Robert Heinlein was published in 1959.
Strong spoilers, don't like to stray into it.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
---
---
November 7, 1970, the fifth time zone (Eastern Standard Time) 22:17. The "Papa" bar in New York City.
When I was wiping off a short glass for brandy, the "unmarried mother" came in. I paid attention to the time: November 7, 1970, time zone 5 or 10:17 pm Eastern time. People in the space-time business always pay attention to time and date: we have to.
"Unmarried mother" is a twenty-five-year-old man. He is not as tall as I am, and looks childish and impatient. I don't like his appearance-I have never liked it-but he is the person I want to recruit, the person I need. I gave him the most attentive smile of a bar owner.
Maybe I am too picky. He really can't be said to be handsome. He got this nickname because every time a nosy person asked about his industry, he always said: "I am an unmarried mother." If he is in a better mood, he will add another sentence: "—— A word is four cents. I write a confession story."
If he is in a bad mood, he will wait for someone to make a fuss. He has a fierce style similar to the close fight of a policewoman. ——This is one reason I like him, of course it is not the only reason.
He drank a lot, the expression on his face seemed to despise others more than usual. I didn't speak, and poured him a double glass of old grace wine, and put the bottle next to him after the pouring. He poured another glass after drinking.
I wiped the countertop with a cloth. "What
happened to the'unmarried mother' deception?" His fingers gripped the glass tightly, as if he was about to throw it at me. I reached down the counter to grab the stick. Under the impulse of a moment, you have to guard against all possible things. However, there are many factors that make you never take unnecessary risks.
I saw his nerves relax a bit. In the training school run by the bureau, they will teach you how to check your appearance. "I'm sorry," I said, "It's like asking'how's the business?' but it's saying'how is the weather?"
He was still sullen. "Business is okay. I write stories, they go to print, and I am useful."
I poured myself a glass of wine and moved my upper body close to him. "Actually," I said, "you have a good pen. I have selected a few articles and read it. You have a surprisingly clear style, with a woman's eyes on the problem."
I must take a risk. He never admitted what pen name he used. But maybe it was too irritating, he only paid attention to the last few words. "Women's eyes!" he repeated with a snort. "Yes, I know women's vision. I should."
"Really?" I asked in surprise, "Are there any sisters?"
"No. You won't believe it even if I tell you."
"Yes," I am. Replied gently, "There is nothing more rare than the truth, which is understood by both the bar owner and the psychiatrist. Listen, young man, if you listen to the story I tell, ha, you will get rich. It is difficult. Believe it."
"You don't understand what'unbelievable,' mean!"
"Really? Nothing will surprise me. I always hear the worst news."
He hummed again. "Want to bet on the leftover wine in the bottle?"
"I would bet on a whole bottle of wine." I put a bottle of wine on the counter.
"Hi—" I called another bartender to take care of the business. We sat in a small place at the end of the bar. I piled up some wine wares and pickled eggs in it, and this place is exclusively for my use. At the other end of the bar, a few people were watching the fight, and one was playing with the jukebox-no one paid attention to this place at all. "Okay!" He began to say, "The first thing to say is that I am an illegitimate child."
"This is not unusual here," I said.
"I'm not kidding," he said hurriedly. "My parents are not married."
"It's nothing unusual," I still said. "My parents weren't married either.
"At the time—" He paused and gave me an eager glance. I had never seen him have this expression. "Are you serious? "
" Seriously. A 100% illegitimate child. In fact," I added, "no one in my family has ever been married. All illegitimate children. "
Don't think about overtaking me-you'll get married." He pointed to my ring.
"Oh, this." "I stretched out my hand to show him, "It looks like a wedding ring; I wear it to avoid the ladies. "This ring is an antique. I bought it from a colleague in 1985, and he got it from the Greek island of Crete before the birth of Christ.
