The ref paused to take a deep breath.
'Our attempts, so far, have failed. We were able to estimate the time of his arrival in this period and we tried to intercept him. We did not succeed. We also tried to prevent his capture of Richard and we failed there, as well. He has the odds in his favor. He also has a chronoplate. This makes our job extremely difficult. He has used his chronoplate to outmaneuver us at every turn.
'We can travel through time, obviously, but that's how things can get completely out of hand. I am not about to become involved in a leapfrog race through time with him. That's sheer insanity, to say nothing of the dangers it presents. There is simply no way we could prevail under such circumstances. He knows it and I know it. Therefore, we must confine ourselves to doing battle, as it were, within this time period. Irving has gone to a great deal of trouble to set up this scenario and he won't move ahead in time unless I force his hand. At this stage of the game, we are fighting a limited war. It's our only chance to preserve the timeline, to prevent the potential split.'
'Sir?'
'Yes, Mr. Johnson?'
'I realize that we're probably on a need-to-know basis here-'
'You are quite free to ask questions, Mr. Johnson. It's imperative for you men to thoroughly understand the situation within which you must function. What confuses you?'
'Well, we've all heard about adjustments before,' said Bobby. 'Nothing quite like this, but… What I'm trying to say here is that none of us really understands the process. You say this ref managed to stay ahead of you so far. What's to prevent you from using your plate to clock back and try to take him out again?'
'The mechanics of timeline preservation, Mr. Johnson. You see, I'm handicapped by the fact that I'm the one who's trying to preserve the timeline. Irving is the one who wants to change it. He wants to create that split. I'll attempt to explain it as simply as possible. The fact that we are here is the result of nothing less than an amazing piece of luck. We've been able to attempt this adjustment because Irving has not yet managed to take an action that would result in a timestream split. At this moment, the time from which we came is in a potential state of flux. You men are the third team to attempt this adjustment. The others have failed.'
He paused a moment to let that sink in. It meant that they were dead.
'Now, remember that I have the not inconsiderable task of preserving the timeline. Suppose, upon learning of the failure of the last team, I used my chronoplate to go back into the past and try again. That, in itself, would create a split, a parallel timeline. That must be avoided at all costs.'
'Sir?'
'Mr. Priest?'
'Hasn't this Irving character already changed the past, just by interfering with history?'
'Not yet. So far, there has been no paradox. The situation, as it stands, is as follows: Irving has clocked back into this period. So far, no paradox. He has not yet interfered with history. He has managed to intercept Richard on his way back to England. A potential paradox, but so far the timestream remains unaffected. My job is to keep it that way.'
'Good luck,' said Delaney.
'Yes, quite,' said the referee, dryly. 'I see you understand the situation, Mr. Delaney. However, let's make certain that we all understand it. The fact is, our fake Richard can kill the real one and take his place, even regain the throne of England as Richard Plantagenet. With all that, the timestream still remains unaffected. There is a Richard on the throne of England. It's not the real one, but that creates no paradox in and of itself. What would create a paradox is if Irving were to take some action that would significantly alter the course of history. Let's set up a hypothetical situation. Suppose we're out of the picture. Suppose, also, that Irving takes the place of Richard and acts in exactly the same manner as the real one did, according to our history… up to a point. Let's pick Chaluz for the purpose of this discussion. The real Richard the Lionhearted died at Chaluz. Knowing this, the fake Richard will obviously avoid that fate, probably by the very simple expedient of staying out of France. It's still possible that the inertia inherent in the timestream could work against him, but that's all highly theoretical and I wouldn't want to bet on that. So now, we have a paradox. The real Richard was killed at Chaluz in 1199, but Irving, as Richard, lives on. Suppose he remains king for a long time after that. Suppose John never ascends to the throne. Suppose the Magna Carta is never even written, much less signed. Now we're talking about major paradoxes, gentlemen.
'The past is absolute. Irving's past is absolute. His timeline-and ours-has Richard dying at Chaluz, John becoming king, etc. That cannot be changed, it already happened. The moment Irving takes an action that is significantly contrary to our history to create a paradox, he splits the timestream and creates a parallel timeline. And that means we've lost. If I clock back at a point beyond which he has done that, I'll only wind up splitting it again, creating yet another parallel timeline, which will only make things worse. I have only one course of action open to me and that is to proceed in a linear fashion through this mission. The first team failed. At the point I became aware of that, I sent ahead for another team. When that team failed, I put in a call for yet another team and you men arrived. Should you fail, I will try to get yet another team, providing that Irving has not yet split the timeline.
'You see, gentlemen, in a way it's very much like playing Russian roulette. All it takes is for that one possibility to arise in which I am not sent another team and Irving will have won. I have absolutely no idea what action he may take that would result in a change significant enough to create a parallel timeline. Nor do I know when he will take that action, when he will have the opportunity. It might even be happening right this very moment, in which case this is all a pointless exercise. In that event, I haven't the faintest idea what we would do. I don't even want to think about it.'
He paused again, observing the men. They were grimly silent, all save Delaney, who groaned and put his head in his hands.
'There is, of course, another possibility,' said the referee. 'Once Irving splits the timeline, it is theoretically possible to clock back to a point before that split occurs and attempt to prevent it from occurring. However, that raises some very unpleasant possibilities. Split timelines must eventually rejoin. The moment Irving succeeds in creating the split, its effects show up in the future. It isn't possible to prevent the future from happening, but it is possible to warp our history and hurt a great many people. A great many. The moment the split occurs, from the standpoint of the future, an entire separate timeline already exists, incorporating God only knows how many lives. To go back and prevent it means to destroy everyone within that separate timeline. That would be nothing less than the most massive genocide in the history of the human race,' said the referee, 'and there's no telling how that would affect the future. Allow me to illustrate with yet another hypothetical situation. Suppose I send for another team, unaware that by that time, Irving has already created the split. Suppose I am sent a team. It could happen. The people who clock back could very well be coming from a future already affected by the split, for better or for worse. If I were then to attempt to eradicate the parallel timeline by preventing the split in the first place, a.-I would be risking causing a split myself and, b.-the people coming from a future affected by that split might never even have existed had not the split occurred. I would then be threatening their history, not to say their very existence. Under such circumstances, I expect that they would do their level best to kill me. Perhaps those would even be their orders, regardless of the problems created by the split. They would want to preserve their status quo, no matter how chaotic it might be.'
'Christ,' whispered Hooker.
'Scary, isn't it?' said the referee.
'How are we supposed to stop it?' Hooker said.
'' I thought that was obvious,'' the ref said.
'We're a hit squad, son,' Delaney told Hooker. 'We're supposed to try and kill this Irving person.'
'The rather archaic phrase is 'terminate with extreme prejudice,' ' said the referee. 'Should you succeed in doing that, I will then become Richard the First and act accordingly, as per our history.' He grimaced. 'I would prefer not to have to die in France in another five years, but I have no choice. So you see, gentlemen, I may be sending you out on an extremely difficult assignment, but I don't think you'd want to trade places with me.'
'Sir?'
'Mr. Hooker?'
'Why only four of us, sir? Wouldn't we stand a better chance with more men?'
The ref smiled. 'A good question. Yes, perhaps. Frankly, I wish I could have had an army at my disposal. However, I am somewhat handicapped-as are you-by organizational paranoia. It has been decided that the optimal
