Руди Рюкер - Master Of Space And Time

Harry was stuck in Alwin's shrubbery. It took the three of us to help him out.

"You're not the real Master of Space and Time," fumed Harry when he saw old Alwin's face. "You're not the one who made us and the blunzer and everything."

"I never said I did," said Alwin equably. "I just did my best to help things along. We all did it. No one did it. Our universe is an eigenstate."

"I bet you don't know what the Cosmos looks like," taunted Harry. The fact that he'd never even finished college made him feel defensive around real scientists. But old Bitter kept his cool.

"The Cosmos? It's like the story of the blind men and the elephant, isn't it? No one person sees the whole thing. The One is unknowable, Harry. The Cosmos does not — in any intentional sense of the word — exist, for —"

"Where's Sybil?" I interrupted, not wanting the argument to drag on forever. "What did she wish for?"

"She's upstairs," said Alwin happily. "She's writing a book. That was Sybil's wish, to write a good book."

"Wow," I said, impressed. "All I wished for was money and —"

"The old monetary system has been suspended," said Alwin. "Money and good looks and strength are all pretty much a drug on the market right now. As they should be. Everyone's going to have to get by on their talent."

"That's what Alwin was hoping for," Nancy explained. All the changes were too much for me to take in. I turned to my best friend. "What are we going to do, Harry?"

Harry was already on his way into the house to look for Sondra. "What will we do?" He paused for a moment in the doorway, blinking in at the dark. "More of the same, I suppose."