You name the animal. ‘We take you there.7 chat phlegra gered in Eckelss throat; “Unbullevable”Eckes bremhed, the tight of | Reswallowed and pushed itdown. Themuscles the Machine on his thin face, “A real tine | ound his mouth formed 3 smile as he puis Machine” He shook his head. "Makes you thse gjghand slowiy out upon the aig, and in that hand Ifthe election had gone bad yesterday, [might “Paved «check for ten thousand dlls othe be here now rantioe sea peer aty me ‘man behind the desk. Thank God Keith won. He'll make a fine Pres | “Does this safari guarantee 1 come back dent of the United States” alive?” {° “Yes? said the man behind the desk. *We'e “We guarantee nothing? said the official, Situcky. if Deutscher ad gotten tn we have he “except the dinosaurs” He turned, “This is Mr. |_worst kind of dictatorship. Theres ae ane ‘Tavis, your Safari Gude ia the everything maa for you, 2 mi. Past, Hell cell you what and tarist,antiChrist, antihuman Where to shoot. If he says no smibincellecua, People cle shooting, a0 shooting. If you 1s up, you know, joking but disobey instevctions, there's a ‘ot joking, Suid 1€ Deutscher Stiff penalty of another ten became President they wanted ‘housand dolar, plus possible 10 0 live in 1492, OF course svernment action, on our ruin” its not our business to conduct Escapes, but to Eckels glanced across the vst office ata mass form Safaris, Anyway Keith's President nove All | andtangle,2 aking humming of wires and you got to worry about iy -* Steel boxes, at an auroe that flickered now “Shooting my dinostutr Eckels finshed it foe ‘orange, now stiver, now ive. There was 1 _ him ‘ama ks sian Bont bursng all of [ “A tpmtnnosnnrus ree The Trt La Time all the yeary and all he parchment calem 4 the most incredible monster in story Sign hs | ars allthe hours piled high andset aflame, | release. Anything happens to you, ete ee A touch of che hand and this burning would, | responsible Those dinosaurs ae hungry” {om the instant, beauty ceverse ise, Eckels | Eckels lushed angry, “Trying to sears me!® | fomembered the wordingin theadvertsemients | “Franky, yes. We don't want anyone Boing | fo the letter Out of chars and ashes, ovt of dust | whol panic atthe fist sho. six Sul eae, ad coals, ike golden salamanders, the old 2 were killed fast yeah ada dozen hunters Were “Yeats, the green years, might leap; roses here ro give you the severe lla eal bute | sweeten the air white hair sum Irisheblack, | ever asked foe Traveiig you back sixty mica | Nzlakies vanish:al, everything fly back to sced, | years to bag the biggest pame in all of Tine | Tee deat, russ down to their Begunnings, suns. Your personal checks sil there Tea ape | sein sesten skies and sct in glorious cats, | Me Bekels looked at the check. His agers || moons eat hhemseives opposite to the custom, | twitched all and everthing cupping one in another like | “Good luck said the man behind the desk | Ghincse boxes, abbies into hats all and every. |_*Me Travis, hesall ours” ) thing resuming to the fresh death, the seed ~ ‘They moved silentiy across the room, taking dleath, the green death, to the ime before the their guns with them, toward the Machine Deginning. A touch of = hand might do i the toward the sliver metal and the soaring eh |Limerest touch ofa hand. First & day and then a night and then a day and 1 aurora (de) Bday 8 comparing the ow __then a night, chen it was day night day-nightday Soma fo de machine so msuron, acolo diay A week, 4 month, a yeas a decade! are sos Stipruwppeinatngee abe skesmarteNar Ao SONS appr O57 Gone ence 2% ‘Chinese boxes: set boxes cach ofwhieh fest They put on their oxygen helmiets and tested Ae nestnnses one the invercome, 36 Tus SnomtStom CoLLEcTionsEckels swayed on the padded seat, his face} Caesar, Napoleon, Hitter —none of them exists” pole, his jaw stitf, He felt the trembling in his | The men nodded. rns and he jooked down and found his handsG2)_ “That’—Me. Travis pointed—"is the jungle of Ten ce tne new tide, There were four other {sisty milion two thousand and fify-fve yeas se ue Blaine. Tavis, the Safi Leaders | before President Keith’ Nis soitant. Lesper . He indicted ance; and wo other E a metal path that struck tuners Diings and RE SEEM ge EAN ote ino green wilder: Kramer They sit EPR ess, over seaming looking at each