New York



Ihe cable reached Boone in Singapore:



NEED A MAN WHO CAN STEP AROUND A CORNER. CORCORAN.



He caught the next plane out.



Corcoran's driver was waiting for him as he came

through Customs at Kennedy. The man took Boone's bag

and led the way to the limousine.



It had been raining, but the rain had stopped. Boone

settled back comfortably on the well-upholstered seat,

watching the scene unwind through the windows. How

long had it been, he asked himself, since he had been in

Manhattan? Ten years, perhaps more than ten.



By the time they reached Corcoran's apartment build-



2        CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



ing, it had begun raining again. The driver gathered

Boone's bags, held an umbrella for him, and ushered him

to a private elevator to the penthouse. Corcoran was wait-
ing in the library. He rose from a chair in the comer and

came across the heavy carpeting with hand outstretched

and a look of relief on his face.



"Thanks for coming, Tom. Had a good flight?"



"Good enough," Boone told him. "I slept on the last

leg."



Corcoran nodded. "I remember you could always sleep

on planes. What are you drinking these days?"



"Scotch with a splash of soda." Boone sank into the

indicated chair and waited until the drink was handed him.

He took a long pull of it, glancing about at the appoint-

ments of the room. "You seem to be doing well these

days,Jay."



"Quite well. I have wealthy clients who pay for what

they get. And operatives all over the world. If a diplomat

sneezes in Bogota, I hear of it within hours. What's doing

in Singapore?"



"Nothing. Just a layover between jobs. I can afford to

be selective about the stories I take to cover these days.

Not like it was when we used to see each other."
"How long ago was it?" asked Corcoran. "When we

first met, I mean."



"It must be fifteen years or more. That unpleasantness

in the East. You came in with the tanks."



"That's it. We got there too late. It was a massacre.

Bodies all piled up and no sign of anyone alive." Corcoran

grimaced at the memory. "Then suddenly, there you

were, unruffled, standing among the dead. You wore that

jacket with all the pockets for your notebooks, recorder,

tapes, camera, and films. You carried so much stuff you

seemed to bulge. And you told me you'd just stepped

around a comer."



Boone nodded. "Death was half a second away. So I

stepped around a corner. When I stepped back, there you

were. But don't ask me to explain. I couldn't tell you then

and I can't tell you now. The only answer is one I don't

like—that I'm some kind of a freak."



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 3



"Let's say a mutant. Have you tried it since?"
"I've never tried it. But it's happened twice more—

once in China and again in South Africa. When I did it,

it seemed natural—the kind of thing any man might do.

And now, what about you?"



"You heard what happened to me?"



"Some," Boone answered. "You were a spy—CIA

and all that. You were trapped, but you got word back,

and a fighter snatched you up. A daredevil landing out of

a grade-B movie. The plane was shot to hell and gone,

yet it made it back ..."



"That's right," said Corcoran. "Then it crashed. The

whole back of my head was smashed in, and I was so

close to dead it didn't matter. But I had information that

was vital, so they performed miracles saving my life

. . . Anyhow, they had to do some strange things in fixing

my head. Apparently some of the wiring in my brain got

crossed or something. I see things differently now some-

times—things others don't or can't. And I think in quirky

ways. I tie little items of information together in a sort of

sneaky deduction that defies straight-line thinking. I know

things with no reasonable way to know them. I've made

it pay, too."
"Fine. And does that have anything to do with your

calling me here from Singapore?" Boone asked.



Corcoran leaned back and took a sip of the drink he'd

mixed for himself, considering. Finally he nodded. "It has

to do with one of my clients. He came to me about six

years ago. Said his name was Andrew Martin. Maybe it

was."



Martin had come in, aloof and cold, and wouldn't shake

hands. He refused absolutely to answer any questions.

Then, when Corcoran moved to show him out politely,

Martin reached into his breast pocket, took out an en-

velope, and pushed it across the desk. Inside were one

hundred thousand-dollar bills.



"That's just a retainer," he stated. "For any work you

do, I'll pay double your usual rates."



What he wanted were rumors from all over the world.

Not the usual political things, but unusual or outrageous



4        CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
rumors—the sort that seemed to make no sense at all. He

wouldn't say how he could be reached. He'd phone in

daily and tell Corcoran where to find him—always at a

different place.



There weren't too many of the kind of rumors he

wanted, but for those he paid well, usually more than

double rate, and always in thousand-dollar bills. It went

on that way for years.



Corcoran checked on him, of course. But there wasn't

much to be learned. Martin seemed to have no past and

no discoverable occupation. He had a respectable office

with a part-time receptionist, but she had no idea what

he did. He seemed to have no business dealings at all.



He also had a corner suite at the Everest, but he didn't

live there. At least, when Corcoran's operative got into

the suite, there were no clothes in the closets nor any

other sign of occupancy.



On occasion, Martin was seen around town with a

woman named Stella, as mysterious in her way as he was

in his.



Then, a few months ago, Martin and Stella vanished
into thin air.



Boone sat up abruptly. "What?"



"That's right—or they seemed to. After the last time

I reported to him, he left me and was seen making a phone

call. A short time later, my operative at the Everest saw

Stella leaving and followed her. She and Martin went into

an old warehouse near the docks. They never came out.

And they haven't been seen since."



Boone took a pull on his drink and waited. Finally he

prompted Corcoran. "That last rumor ..."



"It came from London. Had to do with someone

searching frantically for a place called Hopkins Acre."



"That seems innocent enough."



Corcoran nodded. "Except for one thing. In all of Brit-

ain, there is now no place called Hopkins Acre. But there

was, four, five hundred years ago. Located in Shropshire.

I checked. In 1615 it disappeared while the family that

owned it was off on an European tour. It was there one

day, gone the next. No sign left to show it had ever OX-
HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                5



isted. The whole estate—the land, even the landscape—

all of it gone, along with the people who farmed it or

worked as servants in the house. Even the house. Not

even a hole in the ground was left."



"That's impossible," said Boone. "A fairy tale."



"But a true one," said Corcoran. "We established be-

yond question that it had once been there and had

disappeared."



"And that's the end of the story?" Boone asked. He

shook his head. "But I still don't see why you sent for

me. I'm no good at tracing missing persons or locating

houses that disappeared almost four hundred years ago."



"I'm coming to that. I had other business, and Martin

was gone, so I tried to forget him. But a couple of weeks

ago, I read that the Everest was to be dynamited."



Corcoran raised his eyebrows questioningly. Boone

nodded. He was familiar with the way they placed shaped
charges around a building that was to be demolished.

When the process was done right, the structure simply

came apart and fell as rubble for the shovels and bull-

dozers to clear away.



Corcoran sighed. "That brought Martin back to my

mind. I went down to have a final look at the building.

I'd left it to my operatives before, which was a mistake.

Remember I said I saw things differently now?"



"You saw something?" Boone asked. "Something

your men didn't see?"



"Something they couldn't possibly see. Only I can see

it, and I have to catch it just right. I—well, I can't step

around a corner, but sometimes I seem to see around a

comer. Maybe on a wider spectrum, maybe a little way

into time. Do you think it's possible for a man to step or

see a little way into time, Tom?"



"I don't know. Never thought about it."



"No. Well, anyhow, there it was—a sort of enclosed

balcony like those you see plastered to the sides of apart-

ment houses, just outside the suite Martin had occupied.
Sort of out of sync with normal perception, half in and

half out of our world. And since Martin never lived in the

suite, I'm sure he must have lived in that balcony or box.''



6          CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



Boone picked up his glass and drained it. He put it back

carefully on the table. "You expect me to step around a

corner to get into that box?"



Corcoran nodded.



"I'm not sure I can," Boone told him. "I've never used

the trick consciously. It always happened when I was in

extreme danger—sort of a survival mechanism. I don't

know whether I can do it on demand. I can try, of course,

but ..."



"That's all I ask," said Corcoran. "I've exhausted

every other possibility. The hotel is empty now and

guarded, but I've arranged to get in. I've spent a lot of

time there, probing, tapping, prodding, and drilling, trying

to find a way into the contraption. Nothing. I can look

out of the window against which it's stuck, and there's

no sign of anything between window and street. But when

I go outside and look up, there it is."
"Jay, what's your big concern? What do you expect to

find in that so-called balcony?" Boone demanded.



Corcoran shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe noth-

ing. Martin became sort of an obsession with me. I prob-

ably spent a lot more trying to find out about him than

his business paid. This is worse. Tom, I've got to get into

that box!"



He paused, studying his empty glass. Then he sighed

and looked up again. "The trouble is, we haven't much

time. This is Friday night, and they're planning to blow

it Sunday morning, around dawn, when everyone is off

the streets."



Boone whistled softly. "You cut it fine."



"I couldn't help it. You were hard to locate. When I

learned you were heading for Singapore, I cabled every

hotel where you might stay. Now, if we're going to do

anything, we have to move fast."



"Tomorrow—Saturday," Boone agreed.
"Make it tomorrow evening. They're holding some

kind of media thing on the last day of the old hotel during

the day. Television and press will be all over the place.

We'll go in when it quiets down."



He stood up and collected the glasses, going back to



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                  7



the well-stocked bar. "You're staying with me, of

course," he said.



"I figured on it," Boone answered.



"Good. Then we'll have one more drink and maybe do

a bit of reminiscing on old times. After that, I'll show you

to your room. We'll forget the box until tomorrow

evening."



Hopkins Acre: 1745



2



D.



'avid had roamed the fields since
early afternoon, accompanied by his favorite setter, en-

joying the quiet satisfaction of being alone in a beautiful

and ordered world.



Out of the stubble at his feet a grouse came storming

up. Automatically, the gun came to his shoulder and his

cheek was against the stock. The sights lined on the bird,

and he jumped the barrel sharply to the left. "Bang!" he

said and knew that if a shell had been in the chamber and

he'd pulled the trigger, the bird would be tumbling to the

ground.



The setter came galumphing back from chasing the bird



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                  9



and set himself on the ground in front of David, looking

up and laughing in his way, as if to say, "Aren't we having

fun!"



It had taken a long time for the setters of Hopkins Acre

to adapt. They had been bred to flush the birds and bring

the dead ones back. They had not understood this new

procedure. But it was different now, after many genera-

tions of setters. They no longer expected the crack of the
gun or to find dead birds.



So, he asked himself for the thousandth time, why did

he carry the gun? Was it fondness for the feel of its weight

and the way it fitted to his shoulder? Or was it to reaffirm

to himself that he was a truly civilized creature, though

of a line with a long history of cruelty and brutality? But

that would be an unjust pose. He would not kill the sheep,

but he ate the mutton. He was still a carnivore, and a

carnivore was a killer still.



It had been a good day, even without the birds, he re-

minded himself. He had stood upon the hill and gazed

down on the straw-thatched houses of the village where

the tillers of soil and husbandmen of the sheep and cattle

lived. In the pastures he had seen the animals, sometimes

quite alone and sometimes with a boy and dog keeping

watch. He had encountered the grunting hordes of swine

in the heavy woods, wild as deer and rooting for fallen

acorns. But he had not ventured close. Even now, he

could find no fellowship with the happy clods who worked

the land. He had seen the colors of the woods changing

in autumn and had breathed the chill air. He had come

down to the brooks that flowed through the woods and

had drunk from them, watching the darting shadows of

trout.
Earlier, he had caught sight of Spike playing some ri-

diculous game, hopping carefully in erratic patterns.

David had watched him, wondering once again what man-

ner of creature Spike might be.



Tiring of his game, Spike had taken off, moving toward

a patch of woods, but bounding in a random pattern which

had more grace and spontaneity than the restricted hop-

ping of the game. The sun of the autumn afternoon had



10 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



glinted off his globular body, with the sharp points of his

spikes spearing the sunbeams and scattering them in spar-

kles. David had called out to Spike, who apparently had

not heard him and had finally disappeared into the woods.



The day had been full, David told himself; now the

shadows lengthened and the chill deepened. It was time

to be turning home.



There would be a saddle of mutton on the board tonight.

Emma, his older sister who was married to Horace, had

told him so and had warned him to get home on time.
"Do not be late," she told him. "Once done, mutton

cannot wait. It must be eaten warm. And be careful of

that gun. I don't know why you take it. You never bring

home anything. Why don't you bring back a brace or two

of grouse? They would be tasty eating."



"Because I do not kill," he told her. "None of us ever

kill. It's been bred out of us."



Which was not true, of course.



"Horace would kill," she told him, tartly. "If there

were need of food, Horace would kill. And once he had

brought it home, I would dress and cook it."



She had been right, he thought. Horace, that dour and

practical man, would kill if there were need of it, though

not for simple fun; Horace never did anything for the fun

of it. He must have a reason to assign to everything he

did.



David had laughed at Emma's worries. "The gun can't

do me harm," he told her. "It's not even loaded."



"You'll load it when you put it back on the rack," she
said. "Timothy will insist you load it. If you ask me, our

brother Timothy is a little gone."



They all were a little gone. He and Timothy and per-

haps, in a different way, Horace and Emma. But not his

little sister, Enid. She, of all of them, was the free spirit

and the thinker. She thought longer thoughts, he was sure,

than any of the rest of them.



So, remembering the mutton that could not wait and

must be eaten warm, he headed for home with the dog,

done now with fun and laughter, trailing sedately behind

him.



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                   11



Topping a knoll, he saw the house from a distance, set

in a green rectangle of lawn among the tawny fields.

Heavy growths of trees, many of them resplendent in their

autumn foliage, ran all around the perimeter of the park,

in the center of which stood the house. A dusty road which

was now no more than a double cart track ran in front of

the park, a road that ran from nowhere to nowhere. From

the road, the access entrance ran up to the house, flanked

by rows of towering poplars that through the years had
become the worse for wear and which, in a little time,

would die away and fall.



Trailed by the faithful dog, David went down the knoll

and across the brownness of the autumn fields, finally

coming up to the entrance road. Ahead of him lay the

house, a sprawling two-storey fieldstone structure, with

its mullioned windows turned to subdued fire by the set-

ting sun.



He climbed the broad stone stairs and struggled mo-

mentarily with the heavy and reluctant latch on the mas-

sive double door before one of the doors swung smoothly

open on well-greased hinges. Beyond the foyer lay the

extensive drawing room, lit only by a brace of candles set

upon a table at its farther end and beyond it the many-

candled brightness of the dining room. From that second

room came the subdued murmur of voices, and he knew

the family already was foregathering for the evening meal.



He walked into the drawing room and turned to the right

to come into the gun room, filled with shadows made alive

by the flickering of a single candle set upon a bar. Going

to the gun rack, he broke the shotgun and fished out of

a pocket in his hunting coat the two shells he carried,

clicking them into place and closing the breech with a
single motion. That done, he put the gun in its place and

turned around. Standing well inside the gun room was his

sister, Enid.



"Did you have a good day, David?"



"I didn't hear you come in," he said. "You walk like

thistledown. Is there something that I need to know before

I walk into the lion's den?"



She shook her head. "No lion tonight. Horace is almost




12 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY 13



human, as close to human as he ever gets. We had word

today: Gahan is coming in from Athens."



"Gahan I have no liking for," said David. "He is so

intensely scholarly. He lords it over me; makes me feel

useless."



"And me as well," said Enid. "Maybe the two of us
are useless. I don't know. If you and I are useless, I enjoy

being useless."



"So do I," said David.



"Horace likes Gahan, though, and if his coming makes

Horace livable, we'll gain from the visit. Timothy is ec-

static. Gahan told Horace he would be bringing Timothy

a book—probably a scroll—written by Hecateus."



"Hec—well, whatever the name may be. I've never

heard of him. If it is a him."



"A him and a Greek," saidEnid. "Hecateus of Miletus.

Fifth or sixth century. Scholars are of the opinion that

Hecateus was the first man to write serious historical

prose, using a critical method to separate out the myth

content of history. Gahan thinks the scroll he has is an

unknown book, one that had been lost."



"If it is," said David, "that's the last we'll see of Tim-

othy for some time. He'll lock himself in the library, have

his meals brought in. It'll take him a year to mull his way

through it. He'll be out from underfoot."



"I think," she said, "that he is being led astray, that
he is becoming mired in history and philosophy. He is

looking for the basic errors we humans made and he thinks

that he will find the roots of them in the first few thousand

years of human history. He has found a few, of course,

but one does not need to study history to be aware of

them: the problem of surpluses, the profit motive, and the

war motive which arises from one man or tribe having

more than another man or tribe may have; or the need of

huddling—the need of men and women to huddle in

tribes, nations, and empires, reflecting that terrifying

sense of insecurity that is part of the human psyche. You

could go on and on, of course, but I think Timothy is

deluding himself. The meaning that he seeks is a deeper

meaning and it is to be found otherwhere than in history.''



He asked, quite seriously, "Enid, do you have some

idea? Even a faint idea?"



"Not yet," she said. "Perhaps never. All I know is that

Timothy is looking in all the wrong places."



"Maybe we should be going in to dinner," he

suggested.



"Yes, I think we should. We can't keep the others wait-
ing. Emma has been in a tizzy that you would be late.

Timothy has been sharpening the carving knife. Nora, out

in the kitchen, has been in a flutter. The mutton's almost

done."



He offered her his arm and they went across the draw-

ing room, carefully threading their way between the shad-

owed, half-seen furniture.



"Oh, there you are!" cried Horace when they came

into the dining room. "I have been wondering where you

were. The mutton cannot wait, you know. Here, you

must, each of you, have a glass of this port. It is quite

the best I have tasted in years. It is really excellent."



He poured and stepped around the table, handing each

of them a glass. He was a squat man, short and powerful

of body, and with the appearance of excessive hairiness.

His hair and beard were so black that the blackness

seemed to shade into blue.



"You seem in excellent spirit," David said to him.



"I am," said Horace. "Gahan will be here tomorrow.

I suppose Enid told you that."
"Yes, she did. Will he be alone or will someone else

be with him?"



"He didn't say. There was reception trouble. Interfer-

ence of some sort. That is something that has not been

perfected. Teddy, back in the Pleistocene, thinks it has

to do with stresses in the duration alignment. Maybe

something to do with directional anomalies."



Horace knew nothing about the problem, David told

himself. He might have some slight knowledge of time

techniques, but certainly no grasp of the theory. How-

ever, on any stated subject, he was an instant expert and

could talk convincingly and authoritatively.



Horace was about to expand further on the matter, but




CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



14



was interrupted when Nora came in from the kitchen,
bearing in triumph the platter of mutton. She placed it in

front of Timothy and went bustling back into the kitchen.

The rest of them found their places at the table and Tim-

othy began the carving of the saddle, making an occasion

of it, plying knife and fork with his customary flourish.



David tasted the port. It was excellent. Occasionally,

on certain small matters like the selection of a good bottle

of port, the law of averages, unassisted, would make Hor-

ace right.



They ate in silence for some time. Then Horace judi-

ciously wiped his mouth on his napkin, stuffed the cloth

back into his lap, and said, "For some time I have been

worried about our twentieth-century outpost in New

York. I don't trust this Martin fellow. I've been trying to

raise him for the last few months and the blighter does



not answer."

"Maybe he has gone away for a while," suggested



Emma.



"If he were going," said Horace, "as our security man,

he should have kept us informed. He has this woman,

Stella, with him. If he's not there, at least she could
answer."



"Maybe she went with him," said Emma.

"She shouldn't have gone. The post should be manned



at all times."



"I would think," said David, "that it might be poor

policy for us to keep too persistently trying to get in touch

with him. As a measure of security, we should keep our

communications to a minimum."



"We are the only ones in this time segment," said Hor-

ace, "who have time capability. There is no one

monitoring."



"I wouldn't bet on that," David told him.



"What difference does it make?" asked Emma, forever

the timid keeper of the peace. "There is no reason for us

to be sitting here arguing about it."



"This Martin almost never talks with us," Horace com-

plained. "He never tells us anything."
Timothy laid his knife and fork down on his plate, mak-



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 15



ing more of a clatter than was necessary. "Despite the

fact," he said, "that we know nothing of this man and do

not entirely trust him, he still may know what he is doing.

You are making something out of nothing, Horace."



"I met the man and Stella," said David, "when I went

to twentieth-century New York several years ago to run

down some books that Timothy wanted. That was the

time," he said to Timothy, "when I brought back the

shotgun and rifle for your collection."



"Splendid pieces, both of them," said Timothy.



"What I can't understand," Emma told him sharply,

"is why you must keep them loaded. Not only those two,

but all the rest of them. A loaded gun is dangerous."



"Completeness," said Timothy. "Certainly even you

can appreciate completeness. The ammunition is an in-

tegral part of a gun. Without it, a gun is incomplete."
"That reasoning escapes me," said Horace. "It always

has."



"I wasn't talking about the guns," said David. "I am

sorry now that I mentioned them. I was only trying to tell

you that I met Martin and Stella. I stayed at their place

for several nights."



"What were they like?" asked Enid.



"Martin was a cold fish. A very cold fish. Talked very

little and when he did, said nothing. I saw him only a few

times, briefly each time. I had the feeling he resented my

being there."



"And Stella?"



"A cold fish, too. But in a different way. Bitchy cold.

Watching you all the time but pretending that she

wasn't."



"Either of them seem dangerous? Dangerous to us, I

mean."



"No, not dangerous. Just uncomfortable."
"We may be too complacent," said Emma in her timid

voice. "Events have gone too well for us for a number

of years and we may have fallen into the notion they will

keep on going well forever. Horace is the only one of us

who stays alert. He keeps busy all the time. It seems to



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



16



me that the rest of us, instead of criticizing him, should

be doing something, too."



"Timothy keeps as busy as Horace," said Enid. "He

spends all his time sifting through the books and scrolls

that have been gathered for him. And who has gathered

them for him? It has been David, going out to London

and Paris and New York, taking the risk of leaving Hop-

kins Acre to collect them for him."



"That may all be true, my dear," said Emma, "but,

tell me, what might you be doing?"



"Dear people," protested Timothy, "we should not be

quibbling with one another. And Enid, in her own way,
does as much as all the rest of us, or more."



David glanced down the table at Timothy, his soft-spo-

ken, easy-going brother, and wondered how he put up

with Emma and her lout of a husband. Even under the

utmost provocation, he never raised his voice. With his

saintlike face rimmed by his white and wispy beard, he

was the quiet voice of reason before the tempests that at

times rocked the family circle.



"Rather than argue," said David, "about which of us

is doing the most to solve the dilemma that we face, it

seems to me that it might be better to admit that no one

of us is really doing much that bears upon the problem.

Why don't we, quite simply and honestly, admit that we

are refugees, hunched here, huddling, hoping that no one

finds us out. I would suggest that none of us, if our life

depended on it, could define the problem."



"I think some of us here may be on the right track,"

said Horace, "and even if we're not, there are others

looking for answers. The people in Athens and the Pleis-

tocene ..."



"That's exactly it," said David. "Us, Athens, the Pleis-
tocene, and New York, if Martin and Stella are still there.

How many of us altogether?"



"The point," said Horace, "is that there must be many

other groups. Our three groups—our four groups,

really—know of one another. There must be many, bound

together as are our four groups, who do not know of us

or other groups. This makes sense. Revolutionaries—and



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 17



we, in a sense, are revolutionaries—are segregated in

cells, with only minimal knowledge of one another."



"For my part," said David, stubbornly, "I still think

we are pure and simple refugees—the ones who got

away."



They had finished with the mutton by this time and

Nora came in to pick up the platter, returning with a

steaming plum pudding that she placed in the center of

the table. Emma reached out and pulled it closer.



"It's already cut," she said. "Pass your dessert plates

to me. There's sauce for those who wish it."
"I saw Spike today," said David, "when I was in the

fields. He was playing that silly hopping game of his."



"Poor Spike," said Timothy. "He got sucked in with

us. He came visiting. He was not one of the family, but

he was there when it was time to go. We couldn't leave

him there. I hope that he's been happy with us."



"He seems happy enough," said Enid.



"We're not about to find out if he is or not," said Hor-

ace. "He can't talk with us."



"He understands more than we think he does," said

David. "Don't ever make the mistake of thinking he is

stupid."



"He is an alien," said Timothy. "He was a pet—no,

that's not quite right—he had an association of some sort

with a neighboring family. In those days there were some

strange associations with the aliens, not all of them en-

tirely understandable. At least to me they weren't."



"With Henry it is different," said Enid. "He is one of

the family. His connection may be a little distant, but he
is one of us. He came along willingly enough."



"At times I worry about Henry," said Timothy. "We

don't see much of him."



"He's busy," said David. "Having a good time. Roam-

ing the countryside beyond Hopkins Acre, scaring the hell

out of all the villagers and country folk and perhaps some

of the gentry who are still benighted enough to believe in

ghosts. He brings in a lot of local information. Because

of him, and only because of him, we know a great deal

of what is going on out beyond the Acre."



18 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



"Henry is no ghost," said Emma, primly. "You

shouldn't talk about him the way you do."



"Of course he is no ghost," David agreed, "but he

looks enough like one to fool anybody who doesn't



know."



By common consent, they ceased their talk and settled

down to the pudding, which was heavy, but exceedingly
good.



I heard you talking of me, said a thought that was not

a voice, but a thought so strong and clear that all at the

table heard it.



"It's Henry," Emma screeched, all flustered.



"Of course it is," said Horace, croaking a little in his

throat. "He delights in startling us at unseemly moments.

He may be gone for days and then be at one's elbow,

shouting in one's ear."



"Pull yourself together, Henry," said Timothy, "and

sit down quietly in a chair. It is disquieting to be con-

versing with someone who is invisible."



Henry pulled himself, or most of himself, enough to-

gether so that he could be seen, though dimly, and sat

down in a chair at the foot of the table, opposite Timothy.

He was a misty sort of thing, somewhat like a man, al-

though carelessly shaped. But what he pulled together did

not stay together too well; it kept drifting back and forth

so that the shape of the chair which still could be seen

through his tenuous substance wavered with his drifting
back and forth.



You have enjoyed a disgustingly heavy meal, he told

them. Everything heavy. The mutton heavy. The pudding

heavy. It is this heavy eating that makes all of you as

heavy as you are.



"I am not heavy," Timothy told him. "I am so thin

and stringy I totter in the wind."



You never walk in the wind, said Henry. You never

leave the house. For years, you have not felt the warmth

of honest sunlight.



"You are almost never in the house," said Horace.

"You have more than your full share of sunlight."



I live by sunlight. Henry told him. Certainly you are



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                  19



aware of that. The energy I pluck from the sun is what

keeps me going. But it's not only the sun; it is other things

as well. The sweet scent of pasture roses, the singing of

the birds, the feel of naked soil, the whisper or the howling

of the wind, the great, sweeping bowl of sky, the solid
majesty of trees.



"You have an impressive catalog," said David, drily.



It is yours as well.



"I have some of it," said David. "I know of what you

speak."



"Have you seen Spike?" asked Horace.



Off and on I see him. He is confined to the bubble

around Hopkins Acre. I am the only one of you who can

pass through the bubble without the help of time. I do

some wandering.



"The wandering's all right, if that is what you want to

do," said Horace. "But I wish you would cease your pes-

tering of the natives. They look on you as a ghost. You

have the neighborhood in a continual uproar."



They like it, said Henry. Their lives are dry and dull.

They enjoy being scared. They huddle in their chimney

comers and tell one another tales. If it were not for me,

they'd not have those tales to tell. But that's not what I
am here about.



"What are you here about?"



There are those who are curious about the bubble,

Henry answered. They don't know what it is, they're not

sure of its exact location, but they sense it and are curious

about it. They are sniffing all about.



"Not the natives, certainly. There's no way they could

be aware of it. It has stood here for almost a century and

a half and . . ."



Not the natives, Henry told him. Something else.

Something from Outside.



A deep and solid silence clamped down upon the room.

They all sat, glued to their chairs, staring back and forth

at one another. An ancient fear came out of the darkness

of the house, centering on this one well-lighted room.



Finally Horace stirred. He cleared his throat and said,

"So it has finally happened. I think we knew all along

that some day it would. We should have expected it. They

have tracked us down."
HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                  21



New York



3



A,



V\ wrongness persisted, a sense of ab-

erration, some factor not quite right, the feeling of a cor-

ner. But Boone could not pin it down; there seemed no

way to reach it.



Corcoran had been going over the wall of the outermost

room of the suite with his flashlight held only inches from

the wall, bent forward in his effort to detect any sort of

indication of a break in the smoothness of the wall. Now

he halted and turned off the flash, swinging around to face

Boone. Light from the street outside saved the room from

darkness, but it was too dim for Boone to see Corcoran's

face.



"It's hopeless," Corcoran said. "There is nothing here.

Yet I know that outside those windows over there, a struc-

ture of some sort is pasted to the outside of this building.
I can't be wrong on that. I saw it."



"I believe you, Jay," said Boone. "There is a wrong-

ness here. I can feel it."



"You can't put a finger on it?"



"Not yet," said Boone.



He walked to one of the windows and looked out into

the street. With a start, he saw that it was deserted. No

cabs slid smoothly along it, no one was on the sidewalks.

Peering more closely, he saw movement in a darkened

doorway of the building across the street, then another,

darker bulk; and, for only a moment, a glint of light re-

flected off one of the bulks.



"Jay," he asked, "when did you say they'd blow this

building?"



"Sunday morning. Early Sunday morning."



"It's Sunday morning now. There are cops across the

street. I saw light flash off a badge."



"Four or five o'clock. At first dawn. I checked other
operations like this one. Always at first light, before a

crowd would have a chance to gather. It's only a little

after midnight. We still have several hours."



"I'm not sure of that," said Boone, "They could steal

a march on us, do it before anyone thinks they'll do it.

This is an old, socially historic place. The end of the Ev-

erest would be sure to draw a crowd. But if they blew it

early, before anyone expected it . . ."



"They wouldn't do that," said Corcoran, moving over

to him. "They simply wouldn't..."



A dull thud hit them, buckling them at the knees, and

the plaster of the suite began to crack, fissures starting

at the corners of the ceiling to run obliquely across it. The

floor began to sag.



Boone grasped desperately at Corcoran, throwing both

arms around him tightly.



And they were in another place, in another suite, a suite

where there was no plaster cracking, no slumping of the

floor.
22



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



23



Corcoran pulled angrily away from Boone. "What the

hell was that?" he shouted. "Why did you grab . . . ?"

"The Everest is going down," said Boone. "Look out



the window. See the dust."



"It can't be. We're still in the Everest."

"Not any longer," said Boone. "We're in that box you



saw. We stepped around a comer."



"What the hell!" cried Corcoran. "You mean to



say . . ."

"It took a crisis, Jay. I should have realized that. I can
do it only at the last moment, at the crisis point, when



there is no hope."

Corcoran looked at Boone accusingly. "You played a



dirty trick on me. You didn't warn me."



"I didn't know, myself. This freakness of mine is a

survival trait. It doesn't work until there is athreat. That's

the way it always happened. It's an instinctive response."



"But always before you apparently were gone only

for a while. You came back again. Will we be coming



back . . . ?"

Boone shook his head. "I don't think so. I only came



back when it was safe. Here we'll be hanging in the air

with a building falling underneath us. If we step back

around the corner, we'll be falling, too. And before, I had

no real place to go. Every time before, I stepped into a

sort of limbo—a gray, flat world of some kind of fog, with

no real features. But this time, we stepped into a real

place—this box. I can't be entirely sure, but I think I'm
right."



"So this is it," Corcoran said. "We are in Martin's



hideout. What do we do now?"



"That's up to you," Boone replied. "You wanted me

to step around a comer. I did and took you with me. You

are the one with all the questions. So start hunting for the



answers."



He looked around the room in which they found them-

selves. The furniture was strange—familiar as to form and

function, but very oddly structured. Against the farther

wall stood what could have been a fireplace, but which,

he told himself, probably wasn't one. Above it hung a



rather massive rectangular form that could have been a

painting. But it was so far beyond even the wildest, most

twisted works of the latest artists he had known that he

fought against the thought that it could be a piece of art.



The room seemed to be on a steady keel; it did not sag

or shift. And how could that be? It had been somehow
attached to the building that now was in the process of

crumbling into an unsightly, shattered pile. Yet seemingly

it held in place. Without the support of the blasted build-

ing, it still kept position, some hundred feet or more above

the street.



Boone moved swiftly to a window and looked out. In

the faint light of the street, a billowing cloud of mortar

and plaster dust swirled above the surface of the pave-

ment, while broken bricks, splintered wood, and shat-

tered marble skittered along the sidewalks. There was no

doubt that the old hotel had fallen or was in the process

of falling.



The room in which he stood lurched suddenly, one end

dropping, then regained its steadiness, while a shiver ran

through it. Boone spun back from the window, holding

his breath.



The lurch had unhinged the painting or whatever it

might be, and it was swinging back to uncover a black

panel set into the wall. The face of the panel was filled

with gleaming instruments. In the center of it, a red light

was flashing on and off.
Corcoran stood spraddle-legged, staring at the panel.

The red light kept on blinking.



A voice came out of the panel, speaking gibberish. It

kept on speaking gibberish. It spoke fast and angrily.



"Speak English!" Corcoran roared at it. "Speak En-

glish. Don't you know the language?"



The red light ceased its blinking and the voice said in

English, a rather strangely accented English, "Of course,

we know the tongue. But why speak in English? This is

Martin, is it not? Where have you been? Why have you

not answered us?"



"This is not Martin," Corcoran said. "Martin is not

here."




24 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



"If you are not Martin, then who are you? What busi-

ness have you answering? How come you are in Martin's

place?"
"Friend, whoever you may be," said Corcoran, "the

story is a long one and there is no time to tell you. The

hotel has been razed, and here we hang in Martin's place,

suspended in thin air and about to crash at any moment."



The speaker from the panel drew his breath in sharply.

Then he said, "Don't get excited. We can set things

right."



"I am not excited," Corcoran said, "but I think we

may need a bit of help."



"We'll help. Listen carefully."



"I am listening carefully."



"You see a panel. You must see it. It's activated when

the screening cover is unhinged. It must be unhinged."



"Damn it, it is unhinged. Cease this kindergarten sil-

liness and tell me what to do. The panel's here. What does

it do? How does it operate?"



"On the lower left-hand corner there is an array of—
I suppose you could call them buttons. On the bottom

row, starting from the right, count three and push the third

button."



"It's pushed."



"Now count two up from that third button and push

the second button."



"It's pushed," said Corcoran.



"Now—but don't do this until I tell you. Count upward

at an angle to your right the space of three buttons. Do

you understand?"



"I understand. I have my finger on the designated

button."



"Don't push it yet. I have to know when you are about

to push it. When you do push it, you give over control to

me and I'll get you out of there."



"You mean you'll take control of this place we are in

and move it elsewhere?"



"That's what I mean. Do you object to it?"
"I don't like it," Corcoran said. "But we're in no po-

sition to do much quibbling."



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 25



"You keep saying we. Are there more of you?"



"Two of us."



"Are you armed? Do you carry weapons?"



"No, of course not. Why should we have weapons?"



"I wouldn't know. Perhaps ..."



"You're wasting time," shouted Corcoran. "We could

crash at any time."



"You have the proper button?"



"Yes, I have."



"Then push it."
He pushed it. Darkness clamped in on them, a darkness

that brought instant disorientation—as if they had been

divorced from all reality. There was no sense of move-

ment—no sense of anything.



Then there was a slight bump. The darkness fled and

there was sunlight pouring through the windows and from

the widening edges of a door, or port, that was opening

downward, pivoting on its lower edge.



"I suppose," said Boone, "this is where we get off."



He stepped to the door. Beyond the port that had be-

come an inclined exit he saw a lawn. Up the lawn was a

house—an old house of considerable extent, built of

weathered fieldstone that showed, here and there, a

growth of moss.



A man who wore a hunting coat was coming down the

lawn toward them. Over a crooked arm he carried a shot-

gun. He was flanked, on his right side, by a happy dog,

a beautiful golden setter, and on his left by a globular

monstrosity that stood almost as high as he did. The mon-

strosity was rolling sedately along beside him, matching

its pace to his. Over all its surface, it was studded with

extremely sharp-pointed spikes, gleaming and flashing in
the sun. But the spikes, despite their sharpness, did not

sink into the turf. For an instant, Boone had the strange

feeling that it was walking on tiptoes, which was replaced

almost immediately by the realization that it was floating,

revolving slowly as it floated.



Boone walked down the slope until he reached the end

of it and stepped down on the lawn. Behind him, Corcoran



26 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



had halted and was staring at the scene, moving his head

from side to side to take in all of it.



Up the lawn, several other people had come out of the

house and were standing on the broad stone steps, watch-

ing what was going on.



The man with the shotgun, still flanked by the happy

dog and the monstrosity, halted a dozen paces away and

said, "Welcome to Hopkins Acre."



"So this is Hopkins Acre?"



"You have heard of it?"
"Just recently," said Boone. "Just the other day."



"What was said of it?"



Boone shrugged. "Not much. Nothing actually. Simply

that someone had developed a sudden interest in it."



"My name is David," said the man. "This grotesque

alien is Spike. I am happy that you made it. Horace is

not the sort of technician into whose hands I would want

to place my life. He is fumble-fingered."



"Horace is the one we spoke with?"



David nodded. "He has been trying for months to get

in touch with Martin. When our panel alerted us this

morning, he thought Martin was trying to reach him."



Corcoran came down the incline to stand beside Boone.

"My name is Corcoran. My companion is named Boone.

We are both immensely curious about what has happened

to us. I wonder if you could explain it."



"You are no whit more curious than we," said David.

"Let's all go up to the house and talk. I think Nora will
be serving lunch soon. Perhaps a drink or two before we

gather at the board."



"That would be excellent," Boone told him.



Shropshire: 1745




"T



•he one important thing for you to

realize," Horace told them, "is that you can never leave

this place. If there were any possibility of your leaving,

we would have been forced to kill you."



"Horace is so dour," said Enid. "He has no sense of

grace. He is like a hammer. He hammers everything. He

could have said that he was sorry you could never leave,

but assure you we are glad you're here."



"I'm not sure I am glad they are here," said Horace.

"It is only another indication the situation is getting out

of hand. Martin and Stella disappearing into thin air and
no trace of them and the story that Ghost ..."




28 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



"Henry!" Enid said. "Henry, not Ghost."



"... The story that Henry told us last night about

something snooping all around the Acre, sensing a certain

strangeness and trying to sniff out the strangeness. I tell

you, they are closing in on us. Now here come these two

from New York, with a not entirely satisfactory expla-

nation of how they gained entrance to Martin's traveler

and knowing, of all things, about Hopkins Acre."



"We've been here too long," Emma complained. "We

should have broken the trail by going someplace else. No

one should stay in one place for a century and a half."



"Moving to some other place would have involved

some danger in itself," said Horace. "We'd have had to

make arrangements for a team of technicians who could

handle such an operation. We would, first of all, have had

to scout another place to go. We could have done the
scouting for ourselves, but we could not, unaided, have

made the move to another place. We do not have the skill

by half."



"I was under the impression," said David, rather nas-

tily, "that you, unaided, can handle any sort of job."



Horace hunched his shoulders like an angry bull.



"Stop it," said Timothy, in his gentle way. "Stop it,

the both of you. Instead of arguing among ourselves, we

should be seeking to explain, as best we can, the situation

these visitors have stumbled into as our guests."



"I sincerely wish you would," said Corcoran. "You

tell us we can never leave, and yet David—it is David,

is it not?"



"Yes," said David. "I am David and I leave occasion-

ally. London and Paris mostly. Once to New York."



"And you mentioned that someone would be coming

in from Athens. So there are comings and goings."



"The comings and goings, as you call them," said Tim-
othy, "are by means of vehicles we call travelers. The

traveler Martin lived in brought you here from New York,

but that's not the entire story."



"I pushed buttons," said Corcoran.



"You could have gone on pushing buttons and still the

traveler would not have stirred. What you did was push



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 29



certain buttons that tuned in the traveler with the control

panel in this house. Once that was done, Horace could

operate Martin's traveler."



"You mean only certain people can operate the

travelers?"



"The point is," said Horace, "that you're inside a time

bubble—a simplistic term, of course—through which no

one can pass, not even us. The only way to get through

it is by traveler."



They all sat silent for a moment.



"I forgot," said Horace. "Ghost is the only one who
can get through unaided and he is a special case."



"Henry," Enid reminded him. "Henry. Not Ghost."



"It seems to me," said Boone, "that we must accept

as gracefully as we are able all that you have told us. We

are here, you say, and we are not about to leave. I don't

understand much of what I've heard. There are a lot of

questions, but I suppose there'll be time later to voice all

of them."



"I am pleased you see it that way," said Timothy. "We

ourselves are bound by certain restrictions we cannot ig-

nore. We hope you will be able to live a pleasant life with

us."



"There is one further question that seems to me too

important to wait. Who are you?" Boone asked.



"We are refugees," said David. "Refugees cowering

in the depths of time."



"Not so," Horace shouted. "You keep babbling about

us as refugees. We are revolutionaries, I tell you. Some

day we'll be going back."
Enid said to Boone, "Pay no attention to these two.

They are always at one another's throats. What you

meant, I'm sure, is where we came from. We are people

who once lived a million years from now. We are from

your very distant future."



Nora spoke from the door that led into the dining room.

"Lunch is on."



Lunch was civilized and pleasant with no bickering.

David talked of the few days he had spent in twentieth-

century New York and asked Boone and Corcoran about



30 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



the city. Timothy talked about some of the reading he had

been doing. Enid said little. Emma was sweetly silent.

Horace sat hunched over, occupied with his own

thoughts. Finally he was moved to speech. "I wonder

what has happened to Gahan. He should be here by now.''



"Gahan is from Athens," said Emma. "He is bringing

Timothy a new book."



"We always say Athens," Timothy explained. "But
they're really not in Athens, although quite close to it."



"We also have a small group in the Pleistocene," said

David. "Southern France. The early days of the last

glaciation."



"Neanderthals," said Boone.



"Yes, a few of them. Early Neanderthal."



"What I can't understand," said Horace, still tied up

in worry, "is why Martin should have left so hurriedly.

And Stella, too. Apparently he had a small traveler hidden

in a warehouse and he used that to get away, alerting

Stella so that she could join him. He should have used

his residence traveler to get away. But he didn't. He pan-

icked. The damn fool panicked. He got scared and ran."



"He was afraid of being trapped at the hotel," said

Enid. "That seems quite clear to me. Perhaps he did not

place complete trust in Mr. Corcoran."



"There was no reason that he should have," said

David. "According to Mr. Corcoran's own admission, he

had men watching Martin and Stella. They were watched
at every move."



"He bought my trust and paid very well for it," said

Corcoran. "I'll work for anyone wholeheartedly if he

pays me for it. Never, in all my life, have I ever double-

crossed a client."



"But you didn't trust your client in this case," said

David.



"I can't say I did. He gave me no reason to. I watched

him not to do him harm, but to be certain he did no harm

to me. He was a curiously secretive man. He was a slip-

pery character."



"He must have known the hotel was to be razed," said

Horace. "Surely the tenants would have been notified.



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                  31



To have left the resident traveler, knowing that, facing

the possibility that its presence might have been revealed,

is inexcusable."



"Maybe he didn't know about the hotel," said Cor-

coran. "The tenants were not notified until the last pos-
sible legal moment. And even then, there was no public

announcement. It was one of those quiet deals. It was

long after Martin left that I heard of it. And there is little

rumor that I miss."



"Then," said David, "perhaps he left on some quick

errand, thinking he'd soon be back. That may be why he

left the residence traveler."



Horace rumbled at Boone, "What you have not fully

explained is how the two of you were able to get into the

traveler. Not how you detected it; that I can understand.

But how you got into it."



"I told you what I could," said Boone. "I stepped

around a corner. I can't tell you more. I don't understand

myself how I do it. All I know is that it can be accom-

plished only under stress."



"That is no explanation," said Horace. "Surely a man

knows what he does."



"Sorry," said Boone. "I can't help you further."



"And since we are getting down to fine points," said
Corcoran, somewhat out of sorts, "tell me what all that

gibberish meant when I first contacted you."



"On that point I can answer you," said Timothy. "As

you must perceive, we are very furtive folk. Perhaps at

times too committed to a cloak and dagger ethic. We think

our communications system cannot be tapped. But ar-

rayed against us are forces that are powerful and most

wondrously intelligent. We can't be sure how safe we are;



we never can be sure. So when we talk among ourselves

on the communication system, we employ a very ancient

language, the speech of a small and obscure group of hu-

mans. By this method, we hope that, even if our com-

munications could be penetrated, there is little possibility

that the listener could decipher what we're saying."



"This," said Boone, "is the most insane setup I have

ever come across."



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



"You know not the half of it," said Timothy. "You do

not know the Infinites. If you knew the Infinites ..."



A shriek sounded from the kitchen. Timothy and Emma
leaped to their feet. Nora, still shrieking, appeared in the

kitchen door. Her cap was awry upon her head and her

hands were twisting the apron that was tied about her

waist.



"Visitors!" she screamed. "There are visitors. And

there is something wrong. The traveler landed in the

flower bed and tipped over on its back."



Chairs screeched and everyone was charging for the

kitchen, heading for the outside door.



Corcoran looked at Boone. "Could it be that Athens

chap?"



"I suppose it could," said Boone. "We had better go

and see."



They halted on the kitchen stoop and stared at what

was happening in the flower bed. A great gash had been

plowed across the bed by a rectangular object, some

twelve feet in length and h^lf as wide, its nose buried at

an angle in the soil. David,' Horace, Enid, and Timothy

were shoving and tugging at it. Emma stood to one side,

loudly lamenting.
"We should give them a hand," said Corcoran.



Boone and he loped across the lawn.



"What do you want to do with it?" Boone asked a pant-

ing Horace.



"Pull it free," gasped Horace. "Get it right side up."



With the extra manpower, the craft was wrenched free

from the soil and turned over.



Horace and David attacked what seemed to be a panel

set into the side of it. Slowly the panel yielded to their

clawing fingers, then popped open. David threw himself

into the opening, crawled for a ways, then began backing

out.



"Give me some help," he yelled. "I have hold of

Gahan."



Horace wedged in beside David, fumbling for a hold,

then the two of them began backing out, hauling a limp



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 33
human figure. They hauled it across the flower bed and

laid it in the grass.



Gahan lay upon his back. He was bleeding at the mouth.

One arm hung limp; his chest was sopped with blood.

Horace knelt beside him, lifting and cradling him. The

eyes came open and the bloody mouth moved, but only

gurgling came out.



Enid rushed in and knelt beside him. "It's all right,

Gahan. You are safe. You are at the Acre."



"What happened?" Emma screeched.



Words and blood came from the mouth. "It's gone,"

he said, then choked on the blood.



"What is gone, Gahan? What is gone?"



He struggled to speak and finally said, "Athens." That

was all.



Timothy said, "We had better get him to the house. He

is badly hurt."
"How could it haveliappened?" Emma shouted.



"He crashed, damn it," said David. "He was hurt and

lost control."



The wounded man struggled, trying to speak. Horace

raised him higher. Enid tried to wipe the blood off his

mouth with a filmy handkerchief, only smearing it.



"Athens," came the blood-choked whisper. "Athens

base gone. Destroyed."



He slumped more deeply into Horace's arms.



Boone pushed closer to Horace and laid his fingers on

Gahan's throat, feeling for a pulse. He took his hand

away.



"This man is dead," he said.



Reverently, Horace withdrew his arms and let Gahan

slump onto the grass. He rose slowly to his feet and the

silence of the group was deadly. They looked at one an-

other, not quite understanding.
Timothy said to Boone, "We shouldn't leave him out

here. Will you help me carry him?"



"We'll have to bury him," said Emma. "We'll have to

dig a grave."



"We have to talk," said Horace. "First, before any-

thing, we will have to talk."



34 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY 35



"Where do you want to put him?" Timothy asked

Emma.



"A bedroom," said Emma. "Upstairs. The back bed-

room to the right. We can't put him in the drawing room.

All that blood will spoil the furniture."



"How about the gun room? That would be easier. We

wouldn't have to haul him up the stairs. There's a leather

couch in there. We can wipe off the leather."



"All right, then. The gun room."



Boone and Timothy picked up the body, Boone by the
shoulders, Timothy by the feet. They made their way

across the kitchen and through the dining room, with

David shoving aside the pushed-back chairs to clear room

for them. At the far end of the drawing room, they reached

the gun room door.



"Over there," said Timothy. "Over there against the

wall."



They laid the dead man on the couch and Timothy stood

looking down at him.



"I don't know," he said. "I don't know how to handle

this. There has been no death in this house since first we

came. It's a new experience and we are not ready for it.

We're very close to immortal, you know. The time mech-

anism keeps it that way."



"No, I hadn't known," said Boone.



"Inside the time bubble we do not age. We age only

when we are outside of it."



Boone said nothing in reply.



"This is bad," said Timothy. "This is one of the crisis
points that you run across in history. We must decide

what we should do. Decision and no mistakes. That's im-

portant—no mistakes. Come with me. The others will be

talking."



The others were not talking. Gathered in the dining

room, they were shouting and screaming at one another.



"I knew it," Emma screamed. "I knew it. I just knew

it. We were getting along too well. We thought it would

keep on that way forever. We should have been looking

ahead, making plans . . ."



"Making plans for what?" yelled David, drowning her



out. "How could we know what to plan for? How could

we know what might happen?"



"Don't you yell at my wife!" roared Horace. "Don't

you ever again use that tone of voice to your sister. She

is right. We should have imagined all sorts of contingen-

cies and worked out models for our reaction to them. We

shouldn't be standing here, like we are right now, caught

unawares and trying to figure out the best course to

follow."
"I think," said Timothy, adding his voice to the squab-

ble, "that what we had better do is just settle down and

do some quiet thinking on it."



"We haven't the time to do any quiet thinking on it,"

yelled Horace. "Not the leisurely kind of thinking that

you mean. I know you, Timothy. You just put things off.

You won't face up to anything. You never would face up

to anything. I remember the time ..."



"I agree we should be doing something," David

shouted. "I think Timothy's approach is wrong. It's no

time for sitting back and waiting for something to happen.

Certainly there are measures we could take. But each

of us can't just keep shouting what he or she may think

and . . ."



"We've got to get away," screamed Emma. "We have

to get away from here."



"There is no good," yelled David, "in simply running.

Run, yes, if we have to, but we must have a plan."



"I will not run," shouted Horace. "I'm not about

to run. Running is for cowards and I will not have it
said . . ."



"But we have to run," screamed Emma. "We have to

get away. We can't wait for whatever's coming. We have

to find a safe place."



"You won't find a safe place running," Horace bel-

lowed. "We have to use our heads."



"I still think," said Timothy, "that we are reacting too

precipitously. A few days more or less will not make that

much difference."



"In a few days you could be dead," yelled Horace.




36



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



37
"At least we have to give Gahan a decent burial," pro-

tested Timothy.



"Gahan doesn't count," yelled Horace. "Gahan's

dead. Nothing more can happen to him. We are still alive,

and what happens does matter to us and ..."



Boone stepped on a chair and from the chair to the

table, kicking china and glass aside.



"Shut up, all of you!" he thundered. "Shut up and sit

down!"



All of them stopped yelling and turned to stare at him.



"You have no place in this," said Emma, tartly,

"You're not one of us."



"You made me and Corcoran part of your group," said

Boone, "when you told us we could never leave this

place. We both have the right to speak. We're in the same

boat with you. So shut up, all of you, and sit down."



Startled, they all found chairs and sat down.
Boone said to Corcoran, who still stood against a wall,

"Jay, if anyone starts yelling, if anyone gets to his feet,

will you shut him up?"



"Quite willingly," said Corcoran.



"I understand," said Boone, "that this is no more than

a healthy family squabble and that most of you didn't

mean half of what you said. But you were not about to

get anywhere and I think you do have to make some plans.

Whether you like it or not, I'll serve as referee."



Horace stood up. Corcoran pushed himself away from

the wall and started toward him. Horace sat down.



"You had something you wanted to say?" Boone asked

Horace.



"What I was about to say is that you understand none

of what is going on. You have not the background that is

required of a referee."



"In that case," said Boone, "perhaps you'll fill me in."



"Horace won't," said Enid. "He'll tell it as he sees it.
He will shade the meaning ..."



Horace stood up. Corcoran pushed off the wall. Horace

sat down again.



"All right, Miss Enid," said Boone. "Perhaps you'll

proceed with your unbiased version." He said to Horace,



"You'll have your chance later on. But the rules are one

at a time and no shouting and no shoving."



"We are agroup of refugees,"said Enid. "We are. . ."



"Not refugees!" yelled Horace.



"You shut up," said Boone. "Enid, please go on."



"As I told you earlier," said Enid, "we are from a

million years into your future. In that million years the

human race has changed."



"Was encouraged to change," said Horace, interrupt-

ing. "On its own, the race would not have changed."



"You can't be sure of that," saidDavid. "Forexample,

there is Henry."
"I can be sure," said Horace. "The Infinites . . ."



Boone raised a hand to stop him. Horace stopped.



"You used that word," Boone said to Timothy. "I was

about to ask you more about it and then the Athens trav-

eler came. Tell me, what are these Infinites?"



"The Infinites are another intelligence," Timothy told

him. "They are from somewhere in the galactic center.

They are not biological. Maybe they were at one time and

changed to what they are."



"As a matter of fact," said David, "we know little

about them."



"I wouldn't say that," objected Horace. "We know,

at least approximately, what they are."



"All right," said Boone. "We have wandered from the

point. Enid was about to tell us how the human race had

changed in a million years."



"They changed," said Enid, "from corporeal beings,
from biological beings, to incorporeal beings, immaterial,

pure intelligences. They now are ranged in huge com-

munities on crystal lattices. They are ..."



Horace broke out, "The obscenity of it! The im-

morality ..."



"Shut up!" Boone roared at him.



He turned to Enid. "But you are human beings. The

people in the outpost near Athens were human beings.

Biological and ..."



"There were some who rebelled," said Enid. "Some

who fled to escape incorporeality."




38 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



"The incorporeality was, to many of the human race,

something akin to a new and exciting religion," said Tim-

othy. "There were, however, some who protested most

violently against it. We number ourselves among those

protestants. There are many other protestants hiding out
in various time periods. We maintain small, widely sep-

arated groups. It is harder to find us that way. The prot-

estants fled, and now the Infinites or their agents hunt us

down. I think the belief that the incorporeality process

was a religion was an entirely human idea. With the In-

finites, I am convinced, it was not a religion, but a plan,

a universal plan. The Infinites are convinced that one

thing, and one thing only, can survive the death of the

universe. That is intelligence. So the Infinites are busily

at work creating a corpus of intelligence. Certainly not

the human race alone, but including many other intelli-

gences in the galaxy, perhaps in the universe. The Infi-

nites in this galaxy may be no more than one primitive

mission of many missions spread throughout the universe,

working diligently with the benighted, heathen

populations."



"It is mad!" yelled Horace. "I tell you, it is madness!"



"You understand," said Emma, "we never saw the

Infinites. Some people did, I guess."



"What Emma means," said Horace, "is that none of

us, here in this room, saw them. Other humans did and

became convinced that the entire human race should
allow itself to be turned into pure mind entities. This belief

of theirs became an insane article of faith. Those who

rebelled against it became outlaws."



