TW01 The Ivanhoe Gambit NEW (3 page)

By now, it was clear that they had been selected for their skills and general physical characteristics.

With the sole exception of Finn Delaney, all of them were smaller than average. The physical size of a soldier had a great deal to do with his assignments. In the past, people were smaller and it wouldn't do to send a mess of six footers back into a time where they would stand out like sore thumbs. Most soldiers still wound up being somewhat larger than most people in the past, but within limits, this did not generally present a problem. Most soldiers were cannon fodder to begin with. History could not be changed, there was far too much risk involved. What modern soldiers could do on the Minus side was strictly defined within the parameters of what was known about their period.

Cosmetic surgery was not unusual in the army. Lucas had been a Sioux at the Little Big Horn. In order to allow him to properly play the part, they had changed his hair from blonde to black, enlarged his nose slightly and flattened out the planes of his face, as well as darkening the color of his normally fair skin with pigmentation treatments. When he rode out to do battle with Yellowhair, Lucas knew that history did not report that a particular Indian had killed him, so if he was presented with a clear shot at Custer, his course of action was entirely up to him. However, in battles that had been fairly well documented, a soldier's options were limited considerably. In such cases, they were always placed in relatively insignificant positions, historically speaking. They were, to all intents and purposes, expendable.

History was never especially strict about such things as body counts. Therefore, soldiers from Plus Time fought side-by-side with their ancient counterparts and, if they were killed, their cybernetic implants relayed that information to the observers in that time period. MIAs, soldiers sustaining injuries, all went into the tally that became the basis for the complex point spread that governed the arbitration proceedings of the referees.

Being a veteran of many cosmetic surgical procedures, Lucas knew that in this event the changes made were subtle ones, rather than a general, superficial alteration. They were being made to resemble specific individuals, people who were either known to history or to certain key people who would be involved with them during their mission. This would not be a simple case of infiltrating a few soldiers—insignificant pawns from the point of view of history—into a Roman legion. This would be a covert operation. He wondered what the mission was going to be. If the training had been so intensive, what did the mission itself hold in store for them?

They had not been coached to play the part of certain individuals, at least not consciously. There was, however, the implant programming. Much of that information was already at their beck and call, but it made sense that a great deal of it was filed under "need to know," to be brought forth at the proper time, probably the mission briefing, by a key word or a key phrase. It made Lucas very apprehensive.

Who were they supposed to be? When he found out, he almost wished that Hannibal had killed him back in Carthage.

It was the last day of their training. They were led into a small prefabricated building that had been, up to that moment, off limits to them. They were brought into a, room which contained nothing save several chairs, a table, a couple of army cots and four cryotanks, with all the attendant readout screens and servo-mechanisms. The two medical technicians paid them absolutely no attention as they entered and the referee, in turn, did not acknowledge the technicians' presence. The cryotanks were occupied by four men who looked exactly like them. Or, more to the point,
they
looked like the people in the cryotanks.

They sat down in the chairs and the ref perched on the edge of the table, leaning forward toward them, resting his hands upon his knees. He was the perfect picture of a kindly old professor. An old man with snow white hair, blue eyes, sunken cheeks and crow's feet. An old man who had total control over their lives.

"Gentlemen," he said, "in the year 1189, Richard the First, also known as Richard Plantagenet,
Coeur de Lion,
ascended to the throne of England. While he was off fighting in the Third Crusade, his brother, known as John Lackland, revolted against the justiciar, William Longchamp, and effectively took the place of the king. He thereupon embarked upon a series of intrigues to keep his brother from the throne. Richard had been captured and was held prisoner by the Duke of Austria. In time, the king was ransomed and he returned to England to pardon his brother, John, and to resume the throne. When Richard died at Chaluz in 1199, John finally realized his ambition and became the king of England.

"As king, John was, to put it mildly, something of a disaster. He warred on his nephew Arthur and eventually murdered him. He quarreled with Pope Innocent III, succeeded in getting England placed under an interdict in 1208, screwed up six ways from Sunday and generally bled the country dry to the extent that his own barons finally rebelled against him, forcing him to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede on June 15, 1215. That, in a nutshell, is the story. Except, as you have doubtless deduced by now, we have a problem.

"The year is 1194. Duke Leopold has delivered Richard to Emperor Henry VI, who has released him for ransom and Richard is supposed to be on his journey back to England. Supposed to be. Here's where things get a little sticky.

"To my everlasting sorrow and deep, professional embarrassment, a member of the referee corps has gone rogue. To be quite blunt, he's gone off the deep end and has decided to live out some sort of Walter Mitty fantasy. His name is Irving Goldblum and he has succeeded in kidnapping Richard of England a
second
time. It's entirely possible that he has even killed him. In fact, it's highly probable, but I don't know for certain. Needless to say, in so doing, he has endangered history. His intention is to take the place of Richard Plantagenet and become the king of England. Nothing quite like this has ever happened before. It's a frightening situation. A highly complex situation, to say the least.

"What we have on our hands at this moment is a threat to the continuity of the timestream. There could be a massive split, the effects of which are completely unpredictable. Fortunately, we became aware of Irving's demented plan before he clocked out to Minus Time. He has studied this period extensively via computer tapes and he has had cosmetic surgery. The necessary preparations he had to make alerted us. Unfortunately, he was able to clock out before we could stop him. We acted immediately to organize an adjustment, hoping we could pull it off before any anomalies began to show up. We, meaning myself and my support team here with me on this desolate piece of rock, have already undertaken several attempts to rectify the situation."

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."