Astounding Stories, April, 1931

  Hell's Dimension

  _By Tom Curry_

  _Just as the terrific unknown force reached its apex, she steppedacross the plate._]

  [Sidenote: Professor Lambert deliberately ventures into a VibrationalDimension to join his fiancee in its magnetic torture-fields.]

  "Now, Professor Lambert, tell us what you have done with the body ofyour assistant Miss Madge Crawford. Her car is outside your door, hasstood there since early yesterday morning. There are no footprintsleading away from the house and you can't expect us to believe that anairplane picked her off the roof. It will make it a lot easier if youtell us where she is. Her parents are greatly worried about her. Whenthey telephoned, you refused to talk to them, would not allow them tospeak to Miss Crawford. They are alarmed as to her fate. While you arenot the sort of man who would injure a young woman, still, things lookbad for you. You had better explain fully."

  John Lambert, a man of about thirty-six, tall, spare, with black hairwhich was slightly tinged with gray at the temples in spite of hisyouth, turned large eyes which were filled with agony upon hisquestioners.

  Lambert was already internationally famous for his unique andastounding experiments in the realm of sound and rhythm. He had beenendowed by one of the great electrical companies to do original work,and his laboratory, in which he lived, was situated in a large tractof isolated woodland some forty miles from New York City. It wasnecessary for the success of his work that as few disturbing noises aspossible be made in the neighborhood. Many of his experiments withsound and etheric waves required absolute quiet and freedom frominterrupting noises. The delicate nature of some of the machines heused would not tolerate so much as the footsteps of a man within ahundred yards, and a passing car would have disrupted them entirely.

  * * * * *

  Lambert was terribly nervous; he trembled under the gaze of the sterndetective, come with several colleagues from a neighboring town at thecall of Madge Crawford's frightened family. The girl, whose picturestood on a working table nearby, looked at them from the photograph asa beautiful young woman of twenty-five, light of hair, with large eyesand a lovely face.

  Detective Phillips pointed dramatically to the likeness of the missinggirl. "Can you," he said, "look at her there, and deny you loved her?And if she did not love you in return, then we have a motive for whatyou have done--jealousy. Come, tell us what you have done with her.Our men will find her, anyway; they are searching the cellar for hernow. You can't hope to keep her, alive, and if she is dead--"

  Lambert uttered a cry of despair, and put his face in his longfingers. "She--she--don't say she's dead!"

  "Then you did love her!" exclaimed Phillips triumphantly, andexchanged glances with his companions.

  "Of course I love her. And she returned my love. We were secretlyengaged, and were to be married when we had finished these extremelyimportant experiments. It is infamous though, to accuse me of havingkilled her; if I have done so, then it was no fault of mine."

  "Then you did kill her?"

  "No, no. I cannot believe she is really gone."

  "Why did you evade her parents' inquiries?"

  "Because ... I have been trying to bring her ... to re-materializeher."

  "You mean to bring her back to life?"

  "Yes."

  "Couldn't a doctor do that better than you, if she is hidden somewhereabout here?" asked Phillips gravely.

  "No, no. You do not understand. She cannot be seen, she hasdematerialized. Oh, go away. I'm the only man, save, possibly, myfriend Doctor Morgan, who can help her now. And Morgan--I've thoughtof calling him, but I've been working every instant to get the rightcombination. Go away, for God's sake!"

  "We can't go away until we have found out Miss Crawford's fate," saidPhillips patiently.

  * * * * *

  Another sleuth entered the immense laboratory. He made his way throughthe myriad strange machines, a weird collection of xylophones, gongs,stone slabs cut in peculiar patterns to produce odd rhythmic sounds,electrical apparatus of all sorts. Near Phillips was a plate some feetsquare, of heavy metal, raised from the floor on poles of a differentsubstance. About the ceiling were studs thickly set of the same sortof metal as was the big plate.

  One of the sleuths tapped his forehead, pointing to Lambert as thelatter nervously lighted a cigarette.

  The newcomer reported to Phillips. He held in his hand two or threesheets of paper on which something was written.

  "The only other person here is a deaf mute," said the sleuth toPhillips, his superior. "I've got his story. He writes that he takescare of things, cooks their meals and so on. And he writes furtherthat he thinks the woman and this guy Lambert were in love with eachother. He has no idea where she has gone to. Here, you read it."

