"Chapman, John L - Time, Inc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chapman John L)

TIME, INC.
by John L. Chapman
(Author of "Lunar Gun," "Crystal World," etc.)
When the Time Agents set up in business, they didn't figure on there being more
than one possible stream of time.



CASMIR OF THE HORDES set the huge box down and looked at the door before him. It
was plainly marked: "Stanley, Holmes and Forthmiller--Time Agents. Entrance."
Casmir hesitated, adjusting his robe-like tunic, running his hands through his
dark, unkempt hair. Then he entered, his sandaled feet crossing the floor
noiselessly.
Forthmiller was tall, red-faced and curly-haired. Holmes was small and wiry.
Stanley was dark, obviously the youngest of the three.
As one, they turned and stared at their visitor.
"Yes?" prompted Jack Stanley.
"You're the time agents, I take it? I'll introduce myself. I am Casmir, of the
Hordes of 2012. I wish to be taken to that year as soon as possible."
"A gag!" said Holmes. "Throw him out!"
"Wait!" said Stanley. "2012, you say? You claim you're from that year?"
"Correct."
"But how did you get to 1948?"
"In my time-flyer. It was destroyed this morning--in a laboratory explosion. I
have to get back some way, or my mission will be a failure--"
"Woodley's laboratory!" cried Forthmiller, jumping to his feet. "I remember--it
was in the morning papers. Woodley was killed."
The future man looked at him curiously. "Yes. His name was Woodley at that."
He stepped back, amazed, as a barrage of questions flooded him.
"One at a time!" snapped Stanley. "Tell us--what were you doing with Woodley,
and what caused the explosion?"
The other was momentarily perplexed. Then he said: "Why, Woodley had a new
weapon, a highly destructive bomb controlled by radio. It employs a new
explosive he calls deconite."
"Yeah, but where do you come in?"
"I repeat--I represent the Hordes of 2012. We are at war with the Dwellers. We
and the enemy are both weaponless--to any important degree. The Hordes, however,
have a time machine. This I used to travel back to the present--on a mission to
procure a powerful weapon. You see, all weapons were demolished in the great war
of 1994--the war that changed the world and started the Hordes and the
Dwellers."
He paused, curious at the amazed expressions of the three time agents.
"Impossible!" scoffed Henry Holmes. "The man's crazy!"
"We'll hear him out," declared Stanley. "Go ahead, you--what about Dr. Woodley?
Tell us what happened to him."
"Of course. It's obvious that the doctor had the weapon I was seeking. I landed
my time-flyer in his laboratory, went to him and explained my purpose. He was
astonished and didn't believe me, but I showed him the machine and thus provided
proof of my identity. After some time I persuaded him to release a model of his
weapon. I obtained it from him last night and took it with me to his home, where