When you have an engine with no fuel, and fuel without an engine, and a life-and-death deadline to meet, you have a problem indeed. Unless you are a stubborn Dutchman--and Jan Van Artevelde was the stubbornest Dutchman on Venus.
In one place, a descendant of the Vikings rode a ship such as Lief never dreamed of; from another, one of the descendants of the Caesars, and here an Apache rode a steed such as never roamed the plains. But they were warriors all.
To upset the stable, mighty stream of time would probably take an enormous concentration of energy. And it's not to be expected that a man would get a second chance at life. But an atomic might accomplish both--
Computers are increasingly important, and public companies are often taking over roles reserved for government agencies in the 50's. Even the comments about not really understanding how hard it is to produce really random data is all spot on. What was missed of course was the fact computer prices would drop as fast as they grew more powerful, union/mob style gangsters would go out of fashion and ESP wouldn't pan out at all.