October 19, 2025 • 20 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Time Machine, Chapter one. The time Traveler, for so
it will be convenient to speak of him, was expounding
a recondite matter to us. His gray eyes shone and twinkled,
and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The
fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent
(00:21):
lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that
flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents,
embraced and caressed us, rather than submitted to be sat upon.
And there was that luxurious after dinner atmosphere when thought
Romes gracefully free of the trammels of precision, and he
(00:43):
put it to us in this way, marking the points
with a lean forefinger, as we sat and lazily admired
his earnestness over his new paradox as we thought it,
and his fecundity. You must follow me carefully. I shall
have to controvert nor two ideas that are almost universally accepted.
(01:04):
The geometry, for instance, they taught you at school, is
founded on a misconception. Is not that a rather large
thing to expect us to begin upon? Said philby an
argumentative person with red hair. I do not mean to
ask you to accept anything without reasonable ground for it.
You will soon admit as much as I need from you.
(01:26):
You know, of course, that a mathematical line, a line
of thickness nil, has no real existence. They taught you
that neither has a mathematical plane. These things are mere abstractions.
That is all right, said the psychologist. Nor having only length,
breadth and thickness. Can a cube have a real existence? There,
(01:50):
I object, said Philby. Of course a solid body may
exist all real things, so most people think. But wait
a moment, can an instantaneous cube exist? Don't follow you,
said Philby? Can a cube that does not last for
any time at all? Have a real existence? Philby became pensive. Clearly,
(02:16):
the time traveler proceeded, Any real body must have extension
in four directions. It must have length, breadth, thickness, and duration.
But through a natural infirmity of the flesh, which I
will explain to you in a moment, we incline to
overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions, three which
(02:37):
we call the three planes of space, and a fourth time.
There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction
between the former three dimensions, and the latter because it
happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along
the ladder from the beginning to the end of our lives.
(03:00):
That said a very young man, making spasmodic efforts to
relight his cigar over the lamp. That very clear. Indeed,
now it is very remarkable that this is so extensively overlooked,
continued the time traveler, with a slight accession of cheerfulness. Really,
this is what is meant by the fourth dimension. Though
(03:23):
some people who talk about the fourth dimension do not
know they mean it. It is only another way of
looking at time. There is no difference between time and
any of the three dimensions of space, except that our
consciousness moves along it. But some foolish people have got
hold of the wrong side of that idea. You have
(03:46):
all heard what they have to say about this fourth dimension.
I have not said the provincial mayor. It is simply
this that space, as our mathematicians have it, is spoken
of as having three dimensions, which one may call length, breadth,
and thickness, and is always definable by reference to three planes,
(04:08):
each at right angles to the others. But some philosophical
people have been asking why three dimensions, particularly why not
another direction at right angles to the other three, and
have even tried to construct a four dimension geometry. Professor
Simon Knucomb was expounding this to the New York Mathematical
(04:29):
Society only a month or so ago. You know how
on a flat surface which has only two dimensions, we
can represent a figure of a three dimensional solid. And
similarly they think that by models of three dimensions they
could represent one of four if they could master the
perspective of the thing. See I think so, murmured the
(04:52):
provincial mayor, and knitting his brows, he lapsed into an
introspective state, his lips moving as one who repeats me
mystic words. Yes, I think I see it now, he said,
after some time, brightening in a quite transitory manner. Well,
I do not mind telling you I have been at
(05:13):
work upon this geometry of four dimensions for some time.
Some of my results are curious. For instance, here is
a portrait of a man at eight years old, another
at fifteen, another at seventeen, another at twenty three, and
so on. All these are evidently sections, as it were,
three dimensional representations of his four dimensioned being, which is
(05:36):
a fixed and unalterable thing. Scientific people proceeded the time traveler,
after the pause required for the proper assimilation of this,
know very well that time is only a kind of space.
Here is a popular scientific diagram, a weather record. This
line I traced with my finger shows the movement of
(05:58):
the barometer. Yesterday it was so high. Yesterday night it fell.
