A man who worked on the technology of Hawking’s voice synthesizer in 1986 got a call in 2014 about saving the tech. “In nearly 30 years, he had never switched to newer technology. Hawking liked the voice just the way it was, and had stubbornly refused other options. But now the hardware was showing wear and tear. If it failed entirely, his distinctive voice would be lost to the ages.” This is the story of the quest to save it all.