Mists of Dawn (13 page)

“You’re
losing
me
now,”
Mark
broke
in.
“We’d
better stick
to
what
I
can
understand
or
I
may
wind
up
being more
confused
than
when
we
started
out!”

“Okay,
Mark,
I’m
sorry,”
Doctor
Nye
apologized. “Let’s
go
back
to
fundamentals.
There’s
just
one
more thing
that
you
have
to
keep
in
mind—When
the
space-time
machine
reaches
its
destination
and
stops,
it
will be
impossible
for
it
to
make
the
return
trip
right
away. The
balance
of
energies—the
combination
of
forces-must
have
time
to
restore
itself.
The
machine
must have
time
to
rebuild
the
energy
potential
in
order
to come
back
here
to
1953.”

“How
long
will
that
take?”
asked
Mark.

“Roughly
two
weeks—perhaps
longer.
We’ll
have
to wait
and
see.
Come
here
a
moment.”

Mark
got
to
his
feet
and
followed
Doctor
Nye
over
to the
control
panel
on
the
side
of
the
sphere.
There
was a
bank
of
lights
along
the
top
of
the
panel
and
a
carefully
calibrated
dial
in
the
center.
On
each
side
of
the dial
there
was
a
large
knife
switch
with
a
black
handle. Both
switches
were
open.

“Careful
now,”
cautioned
Doctor
Nye.
“Don’t
touch
anything—
this
baby
is
all
ready
to
go.
You’ll
notice
that the
controls
are
quite
simple,
and
there’s
nothing
mysterious
about
them.
That
green
light
burning
there means
that
the
machine
is
in
order
and
prepared
for operation.
When
the
machine
starts,
the
green
light goes
off
and
the
red
light
comes
on.
When
that
red
light is
on,
you
must
not
try
to
change
anything
or
the
whole machine
will
explode.
Don’t
forget
that.
Finally,
when the
machine
stops,
the
yellow
light
goes
on.
That
means it
is
safe
to
go
out,
but
the
machine
is
in
the
process
of rebuilding
the
energy
potential
and
cannot
be
moved. When
the
energy
potential
has
been
built
up
again,
the yellow
light
goes
off
and
the
green
light
comes
on again.”

“That’s
clear
enough,”
Mark
said.
“I
suppose
that
the dial
in
the
center
is
to
fix
the
machine’s
destination?”

“Check,”
said
Doctor
Nye.
He
took
the
turning
knob of
the
dial
carefully
between
his
thumb
and
index
finger.
“You
see
that
the
pointer
of
the
dial
is
now
set
for 1953,
and
that
the
very
fine
small
pointer
that
looks something
like
the
large
second
hand
of
a
watch
makes it
possible
to
set
the
machine
for
a
specific
day—even
a specific
minute
and
hour.
Now,
I
turn
to
the
dial—”

Cautiously,
Doctor
Nye
turned
the
knob.
Mark heard
a
series
of
faint
but
precise
clicks.
He
watched the
dial
swing
back
across
the
centuries,
back—

“There
we
are,”
said
Doctor
Nye.
“It’s
now
set
for 
46
b
.c
.
and
all
I
would
have
to
do
to
get
us
back
there would
be
to
throw
that
left-hand
switch.
I
don’t
have to
tell
you
of
the
work
it
took
to
adjust
the
actual
time spans
to
the
calendar
times.
You
know,
of
course,
that the
calendar
has
been
often
adjusted;
by
Gregory
and Julius
Caesar
himself
among
others,
in
order
to
make it
correspond
to
the
actual
lunar
and
solar
years.
But it
is
all
integrated
in
this
machine,
and
allowances made
for
such
things.
We
can
go
back
almost
anywhere,
and
any
time,
just
by
twisting
this
dial—thus!”