The Time Travel Megapack: 26 Modern and Classic Science Fiction Stories Read online

  Table of Contents

  COPYRIGHT INFO

  A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

  THE MEGAPACK SERIES

  TIME OUT, by Edward M. Lerner

  THESE STONES WILL REMEMBER, by Reginald Bretnor

  PROJECT MASTODON, by Clifford D. Simak

  12:01 P.M., by Richard A. Lupoff

  TIME CONSIDERED AS A SERIES OF THERMITE BURNS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER, by Damien Broderick

  TIME AND TIME AGAIN, by H. Beam Piper

  TRY, TRY AGAIN, by John Gregory Betancourt

  THE ETERNAL WALL, by Raymond Z. Gallun

  THE MAN FROM TIME, by Frank Belknap Long

  OF TIME AND TEXAS, by William F. Nolan

  THE EDGE OF THE KNIFE, by H. Beam Piper

  THROUGH TIME AND SPACE WITH FERDINAND FEGHOOT (10), by Grendel Briarton

  TIME BUM, by C.M. Kornbluth

  NEBOGIPFEL AT THE END OF TIME, by Richard A. Lupoff

  UNBORN TOMORROW, by Mack Reynolds

  LOST IN THE FUTURE, by John Victor Peterson

  THE WINDS OF TIME, by James H. Schmitz

  ARMAGEDDON—2419 A.D., by Philip Francis Nowlan

  THE MAN WHO SAW THE FUTURE, by Edmond Hamilton

  A TRAVELER IN TIME, by August Derleth

  THROUGH TIME AND SPACE WITH FERDINAND FEGHOOT (71), by Grendel Briarton

  FLIGHT FROM TOMORROW, by H. Beam Piper

  IN THE CRACKS OF TIME, by David Grace

  SWEEP ME TO MY REVENGE!, by Darrell Schweitzer

  THE SOLID MEN, by C.J. Henderson

  THROUGH TIME AND SPACE WITH FERDINAND FEGHOOT (Epsilon), by Grendel Briarton

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  The Time Travel Megapack

  Version 1.2

  COPYRIGHT INFO

  The Time Travel Megapack is copyright © 2013 by Wildside Press LLC. Cover art © Ancello / Fotolia. All rights reserved.

  * * * *

  “Time Out,” by Edward M. Lerner, originally appeared in Analog, January/February 2013. Copyright © 2013 by Edward M. Lerner. Reprinted by permission of the author

  “These Stones Will Remember,” by Reginald Bretnor, originally appeared in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, February 16, 1981. Copyright © 1981 by Reginald Bretnor. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.

  “Project Mastodon,” by Clifford D. Simak, originally appeared in Galaxy, March 1955.

  “12:01 P.M.,” by Richard A. Lupoff, originally appeared in the December 1973 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Copyright © 1973 by Richard A. Lupoff. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Armageddon—2419 A.D.,” by Philip Francis Nowlan, originally appeareard in Amazing Stories, August 1928.

  “Time and Time Again,” by H. Beam Piper, originally appeared in Astounding Science Fiction, April 1947.

  “Try, Try Again,” by John Gregory Betancourt, is original to this publication. Copyright © 2013 by John Gregory Betancourt.

  “The Eternal Wall,” by Raymond Z. Gallun, originally appeared in Amazing Stories, November 1942.

  “The Man Who Saw the Future,” by Edmond Hamilton originally appeared in Amazing Stories, October 1930.

  “The Man from Time,” by Frank Belknap Long, originally appeared in Fantastic Universe, March 1954.

  “Of Time and Texas,” by William F. Nolan, originally appeared in Fantastic Universe, November 1956.

  “The Edge of the Knife,” by H. Beam Piper, originally appeared in Amazing Stories, May 1957.

  “Time Bum,” by C.M. Kornbluth, originally appeared in Fantastic, January/February 1953.

  “Unborn Tomorrow,” by Mack Reynolds, originally appeared in Astounding Science Fiction, June 1959.

  “Lost in the Future,” by John Victor Peterson, originally appeared in Fantastic Universe January 1954.

  “The Winds of Time,” by James H. Schmitz, originally appeared in Analog September 1962.

  “Flight From Tomorrow,” by H. Beam Piper, originally appeared in Science Fiction Stories, September/October 1950.

  “In the Cracks of Time,” by David Grace, is copyright © 2009 by David M. Alexander. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Sweep Me to My Revenge!” by Darrell Schweitzer, originally appeared in Talebones, Summer 2007. Copyright © 2007 by Darrell Schweitzer. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Solid Men,” by C.J. Henderson, originally appeared in The Nth Degree, Sept/Oct 2009. Copyright © 2009 by C.J. Henderson. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot (10)” and “Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot (71)” are taken from The Collected Feghoot (1992). Copyright © 1982 by Reginald Bretnor. “Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot (Epsilon),” by Grendel Briarton originally appeared in Amazing Stories, November 1985. Copyright © 1985 by Reginald Bretnor. All are reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.

