Jag hörde ett radiodrama för många år sedan
"Något för ingenting" är en novell av Robert Sheckley , först publicerad i Galaxy Science Fiction , juni 1954 , tillgänglig på Internet Archive (berättelse startar på sidan 55 ). Finns även i arkivet, X Minus One den 10 april 1957 (detta finns även på YouTube ).
om en man som är nere och ut
Absolut inte välmående:
But had he heard a voice? He couldn't be sure. Reconstructing it a moment later, Joe Collins knew that he had been lying on his bed, too tired even to take his waterlogged shoes off the blanket. He had been staring at the network of cracks in the muddy yellow ceiling, watching water drip slowly and mournfully through.
[. . . .]
Out of the army, Joe had avoided work, for which he was psychologically unsuited. He had drifted around, hoping that some fabulously wealthy person would be induced to change his will, leaving him Everything.
i (tror jag) ett Times Square hotell.
Jag vet inte om Times Square-hotellet, men han är i New York City när historien börjar:
First, he would get the machine out of New York—upstate, perhaps—some place where he wouldn't be bothered by nosy neighbors. The income tax would be tricky on this sort of thing. Perhaps, after he got organized, he should go to Central America, or . . .
. . . plötsligt visas en maskin. Det är glänsande och från framtiden; kallas något som MC4000
Collins knelt to examine it. The machine was about three feet square and it was humming softly. The crackle-gray surface was featureless, except for a red button in one corner and a brass plate in the center. The plate said, CLASS-A UTILIZER, SERIES AA-1256432. And underneath, WARNING! THIS MACHINE SHOULD BE USED ONLY BY CLASS-A RATINGS!
Han tror att han har sina önskningar beviljad av denna maskin när allt han frågar maskinen för visas. inklusive en stor marmor herrgård.
The rest of the day, Collins reclined on a couch and drank iced beverages while the Maxima Olph Construction Company materialized equipment and put up his house.
It was a low-slung affair of some twenty rooms, which Collins considered quite modest under the circumstances. It was built only of the best materials, from a design of Mig of Degma, interior by Towige, a Mula swimming pool and formal gardens by Vierien.
By evening, it was completed, and the small army of workmen packed up their equipment and vanished.
Maskinen, som det visar sig, är inte en "Aladdins lampa" som han menade, men ett "kreditkort" från framtiden
"You are laboring under a misapprehension, sir," Flign said with quiet dignity. "The A-rating does not represent a social group, as you seem to believe. It is merely a credit rating."
"A what?" Collins asked slowly.
"A credit rating." Flign glanced at his watch. "We haven't much time, so I'll make this as brief as possible. Ours is a decentralized age, Mr. Collins. Our businesses, industries and services are scattered through an appreciable portion of space and time. The utilization corporation is an essential link. It provides for the transfer of goods and services from point to point. Do you understand?
Collins nodded.
"Credit is, of course, an automatic privilege. But, eventually, everything must be paid for."
och han är skyldig många miljoner dollar!
The total came to slightly better than eighteen billion Credits.
Han kan självklart inte betala det, så han skickas till en gäldenärs fängelse där han hela dagen slavarna extraherar marmor från ett stenbrott [. . .] "och det finns alltid en sugare som beställer en Marble Mansion."
"What's this?"
"This is a pick," the man said patiently. "And over there is a quarry, where you and I and a number of others will cut marble."
"Marble?"
"Sure. There's always some idiot who wants a palace," the man said with a wry grin. "You can call me Jang. We'll be together for some time."
Collins blinked stupidly. "How long?"
"You work it out," Jang said. "The rate is fifty credits a month until your debt is paid off."
. . . uttrycker tröst till en medfångare att han förmodligen kommer att dö många år innan han betalar skulden. Medfångaren säger: "Det är förstås, om du inte köpte evigt liv."
"The first thousand years? I won't live that long!"
"Sure you will, Jang assured him. You got immortality, didn't you?"