Barrington Bayley SF Gateway Omnibus: The Soul of the Robot, The Knights of the Limits, The Fall of Chronopolis

‘That’s right: a war which left the Earth desolate. In point of fact this was established in orthogonal time well before time-travel was introduced at what you call, I believe, Node Six. But do you not see what this means? During that war mankind was wiped out. History came to an end at that point until, by some random movement in the strat, there was a historical mutation that led to the invention of time-travel. The future Earth was then colonised by migrants from the past. Thus it transpires that time-travel is the instrument of mankind’s survival.’

‘So? All this is recognised. Time-travel came as a gift from God, to redeem mankind from its own destruction. That is the entire basis of the true faith and the justification for the Chronotic Empire. You have told me nothing new.’

‘Except that we do not regard the invention of time-travel as an act of God, but never mind about that. Do you not see the implications? The annihilation of mankind took place before the Chronotic Empire had begun to establish itself throughout time. The course of history was quite different then. The migration to the future took place when the empire began to expand – and more particularly when the Church of San Hevatar established itself as the one true church. Do you now see what I am getting at?’

Haight merely frowned, but the truth struck Aton forcibly. ‘You are refugees!’

Ortok Cray nodded. ‘We, or rather our ancestors, were religious dissidents who were driven out of the empire in the early days. We established ourselves here, beyond the empire’s reach – at that time. Hence our proud independence and our dislike of your Church.’

‘None of this explains your impudent forays into our territory,’ complained Haight broodingly. ‘If you wished to be left alone, why did you draw our attention to you?’

‘Because the empire’s hold on the structure of history is increasing,’ Ortok Cray reminded him. ‘We have every reason to fear the Historical Office. If nothing is done now, then in about fifty years’ time the Hegemony will disappear from history.’

‘How do you know that?’ Aton said, puzzled, and ignoring his lack of entitlement to join in the discussion.

‘Time is not static,’ pointed out the Hegemonic minister. ‘The nodes proceed forward at a steady rate, overtaking events that are already established in the future. If the node contains some Chronotic mutation or has been altered in some way, then events ahead of it will also change as it approaches. And this means that the Chronotic Empire, even while maintaining its fixed rear at the Stop Barrier, will continue to grow into the future – quite apart from further conquests by timeships. At the moment the events leading to the disastrous war that wiped out mankind are still intact. But Node Seven is already encroaching on them and eventually will overtake them. The Historical Office, naturally, will want to delete this war. There will be no general destruction, no Century of Waste.’

‘A change we should all applaud, surely,’ Aton commented. ‘To annul such a terrible happening does not seem at all bad.’

‘We want the war to be fixed in time for ever.’

They were all taken aback by the ferocity of the minister’s words.

‘If there is no war,’ Ortok Cray continued quietly, ‘if the Earth is not depopulated, then the disciples of the Risen Christos can have found nowhere to settle themselves on fleeing the persecutions of your Church – or, at best, can only have been absorbed into a more friendly population, whatever that population might be. The future will have a new, completely different history. The Hegemony will never have come into existence at all.’

Commander Haight came to his feet and paced the lounge, frowning. ‘Once time-travel becomes an established fact of life such temporal upheavals become inevitable,’ he commented. ‘Only the continued existence of the empire is absolutely guaranteed. Yes, I can see that you have good cause to fear us.’

‘We do not agree that the continued existence of the empire is a certainty,’ Wirith Freeling snapped. ‘The empire is contingent, like all other things existing in time. That time-travel cannot vanish, once having been invented, is true, no doubt, but not the empire. Time-travel came before the empire.’

‘The two are indissolubly linked.’

‘Let us not argue theology,’ Ortok Cray put in. ‘You have your religion, we have ours. We believe we can destroy your empire, even though we destroy ourselves in doing so. These are our demands: the Chronotic Empire must limit itself in time and must not intrude into the period containing the annihilatory war. You have a thousand years, be content with that. Let Node Seven continue without you, do not extend your authority beyond its current generation.’

Haight stopped short and looked at the two Hegemonics with controlled fury. ‘Do you expect His Chronotic Majesty to agree to terms like that?’