#Wattys2014
THE CHRONOLOGY PROTECTION CASE
by Paul Levinson
[First published as a novelette in Analog, September 1995]
[Copyright 1995 by Paul Levinson. All rights reserved.]
Carl put the call through just as I was packing up for the day. "She says she's some kind of physicist," he said, and although I rarely took calls from the public, I jumped on this one.
"Dr. D'Amato?" she asked.
"Yes?"
"I saw you on television last week -- on that cable talk show. You said you had a passion for physics." Her voice had a breathy elegance.
"True," I said. Forensic science was my profession, but cutting edge physics was my love. Too bad there wasn't a way to nab rapist murderers with spectral traces. "And you're a physicist?" I asked.
"Oh yes, sorry," she said. "I should introduce myself. I'm Lauren Goldring. Do you know my work?"
"Ahm...," The name did sound familiar. I ran through the rolodex in my head, though these days my computer was becoming more reliable than my brain. "Yes!" I snapped my fingers. "You had an article in Scientific American last month about some Hubble data."
"That's right," she said, and I could hear her relax just a bit. "Look, I'm calling you about my husband -- he's disappeared. I haven't heard from him in two days."
"Oh," I said. "Well that's really not my department. I can connect you to--"
"No, please," she said. "It's not what you think. I'm sure his disappearance has something to do with his work. He's a physicist too."
***
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The Chronology Protection Case
Science Fiction"The Chronology Protection Case" - inspired by Stephen Hawking's "chronology protection conjecture" - was first published in Analog Magazine in September 1995. The novelette was a finalist for the Nebula and Sturgeon Awards, reprinted five times - i...
