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12 - Five Stories by Alan Nourse by Alan E. Nourse · Five Stories by Alan Nourse

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  Speaker 1: Infinite Intruder, Part two of five stories by Alan Norse.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
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  Speaker 1: Kerk Ziggler. Roger Strang was on his feet, shaking, cold,
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  Speaker 1: fear running through his body, his nerves screaming. Had they
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: ruined his mind? He couldn't think straight any more, telling
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: him things that weren't true, forcing lies into his mind,
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  Speaker 1: frightening him with the horrible conviction that his mind was
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: really helpless, full of false data. What happened to him?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Where had the thought of New Albany come from? He shivered,
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  Speaker 1: now thoroughly frightened. There wasn't any New Albany nowhere in
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  Speaker 1: the world. There just wasn't any such place. Could he
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: have two memories? Conflicting memories? He walked shakily to the door,
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  Speaker 1: peered through the small people. In the morning, they would
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: try again, they had said. He shuddered, terribly afraid. He
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  Speaker 1: had felt his mind cracking under the last. Questioning another
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  Speaker 1: would drive him completely insane. But Drango would have the answers.
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  Speaker 1: Why had they shot little Davy? How did that fit in?
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  Speaker 1: Was this false credential business part of some stupendous scheme
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  Speaker 1: against him impossible, but what else? He knew with sudden
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  Speaker 1: certain conviction, that he must see Martin Drango immediately before
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  Speaker 1: they questioned him again, before the fear and uncertainty drove
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  Speaker 1: him out of his mind. He called tentatively through the peephole,
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  Speaker 1: half hoping to catch a guard's attention, and the call
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  Speaker 1: echoed through the silent halls, and then he heard Anne's voice, clear, cool,
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  Speaker 1: sharp in the prison darkness. Fear choking, the shouts still
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  Speaker 1: ringing in his ears, gaped at the woman who stood
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  Speaker 1: in his cell. She was lovelier than he had ever
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  Speaker 1: seen her, her tiny body clothed in a glowing fabric
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  Speaker 1: which clung to every curve, accenting her trim figure, Her
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  Speaker 1: slender hips, brown hair wreathed their lovely face, and Roger
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  Speaker 1: choked as the deep longing for her welled up in
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  Speaker 1: his throat. Speechlessly, he took her in his arms, holding
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  Speaker 1: her clothes, burying his face in her hair, sobbing in
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  Speaker 1: joy and relief. And then he saw the glowing circle
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  Speaker 1: behind her, casting its eerie light into the far corners
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  Speaker 1: of the dark cell. In fiery greenness, the ring shimmered
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  Speaker 1: in an aura of violent power. But Anne paid no
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  Speaker 1: attention to it. She stepped back and smiled at him,
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  Speaker 1: her eyes bright. Don't be frightened, she said softly, and
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  Speaker 1: don't make any noise. I am here to help you.
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  Speaker 1: But where did you come from? The question forced itself
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  Speaker 1: out in a sort of strangled gasp. We have means
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  Speaker 1: of going where we want to, and we want you
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  Speaker 1: to come with us. She pointed at the glowing ring.
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  Speaker 1: We want to take you back to the time area
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  Speaker 1: from which you came. Roger goggled at her, confusion welling
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  Speaker 1: into his mind again, Anne, he said, weakly, what kind
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  Speaker 1: of trick is this? She smiled again. No trick, she said,
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  Speaker 1: don't ask questions, darling. I know you're confused, but there
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  Speaker 1: isn't much time. You'll just have to do what I
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  Speaker 1: say right now. She turned to the glowing ring. We
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  Speaker 1: just stepped through here. Be careful that you don't touch
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  Speaker 1: the substance of the portal going through. Roger Stang approached
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  Speaker 1: the glowing ring curiously, peering through, blinked, peered again. It
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  Speaker 1: was like staring at an inscrutable black surface in the shadow.
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  Speaker 1: No light reflected through it, nothing could be seen. He
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  Speaker 1: heard a faint whird whining as he stood close to
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  Speaker 1: the ring, and he looked up at Anne, his eyes wide.
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  Speaker 1: You can't see through it, he exclaimed. Anne was crouching
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  Speaker 1: on the floor near a small metallic box, gently turning knobs,
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  Speaker 1: checking the dial, reading against a small chronometer on her wrist. Steady, darling,
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  Speaker 1: she said, Just follow me carefully, and don't be afraid.