"What you must realize," said Timothy, speaking

softly, "is that our race was ripe for such a development.

Even before the Infinites put in their appearance, the

human race had changed. By that period from which we

fled, viewpoints and philosophical concepts had been

vastly altered. The race had gotten tired, was bored. It

had made too much progress, had accomplished too

much. Progress no longer meant a great deal. Dilettantism

was, by and large, the norm."



"But you?" asked Boone.



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                  39



"Not we," said Timothy. "Not we and certain others.

We did not fall into the trap. We were the outlanders, the

backwoods rednecks, residing far beyond the fringe of the

shining society which humanity had become. We wanted

to stay human. We distrusted the new ways. That is why

we were outlawed."



"But the time travelers?"
"We stole the time concept from the Infinites," said

Horace. "We still were human enough to do anything

necessary to protect ourselves. The Infinites do not lie or

steal. They are great and noble."



"And stupid," said David.



"Yes, that is right," said Horace. "And stupid. But

now they have found us out and we must get away again.''



"I can't leave," said Timothy. "I have decided that I

will not go. I will not leave my books or my notes, the

work that I have done."



"What Timothy is trying to do," Enid explained to

Boone, "is get an inkling of where, and how, the human

race went wrong, how it could have gotten itself into the

situation that convinced the people of a million years from

now to go along with the scheme of the Infinites. Timothy

thinks that back here, close to the roots of our civilization,

he may find a clue through a close study of history and

philosophy."



"I am close to it," said Timothy. "I am convinced I
am. But I can't carry on my work without my books and

notes."



"There won't be room," said Horace, "to take along

all your notes, let alone your books. Our traveler capacity

is limited. We have Martin's resident traveler and I am

glad we have it. We have our own small traveler and Ga-

han's traveler, if it still operates ..."



"I doubt there is much wrong with it, if anything," said

David. "Gahan lost control of it, that's all. It made a fairly

soft landing in the flower bed."



"We'll have a look at it," said Horace.



"Now we are beginning to make some progress," said

Boone. "But there are decisions that have to be made. If



40 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



you are convinced that we have to go, has anyone any

idea where we should go?"



"We could join the group in the Pleistocene," said

Emma.
Horace shook his head. "Not that. Athens is destroyed

and Henry says something is sniffing all around us. The

possibility is good the Pleistocene people have been lo-

cated as well. If they have not been, our going there could

lead whoever is looking for us to them. My suggestion

would be to go back deeper into time, beyond the

Pleistocene."



"It seems to me we should go into the future," said

David, "and try to find out what is going on."



"Back into the hornet's nest," said Emma.



"If that is what it takes," said David. "There probably

are some people like us still up there, those who did not

leave, who are skulking around, toughing it out, making

out as best they can."



"Martin might know something about what is going

on," said Horace, "but where the hell is Martin?"



"We need some time to think it out a bit," said David.

"We can't make decisions on the run."



"Two days, then," said Horace. "Two days and we're
gone."



"I hope you understand," said Timothy, speaking

slowly and decisively, "that I intend to go nowhere. I am

staying here."



The Monster



5



B



'oone sat on a low stone fence that

ran between a pasture and a field. In the field, two setters

ran in happy frolic, chasing one another, giving chase to

the birds their gamboling flushed from the stubble. The

late afternoon sun was warm, and the cloudless sky

arched like a great blue dome.



For a couple of hours, Boone had prowled the Acre,

accompanied by the happy dogs. He first had set out with

a solid determination to find the time bubble, to locate

the wall of differentiating time that somewhere must come

down to earth. He had tried to walk a straight line, stop-

ping every now and then to realign the landmarks he had
41




42 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



set up to insure his going straight. But after an hour or

more of walking his straight line, he had found, with some

astonishment, that he had come back approximately to

that point where he had started out.



The walk, however, had not been entirely pointless nor

a complete failure. During the hour or more, the coun-

tryside through which he walked had seeped into him. It

had been a long time since he had gone for a walk in any

countryside, and the walk had brought back memories of

other walks in other years and in other lands. He had come

upon a flock of complacent sheep that stood and watched

him with mild question in their eyes, then trotted off a

ways, but stopped and stood to watch him as he ambled

past them. He had stepped across small, swiftly flowing

brooks with water that had a crystal look; he had walked

through small, neat groves of trees; he had noted with

deep satisfaction the autumn wild flowers that grew along
the brooks, nodding above the mirror of the water and

along the hedges.



And now he sat upon the low stone wall, not far from

where he had clambered over it to begin the walk. Behind

him was the road that ran up, between the rows of dying

poplars, to reach the house; the sweep of stubbled field

before him. And sitting, he thought with muted wonder

of what he and Corcoran had been told by the people of

the house. It was so fantastic and so beyond all imagi-

nation that he had found much difficulty in bringing it to

grips. He could find no starting point to begin a logical

consideration of it. Far down the field, at the edge of a

grove of trees, he caught the flicker of something moving.

Watching it, he finally made out that it was a man, and

a short time later recognized Corcoran. As he watched,

Corcoran came striding up the slope toward him.



He waited on the wall until Corcoran finally came up

to him.



Boone patted the wall beside him. "Sit down, Jay," he

said. "Tell me what you found."



For Corcoran, he knew, had not gone walking without

purpose; he had been seeking something.
"I found the edge of the bubble," Corcoran told him.



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



43



"I am sure I did, although it was very hazy, and I would

not take an oath on it."



"I hunted for it myself," said Boone. "I walked a

straight line and ended up where I had started out. I did

not find the wall, but you have different eyes."



"That's it, I suppose. I do have different eyes. But also

I have a witness. Henry, go ahead and tell him."



"Henry? Jay, you're stark raving. There is no one with

you. You came up the slope alone."



"I met a friend along the way. I forgot that you can't

see him in the sun. Henry, move over into the shadow of

that tree so my friend can see you."



He made a thumb toward a small tree growing beside
the wall. "You can see him in the shade."



Boone looked at the tree. There was nothing there—

and then he saw a hazy flickering, dancing in the air like

dust motes dancing in a narrow sunbeam coming through

the slats of a window blind.



A soundless voice addressed him out of the shadow of

the tree, the unspoken words impinging on his brain.



I am glad to meet you, sir. I am Henry, although at

times Horace calls me Ghost, much to the uneasiness and

wrath of other members of the family. Ghost I do not mind

at all. Ghost might even be the proper name for such as

I. For, after all, who is there to say what is and what is

not a ghost. Although, if I am a ghost, I am not a ghost

out of the past, as I suspect most other ghosts would be,

but a ghost from the future.



"Well, I'll be damned," said Boone, "And yet, in light

of other things, you're almost commonplace. Earlier in

the day there was mention of you by the family. By the

way, I'm Boone. Tom Boone. Jay and I are friends from

long ago."



What your friend told you of his seeing of the time wall
is true. Henry said in Boone's mind. I know he saw it,

although imperfectly. Your friend is most unusual. So far

as I know, no other human actually can see it, although

there are ways of detecting time. I tried to show him a

sniffler. There are a number of snifflers, trying to sniff



44 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY 45



out the bubble. They know there's something strange, but

don't know what it is.



"Did you see the sniffler?" Boone asked Corcoran.



"I saw something. A rather small thing. No larger than

an ordinary dog. But I did not see it well. All I knew was

that there was something there."



I know not what the snifflers are, said Henry. But in

our situation we must be at least marginally concerned

with anything that transpires beyond the ordinary.



"How are things going at the house?" Corcoran asked



Boone.
"When I left they were talking. Not shouting at one

another. Horace and Enid were off to one side, arguing

about where they would bury Gahan. But the rest were

talking, discussing things."



"I think it was wise for both of us to leave," said Cor-

coran. "Give them a chance to talk among themselves

without outsiders being present."



Boone agreed. "This is their show. It should be up to

them to make their own decisions."



"Back there, when you jumped up on the table, you

damn well made it your show."



"It wasn't that," said Boone. "I wasn't trying to horn

in. But they weren't getting anywhere. They were yelling

at one another, that was all. They could have kept it up

all day. They needed someone to knock some common

sense into them."



You think ill of them because of their bad behavior,

said Henry. I readily admit that it is bad, but you must

understand the stake they have in all of this. They fled

the future a century and a half or so of your years ago.

They fled for their lives, of course, but they also fled so
that men and women might not live as bodiless abstrac-

tions, so that the race might be more than theoretical or

hypothetical thought processes. Look upon me. I was

halfway to being the nothing that all humans would be if

the Infinites had their way. With me it did not take. The

procedure stuttered and I was spat out and was free; in

my present form, I can not be snared again. I am beyond

everything except, perhaps, some extraordinary harm of



which I am not yet aware. And having escaped, I came

back to the family, and with them I fled. By reason of my

unorthodox form, I was able to be of some assistance to

them. And out of their recognition of me as still a member

of the family, the family flies to my defense when Horace,

whose only family association is that he cowed and per-

suaded my sister Emma to marry him, pays me less re-

spect than is due a member.



"Your tale is fascinating," said Corcoran, "and adds

to our comprehension of the situation that we find here.

You must be aware how difficult it is for us to grasp all

the nuances of what has happened a million years beyond

our time."



Indeed I do, said Henry, and I must admit I am amazed
at how well and solidly you have accepted what you have

learned of us in the last few hours. You have not been

bowled over by our revelations.



"It is because we are too numb to be bowled over,"

said Boone.



I think it is not that at all. You have betrayed no numb-

ness. Your reactions have led me to believe that basically

our race is far more rational than we might have expected

to find so deep in our ancestral roots.



"I'm curious," said Corcoran, "how you could have

performed significant services for your family in their

flight."



I acted as a scout, said Henry. I am admirably fitted to

act as such. Who would suspect a flittering moonbeam or

a slight glitter in the sunlight? Even seeing this, any rea-

sonable man would lay it to a momentary aberration of

his visual faculty. So I went into the past, all by myself.

Unlike the others, I need no traveler; space and time are

open roads to me. I went as an advance agent, a feeler-

outer. The others made arrangements and waited on my

word. But before I could get back, they were forced to

flee precipitously, with no direction and no plan. I finally
found them in the depths of the so-called Dark Ages, when

large areas of Europe were deserted, dank and desolate.

A perfect place to hide, perhaps, but most disagreeable.




46



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



47



"It was you, then, who found this place, Hopkins



Acre."

That is right. There were other locations that might



have done as well or better, places that I liked much bet-

ter. But this one was made to order for our taking over.

The owner and all his family were absent on a tour of the

Continent. Even before I went hunting for the others, I

tracked down technicians in my own time who could se-
cure this tract for us. So there it was, as you see it now,

waiting for my family once I had found them in that noi-

some fen that was Dark Age Europe.



"I can't help but wonder about the Hopkins family,"

said Corcoran. "They came back from vacation and their

home was gone as if it had never been here. And the rest

of the neighborhood—a house, a farm, an estate with all

the people who lived on it, wiped out overnight—what



was the neighborhood reaction?"



I do not know, said Henry. None of us ever knew or

thought of it. It was no concern of ours. All we took was

property that we needed. Property is not sacred.



David's voice came from behind them. "I saw you sit-

ting here," he said, "and I came down to tell you the



funeral is at sundown."



"Is there anything we can do?" asked Boone. "Help



with the grave, perhaps?"



David shook his head. "No need of help. Horace is a
husky man and can move a lot of dirt. A little labor will

do no harm to Timothy, much as he may loathe it. A few

blisters on his soft and uncalloused hands would be a great

education for our brother Timothy. Emma's helping,



too."

David climbed the wall and sat down with them.



"Henry is here with us," said Corcoran. "We've been

talking with him. An enjoyable and instructive



conversation."

"I thought he was," said David. "I caught the sense



of him. Henry, I am glad you're here. All the family

should be on hand for the burial. All of us now will be

there, barring Spike. Do you have an idea where he is?

Could you go and find him?"



I have no idea, David. No one can keep track of him.

He could be anywhere. After all, it matters little. He is

not exactly family.



"By now he is," said David.
"One thing I am curious about," said Corcoran. "Was

any determination made of how Gahan died?"



"Horace had a look at him. His chest was torn open,

as if a great taloned claw had struck him and torn it all

away. How he lived long enough to warn us, I do not

comprehend. He was close to death when the traveler

crashed."



"How long would it have taken? I mean the trip from

Athens to here."



"It would have been almost instantaneous."



"That sounds right. On our trip from New York, there

was a momentary darkness, then almost immediately the

bump of landing."



"Horace, I suppose," said David, "is the only one of

us who would have thought to examine Gahan. Horace

beats out his brains getting to the bottom of things, plan-

ning ahead. But he has no capacity for the long range.

Right now he has all three travelers lined up on the lawn.

Gahan's traveler is operative. The landing in the flower

bed damaged it not at all. So Horace has them all stocked

with food and some of Timothy's weapons."
"I take it, then, that you have decided to leave."



"Well, yes, I would suppose so, although not exactly

when or where to. Horace has each of us assigned to spe-

cific travelers."



"And when you leave, are we going with you?"



"Why, most assuredly. Our numbers are not large.

Quite possibly, we will have need of you."



"I suppose we should be grateful."



"Grateful or not, you are going with us. The both of

you."



"I don't think I would enjoy staying here," said Cor-

coran, ' 'trapped on a few acres inside a displaced segment

of time."



"It is strange how it has all wbrked out," said David

musingly, as if he might be talking to himself. "With the
48



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



49



family, I mean. Horace, the hardheaded, practical lout,

the organizer, the schemer. Emma, the moaner, the

keeper of our consciences. Timothy, the student. Enid,

the thinker. And I, the loafer, the bad example, the one

who makes the others feel virtuous."



"There is one thing you said," Boone told him. "Enid

is the thinker. It seemed to me you put a special emphasis,

almost a special meaning ..."



"In the time from which we came," said David, "there

was finally time to think. There was no need to break

one's back to make a living or to get ahead. We had made

our progress and we had no great regard for it. So, given

the time to do So, many turned to thought."
"Philosophy?"



"No, just thinking for the sake of thinking. A way to

kill one's time. It was an activity held in very high regard.

It brought about many great ideas, discussed most

learnedly and politely, but never put to use. We were tired

of putting things to use. The great thing about thinking is

there's never any end to it. You could spend a lifetime

thinking, and many people did. Perhaps that was the rea-

son so many of us could equate ourselves with the Infi-

nites' idea of turning ourselves into units of incorporeal

intelligence, thinking entities unhampered by the gross-

ness of a biological body."



"You come close to sounding as if you approved of the

program pushed by the Infinites."



"Not at all," said David. "I am only trying to tell you

the situation as it applied to many of the race."



"But Enid . . ."



"With her, it is slightly different. Look at it this way.

Timothy is a student, studying mankind's past in an at-

tempt to find the basic, early flaws in the human culture,
in the hope that the future remnant of the biological race

can set up a way of life that has a better chance of rea-

sonable survival. Enid is trying, by the exercise of de-

ductive thought, to arrive at independent scenarios that

may serve as guides for the new culture that must be es-

tablished if any of our race are to survive as biological

beings. Both Timothy and Enid are trying to lay out new



paths for us. Give them time and they may come up with

a new human pattern."



Here comes Enid now, said Henry.



The three sitting on the wall clambered off it and stood,

waiting for her.



"We are about to begin," said Enid.



"Henry's here, with us," said David.



"Good," she said. "Then all of us will be there. Even

Spike is here. He came rolling in just a while ago."



They started up the slope toward the house, Corcoran

and David walking ahead, Boone falling in beside Enid.

She took his arm and spoke in a confidential voice.
"There is no coffin," she said. "No time to build one.

We wrapped him well in a new white muslin sheet and

Timothy found a length of canvas that Emma and I sewed

into a shroud. It's the best that we could do. Horace is

in a dither. He thinks we should get away at once."



"And what do you think?"



"I suppose he's right. We probably have to go. But I

hate to leave this house. It's been home for a long, long

time. We are burying Gahan at the foot of an old oak tree

back of the house."



"You have a fondness for trees?"



"Yes. It's not an unusual love. Many people love them.

Would it surprise you if I told you trees will come after

men? The trees will supersede us; they will take our

place."



Boone laughed. "That's as fine-honed a conceit as I

have ever heard."



She did not answer and they went up the slope in si-
lence. As they came up to the house, she gestured to her

right. "There the travelers are," she said. "All lined up

and waiting."



And there they were on the lawn before the house—

the two smaller ones the closest and the large one that

had served Martin as living quarters a little distance off.



"You and your friend will be going with us," she said.

"Had anyone thought to tell you that? I hope that you

don't mind. I am sorry that you got mixed up in this."




50



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



51



He said grimly, not entirely joking, "I wouldn't have



missed it for the world."
"Do you really mean that?" she asked.



"I'm not quite sure," he told her. "One thing I do

know. When you leave, I'd rather go with you, wherever

you may be going, than stay here in this place, unable to



get out."

Corcoran and David had turned to the left to go around



the house.

"Right after the funeral," saidEnid, "we'll get together



and make a final decision what to do."



A high-pitched, ragged screech came from somewhere

behind the house. It cut off for a moment, then took up

again, a caterwaul of fright which kept on and on, its pitch



going up and up.



Boone started running toward the sound, sobbing as he

ran, for suddenly the terror in the shrieking closed down

all about him and seemed to grasp him by the throat.
As he was about to round the comer of the house, some-

thing going fast and hard struck him in mid-stride and

bowled him over, tumbling him across the grass until he

brought up in a thicket of rosebushes, half in, half out of

the thorny clump. He tipped forward into the soft earth

that extended beyond the clump and landed nose down



in the dirt.

He pawed at his face to wipe away the clinging dirt,



scrabbling with the other hand to claw himself free of the

bushes, which was not an easy thing to do, for the sharp

and solid thorns had snagged into his clothing and resisted



all attempts to pull loose.



With the dirt partially off his face, he saw Emma streak-

ing for the Martin traveler, with some, perhaps all, of the

others close behind her—all running as if the very devil

were nipping at their heels. It was Emma, he thought,



who ran into me.



He lunged desperately to pull himself free of the bushes,

but a clinging rose sprout with a grip still on his trouser

leg tripped him so that he sat down solidly upon the
ground, facing back along the left side of the house.



Something was coming along the side of the house, a



sort of thing he had never seen before nor would have

believed possible. It was like a living spider web a good

twelve feet or more across. It throbbed with pulses of

energy, or what he thought of as energy, running all across

it, flickering and sparkling and flashing all along and

across the tiny threads that made up the web. Behind the

threads was a mirror, or a disk of some sort that might

have been an eye. Through the flashing energy, Boone

dimly saw what could have been mechanical appendages

that were beginning to reach out and down toward him.

There were other things immersed within the web, but

what they could be he could not imagine.



A voice shrieked at him. "Boone, you fool! Run! I'll

wait for you."



He lunged to his feet, jerking his trouser free of the

bush, and spun about, beginning to run.



There was only one of the smaller travelers left upon

the lawn, standing with the port wide open and Enid be-
side it.



"Run!" she shouted. "Run!"



He ran as he had never run before. Enid leaped into

the traveler. From the entrance, she beckoned at him

desperately.



He reached the traveler and sprang into the port, catch-

ing his toe on the edge of it and sprawling on top of Enid.



"Get off me, you dunce!" she shouted, and he flung

himself to one side. The port banged shut. As it closed,

he glimpsed the web, almost on top of them. Enid was

scrambling frantically toward a glowing instrument panel

in the front of the traveler.



Boone started to crawl forward, but there was a sudden

shock that pinned him to the floor, and with the shock

came darkness, the utter, unnerving darkness he had ex-

perienced when the Martin traveler had left New York.




HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 53
Enid and Boone



6



Light came back—blinking lights on

the panel and faint sunlight from a small observation



""Boone struggled to his knees, tried to nse to his feet.

He bumped his head rather painfully on the ceiling.



"These vehicles are cramped," said Emd speaking

easily, unexcited. "You crawl on your hands and knees.



"AVhere are wc^"

"I'm not sure where. I had no chance to pick a location



or a time. I simply told it 'go!'"

"That was taking a chance, wasn t it/



"Sure it was. But would you rather I had stayed and

let that monster wreck the traveler?"



"No, of course not. I implied no criticism."
"I am getting a reading," said Enid, bending low over

the panel. "A time reading, that is. I still don't know

where we are."



"And the reading?"



"Measured from where we started, more than 50,000

years into the past—54,100 to be exact."



"50,000 B.C.?"



"That's right," she said. "Open country. A plain. Hills

in the distance. Funny looking hills."



He crawled forward, crowded in beside her, and looked

through the forward vision plate.



Scant grass flowed toward bald, squat hills. In the dis-

tance were dots that looked like a grazing game herd.



"America, I think," he said. "The western plains.

Somewhere in the southwestern United States, more than

likely. I can't tell you how I know. I just have a feel for

it. Desert in my time, but 50,000 years before that, it

would have been good grassland."
"People?"



"Not likely. The best bet is that men first came to the

continent 40,000 years before my time. Not sooner. The

scientists could be wrong, of course. In any case, Ice Age

America. There would be glaciers to the north."



"Safe enough, then. No bloodthirsty tribesmen. No

ravening carnivores."



"There are carnivores, but there's good feeding for

them. They shouldn't bother us. Any idea where the oth-

ers are?"



She shrugged. "It was each man for himself."



"Timothy? He said he wouldn't go."



"I think he went with the others. Your friend, Cor-

coran, held back, arguing, seeing what was happening to

you. David picked him up and heaved him into the other

small traveler. They all took off, not waiting for us."



"You waited for me."
"I couldn't leave you to that monster."




54



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



55



"You think it's the one that destroyed the base at



Athens?"



"Probably. There is no way of knowing. You know this

place we are in?"



"If it's the southwestern United States, I've been there.

Spent a couple of vacations there. It looks like it to me,

unless some other places have that kind of butte. I've

never seen any that resembled them in any other part of



the world."
"The food and whatever else Horace threw in the trav-

eler should be somewhere in the back. He put some sup-

plies in each of the travelers, but he was in a hurry and

he probably paid less attention to what he included than

he should have. I think he threw the rifle that David

brought Timothy from New York in this one."



"You want to go out now?"



"I think we should. It's terribly cramped in here. Get

out and stretch our legs, have a look, take a little time to

decide what we should do."



"Have you any idea what we should do?"



"None. But in this sort of place it should take a while

to track us down, if it can be done at all."



Crawling the length of the traveler, Boone found the

rifle, a rucksack, a roll of blankets, and a few other pack-

ages bundled up in haphazard fashion. He got them all

together while Enid opened the port.



Crouching in the doorway, Boone examined the rifle.
One cartridge was in the breech and it had a clip of five.

There was, he hoped, more ammunition in the bundles.



"You stay here for a moment," he told Enid. "Give

me a chance to check what's out there."



He jumped out of the port, straightening swiftly when

he landed, the rifle up and ready. It was all damn fool-

ishness, he told himself. There was nothing here. If it was

southwestern North America of 50,000 years ago, there'd

be only the game herds and the prowling predators; those

would not be lying in wait for stray humans who might

come stumbling in and who, in any case, probably would

make poor eating.



He was right. There was nothing. The land was empty



except for the black dots that he had spotted earlier and

had recognized as grazing game herds.



The traveler lay at the foot of one of the buttes that

thrust up here and there across the plain. Somewhat less

than halfway up the slope stood a small grove of scraggy

trees—junipers, more than likely. Except for the clump

of trees and ragged haphazard carpets of grass, the butte

was bare. Occasional stratified ledges of sandstone poked
out of the bareness.



Enid came up beside him, saying nothing.



"We have it to ourselves," he said. "The traveler knew

what it was doing. Except for a desert area, it picked the

most out-of-the-way place it could find."



"The traveler had nothing to do with it," she said. "It

was just happenstance."



The sun was halfway down the sky—Boone took it to

be the western sky. Why he thought so, he didn't know.



A lone bird drifted above, not moving its wings, coast-

ing on a thermal; a scavenger out to spot a meal. Small

boulders lay here and there. Out from behind one of them

came a wriggler. It wriggled its way across the sand, mov-

ing away from them.



"He and his kind are what we have to watch out for,"

said Boone.



"A snake? What kind?"
"A rattler. A rattlesnake."



"I never heard of that kind. My acquaintance with

snakes has been limited. I don't think I have seen more

than one or two in all my life."



"Some of them can be dangerous. Not necessarily

deadly, but dangerous."



"The rattlesnake?"



"Dangerous. Sometimes deadly. But he warns you,

buzzing at you with the rattles on his tail. Not always,

but usually."



"You asked what we should do. I said I had no idea.

How about you?"



"It's early yet," said Boone. "We've barely gotten

here. You bought us some time. Let us use it."

"You mean to stay here?"




56
CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



57



' 'Not for long. There is nothing to keep us, nothing here

at all. But here we can sit quietly for a while, collect our

thoughts, and talk things over. In the meantime, let's look



around a bit."

He started off, along the base of the butte. Enid trotted



to keep up.



"What are you looking for?"



"Nothing, actually. Just the lay of the land, to get some

idea where we are and what might be here. It's just pos-

sible there might be a spring flowing out of the butte.

That's sandstone up there on the slope. Water percolates

down through sandstone. Sometimes, when it hits a less

porous stratum, it flows out."
"You know the strangest things."



"Just simple woodcraft. Knowing how nature works."



"You're a barbarian, Boone."



He chuckled. "Yes, of course I am. What did you



expect?"



"Our people were barbarians, too, up in the time we

were bom in. But not like you. We had lost touch with

what you call nature. Up in our time there is little nature

left. Wild nature, that is."



A jagged spur of limestone jutted out of the side of the

butte. As they were circling around it, a gray animal

jumped out from behind the outthrust of stone, ran for

fifty feet or so, then swung around to have a look at them.



Boone laughed. "A wolf," he said. "One of the big

prairie wolves. He's puzzled about what we are."



The wolf did look puzzled. He sidled cautiously away

from them, dancing a humorous little jig, then, apparently

satisfied that they represented no danger, sat down with
all deliberation, wrapping his tail comfortably around his

feet. Watching them closely, he lifted his upper lip in the

beginning of a snarl, then let it relax, covering the fangs



he had displayed.



"There will be others around," said Boone. "Ordinar-

ily, wolves don't travel alone."



"Are they dangerous?"



"Hungry enough, I suppose they could be. This one



looks well fed."



"Wolves and rattlesnakes," said Enid. "I'm not sure

I like this place."



As they rounded the spur of sandstone, Boone halted

so suddenly that Enid, following close .behind, bumped

into him.



The spur of sandstone curved inward, back into the

butte, then curved out again, forming a rocky pocket. On

the inside curve of the pocket stood a massive beast.
A great, black, woolly head with a pair of heavy horns,

six feet or more from tip to tip, faced them. Its head hung

low. A heavy beard hanging from the lower jaw swept the

ground.



Boone grasped Enid by the arm and slowly backed

away. The red-rimmed eyes of the beast glared at them

out of a tangle of wool.



"Easy," warned Boone. "No quick moves. He could

charge us. The wolves have been pestering him. He is old

and desperate."



Reaching the point of the spur they had rounded to step

into the pocket, Boone stopped. He let loose of Enid's

arm and, using both hands, lifted the rifle to ready.



"A buffalo," he said. "A bison. Americans called them

buffalo."



"He's so big!"



"An old bull. He'll run a ton or better. Not the bison

of the twentieth century. An earlier type. Latifrons,

maybe. I don't know."
"But wolves, you say. Wolves are no match for him."



"He's old and probably sick. In the end they'll wear

him down. Wolves have the patience to wait. He's got

his back to the wall, making his last stand."



"There are a couple of wolves over there. Another part-

way up the slope."



"I told you," said Boone. "They hunt in packs."



"That poor bull," she said. "Is there anything we can

do to help him?"



"The kindest thing would be to shoot him, but I can't

do that now. He still may have a chance to get away,

although I doubt it. You see that bird up there?"



"I saw it a while ago, just floating in circles."




58 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
"He's waiting. He knows what the end will be. Once

the wolves are done, there'll be something left for him.

Come on away. We'll look for water elsewhere."



A short time later, they found water, a small seepage

trickling out from under a sandstone ledge. It went no-

where, soaking into the thirsty ground, forming a small

spot ofwetness before it disappeared into the soil. Boone

scraped out a hole into which it could collect. They went

back to the traveler to find something that would serve

as a water bucket. All they could find was a small sau-

cepan. When they returned to the pool Boone had dug,

enough water had collected to fill the pan.



Boone saw that he had been right about the sun. It had

been in the western sky. It had moved appreciably closer

to the horizon.



"There'll be wood up in that juniper thicket," he said.

"We'll need a fire."



"I wish we had an axe," said Enid. "I went through

the stuff Horace flung into the traveler. Food, blankets,

this saucepan, a frying pan, a fire-starter, but no axe."
"We'll get along," said Boone.



They made two trips to the junipers, hauling in more

than a night's supply of wood. By that time the sun had

set. Boone started a fire while Enid rummaged through

the rucksack to find food.



"I think the best bet is the ham," she said. "There also

is a loaf of bread. How does that sound to you?"



"It seems excellent," said Boone.



Sitting beside the fire, they munched ham sandwiches

as night closed down. A wolf was lamenting somewhere

nearby, and from farther off came other sounds Boone

could not identify. As the dark deepened, stars came out,

and Boone, staring up at them, tried to make out if there

were any changes in the constellations. In a couple of

instances he thought there were, but he was not well

enough acquainted with the constellations of his own time

to determine if there were changes or not. Some distance

out beyond the fire, spots of light, side by side, showed

up.



"Those are wolves?" asked Enid.
HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                  59



"More than likely. It's possible they may never have

seen fire before. And they've never seen or smelled a

human. They are curious, probably frightened as well. At

least apprehensive. They'll sneak in and watch us. That

is all they'll do."



"Are you sure of that?"



"Sure enough," he said. "They have the bull staked

out. When they get hungry enough, they'll close in on

him. Maybe one or two of them will die, but the rest of

them will eat. They're waiting for him to weaken a bit

more before they have a try at him."



"It's horrible," she said. "This eating one another."



"Just like us. This ham . . ."



"I know. I know. But the ham's a little different. The

hog was raised for slaughter."
"But when you get right down to it, one thing dies so

that something else may live."



"When you get right down to it," she said, "none of

us is very civilized. There's another thing I have won-

dered about. When you got free of the rosebush and were

legging it for the traveler, with the monster breathing

down your neck, I had expected you to disappear."



"Disappear? Why should I disappear?"



"You told us about it, you remember. How you can

step around a corner ..."



"Oh, that. I guess the monster wasn't any real danger.

You were waiting for me and the port was open. The

stepping around a corner seems only to be a matter of the

last resort."



"And something else. In New York you stepped around

a corner, hauling Corcoran with you, and were in Martin's

traveler. Where did you go those other times?"



"Strange," he said. "I don't actually remember. I prob-
ably was wherever I went for only a very short time. A

moment or so and then I was back again. Into my own

world."



"It had to be more than a moment or two. You had to

stay there long enough for the danger to get over."



"Yes, you're right, but I never tried to get it figured

out. I guess I didn't want to face it. It was so damn con-



60



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



61



fusing, so unbelievable. I remember telling myself once

that there must have been some factor of time disparity,

but I didn't follow it up. It was too scary."



"But where were you? You must have had some



impression."
"Each time it was terribly fuzzy, as if I were standing

in a heavy fog. There were objects out there in the fog

but I never really saw them. I only sensed there was some-

thing there, and it scared me. Why are you so interested?"



"Time, that's what I am interested in. I thought that

probably you had moved in time."



"I can't be sure I moved in time. I only thought I might

have. It afforded an easy explanation for a procedure that

was impossible. One always seeks for answers, usually

easy, simple answers. Even when the easy answers aren't



understandable."



"We have time travel," she said, "and none of us, I

am sure, really understands it. We stole it from the In-

finites. To steal time travel was the one way we could

fight back, the one way we could flee. The human race

had far space travel before the Infinites showed up. I think

it was our far travel that aroused the interest of the In-

finites in us. I've often wondered if some of the very

primitive principles of time might not have made our

many-times-faster-than-light travel possible. Time is

somehow tied into space, but I have never known quite
how."



"You stole this time travel you have now from the In-

finites. Yet you call yourselves barbarians. Hell, you're

not barbarians. Anyone who can steal time factors and

make them work ..."



"There were others up there in the future, I am sure,

who could have used time travel better. But they weren't

interested. Mechanisms, even the sophisticated mecha-

nism of time travel, were no longer concerns of theirs.

They had reached a higher plane."



"They were decadent," said Boone. "They gave up

their humanity."



"What is humanity?" she asked.



"You can't believe that. You are here, not up there

million years from now."



"I know. And still how can anyone be absolutely sure

Horace is always sure that he is right, of course, but Hor-

ace is a bigot. Emma is sure Horace is right. That's blind,

stupid faith on her part. I'm not sure about David. He's
happy-go-lucky. I don't think he really cares."



"I think he does," said Boone. "When it comes down

to the crunch, he'll care."



"There was so much else the human race could have

done," she said. "So many things yet that could be done.

And then, if history is right, quite suddenly humanity lost

interest in doing things. Could there have been some in-

herent braking system built into their intelligence, some-

thing that warned them to slow down? I've thought about

it and thought about it. I go around in circles. I'm cursed

with the kind of mind that is forced to see and consider

all sides of a question, all the approaches that I can puzzle

out."



"You had better slow down," said Boone. "You're not

going to solve it all tonight. You should be getting some

sleep, back in the traveler. I'll stay out here and keep the

fire going."



"The wolves will sneak up on you."



"I sleep light. I'll wake at regular intervals to tend the

fire; so long as there is a fire, the wolves will keep their
distance."



"I'd rather be out here with you. I'd feel safer."



"It's up to you. You'd be safer in the traveler."



"I'd suffocate in there. I'll go and get some blankets.

You want a blanket, don't you?"



He nodded. "As the night goes on, it could get chilly

out here."



The moon was coming up, a great, bloated, yellow

moon swimming up over the naked, ashen buttes. The

land seemed empty. Nothing moved, nothing made a

sound. Even the watching wolves were gone; no glowing

eyes stared in from beyond the campfire. Then he saw

the soft movement of a shadow through the moonlight.

They still were out there, like so many drifting shadows.




CLIFFORD D. SIMAK                               HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



He felt some of the emptiness and the loneliness lift from
the land.



Enid came back and gave him a blanket.



"Will one be enough?" she asked.



"Enough. I'll drape it over my shoulders."



"You mean you'll sleep sitting up?"



"It'll not be the first time. It keeps a man alert. You

might doze off, but if you do, you wake."



"I've never heard such foolishness," she said. "You

are a true barbarian."



He chuckled at her.



Half an hour later, when he rose to his feet to place

more wood upon the fire, she was asleep, wrapped in her



blanket.



The fire replenished, he sat down again, pulled the blan-

ket close about his shoulders, wrapping it well about him
and placing the rifle in his lap.



Later, when he awoke, the moon was well up the sky.

The fire had burned down somewhat, but still had plenty

of fuel. He let his head droop and was half asleep again

when, rousing for an instant, he saw someone sitting

across the fire from him. The sitter was wrapped in an

indistinct covering of some sort and wore what seemed

to be a conical hat that had fallen down across his face.

Boone sat quietly, not moving, still fogged with sleep.

Through slitted eyes he watched the one across the fire

from him, wondering vaguely if there was actually some-

one sitting there, or was it no more than sleep-hazed hal-

lucination? The other did not stir. A wolf so distorted by

the mist of sleep that he seemed a sitting man—a wolf

companionably sitting across the fire? It was no wolf,

Boone assured himself. Forcing himself out of his leth-

argy, he struggled to his feet. At his first motion, the thing

across the fire was gone. There had been nothing there,

he told himself; it had been no more than a waking dream.



Using a stick of firewood to rake scattered coals and

the half-burned wood together, he piled on more fuel.

Then, wrapping the blanket closely about himself, he fell



asleep again.
He woke gradually, as a man would normally wake, but



with a warning growing slowly from somewhere inside

himself. Tensed against the warning, he opened his eyes

a slit and there was a wolf, sitting in front of him, almost

nose to nose with him. Opening his eyes a little wider, he

found himself staring into yellow, feral eyes that glared

back unblinkingly.



His startled mind screamed for action, but he held his

body firm. If he made any sudden motion, he knew, those

heavy jaws could take off his face.



The wolf lifted its upper lip in the beginning of a snarl,

then let the lip drop back. Otherwise it did not move.



Unaccountably, Boone felt insane laughter rising in him

at this grotesque situation in the midst of primordial noth-

ingness—a wolf and a man sitting nose to nose. He spoke

softly, barely moving his lips. "Hiya, pup." At the sound,

the wolf wriggled back a little on its seat, increasing the

distance between them by a foot or so.



The fire was almost out, Boone saw. The alarm clock

inside his brain had failed him and he had overslept.
The wolfs lip twitched as if to begin another snarl, but

there was no snarl. Its ears, which had been laid back,

tipped forward, like those of an inquisitive dog. Boone

felt the urge to reach out a hand to pat the seemingly

friendly head. Good, hard sense restrained the impulse.

The wolf wriggled back a little farther, sliding on its

bottom.



Out some distance beyond the fire stood several other

wolves, ears pitched forward, watching closely to see

what might happen next.



With a leisurely movement, the wolf rose to its feet and

backed away. Boone stayed sitting, his fingers closing

hard upon the rifle, although, he told himself, there was

no need of that. The incident was over. Both he and the

wolf had played it cool and there was no danger now, if

there had ever been a danger. More than likely the wolf

had never meant him harm. The fire had gone out, and

the wolf had moved in closer, intrigued and puzzled by

this new kind of animal that had suddenly appeared in its

hunting ground, driven by canine curiosity to see what

kind of thing it was.
64 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



The wolf was retreating, moving easily and deliber-

ately, with a sidewise motion. Then, with a fine noncha-

lance, it turned its back on him and went loping off to join

the other wolves.



Boone shook off the blanket and rose to his feet. The

fire was not dead as yet. Brushing away the overlying ash,

he uncovered a tiny core of fire, fed it with tiny twigs of

dead juniper. It blazed up, and he fed it other fuel. When

he rose from the flames, the wolves were gone.



Exploring in the rucksack, he found a package of oat-

meal. Water was still left in the saucepan, and he poured

it into the skillet. He dumped oatmeal into the saucepan,

added water from the skillet, found a spoon, and stirred

the gruel. When Enid awoke and sat up in her blanket,

he was squatted by the fire, cooking breakfast. The east-

ern sky was beginning to lighten and the air was chill.



Enid came to the fire and squatted beside it, holding

out her hands to warm them. "What have you there?"
"Oatmeal. I hope you like oatmeal."



"Ordinarily, I like it. But I suppose there is no sugar

or milk. Horace wouldn't have thought of those."



"There is still some ham. Maybe other stuff as well.

When I found the oatmeal, I looked no further."



"I can gag it down," she said. "At least it will be

warm."



When it was cooked, they both gagged it down. She

had been right; there was no sugar or milk.



Finished with breakfast, Boone said, "I'll go to the

spring and wash the dishes, then bring back more water."



"While you are doing that, I'll pack everything back

into the traveler. We don't want to leave it lying around."



"Do you want me to leave the rifle with you?"



She made a face. "I have no idea how to use it. Besides,

I doubt there is any danger."
He hesitated, then said, "I don't suppose there is. In

case something does happen, get into the traveler and

close the port."



At the spring he met two wolves, who were lapping

water from the spring hole. They retreated politely and

let him wash the dishes and fill the pan with water. After



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                65



he left he glanced back. The two had moved in on the

spring again and were busily lapping water.



Back at the camp, Enid was crouched beside the fire.

She waved her hand in welcome when she saw him com-

ing. Standing beside her at the fire, he asked, "Do you

have any idea what we should do?"



She shook her head. "I haven't even thought about it.

If I had some idea where the others could be, we could

go there. But they probably did the same as we did—left

as quickly as they could, just anywhere to get away."



"There's an awful lot of time to flounder around in if

we have no idea where to go," he said. "Not much sense
in leaving here, it seems to me, until we know where to

go."



"Eventually Henry will sniff us out. I assume he is with

one of the other two travelers."



"Eventually could be a long time," said Boone. "I'm

not about to spend the rest of my days in a continent

empty of people. I'm sure you must feel the same. We

could go someplace else more to our liking."



"Yes, we could do that," she said. "But not for a while.

If we left a trail somehow that could be followed, we

should not break it. We should stay here and hope that

Henry finds us."



He squatted down across the fire from her. "There

could be worse places," he said. "We're in no danger

here. But I suspect that after a time it could become a

little boring. Just plains and buttes, buzzards in the sky,

wolves, and bison on the hoof. Nothing ever taking

place."



"We'd run out of food," she said.



"There is plenty of food. Bison and other meat ani-
mals." He patted the rifle. "We'll live as long as this holds

out. After the last cartridge, we can make lances, perhaps

bows and arrows."



"It won't come to that," she told him. "Before it does,

we'll leave."



He reached for the pile of wood, laid a few sticks on

the fire. "We'll have to go for more of this. Our supply

is running low."



66 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY 67



"Let's get in a good pile of it this time," she said. "We

don't want to have to run up to that thicket every day to

bring in wood."



A low rumbling, from somewhere close by, brought

both of them to their feet. The rumbling ceased, then came

again, changing to a bellow.



"It's the bull," said Boone. "He's in some sort of

trouble."



Enid shuddered. "The wolves are moving in."
"I'll go and see," said Boone. He started and she trot-

ted along beside him.



"No," he said. "No, you stay here. I don't know what

I'll find."



Loping along, he came to the sandstone outcropping,

ran around it, and into the rocky pocket where they had

found the bull. The bull was backed against the sharp

incline of the spur, his rump pressed tight against the rock.

Facing him were half a dozen wolves, darting in at him

with short rushes, then spinning about and away to escape

the slashing of his horns. The bull was bellowing angrily,

but with desperation in the anger. His head was held low;



his bellowing came in short, hard gasps. He kept swinging

his head from side to side to bring his horns in play against

the menace of the wolves. His beard swept the ground as

he swung his head. His flanks were quivering and it was

apparent that not for much longer could he stand at bay,

fighting off his enemies.



Boone lifted the rifle, paused for a moment before he

brought it to his shoulder. The bull swung its head to stare

at him, its red eyes peering out of the matted fur. Boone
lowered the rifle.



"Not now, old man," he said. "Not yet. When they

close in, you'll get one or two of them and I owe you

that."



The bull's stare was unblinking. His bellowing sank to

a mumble. The wolves, disturbed by Boone's intrusion,

moved off.



Boone backed slowly off, wolves and bison watching

him intently. I'm the intruder here, he thought. I'm an

unknown and unexpected factor introduced into this en-

vironment. And I have no business here, no right to in-

terfere. For untold centuries old bull bison, robbed of

their strength, grown slow with years, had fed the wolves.

Here wolves were the certified predators, ancient bison

the certified victims. It was the scheme of life, the way

that things were done, and no referee was needed to pass

judgment.



"Boone!"



At the cry Boone spun about and raced around the spur.

Enid was standing by the fire and pointing up the hill.
Coming down the slope rapidly, heading straight for the

camp, was the unlikely monster that had driven them from

Hopkins Acre. The spiderweb glinted in the morning sun.

Peering over the top of the web was the huge, shining eye

and some sort of dark mechanism was emerging from the

web.



He had no chance to cover the distance to the fire,

Boone knew, no chance to do anything at all to stop the

monster.



"Run!" he shouted. "Into the traveler. Go!"



"But, Boone . . ."



"Save the traveler," he bellowed at her. "Save the

traveler!"



She ran for the traveler, leaped into it. The monster

was almost on top of it, not a great deal more than a

hundred yards away from it.



Sobbing, Boone raised the rifle. The eye, he thought,

that great, round, shining eye. Probably not the way to

do it, but the best that he could think of.
His finger tightened on the trigger, but, even as he

began the squeeze, the traveler disappeared—the space

it had occupied was empty.



Boone eased his finger and lowered the rifle. The mons-

ter overran the area where the traveler had been, then

swiftly swung around so that it faced Boone. The great

eye, now raised above the web, stared at him, the web

glittering in the sunlight. The mechanism was receding

back into the web of brightness,



"All right," Boone said to it. "Now I'll take you on,"




68 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



He had six cartridges; he could fire at least four of them

before it could reach him. First the eye, then the web . . .



But the monster did not come at him. It did not move

at all. He knew that it must be aware of him; he could

feel it seeing him.
He waited for it and it made no move. It knew that he

was here and it knew him for what he was. But would it

know, he asked himself, that he was not one of those it

was hunting down? If the monster was what it seemed, a

hunting robot, then it was entirely possible that it could

be very narrowly programmed to its targets. But on the

face of it that did not appear too probable. The logical

assumption would be that it would include among its tar-

gets any human associating with the people from the

future.



Boone took a slow step forward, then waited. The

monster did not stir. Was it, he wondered, playing a game

of cat and mouse, waiting until he was close enough to

catch him in a rush before he had a chance to employ a

defensive mechanism?



He didn't have to go back to the campfire, he remem-

bered. There was nothing there except the saucepan and

the skillet. While he had gone to the spring, Enid had

packed the rest of the provisions into the traveler—the

food, the blankets, the rucksack, everything they had. All

he had was the rifle and the cartridges it carried.



Realizing this, he felt a terrible nakedness. He was on

his own. Enid would do her best to come back and pick
him up. But would she be able to? He knew nothing about

the capabilities or the operation of a traveler or how pro-

ficient Enid might be in its operation.



The monster moved, but not toward him. It moved

slowly, tentatively, out toward the plain, as if it might be

uncertain what to do. Maybe, Boone told himself, it was

worried. It had botched its job, that much was certain. It

had failed at Hopkins Acre and here it had failed again.



The monster moved beyond the fire and went out onto

the plain, a twinkling object of sunburst glory against the

drabness of the level land and the dusty buttes.



Keeping a wary eye on it, Boone walked to the fire and



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                  69



piled more wood on it. Before too long he would have to

climb the butte and bring in more wood from the clump

of juniper. Elsewhere he might find a more convenient

campsite, but he could not go too far. When Enid re-

turned—if she returned—she would come here. When the

traveler reappeared, he would have to be here, waiting

for it.
He knelt beside the fire, laying down the rifle, and went

through his pockets, taking inventory. He pulled a hand-

kerchief from his hip pocket and spread it out, laying on

it the items that he found in other pockets. A lighter, a

pipe, a half-empty packet of tobacco, ajackknife that he

had carried for years for sentimental reasons, a small

notebook, a ball-point pen, a pencil stub, a couple of paper

clips, a handful of coins, his billfold with a few bills, credit

cards, his driver's license—and that was all. He had trav-

eled light when he had gone to the Everest with Corcoran,

leaving the rest of the junk he would normally carry on

his person in the drawer of the nightstand beside the bed.

But he had two essentials: a lighter, which he would have

to use sparingly; and a knife—a poor, cheap knife, but

still a knife, a cutting edge.



He restored the items to his pockets, then rose, dusting

off his trousers.



The monster, he saw, had changed directions. It had

circled and now was moving back toward him. Boone

picked up the rifle, hoping that he would not have to use

it. He had only six cartridges and none of them could be

wasted. But where did one shoot a robot to bring it down?
From the other side of the spur of sandstone that ex-

tended out beyond the pocket where the bull stood at bay

came occasional bellowing. The wolves must be at the

bison once again.



It was unreal, thought Boone—all of it unreal. Even

knowing it was happening, he still found some intellectual

difficulty in believing it. Any minute now it would go away

and he would find himself in a world he knew, among

friends and without any thought of a killer robot, an em-

battled bull, or a wolf nose to nose with him beside a dying

campfire.



70



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



71



The monster was much closer now, heading straight

for him. It was much bigger than he had thought it was

and still not quite believable. The monster seemed in no

hurry. The bellowing from the direction of the sand-
stone spur became thunderous, filled with rage and rising

desperation.



Boone shifted his feet, planted them solidly. He raised

the rifle, but did not snug it to his shoulder. He was ready

now, he told himself, set for whatever happened. The

great eye first and, if it seemed necessary, the center of



the web.



The bull burst into view in a mad gallop around the

sandstone spur. He was no longer bellowing. His head

was carried high, the sun glinting off the six-foot spread

of horn. Behind him loped the wolves, not trying to close

in, taking their time. They knew they had him now; out

in the open they could come at him from all sides and pull

him down.



Suddenly the bull shifted direction and his head came

down. The monster tried to dodge away, but its movement

was too late. The full impact of the bull's charge caught

the monster low and lifted it. A vicious twist of the bison's

head speared it in midair on one sweeping hom. It spun

in the air and the bull's head twisted the other way. One

hom came clear and the second caught it as it came down.

The gleaming eye burst into shards, the web hung loose
and twisted. The monster fell to the ground and the bull

rushed over it, the driving hoofs striking and shattering

it still further.



The bull stumbled and fell to his knees. With a great

effort he regained his feet and swung away, bellowing in

blind fear. Behind him lay the monster, a heap of shattered

wreckage. The bull came to a stop, swinging its massive

head from side to side in an effort to locate its tormentors.

The wolves, which had retreated when the bull had struck

the monster, halted their flight, turning about and waiting,

tongues lolling out of the sides of their mouths. They

danced in anticipation. The bull was quivering—quivering

all over—weak and ready to collapse. One hind leg buc-

kled and he almost went down, but stiffened the leg and

stayed erect.



Boone lifted the rifle, lined up the sights for a heart

shot, and pressed the trigger. The bull fell so hard he

bounced. Boone jacked another cartridge into the breech.

He said to the bull, "I owed you that cartridge. Now they

won't eat you alive." The wolves were scurrying, fright-

ened by the sound of the shot. In a little while they'd come

sneaking back again; there would be feasting this night

out beyond the campfire.
Boone walked slowly over to the monster, kicking aside

broken fragments of it that lay in his path. It was a tangled

mess. Looking down upon it, Boone was unable to re-

construct in his mind the shape that it had taken. The

shock of the bull's charge and the ripping thrusts of the

horns had scrambled the robot. The gleaming eye had

disappeared; the web was torn beyond recognition. Lying

in distorted fashion were twisted lengths of metal that at

one time could have been operable appendages.



The monster spoke inside his mind.



Mercy, it said.



"The hell with you," said Boone, speaking before as-

tonishment could dry up his speech.



Don't leave me here, the monster pleaded. Not in this

wilderness. I did no more than my job. I am a simple

robot. I have no basic evil in me.



Boone turned about and shuffled back to the campfire.

Quite suddenly he felt drained. The tension had snapped

and he was limp. The monster was dead and yet, out of

the midst of its death, it spoke to him. He stood at the
campfire undecided for a moment and then went up the

slope to the clump of juniper. He made three trips, hauling

in a good supply of wood. He broke it into proper lengths

and stacked it in a neat rank. Then and not until then, he

squatted beside the fire and let his mind dwell upon his

predicament.



He was marooned in primitive North America, with no

other human being closer than hither Asia, across a land

bridge that would, in later years, become the Bering

Strait. If he finally were condemned to stay within this




72



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



73



time frame, he quite possibly could walk those thousands

of miles to hunt out other humans—and to what end, he
asked himself. The chances were that they would either

kill him or make of him a captive.



There was a better way—to wait for someone from

Hopkins Acre to come hunting him. Enid, he was sure,

would return if it were possible. Jay, he was certain,

would move heaven and earth to rescue him, but Jay



would need the help of others.



At the best, he admitted, his circumstance was not too

hopeful. On the face of it, he probably would not be im-

portant to the people of the future. He was, after all, no

more than an intruder, perhaps an unwelcome intruder,

who had come blundering in on them.



The monster spoke to him again, a faint and distant



voice.



Boone! Boone, please have mercy on me!



"Go chase yourself," said Boone, muttering to himself

rather than to the monster, for he had no faith in the mons-

ter's voice. There probably was no voice; the words were

no more than his own perverse imagination.
The wolves had come back to the bull—seven of them

now, where he had never seen more than six before—

and were tearing at the carcass.



"Good eating to you," he said to them. Both the hide

and the meat of the ancient animal would be tough. It

would take some effort to rip through the hide to get at

the flesh, which would not be the best of eating. But to

a wolf it would be meat to fill an empty gut.



Before the day was over, Boone would need some of

the meat; he had nothing else to eat.



It would be dangerous to walk out to the carcass and

drive the wolves away so that he could slice out some

meat. The only tool he had was a jackknife of the very

cheapest sort, put together so shoddily that any undue

pressure might break it all apart. He'd have to wait a while

until the wolves were less hungry and therefore less pos-

sessive. By that time, perhaps, they would have so torn

the hide as to expose areas of flesh from which he could



hack a chunk for his own consumption. He'd be, he de-

cided, the scavenger to the wolves.
He rose from his squatting position before the fire and

began walking, beating out a path from the fire to the

sandstone spur and back again. Pacing, he tried to for-

mulate a plan for his survival. His ability to step around

a corner worked only under extraordinary stress. More

than likely, after an indeterminate time, it would bring

him back to exactly where he was. It had been only by a

fluke that his strange ability had taken him and Jay around

a comer into Martin's traveler. He couldn't count on the

same thing happening again.



He still had five cartridges in the rifle and with each of

the cartridges he could bring down a more than adequate

hunk of meat. Once it was down, however, he either

would have to defend it or hide it against the scavengers,

and it soon would deteriorate beyond any possible use.

He could smoke it, of course, but he was not up on the

procedure for the smoking of meat; he could salt it, but

he had no salt. He was innocent of all the proper tech-

niques to wrest a living from a land like this. He could,

perhaps, find fruit or roots that could aid in his survival,

but how could he know which of them would be safe to

eat and which would poison him? So the problem, boiled

down, came to how he could, day after day, hunt down

and collect enough protein to keep his body functional.
That meant weapons that he could devise. And if that

was to be the plan, he must get at it immediately, gaining

some expertise in their manufacture and use before the

last cartridge had been fired. The first step would be to

find stone that could be worked. The sandstone ledges

jutting out of the butte held nothing he could use. But

there were other places where he might find the necessary

stone.



Finally he halted his pacing and squatted down beside

the fire. The wolves were feasting, burrowing into the

ripped-open body cavity of the bull. From time to time

they raised their blood-smeared muzzles to stare at him

and then went back to feeding. In another couple of hours,

it might be safe for him to walk out and claim his portion




74 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY 75



of the kill. The sun stood close to noon or a bit beyond.

The vultures were gathering. A dozen or more of them

circled high in the sky, dropping lower with each circle
that they made.



The monster spoke again. Boone, be reasonable. Listen

to me.



"I'm listening," said Boone.



I am robbed of all my senses. I cannot see and I cannot

hear. All I can perceive is what you say to me and so far

all that you have said has been most unkindly. I am noth-

ing. I am a nothingness wrapped in nothingness. And yet

I am aware of self. I could go on like this for uncounted

millennia, knowing I am nothing, unable to reach out. You

are my only hope. If you do not have mercy on me, I shall

exist this way forever, buried by sand and dust with no

other being aware that I am here. I shall be the living dead.



"You are eloquent," said Boone.



