glowing faintly onthe outside. The heat grew in intensity, and the brush outside wastaking fire. It was not until he had gotten two hundred yards from themachine that he stopped, realizing what had happened. 

The machine, of course, had been sabotaged. That would have been youngZoldy, whom he had killed, or that old billy-goat, Kradzy Zago; thelatter, most likely. He cursed both of them for having marooned him inthis savage age, at the very beginning of atomic civilization, with allhis printed and recorded knowledge destroyed. Oh, he could still gainmastery over these barbarians; he knew enough to fashion a crudeblaster, or a heat-beam gun, or an atomic-electric conversion unit. Butwithout his books and records, he could never build an antigrav unit, and the secret of the "temporal shift" was lost. 

For "Time" is not an object, or a medium which can be travelled along. The "Time-Machine" was not a vehicle; it was a mechanical process ofdisplacement within the space-time continuum, and those who constructedit knew that it could not be used with the sort of accuracy that thedials indicated. Hradzka had ordered his scientists to produce a "TimeMachine", and they had combined the possible--displacement within thespace-time continuum--with the sort of fiction the dictator demanded, for their own well-being. Even had there been no sabotage, his return tohis own "time" was nearly of zero probability. 

The fire, spreading from the "time-machine", was blowing toward him; heobserved the wind-direction and hurried around out of the path of theflames. The light enabled him to pick his way through the brush, and, after crossing a small stream, he found a rutted road and followed it upthe mountainside until he came to a place where he could rest concealeduntil morning. 

2

It was broad daylight when he woke, and there was a strange throbbingsound; Hradzka lay motionless under the brush where he had slept, hisblaster ready. In a few minutes, a vehicle came into sight, followingthe road down the mountainside. 

It was a large thing, four-wheeled, with a projection in front whichprobably housed the engine and a cab for the operator. The body of thevehicle was simply an open rectangular box. There were two men in thecab, and about twenty or thirty more crowded into the box body. Thesewere dressed in faded and nondescript garments of blue and gray andbrown; all were armed with crude weapons--axes, bill-hooks, long-handledinstruments with serrated edges, and what looked like broad-bladedspears. The vehicle itself, which seemed to be propelled by some sort ofchemical-explosion engine, was dingy and mud-splattered; the men in itwere ragged and unshaven. Hradzka snorted in contempt; they wereprobably warriors of the local tribe, going to the fire in the beliefthat it had been started by raiding enemies. When they found thewreckage of the "time-machine", they would no doubt believe that it wasthe chariot of some god and drag it home to be venerated. 

A plan of action was taking shape in his mind. First, he must getclothing of the sort worn by these people, and find a safe hiding-placefor his own things. Then, pretending to be a deaf-mute, he would goamong them to learn something of their customs and pick up the language. When he had done that, he would move on to another tribe or village, able to tell a credible story for himself. For a while, it would benecessary for him to do menial work, but in the end, he would establishhimself among these people. Then he could gather around him a faction ofthose who were dissatisfied with whatever conditions existed, organize aconspiracy, make arms for his followers, and start his program ofpower-seizure. 

The matter of clothing was attended to shortly after he had crossed themountain and descended into the valley on the other side. Hearing aclinking sound some distance from the road, as of metal striking stone, Hradzka stole cautiously through the woods until he came within sight ofa man who was digging with a mattock, uprooting small bushes of aparticular sort, with rough gray bark and three-pointed leaves. When hehad dug one up, he would cut off the roots and then slice away theroot-bark with a knife, putting it into a sack. Hradzka's lip curledcontemptuously; the fellow was gathering the stuff for medicinal use. Hehad heard of the use of roots and herbs for such purposes by the ancientsavages. 

The blaster would be no use here; it was too powerful, and would destroythe clothing that the man was wearing. He unfastened a strap from hisbelt and attached it to a stone to form a hand-loop, then, inchedforward behind the lone herb-gatherer. When he was close enough, hestraightened and rushed forward, swinging his improvised weapon. The manheard him and turned, too late. 

