Ray Bradbury - Pendulum

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PENDULUM

by Ray Bradbury and Henry Hasse

Prisoner of Time was he, outlawed from Life and Death alike the strange,

brooding creature who watched the ages roll by and waited half fearfully

for--eternity?

"I THINK," shrilled Erjas, "that this is our most intriguing discovery on any of

the worlds we have yet visited!"

His wide, green-shimmering wings fluttered, his beady bird eyes flashed

excitement. His several companions bobbed their heads in agreement, the

greenish-gold down on their slender necks ruffling softly. They were perched on

what had once been a moving sidewalk but was now only a twisted ribbon of

wreckage overlooking the vast expanse of a ruined city.

"Yes," Erjas continued, "it's baffling, fantastic! It--it has no reason for

being." He pointed unnecessarily to the object of their attention, resting on

the high stone plaza a short distance away. "Look at it! Just a huge tubular

pendulum hanging from that towering framework! And the machinery, the coggery

which must have once sent it swinging . . . I flew up there a while ago to

examine it, but it's hopelessly corroded."

"But the head of the pendulum!" another of the bird creatures said awedly. "A

hollow chamber--transparent, glassite--and that awful thing staring out of

it...."

Pressed close to the inner side of the pendulum head was a single human

skeleton. The whitened skull seemed to stare out over the desolate, crumbling

city as though regarding with amusement the heaps of powdery masonry and the

bare steel girders that drooped to the ground, giving the effect of huge spiders

poised to spring.

"It's enough to make one shudder--the way that thing grins! Almost as though--"

"The grin means nothing!" Erjas interrupted annoyedly. "That is only the

skeletal remains of one of the mammal creatures who once, undoubtedly, inhabited

this world." He shifted nervously from one spindly leg to the other, as he

glanced again at the grinning skull. "And yet, it does seem to be

almost--triumphant! And why are there no more of them around? Why is he the only

one . . . and why is he encased in that fantastic pendulum head?"

"We shall soon know," another of the bird creatures trilled softly, glancing at

their spaceship which rested amidst the ruins, a short distance away. "Orfleew

is even now deciphering the strange writing in the book he salvaged from the

pendulum head. We must not disturb him."

"How did he get the book? I see no opening in that transparent chamber."

"The long pendulum arm is hollow, apparently in order to vacuum out the cell.

The book was crumbling with age when Orfleew got it out, but he saved most of

it."

"I wish he would hurry! Why must he--"

"Shh! Give him time. Orfleew will decipher the writing; he has an amazing genius

for alien languages."

"Yes. I remember the metal tablets on that tiny planet in the constellation--"

"Here he comes now!"

"He's finished already!"

"We shall soon know the story...."

The bird creatures fairly quivered as Orfleew appeared in the open doorway of

their spaceship, carefully carrying a sheaf of yellowed pages. He waved to them,

spread his wings and soared outward. A moment later he alighted beside his

companions on their narrow perch.

"The language is simple," Orfleew told them, "and the story is a sad one. I will

read it to you and then we must depart, for there is nothing we can do on this

world."

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Ray Bradbury - Pendulum

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