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Exactly. The machine must trace in time along the hypervectors of the molecules on which it is focused.
If certain molecules are in the air dispersed pff-f-ft!
I had an idea. Suppose you just had the ash of a document.
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Only those molecules would be traced back.
But they d be so well distributed, I pointed out, that you could get a hazy picture of the entire
document.
Hmm. Maybe.
The idea became more exciting. Well, then, look, Uncle Otto. Do you know how much police
departments would pay for a machine like this. It would be a boon to the legal
I stopped. I didn t like the way he was stiffening. I said, politely, You were saying, Uncle?
He was remarkably calm about it. He spoke in scarcely more than a shout. Once and for all, nephew.
All my inventions I will myself from now on develop. First I must some initial capital obtain. Capital from
some source other than my ideas selling. After that, I will for my flutes a factory to manufacture open.
That comes first. Afterward, afterward, with my profits I can time-vector machinery manufacture. But
first my flutes. Before anything, my flutes. Last night, I so swore.
Through selfishness of a few the world of great music is being deprived. Shall my name in history as a
murderer go down? Shall the Schlemmelmayer Effect a way to fry men s brains he? Or shall it beautiful
music to mind bring? Great, wonderful, enduring music?
He had a hand raised oracularly and the other behind his hack. The windows gave out a shrill hum as
they vibrated to his words.
I said quickly, Uncle Otto, they ll hear you.
Then stop shouting, he retorted.
But look, I protested, how do you plan to get your initial capital, if you won t exploit this machinery?
I haven t told you. I can make an image real. What if the image is valuable?
That did sound good. You mean, like some lost document, manuscript, first edition things like that?
Well, no. There s a catch. Two catches. Three catches.
I waited for him to stop counting, but three seemed the limit. What are they? I asked.
He said, First, I must have the object in the present to focus on or I can t locate it in the past.
You mean you can t get anything that doesn t exist right now where you can see it?
Yes.
In that case, catches two and three are purely academic. But what are they, anyway?
I can only remove about a gram of material from the past.
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A gram! A thirtieth of an ounce!
What s the matter? Not enough power?
My uncle Otto said impatiently, It s an inverse exponential relationship. All the power in the universe
more than maybe two grams couldn t bring.
This left things cloudy. I said, The third catch?
Well. He hesitated. The further the two foci separated are, the more flexible the bond. It must a
certain length be before into the present it can he drawn. In other words, I must at least one hundred fifty
years into the past go.
I see, I said (not that I really did). Let s summarize.
I tried to sound like a lawyer. You want to bring something from the past out of which you can coin a
little capital. It s got to he something that exists and which you can see, so it can t be a lost object of
historical or archaeological value. It s got to weigh less than a thirtieth of an ounce, so it can t he the
Kullinan diamond or anything like that. It s got to be at least one hundred and fifty years old, so it can t
be a rare stamp.
Exactly, said my uncle Otto. You ve got it.
Got what? I thought two seconds. Can t think of a thing, I said. Well, good-bye, Uncle Otto.
I didn t think it would work, but I tried to go.
It didn t work. My uncle Otto s hands came down on my shoulders and I was standing tiptoe on an inch
of air.
You ll wrinkle my jacket, Uncle Otto.
Harold, he said. As a lawyer to a client, you owe me more than a quick good-bye.
I didn t take a retainer, I managed to gargle. My shirt collar was beginning to fit very tightly about my
neck. I tried to swallow and the top button pinged off.
He reasoned, Between relatives a retainer is a formality. As a client and as an uncle, you owe me
absolute loyalty. And besides, if you do not help me out I will tie your legs behind your neck and dribble
you like a basketball.
Well, as a lawyer, I am always susceptible to logic. I said, I give up. I surrender. You win.
He let me drop. And then this is the part that seems most unbelievable to me when I look back at it all
I got an idea.
It was a whale of an idea. A piperoo. The one in a lifetime that everyone gets once in a lifetime.
I didn t tell Uncle Otto the whole thing at the time. I wanted a few days to think about it. But I told him
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what to do. I told him he would have to go to Washington. It wasn t easy to argue him into it, but, on the
other hand, if you know my uncle Otto, there are ways.
I found two ten-dollar bills lurking pitifully in my wallet and gave them to him.
I said, I ll make out a check for the train fare and you can keep the two tens if it turns out I m being
dishonest with you.
He considered. A fool to risk twenty dollars for nothing you aren t, he admitted. He was right, too....
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