Hellhounds of the Cosmos, Page 2

hair."

  "And you think they came from some other planet, perhaps some othersolar system?"

  "I don't know what to think," said Henry. "If they came out of spacethey must have come in some conveyance, and that would certainly havebeen sighted, picked up long before it arrived, by our astronomers. Ifthey came in small conveyances, there must have been many of them. Ifthey came in a single conveyance, it would be too large to escapedetection. That is, unless--"

  "Unless what?" snapped the scientist.

  "Unless it traveled at the speed of light. Then it would have beeninvisible."

  "Not only invisible," snorted the old man, "but non-existent."

  A question was on the tip of the newspaperman's tongue, but before itcould be asked the old man was speaking again, asking a question:

  "Can you imagine a fourth dimension?"

  "No, I can't," said Henry.

  "Can you imagine a thing of only two dimensions?"

  "Vaguely, yes."

  The scientist smote his palms together.

  "Now we're coming to it!" he exclaimed.

  Henry Woods regarded the other narrowly. The old man must be turned.What did fourth and second dimensions have to do with the Horror?

  "Do you know anything about evolution?" questioned the old man.

  "I have a slight understanding of it. It is the process of upwardgrowth, the stairs by which simple organisms climb to become morecomplex organisms."

  Dr. White grunted and asked still another question:

  "Do you know anything about the theory of the exploding universe? Haveyou ever noted the tendency of the perfectly balanced to run amuck?"

  The reporter rose slowly to his feet.

  "Dr. White," he said, "you phoned my paper you had a story for us. Icame here to get it, but all you have done is ask me questions. If youcan't tell me what you want us to publish, I will say good-day."

  The doctor put forth a hand that shook slightly.

  "Sit down, young man," he said. "I don't blame you for being impatient,but I will now come to my point."

  The newspaperman sat down again.

  * * * * *

  "I have developed a hypothesis," said Dr. White, "and have conductedseveral experiments which seem to bear it out. I am staking myreputation upon the supposition that it is correct. Not only that, but Iam also staking the lives of several brave men who believe implicitly inme and my theory. After all, I suppose it makes little difference, forif I fail the world is doomed, if I succeed it is saved from completedestruction.

  "Have you ever thought that our evolutionists might be wrong, thatevolution might be downward instead of upward? The theory of theexploding universe, the belief that all of creation is running down,being thrown off balance by the loss of energy, spurred onward by cosmicaccidents which tend to disturb its equilibrium, to a time when it willrun wild and space will be filled with swirling dust of disintegratedworlds, would bear out this contention.

  "This does not apply to the human race. There is no question that ourevolution is upward, that we have arisen from one-celled creatureswallowing in the slime of primal seas. Our case is probably paralleledby thousands of other intelligences on far-flung planets and islanduniverses. These instances, however, running at cross purposes to thegeneral evolutional trend of the entire cosmos, are mere flashes in theeventual course of cosmic evolution, comparing no more to eternity thana split second does to a million years.

  "Taking these instances, then, as inconsequential, let us say that thetrend of cosmic evolution is downward rather than upward, from complexunits to simpler units rather than from simple units to more complexones.

  "Let us say that life and intelligence have degenerated. How would yousay such a degeneration would take place? In just what way would it bemanifested? What sort of transition would life pass through in passingfrom one stage to a lower one? Just what would be the nature of thesestages?"

  The scientist's eyes glowed brightly as he bent forward in his chair.The newspaperman said simply: "I have no idea."

  "Man," cried the old man, "can't you see that it would be a matter ofdimensions? From the fourth dimension to the third, from the third tothe second, from the second to the first, from the first to aquestionable existence or plane which is beyond our understanding orperhaps to oblivion and the end of life. Might not the fourth haveevolved from a fifth, the fifth from a sixth, the sixth from a seventh,and so on to no one knows what multidimension?"

  * * * * *

  Dr. White paused to allow the other man to grasp the importance of hisstatements. Woods failed lamentably to do so.

  "But what has this to do with the Horror?" he asked.

  "Have you absolutely no imagination?" shouted the old man.

  "Why, I suppose I have, but I seem to fail to understand."

  "We are facing an invasion of fourth-dimensional creatures," the old manwhispered, almost as if fearful to speak the words aloud. "We are beingattacked by life which is one dimension above us in evolution. We arefighting, I tell you, a tribe of hellhounds out of the cosmos. They areunthinkably above us in the matter of intelligence. There is a chasm ofknowledge between us so wide and so deep that it staggers theimagination. They regard us as mere animals, perhaps not even that. Sofar as they are concerned we are just fodder, something to be eaten aswe eat vegetables and cereals or the flesh of domesticated animals.Perhaps they have watched us for years, watching life on the worldincrease, lapping their monstrous jowls over the fattening of the Earth.They have awaited the proper setting of the banquet table and now theyare dining.

  "Their thoughts are not our thoughts, their ideals not our ideals.Perhaps they have nothing in common with us except the primal basis ofall life, self-preservation, the necessity of feeding.

  "Maybe they have come of their own will. I prefer to believe that theyhave. Perhaps they are merely following the natural course of events,obeying some immutable law legislated by some higher being who watchesover the cosmos and dictates what shall be and what shall not be. Ifthis is true it means that there has been a flaw in my reasoning, for Ibelieved that the life of each plane degenerated in company with thedegeneration of its plane of existence, which would obey the sameevolutional laws which govern the life upon it. I am quite satisfiedthat this invasion is a well-planned campaign, that somefourth-dimensional race has found a means of breaking through the veilof force which separates its plane from ours."

  "But," pointed out Henry Woods, "you say they are fourth-dimensionalthings. I can't see anything about them to suggest an additionaldimension. They are plainly three-dimensional."

  "Of course they are three-dimensional. They would have to be to live inthis world of three dimensions. The only two-dimensional objects whichwe know of in this world are merely illusions, projections of the thirddimension, like a shadow. It is impossible for more than one dimensionto live on any single plane.

  "To attack us they would have to lose one dimension. This they haveevidently done. You can see how utterly ridiculous it would be for youto try to attack a two-dimensional thing. So far as you were concernedit would have no mass. The same is true of the other dimensions.Similarly a being of a lesser plane could not harm an inhabitant of ahigher plane. It is apparent that while the Horror has lost one materialdimension, it has retained certain fourth-dimensional properties whichmake it invulnerable to the forces at the command of our plane."

  The newspaperman was now sitting on the edge of his chair.

  "But," he asked breathlessly, "it all sounds so hopeless. What can bedone about it?"

  Dr. White hitched his chair closer and his fingers closed with a fiercegrasp upon the other's knee. A militant boom came into his voice.

  "My boy," he said, "we are to strike back. We are going to invade thefourth-dimensional plane of these hellhounds. We are going to make themfeel our strength. We are going to strike back."

  Henry Woods sprang to his feet.

  "How?" he shouted. "H
ave you...?"

  Dr. White nodded.

  "I have found a way to send the third-dimensional into the fourth. Comeand I will show you."

  * * * * *

  The machine was huge, but it had an appearance of simple construction. Alarge rectangular block of what appeared to be a strange black metal wasset on end and flanked on each side by two smaller ones. On the top ofthe large block was set a half-globe of a strange substance, somewhat,Henry thought, like frosted glass. On one side of the large cube was seta lever, a long glass panel, two vertical tubes and three clock-faceindicators. The control board, it appeared, was relatively simple.

  Beside the mass of the five rectangles, on the floor, was a large plateof