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Polaris, v. 1, issue 4, September 1940
Page 7
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POLARIS 7 dropped the picture on the table. "There is something wrong," I muttered. "The tree I saw didn't look as repulsive as that----" "Are you sure?" Theunis grated. "The fact is, you may have seen many things not recorded on this film." "It shows more than I saw!" "That's the point. There is something damnably out of place in this landscape; something I can't understand. The tree seems to suggest a thought---beyond my grasp. . . . It is too misty; too uncertain; too unreal to be natural!" He rapped nervous fingers on the table. He snatched the remaining films and shuffled through them, rapidly. I reached for the snapshot he had dropped, and sensed a touch of bizarre uncertainty and strangeness as my eyes absorbed its every detail. The flowers and weeds pointed at varying angles, while some of the grass grew in the most bewildering fashion. The tree seemed too veiled and clouded to be readily distinguished, but I noted the huge limbs and the half-bent flower stems that were ready to fall over, yet did not fall. And the many; overlapping shadows. . . . . They were, altogether, very disquieting shadows---too long or short when compared to the stems they fell below to give one a feeling of comfortable normality. The landscape hadn't shocked me the day of my visit. . . . There was a dark familiarity and mocking suggestion in it; something tangible, yet distant as the stars beyond the galaxy. Theunis came back to earth. "Did you mention three suns in your dreaming orgy?" I nodded, frankly puzzled. Then it dawned on me. My fingers trembled slightly as I stared at the picture again. My dream! Of course---- "The others are just like it," Theunis said. "That same uncertainness; that suggestion. I should be able to catch the mood of the thing; see it in its real light, and it is too. . . . Perhaps later I shall find out, if I look at it long enough." We sat in silence for some time. A thought came to me, suddenly, prompted by a strange, inexplicable longing to visit the tree again. "Let's make an excursion. I think I can take you there in half a day." "You'd better stay away," replied Theunis, thoughtfully. "I doubt if you could find the place again if you wanted to." "Nonsense," I replied. "Surely, with these photos to guide us----" "Did you see any familiar landmarks in them?" His observation was uncanny. After looking through the remaining snaps carefully, I had to admit that there were none. Theunis muttered under his breath and drew viciously on his cigarette. "A perfectly normal---or nearly so---picture of a spot apparently dropped from nowhere. Seeing mountains at this low altitude is preposterous . . . but wait!" He sprang from the chair as a hunted animal and raced from the room. I could hear him moving about in our makeshift library, cursing volubly. Before long he reappeared with an old, leather-bound volume. Theunis opened it reverently, and pored over the odd characters. "What do you call that?" I inquired. "This is an early English translation of the Chronicle of
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POLARIS 7 dropped the picture on the table. "There is something wrong," I muttered. "The tree I saw didn't look as repulsive as that----" "Are you sure?" Theunis grated. "The fact is, you may have seen many things not recorded on this film." "It shows more than I saw!" "That's the point. There is something damnably out of place in this landscape; something I can't understand. The tree seems to suggest a thought---beyond my grasp. . . . It is too misty; too uncertain; too unreal to be natural!" He rapped nervous fingers on the table. He snatched the remaining films and shuffled through them, rapidly. I reached for the snapshot he had dropped, and sensed a touch of bizarre uncertainty and strangeness as my eyes absorbed its every detail. The flowers and weeds pointed at varying angles, while some of the grass grew in the most bewildering fashion. The tree seemed too veiled and clouded to be readily distinguished, but I noted the huge limbs and the half-bent flower stems that were ready to fall over, yet did not fall. And the many; overlapping shadows. . . . . They were, altogether, very disquieting shadows---too long or short when compared to the stems they fell below to give one a feeling of comfortable normality. The landscape hadn't shocked me the day of my visit. . . . There was a dark familiarity and mocking suggestion in it; something tangible, yet distant as the stars beyond the galaxy. Theunis came back to earth. "Did you mention three suns in your dreaming orgy?" I nodded, frankly puzzled. Then it dawned on me. My fingers trembled slightly as I stared at the picture again. My dream! Of course---- "The others are just like it," Theunis said. "That same uncertainness; that suggestion. I should be able to catch the mood of the thing; see it in its real light, and it is too. . . . Perhaps later I shall find out, if I look at it long enough." We sat in silence for some time. A thought came to me, suddenly, prompted by a strange, inexplicable longing to visit the tree again. "Let's make an excursion. I think I can take you there in half a day." "You'd better stay away," replied Theunis, thoughtfully. "I doubt if you could find the place again if you wanted to." "Nonsense," I replied. "Surely, with these photos to guide us----" "Did you see any familiar landmarks in them?" His observation was uncanny. After looking through the remaining snaps carefully, I had to admit that there were none. Theunis muttered under his breath and drew viciously on his cigarette. "A perfectly normal---or nearly so---picture of a spot apparently dropped from nowhere. Seeing mountains at this low altitude is preposterous . . . but wait!" He sprang from the chair as a hunted animal and raced from the room. I could hear him moving about in our makeshift library, cursing volubly. Before long he reappeared with an old, leather-bound volume. Theunis opened it reverently, and pored over the odd characters. "What do you call that?" I inquired. "This is an early English translation of the Chronicle of
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