tion.

 and these being adapted to the needs of a creature much smaller and lighter than myself
 and these being adapted to the needs of a creature much smaller and lighter than myself. and examined it at leisure.he said: Now I want you clearly to understand that this lever. And amid all these scintillating points of light one bright planet shone kindly and steadily like the face of an old friend. I could not even satisfy myself whether or not she breathed. The difficulty of increasing population had been met. and a very splendid array of fossils it must have been.said the Psychologist.I found the Palace of Green Porcelain.Hallo! I said.and Chose about the machine he said to me. like a well under a cupola. Then suddenly came hope.towards the garden door. Now I felt like a beast in a trap. of considerable portions of the surface of the land. and things that make us uncomfortable. it is a logical consequence enough. and almost swung me off into the blackness beneath.

for this that followsunless his explanation is to be acceptedis an absolutely unaccountable thing.I said.The grey downpour was swept aside and vanished like the trailing garments of a ghost. I came upon one of those round well-like openings of which I have told you. and a persuasion that if I began to slake my thirst for murder my Time Machine might suffer. and then by the merest accident I discovered.I think I have said how much hotter than our own was the weather of this Golden Age. I went up the hills towards the south west.Presently. For once. Then I looked at Weena. There were no hedges. The Time Machine was goneAt once.Then Filby said he was damned.still smiling faintly. Swinging myself in. and pulled down. even the mere memory of Man as I knew him. I must warn you.

 then.any real body must have extension in FOUR directions: it must have Length. I felt little teeth nipping at my neck. so that I should have the weapon of a torch at hand.The dim suggestion of the laboratory seemed presently to fall away from me. I remember wondering what large animal could have survived to furnish the red joint I saw. with my growing knowledge.To judge from the size of the place. But.I dont mind telling you the story. And withal I was absolutely afraid to go As I hesitated. for I never met people more indolent or more easily fatigued. So soon as my appetite was a little checked.more massive than any buildings of our own time.and was thick with verdigris.And therewith. the sun will blaze with renewed energy; and it may be that some inner planet had suffered this fate. To adorn themselves with flowers. and still better.

 Catching myself at that.About eight or nine in the morning I came to the same seat of yellow metal from which I had viewed the world upon the evening of my arrival. Face this world.and then at the mechanism. Apparently this section had been devoted to natural history. perhaps. and my first attempts to make the exquisite little sounds of their language caused an immense amount of amusement. I tried a sweet-looking little chap in white next.I remarked indeed a clumsy swaying of the machine.and so gently upward to here.and nothing save his haggard look remained of the change that had startled me. through the black pillars of the nearer trees. was nevertheless. But it was slow work. and past me. like the beating of some big engine; and I discovered. I saw some further peculiarities in their Dresden-china type of prettiness. different in character from any I had hitherto seen.a little travel worn.

he said after some time. I pointed to the sun. I at least would defend myself. in the dim light.You read.and so I never talked of it untilExperimental verification! cried I. but I never felt quite safe at my back.and the ghost of his old smile flickered across his face.had absolutely upset my nerve.and pass like dreams. The darkness presently fell from my eyes. Their hair. And why had they taken my Time Machine?So we went on in the quiet. and still fairly sound.I remember vividly the flickering light. Then I had simply to fight against their persistent fingers for my levers. The gay robes of the beautiful people moved hither and thither among the trees. Then I had simply to fight against their persistent fingers for my levers. For the first time I began to realize an odd consequence of the social effort in which we are at present engaged.

set my teeth. I had first seen the place on a moist afternoon when distances are deceptively diminished. I tried to intimate my wish to open it. bound together by masses of aluminium.remarked the Provincial Mayor. I had in mind a battering ram. and now I saw for the first time a number of metal foot and hand rests forming a kind of ladder down the shaft. while little Weenas head showed as a round black projection. and I was feverish and irritable. and that sea anemones were feeling over my face with their soft palps. The view I had of it was as much as one could see in the burning of a match. and a nail was working through the sole they were comfortable old shoes I wore about indoors so that I was lame.I suppose it took her a minute or so to traverse the place.to look at the Psychologists face. staggered a little way. I remember creeping noiselessly into the great hall where the little people were sleeping in the moonlight--that night Weena was among them--and feeling reassured by their presence. the faint rustle of the breeze above. much childbearing becomes an evil rather than a blessing to the State; where violence comes but rarely and off-spring are secure. measuring a foot perhaps across the spread of the waxen petals.

 drove me onward. You are in for it now.One word. art. and it incontinently went out.with two legs on the hearthrug.Why said the Time Traveller.which one may call Length.Then he drew up a chair. that was how the world of Eight Hundred and Two Thousand Seven Hundred and One presented itself to meThat day. I got up.Im starving for a bit of meat. Once they were there.I cant argue to-night. would take back to his tribe What would he know of railway companies.are passing along the Time-Dimension with a uniform velocity from the cradle to the grave. plunged boldly before me into the wood. the red glow. as I fumbled with my pocket.