  Phillips took the sheets and continued: "'Yesterday morning about teno'clock I was passing the door of the laboratory on my way to make upProfessor Lambert's bed. Suddenly I noticed a queer, shimmering,greenish-blue light streaming down from the walls and ceiling of thelaboratory. I was right outside the place and though I cannot hearanything, I was knocked down and I twisted and wriggled around like asnake. It felt like something with a thousand little paws but withgreat strength was pushing me every way. When there was a lull, andthe light had stopped for a few moments, I staggered to my feet andran madly for my own quarters, scared out of my head. As I went by thekitchen, I saw Miss Crawford at the sink there, filling some vases andarranging flowers as she usually did every morning.

  "'If she called to me, I did not hear her or notice her lips moving. Ibelieve she came to the door.

  "'I was going to quit, when I recovered myself, angry at what hadoccurred; but then, I began to feel ashamed for being such a baby, forProfessor Lambert has been very good to me. About fifteen minutesafter I went to my room, I was able to return to the kitchen. MissCrawford was not there, though the flowers and vases were. Then, as Istarted to work, still a little alarmed, Professor Lambert camerushing into the kitchen, an expression of terror on his face. Hismouth was open, and I think he was calling. He then ran out, back tothe laboratory, and I have not seen Miss Madge since. ProfessorLambert has been almost continuously in the work-room since then,and--I kept away from it, because I was afraid.'"

  * * * * *

  Two more members of Phillips' squad broke into the laboratory and cametoward the chief. They had been working at physical labor, for theywere still perspiring and one regarded his hands with a ruefulexpression.

  "Any luck?" asked Phillips eagerly.

  "No, boss. We been all over the place, and we dug every spot we couldget to earth in the cellar. Most of it's three-inch concrete, withouta sign of a break."

  "Did you look in the furnace?"

  "We looked there the first thing. She ain't there."

  There were several closets in the laboratory, and Phillips opened allof them and inspected them. As he moved near the big plate, Lambertuttered a cry of warning. "Don't disturb that, don't touch anythingnear it!"

  "All right, all right," said Phillips testily.

  The skeptical sleuths had classified Lambert as a "nut," and werepractically sure he had done away with Madge Crawford because shewould not marry him.

  Still, they needed better evidence than their mere beliefs. There wasno corpus delicti, for instance.

  "Gentlemen," said Lambert at last, controlling his emotions with agreat effort. "I will admit to you that I am in trepidation and astate of mental torture as to Miss Crawford's fate. You are delayingmatters, keeping me from my work."

  "He thinks about work when the girl he claims he loves hasdisappeared," said Doherty, in a loud whisper to Phillips. Doherty wasone of the sleuths who had been digging in the cellar, and the hardwork had made his temper short.

  "You must help us find Miss Crawford before we can let you alone,"said Phillips. "Can't you understand that you are under gravesuspicion of having injured her, hidden her awa
y? This is a seriousmatter, Professor Lambert. Your experiments can wait."

  "This one cannot," shouted Lambert, shaking his fists. "You arefools!"

  "Steady now," said Doherty.

  * * * * *

  "Perhaps you had better come with us to the district attorney'soffice," went on Phillips. "There you may come to your senses andrealize the futility of trying to cover up your crime--if you havecommitted one. If you have not, why do you not tell us where MissCrawford is?"

  "Because I do not know myself," replied Lambert. "But you can't takeme away from here. I beg of you, gentlemen, allow me a little moretime. I must have it."

  Phillips shook his head. "Not unless you tell us logically what hasoccurred," he said.

  "Then I must, though I do not think you will comprehend or evenbelieve me. Briefly, it is this: yesterday morning I was working onthe final series of experiments with a new type of harmonic overtonesplus a new type of sinusoidal current which I had arranged with aseries of selenium cells. When I finally threw the switch--remember, Iwas many weeks preparing the apparatus, and had just put the finaltouches on early that morning--there was a sound such as never hadbeen heard before by human ears, an indescribable sound, terrifyingand mysterious. Also, there was a fierce, devouring verditer bluelight, and this came from the plates and studs you see, but so greatwas its strength that it got out of control and leaped about the roomlike a live thing. For some moments, while it increased in intensityas I raised the power of the current by means of the switch I held inmy hand, I watched and listened in fascination. My instruments hadceased to record, though they are the most delicate ever invented andcan handle almost anything which man can even surmise."

  * * * * *

  The perspiration was pouring from Lambert's face, as he recounted hisstory. The detectives listened, comprehending but a little of themeaning of the scientist's words.

  "What has this to do with Miss Crawford?" asked Doherty impatiently.

  Phillips held up his hand to silence the other sleuth. "Let himfinish," he ordered. "Go on, professor."

