The Time Machine Read online

  VI

  'It may seem odd to you, but it was two days before I could followup the new-found clue in what was manifestly the proper way. I felta peculiar shrinking from those pallid bodies. They were just thehalf-bleached colour of the worms and things one sees preserved inspirit in a zoological museum. And they were filthily cold to thetouch. Probably my shrinking was largely due to the sympatheticinfluence of the Eloi, whose disgust of the Morlocks I now beganto appreciate.

  'The next night I did not sleep well. Probably my health was alittle disordered. I was oppressed with perplexity and doubt. Onceor twice I had a feeling of intense fear for which I could perceiveno definite reason. I remember creeping noiselessly into the greathall where the little people were sleeping in the moonlight--thatnight Weena was among them--and feeling reassured by their presence.It occurred to me even then, that in the course of a few days themoon must pass through its last quarter, and the nights grow dark,when the appearances of these unpleasant creatures from below, thesewhitened Lemurs, this new vermin that had replaced the old, might bemore abundant. And on both these days I had the restless feeling ofone who shirks an inevitable duty. I felt assured that the TimeMachine was only to be recovered by boldly penetrating theseunderground mysteries. Yet I could not face the mystery. If only Ihad had a companion it would have been different. But I was sohorribly alone, and even to clamber down into the darkness of thewell appalled me. I don't know if you will understand my feeling,but I never felt quite safe at my back.

  'It was this restlessness, this insecurity, perhaps, that drove mefurther and further afield in my exploring expeditions. Going to thesouth-westward towards the rising country that is now called CombeWood, I observed far off, in the direction of nineteenth-centuryBanstead, a vast green structure, different in character from anyI had hitherto seen. It was larger than the largest of the palacesor ruins I knew, and the facade had an Oriental look: the faceof it having the lustre, as well as the pale-green tint, a kindof bluish-green, of a certain type of Chinese porcelain. Thisdifference in aspect suggested a difference in use, and I was mindedto push on and explore. But the day was growing late, and I had comeupon the sight of the place after a long and tiring circuit; so Iresolved to hold over the adventure for the following day, and Ireturned to the welcome and the caresses of little Weena. But nextmorning I perceived clearly enough that my curiosity regarding thePalace of Green Porcelain was a piece of self-deception, to enableme to shirk, by another day, an experience I dreaded. I resolved Iwould make the descent without further waste of time, and startedout in the early morning towards a well near the ruins of graniteand aluminium.

  'Little Weena ran with me. She danced beside me to the well, butwhen she saw me lean over the mouth and look downward, she seemedstrangely disconcerted. "Good-bye, little Weena," I said, kissingher; and then putting her down, I began to feel over the parapetfor the climbing hooks. Rather hastily, I may as well confess, forI feared my courage might leak away! At first she watched me inamazement. Then she gave a most piteous cry, and running to me, shebegan to pull at me with her little hands. I think her oppositionnerved me rather to proceed. I shook her off, perhaps a littleroughly, and in another moment I was in the throat of the well. Isaw her agonized face over the parapet, and smiled to reassure her.Then I had to look down at the unstable hooks to which I clung.

  'I had to clamber down a shaft of perhaps two hundred yards. Thedescent was effected by means of metallic bars projecting fromthe sides of the well, and these being adapted to the needs ofa creature much smaller and lighter than myself, I was speedilycramped and fatigued by the descent. And not simply fatigued! One ofthe bars bent suddenly under my weight, and almost swung me off intothe blackness beneath. For a moment I hung by one hand, and afterthat experience I did not dare to rest again. Though my arms andback were presently acutely painful, I went on clambering down thesheer descent with as quick a motion as possible. Glancing upward,I saw the aperture, a small blue disk, in which a star was visible,while little Weena's head showed as a round black projection. Thethudding sound of a machine below grew louder and more oppressive.Everything save that little disk above was profoundly dark, and whenI looked up again Weena had disappeared.

  'I was in an agony of discomfort. I had some thought of trying to goup the shaft again, and leave the Under-world alone. But even whileI turned this over in my mind I continued to descend. At last, withintense relief, I saw dimly coming up, a foot to the right of me, aslender loophole in the wall. Swinging myself in, I found it was theaperture of a narrow horizontal tunnel in which I could lie down andrest. It was not too soon. My arms ached, my back was cramped, and Iwas trembling with the prolonged terror of a fall. Besides this, theunbroken darkness had had a distressing effect upon my eyes. The airwas full of the throb and hum of machinery pumping air down theshaft.

  'I do not know how long I lay. I was roused by a soft hand touchingmy face. Starting up in the darkness I snatched at my matches and,hastily striking one, I saw three stooping white creatures similarto the one I had seen above ground in the ruin, hastily retreatingbefore the light. Living, as they did, in what appeared to meimpenetrable darkness, their eyes were abnormally large andsensitive, just as are the pupils of the abysmal fishes, and theyreflected the light in the same way. I have no doubt they could seeme in that rayless obscurity, and they did not seem to have any fearof me apart from the light. But, so soon as I struck a match inorder to see them, they fled incontinently, vanishing into darkgutters and tunnels, from which their eyes glared at me in thestrangest fashion.

