Science fiction -- Periodicals; Science fiction, American -- Periodicals
* * * * *
Asmo and Camol took from a cabinet on the side of the wall what looked
like a cloth helmet. Attached to it were a dozen wires which they
connected to a box on a table. The box was made of crystal and inside
it could be seen a number of vacuum tubes and coils of various
designs. Other leads ran to a similar helmet which Asmo placed on
Saranoff's head. A heavy cable ran to a switch on the wall.
As Camol closed the switch the tubes in the box began to glow with
weird lights. Violet, green and orange streamers of light came from
them to dance in wild patterns on the laboratory walls. For five
minutes Saranoff made adjustments to dials on the front of the crystal
box. The colored lights died away and a gentle golden glow came from
the apparatus. He threw off the helmet.
Camol left the laboratory and returned with a large coil on the top
of which was mounted a parabolic reflector. A device like a clock on
the front of the coil was constantly marking the passage of time. The
dial had two indicators which were together. Saranoff chuckled.
"You may not have seen this device work, Doctor," he said. "In order
to let you know what you are facing, I will demonstrate."
He turned the reflector so that it bore on the wall. He adjusted the
moving dial so that the two indicators were no longer together. As he
closed a switch, the wall before the reflector vanished. Saranoff
turned off the power.
"That portion of the wall has gone back in time exactly three
seconds," he announced. "As far as the present is concerned, it has
ceased to exist. It is following us through time three seconds behind
us, but in all eternity it will never catch up unless I aid it. Since
the exact time is known, it can be restored. If I were to alter this
adjustment ever so little, it could never be recalled. Watch me."
* * * * *
He again closed the switch, this time in a reverse direction. The wall
instantly filled up as it had been before. He moved the time dial so
that the two indicators coincided.
"After I have sent a portion of your physical brain into the past or
the future as the fancy strikes me, I will change the adjustment of
that dial. Since there are an infinite number of adjustments to which
I might have set it, the chances that any one could ever duplicate my
setting and restore it are the complement of infinity, or zero," he
said. "I am now ready to remove your memory. If the impossible should
happen and your physical brain be restored it would be useless. Asmo,
adjust the helmet. I will operate on my friend, the Doctor, first."
Carnes strove to rush to Dr. Bird's assistance, but he was helpless
before the force of Camol's will. Asmo adjusted the helmet to Dr.
Bird's head and buckled it firmly in place. With an evil grin,
Saranoff donned the other helmet.
"Good-by, Dr. Bird," he said mockingly. "You will continue to see me,
but you won't know me, except as your master."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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