Free Chasing Schrödinger’s Cat - A Steampunk Novel by Tom Hourie Page B

circuses?”
    “Not to put too fine a point on the
matter, yes.   However, there are wider
concerns.”
    Sarah had been fidgeting throughout
her father’s explanation, like an elementary school student who knows the
answer to the teacher’s question.   You
could tell she was getting ready to tell her father we had the Dimensional
Translator so I made a slight, horizontal ‘keep quiet’ gesture with my fingers.   I wanted to hear the rest of this story
without interruption.
    “What sort of concerns?”
    “When we saw the kinds of trouble
so-called scientific progress has caused in your world, we had second thoughts
about the rate of advancement in our own.”
    “We fight too many wars for you?”
    “We still fight wars, but ours
follow rules that have existed for centuries.   Yours cause the destruction of entire cities.”    He stopped to pour me another refill saying
“good health” as he did so. I raised my glass in thanks.   For an over-privileged enemy of the people,
this guy was alright    “That being said,
there is a school of thought that contends that progress is inevitable and that
the dimensional translator can serve as a guide to controlling its direction,”
he said.
    “What school do you belong to?”
    “I have mixed feelings.   We recently learned that before we seized the
device, Henry Babbage had engaged the services of a Serbian Engineer named
Nikola Tesla whose investigations indicated that the Translator has terrible
capabilities that were previously unknown.   If it were to fall into the wrong hands it might bring about the very
catastrophe we are hoping to avoid.”
    “What capabilities?”
    “That we cannot say.   Tesla has gone to America taking his notes with him
and refuses to share the results of his research.”
    Sarah could contain herself no
longer.   “I have heard quite enough,” she
said.   “Father, the wretched instrument
is outside at this moment in Schrödinger’s van.   All we have to do is retrieve it and smash it to bits.”
    “If you do that, I’ll be stuck here
forever,” I said.
    “Are you so selfish you would place
your own interests over the safety of an entire world?” she said.   “In any case, I cannot imagine why you would
want to return to such a vile place as your own world would appear to be.”   With that parting shot, she lifted her skirts
and walked quickly out of the room with the look of a woman who will not be
denied.

Chapter
XXII:
    A
Missed Opportunity –In Pursuit
    “C an you at
least hold off destroying the translator for a couple of days?” I asked when I
caught up with her at the base of the stairs.   “If it has existed this long without bringing the end of the world, a little
while longer won’t matter.”
    Instead of answering, Sarah stood
at the bottom stair with her head cocked.   I realized there were approaching footsteps in the upstairs
corridor.   The side door opened a moment
later and we heard the familiar chuff-chuff of Schrödinger’s caravan followed
by the receding sound of hard wheels clattering over a cobblestone
surface.   The side door reopened and
familiar voices spoke at the top of the stairs.
    “Do you want me to have one of the
lads follow him?” Arthur Flowers asked, his voice echoing hollowly down the
stairwell.
    “I think not,” Alistair Fox answered.   “He may have more success if we leave him
alone.”
    “What happens after he brings it
back?”
    “He will be of no more use to
us.   I will leave it to your good
judgment as to the best method of disposing of him.”

    “W here is
the translator now?” Lord Newford asked, when we
returned to report the failure of our mission.
    “Still under the daybed, I expect,”
I said.
    “Do you think Schrödinger is likely
to see it?”
    “Maybe not for a while.   He isn’t what you might call a tidy
housekeeper.”
    “If I may summarize,” Lord Newford said.   “You Mister Liddel , want the translator because it offers you