by Simon Hawke
"What are the other possibilities""
"Theoretically it could also result in three timelines experiencing points of confluence with an exponential increase in the instability factor. Then the same thing would begin all over again, only you’d have three timelines trying to achieve stability by merging into one. And in order to prevent that, you’d have to increase the instability again to a point where it would overwhelm the compensating influence of the Fate Factor, and you could wind up with yet another timestream split, resulting in four timelines, and so on ad infinitum. You’d be trapped in a situation where you’d have passed a point of no return and the only way to make it better, for the short term, would be to keep on making it worse. "
"Jesus. Where would it all end""
"You’ve got me. What’s the absolute opposite of entropy""
"I don’t know. WhaW’
"I don’t know either. Could be the Big Bang all over again."
"So what the hell do we do"
"Dr. Darkness does not, alas, know everything," the scientist said, sighing heavily. "I must admit to a certain morbid fascination with all this. What an incredible opportunity for research. This could enable us to quantify
Zen physics. We could be in a position to actually observe-"
"Doc!""
"What" Oh, sorry. You must forgive my enthusiasm. occupational hazard. I’ll try to keep a lid on it."
"So what’s the answer""
"What’s the question""
"Whatdo we do we about this mess""
"Stall."
"What do you mean, stall" How""
"Well, since no clear-cut solution seems to present itself, the most we can do under the circumstances is to maintain the status quo as long as possible," said Darkness. "The people from the alternate timeline are obviously attempting to hit us with a massive temporal first strike, trying to cause a significant historical disruption that might lead to a timestream split in our own timeline. We must not only prevent that, we must strike back at them in the same way. They interfere with our history, we interfere with theirs; each of us tries to adjust for the disruptions and maintain the instability as long as possible while trying to preserve a reasonable amount of temporal integrity on both sides."
Phoenix stared at him, slackjawed. "Are you serious"
"I’m very serious. It doesn’t solve the problem, admittedly, but it might keep it from getting worse. And it does have the added benefit of giving everyone a com-mon enemy. No more temporal conflicts between nations. Everyone will be too busy fighting against the other timeline. It could have considerable domestic advantages. Now we’ll really have a Time War on our hands."
"And just how long do we keep this up"" said Phoenix.
Darkness shrugged.
"Christ. I think I need another drink."
Chapter 9
They were taken to a large chamber in the temple and locked inside. The massive wooden door was thick, bolted, and reinforced with iron. There were no windows in the chamber, but light filtered in from the top of a short flight of stairs. There were two large, thick pillars in the center of the room, supporting the ceiling. The walls were mortared stone. Learoyd, Ortheris, and Mulvaney had already been brought there, but they were still unconscious. Gunga Din climbed the flight of stairs, and a moment later they heard him call out. They followed him up the stairs.
The stairs ended on a parapet built out of the side of a mountain cliff. Below them was an abyss, a sheer drop to the bottom of the Khyber Pass.
"It’s a long way down," said Finn.
"Looks like we’re stuck," said Andre.
"Sahib Finn, how we come here" Who are these people" "
I don’t know how to tell you, Din," said Finn.
"Theyare demons!"
"No, Din, they’re not demons. Just … powerful fakirs."He shrugged. How else could he explain it"
"Theywill kill us, yes"" Din said.
"Idon’t know."
— Soldier sahibs dead."
"No, they’re not dead, Din. Drugged. They’ll be waking up before too long."
"Thisplace … Kali worship," Din said. "These men serve Kali. Thugee. Kill us all."
— We’re not dead yet. Go keep an eye on Mulvaney and the others. They should be coming ‘round soon. "
Shaking his head in despair, Din shuffled back down the stairs.
"Finn, look!" said Andre.
She pointed down into the pass. Far below them two men appeared out of the mist, rising up toward them rapidly on jet-paks. They entered the temple through another chamber cut into the side of the cliff below them.
