Page 6

Lee Marvin and Joseph Klee have been driving and patrolling for more than three hours. They were policemen and their car proved to be the best the local office had. No problems for them on that afternoon. “Time comes to withdraw to the city, Joe,” Marvin said. “Ok. In less than a quarter an hour we’ll be there.” They turned the car and started toward the town. The hot wind of the desert came through the open windows. The car was heading to the top of Tom’s Hill when a blue Ford approached them at a very high speed and swung from one side to the other of the highway. “What’s going on ?” Marvin asked. “Start the siren ! Let’s stop them !” And the policemen began to chase the Ford. “The driver must be drunk. Could be some  danger to hit someone until we catch him ?” “Good joke ! Who can he hit here, in the desert ? But the Ford is running at a fabulous speed. I don’t know if we can stop it.” But the chase didn’t last long. After some minutes they succeeded to stop the Ford. There was only one man inside. “Get out of the car and keep your documents in your hands ! Don’t play the fool to us or Joe will make a nice hole in your forehead !” A short man of about 40 years came out of the Ford. “Are you coming from a party ? I guess you have more whisky than blood in your veins, “ Marvin said. “It is there ! There it is !” yelled the man. “Who is there ?” “The bright object! It is on the other side of the hill !” ‘’What is he saying ?” Joe asked. “It is on the other side of the hill ! Go and see it !” “I think he’s crazy,” Marvin murmured. “I don’t think so. Those people are ready to invent anything in order to get rid of a nice fine.” “Go there. It looks like the sun. It passed over me and then landed between some trees. It’s amazing. Do you believe me ? It’s amazing…” “Listen to me, mister Edward Smith. First of all you have to pay the fine and then to continue your journey on your feet.” “Please, believe me ! I don’t cheat you. I didn’t drink anything !” The two policemen thought for a minute. “Yes, you seem to recover yourself,” Lee said. ”Come with us to see this strange thing, if you insist.” “No, I don’t go there again ! It was terrifyingly !” “Why do you say so ?” “I can’t explain it to you… I’d better pay the fine. Excuse me!” He paid the fine. “May I leave now ?” “No, in such a mood. Stay here, relax and wait for us. We’ll see the object and then come back here.” The policemen got in their car and headed towards the spot Edward Smith had indicated to them. “Why do you want to go where he sent us ?” “I don’t know, Joe. He was so confused, so frightened… And this spot is within our district, isn’t it ?” “yes, it is,” murmured Joe and Marvin understood that he didn’t like their action. When they got on the hill top, they stopped the car and looked down. “Edward lied. There is nothing here.” But Joseph’s eyes were brighter than usual. He looked to the red sun. “He didn’t lie. They are here.” “What do you mean ?” “They found me. Look !” At about hundred yards on the right side of the highway, behind some trees, a metallic sphere was blazing, casting blue and red lights around it. “what is this ?” “I’m sorry, Lee, for my next actions…” Marvin wanted to say something, but had no time. Joe took his gun and pointed toward him. Marvin petrified for a second. Then Joe pointed the gun toward his own temple. His mate had no time to stop the suicidal act. A shot was heard and Joe dropped down in blood. A moment latter Marvin felt strangely. An intense dizziness forced him to shut his eyes. He felt like collapsing. A great pressure was upon his head. He thought his head would be crashed, but after two seconds the pressure disappeared. He opened his eyes. He was no more the same man. He was no more Lee Marvin. The corpse was next to him. He got in the car and started in order to quickly move away from the sphere. His eyes were unusual bright. “I’ll escape,” he said to himself. “The telepathic interference would stop them to trail me… it is my only chance to escape…” # Old Jennifer Warren was browsing a magazine on the porch of her house, when the car stopped noisily on the other side of her garden fence. She had only time to look toward the car and the policeman entered her yard. “Good afternoon, madam. I am sergeant Lee Marvin, from the local police. I am chasing a black man, a dangerous killer. Have some one seen him around the farm ? “No, sir, no black man around my farm.” “This evildoer killed a boy and shot down my mate. Do you have some hands here, at your farm?” “Two men. They are at the grange now. Shall I call them ?” “Oh, no. Let’s go inside for a moment. I have some thing to tell you.” The old lady got inside, followed by the policeman. She headed to the bar. “Whisky or brandy ?” She got no answer, so she turned toward the man. She petrified when she saw the sergeant ready to use his gun. “What are you going to do?” she asked. Marvin pointed his gun toward his forehead. A shot was heard and the man dropped down in blood. The old lady starred at his corpse for some minutes. “Oh, my God ! This is impossible !” She tried to move away, but could not. She felt an intense dizziness and shut her eyes. The air seemed missing. She felt a high pressure upon her temples. She thought her head would be crushed. But after a few seconds all these stopped. The old lady opened her eyes . She was no more Jennifer Warren, but some one else. # Jose Louis Carlos tasted once again the little parcels with white drugs before introducing them in his safe. He possessed now three millions dollars in drugs. The door was opened at once and Zagalo, his best man, appeared. “Hey, Boss, an old lady came. Her name’s Jennifer Warren. She insists to see you. “Never heard of her. How did she enter here ?” “Don’t know. She said she is your relative. Shall I let her in ?” “An old woman ? Who sent her ? Allan ? John ? Ok, let her in.” Missis Warren entered the room a moment later. “Hello, mister Carlos. May we speak in private ?” ‘’Of course. Zagalo, leave us alone !” “Mister Carlos, “ said she as soon as they were alone, “I have something to tell you. I want to call the police in order to arrest you.” ‘’And why would you do such a thing ? Do you have a reason ?” “The drugs in this safe.” “Where from do you know about them ?” he asked amazed. “This is my business. The police will find out all.” “I don’t think so, because you won’t get out alive. Maybe you want some money to keep your mouth shut. What about ten thousand dollars ?” “I don’t need your money. My nephew died because of drugs. I’ll cry everywhere that you are a killer. Ki…” Carlos shot three bullets in less than a second. The old lady dropped down. ‘’You, witch !” Carlos murmured. Then he felt a strange dizziness. The air pressed upon his temples. He shut his eyes and felt like collapsing. After a few seconds all these sensations disappeared, but he was not the same. He was now some one else. # The door opened and three soldiers came in with the bandit. The general made a break and looked at them. “Ok, soldiers, “ he said. “Now you may go.” “But he is a dangerous fellow, sir. “ “Have no fear. I can handle him.” Jose Louis Carlos heard the door shutting behind him. “At last I’ve got you, Zaar !” the general said. “But my name is…” “Stop playing with me, Zaar! You made a mistake by underestimating us. You killed three people for nothing, in order to change your looking. Of course, you cheated the police, but we are able to find you and to destroy your main arm, the telepathic interference.” “We?” “we have been on your trail for a long time. You are a dangerous killer. You knew that life on Earth must be protected for the benefit of our species, but you put it in danger. You broke the Law…” “I know it was forbidden to me to stay on Earth more than three generations. Also, the Law forces me to leave no man until he dies from natural causes.” “This is why you shall be punished. When we live in a man, our metabolism reduces ten times, so we get old ten times longer. We need men. Why you stayed on Earth more than three generations ?” “I was wrong, I could not resist such a temptation. I hoped to live here for a millennium and then to return on our planet.” “I understand your temptation, but you must think, Zaar, that it is forbidden to us to live on Earth more than 500 at once. So, you steal the right of one ‘asper’ to make his life longer. In your case, the punishment is known…” “Of course. I won’t wait to be judged. “ “Do you want to respect the Code of Honour ?” “I had the guts to fight for live, why shall I be afraid to perish now ? And I have no other choice…” He shut his eyes. He focused all his mental forces. His face got red. His veins swallowed and perspiration appeared on his forehead. Next moment he yelled and then dropped down. He was dead. Above him a little blue sphere blazed for a moment, then disappeared. “This is the only good act you did on this world, Zaar,” the general murmured. ”You killed Jose Louis Carlos, who was a terrible murderer. And we, the US Army, had great luck when we discovered the codes of these strange E.T., the ‘aspers’, against whom we now started the offensive.” The End