Is that all you have to say?



"I can think of nothing further."



Dig me out, the monster pleaded. Dig me out of the

wreckage that I am and keep me with you. Take me when

you go. Anything, just so I am not alone.
"You want me to rescue you?"



Yes, please rescue me.



"That might be only a temporary solution to your prob-

lem," Boone told the monster. "By your own act, I may

be sentenced to stay here in this wilderness, as you term

it. I may die here and you will be left alone again, facing

the same fate that you face now."



Even so, for a time we would be together. We would

not be alone.



"I think," said Boone, "I'd prefer being alone."



But there is always hope. Something could happen that

would save us both.



Boone did not answer.



You do not answer, said the monster.



"There is nothing more to say. I'll have none of you.

You understand that? I'll have none of you."
To have mercy on an ordinary enemy—yes, that would

be nobly human. But this was no ordinary enemy. Trying



to figure out, for his own peace of mind, what kind of

enemy it was, he found he could put no name to it.



It could all be a trap, he told himself, and felt the better

once he had thought of that. Out there, somewhere in that

tangled mass of wreckage that had been the monster in

its totality, lay one small component that could be the

monster's brain or a fantastically complex computer that

was the monster's essence. Should he paw among the

wreckage to find and retrieve the essence, he well could

become the victim of the monster, seized by a still-op-

erative component that would make an end of him.



No, thank you very much, he said to himself; I am right,

I'll have none of it.



The wolves had finished with their more voracious eat-

ing. Several of them had stretched out on the ground,

looking uncommonly satisfied, while others still worried

at the meat, but with no great urgency. The vultures were

much lower in the sky. The sun had moved a considerable

distance down the west.
Boone picked up his rifle and walked toward the kill.

The wolves watched his advance with interest; when he

moved up close, they moved away, then took a stand,

doing a little growling at him. He waved the rifle gently

at them, and they moved off a little further. Some of them

sat down to watch.



Reaching the bull, he leaned the rifle against it and

opened his jackknife. It seemed a feeble tool. The gut

cavity of the bull had been ripped open, and some of the

skin had been torn free of one of the hams. The flesh on

the ham, Boone knew, would be tough meat. But there

was little possibility that the knife blade would cut through

the bull's tough hide to reach the better cuts. He'd have

to take what he could.



He seized the torn hide with both hands and jerked with

all his strength. The hide peeled back reluctantly. He set

his feet and jerked again. It peeled off farther this time.

The knife, to his amazement, did a better cutting job than

he had thought it would. He sliced off a large cut of meat,

laid it to one side, and then cut off another—far more

than he could eat at one sitting, but this probably would
76



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



77



be the only chance he had. Other wolves would drift in,

drawn by the scent of blood, and vultures would drop

down. By morning's light, there would be little left.



A huge wolf, bigger than any of the others, advanced

toward the kill, snarling as it came. Others rose to their

feet to follow. Boone picked up the rifle, shook it at them,

roaring viciously. The big wolf halted and so did the oth-

ers. Boone laid down the rifle and cut another slab of



meat.



Never taking his eyes off the wolves, Boone collected

the meat and began backing off. He moved slowly. Move

too fast, he told himself, and the wolves might rush him.
The wolves watched, not moving, interested in what he

would do next. He kept on backing off. When he was

better than halfway to the fire, they rushed forward, clos-

ing in on the dead bison, snapping and snarling at one

another. They paid him no further attention.



Back at the fire, he found a clean, grassy area and

dropped the meat on it. Ten times more than he could eat

at one time. He stood looking at it, considering what to



do.



It wouldn't keep. In a couple of days it would be going

bad. The thing to do, he thought, was cook it all. Cook

it, eat what he needed, wrap the rest in his undershirt,

bury the parcel in the ground, then sit on the hole where

he had buried it. Unprotected, it would be dug up by the

wolves, once they had finished off the bull. With him sit-

ting on it, it would be safe. Or he hoped it would.



He set to work. Selecting stout limbs from the pile of

juniper he had stacked for firewood, he trimmed them to

proper lengths, sharpened their ends. He cut the meat into

smaller pieces, thrust the sharpened ends of the limbs
through them, impaling several gobbets of meat on each

of the stakes. The fire had burned down to a bed of coals.

He raked still-flaming chunks of wood to one side and

used them to start another fire. He jammed the stakes

into the ground, canting them to extend, with their freights

of meat, above the coals.



He sat down and watched the cooking, adjusting the

stakes from time to time. His mouth watered at the smell



of the cooking meat. But mouth-watering as it might be,

it wouldn't be tasty. He had no salt with which to season

it.



The wolves were still quarreling over the carcass of the

bull. A few of the vultures had dropped down, but had

been chased off by the wolves. Now they sat, hunched,

at a respectful distance, waiting for their chance at meat.

The sun was just above the horizon. Night was coming

on.



Out there on the plain lay the carcass of a bison that

had been known in Boone's time only as a fossil. Further

out would be other living fossils—mastodons, mam-

moths, primitive horses, and perhaps camels. Even the

wolves feasting on the bison might be fossils.
Crouched beside the bed of coals, Boone kept close

watch on the cooking meat. Pangs of hunger assailed him.

Since the almost inedible oatmeal in the morning, he had

eaten nothing. He had fallen on hard times.



When he had jumped into the traveler with Enid, he

recalled, the thought had crossed his mind that they would

go into the future, instead of to this world of extinct beasts

and living fossils. Then the urgency of those last seconds

at Hopkins Acre had driven the thought from his mind.



There would have been something to interest him in the

future, but there was very little here. He thought about

the future he had heard of at Hopkins Acre—a world al-

most empty of visible humanity, although humankind still

was there as incorporeal beings, pure intelligence, with

the survival factor that had made men the masters of the

planet finally refined into small quantitive qualities that

were no more than dust motes, if even that.



Change, he thought. Earth had undergone change dur-

ing the nearly five billion years of its existence. What

seemed at first small factors became in time significant in

a process that no intelligence could pinpoint before it was
too late to take measures to counteract.



Even given intelligence, the great reptiles could not

have guessed what was happening to bring them to ex-

tinction sixty-five million years ago. Other forms of life

had suffered extinction that could not be foreseen. He had




78 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



read that the first great extinction had come two billion

years ago when the first green plants converted carbon

dioxide to oxygen, changing Earth's atmosphere from a

reducing to an oxidizing medium, bringing death to most

earlier, more primitive forms, to whom oxygen was

poison.



There had been many times of dying; the species that

had died in the past were a hundred times more numerous

than those still living. Finally, up there in the future, it

seemed the human race was dying. Perhaps it would still

exist, but in a form that might cancel it as a factor in the

further evolution of Earth.
Enid had told him that trees would supersede mankind,

taking the place of man, once man was finally done. The

idea was ridiculous, of course. By what process or ca-

pacity could trees take the place of mankind? Yet if any-

thing were to replace humanity, it was perhaps fitting that

it should be trees. All through history, trees had been

friend of man—and man had been both friend and enemy

to trees. Men had cut down the great forests wantonly;



yet other men had cherished or, at times, even wor-

shipped trees.



One of the stakes that held the gobs of meat above the

coals tilted, its base shifting in the ground, and fell into

the fire. Cursing, Boone snatched it off the coals. Holding

the stake with one hand, he brushed the meat free of ash

with the other. It must be done enough for eating. Gin-

gerly, he slid one of the gobbets off the stake, bouncing

it in his hand. When it was cool enough, he took a bite

of it. For lack of salt it was tasteless, but its warmth and

texture felt good in his mouth. He chewed it. It took a lot

of chewing, but his stomach seemed very glad of it. Once

he had eaten all he could, he laid the stake down on a

patch of grass and took off his jacket, shirt, and under-

shirt. Stretching the undershirt out on the ground, he took
up the other stakes and stripped the meat off them into a

pile on the shirt. Threading the rest of the uncooked meat

on the stakes, he set them above the coals, put on his shirt

and jacket, and settled down to wait for the remainder of

the meat to cook.



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 79



Darkness was creeping in. He could barely make out

the wolves that still were clustered about the bison. In

the east, the sky was flushed with the rising of the moon.



He watched the meat above the coals until it was done,

pushed off the gobbets onto the undershirt, wrapped the

meat well in it, used his knife to dig a hole, placed the

meat into the hole, filled the hole even with the ground,

tamped it down, and then sat upon the hole. Anything

that wants that meat, he told himself, will have to go

through me to get it.



He felt an expansiveness and a certain pride in himself.

Whatever might happen in the days to come, he had done

well so far. He had food for several days. Perhaps he

should not have wasted the bullet, but he could not bring

himself to regret doing it. He had given the bull a quick

and decent death. If he had not, the wolves would have
pulled the old bull down and started tearing him apart

while he was still alive.



Maybe it made no difference, the wasting of the bullet.

Any time now Enid would be back to pick him up. He

thought about it for a time, trying to make himself believe

it, but not successfully. There was a good possibility she

would return, but an equally good possibility that she

wouldn't.



He turned up the collar of his coat against the chill of

night. Last night he'd had a blanket, but now he had none.

He had only the clothes he stood in. He nodded, dozing,

and woke with a start. There had been no reason to awake;



nothing was amiss. He went back to sleep, the rifle cra-

dled in his lap.



He stirred again, halfway between sleep and wakeful-

ness, and he was not alone. Across the fire from him sat,

or seemed to sit, a man wrapped in some all-enveloping

covering that might have been a cloak, wearing on his

head a conical hat that dropped down so far it hid his face.

Beside him sat the wolf—the wolf, for Boone was certain

that it was the same wolf with which he'd found himself
sitting nose to nose when he had wakened the night be-

fore. The wolf was smiling at him, and he had never

known that a wolf could smile.



80 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



He stared at the hat. Who are you? What is this about?



He spoke in his mind, talking to himself, not really to

the hat. He had not spoken aloud for fear of startling the

wolf.



The Hat replied. It is about the brotherhood of life. Who

I am is of no consequence. I am only here to act as an

interpreter.



An interpreter for whom?



For the wolf and you.



But the wolf does not talk.



No, he does not talk. But he thinks. He is greatly

pleased and puzzled.



Puzzled I can understand. But pleased?
He feels a sameness with you. He senses something in

you that reminds him of himself. He puzzles what you

are.



In time to come, said Boone, he will be one with us.

He will become a dog.



If he knew that, said The Hat, it would not impress

him. He thinks now to be one with you. An equal. A dog

is not your equal.



Sometimes dogs come very close to us.



But they are not one with you. There was another step

to take, but it was never taken. Long ago man should have

taken it. Now it is too late.



Look, said Boone, he is not one with me. The wolf is

not the same as me.



The difference, Boone, is not as great as you may think.



I like him, said Boone. I have admiration for him and

a certain understanding.
So has he for you. He sat nose to nose with you when

he could have slashed your throat. That was before you

killed the bull. He was hungry then. Your flesh could have

filled his belly.



Can you tell him, please, that I thank him that he did

not slash my throat.



I think he knows that. It was his way of saying he wants

to be a friend of yours.



Then tell him I accept his friendship, wish to be a friend

of his.



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                81



But Boone was talking to an emptiness. The Hat was

no longer there. The place he'd sat was empty.



He was no longer there, Boone told himself, because

he had never been there. It was all illusion. There was no

one but the wolf.



When he looked, the wolf was gone as well.
Boone got to his feet. He was stiff with cold. He fed

the fire more wood and stood close against it, soaking up

its heat as new, vigorous tongues of flame flared up and

ran along the wood.



He had slept for a long time. The moon had slanted far

into the west. Moonlight reflected off the shattered skel-

eton of the monster. It had been a long time since the

monster had bespoken him—if, in fact, it ever had be-

spoken him. Like The Hat, it could be fantasy.



A change had come over him, he thought. Short hours

ago he had been a hard-bitten newsman who dealt only

with facts. But now he fantasized. He talked with a hat,

squabbled with a dead monster, and saw in a wolf a friend.

Loneliness, he supposed, could drive a man to strange-

ness, but this soon? Here, however, the loneliness might

be different than ordinary loneliness, compounded by the

consideration that in all probability he was the only human

within the span of two great continents. In his time many

scientists believed that the first human had not set foot

upon the western hemisphere for at least 10,000 years

after this period. Somewhere in the vastness of Asia, bar-

baric tribes ranged the land, and farther to the west were

other men who, in another 20,000 years or so, would begin
to paint the first crude drawings of the fauna of their day

in the caves of eastern Europe. Here he was a misplaced

human, alone among wild beasts.



Warm now, he moved back and began to pace round

and round the fire. He tried to think, but there was no

beginning to his thoughts, nor was there any end. Like

his walking around the fire, his thoughts went round and

round.



The wolves were quarreling over the bison, although

the quarreling was low-key; they were not putting their

hearts into it. Far off, some animal was bawling, a steady,



82



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



83



monotonous complaint. Up the slope in the juniper

thicket, a bird chirped sadly. The moon hovered just over

the western horizon, the east began to brighten, and an-

other day was dawning.
When light came, he dug up the undershirt and took

out some meat. Hunkered beside the fire, he chewed and

chewed to break up the toughness of the fibers sufficiently

to swallow safely. Finished, he went to the spring to get

a saucepan of water, then up the hill to fetch wood for

the fire.



The realization dawned on him that the days could be

difficult to fill. He tried to think of chores that he could

invent to keep himself busy. He could think of none that

made sense enough to do them. Later he could set out to

spy the land, but there was little point in that. Later he

might have to do it, but now he had to be here when Enid

returned or someone else showed up.



Going to the sandstone spur behind which the bull had

been brought to bay, he lugged back to the camp slabs of

stone fallen from the spur, as heavy as he could manage,

and piled them on top the hole where the meat was buried.

Quite possibly roving scavengers, sniffing out the meat,

could move the stone to get it. But his wolves were too

well fed to go to all that bother.



He set out to climb the butte, toiling up its face. Finally
he reached the crest and looked out across the country.

There was not much to see. Some miles off, a herd of

herbivores were grazing, most likely bison. Skittering

bands of other animals fled across the land like shadows.

Tentatively, he identified them as pronghoms. What

looked to be a large bear waddled along a dry stream chan-

nel. Otherwise, what he saw was a lot of empty land, cut

here and there by dry watercourses and with the ever-

lasting buttes rearing up from it. Here and there along the

watercourses were groves of cottonwoods and some of

the buttes showed dark splotches that could be thickets

of shrubs or clumps of trees.



When he returned to camp, the wolves had left the bison

carcass, now little more than bones and scraps of skin

flapping in the breeze. A dozen or more vultures hopped



about, pecking viciously at one another to guard the ter-

ritory each had staked out, stripping off the last nourish-

ment remaining on the skeleton.



Boone settled down to wait as best he could. Four days

passed and there was no traveler. Boone did his chores.

Several times he inspected the wrecked monster, circling

it, keeping at a safe distance. He tried to reconstruct it

in his mind, to connect the broken parts to one another.
He could have done a better job of that if he had allowed

himself to get closer to it, picking up some of the broken

parts and inspecting them. But he shied away from that.

The monster did not speak to him, and finally he became

convinced it had never spoken to him, that his memory

of its talk was a mental aberration.



By the end of the fourth day, several meals of the meat

he had cooked still remained, but it was becoming tainted.

He still remained too civilized for his system to tolerate

tainted food.



On the morning of the fifth day, he tore a page out of

the notebook he carried in his breast pocket and, using

the pencil stub, wrote a note:



Gone hunting. Will be back directly.



He placed the note on top of the pile of rock that pro-

tected the buried meat and weighed it down with another

stone.



Setting out with the rifle, he felt a lifting of his spirits.

Finally there was something to be done, a chore that had

to be done, that was not simply work made to fill the time.
After a mile or so, the wolf showed up, trotting out from

the butte to join him. It fell in to his right, a hundred yards

distant and slightly behind him; it seemed friendly and

glad to be with him once again. He spoke to it, but the

wolf disregarded the speaking and kept on with him, pac-

ing him.



An hour or so out, he spotted a small band of prong-

homs, grazing at some distance. To his left lay a dry

stream bed. He slid into it, treading along as noiselessly

as he could. The wash tended to the right, the direction

that would bring him closer to his quarry. The wolf had

descended into the dry wash with him and was trailing




84 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



along behind. Twice Boone halted and crept carefully up

the wall of the wash to check the pronghoms. They still

remained where he had first spotted them, feeding on

sagebrush and occasional patches of grass. They seemed

undisturbed, but the range was too great; he had to move

closer. He slid back into the wash and continued on his
way, cautiously, being careful where he set his feet. The

click of a pebble could trigger the pronghoms into flight.

As if sensing the stalk, the wolf slunk along behind him.

Ten minutes later Boone crawled up the incline of the

wash again. The pronghorns were much closer than he

had calculated they would be. He slid the rifle into po-

sition, selected the animal he wanted, lined up the sights,

and fired. The pronghom leaped high into the air and fell

heavily. The rest of the band took off, bounding away,

only to stop a few hundred yards off, switching about and

looking back. When Boone climbed out of the wash, they

took off again.



With the wolf sitting to one side, Boone shouldered his

kill and set out for camp. The wolf trotted along to one

side of him, bearing the smug expression of a job well

done.



At camp Boone laboriously skinned the pronghom,

stretching out the hide on which to place the cuts of meat.

Gutting the animal, he retained the liver, then dragged the

rest of the entrails and internal organs out to the bison

skeleton. The wolf got to work on the offering. Boone

sliced the liver, impaled it on a stake and slanted it over

a bed of coals. Then he set to work dismembering the kill.
He saved the loin and one ham; what was left he carried

beyond the camp and dumped. The wolf deserted the en-

trails and moved over to the more substantial feast.



At the campfire, Boone feasted on fresh meat and began

the cooking of what was left to store against the next few

days. This could not go on, he told himself. He was living

hand to mouth, and his ability to continue even this sort

of existence was limited to the four cartridges that re-

mained in the rifle's magazine. Before they were gone,

he had to acquire another capability to feed himself. He

needed wood for a bow, tendons for strings, straight sticks



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                85



for arrows, stone to make the arrowheads and from which

he could chip a knife, for the cheap jackknife would not

stand up for long under the use to which he had to put it.



His knowledge about the making of a bow was almost

nonexistent. Still he knew the basic theory and could man-

age. He could make a poor bow and it would do until, by

trial and error, he could make a better one.



Tomorrow, he decided, he would set out in search of

wood and stone. He considered briefly a search for wood
for the bow in the juniper grove from which he had gotten

firewood. Almost instantly, he gave up the idea. Juniper,

at its best, was poor wood; and he doubted that in the

entire grove he could find a piece that could be used to

make a bow.



Two more wolves had showed up. Watching them,

Boone tried to pick out his wolf and was unable to decide

which of the three it was. By the time the sun had set,

all the meat he had left out for the wolves had disap-

peared, and the wolves were gone.



But early in the evening, shortly after the fall of night,

the wolf came back and sat across the fire from him.



Boone talked to it. "Tomorrow," he said, "I am going

on a trip to find wood and stone. I'd be glad if you'd come

along with me. It could be a hard trip. I have no way to

carry water, but I'll carry meat and will share it with

you."



It was ridiculous, he thought. The wolf could not un-

derstand a word he said, and yet talking to it made him

more secure. It was good to have anything to talk to; a

wolf was better than nothing. It was something that could
share the fire with him.



He woke in the night and the wolf still was with him.

It watched closely and companionably while he built up

the fire. He went to sleep again with the wolf still watching

him.



In the morning he wrote another note, a longer one this

time:



/ am leaving on a trip that may take several days, but

I will be back. Please wait for me. A wolf may be traveling

with me. If he is, do him no harm. He is a friend of mine.



86 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



He weighted it down on the rock pile and he and the

wolf started out. They traveled west, heading for the butte

on which Boone had detected dark splotches that he had

thought might be small trees. It seemed no more than a

good day's time away.



It was much farther. Late in the afternoon, Boone re-

alized they'd not reach it by dark. He was tired and

thirsty. They had come across no water. Perhaps, he told

himself, they'd find water on the butte. He could get
through the night without it. Dropping into a dry wash,

he walked along it until he came to a place where it curved

sharply, forming a pocket with high walls.



Collecting wood fallen from the cottonwoods, he built

a fire. He selected three pieces of the meat and tossed

them to the wolf. While the wolf gulped them down, he

squatted by the fire and ate. The meat was tender and he

had no trouble chewing it. The wolf finished and waited

expectantly for more. He tossed over another chunk.



"That's all you get," he stated. "Share and share alike,

and you've had more than I had."



Bone tired, he fell asleep soon after dark, the wolf

stretched out across the fire from him. Dawn was near

when he woke. The fire was out and he did not bother to

start it again. He gave the wolf some meat and ate some

himself. The sun was not yet up when they started out.



They reached the butte well before noon and began the

climb. This butte was much larger than the one where he

and Enid had camped; the climb was long and hard. The

wolf found water halfway up. He came back with his muz-

zle wet and dripping.
"Water," said Boone. "Show me."



The wolf stood puzzled.



"Water!" said Boone. Sticking out his tongue, he tried

to make lapping motions.



The wolf trotted off to the right, stopping now and then

to look back. Was it possible, Boone asked himself, that

it had understood? It was insane to think so, and yet he

had shared the meat—would the wolf share water?



He had been thirsty for hours, it seemed; he had tried

to wipe it from his mind, but now that he knew there must



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY               87



be water near, the thirst came raging back. His mouth and

throat were dry and it was hard to swallow.



Ahead of him, a great outcropping of stone humped out

of the slope. He tried to hurry, but the way was steep and

the sun-dried grass was slippery. He went down on his

hands and knees, scrabbling along, sobbing with his need

of water.
The stone, he saw, was limestone, not sandstone. The

limestone, he thought, must lie atop the sandstone strata

that protruded from the other butte. Limestone would not

serve as tool material, but in between its layers might lie

veins of chert or quartz.



The wall of rock reared above him. Stunted cedar trees

clung here and there upon its face. He crawled along the

steep incline that came up to the base of the wall. Loose

rock shifted under him. He had lost all track of the wolf,

but he imagined that he heard the sound of running water.



He slipped, rolled, slid again, and suddenly stopped.

Something gripped his right leg and an agonizing pain shot

through it, a pain so terrible that it left him sick and gasp-

ing, gone in the gut, his dry throat retching, and nothing

to come up.



He lay for a long moment while the pain slowly ebbed

away, then tried to sit up. He couldn't; whatever pinned

his leg held him tight against the ground, angled down

along the slope. He tried to squirm around to see what

was wrong with the leg and, as he moved, the leg

screamed at him. Faint with the pain, he fell back upon
the ground. When some of his strength came back, he

tried once more, very cautiously. He was able to angle

his head around so he could see back along his body. The

leg was caught in a narrow crevice. The underlying lime-

stone was close to the surface, barely covered by the rock

fragments that had fallen from the face of the cliff. His

right leg had plunged into a narrow crevice and he was

trapped, held in the crevice almost to the knee.



What a silly thing to happen, he thought. He felt panic

creeping up on him and pushed it back. All he had to do,

he told himself, was to work his leg as gently as possible

out of the rocky fissure that held it.



88 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



He tried to work the leg free. The muscles responded.

He could move it, although it protested. Maybe a sprain;



it didn't feel like a break. Probably gashed up quite a bit.



The wolf came inching down the steepness of the slope

and stood with feet braced, looking at him and whining.



"It's all right," Boone croaked at him. "I'll get out of

here in a while. Might take some figuring."
But he didn't get free in a while. No matter what he

did, the leg stayed clamped in the fissure. The way he

was sprawled out on the steep slope made the job hard.

When he tried to maneuver his body into a more advan-

tageous position, the agony of the leg left him weak and

sweating. Finally he gave up, too weak, too pain-ridden,

to go on. I'll rest a while, he told himself.



Rested, he tried again. But now it was nearly dark. The

wolf had wandered off somewhere and he was alone.

Once again he tried gingerly to work the leg free; when

that didn't work, he lunged in a desperate effort to pull

loose. The fire of pain slashed through him. He gritted

his teeth and lunged again. The leg still held. He did not

try a third time. He lay exhausted. He heard, distinctly

now, the sound of running water. The pain of the leg

screamed at him; the deep dryness of his thirst choked

him.



He tried to reason with himself. He laid out a plan, but

the plan did not progress far. He reached for the bundle

of meat that he carried slung on his shoulder. The bundle

was not there. Neither was the rifle.
Boone set his jaw grimly. He'd been in bad places be-

fore and he'd lived through them all. Among other things,

he could step around a comer and be free. He tried to

step around the comer. He squeezed his eyes shut, he

tensed himself, and he drove his brain.



"The comer!" he screamed. "The corner! Where is

that goddamned comer!"



There was no comer. He continued where he was. He

let the tenseness ebb away and collapsed upon the ground.



He awoke much later. The stars were shining in the

sky. A cold wind blew up the slope and he was half frozen.

For a moment he did not know where he was, then it all



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 89



seeped back. He was trapped upon this butte. He would

never get away. He'd die here. He lay there, cold and

hurt, his throat constricted by a raging thirst. Perhaps a

little later he would do something about himself, but not

now.



A gray shadow moved in the starlight. It was the wolf.

It looked at him and whined.
"Promise me one thing," Boone said to it. "One thing

is all I ask. Be sure I'm dead before you start to eat me."



It all had gone wrong, Enid thought.

She never should have tried to operate a traveler. She

should have known that she was not competent. And yet

what could she have done? Back at Hopkins Acre, she

had been left alone to wait for Boone, and there had been

no chance to lay a course. She had simply told the traveler

go—that was the one thing left to do. Then, later, the

same sort of situation had arisen. Boone had yelled for

her to save the traveler and she had fled. Now here she

was, almost a million years into the future beyond the era

where Boone was stranded—and she had not the least

idea how to go back and pick him up.



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                91



It was Horace's fault, she told herself. Horace, who

was so big on planning and who had planned so poorly.

Each traveler should have had one person who was a

skilled pilot—although, come to think of it, there had not

been three of them who were skilled sufficiently. David

was quite proficient. And Horace, although at his best he
would be sloppy. Emma and Timothy would know noth-

ing about it. When it came right down to it, there had been

only two who could have run a traveler.



If the monster had not interfered and they had been

given a chance to go about the planning decently, it all

might have gone quite well. They would have decided

where they would go when they left, and David, more

than likely, would have programmed each of the travelers

to go to the selfsame place and time. They would have

known where and when they were going and they all

would have gone together. If her traveler had been pro-

grammed, she would have had no trouble. It had been this

repeated running in the dark that had been her undoing.



She looked again at the panel and the time designation

was clear enough. But the spatial designation was all

Greek to her. She knew when she was, but certainly not

where. That first time, it had been Boone who had figured

out where they were, although only the general area. The

spatial designation had been on the panel, of course, but

she could not read it. What she should have done, she

realized now that it was too late, would have been to jot

down the readings.



Locked somewhere within the recorder on the panel,
the spatial designation of that place she and Boone had

touched down still would be recorded. All she had to do

was call it up, but she didn't have the least idea of how

to call it up.



She slumped back in the seat, still staring at the panel.

Why hadn't she, in all the time they'd spent at Hopkins

Acre, asked David to teach her how to operate a traveler?

He would have been glad to show her—she was sure of

that—but she had never asked him because it never had

occurred to her, not even once, that at some time she

would have to use one.



92



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



93



She stared out of the vision plate, but the view was a

restricted one and there was not much to see. She seemed

to be located on some high point, for she looked out over

a vista of rugged hills, with a river glint among them.
So she had gone and done it, she thought. At times,

Horace and Emma had called her feckless and maybe

they'd been right.



She had left a decent man stranded in the very distant

past and there was no way she could return to rescue him.

She was afraid even to try. She had made two blind jumps,

one into the deep past, the other much deeper in the fu-

ture. Henry had tracked them down in Dark Age Europe,

but that, compared to this, had been a rather simple chore.

She had left a trail, perhaps, that he could follow with

any luck at all. One trail, but two—what could he do with

two? She knew without question that she must stay where

she was. If she made another jump, more than likely she

would be lost forever. Even now, she thought, even with

no more than two jumps, she still might be lost forever.



She rose from the pilot's chair and made her way to

the port. When she opened it, she heard a strange sound,

a little like the buzzing of a swarm of bees. When she

stepped away from the traveler she saw what it was.



The traveler lay on a slope, some little distance below

the top of a high ridge. On top the slope moved a band

of people, and it was from them that the sound was com-
ing—a thin babbling of many voices, all talking at once.



To her left and right, so far as she could see in either

direction, the line of people moved along the ridge. The

line was uneven. In some places the people were all

massed together, then there would be a place where there

were small groups of them or a few walking by them-

selves. All were in motion, right to left, in the same di-

rection, but moving slowly.



Moving, not with them, but beside them, as if they were

outriders of the procession, were strange and varied fig-

ures. Some of them had the appearance of being human;



others did not appear human in the least; but all of them

were alive and moving—crawling, humping along, rolling,

scurrying frantically, striding, floating. A few were flying.



She drew her breath in sharply when she recognized

what those outriders were. Some of those who had human

appearances were robots, and undoubtedly others that did

not appear to be human were robots as well. The rest of

them were aliens. In the time that had been her home,

there had been many aliens who had formed weird and

not always understandable relationships with humans, but
her own people, the outlanders, had as little as possible

to do with them.



Enid moved out a short distance from the traveler and

climbed a few steps up the slope that ran to the ridge

where the procession walked its slow and awkward way.

The land was high and dry. It had a sense of bigness and

it seemed to stand on tiptoe to reach the very sky, which

was deep and blue—the bluest sky she had ever seen,

without a cloud to fleck its surface. There was a wind that

blew strong and steady, rippling the cloak she wore. It

had the breath of chill in it, as if it might have blown for

a long distance over a cold and empty land, but the sun

that stood at noon was warm. A smooth sward of grass

grew beneath her feet, short and well-behaved grass that

had no wildness in it. Here and there along the ridgetop

grew occasional trees, each shaped and sculptured by the

wind that must have blown there for centuries to bend

them to its will.



No one noticed her. Not for a moment did her presence

interfere with what was taking place.



A rite, she wondered, a religious pilgrimage, a cele-

bration, perhaps, of some old mythology? But these, she

thought, were no more than feeble guesses. Conceivably,
there might be danger if she intruded, although, from

where she stood, the procession seemed immune to in-

trusion. There was about it a solid sense of purpose.



A voice spoke at her elbow. "Have you come to join

us, lady?"



Startled, she spun about. The robot stood close beside

her. Any noise of his approach had been blotted out by

the wind. He wore a human form and was extremely civ-

ilized. There was no crudity about him. He was a ma-

chine, of course; that could be seen by a single glance.




94



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



95



But in a strange way, he was nobly human. His face and
body were human in the classic meaning of the term, and

he was tastefully decorated, the metal of him incised in

discreet little patterns that made her think of the exquisite

etching on the barrels of the most expensive shotgun in

Timothy's collection. Over his shoulder he carried a

scraped, dressed-out hog, and underneath one arm he

bore a large and bulging grain sack.



"I beg your pardon, lady," said the robot. "I had no

wish to startle you. As I came up behind you I sought to

make some sound to announce myself, but the wind, you

know. You hear nothing in this wind."



"I thank you for your thoughtfulness," said Enid.

"You did startle me, but not too violently and only mo-

mentarily. And, no, I did not come to join you. I have no



idea of what is going on."



"It is all a matter of hallucination," said the robot,

speaking bluntly. "What you see is a Pied Piper's march.

Are you, perchance, acquainted with the ancient story of



the Pied Piper?"



"Why, yes, I am," said Enid. "I read it in one of the
books that my brother picked up. It is a story about a

piper whose piping lured all the children from a village."



"This is the same," the robot said. "A Pied Piper's

march, except there isn't any piper. It is the fault of all



these aliens."



"If there isn't any piper, whom might they be



following?"



"In their hallucinations, which I am convinced are sup-

plied by the aliens, they follow dreams. Each follows a

dream uniquely his own. I have told them and told them,

and so have all the other robots, but they pay no attention

to us. They disregard us and follow filthy aliens."



"Then why are you here? You are not alone; there are



other robots here."



"Someone must take care of the humans. Someone

must protect them against themselves. They left without

provisions to feed themselves, without food or water,
without sufficient clothing to protect them from the cold

and damp. You see this shoat upon my back, this bag of



meal beneath my arm? I scrounge the countryside, gath-

ering what I can. It is not a job, I can assure you, that a

robot of my integrity and sensibility could easily bring

himself to do. And yet I must, for these foolish humans

of mine are caught up in their silly dreams and pay no

attention to their needs. There must be someone who will

look out after them."



"What will be the end of it?" asked Enid. "What will

happen to them? How will it all end?"



"I know not," the robot said. "I can hope only for the

best. This may, at other times, have happened other-

where, but this is the first time it has ever happened here.

Much as I love my humans, begging your pardon, there

are times when they can be the most thoughtless, most

unreasonable forms of life existent. My age runs to many

centuries, lady, and I have read the histories that cover

untold centuries. The human race, according to the old

historians, always has been thoughtless and unreasona-

ble; but it seems to me that now they are gaily unreason-

able, whereas before they were stupidly and perversely

unreasonable. To be gaily unreasonable, to take joy from
unreason, seems to me to be the worst form that per-

versity can assume."



"I'd have to think about that," said Enid. "I suppose

you could be right."



Perversity, she thought. Could that have been what

happened to the human race—a willing perversity that set

at naught all human values which had been so hardly won

and structured in the light of reason for a span of more

than a million years? Could the human race, quite out of

hand and with no sufficient reason, have turned its back

upon everything that had built humanity? Or was it, per-

haps, no more than second childhood, a shifting of the

burden off one's shoulders and going back to the selfish-

ness of the child who romped and frolicked without

thought of consequence or liability?



"It would be quite safe, I am sure, if you are of the

mind to go up the hill and have a look at them," the robot

said. "I am sure there is no danger. They are not dan-

gerous folk, only silly ones."
96



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



97



"I might like to do that."



"Or better yet, if you have the time, you might like to

join with us—with my humans and perhaps a few assorted

and disgusting aliens—when we break fast this night.

There'll be roast pig and fresh baked bread and probably

other edibles that my fellows will bring in. You need have

no fear of intruding; you'll be with the family only. Come

nighttime and all the different families will gather by them-

selves and eat the food their robots will bring in. You

might like to meet my family. Other than for this silly

exhibition, they are very beautiful. I have hopes this mad-

ness soon will run its course."



"I would like to do that," Enid said. "I am glad you



asked me."
"Then come along with me and I will seek them out.



They must be somewhere in the line, not too distant from

us. Then I'll hunt out a place for camping and make ready

for the feast—perhaps at a spot some distance ahead so

that they will be not too far off when this insanity is sus-

pended in the face of dark."



"They don't march all night?"



"No, of course not. They have not taken leave entirely



of their senses."

"I'll go with you," said Enid. "But I don't want to join



the march. I'd be out of place there. Going with you, I

might be able to help you set up camp."



"No need of that," the robot said. "There are others

of us and all of us are good workers. But I'll be glad to

have you come with me. Since we are going to be together

for a while, you might call me Jones."



"I am glad to know your name," she said. "You might
call me Enid."



"I'll call you Miss Enid. Young females are entitled to



the 'Miss.'"



"I thank you, Jones," she said.



All this time they had been walking up the hill together

and now were close to the line of march. The procession,

Enid saw, was following a faint track that ran along the

ridgetop, the sort of path that ordinarily would have seen

but little use, followed only now and then by lonely way-



farers hurrying along in the hope of reaching shelter by

the fall of night.



The procession stretched in both directions as far as

she could see. There were occasional empty gaps in it,

but in no case were the gaps so large as to wipe out the

sense that this, indeed, was one vast procession.



Each and every person walked as if walking alone, pay-

ing no more than courteous attention to those who were

moving with them. They walked with their heads held high

and confident, looking ahead rather than upward, as if
there were something that they would see at any moment

and they were entirely confident that they would not be

disappointed. Their expression was serenely expectant

and there was about them a subdued rapture—although,

she told herself, in no way a holy or religious rapture.

This was not, as she first had thought it might be, a re-

ligious procession.



There were no children. There were teen-agers and the

middle-aged, the old and the very old who hobbled on

canes or levered themselves along on crutches.



With them ran, scurried, humped, and hobbled a great

array of aliens—not as many as there were humans, but

enough to make a continuous impression on the watcher.

There was a wraithlike creature that floated, bobbing

along, now on the same level as the human marchers, now

above them, changing its shape constantly. There was a

three-legged creature that stalked along as if mounted on

stilts, with a body that had no features on it, but looked

like just an ordinary box. There was another that was at

once a wriggler and a ball—a wriggler that twisted along

like a slithering snake, twisting its way among the hu-

mans' marching feet and legs, then at intervals rolling it-

self into a ball that moved gently and serenely. There was
a head, a head alone that was mostly one eye and a mouth,

scampering all about, as if it might be in a hurry without

knowing where to go. There were many others.



The humans paid no attention to the aliens—it was as

if the aliens, to them, were simply other humans. The

aliens, in turn, paid no attention to the humans, as if they




98 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



were well acquainted with these humans, who were noth-

ing to be wondered at.



Enid had the impression that all of them, humans and

aliens alike, were watching for something, but that there

was no single sign they watched for, as if each sought a

personal revelation.



She looked about for Jones, the robot, and could not

locate him. There were other robots, but few of them min-

gled with the humans and the aliens in the line of march.

Mostly they stayed off to the side of the procession. She

kept on looking for Jones, but there was no sign of him.
Perhaps, she told herself, she should hurry forward along

the line of marchers, in the hope that she could catch up

with him. She was hungry, and hot pork and new-baked

bread sounded awfully good. It had been silly of her to

have lost contact with him. She started trotting along the

side of the line, but after a few steps she stopped. She

had not observed the direction Jones had taken; she might

be moving away from him rather than closer. A voice

spoke, almost in her ear, a twangy, nonhuman voice that

used human words.



It said, "Kind human, would you perform a small task

for me?"



She jerked herself around, involuntarily jumping to one

side as she turned.



It was an alien, as she had known it would be, but

slightly more humanoid than most aliens were. Its head,

bent forward on a long and scrawny neck, was a cross

between that of a winter-gaunted horse and a woebegone

hound dog. It stood upon two badly bowed legs and its

torso was a warty bloat. Its two arms were long and lim-

ber, twisting like a pair of performing serpents. The ears

flared out like trumpet bells. Two groups of eyes were
mounted on its forehead; each with several irises. The

mouth was wide and the lips were slobbery. A pair of

gills, one on each side of the scrawny throat, bellowed in

and out as it breathed.



"I am to you," it said, "a disgusting sight, no doubt.

As humans once were to me before I became accustomed

to them. But my heart is kind, and my honor of the best."



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 99



"I have no doubt of that," she said.



"I approach you," said the thing, "because, of all the

humans here, you seem not preoccupied with what is

going on, impelling me to believe that you'd be willing to

waste a small amount of time on me."



"I cannot imagine anything that I could do for you,"

she said.



"But of a surety you can," it insisted. "A very simple

task which, because of the perplexity of the chore, I can-

not do myself. I have not enough ..." The woebegone

horseface hesitated, as if searching for a word. "Let us

say that someone was tying up a package with a piece of
string and was having difficulty because of lack of hands

when it came to the tying of the knot. And that person

says to you, will you hold your finger so upon the crossing

of the string so I can tie the knot. In a somewhat different

manner, that is what I would ask of you."



"Because of the lack of hands?"



"Not because of the lack of hands, but the lack of an-

other facility for which I have no word that you could

understand. This is my fault and not yours."



Enid looked at it, puzzled.



"You still fail of understanding?"



"I'm afraid I do. You must tell me more."



"You see all those humans out there, processioning in

all seriousness, all of them striving, all of them seeking,

but seeking different things. A marvelous painting, per-

haps, that one can put upon a canvas. Or a piece of music

that will be listened to by many other music lovers. Or

an architectural model that someone out there has been

striving to draft for years."
"So that is it," said Enid. "That is what they are look-

ing for."



"Yes, assuredly. I had thought you knew."



"I knew they were looking for something. I did not

know for what."



"It is not the humans only who are looking."



"You mean that there is something you seek? And you

need some help? Sir, I cannot comprehend in what man-

ner I can help you."



100



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



101



"I have sought an idea, trying time after time to run it

to the ground, and each time a little short. So when I

learned of this processional and its seeking out, I said to
myself, if it works for humans, surely there must be a

modicum of hope it also would work for me."



"And has it worked?"



"I think it has. I think I have it all in mind, but I cannot

tell unless I find someone to hold a finger where the two

strings cross."



"Except it's not a finger. And it's not a string."



"That is correct, fair lady. You catch on rapidly and

you listen closely. Will you listen further?"



Enid looked around quickly. There still was no sign of

Jones, the robot.



"I will listen further, closely."



"First of all," said Horseface, "I must be honest with

you. I must tell you sorrowfully of my fraudulence. All

the other aliens here attending this procession make up a

group of special selection. They have been brought along

because they have the power to elevate human sensitivity

to high hallucinatory levels. Given such soaring hallu-
cinations, the participatory humans then can grasp the

pattern of the great art toward which they strain.

Furthermore, there are among these sundry aliens some

who have the power to guide the humans in a materiali-

zation of their visions—to create a painting from the mind

without any painting being done—a short cut, one might

say, between conception and execution. Or the power to

create music, the realistic sound itself, without the aid of

score or instrument."



"But that's impossible," cried Enid, suddenly envi-

sioning a shower of painted canvases falling from the sky

to the sound of music coming out of nowhere.



"Not impossible in every case," said Horseface.



"This is all very honest of you," said Enid. "But you

told me that you are fraudulent. Why?"



"Because I joined this procession, not to work for the

humans, but rather for myself. I had thought perhaps that

the fervor of this assemblage would spur and supplement

my ability."



"What you are trying to say is that you were in this

procession for yourself, in the hope that it would give you
the edge you needed to develop the idea that you have.

And that while it apparently has given you that edge, you

still are unable to accomplish it for the lack of someone

to hold a finger on the string."



"Admirably you outline the situation in most exact de-

tail. Having understood, are you of a mind to help me?"



"Tell me first what this object is you have the need to

develop."



"That, alas, I cannot do since it involves concepts not

understandable to a human without much instruction

being given."



"It would not be detrimental? It would be of harm to

no one?"



"Look at me," said Horseface. "Do I appear as one

who would be willing to do harm?"



"Looking at you, I cannot tell."



"Then please take my word. The object would be of

harm to no one."
"And if I am able to help you, what would I get out of

it?"



"We'd be partners in it. You'd own half of it, have

equal rights in it."



"That is generous of you."



"Not at all," said Horseface. "Without your help, it

will never come to be. So now will you permit me to

explain what you must do to help me?"



"Yes, I think I will."



"Then close your eyes and think at me."



"Think at you?"



"Yes, think at me. I'll think back at you."



"I've never, in my life, thought at anyone."



"It is not difficult," said Horseface. "You close your

eyes and, concentrating all your mind, think of me."
"It sounds terribly silly," said Enid, "but I suppose

it's worth a try."



She closed her eyes and concentrated about thinking at

him, but had a feeling far back in her mind that she was




102



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



103



making a bad job of it since she did not know how to think



at someone.

But she felt him thinking at her. It was a little terrifying,



though somewhat like hearing Henry in her mind; she

hung in there and did not try to pull away. There was

nothing she could lose, although she doubted very much
she had anything to gain. It was all an exercise in absolute



futility.

But a picture formed inside her mind that she could not



have possibly thought up by herself. It was a picture of

a complicated structure made up of and hung together by

many colorful lines. The colorful lines all were thin and

had a rather dainty look about them, but the structure,

which she could not see too well because there was too

much of it, had the feel of being most substantial. She

seemed to be standing in the very center of it, with it

stretching so far to every side of her that she could not



see the end of it.



"Now, right here," said the invisible Horseface, speak-

ing in her mind, "is where you lay your finger."



"Where?" she asked.

"Right here," he said, and when he said it she saw



exactly where she should lay her finger and she laid it

there, pressing down hard as one would press hard upon

the crossing of two strings that tied up a package.
Nothing happened, nothing that she noticed right away.

Somehow, however, the structure all around her seemed

to become more solid, and the wind had quit its blowing.

All this time she had been keeping her eyes on her finger

to make sure she was holding tight against the string that



wasn't there.

Horseface spoke to her, not speaking in her mind, but



aloud. "All right," he said, "the job is done. There is no



longer any need of holding the finger."



She looked up and there he was, some little distance

from her, climbing up the bare bones of the structure as

if it were a ladder. She heard a shout beneath her and

looked down. The procession was all spread out below

her, and all the people were looking up at her, shouting,

waving their arms, crying in amazement.



Frightened, she reached out and grasped one of the col-

orful bars that went into the making of the structure. The

bar she grasped was lavender and it tied into two other

bars, one of them lemon yellow and the other a deeply

glowing plum. It was solid in her grasp. Wondering where
her feet were, she glanced down and saw that they were

planted firmly on another bar, a red one as substantial as

the lavender one she gripped. All around her, everywhere

she looked, were other bars; the structure quite sur-

rounded her. She looked out through it at the hills and

valleys and saw that the ridgetop, with its snaking proces-

sion, was only a small part of the landscape that lay be-

neath her.



The structure tipped smoothly over on one side and she

found herself spread-eagled over the landscape, facing

down toward it. She gasped and felt panic reaching out

for her, but the panic went away when she realized she

was as comfortable in that position as she had been in the

other. Her orientation, she realized, was keyed into the

structure, not the land that she had left. She looked

around quickly to try to locate the traveler, but she

couldn't find it.



The structure tipped back to where it had been before.

It had started to grow little dangles and spangles all over

it with no specific pattern. Horseface was clambering

down toward her, like an awkward spider swarming down

a web. He reached her level and stood peering at her.



"What do you think of it?" he asked "Is it not
beautiful?"



She gulped. "This was what you were trying to make?"

"Of course," he said. "I thought that you would

know."



"What is it?" she asked. "Please tell me what it is."

"It is a net," said Horseface, "useful for the fishing of

the universe."



Enid crinkled up her face, staring at what he called a

net. It was a flimsy thing and it had no shape.



"Certainly," she said, "you would not go fishing the

universe in so slight a thing as this."



"Time means nothing to it," said Horseface, "nor does




104



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



105



space. It is independent of both time and space except as



it makes use of them."

"How come you know so much about it?" demanded



Enid. He did not look to be the sort of creature that would

know too much of anything. "Did you study somewhere?

Not on this Earth, of course, but ..."



"I studied at the tribal knee," said Horseface. "There

are old stories and very ancient legends."



"You can't depend on legends with a thing like this.

You must have the knowledge, know the theory and the



basic facts."



"I made it, did I not? I told you where to hold your



finger on the string?"



Enid said, weakly, "Yes, you did."
It was changing as she watched it, losing some of its

flimsiness, gaining strength and form, although not as yet

an impressive strength and form. The ornaments with

which it had been sprinkled changed from spangles, grow-

ing into objects, no longer merely glinting ornaments, but

objects that had some relationship with this slab-sided

structure Horseface called a net, although she could not

figure out, for the life of her, what the relationships might

be. What bothered her the most was that he called it a

net and it certainly had no resemblance to a net. She tried

to think of something that it might resemble and came up



with nothing.



"We will travel in it," Horseface told her, "from one



planet to another, without a tick of time, without a touch



of space."



"We can't cross space in it," said Enid. "There is noth-

ing to protect us. We'd die in the cold and emptiness.

Even if we could, we'd arrive at some unknown planet

and plunge into an atmosphere that would choke us or fry
us or . . ."

"We would know where we were going. There'd be no



unknowns to us. There are charts to follow."

"Where do such charts come from?"

"From long ago and far away."

"Have you ever seen them? Do you have them now?"

"There is no need to possess them physically or to see



them. They are a part of my mind, a genetic part of me,

passed on to me by my forebears."



"You're talking about ancestral memory."



"Yes, of course. I thought that you would guess. An-

cestral memory, ancestral intelligence and knowledge, the

knowing of what went into the net, or should go into the

net."



"And you claim this net of yours can do many won-

drous things?"



"How wondrous not even I can know. Time means

nothing to it nor does ..."
"Time," said Enid. "That is what I am getting at. I

lost a friend in time. I know the time factor, but not the

space."



"Nothing to it," said Horseface. "It is a very simple

matter."



"But I told you I don't know ..."



"You think you do not know. But the chances are you

do. All you need to do is bespeak the net. Let it pry into

yourself. It can find the forgetfulness."



"But how can I talk with it?"



"You cannot talk with it. It can talk with you."



"How do I let it know that I want it to talk to me? How

can I be sure we can communicate, the net and I?"



"You thought at me when you said you couldn't and

you thought upon the knot ..."



"Now that it's all done, now that you have your pre-

cious net, can you tell me what I really did? There wasn't
any knot and there wasn't any finger."



"My dear," he said, "there is no way I can tell you.

Not that I would not if I could, but there is no way. You

may have called into play some ability you are not aware

you have and which I was not sure you would have. Even

when I talked about the laying of the finger, I was not

entirely sure that it would work. I only hoped it would."



"Well, then, let's forget the jabber. There is no way of

getting sense from you. I want very much to get back to

my friend again and to do that you say I talk with this

silly net. Please tell me how to start."



"Most assuredly I will," he said. "All in proper time.




106



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



107
But first there is an errand must be run and once the er-

rand's done ..."



He reached out and took hold of one of the ornaments

scattered all about the net.



"Duck your head and hang on tight," he said.



Nothing happened and she raised her head and opened

her eyes. The planet was pink-and-purple and the sky was

golden-green.



"You see!" Horseface said triumphantly. "We are here

and nothing happened to us."



Enid drew in a cautious breath, shallow at first and then

more deeply. The air seemed to be all right. She did not

choke on it; it did not strangle her and it had no bad smell.



"What's the matter with you?" he asked. "Are you

indisposed?"



"Not at all,'' said Enid,' 'but the sky can't be that color.

There is no such thing as a deep green sky. The land is
bad enough, although it can be pink and purple, I suppose,

but the sky cannot be green."



Although, she told herself, the sky was green. She was

alive, and everything was all right, perhaps, because she

didn't know anything at all about what was going on.



Horseface started clambering down the net, the lower

comer of which hung just above the ground.



"I won't be long," he told her. "I'll be back directly.

You wait here for me. Don't go wandering off. Stay

close."



The land was pink-and-purple. There were purple

grasses and pink trees and, despite its coloring, the land

was as flat and as drab and uninteresting as any she had

ever seen. It stretched out on all sides to a hazed horizon

that was a sickly blend of pink and green and gold and

purple. Except for occasional trees and a number of scat-

tered mounds, the land was empty. Nothing moved upon

it, not even a flittering bird or butterfly. It was empty with

a vengeance.



"What is this place?" she asked of Horseface.
"Its only designation," he said, "is a symbol on a chart.

I would have no idea how to pronounce the symbol.



Maybe it is a designation that is not meant for anyone to

speak."



' 'And how did we get here in so short a time and without

any ..."



"We were translated here," he said and, having

reached the ground, turned his back on her and said no

more, going across the land in a loping fashion, with his

grotesque shadow bouncing and bobbing, much blurred

at the edges. The bloated red sun in the green haze of the

sky shed too little light to make a sharp and proper

shadow. The entire planet, Enid thought, was a mite too

garish and not in the best of taste.



She climbed down a short way, then stopped to look

the place over a little more closely. Horseface had dis-

appeared into the distant haze, and she was alone. Below

here, there was no sign of life she could detect except for

the grass and trees. There was only the level sweep of

the land and the scattered mounds.
She slid to the ground, surprised to find it solid under

her feet. From the look of it, she had expected to find it

spongy. She moved away from the net and began walking

toward the nearest mound. It was a smallish one, looking

like a pile of rocks. She had seen such piles on Earth

where the husbandmen dug the stones from the ground

and piled them to clear more land for planting. But those

piles had been made up of dull-colored stones of all sizes,

from pebbles to weighty boulders. Here the rocks seemed

to be all small and many glinted in the sun.



When she reached the mound, she knelt down beside

it and picked up a handful of the pebbles. She raised her

hand and opened it, spreading out her fingers to make a

flat palm, with the pebbles lying before her eyes. The

stones, catching the light of the red sun, blazed back at

her.



She held her breath, and her body tensed, then slowly

relaxed. She knew nothing about gems, she told herself;



she couldn't have distinguished a shattered piece of quartz

from a diamond. And yet it was unbelievable that all the

brilliance and fire of the stones could come from no more

than common pebbles. A reddish one, a little smaller than
108 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



a hen's egg, flashed brilliant red from a corner where a

sliver had been broken off. Beside it, a pebble split in half

seemed to quiver with a throbbing blue. Others gleamed

with the glow of green, rose, amethyst, and yellow.



She tipped her hand and let them go, scintillating as

they fell. If they were truly gems, they would bring a

fortune back in certain periods of mankind's develop-

ment. But not in the time from which the family had fled.

In that time, alll precious things, all rarities, and all an-

tiquities had lost their value. There had been no money

and no jewels.



She wondered if Horseface had known of these piles

of gems, heaped so carelessly and in such quantities by

an unknown people. But no, she told herself—Horseface

was seeking something here, but it was not these stones.



She started walking toward a second pile of pebbles,

but did not stop when she reached it. There were other
such piles, all alike except for some variation in size. She

knew now what they were and what she'd find in them.

Perhaps it was time to travel just a little farther to see

what might lie beyond.



Although not aware of it at first, she must have been

climbing a slight slope, for quite suddenly she came to

where the land broke and fell away into a tangle of gro-

tesque formations, cliff faces of raw earth, deeply eroded

stream beds, and a group of pyramids, all straight lines

that tapered to points.



She stood at the edge of the land where the slope broke

and stared fixedly at the pyramids, remembering some-

thing she had once read—that there was no such thing in

nature as a straight line; such straightness must suggest

artificiality. The pyramids did have the look of architec-

ture. The edges that marked the comers were definite,

and the sides that led up to the apex were smooth.



As she looked, she saw the sparkle in them. But that

would be impossible; to build such pyramids so exactly

as they should be with pebbles or gems would be ridic-

ulous, if it could be done.



She moved up the slope. As she came closer, there
could be no doubt at all—the pyramids were built of gems,



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                109



or what she guessed were gems. From close up, the whole

structure before her quavered with a myriad of multico-

lored sparkles.



She advanced to the pyramid, blinking as it flashed red

and green and purple in the light of the sun. She did not

care for the purple—she had seen enough of purple, pink,

and sickly green on this planet. But there was a yellow—

a primrose yellow, clean and bright—that seemed to stop

her heart and made her suck in her breath. It came from

a stone larger than an egg and smooth, perhaps polished

by some ancient river flowing over it.



Before she could think to stop herself, her hand went

out and her fingers tightened around the stone. As she

lifted it, the entire slope of the pyramid came down as if

it were liquid. She skipped aside to escape the rush of

rolling pebbles.



Something squeaked nearby. When she looked to see

what it was that had made the noise, she saw them at the
sagging comer of the pyramid, peering at her out of their

popeyes. Their round, soft, fuzzy mouse ears quivered

and they stood on tiptoe, horrified at what had happened

to the pyramid.