He glanced at the ring absently. "If you really are. Bastard, you know what it feels like. When I was a little
girl— " "Well—" I said, "I heard it right? "
Who is bluffing you?" When I was a little girl—listen, I heard of Christine. Jorgenson? Or Robert Cowell? "
Oh, gender change?" You want to tell me—"
"Don't interrupt me, don't force me, or I won't talk about it. I am an outcast. I was abandoned in an orphanage in Cleveland in 1945 when I was just full moon. When I was a little girl, I envy children with parents. Later, when I understand the sexuality of men and women—really, old man,
I understand quickly in an orphanage—" "I understand."
"I made a solemn oath. Each of my children will have a father and a mother. So I behaved very purely, and I can be called a saint in that environment-I must learn how to maintain this situation as hard as I can. Later I grew up When I got older, I realized that I had almost no chance of getting married-the same reason was because no one adopted me." His face was tense, "I have a horse face, my teeth are crooked, and my chest is flat. Plump, straight hair without a bend."
"You look better than me."
"Who cares what a barkeeper looks like? Or what a writer looks like? But everyone wants to claim that kind of blond hair. Little blue-eyed idiot. What the boys want is that kind of beautiful face, bulging breasts, and a pair of'you are so handsome and mad.' He shrugged his shoulders. "I can't compete. So I decided to join the Women's Headquarters."
"Huh?"
"Women's Crisis National Headquarters Tour Branch, now people call it'Space Angels'-Alien Legion Auxiliary Nursing Team."
These two names are me. As you all know, I once wrote them down. It's just that we are using the third name, the military elite service group: Women's Space Workers Support Group. The biggest inconvenience in the time and space jump is the change of vocabulary-did you know that "service station" used to refer to the inspection station for petroleum separations. Once I went to Churchill’s time to perform a task, a woman said to me, "Wait for me at the next door service station"-this is not what I mean now, at that time the service station would never put a bed inside.
He went on: "At that time they admitted that it was impossible for people to go to space to work for months or years without causing tension. Do you remember how fanatical Puritans screamed?-this increased My chance, because there are very few volunteers. It must be a good-behaved girl, a genuine virgin (they have to train them from scratch), an upper-middle level of intelligence, and a stable mood. But most of the volunteers are They are old prostitutes, or neuroses who will collapse in less than ten days after leaving the earth. So I don’t need to look like. If they accept me, they will naturally correct my crookedness in addition to training me to adapt to the main task. Teeth, perm my hair, teach me how to walk and dance, how to listen to men talk happily, and everything else. They will even use plastic surgery if necessary-until our lads have no choice. You can be picky.
"The most pleasing thing is that they guarantee that you will not get pregnant during the service-and at the end of the service you will almost certainly be able to get married. It's the same today,'Angel, marry a space worker-they can tell each other.
"When I was eighteen, I was arranged as a'mother's servant'. This family needs a cheap servant, and I don’t care, because I won’t be recruited until I’m 21. After I do housework I also went to evening school-claiming to continue the typing and shorthand courses I had learned in high school, but in fact it was to take the charm class to increase my chances of being recruited.
"After that, I met that city liar and his Hundred dollar bills. "He said with a sullen face, "There is indeed a wad of hundred-dollar bills in this flat. He showed it to me one night and said that I could use it at will.
"I didn't take it. I like him. He is the first man I have ever met who treats me nicely and doesn't want to take off my pants. In order to see him more, I dropped out of night school. This is a part of me. The happiest time
in my life. "Then, one night, I took off my trouser fork in the park. "
He stopped.
I said, "What happened later?" "
Afterwards, there was nothing left!" I never saw him again. He walked me home and told me that he loved me-kissed me goodbye and would never return. "His face was gloomy, "If I can find him, I will kill him!" "
I said, "I sympathize. I know what you think. But kill him-just for the kind of inevitability-um... have you resisted?"
"Hey, what does it matter?
" It's a matter. He abandoned you, his arm deserves to be scratched, but—"
"The punishment he deserves is heavier than this! Listen, don't worry. I won't trust anyone anymore, I I think everything is God's will. I don't really love him, maybe I will never love anyone-and I want to join the Women's Federation more than ever. I have not been disqualified, and they do not insist on being a virgin. "I am happy.
"I didn't understand until my skirt was tight."
"Pregnant?"
