I said: "Those pictures I saw were the snowball hitting our house. You want to start pushing the finger now—"
Groating nodded. "Our problem now is to sift the billions of factors stored in the Prog Building and discover which of them is that tiny snowball."
The controller, who had been silent in a state of wild suppression all the while, suddenly spoke up. "I tell you it's impossible, Mr. Groating. How can you dig the one significant factor out of all those billions?"
Groating said: "It will have to be done."
"But there's an easier way," the controller cried. "I've been suggesting it all along. Let's attempt the trial and error method. We instigate a series of changes at once and see whether or not the future line is shifted. Sooner or later we're bound to strike something."
"Impossible," Groating said. "You're suggesting the end of Stability. No civilization is worth saving if it must buy salvation at the price of its principles."
I said: "Sir, I'd like to make a suggestion."
They looked at me. The C-S nodded.
"It seems to me that you're both on the wrong track. You're searching for a factor from the present. You ought to start in the future."