R. R. Winterbotham

“ Trella whistled softly. "I'm worth a lot to you! I must be getting close if Keeshwar will pay a million to see me out of the way."
"Trella," I pleaded. "What is it all about? What's behind this mystery?"
"If you turned down a million dollars for my sake, I think I can trust you," she said. "Supposing I was about to invent a new method of locomotion? Can you see where Keeshwar might find me obnoxious?"
"A new kind of space ship?"
Trella shook her head. "A new kind of locomotion. Animals either swim or walk. Man also uses wheels."
"He also can fly. So can birds." ”

“ Flying is simply swimming through the air and crawling, as a worm or snake, is gliding, like swimming. Space ships swim, too, after a fashion. Boats swim through the sea and sleds swim on ice. Therefore we have only three kinds of locomotion: Legs, wheels and sleds. Another might revolutionize everything. ”

“ Supposing the distance from E to F was one light-year and the distance from G to E, one year. Then GF would be the square root of one squared plus one squared, or the square root of two. Because we are dealing with such immense distances and because even the smallest decimal point of error might lead to disastrous results, we cannot attempt time travel unless we know the exact value of the square root of two, or any other irrational number. ”

“ There was some risk, of course, if a mathematical error were made in computing the range but considering the risks involved in ordinary methods of interstellar flight everything was in favor of the translator.
"The whole secret of the invention lies in locating the proper Now in space-time," Trella explained.
"The proper Now?" I asked.
"Of course," she said, "the Now we experience on earth is not the same Now that exists simultaneously on Rihlon, the second planet of Proxima Centaur. We are dealing with space-time, Fred. Time is a dimension, it stretches like a line through space. ”

“ Half of the tube had disappeared and, with it, half of Trella's body. The other half, containing half of the most beautiful woman on the earth, remained in the laboratory.
My spring toward Keeshwar had spoiled his aim enough to keep the bullet from striking Trella, but the bullet had struck the small silver wire that ran from the atomic motor on one side to the atomic motor on the other. The translation had been only half completed.
Half of Trella's body was on the earth, while the other was on Rihlon, four light years away! ”

“ We would not have a warrant issued for Keeshwar. There would be time to deal with him later.
We discovered that Trella could eat and she seemed to be in perfect health. But I knew that she was doomed unless we could restore the parts of her body. Her muscles would atrophy. Inaction is more deadly to the human machine than millions of disease germs. ”

“ Trella explained the machine, although at the time the explanation was a little over my head. The actual translation was accomplished by the pushing of one motor and the pulling of another across an extra-dimensional space. Half of the object to be translated was hurled across space by the pushing of the first motor. The second motor, which operated automatically, began pulling the other half, including the first motor, after it as soon as it materialized at the end of the journey.
By means of radio signals the exact location of every explored planet had been determined. ”

“ The point G represented the Now at which a space ship would leave the earth for Rihlon carrying Trella's half body. The point H represented the Now of arrival on Rihlon and the point J the parallel point on earth. We still had a right-angled triangle and we still had to deal with irrational numbers. But hold on—
I gazed at my drawing. Before my eyes was the answer! The whole thing was clearly and completely solved. The secret of time travel was solved. Trella was saved. The invention of the translator had been perfected so that all danger of becoming lost in time was removed! ”

“ I did not trust this man. I had a feeling that the million dollars he offered would not be worth the price.
"I am a surgeon," I said. "If you wish my professional services, I will charge you a reasonable fee."
"I want your services," Keeshwar said. "I want them for one day."
"You may have them. I will send you a bill after I complete the task."
"I want your services tomorrow," said Keeshwar, persistently.
I shook my head. "I have a delicate operation scheduled tomorrow. It is an operation I cannot postpone."
"It is an operation on Trella Mayo?" ”

“ Trella confessed. "You see the machine has two motors, one for starting the operation and the other for completing it. It takes about one second's time to switch the motive power from one motor to the other."
The machine, except for the motors, was made entirely of quartz and silver. On the right side of the machine was a long strip of silver running the full length of the tube. It was about three inches wide and it was connected with a knife-like blade of silver on the left side of the tube by a strand of silver wire. ”

“ Keeshwar said. "There are 1,000 bills, each of one thousand dollar denomination. One million dollars in cold cash."
There are any number of bank presidents who have never seen a million dollars in one pile. ”

“ There is no one today who has seen a living horse. The creature became extinct a couple of centuries ago, about the year 2,800. Man, who betrayed the horse into what he became, hardly regretted the passing. ”