Then this morning it rose again, and so gently upward
to here. Surely the mercury did not trace this line
in any of the dimensions of space generally recognized. But
certainly it traced such a line, And that line, therefore,
(06:19):
we must conclude, was along the time dimension. But said
the medical man, staring hard at a coal in the fire,
if time is really only a fourth dimension of space,
why is it, and why has it always been regarded
as something different? And why cannot we move in time
as we move about in the other dimensions of space?
(06:43):
The time traveler smiled, Are you sure we can move
freely in space? Right and left? We can go backward
and forward freely enough, and men always have done so.
I admit we move freely in two dimensions, But how
about up and down? Gravitation limits us? There not exactly,
(07:05):
said the medical man. There are balloons. But before the balloons,
say for spasmodic jumping, and the inequalities of the surface,
man had no freedom of vertical movement. Still they could
move a little up and down, said the medical man, easier,
far easier down than up. And you cannot move at
(07:28):
all in time. You cannot get away from the present moment,
my dear sir. That is just where you are wrong.
That is just where the whole world has gone wrong.
We are always getting away from the present moment. Our
mental existences, which are immaterial and have no dimensions, are
(07:49):
passing along the time dimension with a uniform velocity from
the cradle to the grave, just as we should travel
down if we began our existence fifty miles above the
earth serve. But the great difficulty is this, interrupted the psychologist.
You can move about in all directions of space, but
(08:09):
you cannot move about in time. That is the germ
of my great discovery. But you are wrong to say
that we cannot move about in time. For instance, if
I am recalling an incident very vividly, I go back
to the instant of its occurrence. I become absent minded.
As you say, I jump back for a moment. Of course,
(08:33):
we have no means of staying back for any length
of time, any more than a savage or an animal
has of staying six feet above the ground. But a
civilized man is better off than the savage in this respect.
He can go up against gravitation in a balloon. And
why should he not hope that ultimately he may be
(08:53):
able to stop or accelerate his drift along the time dimension,
or even turn about and travel the other way. Oh,
this began Philby, is all, why not, said the time traveler.
It's against reason, said Philby. What reason? Said the time traveler.
(09:15):
You can show black as white by argument, said Philby,
But you will never convince me. Possibly not, said the
time traveler. But now you begin to see the object
of my investigations into the geometry of four dimensions. Long ago,
I had a vague inkling of a machine to travel
(09:37):
through time, exclaimed the very young man, that shall travel
indifferently in any direction of space and time, as the
driver determines. Philby contented himself with laughter. But I have
experimental verification, said the time traveler. It would be remarkably
(09:58):
convenient for the historian. The psychologist suggested one might travel
back and verify the accepted account of the Battle of Hastings,
for instance. Don't you think you would attract attention, said
the medical man. Our ancestors had no great tolerance for anachronisms.
One might get one's Greek from the very lips of
(10:20):
Homer and Plato, the very young man thought, in which
case they would certainly plow you for the little go.
The German scholars have improved Greek so much. Then there
is the future, said the very young man. Just think
one might invest all one's money, leave it to accumulated interest,
(10:41):
and hurry on ahead to discover a society, said I
erected on a strictly communistic basis of all the wild,
extravagant theories, began the psychologist. Yes, so it seemed to me,
and so I never talked of it until experimental verification,
(11:04):
cried I you are going to verify that the experiment,
cried Philby, who was getting brain weary. Let us see
your experiment, anyhow, said the psychologist. Though it's all humbug,
you know. The time traveler smiled round at us, then,
still smiling faintly, and with his hands deep in his
(11:26):
trousers pockets. He walked slowly out of the room, and
we heard his slipper shuffling down the long passage to
his laboratory. The psychologist looked at us. I wonder what
he's got. Some sleight of hand trick or other, said
the medical man, and Philby tried to tell us about
a conjurer he had seen at Burslem, But before he
(11:48):
had finished his preface, the time traveler came back, and
Philby's anecdote collapsed. The thing the time traveler held in
his hand was a glittering metallic framework, scarcely larger than
a small clock, and very delicately made. There was ivory
in it, and some transparent crystalline substance. And now I
(12:10):
must be explicit for this that follows, unless his explanation
is to be accepted, is an absolutely unaccountable thing. He
took one of the small octagonal tables that were scattered
about the room and set it in front of the fire,
with two legs on the hearth rug. On this table
he placed the mechanism. Then he drew up a chair
(12:33):
and sat down. The only other object on the table
was a small shaded lamp. The bright light of which
fell upon the model. There were also perhaps a dozen candles,
about two in brass candlesticks upon the mantle, and several ensconces,
so that the room was brilliantly illuminated. I sat in
a low arm chair nearest the fire, and I drew
(12:55):
this forward so as to be almost between the time
traveler and the fireplace. Philby sat behind him, looking over
his shoulder. The medical man and the provincial mayor watched
him in profile, from the right, the psychologist from the left.
