He saw streamers of cerise and violet light. He saw heaving mountains of black and green. He saw clouds of orange and purple. Shapes formed and melted. It seemed he was a giant at one moment and a midget at the next. His mind was not equipped to take in so much.
Quickly, he shut the airlock.
What had he seen? A vision of chaos? The sight seemed to him to have been metaphysical rather than physical. But what had it signified? It had been the very opposite of the vacuum - it had been space filled with everything imaginable, or the components of everything. The ship could not be a Time craft after all, but a vessel for journeying-where? Another dimension? An alternate universe? But why the plus and minus signs on the controls? Why had Tall Laugher called this a Time ship? Had he been tricked? He pushed back his helmet and wiped the sweat from his face.
His eyes felt sore and his headache was worse. He was incapable of logical thought.
He was tempted to turn the dial marked 'Emergency Return', but there was still the mysterious dial marked ' Megaflow Tuner'. Filled with hysterical recklessness, he turned it and was flung back as the ship jerked into normal motion. On the screens he saw a little of what he had observed outside.
All kinds of images appeared and disappeared. Once human figures-like golden shadows-were seen for a moment. His eyes fixed insanely on the screens, Pepin Hunchback could only stare.
Much, much later, he fell back to the floor. He had fainted.
At the sound of Tall Laugher's voice, he opened his eyes. His initial question was scarcely original, but it was the thing he most needed to know.
'Where am I?' he said, looking up at her.
'On the Megaflow,' she replied. 'You are a fool, Pepin Hunchback. The Brooder and I have had a considerable amount of difficulty locating you. It is a wonder you are not insane.'
'I think I am. How did you get here?'
'We travelled up the Megaflow after you. But your speed was so great we wasted a great deal of energy catching you. I see from the instruments that you went into the past. Were you satisfied?'
He got up slowly. 'Was that-that vacuum the pasty 'Yes.'
'But it was not Earth's past?'
'It is the only past there is.' She was at the controls, manipulating them. He turned his head and saw the Chronarch standing, head bowed, at the back of the ship.
He looked up and pursed his lips at Pepin.
'I attempted to explain - but I knew you would not believe me. It is a pity that you know the truth, for it will not console you, my friend.'
'What truth?'
The Scar-faced Brooder sighed. He spread his hands. ' The only truth there is. The past is nothing but limbo-the future is what you have observed - chaos, save for the Megaflow.'
'You mean Earth only has existence in the present?'
'As far as we are concerned, yes.' The Brooder folded his arms across his chest. 'It means little to us of Lanjis Liho but I knew how it would affect you. We are Time Dwellers, you see-you are still a Space Dweller. Your mind is not adjusted to understand and exist in the dimensions of Time - without space.'
'Time without space is an impossibility!' Pepin shouted.
The Brooder grimaced. 'Is it? Then what do you think of the future - of the Megaflow? Admittedly something exists here, but it is not the stuff of space as you would understand it. It is well, the physical manifestation of Time-without-space.' He sighed as he noted Pepin's expression.' You will never properly understand, my friend.'
Tall Laugher spoke. ' We are nearly at Present, Brooder.'
'I will explain further when we return to Earth,' said the Chronarch kindly.' You have my sympathy, Pepin Hunchback.'
In the Hall of Time, the Scar-faced Brooder walked up to his dais and lowered himself into his chair. ' Sit down, Pepin,' he said, indicating the edge of the dais. Dazedly, Pepin obeyed.
'What do you think of the past?' said the Chronarch ironically, as Tall Laugher joined them. Pepin looked up at her and then at her brother. He shook his head.
Tall Laugher put her hand on his shoulder.' Poor Pepin… '
He did not have enough emotion left to feel anything at this.
He rubbed his face and stared at the floor. His eyes were full of tears.
'Do you want the Chronarch to explain, Pepin?' she asked.
Looking into her face, he saw that she, too, seemed extraordinarily sad. Somehow she could understand his hopelessness. If only she were normal, he thought, and we had met in different circumstances. Even here, life would be more than bearable with her. He had never seen such a look of sympathy directed at him before. She was repeating her question. He nodded.
'At first we were as astonished as you at the true nature of Time,' said the Chronarch. ' But, of course, it was much easier for us to accept it. We are capable of moving through Time as others move through space. Time is now our natural element.
We have adapted in a peculiar way - we are able to journey into the past or future merely by an effort of will. We have reached the stage where we no longer need space to exist. In Time-withspace our physical requirements are manifold and increasingly hard to meet on this changing planet. But in Time-without-space these physical requirements no longer exist.'
'Brooder,' put in Tall Laugher, ' I do not think he is interested in us. Tell him why he found only limbo in the past.'
'Yes,' said Pepin, turning to stare at the Chronarch. ' Tell me.''I'll try. Imagine Time as a straight line along which the physical universe is moving. At a certain point on that line the physical universe exists. But if we move away from the present, backward or forward, what do we find?'
Again Pepin shook his head.
'We find what you found - for by leaving the present, we also leave the physical universe. You see, Pepin, when we leave our native Time stream, we move into others which are, in relation to us, above Time. There is a central stream along which our universe moves-we call this the Megaflow. As it moves it absorbs the stuff of Time - absorbs the chronons, as we call them, but leaves nothing behind. Chronons constitute the future-they are infinite. The reason you found nothing in the past is because, in a sense, space eats the chronons but cannot replace them.'
'You mean Earth absorbs this - this temporal energy but emits none herself-like a beast prowling through Time gobbling it up but excreting nothing.' Pepin spoke with a faint return of interest.' Yes, I understand.'
The Chronarch leaned back. ' So when you came to me asking to return to the past, I almost told you this, but you would not have believed me. You did not want to. You cannot return to Earth's past because, simply, it no longer exists. Neither is there a future in terms of space, only in terms of the chrononconstituted Megaflow and its offshoots. We have managed to move ourselves where we wish, individually absorbing the chronons we need. Thus, the human race will continue - possibly we shall be immortal, ranging the continents of Time at will, exploring, acquiring knowledge which will be useful to us.'
'While the rest of us die or turn into little better than machines,' said Pepin flatly.
'Yes.' * Now I have no hope at all,' said Pepin, rising. He limped up to Tall Laugher.' When do you leave for good?'
'Shortly.'
'I thank you for your sympathy and courtesy,' he said.
He left them standing silently in the Hall of Time.
Pepin walked along the beach, still moving towards the east, away from Lanjis Liho by the sea. The morning was a brown shroud covering the endlessness of sluggish sea and salt-frosted land, illuminated by a dying sun, blown by a cold wind.
Ah, he thought, this is a morning for tears and self-contempt.
Loneliness sits upon me like a great oozer with its mouth at my throat, sucking me dry of optimism. If only I could give myself up to this pitiless morning, let it engulf me, freeze me, toss me on its frigid wind and sink me in its slow-yielding sea, to lose sight of sun and sky, such as they are, and return to Mother Earth's ever-greedy womb…