I read the story. It was essentially what Zon had predicted—or remembered—or whatever you want to call it. I was confused now.
That day I didn't work very well. I couldn't concentrate. I am not a deep thinker, and have no illusions that I am. But one idea presented itself, starting as kind of hypnotic little glow in the bottom of my mind, and this grew until I could scarcely think about anything else.
Put it under the heading of temptation. Ask yourself if you would have been able to resist. Or just forget all the moral and ethical implications, and accept that I was tempted in this way. If I could be in touch with this Zon character—if he really was from the future, and an historical expert, at that—he could tell me all sorts of things that were going to happen. I could then either predict them or otherwise adjust my actions to fit them. I could go up so fast it would make Caesar's career look like a misfit reservist's. I could—
Well, then I started justifying and rationalizing. I could do my country all sorts of good. I thought along those lines for a while, and presently even managed to convince myself that my original purpose had been altruistic all along.
Of course I tried to get in touch with Zon Twenty again. Over and over again I dialed the number I had dialed the first time I had become connected with him by apparent accident. I dialed random numbers. I listened to a long and boring dissertation on permutation of numbers by Clipper Moskowitz in an effort to devise a system of hitting all possible combinations. There were an awful lot of possible combinations.
My phone rang again nearly ten days later.
It was Zon. He said, "Oh, there you are! I'd about given up! Look—the quantum inversion is swinging back to normal! This is the last time we'll be able to talk! So we've got to make every moment count!"
"Sure," I said. "You bet. Only I don't exactly get it. I don't understand just how all this happens. If you'd explain—"
"That's not important. Briefly, we use telepathic induction for message selection. That's why I was startled when you mentioned the ancient dial phone. And of course we don't have armies any more."