The Time Fetch Read Online Free PDF Page A

Let’s start with height. What would a world without height look like? Somebody else besides Robert, please.”
    There was a long, indifferent silence. Who cared? But then Danton spoke up. Naturally. Feenix could never believe how good-natured he was. He couldn’t stand to see a teacher on the spot. “Flat? They’d be flat?’
    “Exactly!” Mr. Ross smiled at him. “Without height we would have a two-dimensional world.” He held up a piece of paper flat on his palm. “If there was no height, you wouldn’t be able to look at this from the side, only the top. It would have no thickness. Things cannot really exist in space if they have no height, right? He gave everybody a moment to contemplate this. “But what about time?” he asked. “What if you had three dimensions and no time?”
    Someone volunteered that everything would freeze in place.
    “Aha. What do you think, people? Is that what would happen? If time was suddenly removed from our universe, would everything freeze?”
    “No,” said Robert with annoyance. “You could never really make everything freeze because everything in the universe is made of atoms and atoms are little bits of energy that are always moving. If you took time away, then the atoms couldn’t move forward either and everything would just collapse. According to the mathematician Hermann Minkowski you can’t separate time from the other dimensions. They’re woven together like a fabric. You can’t have one without the other.”
    Mr. Ross was practically glowing. “Very, very interesting, Robert. Anybody else? Anybody else have any thoughts? Feel free to speculate. Theories abound in this field. What about you, Edward?”
    Dweebo came in from whatever dimension he had drifted off to. Feenix often suspected that he was not as clueless as he looked. He blinked at her now like an old turtle and said, “What happened to rocks? I thought we were supposed to be talking about rocks.”
    For a moment Mr. Ross was confused. “Oh. Yes. You’re right,” he said pulling himself together. “How did we get off on that tangent?”
    “Well, gee,” Edward said, looking away from Feenix. “I haven’t got a clue, but I have a rock.”
    “All righty then,” said Mr. Ross. “Let’s see it.”
    Dweebo reached into his pocket and pulled something out. As he did, the windows rattled loudly and the wind gave a long low howl.
    Dweebo got up. Slow as mud. He brought his rock to where Mr. Ross was standing.
    Mr. Ross bent over and peered at it with interest. He reached out and Dweebo’s fingers tightened around it protectively.
    “It appears to be covered with some sort of matter,” said Mr. Ross. “Why don’t you go clean it at the sink?”
    Dweebo did as he was told. He moved across the room at his own turtle-footed pace, looking at no one. When he brought the stone back, everyone could see that its surface was marbled, pearly gray and pink.
    What was that smell? Feenix sat up, her bracelet clinking. It was wonderful. Familiar, somehow, but also very strange.
    “Where, exactly, did you find this?” Mr. Ross asked. He tried to take the stone from Dweebo’s hand, but Dweebo wouldn’t let go. “Did you go to the park, as I asked you guys to do?”
    “Well, uh, no. Not exactly. But I was like walking along and it was so interesting looking, I thought you would . . . um . . . appreciate it.”
    He was right. Mr. Ross couldn’t take his eyes off the thing. “Well, what do you think? Igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic? Let the rest of the class take a look. Let’s see what they think.”
    Dweebo walked slowly to the front of the room and approached Danton first. Danton leaned forward curiously.
    Feenix always thought that when Danton sat down he looked like a folded up grasshopper, his elbows and knees sticking out all over the place. When he stood up the story changed. Standing up, everything came together. On his feet he looked ready for everything. He was very tall. Taller than her,