  "The sensations which I was undergoing became unendurable," went onLambert, in a low, hoarse voice. "I was forced to cry out in pain andconfusion.

  "Miss Crawford evidently heard my call, for a few moments later, justas the terrific unknown force reached its apex, she dashed into thelaboratory, and stepped across the plate you see there.

  "I was powerless. Though I shut off the current by a superhumaneffort, she--she was gone!"

  Lambert put his face in his hands, a sob shook his broad shoulders.

  "Gone?" repeated Phillips. "What do you mean, gone?"

  "She disappeared, before my very eyes," said the professor shakily."Torn into nothingness by the fierce force of the current or sound.Since then, I have been trying to reproduce the conditions of theexperiment, for I wish to bring her back. If I cannot do so, then Iwant to join her, wherever she has gone. I love her, I know now that Icannot possibly live without her. Will you please leave me alone, now,so that I can continue?"

  Doherty laughed derisively. "What a story," he jeered.

  "Keep quiet, Doherty," ordered Phillips. "Now, Professor Lambert, yourexplanation of Miss Crawford's disappearance does not sound logical tous, but still we are willing to give you every chance to bring herback, if what you say is true. We cannot leave you entirely alone,because you might try to escape or you might carry out your threat ofsuicide. Therefore, I am going to sit over there in the corner,quietly, where I can watch you but will not interfere with your work.We will give you until midnight to prove your story. Then you must gowith us to the district attorney. Do you agree to that?"

  * * * * *

  Lambert nodded, eagerly. "I agree. Let me work in peace, and if I donot succeed then you may take me anywhere you wish. If you can," headded, in an undertone.

  Doherty and the others, at Phillips' orders, filed from thelaboratory. "One thing more, professor," said Phillips, when they werealone and the professor was preparing to work. "How do you explain thefact, if your story is true, that Miss Crawford was killed and made todisappear, while you yourself, close by, were uninjured?"

  "Do you see these garments?" asked Lambert, indicating some blackclothes which lay on a bench nearby. "They insulated me from thecurrent and partially protected me from the sound. Though the forcewas very great, great enough to penetrate my insulation, it washandicapped in my case because of the garments."

  "I see. Well, you may go on."

  Phillips moved in the chair he had taken, from time to time. He couldhear the noises of his men, still searching the premises for MadgeCrawford, and Professor Lambert heard them, too.

  "Will you tell your men to be quiet?" he cried at last.

  There were dark circles under Lambert's eyes. He was working in astate of feverish anxiety. When the girl he loved had dematerializedfrom under his very eyes, panic had seized him; he had ripped awaywires to break the current and lost the thread of his experiment, sothat he could not reproduce it exactly without much labor.

  The scientist put on the black robes, and Phillips wished he too hadsome protective armor, even though he did believe that Lambert hadtold them a parcel of lies. The deaf mute's story was not tooreassuring. Phillips warned his companions to be more quiet, and hehimself sat quite still.

  * * * * *

  Lambert knew that the sleuths thought he was stark mad. He was awareof the fact that he had but a few hours in which to save the girl whohad come at his cry to help him, who had loved him and whom he loved,only to be torn into some place unknown by the forces which werereleased in his experiment. And he knew he would rather die with herthan live without her.

  He labored feverishly, though he tried to keep his brain calm in orderto win. His notes helped him up to a certain point, but when he hadmade the final touches he had not had time to bring the data up to themoment, being eager to test out his apparatus. It was while testingthat the awful event had occurred and he had seen Madge Crawforddisappear before his very eyes.

  Her eyes, large and frightened, burned in his mind.

  The deaf mute, Felix, a small, spare man of about fifty, sent theprofessor some food and coffee through one of the sleuths. Lambertswallowed the coffee, but waved away the rest, impatiently. Phillips,watching his suspect constantly, was served a light supper at the endof the afternoon.

  There seemed to be a million wires to be touched, tested, and variousstrange apparatus. Several times, later on in the evening. Lambertthrew the big switch with an air of expectancy, but little happened.Then Lambert would go to work again, testing, testing--adjusting thisand that till Phillips swore under his breath.

  "Only an hour more, professor," said Phillips, who was bored to deathand cramped from trying to obey the professor's orders to keep still.A circle of cigarette-ends surrounded the sleuth.

  "Only an hour," agreed Lambert. "Will you please be quiet, my man?This is a matter of my fiancee's life or death."

