Руди Рюкер - Master Of Space And Time

We said our goodbyes and I left the physics building to look for Nancy. I found her with Alwin on a stone bench a few hundred meters off. Leaves were blowing around, and the bright air was like cold water.

"You're a mess," said Nancy. "What took so long?"

I didn't answer. Instead I held up the gluons. "Here they are. Enough gluons for two and a half seconds. Have you figured out your wish?"

"I want to know what you did to smear your makeup like that, Joe."

"You know. I had to. I had to do it, Nancy."

"God, you're disgusting." She turned her face down and picked at a spot on her pants. Suddenly we were both in tears.

"I'm sorry, Nancy. I'm sorry I'm so twisted up. But the gluons will make everything right again. I'm sure they will." I sat down on Bitter's other side. "Tell her, Alwin. Tell her I love her."

"You tell her," said Bitter, getting to his feet. "I'm going home."

So I told Nancy that I loved her. I told her I wanted things to be the same again, only better. I told her I'd only let Lu have me so he would sell me the gluons. After a while Nancy believed me. A little longer, and I believed it too.

"So what are you going to wish for?" I asked when we'd finished making up.

"I was talking to Alwin and — I think I have an idea," said Nancy. "But I want to make sure I do it right. Could you explain about the Planck length again?"

"The Planck length is ordinarily about 10 -33centimeters," I said. "Much smaller than an atom or an elementary particle. The Planck length is the size scale below which ordinary physics breaks down. There's no cause and effect for things smaller than Planck length. There's total uncertainty down there, and anything can happen. Now, the idea behind the blunzer is to magnify the Planck length all the way up to one meter. When you get blunzed, the Planck length will get that big in a region around your head. So for a few seconds you'll be in a zone of total uncertainty. Anything you want to have happen will be true."

"What if the Planck length blew up to ten meters? Couldn't several people get blunzed at once then?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Only one person really needs to get the injection. The brain acts as a kind of amplifier."

"What injection?"

"The final stage of getting blunzed is where a needle jabs in through your fontanelle — you know, where Serena had her soft spot?"

"Right on top of my head?" Instinctively Nancy raised her hand to her scalp. "Does it hurt?"

"No, not really. You hear a sort of crunching, but it doesn't hurt. And then you're blunzed."

"You say I'll only have two seconds?"

"Two and two-fifths, actually. Now will you tell me what your wish is going to be?"

"No. Alwin told me not to. He said you might try to change my mind."

"Well, I'm not going to argue with you," I sighed. "Just make sure I get my body back. Shall we fly to New Brunswick?"

"Okay."

Nancy lay down on the ground, I sat on her butt, and we took off.

27. Nancy's Wish

Without a windfoil, Nancy couldn't fly as fast as Sondra had. We got up to a few hundred meters and followed the turnpike north to New Brunswick. When we were about halfway there, I spotted a big black dot approaching. A hawk? A guided missile?

No, it was Sondra, fresh out of the Carteret Correctional Center. She cruised up to us and we hovered there together for a minute.

"Isn't flying fun, Nancy?" said Sondra. Her face was flushed with excitement. "They let me out into the exercise yard and I took off. I'm going to see Alwin."

"We just saw him," I said. "He helped me get some more gluons."

"And I asked him what to wish for," added Nancy. "I get to make the wish."

"Why don't you just wish for lots of wishes?" Sondra suggested. "Wish for all the wishes we want."

"That's too vague," I protested. "I don't think wishes about wishing are allowed."

"It's just a machine," said Sondra. "Not a leprechaun or something. Nancy ought to ask for a hundred wishes."

The two women were hovering side by side. With the bright sun, I felt like a bather on a float. There were fields below us and, off to the right, the Jersey Turnpike, with cars crawling like ants.

"Don't worry, Sondra," said Nancy. "I'm going to ask for something really big. I think my wish is the real reason the blunzer made itself."

"What's your wish?" I asked again. But Nancy still refused to tell me.

"How's Harry?" Sondra asked me.

"I saw him this morning. He's in the Rahway prison. He wants to get out."

"I just wish those seventeen people hadn't died," said Sondra. "I feel bad about them. If I could wish one thing, I'd wish for them to be alive again. Nancy, do you think —"

"She's only going to have about two seconds," I interrupted. "And the main thing is to get my body back. She'll try to fix up our legal troubles too, but —"

"Leave it to me," said Nancy. "I know just what to do."

Some schoolchildren in the fields below had noticed us. Their tiny shouts floated up on the gentle autumn breezes.

"You know," said Sondra, "I keep having trouble believing I can fly. I really have to concentrate to keep from falling down. Like in a flying dream. Don't you feel that too, Nancy?"

"Hey," I interrupted anxiously. "That's no way to be thinking right now."

"… and just drop like a stone," Nancy mused. "If suddenly you forget how. Yeah, I can really feel that, Sondra. How about you, Joe?"

"Hey, look, girls, this is — " A farmer drove his pickup into the field beneath us and got out with a rifle. There came a faint popping of gunfire.

We said a hurried goodbye to Sondra and flew the rest of the way to New Brunswick. Nancy came in low and touched down in a parking lot near Harry's place. At first I thought no one had noticed us, but then an old bum came stumbling over.

"Take me for a ride, angels." He had the weatherbeaten skin of a sailor. "Take me out to sea." He seemed deranged, albeit strong enough to cause serious trouble.

"Go away," I said curtly. "Leave us alone." We started out of the parking lot with the bum tagging along after us.

"Give me something," he begged. "I need money to buy a pet fish."

"Here." I drew a ten-dollar bill out of my hand-bag and gave it to him. "Now beat it."

"Thank you, fish angel."

The windows of Harry's store were boarded up. There was a shiny black car parked in front. When Nancy and I tried the shop's door, it flew open, revealing a fit-looking man in a black suit. He held a pistol in one hand. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"Susan Gerber and Nancy Fletcher," I said. "We want to make sure you don't steal anything from our men."

"I'm Joseph Fletcher's wife," amplified Nancy. "And this is Harry Gerber's sister. We'd like to get a few personal effects and make an inventory."

The man gave a sharp whistle and pulled us in. The door slammed shut behind us. Inside was another man in black. He'd been guarding the back door. Both of them were armed. They said they were from the government.

"Why won't your brother talk?" the first man asked me. "His device has an enormous potential to enhance our national security."

"Harry never tells me what he's doing," I simpered. "Not that I could understand it anyway."

"And what about you?" the second man asked Nancy. "Where is your husband hiding?"

"I bet it's somewhere hot and wet," said Nancy. "My husband loves that kind of place. Some overgrown delta at the mouth of a river. Who knows? You're the cops, not me."

"I could use a tropical vacation myself," said the second man in black. "I'd like to be in the Bahamas." He turned to his partner. "How about you, Jack?"

"If I had my druthers," said the first man in black, "I'd be camping out in the Rockies right now."

They'd fallen for our story and had loosened up a little. I kept giving them nice smiles.