Nightside 05 - Paths Not Taken

there'd be three of us until a while ago."
    "Oh, I'm always expecting everyone, my boy," said Time. "Especially Kings in waiting, female bounty hunters, and dated dandies." He sniffed loudly at Tommy. "I really don't approve of you, you know. Time is complicated enough without people like you messing it about. No, no, don't bother to justify yourself. You're going with Taylor anyway. He's going to need you."
    "I am?" I said.
    "And he'll need you, too, my dear," Time said to Suzie. "Your presence is approved, because it is necessary. You will redeem him."
    "She will?" I said.
    "Follow me," said Old Father Time, and he set off down the steel corridor at a brisk pace. We had to hurry to keep up.
    "What do you know about what's going to happen?" I said.
    "Never enough to do any good," said Time, not looking around.
    The steel corridor seemed to stretch away forever. The gleaming walls showed us blurred distortions of ourselves, but Time's image was always sharp and distinct. And only his feet made any sound on the metal floor.
    "What was all that business with the changing images on the elevator walls?" Suzie said abruptly.
    "Possible futures, variant timetracks," Time said airily. "I should never have given the elevator semi-sentience. It gets bored, and sometimes cranky. It's harmless. Mostly. And don't worry about the images; they don't mean anything. Usually."
    "Talk to me about possible futures," I said. "How real are they? How definite? How can you tell... the likely ones?"
    "You can't," said Time. "They're all equally real, and therefore equally possible." He was still striding along, not looking back. "However... That isn't as true as it used to be. There don't seem to be as many futures as there once were. As though one particular future is becoming increasingly probable. More and more powerful, replacing all the others. As though ... events are conspiring to narrow us down to the one future. Which is fascinating, if a trifle worrying."
    "Only a trifle worrying?" said Tommy.
    "Oh, these things usually sort themselves out," Time said vaguely. "Except for when they don't."
    We were suddenly walking through a forest of large, slowly turning metal pieces. Shapes and cogs and wheels working together as we walked through and between them. It was like moving inside the mechanism of a giant clock. A slow loud ticking came from everywhere at once, and every distinct sound had something of eternity in it. Old Father Time looked back briefly.
    "Whatever you're seeing, it probably isn't really there. It's only your mind interpreting something so complex as to be beyond your comprehension. Your mind supplies you with familiar symbols to help you make sense of your surroundings."
    "I've always liked Disneyland," said Tommy.
    "So," said Time, carefully ignoring Tommy's comment, "you want to go back into the Past, do you? All the way back to the creation of the Nightside. An ambitious plan, if somewhat lacking in self-preservation."
    "How do you know where we want to go?" Suzie said sharply.
    "Because it's my business to know things like that."
    "If you really are the living incarnation of Time itself," I said carefully, "do you know the truth about the Past? About everything that's happened? Do you know what's going to happen when we go back to the beginnings of the Nightside?"
    "I only know what I'm allowed to know, to do my job," said Time. He still didn't look round, but his voice sounded sad, resigned.
    "Allowed?" said Tommy. "Allowed by who?"
    "Good question," said Old Father Time. "If you should happen to find out, do let me know. Assuming you come back from this trip, of course."
    "What?" said Suzie.
    Time stopped abruptly, and we almost ran into him. He looked us over with his cold, crafty gaze. "Pay attention; this is important. Where you're going is much further back than most people go. And it is a very unstable moment in time, centred around a unique happening. I can send you there, but once you arrive you'll be beyond my reach. You'll be beyond anyone's reach. To put it bluntly, you'll have to find your own way back. I won't be able to help you. Knowing this, do you still wish to proceed?"
    Suzie and Tommy and I looked at each other. I felt like the floor had been pulled out from under my feet. It had never occurred to me that this might be a one-way ticket.
    'This changes things," said Suzie.
    "Damn right," said Tommy. "No offence, old thing, but this isn't what I signed on for."
    "I'm going," I said. "With or