Foi originalmente publicado em Revista de Fantasia e Ficção Científica, novembro 1976. A sinopse no isfdb da história curta corresponde à sua descrição, embora nos termos mais amplos.
The invention of a machine to view events distant in time and space alters human society.
"Designado para melhorar a qualidade da imagem de um (digamos) visor, um desenvolvedor fica intrigado quando a tela parece mostrar movimento quando não há mais ninguém na sala".
In the spring of 1990 he was working on an image intensification device that was puzzling because it was too good. He had it on his bench now, aimed at a deep shadow box across the room; at the back of the box was a card ruled with black, green, red and blue lines. The only source of illumination was a single ten-watt bulb hung behind the shadow box; the light reflected from the card did not even register on his meter, and yet the image in the screen of his device was sharp and bright. When he varied the inputs to the components in a certain way, the bright image vanished and was replaced by shadows, like the ghost of another image. He had monitored every television channel, had shielded the device against radio frequencies, and the ghosts remained. Increasing the illumination did not make them clearer. They were vaguely rectilinear shapes without any coherent pattern. Occasionally a moving blur traveled slowly across them.
"I See You"
"Descobre que o dispositivo está vendo através das paredes. Refina o dispositivo e ainda obtém imagens inesperadas. Descobre que o dispositivo pode exibir imagens de qualquer distância e tempo no passado".
It took Smith six weeks to increase the efficiency of the image intensifier enough to bring up the ghost pictures clearly. When he succeeded, the image on the screen was instantly recognizable. It was a view of Jack McCranie's office; the picture was still dim, but sharp enough that Smith could see the expression on Jack's face. He was leaning back in his chair, hands behind his head. Beside him stood Peg Spatola in a purple dress, with her hand on an open folder. She was talking, and McCranie was listening. That was wrong, because Peg was not supposed to be back from Cleveland until next week.
[...]
After a moment he turned to the breadboard controls of the device and changed one setting slightly. In the screen, Peg turned and walked backward out of the office. When he turned the knob the other way, she repeated these actions in reverse. Smith tinkered with the other controls until he got a view of the calendar on Jack's desk. It was Friday, June 15th—last week.
"I See You"
"Percebendo as consequências da tecnologia, ele produz alguns e se esforça para esconder sua identidade, vendendo-os em lojas de consignação".
Late in February he bought a house and an electronics dealership in a small town in the Adirondacks. In March he signed over his interest in the company to his partner, cleaned out his lab and left. He sold his co-op apartment in Manhattan and his summer house in Connecticut, moved to his new home and became anonymous.
"I See You"
"As instruções indicadas apontam na direção desejada e ajustam o botão DISTANCE apropriadamente, mas sempre deixe o botão TIME ajustado em zero".
The production model was ready for shipping in September. It was a simplified version of the prototype,with only two controls, one for space, one for time. The range of the device was limited to one thousand miles. Nowhere on the casing of the device or in the instruction booklet was a patent number or a pending patent mentioned. Smith had called the device Ozo, perhaps because he thought it sounded vaguely Japanese. The booklet described the device as a distant viewer and gave clear, simple instructions for its use. One sentence read cryptically: “Keep Time Control set at zero.” It was like “Wet Paint—Do Not Touch."
"I See You"