Space Bender

This is another story which uses the convenient device of the fourth dimension for rapid spatial transport. This time, Prof. Jason Livermore is the one who disappears entirely from the face of the earth one night. Twenty years later, his assistant is brought a mysterious bottle by a construction worker; the bottle was found during a dig at a site and is made of an unbreakable, glass-like substance (an alloy similar to copper, though why it should be transparent is anybody’s guess). The bottle contains a manuscript which is a first person account by Prof. Jason about his adventure on Venus.

In the manuscript, he explains how the concept of fourth dimension makes perfect sense (going through the explanation of spherical/map geometry, creatures in 2-D, convergence of parallel lines on curved surfaces, etc) and how Time itself is a relative concept, that it cannot exist without Space. Turns out that he has built an instrument called “Space Bender” which can curve two spatial positions in close proximity like the pages of a book. So he brings Venus in Earth’s proximity along the 4th dimension and simply rolls off of earth on to the surface of Venus… There he meets a humanoid species which has evolved from feline ancestors who have very strange customs. The professor hopes to escape someday and return to Earth using the Space Bender.

The manner of the bottle and the manuscript’s arrival on earth is never explained or even alluded to. The story was apparently intended to be a satire on some human traits, as explained by the editor at the end of the story, but I myself failed to see it that way. A very flat story.