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didn t suppose Wallis ordered cruci-fixions.
Sir, he said with much care, I suggest we avoid argument till we ve made the terms of our thinking
clear to each other. That may take a lot of effort. Meanwhile we can better discuss practical matters.
Right, right, Wallis rumbled. You re a brain, Havig. A man of action, too, though maybe within limits.
But I ll be frank, brains are what we need most at this stage, especially if they have scientific training,
realistic philosophies. He waved the cigar. Take that haul today from Jerusalem. Typical! The
Brabanter and the Greek we can probably train up to be useful fighting men, scouts, auxiliaries on time
expeditions, that sort of thing. But the rest-- He clicked his tongue. I don t know. Maybe, at most,
ferrymen, fetching stuff from the past. And I can only hope the woman'll be a breeder.
What? Havig started half out of his chair. It leaped inside him. We can have children?
With each other, yes. In the course of a hundred years we ve proved that. Wallis guffawed. Not with
non-travelers, no, not ever. We ve proved that even oftener. How d you like a nice little servant girl to
warm your bed tonight, hm? Or we have slaves, taken on raids--and don t go moralistic on me. Their
gangs would ve done the same to us, and if we didn t bring prisoners back here and tame them, rather
than cut their throats, they and their brats would go on making trouble along our borders. His mood had
reverted to serious. Quite a shortage of traveler women here, as you d expect, and not all of them
willing or able to become mothers. But those who do--The kids are ordinary, Havig. The gift is not
inherited.
Considering the hypothesis he had made (how far ago on his multiply twisted world line?), the younger
man was unsur-prised. If two such sets of chromosomes could interact to make a life, it must be because
the resonances (?) which otherwise barred fertility were canceled out.
Well, then, no use trying to breed a race from ourselves, Wallis continued wistfully. Oh, we do give
our kids educa-tions, preference, leadership jobs when they re grown. I have to allow that, it being one
thing which helps keep my agents loyal to me. But frankly, confidentially, I m often hard put to find
handsome-looking posts where somebody s get can do no harm. Because the parents are time travelers,
it doesn t follow they re not chuckle-heads fit only to bring forth more chuckle-heads. No, we re a kind
of aristocracy in these parts, I won t deny, but we can t keep it hereditary for very long. I wouldn t want
that anyway.
Havig asked softly: What do you want, sir?
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Wallis put aside his cigar and drink, as if his next words re-quired the piety of folded hands on the desk
before him. To restore civilization. Why else did God make our kind?
But--in the future--I ve glimpsed--
The Maurai Federation? Fury flushed the wide counte-nance. A fist thudded down. How much of it
have you seen? Damn little, right? I ve explored that epoch, Havig. You ll be taken to learn for yourself. I
tell you, they re a bunch of Kanaka-white-nigger-Chink-Jap mongrels who ll come to power--are
starting to come to power while we sit here--for no other reason than that they were less hard-hit. They ll
work, and fight, and bribe, and connive to dominate the world, only so they can put bridle and saddle on
the human race in general, the white race in particular, and stop progress forever. You ll see! You ll see!
He leaned back, breathed hard, swallowed his whiskey, and stated: Well, they won t succeed. For
three-four centuries, yes, I m afraid men will have to bear their yoke. But afterward--That s what the
Eyrie is for, Havig. To prepare an afterward.
I was born in1853, upstate New York, the Sachem re-lated. My father was a poor storekeeper and
a strict Baptist. My mother--that s her picture. He indicated the gentle, in-effectual face upon the wall,
and for an instant a tenderness broke through. I was the last of seven children who lived. So Father
hadn t a lot of time or energy to spare for me, espe-cially since the oldest boy was his favorite. Well, that
taught me at an early age how to look out for myself and keep my mouth shut. Industry and thrift, too. I
went to Pittsburgh when I was officially 17, knowing by then how much of the future was there. My older
self had worked closer with me than I gather yours did. But then, I always knew I had a destiny.
How did you make your fortune, sir? Havig inquired. He was interested as well as diplomatic.
Well, my older self joined the Forty-niners in California. He didn t try for more than a good stake, just
enough to invest for a proper profit in sutlering when he skipped on to the War Be-tween the States.
Next he had me run over his time track, and when I came back to Pittsburgh the rest was easy. You
can t call em land speculations when you know what s due to happen, right? I sold short at the proper
point in 73, and after the panic was in a position to buy up distressed property that would be-come
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