"Leinster, Murray - The Fourth-dimensional Demonstrator" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

The Fourth-dimensional Demonstrator


PETE DAVIDSON WAS engaged to Miss Daisy Manners of the Green Paradise floor show. He had just inherited all the properties of an uncle who had been an authority on the fourth dimension, and he was the custodian of an unusually amiable kangaroo named Arthur. But still he was not happy; it showed this morning.
Inside his uncleТs laboratory, Pete scribbled on paper. He added, and ran his hands through his hair in desperation. Then he subtracted, divided, and multiplied. But the results were invariably problems as incapable of solution as his deceased relativeТs fourth-dimensional equations. From time to time.a long, horselike, hopeful face peered in at him. That was Thomas, his uncleТs servant, whom Pete was afraid he had also inherited.
УBeg pardon, sir,Ф said Thomas tentatively.
Pete leaned harassedly back in his chair.
УWhat is it, Thomas? What has Arthur been doing now?Ф
УHe is browsing in the dahlias, sir. I wished to ask about lunch, sir. What shall I prepare?Ф
УAnything!Ф said Pete. УAnything at all! No. On second thought, trying to untangle Uncle RobertТs affairs calls for brains. Give me something rich in phosphorus and vitamins; I need them.Ф
УYes, sir,Ф said Thomas. УBut the grocer, sirЧФ
УAgain?Ф demanded Pete hopelessly.
УYes, sir,Ф said Thomas, coming into the laboratory. УI hoped, sir, that matters might be looking better.Ф
Pete shook his head, regarding his calculations depressedly.
УThey arenТt. Cash to pay the grocerТs bill is still a dim and misty hope. It is horrible, Thomas! I remembered my uncle as simply reeking with cash, and I thought the fourth dimension was mathematics, not debauchery. But Uncle, Robert must have had positive orgies with quanta and space-time continua! I shanТt break even on the heir business, let alone make a profit!Ф
Thomas made a noise suggesting sympathy.
УI could stand it for myself alone,Ф said Pete gloomily. УEven Arthur, in his simple kangarooТs heart, bears up well. But Daisy! ThereТs the rub! Daisy!Ф
УDaisy, sir?Ф
УMy fiancщe,Ф said Pete. УSheТs in the Green Paradise floor show. She is technically ArthurТs owner. I told Daisy, Thomas, that I had inherited a fortune. And sheТs going to be disappointed.Ф
УToo bad, sir,Ф said Thomas.
УThat statement is one of humorous underemphasis, Thomas. Daisy is not a person to take disappointments lightly. When I explain that my uncleТs fortune has flown off into the fourth dimension, Daisy is going to look absent-minded and stop listening. Did you ever try to make love to a girl who looked absent-minded?Ф
УNo, sir,Ф said Thomas. УBut about lunch, sirЧФ
УWeТll have to pay for it. Damn!Ф Pete said morbidly. УIТve just forty cents in my clothes, Thomas, and Arthur at least mustnТt be allowed to starve. Daisy wouldnТt like it. LetТs see!Ф
He moved away from the desk and surveyed the laboratory with a predatory air. It was not exactly a homy place. There was a skeltonlike thing of iron rods, some four feet high. Thomas had said it was a tesseractЧa model of a cube existing in four dimensions instead of three.
To Pete, it looked rather like a medieval instrument of torture-Чsomething to be used in theological argument with a heretic. Pete could not imagine anybody but his uncle wanting it. There were other pieces of apparatus of all sizes, but largely dismantled. They looked like the product of someone putting vast amounts of money and patience into an effort to do something which would be unsatisfactory when accomplished.
