"All's fair—" said Barry Ford.
"—In love and war," finished his brother Louis.
"Is that what this is?" demanded Ackerman.
"By and large," agreed Barry. "You've just witnessed the destruction of a world; their world," he added, pointing at Laurie and Calvin Blaine. "That, I must admit, was engineered by our world." To the latter word Barry added the gesture of pointing to his brother and the other man, Laplane.
"It was not a pretty sight," snapped Ackerman; "are you going to try to justify it?"
Blaine grunted angrily. "No one can justify wanton destruction.
"Remember, Ackerman, that what you have just observed is but a close probability. Believe this because we cannot prove it right now—we will later—but we have as interesting a scene to show you concerning our world. Engineered, I might say, by Blaine and his very lovely daughter."
"He told me that I was the man who could avert that affair."
"Uh-huh," grinned Barry wolfishly. "You are. You were well on the way to averting it. Look, Ackerman, how long do you think this unnatural splitting of the 'time-stream' can continue?"
"I don't know."