"They were sent to the past to buy or steal treasures of various sorts--art, sculpture, jewelry, fabulously valuable manuscripts and books, anything that had great scarcity value." "That's not possible," I objected. "She had all the money she wanted. Any time she needed more, all she had to do was send somebody back to put down bets and buy stocks that she knew were winners. She had the records, didn't she? There was no way she or her father could lose!" * * * * * He moved his shoulders in a plum-and-gold shrug. "Most of the treasures they accumulated were for acquisition's sake--and for the sake of vengeance for the way they believed Dr. Roberts had been treated. When there were unusual expenses, such as replacing the very costly parts of the time machine, that required more than they could produce in ready cash, both Roberts and his daughter 'discovered' these treasures." He waited while I digested the miserable meal and the disturbing information he had given me. I thought I'd found a loophole in his explanation: "You said people were sent back to the past to _buy_ treasures, besides stealing them." "I did," he agreed. "They were provided with currency of whatever era they were to visit." I felt my forehead wrinkle up as my theory fell apart. "Then they could buy food. Why should they have died of malnutrition?" "Because, as May Roberts herself told you, nothing can exist before it exists. Neither can anything exist after it is out of existence. If you returned with a Dynapack, for example, it would revert to a lump of various metals, because that was what it was in your period. But let me give you a more personal instance. Do you remember coming back from your first trip with dust on your hand?" "Yes. I must have fallen." "On one hand? No, Mr. Weldon. May Roberts was greatly upset by the incident; she was afraid you would realize why the hamburger had turned to dust--and why the old people died of starvation. _All_ of them, not just a few." He paused, giving me a chance to understand what he had just said. I did, with a sick shock. "If I ate your food," I said shakily, "I'd feel satisfied until I was returned to my own time. _But the food wouldn't go along with me!_" * * * * * Blundell nodded gravely. "And so you, too, would die of malnutrition. The foods we have given you existed in your era. We were very careful of that, so careful that many of them probably were stored years before you left your time. We regret that they are not very palatable, but at least we are positive they will go back with you. You will be as healthy when you arrive in the past as when you left. "Incidentally, she made you change your clothes for the same reason--they had been made in 1930. She had clothing from every era she wanted visited and chose old people who would fit them best. Otherwise, you see, they'd have arrived naked."