"Yes, but—"
"Listen, Colonel—what was your name? Never mind. You can be most valuable to me in my research. You can supply details about your time that simply don't exist any more—"
"Don't exist? Don't you have movies, recordings, magazines, all that stuff?"
"Of course not. They were all destroyed in the Final War."
"The what?"
"The Final War. You'll hear about it soon enough. If you survive, that is. Only three hundred thousand did, out of the entire population. They were the seed of our present civilization."
"Hey, now, wait a minute! What about this war? When was it? When's it going to be, I mean?"
"There's no point in your asking," said Zon. "You can't change it, you know. If you could change it, I wouldn't be here. My world as I know it wouldn't exist. The fact that my time does exist proves, therefore, you never changed it. Now, if you'll just calm down—"
"Calm down?" I shouted it across the centuries at him. "How can I? How would you feel? Look, this Final War, as you call it. Is it going to be soon? You can at least tell me that, can't you?"
"All right. Soon, as all time is reckoned. In your lifetime, I would say. Now, I suggest that you adjust yourself emotionally and accept what is inevitable. The best thing you can do is answer a few questions I've prepared."