CHAPTER II.
A MAN OF MYSTERY.
When Grandon regained consciousness he was lying on a cot in a dimly lighted room. He looked about him in bewilderment, for instead of the tasteful bedroom with its costly furnishings, in which he had been accustomed to awaken, he saw four bare concrete walls, a heavy oak door studded with many large bolts, and a small window fitted with powerful iron bars more than an inch in diameter.
He arose and tottered unsteadily toward the door. It was evidently locked from the outside, for he could not even rattle it. He went to the window and peered out. Night had fallen, and a myriad twinkling stars looked down at him from a clear sky. Not a tree, house, or earthly object of any kind was visible. There were only the starry sky above and the black void below.
He heard the sound of talking, and wheeled about as a bolt slid back and the door opened. Two men entered. The foremost was of gigantic stature, but well proportioned and athletic in appearance. His forehead was high, and bulged outward, so that his shaggy eyebrows, which grew completely together above the bridge of his aquiline nose, half concealed his small, glittering, beady eyes. He wore a closely-cropped, sharply-pointed beard, in which a few gray hairs showed here and there, proclaiming him as probably well past middle age. Grandon had never before seen a face so powerful, so masterful, and yet so forbidding. Behind this striking visitor came the young man who had been so anxious to scrape an acquaintance in the theater.
The young man advanced and extended his hand.
"How are you feeling by now, Mr. Grandon?" he asked. "Ah, you seem surprised that I know your name. That will be explained to you presently. I should have introduced myself sooner. My name is Harry Thorne. Allow me to present Dr. Morgan."
The big man held out his hand and said in a booming bass voice:
"This is a pleasure I have long anticipated, Mr. Grandon."
The bewildered Grandon clasped the muscular hand of the doctor and muttered an acknowledgment.
"No doubt you are anxious to learn why you are here, and what we propose to do with you," proceeded the doctor. "First tell me. Do you know anything about telepathy?"
"I know that it exists in fact, and have seen a few parlor demonstrations of it," replied Grandon.
"And have you ever heard of what some writers call astral projection?"
"I have read of it, but it sounds very fishy."
"Of course. That is because you have never had it proved to you as you have telepathy. Astral projection is commonly practiced by Hindu ascetics, but it is practically unknown in the Occident. Only a few cases have come to light in Europe and America. Several of these have been recorded by the London Society for Psychical Research in a book called 'Phantasms of the Living.' Before we proceed further, I will give you a slight demonstration of this phenomenon, in order that your doubts may be put at rest. Give me your hand."
As Grandon placed his hand in that of the doctor, a queer sensation came over him. He felt light, ethereal, unsubstantial. Could it be that he had left his body?
He found himself in a brilliantly lighted room, the drawing-room of his aunt's home. She was talking hysterically to a blue coated policeman who made notes of what she said in a small memorandum book. Her eyes were red with weeping, and she dabbed at them from time to time with a small lace handkerchief while she told of her nephew's strange disappearance. Grandon approached and spoke to her, but she did not appear to hear or see him. He stepped directly between her and the policeman, but neither took any notice of him whatever.
* * * * *
Suddenly the room faded from his vision, and he was again standing before Dr. Morgan. The latter released his hand.
"You now see that it is possible for you to leave your body, and travel almost instantly, a distance of a thousand miles. It took more than ten hours for an airplane to bring you here at the speed of one hundred miles an hour. You can travel millions of miles as easily and as quickly, for the power of the subjective mind, or ego, is unlimited by time, space or matter, once it has escaped from that frail, clumsy shell which you call your body. Years ago I dreamed that such powers as these might be interplanetary as well as terrestrial, and that dream has been made to come true.
"I suppose you have heard of the numerous attempts to establish communication with the people of Mars through wireless telegraphy. Futile. Telegraphy is a physical, a material thing. It is surrounded by those limitations which are ever present where matter is concerned. Ten years have elapsed since I first communicated with the Martians--through telepathy. In those ten years I learned as much about Mars as I know about the Earth. It was difficult at first, because there was no language on that planet similar to our own, I could only send and receive the simplest of impressions in picture form. For instance, the Martian with whom I at first communicated, projected a picture of himself and his surroundings. I returned to him a picture of myself and my surroundings. For two years we exchanged these concrete mental images, but I was not satisfied. I desired an exchange of abstract ideas as well.
"One night he projected to me a picture of two men on his own planet, and succeeded in conveying the idea that they were willing to exchange bodies with two men on Earth. He stipulated that the earthly bodies must be exact duplicates of those which he pictured to me, or the exchange could not be made. I searched the world over for two such men. One I found in British East Africa, the other in Alaska. Each man, when located, was kidnaped, and offered the alternative of death or the exchange suggested. To-day the two Martians are associated with me, while the men who exchanged bodies with them communicate knowledge of the latest events on Mars to me at regular intervals. One of the men, formerly Mr. Harry Thorne, has become so attached to his new home that he does not wish to return. The present Mr. Harry Thorne, whose Martian name was Borgen Takkor, is looking for new worlds to conquer. The other two men will, no doubt, return to their respective bodies sometime within the next ten years. Mr. Thorne, here, has lived on two planets--Mars and this Earth--and now wishes to try life on a third."
Thorne smiled in anticipation, as the doctor proceeded.
* * * * *
"Two years ago, I succeeded in establishing mental rapport with a being on Venus. To-day, I have arrived at the point where two inhabitants of that planet--Zarovia, they call it--have been persuaded to exchange bodies with two terrestrial men. One of these inhabitants of Venus is the exact physical counterpart of Mr. Thorne, while your body is identical with that of the other.
"Many times at your club, Mr. Grandon, you have voiced the wish that you might get away from Chicago, away from your life of ease and idleness, and find adventure and romance. Do not be surprised at my knowledge of this, for I have had your every movement watched for months. I now offer you the opportunity to gratify that desire in the fullest measure. I can promise you, on Zarovia, a life fraught with dangers of which you have never dreamed, with excitement to which ordinary earthly adventures would be tame in comparison.
"Your physical counterpart is a nobleman who has been enslaved by a cruel Amazon ruler, a princess with no thought save of her own pleasure. He finds it impossible to escape from bondage, and is therefore willing to make the exchange. Mr. Thorne's bodily duplicate is a prince of a realm on the opposite side of the planet from that occupied by the slave. The prince, like yourself, has been petted, pampered and shielded from all danger, and longs for adventure. As it is denied him on his own planet, he is willing to exchange bodies for a time with Mr. Thorne. Well, what do you say? Are you willing to make the trip?"
Grandon looked puzzled.
"I don't know," he replied. "No doubt you realize that the whole thing sounds like a wild dream to me. I have never been cognizant of the fact that any one on Earth had succeeded in communicating with Mars, let alone Venus, and as for this idea of interchanging bodies, it doesn't seem natural or human. I have always felt that my body was a part of myself, peculiar to myself, and inseparable from the me that is called a soul, except by death. The question arises, what would become of my body when inhabited by this Zarovian? I presume that if he should be careless with it and die, it would be impossible for me to return."
"You need have no fear regarding the care of your body while you are absent," answered the doctor. "It will not only be under constant surveillance during your absence, but will have careful medical attention as well. Then, too, the man who comes to inhabit it will naturally be careful of it, for if he loses it there will be no return for him, either to this world or his own. Now, Mr. Grandon, are you game?"