"I don't see any blood. Where's the bodies?"
"But how _did_ you get in--Butcher?"
* * * * *
The Butcher replied airily: "A red-headed man talked to me and said it
certainly was sad for a future dictator not to be able to enjoy scenes
of carnage in his youth, so I told him I'd been inside the Time Theater
and just come out to get a drink of water and go to the eliminator, but
then my sprained ankle had got worse--I kind of tried to get up and
fell down again--so he picked me up and carried me right through the
usher."
"Butcher, that wasn't honest," Hal said a little worriedly. "You
tricked him into thinking you were older and his brain waves blanketed
yours, going through the usher. I really _have_ heard it's dangerous
for you under-fives to be in here."
"The way those cubs beg for babying and get it!" one of the girls
commented. "Talk about sex favoritism!" She and her companion withdrew
to the far end of the cubicle.
The Butcher grinned at them briefly and concentrated his attention on
the scene in the Time Bubble.
"Those big dogs--" he began suddenly. "Brute must have smelled 'em."
"Don't be silly," Hal said. "Smells can't come out of the Time Bubble.
Smells haven't any isotopes and--"
"I don't care," the Butcher asserted. "I bet somebody'll figure out
someday how to use the bubble for time traveling."
"You can't travel in a point of view," Hal contradicted, "and that's
all the bubble is. Besides, some scientists think the bubble isn't real
at all, but a--uh--"
"I believe," the interpreter cut in smoothly, "that you're thinking
of the theory that the Time Bubble operates by hypermemory. Some
scientists would have us believe that all memory is time traveling and
that the basic location of the bubble is not space-time at all, but
ever-present eternity. Some of them go so far as to state that it is
only a mental inability that prevents the Time Bubble from being used
for time traveling--just as it may be a similar disability that keeps
a robot with the same or even more scopeful memories from being a real
man or animal.
"It is because of this minority theory that under-age individuals and
other beings with impulsive mentalities are barred from the Time
Theater. But do not be alarmed. Even if the minority theory should
prove true--and no evidence for it has ever appeared--there are
automatically operating safeguards to protect the audience from any
harmful consequences of time traveling (almost certainly impossible,
remember) in either direction."
"Sissies!" was the Butcher's comment.
* * * * *
"You're rather young to be here, aren't you?" the interpreter inquired.
The Butcher folded his arms and scowled.
The interpreter hesitated almost humanly, probably snatching through a
quarter-million microtapes. "Well, you wouldn't have got in unless a
qualified adult had certified you as plus-age. Enjoy yourself."
There was no need for the last injunction. The scene within the bubble
had acquired a gripping interest. The shaggy warriors were taking up
their swords, gathering about the hooded sorcerer. The hood fell back,
revealing a face with hawklike, disturbing eyes that seemed to be
looking straight out of the bubble at the future.
"This is getting good," the Butcher said, squirming toward the edge of
his seat.
"Stop being an impulsive mentality," Hal warned him a little nervously.
"Hah!"
The sorcerer emptied the small bag on the fire and a thick cloud of
smoke puffed toward the ceiling of the bubble. A clawlike hand waved
wildly. The sorcerer appeared to be expostulating, commanding. The
warriors stared uncomprehendingly, which seemed to exasperate the
sorcerer.
"That's right," the Butcher approved loudly. "Sock it to 'em!"
"Butcher!" Hal admonished.
Suddenly the bubble grew very bright, as if the Sun had just shone
forth in the ancient world, though the rain still dripped down.
"A viewing anomaly has occurred," the interpreter announced. "It may be
necessary to collapse the Time Bubble for a short period."
In a frenzy, his ragged robes twisting like smoke, the sorcerer rushed
at one of the warriors, pushing him backward so that in a moment he
must cross-section.
"Attaboy!" the Butcher encouraged.
Then the warrior was standing outside the bubble, blinking toward the
shadows, rain dripping from his beard and furs.
"Oh, _boy_!" the Butcher cheered in ecstasy.
"Butcher, you've done it!" Hal said, aghast.
"I sure did," the Butcher agreed blandly, "but that old guy in the
bubble helped me. Must take two to work it."
"Keep your seats!" the interpreter said loudly. "We are energizing the
safeguards!"
* * * * *
The warriors inside the bubble stared in stupid astonishment after the
one who had disappeared from their view. The sorcerer leaped about,
pushing them in his direction.
Abrupt light flooded the Time Theater. The warriors who had emerged
from the bubble stiffened themselves, baring their teeth.
"The safeguards are now energized," the interpreter said.
A woman in a short golden tunic stood up uncertainly from the front row
of the audience.
The first warrior looked her up and down, took one hesitant step
forward, then another, then suddenly grabbed her and flung her over his
left shoulder, looking around menacingly and swinging his sword in his
right hand.