Pag, 2

 

Science Fiction Exilé de l’Univers Ce roman présent une confrontation entre civilisations situées à des niveaux différents d’évoluation. Les héros du livre, Tav, Hev, Mary, Olga, Elvis, Ian essayent de s’adapter aux lois étranges de la galaxie La Voie Lactée. Tav et Hev réussissent, incroyablement, avec leur vieux vaisseau cosmique de type V.S., à s’évader de l’Univers Circulaire et du pouvoir du maléfique Empereur Rouge, qui térrorise touts ses sujets. Dans notre univers, au bord du navire Orion, le professeur Xiobèr fait deux bizarres expériences pour démontrer ses théories sur les mutations génétiques, mais les résultats sont tout à fait contraires à ses hypothèses. Cela ménera au contact avec d’autres êtres cosmiques et aux grands risques pour les membres de l’équipage du navire, qui se trouvent impliqués dans des guerres qui ne les regardent pas. Des nombreuses aventures entraineront les équipages du V.S et de l’Orion sur des planètes bisarres et dans des systèmes stéllaires inconus. Des étranges dangers menacent sans cesse les astronautes.Deux civilisations différentes, alliées, vaincreront, après des grands sacrifices, la tyranie que terrorise l’Univers Circulaire. 1. Les moteurs tachéoniques fonctionnaient à leur capacité maximale. Quelques gouttes de sueur brillaient sur le front du Commandant. Huit vaisseaux de type R.Y. les pourchassaient. Leur chance de survivre à un pareil attaque était une à un million. --On deviendra de la poussière stéllaire, disa l’homme. Tu n’as pas des tels problèmes, n’est-ce pas, mon gros ? ajouta-t-il en s’adréssant au robot sphérique qui se trouvait dérrière lui et qui vérifiait toutes les coordonnées utiles du vol. --Avec un tel pilote, il est normal de devenir de la poussière stéllaire, lui répondit la machine. Si les navires impériales ne nous désintégrent pas, alors nos moteurs vont exploder. --Qu’est-ce qu’on peut faire avec un vaisseau de type V.S. ? demanda étonné l’homme. On voit bien que leur vitesse est supériore à la notre. --Avez-vous gelé le temps ? --Oui, mais c’est inutile. Ils ont le bloc antiopérationnel. --Alors tu n’as plus rien a faire, Hev. Tu peut boire un tonique et laisser le destin à faire son dévoir, sourit le deuxième homme. --Bons à rien ! Cédez-moi la commande ! --A toi, mon vieux tas de fer rouillé ? Ça suffit ! Peut-être je suis impuissant, mais pas idiot ! --Le jet « superstring » va nous détruire au niveau soubnucléaire. Nous n’auront pas le temps de sentir la mort ! --Mais il fait reconnaitre, Tav, que c’est une mort facile. Nous ne souffront pas comme nos amis torturés par les Services Spéciales...Rob et ses hommes ont péri dans des châtiments terribles. --Il avait raison, le vieux Dadd. On ne peut pas s’évader de l’Univers Circulaire. --Assez ! le robot dit-il. Ne vous lamentez plus comme ça ! Laissez-moi conduir le vaisseau ! Notre bouclier contre les radiations peut ceder d’un momment à l’autre car la force alpha nous frappe sans cesse depuis une minute. --Veux-tu te taire, tas de fer rouillé ! Est-ce que tu ne vois pas qu’on ne peut pas leur échapper ? Avec ce V.S. du huitième décennie, le seul qu’on a reussi de prendre, on n’a aucune chance de survivre à leur attaque. --Tu es orgolieux et insolent, Hev. Je vais vous sauver. --Toi ? Un vieux robot dépassé ? --Tu n’es qu’un fou. Les R.T. nous ont détruit déja deux de nos quatre moteurs. Il faut passer dans des autres dimmensions. C’est notre seule chance de leur échapper, car dans le space physique banale nous leur sommes, très clairement, inférieurs. --Qu’est-ce tu veux dire ? --Je fait partie des robots Y.V. --Et ? --Tu ne connais rien, j’en suis sur ! Seulement trois robots ont été construit de ce type. Nous avons un niveau d’intéligence plus élevé qu’aucune machine qu’existe. Mais notre intéligence est instabile et, parfois, incontrôlable. --Donc tu deviens fou ? Je ne m’étonne pas. --Ecoute-moi, Hev. Je connais les codes des Temples. --Comment ? Les éxtraordinaires contructions élevés d’avant le Premier Empire ? Mais personne ne connait aujourd’hui comment fonctionnent-ils. Je n’ai jamais vu un Temple. Ce sont des sécrets pour nous. --C’est votre seule chance. En plus, je peux vous porter dans les univers antropiques et pas dans les formes bizarres. Sans moi, la possibilité d’atteindre dans une monde antropique serait moins d’une a un milliard, donc zéro. --Tu m’as convaincu, Y.V. Tu es un génie. Prends la commende et passes à l’action ! Plus vite, nous sommes cernés ! --Bien, mais je ne peux pas vous garantir le retour. --Tu nous garantis le vie ? C’est assez. Les deux hommes esperaient à nouveau. Le robot se couplait au systeme spécial que déclanchait le phénomen sauveur Le pilotes de l’Empire Rouge n’en croyaient à leurs yeux. Leur proie avait disparu. Les moniteurs épitropiques étaient maintenant vides. Le transfère des masses s’était déroullé parfaitement et n’avait laissé aucune trace.

