Five Portraits by Piers Anthony Page A

asked, concerned.
    â€œThey are fine,” Fornax reassured her. “I merely froze local time so that we can take as much time as we need to rescue the children, and it will seem like no time to them.”
    â€œOh. Thank you.”
    â€œWe have had to compromise,” Fornax said as they flew to the troll’s glade. “Dysnomia concluded that paradox is after all beyond her rule-breaking abilities.”
    â€œOh? Why?”
    â€œIf she broke the laws of Time and went back to her origination and persuaded Eris not to generate her, she would no longer exist. Then she would be unable to accomplish anything, such as her own elimination. That’s paradox: a self-contradictory argument, like ‘This statement is false.’ It is essentially nonsense. So travel back in time cancels itself out before it accomplishes anything. Visiting the future has similar peril, because there is the need to return to the present, which is travel to the past, at least from the future. Knowledge of that future would itself change it. Paradox again. She says it makes her head spin, and she does not care to risk it.”
    â€œSo we can’t rescue the children?” Astrid asked, disappointed.
    â€œWe’ll fetch them. Just without time travel.”
    â€œBut if they’re from the future—”
    â€œThis requires some fundamental theory. There is not just a single Xanth. There are an infinite number of Xanths, in parallel universes. Each differs from its neighbors only slightly. Some are exactly similar to ours, except that they are a trace behind or ahead of ours. Only by a second, but if we cross enough parallels, those seconds add up, and we can reach a Xanth fifty years ahead, about to be destroyed. That is where the children will be.”
    â€œJust like our Xanth, only fifty years farther along?”
    â€œYes. So it emulates time travel without invoking paradox. That’s an advantage.”
    â€œBut can we just cross to other Xanths?” Astrid asked, confused.
    â€œWe’re not supposed to. But sometimes it happens. There was a case when Surprise Golem crossed to another parallel to recover her misplaced baby. Demons can cross, because we are spread across all the parallels; it is merely a matter of which one we focus on. That is what makes us infinitely more potent than mortals. All the parallel Xanths are part of Demon Xanth. But as a general rule we don’t do it, because it can complicate things. Duplicated people showing up in a single frame, that sort of thing. It can be hard to keep track. But in this case, Dysnomia will do it. That is the rule she is prepared to break.”
    â€œBut what is her interest, if she doesn’t care about the children?”
    â€œThe challenge. She wants to see if it is feasible, or whether it is another kind of paradox. Demons love challenges.”
    â€œSuch as the challenge of friendship?”
    â€œIndeed.”
    Something elusive was bothering Astrid, and after a generous moment she pounced and nabbed it. “But if Demons cross over all the Xanths, needing merely to focus on one, what rule is Dysnomia breaking?”
    â€œWe are taking you along. That will double you up with the Astrids of the parallels we cross, perhaps making mischief if you encounter one or more alternate selves. That’s the violation.”
    â€œMaybe I should stay in this one, then, and let you fetch the children.”
    â€œNo, you will need to touch the children to bring them with us, because you are mortal, with a soul, like them. We soulless immortals can’t do that. We have worked it out to bring you, this one time, but that’s the limit. The laws of the universe start getting ugly when tweaked, and once is all we can get away with. We won’t be able to stay long, either. Demons are close to omnipotent, but this impinges on the impossible. We can’t be sure it will succeed.”
    â€œSo it’s