  A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

  Time travel is one of the staples of science fiction, right up there with aliens, space opera, and robots. Most science fiction authors have written at least one time travel story. This collection samples some of the best.

  As always, we try not to overlap content with other volumes in the Megapack series, but in this case we simply have to include “Time and Time Again,” by H. Beam Piper, which is one of the masterpieces of the time travel subgenre. (It may also be found in The H. Beam Piper Megapack, which—needless to say—we recommend highly if you aren’t yet familiar with the author.) And we reprint “Time Bum,” by C.M. Kornbluth, from The Second Science Fiction Megapack—another classic.

  As always, if you enjoy a particular story, we invite you to check out the author’s other ebooks, many of which are available from Wildside Press. Look for them on your favorite ebook site.

  —John Betancourt

  Publisher, Wildside Press LLC

  www.wildsidepress.com

  THE MEGAPACK SERIES

  Over the last few years, our “Megapack” series of ebook anthologies has proved to be one of our most popular endeavors. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”

  The Megapacks (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt, Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!).

  A NOTE FOR KINDLE READERS

  The Kindle versions of our Megapacks employ active tables of contents for easy navigation…please look for one before writing reviews on Amazon that complain about the lack! (They are sometimes at the ends of ebooks, depending on your reader.) Of course, being human, we do occasionally make mistakes. If this ebook doesn’t have an active table of contents, please inform us and we’ll fix it immediately.

  RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?

  Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the Megapack series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).

  Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.

  TYPOS

  Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typ
os do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.

  If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.

  THE MEGAPACK SERIES

  MYSTERY

  The Achmed Abdullah Megapack

  The Charlie Chan Megapack

  The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective Megapack

  The Detective Megapack

  The Father Brown Megapack

  The Jacques Futrelle Megapack

  The Anna Katharine Green Mystery Megapack

  The First Mystery Megapack

  The Penny Parker Megapack

  The Pulp Fiction Megapack

  The Raffles Megapack

  The Victorian Mystery Megapack

  The Wilkie Collins Megapack

  GENERAL INTEREST

  The Adventure Megapack

  The Baseball Megapack

  The Christmas Megapack

  The Second Christmas Megapack

  The Classic American Short Stories Megapack

  The Classic Humor Megapack

  The Military Megapack

  SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

  The Edward Bellamy Megapack

  The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack

  The Philip K. Dick Megapack

  The Randall Garrett Megapack

  The Second Randall Garrett Megapack

  The Murray Leinster Megapack

  The Second Murray Leinster Megapack

  The Martian Megapack

  The Andre Norton Megapack

  The H. Beam Piper Megapack

  The Pulp Fiction Megapack

  The Mack Reynolds Megapack

  The First Science Fiction Megapack

  The Second Science Fiction Megapack

  The Third Science Fiction Megapack

  The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack

  The Fifth Science Fiction Megapack

  The Sixth Science Fiction Megapack

  The Robert Sheckley Megapack

  The Steampunk Megapack

  The Time Travel Megapack

  The Wizard of Oz Megapack

  HORROR

  The Achmed Abdullah Megapack

  The E.F. Benson Megapack

  The Second E.F. Benson Megapack

  The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack

  The Ghost Story Megapack

  The Second Ghost Story Megapack

  The Third Ghost Story Megapack

  The Horror Megapack

  The M.R. James Megapack

  The Macabre Megapack

  The Second Macabre Megapack

  The Mummy Megapack

  The Vampire Megapack

  The Werewolf Megapack

  WESTERNS

  The B.M. Bower Megapack

  The Max Brand Megapack

  The Buffalo Bill Megapack

  The Cowboy Megapack

  The Zane Grey Megapack

  The Western Megapack

  The Second Western Megapack

  The Wizard of Oz Megapack

  YOUNG ADULT

  The Boys’ Adventure Megapack

  The Dan Carter, Cub Scout Megapack

  The G.A. Henty Megapack

  The Penny Parker Megapack

  The Pinocchio Megapack

  The Rover Boys Megapack

  The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Megapack

  The Tom Swift Megapack

  AUTHOR MEGAPACKS

  The Achmed Abdullah Megapack

  The Edward Bellamy Megapack

  The B.M. Bower Megapack

  The E.F. Benson Megapack

  The Second E.F. Benson Megapack

  The Max Brand Megapack

  The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack

  The Wilkie Collins Megapack

  The Philip K. Dick Megapack

  The Jacques Futrelle Megapack

  The Randall Garrett Megapack

  The Anna Katharine Green Megapack

  The Zane Grey Megapack

  The Second Randall Garrett Megapack

  The M.R. James Megapack

  The Murray Leinster Megapack

  The Second Murray Leinster Megapack

  The Andre Norton Megapack

  The H. Beam Piper Megapack

  The Mack Reynolds Megapack

  The Rafael Sabatini Megapack

  The Saki Megapack

  The Robert Sheckley Megapack

  OTHER COLLECTIONS YOU MAY ENJOY

  The Great Book of Wonder, by Lord Dunsany (it should have been called “The Lord Dunsany Megapack”)

  The Wildside Book of Fantasy

  The Wildside Book of Science Fiction

  Yondering: The First Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

  To the Stars—And Beyond! The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

  Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

  Whodunit?—The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories

  More Whodunits—The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories

  X is for Xmas: Christmas Mysteries

  TIME OUT, by Edward M. Lerner

  I’m coughing, choking. Every breath sears my throat and rasps like sandpaper at my lungs. Fire licks hungrily at walls, furniture, equipment. Smoke is everywhere: thick, black, and toxic. The flames hiss, crackle, and roar.

