There is no problem with changing the course of history – the course of history does not change because it all fits together like a jigsaw.

- Douglas Adams

„The Restaurant at the End of the Universe“

The air in the office today seemed thicker than usual. Only part of that was due to the weather outside. In front of Mr Tuniak, two books were lying on the desk. They were exactly alike, as far as I could tell. They were about early Cultures in the Polynesian Triangle. But for the moment Mr Tuniak ignored those books. He was staring at some point in front of him, a point only he could see.

„I tried to ignore my little midnight talk with Alice at first“, he said. „The idea of travelling through time and actively changing the course of history was something I had never considered before.“

„Because of the risks? Because of unforseeable consequences?“, I asked.

„No, it... simply didn't occur to me“, he said. „It would be as if someone would ask you why you used your car for driving instead of flying. That's how strange the idea seemed to me.“

„Really?“

Mr Tuniak shrugged. „I know it is difficult for you to imagine, I can understand that. But it was different for me. Maybe, because I had grown up travelling through time.“

„Even as a child you never ever tried something like... like writing a message on a wall and coming back several years later to check if it was still there?“

Mr Tuniak had to think for a bit before he answered. „One can argue that any time travel is automatically changing history. The simple fact for instance that I exchanged a few words with a Roman seer for instance, means that the seer talked to someone he wouldn't have talked to otherwise. But that's not really changing the course of history.“

„It isn't? Don't small changes eventually lead to bigger ones, like the proverbial butterfly who's beating his wings?“

„No, it doesn't work that way.“

The week after their midnight talk seemed to be like any other week before it. Alice and Alexander saw each other every day, which was unavoidable since they lived in the same house. But neither of them made any reference to what had happened that night. On the surface they both ignored the discussion they had had.

But in his head, especially before he went to sleep, when his thoughts were free and unburdened by anything else, Alexander thought about the question Alice had posed him at the end.

Exactly seven days had passed, when Alice once again was lying on the sofa in front of the fire place. She was alone and again music was coming from a speaker. As before the fire was the only source of light and heat in the room.

Alexander had gone to his room, but when he couldn't fall asleep, he returned to the sitting room. Everyone else in the villa was already sleeping.

Alexander looked silently at Alice. Her eyes were closed, so she hadn't noticed him when he entered. She only opened them, when he stopped the music.

„You cannot change history“, Alexander said, continuing their discussion as if they had never stopped it.

„Are you sure?“, Alice said back.

He sat down on the sofa next to her. „Imagine the whole of history, the flow of time, if you will, as one huge river“, he said. „Not only the history of mankind, the whole history of the universe. A time traveller would be like a little stone thrown from the banks.“

„A stone that creates waves when it hits the surface?“, Alice asked.

„Yes“, Alexander agreed. „At first, you will see the waves. But the further they spread, the smaller they become. Looking at the river from the opposite bank, you wouldn't be able to see them any more at all. And if you wait a few minutes, maybe even less, the river will have returned to the state it had been before.“

Alice frowned. „History would go back to its former state on its own?“

Alexander wanted to say „yes“ to this. He knew that, if he did, their discussion would be at an end and they would probably never return to it. But he also knew that he would be lying to her then. And he didn't want to lie.

„Pretty much“, he said instead, hoping that Alice would be satisfied with that.

But, predictably, she asked immediately: „What does that mean?“

„Time, or history, would take another... road to get to the same destination“, Alexander explained. „Juliette explained it to me once, but I didn't really pay much attention. It's got something to do with... well, any change in history uses up energy. But since there's not an infinite amount of energy in the universe, history will always take the path that needs the least of it.“

„Are you making this up?“, Alice asked skeptically.

„No“, Alexander answered. „As far as I understand it, that is the truth.“

For a time they were sitting quietly nex to each other, neither of them willing to break the silence. Finally, Alice said: „So you can change history.“

Alexander let out a deep sigh. That was not the reaction he had hoped for.

„We had several more talks like this one, most of them in the middle of the night“, Mr Tuniak said. „Alice wouldn't let her idea go and I resisted only half heartedly, because I too was fascinated by the possibilities. Fascinated and tempted. But it remained a theoretical discussion, because for me the risk of unforseeable consequences was too great. What if I had misunderstood the nature of time? What if small changes did lead to huge consequences?“

„Couldn't you have asked your mothers?“, I said. „Or Juliette?“

„No.“ Mr Tuniak was shaking his head. „They would have guessed the purpose behind my question immediately. And they would have stopped me. My mothers – and Juliette of course – always understood time travel a lot better than me.“

„So, what changed?“

„The Cold War will not end in a Third World War“, Bill announced proudly at breakfast. He and the other inhabitants of the Villa Atterton were sitting around the kitchen table, when he made this statement.