 * * * * *

After undressing his victim, Hradzka used the mattock to finish him, andthen to dig a grave. The fugitive buried his own clothes with themurdered man, and donned the faded blue shirt, rough shoes, worntrousers and jacket. The blaster he concealed under the jacket, and hekept a few other Hundredth Century gadgets; these he would hidesomewhere closer to his center of operations. 

He had kept, among other things, a small box of food-concentratecapsules, and in one pocket of the newly acquired jacket he found apackage containing food. It was rough and unappetizing fare--slices ofcold cooked meat between slices of some cereal substance. He ate thesebefore filling in the grave, and put the paper wrappings in with thedead man. Then, his work finished, he threw the mattock into the brushand set out again, grimacing disgustedly and scratching himself. Theclothing he had appropriated was verminous. 

Crossing another mountain, he descended into a second valley, and, for atime, lost his way among a tangle of narrow ravines. It was dark by thetime he mounted a hill and found himself looking down another valley, inwhich a few scattered lights gave evidence of human habitations. Notwishing to arouse suspicion by approaching these in the night-time, hefound a place among some young evergreens where he could sleep. 

The next morning, having breakfasted on a concentrate capsule, he founda hiding-place for his blaster in a hollow tree. It was in asufficiently prominent position so that he could easily find it again, and at the same time unlikely to be discovered by some native. Then hewent down into the inhabited valley. 

He was surprised at the ease with which he established contact with thenatives. The first dwelling which he approached, a cluster offarm-buildings at the upper end of the valley, gave him shelter. Therewas a man, clad in the same sort of rough garments Hradzka had takenfrom the body of the herb-gatherer, and a woman in a faded and shapelessdress. The man was thin and work-bent; the woman short and heavy. Bothwere past middle age. 

He made inarticulate sounds to attract their attention, then gestured tohis mouth and ears to indicate his assumed affliction. He rubbed hisstomach to portray hunger. Looking about, he saw an ax sticking in achopping-block, and a pile of wood near it, probably the fuel used bythese people. He took the ax, split up some of the wood, then repeatedthe hunger-signs. The man and the woman both nodded, laughing; he wasshown a pile of tree-limbs, and the man picked up a short billet of woodand used it like a measuring-rule, to indicate that all the wood was tobe cut to that length. 

Hradzka fell to work, and by mid-morning, he had all the wood cut. Hehad seen a circular stone, mounted on a trestle with a metal axlethrough it, and judged it to be some sort of a grinding-wheel, since itwas fitted with a foot-pedal and a rusty metal can was set above it tospill water onto the grinding-edge. After chopping the wood, hecarefully sharpened the ax, handing it to the man for inspection. Thisseemed to please the man; he clapped Hradzka on the shoulder, makingcommendatory sounds. 

 * * * * *

It required considerable time and ingenuity to make himself a more orless permanent member of the household. Hradzka had made a survey of thefarmyard, noting the sorts of work that would normally be performed onthe farm, and he pantomimed this work in its simpler operations. Hepointed to the east, where the sun would rise, and to the zenith, and tothe west. He made signs indicative of eating, and of sleeping, and ofrising, and of working. At length, he succeeded in conveying hismeaning. 

There was considerable argument between the man and the woman, but hisproposal was accepted, as he expected that it would. It was easy to seethat the work of the farm was hard for this aging couple; now, for aplace to sleep and a little food, they were able to acquire a strong andintelligent slave. 

In the days that followed, he made himself useful to the farm people; hefed the chickens and the livestock, milked the cow, worked in thefields. He slept in a small room at the top of the house, under theeaves, and ate with the man and woman in the farmhouse kitchen. 

