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received, then?"
    Renfrew nodded briskly. "We can use them to heat up a sample in the past, so we know they've been received."
    Peterson arched an eyebrow. "And if, after measuring this heat increase, you decided not to send the tachyons after all?"
    Renfrew said, "That option's not really available in these experiments.
    See, the tachyons have to travel a long way if they're to go far back in time— "
    "A moment, please," Peterson murmured. "What has traveling faster than light have to do with time travel?"
    Markham stepped toward a blackboard. "It comes straight out of special relativity, see—" and he launched into a description. Markham drew space-time diagrams and told Peterson how to understand them, stressing the choice of slanted coordinates. Peterson kept an intent expression through it all. Markham drew wavy lines to represent tachyons launched from one spot, and showed how, if they were reflected about in the laboratory, they could strike another portion of the lab at an earlier time.
    Peterson nodded slowly. "So your point about the experiments you've done is that there's no time to reconsider? You fire the tachyons. They heat up this indium sample of yours, a few nanoseconds or so before you triggered the tachyons in the first place."
    Renfrew agreed. "Point is, we don't want to set up a contradiction either. Say, if we connected the heat detector to the tachyon switch, so heat coming in would switch off the tachyons."
    "The grandfather paradox."
    "Right," Markham broke in. "There are some subtle points involved with doing that. We think it leads to a sort of intermediate state, in which a little heat is generated and a few tachyons get launched. But I'm not sure."
    "I see ..." Peterson struggled with the ideas, scowling. "I'd like to go into that some time later, once I've had a thorough reading of the technical material. Actually, I'm not depending on my own judgment alone in this—" he glanced around at the two intent men beside him, "—as you've probably guessed. I got an assessment from Sir Martin at the Council, and from that fellow Davies you mentioned. They say it's the straight stuff."
    Markham smiled; Renfrew beamed. Peterson held up a hand. "Hold on, though. I really stopped by here to get the scent of things, not to make the final decision. I've got to make my case to the Council itself. You want electronics flown in from the American labs, and that means wrangling with the NSF."
    "Are the Americans thinking along the same lines?" Renfrew asked.
    "I don't think so. The Council's attitude is that we must pool our resources. I'm going to urge that you fellows get the backing and the Americans chip in."
    "And the Soviets?" Markham asked.
    "They say they have nothing along these lines."
    Peterson sniffed in disdain. "Probably lying again. It's no secret that we English have a big role in the Council only because the Soviets are keeping a low profile."
    "Why are they?" Renfrew asked innocently.
    "They figure our efforts are going to blow up in our faces," Peterson said. "So they're giving token support and probably hoarding their resources for later."
    "Cynical," Markham said.
    "Quite so," Peterson agreed. "Look, I must get back to London. I've got a number of other proposals–conventional stuff, mostly–the Council wants a report on. I'll do what I can for you." He shook hands formally. "Dr.
    Markham, Dr. Renfrew."
    "I'll walk out with you," Markham said easily. "John?"
    "Of course. Here is a folder of our papers on tachyons, by the way." He handed it to Peterson. "Plus a few ideas about things to transmit, if we're successful."
    The three men left the building together and paused in the bare parking lot. Peterson turned towards the car Renfrew had noticed there that morning.

    "So that was your car," Renfrew blurted out involuntarily. "I didn't think you could have got here that early from London."
    Peterson raised an eyebrow. "I stayed the night with an old friend," he said.
    The flash of amused