I found myself sitting crouched1 together in a tumultuous darkness. For a long time I could not understand where I was, nor how I had come to this perplexity. I thought of the cupboard into which I had been thrust at times when I was a child, and then of a very dark and noisy bedroom in which I had slept during an illness. But these sounds about me were not the noises I had known, and there was a thin flavour in the air like the wind of a stable. Then I supposed we must still be at work upon the sphere, and that somehow I had got into the cellar of Cavor's house. I remembered we had finished the sphere, and fancied I must still be in it and travelling through space.
"Cavor," I said, "cannot we have some light?"
There came no answer.
"Cavor!" I insisted.
I was answered by a groan2. "My head!" I heard him say; "my head!"
I attempted to press my hands to my brow, which ached, and discovered they were tied together. This startled me very much. I brought them up to my mouth and felt the cold smoothness of metal. They were chained together. I tried to separate my legs and made out they were similarly fastened, and also that I was fastened to the ground by a much thicker chain about the middle of my body.
I was more frightened than I had yet been by anything in all our strange experiences. For a time I tugged3 silently at my bonds. "Cavor!" I cried out sharply. "Why am I tied? Why have you tied me hand and foot?"
"I haven't tied you," he answered. "It's the Selenites."
The Selenites! My mind hung on that for a space. Then my memories came back to me: the snowy desolation, the thawing4 of the air, the growth of the plants, our strange hopping5 and crawling among the rocks and vegetation of the crater6. All the distress7 of our frantic8 search for the sphere returned to me.... Finally the opening of the great lid that covered the pit!
Then as I strained to trace our later movements down to our present plight9, the pain in my head became intolerable. I came to an insurmountable barrier, an obstinate10 blank.
"Cavor!"
"Yes?"
"Where are we?"
"How should I know?"
"Are we dead?"
"What nonsense!"
"They've got us, then!"
He made no answer but a grunt11. The lingering traces of the poison seemed to make him oddly irritable12.
"What do you mean to do?"
"How should I know what to do?"
"Oh, very well!" said I, and became silent. Presently, I was roused from a stupor13. "O Lord!" I cried; "I wish you'd stop that buzzing!"
We lapsed14 into silence again, listening to the dull confusion of noises like the muffled15 sounds of a street or factory that filled our ears. I could make nothing of it, my mind pursued first one rhythm and then another, and questioned it in vain. But after a long time I became aware of a new and sharper element, not mingling16 with the rest but standing17 out, as it were, against that cloudy background of sound. It was a series of relatively18 very little definite sounds, tappings and rubbings, like a loose spray of ivy19 against a window or a bird moving about upon a box. We listened and peered about us, but the darkness was a velvet20 pall21. There followed a noise like the subtle movement of the wards22 of a well-oiled lock. And then there appeared before me, hanging as it seemed in an immensity of black, a thin bright line.
"Look!" whispered Cavor very softly.
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
We stared.
The thin bright line became a band, and broader and paler. It took upon itself the quality of a bluish light falling upon a white-washed wall. It ceased to be parallel-sided; it developed a deep indentation on one side. I turned to remark this to Cavor, and was amazed to see his ear in a brilliant illumination--all the rest of him in shadow. I twisted my head round as well as my bonds would permit. "Cavor," I said, "it's behind!"
His ear vanished--gave place to an eye!
Suddenly the crack that had been admitting the light broadened out, and revealed itself as the space of an opening door. Beyond was a sapphire23 vista24, and in the doorway25 stood a grotesque26 outline silhouetted28 against the glare.
We both made convulsive efforts to turn, and failing, sat staring over our shoulders at this. My first impression was of some clumsy quadruped with lowered head. Then I perceived it was the slender pinched body and short and extremely attenuated29 bandy legs of a Selenite, with his head depressed30 between his shoulders. He was without the helmet and body covering they wear upon the exterior31.
He was a blank, black figure to us, but instinctively32 our imaginations supplied features to his very human outline. I, at least, took it instantly that he was somewhat hunchbacked, with a high forehead and long features.
He came forward three steps and paused for a time. His movements seemed absolutely noiseless. Then he came forward again. He walked like a bird, his feet fell one in front of the other. He stepped out of the ray of light that came through the doorway, and it seemed as though he vanished altogether in the shadow.
For a moment my eyes sought him in the wrong place, and then I perceived him standing facing us both in the full light. Only the human features I had attributed to him were not there at all!
Of course I ought to have expected that, only I didn't. It came to me as an absolute, for a moment an overwhelming shock. It seemed as though it wasn't a face, as though it must needs be a mask, a horror, a deformity, that would presently be disavowed or explained. There was no nose, and the thing had dull bulging33 eyes at the side--in the silhouette27 I had supposed they were ears. There were no ears.... I have tried to draw one of these heads, but I cannot. There was a mouth, downwardly curved, like a human mouth in a face that stares ferociously34....
The neck on which the head was poised35 was jointed36 in three places, almost like the short joints37 in the leg of a crab38. The joints of the limbs I could not see, because of the puttee-like straps39 in which they were swathed, and which formed the only clothing the being wore.
There the thing was, looking at us!
At the time my mind was taken up by the mad impossibility of the creature. I suppose he also was amazed, and with more reason, perhaps, for amazement40 than we. Only, confound him! he did not show it. We did at least know what had brought about this meeting of incompatible41 creatures. But conceive how it would seem to decent Londoners, for example, to come upon a couple of living things, as big as men and absolutely unlike any other earthly animals, careering about among the sheep in Hyde Park! It must have taken him like that.
Figure us! We were bound hand and foot, fagged and filthy42; our beards two inches long, our faces scratched and bloody43. Cavor you must imagine in his knickerbockers (torn in several places by the bayonet scrub) his Jaegar shirt and old cricket cap, his wiry hair wildly disordered, a tail to every quarter of the heavens. In that blue light his face did not look red but very dark, his lips and the drying blood upon my hands seemed black. If possible I was in a worse plight than he, on account of the yellow fungus44 into which I had jumped. Our jackets were unbuttoned, and our shoes had been taken off and lay at our feet. And we were sitting with our backs to this queer bluish light, peering at such a monster as Durer might have invented.
Cavor broke the silence; started to speak, went hoarse45, and cleared his throat. Outside began a terrific bellowing46, as if a mooncalf were in trouble. It ended in a shriek47, and everything was still again.
Presently the Selenite turned about, flickered48 into the shadow, stood for a moment retrospective at the door, and then closed it on us; and once more we were in that murmurous49 mystery of darkness into which we had awakened50.
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1
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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tugged
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| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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thawing
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| n.熔化，融化v.（气候）解冻( thaw的现在分词 )；（态度、感情等）缓和；（冰、雪及冷冻食物）溶化；软化 | |
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hopping
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| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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crater
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| n.火山口，弹坑 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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wards
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| 区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态 | |
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sapphire
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| n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的 | |
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vista
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| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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27
silhouette
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| n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓 | |
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silhouetted
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| 显出轮廓的，显示影像的 | |
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attenuated
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| v.（使）变细( attenuate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）变薄；（使）变小；减弱 | |
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depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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31
exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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33
bulging
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| 膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱 | |
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ferociously
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| 野蛮地，残忍地 | |
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poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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jointed
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| 有接缝的 | |
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37
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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38
crab
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| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
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39
straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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40
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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41
incompatible
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| adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的 | |
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42
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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43
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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44
fungus
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| n.真菌，真菌类植物 | |
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45
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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46
bellowing
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的现在分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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47
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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48
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
murmurous
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| adj.低声的 | |
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50
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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