The very young man stood behind the psychologist. We were
all on the alert. It appears incredible to me that
(13:19):
any kind of trick, however subtly conceived and however adroitly done,
could have been played upon us under these conditions. The
time traveler looked at us, and then at the mechanism. Well,
said the psychologist. This little affair, said the time traveler,
(13:39):
resting his elbows upon the table and pressing his hands
together above. The apparatus is only a model. It is
my plan for a machine to travel through time. You
will notice that it looks singularly askew, and that there
is an odd twinkling appearance about this bar, as though
it was in some way unreal. He pointed to the
(14:02):
part with his finger. Also, here is one little white lever,
and here is another. The medical man got up out
of his chair and peered into the thing. It's beautifully made,
he said, it took two years to make, retorted the
time traveler. Then, when we had all imitated the action
(14:24):
of the medical man, he said, now I want you
clearly to understand that this lever being pressed over sends
the machine gliding into the future, and this other reverses
the motion. This saddle represents the seat of a time traveler. Presently,
I am going to press the lever, and off the
(14:44):
machine will go. It will vanish, pass into future time
and disappear. Have a good look at the thing, look
at the table too, and satisfy yourselves there is no trickery.
I don't want to waste this model and then be
I'm a quack. There was a minute's pause. Perhaps the
(15:05):
psychologist seemed about to speak to me, but changed his mind.
Then the time traveler put forth his finger towards the lever. No,
he said, suddenly, lend me your hand, And turning to
the psychologist, he took that individual's hand in his own
and told him to put out his forefinger, so that
it was the psychologist himself who sent forth the model
(15:28):
time machine on its interminable voyage. We all saw the
lever turn. I am absolutely certain there was no trickery.
There was a breath of wind, and the lamp flame jumped.
One of the candles on the mantel was blown out,
and the little machine suddenly swung round, became indistinct, was
(15:49):
seen as a ghost for a second, perhaps as an
eddy of faintly glittering brass and ivory. And it was gone, vanished,
save for the lamp. The table was bare. Everyone was
silent for a minute. Then Philby said he was damned.
The psychologist recovered from his stupor and suddenly looked under
(16:11):
the table at that. The time traveler laughed cheerfully. Well,
he said, with a reminiscence of the psychologist. Then, getting up,
he went to the tobacco jar on the mantel, and,
with his back to us, began to fill his pipe.
We stared at each other. Look here, said the medical man.
(16:33):
Are you in earnest about this? Do you seriously believe
that that machine has traveled into time? Certainly, said the
time traveler, stooping to light a spill at the fire.
Then he turned, lighting his pipe to look at the
psychologist's face. The psychologist, to show that he was not unhinged,
(16:54):
helped himself to a cigar and tried to light it uncut.
What is more, I have a big machine nearly finished
in there, he indicated the laboratory, and when that is
put together, I mean to have a journey on my
own account. You mean to say that that machine has
traveled into the future, said Philby. Into the future or
(17:17):
the past. I don't for certain know which. After an interval,
the psychologist had an inspiration. It must have gone into
the past, if it has gone anywhere, He said, why,
said the time traveler, Because I presume that it has
not moved in space, and if it traveled into the future,
(17:40):
it would still be here all this time, since it
must have traveled through this time. But I said, if
it traveled into the past, it would have been visible
when we came first into this room, and last Thursday
when we were here, and the thursday before that, and
so forth. Serious objections, remarked the provincial mayor, with an
(18:04):
air of impartiality, turning towards the time traveler. Not a bit,
said the time traveler. And to the psychologist, you think
you can explain that its presentation below the threshold, you know,
diluted presentation, of course, said the psychologist, and reassured us
(18:24):
that's a simple point of psychology. I should have thought
of it. It's plain enough and helps the paradox delightfully.
