The method by which one man might be pinpointed in the vastness of allEternity was the problem tackled by the versatile Frank Belknap Long inthis story. And as all minds of great perceptiveness know, it would be asimple, human quality he'd find most effective even in solving Time-Space.
Deep in the Future he found theanswer to Man's age-old problem.
Daring Moonson, he wascalled. It was a proud name, abrave name. But what good wasa name that rang out like asummons to battle if the man whobore it could not repeat it aloudwithout fear?
Moonson had tried telling himselfthat a man could conquerfear if he could but once summonthe courage to laugh at all the sinsthat ever were, and do as hedamned well pleased. An ancientphrase that—damned well. It wentclear back to the ElizabethanAge, and Moonson had tried picturinghimself as an Elizabethanman with a ruffle at his throat anda rapier in his clasp, brawlinglustily in a tavern.
In the Elizabethan Age menhad thrown caution to the windsand lived with their whole bodies,not just with their minds alone.Perhaps that was why, even inthe year 3689, defiant names stillcropped up. Names like IndependenceForest and Man, LiveForever!
It was not easy for a man tolive up to a name like Man, LiveForever! But Moonson was readyto believe that it could be done.There was something in humannature which made a man abandoncaution and try to live up tothe claims made for him by hisparents at birth.
It must be bad, Moonsonthought. It must be bad if Ican't control the trembling of myhands, the pounding of the bloodat my temples. I am like a childshut up alone in the dark, hearingrats scurrying in a closet thickwith cobwebs and the tapping ofa blind man's cane on a desertedstreet at midnight.
Tap, tap, tap—nearer andnearer through the darkness. Howsoon would the rats be swarmingout, blood-fanged and whollyvicious? How soon would thecane strike?
He looked up quickly, his eyessearching the shadows. Foralmost a month now the gleamingintricacies of the machine hadgiven him a complete sense ofsecurity. As a scholar travelingin Time he had been accepted byhis fellow travelers as a man ofgreat courage and firm determination.
For twenty-seven days a smoothsurface of shining metal hadwalled him in, enabling him tograpple with reality on a completelyadult level. For twenty-sevendays he had gone pridefullyback through Time, takingcreative delight in watching theheritage of the human race unrollbefore him like a cineramoscopeunder glass.
Watching a green land in thedying golden sunlight of an agelost to human memory could restorea man's strength of purposeby its serenity alone. But evenan age of war and pestilence couldbe observed without torment frombehind the protective shields ofthe Time Machine. Danger, accidents,catastrophe could not touchhim personally.
To watch death and destructionas a spectator in a traveling TimeObservatory was like watching acobra poised to strike from behinda pane of crystal-bright glassin a zoological garden.
You got a tremendous thrill injust thinking: How dreadful ifthe glass should not be there!How lucky I am to be alive, witha thing so deadly and monstrouswithin striking distance of me!
For twenty-seven days now hehad traveled without fear. Sometimesthe Time Observatory wouldpinpoint an age and hover overit while his companions tookpainstaking historical notes. Sometimesit would retrace its courseand circle back.