They had popeyes, mouse ears, and a softness about

the triangular faces, but their bodies were angular and

harsh, with a vague hint of spiders carved out of wood.

Carved, Enid thought, out of the seasoned driftwood that

could be found beached along the shores of old rivers,

gray, knobbed, and twisted wood with all the twists worn

smooth and shiny as if someone had spent long hours

giving it a polish.



She spoke to them in a kindly fashion, frightened and

repulsed by the driftwood bodies, but drawn to them by

their fuzziness efface, by the large and liquid eyes, and

by the quiver of the ears.



They spooked away, their spraddling driftwood legs

prancing, then switched around again to stare at her.

There were a round dozen of them. They were the size

of sheep.



She spoke'again, as softly as before, and held out her

hand to them. The movement of her hand did it—they
110 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



swirled about and ran, in dead earnest this time, making

no motion as if to halt and look at her again. They fled

down the tortured slope and disappeared into one of the

deep erosion gashes and she lost sight of them.



She stood there, beside the pyramid that was no longer

neat. The green sky lowered over her and she clutched

in one hand the large pebble with its glow of cowslip

yellow.



I've made a mess of it, she thought, as I've made a

mess of everything the last few days. She walked around

the comer of the shattered pyramid and stopped in

astonishment.



Spread out on the purple grass were rectangles of white

fabric, and grouped among the spread-out rectangles were

colorful hampers made, perhaps, of metal. And the

thought came to her—the poor things were having a picnic

when she had so rudely interrupted them.



She walked forward and nudged one of the pieces of
fabric with her toe. It lifted off the ground, falling back

in folds. As she had thought, it was fabric. Tablecloths,

to be spread down upon the grass, forming a clean surface

on which the food would have been spread out.



It was strange, she thought, that the concept of a picnic

should have come into being on this planet as well as on

the Earth. Although here, of course, all this might mean

something else entirely—it might not even be concerned

with eating out of doors.



She dropped the yellow stone into a pocket and bent

to examine the contents of the hampers. There was no

doubt that this picnic, if that was what it might be called,

had to do with eating. There was no question in her mind

that what she saw was food. There were fruits, apparently

freshly picked from tree or bush. There were evidences

of cooking—blocks and bricks and loaves—and in one of

the hampers was placed a huge bowl of what probably

was a salad, a tangled mass of leaves and gobs of quivering

slimy matter. A fetid effluvium rose from the bowl.



Almost gagging from the smell, she stood up and

stepped back, taking several deep breaths to clear her

nose. Then, as she glanced around, she saw the box.
HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                111



It was a small black box, perhaps a foot square and six

inches in depth, lying on the ground just beyond what she

had decided was the tablecloth. Most of it seemed to be

of metal, but the side facing her was of what appeared to

be a gray, opaque glass or crystal. She could see no way

to open it. And she had no time to experiment with it.

Horseface would soon be returning, and she didn't want

him to find her gone.



She was still staring at the box when the face of it sud-

denly lighted, to show an image of Horseface toiling

across the grass, bent almost double by the weight of a

huge chest that he carried on his back.



Basic television, she thought, and another parallel with

Earth. A picnic and a television receiver. On the plate,

Horseface had slipped the chest from his back and set one

end of it on the ground while he wiped his steaming face.

The chest was apparently a heavy load to carry.



Had the driftwood spider-things been watching him all

the time and could they have known of her as well? They

had seemed genuinely surprised when they peeked around
the pyramid to see her.



As she thought of them, she saw them in the plate. The

image of Horseface flipped off, and there they were, toil-

ing down the narrow bottom of a dry canyon. There

seemed to be something grimly purposeful in their

traveling.



We'd better get out of here, she told herself. Somehow

she had the feeling that the sooner gone the better. She'd

go back to the net and wait for Horseface. As soon as she

thought of him, he was on the plate, again trudging along

under the weight of the chest.



Strange—as soon as she thought of someone, he was

on the screen. Mental tuning? She could not know. But

this box was more than simple television. It was, perhaps,

a spying apparatus that could penetrate into unguessed

places and unknown situations.



She lifted the box, which was not heavy, and started

rapidly down the slope, suddenly realizing that she might

have betrayed a trust in leaving the net unguarded. When



112 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
she finally saw it still there, a flood of relief flowed

through her and she began to run.



She glanced to her right to see Horseface still plodding

toward the net with the chest upon his shoulder. She felt

an unexplained urgency to leave this planet quickly and

assumed that Horseface must share her feeling, perhaps

with good reason. The chest could not be his. He was

stealing it.



She reached the edge of the net and tossed the television

box onto it. The box was large enough to fit firmly there.

Now Horseface was running heavily toward her, gasping

and panting, with the chest bouncing on his shoulder.



She leaped on the net, balancing on it, reaching out to

seize the chest and steady it as he hoisted it from his

shoulder, thrusting it toward the net. She caught hold of

a leather handle on one end of it and braced herself, haul-

ing on the handle to make sure the chest stayed on the

net and did not slide off it.



It struck the net and bounced, beginning to slide toward

the edge. She dug in her heels and hauled at the chest,

pulling it sidewise to stop the slide.
Out of the comer of an eye she saw the writhing of

something deep purple rear out of the purple grass, and

tentacles reached out. Horseface bleated in terror and

ducked away, leaping for the net. His hands caught the

edge, and he pulled himself part way up it, his legs dan-

gling in the air. Enid grasped one of his arms and hauled.

The purpleness fell toward them. Enid stared, stricken,

at the gape of mouth, the sharp and gleaming teeth, the

writhing of tentacles, and the malicious glint of what could

have been an eye. Under them, the net jerked violently

as a tentacle grasped its trailing edge.



Feet set, Enid heaved on Horseface and he came into

the net, sliding along it. The net was rising, the purpleness

dangling from it, clear of the ground now, but almost in-

distinguishable against the purple of the grass. The ten-

tacle still grasped the net. Enid's hand fumbled blindly in

her pocket for the yellow gemstone. She raised it and

slammed it down against the tentacle. The purpleness

shrilled in pain and the tentacle fell away. She watched



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 113



but did not see the purpleness hit the ground. It was a

purpleness blending into purpleness, and there was noth-
ing to be seen.



Horseface was crawling swiftly up the net. He had

grasped one of the leather handles of the chest and was

hauling it behind him.



The net was rising in the air, and Enid began crawling

on it, getting away from the edge. The televisor was slid-

ing toward her and she reached out to grasp it. It flickered

at her; when she looked down at it, Boone was there. He

was in a place ofgrayness and seemed to be gray himself

and there was a gray wolf with him.



"Boone!" she cried at him. "Boone, stay there! I will

come to you!"



Corcoran



8



%9&y Corcoran stepped out of the trav-

eler into a marvelous late-April springtime. The traveler

lay in a small mountain meadow. Below it was a narrow

valley with a silver streak of water. Above it towered the

knife-edge hills. New leaves with the soft greenness of
early growth clothed all the trees, and the meadow wore

a carpet of pastel-blooming wildflowers.



David came up to stand beside him. "We traveled a bit

further than I had intended," he said. "I had no time to

set a course. I just got out of there."



"How far?" asked Corcoran. "Not that it matters very



much."



114



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 115



"Actually, I don't suppose it does," said David.

"Closer, however, than I'd really like to the era from

which we came. We're now, in round figures—take or

give a few hundred either way—975,000 years beyond the

beginning of your reckoning. As to where, probably some-

where in what you would call the colony of Pennsylvania.

Perhaps you've heard of it."



"In my day," said Corcoran, "it was no longer a

colony."
"Give me a little time to figure it and I can pinpoint

where we are within a mile or two and the time within a

year or less, if you are interested."



Corcoran shook his head. He pointed at the ridgetop

up the slope from the meadow where they stood.



"Something strange up there. A certain irregularity.

Could it be a ruin?"



"Could be," said David. "Up this far in time, the entire

Earth is littered with old, forgotten places. Worn-out ci-

ties, roads that outlived their usefulness, and shrines and

other places of worship, deserted when religions changed.

You want to climb up and see?"



"We might as well," said Corcoran. "From up there,

we could spy out the land."



That the hilltop, indeed, was crowned by a ruin became

apparent when they were no more than halfway up the

slope.



"Not much left of it," said David. "A few more cen-

turies and it will be a tell—a mound. A lot more like it,
scattered all about. What it was, no one will ever discover.

Up here there are no archaeologists. The race has lost all

interest in what it was. The bulk of history weighs too

heavily. Somewhere, I would suppose, there is tucked

away a written account that would tell us what this ruin

was and give a full history of it. But no one will read it.

There are now no historians."



Almost at the summit, they came up against a wall, or

what was left of it. It was tumble-down, no part of it rising

more than ten feet or so. To come up to it, they picked

their way carefully through fallen blocks of stone, many

of them half-buried in the ground.



116 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



"There has to be a gate somewhere," said Corcoran.



"It's bigger," said David, "than it seemed looking at

it down in the meadow."



Following the wall, they came upon the gate. An old

man sat flat upon the ground to one side of it, leaning

back against the wall. His tattered clothes fluttered feebly

in the little breeze that blew across the ridge. He wore

no shoes. His white beard came down across his chest,
and his hair, as white as the beard, bunched about his

shoulders. All that showed of his face was forehead, nose,

and eyes.



They stopped stock-still at the sight of him. He stared

back at them with no great surprise. He made no motion;



all he did was wiggle his naked toes at them.



Then he spoke. "I heard you coining from a long way

off. You are clumsy creatures."



"I'm sorry we disturbed you," said Corcoran. "We had

no idea you were here."



"You were not disturbing me. I allow nothing to disturb

me. For years there has been nothing that disturbed me.

I was a prospector at one time. I roamed these hills with

sack and spade, seeking out whatever treasure I might

find. I found some, but not much, and finally it occurred

to me that treasure is worthless. Now I converse with

trees and stones, the best friends that a man can have.

There are too many people in the world, worthless kinds

of people. All they do now is talk among themselves, with

little purpose other than their love of the sound their
voices make. Everything is done for them by robots. I

have no robot; I live without the benefit of robot. And

the little talk I have is with trees and stones. I don't talk

much myself. I am not in love with the sound of my voice

as so many others are. Rather than talk, I listen to the

trees and rocks."



All the time he had been talking, his body had been

sliding down the wall against which he leaned. Now he

hunched himself upward into a more erect position and

shifted his conversational gears.



"At one time," he said, "I roamed the stars and talked

with aliens, and the talk of aliens, I can tell you, is all



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                   117



gibberish. My team and I evaluated new planets and wrote

weighty reports, all filled with hard-won data, to be de-

livered when we returned to the planet of our origin. But

when we returned to Earth, only a few remained who had

any interest in what we had found. The people had turned

their backs on us. So I turned my back on them. Out in

space, I met aliens. I met too many of them. There are

those who will tell you that aliens are brothers under the

skin to us. But I'll tell you truthfully that most aliens are
a very nasty mess ..."



"In all the time that you were in space," asked David,

interrupting, "or here on Earth, for that matter, did you

ever run into any talk about aliens who were called the

Infinites?"



"No, I can't say that I ever did, although I haven't more

than passed the time of day with anyone for years. I'm

not what you would call a social person ..."



"Is there anyone else, not too far away, who might have

heard of the Infinites?"



"As to that," the old man told him, "I cannot say, but

if you mean is there anyone who might be more willing

than I am to talk with you, you'll find a group of ancient

busybodies a mile or so down the valley below this moun-

tain. Ask them a question and they'll answer. They talk

unceasingly. Once they hear a question or get their teeth

into any proposition, they will never let it go."



"You don't do so badly yourself," Corcoran said. He

turned to David. "Since we're here, maybe we should

take a walk through the ruins before we hunt up the people
in the valley."



"There is nothing to see," the old man told him. "Just

a heap of stones and old paving blocks. Go if you wish,

but there is nothing worth the looking. I'll stay here in

the sun. The trees and stones are friends of mine, and so

is the sun. Although there can be no talking with the sun.

But it gives warmth and cheer and it asks nothing in re-

turn, and that is a friendly thing to do."



"We thank you, then," said David, "for the time you

have given us."



Saying that, he turned about and started through the



118 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



gate. There was no trail or road, but there were open

places in the clutter of fallen stones. The old man had

been right; there was not much to see. Here and there old

walls still stood, and skeletons of ancient structures still

clung to some of their former shapes, but nowhere was

there a hint of what the ruin might have been.



"We're wasting our time," said David. "There is noth-

ing here for us."
"If we didn't waste our time," asked Corcoran, speak-

ing tartly, "what would we do with it?"



"There's that, of course," said David.



"There is one thing that bothers me," said Corcoran.

"Here we are, almost a million years beyond my time.

There is a million years between you and me. To you I

should seem a shambling, uncouth primitive; to me you

should seem a sleek sophisticate. But neither of us finds

the other strange. What goes on? Didn't the human race

develop in all those million years?"



"You must take into account that my kind were back-

country people," David said. "The hillbillies of our time.

We clung desperately to the old values and the old way

of life. Perhaps we overdid it, for we did it as a protest

and might have gone overboard. But there were sophis-

ticates up here. We built a great technical civilization and

explored space. We came to terms with politics. No feud-

ing nationalists were left. We arrived at a full social con-

sciousness. No one in the world we stand in now lacks a

place to sleep, food to eat, or medical aid, although now

there is seldom need of it. The diseases that killed you
by the millions have been wiped out. The human lifetime

has been more than doubled since your time. Given a good

look at this society, you might be tempted to call it

Utopia."



Corcoran snorted. "A hell of a lot of good Utopia did

you. Your time achieved Utopia and now you are going

to pot. I wonder if Utopia might be what is wrong with

you."



"Perhaps it is," said David, speaking mildly. "Rather

than the fact of Utopia, however, the acceptance of it."



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                119



"You mean the feeling that you have it made and there

is nowhere else to go."



"Maybe. I'm not sure."



They walked along for a while, then Corcoran asked,

"What about the others? Can you get in touch with

them?"



"There's not much that you and I can do, but Horace

has Martin's ship, and it has a communications system.
He could do some checking around. He'd have to be care-

ful about it. There undoubtedly are a number of groups

like ours, scattered throughout time. Maybe none of them

are any better off than we are. Whoever sent the killer

monster against us would have sent monsters out against

them as well. If there are some of them left, they probably

would be wary about answering any calls."



"You think the Infinites sent the killers out?"



"I would suspect so. I can't think of anyone else who

would have."



"But why? The Infinites drove you, helter-skelter, back

into time. You can't pose much of a threat to them."



"It is possible," said David, "or the Infinites might

think of it as possible, that we could all regroup and at a

later date come back and set up a new society. We might

not do this until after the Infinites were gone, and in that

possibility they might see an even greater threat. If they

left any of us behind there always would be the possibility,

in their minds at least, that, once they were gone, we'd

be likely to undo their work."
"But their work's already done."



"Not until the last human is either dead or has assumed

incorporeal status."



All this time they had been climbing up the slope toward

the ridge top. There still was little worth the seeing. The

shattered stones lay all about them, and growing among

them were bushes and small trees. In occasional patches

of soil not covered by the stones, flowers grew and

bloomed, many of them wild, but some of them survivors

from the gardens of the fallen city—a scattering of pan-

sies, tulips in an angle formed by two still-standing walls,

and a gnarled lilac laden with sweet-smelling sprays.



120 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



Corcoran halted by the lilac bush. Reaching up, he

pulled down a branch, and sniffed the heady scent of the

tiny clustered flowers.



It all was the same, he thought. There was little change

in this world of a million years ahead. The land was the

same. There still were flowers and trees, all of them fa-

miliar. The people were little changed, if changed at all.

Long as it might seem, a million years was too short a
time for noticeable physical evolution. But there should

be intellectual change. Maybe there was. He had seen few

people of this far future—only the old man at the gate

and David and his family.



He stepped away from the lilac tree and continued along

a short span of wall only partially fallen. Coming to the

end of it, he saw that the ridge top was a short distance

off. There was a strangeness about the ridge top—a faint

haziness that hung above the serrated line of ruins stand-

ing in stark outline against the sky. He slowed his walking,

came to a halt, and stood staring up at the haziness that

was beginning to assume the form of a gigantic, circular,

free-standing staircase winding up the sky.



Then he saw that he was wrong. The staircase was not

free-standing; it wound around a massive tree trunk. And

the tree—good God, the tree! The haziness was going

away and he could see it more clearly now. The tree thrust

upward from the ridge top, soaring far into the sky, not

topping out, but continuing upward as far as he could see,

the staircase winding round it, going up and up until the

tree trunk and the staircase became one thin pencil line,

then vanished in the blue.
David spoke to him, "Is there something up there?"



Corcoran came back to reality, jerked back by the

words. He had forgotten David.



"What was that?" he asked. "I am sorry; I did not hear

you well."



"I asked if there was something up above the ridge.

You were staring at the sky."



"Nothing important," said Corcoran. "I thought I saw

a hawk. I lost him in the sun."



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



121



He looked back at the ridge. The tree still was there,

the staircase winding round it.



"We might as well go back," said David. "There is

nothing here to see."



"I think you're right," said Corcoran. "It was a waste

of time to come."
Even looking at the hilltop, David had not seen the stair-

case tree. And I, thought Corcoran, did not tell him of it.

Why the hell should I not tell him of it? Because of the

fear that he would not believe me? Or because he had no

need to know? The old, old game—never give anything

away, but keep your knowledge to yourself against that

day you have a chance to use it.



This was another example of that cockeyed ability that

had made it possible for him to see Martin's traveler when

no one else could. The traveler had been there, and he

knew the tree was there as well; but this was private,

privileged knowledge and he'd keep it to himself.



David was starting down the hill and, after a final look

to make certain the tree was there, Corcoran followed in

his wake. The old man was gone when they reached the

gate, and they went down the hill to the meadow where

the traveler awaited them.



"How about it?" asked David. "Shall we hunt up that

village the old man told us of?"



"I'm willing," said Corcoran. "We should be doing
something to find out what the local situation is. As it

stands, we're operating in a vacuum."



"What I'm particularly interested in learning," said

David, "is whether the Infinites have made their appear-

ance yet. It was about this time that they first showed up,

but I'm hazy on specific dates."



"You think the people in a small village might know?

This area has the look of being out of touch."



"There'd be rumors. All we need to know is if the In-

finites have showed up. The most flimsy rumors will tell

us that."



At the edge of the meadow they found a trail that led

down into the valley where a chuckling river flowed.

David, in the lead, turned downstream. The going was



122



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



123
easy. The valley was open and a fairly well-traveled path



ran along the river.



"Can you give me some idea of what we'll be getting

into?" asked Corcoran. "What, for instance, is the eco-

nomic setup?"



David chuckled. "This will shock you down to your

toenails. Basically, there is no economy. Robots do all

the work and there is no money. I suppose that you could

say what little economy there is is in the hands of robots.

They have taken over everything, take care of everything.

No human has to worry about how to get along."



"Under such a system," asked Corcoran, "what do the



humans do?"



"They think," said David. "They think long and well

and when it comes to talking, they talk most eloquently."



"Back in my own time," said Corcoran, "the farmers

would go to town and drop in at a cafe for a cup of coffee.
There'd be some small businessmen as well, and all of

them would sit there and settle the fate of the world, each

of them convinced he knew what he was talking about.

Of course he didn't, but that made no difference. In his

own niche, anyone can be his own philosopher."



"But not your people, not everyone . . ."



"We were the minority," said David. "The stupid fools

who couldn't understand and wouldn't go along. We were

the troublemakers, the thorn in the side of decent people,



the loudmouths ..."



"But, as I understand it, you weren't really



troublemakers."



"No," said David. "We just set a bad example."



They were walking up a low hill. When he reached the

crest, David stopped. Corcoran came up to him, and he

nodded down the hill.



"There's the village," he said.
It was a small, neat village. A few of the houses were

of respectable size, but the others were rather small.

There were not many of them, perhaps more than a dozen,

but not more than twenty. A narrow road formed the vil-

lage street. A bridge spanned the stream, and the road

beyond the stream snaked its way across flat bottomland



checkered by fields and gardens. Beyond the bottomland,

hills rose up again.



"A self-contained community," said Corcoran. "Iso-

lated. The robots, I imagine, grow the food and tend the

herds."



"Exactly. And yet the humans here, with their scaled-

down needs, have everything they want."



They went down the hill and came to the road that

formed the village street. There an old man walked, mak-

ing his slow and careful way. No one else was in sight.



A robot came out of a small building that stood at the

edge of the village. He headed directly for them, striding

purposefully. When he came close, he stopped and stood

facing them. He was a plain robot, businesslike, and with
no fanciness to him.



"Welcome to our village," he said, without any pream-

ble to cover social niceties. "We are glad you came. Will

you step in with me and enjoy a bowl of soup? That is all

we have today, that and honest bread, but there is plenty

of it. We have been out of coffee for some time, but can

offer you a stoup of our finest ale."



"We accept your hospitality with deep gratitude,"

David said, stiffly. "We hunger for companionship. We

are on an extended walking tour and have fallen in with

few. When we heard of your village, we came out of our

way to visit you."



"There are gentlemen here," the robot told them,

"who will be glad of discourse with you. We are a con-

tented place and isolated, which affords us time for

weighty cogitation. We have thinkers here we would array

against any in the land."



He turned about and led them to the small building from

which he had emerged. He held the door to let them in.



A counter ran along one wall, with stools arranged be-

fore it. In the center of the room stood a large, round table
on which sat several flaring candles. A half-dozen men

sat about the table. Large soup bowls had been pushed

to one side and replaced with steins. Despite the candles,

the room was dark and stifling. In all the building, there

were only two small windows to let in the light.




124



CLIFFORD P. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



125



"Gentlemen," said the robot, in a voice of somber pro-

nouncement, "we have visitors. If you will, please to



make elbow room for them."

The men at the table shoved their chairs closer together



to make room for their visitors.
For some time after the two sat down, there was si-

lence, with the others at the table looking them over

closely and perhaps a bit suspiciously. In turn, Corcoran

studied the faces before him. Most of them were older

men and most wore beards. But they were cleanly, re-

spectable men. He thought that he could catch the scent

of bath soap; their clothing was plain and clean, although



patched here and there.



An old man with a shock of snow white hair and a beard

of alarming frostiness finally said to them,' 'We have been

discussing the escape of mankind from the treadmill on

which we had been placed by our former economic and

social circumstances. All of us are convinced the escape

came barely in time. This seems to be the one thing on

which we are agreed, for each of us has developed di-

vergent viewpoints on how and why it all came about.

The world, we are agreed to start with, had become so

artificial, so air-conditioned, so sterilized and comforta-

ble, that a human no longer was a human, but a pet, com-

puter-kept. Have either of you, perchance, had any



thoughts on this?"



Bingo, thought Corcoran. Just like that. No introduc-
tions, no questions about who you are and what you might

be doing, nothing about how glad we are that you hap-

pened to drop in, no small talk at all, no preliminaries.

These men are fanatics, he told himself, and yet there was

no sign of fanaticism—no wild gleam in their eyes, no

tenseness in their bodies. As a matter of fact, they seemed



to be calm and easy men.



"We have thought on it, of course, from time to time,"

said David, speaking as quietly as the old man with the

frosty beard. "But our thoughts have been more directed

toward why mankind, to start with, had gotten itself so

trapped. We have sought for cause but there are so many

factors and all of them so jumbled that true assessments




are very hard to come by. In the last few months we have

been hearing some snatches of rumors about a new school

of thought which urges incorporeality as the final answer

to all of mankind's problems. This is new to us. Being out

of touch for too long, we may only now have stumbled

on a thought that has been spoken for some time. We are
hard pressed to arrive at the sense of it."



All the others at the table leaned forward with interest.



"Tell us what you know of it," said the frosty beard.

"What have you heard of it?"



"Almost nothing," said David. "Only whispers here

and there. No explanations. No details of what is going

on. It has left us puzzled. We have heard a strange des-

ignation mentioned—Infinites. But we do not know what

is meant by that."



A man with a head entirely lacking hair, but with a huge

black walrus mustache, said, "We have heard of it as well,

probably not a great deal more than you have heard. Wan-

derers passing through have brought the word. There was

one who held that incorporeality would finally bestow

upon mankind the immortality that has been always

sought."



The robot brought two large bowls of soup and set them

down in front of Corcoran and David. Corcoran picked

up a spoon and tried the soup. It was warm and tasty.

Some sort of meat, beef from the taste of it, noodles,

carrots, potatoes, and onions. He swallowed a second
spoonful with fine appreciation.



A third man, this time one with a wispy beard, was

saying, "It is not hard to appreciate why such a notion

should have wide appeal. Death has always seemed a

shameful thing. Attempts to arrive at longevity have been

a partial protest against the shameful ending of a life."



"As I understand it, incorporeality would, or at least

could, mean the loss of individuality," a somewhat

younger man said disapprovingly.



"What have you got against togetherness?" asked the

wispy beard.



"What we are talking about," said Frosty Beard, "is

the human mind. If it were possible to achieve ineorpo-




126



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



127



reality, the human mind would survive and the body be

discarded. If one were to think about the proposal deeply,

he might come to see that the human mind, the human

intelligence, is all that really matters."



The younger man asked, "But what would the mind be

without a body? The mind may need a vehicle."



"I'm not certain the mind needs a vehicle," said Frosty

Beard. "The mind may be something entirely outside the

parameters of the physical universe. We have, it seems

to me, been able to explain all but mind and time. Facing

these, mankind falters."



The robot brought steins of ale to David and Corcoran.

He put down a cutting board and knife and slapped a loaf

of brown bread onto the board. "Eat," he said. "It is

good and healthful food. There is more soup, if you wish

it. More ale, too."



Corcoran cut a thick slice of bread for David, another

for himself. He dipped the bread into the soup and took
a bite. It was excellent. So was the ale. He settled down

to enjoyment.



David was speaking again. "There was this matter of

the Infinites. We've heard the term, but nothing whatever

of what the Infinites may be."



The old man with the frosty beard answered. "Like

you, we have heard only rumors. It sounds like a cult,

but there are suggestions it is not entirely human. There

is a whisper of alien missionaries."



"There is little evidence to support a full discussion of

this matter," said Wispy Beard. "Notions arise at times,

flourish for a while, and then flicker out. Incorporeality,

you say—but how is it to be accomplished?"



"I would think that, if mankind wishes to become in-

corporeal, a way can be found," said Walrus Mustache.

"There have been many times when man has accom-

plished matters which it would have been better for him

not to have tried."



"It all goes back," said Frosty Beard, speaking in a

judiciary tone, "to a human characteristic we have pon-
dered on many a long evening—the insatiable push of

mankind toward a state of happiness ..."



Corcoran let the talk go drifting on. He mopped up the

last of his soup with a swab of bread, then emptied the

stein. He straightened in his chair with his gut as full as

possible, short of stuffing it.



He glanced around the room and saw for the first time

that it was a hovel. It was small and bleak, without or-

nament, with little thought of comfort, a robot's idea of

a dwelling place, simply an area of space enclosed against

the weather. The workmanship was good; it would be

good if put together by robotic labor. The table and the

chairs were made of solid, honest wood. They would last

for centuries. But aside from honest labor and honest

wood, there was nothing else. The soup bowls and steins

were the simplest pottery; the candles were homemade.

Even the soup spoons were fashioned from carved and

polished wood.



Yet these men of the village sat at this rude table in this

rude hovel and discoursed on matters that were far be-

yond their ability or power to influence in any way at all,

happily mumbling over considerations when they well

might have no information on which to fabricate the basis
of their talks—although, he told himself, he could be no

proper judge of that. But it was, he thought, nothing to

be greatly wondered at. It was all done in an ancient and

honorable tradition that ranged back as far as history ran.

In ancient Athens, idle men had met in the agora to engage

in pompous talk; centuries later, idle men had sat on the

porches of American country stores and talked as pomp-

ously as any old Athenian on matters they did not un-

derstand. In English clubs other men had sat over their

drinks, mumbling to one another.



Idleness ran to talk, he thought, and men were en-

tranced by the brilliance of their own thoughts. These men

here were idle, made so by a computer-robotic society.



David was rising from his chair, saying, "I fear that it

is time for us to go. We would tarry longer if we could,

but we must be on our way. Thank you for the food and

drink and for all the talk."



The men at the table did not rise. They did not offer
128



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



129



hands to say good-bye. They looked up briefly and nod-

ded, then went back to their interminable discussion.



Corcoran rose with David and started for the door. The

robot, there before them, held it open.



"Thanks for the soup and ale," said David.

"Any time," the robot said. "You are welcome any



time."



Then they were out in the street, the door closing be-

hind them. The street was empty.



"We found what we came for," said David. "We know

now that the Infinites are here, that they are in place and



beginning their mission."
"I feel sorry for those men back there," said Corcoran.

"Such pitiful bastards. Nothing to do but sit around and



talk."



"You have no need to pity them," said David. "They



may not realize it, but they have found their happiness.



They are truly happy men."



"Maybe so, but it's a horrible way for the human race



to end."



"It may be what the race was driving for all the time.



Through all of history man was always looking for some

method that would do his work for him. First the dog, the

ox, the horse. Then machines and after that computers



and robots."

Dusk was just beginning to creep into the valley when
they reached the meadow where the traveler lay.



As they approached the traveler, a misty scatter of shin-

ing motes moved out to meet them. Corcoran, the first to

notice it, stopped short. He felt the hair at the nape of

the neck begin to bristle in atavastic fear, then suddenly



realized what was taking place.



'' David," he said, speaking softly, " we have a visitor,''

David drew his breath in sharply, then he said, "Henry,



we are glad you turned up. I had hoped you would."

Henry floated across the grass and came up close to



them.



You laid me a long trail, he said. I had far to go.



"How about the others? What traveler were you in?"

I was in no traveler, said Henry. I remained at Hopkins



Acre. I knew you'd all go separately and I'd have to track

you all.



"So you planned to start from scratch."
That I did. It is well I did. There have been

complications.



"Well, you found us. That's a start. But why did you

track us? You must have known we'd be able to take care

of ourselves. You should have taken Enid's trail. She had

the least experience, would be at the greatest risk."



That is what I did, said Henry. She has disappeared.



"How could that be? She would have waited for you.

She would have known you would track her down."



She did not wait. She reached her first destination, then

left. I fear she fled the monster. At her first destination

lies the monster, dead.



"Dead? Who would have killed the monster?"



"Perhaps Boone," said Corcoran. "Boone was with

her. He was running for her traveler with the monster

close behind him. I tried to go to help him, but you seized

hold of me and tossed me in the traveler.''
You will not let me tell it all, wailed Henry. You must

break in with all your jabbering. There is more to say.



"Well, say it then," said David, somewhat impatiently.



She left alone. I am sure of that. Boone was left behind.



"That doesn't sound right. She'd not have deserted

him."



I can be sure of little. Henry said. I have only my de-

ductions. I came upon the destination far in the past from

Hopkins Acre. Fifty thousand years into the past, in the

southwest of North America. The traveler was gone, but

there was scent of it. The traveler had left a week or more

before.



"Scent?" asked Corcoran. "Does he trail the travelers

by scent?"



"I do not know," said David. "Neither does he, I

would suppose, so there is no point in asking him. He has

something you and I don't have and I wouldn't make a

guess."



I can do it, said Henry. I know not how; I do not ask.
Will you let me now continue?




130



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



131



"If you please," said David.



I looked about. There was a campfire that was fairly

recent. Two days, three, not more than four. There was

a rock cairn beside it. A piece of paper was held down

on the cairn by another stone placed on top of it. I could

not lift the stone nor could I insert enough of me to leam

what, if anything, was inscribed upon the paper. I suspect

it was a note left for others who might come. A short

distance off lay the wreckage of the killer monster and a

few strides beyond that the skeleton of some great beast,

an oxen of some sort from the looks of it. It had enormous
horns.



"There was no sign of Boone?" asked Corcoran.



None. I looked, but in all honesty, I must confess, for

no great length of time. I was much too concerned for

Enid. The trail was long and hard, but I found the second

destination where her traveler had landed.



"And Enid wasn't there," said David.



Neither she nor the traveler was there. The traveler had

not taken off; it had been taken off. I found skid marks

on the ground; I found wheel tracks. It had been dragged

off and placed on a vehicle. I tried to work out the trail,

but I was never able to track it to the end.



"You looked for Enid. too?"



I checked, making many wide circles. I pried into every

corner. I peeked in every cranny. Not once did I get an

impression of her. If she had been in the area, I would



have known it.
"So she's really lost. And someone has a traveler who



shouldn't have it."

"There's a good chance," said Corcoran, "that they



don't know what they have. Someone found it, was in-

trigued by it, and hauled it off fast, before the owner could

come back—figuring, I suppose, that later on they'd have

a chance to try to work out what it is."



David shook his head.



"Look," said Corcoran, "how many time travelers are

there in the world? How many people before your time

knew time travel was possible?"



Corcoran could be right, said Henry. You should listen



to him, David. He has a good head on his shoulders. He

looks facts in the eye.



"At the moment," said David, "there is no good reason

to debate the matter. For the moment, Enid is out of our

reach. Her traveler's gone and so is she. We'd have no

idea where to look."
My suggestion is to go back to the prehistoric site, said

Henry. There we can look for Boone. He may have some

clue that will help us find Enid. She may have said some-

thing to him that could be significant.



"Can you get us there? Have you the coordinates?"



Very closely there. I have the location coordinates. I

worked them out carefully before I left. And the time co-

ordinates are off by very little.



"I think you're right," saidDavid. "We may find some-

thing there to work on. Otherwise we'll be thrashing

around with no idea what to do."



Corcoran nodded. "It's the one thing we can do," he

said.



David stepped through the door of the traveler, reach-

ing out a hand to grasp Corcoran by the arm and haul him

through.



"Get that door closed," he said, "and get set. Once

Henry gives me the coordinates, we're off."
Corcoran closed the door and went forward, watching

while David wrote down the coordinates in his log book

as Henry gave them to him. David reached his fingers out

to the instrument panel. "Hold on," he warned, then

came the shock and darkness, the deep, unforgiving dark-

ness. And almost instantly, it seemed, David was singing

out again: "We're there."



Corcoran found the door and fumbled with it, finally

got it open and tumbled out. The sun battered down out

of a molten sky. The buttes stood up against the melting

blue. The sagebrush shimmered in the sundance of the

sand. Out on the plain lay the whitened skeleton of some

great beast.



"Are you sure this is the place?" David asked of Henry.



It is the place. Walk straight ahead and you will find

the ashes of the campfire.




132 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY 133
"There's not any cairn," said Corcoran. "You said

there was a cairn close by the fire and a note weighed

down."



You're right. The cairn's not there. But the stones of

which the caim was built lie scattered on the ground.

Something knocked them over.



Corcoran walked forward. The stones were scattered

on the ground and there was a hole dug in the center of

the scattered stones. The ashes of the campfire showed

white against the sand.



"Wolves or foxes," said Corcoran. "They scattered

the stones to get at the ground beneath them. There must

have been something buried underneath the cairn."



"Meat," said David. "Boone must have cached some

meat there and built the cairn to keep off the wolves."



Corcoran nodded. It sounded reasonable.



"The note should be here somewhere," said David. "It

all checks out. The ashes of the fire. The skeleton of the

large animal. That pile of junk over there must be what

is left of the killer monster."
They looked for the note and did not find it.



"It's hopeless," David said. "The wind blew it away.

There's no chance of finding it."



Corcoran stood and looked out across the plain. Far

off, a dust devil swayed like a dancing snake. Just within

the limit of vision dark dots danced in the shimmer of

heat. Bison, Corcoran told himself, although it was no

more than a guess; there was no way the unaided human

eye could have made out what they were. The skeleton,

he knew, was a prehistoric bison. The skull lay canted,

resting on one hom, the other angled in the air. No other

creature than a bison, he thought, could have horns like

those.



Had Boone killed the bison? If that was the case, he

must have had a large caliber rifle, for no other kind could

have dropped that large a beast. And if he had a rifle, had

it been he, as well, who had downed the killer monster?

Corcoran shook his head; there was no way he could

know.



"What do we do now?" asked David.
"We have a look around," Corcoran told him. "We

may meet Boone returning from wherever he may have

been. We may find him dead. Although it's hard to think

anything could kill him. After all the risks he has taken,

all the scrapes that he's been in, the damn fool should

have died years ago. But his life is charmed."



"I'll climb the butte," said David. "From the top I

might be able to see something that will give a clue."



"It would help if you had binoculars."



"I doubt we have. I'll go and see."



David walked back toward the traveler; Corcoran

headed for the heap of scrap that had been the killer mons-

ter. He stayed well clear, walking a wide circle around

it, though there was no threat or menace left in the scat-

tered metal. Yet an awareness that seemed no proper part

of him warned him to keep his distance.



David came back from the traveler. "No binoculars,"

he said. "Horace dumped the stuff in hurriedly; no

thought went into it."
"I'll climb the butte, if you'd rather," said Corcoran.



"No, I'll do it. I'm very good at climbing."



"I'll walk along the base of the butte," said Corcoran.

"I don't expect to find anything. This whole business has

a peculiar ring to it. I'm beginning to wonder if Boone

might not have left with Enid."



"Henry doesn't think he did."



Corcoran choked back an observation not entirely com-

plimentary to the glittery Henry. Instead, he asked,

"Where is Henry? He hasn't said a word for a long time

now, and I have caught no glimpse of him."



"Come to think of it, neither have I. But that means

nothing. He'll be back. He's probably doing some poking

around."



David was carrying a shotgun. He must have picked it

up when he went looking for the binoculars. He extended

it to Corcoran, holding it upright by the stock. "Here,

you might have more use of it than I have."
Corcoran shook his head. "I don't expect to run into

any kind of trouble. I'll be careful that I don't. And you

be damned sure that you don't pick the wrong target.




134



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



135



There probably are critters here a shotgun would mean

nothing to."



David tucked the gun comfortably under his arm, seem-

ingly glad that Corcoran had not taken it. "I have never

fired this gun or any other gun," he said, "but on my

walks at Hopkins Acre, I got accustomed to carrying one.

This particular gun has become a part of me. I feel better,

more myself, with it underneath my arm. The gun has

never been loaded when I carried it."
"Take my advice," said Corcoran, in some disgust,

"and load it. I suppose you carry shells?"



David slapped a pocket of his jacket. "Right in here.

A double handful of them. Even back at Hopkins Acre,

I always carried two shells. I took them out of the gun,

Timothy insisting that it always should be loaded when it

was in the rack."



"It is senseless to carry a gun if you don't intend to

use it," said Corcoran. "What's the use of packing a gun

unless it's loaded? My old man told me long ago, when

he gave me my first gun—don't ever point your gun at

anything, he said, unless you mean to kill it. I took that

as good advice and never in my life have I pointed a gun

at anything unless I was prepared to kill it."



"I often pointed this gun," said David, "but I never

killed. I pointed it at hundreds of birds that the dogs put

up, but I never pressed the trigger."



"What are you trying to prove—that you are finally

civilized?"



"I've often wondered myself," said David.
Wandering along the base of the butte, Corcoran found

a seepage flow that had been scooped out, forming a basin

into which the water flowed. He came unexpectedly upon

a badger that hissed at him before it waddled rapidly

away. He became aware that a wolf was following him

and paid it no attention. It kept on following, never getting

closer than it had been, never falling back.



Nothing else happened. He found nothing of any in-

terest. After a time, he turned about and followed the

curve of the butte back to where the traveler lay. Before

he turned back, the wolf had disappeared.



The sun was not far above the western horizon. Using

some of the wood from the pile that remained beside the

old campfire, he started a blaze. He went to the seepage

basin and brought back a pail of water. When David came

down off the butte, he was frying sizzling bacon in one

pan and cooking flapjacks in a second.



David flopped down on the ground, the gun across his

lap. "There is nothing," he said. "A few grazing herds

far out on the plain, and that is all. This is the loneliest

place I have ever seen."
"Pour yourself some coffee," Corcoran told him. "I

have enough flapjacks for you to start. Help yourself to

the bacon. The plates and cups are over there on the

blanket."



Halfway through his first helping of cakes, David

asked, "Any sign of Henry?"



"Not a peep from him."



"It's strange for him to go away without saying any-

thing about it. Or to stay so long."



"He got an idea, maybe, and went to try it out."



"I hope so," said David. "There are times I'm not sure

I understand Henry. He's my brother and all that, but try

as I may to see him as blood and bone, he's no longer

blood and bone—my brother still, but a highly unusual

human being. He allowed himself to get snared by the

Infinites, by their sleek, fine talk. But the process didn't

take. Maybe Henry was too knotty, too warped a per-

sonality for it to take hold of him."



Corcoran tried to be comforting. "Don't worry about
him. Nothing can happen to him. Nothing can lay a mitt

on him."



David made no response. A few moments later he

asked, "What do you think we should do now? Is there

any point in staying here?"



"It's too early to say," Corcoran said. "We've been

here only a few hours. Let's wait at least through to-

morrow. We may have new thoughts by then."



A soundless voice spoke to them.



You seek a man called Boone? it asked.




136



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



137
After a startled moment, Corcoran said to David, "Did

you hear that?"



"Yes, I did. It wasn't Henry. It was someone else."



I am the mind, the voice said, of what you term a killer

monster. I can help you with this Boone.



"You can tell us where he is?" asked Corcoran.



I can tell you where he went. But first we strike a

bargain.



"What kind of bargain, monster?"



Cease calling me a monster. It is bad enough to think

of me as such, but to say it to my face is rank discourtesy.



"If you are not a monster, then what are you?"



I am a faithful servitor who does no more than carry

out my master's will. It is not mine to question the right-

ness or the wisdom of his will.



"Don't bother to apologize," said David. "We know
who you are. You lie in the tangle of wreckage that was

once a killer monster."



There you go again, calling me a monster. And I made

no attempt to apologize.



"It sounded to me as if you did," said Corcoran. "Let's

get on with your bargain."



It is a simple bargain. Straightforward and no frills. I

tell you where to look for Boone, but before I do that you

must lift me from this wreckage of my former self and

engage in all sincerity to take me elsewhere, away from

this dreadful nothingness.



"Why," said David, "that is an easy bargain to be

struck."



"Easy on," Corcoran cautioned. "Ask yourself how

much faith you're willing to accord this junkyard voice."



"It seems a fairly simple thing," said David. "He

knows where Boone is and is willing ..."



"That's the point. He doesn't claim he knows where

Boone is. He tells us he'll tell us where to look for him.
Those are two different things."



"As a matter of fact, they are. How about it, sir? How

precise would be your information?"



I would help you in any way I could. The aid I offer

will not be limited to the finding of Boone.



"What other kinds of help? In what regards could you

be of aid to us?"



"Forget it," Corcoran growled. "Pay him no attention.

He is in a tight spot and he'll promise anything to get out

of it."



But in all human charity, wailed the monster, you must

take pity on me. You must not condemn me to endless

eons of no contact with external stimuli. I can not see;



with the exception of this telepathic talk, I cannot hear.

I feel no heat or cold. Even the passage of time is blurred.

I cannot differentiate between a second and a year.

"You're in terrible shape," said Corcoran.

Indeed I am. Kind sir, please empathize with me.

"I'll not lift a hand to help you. I'll not lift a finger."
"You're being hard on him," said David.

"Not as hard as he was on Athens. No harder than he

would have been on us if he'd had the chance—if he'd

not bungled it."



Bungle it I did not. I am efficient mechanism. My luck

ran out on me.



"It certainly did," said Corcoran. "It is still running

out. Now shut up. We want no more of you."

It shut up. They heard no more of it.

After a time, David said, "Henry has not come back.

You and I are left alone. The monster-mind says it has

information. I think it reasonable to believe it does. It was

here when Boone was here. It may have talked with him.''



Corcoran grunted. "You are trying to convince yourself

that you should show a measure of magnanimity to a fallen

enemy, that you should act nobly and be a gentleman

about it. It's your neck if you want to risk it. I wash my

hands of it. Do whatever you damn please."



The sun had set and deep dusk was flowing in. Some-

where out in the emptiness, a wolf howled and another

answered. Corcoran finished eating. "Give me your plate

and the silverware," he said to David. "I'll go down to
the seepage basin and rinse them off."

"Want me to come along as guard for you?"

"No, I'll be quite safe. It's just a step or two away."

Squatting beside the dug-out basin, Corcoran rinsed off




CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



138



the dishes. In the east, the moon was riding low. Off in

the distance, a half-dozen wolves had joined in lamenting

their hard and sorry lives.



When he got back to the fire, David had the blankets

out. "It's been a long day," he said, "and we should get

some sleep. I'll stand first watch. I imagine we should

keep a watch."



"I think we should," said Corcoran.



"I'm worried about Henry," David told him. "He

knows that in a situation such as this we should not divide
our forces."



"He's probably only delayed," said Corcoran. "By

morning, he'll be back, and everything will be all right



again."



He wadded up his jacket to use as a pillow and pulled

the blanket up. Moments later, he was asleep.



When he awoke, he was lying on his back. Above him,

the sky was growing lighter with the first touch of dawn,

and David had not called him to take his turn at watch.



Damn him, Corcoran thought. He knew better than

that. He doesn't have to prove that he can take it or that

he's a better man than I am.



"David!" he shouted. "Damn it, what do you think



you're doing?"



On the butte, the birds were singing, saluting the first

brightening of the east. Except for the singing, there was

no sound at all, and the flicker of the dying fire was the
only motion anywhere. Out on the plain, the white bones

of the bison gleamed in the soft dawn light; and a little

way to the right of them, he could make out the junk heap

that marked the death of the killer monster.



Corcoran stood up, shaking off the blanket that had

covered him. He moved toward the fire, reaching out for

a stick of wood to use in rearranging and consolidating

the scattered coals. He crouched down before the fire and

it was then he heard the slobbering sound that sent a wave

of terror through him. It was not a sound he had ever

heard before and he had no idea what it was, but there

was about it a freezing quality that held him rigid. It came



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 139



again and this time he was able to turn his head to see

where it might come from.



For a moment all that he could see was a pale blob

crouched over a dark blob on the ground. He strained his

eyes to see the better but it was not until the pale blob

lifted its head and stared straight at him that he recognized

it for what it was—flat cat face, tasseled ears, the gleam

of six-inch fangs—a sabertooth crouched above its prey,
feeding with that horrible slobbering to indicate the tooth-

someness of what it was ingesting.



Corcoran knew the prey. Out there, under the claws

and fangs of the sabertooth, lay David!



Grasping the stick he had picked up from the pile of

wood, Corcoran rose. He shifted the stick in his hand,

getting a better grip. It was a puny weapon, but was the

only thing he had. The cat also rose to its feet. It was

much larger than he had thought. It was fearsome in its

size. It stepped over the dark blob that was David and

took a few steps forward. It stopped and snarled, the

down-curving fangs gleaming in the growing light. The

cat's forelegs were longer than its hind legs; its back

sloped and the beast seemed to slouch. There was light

enough now for Corcoran to make out the speckled coat,

brown splotches on light tan.



He did not stir. After its few steps, neither did the cat.

Then slowly, deliberately, as if not yet decided, it pivoted

about. It slew-footed its way back to its prey, lowered its

head, nuzzling the dark blob and arranging the catch so

it could get a firm grip. Then the cat's teeth sank into the

blob and lifted; and the cat began to move away, taking

its time, turning its back on the man beside the fire.
Corcoran watched, unable to move a muscle. The cat

broke into an effortless trot. It held its head high so that

its dangling prey would clear the ground. But even so,

one leg fell down and dragged, and the cat stumbled once

or twice when one of its front paws tripped over the drag-

ging leg. It went along the base of the bluff, around an

extending spur that ran off the butte into the plain, and

disappeared.



Not until it was gone did Corcoran move. He crouched



140 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



down before the fire and fed wood into it. The wood

caught quickly and flames leaped high. Still crouching, he

swung around to see that the traveler still lay where it

had landed. Thirty feet or more beyond the fire lay the

shotgun. He had not noticed the gun before. It had been

too dark, and, in any case, he had been so occupied with

watching the cat he had seen nothing else. He did not

move to pick it up. The paralysis of fear still held him.



Slowly the enormity of what had happened struck him

full force. Killed by a sabertooth! Killed and eaten by a
sabertooth. Killed, not in anger or defense, nor yet in

thoughtless killing fury, but killed for the sake of the meat

upon the bone.



David was dead. David who? Shocked, Corcoran re-

alized he'd never known the family name. The folk at

Hopkins Acre had never mentioned it, and he had never

asked. He called the roll: David, Enid, Timothy, Emma,

and Horace. Although that wasn't right; Horace's family

name would have been different.



David had not called him, had let him sleep. If he had

called me, Corcoran thought, it might have been me in-

stead of him.



He tried, in his imagination, to lay out how the death

might have happened. David might have heard something

out beyond the fire in the predawn darkness and have

stepped out to investigate. He might have been taken by

surprise or he might have seen the cat. Whatever the sit-

uation, he had not fired the gun.



If it had been me, Corcoran thought, I would have fired.

If I had walked out from the fire and run into a sabertooth,

I would have used the gun. A shotgun would not be the

weapon of choice to use against a sabertooth, but at close
range, while it might fail to kill, a shotgun certainly would

dampen the killing urge of even so large an animal. David

had not used the gun, perhaps because he had never fired

it, perhaps because he was too civilized to use it, even if

he'd had the chance. To him the gun was not a weapon—

it had been a walking stick.



The poor damn fool, Corcoran told himself.



He left the fire and walked out to the gun. It had two



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 141



shells in the breech; it had not been fired. He cradled it

in the crook of his arm and walked out farther. A boot

lay on the ground and inside the boot, a foot. The bones

were shattered, broken by the crunching teeth of a feeding

animal. A little further on he picked up a torn jacket.

Around it were scattered other shotgun shells, lying

where they had fallen. Corcoran gathered them up, put

them in his pocket. There seemed nothing else left of

David. He walked back to the boot with the foot enclosed

and stood there, staring at it. He did not stoop to touch

it. It would be, he told himself, messy to pick up and he

shied away from it.
He turned back to the fire and hunkered down. He

should eat something, he knew, but he had no urge for

food. His mouth tasted sour and foul.



Now what should he do?



He was certain that he could operate the traveler. He

knew where David kept the logbook; he had watched

David program the control panel for the jump to this place.



But where to go? Back to his own twentieth century,

washing his hands of this whole affair? He thought about

that. The idea had some attraction, but he felt an uneas-

iness about it. Thinking of it, he felt like a deserter. Boone

was somewhere in this crazy quilt of time, and he should

not leave until he was certain he could be of no help to

his friend.



He thought about the sabertooth and being alone in this

forsaken place, and it was a thought that did not please

him. But he weighed it all against the need to be here if

Boone should return from wherever he had gone. And

Henry, too, perhaps, although Henry had no need of a

traveler to move through all of time and space. Henry,

he decided, had no need at all of him.
He considered the sabertooth and saw that the cat was

an incidental problem, not to be taken account of in any

decision he might make. The cat might not return. Even

if it did, there now was a weapon in the hands of someone

who knew the use of it. With the gun in hand, he told

himself, he would not be as vulnerable as David. At night

he could sleep in the traveler, with the door closed tight



142 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



against maraudering carnivores. There was food to last

for a time and water in the seep-hole. He could stay, he

knew, as long as he might wish.



Full dawn had come and he bestirred himself. He went

to the seep-hole for a pail of water; he went to the traveler

for food. He squatted by the fire to bake a pan of corn-

bread, boil coffee, and fry bacon. Hell, he told himself,

it's just a camping trip.



He tried to feel sorry for David, but could dredge up

little sorrow. The horror of the death—or, rather, the hor-

ror of the circumstances of the death—sent a shiver

through him, but he forced himself not to dwell on it. The
quicker he could wipe it from his mind, the better it would

be.



There was a titter in his mind. It came from somewhere

outside of him. Heh-heh-heh, it laughed.



Anger flared within him.



"Bug off," he told the monster.



Heh-heh-heh, the monster tittered. Your friend is dead

and I am still alive.



"You'll wish a million times that you were dead before

this is all over."



You'll be dead yourself, the monster chortled, long be-

fore I am. You'll be bone and dust.



Corcoran did not answer. A whisper of suspicion came

to him. Was it possible the monster could have lured the

killer cat to David?



It was silly on the face of it. He was paranoid, he

thought, for even thinking of it. He ate breakfast, then

washed and dried the pots and plates, using his jerked-
out shirttail to do the drying. On second thought, he went

to the traveler and found a shovel. Digging a hole, he

buried the boot with the foot inside it. For sanitary rea-

sons, he explained to himself; the action was not intended

to be ceremonial.



Wrapping a chunk of cornbread in a handkerchief, he

put it in his pocket. In the traveler he rooted through the

flung-in supplies, looking for a canteen and finding none.

In lieu of a canteen, he filled the pail half full of water.



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                   143



It was an awkward thing to carry, but the best that he

could do.



Packing the shotgun and the water pail, he walked out

onto the plain. A few miles out he turned to his left and

began to walk a circle route, with the butte as the center

of the circle. He kept a sharp lookout for any sign that

Boone had passed that way.



Twice Corcoran found what he thought might be a

human trail. He followed each and could not be sure. Both

trails finally petered out. It was useless, he told himself.
He had known all along that it would be useless—but even

convinced of the uselessness, still he had to try. He and

Boone had gone through a lot together. They had, at

times, stuck out their necks for one another. Boone was

the closest thing to a friend he'd ever had. He'd not had

many friends.



At times he came on wolves that grudgingly moved out

of his way, sitting down to watch him once he'd passed.

A deerlike animal sprang out of a clump of bushes and

dashed away. He passed within a mile of a small herd of

bison. In the distance he glimpsed what looked like mas-

todons, although they were too distant for him to be cer-

tain. There could be mastodons here, he told himself; it

was the proper time for them.



When the sun stood directly overhead, he halted and

squatted in the shade of a tree. He munched cornbread

and drank lukewarm water from the pail.



Probably he should go back to the butte. He had set

out with the intention of describing a circle around it. He

already had completed the western sweep of the circle.

To the east lay nothing, just the plain stretching vast, flat,

and empty, finally to merge with the sky. If Boone had

gone anywhere, he would have gone west, where other
buttes loomed up; he would not have gone into the noth-

ingness of the east. Corcoran pondered the matter. Per-

haps what he should do was backtrack himself, covering

virtually the same ground, keeping a sharper lookout for

a clue he might have missed before.



He finished the cornbread and had another lukewarm

drink. He was readying himself to rise to his feet when



144



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



145



he felt the presence. He froze and listened. There was

nothing to be heard, but the presence was still there.



He spoke hesitantly, unsure.



"Henry?"



Yes, it is I, said Henry.
"You know of David?"



Yes, I know of him. As soon as I returned, I knew.

And you were missing. I set out to find you.



"I'm sorry about David."



I sorrow also. He was a brother who cannot be re-

placed. He was a noble man.



"Yes. A very noble man."



A cat got him, said Henry. I tracked it and I found it,

worrying his remains. There was little left. Tell me how



it came about.



"He was standing guard. When I awoke I found what

had happened. I had heard nothing. The cat carried him



away."



There was a grave. A very small grave.