"That’show they’re getting through, — said Finn. "Thebridge between the timelines must be down there. "
"Whatabout the British troops stationed in the pass"" said Andre."Whatabout the forts""
— Undoubtedly taken over," Finn said. "Someof those tribesmen we saw in the main chamber were wearing khakis and turbans with red swatches of cloth in them. Khyber Rifles. These people have taken advantage of the jehad to get all the tribesmen on their side. The Ghazis must think they’re gods or something."
— Finn, that’s it!" said Andre, grabbing him by the arm. -According to history, Sadullah promised the tribes they’d defeat the British on the Night of the Long Knives, when the gates of Paradise would open and a great heavenly host would come forth to help them drive out the infidels." She pointed down into the pass. "That’swhere they’ll be coming through. They’ll fight on the side of the Ghazis, and the British won’t stand a chance."
"It makes sense," said Finn. "While Blood was putting down the uprising in the Malakand, the Mad Mullah escaped and joined Sayyid Akbar in the Khyber Pass. They overran Landi Kotal and burned every fort in their path. Akbar demanded the withdrawal of all British forces. To stop him, the British sent the Tirah Expeditionary Force under General Sir William, Lockhart. Their objective was to defeat Akbar and then strike at the tribes in the Tirah Valley. That crushed the revolt. "
"Only with the soldiers from the other timeline fighting with the Ghazis, it won’t happen that way," Andre said. "That’s what he meant by a first strike. We thought Churchill was the focus of the disruption. It was never Churchill. It was the entire Tirah Expeditionary Force!-
"If they destroyed the expeditionary force," said Finn, "there’d be nothing stopping the Ghazis from sweeping down into Peshawar. The British control of
the frontier would be eliminated, leaving the way open for the Russians to come in. And the Russians have already been negotiating with Abdur Rahman in Kabul.
It would completely alter history in this part of the world."
"We’vegot to stop them somehow."
"I’m open to suggestions," Finn said. "We’ve had our warp discs taken from us, and even if we do figure out a way to escape, we have to make sure Mulvaney, Ortheris, and Learoyd get out with us. We can’t just leave them here."
"What if there’s no other choice""
Finn grimaced. "Right now we don’t have any choices. Unless we can learn to fly, I don’t know how we’re going to get out of here. And we’re running out of time. "
"We have to find the point of confluence, — said Darkness, pacing back and forth across his laboratory. "My instruments can only detect energy fluctuations in the timestream. They were never designed to pinpoint inertial surge. I might be able to find it if I’m on the scene. "
"Then get me back to Earth in Plus Time," Phoenix said. -Somebody has to let them know what’s going on. I can alert the TIA and the Referee Corps."
"No, you leave that to me," said Darkness. "The confluence must be located first. The best thing for you to do is concentrate on Drakov. "
"We have a problem there," said Phoenix. "There really was a tribal leader named Sayyid Akbar. Knowing Drakov as I do, he probably killed the real one and took his place. That means we need him. Sayyid Akbar was a key figure in the scenario. His revolt in the Khyber was what caused the British to launch the Tirah Expeditionary Force
. Without him-"
"Wait,"said Darkness. "What about this expeditionary force""
"They put down Akbar’s revolt in the Khyber and then pursued a punitive campaign against the tribesmen in the Tirah Valley, — Phoenix said. "It ended the uprising and-wait a minute! If the Tirah Expeditionary Force had been defeated, it could have ended British control of the frontier. It would have given the Russians a foothold. Control of the frontier would give them ac-cess to India. It could lead to a war."
"Anda timestream split," said Darkness. "That’s the connection. The Khyber Pass."
"And Akbar-or Drakov-controls the Khyber Pass. "
"The confluence must be there," said Darkness. "It has to be, everything points to it. Our timing must be precise. We must allow Drakov and Sadullah to join forces and begin their Night of the Long Knives. We cannot act until the British have launched the Tirah expedition."
"Whatabout Drakov"" Phoenix said. "When he finds out I’ve escaped, he’ll know his cover’s blown."
"Then they’ll be prepared," said Darkness, "but they can’t stop now. Too much rides on their plan. They’re committed. "
"There’s still an adjustment team back there somewhere. "
"The last place they were was at the Malakand fort. I tried to home in on Priest’s symbiotracer, and as I said, only found his grave. The regiment had already departed for Chakdarra. I couldn’t manifest because there were several other soldiers present. They were on their way to Peshawar with dispatches."