  Phillips was somewhat disgruntled, for he felt he had done Lambertquite a favor in allowing him to remain in the laboratory for so long,to prove his story.

  "I wish Doctor Morgan were here; I ought to have sent for him, Isuppose," said Lambert, a few minutes later. "Will you allow me to gethim? I cannot seem to perfect this last stage."

  "No time, now," declared Phillips. "I said till midnight."

  It was obvious to Lambert that the detective had become certain duringthe course of the evening that the scientist was mad. The ceaselessfiddling and the lack of results or even spectacular sights hadconvinced Phillips that he had to do with a crank.

  "I think I have it now," said Lambert coolly.

  "What?" asked Phillips.

  "The original combination. I had forgotten one detail in theexcitement, and this threw me off. Now I believe I will succeed--inone way or another. I warn you, be careful. I am about to releaseforces wh
ich may get out of my control."

  "Well, now, don't get reckless," begged Phillips nervously. The arrayof machines had impressed him, even if Lambert did seem a fool.

  "You insist upon remaining, so it is your own risk," said Lambertcoolly.

  Lambert, in the strange robes, was a bizarre figure. The hood wasthrown back, exposing his pale, black-bearded face, the wan eyes withdark circles under them, and the twitching lips.

  "If you find yourself leaving this vale of tears," went on thescientist, ironically, to the sleuth, "you will at least have thecomfort of realizing that as the sound-force disintegrates your mortalform you are among the first of men to be attuned to the vibrations ofthe unknown sound world. All matter is vibration; that has beenproven. A building of bricks, if shaken in the right manner, fallsinto its component parts; a bridge, crossed by soldiers in certainrhythmic time, is torn from its moorings. A tuning fork, receiving thesound vibrations from one of a similar size and shape begins tovibrate in turn. These are homely analogies, but applied to the lessfamiliar sound vibrations, which make up our atomic world, they mayhelp you to understand how the terrific forces I have discovered candisintegrate flesh."

  The scientist looked inquiringly at Phillips. As the sleuth did notmove, but sat with folded arms, Lambert shrugged and said, "I amready."

  Lambert raised his hood, and Phillips said, in a spirit of bravado,"You can't scare me out of here."

  "Here goes the switch," cried Lambert.

  He made the contact, as he had before. He stood for a moment, and thistime the current gained force. The experimenter pushed his lever allthe way over.

  * * * * *

  A terrible greenish-blue light suddenly illuminated the laboratory,and through the air there came sound vibrations which seemed to tearat Phillips' body. He found himself on the floor, knocked from hischair, and he writhed this way and that, speechless, suffering atorment of agony. His whole flesh seemed to tremble in unison with thewaves which emanated from the machines which Lambert manipulated.

  After what seemed hours to the suffering sleuth, the force diminished,and soon Phillips was able to rise. Trembling, the detective cursedand yelled for help in a high-pitched voice.

  Lambert had thrown back his hood, and was rocking to and fro in agony.

  "Madge, Madge," he cried, "what have I done! Come back to me, comeback!"

  Doherty and the others came running in at their chief's shouts."Arrest him," ordered Phillips shakily. "I've stood enough of thisnonsense."

  The detectives started for Lambert. He saw them coming, and swiftlythrew off the protective garments he wore.

  "Stand back!" he cried, and threw the switch all the way over. Theverditer green light smashed through the air, and the queer soundsensations smacked and tore them; Doherty, who had drawn a revolverwhen he was answering Phillips' cries, fired the gun into the air, andthe report seemed to battle with the vibrating ether.

  Lambert, as he threw the switch, leaped forward and landed on themetal plate under the ceiling studs, in the very center of the awfuldisturbance and unprotected from its force.

  For a few moments, Lambert felt racking pain, as though something weretearing at his flesh, separating the very atoms. The scientist saw thewriggling figures of the sleuths, in various strange positions, but hisimpressions were confused. His head whirled round and round, he swayedto and fro, and, finally, he thought he fell down, or rather, that hehad melted, as a lump of sugar dissolves in water.

  "He's gone--gone--"

  In the heart of nothingness was Lambert, his body torn and racked in ashrieking chaos of sound and a blinding glare of iridescent lightwhich seemed too much to bear.

  His last conscious thought was a prayer, that, having failed to bringback his sweetheart, Madge Crawford, he was undergoing a step towardthe same destination to which he had sent her.

  * * * * *

  John Lambert came to with a shudder. But it was not a mortal shudder.He could sense no body; had no sense of being confined by matter. Hewas in a strange, chilly place--a twilight region, limitless, withoutdimensions.

