The Six Gun Solution

8

“Twenty-five thousand in silver bullion,” said O’Fallon. “And it slipped right through our fingers. What the hell went wrong?”

“those three idiots, Head. Leonard and Crane, went wrong.” replied Paul Zaber. “I gave them the plan myself. I told them, soon as the stage pulls up, shoot both the driver and shotgun guard, but they blew it Leonard shot all right, but the other two hesitated and the horses bolted, so they only got Philpot. Then instead of chasing the stage down when the horses bolted, they had King holding their horses a short distance away, so the stage had a good head start on them by the time they got mounted. They still could’ve caught it, but they gave it up as a bad job and took off. Had to run from the damn posse with nothing to show for it.”

“Exactly the way it happened in the original scenario,” said O’Fallon, thoughtfully. “We seem to be swimming against the current of temporal inertia. I wouldn’t have thought something like this would have made much difference to the scheme of things, but perhaps I was wrong. This time sector may have more temporal significance than I’d imagined.”

“If that’s true, then we’re taking a big risk.” said Zaber. You think we should pull out?

“I’d hate to do that without having this operation show more of a profit.” O’Fallon replied. “Remember that none of us can depend on our agency pensions anymore, thanks to Moses Forrester. And I always intended to retire a very wealthy man, with a ludicrously expensive lifestyle. That means I’m going to have to convince the board to put me in charge of more profitable operations. They’re not going to do that if they’re not sufficiently impressed with the way I conducted this one.”

“We’ve done all right.” said Zaber.

“‘All right’ is not enough.” O’Fallon replied. “They’re not going to be impressed with just ‘all right.’ I went to a lot of trouble to set this operation up. I don’t intend to pack it in until we’ve pulled everything we can out of it.”

“It could be risky staying around,” Zaber said. “There’s still the question of the Montana Kid, whoever the hell he is. If he’s a temporal agent, you can be sure he won’t be alone. If he’s an advance scout for the S.O.G. we’re liable to wind up in the middle of a temporal disruption.”

That could be very bad for business, all around,” O’Fallon said.

“Hey, as far as I’m concerned, the S.O.G. isn’t my headache. Let Forrester’s people handle them. There’s no money to be made going up against commandos.”

“Perhaps not, but there is money to be lost.” said O’Fallon. “A significant disruption in this sector could affect our operations further down the timestream. The S.O.G. isn’t just a threat to Temporal Intelligence. Paul. It’s a threat to the entire timeline. And that means us, too. If the S.O.G. mounts an operation here, and the T.I.A. isn’t around to stop them, it’s going to be up to us. Don’t forget, we were Temporal Intelligence ourselves at one time.”

“Yeah, but there are only five of us.” said Zaber. “We can use Clanton’s rustlers to help us pull off operations, but sending them up against trained commandos would he ludicrous. The thing to do is get word to Forrester’s people and let them handle it. And make sure we’re long gone by the time they get around to it.”

“That could be rather difficult to do, considering we won’t know when they would be clocking in,” O’Fallon replied. “Besides, we don’t know that it is an S.O.G. infiltration. The Kid could be T.I.A. In which case, something must have tipped them off. It could have been Bailey. He wanted to get out from under. He might have contacted them and tried a double cross in return for immunity. Warning us about the Kid the way he did could have been part of the setup, or just Bailey burning his candle at both ends, trying to keep his ass covered. Either way, we don’t have enough information.

Zaber shook his head. “And either way, we could be buying into one shitload of trouble.”

“I’m not sure we have much choice, Paul. But keep one other thing in mind. If the Kid is an advance agent for the T.I.A., and if Balky sold us out and they know we’re conducting a Network operation back here, they’ll send in one of their old First Division teams. If we could take them out, we’d not only enhance our standing in the organization, we’d collect a bounty that would go a long way towards making our retirement very comfortable.”

Zaber took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You’ve got a point I can’t decide for the others, though.”

“Allan will go along with it.” said O’Fallon. “He’s young and he’s hungry. And he’s anxious to move up. Randy’s more cautious, but I think he’ll see that there’s no avoiding the risk no matter what we do. Steve won’t like it, but he’ll understand the necessity. Especially if you and I are together on this.”