"Noneof the dispatches from the Malakand have been getting through," said Phoenix. "Drakov’s tribesmen have been intercepting them."
"Theycould easily have teleported if they ran into trouble," Darkness said."Butwe’re overlooking something. Your agents are all unaccounted for, except for the two with you who were killed. I knew there was something I was forgetting! If all three of them were taken out, it suggests the possibility that our friends from the alternate timeline have a means of tracing warp discs. Probably by scanning for them in the same manner Search and Retrieve units conduct their sweeps."
"Whichmeans they could have taken out the adjustment team," said Phoenix.
— Perhaps not. Drakov was going to turn you over for interrogation. An adjustment team would clearly be more valuable to them alive than dead, for the same may have taken your agents prisoner, as reason. They as well. ‘
"Assuming they’re alive," said Phoenix, "what are the chances they’re still in our timeline" "
"Impossible to say." said Darkness. "If there are soldiers from the alternate timeline active in that area, they must have a base of operations somewhere. I’d guess it would be close to the confluence, which narrows the area down to the vicinity of the Khyber Pass. I’ll conduct a search. Meanwhile, do you think you could infiltrate Drakov’s forces without being recognized""
"No problem, long as I don’t get close enough to Drakov so he can get a good look at me. He’s got thousands of men. I’ll just blend in with the crowd as an Afridi."
Good. Here’s the plan then. I’ll take you back there, then tach to Plus Time and warn Director Vargas. Then I’ll try to find the confluence point and the enemy base of operations. I’ll simply search the entire area of the Khyber Pass at light speed. I’ll give you a replacement warp disc and a molecular disruptor. Try to get close to Drakov without being spotted."
"And the moment they make their m* ove, I hit him," Phoenix said
""Exactly."
""Okay, what are we waiting for" Let’s go.""
Mulvaney groaned and rolled over. "Where in the bloomin’ blazes are we""
"Sahib Firin!" cried Din.
"I’m coming, Din," Delaney said. Andre followed him down the stairs, back into the tomblike chamber.
"A fine bloody state of affairs this is," said Learoyd, sitting up slowly. "How did we get here" Wherever ‘here’ is."
"We’re being held prisoner in an old temple high above the Khyber Pass," said Finn.
"The Khyber"" said Learoyd. "Have we been out so long then""
"Look ‘ere, sir," Mulvaney said to Finn, "what’s appened to us" What’s goin’ on ‘ere""
"We’vefallen into the hands of enemy soldiers," Finn said. "Soldiers who are using the tribesmen for their own purposes."
"What’s their aim"" said Learoyd.
— Apparently they’re out to undermine our control of the frontier," Delaney said. He had to improvise. He tried to think how much he could get away with telling them.
"Thatone officer was American," Learoyd said. "It makes no damn sense. Why would the Americans do such a thing""
"Some of them might be Americans," said Delaney, "but I don’t believe it’s an American unit. They weren’t wearing American uniforms. They seem to be a mixed bunch. Soldiers of fortune, perhaps."
"The Russians," said Learoyd. "That must be it. They’re in the pay of the Russians."
"I shouldn’t be surprised," said Finn. "However, knowing that won’t help us much right now."
"What do they intend to do with us"" Ortheris said.
"I don’t know," said Finn. "Question us, most likely. Find out about troop strength and the like, I should imagine."
"Well, we’ve got to figure some way out of here," Learoyd said. "Where do those stairs back there lead""
"To a parapet overlooking the Khyber Pass," said Finn. "Forget it. There’s no way down. And the door’s too heavy for us to break through." -
"We’ll have to try and jump them when they come for us," Learoyd said. "There’s nothin’ else for it. We haven’t anythin’ to lose." I doubt they’ll give us a chance," said Finn. "They know what they’re doing."
"Well, we can’t just sit ‘ere!" said Mulvaney. "We’ve got to do something! C’rnon, mates, we’ve been in tougher scrapes than this!"
