He found himself five hundred years
into the future, a man eagerly sought
and he didn't know why. Then he
found out. The future was a—
Woman's World
By Robert Silverberg
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
June 1957
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Coming up out of five centuries of sleep was like fighting my way upfrom the bottom of the sea. I was blind, I was choking, I was mangledby the pressure. All I could think was that I had to get up and out, upand out.
My sleep-cramped brain battled toward consciousness. The blacknessaround me gave way to deep violet, then gray, then a vague colorlessdinginess as I rose to wakefulness. I moved my arms, tentatively,feeling the centuries-old numbness starting to give way. This is whatit feels like to be born, my mind said.
Then, voices. Loud, strident, horribly painful to nerves that hadn'tfelt the impact of sound in five hundred years. A kind of terror ranthrough me; I cringed at the thought of the unknown future into whichI had so boldly plunged. It had seemed like a joke, once—but I hadslept away half a millennium, and time for awakening was here.
Voices. Someone shouting, "He's mine! I got here before you did, Sam!"
Another voice: "The hell you did, Phil. I was here. You get out ofhere."
I shook my head foggily and stirred. Sam and Phil, whoever they were,were making much too much noise. I wanted them to go away; I wasterribly tired, wanting nothing but another few hundred years of sleep.
I yawned and sat up. And gasped. For as I opened my eyes and graduallyfocussed them, I saw Sam and Phil. They were having a knockdown tussle,and it was hard to tell which one was on top.
But there was one thing I could tell: they were both female. Oneseemed to be a magnificent brunette, wide-shouldered and fiery-eyed;the other, a redhead, lithe and wiry. They wore only skin-tight bluetrunks; as they rolled over and over on the floor, I caught occasionalglimpses of bare breasts and lovely flashing thighs.
I climbed out of my somno-casket and lowered myself to the floor of thechamber, wobbling unsteadily. They ignored me, and continued to battleit out.
"Hold on, girls," I said finally. "This is no way to welcome a man fromthe distant past."
At my words they cut out the wrestling instantly. They clambered totheir feet, glaring bitterly at each other, and turned to look at me.
They were really stacked. To my astonishment I discovered that theystood nearly six feet tall, both of them, with high, proud breasts andtapering, well-muscled bodies. What a pair of amazons, I thoughtadmiringly.
But they seemed to be doing some admiring too. The redhead emitted amost feminine sigh and said, "Isn't he lovely!"
"He certainly is," the brunette agreed. "Worth waiting five hundredyears for."
With sudden dismay I realized I was naked. I reddened and grabbed for acloth that had been draped over the somno-casket, and wrapped it aroundmyself. I felt a little bewildered by things; I hadn't expected to begreeted by a pair of half-naked amazons when I woke.
The brunette nudged the other and said, "Let's get out of here with himnow, Phil. We won't fight over him."
"Good idea," the redhead responded. "If we keep on fighting over whogets him, Her Majesty'll find out he's awake and take him away fromboth of us. Let's go!"