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The subjunctivisor tells me so; I would have invented a calculator to forecast the chances of every engagement; van Manderpootz would have removed the hit or miss element in the conduct of war." He frowned solemnly. "There is my idea. The autobiography of van Manderpootz. What do you think of it?" I recovered my thoughts. "It's uh it's colossal!" I said vehemently. "I'll buy a copy myself.
So I seized the visiphone, dialed the number of the University, and at length gazed on the broad, humorous, intelligent features of van Manderpootz, dragged from a morning lecture by my call. I was all but prompt for the appointment the following evening, and might actually have been on time but for an unreasonable traffic officer who insisted on booking me for speeding.
It was likewise superfluous for him to mention that when he and I had tried to snatch a few weeks of golfing in the mountains, even the spring had been late. I had nothing to do with that. "Dixon," he concluded, "you have no conception whatever of time. None whatever." The conversation with van Manderpootz recurred to me. I was impelled to ask, "And have you, sir?" "I have," he said grimly.
What better legacy can I leave to the world than a bust of van Manderpootz, sculptured from life? Perhaps I shall present it to the city, perhaps to the university. I would have given it to the Royal Society if they had been a little more receptive, if they if if!" The last in a shout. "Huh?" "If!" cried van Manderpootz.
Of course his own mind adds the details. All the screen actually shows are these tinted blobs of light and shadow, but the thing can be amazingly real. I've seen occasions when I could have sworn the psychomat showed pictures almost as sharp and detailed as reality itself; the illusion is sometimes as startling as that. Van Manderpootz switched on the light, and the play of shadows began.
Einstein showed us that much." "How? It's conceivable, isn't it?" "Conceivable? And you, Dixon Wells, studied under van Manderpootz!" He grew red with emotion, then grimly calm. "Listen to me. You know how time varies with the speed of a system Einstein's relativity." "Yes." "Very well.
And what sort of experiment?" "What experiment, other than simple measurement, is it possible to perform?" he snapped. "Why I don't know. To travel in it?" "Exactly." "Like these time-machines that are so popular in the current magazines? To go into the future or the past?" "Bah! Many bahs! The future or the past pfui! It needs no van Manderpootz to see the fallacy in that.
Several copies. I'll send 'em to my friends." "I," said van Manderpootz expansively, "shall autograph your copy for you. It will be priceless. I shall write in some fitting phrase, perhaps something like Magnificus sed non superbus. 'Great but not proud! That well described van Manderpootz, who despite his greatness is simple, modest, and unassuming. Don't you agree?" "Perfectly!
"Better than spending it to knock a white walnut along a mountainside!" "Indeed? You ought to try it, Marie." She glared in rage and well, that was a painful half hour. I won't give all the details, but I was glad when the screen dissolved into meaningless colored clouds. "Whew!" I said, staring at Van Manderpootz, who had been reading. "You liked it?" "Liked it!
"Not even van Manderpootz can bring back the dead," he murmured. "I'm sorry, Dick. Take your mind from the affair. Even were my subjunctivisor available, I wouldn't permit you to use it. That would be but to turn the knife in the wound." He paused. "Find something else to occupy your mind. Do as van Manderpootz does. Find forgetfulness in work." "Yes," I responded dully.
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