Chapter 3: The Man in the Cavern

As the sound of the tolling clock died out across the Plains of Ofrid, a man opened his eyes on the planet far away and saw for the first time the place in which he had spent one hundred years.

He awoke with neither fright nor surprise but rather with a sense of wonder. He arose slowly from the great bed upon which he had lain and allowed his attention to roam about the strange place in which he found himself.

In the wall opposite the bed there was set a full length mirror and as the man turned he saw himself for the first time; a tall, broadly-muscled figure of heroic proportions. Completely naked, his body was reflected as masculine perfection in every detail.

For a few moments, the man stared at the body as though it belonged to someone else. Then he spoke musingly. “You did your work well, Portox, my friend.”

The sound of his own voice startled him but not so much so as the content of the words. A baffled expression touched his handsome face. Who was Portox? And what work had he done? What place was this--and for that matter, who was he himself, this naked figure which looked back at him from the glittering mirror?

The questions were annoying because he felt that he knew the answers. Yet they would not come within reach of his conscious mind.

He had little time to ponder this enigma however because at that moment he became aware of a second presence in the room. He turned. A man stood just inside the open door.

The naked one stared at the other with an interest that left no room for self-consciousness nor shame. “Who are you?” he asked.

“My name is John Pride,” the man answered. He was a man of erect bearing and though there was wonder and surprise in his voice he bore himself with a quiet dignity. “And now,” he added, “may I ask you the same question?”

The naked man looked down at his own body and for the first time seemed conscious of its nudity. He glanced around the room and saw a robe of royal purple lying across a chair by the bed. He stepped over and lifted the robe and put it on. As he was tying the rich purple cord around his waist he looked frankly back at John Pride and said, “I do not know. I honestly do not know.”

John Pride said, “I have wondered what I would find in this cavern--wondered through the years. Only in my wildest fancies did I tell myself that a fellow human--or even a living creature--awaited me here. But now I find this is true.”

The younger man regarded his visitor with a calmness that belied any wariness between them. John Pride noted this with admiration and respect. The young man said, “Won’t you be seated?” and when his guest was comfortable, regarded him with a smile. “Perhaps there are some things we should talk over.”

“Perhaps there are. You say you do not know your own name?”

“That only begins to sum up my ignorance. I am not only unaware of my identity but I haven’t the faintest notion of what this place is--where it is--or how I came here.”

It was John Pride’s turn to stare. While doing so, he analyzed the younger man keenly. He saw honesty and an inner warmth that attracted him. There was something almost godlike in the clean lines of the body he had seen and in the face. These things coupled with what he already knew, intrigued him mightily and he resolved to approach this strange affair with an open mind and not play the role of the unbelieving cynic. It was time to go ahead.