We cannot see it, nor can we appreciate this machine
any more than we can. Thus spoke of a wheel
spinning or a bullet flying through the air. If it
is traveling through time fifty times or a hundred times
(18:45):
faster than we are. If it gets through a minute
while we get through a second, the impression it creates will,
of course, be only one fiftieth or one hundredth of
what it would make if it were not traveling in time.
That's plain enough. He passed his hand through the space
in which the machine had been. You see, he said, laughing.
(19:07):
We sat and stared at the vacant table for a
minute or so. Then the time traveler asked us what
we thought of it all. It sounds plausible enough to night,
said the medical man. But wait until tomorrow, wait for
the common sense of the morning. Would you like to
see the time machine itself, asked the time traveler, and therewith,
(19:31):
taking the lamp in his hand, he led the way
down the long, drafty corridor to his laboratory. I remember
vividly the flickering light, his queer broad head in silhouette,
the dance of the shadows. How we all followed him,
puzzled but incredulous. And how there in the laboratory we
(19:52):
beheld a larger edition of the little mechanism which we
had seen vanish from before our eyes. Parts were of nickel,
parts of ivory. Parts had certainly been filed or sawn
out of rock crystal. The thing was generally complete, but
the twisted crystaline bars lay unfinished upon the bench beside
some sheets of drawings, and I took one up for
(20:14):
a better look at it. Quartz, it seemed to be.
Look here, said the medical man. Are you perfectly serious?
Or is this a trick like that ghost you showed
us last Christmas? Upon that machine, said the time traveler,
holding the lamp aloft. I intend to explore time. Is
(20:37):
that plain? I was never more serious in my life.
None of us quite knew how to take it. I
caught Philbey's eye over the shoulder of the medical man,
and he winked at me solemnly. End of Chapter one
The Time Machine, Chapter one. The time Traveler, for so
it will be convenient to speak of him, was expounding
a recondite matter to us. His gray eyes shone and twinkled,
and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The
fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent
(00:21):
lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that
flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents,
embraced and caressed us, rather than submitted to be sat upon.
And there was that luxurious after dinner atmosphere when thought
Romes gracefully free of the trammels of precision, and he
(00:43):
put it to us in this way, marking the points
with a lean forefinger, as we sat and lazily admired
his earnestness over his new paradox as we thought it,
and his fecundity. You must follow me carefully. I shall
have to controvert nor two ideas that are almost universally accepted.
(01:04):
The geometry, for instance, they taught you at school, is
founded on a misconception. Is not that a rather large
thing to expect us to begin upon? Said philby an
argumentative person with red hair. I do not mean to
ask you to accept anything without reasonable ground for it.
You will soon admit as much as I need from you.
(01:26):
You know, of course, that a mathematical line, a line
of thickness nil, has no real existence. They taught you
that neither has a mathematical plane. These things are mere abstractions.
That is all right, said the psychologist. Nor having only length,
breadth and thickness. Can a cube have a real existence? There,
(01:50):
I object, said Philby. Of course a solid body may
exist all real things, so most people think. But wait
a moment, can an instantaneous cube exist? Don't follow you,
said Philby? Can a cube that does not last for
any time at all? Have a real existence? Philby became pensive. Clearly,
(02:16):
the time traveler proceeded, Any real body must have extension
in four directions. It must have length, breadth, thickness, and duration.
But through a natural infirmity of the flesh, which I
will explain to you in a moment, we incline to
overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions, three which
(02:37):
we call the three planes of space, and a fourth time.
There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction
between the former three dimensions, and the latter because it
happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along
the ladder from the beginning to the end of our lives.
