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rock or another ancient fish would hardly stir diem. The litde dinosaur had
caused a ripple in its time, but then they had forgotten about it. As for
Timmie the Neanderthal, little Timmie the cave-boy, well, he might have held
the public fancy for a while longer if he had been anything like the ferocious
ape-child that some people had anticipated. But Stasis
Technologies' Neanderthal had turned out not to be an ape-child at all, just
an ugly litde boy. An ugly litde boy who wore overalls and had learned to read
picture-books -what was exciting about diat? There was nothing very
prehistoric about him any longer. Maybe if he bellowed in anger and hammered
his fists against his chest, yes, and roared some savage primordial gibberish,
that might have held their interest a litde longer. But diat wasn't Timmie's
style.
before. This time it wouldn't be a matter of a handful of onlookers on a
balcony. This time the technicians of Stasis Technologies, Ltd., would play
out their role before nearly all of mankind.
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Miss Fellowes herself was all but savage with anticipation. She wanted the
suspense to be over; she wanted to know whether the project would succeed or
fail. She meant to be there in the assembly hall as the final switches were
being thrown. If only the new relief orderly would show up so that she would
be free to go over there- Mandy Terris was her name, she had been taken on
last week, a replacement for Ms. Stratford, who had gone on to a better-paying
job in another state-
"Miss Fellowes?"
She whirled, hoping it was Mandy Terris at last. But no, it was just Dr.
Hoskins' secretary, bringingjerry Hoskins for his scheduled playtime with
Timmie. The woman dropped Jerry off and hurried away. She, too, was rushing
for a good place from which to watch the climax of Project Middle
Ages.
Jerry sidled toward Miss Fellowes, looking embarrassed.
"Miss Fellowes?"
"What is it, Jerry?"
The boy took a ragged news-strip cutting from his pocket and held it out to
her.
"birthday" presents, a shining robot toy.
"What about it?" Miss Fellowes asked.
Jerry watched her narrowly. "It says Timmie is an ape-boy. They aren't
supposed to say that, are they?"
"What?"
She snatched the clipping from young Hoskins' hand and stared at it.
There was 3 caption that she had not bothered to read before:
PREHISTORIC APE-BOY GETS TOY ROBOT FOR HIS BIRTHDAY
Ape-boy, Ape-boy, Prehistoric ape-boy. Miss Fellowes' eyes brimmed with hot
tears of rage. With a vicious twist of the wrist, she tore the news-
strip into a dozen pieces and threw them on the floor.
"Why'd you do that, Miss Fellowes? Because it said Timmie was an ape-boy? He
isn't an ape-boy, is he? Or is he?"
She caught the youngster's wrist and repressed the impulse to shake him. "No,
he isn't an ape-boy! And I don't want you ever to say those words again.
Never, do you understand? It's a nasty thing to say and you mustn't do it."
Jerry struggled out of her grip, looking frightened.
Her heart was pounding. Miss Fellowes fought to get control of herself.
"Go inside and play with Timmie," she said. "He's got a new book to show you."
"You hurt me." "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." "I'll tell my fa-"
everywhere. There's just so much excitement."
"I know. Now, I want you-" Mandy said, "I guess you're in a rush to go off and
watch, aren't you?" Her thin, vacuously pretty face filled with envy.
"Of all times for me to have to be on duty-" "You can watch it on the evening
news," Miss Fellowes said curtly. "Let's go inside, shall we?" It would be the
first time she had left Mandy Terris alone with Timmie. "The boys won't give
you any trouble. They've got milk handy and all the toys they'll need. In
fact, it'll be better if you leave them alone as much as possible."
"I understand. And I'll be sure not to let him get out, either. I know how
important that is." "Good. Now come in."
Miss Fellowes opened the Stasis door for her and showed her in.
Timmie and Jerry were busy with their games in the back room and paid no
attention. She showed Mandy Terris what needed to be done in the next couple
of hours, the requisition forms to fill out, the record-keeping. v
As Miss Fellowes was about to leave, the girl called after her, "I hope you
get a good seat! And, golly, I sure hope it works!"
Miss Fellowes did not trust herself to make a reasonable response. She hurried
on without looking back.
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But the delay meant that she did not get a good seat. She got no nearer than
the wall-viewing-plate in the assembly hall. She regretted that bitterly.
Nothing would help.
Nothing but the failure of the experiment itself-its irretrievable breakdown,
its fundamental impossibility- something of that sort.
So she waited through the countdown, watching every move on the giant screen,
scanning the faces of the technicians as the focus shifted from one to the
other, watching for the look of worry and uncertainty that would tell her that
something had unexpectedly gone wrong.
Watching-watching-
Nobody looked uncertain. No one seemed particularly worried. They had tested
the equipment many times. They had run a thousand simulations; they had
already satisfied themselves that a close-range temporal fix was feasible.
The count ran all the way out, down to zero.
And-very quietly, very unspectacularly-the experiment succeeded.
In the new Stasis that had been established there stood a bearded,
stoop-shouldered peasant of indeterminate age, in ragged dirty clothing and
wooden shoes, staring in dull horror at the sudden mad change that had flung
itself over him.
"Let me through!" she cried, while the loudspeaker continued its repetitions
without pause. With wild energy she cut a path for herself through the crowds,
beating at the people in her way, striking out with closed fists, flailing
desperately, moving toward the door in a nightmare slowness. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]