CHAPTER FIVE

As the sun began to disappear, the cold of night started to fall upon the earth. Walking back toward the village, I noticed how quiet and lonely the land had suddenly become. Not a single person could be seen anywhere. Looking for the main hall, I caught sight of the large bird-man statue. Following its eyes, I spotted the little garden area that I had found myself in when I first arrived in my time machine. But then, I thought to myself that I had made a mistake, for I could not see my machine anywhere. However, after entering the garden, I found that it was the same place, as there was an outline in the grass where my machine had once stood!

Immediately, a terrible fear took hold of me. What if I could never return to my own time? What if I had to stay here for the rest of my life? The need to run suddenly hit me, and I started off, running harder than I had ever run before. Not knowing where else to go, I headed toward the statue. The idea that the people of the village had just moved my machine to a safer location kept running through my mind. But I knew that their limited intelligence would not allow for them to act so considerately. I found some comfort, but only very little, in the fact that I knew the machine was at least still in the same time as myself, for I had removed the two levers that would start the machine running again. I also knew that it could not be too far, for these people did not seem to have any other methods of transportation than their feet.

Looking back on that moment, I think I must have gone crazy for a short time. I remember running around the base of the statue and looking under the surrounding bushes and trees. Having failed to find the machine, I started beating the trees with my fists until my hands were covered in blood. Realizing that I was not getting anywhere, I then ran to the main hall where I had dined earlier. Upon entering it, I fell over one of the dinner tables, nearly breaking my leg. It was very dark and quiet inside, so I took a match from my pocket and struck it against the floor. No one was in the dining hall, so I walked further into the building. Upon entering the next great room, I found several people sleeping on large pillows. I started to yell out to them, "What have you done with my time machine?" I realize now, what a frightening sight I must have been for them, standing there in the dark with my little match, shouting at them in a strange language.

They crowded around me, some laughing, some looking confused. I knew that talking with them would be useless, so I blew out the match and ran out of the room, knocking one of them over as I did. Behind me, I could hear them crying out in fear and running about the room. My memory of the rest of that night is not very clear, for I was completely out of control. I remember screaming at the moon, the trees, the earth, and blaming God for my horrible situation. I know that I became very tired at one point and ended up at the base of that statue again, crying like a little child, feeling hopelessly lost in a strange world I did not belong in.

The following morning, I awoke to birds singing in bright sunshine. At first, I could not understand the sad feeling I had in me, so wonderful everything around me seemed to be. But then my situation once again became clear. Standing up, I decided to look at things in both the best and worst way. Yes, it seemed I was now trapped in this strange world, possibly forever. But I knew that I could survive, for I was with gentle people who could teach me their simple way of life. Then, maybe, after familiarizing myself with this world, I could one day build another machine and travel back to my own time. However, it was most likely that my machine had just been taken away somewhere out of my reach. Now, it was just a matter of remaining calm and searching for it.

So, with my madness behind me, I made finding a place to bathe my first task of the day. As I looked about, I decided to check the garden area again for any information that might help me to locate my machine. Once there, I ran into some people and felt the need to try and question them a little, but as hard as I tried, they could not understand my words or gestures. I soon gave up and started looking at the ground where my machine had been. I saw strange footprints in the grass there. Following them, I found that they made a path toward the base of the statue. I carefully examined the structure of the base, but could find no doors. However, I guessed that there must be some way of getting inside, for the footprints clearly stopped here. I knew my machine had to be in there.

Noticing some people coming from the nearby woods, I approached them and, as best I could, tried to express my desire to open the base of the statue. They looked at me as though I had just insulted them and quickly walked away. A little confused by this, I put my question to another friendly-looking man. He gave me the same look and, again, started to walk away from me. Losing all of my patience and not knowing what else to do, I grabbed hold of him and started to pull him toward the base. However, seeing the fear increasing on his face, I let go of him and watched as he ran off out of sight.

I did not give up. I then began to beat against the base with my hands. Then, thinking better of it, I found a large rock and, raising it high up into the air, I started to work again on the walls. The people of the village grouped together in the distance and watched. After a while I became tired. Sitting down to rest, I started to realize the uselessness of what I was doing. I remembered my plan from early this morning, to accept my circumstances and to learn from them. Having, once again, come to this conclusion, I started to see the humor of my situation. Here I was, after successfully achieving my life-long dream of time travel, now wishing to be nowhere else but safely back in my laboratory. Thinking this, I then began to laugh uncontrollably until I had tears in my eyes.

Right away I began to notice that people were now trying to avoid me for some reason. I guessed that it must have been because of the way I had been hitting the base of the statue. That really seemed to frighten them all, but I could not understand why. Over the next couple of days I pretended that I did not notice anything wrong and spent most of my time alone, only trying to communicate with others when necessary. This worked well, for soon they appeared to have forgotten it all, and began to interact with me more and more like before.