“All right. So what’s our first move?”

“The Kid didn’t take the bait when you left here with Bailey. And I’m positive he followed Bailey here. So that means he’s playing it smart. He knows there’s something going on here, but we haven’t been hit, so either his backup hasn’t clocked in yet-assuming he’s T.I.A.-or Bailey didn’t tell him everything. Assuming Bailey tipped them off.” He grimaced. “That’s too many assumptions, but the one I think we can safely make is that he knows we’re here, but he doesn’t know exactly who we are Let’s put a little pressure on him. See if we can force his hand or get any backup he might have to reveal themselves.”

“One of them already might have.” Zaber said.

“Oh?”

“I was going to tell you about it when I came in, after we discussed the stage job. A few of Clanton’s boys were in town and got mixed up in a fight with a cowboy who just arrived in town. You know Jenny, down at the Oriental? Sam wanted to tear off a piece, only she turned him down. It seems she’s taken up with the Kid and given up turning tricks. Anyway, Sam got a little rough with her and this cowboy came Over to play hero. He dropped Sam with one punch, broke Joey’s wrist, used a whiskey bottle to make a mess out of Luke’s face and hit Walt with a table.”

“With a table?”

“Picked it up and used it to slam Walt against the wall. Then knocked him out. Walt said he snatched up that table as if it didn’t weigh a thing. Big guy, Walt said. Fast with his hands.

Hits like pile driver. Dark red hair, beard and a real shit-eatin’ grin.”

“Finn Delaney,” O’Fallon said.

“You know him?”

“Oh yeah, I know him. It was a few years ago, back in the old days before Forrester took over. I ran into him on a mission, when I was working with the Mongoose. He and Carnehan did not like each other. And Delaney had a real hard-on for spooks. First Division time commando all the way. only a real maverick. Crazy son of a bitch. He was a noncom in those days. Kept getting busted for punching out officers who gave him a hard time. Yeah. I know Finn Delaney, all right.”

“So then the Kid is T.I.A.”

“Yeah. And that probably means Priest is heading up their team. And Cross will be in on it, as well. Foxy lady, and nasty as a snake. Looks like Forrester sent in the first string.”

“That’s not what I’d call good news,” said Zaber.

“Are you kidding?” O’Fallon replied. “You know what the bounty is on those three? Shit. We just struck it rich.”

“I wouldn’t start counting that bounty before we collect it,” said Zaber. “And if they’re as good as you say they are, that’s not going to be easy.”

“Nothing worth doing is ever easy. Paul.” O’Fallon replied.

“But we’ve got the home-court advantage. I’ll check with the others, but I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one they know.

And they’ll never recognize me with this face. All we have to do is identify the targets and send the rustlers out to take care of them. We may not even have to get involved ourselves.

Because they’re concerned about temporal continuity, they’ll think twice before taking out any of the locals in this time sector. Our boys won’t have any such compunctions.” He smiled. “God damn. This operation is turning out to be a lot more interesting than I thought.”

“You want me to call in the others?”

“Yes. We’ll tell Allan and Steve to cancel their plan for the next shipment. Then we’ll get some of the boys together and take a ride into town. It doesn’t sound as if Delaney’s had any cosmetic surgery. They usually don’t, unless they’re going to assume specific identities. I want to make sure. I want to find out where they’re staying and what their covers are. I don’t want any mistakes on this one Once we’ve got them spotted and the situation eased, then I’ll call the boys I’m putting a bounty on them.”

“I’ve got a better idea.” said Zaber. “Have Ike Clanton do it. That way, if anything goes wrong and anybody talks, they’ll go after Clanton first. And while they’re doing that, we can make our move.”

O’Fallon smiled broadly. “That’s very good. Paul. That’s what I call good thinking.”

“Yeah, well, if we’re going to take on the First Division’s number one team, we’re going to need a lot of that.” said Zaber. “I’ll go get the boys.”