(03:00):
That said a very young man, making spasmodic efforts to
relight his cigar over the lamp. That very clear. Indeed,
now it is very remarkable that this is so extensively overlooked,
continued the time traveler, with a slight accession of cheerfulness. Really,
this is what is meant by the fourth dimension. Though
(03:23):
some people who talk about the fourth dimension do not
know they mean it. It is only another way of
looking at time. There is no difference between time and
any of the three dimensions of space, except that our
consciousness moves along it. But some foolish people have got
hold of the wrong side of that idea. You have
(03:46):
all heard what they have to say about this fourth dimension.
I have not said the provincial mayor. It is simply
this that space, as our mathematicians have it, is spoken
of as having three dimensions, which one may call length, breadth,
and thickness, and is always definable by reference to three planes,
(04:08):
each at right angles to the others. But some philosophical
people have been asking why three dimensions, particularly why not
another direction at right angles to the other three, and
have even tried to construct a four dimension geometry. Professor
Simon Knucomb was expounding this to the New York Mathematical
(04:29):
Society only a month or so ago. You know how
on a flat surface which has only two dimensions, we
can represent a figure of a three dimensional solid. And
similarly they think that by models of three dimensions they
could represent one of four if they could master the
perspective of the thing. See I think so, murmured the
(04:52):
provincial mayor, and knitting his brows, he lapsed into an
introspective state, his lips moving as one who repeats me
mystic words. Yes, I think I see it now, he said,
after some time, brightening in a quite transitory manner. Well,
I do not mind telling you I have been at
(05:13):
work upon this geometry of four dimensions for some time.
Some of my results are curious. For instance, here is
a portrait of a man at eight years old, another
at fifteen, another at seventeen, another at twenty three, and
so on. All these are evidently sections, as it were,
three dimensional representations of his four dimensioned being, which is
(05:36):
a fixed and unalterable thing. Scientific people proceeded the time traveler,
after the pause required for the proper assimilation of this,
know very well that time is only a kind of space.
Here is a popular scientific diagram, a weather record. This
line I traced with my finger shows the movement of
(05:58):
the barometer. Yesterday it was so high. Yesterday night it fell.
Then this morning it rose again, and so gently upward
to here. Surely the mercury did not trace this line
in any of the dimensions of space generally recognized. But
certainly it traced such a line, And that line, therefore,
(06:19):
we must conclude, was along the time dimension. But said
the medical man, staring hard at a coal in the fire,
if time is really only a fourth dimension of space,
why is it, and why has it always been regarded
as something different? And why cannot we move in time
as we move about in the other dimensions of space?
(06:43):
The time traveler smiled, Are you sure we can move
freely in space? Right and left? We can go backward
and forward freely enough, and men always have done so.
I admit we move freely in two dimensions, But how
about up and down? Gravitation limits us? There not exactly,
(07:05):
said the medical man. There are balloons. But before the balloons,
say for spasmodic jumping, and the inequalities of the surface,
man had no freedom of vertical movement. Still they could
move a little up and down, said the medical man, easier,
far easier down than up. And you cannot move at
(07:28):
all in time. You cannot get away from the present moment,
my dear sir. That is just where you are wrong.
That is just where the whole world has gone wrong.
We are always getting away from the present moment. Our
mental existences, which are immaterial and have no dimensions, are
(07:49):
passing along the time dimension with a uniform velocity from
the cradle to the grave, just as we should travel
down if we began our existence fifty miles above the
earth serve. But the great difficulty is this, interrupted the psychologist.
You can move about in all directions of space, but
(08:09):
you cannot move about in time. That is the germ
of my great discovery. But you are wrong to say
that we cannot move about in time. For instance, if
I am recalling an incident very vividly, I go back
to the instant of its occurrence. I become absent minded.
As you say, I jump back for a moment. Of course,
(08:33):
we have no means of staying back for any length
of time, any more than a savage or an animal
has of staying six feet above the ground. But a
civilized man is better off than the savage in this respect.
He can go up against gravitation in a balloon. And
why should he not hope that ultimately he may be
(08:53):
able to stop or accelerate his drift along the time dimension,
or even turn about and travel the other way. Oh,
this began Philby, is all, why not, said the time traveler.
It's against reason, said Philby. What reason? Said the time traveler.