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  Speaker 1: We're going back home to the time area where we belong.
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  Speaker 1: You and I. I know you don't remember, and you'll
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  Speaker 1: be puzzled and confused because the memory substitution job was
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  Speaker 1: very thorough. But you'll remember Martin Drango and John Morrel
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  Speaker 1: and me and I was your wife there too. Are
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  Speaker 1: you ready? Roger stared at the ring for a moment.
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  Speaker 1: Where are we going? He asked, how far ahead or behind? Ahead?
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  Speaker 1: She said, eighty years ahead, as far as we can go.
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  Speaker 1: That will bring us to the present time, the real
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  Speaker 1: present time, as far as we and you are concerned.
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  Speaker 1: She turned abruptly and stepped through the ring and vanished
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  Speaker 1: as effectively as if she had disintegrated into vapor. Roger
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  Speaker 1: felt fear catch at his throat. Then he followed her through.
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  Speaker 1: They were standing in the ruins. The cell was gone
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  Speaker 1: the prison the barrier base. The dark sky above was
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  Speaker 1: bespeckled with a myriad of stars, and a cool night
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  Speaker 1: breeze swept over Roger's cheek. Far in the distance, a
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  Speaker 1: low rumble came to his ears. Sounds like a storm coming,
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  Speaker 1: he muttered to Anne, pulling his jacket closer around him.
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  Speaker 1: No storm, she said, grimly. Look She pointed a finger
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  Speaker 1: toward the northern horizon, brazen against the blackness, the yellow
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  Speaker 1: orange fire was rising, great spurts of multicolored flames licking
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  Speaker 1: at the horizon. The rumble became a drone, a roar,
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  Speaker 1: and grasped Roger's arm and pulled him down to cover
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  Speaker 1: in the rubble. As the invisible squadron swished to cross
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  Speaker 1: the sky, trailing jet streams of horrid orange behind them,
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  Speaker 1: then to the south in the direction of the flight.
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  Speaker 1: The drone of the engines gave way to the hollow
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  Speaker 1: boom booming of bombing, and the southern horizon flared. Then,
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  Speaker 1: as suddenly as it had appeared, the rumble died away,
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  Speaker 1: leaving the flames licking the sky north and south. Roger shivered. Boar,
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  Speaker 1: he said, Eurasia. She shook her head if it only
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  Speaker 1: were There is no Eurasia now the dictator took care
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  Speaker 1: of that, nothing but gutted holes and rubble. She stood up,
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  Speaker 1: helping Roger to his feet. Together they filed down through
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  Speaker 1: the rubbish, down onto a roadway and dialed a small
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  Speaker 1: wrist radio. In a few moments, out of the dark sky,
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  Speaker 1: the dim out lights of a small copter came into view,
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  Speaker 1: and the machine settled delicately on to the road. Two
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  Speaker 1: strange men were inside. They saluted Anne and helped Roger aboard.
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  Speaker 1: They swiftly clamped down the hatch tight, and the ship
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  Speaker 1: rose again silently into the air. Where are we going,
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  Speaker 1: asked Roger Strang. We have a headquarters. Our data must
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  Speaker 1: be checked first. We can't reach a decision without checking.
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  Speaker 1: Then we can talk. The copter swung high over the
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  Speaker 1: blazing inferno of the city far below. Strang glanced from
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  Speaker 1: the window, eyes widening at the holocaust. The crater holes
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  Speaker 1: were mammoth, huge spires of living flame rising into the sky,
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  Speaker 1: leaving mushroom columns of gray black smoke that glowed an
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  Speaker 1: evil red from the furnace on the ground. Not Eurasia,
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  Speaker 1: Roger asked, suddenly, his mind twisting in amazement. But who
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  Speaker 1: this is America, isn't it? Yes, this is America. There
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  Speaker 1: is no Eurasia. Now soon there may not be in America,
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  Speaker 1: nor even in Earth. Roger looked up at Anne, eyes wide.
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  Speaker 1: But those jet planes the bombing. Who's doing the bombing?