“What do you mean, he didn’t know you?” Andre asked, staring at Lucas with astonishment

“Just what I said.” Lucas replied, taking off his coat and dropping down into a chair. He exhaled heavily. “He didn’t have the faintest idea who I was. Said he’d never seen me before in his life. Thought I had him mixed-up with someone else. I came up with some story about his having a double that I met in

England and he seemed to swallow that, but it gave me one hell of a turn. I can tell you.”

“I don’t understand,” Andre said, an expression of complete confusion on her face. “Why would he do that? You think he was under surveillance?”Lucas snorted. “He acted like he didn’t even know what the word meant. I asked him that and he thought I was asking him if he was a surveyor”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was.”

“What the hell does he think he’s doing?” Lucas shook his head, helplessly. “I don’t think he’s playing games. Andre. You should have been there. You should have seen him. It was spooky, He really didn’t know me. Your name, Finn’s name. Steiger’s name, the Old Man, they didn’t mean a thing to him. There was no glimmer of recognition. None whatsoever.”

She stared at him with disbelief. “My God. You think he’s got amnesia?”

Lucas shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m at a loss to account for it. I asked him if something had happened to him recently, if he’d gotten hurt or something. and he just looked at me as if I were crazy. It’s as if the role has completely taken him over. He’s not Sergeant Scott Neilson, temporal agent. He’s Scott Neilson, the Montana Kid.”

“You think the opposition got to him and brainwashed him?”

“I suppose it’s possible, but why? Why go to all that trouble? Why not just interrogate him and then take him out? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Does Finn know about this yet?”

Lucas shook his head. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to him. But we’re going to have to warn him. I don’t know what the hell’s happened to Neilson. Maybe he’s had a breakdown or something, but we can’t count on him anymore. He’s become a liability.”

“Maybe this is it,” said Andre. “Maybe this is what Dr. Darkness meant. Maybe something has happened to Scott and he forgot who he really was and somehow disrupted temporal continuity.”

Lucas sat very still, staring at her for a long moment.

“It’s possible, isn’t it’?” she asked.

Lucas nodded slowly. “Yes. It’s possible. The question is, what are we supposed to do about it?”

“No.” said Andre. “That’s not the question. The question is, what is it that we’re going to do-a not do-that we’re going to have to do differently to save the future?”

“Jesus.” Lucas said. “How the hell are we supposed to know?”

“Darkness said he’s going to tell us.”

“Yeah. At the last moment. Only why? Why wait till the last minute?”

“Maybe to make sure that we don’t have a chance to think about it.” she said. “Lucas, it’s possible that we may have to kill him.”

Lucas closed his eyes. “Oh, hell.”

“Maybe… maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there’s another way…”

“No,” said Lucas, shaking his head “No. I don’t think so. I think you’re right. Under ordinary circumstances, if you can possibly call this situation ordinary… that’s what we’d do. We’d look for some other way. We’d take him and clock him out and get him to a hospital

… and somehow, that’s what would interfere with temporal continuity. That’s got to be it. Neilson has to be the key. That’s why Darkness didn’t tell us any more than he did. It’s the only possible explanation that makes any sense. Whatever it is we have to do regarding Neilson, we’re going to have to do it at a specific time. And there’s no way we could know what that time is unless Darkness tells us. Only if he told us in advance we’d have to kill him, we’d do everything in our power to find some other way around it. He’s trying to make sure that we won’t have a chance to do that, Damn. Damn, damn, damn!”

“We’ve got to find Finn,” she said. “If he runs into Scott before we warn him about this. he’s liable to take it on his own to do something.”

“You’re right. He took a room over at the Aztec Rooming House. You head on over there, and if he’s not in. check the Capitol Saloon over on Fremont, then the Can Can Restaurant over on Allen. I’ll start at Hafford’s across the street and work my way down through the Occidental, the Alhambra and the Oriental. If he’s not in his room, he’s got to be in one of those places, following up on Ben Stone. We’ll meet back here.”

“Got it.”

“God, whatever it is. I hope it doesn’t happen tonight, before we get a chance to find Delaney.” He got up and put on his coat.

