“There are enough copies of me in the universe,” said Noxon, “and way past enough copies of you.”

“I can only agree,” said Ram Odin.

“So I think our best course of action,” said Noxon, “is to assume the mice are still alive, assume the flyer won’t return to liberate them, and get out of here so our future selves have time to get here and dig them up alive if the expendable hasn’t already done it.”

“And if the mice happen to be dead already?” asked Ram Odin.

“We’ll shed a gentle tear or two, and move on,” said Noxon. “It’ll only matter if it turns out we needed them. And if we really need them, we can always come back to the moment right after we buried them and flew away.”

“Which is another reason not to dig them up right now,” said Ram Odin.

“I really don’t want to know whether they’re still there,” said Noxon. “Because if they’re gone, it means our mission failed and we needed them to destroy the human race.”

“So we don’t wait for the flyer,” said Ram Odin.

“It’s time for us to get on with our mission,” said Noxon. He held out his hand. Ram Odin took it.

Noxon sliced rapidly forward in huge leaps, until he reached a time with human paths nearby. Then he sliced his way ahead until their original marker appeared. And beyond. And beyond. Until there were paths of people in airplanes flying overhead. Lots of them.

That was when they hiked their way out. Within a half hour, they were among tourists.

“Of course, we don’t have passports,” said Ram Odin.

“What’s a passport?” asked Noxon.

“Believe me, Noxon, up to now we’ve only been dealing with time-shifting, the laws of causality, computers that lie, and perfidious talking mice. Now we’ll be dealing with bureaucrats. This is when it gets complicated.”

Chapter 19: Council of War

CHAPTER 19

Council of War

The time-shifters and their friends gathered beside the stream where the Larfolders assembled to tell tales, to learn to walk, and to make decisions that required speech. Their intention was only to greet each other, as Olivenko returned to them from Odinfold, and Umbo, Loaf, and Leaky from Ramfold.

Inevitably, they gave an account of themselves. Loaf and Leaky had a baby to explain—though of course it was Umbo who did the explaining, because he had rescued Square before removing the future in which he had been born. That tale could not be told without a mention of the Rebel King, and of Captain Toad, the ugly soldier who was leading raids all over Stashiland.

“I don’t know if we should go to war,” said Param, “merely because it seems we’ve already done so.”