The line BA represented the time line of Rihlon. The line CD was the
time line of the earth. The points E and F were the _Nows_ on Rihlon
and earth, respectively, at which the accident occurred. The point G
represented the _Now_ at which a space ship would leave the earth for
Rihlon carrying Trella's half body. The point H represented the _Now_
of arrival on Rihlon and the point J the parallel point on earth.
We still had a right-angled triangle and we still had to deal with
irrational numbers. But hold on--
I gazed at my drawing. Before my eyes was the answer! The whole thing
was clearly and completely solved. The secret of time travel was
solved. Trella was saved. The invention of the translator had been
perfected so that all danger of becoming lost in time was removed![2]
[Footnote 2: As a mental exercise, I would suggest that the reader look
at Figure 2 for a minute or two and figure out the answer. The answer
is there and high school mathematics should enable a person to discover
how to extract the irrational number.--Dr. Fred Huckins.]
"Blake," I said to the servant, "bring me my automatic pistol."
"Wh-what?" Blake stuttered.
"I said bring me my automatic pistol. I'm going to save Trella, or
murder somebody."
"Perhaps I should call your lawyer."
I threw a book at him and he left hurriedly, to return in a few minutes
with my pistol and holster. I strapped the weapon about my waist and
slammed my straw hat on my head. In a few minutes I stepped from a taxi
in front of the Galaxy building, in which the officers of the Stellar
Transport Company are located.
A clerk with thick glasses interviewed me.
"I want to charter a ship for a trip to Proxima Centaur," I explained.
"I want one of your late model cruisers which can go about ten times
the speed of light. I want to get there quickly."
The clerk nodded. I have often wondered about the composure of clerks
who never seem to be astonished at anything. "We have a ship available
that could get you there in three months, that's sixteen times the
speed of light. But to charter it would cost one million dollars."
He never batted an eye when he named the price. I doubt if the clerk
was receiving more than forty a week.
"I should like to transact the deal directly with Mr. Keeshwar," I said.
"He will be pleased, I'm sure," the clerk replied. "What is your name?"
"Andrew J. Colt," I said, for lack of more originality.
The clerk disappeared into the sanctum. He returned presently with:
"Mr. Keeshwar will see you, Mr. Colt."
I had counted on Keeshwar being--or pretending to be very busy as I
entered. I expected him to pay no attention to my entry, and not even
to glance in my direction, as if a million dollars were a trifling
matter, until we were alone.
I judged Keeshwar right. When at last he glanced at me he was unnerved
by the presence of an automatic pistol which was pointed directly at
his head.
"I must warn you not to touch any of those buttons on your desk," I
said. "It would give me a great deal of pleasure to drill you and I
won't go out of my way for an opportunity."
"Wh-what d-d-do you w-w-ant?" he asked, turning pale.
"One day you offered me a million dollars to take Miss Mayo's life,"
I said. "Now I'm asking you to contribute an equal amount to save it.
However, I'm willing to take it out in trade. I want you to pilot one
of your ships for me to Rihlon."
"Impossible!" Keeshwar said, regaining some of his composure. "I
couldn't leave my business for a period long enough to make the trip."
"If you don't leave your business to make the trip right now you won't
exist any more," I warned casually. I reached into my pocket and
brought out a silencer, which I fitted to the end of the pistol barrel.
I unfastened the safety and aimed deliberately.
* * * * *
The space ship containing the terrestrial half of Trella Mayo, in
company with myself, Blake, two other scientists and Gustav Keeshwar,
arrived on Rihlon three months later. Keeshwar, who had had a pistol
trained on him almost every instant since I had called at his office,
was released and permitted to return to earth. He did not know that I
had left the instructions on earth for his arrest for felonious assault
the minute he landed.
We located Trella's Rihlon laboratory. It was the matter of a few
minutes to make the connection of the broken wire and to finish the
translation of her two halves.
Trella stepped out of her quartz prison, swayed unsteadily for a second
on her feet, and then collapsed.
"How on earth did you do it?" she asked. "How did you reconcile the
irrational number?"
I sketched the figure roughly (Figure 2). "The distance from F to G and
the distance from E to H does not enter into the equation," I said.
"The only thing we are interested in is the distances GJ, JH and GH."
"And GH is an irrational number," Trella said.
"Quite right, although like most things that appear absurd on the
surface, it is not as irrational as it seems. The distance G to J
is three months, the time required for the flight from the earth to
Rihlon. We will represent this by the unit 1. The distance JH is
four light years, the distance in space from earth to Rihlon. This,
therefore, would be sixteen units. Using the formula (GJ)^2 plus (JH)^2
equals (GH)^2 we find that GH is the square root of one plus 256, or
257. The square root of 257 is 16.031228, etc., an irrational number.
"It can't be expressed in figures! We do not need figures when we can
draw a picture. The triangle GHJ is a picture of an irrational number.
We had only to go to Rihlon to complete the equation."
"Time can be traveled," Trella said.
"Where would you like to go on our honeymoon?" I asked.
"To the Garden of Eden," she said.