any summary of it would be sent out on the Dirac after-
wards.”
“That’s true, Robin. However, when I leave here, I will
make such a transcast myself, on my own Dirac. Obviously
I willbecause I’ve already picked it up, from the beep.”
“In other words, you’re going to call yourself upmonths
ago.”
“That’s it,” Dana said. “It’s not as useful a technique as
you might think at first, because it’s dangerous to make
such broadcasts while a situation is still developing. You
can safely ‘phone back’ details only after the given situation
has gone to completion, as a chemist might put it. Once
you know, however, that when you use the Dirac you’re
dealing with time, you can coax some very strange things
out of the instrument.”
She paused and smiled. “I have heard,” she said conver-
sationally, “the voice of the President of our Galaxy, in
3480, announcing the federation of the Milky Way and the
Magellanic Clouds. I’ve heard the commander of a world-
line cruiser, traveling from 8873 to 8704 along the world
line of the planet Hathshepa, which circles a star on the
rim of NGC 4725, calling for help across eleven million
light-yearsbut what kind of help he was calling for, or
will be calling for, is beyond my comprehension. And many
other things. When you check on me, you’ll hear these
things tooand you’ll wonder what many of them mean.
“And you’ll listen to them even more closely than I did,
in the hope of finding out whether or not anyone was able
to understand in time to help.”
Weinbaum and Wald looked dazed.
Her voice became a little more somber. “Most of the