  But nothing masks the screams.

  I fear I’ve been reliving it aloud, because the cop seated across the table glances at the wall with the one-way glass. Following his eyes, I catch my own reflection. That slump-shouldered, expressionless figure seems at least twice my thirty years.

  The cop’s look asks, “Do we let him keep talking or read him his rights?”

  My rights. I try to care. Only the flames and smoke—and the screaming—are real to me.

  Maybe I overlooked some signal. Maybe the cop made up his own mind. He begins reciting, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can…”

  No matter my rights, I must remain silent. I dare not let anyone even suspect, or it will all have been for naught.

  The horror once more washes over me, untouched by conviction I could not have done anything else. Again memories obliterate the present.

  I’m in the warehouse. I feel the scorching heat, and I hear the screams, and I smell—

  Convulsively, I throw up.

  CHAPTER 1

  The tale began and ended—if it has ended—with Jonas.

  I would have liked to see myself as Watson to Jonas’s Holmes: a colleague, though not an equal. I knew better. I was more clueless even than Watson.

  Better to call me Ishmael to Jonas’s Ahab, Sancho Panza to his Don Quixote, Igor to his Victor Frankenstein. There were no happy endings to those pairings.

  So, Jonas…

  * * * *

  Mornings spent in the Home Depot parking lot had cured my pallor. Flab, alas, did not yield so easily. The owlish glasses probably didn’t recommend me, either. Whatever the reason, the weathered-looking men in their battered, mud-spattered trucks had yet to acknowledge me, much less to offer me work.

  A Mutt and Jeff pair, grinning, had ridden off on the flatbed of a pickup, twenty or so minutes earlier. Likely they were the last who’d get work today. The main thing that I’d learned about day labor was that construction jobs began early. That, and that soon the store manager would tell us rejects and laggards to shove off, before the parking area and the store got busy. The understanding was we’d be elsewhere by ten.

  I’d barely set off for home, such as it was, the June day already warm and humid, when the Hyundai station wagon pulled up. Dirt lay as thick on it as on any truck that had come trawling for cheap laborers, but still it didn’t fit. The back seat was folded down, and the cargo deck was filled with—I had no idea what. Like a tor
nado had hit a Radio Shack, and deposited the debris there. The driver’s shirt, seen through the grimy windshield, might have been white. The faint music sounded orchestral and baroque.

  A window slid down. (The music swelled; Vivaldi, I decided.) This was where the would-be employer would shout out for carpenters, or painters, or just strong backs.

  This guy was at a loss what to ask, but managed to come up with, “Who speaks English?” He himself had a trace of an accent. Slavic, I thought.

  Most everyone answered yes (or sí, or twice da). Three of us stepped up to the Hyundai.

  The driver had a square face, clean-shaven, with epic frown lines. His gray hair was as snarled and unruly as a Brillo pad. Sixty-ish, I guessed. His eyes, small and close set, darted about.

  Beneath the edginess, I sensed something else. Determination. As for the hiring of day labor, he didn’t know what he was doing.

  That was okay. I didn’t know what I was doing, either.

  I said, “A priest, a minister, and the Dalai Lama walk into a bar. Stop me if you’ve heard this one.”

  The man in the station wagon smiled uncertainly, displaying large, uneven teeth. He said, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “How can I help you?” I asked.

  “Odd jobs in my workshop. Cleaning. Furniture moving. Sort and inventory a bunch of stuff. Run errands. Just so you know, I have some high-voltage equipment. It’s all labeled. You’ll need to stay away from it.”

  “I can do odd jobs,” I assured him, “and not electrocute myself, either. I’m Peter Bitner, by the way.”

  “Jonas,” he answered reflexively. “Have any technical aptitude? Electronics, computers, ham radio, that kind of thing?”

  “None whatsoever,” I told him.

  He nodded. Ignorance, apparently, was a good thing.

  The men who had stepped forward with me sidled back. Too many had been stiffed at the end of a day’s work. When, in the charitable expression, you’re an undocumented worker, as many here were, or working off-book for cash, as did everyone here, to whom would you complain? People learned to avoid anyone who felt off.

  Jonas felt off to me, too. So what? I was divorced, disgraced, and destitute. Disowned by my parents and deserted by my so-called friends. (Except, when I was honest with myself, the few who had tried to stay in touch. Them I was too ashamed to see.) Days away from homelessness. Rejecting a job—if Jonas offered me one—was a bigger risk than getting cheated.