  Yet he could feel something, in an impersonal way, vaguelyindifferent. He had no pain now.

  He was moving, somehow. He had one impelling desire, and that was todiscover Madge Crawford. Perhaps it was this thought which directedhis movements.

  Intent upon finding the girl, if she was indeed in this same strangeworld that he was, he did not notice for some time--how long, he hadno way of telling--that there were other beings which tried to impedehis progress. But as he grew more accustomed to the unfamiliarsensations he was undergoing, he found his path blocked again andagain by queer beings.

  They were living, without doubt, and had intelligence, and evincedhostility toward him. But they were shapeless, shapeless as amoebas.He heard them in a sort of soundless whisper, and could see themwithout the use of eyes. And he shuddered, though he could feel nobody in which he might be confined. Still, when he pinched viciouslywith invisible fingers at the spot where his face should have been, atwinge of pain registered on the vague consciousness which appeared tobe all there was to him.

  He was not sure of his substance, though he could evidently experiencehuman sensations with his amorphous body. He did not know whether hecould see; yet, he was dodging this way and that, as the beings whooccupied this world tried to stop him.

  They gave him the impression of gray shapes, and in coppery shadowsthings gleamed and closed in on him.

  He seemed to hear a cry, and he knew that he was receiving a call forhelp from Madge Crawford. He tried to run, pushed determinedly towardthe spot, impelled by his love for the girl.

  * * * * *

  Now, as he hurried, he occasionally was stopped short by collisionwith the formless shapes which were all about him. He was hampered bythem, for they followed him, making a sound like wind heard in adream. Whatever medium he was in was evidently thickly inhabited bythe hostile beings who claimed this world as their own. Though hecould not actually feel the medium, he could sense that it was heavy.He leaped and ran, fighting his way through the increasing hosts, andthe roar of their voice-impressions increased in his consciousness.

  Yet there seemed to be nothing, nothing tangible save vagueness. Hefelt he was in a blind spot in space, a place of no dimensions, notime, where beings abhorred by nature, things which had neverdeveloped any dimensional laws, existed.

  The cry for help struck him, with more force this time. Lambert,whatever form he was in, realised that he was close to the end of hisjourney to Madge Crawford.

  He tried to speak, and had the impression that he said somethingreassuring. He then bumped into some vibrational being which he knewwas Madge. His ears could not hear, nor could his flesh feel, but hiswhole form or cerebrum sensed he held the woman he loved in his arms.

  And she was speaking to him, in accents of fear, begging him to saveher.

  "John, John, you have come at last. They have been torturing meterribly. Save me."

  "Darling Madge, I will do everything I can. Now I have found you, andwe are together and will never part. Can you hear me?"

  "I know what you are thinking, and what you wish to say. I can'texactly hear; it all seems vague, and impossible. Yet I can suffer.They have been hitting me with something which makes me shudder andshake--there, they are at it again."

  * * * * *

  Lambert felt the sensations, now, which the girl had made known tohim. He felt crowded by gray beings, and his existence was troubled byspasms of pain-impressions. He knew Madge was crying out, too.

  He could not comprehend the attacks, or guess their meaning. But thesituation was unendurable.

  Anger shook him, and he began to fight, furiously but vaguely. Theywere closely hemmed in, but when Lambert began to strike out withhands and legs, the beings gave way a little. The scientist tried toshout, and though he could actually hear nothing
, the result wasgratifying. The formless creatures seemed to scatter and draw back inconfusion as he yelled his defiance.

  "They hate that," Madge said to him. "I have screamed myself hoarseand that is why they have not killed me--if I can be killed."

  "I do not believe we can. But they can torture us," replied Lambert."It is an everlasting half-life or quarter-life, and these creatureswho call this Hell's Dimension home, have nothing but hatred for us intheir consciousness."

  The inhabitants of the imperfect world had closed in once again andthe sharp instruments of torture they used were being thrust into theinvisible bodies of the two humans. Each time, Lambert was unable torestrain his cries, for it seemed that he was being torn to pieces byvibrations.

  He yelled until he could not speak above a whisper, or at least untilthe impressions of speech he gave forth did not trouble the beings.The two humans, still bound to some extent by their mortal beliefs,were chivvied to and fro, and struck and bullied. The creatures seemedto delight in this sport.

  The two felt they could not die; yet they could suffer terribly. Wouldthis go on through eternity? Was there no release?

  * * * * *

  They were trying to tear Madge away from him. She was fighting them,and Lambert, in a frenzy of rage, made a determined effort to get awaywith the girl from their tormentors.

