"Then, in order to bring it all out in the clear and the open, they must repeal their laws that throttle and forbid research. This will make Blaine's world less divergent."
He reached forward with his temperon-clad glove and took firm hold of the temperon sample in the "Real" world cyclotron.
During the boiling, coruscating roar of the atomic hell, Tansie held her breath. The ship was driven away before she spoke.
"Temperon again," she said. "Isn't that likely to cause another 'time-split'?"
He shook his head. "No," he said. "'Time' splits only when there is two very definite possibilities for a future. Individual and minute acts such as might be called a major catastrophe on earth do nothing to disturb the 'temporal' advance. You see, Tansie, Man is an animal possessing free will, and he can do as he pleases. But his every act is based upon his past experience, and therefore whatever he does is reasonably predictable. Therefore, while it is possible to state that a tree might grow in two possible ways, the fact is that it grows only one way and therefore we have no multiplicity of worlds of probability. There is no Wheel of If."
10
"But what about the people who were running that thing?" asked Tansie.
"Tough," said Ackerman, "But better them than—"
"No," said Tansie, taking his arm and shaking it pleadingly. "Not murder, Les."