Eu ouvi um drama de rádio há muitos anos
"Algo para nada" é um conto de Robert Sheckley , publicado pela primeira vez em Galaxy Science Fiction , junho de 1954 , disponível no Internet Archive (matéria começa em página 55 ). Também disponível no Arquivo, a X Minus One foi transmitida pela rádio. em 10 de abril de 1957 (também disponível em YouTube ).
sobre um homem que está em baixo e fora
Definitivamente não é próspero:
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.
em (eu acho) um hotel da Times Square.
Eu não sei sobre o hotel Times Square, mas ele está em Nova York quando a história começa:
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 . . .
. . de repente, aparece uma máquina. É brilhante e do futuro; chamado algo como 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!
Ele acha que ele está tendo seus desejos concedidos por esta máquina quando tudo que ele pede para a máquina aparecer; incluindo uma enorme mansão de mármore.
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.
A máquina, como se vê, não é uma "lâmpada de Aladim" como ele supunha, mas um "cartão de crédito" do futuro
"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."
e ele deve muitos milhões de dólares!
The total came to slightly better than eighteen billion Credits.
É claro que ele não pode pagar, então ele é enviado para a prisão de trabalho de um devedor onde todos os dias ele escravos extraem o mármore de uma pedreira [. . .] "e há sempre algum otário encomendando uma Mansão de Mármore."
"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."
. . expressa consolo a um companheiro de prisão de que ele provavelmente morrerá muitos anos antes de pagar a dívida. O companheiro prisioneiro diz: "Isto é, é claro, a menos que você tenha comprado a vida eterna".
"The first thousand years? I won't live that long!"
"Sure you will, Jang assured him. You got immortality, didn't you?"