KENNETH CHECKED HIMSELF for signs of water remaining from the sterilization session. He bent around to consider his back, his butt and his shoes. He was as dry and as clean as could be.
He sat down on a chair opposite the couch where Hensen lounged, resting on one elbow, his feet poking over the edge. The leather gave way under Kenneth's weight until he felt himself half-swallowed by the chair. He pushed himself out of the seat, looking for a cushion that didn't try to ingest him.
To him, Hensen Var looked ridiculous.
Yet what was it he said?
The unexpected salvation the world desperately needs.
"I don't understand what you mean about wild card. Just because I'm not mentioned anywhere, or whatever?"
Hensen laughed, revealing a row of big, white teeth. "Perhaps it's understandable that you don't understand. You're not from this epoch." He paused. "Let me try to impress upon you just how fascinated we are with the time stream. Or, should I say, were. I'm using the past tense, for everything that we could have ever hoped to learn about the time stream has been learned-at least, up until the point where humanity disappears.
"For us, it wasn't difficult. We would send a historian out to wherever they needed to be. A few minutes later, they'd come back with a wealth of knowledge. We'd learn in very short order what it would have taken years upon years to learn otherwise.
"Imagine then, if this process continued over the course of centuries. Millennia, even. Every few minutes that passed, the Constabulary would have hundreds of years of knowledge ready to input into the computer. Now, we hardly even send out historians, save for university people who want to follow a line of inquiry for themselves. To make a long story short: we-or the computer anyway-know everything. I mean everything.
"The thing is-we don't know about you. How could this have happened, especially when the future historians of the 56th century were so fascinated with this era?
"I'll tell you the conclusion I've come to that makes the most sense: it's not because of any failure of research. No, it's more likely that your presence here constitutes a Zeta Disruption."
Unquill's eyes grew wide again. He stammered out a series of incoherent sounds before gaining control of himself. "You cannot mean...?"
Hensen Var nodded once. "The theory was proven by Kuronino, if you recall." He noticed Kenneth's confusion. "Small one, a Zeta Disruption is, to use the parlance of your era, a fly in the ointment-an element that doesn't belong where it's currently found. Normally, this might be used to describe all citizens of the time stream who are brought forward, or backward, as the case may be. Except we know about all the citizens of their respective time streams who have been displaced, however temporarily. All of them except you two, of course."
"But, you can't know everything if you didn't even know who Hinjo was-is going to be," Kenneth pointed out. He shifted in his chair, trying to get comfortable.
"The computer knew," Hensen said. He sat up on the couch. "And whoever researched that information knew, since they programmed that information into the computer's hard drive. That person probably died a long time ago.
"The policy at the Constabulary has always been to obtain information and let the council determine what course of action needs to be taken. In your case, the Constabulary took it upon themselves to determine their course of action. This happened because the computer no longer retrieved the desired information. Can you imagine it? Every scrap of information about everything that ever happened or ever will happen-inaccessible due to computer malfunction. A greater irony I cannot conceive."
Kenneth gulped. "So then...no one really knows what's going to happen next?"
Hensen smiled a malicious smile. "Oh yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. I can tell you some of the particulars, but where and when things might happen, I can't say. More importantly, I can't even tell you how this will all end. Will time run out for both of you? Will your task of saving the world be accomplished?
"You see, the Zeta Disruption redefines everything we know about temporal theory-the way we understand time. Normally, temporal theory tells us that everything that has happened will happen and continues to happen, just as it always has. This is not to say that all actions are pre-determined, merely that when we continue to observe a series of events in the time stream, it will always play out in the same way.
"In your case, small one, all of that was thrown out the window. You have the power to influence events in a way that future historians could not have predicted. So while I might say that Unquill here becomes Hinjo, you could put a stop to it if you wanted. You could, for instance, put a knife through Unquill's body. He would die, and everything would change."
Unquill spoke up. "But that would be..."
"That's a radical example, but I trust you know what I mean. Okay?" Hensen paused to ensure his words were not misunderstood.
"I didn't expect to find either of you here. I saw that Unquill was headed to the Council of Thirds, like always. I also saw, some time ago, that the impossible would happen-the sky track would deviate from its course and a skycraft would glide into a lightly-shielded area. I knew that, a day after this happened, that same skycraft would be towed out by a Soonseen ship, headed for the council.
"And at this very moment, I know that the tow ship is on its way. I just don't know if it will be successful in its mission. You all have the power to change that, if you want to."
"How did you manage to change the sky track's course?" Unquill asked.
Hensen Var grinned. The grin unsettled Kenneth. It exuded a mixture of arrogance and resignation. It was the grin of a man who knew everything and had surrendered all excitement in his jaded, cynical life.
"The Soonseen are not as unified as one might suspect. Very few citizens know this about them. They, like us, grew up as sentient beings who only thought of themselves before anything-or anyone-else. Technology may have increased over the centuries. Their empathy didn't.
"They fought wars with each other even while conquering and surpassing the speed of light. The Soonseen-at least those with whom we have made several peace and economic treaties-are but one nation among many of their people. There are others who have visited us and, for their own reasons, have kept their presence a secret.