It was not long before he picked up a few words which he had heard hisemployers using, and related them to the things or acts spoken of. Andhe began to notice that these people, in spite of the crudities of theirown life, enjoyed some of the advantages of a fairly complexcivilization. Their implements were not hand-craft products, but showedmachine workmanship. There were two objects hanging on hooks on thekitchen wall which he was sure were weapons. Both had woodenshoulder-stocks, and wooden fore-pieces; they had long tubes extendingto the front, and triggers like blasters. One had double tubes mountedside-by-side, and double triggers; the other had an octagonal tubemounted over a round tube, and a loop extension on the trigger-guard. Then, there was a box on the kitchen wall, with a mouthpiece and acylindrical tube on a cord. Sometimes a bell would ring out of the box, and the woman would go to this instrument, take down the tube and holdit to her ear, and talk into the mouthpiece. There was another box fromwhich voices would issue, of people conversing, or of orators, or ofsinging, and sometimes instrumental music. None of these were objectsmade by savages; these people probably traded with some fairly highcivilization. They were not illiterate; he found printed matter, indicating the use of some phonetic alphabet, and paper pamphletscontaining printed reproductions of photographs as well as verbal text. 

There was also a vehicle on the farm, powered, like the one he had seenon the road, by an engine in which a hydrocarbon liquid-fuel wasexploded. He made it his business to examine this minutely, and to studyits construction and operation until he was thoroughly familiar with it. 

It was not until the third day after his arrival that the chickens beganto die. In the morning, Hradzka found three of them dead when he went tofeed them, the rest drooping unhealthily; he summoned the man and showedhim what he had found. The next morning, they were all dead, and the cowwas sick. She gave bloody milk, that evening, and the next morning shelay in her stall and would not get up. 

The man and the woman were also beginning to sicken, though both of themtried to continue their work. It was the woman who first noticed thatthe plants around the farmhouse were withering and turning yellow. 

 * * * * *

The farmer went to the stable with Hradzka and looked at the cow. Shaking his head, he limped back to the house, and returned carrying oneof the weapons from the kitchen--the one with the single trigger and theoctagonal tube. As he entered the stable, he jerked down and up on theloop extension of the trigger-guard, then put the weapon to his shoulderand pointed it at the cow. It made a flash, and roared louder even thana hand-blaster, and the cow jerked convulsively and was dead. The manthen indicated by signs that Hradzka was to drag the dead cow out of thestable, dig a hole, and bury it. This Hradzka did, carefully examiningthe wound in the cow's head--the weapon, he decided, was not anenergy-weapon, but a simple solid-missile projector. 

By evening, neither the man nor the woman were able to eat, and both seemed to be suffering intensely. The man used thecommunicating-instrument on the wall, probably calling on his friendsfor help. Hradzka did what he could to make them comfortable, cooked hisown meal, washed the dishes as he had seen the woman doing, and tidiedup the kitchen. 

It was not long before people, men and women whom he had seen on theroad or who had stopped at the farmhouse while he had been there, beganarriving, some carrying baskets of food; and shortly after Hradzka hadeaten, a vehicle like the farmer's, but in better condition and ofbetter quality, arrived and a young man got out of it and entered thehouse, carrying a leather bag. He was apparently some sort of ascientist; he examined the man and his wife, asked many questions, andadministered drugs. He also took samples for blood-tests and urinalysis. This, Hradzka considered, was another of the many contradictions he hadencountered among these people--this man behaved like an educatedscientist, and seemingly had nothing in common with the peasantherb-gatherer on the mountainside. 

The fact was that Hradzka was worried. The strange death of the animals, the blight which had smitten the trees and vegetables around the farm, and the sickness of the farmer and his woman, all mystified him. He didnot know of any disease which would affect plants and animals andhumans; he wondered if some poisonous gas might not be escaping from theearth near the farmhouse. However, he had not, himself, been affected. He also disliked the way in which the doctor and the neighbors seemed tobe talking about him. While he had come to a considerable revision ofhis original opinion about the culture-level of these people, it was notimpossible that they might suspect him of having caused the whole thingby witchcraft; at any moment, they might fall upon him and put him todeath. In any case, there was no longer any use in his staying here, andit might be wise if he left at once. 

