The Tarn of Eternity Part 48

Hurry, they're getting out!"

Everyone rushed madly toward the chariot. For a moment Demo watched, then turned with a shrug. An interesting, but kind of strange, sport.

"Hey, Guru, tell me what life signifies. You still chomping that dried junk?" The boy who had asked for a dollar was grinning at him.

"My name is Demo, not Guru. Yes, I rather enjoy dried venison."

"Look, Guru, no offense, eh? You got cover for the night? The Y has some pads open. They get taken in a hurry, so you better scat over there if you want one. Gonna rain before morning. Say, I'm Randy. Look, I can't p.r.o.nounce that Demo bit, so you're Guru. Don't let it throw you."

"Cover? The Y? Ah, shelter from the rain? Yes, that would be well. You are kind. Where is this Y?"

"h.e.l.l, I'll baby sit you a while. Just follow along, sport."

They located an available pad, and Demo found himself in a dormitory filled with numerous unique individuals. The glances he received indicated that he won honors for uniqueness.

It is a law of nature that, for things to go right, there is only one viable path. For things to go wrong, the paths are infinite. Demo continued down one of the infinite paths.

Cronus had indeed attempted to make contact, return Demo to his own time and place. Cronus selected the right time without difficulty. Place, however? Well, place threw him a curve.

Demo had gone wandering off.

Cronus had rather limited power so far as s.p.a.ce is concerned.

Given sufficient time - of which he was the sole master - he could examine the reaches of s.p.a.ce. And examining the reaches of s.p.a.ce was his immediate goal.

He began the task methodically.

First, he returned himself to the time and s.p.a.ce when he was occupied with aging Demo. Then he moved forward (time-wise) to that point in time when he was distracted. With care he then gave careful thought to the next incident.

Unfortunately, he found himself in the predicament many of us face from time to time.

He had a sudden mental lapse.

As the saying goes, the right words were on the tip of his tongue. Stubbornly, unfortunately, they clung there tenaciously.

Grumbling, he vectored forward in time once more. I'll sleep on it, he decided. Tomorrow is soon enough.

Demo, if he were asked, would not have agreed.

Randy woke him early. He knew it was early because it was dark.

Also, because he was sleepy. He was not by any stretch of the imagination an early bird. Au contraire!

They left the building hurriedly.

"Nice place and all," Randy noted. "Just keep in mind, some strange people stay here. I'd rather not meet them outside.

'Nough said?"

They walked along the pathway, which Randy called a sidewalk.

Demo noted that he himself was rapidly developing an extended vocabulary of words, mainly from listening to Randy.

"Look, we got to scrounge some eatables, you know, food. Now there's a place over on 5th . . . ." He paused as Demo smiled, motioned toward his pouch.

"We can buy food. My pouch is full of paper, eh, money. Gifts!

Dollars!"

Randy stared at him for a moment, put his hand in the pouch and pulled out a few bills. "All right, man! You are with it! Okay, let's. .h.i.t this place across the way. I could use a good meal for a change."

The waitress smiled at them, looked at Demo's garb with curiosity. "Look, no offense, but you Joe's got cash? The boss is real mean about that!"

"Of course we got cas.h.!.+ Hey, show her, Guru!"

Demo pulled a handful of bills from his pouch, stuck them back in.

The waitress stuck out her lower lip, nodded. "Okay, here's the menu. What'll you have? The western omelette's not bad. Makes a good meal."

Randy ordered the omelette and coffee.

"I'll have the omelette and milk," Demo decided.

"Hey, Guru, where'd you get that rig? What's your thing, anyway? You're awful close mouthed."

"Randy, you ever hear of people traveling through time?"

"Oh, great! All right, forget it. Sorry I asked."

"No, really, I'm serious. I'm from Greece . . . from long time ago Greece. Don't ask me how I got here. I really don't know.

And I don't know how to get back." Demo's disconsolate look almost convinced Randy.

"You are one good actor. I'm ready to break out a hanky. Look, I was out of line. You don't have to tell me anything. h.e.l.l, I've told you practically nothing about me, now have I?"

They finished their omelettes, and Randy was sipping his coffee when Demo glanced out the window.

"It's him! It's Cronus! I'm going back! Randy, thank you for your help. Here, take this money."

Demo pulled out handsful of bills, laid them on the table in front of Randy.

"Cronus! Come off it!" Randy glanced out the window.

A tall figure, dressed as was Demo, stood on the sidewalk. His face was grim, and he was making some weird, ritualistic motions. Randy looked toward Demo.

Demo was fading. At the moment he seemed at some point between clear jello and fog, with fog gaining the upper hand.

Randy reached out to grab Demo. His hand pa.s.sed through the image in front of him, touched nothing.

He stood up, threw his arms around his new found friend.