"I have known about this for quite some time. Even before I assumed leadership of the Constabulary, I suspected that all the ships we see in the sky don't belong to the same Soonseen nations. As it happens, they-the Soonseen of the Kinnan Nation-came to the Constabulary one day, seeking a private audience with me. Can you imagine the irony of their surprise when they learned their secret, so closely guarded, had been discovered by a planet-bound human who did nothing more than observe the skies every morning? They had expected to surprise me, but life is very strange, even if you live outside of Earth's solar system."
"So what does this have to do with anything?"
Hensen, still grinning, said, "Patience, small one. I will arrive at my conclusion shortly.
"Like myself, these particular Soonseen had seen a future where humanity no longer existed. They came and offered me one benefit-they would fulfill any favor I might ask of them, no matter how ridiculous. This was their way of trying to help a race doomed by its own selfishness, as all intelligent life forms are doomed by their own selfishness.
"They came to me, of course, and not to the council, so I told them what I required-I needed the course of a sky track altered at a certain time. They agreed. They had no choice, bound as they were by their own promise.
"Of course, it's not quite as simple as that. There still remained the matter of creating a base where I could detain all of you. After all, diverting the course of a sky track wouldn't mean anything if the skycraft attached to it simply fell from the sky.
"Earth has had light-shielding technology for a good long while now. Scientists first worked with the idea in the 27th century. By the 29th century, practical application saw private aircraft flittering about all over the planet. By mutual agreement, several countries banned light-shielding technology for fear that a neighbor, in a moment of anger, might launch an invisible, unstoppable attack against a country that had angered it. Because of this, light-shielding became known as a lost technology. Not even the council knows about it."
"They know our location, if you spoke truly about a ship coming for us," Unquill said, his gaze steady and unwavering.
Hensen's lip curled slightly. "I have spoken truly, citizen Hester. Lying, as I'm sure you know, reveals one to be both a narcissist and a fool. When every action that every person ever took is known, truth cannot be avoided, no matter how ardent the wish to do so might be.
"They are coming for us. Time is short. As such, I believe I can anticipate your next question, can I not?"
Unquill did not answer.
Savannah said, "What question?"
"Transformation," Hensen Var said. "The re-arranging of biological matter to form a new being compared with what came before. The process should be impossible with human beings. After all, were you to scramble a person's brain in an attempt to re-make that individual, everything they had learned up until the transformation would be lost. They wouldn't even have basic motor function. A person like that would be a drooling vegetable, defecating at every opportunity. However, within the last ten years, a rather clever man in Jakarta overcame this barrier through the use of a chrysalis."
"A criss-a-what?" Savannah frowned at the word she had never heard before.
"You still have caterpillars in your time, don't you, small one?" Hensen Var leaned forward. Both Kenneth and Savannah leaned back, ever so slightly.
"The caterpillar, prior to its extinction, went through a process of transformation into a butterfly. Between its two forms-crawling insect and flying insect-it hibernated inside what's called a chrysalis. This was a cocoon the caterpillar lived inside while it changed. Afterward, the new creature retained a few of its characteristics while gaining new ones. It kept many of its legs while it grew wings. The process that Dr. Kifsky used wasn't so different.
"Of course, you must understand, citizen Hester, that in the process of making this discovery, Dr. Kifsky also stumbled upon a fact he didn't expect to find. Human beings can place themselves in a transformative state at will, if they so choose. Who knows what you might become when you do this? I certainly had no idea what the result might be. I knew from future history that I would transform, of course. But what would it feel like? Would I have the same thoughts afterward? I had to try it, for you see, I was bored." He straightened up.
"See, I had thought the same of you, Unquill, at first. Now I see I was wrong. You're not bored-at least, not yet. However, you will enter a stage of metamorphosis after which you will lose your ability to sustain yourself without the need to eat.
"This is the crux of the issue, isn't it? That you will become Hinjo Junta, the man who destroys the world?"
Unquill made no reply.
"The Soonseen will move on, of course, as they've always moved on, from planet to planet, watching each civilization self-destruct by mastering the forces of nature before mastering the self.
"Or...you won't change into Hinjo Junta."
Kenneth felt a headache developing.
He had been having difficulty following the conversation.
He understood well enough that he could change everything if he wanted to. What he didn't quite understand was how this might be possible if time travelers from the past had seen everything already. Wouldn't they have seen the changes he wrought at least?
Apparently not, at least from what he understood. "Things don't have to happen the way they've happened so far, do they?"
Hensen clapped his hands in delight. "Oh no, they certainly do not. Until your arrival, small one, everything was known. Now, nothing is known."
Hensen bent down again from his seat, staring at Kenneth with such intensity that the boy flinched. "Do you even realize how much power you have at your disposal?"
"Um, no, I really don't," Kenneth said, frowning and feeling rather self-conscious. "What makes me so special, anyway? Don't you always bring forward people from the past or whatever?"
"Remember my earlier comment, small one? About the fly in the ointment?"
"Yeah."
"Let me elaborate further. The Zeta Disruption is like someone who fights destiny and wins. It's like a ship out of harbor. For human beings to live this way, it's the rarest of events." He sat up again, coolly surveying Kenneth. "It's quite unfortunate that you only have eleven days remaining here. I should so much like to see how you would change the world if you stayed here permanently. I suspect, however, that our future historians will find whole new avenues of inquiry to pursue. You know, it is a very exciting time."
Kenneth gave up trying to understand. He pinched the bridge of nose with two fingers and shut his eyes. "Um, sure. I guess. Can we just get on with what we need to do?"
"I suspect so. The ship is already here."