"Mr. Weldon, we know a good deal about her from notes that have come
down to us among her private papers. She had a safety deposit box
under a false name. I won't tell you the name; it was not discovered
until many years later, and we will not voluntarily meddle with the
past."
I sat up and listened sharply. "So that's how you knew who I was and
what I'd be wearing and what I came for! You even knew when and where
I'd arrive!"
"Correct," Blundell said.
"What else do you know?"
"That you suspected her of being responsible for the deaths of many
old people by starvation. Your suspicion was justified, except that
her father had caused all those that occurred before 1947, when she
took over after his own death. All but two people were sent into the
past. Roberts was curious about the future, of course, but he did not
want to waste a victim on a trip that would probably be fruitless. In
the past, you understand, he knew precisely what he was after. The
future was completely unknown territory."
"But she took the chance," I said.
"If you can call deliberate murder taking a chance, yes. One man
arrived in 2094, over fifty years ago. The other was yourself. The
first one, as you know, died of malnutrition when he was brought back
to your era."
"And what happened to me?" I asked, jittering.
"You will not die. We intend to make sure of that. All the other
victims--I presume you're interested in their errands?"
"I think I know, but I'd like to find out just the same."
"They were sent to the past to buy or steal treasures of various
sorts--art, sculpture, jewelry, fabulously valuable manuscripts and
books, anything that had great scarcity value."
"That's not possible," I objected. "She had all the money she wanted.
Any time she needed more, all she had to do was send somebody back to
put down bets and buy stocks that she knew were winners. She had the
records, didn't she? There was no way she or her father could lose!"
* * * * *
He moved his shoulders in a plum-and-gold shrug. "Most of the
treasures they accumulated were for acquisition's sake--and for the
sake of vengeance for the way they believed Dr. Roberts had been
treated. When there were unusual expenses, such as replacing the very
costly parts of the time machine, that required more than they could
produce in ready cash, both Roberts and his daughter 'discovered'
these treasures."
He waited while I digested the miserable meal and the disturbing
information he had given me. I thought I'd found a loophole in his
explanation: "You said people were sent back to the past to _buy_
treasures, besides stealing them."
"I did," he agreed. "They were provided with currency of whatever era
they were to visit."
I felt my forehead wrinkle up as my theory fell apart. "Then they
could buy food. Why should they have died of malnutrition?"
"Because, as May Roberts herself told you, nothing can exist before it
exists. Neither can anything exist after it is out of existence. If
you returned with a Dynapack, for example, it would revert to a lump
of various metals, because that was what it was in your period. But
let me give you a more personal instance. Do you remember coming back
from your first trip with dust on your hand?"
"Yes. I must have fallen."
"On one hand? No, Mr. Weldon. May Roberts was greatly upset by the
incident; she was afraid you would realize why the hamburger had
turned to dust--and why the old people died of starvation. _All_ of
them, not just a few."
He paused, giving me a chance to understand what he had just said. I
did, with a sick shock.
"If I ate your food," I said shakily, "I'd feel satisfied until I was
returned to my own time. _But the food wouldn't go along with me!_"
* * * * *
Blundell nodded gravely. "And so you, too, would die of malnutrition.
The foods we have given you existed in your era. We were very careful
of that, so careful that many of them probably were stored years
before you left your time. We regret that they are not very palatable,
but at least we are positive they will go back with you. You will be
as healthy when you arrive in the past as when you left.
"Incidentally, she made you change your clothes for the same
reason--they had been made in 1930. She had clothing from every era
she wanted visited and chose old people who would fit them best.
Otherwise, you see, they'd have arrived naked."
I began to shake as if I were as old as I'd pretended to be on the
stage. "She's going to pull me back! If I don't bring her the
information about the Dynapack, she'll shoot me!"
"That, Mr. Weldon, is our problem," Blundell said, putting his hand
comfortingly on my arm to calm me.
"Your problem? I'm the one who'll get shot, not you!"
"But we know in complete detail what will happen when you are returned
to the 20th Century."