THE
ETERNAL
WALL
By RAYMOND Z. GALLUN
A scream of brakes, the splashinto icy waters, a long descentinto alkaline depths ... it wasdeath. But Ned Vince livedagain—a million years later!
"See you in half an hour,Betty," said Ned Vinceover the party telephone. "We'llbe out at the Silver Basket beforeten-thirty...."
Ned Vince was eager for thecompany of the girl he loved.That was why he was in a hurryto get to the neighboring townof Hurley, where she lived. Hisold car rattled and roared as heswung it recklessly around PitBend.
There was where Death tappedhim on the shoulder. Another carleaped suddenly into view, itslights glaring blindingly past ahigh, up-jutting mass of Jurassicrock at the turn of the road.
Dazzled, and befuddled by hisown rash speed, Ned Vince hadonly swift young reflexes to relyon to avoid a fearful, telescopingcollision. He flicked his wheelsmoothly to the right; but theCounty Highway Commissionhadn't yet tarred the traffic-loosenedgravel at the Bend.
An incredible science, millions of years old, lay in the minds of these creatures.Ned could scarcely have chosena worse place to start sliding andspinning. His car hit the white-paintedwooden rail sideways,crashed through, tumbled downa steep slope, struck a huge boulder,bounced up a little, andarced outward, falling as gracefullyas a swan-diver toward theinky waters of the Pit, fifty feetbeneath....
Ned Vince was still dimly consciouswhen that black, quietpool geysered around him in amighty splash. He had only adazing welt on his forehead, anda gag of terror in his throat.
Movement was slower now, ashe began to sink, trapped insidehis wrecked car. Nothing that hecould imagine could mean doommore certainly than this. The Pitwas a tremendously deep pocketin the ground, spring-fed. Theedges of that almost bottomlesspool were caked with a rim ofwhite—for the water, on whichdead birds so often floated, wassurcharged with alkali. As thatheavy, natronous liquid rushedup through the openings andcracks beneath his feet, NedVince knew that his friends andhis family would never see hisbody again, lost beyond recoveryin this abyss.
The car was deeply submerged.The light had blinked out on thedash-panel, leaving Ned in absolutedarkness. A flood rushedin at the shattered window. Heclawed at the door, trying toopen it, but it was jammed inthe crash-bent frame, and hecouldn't fight against the forceof that incoming water. Thewelt, left by the blow he had receivedon his forehead, put athickening mist over his brain,so that he could not think clearly.Presently, when he could nolonger hold his breath, bitterliquid was sucked into his lungs.
His last thoughts were thoseof a drowning man. The machine-shophe and his dad hadhad in Harwich. Betty Moore,with the smiling Irish eyes—likein the song. Betty and hehad planned to go to the StateUniversity this Fall. They'dplanned to be married sometime....Goodbye, Betty ...
The ripples that had ruffledthe surface waters in the Pit,quieted again to glassy smoothness.The eternal stars shonecalmly. The geologic Dakotahills, which might have seen thedinosaurs, still bulked along thehighway. Time, the Brother ofDeath, and the Father ofChange, seemed to wait....
"Kaalleee! Tik!... Tik, tik,tik!... Kaalleee!..."
The excited cry, which no humanthroat could quite have duplicatedaccurately, arose