Конец вечности
The Earlier Crime
Whydoyoucryoutso?Areyougoingtocondemnme?
Youcannotknowwhatitmeanstoholdalittleatomofyourownlifeinyourarms.ImayhaveaComputaplexfornervesandspatio-temporalchartsforabloodstream,butIdoknow.
Iletitlive.Icommittedthatcrime,too.IputitinthechargeofanappropriateorganizationandreturnedwhenIcould(instricttemporalsequence,heldevenwithphysiotime)tomakenecessarypaymentsandtowatchtheboygrow.
Twoyearswentbythatway.Periodically,Icheckedtheboy’sLifePlot(Iwasusedtobreakingthatparticularrule,bynow)andwaspleasedtofindthattherewerenosignsofdeleteriouseffectsonthethen-currentRealityatprobabilitylevelsover0.0001.Theboylearnedtowalkandmispronouncedafewwords.Hewasnottaughttocallme"daddy."WhateverspeculationstheTimedpeopleofthechild-careinstitutionmighthavemadeconcerningmeIdon’tknow.Theytooktheirmoneyandsaidnothing.
Then,whenthetwoyearshadpassed,thenecessitiesofaChangethatincludedthe575thatonewingwasbroughtupbeforetheAllwhenCouncil.I,havingbeenlatelypromotedtoAssistantComputer,wasplacedincharge.ItwasthefirstChangeeverlefttomysolesupervision.
Iwasproud,ofcourse,butalsoapprehensive.MysonwasanintruderintheReality.Hecouldscarcelybeexpectedtohaveanalogues.Thoughtofhispassageintononexistencesaddenedme.
