The Shadow People. John Russell Fearn
Abna was thinking hard. “Don’t forget that if this theory of a macrocosm is true, then a lot of other things are involved. Speech, for one thing. What is normal speech to us will just sound like so much chatter to them. On the other hand, their voices will be slow, sonorous, and generally unintelligible to our ears. Even apart from being an alien language.”
“Well, I’m all for trying the radio anyway.” Mexone hurried across to the radio equipment and switched it on. The Amazon, Abna, and Viona drifted slowly to his side and watched and listened intently. That the radio worked all right the Amazon and Abna knew full well, for they had, earlier, contacted Viona with the self-same apparatus; but whether it would establish any communication with the colossi was another matter.
After a series of preliminary whistles and squeaks from the loudspeaker, the power settled down to normal, and Mexone did the usual intoning into the microphone. Time and again he repeated the process, without any apparent effect. Finally he looked up with a frustrated glance.
“Waste of time, I’m afraid. No sign of a reaction.”
“Leave the speaker open in case of response,” Abna suggested. “Maybe these giants will require a little while to adapt themselves to our language. In the meantime, let’s consider alternatives.”
The Amazon gave a sharp glance. “Alternatives? What alternatives? There aren’t any.”
“There have got to be,” Abna responded calmly. “You must have realized the position as clearly as anybody. Either we cruise around here in this ultra-atomic space until our food gives out and we pass away, or else we think up some way of blowing ourselves back into the normal space from which we came. Lastly, we have the alternative of increasing our size to that of the colossi. It may be dangerous to meet them; equally, it may not. But it won’t be the first time we’ve taken a chance.”
“You talk very freely about increasing our size to that of the colossi,” the Amazon remarked. “How exactly?”
Abna grinned. “I don’t know offhand, but the mind should rise superior to any material problem.”
The Amazon gave a dubious glance. Though she knew Abna was capable of the most incredible mental gymnastics, she always had this feeling of profound doubt beforehand. He had—to her—the irritating habit of making it all seem so simple.
“For the moment,” Abna said, “let us see if our giant friends have any communication to send us. If not, we’ll get busy.”
“Assume a less difficult problem first,” Mexpne suggested. “Supposing we decide to get back into our own space and leave this one forever unexplored. How do we do that?”
Abna brooded. The schoolboy-like smile had gone from his powerful features, and he was again the skilled superhuman scientist.
“Since we got here by the explosion of a particular type of bomb, we ought to get out the same way,” he commented finally. “But there are other factors, since everything must now be reversed. It is a matter of implosion instead of explosion. We must be—”
“Say, something’s happening out here!” It was Viona’s suddenly excited voice. She was gazing out of the window on to the depths of atomic space, Mexone as ever by her side.
“Happening?” the Amazon repeated, turning. “In what way?”
“Come and look for yourself! The stars are growing bigger—or at least it looks that way.”
The Amazon crossed to the window and Abna joined her. In puzzled silence all four stood for a moment surveying, and gradually it became apparent to them what Viona meant. The nearest ‘pyramid’ constellation of stars was undoubtedly altering shape.
“What’s happening?” Viona asked breathlessly, and it was her father who answered her.
“I’ll take one guess. That radio message we sent out was infinite in wavelength, not limited as was our message to you. Maybe it penetrated to the understanding of the colossi and made them realize that, although they couldn’t answer, they could fix our position. Right now I’d say they’ve found us and are saving us a lot of trouble by enlarging us.… Yes,” Abna added, with an intent study outside. “I’m sure of it!”
In a matter of seconds there was no longer any doubt of it. The shifting ‘stars’ changed position again and steadily grew larger, so much so that it finally became apparent that they were not stars at all, but, as the Amazon had guessed earlier, windows. Here and there across this lighted space there strode an occasional gigantic figure, but as the time passed, the giantism began to shrink and the stars assumed their normal aspect of windows in a truly tremendous building.
After that the transition from smallness to normality—if such it could be called—in a world gigantic beyond imagination was rapid. Suddenly the quartet within the space machine realized that everything had become still and that their vessel was standing in the center of an enormously long street, flanked on either side by buildings with a multiplicity of windows. It was night here, and out of the darkness an occasional figure walked, paused to stare in wonder, and then continued onwards.
“Apparently,” Abna said finally, peering outside, “we’ve landed! It seems to be a main street of some sort. I assume the enlargement was done for us, but by what sort of apparatus has me guessing.”
“Must be some kind of long-distance vibration for increasing the electronic orbits of ourselves and the ship,” the Amazon commented.
None of the others attempted to question the rightness or wrongness of her theory: they were too busy gazing outside. As Abna had said, they had materialized in some kind of main street in a gigantic metropolis. The city sprawled for untold miles into the distance, ablaze with light and activity. Perhaps, though, this street was not a very important one, for vehicular traffic seemed to be nonexistent, and pedestrians were few and far between. The most interesting thing about the passers-by was the fact that they were comparatively normal when considered from Earth standards. In no sense did they have any leanings toward the grotesque.
“Well,” the Amazon said at length, inspecting the weapon belt about her slim waist. “Do we venture outside, or wait for something to happen?”
“Since we are obviously under observation,” Abna responded, “it seems it would only be common courtesy to wait for our friends to finish the job they’ve started. Besides, it will save a lot of time trying to explore. Something will happen soon.”
The Amazon nodded agreement, gazing into the long vista of buildings. Her tremendously imaginative mind was finding it impossible to realize that here was a world so big as to be beyond belief—that she herself, Abna, Viona, and Mexone were really now so gargantuan that a million million earthly universes would fit inside their little fingers, and still leave infinite room.… Such a conception was impossible of realization, even though it was the mathematical fact. This was the macrocosm, never before penetrated.
“Looks as if somebody is coming,” Mexone said presently. “See them—over to the right?”
The others looked intently. Some kind of vehicle was approaching at outlandish speed, apparently traveling in a deep groove, which now the quartet came to notice it, was gouged in the center of the road.
“Certainly traveling,” Abna commented, as the queer, ball-shaped object leaped out of the distance.
“And incidentally, we’re seeing the realization of something here which I’ve often theorized upon yet never seen actually. A monorail track.”
Such indeed proved to be the case. Moving at certainly something in the neighborhood of 300 miles an hour, the vehicle shot nearer the motionless space machine. Moving with such speed it even occasioned the quartet a momentary alarm. It seemed it could never pull up in time, and yet it did. Stopping, it was only a matter of three yards from the stationary vessel.
“Well, this is it.” The Amazon gave a grim glance as yet again she fingered the weapons in her belt. “I’m all set for trouble. How about the rest of you?”