Accordingly, he filled his pockets with food from the pantry and slippedout of the farmhouse; before his absence was discovered he was well onhis way down the road. 

3

That night, Hradzka slept under a bridge across a fairly wide stream;the next morning, he followed the road until he came to a town. It wasnot a large place; there were perhaps four or five hundred houses andother buildings in it. Most of these were dwellings like the farmhousewhere he had been staying, but some were much larger, and seemed to beplaces of business. One of these latter was a concrete structure withwide doors at the front; inside, he could see men working on theinternal-combustion vehicles which seemed to be in almost universal use. Hradzka decided to obtain employment here. 

It would be best, he decided, to continue his pretense of being adeaf-mute. He did not know whether a world-language were in use at thistime or not, and even if not, the pretense of being a foreigner unableto speak the local dialect might be dangerous. So he entered thevehicle-repair shop and accosted a man in a clean shirt who seemed to beissuing instructions to the workers, going into his pantomime of thehomeless mute seeking employment. 

The master of the repair-shop merely laughed at him, however. Hradzkabecame more insistent in his manner, making signs to indicate his hungerand willingness to work. The other men in the shop left their tasks andgathered around; there was much laughter and unmistakably ribald andderogatory remarks. Hradzka was beginning to give up hope of gettingemployment here when one of the workmen approached the master andwhispered something to him. 

The two of them walked away, conversing in low voices. Hradzka thoughthe understood the situation; no doubt the workman, thinking to lightenhis own labor, was urging that the vagrant be employed, for no other paythan food and lodging. At length, the master assented to his employee'surgings; he returned, showed Hradzka a hose and a bucket and sponges andcloths, and set him to work cleaning the mud from one of the vehicles. Then, after seeing that the work was being done properly, he went away, entering a room at one side of the shop. 

About twenty minutes later, another man entered the shop. He was notdressed like any of the other people whom Hradzka had seen; he wore agray tunic and breeches, polished black boots, and a cap with a visorand a metal insignia on it; on a belt, he carried a holstered weaponlike a blaster. 

After speaking to one of the workers, who pointed Hradzka out to him, heapproached the fugitive and said something. Hradzka made gestures at hismouth and ears and made gargling sounds; the newcomer shrugged andmotioned him to come with him, at the same time producing a pair ofhandcuffs from his belt and jingling them suggestively. 

In a few seconds, Hradzka tried to analyze the situation and estimateits possibilities. The newcomer was a soldier, or, more likely, apoliceman, since manacles were a part of his equipment. Evidently, sincethe evening before, a warning had been made public by means ofcommunicating devices such as he had seen at the farm, advising peoplethat a man of his description, pretending to be a deaf-mute, should bedetained and the police notified; it had been for that reason that theworkman had persuaded his master to employ Hradzka. No doubt he would beaccused of causing the conditions at the farm by sorcery. 

 * * * * *

Hradzka shrugged and nodded, then went to the water-tap to turn off thehose he had been using. He disconnected it, coiled it and hung it up, and then picked up the water-bucket. Then, without warning, he hurledthe water into the policeman's face, sprang forward, swinging the bucketby the bale, and hit the man on the head. Releasing his grip on thebucket, he tore the blaster or whatever it was from the holster. 

One of the workers swung a hammer, as though to throw it. Hradzka aimedthe weapon at him and pulled the trigger; the thing belched fire andkicked back painfully in his hand, and the man fell. He used it again todrop the policeman, then thrust it into the waistband of his trousersand ran outside. The thing was not a blaster at all, he realized--only amissile-projector like the big weapons at the farm, utilizing the forceof some chemical explosive. 

The policeman's vehicle was standing outside. It was a small, single-seat, two wheeled affair. Having become familiar with theprinciples of these hydro-carbon engines from examination of the vehicleof the farm, and accustomed as he was to far more complex mechanismsthan this crude affair, Hradzka could see at a glance how to operate it. Springing onto the saddle, he kicked away the folding support andstarted the engine. Just as he did, the master of the repair-shop ranoutside, one of the small hand-weapons in his hand, and fired severalshots. They all missed, but Hradzka heard the whining sound of themissiles passing uncomfortably close to him. 