other, | ou EA swamp. among. givmt ii the reas Dazed | eee fers and pam gouniwben | ‘ “An Wa He ak Can these gone fib isthe Pah, ok seta dinosaur cold ae by Time Sali for foses te tis mouth f | your wwe. Te floats Syne F BPR onc above tne “th yom hit hem tarth, Doesnt 98h okt? id Travis on : 4 Sov much as one fhe cme rae Bie Meee ers biade, tower or ‘Some dinosaurs bave if AF tree. It's an antigravity two. brains, one in , i metal ks purpose fhe ead. another Sat é note down the spinal ol PR toxching this wort tem We sty away A ft te Past in 05 Way. fem those Thats Suy on the Path stetching, tuck Pat : Dow go off iT Your ist WO. sexs | fepeat. Don't go off Ine dhe eyes, # yor For any reason! it fon, Blind them, and | ou fa of, theres & fe back into” te 2 penal, And don't brain” shoot any animal we don't okay” The Machine howled. Time was a film sun" “Why? asked Fees sackant Suns fled and ven milion moons fied £_ They satin dhe ancient wikerness. Fe Bis ver ther. "Thinks ald Eekes “very humerd}csisbiew ona wine, and the smell of rand an ueverived would envy us today. This makes | ol salsa, mos grasses an flowers the color fic seem tke Bins of biood “Ine Machine slowed: fs scream fel to "We don't want ro change the Future. We surat The Machine stopped stort belong herein the Pa The government ‘The sun stopped in the sky. ‘doesn’t lobe us bere. We have to pay big graft’ 10 | “The lop tar ad eoveloped the Machine keep ob fachse. A Time Machine is Binichy bicw sway and they were nan okt ime, very business. Not knowing it, we might allan Ait ane mae, tes Nters and two Safi important anima a smal bird, a oachy a flower Mad thelr blue meta guns across their even, thus desioying an important tink in af ines. __ rowing species ‘hrst hn’ born yet" sad'Tavis. “Moses has") "That's not cleat ad Heke nos gone to ie mountain to tik with God. Thea, “Allright? Travis continued, “say we acide Pyramids are still in the earth, waiting to be cut Gur and put Up. Remember that. Alexander, | 3. gaieobes ASouno oF TauNoen 37tally kill one mouse here, ‘That mans all the future families of this one particular destroyed, right?” “Right” “And all the Bumilies of the fumiliey of the |, families Of that one mouset With a stamp of | yourfoot, you annihilate first one, then a dozen, then thousand, 4 mull, a didtion possible mice!” So they're dead, said Bckels,°Se what?” So what?” Tris snorted qulety “Wel, what about the foxes tharll need those mice to survive? Foe want often mice, a fox lies. For want often foxes. a lion scarves. For want of a on, all manner of insects, vultures, ay Inne butions of tie forms ae thrown into chaas and destruc » ton. Eventually it all bolls dawn to this: Fy nine mithion years later, a cave man, one of a | dozen in the entire world. goes hun } Dour or sabertoothed tiger for food, But you, |, friend, have stepped on all the tigers in that "region. By stepping on one single mouse. So the ccive man starves. And the cave man, please note not just any’ expendable man, not He is sn entire future nation. From his loins would have sprung ten soas. From rbeir loins one hundred sons, and thus onward toa evilization Destroy this one man, and you destror a race, 2 people, an entire history of fie, Its eompurtble to slaying some of Adam's grandchildeea. The ‘stomp of your foot, on one mouse, could start an earthquake, the effects of which could shake ur earth and destinies down through Tinie, wo their very foundations. With the death of that fone cave man, 2 billion others yee unborn are Urottled in che womb. Pertaps Rome never ses on its seven hills, Pethaps Europe is fotever a dace forest, and only Asia waves healthy und weeming. Step on 2 mouse and you ‘crush the Pyramids. Step on a mouse and you leave your print, like a Grand Canyon, across Hremity: Queen Elizabeth might sever be born, Washingion might nor cross the Delaware, there might never be a United States at al. 80 De _cateful. Stay on she Path, Nerur step off see? said Bekels. “Then it wouldn't pay for 38 Tue SHORFSTORY CotLECTiONS weitd | _us even to touch the gets?” “Correet. Crashing certain plants could a ‘up infinitesimally. lire error here world mol ply in sixty millon years, all out of proposton, OF course maybe our theory is wrong. Maybe | Time canbe changed by us, Or maybe Ie can be | changed! only