Again the elder man sighed.
"I was afraid of this," he said. "I knew you could not understand." He hesitated. Then: "At any rate, take my word for it that time travel is possible. Also, I assure you that there are any number of perfectly sound theoretical and practical reasons why you never could hope to murder your grandparents."
The other brushed the words aside.
"What about Elaine? What's all this got to do with her?"
"Everything. You see, my boy, it is not possible for us to transport our material bodies across time. They cannot bridge the gap. They must remain in the period in which they are born—"
"But Elaine—"
Never had Mark seen the white-haired savant so solemn. His aged face was drawn with worry. Yet there was terrifying self-confidence in his words.
"Elaine," he said quietly, "at this moment is trapped in time!"
There was a moment of stunned silence, then. Mark's brain was spinning. He stared at Professor Duchard through narrowed eyes, half-convinced that the man was mad. And yet—