About Quarrels, about the Past
by John R. Pierce
In addition to A.E. van Vogt’s “Secret Unattainable,” the July 1942
Astounding also had three short, short time travel stories as part of the
magazine’s Probability Zero series. In this story, our narrator tells of the
quirky Quarrels who took his time machine into the past—or we should say some
past—to woo the winsome Nephertiti.
Well, didn’t you realize that this uncertainty holds for the past, too? I hadn’t
until Quarrels pointed it out. All we have is a lot of incomplete data. Is it just
because we’re stupid? Not at all. We can’t find a unique wave function.
“About Quarrels, about the Past” by John R. Pierce, Astounding, July 1942.