in tle subtle ways. A dead mosse {here mitkes an insect imbalance there, a popu | tion disproportion lates, a bad haevest further fon, a depression, mass starvation, and, Aaally | change in soctal temperament in fithing ouniries, Something much more subtle, like that. “Peshaps only a’ sof breath, a whisper, 2 fait pollen’ on the sig such & Slight, sight change that unless you Jooked close you . wouldn't see it, Who knows? ‘Who really Gan say he knows? We don't know. Wes guessing, But until we do know for certain ‘whether our messing around in Time car make x big coar of a hile rustle in history, we've being careful. This Machine, this Path, Your Clothing and bodies, were stcrilized, as you know, before the journey. We sear these axyyen helmets 82 ‘we can't introduce our bacteria into an ancient atmosphere” “How do we know which animals to shoot” “They're marked with red paint.” ssid Travis “Today. before our journey, we sent Lesperance hiete back with the Michine. He came co the. particular era and followed cert animals "Studying thems?” “Right? “said Lesperance, ‘I trick them {rough their entire existence, noting which oF them lives longest. Very few. How many times they mate. Not often, Life's shor. When f fad tone that’s going to die when a tee falls on hin ‘or one that drowns in a tar pit, | note the exact ‘hous, minute, and second, | siiooc a pant bomb, Irlezwes ed patch on his side, We can't mss ihe Pe WorDs To Own, anniilate (ans: «destroy wipe out ‘expendable (ak sper/do beh ae worth serine fo minan objective. teeming ii) vo ued a swarming: ‘overtowing‘Then I covrelate out arrival inthe Past so that we meet the Monster not sore than two rinutes before he would have died anyway. This way, we kill only veils with, no fut, that are never going to mate agin. You see I eared we ate?” “aut i you eame hack this morning 19 Time” said Fekels eagerly, "you must've bumped into us, ur Saft! How did i nara ow? Was i successful? Did all of us get throughh—alive?” “Tavis and Lesperance give cxtrather 2 took. “thatid be a paradox,” ssid the later "Time Goesn't permit tht sor of mess—a_man nesting himsalé When snl ‘ceasons threaten, Time sicps ise, Like an airplane hituing aa — tir pocket. You felt the Machine jap jos" | Tefowe we seopped? That was us passing | turetves on the way buck to the Furare, We. ‘sv nothing, There's no way of veling if eis expedition was a success, if we got our foonsten, or whether all of us~meaning 30% Me Eekels—got out alive” ees smiled pale ‘Cut that? said Travis shasply. "Bveryone 09 ini “They were realy to leave the Machin. ‘The jrtle was bigh and de jungle was broad. sad che jungle was the entire world forever and foyever Sods Fike music and sounds tke ying tens filed the Sky, and unose were prerodaeeyls soaring with cavernous gray wings, gigantic bats bf delium and night fever Eckel, balanced on the narowe Path, ened his rifle payfully fp that” suid Travis. "Don’t even aim for fun, bse you! Le your guns should go off —' Tekels flushed, “Wheres our Tyranno- Tesperance checked his wristwatch. “Up. ahead. Well bisect is eral in sixty seconds ook fr the red paint! Don't shoot til we give Ge word Say on the Path. Stay on the Paro!” “They moved forward in the wind ‘of morning, Strange” emurmured Tekels. “Up heat, sixty million years, Flection Day over. Keith made President Everyone celebesting. And here we fare, a million years lost, and they ‘don't exist The things we worried bout for months, a fetime, not ‘even bora or thought of yee” Safety eatenes off, every cone!” ondered Travis. “You, firs hos, Fokels. Second, Willings. Thi, Kramer” tye tnted gee wikl boar, basi, elephant, but now, this! is > said Eekels. *t'm shaking like a kid” “Any said Travis, Everyone stopped. “Travis mised his hand, “Ahead, he whispered. “In the mist, There he is “There's His Royal Majesty no ‘The jungle was wide and full of twitterings, rusiings, murmurs and sighs. ‘Saddenly ill ceased, 35 iFsomeone had shut door silence ‘A sound of tender Out of the mist, one Aundred yards away, came Tynannosararus rex. “Ie whispered Bekels. "fe. > “he {ccame on great oiled, resilient, striding legs. Ik towered thirty feet above half of the trees, 2 “great evil god, folding its delicate watehmaker's laws cose tots oily eepiiian chest, Each lawer Jeg was 