Free The Fury Out of Time by Lloyd Biggle jr. Page A

“There’s nothing to fix. Just a jar of coffee. I’ll go get some stuff.”
    “Do that,” Haskins said. “Bring enough for three.” Whistler drove off, tires screaming in the loose gravel.
    “A real nice guy,” Haskins remarked. “He’d give you both of his legs, if it were possible.”
    “I know.”
    “But he drives like a lunatic. Have a cigar? What have you been doing?”
    “Climbing mountains.”
    “Climbing— Oh. That chaplain.”
    “Captain Morris. He spent yesterday evening with me. My mountains fascinate him.”
    Haskins nodded absently. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to talk with you before. There’s one thing I wanted to ask you. What were you and Ostrander really trying to do?”
    “I don’t know what Ostrander was trying to do. He’d found the light switch—”
    “So had we. We tried each of the instruments, but with all of the others removed. The light switch was the only one that produced any result. We were gradually building up to the same thing Ostrander achieved, but it would have taken us a while.”
    “So killing Ostrander didn’t even accomplish that much.”
    “Nonsense. I feel certain that if it hadn’t been Ostrander it would have been one of the scientists. The U.O. was just too much for us. We don’t know much more about it now than we did when we started.”
    “Do you think there’s any chance at all that Ostrander survived?”
    Haskins shook his head. “You didn’t see the other passenger. I’d say no chance whatsoever.”
    “What makes it worse is that I was thinking of making the trip myself. I’m sure something could have been designed to protect the passenger.”
    “What were you going to protect the passenger against? Time? Well, you can have a shot at designing a protective device that would keep out time!”
    “Not time. Pressure. The pressure built up in passing through time. Never mind. There’s no use arguing about it now.”
    “What sort of a device did you have in mind?”
    “Something along the line of deep-sea diving equipment.”
    “Yes,” Haskins mused. “That might have worked. The passenger was crushed, which certainly suggests that he was subjected to a purely physical pressure. Mention the possibility in your report The scientists have been taking your assumption seriously since they saw the U.O. vanish. Smoke bothering you? Here, I’ll open a window. We did chalk up one significant gain. We now have a practical nuclear fuel. It’s a simple liquid allotrope of uranium, and we can produce it in quantity as soon as we find a use for it. But you only answered part of my question. What were you trying to do?”
    “I’m not sure. I thought that three of the instrument capsules selected the U.O.’s destination—in time—and if they were precisely reversed the U.O. could be sent back to where it came from. It’s just possible that those responsible for it aren’t aware of the destruction it causes. Returning it to them would be one way of bringing that to their attention.”
    “Where were those three capsules set when Ostrander pulled the switch?”
    “He had them set where I wanted them, and if he left them there— Was there enough fuel in the U.O. to get it back where it came from?”
    Haskins nodded. “The fuel container was nearly three-fourths full when it arrived, and we took only a small sample for analysis. Here’s Whistler. You two are leaving today on a long vacation. We’ll go over the whole business when you get back.”
    “Don’t be silly. I’m in the Air Force, thanks to you. I go where I’m told. And Whistler is in bondage to his cash register.”
    “You belong to me, and I’m telling you to take a vacation. Go collect butterflies or something. Take a month. Take two months, if you want them. You’ll be incapacitated at least that long. Whistler will drive the car and run errands for you.”
    “Who’ll run the tavern?” Karvel asked Whistler.
    “It don’t need no running,” Whistler said cheerfully.