Pag. 6

The Mountains Realm, by Dan Starcu Introduction At the beginning of the XIV-th century, Hungary, one of the largest European countries, a real empire in the centre of the continent, ten times larger than today, saw the birth of the first Romanian Kingdom, which was its vassal at that moment. Taking advantage of the distructive effects of the Great Tartars’ Invazion over Europe and of his familiar relationship with the Bulgarian Tsar Michael Sishman, the Romanian Prince John Basarab, who previously was an earl, succeded to unify the counties and shires around Olt and Arges rivers, by force or ability. His goal was that his state, which included the Banat Shire, claimed also by the Hungarians, Bulgarians and Serbs, should gain its independence, because it was still under the Hungarian rule. Hungary had been shaken by the crysis dued to the extinction of the Arpadian dinasty and by the civil war that had followed. All these had been over since Charles Robert d’Anjou, a French duke, prince of Salerno and lord of Saint Angelo Mount,was proclaimed King of this vast country, whose inhabitants considered themselves heirs of Attila, the Huns’ Emperor. In 1330 all the attention of Charles Robert and of his noblemen was focusing upon the new Romanian state which paid no more taxes to them. The Hungarian army was ready to punish such a rebellion and to distroy the princedom of John Basarab. Resumee In my novel The Mountains Realm a strange and a tumultuous time is revealed, when French (Francois de Palatin), German (Jon de Wurtemberg) and Hungarian (Toma szecseny, Dionisie Szecs, Stephen Lackfy) knights and earls fought under the orders of Cgarles Robert d’Anjou, a French prince, king of Hungary, a real Empire in the centre of Europe, in order to defeat and destroy the Romanian state of John Basarab, who had hoped to be supported by the Tsar of Bulgary and by the Tartars, but remained alone against the invaders. A great number of medieval castles (the city of Severine, the Arges castle), cities (Timisoara) and combats are painted in its pages, in accordance with the events that took place in the XIV-th century in the very heart of the continent, involving warriors of many European countries, from the far-off France to the Byzantine Empire and the Tartar armies, their feudal habits, noblemen , young ladies and gentlemen, love stories, Christian rites and clergymen, sorcerers, scouts, killers and plots. Such a large participation is related in a dynamic rhythm, in order to surprise the changes in the battlefields that consisted in moorlands, woods, fortresses or mountains in a relative little number of pages (300 ). Well informed upon the historical events and characters described in this book, I propose an attractive and adventurous novel in the range of the famous Ivanhoe, The Black Arrow, Queen Margot, Quentin Durward and King Arthur’s Legends. It was first printed in Romania, Europe, in 1992, by Porto-Franco Publishing Company ( Galati, Romania). THE INVASIONS GATE The second historical novel, The Invasions Gate, presents (in 250 pages) the Hun’s tribes stormy arrival in in the eastern and the central parts of Europe, in 475 A.D., in their way towards Rome and Byzantyum, and their fights against the German, Slave and Asian tribes that were the masters of those lands, next to the Empire borders, until their appearance. The main character, Lexes, a Roman warrior from Dacia, an ex province of the Empire, a country next to the actual Greece and Hungary, has to prove his courage and sagacity in several adventures, trying to stop and overcome those new invaders who drank blood from human skulls. The great union of the western Gothic and other eastern Germanic tribes, like the Vandals and the Longobards, and the Roman warriors in Dacia under the orders of king Athanaric couldn’t, however, defeat the huge army of the ancestors of Attila, who continued its way towards Italy and France. The novel describes the greatest Asian invasion of Europe known until then and its consequences for the continent: the destruction of the Western Roman Empire and the appearance of the modern peoples on the continent , like the French, the Italians, the Spanish, the Romanians etc on its ruins, and the separation of the Byzantine Empire from the rest of the Latin world. A book full of adventures, love stories, combats and unexpected situations, the Invasions Gate describes a complexe and strange world in a moment of its transformation from an unique Empire made of countries on three continents towards the feudal Europe . If until that moment the main enemies of the Romans were the Eastern ( led by their 100 years old king Ermanaric) and the Western Goths (led by king Athanaric), the Vandals and the Burgunds, in the next years they had to face a foe more dangerous than those Germanic peoples, the Asian tribes of Attila.