“Then let’s not waste any time,” she said, heading for the door.

Ben Stone was in the last saloon Finn checked, the Oriental. Going by his own statements. Stone was breaking his pattern. He said he liked playing in different saloons after he lost. “to keep his luck fresh.” Only here he was, in the Oriental once again. Why? Because this was where they met the last time?

“You’re waiting for me, aren’t you, you son of a bitch?” Finn mumbled under his breath as he spotted Stone sitting at a table in the back. He glanced around at the room. There were some cowboys sitting in a group at a couple of tables, a few card games going on. None of the Tombstone lawmen were in evidence. Holliday sitting in on a card game with Stone and a couple of the townspeople. And Scott Neilson at the bar. talking to Jenny. The moment Jenny spotted him, she waved him over.

“Finn, I’d like you to meet Scott, the Montana Kid. Scott, this is the kind gentleman who helped me the other day.”

“We already know each other, Jenny,” Neilson said, keeping his voice low and checking to see that they weren’t overheard. “Finn’s one of the people I was telling you about.”

Delaney glanced at him, startled. He couldn’t possibly have… no. he must have devised some sort of cover story for the girl. Which could pose a problem. since he hadn’t admitted knowing Scott before, when he’d met her. But there was nothing else to do but play along with it.

“How’re you doing, Kid? It’s been a while?

“Where have you been?” Neilson said, in a low voice. “Did you just clock in? Are Lucas and Andre with you?”

Delaney stared at him with disbelief, then glanced at Jenny with alarm.

“What the hell are you doing?” he whispered.

“It’s okay.” Scott replied. “She knows all about it.”

Delaney couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You told her? Are you crazy?”

“Finn, we have to talk.” said Scott, quietly. He glanced at Jenny. “She’s not who you think she is. She’s one of Drakov’s hominoids.”

Delaney caught his breath. “Holy shit! What the hell-”

“You’re the fella that busted up some of my boys the other night, ain’t ‘cha?” said a voice behind him, before he could finish.

Scott’s hands flashed to his coat and the two pearl-handled Colts leaped from their holsters. There were several audible clicks as he cocked them.

“Say, take it easy there. Kid.” the man said, slowly opening his coat. “I’m not heeled.” There were two other men standing beside him. “My friends ain’t. neither?

“What do you want, Clanton?” Scott asked.

“We don’t want any trouble.” said Ike Clanton; as Delaney turned to face him he was a large man, with light, curly hair, a moustache and a thin goatee. One look and Delaney didn’t like him. “And I wanted to be sure you understood that. seem’ as how you seem friendly with this here gentleman and your girl, Jenny, was involved.”

“Say your piece. Ike.” Scott lowered the hammers and put away his guns.

“You met my friends, here?” Clanton said, indicating the two men with him. “This here’s Johnny Ringo. And this gent is Curly Bill Brocius.”

“Any friends of yours, Ike, ain’t no friends of mine.” said Neilson.

“Say, now. I was just bein’ polite,” said Clanton. “I don’t believe I know this gentleman.”

“The name’s Delaney,” Finn said, watching the men carefully. “Finn Delaney.”

“Irishman, eh?”

“What can I do for you, Mr. Clanton?”

“Well. I just wanted to come over and apologize on behalf of my boys.” said Ike. “They had a mite too much whiskey yesterday and got out of line a bit.”

“More than a bit, I’d say,’ Delaney replied. “And any apologies should be addressed to this young lady.”

“I reckon so,” said Clanton. “Jenny, I’m right sorry about what happened. There wasn’t no call for it. I sure hope you won’t go bearin’ us a grudge.”

“I accept your apology, Ike,” she said.

“I ain’t gonna be so easy,” Scott said.

“Well, now, I figured that.” said Clanton, “which is why I’m keepin’ those boys out of town for a while. Fact is, they’re feelin’ poorly anyway, after what Mr. Delaney here did to ’em.”

“They got off lucky.” said Scott, if I’d been here. I would’ve killed them.

