Science fiction; Short stories; Time travel -- Fiction
Betty looked at him admiringly. Came to her feet, crossed over and took
up the fifty dollars. "Week's wages," she said. "I suppose that's one
way of taking care of a crackpot. But I'm surprised you didn't take his
money and enjoy that vacation you've been yearning about."
"I did," Simon groaned. "Three times."
Betty stared at him. "You mean--"
Simon nodded, miserably.
She said, "But _Simon_. Fifty thousand dollars bonus. If that story was
true, you should have gone back again to Munich. If there was one time
traveler, there might have been--"
"I keep telling you," Simon said bitterly, "I went back there three
times. There were hundreds of them. Probably thousands." He took a deep
breath. "Listen, we're just going to have to forget about it. They're
not going to stand for the space-time continuum track being altered. If
something comes up that looks like it might result in the track being
changed, they set you right back at the beginning and let things
start--for you--all over again. They just can't allow anything to come
back from the future and change the past."
"You mean," Betty was suddenly furious at him, "you've given up! Why
this is the biggest thing-- Why the fifty thousand dollars is nothing.
The future! Just think!"
Simon said wearily, "There's just one thing you can bring back with you
from the future, a hangover compounded of a gallon or so of Marzenbraeu.
What's more you can pile one on top of the other, and another on top of
that!"
He shuddered. "If you think I'm going to take another crack at this
merry-go-round and pile a fourth hangover on the three I'm already
nursing, all at once, you can think again."
THE END
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Astounding Science Fiction_ June 1959.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note.
End of Project Gutenberg's Unborn Tomorrow, by Dallas McCord Reynolds
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account