2 piston, a thoustad pounds of white Done, suink ia thick ropes of muscle, sheathed worDs To OWN paradox (pera dil’) something tha hat or eens ta haw contradictory qualves resin {cvalyor) eles able eo raburn tothe ‘rier shape quill afer beng stretched oF Compressed: Reset azo meant “able 0 recover Gulekyirom misforune oF aeuty” ASouno oF THunoen 39eam ofpebbled skin like the mail ofa tiny insects wriggled, so that the entire body Temple warrior Each (high was a ton of meat, seemed to twitch and undulate, even while dhe hon, and. steel mesh. And from the rest monster Seif did not move. It exhaled, The breathing cage of the upper bexly those rwo stink of mw flesh blew down the wildemess Aefieate gms dangled Out front, arms with "Get me out of here!’ said Eokels. “Te was Tanks which might pic up and examine ever like this hetore. I was always sure Te inenlike toys, wile the saake neck coiled. ‘come through alive. I had good guides, good, Aid the head itself ton of sculptured safaris, and safety This ime, | figured wrong. ‘tone, ited easily upon ce sky. Its Tye mict ny match and admit i. This i S00 nowt gaped, exposing a fence of ‘auch for me to get old of: tech ke daggers. Its eyes rolled, “Don't rua,” said. Lesperance. cic ems, erapty of all expres stun around, Hide in the sion save unger. Ue closed! Its Machine? mow ta 3 deaeh gia. It ran, “es” Bckels seemed to be Ispelvic bones crushing aside numb, He looked at his fect as trees and bushes, iis taloned if trying to make them move. feet clawing damp earth, He gave a grunt of helpless teaving prints six inches deep ness. wherever it setied is weight. KL “Bekets!" ranwith a gliding ballet step, far He took a few steps, blink- too poised ad balanced for its ing, shutflin. tentons, Ie moved into @ sunlit rea wal its beautifully rept ‘eq hands feeling the ai "Nor that way!” ‘the Monster, at the frst motion, lunged Forward with a “Wy, why? Bckels twitched” terrible scream, It covered one lis mouth, “Ie coald geach up and fnundred yards in six seconds. ‘The gab the moon’ rifles jerked up and blazed fire. A "spl" Travis jerked angsily. “He windstorm from the beast’s mouth Tusa seen us yex” engulfed them in the stench of slime and ir ean't be killed? Bekels pronounced old blood. The Monster roared, weth glitter: this verdict quietly a6 Hf these could bE™RO™! amg with sun anument. He had weighed tie evidence sad | Eckels, not looking back, walked blindly 10 his wis his considered opinion. The rifle in his_'. the edge of the Path, his gun limp in bis arms, funds seemed a cap un. "We were fools to" stepped off the Puth, and walked, aot knowing ‘ome. Thi s impossible” it in the jungle, His feet sank jaro green moss." ‘that up” hissed! Travis. His legs moved him, and he felt atone and ‘Nighemaze” remote fom the events behind, Tien around? commanded Travis. “Walk The cifles cracked agaln. ‘Their sonnd was ‘uietivto the Machine. Well init one half your Jost an shriek an tard thusclee The great level fee Of the reptile's til swung up, lashed sideways. “Idd realize # would be this big” stid Trees exploded in clouds of leaf awd branch edu" rlsaloulsted, th all. And nos [The Monster tiiched is jewelers hands down stout to fondle a the men, to twist chem in hal, ro “sees ust “There's te ed pal on ts chest! ‘The Tyrant Card sed ise ts armored fet gltered lke a thousand gicen coins. The Temple Cem eshese bass pores bins crusted with slime, steamed. tate sie, 7 Worps To OWN ASounn of THUNDER 4I‘rush thems like berries, €o eram them into its ‘eth and is screaming theoat. Is boulder stone e¥e5 leveled with the men. They saw them. elves jintored. ‘They tired at the metile ‘eyelids and the blazing back ii, © like a stone idol, ike a mountain avalanche, | Drannosauras fell. Tsndering, it dutehed trees, pulled them with i Tr wrenched and tore | the meul Pah, The men flung themselves back end away. The body hit, ten fons of void flesh’ and stone. The guns fired, The it Monster lasled its armored ‘ail, twitched ite snake FW, and ay stil. A fount of blood spurtes trom 4s dhoat, Somewhere inside, a ste of fics Durst. Sickening gushes drenched the hunters They stood, ed and glistening, ‘The thunder fed ‘he junale was silent. After the avalanche, a ‘Breen peace. Afr the nigbuaare, morning, Billings and Kramer sat on the pathway