Harry Harrison by The Technicolor Time Machine

Author:The Technicolor Time Machine [Machine, The Technicolor Time]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-06-12T11:53:07+00:00

11

“One thing I really like about the eleventh century,” Barney said, spearing a large chunk of white meat with his fork, “is the sea food. What’s the reason for that, Professor? Lack of pollution or what?”

“It is probably because what you are eating is not sea food from the eleventh century.”

“Don’t try to sell me that. This isn’t any of that frozen TV dinner stuff we brought along. Look, the clouds are breaking up, if it stays like this we can shoot the rest of the homecoming today.”

The front of the mess tent was rolled up, which gave a clear view across the fields, with a bit of ocean visible beyond. Professor Hewett pointed to it.

“The fish in the ocean here are identical with those of the twentieth century, to all practical pur—

poses. But the trilobite on your plate is of a totally different order and era, brought back by the weekend parties from Old Catalina.”

‘That’s what all the dripping boxes were about.” He looked suspiciously at the meat on his plate. “Just a minute—this thing I’m eating—it has nothing to do with Charley Chang’s eyes and teeth, does it?”

“No,” the professor said. “You must remember we changed periods when it was decided that members of the company should spend two days a week in a different time, so that work here would be continuous. Santa Catalina is a perfect holiday spot, Mr. Chang verified that, but he was slightly put out by the local life. That was my mistake. I left him in the Devonian period, when amphibian life was beginning to emerge from the sea, totally harmless creatures such as the lung fish for the most part. But there were things in the water …”

“Eyes and teeth. We heard.”

“So I considered the Cambrian a wiser choice for our weekenders. Nothing in the ocean to bother the bathers that is larger than the harmless trilobite.”

“So you’ve used the word again. What is it?”

“An extinct anthropod. A form of life generally classed somewhere between the crustaceans and the arachnidans, some specimens of which are quite small, but the one you’re eating is the largest. A sort of two-foot long, seagoing wood louse.”

Barney dropped his fork and took a long swallow of coffee. “That was a delicious lunch,” he said. “Now if you don’t mind, could we talk about the colony in Vinland. Have you found it yet?”

“My news isn’t too good.”

“After the trilobite anything is good. Tell me.”

“You must understand that my detailed knowledge of the period is limited. But Dr. Lyn is well versed on the history and he has all the records in the original sagas about the Vinland discoveries and settlements, and I have been following his instructions. It was difficult at times to find a suitable arrival location, the coasts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia are irregular to say the least, but we have been successful at this. The motorboat has been used extensively, so that I can assure you that the search has been carried out as thoroughly as was possible.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.