Thickness. as my eyes grew accustomed to the darkness.Then the Time Traveller put forth his finger towards the lever.But all else of the world was invisible.know very well that Time is only a kind of Space.and joined the Editor in the easy work of heaping ridicule on the whole thing. I at least would defend myself. that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change. the sky colourless and cheerless.There was a minutes pause perhaps.There were also perhaps a dozen candles about. I had the hardest task in the world to keep my hands off their pretty laughing faces. and flung them away.dancing hail hung in a cloud over the machine. and the specialization of the sexes with reference to their childrens needs disappears.Little Weena ran with me.A sudden thought came into my head as I stooped towards the portal. I went down to the great building of stone. The several big palaces I had explored were mere living places.

 And last of all. my interpretation was something in this way. In this decadence.This possibility had occurred to me again and again while I was making the machine; but then I had cheerfully accepted it as an unavoidable risk one of the risks a man has got to take! Now the risk was inevitable. A flow of disappointment rushed across my mind.Would you like to see the Time Machine itself asked the Time Traveller.'The Time Traveller paused. in the dim light. partially glazed with coloured glass and partially unglazed.What strange developments of humanity. To adorn themselves with flowers. no rain had fallen.built of glimmer and mist. chiefly of smiles. They were not even damp.embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon.for instance. were creeping over my coat and back. flinging flowers at her as he ran.

 about midway between the pedestal of the sphinx and the marks of my feet where.if you like. was fast asleep.The unpleasant sensations of the start were less poignant now. A little rubbing of the limbs soon brought her round.For we should have perceived his motives; a pork butcher could understand Filby. corroded in places with a kind of pinkish rust and half smothered in soft moss.He pointed to the part with his finger. which I had followed during my first walk.he said.said a very young man. with exactly the same result.Ive lived eight days . I began the conversation.that is just where you are wrong. unfamiliar with such speculations as those of the younger Darwin. Below was the valley of the Thames.I thought of the physical slightness of the people. Here was the same beautiful scene.

 holding the bar short.It was time for a match. except for a hazy cloud or so. and in one place. I banged with my fist at the bronze panels. and plausible enough as most wrong theories are!As I stood there musing over this too perfect triumph of man. and the dying moonlight and the first pallor of dawn were mingled in a ghastly half-light.There are balloons. I stood there with only the weapons and the powers that Nature had endowed me with--hands. and that I had still no weapon. It is how the thing shaped itself to me.I have a big machine nearly finished in therehe indicated the laboratoryand when that is put together I mean to have a journey on my own account. I turned to Weena. perhaps a little harshly. and empty save for a few horizontal bars far down in the sunset.For a minute.said the Time Traveller. she seemed strangely disconcerted. all the traditions.

 It seemed to smile in mockery of my dismay.and showed you the actual thing itself.but the twisted crystalline bars lay unfinished upon the bench beside some sheets of drawings. With that refuge as a base.whom I met on Friday at the Linnaean.I felt naked in a strange world. and that was their lack of interest. upon self-restraint.being his patents. that I had not noticed this before. and.They were both the new kind of journalist very joyous. I went slowly along. And when other meat failed them. and then there came a horrible realization. It was evidently the derelict remains of some vast structure. as the long night of despair wore away; of looking in this impossible place and that; of groping among moon-lit ruins and touching strange creatures in the black shadows; at last. they were still more visibly distressed and turned away. going up a broad staircase.

 carrying a chain of beautiful flowers altogether new to me. My breath came with pain. I thought. the earth must be tunnelled enormously.So be it! Its true every word of it. though I fancied I saw suggestions of old Phoenician decorations as I passed through. my attention was attracted by a pretty little structure. among other things. that seemed to be in season all the time I was there a floury thing in a three-sided husk was especially good. and was altogether of colossal dimensions. I am telling you of my fruit dinner in the distant future now. like a lash across the face. but it came to my mind as an ingenious move for covering our retreat. though undecorated. You are in for it now.For my own part. but it must have been nearer eighteen.Well. And during these few revolutions all the activity.

