""That explains it"-Andre said. "We encountered Churchill while we were with the Malakand field force, but only Lucas knew who he was. Or rather, what he would become. Neither Finn nor I knew he would become prime minister of Great Britain, because there was nothing about him in our subknowledge or in the mission programming. Lucas couldn’t understand it. An omission like that seemed inconceivable, but then he realized that he didn’t know about Churchill through his subknowledge either. He remembered reading about him."
"Hegave his life to save Churchill’s," Finn said.
"Yes, I know,"said Darkness."I’m sorry. "
"Wethought the incongruity had something to do with Churchill being the focus of a disruption, but that wasn’t it. It was sabotage. Christ, it’s all starting to fit together now. They must have discovered a confluence in Plus Time. Either that, or used the confluence back here to get someone through and clock ahead to the 27th century. They infiltrated someone into the archives section with instructions to delete all programming having to do with certain key historical individuals-targeted individuals. But they didn’t count on history books. Only a small group of dedicated scholars and anti-quarians read books anymore. Everyone else uses information retrieval systems. They couldn’t have known one of the commandos sent back on the adjustment was a history fanatic. Lucas was a collector of old history books, specializing in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. "
"There’s an anomaly right there," "said Andre. "It’s one example of how their timeline differs from ours. Their Lucas Priest can’t be an historian, otherwise he would have suspected that ours might be."
""Their Lucas Priest""" said Darkness.
"An identical twin from the alternate timeline," said Delaney."It’sscary. He’s the one in command of their advance force."
"Incredible," said Darkness. "The Fate Factor never ceases to amaze me. But you realize what all this means. The strike against the Tirah Expeditionary Force is only part of their overall plan. They’re out to create a massive historical disruption in the hope that it will force the two timelines apart and eliminate the confluence effect that endangers them both. What they don’t realize is that there’s every possibility a time stream split could only make matters worse by com-pounding the problem. It could result in three timelines experiencing a confluence effect. In fact, I believe the odds favor that possibility. Once such an effect was under way, it could be impossible to stop it. We’d wind up with four timelines, then five, then six, leading to God only knows what. However, since they apparently don’t know that, they’re out to create a timestream split, and this scenario offers them an outstanding opportunity. Defeat of the Tirah Expeditionary Force could end British control of the frontier and drastically alter the picture in this part of the world. And assassinating Winston Churchill in the same scenario would not only further disrupt history in this time period, but it would disrupt it in the early 20th century as well. It could lead to not one, but two timestream splits."
"That’swhy they sabotaged the archives," Finn said in a low voice."Theydidn’t want an adjustment team to know that Churchill was a key historical figure and concentrate on covering him. We left him on the march to Chakdarra. Christ, he’s wide open."
"AndPriest and some of his men are gone," said Andre.
"There’snot a moment to lose," said Darkness. -You must find Churchill. I’ll help you if I can, but I need to keep track of their movements against the British Expeditionary Force, as well as maintain a watch on the confluence point. I need to recuperate, and besides, I can only be in two places at the same time."
"We’ll find Churchill, Doc. You’ve got enough on your hands."
"Here, take this," said Darkness, handing Finn the disruptor. -Between that and the laser, you should have adequate f irepower. Don’t hesitate to use it."
"Count on it."
"Good luck."
"Andgood luck to you, Doctor," said Andre. They programmed their warp discs and clocked out.
"Somethin’s gone wrong,"" Learoyd said." "They haven’t come out.""
"I knew we shouldn’t ‘ave left ‘em," said Mulvaney. -Bloody green subaltern’s goin’ to get ‘imself killed for sure."
"We’ve got to go back,"" said Learoyd.
" "Go back"" "said Ortheris. ""Are you out o’ your mind"""
Learoyd turned on him angrily. "Whatthe hell do you want to do, Stanley" Leave them there" Fine! You can turn tail and tuck it up between your legs while you’re about it! Go back to Peshawar and warn the troops. I suppose someone’s got to do it. But I’m not walkin’ out on Finn and Andre, no sir, not Chris Learoyd! I’m not one to leave friends in a lurch. You with me, Mulvaney""
"Inever was much for sneakin’ about an’ keeping me ‘ead down," said Mulvaney. "I say we go back an’ give those sods what for!"
"Well, if we’re goin’ to kill ourselves, we might as well do it together, — said Ortheris. "You’re right, mate, we can’t just leave ‘em. What’s the plan then""
" They’ll never expect us to return, that’s for certain," Learoyd said."Thatshould work in our favor. We sneak back in the same way we got out, posin’ as Ghazis. Mulvaney, fix your puggaree. I can see your red hair stickin’ out."
Mulvaney adjusted his turban.
""Right. Let’s go.""
Walking boldly and purposefully, they headed back toward the temple. They passed the sentries without any trouble and went up the stone stairs into the columned entryway. They were greeted by several tribesmen in-side, and Learoyd replied in Pushtu, keeping his answers brief and guttural for fear of betraying an accent. They were almost to the far end of the main chamber when a voice cried out, echoing in the stone hall,"On your knees! On your knees before the Light of Islarn!"
They turned around and saw a man standing in the center of the chamber, flanked by four guards. He was tall and muscular, dressed entirely in black with loose-fitting trousers, a flowing, long-sleeved shirt, high black boots, and a vest intricately embroidered in gold. He wore a black turban fastened with a giant ruby clasp. The tribesmen in the chamber immediately dropped to all fours, pressing their heads to the floor. The three soldiers did likewise.
"Where the devil did they come from"" whispered Ortheris. "They weren’t behind us, were they""
"Did you hear what he said"" Learoyd whispered. "The Light of Islam. That’s none other than Sayyid Akbar himself."
"Nowthat’s what I call a stroke o’ luck," Mulvaney said."Wecan shoot the blighter where ‘e stands an’ end this jehad once an’ for all."
"Don’tbe a fool," Learoyd hissed."Andkeep your damn voice down! You’ll give us away."
Drakov ignored the kneeling tribesmen and walked quickly across the chamber, heading for the innermost part of the temple with his guard accompanying him.
"Let’sfollow them," Learoyd whispered, "butnot too close. Watch yourselves."
They followed Drakov and his guards down the long corridor which ran to the left of the giant obsidian statue of Kali. Drakov’s guards stopped outside one of the chambers and took up posts by the entrance while Drakov went inside.
"Wecan’t pass this up," Mulvaney whispered as they approached. "There’s only four of ‘em. We can slit their throats with these ‘ere knives an’ then do in that miserable fakir. We might never get another chance, Chris. "