The Infra-Medians | Page 3

just what minute we
can get back to our own plane.
If you decide to try it, tell Perrin to do nothing for at least a week. If the
law started experimenting on this equipment, we never could climb
back. And leave word with them for Hope; tell her I'll scramble out
somehow--that we will, if you decide to try your luck.
Vic
Underneath, in Hope's clear, purposeful hand, was this:
Peter dear:
Not knowing when you'll arrive, I'm going on ahead. We must give Vic
a hand--mustn't we?
H.
* * * * *
Naturally, I didn't understand Vic's jargon about frequencies and

light-rays, for I thought more about football than physics in college, but
two things were clear to me. One was that Vic had plunged into some
sort of wild experiment, and the other was that Hope had followed him.
The rest didn't matter very much.
"Perrin! Mr. Butler and Miss Hope are safe. Everything is explained in
this note. You and Mrs. Perrin are to leave me here, and not disturb
anything. Do nothing at all for at least a week. If we aren't all back here
before that time ... take any action you see fit. Understand?"
"No-no, sir. Where--"
"You understand the orders, anyway. That's all that's necessary. Close
the door--and keep it closed at least a week!" I glared at him, and Perrin
closed the door.
The apparatus Vic had mentioned was my first thought. It consisted
primarily of four tall, slim posts, set in the form of a square, about a
yard apart, and supported by heavy copper brackets mounted on a thick
base of insulating material, and each post bore at its top, like a stalk
with a single drooping flower, a deep, highly polished reflector,
pointing inward and downward. The whole effect was not unlike the
skeleton of a miniature skyscraper.
I strode between two of the high, slim black pillars and glanced upward.
All four of the reflectors seemed pointed directly at my face, and I
could see that each held, not the bulb I had expected, but a crudely
shaped blob of fused quartz.
* * * * *
There was nothing to be gained by examining the peculiar machine,
and therefore the one quick glance sufficed. If Vic and Hope had gone
this route, I was anxious to follow. I glanced down at the papers in my
hand, and slowly turned the first dial on the little instrument board,
narrowly watching the hand of the meter beside it, as Vic had
instructed.

The hand moved slowly, like the hand of an oil-gauge in which the
pressure is gradually built up. Twenty-one ... twenty-five ...
twenty-six ... twenty-seven.
I waited a moment, conscious only of the faint hum of a generator at
the other end of the room, and the quivering hand of the meter. I turned
the dial back an imperceptible degree, and the hand steadied down
exactly upon the numerals "2700." Then I touched the next dial.
This second dial was no more than a thin disk of hard rubber or bakelite,
with a red scratch-mark on one side. On the panel itself, far to the right
of the dial's zero point, was the red scratch-mark that matched it. When
the two coincided--well, something happened.
I was conscious of a faint glow from above as I moved the dial slowly,
so that its red mark approached the stationary one upon the panel. I
glanced up swiftly.
* * * * *
Each of the little blobs of quartz was glowing; each with a light of
different color. One was a rich amber, one a pale green, one a vivid,
electric blue, and one was fiery red. The intensity of the light increased
steadily as I moved the dial.
I could not only see the light; I could feel it. It beat upon my body;
throbbed all around me. I had a feeling that the mingling rays of light
conflicted with each other.
It seemed to me for a moment that I was growing as light as air; that
my feet were drifting off the floor, and then, as the red line of the dial
came closer to the indicated point, the feeling left, and I suddenly
seemed very heavy. I could hardly support my own weight; my legs
were trembling with the burden; sweat broke out over my whole body;
the rays of light beat down upon me fiercely, overpoweringly....
Desperately, I quickly turned the dial until the two red marks coincided.
A great weight, soft and enveloping, seemed to drop upon me. The

senses of sight and hearing and feeling all left me. I could only
think--and my thoughts were horrible.
Then, suddenly, there was a terrific crash of sound, and my senses
returned.
I looked around. It