Sand Glass Read Online Free Page A

happening on a particular line of consequence until it has
worked its way out. You must work with it, not against it. Time is
a killer. But also a creator; rather things are being made and
destroyed all the time. But you just have the problem of sorting
out which events are part of your pattern and which aren’t… in
other words you’ve got exactly the same problem that you had before
you started messing with Time itself. Too many choices. And no way
of knowing which end up in the channel you want, that brings about
the outcome you want it to…’
    ‘So how are
these people on the board of the Project doing this?’ Marcia
asked.
    ‘They are
breaking the rules and storing up trouble for themselves for later…
I guess,’ Jules focused vaguely on her, ‘You are one hell of a
beautiful girl. I think that Jared ought to appreciate you just a
little more…. Give up being an insane idiot. He is still in a state
of uncertainty.’
    ‘What?’ I
said.
    ‘At the level
of uncertainty in physics…. The events from a fixed point in time.
But since we don’t know what that point is we will have to go with
nudging the time line in the direction we want it to go in..’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Take control
Milnes…. That is the issue. And I know what you are going to say
next…. “What about Janey?”’
    ‘I admit there
was a certain thought there…’ I said.
    ‘Look.’ said
Jules, ‘I’m pissed as a newt and still twenty times smarter than
the most intelligent person in the room. That’s what I got… sacked
for. Get it. And so whatever assistance I can render will be
forthcoming. But you need to be careful! And I mean really careful.
I don’t want to see this all end in tears. We must preserve the
time lines that we are existing in at the moment. You get that
don’t you?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘What about
Jared?’ Marcia said, ‘and our Janey?’
    ‘You want to
save them. So save them. But know that every action creates another
set of events that fall like dominoes outward from any point in
space-time. You are creating history Mr Milnes. And in Janey’s
Cloud Field, if you mess up, you will create more and more parallel
realities that line up like crackers in a box until something
snaps.’
    ‘Huh?’
    ‘I will not be
able to explain this to you properly, because you are not one of
the few real Physicists alive. But I can just say this; be Bloody
careful! I value my existence in this world and I don’t want it to
be erased.’
     
******
     
     
Two
    I had stayed
with Jules. Marcia left by taxi at about nine in the evening. We’d
talked and even laughed. Jules had kept drinking. I had one glass
just to keep him company. Marcia said that it wasn’t her poison and
stuck to endless cups of tea.
    Early morning
light in an unstructured bedroom. I cleared some space by the
simple process of putting laundry in the laundry hamper. Jules was
still asleep where I had left him covered with a thin summer
duvet.
    I was just
wondering if a hair of the dog would be appropriate, when the phone
rang. Being a bit slow at that time in the morning I answered
it.
    ‘Jules?’
    ‘No it’s
Davey.’
    ‘Oh. Well I’ll
be round in half an hour. Just tell him I called ok?’ Violette was
business like in a way that I hadn’t woken up to. She had rung off
before I had chance to respond.
    I looked round.
How to transform this into Jules awake and coherent in half an
hour? Easy.
    ‘Violette is on
her way! Jules! Do you hear me?’
    ‘Ok.’ He
burbled and turned over.
    ‘Tea. Strong.
Must make right now....’ I dashed downstairs. And quickly threw
everything into order.
    Jules was
nursing his second cup still in his shorts and tee shirt, when a
key turned in the front door.
    Dr Rhodes swept
in looking flustered. She went straight to Jules and embraced him
in a way that suggested things had moved forward since four days
ago.
    ‘I just found
out.’ She said.
    I turned to
leave the room.
    ‘I’d like
coffee please Davey,’ she