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  Speaker 1: Ann Strang looked down at the sallen red fires of
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  Speaker 1: the city for a moment, her eyes quite sad. Those
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  Speaker 1: are Martian planes, she said. The copters settled silently down
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  Speaker 1: into the heart of the city, glowing red from the
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  Speaker 1: flames and bombing. They hovered over the shining Palace, still
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  Speaker 1: tall and superb and intact, gleaming like a blood streak
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  Speaker 1: jewel in the glowing night. The copter settled on the
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  Speaker 1: roof of a low building across a large courtyard from
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  Speaker 1: the glittering Palace. An Strang stepped out and motioned Roger
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  Speaker 1: to follow down a shaft and stairway into a small
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  Speaker 1: room below. She knocked at a door, and a strange
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  Speaker 1: man dressed in curious glowing fabric opened it. His face
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  Speaker 1: lit up in a smile. Roger he cried, we were
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  Speaker 1: afraid we couldn't locate you. We weren't expecting the security
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  Speaker 1: to meddle. Someone got suspicious somewhere and began checking your
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  Speaker 1: references from their sources, and of course they were false.
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  Speaker 1: We were lucky to get you back at all. After
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  Speaker 1: security got you. He clapped Roger on the back and
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  Speaker 1: led him into the room. John Morrel and Martin Drango
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  Speaker 1: were standing near the rounded window, their faces thrown into
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  Speaker 1: grotesque relief against the red orange glow outside. They turned
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  Speaker 1: and saluted, and Roger almost cried out, his mind spinning
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  Speaker 1: a thousand questions cutting into his consciousness, demanding answers. But
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  Speaker 1: quite suddenly he was feeling a new power, a new
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  Speaker 1: effectiveness in his thinking, in his activity. He turned to
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  Speaker 1: Martin Drango, his eyes questioning, but no longer afraid. What
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  Speaker 1: year is this, he asked. This is twenty one sixty five,
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  Speaker 1: March twenty one sixty five, and you're in New Albany
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  Speaker 1: in the United States of North America. This is the
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  Speaker 1: city where you were born, the city you loved, And
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  Speaker 1: look at it. Roger walked to the window. The court
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  Speaker 1: below was full of people, now ragged people, some of
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  Speaker 1: them screaming, a disconsolate muttering rising from a thousand throats.
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  Speaker 1: Burned people, mangled, people. They milled about the mammoth courtyard
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  Speaker 1: before the glorious Palace, aimlessly, mindlessly. Far down the avenue
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  Speaker 1: leading from the palace, Roger could see the people evacuating
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  Speaker 1: the city, a long, desolate line of people, strange autos, carts,
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  Speaker 1: even animals, running down the broad avenue to escape the
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  Speaker 1: flaming city. We're not in danger here, said Drango at
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  Speaker 1: his elbow. No fire nor bomb can reach us here.
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  Speaker 1: That is the result of your mighty Atlantic coast barrier.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing more. It was never perfected in time before the
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  Speaker 1: Great Eastern Invasion and the Second Atomic War that was
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  Speaker 1: due to occur three years after the time area where
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  Speaker 1: we visited. We were trying to stem it, to turn
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  Speaker 1: it aside. We don't know yet whether we succeeded or not.
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  Speaker 1: He turned to the tall man standing at the door.
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  Speaker 1: Markson all the calculations are prepared. The calc is evaluating
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  Speaker 1: the data against the equation, now figuring all the variables.
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  Speaker 1: If our work did any good, we should know it soon,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: he sighed and pointed to the palace. But our fine
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  Speaker 1: dictator is still alive. The attack on Mars should be
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  Speaker 1: starting any minute. If we didn't succeed nothing in all
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  Speaker 1: time will stop him. Roger lit a cigarette, his eyes
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  Speaker 1: questioning Drango, Dictator. Drango sat down and stretched his legs.
