Part 16 (2/2)

”The G.o.ds that my friends have been talking of,” explained Arcot to the curious Ortolians, ”are legendary deities of Earth. I can see now that we did leave an imprint on history in the only way we could--as G.o.ds, for surely no other explanation could have occurred to those men.”

The days pa.s.sed swiftly in the s.h.i.+p, as their work approached completion. Finally, when the last of the equation of Time, artificial matter, and the most awful of their weapons, the unlimited Cosmic Power, had been calculated, they fell to the last stage of the work. The actual appliances were designed. Then the completed apparatus that the Ortolian and the Talsonian had been working on, was carefully investigated by the terrestrial physicists, and its mechanism studied. Arcot had great plans for this, and now it was incorporated in their control apparatus.

The one remaining problem was their exact location in time. Already their progress had brought them well up to the nineteenth century, but, as Morey sadly remarked, they couldn't tell what date, for they were sadly lacking in history. Had they known the real date, for instance, of the famous battle of Bull Run, they could have watched it in the telectroscope, and so determined their time. As it was, they knew only that it was one of the periods of the first half of the decade of 1860.

”As historians, we're a bunch of first-cla.s.s kitchen mechanics. Looks like we're due for another landing to locate the exact date,” agreed Arcot.

”Why land now? Let's wait until we are nearer the time to which we belong, so we won't have to watch so carefully and so long,” suggested Wade.

They argued this question for about two hundred years as a matter of fact. After that, it was academic anyway.

Chapter XVI

HOME AGAIN

They were getting very near their own time, Arcot felt. Indeed, they must already exist on Earth. ”One thing that puzzles me,” he commented, ”is what would happen if we were to go down now, and see ourselves.”

”Either we can't or we don't want to do it,” pointed out Morey, ”because we didn't.”

”I think the answer is that nothing can exist two times at the same time-rate,” said Arcot. ”As long as we were in a different time-rate we could exist at two times. When we tried to exist simultaneously, we could not, and we were forced to slip through time to a time wherein we either did not exist or wherein we had not yet been. Since we were nearer the time when we last existed in normal time, than we were to the time of our birth, we went to the time we left. I suspect that we will find we have just left Earth. Shall we investigate?”

”Absolutely, Arcot, and here's hoping we didn't overshoot the mark by much.” As Morey intimated, had they gone much beyond the time they left Earth, they might find conditions very serious, indeed. But now they went at once toward Earth on the time control. As they neared, they looked anxiously for signs of the invasion. Arcot spotted the only evident signs, however; two large spheres, tiny points in appearance on the telectroscope screen, were circling Earth, one at about 1,000 miles, moving from east to west, the other about 1,200 miles moving from north to south.

”It seems the enemy have retreated to s.p.a.ce to do their fighting. I wonder how long we were away.”

As they swept down at a speed greater than light, they were invisible till Arcot slowed down near the atmosphere. Instantly half a dozen fast s.h.i.+ps darted toward them, but the s.h.i.+p was very evidently unlike the Thessian s.h.i.+ps, and no attack was made. First the occupants would have an opportunity to prove their friendliness.

”Terrestrians Arcot, Morey and Wade reporting back from exploration in s.p.a.ce, with two friends. All have been on Earth with us previously,”

said Arcot into the radio vision apparatus.

”Very well, Dr. Arcot. You are going to New York or Vermont?” asked the Patrol commander.

”Vermont.”

”Yes, Sir. I'll see that you aren't stopped again.”

And, thanks to the message thus sent ahead, they were not, and in less than half an hour they landed once more in Vermont, on the field from which they had started.

The group of scientists who had been here on their last call had gone, which seemed natural enough to them, who had been working for three months in the interval of their trip, but to Dr. Arcot senior, as he saw them, it was a misfortune.

”Now I never will get straight all you'll have ready, and I didn't expect you back till next week. The men have all gone back to their laboratories, since that permits of better work on the part of each, but we can call them here in half an hour. I'm sure they'll want to come.

What did you learn, Son, or haven't you done any calculating on your data as yet?”

”We learned plenty, and I feel quite sure that a hint of what we have would bring all those learning-hounds around us pretty quickly, Dad,”

laughed Arcot junior, ”and believe it or not, we've been calculating on this stuff for three months since we left yesterday!”

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