It was imperative that he recover the blaster he had hidden in thehollow tree at the head of the valley. By this time, there would be aconcerted search under way for him, and he needed a better weapon thanthe solid-missile projector he had taken from the policeman. He did notknow how many shots the thing contained, but if it propelled solidmissiles by chemical explosion, there could not have been more than fiveor six such charges in the cylindrical part of the weapon which he hadassumed to be the charge-holder. On the other hand, his blaster, aweapon of much greater power, contained enough energy for five hundredblasts, and with it were eight extra energy-capsules, giving him a totalof four thousand five hundred blasts. 

Handling the two-wheeled vehicle was no particular problem; although hehad never ridden on anything of the sort before, it was child's playcompared to controlling a Hundredth Century strato-rocket, and Hradzkawas a skilled rocket-pilot. 

Several times he passed vehicles on the road--the passenger vehicleswith enclosed cabins, and cargo-vehicles piled high with farm produce. Once he encountered a large number of children, gathered in front of abig red building with a flagstaff in front, from which a queer flag, with horizontal red and white stripes and a white-spotted blue device inthe corner, flew. They scattered off the road in terror at his approach;fortunately, he hit none of them, for at the speed at which he wastraveling, such a collision would have wrecked his light vehicle. 

 * * * * *

As he approached the farm where he had spent the past few days, he sawtwo passenger-vehicles standing by the road. One was a black one, similar to the one in which the physician had come to the farm, and theother was white with black trimmings and bore the same device he hadseen on the cap of the policeman. A policeman was sitting in thedriver's seat of this vehicle, and another policeman was standing besideit, breathing smoke with one of the white paper cylinders these peopleused. In the farm-yard, two men were going about with a square blackbox; to this box, a tube was connected by a wire, and they were passingthe tube about over the ground. 

The policeman who was standing beside the vehicle saw him approach, andblew his whistle, then drew the weapon from his belt. Hradzka, who hadbeen expecting some attempt to halt him, had let go the right-handsteering handle and drawn his own weapon; as the policeman drew, hefired at him. Without observing the effect of the shot, he sped on;before he had rounded the bend above the farm, several shots were firedafter him. 

A mile beyond, he came to the place where he had hidden the blaster. Hestopped the vehicle and jumped off, plunging into the brush and racingtoward the hollow tree. Just as he reached it, he heard a vehicleapproach and stop, and the door of the police vehicle slam. Hradzka'sfingers found the belt of his blaster; he dragged it out and buckled iton, tossing away the missile weapon he had been carrying. 

Then, crouching behind the tree, he waited. A few moments later, hecaught a movement in the brush toward the road. He brought up theblaster, aimed and squeezed the trigger. There was a faint bluish glowat the muzzle, and a blast of energy tore through the brush, smashingthe molecular structure of everything that stood in the way. There wasan involuntary shout of alarm from the direction of the road; at leastone of the policemen had escaped the blast. Hradzka holstered his weaponand crept away for some distance, keeping under cover, then turned andwaited for some sign of the presence of his enemies. For some timenothing happened; he decided to turn hunter against the men who werehunting him. He started back in the direction of the road, making a widecircle, flitting silently from rock to bush and from bush to tree, stopping often to look and listen. 

This finally brought him upon one of the policemen, and almostterminated his flight at the same time. He must have grownover-confident and careless; suddenly a weapon roared, and a missilesmashed through the brush inches from his face. The shot had come fromhis left and a little to the rear. Whirling, he blasted four times, inrapid succession, then turned and fled for a few yards, dropping andcrawling behind a rock. When he looked back, he could see wisps of smokerising from the shattered trees and bushes which had absorbed theenergy-output of his weapon, and he caught a faint odor of burned flesh. One of his pursuers, at least, would pursue him no longer. 