(09:15):
You can show black as white by argument, said Philby,
But you will never convince me. Possibly not, said the
time traveler. But now you begin to see the object
of my investigations into the geometry of four dimensions. Long ago,
I had a vague inkling of a machine to travel
(09:37):
through time, exclaimed the very young man, that shall travel
indifferently in any direction of space and time, as the
driver determines. Philby contented himself with laughter. But I have
experimental verification, said the time traveler. It would be remarkably
(09:58):
convenient for the historian. The psychologist suggested one might travel
back and verify the accepted account of the Battle of Hastings,
for instance. Don't you think you would attract attention, said
the medical man. Our ancestors had no great tolerance for anachronisms.
One might get one's Greek from the very lips of
(10:20):
Homer and Plato, the very young man thought, in which
case they would certainly plow you for the little go.
The German scholars have improved Greek so much. Then there
is the future, said the very young man. Just think
one might invest all one's money, leave it to accumulated interest,
(10:41):
and hurry on ahead to discover a society, said I
erected on a strictly communistic basis of all the wild,
extravagant theories, began the psychologist. Yes, so it seemed to me,
and so I never talked of it until experimental verification,
(11:04):
cried I you are going to verify that the experiment,
cried Philby, who was getting brain weary. Let us see
your experiment, anyhow, said the psychologist. Though it's all humbug,
you know. The time traveler smiled round at us, then,
still smiling faintly, and with his hands deep in his
(11:26):
trousers pockets. He walked slowly out of the room, and
we heard his slipper shuffling down the long passage to
his laboratory. The psychologist looked at us. I wonder what
he's got. Some sleight of hand trick or other, said
the medical man, and Philby tried to tell us about
a conjurer he had seen at Burslem, But before he
(11:48):
had finished his preface, the time traveler came back, and
Philby's anecdote collapsed. The thing the time traveler held in
his hand was a glittering metallic framework, scarcely larger than
a small clock, and very delicately made. There was ivory
in it, and some transparent crystalline substance. And now I
(12:10):
must be explicit for this that follows, unless his explanation
is to be accepted, is an absolutely unaccountable thing. He
took one of the small octagonal tables that were scattered
about the room and set it in front of the fire,
with two legs on the hearth rug. On this table
he placed the mechanism. Then he drew up a chair
(12:33):
and sat down. The only other object on the table
was a small shaded lamp. The bright light of which
fell upon the model. There were also perhaps a dozen candles,
about two in brass candlesticks upon the mantle, and several ensconces,
so that the room was brilliantly illuminated. I sat in
a low arm chair nearest the fire, and I drew
(12:55):
this forward so as to be almost between the time
traveler and the fireplace. Philby sat behind him, looking over
his shoulder. The medical man and the provincial mayor watched
him in profile, from the right, the psychologist from the left.
The very young man stood behind the psychologist. We were
all on the alert. It appears incredible to me that
(13:19):
any kind of trick, however subtly conceived and however adroitly done,
could have been played upon us under these conditions. The
time traveler looked at us, and then at the mechanism. Well,
said the psychologist. This little affair, said the time traveler,
(13:39):
resting his elbows upon the table and pressing his hands
together above. The apparatus is only a model. It is
my plan for a machine to travel through time. You
will notice that it looks singularly askew, and that there
is an odd twinkling appearance about this bar, as though
it was in some way unreal. He pointed to the
(14:02):
part with his finger. Also, here is one little white lever,
and here is another. The medical man got up out
of his chair and peered into the thing. It's beautifully made,
he said, it took two years to make, retorted the
time traveler. Then, when we had all imitated the action
(14:24):
of the medical man, he said, now I want you
clearly to understand that this lever being pressed over sends
the machine gliding into the future, and this other reverses
the motion. This saddle represents the seat of a time traveler. Presently,
I am going to press the lever, and off the
(14:44):
machine will go. It will vanish, pass into future time
and disappear. Have a good look at the thing, look
at the table too, and satisfy yourselves there is no trickery.
I don't want to waste this model and then be
I'm a quack. There was a minute's pause. Perhaps the
(15:05):
psychologist seemed about to speak to me, but changed his mind.