  They retreated before his onslaughts. Drawing Madge after him, Lambertput down his head--or believed he was doing so--and ran as fast as hecould at the beings.

  He bumped into some invisible forms and was slowed in his rush, but heshouted and flailed about with his arms, and tried to kick. Madgehelped by screaming and striking out. They made some distance in thisway, or so they thought, and the horrid creatures gave way beforethem.

  All about them was the coppery sensation of the medium in which theymoved: Lambert as he became more used to the form he was inhabiting,he began to think he could discern dreadful eyes which staredunblinkingly at the couple.

  He fought on, and believed they had come to a spot where the beingsdid not molest them, though they still sensed the things glaring atthem.

  Were they on some invisible eminence, above the reach of these queercreatures?

  "We might as well stop here, for if we try to go farther we may cometo a worse place," said Lambert.

  They rested there, in temporary peace, together at last.

  * * * * *

  "I seem to be happy now," said Madge, clinging close. "I feared Iwould never see you again. John dear. I ran to you when you called outthat day and when I crossed the plate, I was torn and racked andknocked down. When I next experienced sensation, it was in thisterrible form. I am becoming more used to it, but I kept crying outfor you: the beings, as soon as they discovered my presence, began totorment me. More and more have been collecting, and I have a sensationof seeing them as horrible, revolting beasts. Oh, John, I don't thinkI could have stood it much longer, if you hadn't come to me. They weredriving me on, on, on, ceaselessly torturing me."

  "Curse them," said Lambert. "I wish I could really get hold of some ofthem. Perhaps, Madge, I will be able to think of some escape for usfrom this Hell's Dimension."

  "Yes, darling. I could not bear to think that we are eternally damnedto exist among these beings, hurt by them and unable to get away. HowI wish we were back in the laboratory, at the tea table. How happy wewere there!"

  "And we will be again, Madge." Lambert was far from feeling hopeful,but he tried to encourage the girl into thinking they might get away.

  However, he was unable to dissimulate. She felt his anguish for hersafety. "But I know now that you love me. I can feel it stronger thanever before, John. It seems like a great rock to which I can alwayscling, your love. It projects me from the hatred that these beastspour out against us."

  Since they had no sense of time, they could not tell how long theywere allowed to remain unmolested. But in each other's company theywere happy, though each one was afraid for the safety of the lovedone.

  They spoke of the mortal life they had lived, and their love. Theyfelt no need of food or water, but clung together in a dimensionlessuniverse, held up by love.

  * * * * *

  The lull came to an end, at last. There was no change in the copperyvagueness about them which they sensed as the surrounding ether, butall was changeless, boundless. Lambert, close to Madge Crawford, feltthat they were about to be attacked.

  He had swift, temporary impressions of seeing saucerlike, unblinkingeyes, and then hordes of bizarre inhabitants started to climb up totheir perch.

  For a short while, Lambert and Madge fought them off, thrusting atthem, seeming to push them backward down the intangible slope; thecries which the dematerialized humans uttered also helped to hold theleaders of the attacking army partially in check, but the vast numberof beings swept forward.

  The thrusts of the torture-fields they emanated became more and moreracking, as the two unfortunates shuddered in horror and pain.

  The power to demonstrate loud noise was evidently impossible to thecreatures, for their only sounds came to Madge Crawford and JohnLambert as long-drawn out, almost unbearable squeaks, mouse-like incharacter. Perhaps they had never had the faculty of speech, sincethey did not need it to communicate with one another; perhaps theyrealized that the racket they could make would hurt them as much as itdid their enemies.

  Lambert, Madge clinging to him, was forced backward down the slope,and the beings had the advantage of height. He could not again reachthe eminence, but the way behind seemed to clear quickly enough,though thrusts were made at him, innumerable times with thetorture-fields.

  The hordes pushed them backward, and ever back.

  * * * * *

  They were forced on for some distance. As they retreated, the waybecome easier, and fewer and fewer of the beings impeded the channelalong which they moved, though in front of them and on all sides,above, beneath, they were pressed by the hordes.

  "They are forcing us to some place they want us to go," said Lambertdesperately.

  "We can do nothing more," replied the girl.

  Lambert felt her quiet confidence in him, and that as long as theywere together, all was well.

  "Maybe they can kill us, somehow," he said.

  And now, Lambert felt the way was clear to the rear. There was asudden rush of the creatures, and needlelike fields were impelledviciously into the spaces the two humans occupied.