He slipped away, down into the tangle of ravines and hollows in which hehad wandered the day before his arrival at the farm. For the time being, he felt safe, and finally confident that he was not being pursued, hestopped to rest. The place where he stopped seemed familiar, and helooked about. In a moment, he recognized the little stream, the poolwhere he had bathed his feet, the clump of seedling pines under which hehad slept. He even found the silver-foil wrapping from the foodconcentrate capsule. 

But there had been a change, since the night when he had slept here. Then the young pines had been green and alive; now they were blighted, and their needles had turned brown. Hradzka stood for a long time, looking at them. It was the same blight that had touched the plantsaround the farmhouse. And here, among the pine needles on the ground, lay a dead bird. 

It took some time for him to admit, to himself, the implications ofvegetation, the chickens, the cow, the farmer and his wife, had allsickened and died. He had been in this place, and now, when he hadreturned, he found that death had followed him here, too. 

 * * * * *

During the early centuries of the Atomic Era, he knew, there had beengreat wars, the stories of which had survived even to the HundredthCentury. Among the weapons that had been used, there had been artificialplagues and epidemics, caused by new types of bacteria developed inlaboratories, against which the victims had possessed no protection. Those germs and viruses had persisted for centuries, and gradually hadlost their power to harm mankind. Suppose, now, that he had brought someof them back with him, to a century before they had been developed. Suppose, that was, that he were a human plague-carrier. He thought ofthe vermin that had infested the clothing he had taken from the man hehad killed on the other side of the mountain; they had not troubled himafter the first day. 

There was a throbbing mechanical sound somewhere in the air; he lookedabout, and finally identified its source. A small aircraft had come overthe valley from the other side of the mountain and was circling lazilyoverhead. He froze, shrinking back under a pine-tree; as long as heremained motionless, he would not be seen, and soon the thing would goaway. He was beginning to understand why the search for him was beingpressed so relentlessly; as long as he remained alive, he was a menaceto everybody in this First Century world. 

He got out his supply of food concentrates, saw that he had only threecapsules left, and put them away again. For a long time, he sat underthe dying tree, chewing on a twig and thinking. There must be some wayin which he could overcome, or even utilize, his inherent deadliness tothese people. He might find some isolated community, conceal himselfnear it, invade it at night and infect it, and then, when everybody wasdead, move in and take it for himself. But was there any such isolatedcommunity? The farmhouse where he had worked had been fairly remote, yetits inhabitants had been in communication with the outside world, andthe physician had come immediately in response to their call for help. 

The little aircraft had been circling overhead, directly above the placewhere he lay hidden. For a while, Hradzka was afraid it had spotted him, and was debating the advisability of using his blaster on it. Then itbanked, turned and went away. He watched it circle over the valley onthe other side of the mountain, and got to his feet. 

4

Almost at once, there was a new sound--a multiple throbbing, at a quick, snarling tempo that hinted at enormous power, growing louder eachsecond. Hradzka stiffened and drew his blaster; as he did, five moreaircraft swooped over the crest of the mountain and came rushing downtoward him; not aimlessly, but as though they knew exactly where he was. As they approached, the leading edges of their wings sparkled withlight, branches began flying from the trees about him, and there was aloud hammering noise. 

He aimed a little in front of them and began blasting. A wing flew fromone of the aircraft, and it plunged downward. Another came apart in theair; a third burst into flames. The other two zoomed upward quickly. Hradzka swung his blaster after them, blasting again and again. He hit afourth with a blast of energy, knocking it to pieces, and then the fifthwas out of range. He blasted at it twice, but without effect; ahand-blaster was only good for a thousand yards at the most. 

Holstering his weapon, he hurried away, following the stream and keepingunder cover of trees. The last of the attacking aircraft had gone away, but the little scout-plane was still circling about, well out ofblaster-range. 

Once or twice, Hradzka was compelled to stay hidden for some time, notknowing the nature of the pilot's ability to detect him. It was duringone of these waits that the next phase of the attack developed. 

