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

machine had dematerialized into the time state, which was dead, void and
colorless.
A moment slipped by, then the port flourished and took color again. Swiftly,
silently, the time machine had leaped the years, to .....
CASMIR HURRIED to the port. He looked once, and shouted: "We've made it! I know
the hills and the plains. We've gone futureward--and to the very spot I
designated!"
"Nonsense!" snorted Henry Holmes. "It could be any time, any place. How do we
know it's 2012?"
"Take it easy," cautioned Forthmiller. "Everything can stand trial--once."
Casmir pulled the metal door aside, and with an exuberant shout, he fairly
leaped outside.
"It's the city!" He was pointing. "The city of the Dwellers!"
The time agents followed his gaze. In the east, rising brilliantly in the
morning sunlight, was a silver-sheened city of colossal height and beauty.
Gracefully its shimmering towers reached skyward, woven through a narrow pattern
of curving roads and archways. It was not a wide city, its base being less than
a mile across. Its beauty was in its height.
"Magnificent!" gasped Holmes.
"You see," said Casmir. "This is 2012. I recognize the city--it's the home of
the Dwellers. If we could destroy those towers, the war would end!"
Jack Stanley looked on in amazement. "You mean--the people of that city are
weaponless?"
Casmir nodded. "When the city was built, there was no need for weapons. Nor has
there been such a need prior to the Horde rebellion. With the coming of the war,
both combatants found themselves defenseless, and unarmed. Of course, there are
a few ancient guns in existence, but they are used only by the guards of the
city. We have never been able to duplicate them successfully."
He hastened into the time machine again, returning with the large box. He took
from it a smaller, black box, a cylindrical tube with several mounting
accessories, and ten packages.
"A few deconite bombs," he remarked as he set to mounting the tube, "and the
city will be demolished. Dr. Woodley's weapon is that powerful."
"Look," said Forthmiller, scratching his head, "you're going to bomb a city like
that--without warning?"
Casmir didn't even look up. "This is war," he said bitterly, "and the supremacy
of the Dwellers has existed too long."
He was interrupted by a distant murmuring that floated across the desolation
behind them. Together the four men turned. Not far away, the ground dipped into
a vast valley, and from it was advancing a strange, roughly shod group of
warriors. First their heads appeared, then their tanned bodies. They carried no
useful weapons to speak of, only rocks and crude spears.
They were marching toward the city.
"The Hordes?" asked Stanley, expectantly.
A slow frown crossed Casmir's face. "No," he whispered, "they're dressed as
Hordes, but they're not Hordes. They're Dwellers."
"But you said--the Dwellers lived in the city!"
"I know." Casmir was perplexed. "But these are the Dwellers. I'd never mistake
them. Besides, the leader you see is Mulr, their dreaded ruler. He governed from
his palace in the city--before I went to the past!"