Pag. 10

By Dan Starcu

                                    

 

The huge underground hall door rose slowly and an impressive image appeared in front of Professor Barcklay. There were many men in grey overcoats quickly moving up and down on the metallic stairs among the strange structures.

 

“Please, come in, “the general invited him.

 

The general Anderson was a tall fellow of about six feet, while the professor was a little man of only five feet high with big and funny spectacles. As soon as he penetrated in the room he petrified with surprise and hardly found his words in order to speak.

 

“The UFO you see here is the one found in 1952 in Sweden,” Anderson told him, pointed to the immense white disk with a hemisphere in the middle. A year later it was brought in the US. We didn’t discover life traces aboard. It may be an automatic spacecraft. Had its crew disappeared after an accident? I don’t know. I have been studying it for ten years. You are among the few outsiders that could get here, at the President recommendation. But you are forbidden to get aboard of this ship, I’m sorry to tell you this…”

 

“Extraordinary! I’ve reckoned it was only a legend…I can’t believe I am looking at it…”

 

“Some of the ship secrets had been used by our experts, like the special paint that makes it invisible for the radar and which was put on F-117 and A-12. The alloys discovered in this spacecraft structure were used in the nuclear physics. But, to our surprise, we couldn’t discover any propulsion system…I mean something similar to those we use on spaceships or planes.”

 

“That was why I was sent here”

 

Anderson smiled for a moment.

 

“May we talk in private?” the professor asked him.

 

“Follow me, please. Let’s enter my office.”

 

After crossing the huge hall, they walked through a corridor. They arrived then in front of a door guarded by two soldiers with guns. The general invited his guest to enter and they remained there alone.

 

“Are we recorded by some device?”

 

“No. Talk without any hesitation.”

 

“Their propulsion system is based upon a strange gyroscopic effect. As you know, the gyroscope is a kind of top with electric action. It is used by ships, including planes and missiles, in their spatial orientation. It seems it is able ‘to memorize’ its initial position.”

 

The short man opened his suitcase and got out from it such an object. Under it, he put a very precise weighing device. The general looked at the display. The gyro has 350 g. Then it began to spin faster and faster around its axis. Anderson’s face faded. The weighing device showed 325 g, then 300 g.

 

“What an odd effect,” he murmured.