and new up. ‘Travis and Lesperance stoud with ‘smoking rifles, cursing steady. Im the Time Machine, of his (ce, Eckels lay shivering. He had found his way back to the Path, climbed into the Machine. ‘Travis came walking, glanced at Eckels, took cotton gauze from a metal Box, znd return to the others, who were sitting on the Pac ‘Clean up ‘They wiped the boo front their helmets They Began to eusse too. The Monster la, hil of soll Kesh. Within, you could hee the sighs and murmurs as the furthest chambers of ded, the ongans malfunctioning, quis running 2 final instant from pocket to sae to spleen, even ‘hing shutting off, closing ip forever ft was hike standing by a wrecked Jocomotive or a steam shovel at quiting time, all valves being released Or fevered tight, Bones eracked; the tonnage of £ town flesh, off balance, dead weight, snapped the delicate foreuems. caught underneath The meat seitled, quivering Another cricking sound. Overhead, & pigam ‘eteee branch broke from ite heavy roooring, 42. THe SHoRESToRY COLLECTIONS fell crashed upon the dead ease with finaly “There Lesperance checked his. wate Right on time. That’ the giant tree that wns ‘scleedued to fall and Kil his animal aainah He glanced at the two Busters. “You want te ‘wophy picture? “What?” “We can’t take a tophy back 10 the Futur. ‘The body bas to stay righ hhete where it would have . died originally; so the Jnseets, birds, and bacteria ‘can ge af, as they sere Intended to. Everything i balance. The body stays But we care take a picture of you standing ner The vwo men tied t0 think, but gave up, shaking theis heads They fet themselves be led alone the meta) Path, They sank wearily lato the Machine Gihions. They gazed hack at the ruined Monster, the stagnating mound, where alrency strange repaiian birds and golden inscets were Dusy at dhe steaming armor AA sound on the floor of the Tine Machine salflened them, Eckels iter shivering “im sorry he sad at as. ‘Get up!” cred Travis Eokels gor up, ‘Go out on that Path alone;* sii “tev. He had his rife pointed. *Vouire not coming beck inthe Machine. We're leaving yo here!” Lesperanee seized Travis arm. Wait-—* ‘Say out of this!" Travis shook his hand away “This foO1 neatiy killed us. Batic isn't tba oe ‘mci, no. Ie his shies! Look at them He oe OOF the Path, Thac ruins ust Wen torte? Thousands of dollars of insurance! We guaton fee no one leaves the path. He let Oh ake ool TEhave wo report tote government. They roke our license £0 travel. Who knows Worps To Own evoke (F+W) ¥ eneek withdeanTake it eagle del was kik up Some dit” How do we know?” eried Travis. "We don't now anything! (t's all a mystery! Get out of bere, Eels Teckel fumbled his shire. “FU pay anything. A bunred thousand dollars! “Tavis glare at Eckelss checkbook and spat. Go out thete. The Monster's next 10 the Path Sick your arms up to your elbows ia his mouth Ten year can eume back with as” “Thats wareasonable!” “The Monsters dead, you idiot, The bullets! ‘toe bullets can't be left behind. They doo’ ‘elon inthe Past they mighe change anything, eres my knife, Dig them out” The jungle was alive again, full of the okt tuemorings an bird cries. Eckels tuened slowly ‘organ! the primeval garbage dump, thie bill of rightmares and terror. After a fong te, fike ‘ seepwalker he shuffled out along the Path He returned, shuddering, Five minutes later, husams soaked and sed tothe elbows, He bet out his hands, tach held a number of stect billets ‘Then he fel He lay where he fell, one moving "Yn did't nave to emake him do that? said Legere, “Dido't PI's too ear to tell? Travis audged tne ill body, “He lve. Next tne he won't 80 hinting game fke shis. Okay” He jerked his thumb wearify at Lesperance. “Switch on, Lee's gohiame 1492. 1776, 1812. & They cleaned thelr hands and fees. ‘They ‘aunged their cakiog shirts and pants. Bekels {was up and around again, not speaking. Travis sted at him for a full ten minutes. “Dom look at me” cried Eckel, eae anything “wha can Cel?” Suse an off the Path, thar's al, ele mud on ry shoes—what do you want me co do—get wv and pray? ‘night ll you vet. ve got my gun ready. "Fm innovent, Fe done nothing! 1999. 2000. 