THE UNUSUAL CASE
by Walter Kubilius
A Cosmic Storiette



THE NEXT will be a really unusual case," Veril promised the visiting judge from 
Korina, "I think you will enjoy it."
"Case number 43 !" the guard bawled out. "A man who claims to have traveled in 
time!"
"Let him enter!" Veril said.
The massive wooden doors swung open and Professor Stimson walked in, followed by 
an armed guard. He stood for a moment before the five high chairs of the court 
as his eyes accustomed themselves to the darkness and the flickering lights of 
the, candles.
Meditatively, Veril flicked through the pages of a brief before him. The 
visiting judge from Korina and the other members of the court looked down with a 
bored air upon the tattered Stimson.
"According to the record," the chief judge said lazily, "you were found 
wandering in the gardens yesterday with no passports and no identification 
papers. Furthermore you made the claim that you had just traveled in time. Have 
you anything to say concerning the charges?"
Stimson walked up closer to the judge's bench. He did not see the guard in back 
of him follow.
"I have," he said angrily. "I do not see why I have been jailed and beaten as a 
common criminal. My name is Professor Stimson and I have just arrived from the 
year 1941."
"How did you get here ?" Veril asked, stifling a yawn.
"By means of the Dissolution-Complex Force which I invented in 1939."
"Oh ho !" Veril said, "Which you invented!"
"Yes."
There was a hurried consultation between Veril and the visiting judge. They 
whispered for a moment and then Veril turned and faced Stimson once more.
"Will you tell your story," he said, "from the very beginning, omitting no 
facts?"
"My full name is Peter Roberts Stimson," the accused said. "I was born April 2, 
in Albany, New York."
"What country?"
"The United States, of course."
Stimson went on briefly to outline the story of his life and his studies that 
led to the discovery of the force which would enable him to travel into time.
Fearing that the court might regard him as a hoax and disbelieve the fact that 
he had come from 2,000 years in the past, Stimson proceeded to give a picture of 
world history up to the time of his departure during the Second World War. He 
spoke quickly, outlining the principle events and giving data concerning cities 
and monuments which would be able to be checked. He brought nothing with him 
from the past, he said, but he felt that he could be of immeasurable service to 
the historians of the present who might want to know more about the years before 
1941. All he wanted was the right to be free and to study the culture and 
civilization of the present time.
WHEN HE finished his talk a minute of silence fell upon the judges.
"The usual story," one of the judges yawned.
"Slight variation though," another remarked, "Have you noticed that he places 
his departure at 1941-- whatever that is?"
"Quite true, quite true," Veril admitted, "I've noticed that. But all other 
symptoms are the same."
"Symptoms?" the time-traveler asked. "What do you mean symptoms? Do you think I 
am mad?"
"But what beautiful use of mythology and folk lore!" Veril said 
enthusiastically, "What splendid development of the legend that a country called 
the United States actually existed! It is even embellished with talk; of other 
countries that existed on the other side of the sea. Although I can't say that I 
recall such names as Germany, Great Britain and France being used in the folk 
lore and fairy tales I've read."
Stimson looked bewilderedly from one judge to another.
"Do you mean to say that you don't believe me !" he demanded.
"Have you noticed the fact," Veril said to the visiting judge, ignoring 
Stimson's panic-stricken face, "that all those who have been seized by this 
Time-Madness claim to have come from a past more than 1500 years ago? Why not 
from yesterday? The day before yesterday? Last month? Simply because each 
madman, however mad, has sense enough to realize that his tale can be disproved 
by records if he claimed to have come from times of recorded history. Therefore, 
they make claims to have come in pre-historic times before, and not after, the 
Great Volcanic Days."
Stimson was amazed and tried to piece together the mystery before him. Was this 
actually 3941? Perhaps there was a mistake of calculation. Perhaps this was a 
different Earth. But try as he might he could not hide the knowledge that was 
growing within him. That the civilization he had known had been destroyed by 
nature, and that a new one had arisen upon its ashes, ignorant of the history 
that lay under its feet.
"What is the verdict?" Veril asked.
"Very obvious," one of the judges said.
"All agreed?"
"Agreed."
"Prisoner," Veril said to Stimson, "no society can long endure when its members 
are insane and unable to become an essential part of that society. You have 
become obsessed with delusions of scientific grandeur. You are an outcast among 
us. The verdict is death."
Stimson never knew what struck him. All he felt was the quick clean blade of the 
guard as it entered his back and pierced his heart. Darkness overcame him as it 
did when be entered the Time Machine in 1941.
"Will the guards please dispose of the body?" Veril asked.
Two men came and carried the body of Stimson away as the members of the court 
watched.
"Poor fellow," the visiting judge from Korina mused, "What a terrible 
hallucination."
"Yes," Veril said, "there have been many cases like this recently. All along the 
same line. A mad-man suddenly appears and claims that he has come from some 
ancient time. What can we do ? Allow them to stir up the people with insane 
ideas? We can only do the merciful thing and remove them."
"Was this the unusual case you promised me?"
"No, no," Veril said, "Such cases are quite frequent. The next is the unusual 
case. We may decide to dissect him."
The court guard stamped with his spear.
"Case Number 44 !" he bawled out. "A man who claims to have come from Mars!"