It couldn't be Professor Zappencackler. It couldn't be anyone. The videophone was a closed loop: the only thing it could do was to send a message ten minutes into the future. Lew frowned and switched it on.
A man with a very big head immediately started to yell at Lew in something that was probably a language. You just couldn't tell. And even though Lew couldn't understand him, he seemed to have a lot on his mind. The Big Headed Guy was gesturing and shouting to beat the band.
Lew and Gallegher had shared a room all through college: Lew had a pretty good idea what this meant. He switched the phone off. Gallegher was already protesting, "It wasn't me, I swear!" That would have been a lot more convincing before the Night Of The Giant Parrots, as Lew explained.
"Honest, Lew, I didn't do this. How could I? I was here with you the whole time, and that call would have been made... what, ten minutes ago, right? You hadn't even turned on the Chiralitron yet."
There wasn't anything to be gained by playing along. Lew just turned the phone on again, waited for it to warm up, and said "Hello, me! This is a message from the past."
He hung up. "Now we wait ten minutes, take the call, and with any luck, I graduate."
They didn't talk about the Big Headed Guy. In fact they didn't talk about anything at all, until Gallegher said, "Hey, Lew? There's something funny going on here.
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March 10th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
I *love* the dial on the videophone. Amazing the kinetic / aural memory that it evokes…
