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Imagination, v. 1, issue 4, whole no. 4, January 1938
Page 6
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6 "HOLLERBOCHEN'S DILEMMA" - Short Scientale - By Ray Bradbury Hollerbochen faced a crisis. He could tell what would happen in the future. He could see when he would die---& it was very distressing, as you well may imagine. Every branch of his life lay before him. He knew he would die the next day. He saw himself being blown to bits by a tremendous explosion. Hollerbochen had another marvelous feature about his person: He had the unique power to be able to stand still in time for a few minutes. But only for a pitifully short few minutes. He faced death & was terribly afraid. "The Day" dawnd & Hollerbochen lookt into the future with his magic mind. He wisht he never'd found the fateful power he possesst so strongly. He knew he could pursue 1000s of paths into the future that day. But each one culminated in a horrible death for his person. Which one to choose was up to Hollerbochen entirely. He left his apt. & walkt toward the elevator that would take him down 12 stories to the hotel lobby. Somehow he had a premonition of impending doom. On the way he decided to stand still in time to see what would happen if he did so. The cables of the elevator broke a second later as a vision of Hollerbochen enterd the car. It landed loudly on the hard cement stories below. Hollerbochen drew back aghast at what he had witnesst: He supposedly had viewd himself enter the vehicle & be killd by its crash! He pincht himself to see if he were alive. But he knew he was because he was standing still in time at the moment. Shaken, he returnd to his room & tried to think clearly. He knew he dared not leave the hotel by the elevator--else be killd. So he left his room & startd down the stairway. On the 3d floor a man accostd the clairvoyant with a gun & demanded his money. Hollerbochen quickly stood still in time & as the revolver went off he was not effectd by the bullet tho he saw a fantom figure of himself fall dead on the carpet. Hollerbochen retraced his steps very discouragedly. He didn't want to die but it seemd inevitable. For the next hr he tried going out time after time but always as he would approach the elevator it would crash in exactly the same way. He wonderd absentmindedly if the people in the plunging prison were getting tired of being killd so many times. So far they'd fallen 15 within an hr. Also, every time he'd start down the stairs the same robber would appear & take a shot at him. It was becoming monotonous. He wisht the robber'd run out of imagination. Hollerbochen wantd to save the lives of the people in the elevator. So he decided he never would leave the hotel at all. He had only 2 ways to exit & they both were blockt by death. The passengers in elevator "3" had had a most unpleasant experience. In a brief second they had felt they were falling. They felt themselves hit the floor many times. Then the machine ceast its crazy antics & stopt at the main floor. They walkt out, wondering at their odd dream--for obviously it really couldn't have happend. Spike Malono stuck his gat in a fat man's ribs. Impulsively he fired when the victim refused to hand over his money. At that the man disappeard! This incredible action occurd many times. Finally it stopt & Spike murmurd something about going to get a good strong drink as he fled the fantastic hold-up failure spot. Hollerbochen stood still in time & waitd. He had determind he'd stay in the hotel forever. He wonderd about the inexplicable explosion he'd seen in his foresights of the future, where recurrently he was blown skyward by an unknown force. He suddenly realized he
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6 "HOLLERBOCHEN'S DILEMMA" - Short Scientale - By Ray Bradbury Hollerbochen faced a crisis. He could tell what would happen in the future. He could see when he would die---& it was very distressing, as you well may imagine. Every branch of his life lay before him. He knew he would die the next day. He saw himself being blown to bits by a tremendous explosion. Hollerbochen had another marvelous feature about his person: He had the unique power to be able to stand still in time for a few minutes. But only for a pitifully short few minutes. He faced death & was terribly afraid. "The Day" dawnd & Hollerbochen lookt into the future with his magic mind. He wisht he never'd found the fateful power he possesst so strongly. He knew he could pursue 1000s of paths into the future that day. But each one culminated in a horrible death for his person. Which one to choose was up to Hollerbochen entirely. He left his apt. & walkt toward the elevator that would take him down 12 stories to the hotel lobby. Somehow he had a premonition of impending doom. On the way he decided to stand still in time to see what would happen if he did so. The cables of the elevator broke a second later as a vision of Hollerbochen enterd the car. It landed loudly on the hard cement stories below. Hollerbochen drew back aghast at what he had witnesst: He supposedly had viewd himself enter the vehicle & be killd by its crash! He pincht himself to see if he were alive. But he knew he was because he was standing still in time at the moment. Shaken, he returnd to his room & tried to think clearly. He knew he dared not leave the hotel by the elevator--else be killd. So he left his room & startd down the stairway. On the 3d floor a man accostd the clairvoyant with a gun & demanded his money. Hollerbochen quickly stood still in time & as the revolver went off he was not effectd by the bullet tho he saw a fantom figure of himself fall dead on the carpet. Hollerbochen retraced his steps very discouragedly. He didn't want to die but it seemd inevitable. For the next hr he tried going out time after time but always as he would approach the elevator it would crash in exactly the same way. He wonderd absentmindedly if the people in the plunging prison were getting tired of being killd so many times. So far they'd fallen 15 within an hr. Also, every time he'd start down the stairs the same robber would appear & take a shot at him. It was becoming monotonous. He wisht the robber'd run out of imagination. Hollerbochen wantd to save the lives of the people in the elevator. So he decided he never would leave the hotel at all. He had only 2 ways to exit & they both were blockt by death. The passengers in elevator "3" had had a most unpleasant experience. In a brief second they had felt they were falling. They felt themselves hit the floor many times. Then the machine ceast its crazy antics & stopt at the main floor. They walkt out, wondering at their odd dream--for obviously it really couldn't have happend. Spike Malono stuck his gat in a fat man's ribs. Impulsively he fired when the victim refused to hand over his money. At that the man disappeard! This incredible action occurd many times. Finally it stopt & Spike murmurd something about going to get a good strong drink as he fled the fantastic hold-up failure spot. Hollerbochen stood still in time & waitd. He had determind he'd stay in the hotel forever. He wonderd about the inexplicable explosion he'd seen in his foresights of the future, where recurrently he was blown skyward by an unknown force. He suddenly realized he
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