Vasper nodded. "Yes, that resulted, of course, in the two adventures to our satellite you called the moon. They were disastrous because you were ignorant of ether frequencies at the upper end of the cosmic ray band. But you cannot overtake space by the spiral theory. Always there would be fractional time, and, therefore, you're always bound by ordinary dimensions."
"One million—two million—ten million, as Amos would say," Jim Kenley put in. "How clear you are, Grandma."
"Shut up," Bob told him. "Then how did Taval work his theory, Vasper? That screen—is it a kind of fourth-dimensional business?"
"It is. But that was worked out later, by a group of his pupils. We use the same base idea of Taval's, as he perfected it back in 2800. Discarding time to overtake, or unwind space as you might define it, he chose to search for a physical way of stopping motion—"
"I've got it," Bob cried, leaping to his feet. "It came to me—the night—the night of the storm—absolute zero! That's it! Absolute zero to stop motion, and therefore, eliminate time and space!"
"Sit down," Jim advised. "I'm Napoleon and you're Little Caesar. Remember? And tomorrow's Mayday.... Absolute zero, huh? Well, I said I felt like I was in a chunk of ice that night."
"But this screen affair," Bob put in. "It—it's different."
"Our method of transportation entirely," Vasper affirmed. "Yes, we need no streets. No walks, save for exercise. Throughout Taval there are outdoor screens, for convenience. Winslow, I said Taval's idea is unchanged. It is, although refined. You were right about your absolute zero. We came to you that way. In the only machine we employ today, save for the manufacture of the skydome, and our laboratory equipment. With absolute zero stopping motion, there is neither time nor space. You know that. Well, the first contact, creating new motion, brings one to the time in which he is revived."
"Freezing like that would kill anybody," Jim protested. "It breaks up tissue."
"You and Winslow suffered all stoppage of motion in approximately one-two millionth of a second, my skeptical friend. We brought you to the portable laboratory, kept you in suspended animation for ten days, then revived you in another fraction as short as the means we took possession of your bodies."