The World Below

The World Below

By S. Fowler Wright.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. Book I: The Amphibians
   1. I: Of Place and Time
   2. II: The Empty Dawn
   3. III: Death?
   4. IV: The Opal Way
   5. V: The Invisible Bridge
   6. VI: The Frog-Mouths
   7. VII: Capture
   8. VIII: The Birds
   9. IX: The Tunnel of Fear
   10. X: The Amphibians
   11. XI: The Problem
   12. XII: The March
   13. XIII: The Killers
   14. XIV: The Halt
   15. XV: The Plan of Attack
   16. XVI: The Sentry
   17. XVII: The Ethics of Violence
   18. XVIII: The Arsenal of the Killers
   19. XIX: The Duel in the Night
   20. XX: The Bow
   21. XXI: The Bat-Wings
   22. XXII: Night in the Arsenal
   23. XXIII: The Escape
   24. XXIV: The Fight in the Arsenal
   25. XXV: The Forbidden Thing
   26. XXVI: The Trial
   27. XXVII: The Verdict
   28. XXVIII: The Fate of the Killers
4. Book II: The World Below
   1. I: Counsel
   2. II: The Unknown Way
   3. III: The Peril of the Lake
   4. IV: The Silence in the Wood
   5. V: The Temple
   6. VI: The Downward Path
   7. VII: The Living Book
   8. VIII: The Treaty
   9. IX: The Flame of Life
   10. X: Visions
   11. XI: War
   12. XII: The Fate of Templeton
   13. XIII: Separation
   14. XIV: Love and War
   15. XV: Release
   16. XVI: Return
5. Colophon
6. Uncopyright

Imprint

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Book I

The Amphibians

I

Of Place and Time

“Applied science,” said the Professor, “is always incredible to the vulgar mind.”

“You know, George, they really did go⁠—disappeared absolutely⁠—and there’s only one door to the room, and we sat round it. There’s no kid about that,” young Danby added⁠—perhaps recognising that his father lacked somewhat in the amenities of social intercourse.

“If I go at all, I shall take an axe,” I remarked irrelevantly.

Bryant leant forward, and knocked the ashes out of his pipe.

“Templeton went like a Pirate Chief,” he said, smiling slightly.

It was the first time he had spoken.

“Look here, Bryant,” I said, “tell me what really happened, and I’ll do my best to believe it.”

He hesitated a moment, and then answered slowly, “It’s true enough, what they’ve told you, as far as we can tell it. As to theories of time and space, I know no more than you do. I used to think they were obvious. I’ve heard the Professor talk two nights a week for three years, and I’ve realised that it isn’t all quite as simple as it seemed, though I don’t get much further. But the next room’s a fact. We lay things down on the central slab, and the room goes dark, and we go back in two minutes, and it gets light again, and they’re still there. And the Professor says he’s projected them 500,000 years ahead in the interval, and they don’t look any the worse for the journey.”

“And it must be true, because they don’t deny it,” I said flippantly. “It sounds rather a dull game, but not very difficult.”

“Yes, I know how it sounds,” he answered, “and we thought just the same; but it did seem to prove one thing⁠—that it did no harm to the objects of the experiment.

“If they went anywhere, at least they came back safely. So at last we tried it with Harry Brett⁠—and he didn’t. We left him there, and we went back, and the room was empty. It’s just a bare circular room, metal-walled, with one exit. You can see for yourself. It wouldn’t hide a fly.

“The next day Harry’s wife came and kicked up a row, and we got frightened, and told Templeton, and he said he didn’t believe a word of it, but he was going to find out, and so we tried it on him too.”

“And he disappeared in the same way?”

“No, he didn’t. He came out all right, and he said, ‘It’s true enough, but I reckon you’ve settled Brett. But what’s the use of half-an-hour? I’m going back now. Give me a year, and I may find him.’

“The Professor told him he couldn’t repeat the experiment twice the same night, but he could come back the next, and so he did⁠—and that’s the end of it so far.”

“But if he were to be gone for a year, and he went last Tuesday?”

“He wasn’t to be gone for a year; he was to be there for a year, and be back in two minutes. That’s quite simple. The Professor’ll tell you.”

“But⁠—if the Professor will excuse the remark⁠—it wouldn’t be any good if he did. I’ve read The Time Machine, and I know that space is curved, thanks to Einstein’s enterprising investigation. I quite understand that,