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WHEN I came to again, almost complete darkness surrounded me. But the air was clear, quite free of smoke, and I seemed to be lying on a soft couch. For a time I wondered hazily what had become of the fire. Then it occurred to me that this was the cabin of the flier which my companion had mentioned. As final proof, there came from the outside the muffled, drumming hiss of the driving rockets, familiar to me from years of travel in similar planes back in my first life in the twentieth century.
I looked about more carefully. Toward one end of the cabin was the faint glow of an instrument panel, and to one side was a small, stubby winged model of a rocket plane, glowing phosphorescently in the dark. In the faint glow, I made out the figure of the pilot seated between the panel and the glowing model, and with one hand frequently changing the position of the model slightly. I realized that the model was a graphic control—a change in its position causing a similar change in the flying altitude of the plane. This particular application was new to me, but I immediately appreciated its simplicity and efficiency.
I tried to get up, but a large majority of my joints and muscles put in a vehement protest, and I gave up the idea. The pilot, hearing the movement, snapped several switches on the instrument panel, then rose and came toward me. The room became brightly lit up, and at the same time curtains came down over the lookout port in the front and over windows lining the sides of the cabin.
I don't know that I had formed any definite ideas about the appearance of my companion; certainly there was little enough to judge by in our meeting in the darkness and in the smoke of the burning forest. But somehow I had a strong impression that he was a young man.
So, seeing him clearly for the first time, it was with something of a shock that I realized he was a decidedly pretty young woman. Broad shoulders, low pitched voice and closely cropped hair had combined to deceive me in that first meeting.
She smiled at me radiantly, and after making sure I was comfortable, began to praise my courage and skill in handling rocket planes in the very highest of terms. Naturally, this pleased me Immensely, but I was at a loss to know just what I had done to deserve this praise. The most heroic act I could recall was my fainting there in the forest and putting this same young woman to the trouble of lugging my not inconsiderable weight some distance to the plane.
Finally I got a clue. "I was so afraid you had been killed in that terrible crash," she said, and her troubled eyes and involuntary shudder brought back to me, with startling clearness, the vision of the rocket plane tearing into the tree tops in that last, uncontrolled dive after its deliberate collision with the raindrop. So that was it. The girl thought I had been the pilot of that plane. No wonder she admired the daring and skill of the man who guided that plane, and in spite of unnerving noise, vibration, and a speed that must have rendered the controls almost useless, had been able to dive three miles and strike with the accuracy of a bird of prey.
It was really a piece of luck to be provided so readily with a very flattering identity, but I hated to take advantage of it. Still, I had more than my own feelings to consider. After all, the success or failure of my country in the war might very possibly depend upon my taking advantage of every opportunity here in the year 8,000. All the same, it made me feel rather despicable to do so.
But such minor scruples were quickly forgotten in the very difficult task that now lay before me. Knowing nothing of this future world, I would have to keep up my end of the conversation without arousing suspicion, and at the same time get as much information as possible about the general state of the world, the identity of the people of the raindrop fliers, and the likelihood of getting hold of their method of releasing atomic energy. Aided by the unsuspecting admiration of the girl, the excuse of my injuries, and what I believe to have been a masterly handling of the conversation on my part, I did surprisingly well at this almost impossible task. A radio which made occasional short news speeches and several small newspapers that happened to be on hand also helped remarkably, for both announcer and reporter still retained the old, familiar failing of giving half the previous history of the world as a prelude to each piece of news.
Naturally my information was rather sketchy, and I am sorry to say that from what I got, I was unable to form any clear idea of the social system of the eightieth century. It might have been almost anything. I was also unable to get any historical information concerning a certain war, date about 1975.
But I did get all I wanted about the people of the raindrop fliers, and other essentials. First, the date was 13-13-8117. Fortunately, whatever had taken the place of month and day did not interest me. The year gave final proof that Dane's theory was right. So much for that. The rest of the story was strange enough. About ten years before, the first raindrop ship appeared suddenly, out of nowhere. It was large, about 500 feet in diameter for the globular portion. It was not driven by rockets or any other visible means, but tests showed high ionization of the air on a line with its tail. This ship merely cruised about, covering all of the earth's surface in a leisurely and careful survey, and after about a year, finished and left for parts unknown. It was impossible to get the stranger to communicate, although all sorts of schemes were tried. Whoever or whatever was inside paid no attention at all to any of these efforts. Curiously disposed private or government planes found it impossible to get within 1,000 feet of the stranger, they simply encountered an invisible but stiff elastic wall which they could not penetrate.
Scientific opinion was fairly well agreed that this was a visitor from space, and that its motive power was obtained by either the partial or complete disintegration of atoms. The elastic wall they could not understand, but I recognized in it a form of gravity field, which I could have reproduced readily. That Dane's discovery was unknown does not augur well for the success of the plans we have made for operations in this, the twentieth century. However, we will try to carry them out anyhow.
But to return to that future age and the non-terrestrial raindrop ship—for several years no further sign of it was seen. Then, one day, about two thousand large ones and a number of small ones about ten feet in diameter appeared at various points on the earth's surface. Without waste of time or ceremony, they immediately began raiding libraries, museums, and factories,