  'I tried to call to them, but the language they had was apparentlydifferent from that of the Over-world people; so that I was needsleft to my own unaided efforts, and the thought of flight beforeexploration was even then in my mind. But I said to myself, "You arein for it now," and, feeling my way along the tunnel, I found thenoise of machinery grow louder. Presently the walls fell away fromme, and I came to a large open space, and striking another match,saw that I had entered a vast arched cavern, which stretched intoutter darkness beyond the range of my light. The view I had of itwas as much as one could see in the burning of a match.

  'Necessarily my memory is vague. Great shapes like big machines roseout of the dimness, and cast grotesque black shadows, in which dimspectral Morlocks sheltered from the glare. The place, by the by,was very stuffy and oppressive, and the faint halitus of freshlyshed blood was in the air. Some way down the central vista was alittle table of white metal, laid with what seemed a meal. TheMorlocks at any rate were carnivorous! Even at the time, I rememberwondering what large animal could have survived to furnish the redjoint I saw. It was all very indistinct: the heavy smell, the bigunmeaning shapes, the obscene figures lurking in the shadows, andonly waiting for the darkness to come at me again! Then the matchburned down, and stung my fingers, and fell, a wriggling red spotin the blackness.

  'I have thought since how particularly ill-equipped I was for suchan experience. When I had started with the Time Machine, I hadstarted with the absurd assumption that the men of the Future wouldcertainly be infinitely ahead of ourselves in all their appliances.I had come without arms, without medicine, without anything tosmoke--at times I missed tobacco frightfully--even without enoughmatches. If only I had thought of a Kodak! I could have flashed thatglimpse of the Underworld in a second, and examined it at leisure.But, as it was, I stood there with only the weapons and the powersthat Nature had endowed me with--hands, feet, and teeth; these, andfour safety-matches that still remained to me.

  'I was afraid to push my way in among all this machinery in thedark, and it was only with my last glimpse of light I discoveredthat my store of matches had run low. It had never occurred to meuntil that moment that there was any need to economize them, and Ihad wasted almost half the box in astonishing the Upper-worlders, towhom fire was a novelty. Now, as I say, I had four left, and while Istood in the dark, a hand touched mine, lank fingers came feelingover my face, and I was sensible of a peculiar unpleasant odour. Ifancied I heard t
he breathing of a crowd of those dreadful littlebeings about me. I felt the box of matches in my hand being gentlydisengaged, and other hands behind me plucking at my clothing. Thesense of these unseen creatures examining me was indescribablyunpleasant. The sudden realization of my ignorance of their ways ofthinking and doing came home to me very vividly in the darkness. Ishouted at them as loudly as I could. They started away, and thenI could feel them approaching me again. They clutched at me moreboldly, whispering odd sounds to each other. I shivered violently,and shouted again--rather discordantly. This time they were not soseriously alarmed, and they made a queer laughing noise as they cameback at me. I will confess I was horribly frightened. I determinedto strike another match and escape under the protection of itsglare. I did so, and eking out the flicker with a scrap of paperfrom my pocket, I made good my retreat to the narrow tunnel. But Ihad scarce entered this when my light was blown out and in theblackness I could hear the Morlocks rustling like wind among leaves,and pattering like the rain, as they hurried after me.

  'In a moment I was clutched by several hands, and there was nomistaking that they were trying to haul me back. I struck anotherlight, and waved it in their dazzled faces. You can scarce imaginehow nauseatingly inhuman they looked--those pale, chinless facesand great, lidless, pinkish-grey eyes!--as they stared in theirblindness and bewilderment. But I did not stay to look, I promiseyou: I retreated again, and when my second match had ended, I struckmy third. It had almost burned through when I reached the openinginto the shaft. I lay down on the edge, for the throb of the greatpump below made me giddy. Then I felt sideways for the projectinghooks, and, as I did so, my feet were grasped from behind, and Iwas violently tugged backward. I lit my last match ... and itincontinently went out. But I had my hand on the climbing bars now,and, kicking violently, I disengaged myself from the clutches of theMorlocks and was speedily clambering up the shaft, while they stayedpeering and blinking up at me: all but one little wretch whofollowed me for some way, and well-nigh secured my boot as a trophy.

  'That climb seemed interminable to me. With the last twenty orthirty feet of it a deadly nausea came upon me. I had the greatestdifficulty in keeping my hold. The last few yards was a frightfulstruggle against this faintness. Several times my head swam, and Ifelt all the sensations of falling. At last, however, I got over thewell-mouth somehow, and staggered out of the ruin into the blindingsunlight. I fell upon my face. Even the soil smelt sweet and clean.Then I remember Weena kissing my hands and ears, and the voices ofothers among the Eloi. Then, for a time, I was insensible.