"It is actually good for several months after the transfer. I've used up most of the time with my researches. But as to your question--surely you see why we can't leave a lot of displaced bodies cluttering up the past. The few pioneers who got stuck in previous periods were bad enough. They lived longer than anyone else of the periods, but they were taken as rare freaks of nature. If this happened on a larger scale, it would excite comment. Medical men would examine these people and find certain evolutionary developments--the secret would be out. In order to avoid that, the bodies grown artificially for transfer purposes have a built-in trigger mechanism. This also prevents anyone from over-staying his allotted leave. If I don't find a body to transfer back in within the next two weeks, I'll be dead." "And if you do, I'll be dead," the old man said. "I'm afraid so. Meanwhile, though, you'll have a young, healthy body to do with as you please, and some money to spend. It will happen suddenly; there will be no discomfort. I thought you looked like a man who would appreciate that. You would be cheated out of a decent funeral, however--there will be nothing resembling a body left to bury." "Funerals!" the old man snorted. "Them as got nothing else to look forward to figure on fancy funerals. Me, I don't hanker after anything I can't be around to enjoy." "I'm sorry I can't offer you more than two weeks, give or take a day. I was unavoidably detained." "Can't be helped. I ain't likely to get a better offer, so I'm taking you up on it. And I admire you for an honest man. You could just as well of told me I'd have two years--or twenty. I'll do the right thing by you, too. I won't let out your secret--long as I'm sober, that is." * * * * * The young man from elsewhen smiled. "I'm not worried about that," he said, "Who would believe your unsupported statement?" "You got a point there," the old man admitted. "Don't hardly believe it myself, till it happens. When do you do this switch business?" "Just before we reach San Francisco, if that suits you." "Suits me fine. But I got a daughter, name of Edna Bowers, meeting me at the station there. How you figure on getting away from her?" "It won't be difficult. I will stay with her for a few days; then she simply will not see me rolling that chair down the block. I will get to the transfer point by cab and she will turn a report in to the police that her father is missing. They will, of course, not find the missing person." "You mean you can fix it so she looks right at my body, with you inside it, and don't see anything?" "Certainly. I can control the mind of anyone of this period at will. Anyone of my time could do so. It's easy." "You can? Well, then, why in the hell didn't you? Why should you ask me my druthers when you could take over my body whether I liked it or not?" "That would be highly unethical."