A MAN OF MYSTERY.
When Grandon regained consciousness he was lying on a cot in a dimly
lighted room. He looked about him in bewilderment, for instead of the
tasteful bedroom with its costly furnishings, in which he had been
accustomed to awaken, he saw four bare concrete walls, a heavy oak door
studded with many large bolts, and a small window fitted with powerful
iron bars more than an inch in diameter.
He arose and tottered unsteadily toward the door. It was evidently
locked from the outside, for he could not even rattle it. He went to
the window and peered out. Night had fallen, and a myriad twinkling
stars looked down at him from a clear sky. Not a tree, house, or
earthly object of any kind was visible. There were only the starry sky
above and the black void below.
He heard the sound of talking, and wheeled about as a bolt slid back
and the door opened. Two men entered. The foremost was of gigantic
stature, but well proportioned and athletic in appearance. His forehead
was high, and bulged outward, so that his shaggy eyebrows, which
grew completely together above the bridge of his aquiline nose, half
concealed his small, glittering, beady eyes. He wore a closely-cropped,
sharply-pointed beard, in which a few gray hairs showed here and there,
proclaiming him as probably well past middle age. Grandon had never
before seen a face so powerful, so masterful, and yet so forbidding.
Behind this striking visitor came the young man who had been so anxious
to scrape an acquaintance in the theater.
The young man advanced and extended his hand.
"How are you feeling by now, Mr. Grandon?" he asked. "Ah, you seem
surprised that I know your name. That will be explained to you
presently. I should have introduced myself sooner. My name is Harry
Thorne. Allow me to present Dr. Morgan."
The big man held out his hand and said in a booming bass voice:
"This is a pleasure I have long anticipated, Mr. Grandon."
The bewildered Grandon clasped the muscular hand of the doctor and
muttered an acknowledgment.
"No doubt you are anxious to learn why you are here, and what we
propose to do with you," proceeded the doctor. "First tell me. Do you
know anything about telepathy?"
"I know that it exists in fact, and have seen a few parlor
demonstrations of it," replied Grandon.
"And have you ever heard of what some writers call astral projection?"
"I have read of it, but it sounds very fishy."
"Of course. That is because you have never had it proved to you as
you have telepathy. Astral projection is commonly practiced by Hindu
ascetics, but it is practically unknown in the Occident. Only a few
cases have come to light in Europe and America. Several of these have
been recorded by the London Society for Psychical Research in a book
called 'Phantasms of the Living.' Before we proceed further, I will
give you a slight demonstration of this phenomenon, in order that your
doubts may be put at rest. Give me your hand."
As Grandon placed his hand in that of the doctor, a queer sensation
came over him. He felt light, ethereal, unsubstantial. Could it be that
he had left his body?
He found himself in a brilliantly lighted room, the drawing-room of his
aunt's home. She was talking hysterically to a blue coated policeman who
made notes of what she said in a small memorandum book. Her eyes were
red with weeping, and she dabbed at them from time to time with a small
lace handkerchief while she told of her nephew's strange disappearance.
Grandon approached and spoke to her, but she did not appear to hear or
see him. He stepped directly between her and the policeman, but neither
took any notice of him whatever.
* * * * *
Suddenly the room faded from his vision, and he was again standing
before Dr. Morgan. The latter released his hand.
"You now see that it is possible for you to leave your body, and
travel almost instantly, a distance of a thousand miles. It took more
than ten hours for an airplane to bring you here at the speed of one
hundred miles an hour. You can travel millions of miles as easily and
as quickly, for the power of the subjective mind, or ego, is unlimited
by time, space or matter, once it has escaped from that frail, clumsy
shell which you call your body. Years ago I dreamed that such powers as
these might be interplanetary as well as terrestrial, and that dream
has been made to come true.
"I suppose you have heard of the numerous attempts to establish
communication with the people of Mars through wireless telegraphy.
Futile. Telegraphy is a physical, a material thing. It is surrounded
by those limitations which are ever present where matter is concerned.
Ten years have elapsed since _I_ first communicated with the
Martians--through telepathy. In those ten years I learned as much about
Mars as I know about the Earth. It was difficult at first, because
there was no language on that planet similar to our own, I could only
send and receive the simplest of impressions in picture form. For
instance, the Martian with whom I at first communicated, projected a
picture of himself and his surroundings. I returned to him a picture of
myself and my surroundings. For two years we exchanged these concrete
mental images, but I was not satisfied. I desired an exchange of
abstract ideas as well.
"One night he projected to me a picture of two men on his own planet,
and succeeded in conveying the idea that they were willing to exchange
bodies with two men on Earth. He stipulated that the earthly bodies
must be exact duplicates of those which he pictured to me, or the
exchange could not be made. I searched the world over for two such
men. One I found in British East Africa, the other in Alaska. Each
man, when located, was kidnaped, and offered the alternative of death
or the exchange suggested. To-day the two Martians are associated with
me, while the men who exchanged bodies with them communicate knowledge
of the latest events on Mars to me at regular intervals. One of the
men, formerly Mr. Harry Thorne, has become so attached to his new home
that he does not wish to return. The present Mr. Harry Thorne, whose
Martian name was Borgen Takkor, is looking for new worlds to conquer.