УThereТs nothing here to pawn,Ф said Pete depressedly. УNot even anything I could use for a hand organ, with Arthur substituting for the monk!Ф
УThereТs the demonstrator, sir,Ф said Thomas hopefully. УYour uncle finished it, sir, and it worked, and he had a stroke, sir.Ф
УCheerful!Ф said Pete. УWhat is this demonstrator? WhatТs it supposed to do?Ф
УWhy, sir, it demonstrates the fourth dimension,Ф said Thomas. УItТs your uncleТs life work, sir.Ф
УThen letТs take a look at it,Ф said Pete. УMaybe we can support ourselves demonstrating the fourth dimension in shop windows for advertising purposes. But IdonТt think Daisy will care for the career.Ф
Thomas marched solemnly to a curtain just behind the desk. Pete had thought it hid a cupboard. He slid The cover back and displayed a huge contrivance which seemed to have the solitary virtue of completion. Pete could see a monstrous brass horseshoe all of seven feet high. It was apparently hollow and full of cryptic cogs and wheels. Beneath it there was a circular plate of inch-thick glass which seemed to be designed to revolve. Below that, in turn, there was a massive base to which ran certain copper tubes from a refrigerating unit out of an ice box.
Thomas turned on a switch and the unit began to purr. Pete watched.
УYour uncle talked to himself quite a bit about this, sir,Ф said Thomas. УI gathered that itТs quite a scientific triumph, sir You see, sir, the fourth dimension is timeФ
УIТm glad to hear it explained so simply,Ф said Pete.
УYes, sir. As I understand it, sir, if one were motoring and saw a pretty girl about to step on a banana pee1, sir, and if one wished to tip her off, so to speak, but didnТt quite realize forЧsay, two minutes, until one had gone en half a mileЧФ
УThe pretty girl would have stepped on the banana peel and nature would have taken its course,Ф said Pete.
УExcept for this demonstrator, sir. You see, to tip off the young lady one would have to retrace the half mile and the time too, sir, or one would be too late. That is, one would have to go back next only the half mile but the two minutes. And so your uncle, sir, built this demonstratorЧФ
УSo he could cope with such a situation when it arose,Ф finished Pete. УI see! But IТm afraid it wonТt settle our financial troubles.Ф
The refrigeration unit ceased to purr. Thomas solemnly struck a safety match.
УIf I may finish the demonstration, sir,Ф he said hopefully. УI blow out this match, and put it on the glass plate between the ends of the horseshoe. The temperatureТs right, so it should work.Ф
There were self-satisfied clucking sounds from the base of the machine. They went on for seconds. The huge glass plate suddenly revolved perhaps the eighth of a revolution. A humming noise began. It stopped. Suddenly there was another burnt safety match on the glass plate. The machine began to cluck triumphantly.
УYou see, sir?Ф said Thomas. УItТs produced another burnt match. Dragged it forward out of the past, sir. There was a burned match at that spot, until the glass plate moved a few seconds ago. Like the girl and the banana peel, sir. The machine went back to the place where the match had been, and then it went back in time to where the match was, and then it brought it forward.Ф
The plate turned another eighth of a revolution. The machine clucked and hummed. The humming stopped. There was a third burnt match on the glass plate. The clucking clatter began once more.
УIt will keep that up indefinitely, sir,Ф said Thomas hopefully.
УI begin, said Pete, Уto see the true greatness of modern science. With only two tons of brass and steel, and at a cost of only a couple of hundred thousand dollars and a lifetime of effort, my Uncle Robert has left me a machine which will keep me supplied with burnt matches for years to come! Thomas, this machine is a scientific triumph!Ф
Thomas beamed.
УSplendid, sir! IТm glad you approve. And what shall I do about lunch, sir?Ф
The machine, having clucked and hummed appropriately, now produced a fourth burnt match and clucked more triumphantly still. It prepared to reach again into the hitherto unreachable past.
Pete looked reproachfully at the servant he had apparently inherited.. He reached in his pocket and drew out his forty cents. Then the machine hummed. Pete jerked his head and stared at it.
УSpeaking of science, now,Ф he said an instant later. УI have a very commercial thought. I blush to contemplate it.Ф He looked at the monstrous, clucking demonstrator of the fourth dimension. УClear out of here for ten minutes, Thomas. IТm going to be busy!Ф