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Centauri, issue 2, Winter 1944
Page 20
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Page 20 Centauri - SECRET OF ATLANTIS - ed. I had no ears...Another question filtered into my consciousness. "Who are you?" Mental telepathy? What else? I came closer and fashioned an answer. "I am Chester Stenham, from the earth." She smiled and nodded, eagerly. She motioned me inside the cage. I floated through the bars, and her eyes followed me. She fired questions at me so rapidly I could scarcely form the answers. "How did you come here?" I told her about the strange design; where I had found it. "That must be the mark of my people," she cried wordlessly. "They have not come as you have come for many ages. A long, long time ago my forefathers colonized this world, in the flesh. They had ships that traveled in space. Then these beasts rose from the ground and conquered them by sheer force of numbers. My people were made slaves -- they have endured captivity for ages and ages. My great ancestors talked as we are talking long before they left Zelo -- your earth. When my forefathers were forced into slavery, their brothers on Zelo were afraid to venture here again. Centuries passed, and one day my parents' great ancestors heard the voices of their people, but could not see them. My forefathers realized that their cousins on the earth had found a way to send their spirits without their bodies. Occasionally they brought news from Zelo. But there was great danger in such an undertaking. When their spirits departed to come here, their bodies on Zelo did not live long. The knowledge of that strange design was suppressed, and many spirit-travelers who came here could not return -- they died. "But we heard that our people were preparing a great expedition in space ships. They were coming to rescue those who had been slaves for so many generations. Then one day a traveling spirit crossed the gulf and told us that Zelo has changed; that great waters had swallowed their land. As far as we know, all but one perished. How that lone spirit lived to tell us, no one knows. There were no more kind voices. The secret had been lost. We did not know it, because the rulers on Zelo had guarded it carefully, and only the few who knew it were able to come here, in spirit. Those same rulers did not favor spirit-travel. They would never let our people use it to visit Zelo. When Zelo perished, so perished our one hope of salvation. "Now you have come -- you solved the riddle of that seal which sent my remote ancestors here. You are the first for many, many cycles. We have given up hope. We slaves live in a city of our own, where records are kept. That is how I know all I have told you. These beasts cannot read our language -- they cannot hear our silent talk. They do not know how long we have hoped and dreamed... "My people have not as yet conquered space," I replied. "If I returned at this instant I could not help you. Your ancestors on the earth were far more civilized than are mine today -- or will be in thousands of years." "I can see that you are from a race whose general in-
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Page 20 Centauri - SECRET OF ATLANTIS - ed. I had no ears...Another question filtered into my consciousness. "Who are you?" Mental telepathy? What else? I came closer and fashioned an answer. "I am Chester Stenham, from the earth." She smiled and nodded, eagerly. She motioned me inside the cage. I floated through the bars, and her eyes followed me. She fired questions at me so rapidly I could scarcely form the answers. "How did you come here?" I told her about the strange design; where I had found it. "That must be the mark of my people," she cried wordlessly. "They have not come as you have come for many ages. A long, long time ago my forefathers colonized this world, in the flesh. They had ships that traveled in space. Then these beasts rose from the ground and conquered them by sheer force of numbers. My people were made slaves -- they have endured captivity for ages and ages. My great ancestors talked as we are talking long before they left Zelo -- your earth. When my forefathers were forced into slavery, their brothers on Zelo were afraid to venture here again. Centuries passed, and one day my parents' great ancestors heard the voices of their people, but could not see them. My forefathers realized that their cousins on the earth had found a way to send their spirits without their bodies. Occasionally they brought news from Zelo. But there was great danger in such an undertaking. When their spirits departed to come here, their bodies on Zelo did not live long. The knowledge of that strange design was suppressed, and many spirit-travelers who came here could not return -- they died. "But we heard that our people were preparing a great expedition in space ships. They were coming to rescue those who had been slaves for so many generations. Then one day a traveling spirit crossed the gulf and told us that Zelo has changed; that great waters had swallowed their land. As far as we know, all but one perished. How that lone spirit lived to tell us, no one knows. There were no more kind voices. The secret had been lost. We did not know it, because the rulers on Zelo had guarded it carefully, and only the few who knew it were able to come here, in spirit. Those same rulers did not favor spirit-travel. They would never let our people use it to visit Zelo. When Zelo perished, so perished our one hope of salvation. "Now you have come -- you solved the riddle of that seal which sent my remote ancestors here. You are the first for many, many cycles. We have given up hope. We slaves live in a city of our own, where records are kept. That is how I know all I have told you. These beasts cannot read our language -- they cannot hear our silent talk. They do not know how long we have hoped and dreamed... "My people have not as yet conquered space," I replied. "If I returned at this instant I could not help you. Your ancestors on the earth were far more civilized than are mine today -- or will be in thousands of years." "I can see that you are from a race whose general in-
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