Flight From Tomorrow Page 7

out of millions. You, no doubt, thinkthat such tales are products of ignorant and barbaric imagination, but Iassure you, they are literally true. It was not the blast-effect of afew bombs which created such holocausts, but the radiations released bythe bombs. And those who survived to carry on the race were men andwomen whose systems resisted the radiations, and they transmitted totheir progeny that power of resistance. In many cases, their childrenwere mutants--not monsters, although there were many of them, too, whichdid not survive--but humans who were immune to radioactivity."

  "An interesting theory, Kradzy Zago," the soldier commented. "And onewhich conforms both to what we know of atomic energy and to the ancientlegends. Then you would say that those radiations are still deadly--tothe non-immune?"

  "Exactly. And Hradzka, his body emitting those radiations, has returnedto the First Century of the Atomic Era--to a world without immunity."

  General Zarvas' smile vanished. "Man!" he cried in horror. "You haveloosed a carrier of death among those innocent people of the past!"

  Kradzy Zago nodded. "That is true. I estimate that Hradzka will probablycause the death of a hundred or so people, before he is dealt with. Butdealt with he will be. Tell me, General; if a man should appear now, outof nowhere, spreading a strange and horrible plague wherever he went,what would you do?"

  "Why, I'd hunt him down and kill him," General Zarvas replied. "Not foranything he did, but for the menace he was. And then, I'd cover his bodywith a mass of concrete bigger than this palace."

  "Precisely." Kradzy Zago smiled. "And the military commanders andpolitical leaders of the First Century were no less ruthless orefficient than you. You know how atomic energy was first used? There wasan ancient nation, upon the ruins of whose cities we have built our own,which was famed for its idealistic humanitarianism. Yet that nation,treacherously attacked, created the first atomic bombs in self defense,and used them. It is among the people of that nation that Hradzka hasemerged."

  "But would they recognize him as the cause of the calamity he bringsamong them?"

  "Of course. He will emerge at the time when atomic energy is first beingused. They will have detectors for the Deadly Radiations--detectors weknow nothing of, today, for a detection instrument must be free from thething it is intended to detect, and today everything is radioactive. Itwill be a day or so before they discover what is happening to them, andnot a few will die in that time, I fear; but once they have found outwhat is killing their people, Hradzka's days--no, his hours--will benumbered."

  "A mass of concrete bigger than this place," Tobbh the Slave repeatedGeneral Zarvas' words. "_The Ancient Spaceport!_"

  Prince Burvanny clapped him on the shoulder. "Tobbh, man! You've hitit!"

  "You mean...?" Kradzy Zago began.

  "Yes. You all know of it. It's stood for nobody knows how manymillennia, and nobody's ever decided what it was, to begin with, exceptthat somebody, once, filled a valley with concrete, level frommountain-top to mountain-top. The accepted theory is that it was donefor a firing-stand for the first Moon-rocket. But gentlemen, our friendTobbh's explained it. It is the tomb of Hradzka, and it has been thetomb of Hradzka for ten thousand years before Hradzka was born!"

  +--------------------------------------------------------------+|Transcriber's Note || || || This etext was produced from "Future" combined with "Science || Fiction Stories" September/October 1950. Extensive research || did not uncover any evidence that the copyright on this || publication was renewed. || || Section Number "1" has been added at the beginning of the || narrative. || || The following typos have been corrected in the text. || || I'll go first, I'll go first. || himseelf himself || dias dais || posess possess || vengance vengeance || alitmeter altimeter || Hrakzka Hradzka || insigna insignia || posessed possessed || instand instant || none," He indicated had none." He indicated || || One instance of "spacetime" has been changed to "space-time" || to conform with the majority usage in the text. || || The following words occur with equal frequency in both the || hyphenated and unhyphenated forms. || || farm-yard farmyard || hydro-carbon hydrocarbon |+--------------------------------------------------------------+

 
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