Timeline - Michael Crichton [180]
“Where, then, will people turn for the rare and desirable experience of authenticity? They will turn to the past.
“The past is unarguably authentic. The past is a world that already existed before Disney and Murdoch and Nissan and Sony and IBM and all the other shapers of the present day. The past was here before they were. The past rose and fell without their intrusion and molding and selling. The past is real. It’s authentic. And this will make the past unbelievably attractive. That’s why I say that the future is the past. The past is the only real alternative to—Yes? Diane, what is it?” He turned as she walked into the room.
“There’s a problem in the transit room. It seems the explosion damaged the remaining water shields. Gordon’s run a computer simulation that shows three shields breaking when they’re filled with water.”
“Diane, this is a goddamn no-brainer,” Doniger said, tugging at his tie. “Are you telling me they may come back unshielded?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we can’t risk that.”
“It’s not that simple. . ..”
“Yes, it is,” Doniger said. “We can’t take the risk. I’d rather they didn’t come back at all than to have them come back seriously damaged.”
“But—”
“But what? If Gordon has this computer projection, why is he going forward?”
“He doesn’t believe the projection. He says it’s quick and
dirty, and he thinks the transit will go fine.”
“We can’t risk it,” Doniger said, shaking his head. “They
can’t come back without shields. Period.” She paused, bit her lip. “Bob, I think the—” “Hey,” he said. “We got short-term-memory loss here? You were the one who wouldn’t let Stern go back, because of the risk of transcription errors. Now you want to let the whole goddamn bunch come back unshielded? No, Diane.”
“Okay,” she said, obviously reluctant. “I’ll go and talk to—”
“No. No talk. Kill it. Pull the power plug if you have to. But don’t let those people come back. I’m right about this, and you know it.”
:
In the control room, Gordon said, “He said what?”
“They can’t come back. Absolutely not. Bob was firm.”
“But they have to come back,” David Stern said. “You have to let them.”
“No, I don’t,” Kramer said.
“But—”
“John,” Kramer said, turning to Gordon. “Has he seen Wellsey? Have you shown him Wellsey?”
“Who’s Wellsey?”
“Wellsey’s a cat,” Gordon said.
“Wellsey’s split,” Kramer said to Stern. “He was one of the first test animals that we sent back. Before we knew that you had to use water shields in a transit. And he’s very badly split.”
“Split?”
Kramer turned to Gordon. “Haven’t you told him anything?”
“Of course I told him,” Gordon said. He said to Stern, “Split means he had very severe transcription errors.” He turned back to Kramer. “But that happened years ago, Diane, back when we also had problems with the computers as well—”
“Show him,” Kramer said. “And then see if he’s still so eager to bring his friends back. But the point of the conversation is, Bob’s made his decision on this, and the answer is no. If we don’t have secure shields, nobody can come back. Under any circumstances.”
At the consoles, one of the technicians said, “We’ve got a field buck.”
:
They crowded around the monitor, looking at the undulating wave and the tiny ripples in the surface.
“How long before they come back?” Stern said.
“Judging from this signal, about an hour.”
“Can you tell how many?” Gordon said.
“Not yet, but . . . it’s more than one. Maybe four, or five.”
“That’s all of them,” Gordon said. “They must have gotten the Professor, and they’re all coming home. They’ve done what we asked them