"I broke into your room last night, Fayette, and made a copy of the map."
And you left it wide open for me, so I could put my Unterzuyder brains to work deciphering it!
"And now that I've deciphered the map—"
That shocked her. "You did? But Daddy figured out it was made roughly 50,000 years ago!"
His heart fell to the bottom of his stomach. The Beechers hadn't got over that stumbling block either. He'd made a mistake in trying to pump her. He smiled feebly. But salvage something out of it!
"50,000 years," he said druggedly, "seems to be correct—"
She was on her feet, laughing half hysterically. "You're trying to say the Unterzuyders invented a time-machine? That they aren't hibernating at all? After all the trouble we've gone to—" She giggled. "That's rich, Ralph—"
Female instability. He held her tightly. A lie, a good solid lie. His heart raced. Bigger Bailes. "Of course not, dear. The whole idea of a time-machine is fantasy—"
Is it?
"—and it'll make you feel better to know the map is purely contemporary. You noticed the ship changed course? Well, dear, we are headed toward X!"