"I repeat, the safeguards have been fully energized! Keep your seats!"
the interpreter enjoined.
In the cubicle, Hal and Joggy gasped, the two girls squeaked, but the
Butcher yelled a "Hey!" of disapproval, snatched up something from the
floor and darted out through the sphincter.
Here and there in the audience, other adults stood up. The emerged
warriors formed a ring of swinging swords and questing eyes. Between
their legs their wolfish dogs, emerged with them, crouched and snarled.
Then the warriors began to fan out.
"There has been an unavoidable delay in energizing the safeguards," the
interpreter said. "Please be patient."
At that moment, the Butcher entered the main auditorium, brandishing a
levitator above his head and striding purposefully down the aisle. At
his heels, five stocky forms trotted. In a definitely pre-civilization
voice, or at least with pre-civilization volume, he bellowed: "Hey,
you! You quit that!"
The first warrior looked toward him, gave his left shoulder a shake to
quiet his wriggling captive, gave his right shoulder one to supple his
sword arm, and waited until the dwarfish challenger came into range.
Then his sword swished down in a flashing arc.
Next moment, the Butcher was on his knees and the warrior was staring
at him open-mouthed. The sword had rebounded from something invisible
an arm's length above the gnomelike creature's head. The warrior backed
a step.
The Butcher stayed down, crouching half behind an aisle seat and
digging for something in his pocket. But he didn't stay quiet. "Sic
'em, Brute!" he shrilled. "Sic 'em, Darter! Sic 'em, Pinkie and Whitie
and Blue!" Then he stopped shouting and raised his hand to his mouth.
* * * * *
Growling quite unmechanically, the five uninjes hurled themselves
forward and closed with the warrior's wolflike dogs. At the first
encounter, Brute and Pinkie were grabbed by the throats, shaken, and
tossed a dozen feet. The warriors snarled approval and advanced. But
then Brute and Pinkie raced back eagerly to the fight--and suddenly the
face of the leading warrior was drenched with scarlet. He blinked and
touched his fingers to it, then looked at his hand in horror.
The Butcher spared a second to repeat his command to the uninjes. But
already the battle was going against the larger dogs. The latter had
the advantage of weight and could toss the smaller dogs like so many
foxes. But their terrible fangs did no damage, and whenever an uninj
clamped on a throat, that throat was torn out.
Meanwhile, great bloody stains had appeared on the bodies of all the
warriors. They drew back in a knot, looking at each other fearfully.
That was when the Butcher got to his feet and strode forward, hand
clenching the levitator above his head.
"Get back where you belong, you big jerks! And drop that lady!"
The first warrior pointed toward him and hissed something. Immediately,
a half dozen swords were smiting at the Butcher.
"We are working to energize the safeguards," the interpreter said in
mechanical panic. "Remain patient and in your seats."
The uninjes leaped into the melee, at first tearing more fur than
flesh. Swords caught them and sent them spinning through the air. They
came yapping back for more. Brute fixed on the first warrior's ankle.
He dropped the woman, stamped unavailingly on the uninj, and let out a
screech.
Swords were still rebounding from the invisible shield under which the
Butcher crouched, making terrible faces at his attackers. They drew
back, looked again at their bloodstains, goggled at the demon dogs.
At their leader's screech, they broke and plunged back into the Time
Bubble, their leader stumbling limpingly after them. There they wasted
no time on their own ragged sorcerer. Their swords rose and fell, and
no repulsor field stayed them.
"Brute, come back!" the Butcher yelled.
* * * * *
The gray uninj let go his hold on the leader's ankle and scampered
out of the Time Bubble, which swiftly dimmed to its original light
intensity and then winked out.
For once in their very mature lives, all of the adults in the
auditorium began to jabber at each other simultaneously.
"We are sorry, but the anomaly has made it necessary to collapse the
Time Bubble," the interpreter said. "There will be no viewing until
further announcement. Thank you for your patience."
Hal and Joggy caught up with the Butcher just as Brute jumped into his
arms and the woman in gold picked him up and hugged him fiercely. The
Butcher started to pull away, then grudgingly submitted.
"Cubs!" came a small cold voice from behind Hal and Joggy. "Always
playing hero! Say, what's that awful smell, Cynthia? It must have come
from those dirty past men."
Hal and Joggy were shouting at the Butcher, but he wasn't listening
to them or to the older voices clamoring about "revised theories of
reality" and other important things. He didn't even squirm as Brute
licked his cheek and the woman in gold planted a big kiss practically
on his mouth.
He smiled dreamily and stroked Brute's muzzle and murmured softly: "We
came, we saw, we conquered, didn't we, Brute?"