It began, like the last one, with a distant roar that swelled in volumeuntil it seemed to fill the whole world. Then, fifteen or twentythousand feet out of blaster-range, the new attackers swept into sight. 

There must have been fifty of them, huge tapering things withwide-spread wings, flying in close formation, wave after V-shaped wave. He stood and stared at them, amazed; he had never imagined that suchaircraft existed in the First Century. Then a high-pitched screamingsound cut through the roar of the propellers, and for an instant he sawcountless small specks in the sky, falling downward. 

The first bomb-salvo landed in the young pines, where he had foughtagainst the first air attack. Great gouts of flame shot upward, andsmoke, and flying earth and debris. Hradzka turned and started to run. Another salvo fell in front of him; he veered to the left and plunged onthrough the undergrowth. Now the bombs were falling all about him, deafening him with their thunder, shaking him with concussion. Hedodged, frightened, as the trunk of a tree came crashing down besidehim. Then something hit him across the back, knocking him flat. For amoment, he lay stunned, then tried to rise. As he did, a searing lightfilled his eyes and a wave of intolerable heat swept over him. Thendarkness. .. 

 * * * * *

"No, Zarvas Pol, " Kradzy Zago repeated. "Hradzka will not return; the'time-machine' was sabotaged. "

"So? By you?" the soldier asked. 

The scientist nodded. "I knew the purpose for which he intended it. Hradzka was not content with having enslaved a whole Solar System: hehungered to bring tyranny and serfdom to all the past and all the futureas well; he wanted to be master not only of the present but of thecenturies that were and were to be, as well. I never took part inpolitics, Zarvas Pol; I had no hand in this revolt. But I could not beparty to such a crime as Hradzka contemplated when it lay within mypower to prevent it. "

"The machine will take him out of our space-time continuum, or back to atime when this planet was a swirling cloud of flaming gas?" Zarvas Polasked. 

Kradzy Zago shook his head. "No, the unit is not powerful enough forthat. It will only take him about ten thousand years into the past. Butthen, when it stops, the machine will destroy itself. It may destroyHradzka with it or he may escape. But if he does, he will be leftstranded ten thousand years ago, when he can do us no harm. 

"Actually, it did not operate as he imagined and there is an infinitelysmall chance that he could have returned to our 'time', in any event. But I wanted to insure against even so small a chance. "

"We can't be sure of that, " Zarvas Pol objected. "He may know more aboutthe machine than you think; enough more to build another like it. So youmust build me a machine and I'll take back a party of volunteers andhunt him down. "

"That would not be necessary, and you would only share his fate. " Then, apparently changing the subject, Kradzy Zago asked: "Tell me, ZarvasPol; have you never heard the legends of the Deadly Radiations?"

General Zarvas smiled. "Who has not? Every cadet at the Officers'College dreams of re-discovering them, to use as a weapon, but nobodyever has. We hear these tales of how, in the early days, atomic enginesand piles and fission-bombs emitted particles which were utterly deadly, which would make anything with which they came in contact deadly, whichwould bring a horrible death to any human being. But these are onlymyths. All the ancient experiments have been duplicated time and again, and the deadly radiation effect has never been observed. Some say thatit is a mere old-wives' terror tale; some say that the deaths werecaused by fear of atomic energy, when it was still unfamiliar; otherscontend that the fundamental nature of atomic energy has altered by thedegeneration of the fissionable matter. For my own part, I'm not enoughof a scientist to have an opinion. "

 * * * * *

The old one smiled wanly. "None of these theories are correct. In thebeginning of the Atomic Era, the Deadly Radiations existed. They stillexist, but they are no longer deadly, because all life on this planethas adapted itself to such radiations, and all living things are nowimmune to them. "

"And Hradzka has returned to a time when such immunity did not exist?But would that not be to his advantage?"