“Well, now, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” said Ike. “I don’t want any bad blood between you and my boys if I can help it. They’re right sorry about what they done. I talked to ’em and made sure they wouldn’t be bearin’ your friend here any grudges. I don’t want any trouble. Now they promised to behave themselves and they didn’t really understand about you and Jenny. They do now. Seein’ as no harm was really done, except a little to my boys. I’m hopin’ we can just patch things up and forget about the whole thing That is, if you’re agreeable.”

Scott stared hard at Clanton. “If you really mean that, Ike, then I’m agreeable. But you keep your rustlin’ lowlifes away from Jenny or I’ll have something to say about it, understand? And I’ll be sayin’ it to you.”

“Hey.” said Ike, raising his hands up to his chest. “I got no problem with that. Looks like we understand each other. I’m happy we could work it out. Will you have a drink on it? I’ll buy. That goes for you too, mister.” he added, looking at Delaney. “Frank, whiskey for my friends here.”

Delaney was paying less attention to Ike Clanton than to the two men with him. Brocius and Ringo. Both hard-looking men, with eyes that met his gaze dead on. Gunfighters. Men who looked as if they knew their business.

Brocius shifted his gaze to Neilson. “You’re pretty quick with those fancy guns of yours.” he said.

“I hear tell you’re pretty quick, yourself,” Scott replied.

“I wonder which one of us is quicker.” Curly Bill said, with a smile.

“You want to find out’?” asked Neilson.

“Scott!” said Jenny.

“Hey. now, wait…” started Clanton.

Delaney took Scott by the arm. “Don’t push it.” he said. firmly.

“Anytime. Kid.” Brocius said.

“Now hold on just a minute.” said Delaney.

“Relax. Finn.” said Scott. “We can find out right here and now, without anybody getting hurt. You game, Curly Bill?”

Brocius narrowed his eyes. “What you got in mind?”

“I see you’re wearing a two-gun rig, too,” said Scott. “You take one gun and give it to Ike. I’ll take one of mine and give it to Finn. Then we each take the gun we got left and give them both to Frank, here, to unload. We put the empty guns back in our holsters and Frank will say the word. Then we draw and dry fire.”

By now, the other people in the saloon were aware of what was going on and they had started to gather around.

“What do you say, Brocius?”

Curly Bill was aware of the attention on them. “I’m game.”

He took out one of his gun, and handed it to Clanton while Scott took out one of his and handed it to Finn. Then they each took their remaining gun and passed it across the bar to Frank Leslie, who opened the Warding gates, held them up one at a time, barrels up, rotated the cylinders and let the bullets drop out.

“Five each.” he said, after making sure both guns were empty. He put the bullets down on the bar and handed the guns back to them. They replaced them in their holsters.

“Anytime you’re ready. Frank,” said Scott.

Curly Bill nodded. They stood about three feet away from each other.

“I’ll count to three,” said Leslie. ‘On three, go for your guns. You ready?”

Everyone in the saloon gathered around. There was utter silence.

“I’m ready “ Scott said.

“Ready,” said Curly Bill.

“Okay, here goes.” said Leslie. “One…

Curly Bill flexed his fingers.

“Two…

Scott stood perfectly relaxed.

“Three!”

Curly Bill’s right hand darted toward his holster, but his gun hadn’t even cleared it when he suddenly found himself looking down the barrel of Scott’s Colt. 45. He froze.

Scott squeezed the trigger and the hammer fell with a loud snap.

“Damn!” said someone in the crowd.

Someone else whistled and the whole crowd started talking excitedly. Brocius simply stood there, staring at Scott, his eyes like anthracite. Clanton cleared his throat.

“How about that drink, boys?”

Curly Bill snatched his bullets off the bar, took his other gun from Clanton and stalked away without a word, going out through the double doors into the street.

“Some other time, Ike,” Scott said. “I feel like a walk, Jenny…

She took his arm.

“I’ll walk with you.” Finn said.

They went outside. There was no sign of Curly Bill.

“Was that smart?” asked Jenny. “He knows you’re faster now. He’ll look to shoot you in the back”

“He probably would have done that anyway,” said Scott.

