The Purple Wizard

by John Russell Fearn, Volsted Gridban

Genres: Science Fiction; Sci-fi Action & Adventure; Space Opera

Synopsis

To satisfy the belief of Professor Addison that Entropy can be controlled, to produce a backward and forward movement through the condition known as Time, Kitty Addison and her fiance, Arthur Davis, consent to being projected to the year corresponding to Arthur Addison's telephone number - which happens to be 828. Accordingly, the two young people find themselves in the world of the past, back in the darkest medieval times.

Release date: September 30, 2015

Publisher: Gateway

Print pages: 128

Sample

Professor Addison was deemed an eccentric because he did not behave as ordinary people do. In other words, he was not a wage earner in the accepted sense, he did not kow-tow to any particular employer; he was a man entirely controlled by his own personality, a fanatical scientist, constantly absorbed with that ever-present problem—Space and Time. He did not by any means live in some remote country house and have a sepulchral being for a manservant; nor did he have a forbidding housekeeper and work mysteriously in the basement of what had once been a mansion. Not at all—he worked in an absolutely modern and semi-detached villa on the outskirts of London, and spent all his time turning out somewhat insignificant gadgets, usually for motor cars and other mechanical vehicles, by which he managed to eke out a steady, though by no means prosperous, living.

His wife, Edith, understood him, which was one good thing. She did often wonder, though, why it was that there was not more money available considering the royalties which she knew her husband had accrued from the various gadgets that he had sold over a period of some twenty to twenty-five years. In this instance it was not that Professor Addison was secretive—he simply believed that he was not called upon to disclose his private financial means, not even to his wife, since he was putting aside as much money as he could to buy certain equipment, and it was, of course, that constant obsession of Space and Time which demanded the equipment.

Addison himself was the kind of man you might meet anywhere, in the street, in the bus, in the train. He did not look like a scientific professor; he more conveyed the impression of being a quiet city clerk or a bank manager. His age was nearly fifty, but he looked a good deal younger, though why this was so, considering the amount of scientific data which was accumulated in his brain was anybody’s guess. He seemed to live in a constantly detached, dreamlike state which, truth to tell, was entirely peopled with the scientific creations which were forever passing through his mind. Space and Time—Time and Space; he juggled these two conditions constantly, trying to solve how one might dissociate one from the other. And if any man ever gave himself a complicated problem, outside of endeavouring to solve within a few minutes the Cosmical Calculus, this was it.

Addison had very few friends but many acquaintances, but none of these latter were of any use when it came to arguing about the various scientific theories which he had in mind. Indeed there was only one person who ever seemed to come to the verge of understanding him, and this was Arthur Davis, aged twenty-five, blond and reasonably good looking, and brought into the orbit of the Addison family by reason of the fact that he had more than a passing interest in Addison’s daughter, Kitty, who had just reached the age of twenty-one.

Addison either could not or did not see that young Arthur’s interests were entirely centred on Kitty, otherwise he would not have so often interrupted their tête-a-têtes in the drawing-room of an evening. After all, Arthur Davis had only himself to blame for this; he should not have been so scientifically minded as to interest the father instead of the daughter and, indeed, considering what his destiny was to be, it would have been better if he had never revealed any interest in science whatsoever.

For, drawn like a particle of steel to a magnet, Addison was drawn towards this young man. He seized upon him as the only possible person who might enable him to test out one of his extraordinary theories in practice. The fact that romance or a daughter was the prime reason for Arthur’s presence at all did not interest Professor Addison in the slightest. He had a theory and he meant to use whom ever he could to bring that theory into practice and visible proof.

So it came about one evening in the late summer of 1967, when Arthur and Kitty were lounging in deck chairs in the back garden of the house, that Professor Addison suddenly descended upon them. He came swiftly through the french windows of the drawing-room, entirely silent in his slippers as he crossed the lawn. The first intimation the two young people had of his presence was when he suddenly appeared in front of them waving a sheaf of foolscap papers in his hand.

“I believe,” he exclaimed with an even more vigorous shake of the papers, “that I have got it!”

“Oh!” Arthur Davis said. He gave a rather troubled smile as he glanced briefly towards Kitty. He was too much of a gentleman to enquire what his prospective father-in-law had got, so he remained silent with one eyebrow raised.

Kitty, however, knowing her father so intimately, merely waved one hand.

“If it’s some kind of scientific theory, Dad,” she said with a kind of amused patience, “won’t it keep until a little later? Arthur and I were just discussing a most important matter——”

“It can’t be as important as this is,” her father declared flatly. “This is the solution to Time and Space. Believe it or not there is a way to go backwards or forwards in Time, and I am the man who has found it!”

