Time Travelers Never Die - Jack McDevitt [27]
“—the Roadster. We’re all going.”
Dave’s hand gripped the black device attached to his belt. “It really is, isn’t it? A time machine?”
“Yes. And it’s how I got out into western Pennsylvania.”
“And you didn’t know?”
“The thing didn’t come with instructions, Dave. How could I have known?”
“My God, Shel. Where’d you get it?” And suddenly he understood. “Your father.”
“Yes.”
“It’s how he disappeared out of his house.”
“That’s right.”
“So where’d he go?”
“I don’t know exactly. He said maybe he was going to talk to Galileo. Maybe Ben Franklin. Maybe Albert Einstein. Hell, who knows?”
Dave burst out laughing. “Galileo.”
“It’s why I need you.”
“He’s dead. They’re all dead.”
“Come on, Dave. Stay with me.”
“You’re going after him.”
“Yes. I’m going to try Galileo first.”
“And you need somebody who speaks Italian.”
“Right again.”
“Let me understand what we’re talking about here. You want to go back to the—what is it?—the seventeenth century to look for your father?”
“You always were quick, Dave.”
“Shel, I don’t know how to break this to you, but the Italian they spoke several hundred years ago isn’t going to be the Italian they speak today.”
“Dave, you’re my best shot. Please—”
“Do you know when?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you know precisely when and where in the seventeenth century he was planning to go?” He frowned. “Listen to me. I sound like a nut.”
Shel managed a pained smile. “No,” he said. “Only that he would go to see Galileo.”
“Well, you have a time machine. Why don’t you go back and ask him?”
“I’ve already done that. I don’t think I can do it again.” They were standing with a crowd at an intersection, waiting for the light to change. It did, and the crowd started across. A car making a turn tried to push its way through. There was some yelling.
“Why can’t you?” asked Dave.
“It’s complicated. But he says if I create a paradox, bad things will happen.”
“What kind of bad things?”
“Heart attacks, maybe.”
“What?”
“He lost a partner during an experiment. The event’s over. I can’t go back and change it.”
“Shel, I can’t believe you’re willing to buy that story.”
“After what I’ve seen these last couple of days, I’m inclined to be cautious.”
DAVE would remember that moment the rest of his life. Crossing the street, the traffic, the people, Shel talking about heart attacks. “You know,” he said, “it sounds as if your father’s one of those mad scientists.”
“I guess you could say that.”
“Who else knows?”
“Nobody. He wanted it kept quiet.” They were still walking. Toward the Imperial and Laugh Parade. He noticed a familiar name among the cast members. Ed Wynn.
Incredible.
They walked, and stopped, and looked around. And walked again. They stopped at another traffic light. “Just installed,” Shel said.
“What is?”
“The lights. They were just starting to use them.”
“Hard to imagine New York without traffic signals.”
“They’ve also just finished the Empire State Building.” Somebody blew a horn and, as if on cue, the light changed. They started across and turned right onto Third Avenue. “Will you do it?” Shel asked. “Will you help me?”
How could he not? “After we bring him back,” Dave said, “is that going to be the end?”
“If we bring him back—” Shel shook his head. “If he didn’t come back on his own—”
“—It doesn’t mean something happened to him. The device, the converter, might have broken down.”
“That’s what I’m hoping.”
“I mean, if the Inquisition or somebody had grabbed him, he can get out just by punching a button, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. So it has to be the converter. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
“I hope so.” They were moving again, passing an Italian restaurant. Dave wondered how many of the businesses on that block would still be around in 2018. In his time. “Shel,” he said, “I still can’t believe this is happening.”
Shel stopped a couple of women and asked if they had the correct time. It was, one of them said, consulting a watch she took from her purse, a quarter after ten.
Shel adjusted his own watch and flagged down a passing cab.
“Do we have an appointment?