The Fury Out of Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

X weakened, it didn’t slow down. I’ve thought about this, and I discussed it with Whistler. We’re both certain that Force X didn’t lose any speed at all. In fact, it was constantly accelerating.”
    Colonel Stubbins took a moment to ponder that. “I suppose you know that you’re postulating a physical impossibility.”
    “I’m not postulating anything, sir. I’m just trying to describe what I saw. The best analogy I can think of is the turntable of a phonograph. Every point on the diameter of a phonograph record is making the same number of revolutions per minute, but in terms of distance traveled the outer edge is going a whale of a lot faster than a point located close to the center. The outer edge of a ten-inch record travels roughly thirty-one and a half inches with each revolution. A point half an inch from the center travels a little over three inches in the same time. To the best of my recollection your Force X made regular revolutions, which means that it had to be accelerating tremendously. Otherwise, I would have had a distinct impression of the spiral slowing down as the force moved away from the center. Each successive revolution would have taken longer, because the force had farther to go.”
    “Interesting,” Colonel Stubbins said. “But still impossible. Think of the resistance it was encountering! Everything it struck must have slowed it down, even if infinitesimally.”
    “Not to mention air and ground friction,” the army colonel put in.
    “Was it traveling on the ground, sir?” Karvel asked.
    The colonels stared at him.
    “It left no marks on the ground, and it didn’t strike anything at ground level. That first tree was struck roughly a foot above the ground. Your Force X followed the contours of the ground, but in addition to accelerating it was also slowly rising. By the time it got to Whistler’s, it, or the bottom of it, was waist high, and I have the broken ribs to prove it.”
    “I suppose your injured knee also proves it was waist high,” Colonel Stubbins said.
    “It didn’t strike my knee. That was injured when Force X knocked me over, or maybe when I landed.”
    A brief silence followed, which Colonel Vukin broke with the words, “Five minutes, gentlemen.”
    Colonel Stubbins glared at him and turned back to Karvel. “At least there’s no argument about Force X becoming weaker. The damage decreased steadily until it stopped altogether. And since Force X did become weaker, of course it slowed down. The strength would be proportional to the velocity.”
    Karvel shook his head. “No, sir. A phonograph record. The revolutions were as regular as a clock ticking. I’ll swear to that. If it sounds impossible, just tell me one thing about this Force X that is possible.”
    “Does Whistler agree with you? About the regular revolutions, I mean.”
    “He does. We’re also in agreement about how long we watched together, and of course you won’t believe this, either. Within ten seconds after the first tree fell, I let out a yell. Whistler was passing the rear door, and he heard me. He came out to see what was going on. He says he ran, but that’s a little hard to believe. By walking fast, he made it in less than ten seconds. Within another twenty seconds the spiral pattern was obvious, the Mueller farm had been struck, and I could see that the tavern was in danger. I told Whistler to get everyone into the basement, and he started away. Then it hit me. Allow another fifteen seconds. I make it less than a minute from that first tree to the tavern, and all of those times are estimated conservatively.”
    “Indeed.” Colonel Stubbins cocked his head meditatively. “Considering the spiral, Force X traveled a good many miles between that first tree and the tavern. Less than a minute, you say?”
    “I wouldn’t believe it myself, sir, if I hadn’t seen it. But I did see it.”
    “Even on a straight line it’s several miles from Whistler’s to the tree. Following a spiral