“There’s a question of detail here that doesn’t quite follow,”
said Weinbaum, for whom the technical talk was becoming a little too thick to fight through. “Dana, you say that you knew the course this conversation was going to takeyet it isn’t being Dirac-recorded, nor can I see any reason why 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 conversationally, “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.