2055. "haven't “The Machine stopped. *Get out! sad Travis, ‘The room was there as they bat! left. But not the same as chey had Jet it. The same man ft behind the same dese. But the same man did ot quite sit behind the same desk. Travis looked around swiftly, "Everything ‘okay here?” he snapped. “Fine. Welcome home!” “Travis did not relax. He seemed to be looking. atthe very atoms ofthe arise, atthe way the ‘un poured through the one high window. “Okay, Bokels, get out. Don't ever come ack” ckels could not move "You heard me” said Tris, staring a” Eekels stood smelling ofthe ag, and there was’ hing to the ag, « chemical taint so subtle, Sight, that only a faint ery oF Is subliminal Senses warned him it was there. The colors, white, gray, blue, orange, in the wall, ia the frenitue, in the sky beyond the window. were Tere. And there was a feel His flesh ‘bvitched. His hands ritched, He stood drinking’ the oddaess with the pores of his body Somewhere, someone must have been scream ing one of those whistles that only a dog ean fheat His bole screamed lence in retam, ‘Beyond this room, beyond this wal, beyond chs ‘man who Was not quite the same Man sited = this desk that was noe quite the sime deste fay an emtire world of strees and peopte. What ‘som of world it was now. there was fo telling. He coukt feel them moving there, beyond he ‘walls, almost, ike vo many eaess pieces blown ina dry wind Bur te immediate thing was the sign painted ‘on the office wall, the same sign Ne ae reud carer today on fist entering whee you > WorDS To OWN We might need it, Tn waning you, EcKels, 1) Brena pr primes eer: _suminal(sab-En's-o) ajbelow the lel of |ASounD oF THUNDER 43Somehow the sign “TYME SEPARI Ine. ___ Sefaris tu any yeer en the past. ‘Yu naim the animall, } Eekets felt himself fal into a chain Ne fumbled crazily atthe thick slime on his boots He held up a clod of dirt, trembling, "No, i ‘can't be, Nota Het thing like that. Nol Embedded in the mud, gistening green and sold and black, was a butterfly, very beatiful And very deal ‘Nota hile thing like shat! Not 2 busters!” vied Eckel, Ie fell to the floor, an exquisite thing, a sal ‘thing that could upset balances and knock ar MEET THE WRITER ‘eller of Tales Ray Bradbury (1920- )calishimsetta teller of tales and a magi realist He lio {aims co remember everything-—every book hed read, every movie he’s seen, al the events cof his lif back to and inclaing is birch in ‘Wauikegin Winois, on August 22, 1920. All shose memories and bigimaginaton are the ‘materials for the fetion and poetry he’s been ‘writing for more than ity years. Bradbury WES credit for his writing ta his Boyhood sel Sél don't know if hele in previous ves: Tm nor sure I can lve forever. Gut that young boy believed in both, and {have let him have iis head. He hae written my scores and books for me.5 Serrarmmeneesorvenmr 44 The SHomStone COULECTIONS aa! dlown a line of smalt dominoes and then big dominoes and then gigantic daminoes, all dows | the years across Time, Eckels" mind while. | couldn't change things, Killing one buted bold’ be ta important! Conk it? His fice was cold. His mouth tremble asking: “Who—who won the presidents) ‘election yestercay? ‘The man behind the desk laughed.“ joking? You koow very well, Deuwschet, of ‘course! Who else? Not that foal weakling Kei ‘We gor an irou man now, a man with guts!” The ‘official stopped. “Wht's wrong? Fekels moaned. He dropped to his knees. te scrabbed at the golden butterfly with shakitg Fingers. "Can't we, he pleaded tothe Worl, himself, to the officials, 10 the Machine, “cant We take it back, can’t we make i alive agit? Cam we start ovee? Can't we — He did nor move, Byes shart, Ne waited, shivering, He heard Travis breate food in the room: he Iara Travis shuft his rifle, cick the sSwety Catch, and raise the weapon, ‘There wasa Sound of thunder Bradbury's workis fl of tildhood imaginings, fantasies, and nighamares— portraits of Venus and Mars, rime travel, ageless children, never-ending rains—buc Bradbury the iozen. His fancasy stories are ‘often warnings against blind faith in science, but theyre optimistic. By giving strange twists «0 everyday objects and events, Bradbury challenges his readers to look at them a if for the first me, Asa writer, he lets readers soa sciance through the excited eyes of children, bs he also informs, suggesting ways adules ‘might use cechnoiogy mare resporsibiy For another Bradbury story, see page 259 d ; SR