“Scott, what the hell is going on here?” Delaney asked, as they walked down the street. “Drakov’s here’?” He glanced at Jenny. “And where does she fit into this?”

“I’m in love with her, Finn. And she’s in love with me.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ!”

“She’s the one who warned you about Drakov. He knows about me. He knows about you, too. That girl, Becky, is one of his.”

“Shit. Where is he?”

“I’m not sure. Neither is Jenny. Part of the time, he’s basing himself in Hop Town, in a room above an opium den. He’s also got a chronoplate stashed there, which leads to London in some future time period. Jenny’s not sure which. She isn’t told any more than she needs to know. He is protected there. As far as any other bases of operations he might have back here, she doesn’t know. We’re in it up to our necks, Finn. It’s not only Drakov back here. It’s the Network and the S.O.G.”

“Good God! Stone?”

“He’s S.O.G. But he’s the only one that Jenny knows about. The Network and the S.O.G. apparently don’t know about each other. And there’s a hell of a good reason for that. Are Lucas and Andre here with you?”

“Yeah. They’re over in the Grand Hotel. But wait a minute. You saw Lucas!”

“I did?”

Delaney frowned. “He went out on that posse with you. He said he saw you. And he said you acted as if you didn’t know him. He figured you were under surveillance from someone in the posse and knew about it. What kind of game are you playing here. Scott?”

Scott had stopped dead in his drinks. “He saw me?”

Delaney looked at him with a frown. “What is this? Are you telling me you don’t remember?”

Scott gave a low whistle, “Finn. Lucas wasn’t with that posse. At least, not the posse I was on.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Of course, he was there! I saw him ride out! He saw you, for God’s sake!”

“No. He didn’t. He didn’t see me. I’m beginning to understand what’s going on here. And it’s even worse than I thought. Finn, everything that we suspected about this temporal scenario is true. Not just one of the possibilities we considered, all of them together. The S.O.G. is here. At least one of them that I know about, but there’s probably more. There’s got to be. The Network is here. They’re running an operation out of the Clanton ranch.”

“You mean Ike Clanton is a Network agent?”

“Not Clanton. And not Curly Bill, either. The other one, Johnny Ringo. Only he’s not really Johnny Ringo. His real name is Tim O’Fallon.”

“O’Fallon!”

“You know him?”

“Hell, yes. He was one of Jack Carnehan’s field agents. You remember the Mongoose?”

“No. Carnelian was before my time. But I’ve heard about him.”

“So that means he recognized me,” said Delaney. “I thought he was looking at me funny. He’s got himself a new face.”

“Yeah, Johnny Ringo’s.” Scott said. “They must have killed the real Ringo. “

“But I still don’t understand about you and Lucas. How could you be on the same posse together and not see each other?”

“Because we weren’t on the same posse.” Scott said. “We were on different posses. In different timelines. Only I didn’t realize until now that there’s another Scott Neilson in that other timeline. That puts an entirely new twist on things. Finn, this whole damn town is one big confluence point.”

Delaney stared at him, stunned. “The whole town?”

“I was able to piece it together from what Jenny told me.”

Scott replied. “And she doesn’t quite understand it all. As near as I can figure, the location of this town is also the location for a massive area of temporal instability. It’s a confluence, but more than that, it’s that one-in-a-million shot, a confluence where both timelines intersect at the same, exact corresponding space and time. You’re the one who went to R.C.S., so you probably understand the Zen physics a lot better than I do, but as a result, the temporal instability here is incredible. It’s like… like the town sort of flickers, like a strobe light, not so anyone here would actually notice, of course, but at different times, first you’re in one Tombstone, then you’re in the other.”

“Holy shit.” whispered Delaney.

“The thing I’ve been batting my brains out about is what the effect of temporal inertia is here. It doesn’t seem as if the people from this Tombstone can cross over into the other one, and I don’t even know if the Network and the S. 0. G. are in the same timeline together, but apparently, we can cross over. Or at least you can. You have, obviously, if you’ve talked to Lucas, because he and Andre are in the other timeline. Or at least they were. Maybe they’re here now. Hell, I don’t know. It’s a fucking mindblower. But it looks as if I may not be able to cross over, because there’s another Scott Neilson in the other timeline and temporal inertia is keeping us apart. Either that, Or I’ve become too deeply involved in this scenario and I’m part of whatever’s going to happen here.”