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  Speaker 1: The Dictator appeared about four years ago, and nobody a
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  Speaker 1: man from the masses of people on the planet. He
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  Speaker 1: rose into public favor like a skyrocket. A remarkable man,
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  Speaker 1: an amazing man, a man who could talk to you
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  Speaker 1: and control your thoughts in a single interview. There's never
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  Speaker 1: been a man with such personal magnetism and power Roger
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  Speaker 1: in all the history of Earth. A man who raised
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  Speaker 1: himself from nothing into absolute dictatorship and has handled the
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  Speaker 1: world according to his whim ever since. He's only a
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  Speaker 1: young man, Roger, just thirty two years of age. But
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: an irresistible man can win anything from anybody. He ribbed
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  Speaker 1: into the presidency first, and then deliberately set about rearranging
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  Speaker 1: the government to suit him. And the people let him
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  Speaker 1: get away with it, followed him like sheep. And then
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  Speaker 1: he was dictator, and he began turning the social and
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  Speaker 1: economic balance of the planet into a whirlwind. And then
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: came Mars. Martin stretched again and lit a cigarette, his
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: thin face grave in the darkened room. The first landing
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  Speaker 1: was thirty years ago, and the possibilities for rich and
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  Speaker 1: peaceful commerce between Earth and Mars were clear from the
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  Speaker 1: first Mars had what Earth lacked, the true civilization, the
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  Speaker 1: polished culture, the lasting social economic balance, the permanent peace.
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  Speaker 1: Mars could have taught us so much. She could have
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  Speaker 1: guided us out of the mire of war and hatred
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  Speaker 1: that we have been wallowing in for centuries. But the
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  Speaker 1: dictator put an end to those possibilities. Drango shrugged. He
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  Speaker 1: was convinced that the Martians were weak, backward, decadent. He
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  Speaker 1: saw their uranium, their gold, their jewelry, their labor, and
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  Speaker 1: started on a vast impossible imperialism. If he had had
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  Speaker 1: his way, he would have stripped the planet in three years.
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  Speaker 1: But the Martians fought against us, turned from peace to
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  Speaker 1: suspicion and finally to open revolt, and the dictator could
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  Speaker 1: not see. He mobilized Earth for total war against Mars,
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  Speaker 1: draining our resources, decimating our population, building rockets, bombs, guns.
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  Speaker 1: He stopped for a moment, breathing deeply. But the Dictator
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  Speaker 1: didn't know what he was doing. He had never been
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  Speaker 1: on Mars. He has never seen Martians. He had no
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  Speaker 1: idea what they think, what they're capable of doing. He
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  Speaker 1: doesn't know what we know that the Martians will win.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't realize that the Martians can carry out a
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  Speaker 1: war for years without shaking their economy one iota, while
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  Speaker 1: he has drained our planet to such a degree that
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  Speaker 1: a war of more than two or three months will
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  Speaker 1: break us in half. He doesn't know that Mars can
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  Speaker 1: win and that the Earth can't. Roger walked across the
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  Speaker 1: room thoughtfully, his mind fitting pieces into place. But where
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  Speaker 1: do I come in, David, and I don't understand. Drangle
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  Speaker 1: looked at Roger's straight in the eye. The dictator's name,
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  Speaker 1: he said, is Feral Strang. Roger stopped still. Strang He echoed,
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  Speaker 1: your son, Roger, yours and Ann's. But you said the
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  Speaker 1: dictator was only thirty two. Roger trailed off, regarding Anne
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  Speaker 1: in amazement. Martin smiled, people don't grow so quickly nowadays.
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  Speaker 1: He said, you are fifty seven years old, Roger, Ann
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  Speaker 1: is fifty three. He leaned back in his chair, his
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  Speaker 1: gaunt smile fading. The Dictator has not been without opposition, you,
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  Speaker 1: His parents opposed him at the very start, and he
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  Speaker 1: cast you off. People wiser than the crowds were able
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  Speaker 1: to rebuff his powerful personal appeal to see through the
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  Speaker 1: robe of glory he had wrapped around himself. He has opposition,
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  Speaker 1: but he has built himself an impregnable fortress and dealt
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: swift death to any persons suspective of treason. A few
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  Speaker 1: have escaped. Scientists, technologists, sociologists, physicistsists. The work of one
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  Speaker 1: group of men gave us a weapon which we hoped
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  Speaker 1: to use to destroy the Dictator. We found a way
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  Speaker 1: to move back in time. We could leave the normal
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  Speaker 1: time stream and move to any area of past time.
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  Speaker 1: So four of us went back, searching for the core
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  Speaker 1: of the economic and social upheaval on Earth and trying
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: to destroy the Dictator before he was born. Given time travel,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: it should have been possible. So we went back, myself,
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  Speaker 1: John Morrel, and Strang and you. Roger shook his head,
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  Speaker 1: a horrible thought forming in his mind. You were trying
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  Speaker 1: to kill David, my son. He stopped short. David couldn't
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  Speaker 1: have been my son. He whirled on Martin Drango. Who
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: was that boy? Martin looked away, then his face white.