I made it a point to study their language as best I could. Although I was unable to speak it very well, I found that their method of communication was quite basic. Much like the rest of their life, their language had been extremely simplified, and necessitated only the use of verbs and nouns. Their longest sentences were maybe only three or four words in length.

Regarding my time machine, although I was naturally worried about it, I decided to try and keep it in the back of my mind so that I could concentrate all my energy on living happily among these people. In this way, I felt that it would be most possible to one day get my machine back.

Exploring the land more and more, I found that everywhere I looked there were the same forests and the same huge buildings. No matter where I went there was beauty and peace. The earth had truly become wonderful in the way that men of our time period can only dream about. One thing, however, I was very confused by. Every now and then I would come upon a very deep hole in the ground, the top edge of which was surrounded in bronze. And it looked as though the walls of the hole might be covered in bronze, as well, all the way down to the bottom. At first I thought that maybe this was for water or maybe for power, because when I became very silent I could hear deep inside a strange mechanical sound. Taking a small piece of paper from my notebook, I tore it into little pieces and, one by one, began to drop them into the hole. To my surprise, they did not fall slowly, as I had imagined, but quickly disappeared as if being sucked in by something at the bottom.

There were other confusing things I discovered as well. For example, I never once found a cemetery or crematorium where they might burn the bodies of their dead. I thought that maybe they might be located somewhere much further away than the places I had so far visited. But then I was even further surprised to find among these people neither the elderly nor the disabled. Where had they gone, I wondered?

To add to my confusion, it came to my attention that there was no machinery among the palaces and other buildings. No one appeared to work or have any sort of job. From what I could tell, everyone seemed to do the same thing all day, every day: eat, play, and sleep. Surely they must have some way of making their fine gowns and sandals. But there were no stores or factories to be seen, anywhere; nor did I ever see any traders coming or going. Who planted and gathered the fruit? Who made the clothing? Who designed and built these buildings? Where were the doctors? All of these questions, no matter how hard I thought about it, I could not come up with a good answer.

One day I managed to make a friend. Early in the morning, sitting by a river, where some people were bathing, I saw a woman slip on a wet rock and fall into a deeper part of the water. She was not a good swimmer and the river started carrying her away. Surprisingly, none of the other people there did anything to help her. They just continued to wash themselves as if nothing had happened. I quickly jumped to my feet and ran into the water, downstream from where she was. I could feel the strength of the water increasing as I moved further toward the middle. The young woman was just about to be swept past me, when I quickly grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her with all my strength toward me. I carried her out of the river and laid her down on land. She was unconscious, but after I rubbed her arms and legs a few minutes, she reawakened.

Seeing how quickly and easily her people lost interest in me, I expected no thanks from her. But when I ran into her later that day, she seemed very happy to see me and gave me a ring of flowers she must have made for me soon after the incident. I was very moved and did my best to thank her in return. We then sat down among some trees and had a wonderful time smiling at each other and playing childish games. She told me that her name was Weena. And so began a friendship that would, sadly, only last one week.

From then on, Weena would try to follow me wherever I went. It seemed as though being away from me for even the shortest amount of time was very painful to her. And when I would be out exploring and she would fall behind from weakness and begin to call out to me, I felt bad to leave her there. She seemed to be suffering so much, but I felt it was necessary to ignore her and continue to try and learn as much as I could about this place. I told myself that, just as in my own time, I had to be free from women in order to successfully practice my science.

However, I wish that I had known then how much I had meant to her and how much she had really meant to me. For, in her own simple way, by following me around, or by waiting for me to return from my journeys just outside the village, she almost made this new place feel like home.

In getting to know her better, I found that she was quite a brave person. In the daytime, nothing seemed to frighten her. She would climb the highest rocks with me and walk back to the village alone through the dense forest if we became separated. But night and darkness had quite a different effect on her. She was terribly fearful after the sun went down, and would jump at the smallest sounds she heard. Then, it occurred to me that all of the people of the village were similarly afraid. As soon as night fell upon the village, no one could ever be found outside. I also noticed that when they slept, they would always sleep in large groups, deep within the huge buildings they had for homes. I was too stupid to realize the reason for this, and I would cruelly insist that Weena and I sleep separate from the rest. This made her uncomfortable, but her love for me seemed strong enough to overcome her fears. And for the next three nights, we slept peacefully together. However, after the fourth night, I woke up from a terrible dream in which I was drowning in the ocean and being pulled deeper and deeper into the water by the plants below. And when I awoke, though my mind was unclear, I thought that I saw a gray-colored animal hurrying out of the room. I decided to get up and have a look around to make sure it was nothing.

