Roy Hutchins

“ There is no need to follow all of Susan's life, which was happy, sad, unique and filled with minor tragedies and triumphs, like any other life. But Susan had four sons and gave the gene to each of them, and their children received it in turn. Before she had thought it necessary to pass the secret of the machine to Edgar's great-great-grandchildren, Susan died, so the machine was not available to them. ”

“ The dream boys were the ones who sat around and thought about entirely new ways of doing things. Compared to designing, it was like the difference between the creative excitement of composing music and the drudgery of arranging it. ”

“ Edgar and Marta rushed East to unmask the scoundrel, praying they would be in time to save Emma's honor.
The scoundrel, when unmasked, was a mechanic with weak eyes and a passion for poetry, who was completely miserable in the infantry. His manners were acceptable and he had enough intelligence to let Edgar beat him thoroughly at cribbage, whereupon Edgar offered to finance the opening of a garage in Greencastle if the young folks would move back there when Jim's hitch in the Army was finished.
"Emma is all we have," said Edgar in his classic style. ”

“ Steadily the urge grew stronger to get out of this world gone suicidally awry.
He had the money and he had the time. An efficient business manager took care of the new plant that produced the Ben Reeves capacitor.
He built his first machine in 1962, a month before Andover Hare took his own near relatives back into time with him. But that wasn't enough for Benjamin. He was a scientist where Andover was a student and Edgar Evans an amateur experimenter. Benjamin couldn't forget the millions who yearned with him. ”

“ Ward claimed ever afterward that clean living was what pulled Edgar through—the fact that he wasn't conditioned to liquor gave the medicinal whiskey virgin ground to work in.
All Edgar knew was that he came to and found himself so weak that he could scarcely speak. Mrs. Peterson and her daughter, Marta, bustled in and out to care for him. He hadn't paid particular attention to Marta before, but in the days of lying helpless and being literally spoon-fed, he began to know her very well. ”

“ But even while working on deadly machines for the future, Benjamin couldn't stop dreaming about the past, any more than Edgar Evans had.
Then, after eighteen years, Benjamin was fired. The military had asked for a new study on the question of how many enemy missiles might get through the early warning and intercept rings and reach the cities. "What, specifically, can we do to protect our people?" ”

“ As this account began with Edgar Evans, so it shall end with Benjamin Reeves. Not yet, but soon—it must be soon now.
Like all truly wise men, Benjamin Reeves is a modest man. He's tall, stooped a little, and his limbs are attached in that special loose way that makes a man amble rather than walk, sprawl rather than sit. At 50-odd, he looks much more like a friendly janitor than a respected research engineer.
And the gene is particularly dominant in Benjamin. ”

“ But whenever the missiles come, Benjamin will press the red button at the first warning. The temporal field lasts only a millisecond and the missiles won't be stopped, of course—but every city with a suitcase will be empty when they strike.
If the crisis holds off for a year, Benjamin figures we'll all go back together, each city and town to a different time, but all before 1900. It's hard to wait even a year when you have the gene gnawing and nagging inside you....
Edgar Evans, who started it, couldn't wait. Andover Hare refused to go back alone. ”