"A boot," said Corcoran. "With a foot inside of it. I
buried it."

I thank you for your act. You did what the family would



have done.

"You know where the body is. I could take a shovel



and scare off the cat. . ."



It would be meaningless. An empty gesture. I see you

have the gun. He did not use it?



"He must have been taken by surprise."



In any case, Henry said, he would not have used it. He

was too gentle for this world. This venture has gone badly.

For all of us. First Enid lost, then Boone.



"You know of Boone? You have news of him?"



I found where he had gone, but he was not there. A

rifle was there and a pack he had carried, but he was gone.

A wolf, I think, had been with him. I am sorry, Corcoran.



"I think I know what happened to him," said Corcoran.

"He stepped around another corner. I only hope he stays
where he went and does not come popping back."



What do you intend to do now? There is no point in

staying here,



Corcoran shook his head. Yesterday he'd thought

briefly of what he could or should do. He had thought of

going back to New York. He had rejected this idea out

of hand; Boone had been lost and must be found. Now

Boone was still lost, he realized, with very little chance

of finding.



He thought of the twentieth century and again rejected

it. Never in his life had he turned his back on any ad-

venture until it was all played out. This adventure, he

reminded himself, was far from being all played out.



He could return to Hopkins Acre. The coordinates, he

was sure, could be found in David's logbook. Living in

the Acre would be comfortable. The servants and the ten-

ants still would be there. It would be a place where he

could be secure and rethink the situation and, perhaps,

arrive at a logical plan for further action. It was possible,

as well, that some of the others would be returning there.



But there was that other place where the ruins of a city
topped a peak and a massive, sky-piercing tree lanced up

to tower above the ruins, with a spiral stairway running

around the tree. There must be some mystery there, per-

haps not as he had seen it or remembered that he'd seen

it, but surely something that needed looking into.



Henry was waiting for an answer. Corcoran could

faintly detect the shimmer of him, a cloud of sparkles

gleaming in the sun.



Instead of answering Henry's question, he asked a

question of his own. "As I understand it, you stopped

short of incorporeality. Can you tell me how it

happened?"



It was a piece of bad judgment on my part, said Henry.

I let the Infinites talk me into it. I took to hanging around

with them. Curious, I would guess, wondering what kind

of things they really were. Very strange, you must un-

derstand. They are marginally humanlike, or the glimpses

that I caught of them seemed humanlike. You don't see

them. You scan them now and then. They float in and

out, like ghosts. But see them or not, you hear them all

the time. They preach at you, they reason, they implore,

and they plead. They show you the path to immortality
146 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



and recite the endless comforts and triumphs of immor-

tality—an intellectual immortality, they say, is the only

way to go. All else is gross, all else is sloppy and shameful.

No one wants to be shameful.



"They sell you a bill of goods?"



They sold me, said Henry. But they sold me in a mo-

ment of weakness. When the weakness went away, I

fought them. They were shocked to their very core that

I should have the temerity to resist them, and that was

when they really got to work on me. But the harder they

pounded on me, the stubbomer I got. I broke away from

them. Or maybe they gave up in disgust. Maybe I was

taking more of their time than I was worth, and they

heaved me out. But when I got away, the process had

gone too far; I already was halfway to incorporeality; I

was stuck somewhere between. I was the way you see

me now.
"It doesn't seem to bother you."



There are disadvantages and advantages, and I take the

view that I am somewhat ahead, that the advantages may

outweigh the disadvantages. At least, that's what I tell

myself. There are many common, human things that I

cannot do, but there are abilities no other human can com-

mand, and I make the most of those abilities, ignoring

what I've lost.



"And what do you intend to be doing now?"



There still is one part of the family that I must track

down. Horace and Emma—and Timothy, who was hus-

tled aboard the traveler by that big bully of a Horace.



"Have you any idea where to look?"



None at all. I'll have to track them down.



"Can you use the traveler in your tracking? I could

operate it for you."



No, I must do it on my own. I must go back to Hopkins

Acre and pick up the trail from there. It will be faint and
thin, but it will still be there. You say you can operate

the traveler?



"Yes. I know where the logbook is and I watched David

punch in the coordinates when he set the course for here."



It might be best for you to go back to Hopkins Acre.



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                147



I think the place is safe. Some of us could come back for

you. We could do that, knowing where you were. The

coordinates would be written in the logbook. You are sure

you can run the traveler?



"I am certain," Corcoran said. "I don't think I'll go to

Hopkins Acre. Later on, perhaps, but not immediately.

I want to go to the place where you found David and me.

There is something there that needs looking into."



Henry did not ask the question that Corcoran was sure

he would. Rather, there was the impression of a shrug.



Well, all right, said Henry. You know where you're

going and I know where I'm going. We'd best be on our

way.
Suddenly, Henry was gone.



Corcoran rose to his feet. Boone no longer was in this

time and place, and there was no reason to stay on. He

knew where he was going and, as Henry had said, he

should be on his way as soon as possible.



When he reached the camp, the place was deserted.

There was no sign of the cat and not even any wolves.

Corcoran picked up the pots and pans beside the ashes

of the campfire and flung them on the blanket; then, lifting

the blanket, he flung it all over his shoulder.



A voice talked at him. Heh-heh-heh, it said.



At the sound, Corcoran spun on his heel to face the

pile of junk.



The tittering kept on.



Corcoran headed for the junk heap.



"Cut out that goddamned tittering," he shouted.
The tittering cut off and a pleading began.



Dear sir, you are about to leave. You gather up your

things to leave. Please take me with you. You will not

regret it. Many things I can do for you. I can pay back

your kindness. I will be your eternal friend. The taking

of me will in no way impede your going. I am of little

weight and will not take up much space. You need not

search for me. I lie in back of the wreckage of my body.

I am a brain case, a highly polished sphere. I would look

well displayed upon a mantle. I would be a conversation

piece. For me you would find many uses. In times when



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



148



you are alone and desirous of companionship, the two

of us could hold instructive and entertaining conversa-

tions. I have a good mind and am well versed in logic.

There would be times I could serve as your advisor. And

always I would be your friend, filled with loyalty and



gratitude . . .



"No, thank you," Corcoran said, turning on his heel
and walking toward the traveler.



Behind him the killer monster went on wailing, plead-

ing, begging, and promising. Then the wailing fell off and

a storm of hatred came.



You scaly son of a bitch, I'll not forget you for this.

I'll get you in the end. I'll dance upon your bones.



Corcoran, unscathed, continued to the traveler.



r



Boone



9



A



S ^ cold nose woke Boone, and he

tried to jerk himself erect. His leg screamed at him, and

he choked back the answering scream deep inside his

throat. The wolf, whining, sidled away. All around the

southern horizon, the stars glittered coldly at him. His
clothes were damp with the chill of frosty dew.



From where he lay he looked over the moon-silvered

plain that he had crossed, more desert than plain, although

there was some grass and other pasturage for small game

herds. Somewhere, perhaps to the east, there would be

grassy plains where enormous herds would range. But

here the herds were small and the predators few.



149



150



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



151



"You're out of place," he told the wolf. "You could

find better eating elsewhere."



The wolf glared at him and snarled.



"That's no way to carry on a conversation," Boone

told it. "I do not snarl. I've never snarled at you. We
have traveled together and fed together and the two of us



are friends."



He had been holding himself propped up on his arms,

but now he relaxed and eased himself to the ground, turn-

ing his head so that he could watch the wolf—not that he

feared the wolf, he told himself; it was simply the incli-

nation to maintain touch with the only companion that he



had.

He had been asleep and how could he have slept under



such conditions—his leg trapped in a rocky crevice and

a watching wolf that waited for him to die so that it might

feed? Yet, he thought, he might be maligning the wolf,



for they were friends.



His leg hurt, no longer a scream, but a dull, tooth-grit-

ting ache. He felt like hell—his leg hurt, his gut was

empty, his throat burned, and his mouth was dry. He

needed water badly. Somewhere, not too distant, he was

certain that he heard the sound of running water.
The wolf had sat down, its bushy tail wrapped neatly

about its feet, its head canted to one side, and its ears



tipped forward.



Boone closed his eyes. He let his head settle more

firmly against the ground. He tried to close out the pain.

Except for the sound of running water, all was silent. He

tried to close his ears against the sound of the water.



What a hell of a way to end, he thought. Briefly, he



dozed.



And snapped back to awareness.



He was on his knees, no weapon in his hand and none

to reach for. Tearing down upon him was the mounted

horseman that came deep out of his memory, a giant of

a man astride a small but wiry horse. The horse, its teeth

bared, was as purposeful and grim as the man who rode



it.

The horseman's mouth was open in a scream of



triumph, his teeth flashing in the firelight that seemed to
appear from nowhere. His great mustaches streamed back

in the wind of his rush, and the gleaming, heavy sword

high above his head was beginning to come down.



Then the wolf was there, rising in a leap, foam-flecked

jaws agape, aimed for the horseman's throat. But it was

too late, far too late. The sword was coming down and

nothing in the world could stop it.



Boone landed with a thump and sprawled. His eyes

were filled with grayness. The surface beneath him was

smooth; when he crawled upon it, he knew his leg was

free—his leg was free and he was no longer where he had

been, trapped on the steep slope of a butte, with an up-

thrust of stone behind him and the sound of nearby run-

ning water.



The sound of running water still was with him and he

crawled toward it. Reaching it, he flopped upon his belly

and lowered his head to drink, retaining sense enough to

force himself to limit the drink to several swallows, then

rolling away from the edge of the water.



He lay upon his back and gazed up into the grayness

of the sky. Fog, he thought. But it was not fog, he knew;
it was a gray sky. Everything was gray. He took stock of

himself. The leg that had been trapped was sore, but there

was nothing broken. The edge had been taken off his rag-

ing thirst. His gut was empty. Otherwise he seemed to be

all right.



It had happened again; he had stepped around a corner.



But what had been all that business of the mounted

horseman with the streaming mustaches and the down-

sweeping sword? There had been no such horseman,

could not have been such a horseman on that world of

the distant past. His subconscious, he thought—the com-

plexity, the mystery, and the sneakiness of the human

brain. There had been no present, instantaneous danger

that would have been necessary to trigger the stepping

around a corner. His subconscious, to save his life, to

make it possible for him to step around a corner, had

summoned up the mounted warrior, the outrageous bar-

barian, so that his brain could react automatically. Think-




152
CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



153



ing of it, it didn't seem quite the correct and logical

answer. Yet, he told himself, logic or not, it didn't actually

matter. He was here, wherever here might be, and that

was all that counted. The question now was whether he

could stay here and not, after a time, be plunged back

into the prehistoric world. Always before he had gone

back to the point of origin, except for that last time when

he, accompanied by Corcoran, had stepped into Martin's

traveler and had stayed there, not going back to the Ev-

erest room that had already crumbled. Perhaps, he

thought, the pattern had been broken. He'd been here for

quite some time.



He crawled back to the water and drank again. The

water was good, cool, clean, and flowing. Slowly he

hoisted himself to his feet. The leg that had been trapped

in the crevice supported him. It ached and smarted, but

basically it was as normal as it had ever been. He
had been lucky, he thought.



He looked around. There was a good deal of substan-

tiality in the place. In other instances, except for the Ev-

erest, which had been a special case, around the corner

had been a filmy, foggy place, with all structure blocked

out and smothered by the fog. Here there was no fog. The

fog, if there ever had been any, had cleared away. The

place still was gray, but a grayness with form and



structure.



He stood on a plain. The plain undoubtedly ran to a

horizon, but there was no way of knowing, for the gray-

ness of the sky came down to the grayness of the plain

and the two could not be separated. The stream from

which he had drunk meandered down the plain, coming

from nowhere and flowing into nowhere. Down the plain,

as well, went a road, not meandering, but straight as a

road could run. It was gray as well, but was marked by

two darker streaks that appeared to be wheel marks. The

wheel tracks were neat, regular and straighter than any



actual track could be.



"What the hell kind of place is this?" Boone asked,
speaking aloud, not expecting an answer and not getting

one.



The road ran two ways and he probably should follow

it, but in which direction?



The entire situation was wrong, he told himself. He had

no idea where he was or where to go. There was no way

to know how long he'd been here. There was water, but

no food.



He moved away from the stream and walked out into

the middle of the road. He knelt down and felt what he

had taken to be wheel marks. While his eyes could not

define the elevation of the darker streaks, his fingers told

him they were raised an inch or so above the level of the

surface. In texture, they seemed to be made of the same

material as the surface, but raised above it. Could they,

he wondered, be rails? Maybe if he waited long enough

a conveyance of some sort would come along, running on

the rails, and he could catch a ride on it. That, he knew,

was nothing he could count on.



Standing in the middle of the road, he made his deci-

sion. He would follow the road in the same direction that
the stream ran. He would go with the flowing water.

Water, he recalled someone saying long ago, ran toward

civilization. Follow a stream and you would eventually

find people. That could be right, but logic might not apply

to this place. Walking in either direction, he might arrive

at nowhere. Perhaps there was nowhere to arrive at.



He trudged along for a while, but nothing changed. The

water course still ran along the road, now close to it, now

farther off, as it meandered about the plain. There was

just the road and brook.



He heard a clicking behind him and swiftly turned

about. The clicking had sounded like and was the click

of toenails. A wolf was close upon his heels. The wolf?

Looking at it, he could not tell. This wolf was gray and

the other wolf had been gray, but that was not significant,

for here everything was gray. He held out his arms and

the sleeves of his jacket were gray. His jacket, before he

had come here, had been tan.



The wolf had halted and sat down, not more than six

feet from him. It wrapped its tail around its feet and

cocked its head at him. It grinned.
CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



154



"I'm glad you like it," said Boone. "Maybe you can



tell me where we are."

The wolf said nothing. It kept on sitting there and it



kept on grinning.



"I think you're the wolf I know," said Boone. "If you

are, snarl a bit at me."



The wolf lifted its lip in an instant snarl, then went back

to grinning. When it had snarled, it had flashed a lot of



teeth.



"The same old wolf," said Boone. "So let the two of



us get moving."
He started striding down the road, and the wolf moved

up beside him, walking along with him. It was good to

have the wolf here, Boone told himself. After all, it was

better to be walking with a friend than with a stranger.



Nothing happened. Nothing changed. Boone kept strid-

ing along, and the wolf kept padding with him, and they

might just as well have been standing still; no matter how

far they walked, it all stayed the same.



He wondered where Enid was and why she had not

returned. What could have happened to her?



"Do you remember Enid?" he asked the wolf. The wolf



did not answer him.



Far down the road a dot appeared. The dot grew larger.



"There is something coming," Boone told the wolf.



He stepped off the road and waited. It was, he saw, a

vehicle of some sort, running on the tracks.



"It's going the wrong way," he told the wolf.
The wolf yawned. It might as well have said, "What

difference does it make? How do we know which way is

the right way?"



"I don't suppose we do," said Boone.



The dot became a trolley car, a very funny trolley car,

open to the weather, although a striped canopy hung over

the two seats, one of them facing forward, the other facing

back. There was no operator; the car ran by itself.



The trolley slowed, but it did not stop.



"Up you go," Boone told the wolf.



The wolf leaped up and sat down on one of the seats.



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 155



Boone jumped in and sat down beside the wolf, both of

them facing forward. The car picked up speed.



The car was gray, of course. The canopy was striped

only in the sense that the alternating stripes were light

gray and dark gray. The gray car went rocketing through
the land, with the gray wolf and the gray man sitting on

the trolley's seat beneath the flapping canopy.



Finally, on the left hand side of the track and very far

ahead, a cube loomed up and became larger as they sped

along. The car began to slow, and now it could be seen

that the cube was a building, with three tables set outside

and chairs around the tables. Someone sat at one of the

tables; when the car came to a halt, Boone saw that the

person at the table was The Hat, who had sat across the

campfire from him and had talked with him about the

brotherhood of wolf and man. The Hat's great conical hat

was still the same, so huge that it rested on his shoulders

and concealed his head.



The wolf jumped out of the car and trotted over to The

Hat's table, sitting down and staring at The Hat. Boone

got off more slowly and walked to the table, taking the

chair opposite The Hat.



I have been waiting for you. I was told you would be

coming, The Hat said.



"Who told you?"



That doesn't matter. What does matter is that you've
arrived and have brought along your friend.



"I did not bring him," said Boone. "He came all by

himself. He was the one who sought me out."



You are meant for one another, said The Hat. I told

you the two of you were friends.



"It appears this might be an eating place," said Boone.

"How do we go about getting something to eat?"



Your needs are known. It is already on the way.



"For the both of us?"



Of course. For the both of you.



A squat service robot rolled out of the door of the build-

ing. A tray rested on top of its squared-off head. It stopped

by the table and, lifting its arms, transferred the tray to

the table.



156



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



157



"This plate is for the carnivore," said the robot. "How



do I serve it?"



"You place it on the ground," said Boone. "He eats

most naturally that way,"



"I did not cook the meat."



"That is right. He likes it raw and bloody."



"And I cut it into mouth-size pieces for easy handling.''



"That was thoughtful of you," said Boone. "You have

the thanks of both of us."



The robot set the large plate of raw meat on the ground

and the wolf began gulping it down. He was hungry; he

gulped it fast and without the nicety of chewing.



"He is hungry," said the robot.
"So am I," said Boone.



Quickly the robot unloaded the tray on the table in front

of Boone—a huge and sizzling steak, a baked potato with

a pot of sour cream, a salad with cheese dressing, a dish

of green beans, a piece of apple pie, and a pot of coffee.



Boone said to The Hat: "This is the first civilized food

I have seen for a week or more. But I'm surprised to find

good twentieth-century American cooking in a place like



this."



We know our customers, said The Hat. We fit our cui-

sine to them. We knew you and the wolf would be our



guests.



Boone, ignoring the salad, started on the steak. He

spooned cream into the baked potato. He asked, speaking

with his mouth full, "Can you tell me where we are? Or

are you bound to silence by some foolish secrecy?"



Not at all, said The Hat. For all the good it does you,
you're on the Highway of Eternity.



"I have never heard of it."



Of course you haven't. You were not supposed to. You

or any other human.



"But we are here. The wolf and I."



The Hat said, sadly: There was reason to believe it

would never happen. The lesser breeds, we thought, were

barred. There was but one chance in many millions that

the evolutionary process could stumble on the kind of

freakishness that you have. Once the universe was stable.




One could cipher what might happen. One could plan. But

that is true no longer. Not with you, it isn't. Random

biological processes have made a jest of reason.



Boone kept on eating. He was too hungry even to try

to be polite. Wolf had finished gulping down his plate of

meat and now lay comfortably beside it, only a couple of

feet away so that he would be close by if anyone should
bring another bait of food. His hunger had been dulled,

but little more than dulled, for Wolf was a hard animal to

stuff to the point where he could no longer eat.



Boone gulped and swallowed. He spoke to The Hat.

"You said the Highway to Eternity?"

That is not what I said. I said the Highway of Eternity.

"Small difference," Boone told him.

Not so small as you might think.

"Well, it doesn't matter," said Boone. "If I followed

this road, would I reach Eternity? And what is Eternity?

What would I find at Eternity? Who, I ask you, would

want to reach Eternity?"



You're already in Eternity, said The Hat. Where did

you think you were?



"I had no idea," Boone said. "But Eternity!"

It's a good place to be, said The Hat. It is the end of

everything. When you are in Eternity, you have arrived.

There is no use of going further.

"I'm supposed to just settle down and stay?"

You might as well. There is no place else to go.

There was something terribly wrong, Boone told him-

self. The Hat was lying to him, making sport of him. Eter-
nity was not a place; perhaps it was no more than

something that some ancient philosopher had thought up,

but not a point in space and time. And the road did not

end at this little eating place; it kept unrolling into the

gray distance. There were obviously other places to go.



The steak and potato were finished. He pushed the plat-

ter to one side and pulled the plate of salad in front of

him, reversing the usual course of eating. He did not care

for salad, although when hungry, as he had been and still

seemed to be, he would eat it.



The Hat had not spoken for some time. When Boone




CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



158



glanced across the table, he saw that The Hat had fallen

with his hidden face upon the table. His arms, which had

been resting on the table top, had slipped off and now

dangled from his shoulders.
Startled, Boone rose to his feet and stood staring down

at the collapsed figure.



"Are you all right?" he asked. "What has happened to



you?"



The Hat did not answer, nor did he stir.

Stepping swiftly around the table, Boone seized him by



a shoulder and lifted him. The Hat dangled limply in his



grasp.

Dead, Boone thought. The Hat was dead—if he had



ever been alive.



He let loose his hold and The Hat collapsed, falling back

upon the table. Boone went to the cube and walked

through the door. The service robot stood with his back

to him, puttering at what appeared to be a stove.



"Quick!" said Boone. "Something's happened to The



Hat."
"He collapsed," the robot said. "Someone let the air



out of him."

"That's exactly it. I think that he is dead. How did you



know?"



"It happens," said the robot. "It happens all the time."

"When it does, what do you do? What can be done to



help him?"



"I do nothing," said the robot. "It's no concern of

mine. I'm just a service robot. All I do is wait for cus-

tomers to come rolling down the road. They almost never

do. I keep waiting for someone and no one ever comes.

It's all one to me. When, and if, they come, I am here to

serve them. That is all I do. I can do nothing else."



"The Hat? What about The Hat?"



"He shows up now and then, but he needs no service.

He does not eat. He sits at the table, always that same

one. He never talks to me. He sits at the table and keeps

staring down the road. Sometimes he collapses."
"You do nothing for him?"



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                159



"What is there to do? I leave him sprawling there and

then, after minutes, hours, or days, he's gone."



"Where does he go?"



The robot shrugged, an elaborate shrug, greatly

overdone.



Boone turned about and went out the door. Wolf had

pulled The Hat off the chair and was hauling the limpness

all about the area, as a pup might drag a rag at play. Toss-

ing The Hat high in the air, Wolf caught him by the middle

before he reached the ground and shook him viciously.



A doll, thought Boone, that was what The Hat was, a

crudely fashioned rag doll that ranged extensively in time

and space and might serve as a voice for someone or

something else, acting the part of a dummy for an un-

known ventriloquist.



Standing by the table, watching Wolf at play with the
rag doll that had been The Hat, he shivered in a chill that

came from deep inside himself, a psychic chill that he

knew in all honesty came from being scared to death.



When he first had reached this land, he had wondered

into what strange place he had been hurled. Now the won-

der came on him again, this time a distilled and ghastly

wonder. The land or place or condition was stark and alien

and he wondered why he had not noticed it before. He

felt naked and alone against a menace that he could not

even guess at, although there was no apparent menace

and he was not alone—Wolf was with him.



Wolf stopped his play with The Hat and looked across

the fallen doll, grinning at Boone, happy to have a toy,

happy not to be alone. Boone patted his thigh and Wolf

came padding at the invitation to sit close beside him.

Boone reached out and stroked the head of his partner

and Wolf did not draw away.



The coldness, Boone was surprised to find, had melted,

and the gray landscape was no more than a gray land once

again.



Wolf whined. He was pressed hard against Boone's leg

and Boone could feel the nervous trembling of the ani-
mal's body.



"What's the matter, boy? What is going on?"



160



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



161



Wolf whimpered.



Looking down at him, Boone saw that Wolfs head was

tilted upward, staring at the sky, which was no sky at all,

but a lowering grayness pressing against the grayness of

the land.



"There is nothing up there," Boone told Wolf. "Not a

thing at all."



Even as he spoke, however, he saw that he was wrong.

There was something up there in the grayness, slowly

taking form. It was simply a wavering shape that looked
for all the world like a badly woven carpet undulating in

the grayness.



He watched as the flapping carpet sank closer to the

ground, seeing finally that it was not a carpet, but a very

open net with two figures crouched upon it.



Then it was on the ground, billowing as it settled down,

and a woman leaped off it, running toward him with her

arms outstretched.



"Enid!" he yelled, leaping forward to catch her.



They were in one another's arms and she was pressing

close against him. Her face was muffled on his chest and

she was saying something, but her words were so mum-

bled that at first he was unable to make them out. Then

he did. ". . . so glad I found you. I did not want to go

and leave you, but you yelled at me to go and save the

traveler. I was coming back to join you. I intended to

come back, but something happened and I couldn't."



"It's all right," he told her. "Now you are here and

that is all that matters."



"I saw you," she said, lifting her face and looking up
at him. "I saw you in a place of grayness and you were

gray and there was a gray wolf with you."



"The wolfs still here," said Boone. "He is a friend of

mine."



She stepped a pace away and looked closely at him.

"You are all right?" she asked.



"Never better."



"What is this place?"



"We're on the Highway of Eternity."



"What in the world is that?"



"I don't know. I never got it straight in mind."



"It's a different place. It isn't Earth."



"I think not," said Boone, "but I don't know where

or what it is."



"You stepped around another corner?"
"I suppose I did. Lord knows, I tried hard enough."



The second figure that had been aboard the net had

clambered off it and was coming toward them. It had two

legs and two arms and seemed, in other ways, to be hu-

manoid, but it was no human. Its face was that of a

scrawny horse and the expression that it wore overflowed

with misery. Its ears flared out from either side of its

elongated head. It had two groups of eyes scattered in

blobs upon its forehead. Its neck was thin and gaunt. Its

legs were bowed so badly that it spraddled in its walking.

Its arms had no elbows, but looked somewhat like rubber

hoses. A pair of gills pumped on either side of its throat.

Its body was a warty barrel.



"Meet Horseface," Enid said to Boone. "I don't know

what his name is, but that is what I call him and he doesn't

seem to mind. Horseface, this is Boone. The one I told

you of. The one we came to find."



"I am pleased that we have found you," said

Horseface.



"And I'm pleased that you're both here," Boone told

him.
The robot was emerging from the cube with a tray bal-

anced on his head.



"Are you hungry?" Boone asked. "I see food is here."



"I am starved," said Enid quickly.



As they sat at the table, Boone turned to Horseface.

"This is human food. It may not be to your taste."



"In my wandering," Horseface assured him, "I have

learned to gulp down anything that has nutrients."



"I brought you nothing," the robot said to Boone.

"You just bolted down a tremendous meal. I brought the

wolf another plate of meat. He looks all squeezed with

hunger." The robot set down the plate of cut-up meat for

Wolf. Wolf dived into it.




162
CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



163



"He's a glutton," Boone said. "Wolf can eat half a

bison without pause for breath."



"Is he one of those that hung about the camp? One of

those who were pestering the poor old bison?" Enid



asked.



"None other. After you left—no, before—he cozied

up to me. I sat up the first night, and there he was, nose

to nose with me. I said nothing of it because I thought I

was hallucinating."



"Tell me about it. What happened to the killer monster

and the brave old bull?"



"You have a story of your own that I want to hear."



"No, you first. I'm too hungry now to talk."
Wolf had finished eating. Now he walked away and

began worrying The Hat.



"What is that thing Wolf has?" asked Enid. "It looks

like a silly doll."



"That's The Hat. I'll tell you of him. He's a big part

of my story."



"So get on with it," said Enid.



"In just a moment," said Boone. "You told me that

you saw me. In a place of grayness, you said, and the

wolf was with me. Would you mind telling me exactly

how you saw me, how you knew where I was?"



"Not at all," she said. "I found a televisor. I'll explain

that later on. The televisor shows you what you want to

see. You think at it. So I thought about you, and there



you were."



"It may have showed me in the grayness. But it

couldn't have told you where to find me."
"The net did that," Horseface told him. "Flimsy as it

may appear, it is a wondrous mechanism. No, not a mech-

anism. Nothing nearly so clumsy as a mechanism."



"Horseface made it," said Enid. "He made it in his

mind and . . ."



"You helped," Horseface insisted. "Had it not been

for you, there would have been no net. You held the finger

so I could tie that final, all-important knot."



"This sounds interesting and mysterious," said Boone.

"Tell me all of it."



"Not now," said Enid. "First we finish eating. Now

tell us whatever happened to you since you yelled at me

to leave, with the killer monster charging down upon us."



Boone settled down to the telling, marshaling the facts

as concisely as he was able. As he finished, Horseface

pushed his plate away and wiped his lips with the back

of his hand.



Wolf had finally finished his play with The Hat and was

using it, all bunched up, as a pillow. He blinked yellow

eyes at them.
"The Hat, the way you told it, was alive," said Enid.



"He's disconnected now," said Boone. "I don't know

how to say it better. He's nothing but a puppet. A ven-

triloquist's dummy."



"You have no idea who the ventriloquist might be?"



"Not a hint," said Boone. "You're wasting time. Tell

me what happened to you."



When she had finished with her telling, he shook his

head. "A lot of it makes no sense. There should be some

sort of pattern, but there isn't. None that I can see."



"A pattern there is," said Horseface. "Likewise a

pinch of reason. The three of us have been brought to-

gether with the chest I found on the pink-and-purple

planet."



"You stole it," Enid told him. "You did not find it.

You stole it. I know very well you did."



"Well, I stole it, then," said Horseface. "Perhaps I
only borrowed it. That is a softer term and more

acceptable."



He sprang from his chair and went shambling toward

the net.



As they watched him struggling with the chest, Boone

asked, "Have you any idea who he might be?"



"He is a thing of many wonders," Enid said. "I have

no idea who he might be or what might be his origin. But

he has great ideas and perhaps some knowledge, although

not of the human sort."



"Can he be trusted?"



"As to that, I cannot tell. We'll have to go along with

him and watch him."




CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



164
"Wolf seems not to dislike him. I'm not sure he likes

him, but he shows no dislike of him."



"You have confidence in Wolf?"



"He could have eaten me, up there on the butte. There

was not a thing to stop him. We'd been on short rations

and he was hungry. But I don't believe he even thought



of eating me."



Horseface came back to the table, bent over with the

weight of the chest upon his back. He thumped it to the



ground.



"Now we'll see," he said.

Enid asked, "By that, you mean you don't know what



it is?"



"Oh, I know what it is. But not the shape or form of

it, or what the manner of its use."



He bent and unlatched the locks. The lid of the chest
popped open and a mushy dough surged out. The dough

ballooned and then collapsed, falling down all around the

chest, and still the mushiness kept pouring out of it, as if

it had been compressed within the chest and now had been

freed and was in a hurry to escape.



The dough kept coming. It overflowed the area where

the tables and chairs had been placed and began to en-

velop the cube. The robot came charging out, fleeing the

invasion of the doughlike mass. Boone grabbed Enid by

the arm and hustled her down the road. Wolf came scamp-

ering to range himself beside them. There was no sign of

Horseface. Off to one side, the net had lifted and was

moving away, flying low, a few feet off the ground. After

flying several hundred yards, it settled down again. The

forefront of the dough was closing in upon the trolley, and

the car began backing away, gaining speed as it went rum-

bling down the tracks.



Now, however, the dough was changing character. In-

stead of continuing as a solid mass, it was becoming po-

rous and somewhat honeycombed. All the time, however,

it continued to spread out. It crawled along the ground

and billowed in the air. Its size increased enormously.

Sparkling points of light showed up in it, as well as large

areas of smudged blackness and some misty swirls that
HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                165



were shot with brightness. Some of the points of light grew

brighter and others moved away, becoming dimmer as

they moved. All through the entire mass there was a sense

of movement, of shifting and changing.



"Do you know what it is?" Enid asked.



Boone shook his head.



"Have you seen Horseface? Is he still in there?"



"I suspect he is," said Boone. "The damn fool let it

catch him."



The chest no longer could be seen. It had been buried

by the mass that was changing to a misty filminess and

was growing larger, although at a slower pace than it had

shown before. It was now a sparkling, shimmering soap

bubble.



"Here he comes," said Enid, her voice tense and low.

Looking in the direction other pointing finger, Boone saw
Horseface, faint and tenuous in the bubble, but sturdily

stumping his way toward them.



Finally he broke free, as a man might break free of a

mass of cobwebs, and spraddled toward them.



"It is the galaxy," he called to them. "A chart of the

galaxy. I had heard of such charts, but never such as

this."



He halted and stared at them, his blobs of many eyes

goggling, then turned half-around and started stabbing one

rubbery finger toward the bubble.



"See the stars," he said. "Some shining with a fierce

brightness, others so dim they barely can be seen. Note

the clouds of dust, the haze of nebulae. And there, the

straight white line spearing straight for the heart of the

galaxy, is your Highway of Eternity."



"It's impossible," said Enid.



"You see it and yet you cry impossible. Can you not

see the glory and the immensity of our galaxy?"



"It's a galaxy, all right," said Boone. "And the white
line is there, although I'd never have guessed it to be this

highway we are on."



"It is, I tell you," Horseface insisted. "In my people's

legend there was mention of a highway that ran among

the stars. Although the legends, every one of them, fell



166



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



167



short of telling why the highway might be there or whence

it might lead. But now we follow it. Now we go and see."



Boone had another long look at the blob and there

seemed no doubt that it did represent a spiral galaxy. In

shape it was approximately oval, thicker in the center than

at the edges, although not so neat and disciplined as the

photos he had seen of spiral galaxies. It was, however,

clearly a sprawling spiral with misty arms flaring out, thin-

ner and more wispy than the central area. One of the spiral
arms came twisting out around the place where the tables

had been standing. Rather vaguely, the tables were still



visible there.



Horseface moved away from them, sidling closer to the

chart, stooping and peering at it, examining it.



Wolf stood close beside Boone and, when Boone

looked down, he saw the shivers that ran through the an-

imal's body. No wonder, he told himself. It was spooky

enough for anyone. He reached down to pat Wolf on the

head. "Easy, boy," he said. "It will be all right. Every-

thing's all right." Wolf moved closer to him, and he won-

dered if what he said had been correct. He could not be

sure that it was all right.



He said to Enid, "He talked with you, didn't he, about



charts and maps?"



"He talked of a lot of things," she said. "Some of it

nonsensical. At least, it sounded so to me. I can't re-

member all of it. He talked mostly of genetic maps, of

maps implanted in his mind or his consciousness."
Horseface came lumbering back to them. "Shall we

have a look?" he asked.



"You mean into that thing?" Enid asked. "You mean



walk right into it?"



"Of a certainty," said Horseface. "How else will we

know? The white line leads someplace. We go to find that

place it leads to. It was put there for a purpose."



"We could get lost in there," protested Enid. "We

could flounder around for days."



"Not if we follow that white line. We follow in, then

we follow back."



"If we are going in there, " said Enid, "there is some-

thing that I want."



Having said that, she ran swiftly toward the net.



To go and have a look into that maelstrom of mistiness

was the last thing Boone wished. On the surface it was

simple enough, no more than a representation put together
by a technology and an art that had yet been unthought

of in his time. There was about the chart a scary alienness

that he could not cotton to. What if a man got tangled up

inside of it with no way to get out? Follow the white line,

Horseface had said, and that would be all right should the

white line stay in place. However, what if the white line

were no more than bait to lure prey into a trap?



Enid came back, clutching a small black box. She held

it up to show to Boone. "This is the televisor that I found

at the picnic. I thought it might be good to have if we went

into the chart."



"It's a piece of foolishness," said Horseface.



"No, it's not. It showed me where Boone was and told

us how to get here. It's another pair of eyes and, in there,

we'll need all the eyes we have. It shows you what you

want to see."



Her allusion to another pair of eyes, Boone thought,

was somewhat off the mark, for while she and he each

might have a pair of eyes, Horseface had a double handful

of them—two clusters of eyes which probably were far

more than the equivalent of a pair of human eyes.
Wolf whined softly and Boone looked down at him.

Wolf was scared, he thought, and if he had any sense,

he'd be as scared as Wolf.



"Well, are you coming?" Enid asked.



"What is there to see? Horseface says the Highway of

Eternity leads to where we want to go and that's all we

need to know. Just jump onto the trolley and follow along

the Highway."



"That's ridiculous," Enid told him. "On the trolley, it

would take half of forever to get anywhere at all. When

we go, we'll travel on the net, and neither time nor dis-

tance means anything when you travel on the net."



"That's well and good," he said, seeking a delay from




168



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



169



stepping into that crazy chart, "but when we start, what

are we looking for?"



"Why, the Infinites," she said. "The home planet of

the Infinites. That is what this is all about."



Until she said the word, he had quite forgotten about

the Infinites. A great deal of time and scenery had passed

between mention of the Infinites and here. But she, of

course, would be the one to remember, for she had lived

for centuries hunkered against their threat.



"This is the first I've heard about seeking out the In-

finites," he said. "You have been hiding out from them

for years, and you and I fled for our lives to escape their

killer monster."



"I've had some thought about it," she told him, "and

it seems to me that we can't stay hiding from them. We'll

go and seek them out. We have the net and Horseface

and we may find others who'll help us out against them."
"I never would have guessed," said Boone, "that you

were so warlike."



"Are you coming or not?" asked Horseface, speaking

gruffly. "If we are going on the net eventually, we should

have some idea of what we're getting into. The chart

should give us at least a hint."



"You have full confidence in that chart of yours?"

asked Boone. "How can you be sure that it is accurate?"



There had been a time on ancient Earth when map-

makers, with an airy blitheness, had placed upon their

maps as actualities many features that were no more than

myths or products of their own free-ranging imaginations.



"My honor upon it," said Horseface. "This construct

was made by a knowledgeable race who knew whereof

they spoke."



"You knew them?"



"I knew of them. They were spoken of to me upon my

grandfather's knee and there was other word of them from

the sages of my people."
Boone looked down again at Wolf and Wolf was no

longer there. Glancing back over his shoulder, he saw

Wolf sitting some distance up the road. He had found The

Hat and it was hanging limply from his jaws. Wolf didn't



want to go into the chart, and there was no reason to drag

him into that misty mess.



"Okay, Wolf," he said, "you wait right there for me."



The other two were moving into the chart, Horseface

ahead and Enid trailing after. Boone hurried to catch up.



It looked like a space filled with spider webs, but there

were no webs. There was not a thing at all. When Boone

stepped into it, he could no longer feel ground beneath

his feet. It was as if he were walking on nothing or, more

likely, that his feet had suddenly gone dead and he could

feel nothing when he put them down.



To one side of him burned a large red globe, and he

ducked away from it; in doing so, he came face to face

with another bright-burning jewel of incandescent blue.

Before he could duck the other way, he walked straight

into it. There was no sensation, no feel of heat, no indi-
cation that the stars were even there. He chuckled ner-

vously. He had ducked a red giant and run smack-dab

into a much hotter blue star. Did this chart contain a re-

presentation of every star, every wisp of gas, and every

drift of dust in the galaxy? On the face of it, this seemed

impossible. He seemed to remember having read some-

where at some forgotten time that there were more than

a hundred billion stars in the Milky Way. There could not

possibly be that many represented in the chart. Given that

many, even with the smaller stars no more than the size

of motes of dust, the entire area would be packed so solid

there would be no walking through it. So much, he

thought, for Horseface's claim of accuracy.



"Watch the white line that we trace," said Horseface.

"It lies at the height of your hips, close to your right side.''

Boone glanced down and there it was, a thread of white,

a lifeline back to the world of gray where Wolf waited for

him with the limp and frazzled Hat hanging from his jaws.

There stood the cube and somewhere nearby the robot

who might cook another meal for them if they should get

back.



I don't believe it, he told himself. I don't believe a word

of it. I'll admit to none of this. It simply isn't happening.
But it was happening. He was walking in a place where




170



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



171



he could not feel the ground when he put down a foot,

proceeding through an area that was not only illusory, but

imaginary, where there were glowing stars and drifts of

dust and gas, all of which one could see, but could not

touch nor feel. Now there was something else—a sound,

a singing. The stars were singing to him—the music of

the spheres, the hiss of hydrogen, the ditty of radiation,

the carol of time, the canticle of space, the hum of dust,

and the chanty of vast emptiness. The horrible part of it

was that there was nothing there. This was no reality; it

was at best the wizardry of representation, of a construct

that was entirely abstract.
He saw that he had fallen behind the other two. Through

the haze he could barely make out Enid; Horsefaee he

could not see at all. We've been walking for hours, he

thought, and that was ridiculous, for this chart in which

they walked could not have had a diameter of much more



than several hundred feet.



He struggled to catch up, plunging ahead. No longer

did he try to duck the stars or the spidery webs of gas,

for now he could accept that they weren't there. But in

spite of nothing being there, there seemed to be some sort

of substance that tried to hold him back. It was as if he

were desperately trying to wade through a rushing torrent.



Ahead of him loomed a drift of thicker-than-ordinary

dust. Despite knowing that there was no rift of dust, he

tried to lower his head and duck beneath it, but it was

deeper than it seemed and it blinded him. The stars had

all pinched out, and he plowed into the blackness as if he

were butting head-first into a wall, his legs driving him

forward, still with the pressure of the unknown torrent

pushing back against him.



He burst from the dust cloud and there was light, far
more light than there had been before. Its source, he saw,

was a brilliant, glowing star to the right of him, all misty



around the edges.



Beside him Enid said, "A nova. Maybe even a super-

nova. So obscured by the dust cloud that it can't be seen



from Earth."

In the moment that she spoke, he saw the other star



that was so close it seemed he could have put out his hand

to touch it. It was unspectacular—a faint, tiny yellow star.

The thing that made him notice it was that someone—

someone?—had painted or drawn a precise X over it, as

if that someone had picked up a fine-point pen and marked

it, distinguishing it from all the other stars in the galaxy,

marking it so that if it be seen again, it would be recog-

nized as a very special star.



"Boone, did you hear me?" asked Enid. "What is the

matter with you?"



He did not answer, but stepped forward, circling, so he

could see the star from another angle. As he moved, the

X moved with him. He changed his position, and the X
changed its position, too. Viewed from any angle, the X

still showed, centered on the star. That, he thought, was

impossible. It must be an illusion . . .



Enid grasped him by the arm. "Horsefaee has gotten

ahead of us. And, Boone, where is the line? We've lost

the white line. It's nowhere to be seen."



He turned in response to the pressure on his arm and

the hint of fear in her voice. She was looking all about,

searching everywhere for the vanished whiteness of the

line.



"It's not here," she said. "In our rush and all the won-

der of this place . . . What do we do now?"



Boone shrugged. "We'll retrace our steps and look for

it. We'll find it."



But he had little confidence they would. It was so thin

a line, so insignificant, that they might not pick it up.



A short distance away hung a great white star, spinning

madly on its axis, while around it swung a much smaller

star, white and bright, but its brightness paled by the brit-
tle glory of its larger companion. The small star was spin-

ning so fast that its motion was a blur, rotating in a mad

dance about its huge fellow, while between the two of

them extended a brilliant ribbon of flaming energy, flow-

ing from the larger body to the smaller one. A B-type star,

Boone thought, circled by a white dwarf.



"We can't go back," said Enid. "Right now we can't




CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



172



go back. We have to go on and find Horseface. He'll help



us find the line."



She hurried ahead and he followed her. They seemed

now to be going up a a hill and that was insane, Boone

told himself. In this galaxy there weren't any hills. Swirls

of dust curled about their ankles, and the stars, it seemed,

were much thicker now and a lot of them were bloated
red.

There was no question now that they were climbing a



long, steep hill. They labored up the slope and reached

the crest. Just beyond the crest they found Horseface. He

was standing, gaunt and hunched, staring straight ahead.



They stopped and stood staring with him at the swirling

darkness ringed by flashing, sparkling flares of light.



"A whirlpool!" gasped Enid. "It's spinning. It's a



whirlpool."

"This is the core of the galaxy," Horseface said. "This



is the very center of everything there is. A huge black

hole eating up the galaxy. The end of everything."



A bitter wind was blowing, although there should not

have been a wind. It had the icy chill of emptiness, the

black glacial kiss of death. It could be, Boone thought,

the black frost of defeated Time fleeing from the anni-

hilation eating at the center.



"You said the end of everything," Enid objected. "It
can't be the end of everything. Of this galaxy perhaps.

But there are other galaxies. There are endless galaxies."



"There may be those who know," said Horseface. "I

am not among them. Nor were any of my people."



"How about those who fashioned this thing we're in?



Those who made this chart?"



"Maybe," Horseface told her. "Maybe not. Perhaps

the truth might shrivel up the soul. Or there may be no



answer."

"Then to hell with all of it," said Boone. "I am going



back."

"We can't go back," Enid reminded him. "We lost the



line. The thin white line, remember? We tost it."



Horseface mumbled, startled. "The line? You say we

lost it? I had all forgotten it."



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 173
"So had we," said Enid.



"It can't be that much of a problem," Boone said.

"This chart we're in, spread out even as it is, can't pos-

sibly be more than a few miles in diameter, not more than

two or three, perhaps. My impression, back on the High-

way, was that it covered only a few hundred feet. If we

walk in a straight line in any direction, we should soon

be out of it."



Horseface rumbled at him, "There are no straight lines

here. There is only twisting convolution, a trickery of the

senses."



"You went straight to the center," said Boone. "You

ran ahead of us, aiming for the center. You got where you

wished to go. There were no twisting convolutions ..."



"True," said Horseface. "I went to the center. I had

heard legends. The center held great interest, and my in-

tuition took me there. Long ago I had heard of the black

nothingness and ..."



"That is nothing new," Boone told him. "The people

of my time knew about the center. They knew of the great
turbulences in the centers of most galaxies and there were

those who said black holes and ..."



"This is getting us nowhere," said Enid. "Our problem

is to find the white line."



"We don't need to find the line," said Boone. "We can

get out without it. All we need to do is walk a straight

line. Doing that, we will find the edge."



"You did not listen to me," Horseface said. "I told

you that this straight line you speak of cannot exist here.

All is twisted, braided about, a meander of great

complexity."



"You're trying to tell us we can't get out?"



"Not that. Blunder about enough and we shall get out.

But it will be no easy task."



It was all nonsense, Boone told himself. The problem,

despite all this talk of great complexity, was a simple one.

Yet when he looked about he could see, in part, what

Horseface meant. There were too many landmarks—no

one star, no single misty glow, no twisted blackness that
CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



174



he could remember—too many to remember. And there

was a twistiness to everything.



As if she sensed what he might be seeing, Enid said,

"Certainly there is something that you can remember."



"There is," said Boone. "There was a star with an X

upon it."



"An X?"



"Yes, an X. As if someone had painted an X upon it.

It was an ordinary star, a very ordinary star. A main se-

quence star. Yellow. Probably a G star, like our sun."



"You never mentioned it to me."



"I forgot it when you said we had lost the white line."



"You saw no star with an X upon it?" Horserace asked
Enid.



"No," she said. "I didn't. Who would go around paint-

ing an X upon a star?"



Horseface asked Boone, "Anything else that you



remember?"



"No, not really," said Boone.



"Simple, then," said Horseface. "I have been standing

in this place, never moving, staring at the black hole, since

I first arrived. So we have a point of reference. When you

came upon me, was I standing with my back to you?"



"That is right," Enid answered. "With your back to



us."



"Elementary, then," said Horseface. "I will turn one

hundred and eighty degrees, and we will go downhill from



where we are."



Boone shrugged. It seemed much too elementary. It
took no note of other factors. But he could think of no

other way that they could go.



"We might as well try it," he said.



All three of them turned about and started down the

hill. The going was easier. There was no surging current

to buck. Boone still could not feel a solid surface when

he put his feet down, and the stars still sang, but he paid

no attention to any of it. They came down off the hill, and

he kept on going. He was hurrying, eager to get out of

this maze of illusion.



r



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                   175



Behind him, Enid cried out suddenly. "The line," she

called. "Here is the line again!"



Boone turned around and saw the two of them standing

still, as if stricken, and staring at the line. He looked to

his left and there, also, was the line. He was on one side

of it and they were on the other and it seemed to him quite

apparent that he had walked through it without any notice
of it.



He walked back to where they were standing and all

three of them stood there, staring at the line.



"Now," said Enid, "we can follow it back and come

out where we started. How lucky that we found it."



"It stands to reason that we would find it," said Boone.

"We were walking a straight line."



Horseface snorted. "A straight line, you say. I told you

and I told you . . ."



Boone did not listen to his tirade. Glancing up the hill,

he saw again the flare of the nova, or perhaps the super-

nova, that Enid and he had seen going up the hill. Off to

one side of it was a little yellow star.



He started up the hill again, heading for the yellow star.



"Where are you going?" Enid called to him.



"Come on up," he said, without glancing back, his eyes

steady on the little yellow star. "Come on up, and I'll

show you the star with the X upon it."
He was feeling foolish even as he said it, for it might

not be the star with the X upon it. There were a lot of

yellow stars. You saw them everywhere.



But there had been no need to worry. It was the star

with the X inscribed upon it.



"Of some importance," said Horseface, coming up to

stand beside him. "Otherwise, why is it marked?"



"It's just like a million other stars of its class," said

Boone. "That's why it seems so strange. That's why I

was sure my eyes were playing tricks on me. One of these

stars is just like all the others."



"Perhaps it is not the star that is important," suggested

Horseface. "Perhaps it may have a planet and the planet

is important. But we can't see a planet."



"Just a minute," Enid said. "There may be a way ..."



r



176
CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



177



She lifted the black box that she carried and aimed it

at the star. Immediately as she lifted it, she drew her

breath in sharply.



"That was it," she said. "There is a planet."



Boone stepped up behind her and stared into the vision

plate. As he did so, the planet that was being showed

expanded to fill the plate. It went on expanding until they

could see only part of the surface—and what was on that

surface.



"A city," Horseface said. "The planet has a city."



Huge structures speared up at them.



"This is it," said Horseface, his voice hushed but glee-

ful. "This is where we go. This is were the line led."
"And when we get there?" asked Enid.



Horseface answered with another question, "How is

one to know?"



And that was right, thought Boone—how was one to

know short of going there?



Enid lowered the televisor and the plate went blank.



"Back we gallop," said Horseface, "tracing close upon

the line. Then we get upon the net ..."



"Wait a second," Boone cautioned. "This is something

we want to talk about. We should give it thought."



Horseface, however, did not stay to listen. He was gal-

loping off, following close upon the line.



Boone looked at Enid. "You are right," she said.

"We'll have to talk it over."



"Then let's get out of here," said Boone.



They went more slowly than Horseface, but, even so,
they hurried. Both of them were anxious to win free of

the chart.



Ahead of them they made out faintly the grayness of

the land they had left behind them. Then they caught the

loom of the cube and the tables surrounded by the chairs.

And just beyond the tables and the chairs, the outline of

Wolf, with the flat-headed robot standing side by side with

him.



When Boone finally felt the impact of the surface be-

neath his feet, he knew that he had left the chart behind

him. He walked a few paces forward and said to Wolf,



"How are you, boy? What is going on?" Wolf was sitting

on his haunches. The Hat, still limp and mauled, lay in

front of him.



There was no sign of Horseface, but the trolley, Boone

saw, was coming down the tracks; and someone was sit-

ting on the forward seat.




Timothy
10



The door unfolded outward and became

a ramp. Horace walked through the door, but stopped



with his feet only one step out.

Behind him, Emma shrilled, "Where are we?

"I wouldn't know," said Horace. "There is no one here



to a.sk "

Although, he realized, when might have been the better



He should have known better, he scolded himself. Sure,

they had been in a crisis situation, but there still would

have been time to set the course. There had been no time,

of course, to think it through, to give his action the con-



178



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                 179



sideration that he would like to have given it. But too

hasty a rush to escape the ravening monster that was snap-

ping at their heels was inexcusable.
It was not that he had been frightened, he assured him-

self. It had been no more than solid good sense to get out

of there as quickly as he could. There were many things,

Horace told himself, that could be said of him: pompous,

probably, for at times he might seem a pompous man;



stubborn, but in most cases stubbornness was a virtue,

not a fault; and fuddy-duddy, maybe, for he was in all

things a very careful man. The one thing that could not

be said of him was that he was a coward.



After all, he thought, everything had been fine until the

two from the twentieth century had burst upon the scene.

More than likely, though, the fault had been Martin's.

Martin should have known what was going on. But it was

apparent that he had not known, had no inkling of it until

Corcoran had tipped him off by telling him that someone

was snooping around in London, asking about a place

called Hopkins Acre. And what had he done then? He

had bolted, he and Stella. Thinking this, Horace felt bet-

ter. He had found someone on whom he could fasten all

the blame. He, himself, now was entirely innocent of any

blame at all.



He took a few more steps down the ramp, but still
stayed on it just in case a quick retreat was called for.



The traveler lay on the slope of a hill, just below the

crest. Below was a small valley in which stood a sprawling

black building, only one storey high, but with many angles

and extensions, as if after its construction a number of

haphazard additions had been tacked onto the original

structure.



Looking at it, with something of a shock, Horace re-

alized it was one of the many monasteries that had been

built by the Infinites. They might not, in fact, have been

monasteries in the strictest sense, but people had called

them that because the Infinites had looked considerably

like little, hobbling monks.



Nothing stirred in the valley. It was an empty place.

Patches of grass grew here and there, and some thickets



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



180



of small growth; but there were no trees, although there

were some rotting stumps where there had been trees at
one time.



The sun had been behind a heavy bank of clouds. Now,

as he watched, the clouds parted for a moment and the

sun shone through. All along the crest of the circling hills,

reaching far into the sky, was a sparkle and a twinkling,

as if someone had hung the sky with glittery tinsel.



Behind him, Timothy spoke quietly, almost matter-of-

factly. "There you see," he said, "what is left of millions

of our race. Each of those little sparkles is an incorporeal

human, put in place and waiting through all eternity."



"You can't be sure of that," said Horace, fighting

against the horror and the beauty of it. "You have never

seen an incorporeal being."



"I have seen our brother Henry," said Timothy. "He

is a cluster of those sparkles, a human who didn't make

it to the final phase of his incorporeality. Had he done

so, he would have been one sparkle only and not the many



that he is."

Timothy was right, Horace told himself. Timothy was
always, and irritatingly, right.



"If I read the dial correctly," said Timothy, "we are

far into the future, some fifty thousand years beyond that

time when we fled into the past."



"So the Infinites won," said Horace. "So this is the

end of it. We humans didn't stop them."



Emma spoke to them from the doorway. "You two

down there get out of the way. Spike is coming out. There



isn't room for all of you."



Horace looked quickly over his shoulder. Spike, look-

ing more than ever like a revolving porcupine, already

was rolling down the ramp. Horace stepped quickly to the

ground and over to one side of the ramp, Timothy moving

with him. Spike started rolling down the hill.



"He'll get down there and stir up trouble," said Hor-

ace. "He always was a troublemaker. The Infinites in the

monastery haven't seen us yet."



"We don't know if they have or not," said Timothy.
"There may be no Infinites. From the evidence up there



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                181



on the hill they have done their job and left. This probably

is only one array of the incorporeals. Throughout the

world there may be many others."



Emma came down the ramp to join them. "We waited

too long," she said. "We should have left before. Then

we could have picked our time and place and not gone

off so frantically, not knowing where we'd end."



"I am going back," said Timothy, "as soon as I am

able. I made a mistake in coming along with you. There

are all my books and notes and ..."



"I notice," Horace told him, coldly, "that you didn't

linger in your going. You damn near ran over me. You

were scared out of your britches."



"Not really. Perhaps only slightly apprehensive. An au-

tomatic defensive mechanism, that is all it was."



"We never did get around to burying Gahan," said

Emma. "That's a shameful thing. We just left him lying
there, all wrapped up in canvas on his bier and the grave

still open."