"This bastard made me distraught, somehow! Those petty people who live together don't bother as long as I can work-- But then I was driven out, and the orphanage no longer accommodates me. I entered a workhouse that accommodates a lot of "big bellies" and lay bored in bed waiting for the moment to come.
"I was suddenly caught one night . When someone put on the operating table, a nurse said to me:'Don't be nervous. Take a deep breath. '
' I was lying awake in bed, chest without any consciousness. The surgeon came in for my surgery 'How are you feeling? He said happily.
' 'Like a mummy'.
"'This is natural. You were so tightly wrapped and you took enough anesthetics to make you feel no pain. You will recover-but after all, a C-section is different from a thorn in your finger'.
"'C-section? 'I said,'Doctor-is the child dead? '
"' Oh, alive your children well. '
" Ah. Boy or girl? '
' 'A healthy little girl .5 pounds three ounces.'
"I'm relieved. It is more or less a relief to give birth to a child. I told myself that I should go to another place and add the title of'Mrs.' in front of my name, and at the same time make the child think that her father is dead-my child must never go to the orphanage again!
"The surgeon is still talking.'Tell me, this--, he avoided my name.'--Have you ever thought that your glandular tissue is something special?
" "I said,'Oh? of course not. What do you want to say? ,
"He hesitated. 'This drug dose you once put it, then I'll give you an injection to make you sleep, your allergies will be good. I'll go and get you.'
A This is Why?' I insisted on knowing.
" 'Have you heard of the Scottish doctor who was a woman until thirty-five years old-after that she underwent surgery and became a man legally and medically. Married, everything is normal. '
"'What does that have to do with me?'
"'That's what I want to say. You are a man. '
' I tried to sit up. 'What?'
'' Take it easy. After I cut open your abdomen, I saw a mess. While taking out the baby, I sent someone to the chief surgeon. We will consult for you on the operating table-working for a few hours in a row, trying our best to save. You have two complete sets of organs, neither of which has matured, but the female organs are quite fully developed, so you are pregnant with a child. They will never be useful to you, so we took them out and rearranged your internal organs so that you can develop into a man normally. 'He put a hand on me. 'do not worry. When you are young, your bones will gradually adapt. We will observe your glandular balance-making you an excellent young man. '
' I started to cry. 'My child how to do?
A ah, you can not even feed her milk to feed your kitten enough if I were you, I would not see her again -.. Go to others Adopt.'
"'No! '
' He shrugged. 'Of course, the decision to do to you: you are her mother - ah, her parents, but now do not bother about it: We let you restore the body'.
"The next day they showed me the baby, and I saw her every day-I tried to get used to her. I had never seen a newborn baby, and I didn't even know they would look so ugly-I 'S daughter looks like a little brown monkey. I calmed down and decided to take good care of her. However, after a few weeks it didn't make any sense."
"Oh?"
"She was stolen."
"Stealed?" "
Unmarried mother" almost knocked down the bottle of wine we were gambling. "I was kidnapped-stolen from the nursery in the hospital!" He panted, "It takes away the last hope of a person's life. What is this?"
"It's unfortunate," I sympathized. "Let me pour you another glass. Is there no clue?"
"The police couldn't find any clues. A man came to visit her and lied to be her uncle. When the nurse turned his back, he held her and walked away. "
What does he look like?"
"A man, a very ordinary face, just like yours or mine." He frowned and said, "I wonder if it will be the child's father. Nurse. But he insisted that he was an older person, but he probably had a disguise. Who else would kidnap my child? A woman without a child sometimes takes the risk-but who has ever heard of a man doing such a thing?"
"How about you after that?"
"I stayed in that ghost place for another eleven months and underwent three operations. Four months later I started to grow a beard. I started to shave often before I left there. ...And I don't doubt that I am a man anymore." He grinned bitterly, "I started to stare at the nurses' chests and looked in."
"Yeah," I said, "It seems you are going well. Come here. Now look at you, a normal man can make money without major trouble. But a woman's life is not so easy."
He stared at me and said, "You must know a lot!"
"What? "
Have you heard of the term'a fallen woman'?"