Walking outside, I found the moon and sun greeting each other as the former set and the latter rose. The light at this time of day was such that everything seemed to cast strange shadows. Looking out at the distant hills, I could see groups of some sort of white animal carrying what looked like a body. They were running and as I followed them with my eyes I was surprised to see them suddenly disappear into the trees. Of course, this was so early in the morning that I did not feel I could trust my eyes. And in the next few minutes, the sun started to shine brighter and brighter, removing that strange light of half-night from my memory. Therefore, even though all day I could not stop thinking about what I had seen, I did not take it as seriously as I should have.

The next morning, I was looking for shelter from the heat of the sun, for it seemed more powerful in their time than ours. I came upon one of those old ruined buildings that I had mentioned to you earlier and seeing how dark and cool it looked within its walls, I ventured inside to have a look. The sudden change from bright sunlight to total darkness played strange tricks on my eyes, and for a few moments I could not see anything clearly. Once this had past, I began to feel my way around the interior. I had to be very careful, for the floor was very uneven and covered with large broken stones.

As my eyes became more used to the darkness I suddenly froze in fear. Before me I could see a pair of large animal-like eyes looking at me from within the darkest of corners. I did not move, for if I ran away the animal might discover my fear. Then I started to think about how safe the people seemed to feel during the day, and this helped me to gain some courage. Stepping forward, I spoke to that pair of eyes, and they moved away from me a little. Feeling even braver, I reached out my hand and felt something soft. Immediately, the animal jumped from the dark and ran past me, faster than anything I had ever seen run before. I followed it with my eyes as best I could and saw it disappear into the darkness of another corner of the large room.

Although it moved with incredible speed, I was able to make out some of its features. It was almost like a large, white monkey. It had big, grayish-red eyes and long hair that ran from its head down its back. But, at the time, I could not remember if it ran on two or four legs.

Once the room was silent, I walked over to the corner it had run to. Again, as this was a darker part of the room, it took some time for my eyes to get accustomed to it. Soon, I could see a hole in the ground, very much like the holes I described to you earlier. I ran over to it, lit a match, and looked inside. There, I found the animal quickly crawling down toward the bottom. It now looked less like a large monkey and more like a spider. It kept its eyes on me the whole time it descended. Then the flame of the match reached my fingers and went out. Lighting another, I found that the animal had disappeared.

I stayed there, lighting match after match, looking down into that hole, trying to understand what it all meant. Then I was suddenly hit with the idea that these spider-like creatures might actually be human. A theory began to form in my mind: humans, instead of remaining one type of animal, had separated into two types, those that lived above ground during the day, and those that lived underground, only coming out at night.

Then I remembered how, while wandering about, I had found numerous holes spread out across the land. Then there was the sound of machinery that came from the holes, and the thought suddenly came to me that there might be whole cities under the earth, filled with these night-time humans.

I began to wonder about the relationship between these two types of humans. The need to find out more about these underground people grew stronger as I sat there looking down into the hole. I decided that, as frightening as it looked, I had to go down there and see what there was to see. However, just as I was about to climb down, I heard two people running toward the building outside. A girl then appeared near the building's entrance, followed by a boy. They seemed to be playing and throwing flowers at each other, laughing all the while. Seeing me sitting on the edge of the hole, they stopped suddenly, all joy quickly leaving their faces. I tried to ask them about the hole, but they turned away from me and ran.

Then I changed my mind, thinking that it might be better to first gather more information about the underground humans before going down below, myself. So, I left the building and started toward the village in search of Weena, who I hoped would be able to help me.

While walking, I tried to piece together everything I had so far learned about this time period. It seemed to me that the people above ground were the more privileged humans. Remembering how in the England of our time, we tended more and more to put industry underground, in order to hide its ugliness from daily life, and seeing how now in this new time, all industry: the factories, the railroads, the powerhouses, were completely underground, I assumed that those humans below were the common workers, providing all the comforts to the humans above. In other words, this world seemed to be a more extreme version of what we know England to be like. The rich were in total control and lived in total comfort, while the workers lived among their machines and obeyed the rich.

But then I wondered why it was that the Morlocks (that was what I learned the underground humans were called) had stolen my time machine? If the Eloi (the above ground people) had power over the Morlocks, why wouldn't they be able to help me get it back? And why were the Eloi so afraid of the dark? Were they afraid of the Morlocks?

When I finally found Weena, I began to ask her about the Morlocks. She responded in the same way as everyone else. She refused to speak about it, and the more I asked her, the more upset she became, until finally she started to cry. I stopped myself at that point and held her hand in mine. This calmed her and soon she was smiling and singing to herself again, while I sat there troubled by the things I was beginning to learn about this world.

(end of section)