  Madge cried out in pain, and Lambert shouted. The throng drew awayfrom them as suddenly as it had surged forward, and an instant laterthe pair, clinging together, felt that they were falling, falling,falling....

  "Are you all right, Madge?"

  "Yes, John."

  But he knew she was suffering. How long they fell he did not know, butthey stopped at last. No sooner had they come to rest than they wereassailed with sensations of pain which made both cry out in anguish.

  There, in the spot where they had been thrust by the hordes, they feltthat there was some terrific vibration which racked and tore at theirinvisible forms continuously, sending them into spasms of sharpmisery.

  They both were forced to give vent to their feelings by loud cries.But they could not command their movements any longer. When they triedto get away, their limbs moved but they felt that they remained in thesame spot.

  * * * * *

  The pain shook every fraction of their souls.

  "We--we are in some pit of hell, into which they have thrown us,John," gasped Madge.

  He knew she was shivering with the torture of that great vibrationfrom which there was no escape, that they were in a prison-pit ofHell's Dimension.

  "I--oh--John--I'm dying!"

  But he was powerless to help her. He suffered as much as she. Yetthere was no weakening of his sensations; he was in as much torture ashe had been at the start. He knew that they could not
die and couldnever escape from this misery of hell.

  Their cries seemed to disturb the vacuum about. Lambert, shivering andshaking with pain, was aware that great eyes, similar to those whichthey had thought they saw above, were now upon them. Squeaks wereimpressed upon him, squeaks which expressed disapprobation. There weresome of the beings in the pit with them.

  Madge knew they were there, too. She cried out in terror, "Will theyadd to our misery?"

  But the creatures in the vacuum were pinned to the spots theyoccupied, as were Madge and Lambert. From their squeaks it was evidentthey suffered, too, and were fellow prisoners of the mortals.

  "Probably the cries we make disturb them," said Lambert. "Vibrationsto which we and they are not attuned are torture to the form we arein. Evidently the inhabitants of this hell world punish offenders bycondemning them to this eternal torture."

  "Why--why did they treat us so?"

  "Perhaps we jarred upon them, hurt them, because we were not of theirkind exactly," said Lambert. "Perhaps it was just their natural hatredof us as strangers."

  * * * * *

  They did not grow used to the terrible eternity of torments. No, ifanything, it grew worse as it went on. Still, they could visualize noend to the existence to which they were bound. Throbs of awfulintensity rent them, tore them apart myriad times, yet they still feltas keenly as before and suffered just as much. There was no death forthem, no release from the intangible world in which they were.

  Their fellow prisoners squeaked at them, as though imploring them notto add to the agony by uttering discordant cries. But it wasimpossible for Madge to keep quiet, and Lambert shouted in anguishfrom time to time.

  There seemed to be no end to it.

  And yet, after what was eternity to the sufferers, Madge spokehopefully.

  "Darling John, I--I fear I am really going to die. I am growingweaker. I can feel the pain very little now. It is all vague, and isgetting less real to me. Good-by, sweetheart, I love you, and I alwayswill--"

  Lambert uttered a strangled cry, "No, no. Don't leave me, Madge."

  He clung to her, yet she was becoming extremely intangible to him. Shewas melting away from his embrace, and Lambert felt that he, too, wasweaker, even less real than he had been. He hoped that if it was theend, they would go together.

  Desperately, he tried to hold her with him, but he had little abilityto do so. The torture was still racking his consciousness, but wasbecoming more dreamlike.

  There was a terrific snap, suddenly, and Lambert lost allconsciousness....

  * * * * *

  "Water, water!"

  Lambert, opening his eyes, felt his body writhing about, andexperienced pain that was--mortal. A bluish-green light dazzled hispupils and made him blink.

  Something cut into his flesh, and Lambert rolled about, trying toescape. He bumped into something, something soft; he clung to thisform, and knew that he was holding on to a human being. Then the lightdied out, and in its stead was the yellow, normal glow of the electriclights. Weak, famished, almost dead of thirst, Lambert looked abouthim at the familiar sights of his laboratory. He was lying on thefloor, close by the metal plate, and at his side, unconscious butstill alive to judge by her rising and falling breast, was MadgeCrawford.

  Someone bent over him, and pressed a glass of water against his lips.He drank, watching while a mortal whom Lambert at last realized wasDetective Phillips bathed Madge Crawford's temples with water from apitcher and forced a little between her pale, drawn lips.

