Past Present and Future (The Complete Pentalogy) by Nat Schachner

Author:Nat Schachner [Schachner, Nat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-01-04T05:00:00+00:00

Their feet crunched over hard lava and crumbly pumice. They were tired and hungry and in desperate straits. Somewhere over the Pacific, even now, were the hordes of Harg. Each fanatic soldier enclosed in an individual stellene rocket tube, bearing the stellene-tipped rod that flamed blasting disintegration, was searching for his prey, for new cities, new peoples to conquer on this Earth heretofore thought entirely desolate. A Totalitarian State, aflame with the lust for conquest, had poured out its men from their underground city after the escape of the three men from alien times. Under their new leader, Vardu, they were ruthless, vengeful.

“Here we are,” said Kleon gloomily, halting before a swirl of interlocked vibrations. “Another one, secreted within his cocoon. How do we get him out?”

They called, they waved their hands, they shouted, they gesticulated. They even danced in frantic effort to pierce the swirling maze. But the shimmer did not change its tints, or open up to reveal who or what lay within.

At length Sam called a halt, exhausted. His lean face etched with angry bitterness. “Nice people, these intellectualized beings of the future,” he panted heavily. “The very essence of hospitality. Me, I’d prefer a little less brain power and a little more of warm, human emotion.”

“Evolution has its price, it seems,” Beltan said calmly. “We of Hispan have found that out. So, too, have the hordes of Harg. A single faculty or group of faculties expands—but only at the expense of others. The latter—laggard in the race, or found to be useless—tend to atrophy.”

“I’m still hungry,” Kleon interposed.

“Beware the Greeks whose stomachs are empty,” murmured Sam. “Let’s try another of these birds.”

The third and fourth and fifth of the enswathed denizens of the island paid no heed to their cries and entreaties. Even when Kleon, in an access of desperation, daringly flung his javelin at the exasperating shimmer and the weapon jerked back in a huge shower of flaming sparks, there came no response from the interior.

“It’s curious,” frowned the Olgarch. “No one since Ens has even taken the trouble to invade the privacy of our minds, to pluck out the secret of our presence on their island.”

“We obviously are beneath their contempt,” Sam snarled. “No fit subjects for their lofty contemplation, damn them!” He walked hastily over to the next dome of iridescence, fists clenched, jaw ridged with hard little muscles. “By God, I’m going to make this fellow open up if I have to—”

He stopped short. “Well, what do you know about that?” he exclaimed.

As he had approached, the interlacement had suddenly burst into a lively glow. Inquiring feelers seemed to thrust outward. Then, as if satisfied, the light faded, the impalpable surge of waves grew thinner and thinner until, suddenly, it was gone.

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