"C M Kornbluth - Thirteen O'Clock" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kornbluth C M)

This, he thought, -iwould bear looking into. Putting the light in his pocket he carried the clock down the
stairs to his second-floor bedroom. It looked strangely incongruous there, set on a draftsman's table hung
with rules and T squares. Determinedly Peter was beginning to pry open the back with a chisel, when it
glided smoothly open without tooling. There was better construction in the old timeplace than he had
realized. The little hinges were still firm and in working order. He peered into the works and ticked his
nail against one of the chimes. It sounded sweet and clear. The young man took a parr of pliers. Lord
knew where the key was, he thought, as he began to wind the clock. He nudged the pendulum. Slowly it
got under way, ticking loudly. The thing had stopped at 12:59. That would be nearly one o'clock in any
other timepiece; on this the minute hand crept slowly toward the enigmatic XIII.

Peter wound the striking mechanism carefully, and watched as a little whir sounded. The minute hand
met the Roman numeral, and with a click the chimes sounded out in an eerie, jangling discord. Peter
thought with sudden confusion that all was not well with the clock as he had thought. The chimes grew
louder, filling the little bedroom with their clang.

Horrified, the young man put his hands on the clock as though he could stop off the noise. As he shook
the old cabinet the peals redoubled until they battered against the ear-

drums of the draftsman, ringing in his skull and resounding from the walls, making instruments dance and
rattle on the drawing-board. Peter drew back, his hands to his ears. He was foiled with nausea, his eyes
bleared and smarting. As the terrible clock thundered out its din without end he reached the door feebly,
the room swaying and spinning about him, nothing real but the suddenly glowing clock-dial and the clang
and thunder of its chimes.

He opened the door and it ceased; he closed his eyes in relief as his nausea passed. He looked up again,
and his eyes widened with horror. Though it was noon outside a night-wind fanned his face, and though
he was on the second-story landing of his Grandfather Packer's house dark trees rose about him,
stretching as far as the eye could see.

For three hours-by his wristwatch's luminous dial-Peter had wandered, aimless and horrified, waiting for
dawn. The aura of strangeness that hung over the forest in which he walked was bearable; it was the
gnawing suspicion that he had gone mad that shook him to his very bones. The trees were no ordinary
things, of that he was sure. For he had sat down under one forest giant and leaned back against its bole
only to rise with a cry of terror. He had felt its pulse beat slowly and regularly under the bark. After that
he did not dare to rest, but he was a young and, normal male. Whether he would or not he found himself
blundering into ditches and stones from sheer exhaustion. Finally, sprawled on the ground, he slept.

Peter woke stiff and sore from his nap on the bare ground, but he felt better for it. The sun was high in
the heavens; he saw that it was about eleven o'clock. Remembering his terrors of the night he nearly
laughed at himself. This was a forest, and there were any number of sane explanations how he got here.
An attack of amnesia lasting about twelve hours would be one cause. And there were probably others
less disturbing.

He thought the country might be Maine. God knew how many trains or busses he had taken since he lost
his memory in his bedroom. Beginning to whistle he strode through the woods. Things were different in
the daytime.

There was a sign ahead! He sprinted up to its base. The thing was curiously large, painted in red
characters on a great slab of wood, posted on a dead tree some twelve feet from the ground. The sign