and riots. Wells was responding to the temper of the times. He didn't sec how the system of weekly wages employment could change into a method of salary and pension without some son of national plan of social development. Socialism seemed to offer an answer.'
'Share the wealth,' said Steiger sarcastically. 'From each according to his ability, to each according to his need, is that it? Christ, Finn, don't tell me you're seriously defending that kind of thinking!'
'I'm not. That was the Marxist line. But strictly speaking, labor unions are a socialist concept. Forget the word 'socialist' for a moment. Wells said, 'So long as you suffer any man to call himself your shepherd, sooner or later you will find a crook around your ankle.' Wells looked at America and said. 'The problem of personal freedom is not to be solved by economic fragmentation; the Western fanner last his independence long since and became the grower of a single special crop, the small shopkeeper either a chain-store minder or a dealer in branded goods, and the small entrepreneur a gambler with his savings and a certain bankrupt in the end.' Are those the words of a Communist or are they the words of someone who already saw the trend towards multinationals?'
'I hadn't realized you were such an authority on Wells,' said Steiger. 'You're quoting stuff that wasn't in the mission programming tapes. You couldn't have had time to bone up on his writings just to prepare for this assignment. Why the intense interest?'
'Because it all started with temporal physics. I've never fully understood 'zcn physics' and anything that Ican't understand tends to drive me crazy,' said Delaney.
'Hell, temporal physics drives everybody crazy,' Steiger said. 'There can't be more than a handful of people who've even got a grip on it. But…what does that have to do with H. G. Wells?'
'The idea of temporal physics first appeared in science fiction.' said Delaney. 'and Wells was one of the lint to write what we now know as science fiction. He admitted that he didn't really understand physics, yet in some of his early essays. he was grasping at the same ideas scientists such as Planck and Bohr and
Einstein grappled with. In that essay he mentioned to us so casually. 'The Universe Rigid.' he tried to explore the idea of a four-dimensional frame for physical phenomena. Ile tried to sell it to Frank Harris at the Fortnightly Review, but Harris rejected it because he found it incomprehensible and Wells wasn't able to explain it to him because he didn't fully understand it himself. He was reaching, trying to come up with something he called a 'Universal Diagram.' It took a genius like Einstein to formulate those ideas and revolutionize scientific thought, but Wells was already intuitively heading in that direction. He couldn't really see it, but he knew something was there.
'Once I realized how far ahead of his time Wells was,' Delaney continued. 'I became interested and started studying his writings. People tend to think of him as merely a writer of imaginative fiction, but he was much more than that. He was an uncanny forecaster. He predicted Feminism, sexual liberation, Futurism and multinational economy. What Wells called 'socialism'wasn't really all that different from the democratic ideals of America from the late 20th century onward, Women in the work force, Sexual equality, Public education, Labor unions. National health plans, Social Security. What Wells did not realize was that these so- called 'socialist' ideas could exist within the framework of a capitalist society. But imagine how hewould have perceived the society we came from, where governments don't behave like independent nations so much as like interdependent corporations. Would he have understood the subtle distinctions? I don't think so. The Council of Nations would have seemed like the governing body of a world state to him and, in a way, it almost is, Technological development created a world structured like a spiderweb-touch one strand of the web and you create movement in all the other strands as well. To someone from this time period, it would look like a single entity, a 'world state.' You're focusing on the socialist label, but remember that the socialist of the late 19th century became the liberal of the 20th century. Wells wrote about the unfeasibility of economic fragmentation, but political fragmentation also proved unfeasible. We never did develop exclusively along the lines of socialism or capitalism or libertarianism. What eventually happened was a sort of natural synthesis brought about by technological development and a shrinking economic world. It began in the 20th century, when America started to adopt certain so-called 'socialist' ideas to put them into practice in a democratic society and the Soviet Union began to adopt certain 'capitalist' ideas and put them to work in the framework of a totalitarian, communist society. They were still paying lip service to different ideologies and they were still antagonistic, but the techno- economic matrix was already placing them on a course that would eventually intersect. Not even war could stop it. And that was precisely what Wells predicted, except he didn't use the same terms. Instead of a world state, what we wound up with is a sort of 'world confederation,' because the techno- economic matrix became a more powerful motivating force than any political ideology. It became a political ideology in itself and if you read him carefully, you'll realize that Wells knew it would happen!'
Steiger pursed his lips thoughtfully and sat in silence for a moment, thinking.
'You still think it was a waste of time?' said Andre.
'Maybe not,' said Steiger. 'And you're right, Finn, it does make me wonder. But the question is, did Wells arrive at his conclusions on his own or did they come about as a result of temporal contamination? And if they did… what can we do about it?'
From the outside, the Lyceum Theatre resembled a small Greek temple, with its six tall columns supporting the roof over the entrance. Originally a concert hall, it later housed a circus and Madame Tussaud's first London wax museum. It was the meeting place of the Beefsteak Society and renamed the 'theatre Royal Opera House in 1815. After being destroyed by a fire, it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal Lyceum and English Opera House. In 1871, an unknown actor named Henry Irving was hired to take the leading roles in the productions staged by Col. Hezekiah Bateman. Within a few short years, Irving had taken over the management of the Lyceum and he had become the rage of London, acclaimed as the Hamlet, the actor's actor. As he rehearsed the company in his own adaptation of Lord Tennyson's Becket. Henry Irving had no idea that he would soon reach the peak of his career by becoming the first actor to receive a knighthood.
'No, no. no!' he shouted, storming across the stage and running his hands through his long hair, his long, thin-featured face distraught. 'For God's sake, Angeline, you must project!'
He said the word 'project' as if it were two words, rolling the 'r' (or emphasis. His strong, mellifluous voice filled the empty theatre.
'You are understudying Miss Ellen Terry! Consider the burden, the responsibility that is upon your shoulders! You arc whispering! No one shall hear you beyond the second row!'
The young blond actress covered her face with her hands. 'I'm sorry, Mr. Irving,' she said in a small voice. 'I… I am not feeling very well. I…'
She swayed and almost fell. Irving caught her, asudden expression of concern upon his face He lifted her chin and looked into her face intently. 'Good lord. Angeline, you're white as a corpse!'
'I am sorry. Mr. Irving.' she said her voice fading. 'I fell
…cold… so very cold…' She sagged in his arms.
'Angeline!' said Irving, holding her up. 'Angeline? Heavens, she's fainted. Stoker! Stoker!'
Irving's manager, a large, red-headed man with a pointed heard, came hurrying from the wings.
'Help me with her,' Irving said. They gently lowered her to the stage.
'Angeline?' said Stoker. He picked up her hand and patted her wrist. There wasno response. He placed his hand upon her forehead, then felt her pulse. 'Dear God,' he said. 'She's dead!”
Irving gaped at him, thunderstruck. -Dead!' lie shook his head. 'No, that's not possible. She merely swooned.'
'There is no pulse, I tell you!' said Stoker. tic bent down and put his car close to her mouth and nose. 'Nothing. Not a whisper of a breath.”
'Mother of God,' said Irving. 'And I said she wasas white as a corpse!' He put his hand to his mouth.
Stoker felt for a pulse in her throat. He shook his head with resignation. 'Her heart's stopped beating,' he said 'Hello? What's this?'
He pulled aside the lace at her throat. There were two small marks over her jugular vein.
'What is it, Bram?' said Irving.
'Take a look,' said Stoker.
'Pinpricks?'
'More like bite marks,' Stoker said.
'What?'
'Look how pale she is,' said Stoker softly. 'White as a corpse,' he murmured, repeating Irving's words.