Spike had reached the foot of the hill and was rolling

steadily across the plain toward the monastery.



A few fleecy clouds had moved over the sun. The bril-

liant glitter of the crystal latticework that crowned the

hills and soared into the sky glimmered less brightly.



Timothy looked up at them speculatively. "Just motes

of thought," he said. "Dust-size philosophers. Tiny theo-

reticians generating dreams of greatness. No physical

functions to consider, only the fine-tuned workings of the

human mind ..."



"Oh, shut up!" yelled Horace.



Something crunched on the hill above them and a loos-

ened pebble went bouncing down the slope. All three

turned toward the direction of the disturbance. A robot

was coming down the hill toward them. His metal body

shone dully in the weak sunlight, and he had an axe slung

across one shoulder.
He raised a hand in salute to them. "Welcome, human

ones," he said in a deep voice. "It has been long since

we have seen one of you."



"We?" asked Horace. "Then you are not alone."



182 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY 183



The robot came down the slope to a position where he

was slightly downhill from them and swung around to face



them.



"There are many of us," the robot told them. "Word

is spread of you and there are others coming, thankful for

the sight of you."



"Then there are no humans here?"



"A few, but only a few," the robot said. "Scattered

very widely, hiding out. A small band here, another there,

not too many of them. There are too many of us now.

Very few of us have humans we can serve."



"So how do you pass your time?" asked Horace.
"We chop down trees," the robot told him. "We chop

down all we can. But there are too many trees; we cannot

chop them all."



"I do not understand," said Timothy. "Once you chop

them down, what do you do with them?"



"We roll them all together and set fire to them once

they are dry enough to bum. We destroy them."



Another robot came clumping down the hill and ranged

himself alongside the first. He took his axe off his shoulder

and, placing its head upon the ground, leaned upon the



handle.



He started off as if it had been he, and not the first

robot, who had finished talking. "The labor is arduous,"

he said, "because we have none of the marvelous labor-

saving mechanisms you humans once devised. At one

time, there were robots with technical knowledge, but

now they all are gone. Once the humans retreated to the

simple life to cultivate their minds, there was no need of

them. All the humans needed then were very simple ro-

bots—gardeners, cooks, and others of that ilk. Those
were the ones who were left, as the humans began to

disappear."



Other robots were streaming down the slope, each one

carrying a tool. They came singly and in twos and threes,

and all of them grouped themselves behind the two who

stood facing the humans.



"But tell me," said Timothy, "why this selfless de-

votion to the destruction of trees? You make no use of



them once you cut them down. Surely you have no rea-

sonable quarrel with trees."



"They are the enemy," said the first robot. "We fight

against them for our rights."



"You mouth madness," Horace shouted. "How can

simple, unassuming trees be enemies of yours?"



"You must surely know," said the second robot, "that

once all men are gone—and now they're almost gone—

trees will supersede them as the dominant race of Earth."



"I have heard some talk of it," Timothy told the as-

sembled robots. "Loose and speculative talk. I never paid
it much attention, although our sister, Enid, thought it a

splendid idea. She feels that, as a dominant race, trees

would not be aggressive and would do little meddling with

other forms of life."



"It's all blathering," yelled Horace. "Enid is noted for

her fuzzy thinking. Why, a tree has no sense—no sense

at all. It can't do anything. It stands there and grows and

that is all it does. After a time, it falls down and rots, and

that is the end of it."



"There are certain fairy stories," Emma said, speaking

in her most timid voice, which was very timid.



"Fairy stories are nonsense," yelled Horace. "All of

this is nonsense. No one but a stupid robot would believe

it."



"We are not stupid, sir," said the second robot.



"I suppose," said Timothy, "that your animosity to-

ward the trees is occasioned by the belief that you should

be the ones to supersede the humans."



"Why, yes, of course," said the first robot. "That is
exactly what we think. It stands to reason we are the ones

who should take the humans' place. We are an extension

of the race. We were made in the image of the race. We

think the thoughts of humans and our behavior is pat-

terned after humans. We are the heirs of humans and are

being cheated of our heritage."



Emma said, "Spike is coming back. And there is some-

thing with him."



"I don't see him," Horace said.



"They're coming around the far corner of the monas-




184 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY 185



tery. The thing with Spike is bigger than he is. He's bob-

bing along behind it. They are heading this way."



Horace squinted his eyes and finally he made out the

two of them. He recognized Spike immediately from his

erratic, bounding progress, but for a time he could not

make out what the other was. Then something flashed in
the weak rays of the sun and there was no doubt at all.

Even from as far away as he stood, he could see the spider

web and the single gleaming eye.



Emma said, "It is a killer monster. Spike is playing with

a killer monster. He plays with everything."



"He is not playing with it," said Horace, choking with

a sudden wrath. "He's herding it. He's driving it to us."



Down the slope from him, there now were fewer robots,

he noted, than there had been before. Even as he watched

them, they continued to dribble away, leaving by ones

and twos and threes, not seemingly in any hurry, but sim-

ply walking off, going up the hill.



He asked Timothy, "What kinds of guns did you put



in the traveler?"



"I put in no guns," Timothy told him. "You attended

to that detail. You raided my gun collection without a

word to me. You simply grabbed up guns, as if they be-

longed to you."
Emma shrilled, "All the robots are leaving. They are

running away. They'll be no help to us."



Horace snorted.' 'I never thought they would. They are

a weak-bellied tribe. I never counted on them."



He started purposefully up the ramp. "I think there was

a thirty-naught-six," he said. "Not as big a caliber as I

might have liked, but if the cartridges are high-power, that

should handle almost anything."



"The best thing we can do," wailed Emma, "is get into



the traveler and leave."

Timothy spoke sharply. "We can't go without Spike.



He is one of us."



"He's the one," said Emma, tartly, "who is causing

all the trouble. He is always causing trouble."



The robots all were gone. The slope below the traveler

was empty; not a one of them was left. It didn't matter,



Horace told himself after a quick look around. Even if

they'd stayed, they would be no help. A flighty bunch of
people.



The monster, herded along by Spike, was closer now.

The two of them had covered half the distance between

the monastery and the foot of the hill.



Horace swung about and went up the ramp into the

traveler. The guns were there, as he had thought they

would be, their barrels protruding from beneath the pile

of blankets—a shotgun and a 30.06 rifle.



He grabbed the 30.06 and eased back the bolt. A car-

tridge was seated in the breech and the magazine was

loaded.



For some little time, there had been a faint commotion

somewhere outside, the soft sound of running feet and the

rattle of disturbed pebbles bouncing on the hillside. Hor-

ace had been conscious of it while he had inspected the

rifle, but now, suddenly, the commotion swelled and

boomed. A rock that must have been larger than a pebble

banged with a loud metallic clamor against the traveler.

Outside the doorway Emma was yelling, although he

could not make out the words.
He spun heavily about and lunged for the doorway.

From outside came not only Emma's bellowing, but the

heavy pound of many feet and the thudding sound of

heavy objects being hurled against the ground.



It could not be the killer monster being driven up the

slope by that unspeakably perverse Spike, for when Hor-

ace had ducked into the traveler, the two of them still had

been far out on the plain.



As he set his feet upon the ramp, he saw a scene of

milling nonsense, with what seemed to be hundreds of

robots, many of them loaded down with tools or logs.

Those with logs were busily engaged in carrying them to

several spots, where they hurled their loads down upon

the ground and, turning swiftly, fled up the hill again.



Other robots with shovels, picks, mauls, or axes were

making the dirt fly in all directions as they went to work.



Long logs were rammed into deep holes, canted at

sharp angles to the steepness of the hillside. Other logs
186



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



187



were being shaped by flashing broadaxes into squared tim-

bers. Augers bit into wood, driving holes for heavy

wooden pegs, while other gangs of robots toiled to heave

the timbers into place, forming what seemed at first glance

to be senseless structures.



Timothy said, quietly, "Do you realize that we are wit-

nessing what amounts to the mounting of a Roman de-

fense line? Short, flanking fortifications, with ditches dug

in front of each fort, so situated as to support one another.

Those other structures are catapults, designed to break

up enemy attacks in force. The total defense could well

be based on a classic Roman model. However, they seem

to be rather overdoing it."



All around the line of hills that enclosed the circular

valley where the monastery stood, other gangs of robots
labored at their chores. Here and there, tendrils of smoke

rose from campfires the robots had kindled. If the signs

meant anything, this robot legion was settling in to stay.



"I cannot believe these robots are students of Roman

history," said Timothy. "The story of the Roman Empire

would be no more than a pinch of history scattered in a

pile of blowing dust. But the same thinking and the same

principles of engineering are as basic today as they were

in very ancient times."



"But why?" screeched Emma. "Why are they doing



this to us?"



"Not to us, you ninny," Horace shouted. "They are

doing it for us. They are protecting us. Unnecessarily."

He shook the rifle in a clenched fist thrust above his head.

"We could have protected ourselves short of their



interference."



Out on the plain beyond the slope a small whirlwind

was zigzagging, darting here and there.



"It's Spike and the monster," Timothy explained.
"The monster, seeing what is happening, is trying to get |t

away, probably back to the safety of the monastery. Spike »

is just as determined he will drive it up the hill."



"It is all utter nonsense," Horace roared. "Why should

Spike want to drive the monster up to us? He knows what

kind of thing it is."



"Spike was always insane," Emma said. "David used

to stick up for him every now and then, and Henry always

had a good word for him. But to me he is just a big

nothing."



One of the robots was climbing up the hill toward them.

The robot came to an abrupt halt at the foot of the ramp,

upon which Horace stood. He clicked his metal heels to-

gether and raised his right arm in a brisk salute. Looking

straight up the ramp at Horace, he said, "The situation

is secured, sir. We have it well in hand."

"To what situation do you refer?" asked Horace.

"Why," said the robot, "the Infinites. The dirty

Infinites'"



"We're not even sure," said Timothy, "that there are

any Infinites. All we saw was the killer monster."
"There is the monastery, sir," said the robot, stiffly,

as if somewhat miffed by any questioning of his word.

"Where there is a monastery, there are always Infinites.

We've been watching this place for years. We have been

keeping tab on it."



"How many Infinites have you sighted?" asked

Horace.



"Not a single one, sir. Not so far, we haven't."



"How long have you been watching?"



"Not all the time, you understand. But off and on, for

two hundred years or so."



"In two centuries you have seen no Infinites?"



"Yes, that is true, sir. But if we'd been watching all

the time . . ."



"Oh, come off it," Emma said. "Cut out the silly

games."



The robot stiffened violently. "My name is Conrad,"
he said, "and I am the commander of this exercise. We

are doing nothing more than our primary function, the

protection and the care of the human race, carrying out

our duty, I might say, with precise competence and

dispatch."



"Very fine, Conrad," Horace said. "Please do carry

on."



The monster and Spike had ceased their dusty waltz




CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



188



and stood together, neither of them stirring. The robots,

so many now that the circling hill seemed to be covered

with them, still were energetically building a solid de-

fense, ringing in the central valley where the monastery



stood.

"Well, I guess there is nothing we can do about it,"
said Emma. "I might as well go in and see to some food.



Are either of you hungry?"



"I am," said Horace. He was always hungry.

She went swiftly up the ramp and Horace came slowly



down it to stand beside Timothy. "What do you make of



it?" he asked.



"I am sorry for them," said Timothy. "They've been



here for centuries without a human to take care of."

"And, suddenly, here we are," said Horace, "dumped



slap-dab in their laps."



"That's about it. No humans at all, and then, all at

once, three humans who seem utterly defenseless to them,

and coming under threat. Part of it an imaginary threat,

for it appears quite definite that there are no Infinites. But

the killer monster is real enough and extremely



dangerous."
"So they went hog wild."

"It's natural that they should. Here they've been, out



of work for years and years."



"They've not been standing idle. They cut every tree

they find, they grub out stumps and tend bonfires where



they burn the logs."



"Made work," said Timothy. "To do it, to put any

muscle into it, they must sell themselves on the belief that

trees would follow humans as the planet's dominant life



force."



"You don't believe that tree business, do you?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, I am of two minds about

it. That trees should assume a position of dominance has

a certain appeal to me. They probably would work out

better than the humans, the dinosaurs, or the trilobites,

all three of which turned out rather badly."



"The whole idea is crazy," protested Horace. "They'd
just be standing there, they'd not be getting anywhere."



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                  189



"You forget," said Timothy, "that they would have

billions of years. They could afford to sit and let evolution

have a chance. That was the trouble with the human race.

We couldn't wait, so we short-circuited evolution. But it

is a mistake to put evolution down as being too slow. See

what it did in less than a billion years, from the first bare

flicker of life to a highly intelligent animal. One that

proved too smart for its own good ..."



"There you go again," howled Horace, "putting down

your own kind."



Timothy shrugged. Perhaps, he told himself, Horace

might be right. He was putting down the human race. But

the fact was that it had put itself down. Men had been a

bungling band of primates. In the course of human his-

tory, there had been glory and accomplishment, but there

had also been too many fatal errors. Man had made every

error that was possible.



The sun was going down behind the western hill. Tim-

othy ambled slowly down the slope, leaving Horace where
he stood. As he approached the first fortification, the la-

boring robots dropped their tools and sprang swiftly to

attention.



"It's all right," said Timothy. "Pay no attention to me.

Continue with your work. You are to be commended. You

are doing very well."



The robots went back to their work. Conrad, sighting

Timothy, hurried up the hill to meet him.



"Sir, we have them now," he said, "surrounded on all

sides. We're looking down their throats. Let them so

much as wiggle and we'll be down upon them."



"Good work, Captain," said Timothy.



"Sir," said Conrad, "I am not a captain. I'm a colonel.

A full colonel, sir."



"My mistake," said Timothy. "I apologize. I intended

no offense."



"And none was taken," said the colonel.
From the door of the traveler, Emma yelled that dinner

was ready.



Timothy turned about and went swiftly up the hill. He

was hungry; it had been a long time since he'd eaten.



190



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



191



On the table Emma had placed a plate of cheese, an-

other plate of ham, a large jar of jam, and a loaf of bread.



"Do the best you can," she told the other two. "It all

is cold. Either the stove is not working or I don't know

how to use it. It resisted all my efforts."



"We'll make out," said Horace.



"You'll have to drink water," Emma wailed. "There

is tea and coffee, but without a stove ..."
"It's all right," Timothy comforted her. "Think no fur-

ther of it."



"I looked for beer. But there wasn't any."



"Water will be fine," said Horace.



They sat down and began to eat. It was not too bad.

The cheese was aged and crumbly, melting on the tongue,

the ham robust and tasty. The jam was brambleberry and,

despite its heavy freight of seeds, was excellent; the bread

was crusty and substantial.



Emma nibbled on a slice of cheese and munched a slice

of bread slathered with jam. Between two bites, she

asked, "What do we do now?"



"For the moment," Horace told her, "we stay right

here. This traveler is luxurious by any standard. It will

serve as a shelter and a base of operations."



"How long?" Emma quavered. "I don't like this



place."
"Until we learn what's going on. That situation out

there seems chaotic to me, but in a few more days, it may

resolve itself, and then we'll know what we should be



doing."

"For my part," said Timothy, "I am going back as soon



as possible."



"Going back to where?" asked Emma.

"Back to Hopkins Acre. I never meant to leave. If I'd



had time to consider it, I never would have left."

"But the monster!" Emma cried in horror.

"By the time I get back, the monster will be gone."

"Why would you want to go back?" asked Emma. "I



can't understand. It could be dangerous back there."

"My books are there," said Timothy. "And notes that



I worked years upon. I still have work to do."



"Your work is finished," Horace told him harshly.

"No, it's not. There is still much to do."

' 'You were working for a hoped-for future. You thought

you could find a way for humans to reverse their course,
to profit from the old mistakes and to make a new begin-

ning. Don't you understand you failed? This is your fu-

ture, and in it humanity, or the greater part of it, has been

converted to those sparkling points of light you see up in

the sky. The Infinites have done their work and left."

"But some people are still here. We could start over."

"Not enough of them," said Horace. "A few one place,

a few somewhere else, all of them hiding out. Some in

the past, some in the present time. The gene pool is too

small for starting over."



"It's no use talking to him," Emma said. "He is the

stubborn one. Once he gets an idea in his head, he never

will let loose. No amount of talking and no kind of ar-

gument will convince him otherwise."



"We'll talk again tomorrow," Horace said. "After a

good night's sleep."



Timothy got to his feet. "Can I have some blankets?

I'll spend the night outdoors. The weather's clement, and

it's not too cold. I'll sleep beneath the stars."



Emma got him blankets. "Don't wander off too far,"

she warned him.
"I never wander," he told her.



Night had fallen. The blackness of the monastery was

swallowed by the darkness around it. The robot campfires

gleamed all around the hills, and over all was the twinkling

of the sky. Staring up, Timothy was able to make out some

stars, but only a few of the brighter ones, for the glitter

of the points of light served to blot out the dimmer ones.



He found a small, benchlike terrace on the hillside. It

was fairly level and would serve well as a bed. He folded

one of the blankets as a protection against the ground and

pulled the other blanket over him.



He lay flat upon his back, looking at the glittering points

in the sky. He was content to watch. Up there, he saw

the final phase of the human race. As segments of pure

thought, humanity could survive the extinction of both




192



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



193



time and space at the end of the universe. The intelligence

of man would remain untouched in the emptiness and

would persist forever. But persist for what? He tried to

conjure up what might come, if anything could, after time

and space were gone. He could think of nothing.



He had said to Horace that men had been impatient

with evolution, that they had not been content to wait.

Had he been wrong in saying that? Had the works that

men had created and the dreams they had held been as

truly evolutionary as the slow process by which the small

pulse of life had come to man himself? Had the interven-

tion of the Infinites done no more than help man along

the evolutionary track he had been meant to follow? Had

that first faint stir of life in some shallow sea been irrev-

ocably aimed at the glinting sparkles set out overhead?

Could the universe all along, in its glory and its wonder,

have been only a hothouse in which to grow intelligence?



If that were true, then the human race had been the
Chosen People. Yet there would not have been one Cho-

sen People, but many Chosen Peoples. Rather than re-

lying upon a single race, there would have been an attempt

to bring about many different intelligences, for one could

not be certain of survival. Through foolish, perhaps in-

evitable mistakes, many would have died upon the way.

Others could have taken such unfavorable turns that de-

liberate elimination of them would have been the only

answer. Like many creatures of Earth, which spawned

thousands of eggs to insure that a few of their progeny

would survive to adulthood, so must evolution have

spawned vast numbers of intelligent races to make certain

that a few, in the end, would win to full development.



It could not be, Timothy told himself. This was fool-

ishness, a mad thought even to entertain for a moment.



But why had humanity taken such a step at a time when

the stars were firmly in its grasp and when mankind

seemed about to reap the benefits of the journey along

the highway of technology? Why had man faltered? Had

there been a racial tiredness, a shying away from an im-

plied responsibility which, in the light of past achieve-

ments, he should have been fully capable and anxious to



assume? Standing face to face with the unlimited space
and opportunity which stretched before him, had man



stepped back in fear of failure? Or in fear of something

else?



Timothy tried to put a stop to thinking and make his

mind a blank, for he realized that all he was doing was

building up a troublesome confusion inside himself, and

that there were no conclusions to be reached. He shut his

eyes and fought to purge the tenseness from his body.

Finally the thoughts that had been surging in his skull did

slow. He went to sleep, but it was a fitful slumber. Time

and time again he came half awake, puzzled by where he

was, listening to the shuffle and murmur of the legion still

at work upon the forts, disturbed by the pulsing ripples

in the sky—and then, recalling where he was, went back

to sleep again.



Then someone was shaking him by the shoulder and

speaking to him in a querulous voice. "Timothy, wake

up! Wake up, Timothy! Spike has disappeared."



He sat up, throwing the covering blanket to one side,

wondering at the urgency of the voice, knowing it was

Emma who was shaking him to tell him that Spike had
disappeared. He was considerably puzzled. Spike was al-

ways disappearing. Back at Hopkins Acre, Spike had

been gone a good part of the time. They'd not see him

for days on end and had never worried about him. In good

time, in his own time, he would show up again, as frisky

as ever, never harmed by absence.



The land was silvered by the first light of dawn. The

valley floor still lay in half darkness. Smoke dribbled up

from the fires built among the forts. Why, Timothy won-

dered, should robots be so intent on building fires? Cer-

tainly not for cooking, for they never ate. Probably this

fire building was only another evidence of a robot's ever-

present urge to ape man, its creator.



Horace was standing a hundred feet or so away, talking

with Conrad and a gaggle of other robots. Horace was

shouting gruffly, but that meant nothing. Horace always

shouted and his voice was almost always gruff, a studied

affectation to show how tough he was.




CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
194



Emma whined at Timothy, "Spike is causing trouble

again. He always causes trouble. I don't know why we

put up with him all these years."



Timothy staggered to his feet. He put up his fists to

scrub his eyes of sleep, then walked slowly toward Hor-

ace and the robots.



Hearing his approach, Horace turned to face him. "It's

Spike again," he shouted. "He's playing games. He is

hiding out somewhere. He thinks we'll come and look for

him. Playing hide and seek."



Conrad spoke more softly than Horace, but his words

were clear. "The only place he can be is the monastery.

Both he and the monster are gone. They're in the



monastery."



"Well, then," yelled Horace, "why are you bothering

us? Why didn't you go and look in the monastery?"



"Notme," said the robot commander. "The monastery
is not our business. It is human business. If you go in,

we'll go with you, but we won't go alone."



Timothy came up and joined the group. "You are

sure," he asked Conrad, "that they didn't sneak through



your lines?"



"It would have been impossible. We were on watch all

night. We had the two of them in sight all the time; then

suddenly they were gone."



"What were they doing all the time you were watching



them?"



"They were playing games, it seemed. They were chas-

ing one another, first one and then the other. They were



taking turns at it."



"Spike is hell on tag," said Horace. "He likes nothing

better. I'm not going to waste any time on him. After a

while he'll get tired of it and come dragging back."



"He's played us fools for years," said Emma, joining
them. "We'd be fools again if we went looking for him."



Timothy said, "This situation is slightly different, I

think we should have a go at it. This time he may be in



trouble."

"No!" howled Horace. "Not a foot! I'll not take a



blessed step."



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



195



"Maybe Timothy is right," said Emma faintly, not sure

she should be saying it. "After all, he's family. We let

him stay with us."



"If you don't want to go," Timothy told Horace, "then

I'll go alone. The two of you stay here. Give me the rifle.''



Horace took a long step backward. "I won't give it to

you. You don't know how to handle it. You'll end up

shooting off your foot."
"It's my rifle, Horace."



"Yes, you own it. Which doesn't mean you know how

to use it."



"Then I'll go without it."



"No, you won't," yelled Horace. "I won't let you go

alone. There's no telling what sort of scrape you'll get

into and no one there to get you out of it."



"If you're going with him," Emma told Horace, "then

I'm going with you. I won't be left alone in this howling

wilderness."



"I'm obliged to you," said Timothy, speaking to Hor-

ace. "I'll be glad to have you with me."



"I'll organize a company," said Conrad, "to furnish

you support."



"There's no need," said Horace, stiffly.



"I insist," Conrad told him. "We provide protection

here. We'll continue to provide it."
Conrad turned about and began snapping orders. Ro-

bots wheeled into line, standing stiffly at attention, each

shouldering the tool it had been carrying—a shovel here,

a crowbar there, pickaxes, a heavy iron maul, a posthole

digger . . .



"Since you are determined to make fools out of all of

us," Horace growled at Timothy, "let's get it over with."



Timothy started down the slope, with Horace, rifle car-

ried slantwise across his body, to one side and Emma

stumbling along behind. In the rear came the clanking

legion with sergeants or their equivalents calling out the

marching cadence.



Timothy went down the slope, fighting the steepness

of it, driving in his heels to maintain his balance. Small

stones and pebbles dislodged by the marching legion-



196



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY
197



naires went skittering past him, bouncing and rolling and



raising little spatters of dust.



Where was Henry? he wondered. If Henry were only

here, he could infiltrate the monastery and spy out the

place. Then, if it were necessary that the others of them

should enter it, they wouldn't be going in blind.



They reached the bottom of the hill, and the company

of robots split into two files, to march on either side of



them toward the monastery.



Conrad, who had been striding on ahead, snapped out

a command, and the two files of robots halted. Conrad

came striding back to the humans. "You stay here," he



said. "I'll send out scouts."



He bellowed another order and four robots went run-

ning ahead. "There must be a door, maybe more than one

door," Conrad said. "There has to be a way to get into
it,"



"This is foolishness," protested Horace. "There isn't



any danger."



"Not that one can see," Conrad told him, "but there

always is a chance of danger in any new situation. There

could even be a planned and studied attempt to make it

appear there is no danger. In any case, it never hurts to



be just a trifle cautious."

Timothy turned around to look over his shoulder. There



were other robots on their way to join them. They came

tumbling out of the defense lines they had built upon the

hill, running madly. Others were streaming across the

plain, hurrying to catch up with Conrad's squad.



"The rest of them are coming to join us," he said to

Horace. "The entire gang of them."



Horace turned around to look. He grunted his disgust



with robots.
They waited. A waiting silence settled over them. There



was no sound of wind, no chirring of insects. Finally one

of the scouts came running around an irregular corner of

the building. He pulled up in front of Conrad and said,

"Sir, we have found an entrance. An open door. There

were other doors and they were locked; we did not try to



force them. We thought it would be wiser not to. Then

we found the open door."



"Did you enter?"



"Again, we thought it better not to. The others are wait-

ing for the full company to arrive."



"Well, thank you, Toby," Conrad said. "You acted

wisely." He said to Horace, "Are you ready to proceed?"



"We've been ready all the time," said Horace. "It was

not our decision to stand here and dawdle."



The column lurched into motion and the three humans

marched inside their lines, with the reporting scout hur-

rying on ahead. They came to the monastery and skirted

its outer rim. Close up, it was a dowdy building. The outer
walls appeared to be constructed of some metal that was

beginning to rust. The walls had no windows, but at in-

tervals there were doors and all of them were closed.



Finally they came to the door the scouts had found. It

opened into the main building.



"We'll wait here," said Conrad. "I'll send in a squad

to have a look, and then we can go in."



They waited again and finally one of the squad members

appeared at the door and beckoned.



"We go in, but, please, without unseemly haste," said

Conrad.



They went in without unseemly haste. The company of

robots spread out, scouting ahead.



The interior was lit by a greenish glow. When Timothy

looked for the source of it, he was unable to locate one.

The light, he decided, emanated from the walls and the

domed ceiling.



At first glance, there was nothing much to see. The one
vast room into which they had entered seemed empty.

Open doors here and there led into the various additions

that had been tacked onto the original main structure.

Robots kept ducking into the doors and almost immedi-

ately returning, as if to indicate they had found absolutely

nothing.



As his eyes became accustomed to the faint green light,

Timothy made out a pockmarked section of the floor. The

pocks were lopsided circles or scooped-out holes. But




CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



198



there was no furniture of any kind—no desks or chairs,

no storage bins, no filing cabinets, no machines.



No machines, of course! He was thinking.in terms of

humans and this was an alien building, constructed for

alien purposes. One would not expect to find desks,

chairs, or filing cabinets. But there should be other

items—alien items—and there were none of these.
Emma nudged him in the ribs. "Look up there," she

said. He looked where she was pointing and saw the

strange objects hanging from the ceiling. There were

hundreds of them, all suspended by strings or cords. They

fluttered in the slight circulation of air that flowed in the



building.



"They look like Infinites," said Emma.



"If they are," said Conrad, who was standing just a

little distance off, "there is no life in them. I can detect

no life. If there were life, even a little, my senses would

tell me so. If they are Infinites, they are dead and hung



up to dry."

Since entering the building and walking a short distance



into it, they had scarcely moved. Now, from deep inside

of it came a humming of excitement.



"The boys have found something," said Conrad. "Let



us go and see."
The four of them hurried forward, coming upon the ro-

bots, who had formed into a circle and were watching

something with exclamations of wonder.



"Let us through," said Conrad, speaking sharply.

"What is going on? Make room for us."



The robots parted, and there, in the center of the circle,

Spike and the killer monster were dancing a rigadoon. But

whether it was a dance or a combative circling, with each

opponent waiting for an opening to attack the other, there

was no way to determine. They jigged and skittered, mov-

ing very fast, making tentative lunges at one another and



then turning quickly aside.

"Stand back, the rest of you," screamed Horace. "I'll



put an end to this!"



He had the rifle halfway to his shoulder when the build-

ing rocked so violently that the humans and many of the



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                199



robots were thrown off their feet. As he fell and skidded
on the tilting floor, Timothy heard the slamming of a door.



He fell into something. When he attempted to scramble

out, the texture of whatever he had fallen into was so slick

that he could find no purchase point to hoist himself out

of it.



As suddenly as it had started, the bucking of the build-

ing ceased and Timothy realized that what he had fallen

into was one of the holes scooped out of the floor. His

body fitted the hole neatly and he thought that if a man

could curl up in it, the hole would be a restful place to

sleep. Perhaps that was what it was; conceivably all these

holes were beds for Infinites. Being somewhat smaller

than humans', their bodies must have fitted into the holes

most trimly.



"Are you stuck in there?" Conrad asked, bending over

him.



"No, not stuck. It's just difficult to get out. Lend me

a hand, if you will."



Conrad extended a hand, pulled him free, and set him

on his feet.
"I think," the robot said, "that we may be in trouble.

I suspect we have been moved."



"Moved?"



"The building moved."



"It threw me off my feet."



"I think it did more than that."



Someone had opened the door by which they'd entered,

and robots were pouring out of it, fleeing from the build-

ing. Horace, who apparently had stepped outside, came

back through the door, fighting his way against the rush

of fleeing robots. Coming toward Timothy, he waved the

rifle in the air and bellowed, "The building was a trap. It

sucked us in and then it took us somewhere else." He

asked Conrad, "Have you any idea where we are?"



Conrad shook his head. "Not the least," he said.



Timothy stood confounded, not sure what was going

on, what Horace might be saying. "Somewhere else?"

heasked. "There should be no problem. A matter of some
miles, perhaps."



200



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



201



"You fool," said Horace, harshly, "that is not what I

meant. Not miles. Light years, more than likely. This is

not our planet. We're not on the Earth. Take a look



outside."

Horace grabbed him by the arm and jerked him roughly,



propelling him toward the door.



"Go out and look!"



Timothy staggered toward the door, thrust forward by

Horace's broad hand between his shoulder blades.



It was dusk or dawn. The air was crisp and fresh, and
the sky looked strange. The land lay in folds; rolling hills

led to other, ever-higher rolling hills, fading to a far ho-

rizon line. Above the horizon hung a bloated yellow



moon.

Perhaps there was something about it that Horace had



seen to make him think it was a different planet. To Tim-

othy it appeared a quiet place, with no peculiarities. The

air was breathable and the gravity like that of Earth.

One of the robots asked, "Is everyone out? Clear of



the monastery?"



"Everyone is out," replied another robot voice.

"Controls?" Horace was yelling. "Did anyone spot



controls?"



"Controls?"

"Yes, controls, something to operate the monastery.



To control and guide it."

"No one did, I'm sure," Conrad answered. "It's not



a vehicle. There would be no controls."
"It moved from there to here," cried Horace. "It

moved. Otherwise, how are we here?"



"It is beginning to break up," said another robot. "It

is cracking at the seams. Listen to it."



They listened, and the groaning and the screeching of

the structure could be heard—the rending of too-ancient



metal.

"It barely held together to get us here," said Conrad.



"This is the end of it. A few years more and it would not



have moved at all."

"Damn it!" Horace bellowed. "Damn it! Damn it!



Damn it!"



"I agree with you," said Conrad, speaking quietly.

"There are times when nothing works out right."



Timothy turned about and walked free of the crowd

packed in front of the collapsing monastery. It was just
as well, he thought. If the monastery had proved, in fact,

to be an operative traveler, there would be no telling what

sort of harebrained scheme Horace would cook up. At

least here they were momentarily safe and in an environ-

ment that up to now had been congenial. They could

breathe and move about, the temperature was not op-

pressive, and probably there would be food of some sort

they could eat.



He was standing on a hillside and there was turfbeneath

his feet—but what kind of turf? It still was too dark to

see, although to his right the sky was becoming lighter.

Horace had said they were on another planet, but there

was nothing as yet to support his assertion. The hills

looked like Earth hills. It still was too dark to see much

of anything.



Someone moved up the hill toward him and he saw that

it was Emma. He walked down to meet her. "Are you

all right?" he asked.



"I'm all right," said Emma, "but I'm frightened. Hor-

ace says we are no longer on the Earth. He says there

are two moons and Earth does not have two moons, and

I don't understand at all how it could have happened."
"Two moons? There's only one moon. It's hanging in

the west. Or what I take to be the west ..."



"There's another directly overhead," said Emma. "It

is a smaller moon."



He craned his neck to look and there the moon was,

directly overhead. As Emma had said, it was a small

moon, less than half the size of Earth's moon. So that is

how Horace knew.



The monastery still was groaning. The eastern sky was

brighter than it had been before. In another little while

the sun would come popping up.



"Have you seen Spike?" Emma asked.



"Not a sign of him."




CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



202
"He's off playing his silly games with that stupid



monster."



"I'm not sure they're games," said Timothy.



"What could it be but games? Spike always was playing

some foolish sort of game."



"Yes, you're likely right," he told her.



The gang of robots that had been massed downslope

from the monastery were withdrawing, trooping down the

hill to a point where the incline leveled out to a valley

floor. A sharp command rang out and the robots began

swiftly shifting into military conformations.



The dawn light had strengthened and it was possible to

see a little better. The surge of rolling hills lost the stark-

ness of the night, their profiles softening. Looking first at

them in the dark, he had envisioned them as green hills,

but now he saw there was no greenness in them. They

were tawny, the color of a lion or a cougar, beneath a

violet sky. Why should a sky be violet—not a small part

of it, but allover violet?
Horace came clumping up toward them. He stopped

just downslope, the rifle slung in the crook of his arm.



"We've been had," he said, angrily. "We were kid-

napped and flung into this place, wherever it may be."



"But we are not alone," said Emma. "We have the



robots with us."

"A tribe of fools," said Horace. "A pack of



stumblebums."



"They'll be some help," said Timothy. "Conrad strikes

me as competent—he can get things done."



"We have lost everything we had," cried Emma. "All

the stuff that was in the traveler. The blankets! And all

the rest of it! The skillets and the pots!"



Horace put an arm around her shoulder. "They brought

the blankets and some other stuff," he said. "We'll man-

age somehow."
Sobbing, she clung to him; clumsily he held her, patting

her back. Timothy watched uncomfortably. It was the

first time in all his life he'd seen Horace display even the

slightest affection for his sister.



The east was brightening rapidly, and now it could be



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



203



seen that a river ran through the valley that lay between

the hills and that small groves of trees grew along the river

and on the lower slope of some of the hills. They were

funny trees, however; they had the appearance of giant

ferns or overgrown rushes. On the hills above the valley,

the tawny growth that could be grass billowed in the wind.

Good pasture, Timothy thought, but there were, so far as

he could see, no herds of herbivores nor, in fact, any

single grazer.



A metal plate slid from the collapsing monastery and

skated for a few feet down the hill. The structure, by this

time, had completely fallen in upon itself to become only

a heap of flattened metal.
Down in the valley the robots' military formation had

broken up. All that remained of it was a phalanx, the

hollow square, Timothy thought, that had been classic,

from Alexander's Macedonians through the centuries to

Napoleon's last stand at Waterloo. The rest of the robots

were scattering like scurrying bugs fleeing from the cen-

ter. Apparently they were setting out as scouts to look

the country over.



Three of them were heading purposefully up the hill

toward the humans. The three reached them, placing

themselves in such a way as to partially surround them.

One of them spoke, "Sirs and madam, Conrad has sent

us to escort you to the safety of the camp."



"You call that hollow square a camp?" growled

Horace.



'"We are out searching for fuel to make a fire. Others

will bring in water and what else may be needed."



"Well, all right," Horace agreed, grudgingly. "I don't

know about you two, but I'm hungry."



He started down the hill with Emma trotting at his side
and Timothy following.



The sun had cleared the horizon by now. Glancing over

his shoulder, Timothy noted its similarity to the sun of

Earth—perhaps a little larger and a little brighter, al-

though that was hard to judge. In a lot of ways, this planet

was much like Earth. Underneath his feet grew fine-tex-

tured grass intermixed with a vinelike ground cover.



204



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



205



From the hollow square below them rose a wisp of



smoke.

"They found fuel," said Horace. "Something that will



burn. We'll have a hot breakfast after all."



Inside the protective square, Conrad told them about

the fuel. "Wood," he said, "from the fern trees. Not as
good a wood as one might like, but it burns, giving heat

and light. A hollow center surrounded by a pith, but a

fairly dense pith. Also we found coal."



He thrust his hands out to show the coal, shattered slabs



of shiny black.



"We dug it out of a rock formation in the river bank.

Not topnotch coal, more like lignite, but coal. We'll keep

looking as we travel and we may find better coal. Between

poor wood and poor coal, however, we have fire. Back

on Earth most of the coal had long since been mined and



burned."



"Travel?" Emma quavered. "Where will we travel?"

"We have to travel somewhere," Conrad told her. "We



can't stay here. We have to find a place where we can



get shelter and food."



"Pood?"

"Yes, of course, madam, food. The little that you have
will not last."



"But it might be poison!"



"We'll test it," Horace said.



"We have no way to test it."



"I agree," said Horace. "No laboratory. No chemicals,

no knowledge of chemistry even if we had the chemicals.

But there is a way. We'll use ourselves as guinea pigs."



"This is one you'll have to do yourselves," said Con-

rad. "Robots cannot help you."



"We'll take a tiny bite," said Horace. "We'll test the

taste. If it tastes bad, burns the tongue, or puckers up the

mouth, we'll spit it out. If it tastes good, we'll swallow a

tiny piece of it, then we'll wait and see."



One of the robots cried out a warning, gesturing up the

hill. A vehicle—a flier—of gleaming metal was streaking

down the hill toward them. It flew only a few feet above

the ground. It swooped upon them and passed over them,
then turned sharply to bank against the hills beyond the

river. It swung around and followed the slope of the op-

posite hills to cross the river at a point somewhat up-

stream from them, then came about to come skimming

down the stream, no more than ten feet above the ground,

passing almost directly above the hollow square of robots.

It continued down the river for some distance, then lazily

climbed up the range of hills, flying far above them until

it finally disappeared.



"We're being watched," said Conrad. "They came to

look us over."



"What can we do about it?" Horace asked. "What

should we do to protect ourselves?"



"We'll keep close watch," said Conrad. "We'll look

out for them."



Late in the afternoon, the scouts who had gone down

the river returned to report that the stream finally flowed

into an extensive swamp. During the night, the upriver

scouts came back. The hills, they said, gave way some

miles ahead to a high plateau, with mountains thrusting

up in the distance.
"That's what we needed to know," said Conrad. "We

go upriver."



In the morning they started out. As the hills closed in

on the stream, the going got harder. Thick veins of coal

lay in the sheer rock faces along the stream. The trees

began to change. Those that looked like giant ferns and

rushes grew fewer. Honest, earth-type trees took over.

The hills persisted. They lay in ranges, separated by nar-

row valleys, each range rising higher. Conrad did not push

the march. He and Horace bickered from time to time,

but never went beyond the bickering.



They came on food that was fit for human consump-

tion—a couple of kinds of tubers, a yellow fruit that was

fairly common, beans that grew in stubby pods on a crawl-

ing ground vine. The testing of each food was done in a

gingerly fashion. Some possibilities were rejected out of

hand—they smelled or tasted bad. Horace picked up a

touch of gastritis from berries that he sampled; that was

the only nasty episode. The robots brought in small mam-
206



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



207



mals; all but one proved good eating. The fish they took

from the streams they came upon smelled so foul that they



did not try them.



The robots made hunting weapons, but the bows were

awkward and the arrows often failed to fly true. They

essayed flint-napping, but from the lack of proper stone

and technique, most of the projectile points turned out

lopsided. Yet the ranging robots did manage to bring in



some game.



The good weather held. No clouds showed in the violet

sky. The days were hot, the nights only slightly cooler.



Finally the hills ended, and they came out on a great,
flat, dry plateau sprinkled with buttes, with the white-blue

of distant mountains poking above the horizon. Carrying

water in casks laboriously fashioned out of native wood,

the band started across the level plain. Tempers were be-

ginning to run short.



There had been no further sighting of the ship that had

buzzed them when they first arrived, although Timothy

had the eerie feeling that they were being watched.



Several times they caught a momentary sight of Spike

and the killer monster outlined against the sky. Although

he could not be certain, Timothy had the impression that

Spike had gained some sort of ascendancy, harrying the

monster, driving him.



The plain seemed endless. Day after day they plodded

along, and little changed. The mountains kept their dis-

tance, never seeming nearer. There was nothing but end-

less distances. At the foot of one of the buttes they found

a small, reluctant spring and from it collected sufficient

water to fill the empty casks. The small stream that flowed

from it ran less than a quarter mile before it disappeared

into the thirsty ground. Horace groused continually;



Emma wrung her hands. Conrad paid small attention to
them; he kept the march moving, boring ever deeper into



the barren wasteland.



Late one searing afternoon, the flatness of the plain

broke, dipping down into a canyon. From the lip of the

break, they sighted, at the bottom of the canyon, a ribbon |

of a river, flanked by narrow strips of vegetation on either \



side. To their left a massive butte reared up, its western

slope cut sheer in ages past by the ancient river that had

carved the canyon. Between the edge of the slope and the

steepness of the canyon wall lay a level bench with the

crumbling ruins of what at one time would have been a

small town.



They wasted little time upon the ruins. Scurrying robots

found a narrow path that led down to the bottom of the

canyon, and the party made its way cautiously along the

trail which wound its way along the face of a towering

cliff of rose-red rock. At the bottom of the trail, the cliff

turned in upon itself, forming an extensive rock shelter.

From the opening of the shelter came a drift of cooler air,

providing some relief from the blasting of the sun.
Conrad, followed by the three humans, stepped off the

trail to enter the shelter.



"Here," said Conrad, "we will tarry for a time. It's

not all I'd hoped we'd find, but at least we'll have some

protection while we plan our further move. The water

from the river is only a little distance off. Along its banks,

we may find food that humans can consume."



Emma sat down on the stone floor. "This is good," she

said. "We're away from the sun until it sets late in the

day. And we won't have to measure out the water. Maybe

I can even have a bath."



"It's better than nothing," Horace said in a grudging

tone. "It is better than the open plain."



The next day an exploring robot found the junkyard. It

lay against the base of the cliff that hemmed in the canyon.

It was broad of base and extended halfway up the cliff.

He ran back to the party, shouting the news. Everyone

hurried to explore the discovery.



Most of the junk was metal. Originally, undoubtedly,

there had been a lot of other trash, but over the ages since

it had been dumped, the less durable items had wasted
away and disappeared. Only the metal, some strangely

shaped stones, and a few large pieces of wood remained.

The strange thing about it was that most of the metal had

not deteriorated. It remained bright and shiny; there was

no sign of rust.




208



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



209



"An alloy," said Conrad, "that was unknown on Earth.

Most of it, all of it, perhaps, as good as the day that it



was junked."

The metal came in all shapes and sizes—simple pieces



of scrap, isolated machined parts, broken instruments and

tools, metal formed into convoluted shapes, and massive
blocks of metal. Some of it was recognizable in a general

sort of way; most of it made no sense at all. The robots

spread the more easily accessible parts on the ground and

wandered about through the outspread display, vastly

puzzled as to what they were seeing.



"An alien technology," said Conrad. "It might take us

forever to figure out what some of this could be."



It was apparent that the junk must have been thrown

from the bench above the canyon, possibly by the inhab-

itants of the forsaken town that now lay in crumbling



ruins.

"It seems to be a lot of stuff to be discarded by so small



a town," said Horace.



"It may have been a public dump serving a large area,"

said Timothy. " At one time all that plain we crossed might

have had many other towns. Perhaps it was an agricultural

area and well populated. Then the rains failed and the



economic base was gone ..."

"We can use the metal," Conrad told him. "We can
make machines we need."



"You mean we'll huddle here while you concoct ma-

chines. What kind of machines?"



"Tools, for one thing."



"You have tools. You have spades and shovels, axes

and saws, crowbars and pesthole diggers ..."



"Weapons," Conrad said. "Better weapons than we

have. Better bows. Arrows that fly true. This metal is

strong but flexible. Maybe crossbows. Spears and lances.



Catapults."

"A hobby!" Horace growled. "You have found a



hobby trove and ..."



"Likewise," said Conrad, continuing, "we could con-

trive a wagon to transport water for you, and what food

we can gather. We have robots who can haul the coach



and wagons. We might, as well, be able to contrive an

engine run by steam ..."
"You're out of your skull!" Horace shouted.



"We'll think on it," Conrad told him. "We'll put our

brains to work ..."



In the following days they put their brains to work.

They squatted in huddles. They drew designs in the sand.

They mined coal from a site a mile or so away, set up a

forge, and got to work. Horace fumed and fretted. Emma,

remembering the days spent crossing the plateau, was sat-

isfied to stay where there was water and protection from

the sun. Timothy went exploring.



He climbed the trail and spent long hours snooping

through the ruins of the town. Pawing through the sand

and dust, he came up with occasional artifacts: primitive

weapons; rods up to three feet long, made of metal that

was flecked with rust; and strangely shaped ceramics that

might have been idols. He crouched and looked at what

he'd found and the artifacts added up to nothing. Still,

the ruins had an abnormal fascination for him, and he went

back again and yet again.



Here, God only knew how many centuries ago, had

lived an intelligence that had developed a social and an
economic sense. What kind of intelligence, the ruins gave

no clue. The doors giving access to the buildings were

circular and so small that it was a chore for him to wriggle

through them. The rooms were so low that he had to go

on hands and knees to explore them. There were no stairs

to the upper storeys, but metal poles too slippery for him

to climb.



Finally he climbed the massive, chopped-off butte. Its

slopes were littered with precariously perched boulders

waiting for no more than the slightest push to send them

hurtling down. In between the boulders was treacherous,

shifting scree that he had to scrabble over, being careful

of the boulders.



It made sense, he told himself, that the people of the

town might have maintained a watch post on top to spy

out the approach of strangers, or to watch for game herds,

or perhaps for other purposes that he could not bring to




210
CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



211



mind. But when he reached the top, he found no watch

post. The top was a flat plane of stone, sand, and clay.

No plants grew in the sand or clay, no lichens on the rock.

The wind keened over it, and it was as desolate a piece

of real estate as he had ever seen.



Below him the country spread out in a wonderful

array—the brown and yellow of the flat plain over which

he had traveled in the robot march, with other buttes,

darker in appearance than the plain, dotted here and

there. To the west was the gash of the rose-red canyon,

and beyond the gash, far off, the blue loom of jagged



mountains.

He walked to the edge of the western extension of the



butte's top and looked down into the canyon, thinking he

might see some sign of the activity of the robot legion;



but he could glimpse no sign of activity. The blueness of
the river writhed through the canyon floor, bordered on

each bank by a strip of green. Beyond the river, the red-

ness of the canyon wall tipped upward toward the yellow



flatness of the continuing plateau.



And now he'd have to climb down off this butte—and

must proceed most carefully, for the descent could be

more dangerous than the climb.



He heard the click of a stone behind him and spun

around. His heart tried to leap into his throat, choking

him. Charging toward him was a killer monster, and be-

hind the monster was Spike, rolling swiftly in an erratic



pattern.

Timothy leaped quickly to one side to get out of the



way of the oncoming monster. The monster, apparently

seeing for the first time the yawning gulf before him,

dodged as well, bearing down upon the human. Quickly

Spike moved to head it off and the monster turned again

in the opposite direction. Timothy stubbed his toe and fell

upon his side. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the

monster, fighting desperately to stop its headlong
progress, go over the edge of the chopped-off butte. For

a moment it seemed to hover in mid-air, then plunged out



of sight.

Scrabbling erect, Timothy rushed to the lip of the pre-




cipice in time to see the monster strike a clump of boulders

that clung to the face of the butte. It struck and bounced,

dangling momentarily in the air, and began to come apart.

Shattered fragments exploded in all directions and began

raining across the face of the slope. The scattered seg-

ments went tumbling down the incline above the canyon

floor, with the various parts battered into even smaller

pieces.



Timothy turned to look for Spike, who was just a few

feet away, dancing a jig of final victory, spinning and re-

volving, leaping high into the air, and skittering along the

ground.



"You and your goddamned games!" yelled Timothy,

although he knew, even as he spoke, that if it had ever

been a game, it had been a deadly one.



"So you finally ran him down," said Timothy. "You
never stopped the chase. You tried, that first day, to run

him up the hill to us, knowing Horace would use a rifle

on him; and when that failed, you kept on running him."



Spike had ceased his jigging and was standing now,

rocking slowly back and forth.



"Spike," said Timothy, "we underestimated you. All

these years, we took you only for a clown. Come on. We'll

go down and join the others. They will be glad to see

you."



But when he moved. Spike rolled to intercept him. He

moved again, and Spike headed him off.



"Goddamn it, Spike," he shouted. "Now you're herd-

ing me. I will not stand for it."



He heard a faint humming and turned around to find

what it might be. A shining aircraft was skimming toward

them, like the one that had buzzed them their first day

on the planet. It lowered gently to the ground and rested

there. The top of it slowly levered up. In the forward

section sat a monstrosity. A proportionately small head

sprouted out of broad shoulders. What started out as an
upturned nose split into twisted twin antennae. The skull

swept back to a point that was tufted by angry red feath-

ers, resembling misplaced wattles, A single compound

eye protruded between the nose and the spearlike ter-




212



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



213



mination of the skull. The head turned toward Timothy

and a cluttering came out of it.



He took a careful, tentative step toward the flier and

its monstrosity of a pilot. Curiosity consumed him. Here

was intelligence again, but of a higher order, more than

likely, than that represented by the ruined town. Spike

moved around him to one side, then quickly reversed his

course and spun to the other side.
"You can quit driving me," said Timothy. Spike did

not quit; he kept up his double spinning. Timothy took

another forward step and yet another. He was not being

driven, he told himself; he was moving on his own. He

wanted a close look at the alien craft. Spike kept pressing



him forward.



"Oh, all right," said Timothy. He walked up to the rear

part of the flier and laid his hands upon it. The metal was

warm and smooth. He rubbed his hands along it. Inside

was what appeared to be a passenger compartment. There

were no seats, but the floor and sides were padded, and

along the inside of the compartment ran a set of rails that

might be hand holds for passengers.



But this was far enough; he was not about to get into

this contraption. He turned about to face the spinning

Spike and as he did. Spike rushed swiftly at him. The

backs of his knees struck the edge of the flier and he went

over backward, tumbling into the passenger compart-

ment. Like a flash. Spike leaped in, the compartment

cover came down with a bang, and the flier was taking



off.
Suckered, Timothy told himself. Abducted by Spike



and the hideous pilot and headed for a place not of his

own choosing. He felt a little fear, but not much. What



he felt was outrage.



He scrambled to his knees and, holding the rail, looked

out through the canopy. Below him was the receding east-

ern rim of the canyon wall, the rose-red rock shining in



the sun.



The family had been scattered and now it was further

scattered. He wondered vaguely whether it would ever

come back together. The chances were, he told himself,



that it would not. They were being moved about like

pieces on a game board. Someone or something was using

them as pawns.



He recalled Hopkins Acre and how he had loved the

place—the ancient baronial home, his study with the

walls of books and the desk overflowing with his work,

the broad sweeping lawn, the groves of trees, and the

brook. It had been a good life, and there he had done his
work; but thinking back on it, he wondered what his work

had amounted to. At the time it had seemed important,

but had it really been? Added all together, what had it

amounted to?



The canyon had disappeared well beyond the eastern

horizon and now they were flying at a low altitude over

the endless desert of the high plateau. As Timothy

watched, however, some of the dry brownness went

away, and again he saw the billowing yellow of the prairie

grass, interspersed at intervals by streams and groves of

trees. The aridity of the desert land was being left behind.



Ahead the mountains loomed, much higher than they

had seemed before, peaks stabbing at the sky, bare rock

faces staring out across the land. For a moment it ap-

peared the flier would crash straight into the mountain

wall, then there was space ahead, with looming walls of

rock to either side hemming them in. For breathless mo-

ments the flier hung between the walls of rock; suddenly

there was openness ahead and the machine nosed down

over a wide green valley that lay in the bosom of the

mountains. For a short distance, a high ridge ran along

the valley floor, and halfway up its slope was a wall of

soft and pearly white that humped continuously along the
ridge. On top of the ridge was a cluster of white buildings

rising many storeys high, and among the trees all around

the clumped skyline were what he took to be residences.

Some of them seemed to be low-slung barracks, others

were compounds enclosing huts, still others looked no

better than slums, and there were some that he could not

figure out.



The flier skimmed along the ridge, following its slope

until it reached the top. Then it began to drop toward a




CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



214



wide green lawn, at one side of which stood a house. It

settled on the lawn and the canopy came up. The pilot

chittered at them and Spike rolled out on the lawn. Some-

what confused, Timothy followed him and stood beside

the flier. Looking up the slope of lawn, he stared at the

house, drawing in his breath in astonishment. With a few

differences, it was the house on Hopkins Acre.
A gangling creature that had a slender body, bowed

legs, and dangling arms was coming down the slope to-

ward them. It headed straight for Timothy and stopped

in front of him. It said in English, "I am your interpreter

and companion and, I trust, your friend. You may call me

Hugo, which is not my name, of course, but I understand

it is a name that comes easily to your tongue."



Timothy gulped. When he could speak, he asked, "Can



you tell me what is going on?"



"Everything," said Hugo, "in its own good time. But

first, accompany me to your domicile. There a meal



awaits."



He started up the lawn, with Timothy trailing after and

Spike gamboling to one side of them. Behind them the

flier was rising from the ground.



There were certain variations, but for all intents and

purposes, the place appeared to be another Hopkins Acre.

The lawn was well groomed, the trees well placed, the

contour of the land very similar. There was one incon-
gruity—everywhere one looked mountains rose against

the skyline, while at Hopkins Acre the nearest mountain

had been hundreds of miles away.



They reached the house and climbed the wide stone

stairs to the massive door. Spike had deserted them and

was skittering happily down the lawn.



Hugo pulled open one of the doors and they stepped

in. Inside there might be differences, but it took some time

to see them. Ahead of them lay the dark drawing room,

with shadowy furniture crouched within, and beyond was

the dining room with the table set and ready.



"There is a saddle of mutton," Hugo said. "We un-

derstand it is a favorite dish of yours. A small one, but

there are only the two of us to eat it."



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



215



"But mutton—here!"



"When we do things here," said Hugo, "we do them

properly, or as closely as we can. We have immense re-
spect for the varying cultures that reside within this

community."



Timothy stumbled across the drawing room to come to

the dining room. The table was set for two and there was

a clatter in the kitchen.



"Of course," said Hugo, "you will not find the guns

of Horace in the gun room, although there is a gun room.

