H.G.Wells The Time Machine

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`For the most part of that night I was persuaded it was a nightmare. I bit myself and screamed in a
passionate desire to awake. I beat the ground with my hands, and got up and sat down again, and
wandered here and there, and again sat down. Then I would fall to rubbing my eyes and calling upon
God to let me awake. Thrice I saw Morlocks put their heads down in a kind of agony and rush into the
flames. But, at last, above the subsiding red of the fire, above the streaming masses of black smoke
and the whitening and blackening tree stumps, and the diminishing numbers of these dim creatures,
came the white light of the day.
`I searched again for traces of Weena, but there were none. It was plain that they had left her poor little
body in the forest. I cannot describe how it relieved me to think that it had escaped the awful fate to
which it seemed destined. As I thought of that, I was almost moved to begin a massacre of the helpless
abominations about me, but I contained myself. The hillock, as I have said, was a kind of island in the
forest. From its summit I could now make out through a haze of smoke the Palace of Green Porcelain,
and from that I could get my bearings for the White Sphinx. And so, leaving the remnant of these
damned souls still going hither and thither and moaning, as the day grew clearer, I tied some grass
about my feet and limped on across smoking ashes and among black stems, that still pulsated
internally with fire, towards the hiding-place of the Time Machine. I walked slowly, for I was almost
exhausted, as well as lame, and I felt the intensest wretchedness for the horrible death of little Weena.
It seemed an overwhelming calamity. Now, in this old familiar room, it is more like the sorrow of a
dream than an actual loss. But that morning it left me absolutely lonely again--terribly alone. I began
to think of this house of mine, of this fireside, of some of you, and with such thoughts came a longing
that was pain.
`But as I walked over the smoking ashes under the bright morning sky, I made a discovery. In my
trouser pocket were still some loose matches. The box must have leaked before it was lost.
X
`About eight or nine in the morning I came to the same seat of yellow metal from which I had viewed
the world upon the evening of my arrival. I thought of my hasty conclusions upon that evening and
could not refrain from laughing bitterly at my confidence. Here was the same beautiful scene, the same
abundant foliage, the same splendid palaces and magnificent ruins, the same silver river running
between its fertile banks. The gay robes of the beautiful people moved hither and thither among the
trees. Some were bathing in exactly the place where I had saved Weena, and that suddenly gave me a
keen stab of pain. And like blots upon the landscape rose the cupolas above the ways to the Under-
world. I understood now what all the beauty of the Over- world people covered. Very pleasant was
their day, as pleasant as the day of the cattle in the field. Like the cattle, they knew of no enemies and
provided against no needs. And their end was the same.
`I grieved to think how brief the dream of the human intellect had been. It had committed suicide. It
had set itself steadfastly towards comfort and ease, a balanced society with security and permanency
as its watchword, it had attained its hopes--to come to this at last. Once, life and property must have
reached almost absolute safety. The rich had been assured of his wealth and comfort, the toiler assured
of his life and work. No doubt in that perfect world there had been no unemployed problem, no social
question left unsolved. And a great quiet had followed.
`It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger,
and trouble. An animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism. Nature
never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is
no change and no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence that have to meet a huge
variety of needs and dangers.
`So, as I see it, the Upper-world man had drifted towards his feeble prettiness, and the Under-world to
mere mechanical industry. But that perfect state had lacked one thing even for mechanical perfection--
absolute permanency. Apparently as time went on, the feeding of the Under-world, however it was
effected, had become disjointed. Mother Necessity, who had been staved off for a few thousand years,
came back again, and she began below. The Under-world being in contact with machinery, which,
however perfect, still needs some little thought outside habit, had probably retained perforce rather
more initiative, if less of every other human character, than the Upper. And when other meat failed
them, they turned to what old habit had hitherto forbidden. So I say I saw it in my last view of the
world of Eight Hundred and Two Thousand Seven Hundred and One. It may be as wrong an
explanation as mortal wit could invent. It is how the thing shaped itself to me, and as that I give it to
you.
`After the fatigues, excitements, and terrors of the past days, and in spite of my grief, this seat and the
tranquil view and the warm sunlight were very pleasant. I was very tired and sleepy, and soon my
theorizing passed into dozing. Catching myself at that, I took my own hint, and spreading myself out
upon the turf I had a long and refreshing sleep.
`I awoke a little before sunsetting. I now felt safe against being caught napping by the Morlocks, and,
stretching myself, I came on down the hill towards the White Sphinx. I had my crowbar in one hand,
and the other hand played with the matches in my pocket.
`And now came a most unexpected thing. As I approached the pedestal of the sphinx I found the
bronze valves were open. They had slid down into grooves.
`At that I stopped short before them, hesitating to enter.
`Within was a small apartment, and on a raised place in the corner of this was the Time Machine. I had
the small levers in my pocket. So here, after all my elaborate preparations for the siege of the White
Sphinx, was a meek surrender. I threw my iron bar away, almost sorry not to use it.
`A sudden thought came into my head as I stooped towards the portal. For once, at least, I grasped the
mental operations of the Morlocks. Suppressing a strong inclination to laugh, I stepped through the
bronze frame and up to the Time Machine. I was surprised to find it had been carefully oiled and
cleaned. I have suspected since that the Morlocks had even partially taken it to pieces while trying in
their dim way to grasp its purpose.
`Now as I stood and examined it, finding a pleasure in the mere touch of the contrivance, the thing I
had expected happened. The bronze panels suddenly slid up and struck the frame with a clang. I was in
the dark--trapped. So the Morlocks thought. At that I chuckled gleefully.
`I could already hear their murmuring laughter as they came towards me. Very calmly I tried to strike
the match. I had only to fix on the levers and depart then like a ghost. But I had overlooked one little
thing. The matches were of that abominable kind that light only on the box.
`You may imagine how all my calm vanished. The little brutes were close upon me. One touched me. I
made a sweeping blow in the dark at them with the levers, and began to scramble into the saddle of the
machine. Then came one hand upon me and then another. Then I had simply to fight against their
persistent fingers for my levers, and at the same time feel for the studs over which these fitted. One,
indeed, they almost got away from me. As it slipped from my hand, I had to butt in the dark with my [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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