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  Speaker 1: The boy was your father, he said. The drone of
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: jet bombers came again, whining, into the still room. Roger
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Strang stood very still, staring at the gaunt man. Slowly
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  Speaker 1: the puzzle was beginning to fit together. The horror filtered
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  Speaker 1: into his mind. My father, he said, only twelve years old,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: but he was to be my father. He stared helplessly
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: at the group in the room. You were trying to
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  Speaker 1: kill him. Martin Drango stood up, his lean face grave.
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  Speaker 1: We were faced with a terrific problem. Once we returned
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: to the time area. We had no way of knowing
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  Speaker 1: to what extent we could affect people in events that
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: had already happened. We had to go back to fit
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: in somehow, in an area where we never had been,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: to make things happen that had never happened before. We
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: know that if there was any way of doing it,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: we had to destroy feral Strang, but the patterns of
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: history which had allowed him to rise had to be
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: altered too. Destroying the man would have not have been enough,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: So we tried to destroy him in the time area,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: where the leading time patterns of our time had been formed.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: We had to kill his grandfather. Roger shivered. But if
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: you killed David, what would have happened to me? Presumably
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: the same thing would have happened to the Dick. In theory,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: if we had succeeded in killing your father, David, both
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: you and the Dictator would have ceased to exist. Drangle
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: took a deep breath. The idea was yours, Roger. You
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: knew the terrible Damageer's son was doing his Dictator. It
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: was a last resort, and Anne and John and I
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: pleaded with you to reconsider. But it was the obvious step.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Anne walked over to Roger, her face pale. You insisted, Roger,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: So we did what we could to make it easy.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: We used the Dictator's favorite trick, the Psyco purge, to
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: clear your mind of all conscious and subconscious memory of
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: your true origin and environment, replacing it with the history
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: and memory of the pastime area where we were going.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: We chose the contact time carefully, so that we appeared
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: in New York in the confusion of the bombing of
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: twenty seventy eight, making sure that your records would stand
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: up under all but the closest examination. From then on,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: when Martin carried you out of the from the fire,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: we stored your own memory of that time area and
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: became a legitimate member of that society. But how could
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: we pose as David's parents if he was my father?
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: And smiled. Both David's parents were killed in the New
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: York bombing. We knew that David survived, and we knew
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: where he could be found. There was a close physical
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: resemblance between you and the boy, though actually the resemblance
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: was backwards, and he accepted you as a foster father
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: without question. With you equipped with complete memory of your
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: marriage to me in that time of David's birth, and
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: of your own history before and after the bombing of
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: New York, you fit in well and played the part
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: to perfection. Also, you acted as a control to guide us,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: since you had no conscious knowledge beyond that time. Area.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Martin and Morrel were to be the assassins, the intruders,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: and I was to keep tabs on you. And the
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: success of the attempt. Ann's face fell. We don't know yet,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: We don't know what we accomplished, whether we stemmed the
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: war or not. The tall man who had stepped into
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: the room moved forward and threw a sheaf of papers
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: on the floor, his face heavy with anger, his voice hoarse. Yes,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid we do know, he said bitterly. Martin Drangle
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: whirled on him, his face white. What do you mean,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Marston the tall Man sank down in a chair tiredly.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: We've lost, Martin. We don't need these calculations to tell
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: the word was just broadcast on the telecast Feral Strang's
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: Armada has just begun at its attack on Mars. For
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: a moment, the distant bombing was the only sound in
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: the room. Then Martin Drangle said, So he gave the
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: order and we've lost. We had only a theory to
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: work on, said Morrel, staring gloomily at the curved window.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: A theory and an equation. The theory said that a
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: man returning through time could alter the social and technological
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: trends of the people in times to which he returned,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: in order to change history that was already passed. The
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: theory said that if we could return to the social
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: patterns and technological trends just slightly away from where they were,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: we could alter the entire make up of our society
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: in our own time. And the equation was the tool
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the final check on any change. The equation which evaluates