"Well, I heard it a few years ago. It doesn't make much sense anymore."
"I was completely ruined like a fallen woman. That beast did ruin me—I'm no longer a woman...and I But I don’t know how to be a man."
"Try to get used to it, I think."
"You don’t understand. I don’t mean to learn how to dress and wear hats, or don’t go to other places where men and women are wrong. These I am in the hospital. Just learned. Just how do I live? What work can I do? Damn, I don’t even know how to drive a car. I don’t know any crafts, and I can’t do physical work—most of the tissues in my body have undergone surgery and are very delicate. .
"I hate to ruin him I hope to participate in women overall. I didn't understand the seriousness of the matter until I wanted to join the Space Army. Just one glance at my stomach is enough, I was marked as unfit for military service. The medical officer took time on me only for curiosity. He had read reports on my medical case.
"So I changed my name and came to New York. I first worked as a frying food cook, and then I rented a typewriter as a public stenographer-how ridiculous! In four months I typed four letters and A manuscript. This manuscript was submitted to the "Real Life" magazine, but it is a pile of waste paper, but the kid who wrote the story actually sold it. This gave me an idea. I bought it. A large stack of confession story magazines to study." He showed a cynical expression, "Now you understand how I can have a genuine woman's vision when telling the story of an unmarried mother... I still retain this vision. Really, did I win this bottle of wine?"
I pushed the bottle to him. I am a little anxious, and things are not over. I said, "Young man, do you still want to catch that guilty man?"
His eyes flashed brightly-a wild and fierce light.
"Forget it!" I said, "You won't kill him?"
He giggled, his voice looked obscene. "Then judge me. "
" Hold on. I know more about it than you think. I can help you. I know where he is. He reached from the side of the counter and grabbed me, "Where is he?" "
I lowered my voice and said, "Let go of my shirt, young man--or you will be in trouble. I want to tell the police that you are drunk." I waved the stick.
He let go. "I'm sorry. Where is he?" He looked at me, "Besides, how can you know so much?"
"The world's things are in the word "smart". I can see all kinds of records-hospital cases, orphanages The file. The maid of your orphanage was Mrs. Featherreth—right? She was later replaced by Mrs. Glenstein—right? Your name, the girl’s name, was'Jenny'— Right? And you didn't tell me all this just now—right?"
He was dazed by me and winced a bit. "What do you mean? Do you want to trouble me?"
"Where is it? I really think about you. I can send this person under your nose. Do whatever you think is appropriate-I believe you will scold him Bastard, tell him to go. But I don't think you will kill him. If you kill him, you are a fool—and you are not. You are not foolish at all."
He didn't want to listen to this. "Stop talking nonsense. Where is he?"
I added a little wine to him. He was drunk, but his anger overwhelmed his drunkenness. "Don't be so hurry. I do things for you—you do things for me."
"Hmm...what's the matter?"
"You don't like your job. If there is a job with a high salary and a stable job, Expenses are not restricted, you can be independent, and at the same time full of change and adventure, what would you say?"
His eyes opened wide. "I'll say,'Let's come to your fabulous mythology!' Fuck you, old man—there is no such job at all."
"Then, put it this way: I'll give him to you, you and He settled his grievances, and then tried the work I did. If it's not like I said-that's fine, I'll do it as you like."
His body was shaking, which was because of the last glass of wine.
"If you agree to the deal-now!"
He shook his head vigorously: "Agree to the deal!"
I motioned to my staff to take care of the business, and noted the time: 23:00-I leaned over the door under the counter-when the jukebox played the song "I Am My Lao Tzu" loudly. Because I didn't like the "music" of 1970, I asked the waiter to load early American songs and classical music on the record player, but I didn't know that the cassette was still in it.
I cried, "Turn it off! Return the customer's money to him." I added, "I'll go to the storeroom and be back in a while," and I walked straight in, followed by "unmarried mother".
After passing the toilet room along the corridor, there is a storage room. There is an iron door in the room. No one except my day manager and myself has the key. There is a door leading to the inner room, and only I have the key. We came there.