 

“We have discovered it two years ago,” the short man replied. ”As its rotation rate increases its mass decreases. Farther more, its mass decrease is different if it spins to the right or to the left. It seems that the forces of time are acting upon it, and they have a clear sense of evolution, to the right. Similarly, the UFO disk when spinning is reducing its own mass.”

 

“I see…If its mass decreases, the aliens need a reduced force of propulsion in order to move it. So, a very high speed may be obtained this way…”

 

“But the savants on Earth don’t know yet that, after reaching a certain rotation rate, the gyro mass becomes zero. They don’t use such kind of energies in order to make this sort of experiment. Beyond the critical rotation rate, the gyro body enters a RO waves field and its evolution is quite different. That is why the UFO may use speeds as high as the light speed or even superior to it.”

 

“How do you know such things? No man has such information. Are you also…?”

 

“Now you understand that I was sent here from the planet Zaad especially for you? You have well accomplished your mission, TAR-17. You have gotten all the information we need about mankind, and their documents regarding our spacecraft had disappeared in a strange way.”

 

“Who are you?”

 

“I am ARR-12. I came here to help you finish your mission. Time is to return to our planet. Don’t forget, the President is with us.”

 

The general smiled again. He had lived for many years believing that the Metropolis had forgotten him on Earth, at about 40000 light years from Zaad. He was sent here to replace his predecessor TAR-16, ten years ago.

 

“However, the war against the Gors is ended,” the short man told him. “There is no more use to protect the Earth and to avoid their invasion. That is why the Metropolis decided to withdraw all the troops from the Far Away Territories, including this planet.”

 

 

The End

 

 

En Grece (Ille de Thassos)