“Is there any real reason why anybody should want to?” Arthur asked rather uncomfortably, feeling sure he was treading on the scientific corns.

Professor Addison just stared at him. It was as though this blond, reasonably good-looking man had remarked that the Moon was just about to fall out of the sky, and it was also perfectly plain that Professor Addison was not impressed.

“Is it possible,” Addison asked slowly, “that a young man in this year of 1967 can possibly fail to see the colossal significance of Time travel? It not only means that we can verify that which is past, but that we can also accurately forecast that which is to come. Can there be anything more tremendous, more epoch making, than a discovery like that?”

“The present, Dad,” Kitty said, “is quite good enough for me, and for Arthur too, for that matter. We much prefer to discover the future as we come to it than be suddenly pitchforked into it.”

“You’re only a child yet,” Addison decided brusquely, then turned his attention back to Arthur. “I feel, Arthur, that you are a young man with intelligence enough to grasp the fundamentals of my theory.”

Arthur smiled rather uneasily. “Well, sir, I’m certainly flattered by your faith in my scientific prowess, but don’t you think it would be better if you discussed it with some of the acknowledged scientists of the day? I mean those men who are responsible for——”

“I prefer to discuss it with you!” Addison raised a finger for emphasis. “And if you wish, I can explain it this very moment, that is if I’m not interrupting anything?” It had suddenly seemed to dawn upon Professor Addison that there might be a reason for his daughter and young Arthur being seated together in the twilight, but almost as soon as he had apologised for his presence, he came back to the subject on hand. “In the face of a discovery like this,” he resumed, “there can be no time for personal considerations such as—er——”

“Sweet nothings in the twilight?” Kitty suggested drily.

“Call it that if you like, my dear, but the fact remains that you and Arthur here can discuss whatever you had been discussing afterwards. For the moment I want you to listen to me.”

Arthur got up from his deckchair rather clumsily and made a brief motion towards it. “You’d better have my chair, sir. I don’t mind standing around. I was getting a little cramped anyway.”

“Thank you, my boy, thank you.” Addison seated himself quickly, rustled his notes in the fading light, peered at them and finally he took his reading glasses out of his pocket and peered again, only to give a grunt of annoyance. “This is no use at all,” he muttered irritably; “it is too dark to see. You’d better both come inside.”

“Oh, Dad, do we have to?” Kitty complained. “We were just having such a lovely conversation and now you have to come barging in with your scientific theories and upsetting everything. I’m sure Arthur is only saying that he is interested out of politeness. He’s not a great scientist; that much I can tell you.”

“I am the best judge of that,” Addison decided. “I have known young Arthur here for many months now, and the brief discussions I have had with him upon scientific matters satisfies me that he has quite a good rudimentary knowledge of all the present-day processes and practises. Yes, you’d better both come inside and I’ll explain things. Be an excellent time now since your mother has gone out for the evening. She always seems to have difficulty in understanding my scientific hypotheses.”

Obviously there was nothing else for it. Professor Addison’s mind was made up, and all considerations of youth and romance had to be flung completely to one side, and because Addison was the master in his own home he naturally had his way. Getting up from the deckchair and still clutching his handful of papers he led the way back across the lawn, through the open French windows and into the lounge. Here he snapped on the lights, thereby making the last move to destroy all the illusions of romance, and motioned to the chesterfield. Very dutifully, like two children who had been caught out by an irascible parent, Kitty and Arthur sat down and patiently waited.

“Now,” Addison said, waving his papers with the air of a producer about to direct a dramatic masterpiece, “just listen to this—particularly you, Arthur—and tell me if you see anything unreasonable in the theory I have worked out.”

“Why do you entirely pick on Arthur, Dad?” Kitty asked somewhat indignantly. “I have a brain, too, remember. I know that technically it is supposed to be a couple of ounces or something shorter than that of the male brain, but what there is of it does function. I thought perhaps I’d better remind you.”

Addison glanced at her as though she were not there. “This is no time for irrelevances, Kitty, if you don’t mind. Naturally if you have anything worth while to contribute to the observations afterwards I’ll be only too pleased to listen.”

Kitty folded her arms and sat back. She was shortish, with dark hair and dark eyes like her father, but she had none of his scientific, energetic fire. She was much more like her mother—somewhat indolent, very pleasure loving, and, as far as science went, not particularly brilliant.

“Time and Space,” Professor Addison commenced, “are always considered scientifically to be interlocked. That is to say, one cannot move in Space without also moving in Time, neither can one move in Time without moving in Space. They are what are technically known as the Inseparable Dimensions. But that Time can be speeded up or slowed down without in any way endangering the Space surrounding it is shown by the very elementary example of a movie projector. For instan. . .