The other two men will, no doubt, return to their respective bodies
sometime within the next ten years. Mr. Thorne, here, has lived on two
planets--Mars and this Earth--and now wishes to try life on a third."
Thorne smiled in anticipation, as the doctor proceeded.
* * * * *
"Two years ago, I succeeded in establishing mental rapport with a being
on Venus. To-day, I have arrived at the point where two inhabitants of
that planet--Zarovia, they call it--have been persuaded to exchange
bodies with two terrestrial men. One of these inhabitants of Venus
is the exact physical counterpart of Mr. Thorne, while your body is
identical with that of the other.
"Many times at your club, Mr. Grandon, you have voiced the wish that
you might get away from Chicago, away from your life of ease and
idleness, and find adventure and romance. Do not be surprised at my
knowledge of this, for I have had your every movement watched for
months. I now offer you the opportunity to gratify that desire in the
fullest measure. I can promise you, on Zarovia, a life fraught with
dangers of which you have never dreamed, with excitement to which
ordinary earthly adventures would be tame in comparison.
"Your physical counterpart is a nobleman who has been enslaved by
a cruel Amazon ruler, a princess with no thought save of her own
pleasure. He finds it impossible to escape from bondage, and is
therefore willing to make the exchange. Mr. Thorne's bodily duplicate
is a prince of a realm on the opposite side of the planet from that
occupied by the slave. The prince, like yourself, has been petted,
pampered and shielded from all danger, and longs for adventure. As it
is denied him on his own planet, he is willing to exchange bodies for
a time with Mr. Thorne. Well, what do you say? Are you willing to make
the trip?"
Grandon looked puzzled.
"I don't know," he replied. "No doubt you realize that the whole thing
sounds like a wild dream to me. I have never been cognizant of the fact
that any one on Earth had succeeded in communicating with Mars, let
alone Venus, and as for this idea of interchanging bodies, it doesn't
seem natural or human. I have always felt that my body was a part of
myself, peculiar to myself, and inseparable from the me that is called
a soul, except by death. The question arises, what would become of my
body when inhabited by this Zarovian? I presume that if he should be
careless with it and die, it would be impossible for me to return."
"You need have no fear regarding the care of your body while you are
absent," answered the doctor. "It will not only be under constant
surveillance during your absence, but will have careful medical
attention as well. Then, too, the man who comes to inhabit it will
naturally be careful of it, for if he loses it there will be no return
for him, either to this world or his own. Now, Mr. Grandon, are you
game?"
"Yes! I will make the trip."
"Good for you, my boy. I can see that you are of the stuff from which
heroes are made."
"If you will not consider the question impertinent," remarked Grandon,
"I should like to know why it is that you have never taken any of these
trips yourself."
"Ah, would that I could," replied the doctor. "As far as I can learn,
unhappily, there is no man either on Mars or Venus who has a body like
mine."
Grandon could very well believe that there was no man like Dr. Morgan
on Venus or Mars. At least, he was quite sure he had never seen any one
resembling him on Earth. He was an extraordinary combination of mental
and physical power--a veritable superman.
* * * * *
"What do you, personally, expect to gain by sending me on this trip?"
Grandon queried.
"A thorough knowledge of the planet Venus as seen by earthly eyes, to
satisfy my own curiosity, and to be passed on to the people of the
Earth at my death. I will, at regular intervals, establish telepathic
rapport with you and Thorne while you are asleep. You will know nothing
of these telepathic communications unless I see fit to convey a message
to you which will probably come in the form of a dream, so vivid that
you will remember every detail. If you wish to communicate with me for
any reason whatever, I will learn the fact the first time I establish
rapport with you, for this will naturally come, along with the other
knowledge obtained from your subjective mind while you sleep."
"What do we have to do in order that this exchange of bodies can be
made?"
"You will simply lie down and go to sleep when the time comes. I will
attend to the rest. When you awaken you will be in Zarovia. Come with
me and I will show you around the place. You are on the peak of a
high mountain, more than a thousand miles from Chicago. This is my
observatory."
They were now in a huge, glass-domed room, in which stood the largest
telescope Grandon had ever seen.
"Perhaps you would like to have a look at the world to which you will
soon journey," said the doctor, leading the way up iron stairs to the
telescope platform. For several minutes Grandon gazed in awed silence
at the silvery sphere.
The professor touched his sleeve.
"Come," he said, "it is time for your journey."
[Illustration: _"Come," he said. "It is time for your journey."_]
Two cots stood ready in an adjoining room. Grandon lay down on one and
Thorne on the other. The doctor sat on a chair between them with a
hand on the forehead of each. As he was passing into unconsciousness,
Grandon heard the doctor say:
"Good-by, men, and good luck to you."