‘, The best thing we can do is bide our time and wait fo r an opportunity, — Delaney said, worried that the headstrong Mulvaney might do something foolish. "I’m in command here, and I won’t have any man throwing his life away trying to be a hero. Getting ourselves killed won’t solve anything."
"He’sright, you know," Learoyd said. "We’ve got to keep our heads cool. Lieutenant, you say there’s no way down off that balcony. Might there be a way up""
Delaney shook his head. "We’d have to stand on each other’s shoulders to reach the rocks above, and we’d never make it without climbing gear. It would be suicide. "
"Itcould be worth a try," Learoyd said. "If one of us could make it-"
"Isay we give it a go!" Mulvaney said.
"What do you say, Lieutenant"" said Learoyd. "What have we got to lose""
"Aman’s life," Delaney said.
Learoyd shrugged. "That’s not so very much, now is it" Let’s have a look."
Theywent up the stairs and stood out on the wind-swept parapet high above the pass. Learoyd looked up. "Lord, 1 see what you mean," he said. "We would in-deed have to stand on one another’s shoulders for one of us to reach that overhangin’ rock up there, and then there’s no tellin’ what’s beyond."
Mulvaney spat into his hands and rubbed them together. "Well, who’s first then""
"Ithink I’ll have to go," Learoyd said. "I’m the lightest."
""Sahib," "said Din. "Let me. I am smallest, no" Din good climber."
" You’re sure you want to try it, Din""" Learoyd said.
"‘E is the lightest, — Ortheris said, "and I ain’t much good with me sore arm."
"All right, Din," said Finn. "Be careful."
"Up you go, Lieutenant," said Mulvaney. He braced himself and Finn climbed up on his shoulders. Ortheris stood beside Mulvaney to brace him and Andre took the other side as they started to form a human pyramid. Finn stood up on Mulvaney’s shoulders, only too aware of the yawning abyss beneath them.
"All right, Learoyd, you’re next," said Finn.
Learoyd carefully climbed up, balancing himself on Mulvaney’s shoulder and Ortheris’s good shoulder. Slowly he stood up and placed an arm around
Delaney for support.
"Don’t look down," said Finn.
Learoyd, of course, looked down at the drop below them, and quickly shut his eyes. "On second thought, perhaps this wasn’t such a very good idea," he said.
"You all right"" said Finn.
Learoyd swallowed hard and nodded. "Right. Next man."
"Come on, Din," said Finn.
Carefully Din climbed up Mulvaney’s back, holding onto the Private’s burly shoulders for support.
"Come on, old son," Learoyd said, holding out his hand, — you’ll make it."
Slowly, ever so slowly, so as not to upset their precarious balance, Din stood up and Ortheris groaned, gritting his teeth from the pain as Din put his weight on his bad shoulder.
"Forgive me, Sahib!-
"Nevermind that," said Ortheris, — just get on up there!"
Carefully, Din climbed up to the next level of the pyramid, putting one foot on Delaney’s knee. Transferring his weight slowly, he moved to sit astride Delaney’s shoulders.
"Can you reach it, Din"" said Learoyd.
Din looked up and swallowed hard. "Must stand, Sahib. "
"Allright, then, stand. But slowly, mind!"
Moving as slowly as he could, Din placed his knees on Learoyd and Delaney’s shoulders. He could see, directly below him, the dizzying drop to the bottom. The wind whipped at them and the human pyramid swayed slightly.
"Hold on there, Stanley, damn your eyes!" Learoyd shouted.
"It’s me shoulder, Chris. It’s killin’ me."
"I’ll bloody well kill you if you move again! You so much as twitch and I’ll have your guts for garters!"
Muttering a prayer to himself, Din slowly stood up as Learoyd and Delaney held onto his ankles to give him some support. He didn’t dare look down. The rock outcropping was directly above him. If he stretched his arms out, he could reach it.
Behind them there was the sound of the heavy bolt be-ing drawn back and then the massive door opening. Men ran into the room. Gritting his teeth, Din pushed off Learoyd and Delaney’s shoulders and jumped.
"You! Get down from-"