[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
February 1957
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
"We're in a hell of a jam, Brek," the Councillor said. "If Sagginer
isn't stopped, he'll change history. The situation's desperate."
Time Patrolman Brek Halliday nodded in agreement. It _was_ a tense
situation. Time travel, he knew, was possible only so long as the
traveller into the past did nothing that would change history
significantly; the time-stream itself would straighten out little
changes in the past so that overall history would remain the same.
But a big change was something else again. If you stick your finger in
a river, there are a few ripples around it, but the flow of the river
remains the same. If you build a dam, though....
"_When_ is he?" Brek asked. "Do we know?"
"Fortunately, yes. He forced one of our operators to use one of the
chronokinetic projectors, and then kidnapped her and took her with him.
But he didn't know that the power drain was measurable and had been
recorded on the meters. We know how much energy he used, so we know how
far into the past he went. We've got him pinpointed in the area of the
old United States, somewhere between 1880 and 1895."
"Who was the girl he kidnapped?" Brek asked.