"Remember, General, that man has been using atomic energy for tenthousand years. Our whole world has become drenched with radioactivity. The planet, the seas, the atmosphere, and every living thing, are allradioactive, now. Radioactivity is as natural to us as the air webreathe. Now, you remember hearing of the great wars of the firstcenturies of the Atomic Era, in which whole nations were wiped out, leaving only hundreds of survivors out of millions. You, no doubt, thinkthat such tales are products of ignorant and barbaric imagination, but Iassure you, they are literally true. It was not the blast-effect of afew bombs which created such holocausts, but the radiations released bythe bombs. And those who survived to carry on the race were men andwomen whose systems resisted the radiations, and they transmitted totheir progeny that power of resistance. In many cases, their childrenwere mutants--not monsters, although there were many of them, too, whichdid not survive--but humans who were immune to radioactivity. "

"An interesting theory, Kradzy Zago, " the soldier commented. "And onewhich conforms both to what we know of atomic energy and to the ancientlegends. Then you would say that those radiations are still deadly--tothe non-immune?"

"Exactly. And Hradzka, his body emitting those radiations, has returnedto the First Century of the Atomic Era--to a world without immunity. "

General Zarvas' smile vanished. "Man!" he cried in horror. "You haveloosed a carrier of death among those innocent people of the past!"

Kradzy Zago nodded. "That is true. I estimate that Hradzka will probablycause the death of a hundred or so people, before he is dealt with. Butdealt with he will be. Tell me, General; if a man should appear now, outof nowhere, spreading a strange and horrible plague wherever he went, what would you do?"

"Why, I'd hunt him down and kill him, " General Zarvas replied. "Not foranything he did, but for the menace he was. And then, I'd cover his bodywith a mass of concrete bigger than this palace. "

"Precisely. " Kradzy Zago smiled. "And the military commanders andpolitical leaders of the First Century were no less ruthless orefficient than you. You know how atomic energy was first used? There wasan ancient nation, upon the ruins of whose cities we have built our own, which was famed for its idealistic humanitarianism. Yet that nation, treacherously attacked, created the first atomic bombs in self defense, and used them. It is among the people of that nation that Hradzka hasemerged. "

"But would they recognize him as the cause of the calamity he bringsamong them?"

"Of course. He will emerge at the time when atomic energy is first beingused. They will have detectors for the Deadly Radiations--detectors weknow nothing of, today, for a detection instrument must be free from thething it is intended to detect, and today everything is radioactive. Itwill be a day or so before they discover what is happening to them, andnot a few will die in that time, I fear; but once they have found outwhat is killing their people, Hradzka's days--no, his hours--will benumbered. "

"A mass of concrete bigger than this place, " Tobbh the Slave repeatedGeneral Zarvas' words. "_The Ancient Spaceport!_"

Prince Burvanny clapped him on the shoulder. "Tobbh, man! You've hitit!"

"You mean. .. ?" Kradzy Zago began. 

"Yes. You all know of it. It's stood for nobody knows how manymillennia, and nobody's ever decided what it was, to begin with, exceptthat somebody, once, filled a valley with concrete, level frommountain-top to mountain-top. The accepted theory is that it was donefor a firing-stand for the first Moon-rocket. But gentlemen, our friendTobbh's explained it. It is the tomb of Hradzka, and it has been thetomb of Hradzka for ten thousand years before Hradzka was born!"

+--------------------------------------------------------------+|Transcriber's Note || || || This etext was produced from "Future" combined with "Science || Fiction Stories" September/October 1950. Extensive research || did not uncover any evidence that the copyright on this || publication was renewed. || || Section Number "1" has been added at the beginning of the || narrative. || || The following typos have been corrected in the text. || || I'll go first, I'll go first. || himseelf himself || dias dais || posess possess || vengance vengeance || alitmeter altimeter || Hrakzka Hradzka || insigna insignia || posessed possessed || instand instant || none, " He indicated had none. " He indicated || || One instance of "spacetime" has been changed to "space-time" || to conform with the majority usage in the text. || || The following words occur with equal frequency in both the || hyphenated and unhyphenated forms. || || farm-yard farmyard || hydro-carbon hydrocarbon |+--------------------------------------------------------------+