Highway of Eternity by Clifford D. Simak Read Free Book Online Page A

Timothy. “I was about to ask you more about it and then the Athens traveler came. Tell me, what are these Infinites?”
    â€œThe Infinites are another intelligence,” Timothy told him. “They are from somewhere in the galactic center. They are not biological. Maybe they were at one time and changed to what they are.”
    â€œAs a matter of fact,” said David, “we know little about them.”
    â€œI wouldn’t say that,” objected Horace. “We know, at least approximately, what they are.”
    â€œAll right,” said Boone. “We have wandered from the point. Enid was about to tell us how the human race had changed in a million years.”
    â€œThey changed,” said Enid, “from corporeal beings, from biological beings, to incorporeal beings, immaterial, pure intelligences. They now are ranged in huge communities on crystal lattices. They are …”
    Horace broke out, “The obscenity of it! The immorality …”
    â€œShut up!” Boone roared at him.
    He turned to Enid. “But you are human beings. The people in the outpost near Athens were human beings. Biological and …”
    â€œThere were some who rebelled,” said Enid. “Some who fled to escape incorporeality.”
    â€œThe incorporeality was, to many of the human race, something akin to a new and exciting religion,” said Timothy. “There were, however, some who protested most violently against it. We number ourselves among those protestants. There are many other protestants hiding out in various time periods. We maintain small, widely separated groups. It is harder to find us that way. The protestants fled, and now the Infinites or their agents hunt us down. I think the belief that the incorporeality process was a religion was an entirely human idea. With the Infinites, I am convinced, it was not a religion, but a plan, a universal plan. The Infinites are convinced that one thing, and one thing only, can survive the death of the universe. That is intelligence. So the Infinites are busily at work creating a corpus of intelligence. Certainly not the human race alone, but including many other intelligences in the galaxy, perhaps in the universe. The Infinites in this galaxy may be no more than one primitive mission of many missions spread throughout the universe, working diligently with the benighted, heathen populations.”
    â€œIt is mad!” yelled Horace. “I tell you, it is madness!”
    â€œYou understand,” said Emma, “we never saw the Infinites. Some people did, I guess.”
    â€œWhat Emma means,” said Horace, “is that none of us, here in this room, saw them. Other humans did and became convinced that the entire human race should allow itself to be turned into pure mind entities. This belief of theirs became an insane article of faith. Those who rebelled against it became outlaws.”
    â€œWhat you must realize,” said Timothy, speaking softly, “is that our race was ripe for such a development. Even before the Infinites put in their appearance, the human race had changed. By that period from which we fled, viewpoints and philosophical concepts had been vastly altered. The race had gotten tired, was bored. It had made too much progress, had accomplished too much. Progress no longer meant a great deal. Dilettantism was, by and large, the norm.”
    â€œBut you?” asked Boone.
    â€œNot we,” said Timothy. “Not we and certain others. We did not fall into the trap. We were the outlanders, the backwoods rednecks, residing far beyond the fringe of the shining society which humanity had become. We wanted to stay human. We distrusted the new ways. That is why we were outlawed.”
    â€œBut the time travelers?”
    â€œWe stole the time concept from the Infinites,” said Horace. “We still were human enough to do anything necessary to protect ourselves. The Infinites do not lie or