“So that’s what Darkness was talking about.” said Finn “That’s what he didn’t tell us. And that’s why he wasn’t able to tach back here, or at least he won’t be able to until a certain point in time.”

“I don’t understand.” said Scott.

“Darkness isn’t sure what effect crossing over would have on his subatomic structure.” Delaney explained. “It’s unstable and gradually disintegrating. He seems to have periods of remission, for lack of a better way of putting it, but he thinks that one of these days, he’s going to pass the point of no return and he’ll simply discorporate, depart at multiples of light speed in all directions of the universe. Being in the vicinity of temporal confluence could accelerate that.”

“Wow,” said Scott. “And he’s been living with that?” He exhaled heavily. “No wonder he’s so flaky around the edges.”

“There’s something else that you don’t know. Scott.” said Delaney. “Darkness is from the future. Not our time sector, but our future.

“I’ll be damned.” said Neilson, softly. He nodded. “That figures. It would explain a lot about him.”

“There’s more.” said Finn, grimly. ‘We’re not sure what time he came from, but whatever century it was, something devastating happened up ahead. Or is going to happen. Some kind of terrible temporal disaster He wouldn’t tell us what it is, but it’s got to be a massive timestream split, possibly even a chain reaction. And that’s what Darkness is trying to prevent. Actually, he isn’t trying to prevent it. because from his temporal standpoint, it’s already happened. He’s trying to change it. He’s trying to change history. Scott, and somehow we’re a part of it. Whatever it is that is going to bring on that temporal disaster is going to happen right here, in this scenario. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe five seconds from now, for all we know. And-we haven’t got any idea what it is Darkness wouldn’t tell us. It could involve the S.O.G., it could involve the Network, it could involve Drakov or all or even none of them. But Darkness told us that we’re going to be in a position to change it. And whatever it is we’re going to have to do, we’re not going to know about it until we have to do it, until the very last minute. Now I know why. Darkness is taking a big gamble. He’s putting his life on the line. He’s got one chance, just one, to tach in and tell us what to do… because whatever it is, it’s got to be something heavy. Something he can’t even give us a chance to think about. And he knows that the instant he arrives here, he might discorporate.”

“But he doesn’t know for sure?” said Scott.

“No. how could he? He’s gambling that he won’t. Or that if he does, he’ll have enough time to tell us what to do before it happens.”

“God damn it. It’s even worse than I imagined.” Scott said.

Delaney suddenly had another thought. He recalled back when Darkness had appeared to them in the First Division Lounge. He had indicated that the three of them would be in a position to do whatever it was that would have to be done, he hadn’t said anything about Neilson.

He racked his brain for what he knew of the metaphysical complexities of temporal physics, popularly known as “Zen physics.” Trying to think back to the problem modules he had studied back in Referee Corps School. He had never graduated. He came close, but he had washed out, ultimately because of his personality, not because of any inability on his part. He was convinced of that, despite the fact that he always told people he’d washed out because he couldn’t cut the mustard academically. There was no shame in that. In all the world, only a handful of the most brilliant graduate students in the field of temporal physics were selected for R.C.S. and it was one hell of an achievement and an honor simply to be chosen. But Delaney had realized early on that he lacked two essential personality traits to be a Temporal Referee. Patience and detachment.

In the old days-they were the old days now, although it didn’t seem like so very long ago-when nations waged their conflicts through the medium of the Time Wars, the Referees had functioned as the temporal arbiters, choosing and defining the conflict scenarios and arbitrating their results. Now, they functioned as a son of temporal high command, the final guardians of temporal continuity, a Supreme Court of time travel. It wouldn’t have been easy, for R.C.S. was brutally demanding, but Delaney could have become a Temporal Referee after graduating from the world’s toughest post-postgraduate school and serving a lengthy tour of internship. He would have enjoyed the highest pay scale in the world, commensurate with the most prestigious job in the world, but he would have been an old man by the time he had finally achieved his goal. And about midway through R.C.S., he had realized that he had misjudged his aspirations.

