Endowment Policy

by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

Release: August 1943
Format: Short Story
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: Adults
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

A futuristic old man asks the taxi dispatcher specifically for Denny Holt’s cab. When the man gets in the cab, he offers Denny $1000 to protect him from pursuit for just one night and to steal a brown notebook with a secret formula from the War Department.

Now, shielding the bills with his body, he took them out for a closer examination. They looked all right. They weren’t counterfeit; the serial numbers were O.K.; and they had the same odd musty smell Holt had noticed before.

“You must have been hoarding these,” he hazarded.

Smith said absently, “They’ve been on exhibit for sixty years—” He caught himself and drank rye.

DEBUT

“Endowment Policy,” Astounding, August 1943.

VARIANTS

1 English variant

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Groupings

Cited in Time Machines by Paul J. Nahin ()

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY: We haven’t yet mapped out the time travel itinerary.