On a whim, the handsome Captain Bronson, adventurer and yacht captain for the
multimillionaire Olson Smith, steps into the time machine of the quirky Professor Stringer
and presses the Wellsian lever forward, whereupon he finds himself in a future world
populated by stupid beastly men and smooth, cylindrical robots.
Professor Stringer threw open the laboratory door and turned on the lights. We saw it
then, an odd machine, shiny and rounded, occupying the center of the workshop floor. I
had been drinking, you will recollect, and my powers of observation were not at their
best. It was the same with the others. When I questioned them later, they could give no
adequate description of it. “So this,” said Olson Smith rather flatly, “is a time
machine.” The doctor walked about—a little unsteadily I noticed—and viewed it from
all angles. “The passenger,” said the Professor, “sits here. Notice this lever on
the graduated face of the dial; it controls the machine. Turn it this way from Zero and
one travels into the past; throw it ahead and one travels into the future. The return of
the lever to Zero will return the machine to the point of departure in time. The
electronic flow.. . .” he went into obscure details. “Will it work?”
demanded the Doctor.