"The Space Machine" - читать интересную книгу автора (Priest Christopher)

Chapter Five INTO FUTURITY!

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I had ascertained that the last train to London left Richmond at ten-thirty, and I knew that to catch it I should have to leave by ten. At eight-thirty, though, I was in no mood to think of returning to my lodgings. Furthermore, the prospect of returning to work the next day was one I greeted with the utmost despondency. This was because with the completion of dinner, which had been accompanied by a dry and intoxicating wine, and with the move from the dining-room to the semi-dark intimacy of the drawing-room, and with a glass of port inside me and another half finished, and the subtle fragrance of Amelia’s perfume distracting my senses, I was subject to the most perturbing fantasies.

Amelia was no less intoxicated than I, and I fancied that she could not have mistaken the change in my manner. Until this moment I had felt awkward in her company. This was partly because I had had only the barest experience with young women, but more especially because of all young women Amelia seemed to me the most extraordinary. I had grown used to her forthright manner, and the emancipated airs she assumed, but what I had not until this moment realized was that I had, most inappropriately, fallen blindly and rashly in love with her.

In wine there is truth, and although I was able to contain my excesses, and fell short of protesting my undying amour, our conversation had touched on most remarkably personal matters.

Soon after nine-thirty, I knew I could delay no more. I had only half an hour before I had to leave, and as I had no idea of when or how I should see her again, I felt that then was the. moment to state, in no uncertain terms, that to me she was already more than just a pleasant companion.

I poured myself a liberal helping of port, and then, still uncertain of how I was to phrase my words, I reached into my waistcoat pocket and consulted my watch.

“My dear Amelia,” I started to say. “I see that it is twenty-five minutes. to ten, and at ten I must leave. Before that I have something I must tell you.”

“But why must you leave?” she said, instantly destroying the thread of my thoughts.

“I have a train to catch.”

“Oh, please don’t go yet!”

“But I must return to London.”

“Hillyer can take you. If you miss your train, he will take you all the way to London.”

“Hillyer is already in London,” I said.

She laughed, a little drunkenly. “I had forgotten. Then you must walk.”

“And so I must leave at ten.”

“No … I will have Mrs Watchets prepare a room for you.”

“Amelia, I cannot stay, much as I would wish to. I must work in the morning.”

She leaned towards me, and I saw light dancing in her eyes. “Then I shall take you to the station myself.”

“There is another carriage?” I said.

“In a manner of speaking.” She stood up, and knocked over her empty glass. “Come with me, Edward, and I shall convey you to the station in Sir William’s Time Machine!”

She took my hand in hers, and half-dragged me towards the door. We started to laugh; it is difficult to write of this in retrospect, for intoxication, however mild, is not a state in which one acts one’s finest. For me it was the gaiety of the moment that contributed to the compliance.

I shouted to her as we ran along: “But to travel in Time will not take me to the station!”

“Yes it will!”

We reached the laboratory and went inside, closing the door behind us. The electrical lamps were still burning, and in the comparatively harsh glare our escapade took on a different aspect.

“Amelia,” I said, trying to restrain her. “What are you doing?”

“I am doing what I said. We will travel to the station.”

I stood before her, and took her hands in mine.

“We have both had a little too much to drink,” I said “Please don’t jest with me. You cannot seriously propose to operate Sir William’s Machine.”

Her hands tightened on mine. “I am not as intoxicated as you believe. My manner is gay, but I am in perfect earnest.”

“Then let us return to the drawing-room at once.”

She turned away from me, and walked towards the Time Machine. She gripped one of the brass rails in her hands, and immediately the Machine trembled as before.

She said: “You heard what Sir William said. Time and Space are inseparable. There is no need for you to leave in the next few minutes. Although the Machine is designed to travel into futurity, it will also move across spatial distances. In short, although it will journey across thousands of years, it can also be used for a trip as prosaic as taking a friend to the station.”

“You are still jesting,” I said. “Nor am I convinced that the Machine will even travel in Time.”

“But it has been proved.”

“Not to my satisfaction it hasn’t,” I said.

She turned to face me, and her expression was as serious as before. “Then allow me to demonstrate it to you!”

“No, Amelia! It would be foolhardy to drive the Machine!”

“Why, Edward? I know what to do … I have watched Sir William’s tests often enough.”

“But we do not know the craft is safe!”

“There would be no danger.”

I simply shook my head with the agony of the moment. Amelia turned back to the Machine and reached over to one of the dials. She did something to this, then pulled back the lever with the bicycle handle-bar attached.

Instantly, the Time Machine vanished!