He looked drunkly at the windowless wall: "Where is he?"
"Immediately." I opened a box, which was the only thing in the room. This is a 92 series Ⅱ portable coordinate converter made in the United States-beautiful and neat. It weighs 21 kilograms and is designed to fit into a suitcase. I just adjusted it this morning. All I need to do is shake the metal mesh that restricts the changing field.
I did. "What is this?" he asked.
"Time machine." I threw the metal net out as I said.
"Hey!" he yelled and took a step backwards. There is a technique here. The metal net must be thrown out to make the relevant person instinctively retreat and step on the net, and then you will pack the metal net that has completely surrounded the two of you-otherwise you may leave one behind. A shoe or a foot, or scrape a piece of the floor. Of course, this technique is nothing to put it bluntly. Some agents even tricked people into the net. But I told them the truth, using the momentary surprise of the other party to activate the mechanism: I did just that.
April 3, 1963, 10:30 in the 5th time zone. Cleveland, "Top of Ohio" building.
"Hey!" He shouted again, "Take this ghost away!"
"I'm sorry," I apologized to him and put away the metal net, put it in the suitcase, and closed the box. "What you said you want to find him."
"But—you said this is a time machine!"
I pointed out the window. "Does this look like November? Or does it look like New York?" I opened the suitcase again when he stared at the green shoots and the spring scenery, took out a stack of hundred dollar bills, and checked it. The number and stamp of the following banknotes are consistent with the 1963 year. The Time Travel Agency doesn't care how much you spend (it has nothing to do with it), but they don't like unnecessary chronological errors. If you make too many such mistakes, a comprehensive military court will exile you to a bad age to stay for a year, such as 1974, when strict food rationing and forced labor were implemented. I have never made this kind of mistake, and there is no problem with the money. He turned his head and asked me, "What happened?"
"He is here. Go outside and find him. This is for you." When I gave it to him, I added, "Stop with him, and then I'll pick you up."
Stacks of hundred-dollar bills have an almost hypnotic effect for a person who is not accustomed to using them. I drove him into the hall. To relieve him, shut him out. He was still holding the stack of banknotes in disbelief. The next jump is too easy, just a small step in the same era.
March 10, 1964, at 17:00 in the 5th time zone. The "Top of Cleveland" building.
There was a notice under the door saying that my rental contract was about to expire next week, except that the room looked the same as before. Outside, the trees were bare, and the sky looked like it was going to rain. I was in a hurry and only stayed for a moment, taking away the cash, coat and coat that I had left when I rented the room. I hired a car to come to the hospital. It took me twenty minutes to get impatient with the nurse in the nursery, so I took her to steal the baby inadvertently. We return to the "top of Cleveland". Building. This time device with dials is more complicated because the building did not exist in 1945. But I expected it.
On July 20, 1945, the 5th time zone was 01:00. Cleveland "Snow View" Hotel.
Time machine, the baby and I went to a hotel outside the city. Earlier I posted it as "George Johnson of Warren, Ohio". So we came to a room with the curtains closed and the windows and doors closed. The floor has also been cleaned so that it can withstand the irregular vibration of the machine. Your body may encounter a chair that shouldn't be there and an unpleasant black green appears-of course not a chair, but a backlash of transforming field energy.
all the best. Jenny is fast asleep. I took her out, put it in a food container I had placed on the car seat, and drove to the orphanage. I put her on the steps, drove two blocks to a "service station", and made a call to the orphanage. When I drove back, I happened to see people from the orphanage taking the food crates in. I continued driving for a while, abandoning the car near the hotel, and after walking to the hotel, I "jumped" to the "Cleveland Top" building in 1963.
April 24, 1963, the 5th time zone 22:00. The "Top of Cleveland" building.
I divided the time very finely-the accuracy of the time depends on the span, except of course if you are back to the starting point. If I am correct, Jenny is in the park on a mild spring night here to find that she is not a "innocent" girl as she had previously thought. I stopped a taxi and came to the houses of the petty guys. I asked the driver to wait around the corner, hiding myself in the shadows.
