"Henry Kuttner (as Lewis Padgett) - Time Locker UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuttner Henry)

УThereТs always thiamin. Filthy stuff. I work better when IТve got pneumatic cushions around my brain.Ф
УWell, I donТt.Ф
УIt is purely a matter of skill,Ф Galloway hummed, Уto which each may attain if he wili. . . . What are you gaping at?Ф
УThatЧlocker,Ф Vanning said, frowning in a baffled way. УWhat theЧФ He got up. The metal door hadnТt been securely latched and had swung open. Of the smock Vanning had placed within the metal compartment there was no trace.
УItТs the paint,Ф Galloway explained sleepily. УOr the treatment. I bombarded it with gamma rays. But it isnТt good for anything.Ф
Vanning went over and swung a fluorescent into a more convenient position. The locker wasnТt empty, as he had at first imagined. The smock was no longer there, but instead there was a tiny blob ofЧsomething, pale-green and roughly spherical.
УIt melts things?Ф Vanning asked, staring. УUh-huh. Pull it out. YouТll see.Ф
Vanning felt hesitant about putting his hand inside the locker. Instead, he found a long pair of test-tube clamps and teased the blob out. It wasЧ Vanning hastily looked away. His eyes hurt. The green blob
was changing in color, shape and size. A crawling, nongeometrical blur of motion rippled over it. Suddenly the clamps were remarkably heavy.
No wonder. They were gripping the original smock.
УIt does that, you know,Ф Galloway said absently. УMust be a reason, too. I put things in the locker and they get small. Take Сem
out, and they get big again. I suppose I could sell it to a stage magician.Ф His voice sounded doubtful.

Vanning sat down, fingering the smock and staring at the metal locker. It was a cube, approximately 3 X 3 X 5, lined with what seemed to be grayish paint, sprayed on. Outside, it was shiny black.
УHowТd you do it?Ф
УHuh? I dunno. Just fiddling around.Ф Galloway sipped his zombie. УMaybe itТs a matter of dimensional extension. My treatment may have altered the spatio-temporal relationships inside the locker. I wonder what that means?Ф he murmured in a vague aside. УWords frighten me sometimes.Ф
Vanning was thinking about tesseracts. УYou mean itТs bigger inside than it is outside?Ф
УA paradox, a paradox, a most delightful paradox. You tell me. I suppose the inside of the locker isnТt in this space-time continuum at all. Here, shove that bench in it. YouТll see.Ф Galloway made no move to rise; he waved toward the article of furniture in question.
УYouТre right. That bench is bigger than the locker.Ф
УSo it is. Shove it in a bit at a time. That corner first. Go ahead.Ф
Vanning wrestled with the bench. Despite his shortness, he was stockily muscular.
УLay the locker on its back. ItТll be easier.Ф
УI. . . uh!.. . 0. K. Now what?Ф
УEdge the bench down into it.Ф
Vanning squinted at his companion, shrugged, and tried to obey. Of course the bench wouldnТt go into the locker. One corner did, that was all. Then, naturally, the bench stopped, balancing precariously at an angle.
УWell?Ф
УWait.Ф
The bench moved. It settled slowly downward. As VanningТs jaw dropped, the bench seemed to crawl into the locker, with the gentle motion of a not-too-heavy object sinking through water. It wasnТt sucked down. It melted down. The portion still outside the locker was unchanged. But that, too, settled, and was gone.
Vanning craned forward. A blur of movement hurt his eyes. Inside the locker wasЧsomething. It shifted its contours, shrank, and became a spiky sort of scalene pyramid, deep-purple in hue.
It seemed to be less than four inches across at its widest point.
УI donТt believe it,Ф Vanning said.
Galloway grinned. УAs the Duke of Wellington remarked to the subaltern, it was a demned small bottle, sir.Ф
УNow, wait a minute. How the devil could I put an eight-foot bench inside of a five-foot locker?Ф
УBecause of Newton,Ф Galloway said. УGravity. Go fill a test tube with water and IТll show you.Ф
УWait a minute . . . 0. K. Now what?Ф
УGot it brim-full? Good. YouТll find some sugar cubes in that drawer labeled СFuses.Т Lay a cube on top of the test tube, one corner down so it touches the water.Ф
Vanning racked the tube and obeyed. УWell?Ф
УWhat do you see?Ф
УNothing. The sugarТs getting wet. And melting.Ф
УSo there you are,Ф Galloway said expansively. Vanning gave him a brooding look and turned back to the tube. The cube of sugar was slowly dissolving and melting down.
Presently it was gone.
УAir and water are different physical conditions. In air a sugar cube can exist as a sugar cube. In water it exists in solution. The corner of it extending into water is subject to aqueous conditions. So it alters physically, though not chemically. Gravity does the rest.Ф
УMake it clearer.Ф
УThe analogyТs clear enough, dope. The water represents the particular condition existing inside that locker. The sugar cube represents the workbench. Now! The sugar soaked up the water and gradually dissolved it, so gravity could pull the cube down into the tube as it melted. See?Ф
УI think so. The bench soaked up the. . . the x condition inside the locker, eh? A condition that shrank the benchЧФ
УIn partis, not in toto. A little at a time. You can shove a human body into a small container of sulphuric acid, bit by bit.Ф
УOh,Ф Vanning said, regarding the cabinet askance. УCan you get the bench out again?Ф
УDo it yourself. Just reach in and pull it out.Ф
УReach in? I donТt want my hand to melt!Ф
УIt wonТt. The action isnТt instantaneous. You saw that yourself. It takes a few minutes for the change to take place. You can reach into the locker without any ill effects, if you donТt leave your hand exposed to the conditions for more than a minute or so. IТll show you.Ф Galloway languidly arose, looked around, and picked up an empty demijohn. He dropped this into the locker.