"And he's sane?"
"Quite sane," White agreed absently.
Camhorn grinned. "Then what's the matter, Lolly? Don't you like the
idea of time-travel?"
"Naturally not. It's an absurdity."
"You're blunt, Lolly. And rash. A number of great minds differ with you
about that."
Laillard White said something rude about great minds in general. He
went on, "Was the machine these Trelawneys built found intact?"
Camhorn nodded. "In perfect condition. I found an opportunity to look
it over when it and the others the Freeholders had concealed on Terra
were brought in."
"And these machines are designed to make it possible to move through
time?"
"No question about that. They function in Riemann space, and are
very soundly constructed. A most creditable piece of work, in fact.
It's only regrettable that the Trelawney brothers were wasted on it.
We might have put their talents to better use. Though as it turned
out...." He shrugged.
White glanced over at him. "What are you talking about?" he asked
suspiciously.
"They didn't accomplish time-travel," Camhorn said, "though in theory
they should have. I know it because we have several machines based
on the same principles. The earliest was built almost eighty years
ago. Two are now designed to utilize the YM thrust. The Trelawney
machine is considerably more advanced in a number of details than its
Overgovernment counterparts, but it still doesn't make it possible to
move in time."
"Why not?"
"I'd like to know," Camhorn said. "The appearance of it is that the
reality we live in takes the same dim view of time-travel that you do.
Time-travel remains a theoretical possibility. But in practice--when,
for example, the YM thrust is applied for that purpose--the thrust is
diverted."
White looked bewildered. "But if Paul Trelawney didn't move through
time, what _did_ he do?"
"What's left?" Camhorn asked. "He moved through space, of course."
"Where?"
Camhorn shrugged. "They penetrated Riemann space," he said, "after
harnessing their machine to roughly nineteen thousand times the power
that was available to us before the Ymir series of elements dropped
into our hands. In theory, Lolly, they might have gone anywhere in
the universe. If we'd had the unreasonable nerve to play around with
multikilograms of YM--knowing what happened when fractional quantities
of a gram were employed--we might have had a very similar experience."
"I'm still just a little in the dark, you know," Laillard White
observed drily, "as to what the experience consisted of."
"Oh, Lieutenant Dowland's theory wasn't at all far off in that respect.
It's an ironic fact that we have much to thank the Trelawneys for.
There's almost no question at all now what the race of beings they
encountered were responsible for the troubles that have plagued us in
the use of YM. They're not the best of neighbors--neighbors in Riemann
space terms, that is. If they'd known where to look for us, things
might have become rather hot. They had a chance to win the first round
when the Trelawneys lit that sixty-eight kilogram beacon for them. But
they made a few mistakes, and lost us again. It's a draw so far. Except
that we now know about as much about them as they've ever learned about
us. I expect we'll take the second round handily a few years from now."
* * * * *
White still looked doubtful. "Was it one of their planets the
Trelawneys contacted?"
"Oh, no. At least, it would have been an extremely improbable
coincidence. No, the machine was searching for Terra as Terra is
known to have been in the latter part of the Pleistocene period. The
Trelawneys had provided something like a thousand very specific factors
to direct and confine that search. Time is impenetrable, so the machine
had to find that particular pattern of factors in space, and did. The
aliens--again as Lieutenant Dowland theorized--then moved through
Riemann space to the planet where the YM thrust was manifesting itself
so violently. But once there, they still had no way of determining
where in the universe the thrust had originated--even though they
were, in one sense, within shouting distance of Terra, and two of them
were actually on its surface for a time. It must have been an extremely
frustrating experience all around for our friends."
Laillard White said, "Hm-m," and frowned.
Camhorn laughed. "Let it go, Lolly," he said. "That isn't your field,
after all. Let's turn to what is. What do you make of the fact that
Dowland appears to have been temporarily immune to the mental commands
these creatures can put out?"
"Eh?" White said. His expression turned to one of surprise. "But that's
obvious!"
"Glad to hear it," Camhorn said drily.
"Well, it is. Dowland's attitude showed clearly that he suspected the
truth himself on that point. Naturally, he was somewhat reluctant to
put it into words."
"Naturally. So what did he suspect?"
White shook his head. "It's so simple. The first specimen of humanity
the aliens encountered alive was Paul Trelawney. High genius level,
man! It would take that level to nullify our I.Q. tests in the manner
he and his half-brother did. When those creatures were prowling around
on the mesa, they were looking for that kind of mentality. Dowland's
above average, far from stupid. As you say, you like his theories. But
he's no Trelawney. Unquestionably, the aliens in each case regarded him
as some kind of clever domestic animal. The only reason he's alive is
that they weren't taking him seriously."
* * * * *
"That," Camhorn said thoughtfully, "may have changed a number of
things."
"It may, indeed."
"Do we have anything on hand that would block their specific psi
abilities?"
"Oh, surely. If an AR field can stop them, there's nothing to worry
about in that respect. Our human telepaths wouldn't be seriously
hampered by that degree of interference."
"Very good," Camhorn said. "Do you have any theory about the partial
sensory interpretation of the two areas which both Dowland and Miss
Trelawney reported? The matter of being able to hear the river on the
other planet from time to time."
White nodded. "There are several possible explanations for that. For
one thing...."
"Better save it for lunch, Lolly," Camhorn interrupted, glancing at his
watch. "I see I have two minutes left to make the meeting. Anything
else you feel should be brought up at the moment?"
"Just one thing," White said. "If the Trelawneys' machine is capable of
locating a Terra-type planet anywhere in the universe...."