Sandra Day, who had leaped to her feet as Larry stirred, flew across
the room. Her clothing, too, had been supplanted by that of the later
era. Her harness differed from Larry's only in the addition of a cupped
breast-girdle similar to that once worn by Egyptian women. Leather,
soft and white and pliant, clung closely to her slim, lithe body. As
Larry looked at her, she faltered. A slow flush mantled her cheeks.
Harg moved forward, a delighted gleam in his protruding eyes.
"Modesty!" he said in a tone of enchantment. "Sex shame! Imagine! And
we had believed that it died out long before the Machine Era. It would
be interesting to mate you two young people and--" He stroked his
temple thoughtfully. "But we will think of that later. Come, my dear
young savages. Let me show you my _other_ experiments."
Larry's eyes, smoldering rebellion, sought those of Sandra. The
girl's cheeks still flamed with a high pride, but she nodded almost
imperceptibly, cautioning him to cause no immediate trouble. He
grunted, "Okay, let's go. What is there to see?"
The chamber in which he had awakened was a square box of metal, lighted
from above by concealed globes of cold light. No windows or doors
marred the smooth luster of the walls. But as Harg stepped forward and
touched his fingers to a spot on the wall briefly, a section slid back,
exposing a brilliantly lighted corridor beyond.
Silently the three moved into the passage, Larry bringing up the rear.
As he passed through the portal, he studied it cautiously. If he could
only learn the secret of the operation of that door....
"It would do you," Harg interrupted his scrutiny, "no good, of course.
This is but one of many inner chambers. There are many other doors
and many guards to pass. Moreover, you cannot return to your Time
ever--without my help."
Larry started guiltily. The man was uncanny! He seemed to be able to
read thoughts!
"Now, here--" said Harg, "are the results of some of my earlier
attempts to bring life-samples through the Time warp."
They had turned a corner and entered into a long chamber walled into
sections. In each section there was an animal of some sort. So lifelike
were the postures of these beasts that Larry half expected a cacaphony
of protest to greet their entrance. But the creatures were stiff,
silent. Harg smiled his white-gummed, toothless smile.
"Dead," he said regretfully. "All of them. Their bodies survived the
passage through the Time warp. But when they arrived, the spark had
gone. We have identified most of them. But some still puzzle us."
* * * * *
He pointed to the motionless figures in the cages as, one by one,
they passed them. "A cow," he said, "which I brought through from
the Fiftieth Century. Notice the exaggerated udders. The result of
centuries of cross-breeding for milk. Somewhat different from the same
beast of your day, I presume.
"This next is a pterodactyl from the Jurassic Age. I am glad to say it
lived two whole weeks after coming down through the warp. The hardier
animals were the only ones to survive at all--until I perfected my
process. You have already seen my brontosaurus. A harmless thing. We
allow it to roam freely, but we had to destroy the dinosaur that came
after it....
"You recognize this sabre-toothed tiger? And the kangaroo? An
interesting subject, by the way. I brought it through from the year
12,000. It had reached a high stage of development and could converse
in simple phrases. A far cry from man's estate, however."
"You mean," said Sandra, "it could talk?"
"Oh, yes. But then many of the lower animals _do_ speak, you know. Of
course I use the ancient meaning of the word. I mean they employ the
vocal organs. They have not _this_!" He tapped the skull covering which
both Larry and the girl had noticed before.
"That?" said Larry wonderingly. "What is it?"
But the little man was wringing his hands in exasperation. "Now, I
declare!" he cried. "All this time, you have been opening and closing
your mouths while we were communicating, and I thought it was caused by
some physical disturbance! _You_ use vocal converse, too!"
"But of course," said the girl.
"It is quite unnecessary!" snapped the scientist. "With the _menaudo_,
I can understand your thoughts clearly--and communicate my own to
you, as well. In the future, both of you will be kind enough to think
without speaking!"
"Why?" asked Larry bluntly. "Miss Day and I aren't mind-reading
big-brains like you. If we wish to speak to each other--"
For the first time since they had met him, Harg's ever-present smile
faded. A trace of his annoying superiority, self-confidence, seeped
away. In his eyes there was a groping expression oddly akin to fear.
"There is nothing you need tell her!" he ordered. "I do not care to
risk my--" He stopped suddenly, cannily. When he spoke again, it was
in a milder tone. "You may, if you wish, converse with your mouths
when I am not present. But in my presence I require you to think your
conversation."
A sudden suspicion began to form in Larry's mind. He stifled it
instantly; thrust it from him lest Harg grasp that faint, half-formed
thought. Hastily he changed the subject.
"This other beast--" he began aloud. Then, remembering Harg's warning,
he stopped and rephrased the query in his mind. "This other strange
beast," he thought. "What is it?"
He knew, then, why Harg had taunted him for his interest in the
mechanism of the door. For swift as an arrow the answer formed itself
in his brain.
"A phoenix," replied Harg, "of the late Stone Age. A most curious
creature; half animal, half bird. Originally it was a native of the
planet Mars. It adapted itself to utter cold and airlessness when that
planet's atmosphere waned. A few phoenix migrated to Earth, but failed
to survive in our heavy atmosphere."
"That explains," cried Sandra, "the legend of the phoenix prevalent in
our day. It was believed that the bird destroyed itself in fire to rise
again, reborn."
"An amusing misapprehension," nodded Harg. "No doubt it was founded
on someone's having seen a phoenix pass unscathed through flame. The
creature was quite immune to temperature changes. But not to disease.
It was this that, finally, caused its extinction.
"Now, in this next chamber--" He paused, obviously piqued. "I must
confess, we have been unable to classify this beast. It is utterly
unknown to our science. Apparently it does not breed true, nor can we
determine its age--"
Larry and Sandra stared once at the quadruped in the booth, then broke
into a duet of long and hearty laughter. Harg stared at them annoyedly.
"Well?" he snapped. "Well?"
Larry said solemnly, "Harg, you've caught a rare beast there. There are
none left in your day and age except the two-legged variety."