Where do we send the aliens?”
“To none of them,” I said. “We send them somewhere else instead. I checked with Coypu and he says it is possible and he is muttering over the equations now.”
“Where? Tell us!” Inskipp ordered.
“Why, we use time travel. We send them through time.”
“Into the past?” He was puzzled.
“No, that wouldn’t work. They would just be hanging around waiting for the human race to develop so they could wipe us out. So the past is no good. We send them into the future.”
“You’re mad, diGriz. What does that accomplish?”
“Look, we send them a hundred years into the future. And while they are en route we have all the best scientific minds of the galaxy working on ways to knock them off. We have a hundred years to do it in. We develop something and, a hundred years from now, our people are waiting for them when they appear and they take care of the menace once and for all.”
“Wonderful!” Angelina said. “My husband is a genius. Set up the machine and send them into the future.”
“IT IS FORBIDDEN,” a deep voice said from above.
The shocked silence that followed this unexpected announcement continued for a heartbeat or two, then was interrupted drastically when Inskipp whipped out his gun and began shooting holes in the ceiling.
“Secret meeting! Top security! Why don’t we go on TV with this session—it would be more private!”
He foamed as he spoke and shrugged off the aged admirals who tried to stop him. I vaulted the table and disarmed him, numbing him a bit in the process so he dropped, glassy-eyed, into his chair where he muttered to himself.
“Who said that?” I called out.
“I did,” a man said, appearing suddenly in midair, accompanied by a sharp popping sound. He dropped the short distance to the table, then jumped neatly to the floor.
“It beith I who spake, noble sirs. I hite Ga Binetto.”
He was something interesting to look at, dressed in baggy velvet clothes with high boots, a big hat with a curly feather, curly mustachios too which he twirled with his free hand. The other hand rested on the pommel of his sword. Since Inskipp was still muttering I would have to talk to him.
“We don’t care how tall you are—what’s your name?”
“Name? Namen—verily. I am named Ga Binetto.”
“What gives you the right to come barging into a secret meeting like this?”
“Forsooth, there be no secrets hidden from ye Temporal Constabulary.”
“The Time Police?” This was something new. “Time travelers from the past?” This was beginning to confuse even me.
“Ods bodkins, varlet, nay! Why thinkest thou that?”
“I thinkest that because that outfit and language haven’t been around for maybe thirty-two thousand years.”
He flashed me a dirty look and made some quick adjustments on some knobs on the pommel of his sword.
“Don’t be so damn superior,” Ga Binetto snapped. “You try hopping from time to time and learning all the disgusting languages and dialects. Then you wouldn’t be so quick to…”
“Can we get back to business,” I broke in. “You’re the Time Police, but not from the past. So—let me guess— the future maybe? Just nod your head, that’s right. So that’s straight. Now tell us why we can’t shoot those aliens through a couple of hundred years of time?”
“Because it is forbidden.”
“You said that before. Now, how about some reasons.”
“I don’t have to give you any.” He leered coldly. “We could have sent an H-bomb through instead of me, so how about shutting up and listening.”
“He is correct,” one of the senile admirals quavered. “Welcome to our time, illustrious time traveler. Give us your instructions, if you please.”
“That’s more like it. Respect where respect is due, if you don’t mind. All you are permitted to know is that it is the job of the Time Police to police time. We see to it that paradoxes do not occur, that major misuses of time travel, such as your proposed plan, do not happen. The very fabric of time and probability would be strained by the event should it occur. It is forbidden.”
There was a gloomy silence following this news, during which time I thought furiously. “Tell me, Ga Binetto,” I said. “Are you human or an alien in disguise?”
“I’m as human as you,” he said angrily. “Maybe even more so.”
“That’s good. Then if you are a human from the future the aliens never wiped out all the human beings in the galaxy as they plan. Right?”
“Right.”
“Then how do we win the war?”
“The war is won by…” He clamped his mouth shut and turned bright red. “That information is time-classified and I cannot tell you. Figure it out for yourself.”
“Don’t palm us off with that chromo-crap,” Inskipp growled, deep in his throat, recovered at last, “You say stop the only plan that can save the human race. Sure I say, we’ll stop it—if you tell us what else we can do. Or we go ahead as planned.”
“It is forbidden to tell.”
“Can’t you at least hint?” I suggested.
He thought about that for a moment, then smiled. I did not like the look of that smile. “The solution should be obvious to one of your intelligence, diGriz. It’s all in the mind.”
He hopped into the air, clicked his heels together—and disappeared.
“What did he mean by that?” Inskipp said, scowling with concentration.
What did he mean? It was a clue directed at me so I should be able to solve the riddle. The first part was there to misdirect me I was sure, the bit about my intelligence.
Incuba was looking dreamily into space, thinking deep moral thoughts no doubt. I was beginning to think she was pretty dumb. But not Angelina. That lovely brow was furrowed with thought, for her mind was as highpowered as her body. She narrowed her eyes, concentrating—then suddenly widened them. Then smiled. When she caught me looking at her the smile broadened, and she winked. I raised my eyebrows, in an unspoken question and she nodded back, ever so slightly.
If I were reading the signs correctly all of this nonverbal communication indicated that she had solved the riddle. Having seen recently what real male chauvinist swine were, I was beginning to abandon my claim to that role. If Angelina had the answer I would humbly and with gratitude accept it from her. I leaned closer.
“If you know—tell us,” I said. “Credit where credit is due.”
“You are maturing as the years pass, aren’t you, darling!” She blew me a quick kiss, then raised her voice. “Gentlemen. The answer is obvious.”
“Well, not to me,” Inskipp said.
“It’s all in the mind, that’s what he said. Which can mean mind control…”
“The gray men!” I shouted. “The Kekkonshiki brain kinkers!”
“I still don’t see…”
“Because you see only a physical battle, Inskipp old warrior,” I said. “What that time traveling twit was hinting at was an end to the war completely.”
“How?”
“By getting the aliens to change their minds. By having them learn to love human beings so they can turn their
