‘You See But You Do Not Observe’ by Robert J Sawyer

Unfamiliar Roles

From Pulp Literature Issue 49, find an excerpt of our feature story, ‘You See But You Do Not Observe’ by Robert J Sawyer below! Originally published in the Sherlock Holmes in Orbit anthology, edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H Greenberg (DAW, 1995), we are thrilled to feature another story by Robert J Sawyer within the pages of Pulp Literature. Robert will be spending the next three months as a Fellow and Writer-in-Residence at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg — Institute for Advanced Study (HWK) in Delmenhorst, Germany, and his latest book is The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine.

Enjoy this mystery full of recognizable favourites in an unfamiliar world. To read the rest of this story, be sure to pick up a copy of Issue 49, Winter 2026.

You See But You Do Not Observe

by Robert J Sawyer

I had been pulled into the future first, ahead of my companion. There was no sensation associated with the chronotransference, except for a popping of my ears which I was later told had to do with a change in air pressure. Once in the twenty-first century, my brain was scanned in order to produce from my memories a perfect reconstruction of our rooms at 221B Baker Street. Details that I could not consciously remember or articulate were nonetheless reproduced exactly: the flock-papered walls, the bearskin hearthrug, the basket chair and the armchair, the coal-scuttle, even the view through the window — all were correct to the smallest detail.

I was met in the future by a man who called himself Mycroft Holmes. He claimed, however, to be no relation to my companion, and protested that his name was mere coincidence, although he allowed that the fact of it was likely what had made a study of my partner’s methods his chief avocation. I asked him if he had a brother called Sherlock, but his reply made little sense to me: “My parents weren’t that cruel.”

In any event, this Mycroft Holmes — who was a small man with reddish hair, quite unlike the stout and dark ale of a fellow with the same name I had known two hundred years before — wanted all details to be correct before he whisked Holmes here from the past. Genius, he said, was but a step from madness, and although I had taken to the future well, my companion might be quite rocked by the experience. When Mycroft did bring Holmes forth, he did so with great stealth, transferring him precisely as he stepped through the front exterior door of the real 221B Baker Street and into the simulation that had been created here. I heard my good friend’s voice down the stairs, giving his usual glad tidings to a simulation of Mrs Hudson. His long legs, as they always did, brought him up to our humble quarters at a rapid pace.

I had expected a hearty greeting, consisting perhaps of an ebullient cry of “My dear Watson” and possibly even a firm clasping of hands or some other display of bonhomie. But there was none of that, of course. This was not like the time Holmes had returned after an absence of three years during which I had believed him to be dead. No, my companion, whose exploits it has been my honour to chronicle over the years, was unaware of just how long we had been separated, and so my reward for my vigil was nothing more than a distracted nodding of his drawn-out face. He took a seat and settled in with the evening paper, but after a few moments, he slapped the newsprint sheets down. “Confound it, Watson! I have already read this edition. Have we not today’s paper?”

And, at that turn, there was nothing for it but for me to adopt the unfamiliar role that queer fate had dictated I must now take: our traditional positions were now reversed, and I would have to explain the truth to Holmes.

“Holmes, my good fellow, I am afraid they do not publish newspapers anymore.”

Find the full story in Pulp Literature Issue 49, Winter 2026

Robert J Sawyer has won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novel of the year. The ABC TV series FlashForward was based on his novel of the same name. A member of the Order of Canada and the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, Rob’s latest novel is The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine.

‘You See But You Do Not Observe’ was originally published in the Sherlock Holmes in Orbit anthology, edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H Greenberg (DAW, 1995), and won France’s Le Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, and the CompuServe SF&F Forum’s HOMer Award in 1996. Other stories by Rob in the pages of Pulp Literature include the urban fantasy ‘Fallen Angel’ from Issue 7, Summer 2015, and the psychological horror ‘Above it All’ from Issue 40, Autumn 2023. Visit him at sfwriter.com.