“Then the chaos theory applied to time is incorrect,” said Chad.
“Precise calculations may have to be re-examined,” said Hunter. “The degree of accuracy is still in question.”
“Something else is bothering you,” said Jane. “Ever since we got back, your manner has been stiff. What is it?”
“A little while ago, I accessed the news through the city computer to look for changes,” said Hunter. “The networks have just reported an unexplained nuclear explosion of considerable size on the island nation of Jamaica. That is where Wayne went, after another one of the component robots.”
Steve felt a tingling sensation. “A nuclear explosion?”
“It set off tidal waves,” said Hunter. “They have smashed into port cities allover the Caribbean Sea, including Miami and the Florida coast. The coasts on the Gulf of Mexico will be affected too. Millions of people have died and others are injured and homeless.”
No one spoke for a moment.
“Wait a minute,” said Chad. “We only left here a short time ago. Why didn’t we hear about this before we left?”
“None of us was paying attention to the news,” said Hunter. “I, for one, was focused on preparing for our trip. And the news is very recent.”
“That’s right,” said Steve. “The trip was all we talked about.”
“You feel you have failed under the First Law,” said Jane quietly.
“Correct,” said Hunter. “The only reason that I have not become completely nonfunctional is that I have had to secure MC 1 here and inform the three of you in private. Next I shall report my failure under the First Law to the Governor Robot Oversight Committee, so that they can find another robot to take over my task. After that, I will shut down.”
“Not so fast,” Jane said sharply. “Under the Second Law, I order you to hear me out.”
“What is it?”
“You may still be able to reverse the situation,” said Jane. “You’ve already gathered valuable experience from the first trip. You can do a better job than another robot. Let’s all go after MC 2 in Jamaica back in whatever time he chose.”
“He went back only a few centuries, well into human history.” Hunter looked at her with interest. “You feel I could correct my failures?”
“The Jamaican explosions will never happen if we can get back there and bring MC 2 home again with us,” said Steve. “All those lives will be saved.”
“I see,” said Hunter cautiously. “We can leave MC 1 guarded here in this office, where Wayne cannot reach him. However, I must ask you this. When I hired you three, I thought this trip would require only one quick trip into the past. My calculations failed in that estimate, as well. You would be willing to work with me again, even after I failed the first time?”
“Sure.” Steve shrugged.
“Of course,” said Jane, smiling.
“I would,” said Chad. “But you won’t need a paleontologist just a couple of centuries into the past. I guess I should say goodbye.”
Clearly relieved at the new plan, Hunter became more natural and spontaneous again. “Goodbye, Chad. Thank you for your contribution. We could not have caught MC 1 without you. I am authorizing through the city computer that your fee be credited to your account right now.”
“Thank you, Hunter,” said Chad, shaking his hand. “I have much more than my fee. I was the first human to ride a dinosaur and I’ve seen more live ones than anyone else in my field.” He patted his belt computer. “The data I’ve brought back will make history of its own.”
Jane threw her arms around Chad and hugged him. “Goodbye, Chad.”
“Goodbye, Jane.”
Steve grinned awkwardly and held out his hand. “Chad?”
Chad shook hands with him. “Steve, you’re okay. I guess I learned a lot about living in the wild on this trip. You know your stuff.”
“So do you, Chad.” Steve punched him on the arm. “You handled that dinosaur stampede real well.”
“Thanks.”
Chad waved to them all and left the office.
“Where do we go next, Hunter?” Steve asked. “I’ll need different equipment this time.”
“I will have to hire an historian, too,” said Hunter. “So we will not be leaving right away. We have to do too much preparation. You two should indulge in some human comforts, such as a good dinner and a full night’s sleep.”
“Good idea,” said Steve.
“Quit stalling, Hunter,” Jane said excitedly. “Come on. Where and when is our next destination?”
“Port Royal, Jamaica, in 1668,” said Hunter. “The time of Sir Henry Morgan, pirate and privateer on the Spanish Main.”
Robot Visions
I suppose I should start by telling you who I am. I am a very junior member of the Temporal Group. The Temporalists (for those of you who have been too busy trying to survive in this harsh world of 2030 to pay much attention to the advance of technology) are the aristocrats of physics these days.
They deal with that most intractable of problems-that of moving through time at a speed different from the steady temporal progress of the Universe. In short, they are trying to develop time-travel.
And what am I doing with these people, when I myself am not even a physicist, but merely a-? Well, merely a merely.
Despite my lack of qualification, it was actually a remark I made some time before that inspired the Temporalists to work out the concept of VPIT (“virtual paths in time”).
You see, one of the difficulties in traveling through time is that your base does not stay in one place relative to the Universe as a whole. The Earth is moving about the Sun; the Sun about the Galactic center; the Galaxy about the center of gravity of the Local Group-well, you get the idea. If you move one day into the future or the past-just one day-Earth has moved some 2.5 million kilometers in its orbit about the Sun. And the Sun has moved in its journey, carrying Earth with it, and so has everything else.
Therefore, you must move through space as well as through time, and it was my remark that led to a line of argument that showed that this was possible; that one could travel with the space-time motion of the Earth not in a literal, but in a “virtual” way that would enable a time-traveler to remain with his base on Earth wherever he went in time. It would be useless for me to try to explain that mathematically if you have not had Temporalist training. Just accept the matter.
It was also a remark of mine that led the Temporalists to develop a line of reasoning that showed that travel into the past was impossible. Key terms in the equations would have to rise beyond infinity when the temporal signs were changed.
It made sense. It was clear that a trip into the past would be sure to change events there at least slightly, and no matter how slight a change might be introduced into the past, it would alter the present; very likely drastically. Since the past should seem fixed, it makes sense that travel back in time is impossible.
The future, however, is not fixed, so that travel into the future and back again from it would be possible.
I was not particularly rewarded for my remarks. I imagine the Temporalist team assumed I had been fortunate in my speculations and it was they who were entirely the clever ones in picking up what I had said and carrying it through to useful conclusions. I did not resent that, considering the circumstances, but was merely very glad-delighted, in fact-since because of that (I think) they allowed me to continue to work with them and to be part of the project, even though I was merely a-well, merely.
Naturally, it took years to work out a practical device for time travel, even after the theory was established, but I don’t intend to write a serious treatise on Temporality. It is my intention to write of only certain parts of the project, and to do so for only the future inhabitants of the planet, and not for our contemporaries.
Even after inanimate objects had been sent into the future-and then animals-we were not satisfied. All objects disappeared; all, it seemed, traveled into the future. When we sent them short distances into the future-five minutes or five days-they eventually appeared again, seemingly unharmed, unchanged, and, if alive to begin with, still alive and in good health.