Times Without Number Read Online Free PDF Page A

inquisitor. He resisted the

temptation to fidget in his chair.

At last the grunting voice came again, like a saw rasping into fresh

oak-planks.

"You're Navarro, are you?"

"I am, sir," said Don Miguel, finding that his mouth was dry. Having

reviewed his actions many times during the past few days, he was convinced

he had acted correctly according to the strict rules of the Society. Yet

there still remained the nagging possibility that the General Officers

might put a different interpretation on the facts . . .

"And this bauble in front of me is the thing that all the fuss is about,

I suppose? Hah!" The Prince leaned forward and stretched out his thick

fingers, that sprouted coarse black hair along their backs. His touch

on the mask was almost a caress. Plainly, he liked it -- or he liked

the fine gold of which it was made.

At last he sat back and shot a keen glance in the direction of the prisoners

before turning to the cowled and shadowed line of General Officers.

"This is for you, I think, Father Ramón," he said.

Don Miguel watched to see which of the hitherto anonymous officers

would reply. He had never met, but he had heard over and over since

childhoood about, Father Ramón the Jesuit, the master-theoretician of

the Society and the greatest living expert on the nature of time and

the philosophical implications of travelling through it.

"I have inspected the object," said the figure on the Prince's immediate

right in a dry, precise voice. "It is of Aztec workmanship and Mexican

gold -- of that there is no doubt at all. And it has not been licensed

by the Society for importation."

Don Miguel felt a surge of relief. At least he had been correct on that

score, then.

"The consequences of this temporal contraband cannot as yet be fully

assessed," the Jesuit continued. "We are attempting to establish the

mask's provenance to within a few years -- its condition is so good, we

should have little difficulty in assigning it to at least its city of

origin and perhaps even to one particular workshop in that city. Once

we've identified it we must then proceed to investigate the effects of

its removal. If we find none, we are faced with a serious dilemma."

"How so?" demanded the Prince, leaning back and twisting a little sideways

in his chair.

"Imprimis," said Father Ramón, and thrust forward a thin finger from out

of darkness to lay it on the table, "we shall have to determine whether we

have in fact replaced it where it came from. And if we have replaced it,

then we shall have to establish the time at which it was replaced, and the

circumstances. And secundo, we shall have to determine -- if it has not

been replaced -- whether we have in fact a case of history being changed."

Shorn of much of its complexity by this cleanly logic, the problem

nonetheless struck Don Miguel as terrifying.

"You mean" -- it startled him to find that he was speaking, but since all

present were turning towards him, he ploughed on -- "you mean, Father,

that we may find its disappearance incorporated in our new history as

an accomplished fact, with no record of the history which the theft

has altered?"

The faceless head gazed at him. "Your presumption," said the Jesuit

coldly, and hesitated, so that Don Miguel had a little while in which

to wonder in what sense he was using the word presumption, "is correct."

Don Miguel murmured a barely audible word of thanks and resolved to hold

his tongue until next spoken to.

"May we leave the technical aspects of this in the hands of your staff,

then, Father?" the Prince inquired.

"I think for the moment that will be the wisest course. Immediately I have

further information, I will relay it to the Council for a decision."

"Good!" The Prince seemed very pleased at abandoning that portion of the

discussion, and turned at once to another which appeared to interest him

more. "We come now to the associated problems which have been entailed

by this affair. To begin