Nine Men in Time

In Short

This brisk science fiction tale explores the friction between industrial efficiency and human reality. Faced with a looming bankruptcy, manager J.J. Shane enlists a brilliant, unscrupulous physicist to modernize his shop using time manipulation and human duplication. What begins as a desperate bid for productivity quickly spirals into a surreal comedy of errors as "High-Pockets" Jones, a legendary labor-rights advocate, exploits the new technology to outmaneuver management. It is a sharp, witty look at the folly of treating people like interchangeable parts, anchored by the absurdity of its own premise.

The Story

J.J. Shane, the manager of the Imperial Printing Company, is under immense pressure. Receivers have given him a three-month ultimatum to turn a profit or face liquidation. Desperate to secure his reputation, Shane hires Dr. Lawrence Edward Hudson, a self-styled "production-engineer" and physicist who specializes in the impossible. Hudson promises to revolutionize the shop, first by sending workers back in time to fix their own mistakes, and then by using an "extender" to create physical duplicates of the staff.

The arrival of the mysterious High-Pockets Jones, a towering, legendary drifter known for resolving labor conflicts, complicates matters. While Shane and Hudson view Jones as a threat to be managed or jailed, Jones adopts a calm, observant demeanor. When the shop faces a massive, impossible-to-complete legal job, Shane authorizes the use of the extender. High-Pockets volunteers first, and soon, nine identical copies of the giant printer are roaming the shop floor.

The situation descends into a surreal circus. The nine Joneses—each maintaining the original's gentle, booming voice—take over the facility, using the time-travel device to complete weeks of work in mere hours by splitting their efforts across various temporal shifts. Shane, initially thrilled by the surge in production, finds himself overwhelmed by the sheer weirdness of managing a workforce of duplicates who laugh up their sleeves at his authority.

As the deadline approaches, the receivers return to the plant, only to be confronted by the nine High-Pocketses. Fearing a massive, unprecedented legal disaster, the lawyers panic at the sight of the nontuplets. High-Pockets seizes the advantage, forcing the receivers to agree to keep the plant running as long as it remains profitable, provided that Shane destroys the experimental machinery. The nine versions of Jones merge back into one, and after a brief, cryptic farewell, the drifter departs for his next job, leaving Shane with a saved business and a newfound appreciation for the limits of human ambition.

How It Unfolds

The pressure mounts Shane faces the imminent liquidation of the Imperial Printing Company by cold, profit-driven receivers. He risks his career by hiring the eccentric Dr. Hudson to engineer a miraculous turnaround.

The shift begins Hudson introduces the printer’s staff to the concept of re-doing work by traveling back in time. The men are confused and resistant, but Shane is emboldened by the initial success of correcting errors without paying extra overtime.

The duplication arrives The enigmatic High-Pockets Jones appears at the shop, acting as a potential agitator. Hudson installs his "extender" machine, and against all logic, Jones steps in to be duplicated, sparking a series of increasingly bizarre events.

The shop is overrun Nine identical versions of High-Pockets Jones appear, turning the printing floor into a surreal, chaotic space. Shane’s attempts to regain control only reveal how completely he has lost his influence to the calm, overwhelming presence of the duplicates.

The final confrontation The receivers return to inspect the company, only to be intimidated by the nine-man workforce. High-Pockets forces a compromise that saves the plant, destroys the dangerous technology, and restores a sense of normalcy to the print shop.

The People

J.J. Shane is the central protagonist, a young, insecure manager driven by a desperate need for professional validation. His obsession with "making a name" for himself blinds him to the human cost of his choices, though he eventually gains a degree of humble perspective.

Dr. Lawrence Edward Hudson is the cold, brilliant catalyst of the plot. He views the workers as mere variables in an industrial equation. Lacking any moral compass, his sole interest is the technical mastery of time and matter, regardless of the psychological fallout.

High-Pockets Jones serves as the story’s moral anchor and trickster figure. Towering and calm, he possesses a deep, intuitive understanding of both machinery and human nature. He is the only character who maintains his composure when faced with the impossible, using the technology meant to exploit his peers to outsmart his employer.

The receivers represent the heartless, bureaucratic forces of the business world. They care nothing for the print shop's history or its people, only for the fees they can collect through liquidation. Their panic when faced with the nine Joneses provides the story’s most comedic and satisfying climax.

In Its Own Voice

"The idea of sending a man back in time to re-do a job he's botched, so that a deadline can still be met--added to the thought of duplicating a man so there'll be two doing the same work at the same time--adds up to a production-manager's dream."

This opening note sets the stage for the story's central conflict between industrial efficiency and the chaos of human nature.

"I licked my lips and beat my brains, but I didn't know the answer."

Shane finds himself completely out of his depth as the duplicates begin to exert control over the print shop, signaling the shift in power.

"The composing-room was filled with High-Pockets Joneses."

The realization of the experiment’s success transforms the shop from a workplace into a surreal, crowded nightmare for the manager.

What It's Really About

The book is a sharp critique of the "efficiency-expert" mindset that treats human labor as a mechanical component to be optimized. By pushing the logic of productivity to its absurd extreme, the story argues that there is a fundamental "inertia" in humanity—a resistance to being treated as a mass of parts—that cannot be overcome by gadgets or clever engineering. It questions the morality of ownership over a person's time and individuality, suggesting that when a manager tries to squeeze more than a human can give, the system will inevitably break. It ultimately posits that true control in a business comes from mutual respect rather than the technical manipulation of time or bodies.

Why Read It Today

This story offers a quirky, inventive take on the "mad science" trope, grounding its high-concept sci-fi premise in the relatable, mundane setting of a printing office. Readers who enjoy mid-century workplace satires or stories about clever underdogs outwitting corporate suits will find much to appreciate here. The prose is punchy and moves with the rhythmic energy of a printing press, making it an engaging, quick read.

However, modern readers should be prepared for the mid-century workplace culture depicted. The attitudes toward union labor and the "tough" management styles of the era are presented without irony, reflecting the period's norms. The dialogue occasionally leans into the slightly stylized, clipped banter of 1950s pulp fiction, which may feel dated to some. Despite these period trappings, the core anxiety—that technology might eventually make workers obsolete or interchangeable—remains strikingly relevant. It is a story that manages to be both a lighthearted fantasy about defying the clock and a cautionary tale about the dehumanizing nature of extreme corporate ambition. The final image of the manager smashing his own machinery to find peace is a memorable, grounding conclusion that stays with you long after the nine duplicates have vanished.