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Paradox, v. 1, issue 2, Fall 1942
Page 5
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PARADOX JOE FANN INTO TIME BY BOB TUCKER Have you heard the tale of Joe Fann who built himself a time-traveling gadget in the case of a wristwatch? No less! He strapped it on, wound it up, and set the hands at twenty minutes past eight in the future. He then pressed the stud, stepped back, and waited. An hour later he was still waiting. Nothing had happened. Nothing at all. Joe Fann was sorely tried. He couldn't understand this. The thing should have worked. He knew it was in perfect running condition because he had first tried it out on a cat. He had set the watch for five minutes in the future, pressed the stud, and watched. The cat had vanished. Bing!--just like that. And five minutes later it appeared again, standing on the same spot, in the same pose. It hadn't even moved a muscle; indeed, one lone whisker vibrated in the air from the swishing passage of his hand. The whisker was still vibrating. It had been vibrating, then, all those five minutes. The lesson was lost on Joe. The lesson of the cat's whisker. Indeed, we may well subtitle this The Case of the Vibrating Cat's Whisker", except that it wouldn't be scientifictional to do so. No, come to think of it, to title it that way would be splitting an infinitive, not to mention the cat. So it could have been called "The Case of the Cat's Vibrating Whisker", except that ain't sciencefictional either. Which brings us back to Joe Fann and his time machine that didn't work, apparently, which is, you will agree, perfectly sciencefictional. Joe Fann tried again. This time he went the limit. He set the watch's hands up twelve full hours, pressed the stud, and waited. Make no mistake about that--he waited all right. For quite a while in fact, but nothing happened that should have happened, if one judged time travel from the writings of Ralph Milne Farley and Ray Cummings. No indeed, nothing at all. Joe Fann just stood there, disappointed, as nothing happened. In rage, Joe twisted the hands fiendishly. Every which way. Forward and backward, hours and minutes. Even seconds. Then he hurled the thing to the floor. The watch lit on its "head". That is, right smack on the stud. Quite naturally the stud was pushed in. What's that----look
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PARADOX JOE FANN INTO TIME BY BOB TUCKER Have you heard the tale of Joe Fann who built himself a time-traveling gadget in the case of a wristwatch? No less! He strapped it on, wound it up, and set the hands at twenty minutes past eight in the future. He then pressed the stud, stepped back, and waited. An hour later he was still waiting. Nothing had happened. Nothing at all. Joe Fann was sorely tried. He couldn't understand this. The thing should have worked. He knew it was in perfect running condition because he had first tried it out on a cat. He had set the watch for five minutes in the future, pressed the stud, and watched. The cat had vanished. Bing!--just like that. And five minutes later it appeared again, standing on the same spot, in the same pose. It hadn't even moved a muscle; indeed, one lone whisker vibrated in the air from the swishing passage of his hand. The whisker was still vibrating. It had been vibrating, then, all those five minutes. The lesson was lost on Joe. The lesson of the cat's whisker. Indeed, we may well subtitle this The Case of the Vibrating Cat's Whisker", except that it wouldn't be scientifictional to do so. No, come to think of it, to title it that way would be splitting an infinitive, not to mention the cat. So it could have been called "The Case of the Cat's Vibrating Whisker", except that ain't sciencefictional either. Which brings us back to Joe Fann and his time machine that didn't work, apparently, which is, you will agree, perfectly sciencefictional. Joe Fann tried again. This time he went the limit. He set the watch's hands up twelve full hours, pressed the stud, and waited. Make no mistake about that--he waited all right. For quite a while in fact, but nothing happened that should have happened, if one judged time travel from the writings of Ralph Milne Farley and Ray Cummings. No indeed, nothing at all. Joe Fann just stood there, disappointed, as nothing happened. In rage, Joe twisted the hands fiendishly. Every which way. Forward and backward, hours and minutes. Even seconds. Then he hurled the thing to the floor. The watch lit on its "head". That is, right smack on the stud. Quite naturally the stud was pushed in. What's that----look
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