"I'd rather call it powerful."
"As you like." Cavendish shrugged. "After all, what is money but power? With it, you have the power to do things, make a living, run a business, increase your standing in the community. Without it.... Everything becomes negative. You have the power to die, but nothing more."
"You need money, too."
"Of course. I've never denied it. Science has never been a particularly profitable field of endeavor—at least, not on my level. For you, science has made money. For me, it merely uses it."
"You want money from me."
"Naturally. You have enough for both of us."
"But why me?" asked Johnson, suspiciously. "Why not someone else? There are other men as wealthy or wealthier than I—Reading, Blackwell, Morgenstern, just to name three in this very city."
"Yes, I considered them—all of them, and many others besides. It really made no difference which one I finally selected. I chose you, Mr. Johnson, for just one reason—the scene just witnessed."
"All right. You've aroused my interest. Now tell me just how your time machine can help me."