The butler opened the large door and looked carefully to the man in front of him. This one was not very tall, had a stern face and gray hair. “I am professor Paul Dubergier,” the new comer said. “You are welcomed. Professor Henry Wallacowsky is waiting for you.” The guest was invited inside the large house that looked like a castle. The large and impressive doors were opening and shutting before and after them while they crossed several rooms with old furniture. Then they got up and down some stairs and finally the butler stopped in front of a basement chamber entrance. “Here it is?” Dubergier asked without understanding why he was brought in such a lonely site in order to meet his host, while many of the rooms they had crossed proved to be more suitable for such an event. “Yes, here,” the butler answered and then returned on the same way they had come to that spot. The man with the suitcase didn’t move for a moment, then he knocked at the door. Suddenly, it was opened and a black haired and absent-minded fellow appeared. “Oh, I am very pleased to meet you, professor Paul Dubergier,” said he and the men shake hands. But the guest looked like frightened by an unseen danger. “You are the physicist Henry Wallacowsky, I presume,” the guest said distantly. The man proved to be enough prudent, but also interested in their appointment. “Of course I am doctor Wallacowsky,” the other one answered. “So you have been my opponent for about twenty years.” “Your opponent, but not your enemy. Come in, professor. I have been waiting for you for a long time.” The man with the suitcase entered the room. He noticed its thick metallic walls of blue color. The door was made of the same material. “A really fortress,” said he. “I hope you’ll like my laboratory.” “What would I like here?” Dubergier asked himself. In front of him there was a book case, a table and two chairs, a trey and two glasses, several lamps that lit the room and another door on the opposite wall. “Thank you for your invitation,” the Frenchman said. ”I may even tell you that I’ve been waiting for a long time to meet you in person. However, I don’t understand the use of my visit here. I must also say that in this period I was very busy with my workings for the Academy.” “My dear professor, you’ll see very soon why I called you here,” answered the Pole and brought a champagne bottle. “Today we celebrate a great event.” “I think it’s worth for I took the first plane in order to get here.” “Indeed it’s worth. We celebrate my victory upon your theories.” Dubergier petrified with surprise. The other one filled the glasses. “Your victory against my theories ?” “Yes. After twenty years I succeeded to defeat you.” “What do you mean? Have you discovered something amazing?” The two men knocked the glasses. “Not quite, but I achieved what I had tried to build for many years: an ‘S’ waves interceptor. Do you like the champagne? “Yes. But, doctor Wallacowsky, nobody has ever proved that the ‘S’ waves exist.” “You are wrong, professor Dubergier. I had identified them three years ago and I succeeded also to intercept them, but the experiments were unstable, that was why I kept everything secret and revealed nothing to the press. But today the experiments are stable and I am ready to prove to you my victory!” “According to the theory, a time leap is possible only in the distorting time-space coordinates areas, in other words near to the huge gravitational masses or in the exceptionally intense force fields.” “That’s right! You yourself had written that the time leap could be experienced at the North Pole where the magnetic field, for instance, is very intense and may produce a temporal crevasse.” “There is one thing yet missing: the time leaps involve an interaction of two force fields, controlled by man.” “And the interaction may be between the magnetic field and that of the “S’ waves. This is what I succeeded: to control the ‘S’ force field.” “Incredible, doctor Wallacowsky! And congratulations !” “It is true, I made a great discovery, but wholly according to both our theories. But I told you that I defeated you and indeed I did so.” “would you want to explain your words more precisely?” “You had imposed since ten years ago your idea about the impossibility of any intervention in the past. Well, this is not true…” Dubergier was puzzled. ‘But it’s absurd! My theory is well fit and explained…” “It is, however, a fake one.” “Do you insult me ?” “No, professor, but your theory doesn’t match the reality.” “Do you want to say that I can go in the past and act in a certain way in order to change the present? It’s absurd!” “It seems logically to me. If I leaped a thousand years in the past we may assist at a time superposition: my subjective time and that of the environment in which I would be, the objective one.” “But this doesn’t involve that you can change the past. You can only contemplate some other time the way in which a spectator is looking to a movie. The physics law are not the same for the subject, I mean the observer from another age, and the object, I mean the visited epoch. “But I got here my victory against your theories: the laws are the same!” “Are you crazy, doctor? History can’t be changed, it would be a non-sense.” “Yes, history can be changed. By a leap in the past some one could change the events. In this way history branches may be created.” “Do you mean that there may exist a history according which Pompey defeated Cesar and Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo ?” “Of course, but we live within another one.” “You are going mad, doctor. I’ll prove to you that such a thing is absurd.” “Then prove it to me.” “Suppose that I’ll be back in time for one hundred years, I kill one of my ancestors and as a result nor my father will be born, neither I. But I was already born…” “It seems indeed to exist here a paradox: you shouldn’t live, but you are already alive.” “This is what my theory proves: there can’t be interventions in our past. History is irreversible and can’t be changed.” “But there is also another explanation, the real one. I’ve built my time machine and I’ve made my first experiments. I reached to these conclusions: 1. The cancelling effect of the intervention. If the traveler’s intervention doesn’t produce great changes of the events than the time forces will act in order to eliminate them.” “Interesting…” “Do