"Robert F. Young - When Time Was New" - читать интересную книгу автора (Young Robert F)

about his business. The only way he can get back to the present is by driving back into the area,
contacting the station and tapping its power-supply again, or by sending back a distress signal and having
someone come to get him in another reptivehicle. At the most, Sam could make about a four-day round
trip under his own power but it would burn him out. Once that happened, even the station couldn't pull
him back. I think we'd better settle for an hour."

Ironically, the smaller the temporal distance you had to deal with, the more figuring you had to do.
After directing the triceratank via the liaison-ring on his right index finger to continue on its present erratic
course. Carpenter got busy with pad and pencil, and presently he began punching out arithmetical
brain-twisters on the compact computer that was built into the control panel.
Marcy leaned forward, watching him intently. "If it will expedite matters, Mr. Carpenter," she said, "I
can do simple sums, such as those you're writing down, in my head. For instance, 828,464,280 times
4,692,438,921 equals 3,887,518,032,130,241,880."
"It may very well at that, pumpkin, but I think we'd better check and make sure, don't you?" He
punched out the first two sets of numerals on the calculator, and depressed the multiplication button.
3,887,518,032,130,241,880 the answer panel said. He nearly dropped the pencil.
"She's a mathematical genius," Skip said. "I'm a mechanical genius myself. That's how come we were
kidnaped. Our government values geniuses highly. They'll pay a lot of money to get us back."
"Your government? I thought kidnapers preyed on parents, not governments."
"Oh, but out parents aren't responsible for us any more," Marcy explained. "In fact, they've probably
forgotten all about us. After the age of six, children become the property of the state. Modern Martian
parents are desentimentalized, you see, and don't in the least mind getting rid of — giving up their
children."
Carpenter regarded the two solemn faces for some time. "Yes," he said, "I do see at that."
With Marcy's help, he completed the rest of his calculations; then he fed the final set of figures into
Sam's frontal ganglion. "Here we go, you two!" he said, and threw the jumpback switch. There was a
brief shimmering effect and an almost imperceptible jar. So smoothly did the transition take place that
Sam did not even pause in his lumbering walk.

Carpenter turned his wristwatch back from 4:16 P.M. to 3:16 P.M. "Take a look at the sky now,
kids. See any more pteranodons?"
They peered up through the foliage. "Not a one, Mr. Carpenter," Marcy said, her eyes warm with
admiration. "Not a single one!"
"Say, you've got our scientists beat forty different ways from Sunday!" Skip said. "They think they're
pretty smart, but I'll bet they've never even thought of trying to travel in time . . . How far can you jump
into the future Mr. Carpenter—in a regular time-machine, I mean?"
"Given sufficient power, to the end of time — if time does have an end. But traveling beyond one's
own present is forbidden by law. The powers-that-be in 2156 consider it bad for a race of people to find
out what's going to happen to them before it actually happens, and for once I'm inclined to think that the
powers-that-be are right."
He discontinued liaison control, took over manually and set Sam on a course at right angles to their
present direction. At length they broke free from the forest onto the plain. In the distance the line of cliffs
that he had noticed earlier showed whitely against the blue and hazy sky. "How'd you kids like to camp
out for the night?" he asked.
Skip's eyes went round. "Camp out, Mr. Carpenter?"
"Sure. We'll build a fire, cook our food over it, spread our blankets on the ground—regular
American Indian style. Maybe we can even find a cave in the cliffs. Think you'd like that?"
 Both pairs of eyes were round now. "What's 'American Indian style,' Mr. Carpenter?" Marcy asked.
He told them about the Arapahoes and the Cheyennes and the Crows and the Apaches, and about
the buffalo and the great plains and Custer's last stand, and the Conestogas and the frontiersmen (the old