Trouble Times Two

In Short

This science fiction story explores a psychological tug-of-war within a single body shared by two contrasting personalities. One is a high-minded physicist, Thomas Lionel, and the other is a pragmatic, profit-driven engineer. Through a series of technical inventions—and a mysterious device that toggles control between them—the two battle for dominance while attempting to solve complex, real-world engineering problems. It is a witty, character-driven study of the tension between pure science and industrial application, showcasing the friction that occurs when lofty theory meets the cold, hard requirements of manufacturing.

The Story

Thomas Lionel, Ph.D., begins his day with the triumph of having secured a "co-occupancy" of his mind, allowing him to exist as a distinct, superior persona alongside his alter ego, the engineer. Thomas views himself as the ideal, erudite self the engineer secretly longs to be. Their conflict is played out through a series of petty grievances: the engineer litters their shared library with unrefined technical manuals, while Thomas counters by leaving behind sophisticated, impenetrable physics data that forces the engineer to rely on him for clarity.

The central object of their rivalry is a "sky car" named Poltergeist, a vehicle that defies conventional engineering through advanced, high-frequency physics. Thomas prides himself on his theoretical breakthroughs, while the engineer—who has successfully commercialized these discoveries to amass a fortune—is left to handle the messy, practical task of scaling these inventions for mass production.

The turning point occurs when the engineer—or perhaps Thomas himself, in a lapse of memory—designs a small tungsten box that allows the user to switch between the two personalities at the push of a button. The game of psychological one-upmanship escalates. The engineer, realizing he is being systematically pushed out of his own life by Thomas’s academic pursuits, decides to sabotage their shared existence. When Thomas attempts to use the switch to assume control during a crisis, he finds the device has been physically destroyed by the engineer using an oxygen lance, rendering it useless.

Thomas is suddenly left alone to face a delegation of production superintendents who are threatening to cancel lucrative contracts due to various technical failures in the Poltergeist design. He realizes the engineer has effectively "gone fishing," leaving him to deal with the tedious, "distasteful" labor of practical manufacturing. Looking at a chessboard they share, Thomas realizes his own overconfidence has led him into an inescapable checkmate. The story concludes with the realization that despite their disdain for one another, their fates are irrevocably intertwined. Thomas must now do the very thing he despises: he must become the engineer to save the life and livelihood they both share. The two personalities are not enemies, but rather two sides of a coin, forced into a reluctant, lifelong coalition to survive in a world that requires both the dreamer and the builder.

How It Unfolds

The internal power struggle Thomas starts the morning convinced he has won the battle for control, viewing the engineer as a necessary but inferior source of income. He attempts to consolidate his position by burying his "king" in a game of chess and distancing himself from the engineer’s "un-erudite" manuals.

The arrival of the invention A pilot delivers a sky car that defies traditional physics, forcing Thomas to reconcile his theoretical brilliance with the engineer’s practical success. He discovers the engineer has achieved the "impossible" by replacing heavy, massive equipment with elegant, microwave-driven wave guides.

The psychiatrist as referee Thomas visits Dr. Hamilton to brag about his superiority, revealing that he is the persona the engineer always wished to be. The doctor, acting as a neutral observer, questions the nature of the "tungsten box" that allows for this personality switching.

The prank of the epicenter Elaine, a visitor to the lab, unknowingly triggers a device labeled "Be an epicenter," which results in Thomas being doused in oil and tar. This act of "revenge" by the engineer marks a shift in the balance of power, forcing Thomas to realize the engineer is not as easily defeated as he thought.

The final checkmate Facing a room full of angry contractors who demand immediate solutions to production failures, Thomas discovers the tungsten switch has been destroyed. He realizes the engineer has abandoned him to the drudgery of work, and he sees that his position on the chessboard is lost, leaving him no choice but to embrace his own practical side.

The People

Thomas Lionel, Ph.D., is the erudite, theoretical physicist who views himself as the "real" identity. He craves intellectual satisfaction and treats the world as a playground for his experiments, viewing the engineer’s work as a distasteful necessity.

The Engineer (Tom Lionel) is the pragmatic, profit-driven counterpart. He is the one who keeps the bank account full and the business running, yet he harbors a deep, jealous resentment toward Thomas’s intellectual freedom. He represents the "practical" man who resents his own need for complex theory.

Dr. Hamilton serves as the story’s voice of reason, acting as a psychiatrist and referee. He is fascinated by the "pathophone"—the potential to use these personalities to understand mental health—and recognizes that both sides of the coin are vital to a functional, productive life.

Elaine is a catalyst for the action, a playful and observant woman who interacts with both sides of the personality. She provides the external perspective that highlights the absurdity of their rivalry, often hinting that the two are far more alike than they care to admit.

In Its Own Voice

Regarding the nature of their relationship:

"He's impractical to the extreme, but as long as the body is fed, both materially and intellectually, so what?"

The engineer acknowledges the frustrating, necessary balance that defines their shared existence.

Regarding the conflict between their worldviews:

"I heartily dislike all aspects of practical engineering," stated Thomas flatly.

Thomas makes his elitist stance on the nature of "real" work perfectly clear during his session with the psychiatrist.

Regarding the inevitability of their situation:

"I am the real entity; I am the desire of the engineer. I am what he wants to be. I am what he will become!"

Thomas expresses his ultimate conviction that he represents the evolutionary end-point of his alter ego.

What It's Really About

The book is a sharp examination of the divide between theoretical science and applied engineering. It argues that neither side can truly exist without the other; the physicist provides the "cockeyed" ideas that push human progress forward, while the engineer provides the grounding necessary to turn those ideas into reality. Beneath the plot lies a deeper anxiety about the fragmentation of identity in a modern, specialized world. It asks: can a person be both a creator and a producer? The answer the book provides is not one of harmony, but of a grudging, forced partnership. It suggests that the "accident-prone" nature of the human condition stems from this very internal conflict, where the brain’s potential is constantly at war with its need to function in the practical world.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy mid-century science fiction will appreciate the brisk, intellectual energy of this story. It feels like a relic of the "Golden Age" of science fiction, where engineers and scientists were the heroes of the age, and the prose reflects a time when technical jargon was a mark of sophistication. The story does not shy away from the ego-driven arrogance of its protagonist, which makes the eventual "checkmate" feel satisfying rather than tragic.

However, modern readers may find the gender dynamics and the depiction of the "office-working girl" to be very much a product of 1945, which can feel jarring today. The technical descriptions of microwave guides and electrostatic fields are frequent and dense, catering to a reader who enjoys "hard" science fiction rather than character study alone. If you are interested in the history of the genre or the way mid-century writers imagined the future of human psychology, you will find this a fascinating, if occasionally cold, read. It leaves you with the lingering, unsettling thought that the most dangerous person you will ever have to work with is, in fact, yourself.