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: the sum of social, psychological and energy factors in any situation,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: any city or nation, or human society. The equation has
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: been proven checked time and time again, but the theory
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: didn't fit it. The theory was wrong. Roger Strang set
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: up suddenly alert that boy, he said, his voice sharp.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: You nearly made a sieve of him trying to shoot him.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Why didn't he die? Because he was on a high
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: order variable. Picture it this way. From any point in time,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the possible future occurrences could have been seen as vectors,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: an infinite number of possible vectors. Every activity that makes
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: an alteration or has any broad effect on the future
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: is a high order variable. But many activities have no
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: grave implications for future time and could be considered unimportant
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: or low order variables. If a man turns a and
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: sees something that stimulates him into writing a world shaking manifesto,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the high order variable would have started when he decided
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: to turn the quarter instead of going the other way.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: But if he took one way home instead of another,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: and nothing of importance occurred as a result of the decision,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: a low order variable would be set up. We found
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: that the theory of alterations held quite well for lower
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: order variables. Wherever we appeared, whatever we did, we set
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: up a definite friction in the normal time stream, a
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: distortion like pulling a tout rubber band out, and we
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: could produce changes on lower order variables, but the elasticity
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: of the distortion was so great as to wrap the
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: change back into the time stream without causing any lasting alteration.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: When it came to high order changes, we simply couldn't
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: make any We tried putting wrong data into the machines
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: that were calculating specifications for the barrier, and the false
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: data went in, but the answers that came out were
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: the answers that she have appeared with the right data.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: We tried to commit a murder to kill David's strang
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: and try as we would, we couldn't do it because
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: it would have altered a high order variable and they
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: simply wouldn't be altered. But you, Morrel, Roger exclaimed, how
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: about you. You were top man in the barrier base
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: security office. You must have made an impression. Morrell smiled tiredly.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I really thought I had. Time after time, I would
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: start off a series of circumstances that should have had
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: grave alternative effect, and it would look for a while
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: as if a long range change was going to be effected,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: and that it would straighten itself out again with no
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: important change occurring. It was maddening. We worked for five
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: years trying to make even a small alteration and brought
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: back our data. He pointed to the papers on the floor.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: There are the calculations applied on the equation meaningless. We
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: accomplished nothing, and the dictator is still there, slumped in
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: his chair, and he started the war. The real attack.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: This bombardment outside is nothing. There are fifteen squadrons of
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: space destroyers already unloading automatic bombs on the surface of Mars,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: and that's the end for us. Ferrel Steng has started
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: a war he can never finish. Roger Strang turned sharply
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: to Drango. This dictator, he said, where is he? Why
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: can't he be reached now and destroyed the barrier. He
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: can't be touched in the palace. He has all his
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: offices there, all his controls, and he won't let anyone
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: in since the attempted assassination three months ago. He's safe
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: there and we can't touch him. Roger scowled at the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: control panel on the wall. How does this time portal work,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: he asked, You say it can take us back why
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: not forward? No good? The nature of time itself makes
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: that impossible. At the present instant of time, everything that
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: has happened has happened. The three dimensional world in which
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: we live has passed through the fourth temporal dimension, and
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: nothing can alter it. But at this instant there are
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: a number of infinite things that could happen next. The
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: future is an infinite series of variables, and there's no
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: conceivable way to predict which variable will actually be true.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Roger Strang sat straight up, staring at Drango. Will that
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: portal work both ways? He asked tensely. Drango stared at
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: him blankly. You mean, can it be reverse wired? I
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: suppose so. But anyone trying to move into the future
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: would necessarily become an infinity of people. He couldn't maintain
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: his identity because he'd have to have a body in
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: every one of an infinite number of places He might
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: be until the normal timestream caught up with him in
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: the future, and then he'd be in whatever place he fit.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Roger's voice rose excitedly, Martin, can't you see the implications?