Soon I found that they were walking on the street, arms hooking each other. He hugged her at the door, kissed her for a long time and wished her good night-longer than I thought. Then she went in, and he turned and walked down the sidewalk. I leaped up the steps and grabbed one of his arms. "It's over, young man," I said calmly, "I'll be back to pick you up."
"You!" He was startled and gasped.
"I. Now you know who he is-and after you think about it, you will understand who you are... and if you think about it, you will guess who this baby is... and who I am. "
He didn't answer, his body was shaking badly. When it turns out that you can't resist seduce yourself, it is a great shock to your spirit. I took him to the "Top of Cleveland" building and performed a space-time jump again.
August 12, 1985, the 5th time zone 23:00. Luo base down town.
I woke the sergeant on duty, showed him my ID, told the sergeant to give him a pill and sleep well, and recruit him the next morning. The expression of the sergeant is ugly, but the military rank is the military rank, which has nothing to do with the times. He did what I said-no doubt he was thinking that next time we met he might be a colonel and I was a sergeant. This is possible in our army. "What's his name?" he asked.
I wrote to him. His eyebrows raised. "People like this, eh? This—"
"You do your job, Sergeant." I turned to my partner and said, "Young man, your troubles are over. You are about to start doing what a man can do. The best job for you-you will do it well. I know." "But two" "Not so many'but'. Get a good night's sleep. Then consider this suggestion. You will like it."
"You must Yes!" The sergeant agreed. "Look at me—born in 1917—still vigorous, young, and enjoying life." I returned to the room where I was jumping in time and space, and set everything to the predetermined zero point.
On November 7, 1970, the 5th time zone was 23:01. The "Papa" bar in New York City.
I walked out of the storage room and took a 1/5 barrel of Scotch Whiskey Liquor, which can be regarded as an indication of the minute I left. My assistant is still arguing with the customer who ordered "I Am My Lao Tzu". I said, "Forget it, let him let it go, and turn it off when it's done." I was very tired.
This kind of work is really hard, but someone must do it. Since the catastrophe in 1972, it has been difficult to recruit people recently.
I closed the store five minutes early, and left a letter on the cash register to my day manager, saying that I was ready to accept his idea, relax, and don’t get too tight. He can find my lawyer when I go on a long vacation. The biggest concern in the bureau is that things must be organized, and the amount of income is second. I went to the room inside the storage room and jumped to 1993.
January 12, 1993, the 7th time zone 22:00. A time and space labor headquarters is attached to the lower city of Luo base.
After showing my ID to the duty officer, I went in and came to my residence, intending to sleep in it for a week. Before writing the report, I grabbed the bottle of wine we gambled (I won it anyway) and had a drink. The taste of the wine is so bad, I wonder how I used to like Laoen wine. But it is better than nothing. I don't want to be sober like a piece of wood. I think too much.
I dictated my report: Forty recruitment activities for the Space Corps were approved by the bureau-including my own one, I knew it would be approved. I am back now, am I not? Then I taped a report on the job transfer request. I am tired of recruitment activities. I want to retreat from the rapids. I walked to the head of the bed.
My gaze fell on the "Time Rule" above the bed:
Never move what I will do tomorrow to yesterday.
If you finally succeed, never try again.
One second in time is better than 900 million seconds afterwards.
Specious things can be dealt with in specious ways.
Things have already happened when you think about it.
The ancestors are also mortals.
The true gods also doze off.
When I was a time merchant, these words once inspired me, but now they are different. Thirty years of involuntary life spanning time and space completely exhausted people. I took off my clothes, and when my body was exposed, I looked at my stomach. The caesarean section left a long scar, but the hair on my body is thick and dense now, if I don’t look closely, I won’t notice it.
Then I glanced at the ring on my finger.
The snake swallowed its own tail, and it started again and again. What is the beginning and the end... I know where I came from-but where did you come from, you corpses?
I feel a headache hit, but I don't take headache medicine powder.
So I got into the bed, whistled and turned off the lights.
Xiu is not there at all. It's not someone else but me-Jenny-staying alone in this darkness.
I miss you so much!
View more about Predestination reviews