  Lambert tried to rise, but he was weak, and required assistance. Hewas dazed, still, and they sat him down in a chair and allowed him tocome to.

  He shuddered from time to time, for he still thought he could feel thetorture which he had been undergoing. But he was worried about Madge,and watched anxiously as Phillips, assisted by another man, workedover the girl.

  At last, Madge stirred and moaned faintly. They lifted her to a bench,where they gently restored her to full consciousness.

  When she could sit up, she at once cried out for Lambert.

  The scientist had recovered enough to rise to his feet and staggertoward her. "Here I am, darling," he said.

  "John--we're alive--we're back in the laboratory!"

  "Ah, Lambert. Glad to see you." A heavy voice spoke, and Lambert forthe first time noticed the black-clad figure which stood to one side,near the switchboard, hidden by a large piece of apparatus.

  "Dr. Morgan!" cried Lambert.

  Althaus Morgan, the renowned physicist, came forward calmly, withoutstretched hand. "So, you realized your great ambition, eh?" he saidcuriously. "But where would you be if I had not been able to bring youback?"

  "In Hell--or Hell's Dimension, anyway," said Lambert.

  He went to Madge, took her in his arms. "Darling, we are safe. Morganhas managed to re-materialize us. We will never again be cast into thevoid in this way. I shall destroy the apparatus and my notes."

  Doherty, who had been out of the room on some errand, came into thelaboratory. He shouted when he saw Lambert standing before him.

  "So you got him," he cried. "Where was he hidin'?"

  His eyes fell upon Madge Crawford, then, and he exclaimed insatisfaction. "You found her, eh?"

  "No," said Phillips. "They came back. They suddenly appeared out ofnothing, Doherty."

  "Don't kid me," growled Doherty. "They were hidin' in a closetsomewhere. Maybe they can fool you guys, but not me."

  Lambert spoke to Phillips. "I'm starving to death and I think MissCrawford must be, too. Will you tell Felix to bring us some food,plenty of it?"

  One of the sleuths went to the kitchen to give the order. Lambertturned to Morgan.

  "How did you manage to bring us back?" he asked.

  * * * * *

  Morgan shrugged. "It was all guess work at the last. I at first couldcheck the apparatus by your notes, and this took some time. You knowyou have written me in detail about what you were working on, so whenI was summoned by Detective Phillips, who said you had mentioned myname to him as the only one who could help, I could make a goodconjecture as to what had occurred. I heard the stories of allconcerned, and realized that you must have dematerialized MissCrawford by mistake, and then, unable to bring her back, had followedher yourself.

  "I put on your insulation outfit, and went to work. I have not lefthere for a moment, but have snatched an hour or two of sleep from timeto time. Detective Phillips has been very good and helpful.

  "Finally, I had everything in shape, but I reversed the apparatus invital spots, and tried each combination until suddenly, a few minutesago, you were re-materialized. It was a desperate chance, but I wasforced to take it in an endeavor to save you."

  Lambert held out his hand to his friend. "I can never thank youenough," he said gratefully. "You saved us from a horrible fate. Butyou speak as though we had been gone a long while. Was it many hours?"

  "Hours?" repeated Morgan, his lips parting under his black beard."Man, it was eight days! You have been gone since a week ago lastnight!"

  Lambert turned to Phillips. "I must ask you not to release this storyto the newspapers," he begged.

  Phillips smiled and turned up his hands in a gesture of frank wonder."Professor Lambert," he said, "I can't believe what I have seenmyself. If I told such a yarn to the reporters, they'd never forgetit. They'd kid me out of the department."

  "Aw, they were hidin' in a closet," growled Doherty. "Come on, we'vewasted too much time on this job already. Just a couple of nuts, saysI."

  * * * * *

  The sleuths, after Phillips had shaken hands with Lambert, left thelaboratory. Morgan, a large man of middle age, joined them in a mealwhich Felix served to the three on a folding table brought in for thepurpose. Felix was terribly glad to see Madge and Lambert again, andmanifested his joy by many bobs and leaps as he waited upon them. Agrin spread across his face from
ear to ear.

  Morgan asked innumerable questions. They described as best they couldwhat they could recall of the strange dominion in which they had been,and the physicist listened intently.

  "It is some Hell's Dimension, as you call it," he said at last.

  "Where it is, or exactly what, I cannot say," said Lambert. "I surelyhave no desire to return to that world of hate."

  Madge, happy now, smiled at him and he leaned over and kissed hertenderly.

  "We have come from Hell, together," said Lambert, "and now we are inHeaven!"

  * * * * *

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