you want some more fresh champagne? Talking like this I forgot about my duty as a host. 2. If the traveler’s intervention produces important event changes, then historical collapse will appear. Here we have to talk about history’s branches. Let’s call the history branch in which we live now ‘A’ history. So, if I return in time and kill one of my ancestors, a historical collapse is produced and a temporary crevasse will appear. A new history will be born, the ‘B’ branch. ‘A’ will remain untouched and people within it testify my missing at the age of 30, while being in a past exploration mission. Because of the time crevasse I will be banished forever from ‘A’.” Professor Dubergier didn’t say a word. He was drinking quietly his champagne, with an empty look. Doctor Wallacowsky continued: “The ‘B’ branch is common with the ‘A’ until my intervention, then it will change accordingly. In fact, we never action upon “a” history while traveling in time, but upon ‘B’ or ‘C’ branches. There may exist an infinite number of historical branches. There is also the historical collapse, another dangerous phenomen that may lead to the complete destruction of ‘A’, so we must allow interventions in the past only in very special cases.” “As a result, the time interventions are a more dangerous arm then the controlled genetic changes or the atomic bomb.” “Unfortunately you are right.” “And do you reckon your discoveries must be published?” “Of course. Human kind must know every thing, good or bad.” “All right, doctor. I am ready to assist to your demonstration.” “It will be very interesting. You yourself will travel in time. My machine is waiting for you.” The Pole opened a door hidden until then behind the book case. They entered a spacious chamber of a circular shape with thick metallic walls. He didn’t put any questions. Many technical devices were laying near the walls. In the middle of the room, there was an imposant shining disk with red and green lights on his surface. “It is the ‘S’ waves receiver,” the pole told him. “You will travel in time by using it. If our experiment would take place at the North Pole, the magnetic field intensity would permit leaps of 10000 years. Here the jump is of only 500 years.” “And we’ll check your theory,” replied Dubergier. “Iake care after you enter inside the receiver. It is easy to use it. There are a screen and an armchair inside it. At the bottom of the screen there is a red button and a scaled device, for time measurement. You have to fix on it the number of years of the leap. The red button is the starting one. You may remain in the chosen period for a half an hour, no more.” “Alright, doctor. It’s a pity that…” “Pity? What do you mean?” “I was just thinking…Even if your theory proved to be right, you shouldn’t publish anything about your discovery. Dangerous men could use it…” “No. I’ve decided that mankind needs to know everything about nature and Universe. Today, I am opening a special path for science.” “Maybe for military experiences…” “That’s your opinion. Now, I withdraw in the next room. Which period have you selected? That one of Magellan? Of Napoleon or of Stalin?“ “It will be a surprise,” replied Dubergier. “Then I say good bye to you,” Wallacowsky said and got out of the chamber. He entered the next room, seated on a chair near the table where they had drunken champagne and started a television set in order to follow his guest’s gestures. The doctor pulled out the drawer and a multitude of white and green buttons appeared. There was also a black one. The doctor saw the Frenchman getting in the disk and then shutting its door. Next, he started the magnetic field and followed its intensity growth on the measuring devices. The communications between them were now cut off. “And I forgot to tell him about the second feedback!” thought doctor Wallacowsky.”How absent-minded am I! Now I must tell him this on his arrival.” A blaze in the other room meant that the Frenchman started his time trip. Wallacowsky looked at the measuring devices in front of him. A year, two, three…ten…forty…fifty three years ago… The geographic coordinates were the same. So, Dubergier was still in Poland’s capital. On the screen a picture of the city appeared. The streets were empty. The disk floated for some moments, then landed and Dubergier got out of it.”Strangely! What can interest him here?” The Frenchman walked for a while and reached a street Wallacowsky knew well indeed.”Here I was born,” the Pole thought. Dubergier stopped in front of the house Wallacowsky was born in.”Fifty three years ago…I was only one year old,” the Pole thought. Dubergier entered the courtyard, went through the garden and reached one of the windows.”What is he going to do?” The Pole petrified with fear. Dubergier entered the house and went through a corridor. He opened then a door and looked inside. He got in that room, in the middle of which, on a bed, a little child was sleeping. “It’s I,” the doctor thought.”But the professor can’t be a killer…” He trembled and he knew why. The Frenchman approached the bed. He got out a gun. “Killer!” Wallacowsky cried out and pressed the black button. A blaze covered the screen in front of him. The Pole felt exhausted. He seated on a chair and stayed there some minutes. “Killer! I was saved only by the temporary accelerator, the second feedback, destroying my enemy a moment before he would shoot me down. I was an instant faster than him. My chance was that I hadn’t told him anything about this insurance system…” After a while, calming down, asked himself: “Why did he want to destroy me? Only because I defeated him on the scientific field? Unbelievable… He was right. He could surprise me terribly…” He looked again at the empty screen.”Why wanted he to change the history? If he had had the gun upon himself, why hadn’t he shot me here? But…If he killed me fifty years ago, he would destroy all my works printed until now…He would become the only possessor of my machine secrets. This is what he wanted? The supremacy?” In the same moment he saw Dubergier’s suitcase at his feet. He opened it and found some papers inside it. He could read: “Human intervention in time is perfectly possible. It could become the most dangerous arm in the world. Humankind must not find out about its existence…” Wallacowsky felt he had no power to stand up from his chair. The End