He didn’t have the patience to finish his schooling and go through all those years of internship. And he lacked the personal detachment to play with human lives as if they were nothing more than chess pieces. What he really wanted, he had realized, was to be directly involved, hands on, with history. So he had dropped out of R.C.S. and enlisted in the Temporal Corps.

He was already a veteran of many temporal campaigns when he had first met Lucas Priest on what was to become the very first temporal adjustment mission ever conducted in Minus Time, when Professor Mensinger’s worst fears came true and it was discovered that history was nor an immutable absolute, that it could be changed, with consequences that could prove disastrous. He and Lucas had been part of the team who were the very first Time Commandos, even before the First Division had been organized under Moses Forrester, who had acted as their training officer on that mission. It seemed so very long ago.

Priest had only been a sergeant major back then and had just clocked in from a hitch served in the Second Punic War. Delaney, himself, had been a Private First Class-again-and if anyone had told him back then he would one day become an officer, he would have laughed in his face. Half the team never made it back from that mission. Johnson and Hooker had both bought it and their names were the first to be listed on the Wall of Honor, the first of many. Too many.

It had been on that mission that they first met Andre, although their real relationship with her did not begin until centuries had passed. When Lucas had first met her, he had not even known she was a woman. She was a native of that time period, in 12th-century England, a woman passing as a young man. She had called herself Andre de la Croix and had carried her deception off so far as to become a mercenary knight in the service of Prince John. She and Lucas had first met in the lists at the tournament of Ashby de la Zouche, an encounter Lucas was never to forget, he had almost failed to survive it

They had met again in 17th-century France, when they went up against the Timekeepers. and were stunned to learn that Andre had been brought there from the past by a deserter from the Temporal Corps named Reese Hunter. Hunter had been assassinated by the Timekeepers and Andre had helped them to avenge his death and successfully complete their mission, after which they had brought her back to Plus Tom with them, to the 27th century. She became a soldier in the Temporal Corps. transferring to the First Division as soon as she completed her training.

They had served on many missions since then, but never one like this, never one where all the laws of Temporal Relativity seemed to be suspended the theories of Temporal Relativity. Delaney corrected himself, for Zen physics was anything but an exact science. Mensinger had never anticipated anything like the Temporal Crisis or confluence points. They had studied Mensinger’s theories exhaustively in R.C.S., pushing themselves to the verge of nervous breakdowns trying to solve the theoretical problem modules posed by the instructors, temporal riddles more mystifying than ten koans. What would happen if..

But the one hypothetical situation that no one had anticipated was the one that faced them now. What would happen if two separate timelines in two parallel universes converged in a confluence point at the exact same space and time? How would the Theory of Temporal Inertia be affected? Where and how would the Fate Factor come into play? What definition would apply to the Principle of Temporal Uncertainty? Or. given such a situation, could it even be defined? And what about the potential for a timestream split? Would it occur here and now or…

No. not here and now. Delaney thought, but in the future Darkness came from. Here and now, where two timelines intersected, the immeasurable surge in temporal inertia would somehow affect the currents of both timestreams, inducing a profound rippling effect, like a timewave that would gradually swell into a tsunami as the centuries rolled by until, somewhere in the future, it broke and… and what? Ultimate entropy? An end to all of time? A disaster that would make all the prophecies of Nostradamus and the biblical Apocalypse seem like nothing more serious than a mild spring shower? He shuddered at the thought

“Finn? You okay?” said Scott.

Delaney snapped out of it. “Yeah yeah. I guess so.”

“For a moment there, you looked. as if the world was coming to an end.”

Delaney took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It is. Scott. Not only the world, but everything. And the Whole shebang hinges on one whacked-out scientist saying the right word at the right time. Then, for probably about one second, it’s going to be up to us.”

Scott moistened his lips and swallowed hard. “Nothing like a little pressure.” he said, with a weak smile.