The Aunt Paradox (Reeves & Worcester Steampunk Mysteries) Read Online Free

sherry in sight!
    “How do you mean?” asked HG.
    “I was contemplating Babbage’s cat, sir.”
    I, along with the inhabitants of East Dulwich, braced ourselves for another dire warning from the brain of C. Babbage esquire.
    “The thought experiment?” said HG.
    “Indeed, sir. You may remember Mr Babbage placed his cat in a box to demonstrate the uncertainty principle. It is not until the observer opens the box that the uncertainty is resolved and one knows whether the cat is alive or dead.”
    “You think the timeline may be subject to the uncertainty principle?” said HG.
    “I think it possible, sir. If Mrs Dean’s intention, the moment she stepped out of the time machine with her younger self, was to return that younger self to her correct time period after a short visit, then the state of the new timeline would be uncertain. Many potential timelines would co-exist until the uncertainty was resolved. Perhaps by the younger Mrs Dean being returned to her correct time, or by the older Mrs Dean deciding to extend her younger self’s stay.”
    “Far be it from me, Reeves, to poke holes in all things Babbage, but I think I could tell if a cat was dead or alive without recourse to opening the box. They mewl so, and if you gave the box a slight shake—”
    Reeves coughed. “The box is a notional one, sir. As is the cat. It is but a thought experiment.”
    “He’d never get an aunt in a box,” I continued. “Aunts do not go quietly. I expect the timeline thought much the same. Henry VIII — we can manage him. Twenty-nine Aunt Charlottes — no thank you. We’ll leave them alone.”
    “Indeed, sir. If I may continue?”
    “By all means, Reeves. I’m waiting to hear about Babbage’s dog.”
    “I fear we may soon have proof of my proposition, sir. Mrs Dean has no intention of returning the money and jewellery that she is bringing with her from the past. All of it will be spent in the present on dresses and accessories for the ball. Therefore, there is no uncertainty, and nothing to prevent the timeline from changing instantly.”
    “It may have already started,” said HG. “She would have switched the machine off every time she jumped to a new time. Have you noticed anything, Reeves?”
    “Not as yet, sir. One hopes she commenced her travels in the distant past and made her subsequent stops in times progressively closer to the present. In which case she would have noticed her family’s diminishing fortune and cut her itinerary short.”
    “I think I heard her say the opposite,” said HG. “She told one of her alter egos it would create less suspicion if she always travelled into the past. That way Charles couldn’t get alarmed about her borrowing as, for him, it would always be the first time she’d asked.”
    One had to feel a sneaking regard for Aunt Charlotte.
    The wall in front of me shimmered slightly. I blinked. “I say,” I said. “Did you see that? I could have sworn there was a painting on that wall.”
    Reeves followed my gaze. “I believe there was, sir. A rather fine Stubbs.” He scanned the rest of the room. “And the crystal and gold chandelier is now what I believe people call a light fitting.”
    “You’re right! Why isn’t anyone else noticing? Look there goes another painting! The large one on the chimney-breast.”
    “I think I remember the chandelier and the Grimshaw over the fire,” said HG. “But ... a Stubbs you say? I don’t recall Aunt Charlotte ever having a Stubbs. There’s no mark on the wall to show a painting used to hang there.”
    “I think, sir — returning to Mr Worcester’s question — a more germane inquiry would be ‘how are you remembering?’ From the little I have observed, human memories have always changed along with the timeline.”
    “Superior grey cells, do you think?”
    “No, sir. Though there is something that differentiates Mr Wells and yourself from his maternal relative.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Alcoholic fortification, sir.