"Oh, don't let George fool you. He's potent that way."
"That's me," George said. "I'm a terrific catalyst. Ask Myra."
"He is," Myra said.
"Well, then I see it was all a mistake. Do you think he could get me
back?"
"Of course he could get you back. You said yourself this was the
strongest call on record. Get him back, George."
George smiled. He was beginning to like this. It all depended on him.
The man with the enigmatic smile knew exactly what was going on, Myra
knew to some extent what was going on, George knew almost nothing of
it, but everything depended on him. "Why should I?" he demanded. "He
only just came, and I'm not in any hurry to send him back."
"Please," the man said, and for the first time the smile began to fade
from the corners of his mouth. "It was all a mistake, and now I'd
better get back home before my wife finds out."
George felt cocky. "Well, it was your mistake, not mine, and I don't
feel like sending you back yet. So I guess you'll stay right here."
"You're not serious?"
"Serious? You bet I'm serious. I don't even know where I'm supposed to
send you, but I'm not going to. At least not for a while yet."
"Now, look. You've got to send me back. I'm the king."
"Send him back, George. You don't know what you're playing around
with. Send him back."
"No."
"I'm the king."
"Send him back, George."
George got up and took a long drink of the bourbon. His stomach was
still empty, except for the previous bourbon, and the drink sent a warm
glow through him. "No," he said.
* * * * *
They sat there in the living room, the three of them. George on the
sofa, Myra on a straight-backed chair, and Arl cross-legged in the
middle of the floor. The king's name was Arl, he had told them that.
And then afterwards, he was silent. He was sullen, and George smiled.
He was in trouble and he did not know what to do and it all depended on
George.
"Listen, George," Arl was trying another angle. "Maybe if I tell you
what this is all about, then will you send me back?"
"I doubt it, but maybe I will. Just a slight, improbable maybe. But I
guess you're grasping at straws now. Say on."
"Better send him back, George," Myra said. "I got you into this and you
don't know what it's all about, but you better do what he says."
"Do _you_ know what it's all about?"
"No, I don't. But I know more than you, and I know that you better not
horse around."
"Well, I'll listen to what he has to say. But I better tell you now
that I doubt if I'll send him back. I didn't really call him, you did.
Now _you_ send him back."
"If I could I would. I don't want to play around like this. It can
cause trouble. If he loses his temper, George--well, just don't say I
didn't warn you."
"Unfortunately," Arl admitted, "it takes me a long time to lose my
temper. It never used to be that way. But Narka--that's the queen--has
tamed me. A king should not be so impetuous, she told me, only
she's as impetuous as hell. That's the trouble. She's all the time
telling me to do things which will make me more polite, more refined,
more cultured--none of which she does herself. The result is that
I've become more of a figurehead, and she's the real power. It's
regrettable."
"That's not an uncommon situation," George assured him. "But just what
are you titular king of?"
"Then you do want to hear my story!"
"Yeah, yeah. I said I wanted to hear it. I didn't say I'd do something
about sending you back, but go ahead and tell me if it will make you
happy."
"Okay. I'll begin with a question. Do you know anything about the
fourth dimension?"
* * * * *
George was silent, but Myra said: "I know all about the fourth
dimension."
"You just think you do. Actually, you don't know a thing about it. A
lot of fuzzy thinking here in the world of three dimensions, but you
really don't know a thing about it."
"Oh," said Myra.
"You tell her, Arl, old boy," George said. "You tell her. That guy Fort
didn't know what he was talking about."
"Fort? Fort? Oh--yes he did. He knew _what_ he was talking about. But
he didn't know how or why. This is a world of three dimensions, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, let's assume you had a world of two dimensions. Of length
and breadth, but no thickness. How would you get a world of three
dimensions?"
George said, "Search me," but Myra went into a long explanation which
George didn't understand at all.
When she finished, Arl shook his head. "Just what I thought. A lot of
fuzzy thinking. Unfortunately, you're way off the beam. It's really
simple. You have a world of two dimensions--length and breadth, and all
you have to do to get a world of three dimensions is extend that world
in a new direction--perpendicular to the first two. That direction is
up or down, as the case may be. Either way, it's a direction at right
angles to the first two, and the result is a world of three dimensions,
this world."
George said he understood. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to send
you back," he added.
Arl was all wrapped up in his explanation, and he ignored the remark.
"Now, then. The same situation applies. The same relation exists
between a world of three dimensions and one of four. You merely extend
the three dimensions out in a direction at right angles to them--a
direction which is perpendicular to length, breadth and thickness, and
the result is a world of four dimensions. That's my world."
George was feeling chipper. "Well, a pat on the backside for you," he
said. "Now I suppose you want me to send you back?"
* * * * *
Arl waved his hand. "No. I'm not finished. Let's go a step further. If
a world of two dimensions existed--a whole world spread out perfectly
flat on this table, with no dimension other than length or breadth, a
flat world--if that world existed, do you realize all the power you, as
a three-dimensional being, would have over it?"
George said that he didn't.
"Well, suppose something was enclosed in a square on that table. Just
four lines, a square. That would be the equivalent of a cube in this
world--say, of a safe. Say there was something in that square that the
people of the flat world wanted to get out. But the square was locked.
It was just four lines, forming an enclosed space, but because there
was no such thing as up or down in that world, they couldn't get over,
those lines and get out what they were looking for. It was utterly
inaccessible.
"Now, then. You're a three-dimensional creature. All you'd have to
do is reach down, pick the item up, transport it through the third
dimension, and put it down again outside the square. You would have
done the impossible. You would have taken something out of an utterly
inaccessible place and put it elsewhere. Mysteriously.
"So, just change the situation a bit. A four dimensional being would
have the same power over this three-dimensional world. He could make
things appear and disappear, simply by transporting them through the
fourth dimension. And that, my friend, explains everything strange and
unreal and impossible which this man Fort reported. It was simply the
intervention of a four dimensional being. One of my subjects. When the
call comes through, your people are not even aware that they give it.
But when it does come through, we answer. And here the call was the
strongest on record. I'm the king and I came through myself. But we
can't come through and we can't go back without the call. That's you,
George, and it was all a mistake. Now will you send me back?"
George smiled. He enjoyed this situation. He thoroughly enjoyed it, and
he watched Myra's face turn white as he said one word:
"No."
* * * * *
"Be reasonable, George. If you don't send me back, there'll be trouble.
I won't tell you what kind of trouble, but don't say you were not
warned in advance."
"Well, maybe you ought to tell me. What kind of trouble?"
"Narka trouble," Arl said, and George could see that the man's hands
were trembling. "When my wife finds out, she'll be mad. When Narka's
mad, she's very mad. And not just at me--she'll be on the warpath with
you, too. She'll come here and--"
"How can she come here, without your call?"
"Oh, she'll find a way. Getting back is the difficult part. Please,
George."
"No. No, I don't think so. Myra started all this, not me. I told her to
stop but she didn't want to. Now I think I'll let the two of you stew
in your own juice for a while. You can't blame me. In a sense, I'm just
an innocent bystander who happens to be a top-flight catalyst. But this
could be amusing. I'll just let things stand."