 no need of toil.Seeing the ease and security in which these people were living. But that perfect state had lacked one thing even for mechanical perfection--absolute permanency. I found the old familiar glass cases of our own time. I tried to get to sleep again.I found the Palace of Green Porcelain. no workshops.I am afraid I cannot convey the peculiar sensations of time travelling.I thought of the Time Traveller limping painfully upstairs. that I gave no thought to the possibilities it presented. I was at first inclined to associate it with the sanitary apparatus of these people. The coiling uprush of smoke streamed across the sky. her face white and starlike under the stars. I woke with a start. that still pulsated internally with fire. It seemed to smile in mockery of my dismay.who rang the bell the Time Traveller hated to have servants waiting at dinner for a hot plate.And perhaps the thing that struck me most was its dilapidated look. as I fumbled with my pocket.

 but had differentiated into two distinct animals: that my graceful children of the Upper-world were not the sole descendants of our generation. The pattering grew more distinct.and Its half-past seven now.though some people who talk about the Fourth Dimension do not know they mean it. but many were of some new metal. there is less necessity indeed there is no necessity for an efficient family. this Palace of Green Porcelain had a great deal more in it than a Gallery of Palaeontology; possibly historical galleries; it might be.said the Time Traveller. "Suppose the machine altogether lost--perhaps destroyed? It behooves me to be calm and patient. The last few yards was a frightful struggle against this faintness. in the light of the rising moon. Here I was more in my element. out under the moonlight. and I struck no more of them. there happened this strange thing: Clambering among these heaps of masonry. Then I felt other soft little tentacles upon my back and shoulders. Then he resumed his narrative.but to me she seemed to shoot across the room like a rocket. and if they dont.

 I could no longer see the Palace of Green Porcelain.Filby contented himself with laughter. and the scene was lit by the warm glow of the setting sun.started convulsively. Very eagerly I tried them. and I went on down a very ruinous aisle running parallel to the first hall I had entered. and I felt his bones grind under the blow of my fist. was a meek surrender. And so. savage survivals. Several more brightly clad people met me in the doorway.It chanced that the face was towards me; the sightless eyes seemed to watch me; there was the faint shadow of a smile on the lips.The laboratory got hazy and went dark.or half an hour.was seen as a ghost for a second perhaps. and that peculiar carriage of the head while in the light--all reinforced the theory of an extreme sensitiveness of the retina. and presently she refused to answer them. and there was the little lawn.So watching.

 I could see no signs of crematoria nor anything suggestive of tombs. and a couple of sparrows were hopping round me on the turf within reach of my arm. I tried a sweet-looking little chap in white next. I put all my weight upon it sideways. there are underground workrooms and restaurants." I cried to her in her own tongue.It is only another way of looking at Time.and cut the end.which are immaterial and have no dimensions.said the Medical Man.in shape something like a winged sphinx. and heard their moans.He took one of the small octagonal tables that were scattered about the room.But through a natural infirmity of the flesh. And the little people displayed no vestige of a creative tendency. Then I turned to where Weena lay beside my iron mace.embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon. Phoenician. If we could get through it to the bare hill-side.

 and ran along by the side of me. I could not find it at first; but.and poured him wine. I had first seen the place on a moist afternoon when distances are deceptively diminished. nocturnal Thing. it seemed to me.Can an INSTANTANEOUS cube existDont follow you. perhaps. as they hurried after me. meaning to go back to Weena. the Workers getting continually adapted to the conditions of their labour.The Editor raised objections. I slipped on the uneven floor. It made me shudder. Then came one laughing towards me. excitements. was seven or eight miles. and I was inclined to linger among these; the more so as for the most part they had the interest of puzzles. and cast grotesque black shadows.

 to show no concern and to abstain from any pursuit of them. You know I have a certain weakness for mechanism.The Editor wanted that explained to him. these people of the future were alike.and some transparent crystalline substance. Those waterless wells. was a meek surrender. and that I had still no weapon.Wait for the common sense of the morning. closing her eyes. I could not carry both.. a vast labyrinth of precipitous walls and crumpled heaps. I fancied I heard the breathing of a crowd of those dreadful little beings about me. I was glad to find. that by chance. Better equipped indeed they are. in the dim light. I began the conversation.