There is your study, also, but quite empty, I'm afraid.

We could not duplicate your books and notes, for which

we are regretful, but there are certain limitations that

could not be surmounted. I am certain there is material

we can furnish that will replace the books."



"But wait a minute," protested Timothy. "How did

you know about Horace and his guns, about my study and

my books, and about the mutton? How did you know all

this?"



"Think a moment, if you will," Hugo told him, "then

make an educated guess."



"Spike! We harbored, all these years, a viper in our

midst?"
"Not a viper. A very diligent observer. If it had not

been for him, you would not be here."



"And the others? Horace and Emma? You pounced on

me. How about the others? Can you go back and get

them?"



"We could, I suppose. But we won't. You are the one



we want."



"Why me? Why should you want me?"

"You'll learn of that in time. I promise you it will be



nothing bad."



"The other two are human, too. If you want hu-

mans . . ."



"Not just humans. A certain kind of human. Think on

it and tell me true. Do you like Horace? Do you admire

the way he thinks?"



"Well, no. But Emma ..."
216



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



217



"She'd be unhappy without Horace. She has grown to

be very much like Horace."



It was true, Timothy admitted to himself. Emma did

love Horace, and had come to think as he did. Even so,

it wasn't right that the two of them be left in that arid

desert while, he supposed, he'd be living here.



"Please take your place at the table," Hugo told him.

"Your place is at the table's head, for you are the lord

of the manor and so should conduct yourself. I shall sit

at your right hand, for I am your right hand person. You

have perceived, perhaps, that I am a humanoid. My bodily

system works much the same as yours does and I ingest

my food as you do, although I must admit that I had some

trouble in adjusting my palate to the sort of food you eat.

But now I have come to enjoy the greater part of your
fare. Mutton is my favorite dish."



Timothy said, stiffly, "We ate many other things."



"Oh, I know very well you did. Spike, I must tell you,

missed very few details. But now let us sit and I shall ring

the kitchen that we are here and hungry."



Timothy pulled out the chair at the head of the table

and sat down in it. He noted that the tablecloth was clean

and white as snow, the napkins correctly folded. Some-

how that made him feel more comfortable. Hugo rang the

kitchen bell and sat down at Timothy's right hand.

"Here," he said, reaching for a bottle, "we have an ex-

cellent port. Would you care for it?"



Timothy nodded. Three other humanoids, almost exact

copies of Hugo, came out of the kitchen. One of them

carried a platter bearing the mutton. He saw that some

of the meat had been sliced and that was one thing, he

thought with indelicate glee, that Spike had bollixed up.

No one sliced a roast or a bird in the kitchen; the carving

of good meat was reserved as an important table rite. An-

other brought in a tureen of soup and served it, ladling it

into the soup bowls set at the two places. The third put

down a large dish of vegetables beside the roast.
The soup was excellent, a rich broth with vegetables,

strips of ham, and noodles. With the first spoonful of the



soup, hunger came upon him and, forgetting good man-

ners, he ladled it into his mouth with unseemly speed.



"Good, isn't it?" asked Hugo. "That Becky is turning

into a cook of no mean skill, but it took a lot of training."



He chattered on. "Your menage does not have the com-

mand of the language that I have. They can understand

the simpler words and can speak after a fashion, but are

beyond any real conversation. It is a pity that you are not

telepathic, but then I would not have the pleasure of being

in your service."



"Are most people in this community telepathic?" Tim-

othy asked.



"No, but a good percentage of them are, and we have

the Basic. But you don't know the Basic, and it would

take some time to leam."



"The Basic?"
"A common language. A contrived language combining

easily spoken words from many languages. Lacking in

grammar, of course, and not elegant, but one speaking

Basic can be understood. There are many species here

who do not communicate by sound, nor, in fact, by te-

lepathy. However, ways have been worked out by which

all can be understood."



They finished their meal and pushed back from the

table. "Now," said Timothy, "would you mind telling

me exactly where we are? What sort of place is this?"



"That might take some extensive explanation," said

Hugo. "For now, let me say that we are a galactic center

composed of many cultures from widely scattered

planets. We are thinkers and investigators. We try to

make some sense of the universe. Here in this center, we

meet and converse, in whatever way, as equals. We pool

our thinking and our theories and discoveries. Questions

are posed and defined, and ways are sought to answer."



"Then you missed with me; you came up a blank. I'm

no great thinker and I am slow. I chew on thoughts before

I write them down or spit them out. Mathematics is a

complete mystery to me and I know no science. What
little I have figured out, I did on my own. I had no training.

I hold no academic degrees. My fascination is with history




218



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



219



and philosophy. I tried, during many years, to come

to an understanding of how my race took the course it

did, and I came up with very little. I can't imagine how



Spike . . ."



"He saw more in you than you see in yourself."



' 'I find that hard to believe. Spike always seemed a silly

thing. He played silly games. He had one game where he

jumped from square to square, except that there weren't
any squares. They were imaginary."



"Much of what we see in the universe," said Hugo,

"starts out as imaginary. Often you must imagine some-

thing before you can come to terms with it."



"We are mumbling in circles," said Timothy. "We are

getting nowhere. I accept this place as what you say it is

and I realize that I'm a misfit in it. So tell me why I'm



here."



"You are to provide us evidence."



"What kind of evidence? What is expected of me?"



"I can tell no more," said Hugo. "I have been in-

structed to tell you no more of it. Tomorrow I shall take

you where you are supposed to go. But it grows late, and

I believe we should retire."



For hours Timothy lay in bed before he went to sleep,

his thoughts spinning in his skull as he went over, time

after time, what little he had been told by Hugo.



It was rational, of course, that there should be a galactic
center where the intelligences of the galaxy could pool

their knowledge and work together toward their mutual

good. But what would the problems be, what the ques-

tions asked? Thinking on what they might be, he could

marshal many in his mind, but on examination of them,

some seemed lacking in necessary depth and others

sounded plain ridiculous. His human view was too nar-

row; human culture had been shaped by tunnel vision.

Although, he thought, that must necessarily have been

true, originally, of all the cultures that were represented



here.

Finally he went to sleep. Then someone was shaking



him awake. "I am sorry, sir," said Hugo, leaning over

him. "You were so sound asleep it seemed a shame to



wake you. Yet breakfast is ready and we must be on our

way. I have a surface vehicle and it is a very pleasant

drive."



Grunting with displeasure, Timothy roused himself and

sat on the edge of the bed, reaching for the clothes that

he had hung on the chair.
"I'll be right down," he said.



Breakfast was bacon and eggs, both done as he liked

them. The coffee was acceptable.



"Do you grow coffee here?" he asked.



"No, we don't," said Hugo. "We had to scurry around

to find it on one of the planets colonized by your people

millennia ago."



"Those colonies were successful and still exist?"

"They are thriving. After a hard initial period, of

course."



"You got all this food from those colonies?"

"Enough for a while," said Hugo. "We also got cattle,

hogs, chickens, and the seed to grow corn, wheat, and a

long list of vegetable crops. We have resources and a vast

file of information. We were told to spare no effort. We

spared none."



"Just to feed one man? Or are there other humans

here?"



"You're the only one," said Hugo.
The ground car was waiting outside, and they got into

it, with Hugo at the controls. Other residences showed

up along the road, mostly screened by heavy growth. On

the lawn of one that seemed to be mostly underground,



half a dozen woolly creatures rolled and tumbled happily

in childish play.



"You'll meet all sorts of people here," Hugo told him.

"You'll be surprised how quickly you become accus-

tomed to them."



"You sound as if I'm to be a permanent resident. I had



the feeling that you would throw me out, once you used

me."



"Never that. Once the interview is over, we'll supply

you with informational material so you can get to work

again. Your work will probably involve thinking about
220



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



221



problems and solving them or suggesting approaches by

which to tackle them."



Timothy grunted.



"You don't like it?" Hugo asked.



"You shanghaied me—you and that unspeakable Spike

who must have spied on us for years."



"You were not singled out. We seek information and

talent on many planets. Information can be garnered from

most worlds, but talent is rare."



"You think I'm talent?"



"You could be."
"But the talent you find often could turn out not to be

at all what you expected of it. What do you do then?"



"We keep them on. We owe them something. We al-

ways pay our debts."



They passed a miniature pink castle standing on a hill,

all gussied up with battlements and towers, with brave



pennons flying.



"A fairy castle," said Hugo. "I think I have the right

word. Up in that castle are an accomplished people who

see the universe as a complex mathematical structure and

are working on it. There is some hope that in time they

may supply the necessary key."



The road now joined a hard-surface highway and there

were other cars—not many of them; there was nothing

like a traffic jam. In the distance loomed a clutter of tall

buildings, rising clean and crisp, with no fanciness about



them.



"That is where we're going?"
Hugo nodded. "In your language, you'd call it an ad-

ministration center. That's where much of the work is

done, although many of our people work in their homes

or in retreats tucked among the hills. But here is where

it all comes together. There are laboratories, observato-

ries, libraries, instrument and machine shops, and con-

ference rooms. And certain other facilities that in your

language I cannot put in words."



They came into the center and wheeled along the wide

boulevards. Cars were parked upon the streets. Vast

parks opened up, separating the buildings. A few mon-

strosities moved along the sidewalks, some of them ar-

rayed in colorful and outrageous clothing, others innocent

of clothing. There were humpers, crawlers, skitterers, and

striders. Some carried bags and cases, and one of the bum-

pers dragged a cart laden with stacked paraphernalia.



"This place," said Timothy, "seems almost like

Earth—the streets, the parks, the buildings ..."



"The problem of partitioning working areas is quite a

simple one," said Hugo. "You take so many cubic feet

of space and enclose it. Here the buildings were erected

with one thing in mind: to make them as simple and func-
tional as might be possible. To have been anything but

simple might have offended some of the cultures that are

represented here. There was no pleasing everyone, so

we've done our best to please no one, using humdrum

architecture with straight and simple lines."



He pulled over and stopped in front of the entrance to

one building. "Here is where you go. I'll walk you to your

place of appointment, but I can't go in with you. You enter

alone. You'll be in a small room with one chair. Sit down

and wait. Don't be uneasy. After a few moments, it will

seem all right."



The room was close to the entrance. The building

seemed nearly empty. They halted in front of a door, and

Hugo turned back toward the entrance. Timothy pushed

gently at the door, and it swung open easily.



A small room, Hugo had said; and it was a small room,

but an attractive one. Carpeting covered the floor and

there were decorations on the walls. The chair faced a

wall entirely covered by one such decoration. Timothy

walked across the room and sat in the chair, studying the

decoration. It was a gaggle of soft colors. It was loaded

with designs, but all of them were small and tangled up
with one another. He could not tell where one ended and

another began.



A voice spoke to him, seeming to come out of the wall.

"Welcome to the Center. Your name is Timothy. Do you

have another?"



"I have a family name, but my family never used it in




222



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



223



recent years. First names were enough. The family name



is Evans."

"Very well, Mr. Evans," the voice said, "this is an



inquiry into a situation concerning which you have some
knowledge. We have heard many witnesses, but none

whose testimony should bear more weight than yours.

Please answer frankly and forthrightly."



"To the best of my knowledge and ability, yes."



"Fine, then we'll proceed. For the record, you are Tim-

othy Evans, human from a planet you call Earth. Until

recently, you have lived there all your life."



"That's correct. Why don't you show yourself? I dis-

like talking with a wall."



"My not facing you directly is a courtesy, Mr. Evans.

You have been here only a short time and have met only

Hugo. Given a few more days to meet others, you may

understand. While I am, I assure you, a friendly and com-

passionate creature, I would appear to you a monster.

There are others. A panel of us is listening to you, al-

though I am the only one who talks with you. Most of the

panel would also be monsters in your eyes. A row of mon-

sters staring at you. Now can you appreciate our



attitude?"
"I can," said Timothy. "It is considerate of you."



" So let us get on with the questions. You are acquainted

with certain missionaries your people called the Infinites.

What did those missionaries preach or advocate?"



"They sought to convince people that it would be ad-

vantageous to trade their corporeal bodies for an incor-

poreal state."



"In instances where they convinced people of their

thinking, did they have the ability to affect this



transformation?''



"Yes."



"You say that as if you are positive."



"I am. I came upon a place recently where many

incorporeal beings were affixed—or seemed to be af-

fixed—to some kind of lattice in the sky. Also, a brother

of mine entered the transformation process, but it

didn't take ..."



"You mean the Infinites failed in your brother's case?"
"Either that or he pulled out of the process. I never

quite got the straight of it. He would say one thing one

time, then something else the next."



"What effect did that have upon your brother?"



"He became a shadowy person, composed of many

shiny sparkles. My understanding is that if he had con-

tinued in his transformation, he would have been con-

densed to a single sparkle."



"The incorporeal beings you saw upon the lattice that

you mentioned were single sparkles?"



"There were many single sparkles. They were located

above a former Infinite dwelling place which we called a

monastery."



"Please explain that to me."



"Monasteries are houses occupied by clerical orders

that we call monks. Monks wear distinctive habits, and

the Infinites looked like little monks, so we called their

places of residence monasteries."
"We may come back," said the voice, "to certain spe-

cifics once again. But I would like to get to the crux of

the matter now. It appears from what we have learned

that the greater part of Earth's human population indeed

became incorporeal. Your family didn't. How did that

come about?"



"We fled the Infinites. We fled into the past. My family

were not the only fugitives. There were many others. I

have no idea how many."



"You fled in time. That means you had time

machines."



"We stole the process for constructing the machines

from the Infinites. We had no part in developing time

travel. We simply blindly followed a pattern. We knew

almost nothing of the technology."



"Why should you have fled? The vast majority of the

Earth's population did not flee."



"We were a different kind of people, different in our

outlook. We were the outlanders—the hillbillies, if you

know that term?"
"I think I do. The disadvantaged people who, because




224



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



225



of environmental factors and cultural outlook, lagged be-

hind. Perhaps with reason."



"Entirely with reason," said Timothy. "We kept sight

of the old values which the rest of the population had



abandoned."



"Therefore you could not accept the philosophy of the



Infinites?"
"We gagged on their philosophy. It went against our



grain."



"Yet, once again, most of Earth's people accepted it."



"The rest of the people completely abandoned the old

values. They rejected technology, which in many ways,

had served them in good stead and could have served

them better if they had bothered to develop a stronger

ethical code. They walked away from progress. In all fair-

ness, I must say that progress, in certain instances, was

detrimental. Yet it lifted us from beasts to a fairly rea-

sonable and decent society. We scrapped nationalism, we

conquered almost every disease, and we arrived at an

equitable economic policy."



"Still these other people walked away from what you

describe as the old values at the very point when they

could have brought about a nearly perfect society. What

happened? Did the race grow old and tired?"



"I've wondered about that off and on. There were, I

would suspect, no data upon which a conclusion could be

based. The strangest thing about it is that there seemed

to be no one who was preaching it; there were no ad-
vocates of the change in attitudes, no one pushing for a

new life style. The idea seems to have dribbled along until,

after some years, everyone seemed to be doing nothing

except sitting around and talking. They had the idea that

they were engaged in great philosophical discussions, but

actually all they were doing was talking. Through the his-

tory of mankind there have always been cults. They'd

spring up here and there and would flourish briefly, but

in the end they all faded out. But the abandonment of

progress was not a cult. Each man seemed to decide sud-

denly for himself that progress was meaningless and tech-




nology not worth the cost. It was almost as if a contagious

disease had struck."



"Could it have been a disease?"



"No one ever hinted that it was. In fact, there was

almost no discussion about it. The attitude was accepted

and that was the end of it."



"So the society was ripe for the Infinites."



"Apparently. Not too much attention was paid to them
at first. Then their philosophy began catching on quietly.

There was never any great uproar about it. It went slowly,

but grew in strength as the years went on. It was, you

might say, a quiet catastrophe. The human race, in its

history, had faced a number of possible catastrophes.

There was a time when we nearly poisoned our world

environment by the use of chemicals, but came to our

senses just in time to escape that fate. We could have

been wiped out by war, but found the way to peace at the

last possible moment. But in the Infinite catastrophe, we

lined up and went willingly to our doom."



"There were people, however, who did not go

willingly."



"Not too many. A few. A few thousands went out into

space to find other planets. Some of us fled into time. By

the time we fled, the Infinites had started to push hard.

They saw the chance, I suppose, of converting an entire

race of people. By the time I was born it was beginning

to get rough for dissidents like us. All I have told you of

events before that is the history I was told."

"The history could have been colored by prejudice."

"To some extent, I suppose. We were becoming de-

fensive in my day."
"What arguments were used by the Infinites to per-

suade members of your race to accept the transfor-

mation?"



"They offered a certain kind of immortality. An incor-

poreal being could not die. It could survive the death of

the universe. It would be immune from all physical ills.

Free of the body, the mind would soar. That, the Infinites

said, was the true goal of any intellectual being. Intelli-

gence was the only quality that counted. Why contend,




226



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



227



they asked, with the physical world—all its dangers and

disappointments? Slough it off, they said, and be really
free."



"That must have been compelling logic for many."



"For most of them," said Timothy.

"But not for you and your fellows? You still thought



of it as wrong?"



"I find it hard to characterize exactly what our feelings

might have been. I can only sum it up by saying we felt

a great revulsion at what the Infinites were doing."



"You feared and hated them? You thought of them as



enemies?"



"Yes."

"How do you feel about it now that it apparently is



over, that the Infinites have accomplished what they set



out to do?"



"It's not all over," said Timothy. "The human race
still lives. There are human colonies on other planets that

I am told are doing well, and there are a few dissidents



hiding in the past."



"What do you feel for the humans who went the route



the Infinites pointed out?"



Timothy hesitated for a long moment. Finally, he said,

"Perhaps they had it coming to them. I would guess they

asked for it. They turned their back on what the race had



done."

The voice said nothing. Timothy waited, then asked,



"This is what you wanted to talk with me about? May I



ask your interest?"

The voice said, "This is an inquiry into the purpose and



the motive of the Infinites. We have questioned many



others."
"Other races that were victims of the Infinites?"



"Some of them were."

"But are the Infinites still pursuing their missionary



efforts?"                           i



' 'Not for some time. We have segregated them on their '

planet. They are being held in quarantine while we pro-

ceed in this inquiry. You must recognize that while we

here at the Center respect the free will of any people, we



still must take some note of where a too-aggressive free

will may lead."



"The creatures that we termed killer monsters. What

of them?"



"They were hired hands. Enforcers," said the voice,

"that the Infinites, in their arrogance, hired to carry out

their wishes. The killers have not been segregated, but

are being destroyed. Such an element cannot be tolerated.

A few are still free, but we hunt them down. Your friend,

Spike, destroyed one of the last of them."



"I saw him do it," Timothy said.
"It was the arrogance of the Infinites that brought our

attention to them. There is, in this galaxy, no room for

arrogance. Almost anything can be tolerated, but not

arrogance."



Again the silence.



"Is that all?" asked Timothy.



"For the moment," said the room. "Later, we'll talk

further. You now are one of us. It is high time that we

had a human here. Go back to your house and there you'll

find informational material that will tell you in some detail

who we are and how we function. From time to time, we'll

call on you to consider certain matters with us."



After a time Timothy rose from his chair and walked

slowly to the door. Down on the street Hugo lounged

against the car, waiting for him.



Timothy Evans, human, newest member of Galactic

Center, walked down the steps to the waiting car.
HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



229



Henry




Ihe trail had been long and hard to puz-

zle out, but here was the end of it, and everyone was gone.

On the rim of a cuplike valley, the traveler stood empty.

Over the dished impression gouged into the earth hung a

covering dome of sparkle. Henry knew instinctively that

each of the sparkles in the dome was one incorporeal

human.



The situation was puzzling. The ones he had been track-

ing had been here, rather recently, but they had left with-

out a trace. As Enid had also left no trace.



The traveler was empty of the supplies that Horace had

put in it. So, Henry told himself, their leaving had not
been precipitant. The leaving had been planned; there had

been time to collect their supplies and take them wherever

they had gone.



The entire slope of the bowllike depression was

strangely pitted, with a number of crude devices planted

on the slope. A hurriedly constructed defense line, more

than likely, but what had been here to defend against?



He found and identified the spoor of Emma, Horace

and Timothy, and Spike's scent as well. Also he found

the abundant traces of many other beings. Humanlike

footprints were pressed into the dust; examining them

closely, he was convinced they were not human

footprints.



Down on the floor of the bowl he came upon a rectan-

gular impression where a building might have rested not

too long before. Associated with it was a faint odor he

had known long ago—the smell of Infinites.



The family was gone. Enid had disappeared, David was

dead, and now the other three were missing. He was left

alone in this far future place.
If only he could cut back along the time line to the

moment when the three of them had first come upon this

place—if he could do that, then it would be simple. But

he knew it was impossible. Time could be traveled in quite

freely but it could not be used in areas where interference

with a sequence of events was possible. He could, in all

reasonableness, recognize the need for such restriction;



but when he sought to grasp the machinery of its oper-

ation, he could think of not a single principle that might

apply. Was it possible, he asked himself, that the prin-

ciples of the universe were, after all, based on simple

ethics?



He floated, running all of it through his mind. He was

without family or friends, engulfed in a world he did not

know or like. He could go back to Hopkins Acre, but now

it would be a lonely place, haunted by visions of the past,

an acreage in which he would be lost. He could track down

Corcoran, the single person who was left, but Corcoran

was not family. He was no more than a stranger who had

stumbled into Hopkins Acre.
230 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



He should be up there, he thought, with all those other

littering points of light; for better or for worse, he should

'e one of them. Long ago, through his obstinacy and

ride, he had bungled that; he did not belong with them.

'erhaps he was better off than they. He once had thought

tiat and he might have been right.



Again he took up the chore of quartering in all direc-

ions, like a hunting dog, in the faint hope he might pick

ip the trail again. It was a hopeless task. The trail ended

n the scooped-out valley.



Corcoran



12



a



^^orcoran followed the path up from

the meadow where the traveler had landed, coming to the

crumbling wall that had once surrounded a long-forgotten

city. He might be engaged in a wild goose chase, he

warned himself. When he had stepped from the traveler,
he'd stood and had a long look at the hilltop ruins, and

there had been no tree. Yet he was sure now that he had

not imagined it.



Probably he had to position himself correctly to see it.

He had been able to see the traveler outside the wall of

the Everest only when he looked for it at a certain angle.

It might be the same way with the tree. He must stand in



231




232



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



233



a certain place and look for it at a narrow angle before

he could see it.



He shifted the shotgun from one hand to the other, re-
suming his climb. He reached the gate, half expecting to

find the old man there, but he saw no one. Perhaps the

old spaceman was off somewhere in the hills, talking to

his trees and his rocks.



Corcoran picked his way through the rubble and came

into the city, finding the path that he and David had fol-

lowed. Still there was no tree.



He continued making his way through the tangled ruins,

working up the slope.



On the hilltop, he glimpsed a wavering in the sky and

when he took another step he saw the tree—that incred-

ible, massive tree that soared high into the sky. When he

took another step, the tree came clearer and he saw the

staircase that wound its way around it.



Sobbing in his effort, he plunged up the hill toward it.

Stay there, he pleaded with it, stay there, do not go away.



It stayed there, assuming more reality as he clambered

up the hill to reach it. Finally he collapsed at the foot of

it, gasping from the physical effort of running up the hill.

He put out his hand and laid the palm against the bark,
which was rough and solid, as real as any tree, no different

from any other tree except for its height and girth.



The stairs, he saw, were constructed of solid metal and

had, as well, an outside railing.



He rose from the ground and moved toward the stairs,

then halted and sat down again. Not, he told himself, until

I have my breath back, not until I'm ready. He laid the

gun on the ground and slipped the rucksack off his shoul-

der. Opening it, he checked its contents—food, a canteen

of water, a heavy jacket, a blanket for extra warmth, and

a length of rope he could use to tie himself to the stairs

if he should have to spend the night on them.



He repacked the sack and leaned back against the tree.

Not until I'm ready, he insisted to himself. Down the

slope lay the ruins and below them the valley where he

and David had walked a path to reach a tiny town.



Fifteen minutes later he rose, slipped into the rucksack,



picked up the gun, and started up the staircase. The climb-

ing was not difficult. The treads were at proper intervals,

and the rail was stout and sturdy, helping him along and

giving him a feeling of security.
He did not look down or back until he was forced to

rest. Then he peered through the railing, and was sur-

prised at the distance he had climbed. He had to crane

his head out between the railing supports to see the ruins

that lay at the base of the tree. From his height, they

appeared to be no more than a huddle of gray stone. The

broken wall that ran around them showed as a thin and

jagged line. Beyond the ruins lay a green tangle of rugged

hills and ridges with no break showing in them except the

occasional glint of rivers that ran in valleys between the

hills. Looking upward along the tree trunk, he could see

no end to it. It speared upward until it disappeared in the

blueness of the sky.



He climbed again. When he stopped the second time

to rest, he found with some surprise that he could not

make out the ruins that lay at the base of the tree. The

rugged hills that stretched away in all directions no longer

showed distinct lines of elevation. The bole of the tree

had shrunken to some extent, although it was still of much

greater girth than even the largest ordinary trees.



He must, he estimated, be at least three miles above

the surface. That was impossible; no man could climb to
such a height with only two stops for rest. And he had

detected no drop in temperature or noticeable change in

the density of the air. More than the size of the tree

seemed to be beyond all rules he knew.



He had been debating whether to continue the climb,

wondering what he was trying to prove and what he ex-

pected to find. But these mysterious effects surrounding

the tree decided him. He must continue. Somewhere up

there, he told himself, there must be an answer to the

puzzle of the tree. He had come this far and he could not

stop now. He would always wonder what he had missed

by not going to the top.



The sun was only an hour above the horizon when he

took up the climb again, and below him the land lay in




234



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY
235



darkness except for one high ridge. Some time later, he

realized he had forgotten the gun he had rested butt down

on one of the steps. But he did not need the gun and felt

no need to return for it. He went on climbing, finding that

the going was easier now, unhampered by its weight. As

he climbed, the sun went down and dusk came on—not

a blue dusk such as he was accustomed to, but a gray one.

Soon, he knew, he would have to stop, tie himself se-

curely to the stairs with the length of rope he'd brought,

have something to eat, and try to sleep. He was fairly

sure, however, that he would get but little sleep.



As he climbed, he was still trying to consider the puzzle

of the tree, the stairs, and the mysterious forces that

somehow seemed to prevent normal fatigue on his part

and to hold the atmospheric pressure constant around

him. Calm reason should tell him that there could be no

such tree as this and no staircase that rose around it for

miles into the air, circling around and around to nowhere.



But there was such a tree, though he seemed to be the

only one who could see it, using the strange vision he had

developed after the accident that should have killed him.
David had seen no tree, and the old man, who seemed

much concerned with trees, had not mentioned it. Surely

if anyone else had seen it, the fact of its existence would

be common knowledge, a wonder to be advertised world-

wide and much talked about.



Thinking of all this, he lost some of his concentration

and did not pay enough attention to his climbing. His toe

caught the edge of a step, and he stumbled. Falling, he

reached out a desperate hand to catch the rail . . .



Something seemed to stitch across his consciousness,

like a flash of lightning striking. Everything went black.

Then it was gone ...



There was no rail. He scrabbled wildly to catch hold

of the stairs so he would not go tumbling down. There

wasn't any stair; he lay upon a flatness.



Puzzled and frightened, he levered up the forepart of

his body from the flatness. All he saw was the flatness

and a grayness. The tree and its encircling stairs were

nowhere to be seen.



He rose to his knees and looked around him and still

all he saw was gray flatness—gray fog swirling over a
gray, flat ground. Except there was no swirling; there

seemed to be no fog. He could see where he was; there

was nothing to stop his seeing, but there was nothing to

be seen.



Carefully, he rose to his feet. In front of him, a short

distance away, was what seemed to be a line running

across the gray land. He walked toward it. When he

reached it, he saw that it was a road that was only a

slightly different shade of gray from the land on which it

lay. It ran in either direction from where he stood and

was arrow-straight. In the center of it were two parallel

darker streaks that had the look of trolley tracks, some-

thing that he recalled from his earliest childhood. To con-

firm the nature of the tracks, a trolley of very primitive

design came out of the distant grayness and bore down

upon him. It carried on its top a striped awning and, de-

spite its rickety appearance, it made no sound at all. As

it approached him, he stepped out of its way and it went

running past him; but after going only a short distance, it

came to a sliding halt and then reversed itself. When it

reached him, it stopped. Without even considering that

he should do otherwise, he clambered aboard and took a

seat.
There was no question that the trolley was taking him

to an unknown destination, but it was better, he thought,

to be proceeding toward an unknown place than to stay

where there was nothing to be seen but an unending gray-

ness. Even riding on the trolley, the grayness still per-

sisted. There was nothing to be seen, but in a little while

he saw, some distance off, a cubicle of some kind and

people moving about. Tables and chairs stood in the space

between the cubicle and the trolley track, although some

of the tables and chairs were partially obscured by a filmy

cloud that was spangled by many points of light.



The trolley moved at a stately and sedate pace down

the rails and when it came closer he saw that two of the

people had seen its approach and were staring at it. One

of the people seemed familiar to him and a moment later,




236



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY
237



recognition of the man burst suddenly upon him. Not

waiting for the trolley to come to a halt, Corcoran leaped

out of it and went running down the road.



"Tom!" he shouted. "Thank God, man, it's you. What

are you doing here?"



He came up to Boone and grasped him by the shoulders.

"I went hunting you," he said. "Finally I had word about



you and . . ."



"Simmer down," said Boone. "Everything's all right.

You remember Enid, don't you?"



Corcoran looked at the woman standing by Boone's

side. "Why, of course, I do."



Enid held out her hand to him. "It's good to see you,

Mr. Corcoran. This is a far cry, isn't it, from Hopkins



Acre?"
"It surely is," Corcoran agreed.

"And here is Wolf," said Boone. "I guess you don't



know Wolf."



Corcoran looked where Boone was pointing and saw

the gray wolf grinning at him.



"Not Wolf, perhaps," he said. "But I saw some of his

kinsmen back in that place where you killed the monster.''



"I did not kill the monster," Boone told him. "It was

the bull that killed the monster; then I shot the bull."



Corcoran shook his head. "It seems I don't know what



is going on."

"Neither do we," Enid told him. "We're still trying to



get it ciphered out."



"Let's sit down at this table here," said Boone. "From

all the banging and the clatter that is coming from the

cube, it would seem that the robot who runs this wayside

rest is busy with a meal."
As the three headed for the table, Horseface came bum-

bling out of the fogginess of the galactic chart and made

his way toward them.



"The chart," he told Boone, "is making its way back

into the chest with no help from me. Which is a thing of

luck, for I am sure, had I essayed the chore, I would have

bungled it. And who, may I inquire, is this personage who

has joined our party?"



Boone said to Corcoran,'' Meet our friend Horseface.''

Horseface rumbled at him, "I am pleased to meet you,

sir."



"My name is Jay Corcoran," Corcoran told him. "I'm

a longtime friend of Boone."



"Well," said Horseface, "we are all together and safely

back at base. I don't mind saying I am glad our force is

augmented by this friend of Boone. And here is Wolf. And

The Hat."



The Hat was sitting at the table, erect in his chair, no

longer slumped over. His hat was still pulled across his

face, if he had a face.
Looking more closely at him, Boone observed that he

was somewhat rumpled, apparently from Wolfs play.

Here and there, toothmarks showed.



The robot came up to the table with a tray balanced

on its head. "I have naught to offer you," he said,

"but pig hocks and sauerkraut. I trust you can get along

with that. For the carnivore, I have a plate of hocks

without the kraut. I mistrust that he would relish the

kraut."



"He'll eat anything that is of animal origin," said

Boone. "But I am sure you are correct about the kraut."



Enid, sitting next to Boone, put her hand on his arm.



"Do you like kraut?" she asked.



"I like it well enough," he answered. "I have learned

to eat almost anything."



"Horace was the one who really liked his hocks and

kraut," said Enid. "He always made a pig of himself when

we had them. He got grease up to his elbows."
Corcoran changed the subject. "Can anyone tell me

where we are? What is this place?"



"The Hat said it's the Highway of Eternity," said

Boone.



"He must have been kidding you."



"I don't think so. He seems to know. If he says it's the

Highway of Eternity, I'll go along with him."



"You stepped around one of your corners to get here?"



"That I did—when my subconscious worked up a




238



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



239
dream to scare me enough. Wolf came along with me.

And what about you? You didn't step around a corner."



"No. I climbed a tree—a big tree with a staircase wind-

ing around it. What happened then, I'm not quite sure."



"That's ridiculous," said Boone.



"No more ridiculous than your corner stepping."



They ate in silence for a time and finally pushed aside

their plates. Wolf had finished more quickly and was

curled comfortably at Boone's feet.



Enid asked Corcoran, "Will David be coming soon? He

was with you in the traveler, wasn't he?"



Corcoran squirmed uncomfortably. "I have sad news,

Miss Enid. David is dead. I'm sorry. I ... I'm very

sorry."



For a moment, she sat stricken, saying nothing. She

sobbed, then fought to regain control. "Tell me what

happened."
"Henry came to us. He'd found where you and Boone

landed, but you were both gone. He tracked your traveler

into the future and found that you had been there, but

had left. So the three of us went back to the prehistoric

period, hoping that we ..."



"But how . . . ?"



"A sabertooth," said Corcoran. "David had his shot-

gun and he killed it when it attacked us. But it reached

him before it died."



"David killed by a sabertooth?"



Corcoran nodded dumbly.



"He never would fire a gun," she said. "He went hunt-

ing, but always with an empty gun. He took the shells

out."



"Back there," said Corcoran, "I insisted he keep it

loaded. When the cat came at us, he acted to protect both

of us. If he hadn't, the cat would have killed us both."



"You were with him when he died?"
"Just for a moment. He was almost dead when I

reached him."



"Did he say anything?"



Corcoran shook his head. "He didn't have the time. I

buried him as best I could. A rock-lined grave with stones



on top. I said some words over him. I'm not sure the right

ones. I'm not good at that."

"And Henry?"



"Henry left before it happened. He went to track down

the third traveler."



Enid rose from the chair. She said to Boone, "Will you

walk with me?"



"Certainly," said Boone. "Whatever you may wish."



They moved out from the area, Enid clinging to Boone's

arm. Wolf trailed along behind them.



At the table, when they were out of hearing, Horseface

said to Corcoran, "I have a feeling that what you told was
not the entire truth. You embroidered it."



"Of course I embroidered it. What would you have

done? I was asleep when the cat killed him. It carried him

off to eat. Would you tell that to his sister?"



"I would not. You have a kind soul."



"I'm a stupid coward," said Corcoran.



Down the road, Enid said to Boone, "I don't want to

cry. David would not have wanted me to dissolve in

tears."



"Go ahead and cry," said Boone. "Crying sometimes

helps. I feel like crying myself. I liked David. During the

short time I was with him, I liked him very much."



"In the family," she said, "he was my favorite person.

We could talk together and we had our private jokes.

David seemed happy-go-lucky, but he was never silly. He

was an expert with the traveler and ran errands for us to

other times. He brought books and the guns for Timothy,

liquor for Horace, other stuff for Emma. I never asked

him to get anything for me, but he always brought me
gifts—jewelry, a book of poetry, perfume.



"And now he's dead. Buried in the prehistoric past.

And he fired a gun. I never thought he could. He was too

civilized, too much the gentleman. But when it came to

life or death, he did.



"Now I'm going to cry. I don't want to, I shouldn't—

but I am. Please hold me, Tom, while I cry."

The crying lasted for a time, but finally lessened and




240



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



241



came to an end. When it was all done, she lifted a tear-

streaked face, and Boone kissed her gently.



"Let's go back," she said.
When they reached the table again, Horseface and Cor-

coran were sitting where they had been before, talking to

each other.



"We've been discussing further moves," Corcoran

said. "What should we do next? Neither of us has any

sound ideas."



"Going is no problem," Horseface told them. "The net

will take us wherever we may list."



"We could return to Hopkins Acre," Boone suggested.

He looked At Enid. "Would you like that?"



She shook her head emphatically. "There's nothing

there."



"There was that star we found," said Boone. "The one

with the X painted on it. It has an inhabited planet. Enid's

television showed that."



Horseface rumbled doubtfully. "You think that it's im-

portant because it has the X. So did I at first, but I'm not

so sure now. The X could be meant to warn us to stay
away."



"I hadn't thought of that," Boone admitted. "It could

well be. Like the signs of a cross marked on the doors of

plague-stricken houses in the Middle Ages."



"I would much like to visit the center of the galaxy,"

Horseface suggested. "We could go in the net ..."



Boone had leaped to his feet. Behind Horseface and

Corcoran, a faint flicker glimmered in the air, and there

was a thump. A traveler came to rest just beyond the

table.



The rest of them, except for The Hat, jumped up. The

Hat continued sitting, saying nothing.



"That's my traveler!" Enid shouted. "It is the one I

lost, the one I left behind."



"The one that was stolen from you," said Corcoran.

"Henry told me that he found the traveler had been hauled

away."



"But if it was stolen," Enid asked, "why should it be

here?"
The port came open and a man stepped out, staring

about and then looking at them. Corcoran moved toward

him. "Martin," he said. "Fancy meeting you here. Is

Stella with you?"



"No, she has other interests now," Martin answered.

He seemed uncertain, as if confused at what he saw.



Enid asked quietly, "Is this the Martin who held the

outpost for us in New York?"



"None other," Corcoran answered. "He ran away

when I told him someone was inquiring about a place

called Hopkins Acre."



"And now he has stolen my machine."



"You are Enid, aren't you?" Martin asked. "Yes, you

must be. I did not steal your traveler. I purchased it from

the man who stole it. An ignorant man. Scared as well.

The key was still in it, but he was afraid to turn it on. He

had no idea what might happen and was glad to sell the

traveler for a pittance. Since I then had two machines, I

took this one, and Stella kept the other."
"You found Enid's machine and now you come to us,"

said Boone. "Tell us how you did it."



Martin glanced around again, then shrugged. "There

are ways," he said vaguely.



"I'll bet there are," said Corcoran. "And you'd be the

one to know them. For whom are you working now?"



"For no one. For myself. I'm working on my own,"

Martin answered.



"And doing well, I suppose?"



"Not too badly. Corcoran, I can't understand your hos-

tility. I always paid you well, gave you a lot of business."



"You conned me," said Corcoran. "You conned

everyone."



A face peeped out of the traveler.



"An Infinite!" cried Enid. "You have an Infinite in



there!"
Martin turned and yelled at the peeping Infinite. "All

right! I told you not to show yourselves until I called you.

But you couldn't wait, you had to look. Now you might

as well come out."



Three Infinites tumbled out of the traveler and stood




242



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



243



in an awkward line. They were crazy-looking creatures,

not more than four feet tall and rigged out in what ap-

peared to be black robes and cowls. From under the

cowls, pinched features peered out.

"So you're working for them now," said Boone.

"At the moment. They are all refugees. The Infinites
are held in some kind of quarantine by a group called the

Galactic Center, which has taken it upon itself, with no

authority, to imprison them on their planet. These three

managed to get loose. I heard of their plight and agreed



to help them."



One of the Infinites stepped forward and spoke in a

liquid voice. "We plead your understanding. You are

members of a race to whom we gave our services. We

made most of your race immortal, free of any threat. We

are a highly moral people, doing good for others and ask-

ing nothing in return. Now we are victims of injustice,

seeking friends who will stand with us and speak on our

behalf against the cruel and unjust quarantine ..."



"You feel you are ill-treated?" Enid asked, too gently.



"Yes, we do, milady."



"And you want us to help you?"



"That is our earnest wish."



"You drove us into exile," said Enid, "and when we

fled, you sent killer monsters to hunt us down ..."
"We three, the most of us, had nothing to do with killer

monsters. There was a certain faction among us, bloated

by arrogance ..."



"Those of bloated arrogance are still with you?"



"We suppose they are. But we had nothing to do with

them. They are a separate problem. We three are refugee

ambassadors who seek understanding and help."



Boone asked Martin, "How much do you have to do



with this?"

"Almost nothing," Martin said. "I only hire



conveyance."



Enough of this, a voice said in their minds.

"Who was that?" asked Martin, startled.

"It's The Hat," Boone said. "That's the way he talks,



directly to you without bothering with spoken words."



"Just a moment," said Enid. "Before we go further, I
want this Martin to hand me back the keys to the

traveler."



"I think that's a reasonable request," said Corcoran.

He looked at Martin, who fidgeted, uncertain, then fum-

bled the keys out of his pocket and handed them to Cor-

coran. Corcoran took them to Enid and gave them to her.



"I would not have tried to get away," said Martin,

trying to restore his ruffled dignity.



"Of course you wouldn't," said Boone. He turned to

The Hat. "I'm sorry for the interruption. You were about

to say?"



I was about to say, said The Hat, that there is only one

logical destination for us. Not the core of the galaxy, nor

any star with an X upon it, whatever that is. Who ever

heard of a star with X painted on it?



"It was on the chart," said Horseface. "One star had

an X marked on it."



"So what place would you suggest?" asked Boone.

"If you are going anywhere," announced the robot,

coming out of his cubicle, "I am going, too. For too long
I have stayed here with no one showing up except this

Hat, who never so much as passes the time of day with

me. I'll take my stove and the mechanism that supplies

the food I cook. You'll need me along, or you might

starve. There's no telling where this crazy Hat will take

you. He never eats and knows nothing of comforts or

necessities. He is ..."



"That is quite enough," said Boone. "You've con-

vinced us." He turned to Horseface and asked, "Will the

net hold all of us?"



"Indeed," said Horseface. "The net will take us."

"What will we do with the traveler?" Enid asked.

"It will be safe here," Horseface told her. "The net is

far better."



"But where are we going?" asked Corcoran. "That

Galactic Center sounded attractive, if anyone knows how

to reach it."



We go to the planet of the Rainbow People, said The
244       CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



Hat. The Infinites ask for justice and justice they will find

there.



"I don't give a damn what the Infinites want," Boone

said. "We need some place where we can get some an-

swers. There have been too many daft places and mad

happenings. This road. Jay's tree ..."



You are confused? asked The Hat.



"Considerably."



Then we go to the Rainbow People, said The Hat. They

can supply answers.



"Very well," Horseface growled. "We'll go to the

Rainbow People. So let us load the net with what we take

and climb aboard."



Something bumped against Boone's leg. He looked

down at Wolf.



"You, too," he said. "We'll take you along, but stick
close to me. This one could be creepy."



Horace



13



Bhe robot swung the axe, severing the

rope that held the ballista cup in place. The great arm,

responding to unleashed tension, swung up swiftly, hurl-

ing the boulder that lay in the cup against the wall. Against

the wall, but not flying over it. At the impact of the boul-

der, the wall rang like the clanging of a mighty bell. The

boulder came tumbling down the slope from which the

wall rose. Robots scattered, getting out of the way of the



rolling stone, which barely missed the ballista before com-

ing to a halt.



Two primitive steam engines, earlier used to haul the




246 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
ballista into place, stood a little distance off, panting under

their head of steam.



Conrad plodded slowly to where Horace stood.



"It's no use," the robot said. "We aren't going to be

able to heave a stone over that wall. It's the configuration

of the wall that defeats us. It flares up and out at the top

and we are forced to position the machine too far back

to give us the arc we need. And besides, to tell you the

honest truth, which I have told you many times before,

I fail to grasp the point of it."



"The point," said Horace, "is that somehow we're

going to attract the attention of whoever is living in the

city. They can't just sit there and ignore us, as they have

been doing all this time. They have to be made to rec-

ognize that we are here and come out to talk with us."



"I'm not quite sure why you are so set on that,'' Conrad

told him. "If I were you, I'd be inclined to be better sat-

isfied if they continued to pay no attention to us. We don't

know who or what they are. Once we attract their atten-

tion, if we do, we may be sorry that we did."



Horace glowered up at the wall. It was a monstrous
structure, looming high into the sky, a milky white barrier

that ran for miles all around the ridge top, closing in the



city.



Emma said, a little piteously, "Why don't we let it be,

Horace? You have become obsessed with it. You spend

all your time scheming at how you are going to get at those

people."



"They know we're here," Horace fumed. "They send

out flyers every now and then to look us over, then go

back. We are knocking at their door and we get no answer.

That's not right, I tell you. That simply isn't right. This

is the first time in my life I have been ignored and I won't

stand for it."



"I don't know what else we can do," said Conrad. "We

have modified the boulder-thrower and we still can't pitch

anything over the wall."



"If we did," said Horace, "they'd pay us some atten-

tion. Toss a few boulders over that wall and they'd pay

attention to us."
HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY                   247



"Why don't you come over to the tent," suggested

Emma. "Sit down for a while. Eat something, maybe.

You haven't eaten for hours. You must be hungry."



Horace paid her no attention. He kept staring at the

white, defiant wall.



"We've tried everything," he said. "We circled the

entire wall, looking for doors or gates. We built fires and

sent up smoke signals. Someone would have seen them.

They ignored the signals. We tried to climb the wall and

it can't be climbed. It's smooth. There is no place a man

can get hold of it. It isn't stone and it isn't metal. It looks

more like a ceramic. But who can make a ceramic that

can withstand a thrown boulder?"



"Whoever is in there can," said Conrad. "Don't ask

me how they do it."



"We talked about a tower that would reach the top of

the wall," said Horace, with a question in his voice.



"It wouldn't work," said Conrad. "It would have to

be high. We have trees from which we can make timber,
but not the kind of timber to build the tower you have in

mind. Also, there is the question of anchoring its base

securely."



"We also talked about a ramp. I suppose that's out of

the question, also."



"There is no way we could move enough dirt to build

that sort of ramp."



"I suppose so," said Horace. "If we only had aflier."



"Look," said Conrad, "my robots and I have done the

best we can. We built steam engines, and they are working

well. We can build almost anything that runs on the

ground, but air travel is beyond our skills. We don't know

the theory; we couldn't machine the parts. And the en-

ergy? You couldn't power a flier with wood and coal."

He hesitated for a moment. "I don't know how long we

can keep the ballista working. We're running out of rope.

Every time we use it, we waste ten feet of rope."



"You can splice rope."



"That we have done," said Conrad. "But each time
you splice it, you lose a few feet of it."



"We could make more rope."



248



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



249



"We can try. The material we've tried has not worked

out well."



"You see," said Emma. "It isn't any use. The wall has

got you stopped."



"No, it hasn't!" Horace raged. "I'll find a way to beat

it. I'll force the people in that city to pay me some

attention."



A robot standing nearby said, "There is something

coming."



When they turned around to look, they saw that a flier
from the city was approaching for a landing.



Horace leaped into the air, waving his arms in triumph.



"Finally," he yelled. "Finally someone is coming out

to talk. That is all we ever wanted. Just someone to come

out and talk."



The flier landed and the passenger was getting out of

it—a human, not some kind of crummy alien. There was

an alien in it, but it stayed in the flier. More than likely,

Horace told himself, the alien was the aviator.



Emma started forward uncertainly, then stopped and

stared, as if not believing what she saw. Then she moved

again, running toward the man who had climbed out of

the flier.



"It's Timothy," muttered Horace, talking to himself.

"Wouldn't you know it would be Timothy?"



Then he was hurrying forward, with Conrad trailing

along behind him.



"So it's you," said Horace, sourly, coming up to Tim-
othy. "What are you doing here? We thought we'd seen

the last of you."



"Isn't it wonderful!" gushed Emma. "He's back with

us again."



Timothy thrust out his hand, briefly meeting Horace's

unwilling clasp.



"I see you're still at it, Horace," he said. "As uncouth

as ever."



"I don't suppose," said Horace, "that you are here to

extend an invitation."



"I'm here to tell you to cut out your inane doings. We'd

appreciate it if you'd halt your banging on the wall."



"We?"



"The others in the city. And myself, of course. All your

life you've embarrassed me and you still are doing it."



"There are people in the city?" Emma asked breath-

lessly. "People just like us?"
"Not people just like us. In appearance, some of them

are fairly dreadful. But they are people and your throwing

rocks at them has them somewhat perturbed."



"So they don't like it, huh?" said Horace.



"Some of them are outraged."



"Who are those monsters in there? Just what is this

place?"



"This," Timothy told him, "is the Galactic Center."



"Then what are you doing in there?"



"I am one of them. I'm the only human member of the

Center."



"You mean you pretend to represent the human race."



"I represent no one. All I can do is present the human

viewpoint. That is all they ask."



"Well, then since you are one of them, why don't you

just invite us in? That's all we want, to have some atten-
tion paid to us. All you've done is ignore us. We've been

knocking at the door—that's all we've been doing."



"Hammering, you mean. You never knock, Horace.

All you ever do is hammer."



"You mean you won't do anything for us?"



"I'd take it upon myself to invite Emma with me. She'd

be more comfortable inside the city than out here."



Emma shook her head. "I'll stay with Horace. I thank

you, Timothy, but I am staying with him."



"Then I guess I can do no more."



"You mean that's it?" asked Horace. "You just come

out here and threaten us and that is all there's to it."



"I don't intend to threaten you. I only ask you hold it

down."



"And if we don't hold it down?"



"Next time, it won't be me who comes. It'll be some-

one else. They may not be as courteous as I have tried
to be."



"You certainly have not been the soul of courtesy."




250



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



251



"Perhaps not," said Timothy. "At times, it is some-

thing of a strain to be courteous to you."



"Stop it!" screamed Emma. "Stop it, the two of you!

You're acting as you've always acted. At one another's

throats."



She turned to Horace. "You! You say you've been only

knocking at the door. It's more than that. It's throwing

stones at windows. That's what you've been doing.
Throwing stones at windows."



"One of these days," said Horace, "I'll break a win-

dow. Once I do that, the city will pay attention to me."



"I'll tell you what I'm willing to do," said Timothy.

"I'm willing to go back to the council once again. I'll try

to put your case to them. It's barely possible I can get

you and Emma in, but not the robots."



"That would be all right with us," said Conrad. "We're

not the ones who want in. We are doing it for Horace.

We'd be just as satisfied to be left out here. We've got

an entire planet to fool around with. A chance to build a

robot society. A chance to make something of ourselves.

There is a lot of good farmland here. We could grow food

for the city. There are a lot of other things to do."



"How does that sound to you?" Timothy asked

Horace.



"Well," said Horace reluctantly, "if that is what they

want."



"Back on Earth," said Conrad, "we had our war with

the trees. If we were still back there, we'd go on fighting
trees. But here it makes no sense to fight against anything

at all. Left on our own, we will make out. We'll begin to

build a life. There is no end to the possibilities of what

we might be able to accomplish."



Timothy looked at Horace, who shuffled his feet, say-

ing nothing. He looked like a man who'd had the wind

knocked out of him.



"So I'll go back and do what I can," said Timothy.

"But if they let you in, you'll have to behave yourself,

you'll have to keep your mouth shut. No more trouble-

making. I have a house much like the one at Hopkins

Acre. You'll be welcome there. It's a pleasant place to



live. If you get obnoxious, you'll be restricted to it. Is all

this satisfactory to you?"



Emma answered for him. "It's satisfactory to him. I'll

see it is. I'm tired of this wilderness. So you go back,

Timothy. Do the best you can for us."
The Rainbow People



w




V Vhere the net had landed, huge up-

thrust blocks of ice-white crystal humped up to make a

serrated skyline above the plain, which was also made of

white crystal blocks, laid like paving stones. The sky was

so deep a blue that it was nearly black. The horizon

seemed too near and was marked by a line of purple.

Naked space came down close to the surface of the planet,

with only a puny shield of atmosphere sandwiched be-

tween the surface and emptiness. Yet breathing was not

difficult. It looked cold, but it was really shirt-sleeve



comfortable.

No one had yet said a word. Boone turned slowly, look-

ing around. There was nothing to see but the crystal

blocks encircling the tiny plain on which they'd landed.

There seemed to be no sun, although there was light and

warmth.



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY
253



Color flickered briefly above the skyline, then was

gone.



"What was that?" asked Enid.



No one answered her.



"There it is again!" cried Enid.



This time the flicker persisted and climbed in a curving

arc above the notched horizon, bending over and reaching

down. It glowed and steadied, forming an arch of pastel

color that loomed high above the surface.



"A rainbow!" Corcoran said. "This is the place."



"It is not," rumbled Horseface, "a simple rainbow.

Mayhaps it could be the Rainbow People."



As they watched, more rainbows formed. They flick-

ered out of nothing, then reached into the sky, bent and

formed their arches. They clustered, rainbow bisecting
rainbow until the plain picked up the colors, glowing with

the soft light that glimmered in the sky,



Although the rainbows seemed stable enough, there still

was about them the sense of not being fixed. There was

a feeling of a certain delicacy, a misty ethereality, as if

they were a phenomenon that was not meant to stay.



The robot had hauled his equipment off the net and was

working on his stove, paying no attention to the rainbows.

Enid and Corcoran stood not far away, staring up into the

sky. The Hat was hunkered down close against the sur-

face. Horseface loomed over him.



"One of us isn't here," said Boone, startled at the fact

of the missing one. "Martin isn't here. What happened

to him?"



"He fell through the net," said Horseface. "The net

let him go."



"And you said nothing about it? You never even men-

tioned it?"



"He was not meant to be with us. The net knew."

"The Infinites are still here," said Corcoran.
254



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



255



The three of them, huddled together, were standing

quite apart from the others.



"I think it's horrible," said Enid. "You say Martin fell.

You are sure you didn't shove him?"



"I was far from him. I could not reach him to shove."



"I, for one," said Corcoran, "shall shed no tears for



him."



"Have you any idea where he could be?" asked Boone.
Horseface shrugged elaborately.



The Hat spoke to them. I speak not for myself, he said.

I am the tongue of the Rainbow People. Through me, they

speak to you.



"But where are the Rainbow People?" asked Boone.



They are the ones you call the rainbows, said The Hat.

They welcome you. Later they will talk to you.



Enid asked, "You mean the rainbows, the things we

call the rainbows, are the people that you told us of?"



"They don't look like people to me," said Corcoran.



Wolf moved close against Boone's leg and Boone spoke

softly to him. "It's all right," he said. "Stick close. It's

you and I together."



"That is all the Rainbow People have to say to us?"

asked Enid. "That we are welcome, and later they will



talk?"

That is all, The Hat informed her. What further do you
wish?



The robot said, "Hamburgers are all that I can manage

on quick notice. Will you be satisfied with them?"



"If they are food," Horseface told him, "I'll be



satisfied."



Above the horizon the clumped rainbows lost their in-

tensity, the color fading out. Then they were gone. The

fading of the rainbows, Boone thought, had taken some

of the warmth away. He shivered as he thought it, even

while he knew there was no reason for the shiver. The

place was as warm as ever.



It was The Hat, he told himself, that got us into this.

The Hat had not allowed consideration of the suggestions

that had been made by others. The Hat might even be a



Rainbow agent—he knew who they were, where they

might be found, and he was the one who spoke for them.



"I vote," he said, "that we get on the net and leave.
Just what the hell are we doing here?"



"So you feel it, too," said Corcoran.



We came here, said The Hat, for the judging of the

Infinites. To the only court that could hear them fairly,

the one judiciary with the knowledge to render them their

justice.



