As they approach the huge brick house, they are still talking among themselves, obviously excited, like children on their first trip to the circus.
"Think of it! Being able to go back and visit the various eras of history!"
"What a thrill!"
"Perhaps we would have done it anyway, sooner or later, for the pure thrill of it all. But now we have a reason--a purpose, in addition."
"You say we can go back 200 years in one leap?"
"Give or take 50 years based on our present knowledge. But, perhaps with the application of more force, we could increase the distance slightly."
"We could make it a fact-finding tour as well, to note any unwritten details of historical interest we may stumble across."
"Who knows what new insights we might discover!"
"Gentlemen, Gentlemen!” The chairman’s voice rings out above the din. "It seems it would be best to hold our excitement until after our visit with Mr. Lewis."
"True, true. Do you think he will grant us the funds?"
"Oh, he must, he must!"
By this time, they have reached the front steps of the big, imposing looking house, with its huge columns and statuary. Suddenly, the door flies open revealing an imposing figure in a smoking jacket, standing there with a cigar in one hand and a brandy snuffer in the other.
"Gentlemen, Gentlemen! What’s all this excitement about?"
"Invite us in, and we’ll tell you all about it, Mark."
"It must be something important to merit a visit from all of you at once." He extends his arm, glass and all, in a gesture of welcome.
They enter and seat themselves on the two plush sofas which line the walls.
"Something to drink, Gentlemen?" offers Mark.
"Perhaps some wine would be in order," suggests John.
All nod in agreement.
Their host pours the wine and seats himself on a movable chair which he positions in such a way as to be able to see the whole group at a glance. "And now, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?"
"Well, it’s just an idea--a concept."
"But one that could change the whole course of human history if it works."
"Plus, we may find new items of historical value on the way."
"It's the most exciting concept ever—"
"Gentlemen, Gentlemen! One at a time please!"
"Yeah! Since you’re the chairman, John, why don’t you do the talking?"
"All right! Well, it all started with the question of the origin of evil. And then we decided to put our present knowledge of time travel to work in an attempt to change the course of history."
Mark smiles as he blows out a big puff of smoke from his cigar. "Time travel, eh? I've read that it has been proven theoretically. I don’t quite understand what that means. But anyway, about the other thing you said: you mentioned something about changing the course of human history. Just what do you mean by that?"
"Well, let me ask you, Mark, what in your opinion is the origin of disease and evil in the world?"
"Well, I never thought of that before." Mark Lewis puts his finger to his lips and thinks deeply on the matter.
"Wouldn’t you say it would be the failure to comply with the Divine law, which failure, call it what you will, is very much a part of us all?"
"Sounds reasonable." Mark takes a sip of his brandy.
"I mean, you do believe in God, don’t you?"
"Why, sure! I'm a Jew, like Cohen here."
"Ever read the third Chapter of Genesis?" asks Daniel
"I never bother reading the Bible. I leave that to the Rabbis."
"John gestures to Cohen. "Read it to him, Dan."
Daniel reads, or rather translates, the scripture again. As he does So, Mark re-lights his cigar, which had gone out. As the translation finishes, he takes a big puff, blows the smoke out slowly and says, "Yeah, O.K. So, get to the point."
"The point is that if we could go back there to that time, we could warn those people and thus prevent the whole thing."
"We would be able to eliminate all evil and disease from the world!"
"Gentlemen!" With a look of astonishment in his eyes, Mark sets his glass on the table and flicks the ashes off of the end of his cigar. "Gentlemen, are you serious?!"
"Very much so!"
"But time travel has been proven only theoretically, not as an actual fact."
"Well, that’s exactly what we intend to do." John sips his wine for a moment and then continues. "Perhaps the reason it hasn’t been proven in actuality so far is that there hasn’t been enough motivation. Well, now we have the motivation."
"Think of it," adds Will, "the whole course of history! No more sickness, disease, or evil, no more war or killings, no more misery of any kind, because no more sin!"
"Now wait just a minute!" Mark takes a sip of his brandy and another puff on his cigar. "Let me see if I can grasp the whole picture here. What you're saying is that by a single act of communication on your part, once you get to where you’re going, all of history will be changed. Is that correct?"
"That’s it!"
"--So that when you arrive back here, things will be different in all three tenses, so that not only will our time be different, but also the history books will be different, and the future will be different than it otherwise would have been."
"Exactly!"
"Boggles your mind, doesn’t it?"
Mark takes a rather large gulp from his brandy snuffer. "Are you certain that such a change is possible, or that it would indeed result from your activity?"
"We are certain of nothing. But, if there’s a chance, isn't it worth it?”
"Well, I admit that the prospect does sound promising." Mark sets his brandy snuffer on the table and takes another puff on his cigar. "But, how sure are you that you will be able to go back to that particular time?"
John sips his wine and sets his glass back on the table. "At our present state of experimentation, there’s about an 80 percent chance."