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Send me ahead, just a little ahead an hour or so,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: and let me go into the palace. If I move
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: my consciousness to the place where the palace should be,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: where the dictator should be. Then when normal time caught
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: up with me, I could kill him. Drango was on
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: his feet, staring at Roger with rising excitement. Suddenly he
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: glanced at his watch. By God, he muttered, maybe you
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: could blackness. He had no body, no form. There was
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: no light, no shape, nothing but eternal, dismal, unbroken blackness.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: It was the void, the place where time had not
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: yet come. Roger's strang shuddered and felt the cold chill
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: of the blackness creep into his marrow. He had to move.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: He wanted to move, to find the right place. Moving
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: with the infinity of possible bodies. A stream of consciousness
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: was all he could grasp for The blackness enclosed everything,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: a sort of death, but he knew he was not dead.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Blackness was around him and in him and through him.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: He could feel the timelessness, the total abstence of anything.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: He felt the loneliness, for he knew the There was
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: no going back. He had to transfer his consciousness, his
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: mind to the place where the dictator was, hoping against
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: hope that he could find the place before time caught him.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Wedged in the substance of the stone walls of the palace.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: He reached the place that should be right, and waited
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: and waited. There was no time in this place, and
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: he had to wait for the normal time stream. The
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: blackness worked at his mind, filling him with fear, choking him,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: making him want to scream and frighten the agony waiting,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: and suddenly, abruptly he was standing in a brightly lighted room.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: The arched dome over his head sparkled with jewels, and
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: through paneled windows, the red glow of the city's fire
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: flickered grimly. He was in the palace. He looked about
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: swiftly and crossed the room toward a huge door. In
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: an instant, he had thrown it open. The bright lights
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: of the office nearly blinded him, and the man behind
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the desk rose angrily, caught Roger's eye full. Roger gasped,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: his eyes widening. For a moment, he thought he was
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: staring into a mirror, for the man behind the desk,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: clothed in rich, glowing tunic, was a living image of himself.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: The Dictator's face opened into startled surprise and fear as
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: he recognized Roger, and a frightened cry came from his lips.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: There was no one else in the room, but his
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: eyes ran swiftly to the visophone. With careful precision, Roger
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Strang brought the heat pistol to high level and pulled
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: the trigger. Ferrell Strang crumpled slowly from the knees. A
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: black hole scorched in his chest. Roger ran to the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: fallen man, stared into his face incredulously, his son and
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: himself as the likest twin dolls for all the age difference.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Drango's words rose in Roger's mind. Medicine is advanced, you know,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: people don't grow old so soon these days. Swiftly, Roger
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: slipped from his clothes, an impossible, bold idea translating itself
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: into rapid action. He stripped the glowing tunic from the
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: man's flaccid body and slipped his arms into the sleeves,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: pulling the cape in close to cover the burned spot.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: He heard a knock on the door. Frantically, he forced
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: the body under the heavy disk and sat down in
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the chair behind it, eyes wide with fear come in.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: He croped. A young deputy stepped through the door and
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: approached the desk differentially the first report, Sir, he said,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: looking straight at Roger, not a flicker of suspicion crossed
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: his face. The attack is progressing as expected. Turn all
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: reports over to my private teletype, Roger snapped. The man
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: saluted immediately, Sir. He turned and left the room, closing
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: the door behind him. Roger panted, closing his eyes in
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: relief he could pass. Turning to the file, he examined
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: the detailed plans for the Martian attack, the numbers of ships,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: the squadron leaders, the zero hours. Then he was at
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: the teletype keyboard, passing on the message of peace, the
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: message to stop the war with Mars, to make our mistice,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: all squadrons and ships attention, cease and desist in attack plans.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Returned to Tera immediately by order of Feral Strang. Wildly,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: he tore into the files, ripping out budget reports, stabilization plans,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: battle plans, evacuation plans. It would be simple to dispose
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: of the dictator's body as that of an impostor an assassin,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: and simply take control himself. In Ferrell's place. They would
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: carry on with his plans, his direction, and an air
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: of peace. An era of peace and stability, and rich
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: commerce would commence at long last. The sheaf of papers
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: grew larger and larger as Roger emptied out the files,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: plans of war, plans of conquest of slavery. He aimed
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the heat pistol at the pile, saw it spring into
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: yellow flame and circle up to the vaulted ceiling in
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: blue smoke. And then he sat down, panting, and flip
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: the visophone switch. Send one man, unarmed, to the building
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: across the courtyard. Have him bring Martin Drango to me.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: The Deputy's eyes widened on the screen. Unarmed, Sir, unarmed
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Roger repeated by order of your Dictator, and of Infinite Intruder,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Part two recording by Kirk ziggler ogden Utah, voice overs
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: by Kirk dot Com and of Infinite Intruder by Alan
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Nors