[We can't go on talking like this, Ralph-he's already in the air, less than a hundred miles from here. Soon it will be too late to stop him. That made Ralph feel frantic, but he held his place just the same.
Frantic, after all, was how they wanted him to feel. How they wanted both of them to feel.
["I'm telling you that none of that matters until I understand what the stakes are. I won't let it matter."] Clotho: [Listen, then.
Every now and again a man or woman comes along whose life will affect not just those about him or her, or even all those who live in the Short-Time world, but those on mani, levels above and below, the Short-Time world-These people are the Great Ones, and their lives always serve the Purpose. If they are taken too soon, everything changes. The scales cease to balance. Can you imagine, for instance, how different the world might be today if Hitler had drowned in the bathtub as a child? You may believe the world would be better for that, but I can tell you that the world would not exist at all If it had happened. Suppose Winston Churchill had died of foodpoisoning before he ever became Prime Minister? Suppose Augustus Caesar had been born dead, strangled on his own umbilical cord? Yet the person we want you to save is of far greater importance than any of these.] ["Dammit, Lois and I already saved this kid once!
Didn't that close the books, return him to the Purpose?"] Lachesis, patiently: [Yes, but he is not safe from Ed Deepneau, because Deepneau has no designation in either Random or Purpose.
Of all the people on earth, only Deepneau can harm him before his time comes. If Deepneau fails, the boy will be safe again-he will pass his time quietly until his moment comes and he steps upon the stage to play his brief but crucially important part.] ["One life means so much, then?" Lachesis: [Yes. If the child dies, the Tower of all existence will fall, and the consequences of such a fall are beyond -your comprehension.
And beyond ours, as well.] Ralph stared down at his shoes for a moment. His head seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. There was an irony here, one he was able to grasp easily in spite of his weariness.
Atropos had apparently set Ed in motion by inflaming some sort of Messiah complex which might have been pre-existing... a by-product of his undesignated status, perhaps. What Ed didn't see-and would never believe if told-was that Atropos and his bosses on the upper levels intended to use him not to save the Messiah but to kill him.
He looked up again into the anxious faces of the two little bald doctors.
["Okay, I don't know how I'm supposed to stop Ed, but I'll give it a shot.
Clotho and Lachesis looked at each other and smiled identical (and very human) broad smiles of relief. Ralph raised a cautioning finger.
["Wait. You haven't heard all of it."] Their smiles faded.
"I want something back from you. One life. I'll trade the life of your four-year-old boy for-"] Lois didn't hear the end of that; his voice dropped below the range of audibility for a moment, but when she saw first Clotho and then Lachesis begin shaking their heads, her heart sank.
Lachesis: [I understand your distress, and yes, Atropos can certainly do as he threatens. Yet you must surely comprehend that this one life is hardly as important as-Ralph: ["But I think it is, don't you see? I think it is. What you two guys need to get through your heads is that to me, both lives are equally-"] She lost him again, but had no problem hearing Clotho; in the depth of his distress he was almost wailing.
[But this is different! This boy's life is different.] Now she heard Ralph clearly, speaking (if speech was what it was) with a fearless, relentless logic that made Lois think of her father.
["All lives are different. All of them matter or none matters.
That's only my short-sighted, Short-Time view, of course, but I guess -you boys are stuck with it, since I'm the one with the hammer.
The bottom line, Is this: I'll trade you, even-up. The life of yours for the life of loise. All 'You have to do is promise, and the deal's on."] Lachesis: [Ralph, please." Please understand that we really must not!] There was a long moment of silence. When Ralph spoke,