The call from beyond

by Clifford D. Simak

THE CALL FROM BEYOND

By CLIFFORD D. SIMAK

Alone, accursed, he set out on the
long, dark voyage to the forbidden gateway
to worlds beyond life itself—restless
forever with an ultimate knowledge,
possessing which no man could die!

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Super Science Stories May 1950.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

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CHAPTER ONE

The Pyramid of Bottles

The pyramid was built of bottles, hundreds of bottles that flashed and glinted as if with living fire, picking up and breaking up the misty light that filtered from the distant sun and still more distant stars.

Frederick West took a slow step forward, away from the open port of his tiny ship. He shook his head and shut his eyes and opened them again and the pyramid was still there. So it was no figment, as he had feared, of his imagination, born in the darkness and the loneliness of his flight from Earth.

It was there and it was a crazy thing. Crazy because it should not be there, at all. There should be nothing here on this almost unknown slab of tumbling stone and metal.