Mark shrugs his shoulders. "High enough to run with."
"But there are two drawbacks. Number one is that with our present thrust capabilities, we could go back probably only about 200 years at a time, give or take 50 years. Thus, new coordinates would have to be set at every stop. Also, the thrust would tend to partially destroy the cylinder, so that we’d have to repair it each time before attempting to go back further. The repair material (as lightweight as possible) and the fuel supply (powdered fuel, of course, to be mixed with water at every stop) would be carried with us in the cylinder, thus adding to the weight and helping to limit the thrust capability. Thus, with each stop, we should be able to go back a little further than the last one.”
"Sounds like you’ve got this pretty well figured out."
"We worked things out a little before coming here."
"But you said the time cylinder could go back only about 200 years at a time?"
"Based on the necessary size and weight, and the resultant thrust capabilities, that is our present estimate."
"Let’s see--that would mean a total of--." Mark's brow wrinkles as he tries to calculate.
But John has the answer already at hand. "--A total of 60 leaps back--give or take a few."
Now, instead of being drawn inward, Mark’s eyebrows are raised upward. "--A project which could cost millions." He pauses to sip his brandy and the silence is almost tangible.
"You mentioned two drawbacks. What’s the other one?"
"Nothing that' should concern you, really. Just that there is no guarantee that whoever goes will make it back to the present time."
Mark leans forward intently. "And you are willing to take that risk?" His eyes scan the group.
All nod and some say verbally "We are!"
He sits back and puffs his cigar once more. "Well, I see you are truly serious about this. But tell me, exactly how does this time travel work? I’m not too familiar with it."
"Well, to move through time, you need three things: a high-speed revolving room with a high ratio of movement, a strong magnetic field with high- density flux lines and an alternating electrical energy field of resonant frequency equal to that of the person or object which is to move through time. Does this have you entirely confused?"
"Not entirely. I can understand some of what you’re saying from my limited knowledge of physics." Mark reaches for his brandy snuffer and takes another sip. "I suppose it does sound feasible enough. But how do you know exactly where and when the scene that you read to me took place? And how can you arrange to arrive there precisely?"
John has also been sipping from his glass and now places it back on the table. "Of course, no one knows the exact time or location of the Garden of Eden, but we have enough information about the time and location and have built into our plan enough margin of error in regard to time and location that we can be reasonably assured of success. Of course, we will have to be especially careful in making the calculations and setting the coordinates at the next to the last stop. But, to give you more information without going into the technical end of it--"
Daniel interrupts "Recent archeological finds tell us that the location of Eden was somewhere in the present day country of Armenia, and the time was approximately 6000 years ago."
Mark now has a puzzled look on his face as he tries to re-light his cigar. "But I can't see how you can be assured of arriving close enough to the spot to--"
John raises his finger as if making a point. "Without going into a lot of detailed scientific explanation, we shall have to calculate the rotation of the earth in relation to the location of the time cylinder. Then we can attempt, by varying the intensity of the horizontal thrust and carefully setting the coordinates, to direct the location of each backward jump so that each one will bring us closer, not only in time but in location as well, to our desired destination."
"This would have to be done quite carefully at each landing point," interjects Walt, "with an eye to earthquakes or other natural phenomena which may be present."
"Walt and Will shall work together on the calculations," adds John.
"Well!" Having managed to re-light the cigar, Mark takes a big puff and slowly blows out the smoke. "Well, it certainly seems as if you’ve thought of everything."
"We tried to."
There is a pause--a moment of intense silence, which seems like an eternity. Mark Lewis slowly puffs out more smoke, while the others sit breathlessly on the edge of their seats. At last, Mark speaks. "Well, you’ve convinced me that this plan of yours just might work. Anyway, it's sure as hell worth a try. Gentlemen, you have my support and wholehearted cooperation.” A slight sigh of relief is heard among the rest of the group, as Mark stands and raises his glass as if in a toast. “Gentlemen,” he continues, “together we will build the time machine which will put an end to all the evil in the world. It will take all our faith and all your knowledge of science. But, if we can prevent evil from entering the world, it will be worth everything. The world will know no more grief and misery."
"The world will be fresh and virgin again as it was in the beginning."
"The future will then be up to us."
"And we, having learned from the mistakes of those before us, shall not fail!"
"An extremely promising plan." Mark again reached for his brandy snuffer. "I’m certainly glad you gentlemen brought it to my attention."
"What else could we have done? We needed the financial backing."
"And, you’ve got it! Gentlemen, shall we toast the success of our new venture?"
All lift their glasses and bring them together in a toast.
"Let us be going then," suggests John, standing. "Walt and Will shall start on the calculations immediately."
All of them rise to leave.
Mark Lewis also rises. "I shall authorize my bank to make payments so all of you can begin work as soon as the calculations are figured and checked. Gentlemen, may God go with you!"