THE FORBIDDEN THING
There have been those, from the Egyptian civilisation to our own times,
who have believed a dream to be in the nature of an occult visitation,
from which future events can be foretold or avoided. But even they would
admit that a dream must be remembered on waking if it is to be of any
utility, and that is just where so few dreams are entirely satisfactory.
When I waked I recollected vividly that I had dreamed of the making of a
fire a short distance outside the door, which had stood open while I
made it. I had built up a pile of wood, which I had cut from the javelin
shafts, and set the burning-glass in their midst, and I had sat and
watched the smoke of the heated wood curl upward, till a blaze showed
faintly in the sunlight.
So far I remembered clearly, and I supposed that the incident when the
arrow had struck the glass might have brought it into my dreaming mind,
but I knew that the dream went further, and was of a very exciting
character. I had a feeling that it was very urgent that I should recall
it, but I tried in vain to do so.
I was on the point of telling my trouble to my companion, but the
feeling that it might only increase her contempt or pity for the
internal anarchy in which I existed, deterred me. Had I done so she
would have given me a convincing reason why no fire should be attempted,
and our adventure must have had a widely different sequel.
As it was, I rose, and with my left hand--for my other arm was stiff at
the shoulder, and likely to be of little use to me for some time to
come--I picked up one of the javelins, to ascertain whether it were
suitable to the purpose for which my dream had used it.
For one-third of its length it was of metal, pointed and with double
knife-like edges, but the remainder was of a dark and very resinous
wood, such as would take fire readily. Here, at least, my dream had made
no error.
It seemed to me that, as my arm would be of little use for further
axe-work if they should attempt to rush us again, a fire, which could be
lighted safely on the stone floor beside the opening, would be our best
protection, as it could be instantly swept down upon them, and could
scarcely fail to be sufficiently disconcerting to give time for my
companion’s javelins to operate.
I was elated in mind that I should be able to demonstrate my practical
genius in this way, recalling in some wonder that I had as yet seen no
evidence of fire in all my wanderings, unless the heated water supplied
it. But I would say nothing until I had proved the success of my
project, and the fire was blazing.
I wondered for one foolish moment why I had dreamed that the fire was
lighted on the open ground, till I noticed that the sun, which was now
past its noon, was no longer visible from the windows, and that, within
the hall, the glass on which I relied would be useless. Here again, the
dream was wiser than my waking thought, and its reality impressed me
proportionately.
I told my companion that I would demonstrate a new method of fighting,
as my arm was useless, and I made a heap of javelins upon the very edge
of the pit, while she regarded my work with an observant curiosity.
Then, using the clasp-knife with the left hand as best I could, I
shredded some of the wooden shafts into such splinters as should take
fire very easily, and asking her to watch the hole for a moment, and
giving an assurance that I should not go far from the door, I opened it,
and stepped into the brighter light without.
The space around me was bare, as far as sight could reach it, except
that a group of Killers, probably the infirm and young, showed at the
far end of the enclosure, but I knew that there might come a rush of
them from round the side of the building at any moment, and very
watchfully therefore I arranged the splinters with the glass in the
midst of them. It was a very short time before a rising smoke changed
into the uncoloured flame of a noonday fire, and, picking up two or
three of the longer splinters by their outer ends, I went back into the
hall. My companion did not turn as I approached, but told me, “There is
something that has frightened the lizards. They have thrown themselves
from the roof into the pit beneath us. If they have read your mind, your
new way of fighting must be very terrible.” With the thought she looked
round, and her mind waked to a swift insistent protest--“_No! It is the
Forbidden Thing!_”--but at the same moment I had thrust the splinters
into the pile I had prepared to receive them.
For a few seconds our minds fought strenuously. “Do not let it burn. We
know little of the ways of the Dwellers, but all the world knows that.
It is the one thing they will not endure.” “I am not bound to the
Dwellers. To us it may be a weapon of safety.” “But I am; and to my
Leaders it would be unforgivable.” “We can keep a watch for the
Dwellers, and put it out if they approach.” “The mere knowledge that it
had been lit might destroy us all.” “The responsibility is mine only.”
“If I am with you I share it.” “It can be put out in a moment, if it be
scattered on the stones.” “I know nothing of that; but I know that for
many centuries it has not been seen on the surface of this
continent--not since it was used in the great war, before the barrier
had been planted.” “Do they use it under the surface for themselves? How
are the tanks heated?” “I do not know; but I think that there may be
other ways. Please put it out if you can do so. It threatens war to my
nation.” “I think you fly from a shadow, and that it would save your
life, not destroy; but, as you wish it, I will.”
I felt a resentment which I could hardly restrain at the folly of this
objection, and the unexpected reception of my successful experiment.
Apart from this, I had felt a real relief from the added security it
would give us, for I knew that I was in no fit condition to face a
second attack, if they should resolve to make it. But to such a plea
only one answer was possible.
The swift exchange of thought was of a moment’s duration only, but
already the dry wood was crackling, as I kicked it apart, and commenced
to stamp upon it. And then a fresh fact met me. The hard cold stony
smoothness of the floor, which looked less inflammable than asbestos,
was more so than celluloid. As I tried to stamp them out the flames did
not appear to bite into it, but played over its surface with a slight
clear hissing noise. It was only for a second that the event was
doubtful. Then I leapt back from the flames that were all around me. The
next I was flying down the hall, with the flames licking their way as
fast behind me.
A second sooner than myself my comrade had judged the issue, and was at
the door before me, and held it open. But for that I do not think it
possible that I could have escaped alive from that swift inferno.
As we turned to look back at the building we had left, a flame crept out
of the right-hand window, and spread swiftly in all directions. As we
gazed, my companion’s mind turned to me with unruffled gravity. “For
your part, I know that you meant well, and I think that you did rightly.
I see also that you have powers of which the limits are beyond my sight.
But I think also that the world I have known is ended.”
Above that gravity, a dancing light of adventure crossed her eyes for a
moment, and beneath was a fortitude which I knew would face what came
without flinching.
I answered more hopefully, “The flames appear to move over the surface
only. The building is of such material as will not burn at all in the
world I come from. I think that it must be covered with some protecting
varnish, which is inflammable. That will burn itself out very quickly,
and it will be as though nothing had happened.”
“No,” she said, “the building burns,” and even with the thought the
increasing heat drove us farther away, and the flames, which burned with
a hissing sound, rose higher.
“In any case,” I continued, “the fault is mine, and if we meet the
Dwellers, I will tell them.”
“The act was yours, but the cause was ours,” she answered--“and the
Dwellers will soon be here, that is a very certain thing, and it is our
part to decide how we shall meet them.”
By now the building rose a solid oblong of bright flame in a windless
air, and the heat was terrible.
On our right hand as we faced it, we saw six other buildings of a
similar type, and on our left was the steaming vat, with the
killing-pens built over it.
I thought, “The next building is catching.”
“Yes,” she answered, “they will all go.”
On the farther edge of the enclosure we saw the Killers, a pink crescent
standing outside the doors of the inner wall. They were quite silent,
and very still.
A yellow blotch on the sand, the wiser lizards made their way to the
open gate.