The Project Gutenberg eBook of Time for survival, by George O. Smith This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: Time for survival Author: George O. Smith Release Date: February 26, 2023 [eBook #70148] Language: English Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TIME FOR SURVIVAL *** TIME FOR SURVIVAL By GEORGE O. SMITH [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Fantastic Universe March 1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] The storm ruined my plan. Not by seasickness. I'd come prepared for the worst, knowing how rough it could get on a sailing ship of the Nineteenth Century. I outrode the storm easily, stowed away in the hold. Not even the breakage of some of the 1700 barrels of alcohol carried as a cargo bothered me although the stench was terrific. But on the morning of 25 November 1872, the first mate, Albert Richardson sent the second mate, Andrew Gilling below with two of the German seamen to assay the storm damage. They found me and I was hauled aloft before Captain Briggs as a stowaway. Captain Briggs of the _Mary Celeste_ eyed my strange clothing with deep curiosity, but his interest was obviously more concerned with my unauthorized presence. He said sternly, "When did you get aboard?" I realized that I had to impress him. I smiled. "You delayed your sailing from the Fifth November to the Sixth so that you and Mrs. Briggs could have dinner aboard _Die Gratia_ with Captain Morehouse," I said. "How can you know so much?" he exclaimed. "How can you live as a stowaway for almost twenty days?" I held up my chronithon contactor, knowing that now I could impress him indeed. "Captain Briggs," I said, "I am a time-travelling historian from the Twenty-Second Century." I pointed to the big red button on the top. "Until I depress this button and return to my own day and age, every morning I receive my daily ration of food and water. It's about--" I'd timed it close. I was interrupted by the click of the chronithon as it time-transferred my daily ration. I opened the cabinet and offered a bite of twenty-second century breakfast to the captain. He said, "This is a sailor's tall tale, I think. You claim that you're a time-travelling historian? Then tell me, why are you here on _Mary Celeste_?" "Captain Briggs," I said, "the Time Machine was invented in Nineteen Eighty-Seven. Within twenty years every historical event had been painstakingly researched and authentically written--re-written--by time-travelling historians who viewed the event as partaking eye-witnesses. By my time, fame and fortune awaits any man who has the luck and dogged determination to scour historic time to locate some event that has not been recounted faithfully to the last niggling little detail. Why, Captain Briggs, in Jim Bishop's famous 'The Day Columbus Landed' they record the name of the man who owned the hen that laid the egg that Columbus stood on end to impress Isabella with his ability. And so, Captain Briggs, I stowed away because I--" A woman's voice interrupted me, I turned to look at the captain's wife who, of course, was the only woman aboard _Mary Celeste_. She was carrying little Sophia Matilda in her arms. She said, "Edward, what unearthly manner of ship is that?" The steward, Edward Head replied, "I don't rightly know, ma-am." I turned to look. No more than fifty feet from the starboard rail was a vast barge. Upon the barge were serried rows of seats that stretched upwards and backwards for hundreds of feet. The seats were filling rapidly; ushers were escorting the spectators efficiently, vendors were selling refreshments and programs. A thrumming sound came from overhead and I looked up to watch the materialization of jetcopters and personnel carriers and even a poised spacecraft hanging in a dome above our heads. Over the lee rail came a crew of technicians carrying the heavy Ward-Workman tridi recorders of the twenty-seventh century, and their director pulled a script from his pocket and said: "Joe, you and Pete dislocate the binnacle and break the compass. Al, open the fore hatch and lazarette. Tony, that spring-wound chronometer is a pre-atomic clock and worth a fortune to the National Museum, put it among my personal loot, along with the sextant. You can keep the ship's register, but give the navigation books to George with my compliments. Let's see, um. Sails, jib and fore-topmast. Now toss the yawl overboard; get it out of the way. It's missing." One of his men came up and said something to him that I could not hear. "No," he replied, "It would not be more dramatic to dummy-up a half-eaten breakfast and a pan of milk warming on the stove for the baby. Too many writers tried to make it that way in the beginning. I know what's authentic." Then he paused as the Ward-Workman cameramen panned around _Mary Celeste_ making close-up and approach shots. One by one they finished their work and reported to him. "Fine," he said, looking at his strapwatch. "Now let's back off for some long shots. And remember, we don't know what kind of a catastrophe this is going to be, so keep those tridi recorders running constantly until I tell you to stop!" Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs of _Mary Celeste_ put an arm around his wife. To me he said, "I don't completely understand, but I do get enough to realize that we're the subject of something evil." "Yes," I replied, "you--" "We're not waiting here to let it happen to us!" he snapped. "But you can't change history!" I objected. "Watch," he said roughly. And then with a stentorian voice, Captain Briggs roared: "_Abandon ship!_" The captain and his wife, still carrying their daughter Sophia Matilda, mingled with the photorecording crew. The two mates, the steward, and the four German seamen went over the side and swam swiftly for the barges. There were flurries of activity when they went aboard the barges, but then the activity stilled and I was alone on _Mary Celeste_. I looked around me and realized that Captain Briggs hadn't changed history. He'd made it! Slowly the barges emptied, the spectators returned to their own time and place among the Centuries. Sorrowfully I pressed my button and went home. My fame would never be, my fortune would never start. My book would remain unwritten, for I knew full well that potential customer for this historic event had been here as an eye-witness. After seeing it, who'd bother to buy my book? * * * * * On 4 December, 1872, Captain Morehouse of _Die Gratia_ sighted _Mary Celeste_ yawing in a mild sea with jib and fore-topmast sails set, no one at the helm and no one aboard. The binnacle was knocked out of place, the compass was broken. The sextant, the chronometer, ship's register and navigation books were missing. The ship's yawl, lashed to the main hatch was missing. The fore hatch and lazarette were open and about a dozen of the ship's cargo of 1701 barrels of alcohol were broken or leaking badly. The last notation in the ship's deck log had been made early in the morning of 25 November 1872, and the account of the previous hours indicated that _Mary Celeste_ had come through a severe storm on the previous day and most of the night. Accounts that include half-eaten plates of food, half-packed bags and other evidences of an abrupt interruption and panicky flight for safety are false. No survivors have ever turned up, no explanation can be given. Researchers in the "Mystery of _Mary Celeste_" suggest that the storm, the leaking alcohol, combined to frighten Captain Briggs with a threat of fire or explosion and that they all took off in the ship's yawl, which floundered. We will not know the truth until someone invents the Time Machine. *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TIME FOR SURVIVAL *** Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be renamed. 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