„We know“, Mowgli said with his mouth full and pointed at Alexander.

„Yes, but now I also have the scientific proof for that“, Bill explained. He put several papers on the table. Mowgli glanced at some of them, before he declared: „That can mean anything. The handwriting is atrocious.“

Petula was sitting next to him, the newest inhabitant. She looked at the papers as well and then said: „That's Cyrillic. Russian, if I'm not mistaken, but... Well, I can read the words, but I can't really make any sense out of it.“

„Those are Feodor's calculations“, Bill said.

„Feodor? Isn't that the Russian guy who brought you to Leviathan?“, Sarina asked.

„The very same“, Bill said. „He has calculated that the Third World War is extremely unlikely at the moment.“

„And why does he say that?“, Alexander asked.

„For several reasons“, Bill explained. „Economical, political, social... The simple truth is that at the moment no one would profit from it. Of course, that is no guarantee, but the probability that he is right is extremely high.“

„I'm sure the calculated that probability himself too“, Mowgli laughed.

„The others did not take Feodor's formulas seriously“, Mr Tuniak continued. „But I thought of them as a very useful tool to predict changes.“

„Do they really work?“, I asked.

„Not always“, Mr Tuniak admitted. „They are not as accurate or as precise as Feodor wants to believe. Not by a fairly large margin. And they can only predict general trends. Only very few things have to change to make their predictions completely wrong. It's simply impossible to predict history in advance, there are far too many factors involved.“

„But you still used the formula to plan your first change?“, I asked.

„Yes“, Mr Tuniak said. „I had selected a small island in the Pacific Ocean for the experiment. Few inhabitants, little contact to other islands and therefore a smaller margin of error.“

Alice had just returned to the villa from a day's work, when Alexander greeted her. A conspiratory smile was on his face and he gestured to her that she should follow him into his room. There he locked the door and said: „I did it.“

„You did what?“, Alice asked.

„I changed history“, Alexander said. „Just a small detail, just as a test. But it worked. The last couple of months I have spent on a little island in the Pacific about four-hundred years ago.“ Philip, he continued, had helped him disguise himself as a member from another island, so that he wouldn't attract too much attention. Philip had helped him and his mothers with their disguises for different time periods quite often, so it hadn't been an unusual request for Alexander to make.

„And what did you do?“, Alice asked.

Instead of an answer, Alexander gave her two books whose covers looked completely identical.

„This book I borrowed from Sarina before I travelled back and changed things“, he explained. „And this one I have borrowed from her just now. Take a look at page thirty-four.“

I looked at the two books in front of Mr Tuniak. He nodded in answer to my unspoken question. „Those are the two books“, he said. „They are nearly completely identical. There is exactly the same text on every page. With one exception.“

„Page thirty-four“, I said.

Mr Tuniak nodded again and gestured to me to open the books.

I have to admit that my hands were shaking a little bit as I turned the pages. The chapter, in which the change had taken place, was about the languages and dialects of the inhabitants of Polynesia. The text was exactly the same in both books with one difference: In the changed book there was a framed area with the title “Rongorongo”. Below it, the authors explained that none of the islanders had ever developed an alphabet for their languages. None of them, except one. The people of Easter Island. Shortly before European explorers had made contact with them, they had invented writing. Unfortunately it didn't last for long, because the foreign conquerors oppressed their culture and did everything they could to erase their language, which they considered heathen.

The unchanged book had nothing to say about Easter Island.

„You taught them how to write?“, I asked.

„Yes“, Mr Tuniak answered in a voice that made it clear that that was not one of his achievements he was proud of. „I spent several weeks on the island where I claimed that I was a member of a tribe from another island and that I had been shipwrecked. I didn't teach them how to write directly, but when I was sure that they were watching me, I wrote down stuff. In the sand, on the rocks, anywhere. They started to copy me and so they learned how to write.“

„You really did it!“, Alice cried incredulously. Until she had read the page, she hadn't really believed him.

„Yes, but as you can see, the change was erased very quickly once I had left“, Alexander explained. „We would have to chose very carefully, where...“

„We?“, Alice interrupted him.

„Of course. It was, after all, your idea“, Alexander said. „Why? Don't you want to?“

But Alice was laughing and without hesitation she said: „Of course, I want to. What shall we do first?“

NEXT WEEK:

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