"Jerry Oltion - Salvation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Oltion Jerry)

William watched the countdown clock on the computer screen. When
it hit zero, he pushed the “go” button. The paper vanished.

“Now we build one big enough for people,” he said.

****

That was the work of another year, a year that Billy spent learning
Aramaic and brushing up on his Latin. He flew to Israel several times to
scout out the territory, eventually renting a ground floor flat in a new
settlement on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Two thousand years ago the area
where it stood would be far out in the wilderness, at least half a day’s walk
from the ancient city. The time travelers should be able to arrive there
without attracting attention, and more importantly they could store their
return equipment there without it being discovered and stolen by
passersby.

Of course it was anybody’s guess whether the flat would still be
standing when they arrived from America with the time machine. The
Palestinians were still lobbing rockets into the settlements every few days
and the Iranians were threatening to do the same. It was business as usual
in the Middle East, but Billy didn’t know how they could go on like this,
nursing hatred for generation after generation in the holiest of lands.

Perhaps he would ask Jesus if He could do something about it.

At last William declared the human-sized time machine ready. They
tested it with short jumps in his own lab, and they tested the portable return
unit that they would carry with them, and it all worked as he had designed it.
So they boxed it all up and took it to Israel.

When they got there, they bought desert clothing and survival gear
that they hoped would pass for authentic two millennia earlier, keeping it as
plain and simple as possible. They carried gold and jewels to buy whatever
else they needed once they made their jump.

Within a surprisingly short time, they were ready to go. Billy had
already calculated the best time to find Jesus in Jerusalem, settling on the
last year of his ministry. William keyed it into the control computer and sent
the return machine to those coordinates, then he set the destination time
back ten minutes and motioned Billy into the transfer cage.

“This is the moment of supreme faith,” Billy said as he stepped in and
pulled the wire door closed. “Ironic, isn’t it, that I’m placing my faith in
science?”

William shrugged. “No more ironic than our first major trip being a visit
to a religious fanatic. Ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Billy saw William reach for the “go” button,