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time flows, if he had not been immune.
But he did not see how Agleh could help him, generous as her offer was. He tried to explain the
problem: his will had to brace the Hourglass, and his will was giving out.
Her brow furrowed in concentration as he collapsed the Hourglass and put it away. ",emiT" she said.
".emit era yllaer uoY"
CHRONOS, he wrote again. IT IS AN OFFICE.
She glanced at him sidelong. "?nam lamron a era uoy nehT"
"Sey," he agreed wryly.
".drawkcab gnivil tuB"
"Sey."
She wrote again: BUT OUR WILLS ARE THE SAME.
He shrugged, not seeing the relevance.
LET MY WILL SUPPORT YOURS, she wrote.
Norton's mouth fell open. Was that possible?
They tried it. Norton relaxed his will, and when time wavered, Agleh concentrated on the objective. It
worked-but her will was only a fraction as effective as his. She could buttress him, but could not carry
the load alone. Still, that was a great help; it extended the period he could operate.
She touched him, putting her hand on his arm, but proximity did not seem to make a difference to the
Hourglass. She was doing all she could, simply by sharing his will.
But now they were standing close together. Agleh ran her tongue over her lip. "?ekil eb dluow ti tahw
rednow I"
Norton frowned. "What 'what' would be like? Satan's victory?"
A slight flush crossed her face. "-wonk uoy-namow a-nam A"
Norton figured it out. A woman-a man. Now it was his turn to blush. One moving in one direction in
time; the other, the other. Was it possible?
",rednow I" she repeated, licking her lips again.
She was a pretty woman, and though he had known her only briefly, he liked her and sincerely
appreciated her help. He wondered, too-what would sex be like in such conditions?
But then time wavered badly, the sand shifting back and forth in the Hourglass. Agleh's support had
tided him through almost an hour, but this thought was distracting!
",emit rehto emoS" Agleh said. She was as quick as he to realize that if her will could support his, it
could also detract from his.
"Some other time," Norton agreed ruefully. He found himself disappointed, but the flow of time did firm
again. He benefited from her support-to a degree.
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She backed away from him. Then she shrugged and came back. He half-spread his arms, concentrating
on the Hourglass so that time would not waver. She came into them with a kind of half-turning motion,
as if being reeled in, and slowly brought her face up to meet his. Gradually they kissed, and it was like
any other kiss: pleasant but not strange. They were in phase for this.
Time wavered. He concentrated to return the flow. Then he lifted his head and looked at her face for a
moment before releasing her. She opened her eyes and stepped away from him.
They had kissed, and it had been backward for at least one of them-and yet the same.
"?efil ruoy ni nemow rehto neeb evah erehT" she asked.
"Other women," he agreed. "But the one I loved-died."
",deiD" she repeated.
"I think she was-like you."
".uoy knahT"
"I-" he began, but hesitated. Then he used the paper to explain, though it took a while: that he not only
lived backward but didn't even belong in this period of time; that his normal existence was eight years in
her future; that in due course he would return to this present time but would have to hurdle it, so as not
to reduplicate himself. Thus this meeting of theirs was all there was or could be. If he encountered her in
his normal progress, they would be traveling in opposite directions. There was, literally, no future for
them.
But, she inquired alertly, what of his prior life, before he assumed the office of Chronos?
Norton did a quick reassessment. Eight years ago, in his original life, he had been thirty, in one of the
duller periods of employment. He had finally given up the mundane existence entirely, to hike the parks
and tell stories for his supper. But suppose he had met a woman such as this? Would he then not have
met Orlene?
And not have caused Orlene's death?
"Here is my address of that time," he said abruptly, writing it out on the paper. If such an encounter
turned out to be paradoxical, then it simply wouldn't occur; he didn't have to worry about that. "But I'm
younger then, and know nothing of my future as Chronos. Maybe it would be better not to tell me."
",dnatsrednu I" she agreed.
It was at that point he became fully aware of the futility of trying to have any continuing relationship
with a normal woman. He had run up against this with Orlene, but that had been a special case. Now he
realized it was not a special case; backward existence prevented any close relationship with any normal
person. This was the penalty he paid for his office. Clotho had known, and had provided him with an
alternate fulfillment. Clotho understood the problem of the Incarnations, who were human yet unhuman,
himself most of all. As another Incarnation, Clotho could handle it. But Agleh-
",rettel a uoy etirw ll'I" she said.
"A letter, yes," he agreed, surprised.
"?ti dnes I dluohs erehW"
"Where?" Norton pondered. "To Chronos, I suppose, in care of Purgatory." Did the mail service deliver
mail to Purgatory? It seemed to him that Thanatos had mentioned that it did, in the course of their last
conversation. He wrote the address out for her: CHRONOS, c/o PURGATORY. "But I can't be sure the
letter will reach me or that I'll be able to answer. And if it does reach me, I don't know when." Perhaps
two years before she wrote it? Reverse time had its pitfalls.
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Now it was close to six in the morning. He had come within striking time of his mission. Soon after 5
A.M...
A.M.-how significant each marker of that had become! A. for Ante, M. for Meridian-before the meridian
of noon. A convenient contraction. It had never seemed very important to him before.
But it was time for him to orient on the conclusion of his mission. He had avoided the questing demons-
yet how could he reach the right capsule at the key moment without alerting them? They would be
clustering close, and though, as an Incarnation, he was theoretically immune to molestation by Hell's
minions, he wasn't sure they couldn't balk him on this. After all, he was the one trying to change reality
or to unchange it. The advantage probably lay with the present status quo. ",pleh ll'I" Agleh volunteered.
Involve her with the minions of Satan? Norton didn't like that. NO. DANGEROUS, he wrote. WHAT IF
SATAN WINS? she wrote back. She had him there. "Hell on Earth," he muttered. ",htraE no lleH" she
repeated. And, on paper: CAN YOU DO IT ALONE?
Norton considered. Probably he would have to wait till the last moment, then charge in and hope that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]