"Then let's get it over with," said Corcoran. "Let us

get them judged and leave. Better yet, let's just leave the

Infinites here to receive their justice. I, for one, don't care

one way or the other how the verdict will turn out."



"But I do," said Enid, sharply. "These were the ones

who wrecked the human race. And I want to know what

is to happen to them."



The judging is not all of it. The Hat told them. There

may be here something of interest to all the others of you.



"I can't imagine what," said Corcoran.



The Rainbows are an ancient race. The Hat said. One

of the first, if not the first, people of the universe. They

have had the time to evolve beyond anything you can even
guess at. Their knowledge and their wisdom encompass

more than you can conceive. Now that you are here, it

would be well to hear them out. It will demand of you no

more than a little of your time.



"The most ancient people of the universe," said

Boone, then said no more. For if they were the most an-

cient people, then they had been given the time to work

out their evolution to what probably was its ultimate

condition.



His mind spun as he thought of it. It seemed fantastic—

and yet, perhaps no more fantastic than what the humans

had accomplished in a few million years, lifting them-

selves from cunning, but endangered, beasts to a position

from which their shrewd and sharpened minds, linked

with dextrous hands, had enabled them to take charge of

their planet, devising means by which they could survive

the animosities of an environment that could turn hostile

without notice.




256 CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
But the Infinites, he thought—good lord, if what the

Infinites claimed was tme, then the incorporeality they

offered was proof against any physical condition, while

the Rainbow People, if they had not advanced beyond the

energy form they were taking here, still could die of en-

tropy. On the day the universe flattened out to a state

where there were no differences, when space and time

and energy stood still, the force by which the Rainbow

People survived would be gone and they would die with

the universe.



And The Hat had claimed that these Rainbow People

were the ones who could and should stand in judgment

of the Infinites!



Yet, Boone wondered, could it be possible that the In-

finites, while able to offer a perfect survivor system to

others, were unable, for some reason, to use it for them-

selves? The Infinites, standing back there on the Highway

of Eternity, had cringed, begging help and mercy.



Here they were cringing still, the three of them. They

had formed a circle, facing one another, so that their robes

seemed to be a part of a single organism.
They had begun a dolorous chant that held within it the

sound ofloneness and lostness. It was not a death chant,

for a death chant, even at its worst, strikes a defiant note.

The chanting of the Infinites had no defiance and no

hope—it was a dirge to the end of everything.



Out of the stillness that hung over and enclosed the

chant, a voice with no sound, and no inflection said: Your

sin is that you have erred. You Infinites have sinned be-

cause of pride of self. There is no question that your tech-

nique is of the highest quality, but you used it too soon.

You have condemned members of a race to a lower state

of intellectuality than was their destiny. The people of the

planet called the Earth were not in the final stages of their

development, as it seems you thought; they were simply

resting. Given time, which you did not give them, they

would have developed a new intellectuality. In acting too

soon, you have made them junior citizens of the universe.

Of this, you stand condemned and cursed. You shall be

returned to your people so that you may inform them of



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



257
this judgment. Their punishment, and yours, is that you

shall know and accuse yourselves throughout the re-

mainder of your racial life of the injustice you have done.



The voice ceased. The Infinites did not stand huddled

like a small black tent; they were not there at all.



Corcoran let out his breath, as if he had been holding

it for a long time. "I'll be damned," he said.



"Anyhow," said Horseface, "we are done with them.

Now that judgment has been passed, let us leave this



place." Having said this, he began to climb aboard the

net.



There were seven of them, Boone told himself, ticking

off each of them—Enid, Corcoran, Wolf, Horseface, the

robot, The Hat and, last of all, himself. There had been

eleven of them, but Martin had fallen through the net, and

the three condemned Infinites were gone.



"We become fewer and fewer," he said, speaking to

himself. "Who will be the next to go?"



You cannot go, said The Hat. There is further still to
come.



"Hat, we've had enough of it," said Corcoran.

"Enough of you and your Rainbow People, enough of

judgments and delay. We have played your little game

longer than was wise."



Wolf came sidling over. Boone squatted down and

threw an arm around the animal. Enid moved to the two

of them and leaned over them. She started to say some-

thing. Then she disappeared.



Boone no longer was on the angular whiteness of the

crystal world. Instead he crouched. Wolf still within the

circle of his arm, at the head of a deep and wild ravine

flanked by towering hills that sloped sharply upward into

a pale blue sky. The hills were covered by ancient, twisted

trees and embedded boulders that thrust like gray, shaven

skulls out of the sloping terrain. A boisterous wind was

blowing up the ravine. Far in the distance, down the sav-

age gully, Boone could see the glint of sun on water.



He rose to his feet, gazing all about him. The crystal

world was gone; no single feature of it remained. He and
258



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



Wolf were quite alone in this different place. The others

were not there.



He had, he thought, stepped around another comer,

although there had been no reason he should have done

so. There had been no danger and no threat; he had been

aware of none. He had done nothing, he was sure, to bring

him and Wolf to this other place.



He spoke to Wolf. "What do you think of it? What have

you to say?"



Wolf made no answer.



"Boone!" a voice called. "Boone, are you here? Where

are you?"



"Enid!" Boone shouted.



There she was, up the hillside from them, running down

the slope that was too steep for safe running.
Boone plunged up the hill toward her. She started to

fall and he leaped to catch her. But even as he leaped he

himself was falling, the loose soil giving way beneath the

driving effort of his lunge.



They tumbled down together to where Wolf waited.

Sitting up, only a few feet apart, they burst out in laughter,

half-apologetic laughter at the silliness of what had hap-

pened. Boone tried to sweep back a lock of hair that had

fallen across her face. His dirt-smudged hand, dirtied in

the fall, left a streak of soil across her nose.



"What happened?" she asked. "What brought us here?

Did you duck around another comer?"



He shook his head. "I didn't duck around a comer.

There was no threat, nothing that could have triggered

me."



"Then what?"



"I don't know," he said. He moved closer to her and

reached out a hand. "Your nose is dirty. Let me wipe it

off."
"And the others?"



"I suppose they're where we left them."



"Boone, I'm scared. Can you tell me where we are?"



"I don't know," he said. "And I'm as scared as you."



They sat side by side, staring down the wild, wind-



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



259



whipped ravine. Wolf sat solidly, determinedly in front

of them.



The soundless voice of the Rainbow People spoke to

them, from no direction, out of nowhere, the words ring-

ing in their minds. There was no threat in the voice and

no assurance. It was a dead, flat voice.

Listen closely to us, it said. Let us talk of the universe.

"It would be presumptuous of me to talk of the uni-

verse," said Boone. "I have no knowledge of it."

One of you, the voice said, has given thought to it.

"I have given it no thought," said Enid. "But there
have been times I have pondered on it. I have wondered

what it is and the purpose of it."

Then pay attention, said the voice. Listen very closely.

And then came a rush of thought that beat savagely

against them. It was an overpowering force, a gush of half-

heard words and wordless thoughts filled with

information.



Boone felt his legs buckling under him, as if he stood

against a strong and deadly wind that battered at his body

and his mind.



"Oh, my God!" he whispered and collapsed upon the

hillside. As if through a veil, he saw Enid sitting just a

few feet distant and tried to crawl to her, trying to reach

some warmth and oneness that he lacked in this storm of

information that pounded steadily against him.



Then the storm lifted and was no more, and he lay

sprawled on the dirt. Wolf was crouched close against the

slope, whining to himself.



Crawling, Boone reached Enid and hoisted himself to

a sitting position. She sat frozen, as if not knowing he was

there, not knowing she was anywhere. He reached for her
and pulled her within his arms. She came close against

him and he held her hard.



"Do you know what happened?" he asked. "Do you

remember any of what they said?"



She whispered at him, "No, I don't. I feel it all tamped

hard inside me, but I know none of it. My mind is full to

bursting ..."



260



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



Another voice shouted at them—a rough, loud voice—

a voice that could be heard and was made of honest words.



Boone leaped to his feet. Something was flapping in the

air above them and he saw that it was the net. Horseface

stood upon it, riding on its flapping like a drunken sailor

erect upon a storm-tossed boat.



"Move swiftly," Horseface roared at them. "Climb

upon the net. We will leave this place as soon as you are



on the net."
The net was fluttering lower and Boone, lifting Enid off

her feet, threw her bodily upon it. Wolf already was in

the air, leaping for it. Horseface came to its edge and

reached down a hand. "Up you come," he said, grasping

Boone's outstretched arm and jerking him through the air

to a place beside him.



Corcoran was on the far side of the net, hunkered down

and fiercely hanging on to it. The robot was wailing. "All

my equipment gone!" he howled. "All of it left behind.

Without it, how am I to feed you?"



"We had to leave in a hurry," growled Horseface.

"That shoddy sham of crystal was dissolving beneath our



feet."



"How did you know where to reach us?" Enid asked.

"That visor you stole on the pink-and-purple world,"

Horseface said. "It was lying face up on the net. I looked

at it, wondering at the same time where you could have

gone, and I saw you here in the glass. When I saw you,

the net knew where it was and came here to pick you up."

Corcoran shouted at him, "Where are we going now?"
"Where we should have gone in the first place," said

Horseface, "had we not listened to The Hat. To that star

the chart showed, the one with the X marked on it."

"And The Hat?" asked Boone. "He's not with us."

"Most unfortunate," said Horseface, unctuously. "He

was unable to reach the net in the time remaining."



Henry



15



Ihe bloated redness of the sun hung

above the world—a nearly empty world, a world without

grass or other vegetation except for the lone, ancient tree

that stood down the ridge from Henry. He floated, his

sparkles pulled together as if he cringed against this for-

bidding world, although he was not cringing. In his years

of wandering, he had seen too much to cringe.



The sky was dark, the kind of darkness that would come

with an approaching storm, although here there was no

storm nor any hint of one.



The end of the world, he wondered, the beginning of
262



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



263



the end, with a dying, now unstable sun undergoing the

first stages of a red giant sequence?



The tree down the ridge cast no shadow. And for the

first time in his life, Henry experienced utter silence. No

bird was crying in the sky, no insect chirping from the

ground, and there was no soughing of a wind. Everything

stood still.



Then a voice spoke within him: You are a stranger here?



If he had still possessed a body, his surprise would have

made him gulp. But there was no way that he could now.

He answered, calm and clear: Yes, I am a stranger. I have

only now arrived. Who is it that speaks to me?
The inner voice said, I am the tree. Why don't you come

to me and rest within my shade?



But you have no shade, said Henry. This bloated sun

casts no shadow.



I speak from olden habit, said the tree, harking back to

that time when I did have shade to offer. It has been so

long since I have bespoken another that I now forget. I

am inclined at times to stand here in my loneliness and

make loud and senseless declamations. I am simply talk-

ing to myself, since there is no one else to speak to.



I do not need your shade, said Henry, which is well,

since you have no shade. But your company I need and

your information, if you will favor me with it.



Saying which, he floated to a position close to the lonely

tree.



What information do you wish? the tree asked of him.

My store of it may not be ample for you, but I'll give you

what little I may have.



You are a sentient tree, said Henry, and you bolster a
belief some ancient humans had. My long-lost sister, I

recall, believed quite firmly—and the others of us thought

unrealistically—that trees would follow man. Now, meet-

ing you, it occurs to me that she could have been correct.

She was a most perceptive person.



Does it happen you are human? asked the tree.



A partial human. Henry told him. A fragmented one.

A beaten-up human at the best. Which leads me to another

question. What has happened to the clustered sparkles



that at one time were stationed in the sky? Once there

were many of them.



I recall them faintly, said the tree. Searching far back

in memory I bring them to my consciousness. There were

many lights in the sky. Some of them were stars and some

of them were what you term the sparkles. There still are

stars, and in a little time we'll see them. When the sun

sinks to just above the horizon in the west, they'll begin

appearing in the east. The sparkles you will not see; they

have been gone for long. They drifted off. They became

less and less. I'm sure they did not die; they only drifted

off, as if they were going elsewhere. Can you tell me what
humans were? Were they all like you?



Not at all like me, said Henry. I am, you must under-

stand, a freak. I started out to be a sparkle, but it didn't

take. It's a long story. If we have the time, I'll tell you.



We have all the time there is.



But the sun?



I'll be withered up and dead, all trace of me vanished,

before the sun is any actual danger. In time to come, it

will kill the planet, which is close to dead already. Not

for some little time.



That's good to hear, said Henry. You asked me what

a human was. I take it there are no humans now.



Once, very long ago, there were creatures that were

formed of metal. Some said they were not humans, but

copies of humans.



Robots, Henry said.



They were not known by that name. I can't be certain

they existed. There are many stories told. One was that
the metal creatures tried to eliminate the trees by cutting

them down. There was no explanation of why they should

have tried, or evidence that they did.



The robots now are gone?



Even metal, said the tree, does not live forever. But

you and I are here, and we are talking. Perhaps we could

be friends.



If you wish it. Henry said. I have not had a friend for

far too long.



Then let it be so, said the tree. Let us settle down and




264



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



265
talk. You said that some thought trees would follow man.

Does that mean take the place of man?



That is what it meant. Even then, an untold time ago,

there was a well-founded perception that the human race

would end and that something else must take its place.



Why must something else take its place?



I cannot tell you that. There is no solid rationale for it,

but the belief seemed to be that there must be a dominant

race upon this planet. Before men were the dinosaurs and

before the dinosaurs were the trilobites.



I have never heard of either dinosaurs or trilobites.



They didn't amount to much, said Henry. The dino-

saurs were big and perhaps there were not too many of

them. The trilobites were small and there were a lot of

them. The point is that all the trilobites and the dinosaurs

died out.



And man took the place of dinosaurs?



Not immediately. Not all at once. It took a little time.
And now myself, a tree? I am dominant?



I think perhaps you are.



The strange thing, said the tree, is that I never thought

of myself as dominant. Perhaps at this late date, domi-

nance is of slight importance. Was it different with the

trilobites, the dinosaurs and men?



I don't know about the trilobites, said Henry. They

were a stupid lot. The dinosaurs were a stupid tribe as

well, but they had a hunger in them. They ate everything

in sight. The humans had a hunger, too; they controlled

everything.



We had no hunger, said the tree. We got our living from

the soil and air. We interfered with no one, had no ene-

mies, and were enemies to no one. You must be mistaken;



if it takes great hunger to be dominant, we were never

dominant.



Yet you can think and talk.
Oh, yes, we did a lot of that. Time was, when there

were many of us, we raised a storm of chatter all across

the world. We were the wisest things in all the world, but

we did not use our wisdom. We had no way to use our

wisdom.



Can you tell me, perhaps, asked Henry, some of that

wisdom?



You come too late, the tree told him sadly. I grow old

and senile. I am swamped with forgetfulness. Perhaps it

required a community of effort and of thought and chatter

to hold the wisdom intact. Now there is no community.



You come too late, my newfound friend; there is nothing

I can give you.



I am sorry, said Henry.



Another failure, he told himself. The trilobites, the di-

nosaurs, and men, at least upon this world, had failed.

And the trees as well. Even if the trees had persisted and

gone on, they'd still have been a failure. Wisdom of itself



was useless. If there were no way to act upon it, it had

no value.
You are troubled, said the tree.

Yes, troubled, Henry told him, although I don't know

why I should be; I should have known the end.




The Family



16



limothy leaned back in his chair and

thrust his long legs out in front of him.



"Finally, after months," he said, "I'm beginning to

catch on to what is going on here. I'm learning the basic

galactic language. Hugo has been a help to me from the

very start, of course. He has guided me, counseled me,

and seen that I met other beings who have been of help

to me."



"Don't be taken in by all of this," Emma told Enid.

"He still follows his old habits. He stays in his study for

days at a time, not even coming down for meals. Some
of Hugo's people had to carry them up to him, and now



266



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



267



that silly robot that came with you carries them up to him

and . . ."



"The robot has been a great help ever since he ar-

rived," said Hugo. "My people worked very hard to run

the kitchen and do other chores around the place, but the

robot moved immediately to take over. He is a wizard at

cooking and he seems to have the knack."



Horace grumbled from the far side of the room. "He

still doesn't know how to turn out a good saddle of

mutton."



"Do you have to complain all the time?" Emma asked

tartly. "If it isn't the cooking, then it is something else.

You remember, don't you, what Timothy told you when

he agreed to bring us here. Don't make any trouble, he

asked. That's all he asked of you."
"He also told me," yelled Horace, "to keep my mouth

shut. All I ask of you, he said, is to keep your big mouth

shut."



"I must say," said Timothy, "that you've not done too

well at it."



"Except for complaining all the time," said Emma,

"he's not done too badly. He's not set a foot off the prop-

erty and he's not quarreled with any of your ridiculous

neighbors. I don't see how you put up with them."



"So far as I am concerned," said Enid, "I cannot see

any need to step off the property. This place is simply

perfect. Except for the mountains, I don't see much dif-

ference between it and Hopkins Acre."



"You are right," said Corcoran. "It is as pleasant a

place as I have ever seen. It reminds me much of Hopkins

Acre. Boone and I, of course, were only there for a short

time, but ..."



Boone said to Horseface, "I can't imagine how you

knew that the star with an X marked on it would lead you
here."



"I told you," Horseface rumbled. "The X made me to

think it must be a special place, so I headed for it."



"But you were the one who suggested that the X could

have been meant as a warning," said Corcoran.




268



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



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269



"It could have been," Horseface agreed. "But some-

times I like to take big chances."



"For my part," said Timothy, "I am glad you took the

chance. It was lonely here, among all the aliens, consid-

erate as they may have been. Now the family, what is left

of it, is together again."
"Have you had any word at all of Henry?" Enid asked.



Horace answered, "No word at all. Henry you could

never tell about. Despite what the rest of you may say,

he was a spook. Always slipping in and out."



"There goes that big mouth again," said Emma. "You

never did like Henry. You were always saying terrible

things of him. I would think you would be different now.

Henry may be dead."



"Henry dead!" Horace roared. "He'll never die. There

never was a thing that could get to him."



"The last I saw of him," said Corcoran, "he told me

he was leaving to find you people who were in Martin's

traveler."



"Well," said Horace, sourly, "he never found us. He

probably found something else that interested him."



They sat in the drawing room, taking their ease at talk

following a splendid lunch. From the dining room came

the subdued clatter of the staff clearing away the china
and the silver.



Timothy waved at the bar. "Anyone who wants a refill,

help yourselves."



Horace heaved himself up and stalked to the bar for

more brandy. He was the only one.



Corcoran said to Timothy, "You seem contented



here."



"I am well content," Timothy told him. "There is an

old familiarity to the house and grounds. And I have work

again. Why don't you stay here with us? I am sure Center

would, without difficulty, find a place for you."



Corcoran shook his head. "My home is back in the

twentieth century. I have a business there and I find my-

self anxious to get back to it."



"You have decided, then," said Boone.



"Horseface has agreed to take me. You won't be going

with us?"
"No. I think I shall stay here."



"And you, Horseface?" asked Enid. "Will you be com-

ing back to us?"



"Perhaps on visits, if you are willing to have me. But

there are many things to see, light years to travel, and far

places to poke into."



"Before you go, there's one thing you must tell me."

"Please ask."



"What really happened to Martin? You said he fell

through the net. I think you shoved him off."



"I never laid a hand on him," protested Horseface. "I

only told the net."



"You told the net to throw him off?"

"You make it sound so heartless."



"Well, it was heartless, wasn't it? You dumped him

into space."



"That I did not do," said Horseface. "I told the net to
dump him into another place and time. On Earth, in the

twenty-third century."



"Why there?"



"I wish the man no harm. I just wanted to get rid of

him, to put him where he cannot leave and start trouble.

He will have no traveler, so once there, he has to stay."



"One thing still puzzles me," said Corcoran. "Who the

hell was Martin? I had been under the impression that he

somehow was connected with Hopkins Acre and the oth-

ers in your group—the Pleistocene and Athens. Some sort

of outpost man. But when he learned that someone was

asking about a then nonexistent place—Hopkins Acres—

he took it on the lam. The next we saw him, he was work-

ing for the Infinites, carting them around in a stolen

traveler."



"Not stolen," objected Horseface. "He claims he paid

for it."



"Still it was stolen," said Boone. "It had been stolen



from Enid. Probably not by Martin, but by someone

else."
"As I recall it," said Horace, nastily, "it was you, Cor-




270



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



271



coran, who told him someone was inquiring about Hop-

kins Acre."



"He had hired me," said Corcoran. "I did a job for

him, that's all. He paid me handsomely for what I did. I

have been wondering since how he got that money. Not

from you folks, certainly. My impression is that you had

nowhere near that kind of money."



"Are you sure it was real money?" Horace asked.
"It could have been," Enid said. "He had two trav-

elers—the big one and the one Stella took. When you can

travel through time, it isn't hard to locate treasure, to win

lotteries, or use some such means to get money. That's

how David got the small amounts he needed to pay for

the supplies he brought back to us from his trips."



Timothy nodded. "I doubt we'll ever know who Martin

was. Undoubtedly, a very devious man. I must tell you

that we had full confidence in him, although we never

liked him. David met him in New York and took him in

dislike. Not a nice man. Very far from being nice."



"He was a traitor," Horace stated. "When he heard

there might be trouble for us, he deserted us."



"As I say," said Timothy, "we'll probably never know.

Are you fairly sure," he asked Horseface, "that you got

rid of him? He'll not rise again to plague us?"



"He is trapped," said Horseface. "Without a traveler,

there is nowhere he can go."



"We all feel better now that you've told us what you

did with him," said Enid. "Thanks for telling us. There

is one more thing you can do for us."
"Name it, Miss Enid," Horseface said. "My debt to

you never will be paid in full."



"Could you pick up the traveler we left on the Highway

of Eternity and bring it back to us? A traveler is a handy

thing to have."



"Also," said Timothy, "Center would like a look at

it."



Wolf emerged from a corner where he had been sleeping

off a plate of beef, bumbling across the room to collapse

beside Boone's chair.



"He wants out," said Enid.



"He isn't asking yet," saidBoone. "Just thinking about

it. Making up his mind. When he's made it up, he'll ask."



Horace heaved himself up and crossed the room for

another refill of brandy.



"One thing I forgot to tell you," Timothy said. "Some-

thing that I ran across while going through some tapes and
papers. A copy of a document dating from the twenty-

fourth or -fifth century. It's the first reference to Earth

that I have run across since coming here. Earth isn't men-

tioned by name, of course, but certain internal evidence

indicates that it was the Earth. The document tells of the

rise of a religion that centered around a mysterious arti-

fact. The account is not clear on its actual nature, but it

seems to have served as a sort of messiah that railed

against technology and preached a philosophic attitude of

reaching within to find one's true self and rejecting ma-

terialistic progress. Does that sound familiar?"



"Of course it does," said Enid. "It was that attitude

that undermined the human race and set us up for the

Infinites."



"The time span's too long," Boone objected. "Ideas

don't survive a million years. They lose validity and be-

come obsolete."



"I'm not so sure," Timothy told him. "If the cult

spread widely at first, it would survive among some—

particularly if the artifact endured for a long time. And

when certain social stresses occurred—as they tend to do

repeatedly—the hard core of the cult that survived could

spread it further. Look at the belief in magic, which kept
being put down by rationalism and popping up in various

guises almost to our time."



"I suppose it could happen," Corcoran admitted. "Cer-

tainly, cults related to belief in magic were multiplying in

my period."



"Our people never knew of it," said Emma. "If it was

there, we should have heard of it."



"But the attitudes it taught were there," Timothy told

her. "Maybe in time it did die out—because its purpose

was accomplished. The people had already accepted its

teaching. It could have gradually become a part of the




272



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



273
public consciousness. People could have forgotten the or-

igin of it and believed that the philosophy developed from

it was the result of their own inescapable logic, their own



finely tuned intelligence."



"I don't believe a word of it," said Emma. "It's just



an ancient myth."

"It may well be," Timothy conceded. "But it's more



than commonly interesting."



"You seem to have fallen into a niche that was made

especially for you," Corcoran told Timothy.



"I was afraid at first," said Timothy, "that all the work

of the Center would be so strange that I could find no

place where I could fit in. But even my sketchy knowledge

of Earth's history seems valuable to the study being made

of how cultures grow or fail. Center is deeply concerned

with what enabled the Infinites to succeed in their efforts.

Time travel is another matter in which Center is con-

cerned. There were rumors that the Infinites had it, of

course, but they never revealed its nature. And now that
the Rainbow People have taken them over, all contact

with them has been cut. But if we could secure the traveler

that was left on the Highway of Eternity ..."



"I pledge you," Horseface promised, "that it will be



placed within your hands."



"Better yet," suggested Timothy, "if we could have

your net for just a little time. Just to look at it."



Horseface shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I will not

let it go, even for a moment. It is a heritage of my people.

Sages from my deepest past rose up in my mind to help

me gain it, and I could not ask them to give that help to



others."

"I understand," said Timothy. "In your place I would



do the same."

"Was it difficult," asked Enid, "to work with the aliens



at the Center?"

"At the beginning," said Timothy, "but not now. I
have become accustomed to them and they to me. At my

first direct contact with them, I was not allowed to see

them because they feared I would think them monsters."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Many of them still are mon-



sters; but face to face, I no longer shrink from them, nor

do they shrink from me. I work with them in comfort."



Wolf rose to his feet, wriggling closer to Boone, laying

his muzzle in Boone's lap.



"Now he's asking," said Enid.



"I do believe he is. I'll open the door for him."



"No," said Enid. "I'll take him out. It is getting stuffy

in here. I need a breath of air."



She rose and spoke to Wolf. He followed her

appreciatively.



"I'll be right back," she said. "A breath is all I need."



Boone spoke to Wolf. "Be a decent animal," he said.

"Don't chase anything. Behave yourself. Don't you raise

a ruckus."
Then the two of them were gone.



Horace rose, heading again for the brandy bottle.



"Don't you think you've had enough?" suggested Tim-

othy. "It's still early in the day."



Emma blazed at him. "Why do you have to keep on

humiliating him?" she asked. "You humiliated him when

you brought us here. You've kept on ever since. You talk

to him exactly as Boone talked just now to Wolf. Behave

yourself, he said."



"That's what I did tell him," said Timothy. "It was

part of the bargain that we made. I couldn't leave you out

there in that howling wilderness and you wouldn't leave

without him. So I talked with the council at Center ..."



"He worried about Conrad and the robots," Emma

said. "He had grown very close to them."



"I couldn't have convinced Center," Timothy told her,

"to allow that gang of robots in. In any case, they would

not have come. They'd be miserable here. Out there they
are doing all right by themselves. They're breaking a large

acreage on a virgin prairie that they found and they'll be

raising food for Center."



Horace, paying no attention to the argument, was re-

filling his glass. Emma went over to him and took him by

the elbow. "Come on," she said. "We don't need to stay

here and be insulted. We'll go upstairs. Maybe you can

catch a nap."




274



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



275



Without protest, Horace went up the stairs with her.

He took along the bottle.



When they had disappeared, Timothy stirred uncom-

fortably. "I must apologize," he told the others, "for this
unseemly family squabble. It or other versions of it hap-

pen all the time. What I said to Emma is true. I couldn't

leave her outside the walls. It took a lot of persuading for

the council to agree to letting Horace in. He'd been mak-

ing a nuisance of himself for months."



"Think nothing of it so far as we are concerned," said

Corcoran. "Boone and I, back at Hopkins Acre, saw Hor-

ace at his finest. We can understand."



"Center is happy with the robots," said Timothy.

"They'll solve some awkward food problems. They have

a pair of steam engines and have built some gang plows.

They're plowing the prairie and harrowing it—several

thousand acres, if I remember correctly. By this time next

year, they'll be raising tons of produce."



Corcoran changed the subject. "You've told us of what

happened to you after you left Hopkins Acre, landing on

the rim of the crater, with the monastery down on the

floor. What I don't understand is who moved the mon-

astery here while you were in it."



"It must have been the Infinites," said Timothy. "They

left it booby-trapped, set for anyone who walked into the
monastery. We were the ones who sprang it."



"It seems strange that they would set it to come here,"

Corcoran objected. "Has it occurred to you that the trap

could have been set by those here at the Galactic

Center?"



"I asked, and they claim no knowledge of it. I guess

we'll never know who did it," Timothy said. He shrugged

and changed the subject. "When Horseface brings us En-

id's traveler, it should be possible to pick up the other

two machines we know about. But, while Horace read

the dials when he landed at.the crater, he can't remember.

What about the machine you left near the ruined city?"



Corcoran shook his head. "I can't help you. I had the

logbook David kept, but I left it in the traveler."



"Well, we'll keep working on it," Timothy said. "We

may find some way to locate at least one of them."



Corcoran asked, "What about the Rainbow People?

You said the Center had never heard of them until we

brought word."



"We were totally unaware," Timothy admitted. "I
think some effort may now be made to contact them, but

it may prove to be too difficult."



"I would think it might," said Corcoran. "The Hat said

they were the oldest intelligence in the universe."



Boone pushed himself out of his chair. "If you'll excuse

me," he said, "I think I should go out and see if Wolf is

causing any trouble. He requires some looking after."



He waited for a moment, but none of the others seemed

to have an urge to join him. They were content to remain

exactly where they were.



Once out the door, he saw that Enid was sitting in one

of the several lawn chairs that stood halfway down the

parklike slope that lay before the house.



When he reached the chair, he bent over to kiss her.

She put up her arms and held him there. He kissed her

again—a much longer kiss.



"I was waiting for you," she whispered. "Why did you

take so long?"
"We got to talking."



"When you're with Timothy, you always get to

talking."



"I like the man," said Boone. "He's an easy man to

like."



"Pull over a chair and sit down here beside me," she

said. "We have a lot to talk about."

Far down the slope, just above the road that ran at the



bottom of the property. Wolf was nosing around, inves-

tigating shrubbery.



"Tom," asked Enid, "how much do you remember of

what the Rainbow People forced into our heads?"



"A little," said Boone. "It's coming back to me in bits

and pieces. They packed it into us in an indigestible mass,

but now it's beginning to float up."



"They gave us a body of knowledge," she told him,
276



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



277



"that should have taken days to absorb. We haven't

talked about it, but maybe it's time we did."



Boone nodded. "Maybe. I still can't understand why

they chose us."



"They must have discerned that I had been pondering

on the significance of the universe for years. You, I think,

were recognized as a trained information gatherer. What

do you remember?"



"Not too much yet. What I seem to remember most

clearly," said Boone, "is that certain very special con-

ditions are needed in a universe to produce life. Most of

the physics and chemistry still escape me, but there was

something about the ways unstable stars were possible.
In addition to stable ones, such stars were needed to go

supernova to spray out the heavier elements that made

life possible."



Enid crinkled her forehead. "I remember some of that.

But it makes my head ache just to think of it. They seemed

to be telling us that the universe was formed as a sort of

factory to create life, out of which—at least out of some

life—intelligence would sprout. They seemed to regard

the universe as a machine to produce life and conscious-

ness. Without consciousness and intelligence, the uai-

verse would lack meaning."



"They also talked about the origin of the universe—-

not as theory, but as if they knew. But it's beyond me,

although, even in my time, the astrophysicists were trac-

ing things back to a fraction of a microsecond after the

beginning of the universe. In your time, Enid, had that

final fraction been traced?"



"I don't know. Remember, Tom, we were the hillbillies

of our culture," she said. "The Rainbow People spoke

about a higher order of intelligence, an instinctive intel-

ligence that did not rely on reason. They spoke as if they

had reached that higher level. Maybe we can't ever un-

derstand all of what they said."
"Perhaps. But more will become apparent and under-

standable as time goes by, I think," he told her. "We

have to wait."



And maybe, he thought, they could never understand



fully. Maybe even the Rainbow People could not reach a

full understanding of life and the universe. But he knew

they were still searching. Here, at the Galactic Center,

others were seeking answers in different ways. The end

was still hidden. Yet the drive to know existed. So long

as the drive to learn existed, there was hope that the puz-

zle of universal purpose would eventually be solved.



They sat quietly side by side, holding hands. The

warmth of the sun beat down on them, and they could

smell the perfume of the flowers blooming in scattered

beds. There was contentment in the sweep of the lawn.



"Corcoran and Horserace will soon be leaving," Enid

said. "I hate to see them go. Timothy told me that Center

could use them, and he will also miss them. I thought you

might be leaving, too, even when you said you would stay.
But today, you promised Center you would remain to

study here."



"That was my excuse to stay. I had to tell them some-

thing," said Boone. "I couldn't bring myself to tell them

the real reason—that I'm staying because there is a

woman I found in time and have learned to love."



"You never told me that before," she said. "I've

known I loved you since you held me while I wept for

David. I needed strength and you gave me strength and

understanding."



"I couldn't tell you before," Boone told her. "I'm good

with hard words, words of facts. But other words do not

come easily to me."



Down at the foot of the lawn, a commotion erupted.

Boone leaped to his feet. "Wolf!" he yelled.



"He's got something," said Enid. "He's chasing

something."



Wolf emerged from a thicket. He tossed something in

the air and caught it in his mouth, then came trotting up
toward them. It was The Hat, hanging limply from his

mouth.



Wolf dropped The Hat before them. He pranced with

happiness.



"He's got his old plaything back," cried Enid. "He has

found his doll."




278



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



Martin



The Hat came alive and sat up.

You do not understand. The Hat said. Then he col-

lapsed again.

Wolf scooped up the limp doll and went serenely up



the lawn.
17




280



CLIFFORD D SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



281



A utterly miserable world, he told himself, with no

money, no credit, few, if any, opportunities, and only the

slightest sense of law; each man was his own law, if he

had the muscle to enforce it.



There was a worldwide economic depression, if Mar-

tin's judgement was correct. He could not be sure, since

he had no data, and no one seemed to know what was

going on. There still was radio, he had been told, although

in the sun-scorched, shabby hamlet near which he had

been deposited, no one had a radio set, let alone a tele-

vision, if there still was such a thing as television. When

he had asked about newspapers, the residents of the vil-
lage had looked blankly at him. They had never heard of

newspapers.



When, weeks before, he had come plodding down the

path that led into the village, the people had shied away

from him, gathering in clumps to stare at him as if he were

some wild animal come from his lair among the distant

buttes. After a time, one aged, tottering man, who seemed

to hold some measure of leadership, had come up to him

and talked in a tongue that he could understand, although

filled with unfamiliar intonations and words. Hearing

what Martin had to say and not believing him, the old man

had thrust a finger close to his brow, moving it in circles

to indicate one afflicted with a feeble mind.



They had, out of the goodness of their hearts, given him

food to eat and a place to sleep. In the days that followed,

he learned from talk with some of them that he was on

Earth and in the twenty-third century, although they did

not know the actual year. Hearing this, he inwardly

damned the Horseface monstrosity, since he was sure that

it had been Horseface who had hurled him off the net.



He managed for some weeks, although he was not sure

how many. In that village, it was ridiculously easy to lose
count of almost everything. He helped in hoeing corn, a

chore little to his liking, and in carrying water to the corn

from a small, reluctant stream that gurgled its slow, dif-

ficult way across the land about a half mile from the vil-

lage. He learned to set snares for rabbits and tried to



achieve some proficiency in archery, but with small

success.



In his talk with the villagers he learned of a road,

scarcely better than the track he had followed to the vil-

lage, that lay some distance to the north, a track which

eventually reached a wider road that ran straight east and

west; by following that, one would finally come to cities.

Martin suspected those would be no more than slightly

larger villages, but with more people in them and some-

what easier living. From mention of less and less em-

ployment, of the slackening of trade activity, and of the

disappearance of all money, he deduced that he was in a

land and century deep in a worldwide economic collapse.



It had been by accident that he found the beaten-up

solar-powered vehicle, sheltered in a lean-to built against

one of the ramshackle huts that made up the village. Ex-

amining it, he became convinced that it still had in it some

degree of operating life. When he tracked down its owner,
it was apparent that the man had no further use for it;



there was nowhere he wished to go and he had no idea

of how to operate it. After much dickering, it cost Martin

his wrist watch, for which the man had no more need than

for the vehicle; the time of day was of no interest to the

people of the village.



Now here he finally was, sitting in an arroyo, waiting

for the beaten-up machine to recharge its batteries. Yes-

terday he had reached the wider road of which he had

been told, recognizing it as what was left of one of the

great transcontinental highways which had plunged

across the nation, coast to coast. He had headed west,

for he believed he had landed somewhere in the American

southwest. It should thus not be too far to the Pacific area,

where he might find some of the larger cities, pitiful at

the best, but better than the village he had left.



During the one day he had been on the main highway,

he had been passed by only three cars. One of them had

been solar-powered, but a later model and much better

designed than his. The other two cars had been propelled

by internal combustion engines. The sweetish smell of
282



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



283



their exhausts led him to believe that they burned alcohol

as fuel.



Now off the road, parked on the flat floor of the arroyo,

he climbed wearily from the single bucket seat of his car.

Even on the smoother surface of the ancient freeway, his

vehicle provided a rough and punishing ride. Every one

of his muscles, it seemed, ached from the pounding he

had taken.



He walked a few feet from the car and stretched. The

arroyo was silent. There was no wind and not even any

insect sounds. The high sky above him was pale blue. In

it was a single high-soaring bird, maybe an eagle, more

likely a buzzard. On either side of the gulch, the walls
came down, sluiced and streaked by erosion, crumbling

at the edges in the fierce blast of sunlight. Here and there

small boulders and thin stone strata thrust partway from |

the soil. At the foot of the walls, where they joined the 3

now dry streambed floor, lay scattered mounds of fallen "*

stone.



Just beyond where he stood the arroyo bent, swinging

around abruptly to take a different direction. He followed

it and stopped, staring at the wall to his left. Protruding

from the wall were the dead whiteness of old bone and

the burnished gleam of ancient horn. A skull buried be-

neath the surface had been revealed by the erosion of the

wall.



It was a bovine skull, but the skull was too massive and

the one projecting horn too heavy and too long to ever

have belonged to even the largest of the longhoms.



It had to be a bison, but not a bison of the Old West.

What he was looking at, he told himself, was a prehistoric

bison, one of the monstrous brutes that had been hunted

by the first men in America. Looking at the floor of the

arroyo beneath the skull, Martin saw the fractured white-

ness of other bits of bone. How long ago, he wondered,
had this buried beast cropped the prairie grass? A prairie

then, but a desert now. Twenty thousand years, he told

himself, probably more than that. There might have been

a time when such a discovery would have the promise of



some profit. But if the world of the present was actually

in the shape he had deduced, there'd be no profit now.



A small buttress of the wall, a section that for the mo-

ment had resisted the power of rushing water, thrust out

a few feet into the gully. As he stepped around it, the flare

of reflected sunlight caught him in the eyes. He halted,

puzzled. The flare had come from something embedded

in the wall. The flare was gone, but whatever was embed-

ded there still glittered.



He advanced slowly and stood in front of the shining

object. It was a sphere, highly polished, looking for all

the world like one of the crystal spheres used by phoney

fortune tellers. It was the size of a basketball and its sur-

face was so smooth and reflective that he saw the image

of himself reflected in it with the sort of reflection that a

curved mirror would project.



He raised his hands to lift it from the wall and it spoke

to him.
Kind sir, it said, take me in your hands and hold me.

Give me the warmth of other life and your loving kind-

ness. I have been alone so long!



Martin froze, his hands still extended, but not moving

to pick the sphere from out the wall of earth. His teeth

chattered with sudden fright. Something had spoken to

him, deep inside his mind, for he was sure there had been

no sound of words—the same sort of speech as was used

by that doll-like simpleton. The Hat.



Free me, the voice pleaded. Lift me down and keep

me. I shall be a friend to you, a faithful servant to you.

I ask no more than that you keep me with you. I could



not bear the agony should you reject me, should you walk

away from me.



Martin tried to speak. The words rattled in his throat.

Fear me not, the voice said. As I am, I have no power

to harm you and, if I had, I would have no wish to do so.

I have waited for so long, for a long eternity. Please, kind

sir, have mercy on me. You're the last and only hope I

have. There will be no other chance for me. I cannot face
forevemess alone.



Words finally came to Martin, gulping, hurried words,




284



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



285



as if he feared he could not get them out. "What are you?"

he asked. "Are you really speaking to me?"



I am really speaking to you, said the sphere. I hear you

in my mind and speak to you from my mind. Your spoken

words mean nothing to me. I can hear no sound. Once I

had an auditory sense, but that long since is gone.



"But what are you?"



My history is a long one. Suffice it now to say that I
am an ancient artifact from a mysterious race of which

there is now no record.



The damn thing is lying, Martin told himself.



The sphere protested: I do not lie to you. Why should

I lie to you, my rescuer?



"I did not say that you were lying. I spoke not a word



to you."

The thought lay within your mind. I thought that you



spoke to me.



"My God," said Martin, "you read my mind. Can you

read the minds of everyone?"



That is my manner of conversing, said the sphere. And,

yes, I can read the mind of any thinking creature that is

close enough.



"All right," said Martin. "All right."



He advanced a step and lifted the sphere from the wall.
It left behind it the imprint of itself. It had a good heft to

it, a feeling of solidity, but it was not heavy. He held it

for a moment, then placed it gently on the smooth floor

of the arroyo, squatting down beside it.



Kind sir, asked the sphere, does this mean you'll keep



me?



"Yes, I think I'll keep you."



You never shall regret it, said the sphere. I shall be the

best friend you've ever had. I will be your . . .



"Let us not talk of it now," said Martin. "We'll talk

about it later."



He picked up the sphere and walked along the gully,

heading for the car.



Where are we going, sir?



"I'm taking you to my ear," said Martin. "I'll place



you in it. Then I have a few things to do. I'll leave you

there, then later I'll join you."
You will return? Kind friend, you will return?



"You have my promise," Martin said.



He placed the sphere in the car and walked away, back

down the arroyo, well beyond the point where he'd found

the sphere. This will be far enough, he told himself. It

can't read my mind over such a distance. Or, at least, he

hoped it couldn't. He had an idea by the tail and he needed

time alone to think it out,



This was something new, he told himself. There must

be profit in it. It could be the key, wisely used, to a better

life in this godforsaken world. His mind skittered rapidly

as he thought about it. He took the idea and turned it

round and round. The sphere had possibilities, a lot of

possibilities, and he had to think of them long and hard.



In this benighted world, there must be something one

could offer that would have some appeal. The world was

filled with hopelessness, and maybe that was it. The peo-

ple could not be promised riches, for there were no riches

to be given. The hope of riches would be an empty hope

and everyone would know that. But hope itself—pure and
naked hope—that might be something else. If there were

some way to give them hope, they'd buy it. They'd flock

in thousands for a whiff of hope. But it would have to be

more than a namby-pamby hope. It must be such as to

touch off a howling fanaticism.



He thought about fanaticism and that it was hard to

come by. He paced back and forth, thinking of hope and

fanaticism and what he might gain by arousing a hopeful

fanaticism. Somewhat easier living, perhaps, but not a lot

of money. What could be gained, perhaps, would be po-

sition and power. Given position and power, a canny man

could do a lot.



He wrestled with the idea he had snared and the mys-

tery of an ancient artifact, although he still did not entirely

buy that the sphere was really an ancient artifact.



A dash of religion might turn the trick. That, by God,

was it—religion! A new messiah and an ancient artifact

performing in a sacred mystery atmosphere.




286
CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



287



He squatted down and thought about it. He'd have to

take it easy to start with, he told himself. No big splash,

no circus background. Start small and humble and let the

crusade grow by word of mouth.



To make it go, he would have to tell the people what

they wished to hear. By slow degrees he must find out

what they wanted, then feed them what they wanted.



There was one question still: What was the sphere? Not

an ancient artifact from a long-lost race, as it had told

him. Although, true or not, it was a good approach to

what he had in mind. He tried to think of all the things it

might be and rejected them one by one. He was wasting

time, he told himself. He did not need, right now, to know

what the sphere actually might be. He could use it without

knowing.
He went back over the plan and thought it through,

point by point, searching for glitches that could trip him

up. He found none that he could not circumvent. After

all, a hopeless people, offered hope, would not question

it too closely. They'd be eager for it, they would lap up

a promised salvation and would scream for more. Worked

out right, he told himself, the scheme was foolproof. It

would take a great deal more thinking and more planning,

and he would give it those. He'd think it out in every detail

before he went ahead with it. It was a solid and workable

plan, and he was the one who could work it out.



He rose from his crouch and headed for the car. He

had been in the arroyo longer than he'd thought. The sun

was about to set.



You came back, the sphere shrieked joyously at him.

I had thought you might not. I agonized you might not.



"No need for you to have agonized," said Martin. "I

am here."



He checked the battery and it was up, as up as it would

ever get. He moved the sphere to the well beside the seat

and climbed in to start the car.
"One question," he asked the sphere. "How about

your ethics? Have you any ethics?"



JVhat are ethics? asked the sphere. Please explain to



a telToS:^ Martin told it- "You'" d0- we'" -ke

He turned the car around and headed for the road.




Horseface



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



289



18



Hor



I lorseface sat at ease at a table that

stood in front of the cafe hut, now empty of the robot and

equipment. Near him floated the net with the chest in

which the galactic chart had been locked away. The visor
that Enid had thought she stole was on the table, close

to hand. The trolley car still stood on its track, waiting

for the next passenger, who might never come. And

around all this was wrapped the foggy grayness of the

Highway of Eternity.



As he had done many times before, Horseface pondered

on the Highway. So far, all his pondering had come to

nothing, and he supposed it always would. He wondered



who or what had engineered this never-ending thread of

road, yanked askew and canted out of normal time and

space. He had first heard of it very long ago and very far

away, from an incredible creature that seemed to mock

all the needs and qualities of life. It was this incredibility

who had called it the Highway of Eternity, but who did

not answer when he asked the reason for the name.

"Don't go looking for it," the incredibility had warned



him. "It cannot be found by looking. It must be stumbled

upon."



Horseface had stumbled upon it millennia ago and, cur-

iously, had then found its representation worked into the

ancient galactic chart. But he was sure his race had never

built it, though they had been aware of it.
Having stumbled upon the Highway, he had decided it

might make a place to sit and ponder his various choices

of action. He had installed the hut with the tables and

chairs, and had put the robot in charge. Since the tracks

were there, he had placed the trolley on them and had

rigged alarms so that he would be notified should someone

or something appear along this section of the Highway.



For many centuries, nothing happened. Then, only a

few years before, the alarms had been tripped by Boone

in his first stepping around a corner. That strange hap-

pening had seemed to provide a possible key for which

Horseface had been looking to solve the problem pre-

sented by the humans at Hopkins Acre.



He had been hopeful, but not completely convinced,

until Boone's second appearance. Then he had recognized

that he was witnessing an entirely new talent in a race

from which he had not suspected such talents. The talent

itself was less important than the fact that within the race

there existed a capacity to develop masked new capabil-

ities in an evolutionary mode. With his realization of that,

Boone had become central to his project.
Now that project, Horseface told himself, was finally

underway, working out far better than he had hoped.

What now remained were years of monitoring and close

watching to make certain no hitches developed, but he




290



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



291



would have help with that. Spike and The Hat would be

accepted by the family, as Spike had been for years.



Horseface chuckled as he thought of that. Galactic Cen-

ter had considered Spike their undercover agent, and he

had been inserted into the family at the moment they were

about to flee into the past to escape the Infinites. Spike's

reports to Horseface had reinforced his hunch that this

band of humans was worth his close attention.
Of course, there was no guarantee that he would not

fail in this project as he had failed in others in the past.

Intelligence, it appeared, had a miserable chance of de-

veloping to its full capacity. There had been other races

he had tried to help over long centuries of effort, and each

had been a failure. There had been races he had not helped

who had failed as well. The Rainbow People had failed

finally because they had lost all true values by repressing

their emotions until such emotions had shriveled away.

The Infinites had become lost in their drive toward their

fanatical crusade. Even Horseface's own people had

failed when their too-successful search for immortality

had caused a sacrifice of racial fertility that left him, fi-

nally, as the last surviving member of his race.



A soft plopping sound jerked his attention from his re-

miniscenses. The Hat stood opposite him, shaking himself

as a dog would shake off water. With the shaking, his

disarranged garments fell into their accustomed places.

The Hat sat down carefully.



I am not deserting my post, The Hat told Horseface. I

shall return and carry on my duties. I come to escape the

wolf. He tosses me about and shakes me. He walks away,

making me hope he has deserted me; then he turns and
pounces on me. His teeth have battered and chewed upon

me, and . . .



"You must put up with it," Horseface said. "It is a

r61e you must play. While you seem only a ragged doll,

they will not suspect you spy upon them. Consider the

role I must play. I must act a clown, talk as they would

expect from an uncouth alien, tell them untruths, and play

seedy tricks upon them."



Like the trick he had played upon the little Enid, making



her believe she must hold her finger upon a point while

he tied a knot. He had gained her confidence by making

her feel she helped to create the net, which, of course,

had been there all along, needing only his thought to make

it visible.



And to convince her of her importance on the net, he

had let her believe that she was stealing the visor he had

placed on the pink-and-purple world where he had left the

chart chest. The compulsion to go to it had been put into

her mind while she believed they were both thinking at

each other. Then he had let her think she was saving him



from the purple monster that was only trying to ride the
net with them.



You need not have done any of it. The Hat said, if you

had minded your own business. But you must interfere

in the lives of others. No one seeks your advice or help.

You are simply an objectionable busybody.



"Perhaps I am," Horseface admitted. "But I cannot

do otherwise, when a small push might place some race



on the path toward a full development of the intellectual

powers possible."



And I have helped you, said The Hat. I have even acted

on my own many times. That is how I got in trouble with

the wolf. There your precious Boone was, stupidly dozing

by his campfire, with the wolf edging up on him. The wolf

would have torn out his throat in another minute had I

not taken over its small mind and engulfed it with a sense

of brotherhood for Boone and doglike devotion to him.



"Yes," said Horseface. "You did well, as I have said

before. You did well in programming the travelers when-

ever the family fled in them. Even when you programmed

Martin's to bring him and the Infinites here, you did
well—although I did not think so when he first appeared.''



And I saved Corcoran while you were in the chart, The

Hat added. I watched him and when I saw he was about

to fall, I zapped him unconscious and brought him to the

Highway. And now I become a plaything for the wolf so

that I can spy on your chosen Enid and Boone. It is not

a proper reward for ...




292



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



HIGHWAY OF ETERNITY



293



Horseface interrupted. "Tell me, do you see any signs

that the two of them will mate?"



They have done so already. The Hat answered. I think

Enid is feeling guilty that it took place before the rite they

term a wedding. I do not understand this wedding
business.



"Don't try," Horseface told him. "The sexual ethics

of all races make little sense. And the syndrome that hu-

mans call love is beyond all understanding."



But The Hat was no longer listening. The Hat had col-

lapsed into his rag doll phase and lay limply across the

table.



Poor little tyke, Horseface thought in sudden sympa-

thy. Perhaps he had been used hardly and deserved a rest.



Horseface recalled the day he had found the creature,

tucked away in a display niche of an ancient museum of

his own people, perhaps left against a time when the race

would be gone. He had glanced at The Hat and passed

on, unwilling to load himself down with relics of the past.

Later, however, he had gone back to retrieve the doll. He

never ceased to bless the urge that led him to do so, for

The Hat had strange abilities beyond any he could un-

derstand, such as the power to move and carry across

space and time without such aids as the net.



So Enid and Boone had mated and the die was cast. It
was, Horseface knew, a genetic gamble, but better than

many other gambles he had made. Horseface knew much

about genetics.



From their union, there was a chance that a new race

would spring—an offshoot of humanity that combined the

evolutionary trend shown by Boone and the toughness of

that small group of humans who had stubbornly dared to

resist the menace of the Infinites.



He had admired that stubbornness and he had helped

the rebels, recognizing the promise in them. He had sup-

plied them with one of the most simple of the time ma-

chines developed by his race as an ancient forerunner of

the net. The Infinites had time travel, of course, but theirs

were such complicated devices that the rebels could not



have understood them. Lying again, Horseface had let the

rebels believe they were stealing it from the Infinites.



That was before he discovered Boone in a stroke of

pure luck. But having discovered him, there had been the

problem of getting him in contact with the Hopkins Acre

family. More shifty-footed maneuvers had been called

for—a whisper of rumor to Martin to send him to Cor-

coran and another rumor for Corcoran to take to Martin
to scare him into leaving without his larger traveler.



Horseface had learned of Corcoran's weird vision be-

fore and of his friendship with Boone. A little prodding

of Corcoran had sent the man to the Everest to gaze at

Martin's suite and see the traveler.



Corcoran, Horseface admittted to himself, could have

been a mistake. He had expected Boone to step around

a comer into the traveler alone, leaving Corcoran behind.

He had underestimated Boone's talent. But fortunately,

Corcoran had caused no trouble. The discovery of the



strange tree had been a danger point, but all had worked

out well in the end.



Someday, Horseface told himself, he must take the time

to find out what Corcoran's tree really was, though he

could probably never learn what race or people was re-

sponsible for it, nor why it had been placed in that period

on Earth.



In the end, he decided, all comes out better even than

he could have hoped. There was still work to do, of

course. He would have to find mates for the yet unborn
children of Boone and Enid. Perhaps suitable ones could

be found on one of the planets colonized by the humans.

But the big job was done.



Idly, he pulled the visor closer to check on Martin. He

seemed to have an odd compulsion to keep track of Mar-

tin, though the man was stashed away where he could not

escape. Still, Martin was a slippery character.



In the visor plate, he saw the interior of a temple filled

with starry-eyed worshippers. Martin, decked out in gold

and purple vestments, stood before an ornate altar. The

killer monster's brain case rested on a pedestal against

the altar, glowing in the flickering light of many candles.




294



CLIFFORD D. SIMAK



It was apparent that Martin was in the middle of a spirited

harangue. Suddenly he flung up his arms and the crowd

leaped to its feet, mouths open in what must have been

wildly happy response.
Martin had it made. He had the power that he had

wanted and no one to challenge him. He was safely trap-

ped in his own self-glorification. And yet, Horseface knew

with some disgust, he'd keep on checking on Martin.



There was still one more chore to do now. It was not

necessary, perhaps, but in all decency it should be done.

The visor showed the far future now, where a glitter of

sparkles rested in the faint shadow of an ancient tree while

the world swirled slowly in its orbit around a swollen,

blood-red, dying sun.



As Horseface began to clamber onto the net, The Hat

came awake again and sat up groggily.



What are you doing now? he asked.



"I'm bringing Henry back to the family," Horseface

told him. "I don't know what Henry may think about it,

but the rest of the family will be glad to see him. Do you

want to come along?"



The Hat shook his head. There you go again, he told

Horseface. Interfering. Still a busybody.
The net vanished, and The Hat collapsed upon the

table, a limp, lumpy, and much-abused plaything.



About the Author



Clifford D. Simak was born and raised in south-

western Wisconsin, a land of wooded hills and deep

ravines which he often uses as the background lo-

cale for his stories. Over the years he has written

more than 25 books, and he has some 200 short sto-

ries to his credit. A retired newspaperman, Simak

lives in Minnesota. His most recent novel, also pub-

lished by Del Rey Books, is Special Deliverance.