Vox
Do you know what it's like to remember everything?
Scenes with Vox 144
5 scenes Vox
Vox 144
[an image of himself appears]
How may I help you?
Vox 144
[Alexander Hartdegen looks behind Vox]
Over here.
Vox 144
Area of inquiry?
Hartdegen
Do you know anything about physics?
Vox 144
Ah! [opens a file] Accessing physics.
Hartdegen
Mechanical engineering? Dimensional optics? Chronography? [Vox 144 opens files for each] Temporal causality? Temporal paradox?
Vox 144
Time travel?
Hartdegen
Yes.
Vox 144
[sighs, looking annoyed]
Accessing science fiction--
Hartdegen
No, no, practical application! My question is, why can't one change the past?
Vox 144
Because one cannot travel into the past.
Hartdegen
What if one could?
Vox 144
One cannot.
Hartdegen
Excuse me, this... this is something you should trust me on!
Vox 144
[opens more files, still annoyed]
Accessing the writings of Isaac Asimov, H. G. Wells, Harlan Ellison, Alexander Hartdegen--
Hartdegen
Oh! Tell me about him.
Vox 144
Alexander Hartdegen, 1869 to 1903. American scientist given to eccentric postulation. Found writings include treatise on the creation of a time machine.
Hartdegen
Tell me about the time machine.
Vox 144
The Time Machine was written by H. G. Wells in 1894. It was later adapted to a motion picture by George Pal and a stage musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber...
Hartdegen
[as Vox continues]
No, no, that's not what I mean--
Vox 144
Would you like to hear a selection from the score?
Hartdegen
No!
Vox 144
[singing to music]
"There's a place called tomorrow! A place of joy, not of sorrow! Can't you see, it's a place for you and--"
Hartdegen
Thank you, that's quite enough. [turns to leave the library]
Vox 144
Will there be anything else?
Hartdegen
Uh, no, no, I... I think I'll have better luck in a few hundred years.
Vox 144
[sarcastically giving a Vulcan salute]
Live long and prosper!
Vox 144
[darkly]
So, relic - you want to open Pandora's box, do you? See all the mysteries exposed?
Alexander
Yes.
Vox 144
And if the truth is so horrible that it will haunt your dreams for all time?
Alexander
I'm used to that.
Vox 144
Can you even imagine what it's like to remember everything? I remember this six-year-old girl who asked me about dinosaurs 800,000 years ago. I remember the last book I recommended: Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe. And yes, I even remember you. "Time travel, practical application."
