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

‘Put simply, a dislocation in time. A failure of cause and effect to match up. In practical terms, Princess Veaa was transported to Node Six and, presumably, hidden there. Later a crack in time appeared; all events leading up to a certain point – in the city of Umbul – were wiped away. Normally this would lead to the body still being back in Chronopolis, never having been removed. Instead the effect of the now-nonexistent cause remains: the body remains where it was hidden.’

‘But with the trail leading to it eradicated,’ Rolce put in.

Prince Vro nodded his understanding. ‘All this would have seemed incredible only a short while ago. Now it seems commonplace.’

Mayar murmured in agreement. The attacks from the Hegemony had intensified. Not only were whole continents undergoing existential deformation but the empire now seemed riddled with cause-and-effect cracks, some of them large enough to present enormous administrative difficulties. Sometimes it seemed to Mayar, from his unique standpoint, that the structure of time was about to come crashing down like a shattered vase.

‘It’s like magic,’ Vro said wonderingly. ‘She’s been spirited away with no one doing it.’

‘That’s what it amounts to, Your Highness,’ Rolce said stiffly.

‘Well.’ Vro’s voice became brisker. ‘What can you do to find her?’

‘The temporal discontinuity has been mapped, Your Highness.’ Mayar produced a thick scroll and opened it, laying it on the table. It was so large that it covered the whole surface.

Vro stared perplexed at the chart, written in the esoteric Chronotic symbolism used by the Achronal Archives. Mayar explained that the vertical grid bars referred to time-units, though whether to minutes, days or months he did not say. He pointed out the jagged, wandering line that staggered through the neat layout like an earthquake crack.

‘Here is the path taken by the discontinuity. Now, the issue revolves around Rolce’s information that the body was secretly taken aboard the chronliner Queen of Time. Later this gilt-edged information was contradicted by the direct observation – and this has been verified by agents equipped with orthophases – that the body was not taken aboard. This anomaly suggests that time had mutated in a nonuniform way, leaving traces in the environment of both versions of history. Typical of a causal hiatus. The body is neither in Chronopolis, nor was it removed from Chronopolis. The perfect dilemma.

‘Now what became of the princess during the first version? There are six stops where the Queen of Time could have off-loaded the body, presuming it was not discharged into the strat in transit. We reason that the body must have been taken off the ship before the hiatus occurred, otherwise it would still be here in Chronopolis and indeed might still be resting in the mausoleum; there would be no anomaly. On the other hand, it had probably been offboard for only a short time when the hiatus occurred. Transition from one resting place to another would seem to offer the most likely circumstance for the dislocation of the cause-and-effect relationship.’

Mayar paused to catch his breath. This argument had been worked out between himself and Rolce, and it had cost them considerable mental effort.

‘Now look again at this discontinuity line,’ he resumed. ‘We find that it answers our deductions in every respect. It comes very close to intersecting the point in space and time when the chronliner was due to arrive at Umbul, Node Six. To be precise, it intersects Node Six just five hours after the Queen of Time docked.’

‘Umbul,’ breathed Vro. ‘The Holy City.’

‘We conclude that Umbul is where the princess was taken, and probably is where she still lies.’

‘Archivist Mayar has even pinpointed the streets and buildings through which the discontinuity passed,’ Rolce informed in a dry voice. ‘It sounds incredible. Nothing, an investigator’s void, and then, suddenly, clues begin again. The trail starts out of thin air.’

The prince rounded on him. ‘You believe you can take up the trail again – in Umbul? You can find my beloved Veaa using your normal methods?’

‘If our conclusions are correct, Your Highness, I feel every confidence.’

‘Then you and I will both depart for Node Six, Rolce. I will order my private yacht to be readied tonight. Go, prepare yourself. Your instruments, your gadgets, whatever you will need. Can you manage it alone? Or do you need your agents?’

The detective shifted his feet. ‘One or two men, perhaps.’

‘Whatever you need. Go, now. Return as soon as you can.’

With a bow the detective departed. Prince Vro flung himself into a chair and lounged there, relaxed. For the first time in many months his manner was almost cheerful.

‘Well, Archivist, I hear your establishment has been moved into the strat. A wise measure, perhaps.’

‘It was deemed so, Your Highness.’

‘And so how does it feel to visit the world of we mortals?’