Then the time traveler put forth his finger towards the lever. No,
he said, suddenly, lend me your hand, And turning to
the psychologist, he took that individual's hand in his own
and told him to put out his forefinger, so that
it was the psychologist himself who sent forth the model
(15:28):
time machine on its interminable voyage. We all saw the
lever turn. I am absolutely certain there was no trickery.
There was a breath of wind, and the lamp flame jumped.
One of the candles on the mantel was blown out,
and the little machine suddenly swung round, became indistinct, was
(15:49):
seen as a ghost for a second, perhaps as an
eddy of faintly glittering brass and ivory. And it was gone, vanished,
save for the lamp. The table was bare. Everyone was
silent for a minute. Then Philby said he was damned.
The psychologist recovered from his stupor and suddenly looked under
(16:11):
the table at that. The time traveler laughed cheerfully. Well,
he said, with a reminiscence of the psychologist. Then, getting up,
he went to the tobacco jar on the mantel, and,
with his back to us, began to fill his pipe.
We stared at each other. Look here, said the medical man.
(16:33):
Are you in earnest about this? Do you seriously believe
that that machine has traveled into time? Certainly, said the
time traveler, stooping to light a spill at the fire.
Then he turned, lighting his pipe to look at the
psychologist's face. The psychologist, to show that he was not unhinged,
(16:54):
helped himself to a cigar and tried to light it uncut.
What is more, I have a big machine nearly finished
in there, he indicated the laboratory, and when that is
put together, I mean to have a journey on my
own account. You mean to say that that machine has
traveled into the future, said Philby. Into the future or
(17:17):
the past. I don't for certain know which. After an interval,
the psychologist had an inspiration. It must have gone into
the past, if it has gone anywhere, He said, why,
said the time traveler, Because I presume that it has
not moved in space, and if it traveled into the future,
(17:40):
it would still be here all this time, since it
must have traveled through this time. But I said, if
it traveled into the past, it would have been visible
when we came first into this room, and last Thursday
when we were here, and the thursday before that, and
so forth. Serious objections, remarked the provincial mayor, with an
(18:04):
air of impartiality, turning towards the time traveler. Not a bit,
said the time traveler. And to the psychologist, you think
you can explain that its presentation below the threshold, you know,
diluted presentation, of course, said the psychologist, and reassured us
(18:24):
that's a simple point of psychology. I should have thought
of it. It's plain enough and helps the paradox delightfully.
We cannot see it, nor can we appreciate this machine
any more than we can. Thus spoke of a wheel
spinning or a bullet flying through the air. If it
is traveling through time fifty times or a hundred times
(18:45):
faster than we are. If it gets through a minute
while we get through a second, the impression it creates will,
of course, be only one fiftieth or one hundredth of
what it would make if it were not traveling in time.
That's plain enough. He passed his hand through the space
in which the machine had been. You see, he said, laughing.
(19:07):
We sat and stared at the vacant table for a
minute or so. Then the time traveler asked us what
we thought of it all. It sounds plausible enough to night,
said the medical man. But wait until tomorrow, wait for
the common sense of the morning. Would you like to
see the time machine itself, asked the time traveler, and therewith,
(19:31):
taking the lamp in his hand, he led the way
down the long, drafty corridor to his laboratory. I remember
vividly the flickering light, his queer broad head in silhouette,
the dance of the shadows. How we all followed him,
puzzled but incredulous. And how there in the laboratory we
(19:52):
beheld a larger edition of the little mechanism which we
had seen vanish from before our eyes. Parts were of nickel,
parts of ivory. Parts had certainly been filed or sawn
out of rock crystal. The thing was generally complete, but
the twisted crystaline bars lay unfinished upon the bench beside
some sheets of drawings, and I took one up for
(20:14):
a better look at it. Quartz, it seemed to be.
Look here, said the medical man. Are you perfectly serious?
Or is this a trick like that ghost you showed
us last Christmas? Upon that machine, said the time traveler,
holding the lamp aloft. I intend to explore time. Is
(20:37):
that plain? I was never more serious in my life.
None of us quite knew how to take it. I
caught Philbey's eye over the shoulder of the medical man,
and he winked at me solemnly. End of Chapter one
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