Tedor shook his head.
"Hadrien claimed one man or group of men in our time was behind all the great dictatorships throughout human history. Sort of—well, a monopoly on despotism. He maintained the position for years, getting cantankerous when no one in our office would believe him."
"What finally happened to him?"
"Disappeared. Last seen in the middle of your stamping ground, Tedor, but before your time. The 20th century."
"1955?" Tedor suggested.
"Possibly. Although I can't see a connection between that and Hadrien's pet theory."
"What about the theory, anyway?"
"We checked into it, of course. That's our job, Tedor. We prevent time tinkering. A monopoly on despotism would be tinkering on the grand scale. For a couple of years it was a top priority job. We were never able to find out anything, so the old chief finally figured the whole thing was in Hadrien's imagination. A few years later I took over, and soon after that Hadrien disappeared.
"But you can bet we conducted a thorough investigation. You know what I think of tinkering, Tedor."