Sentence The Twohundredandeightyseventh
“Let me get this clear in my head,” said Tammy, “this MacFarlane geezer formed a Paedophile Ring sometime in the 13th Century?” and Tavish nodded; “and it's still going strong, in our time?” and again, Tavish nodded; “and some of the members now, in our time, are descended from the original members from Thomas's time, the 13th Century?” and Tavish nodded for the third time; “these are Sinners against the Lord,” interjected Thomas, for the first time; “and against the laws of the Land,” cried Bernie; “well,” said Tavish with that distinctive gesture of his – his hand held out, fingers splayed, palm down, and rocked from side to side: “eloquently put, my friends, but in truth it all depends, for the Age of Consent as we know it in the 21st Century, was very different in the past;” “in my lifetime, you mean?” asked Thomas, still trying to grasp what future, past and present meant for his friends and the Cave people; “yes,” agreed Tavish, “the concept first arose in the 13th Century and slowly, over generations, the original age was raised to what it is now; but in the Middle Ages,” and Thomas laughed: “my lifetime is a Middle Age?” and Tavish nodded, “yes, Thomas, to us, that is; no doubt in many centuries yet to come, our own lifetime will be regarded as the Middle Ages and yours as some kind of Time before Time, it's all very subjective,” and Tammy asked: “knowing all of this, is there anything we can do to stop it? can we go back with Thomas to his own Time and kill MacFarlane and Doubleday, get them both with one slingshot and put an end to all of it?” and Tavish sighed, “you cannot do that, Tammy, for even if you managed to go back with Thomas, or if Thomas carried out the murders himself, think of the consequences: it is some seven centuries since Thomas' time, and that means something like twenty-eight generations; if MacFarlane had two children – and we know that he fathered many more than that, but don't know at what stage in life he is in Thomas's time, but if you kill him, then something like twenty-eight generations of his descendants won't have been born, or at any rate, not been born from his direct line, they'd be different people, and even if each generation produces two children on average, and so on, the result after twenty-eight generations is more than a million, and if I sound like a brass hat, please understand that I have to be mindful of the consequences arising from whatever action we take,” and Bernie spoke: “he's right,
Tammy, it's more than that – it's 268,435,456: more than the population of Scotland now, in our time, in fact at the last census, the combined populations of the whole British isles was only 67,770,252 (that's you and me, the 2) – of course a lot of people went to America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and died in the two World Wars; but we're probably all descended from him, or from Doubleday, and all the others in his Ring,” and Bernie slumped, defeated, and began to cry, and while Tammy comforted her, Tavish spoke quietly to Thomas, who wanted to ask what all the things were that Bernie had mentioned: Tavish promised to tell him about some of them later, “but for now perhaps, when you return to your own time – as I know you will – there may be other ways of dealing with Sir Parlane MacFarlane that will not disturb the Space-Time Continuum, and please, don't ask me what that means, for I do not have the scientific knowledge,” and Thomas smiled, “perhaps not, Sir, but you have something even more valuable, you have a great knowledge of people, and if you will advise me, I will do my utmost to put a stop to this Ring, without causing harm to future generations, for I believe in the aeonian nature of the Spirit and that what we do affects the future of our children, and I would not wish to let the evil of these men you speak of corrupt that future” and
Tavish clapped him on the shoulder: “well said, Thomas, you are a true Gentleman!” and that was when Tammy asked: “if this Cavern system operates in another dimension, and it can accommodate people from Thomas's time, and our time, and presumably other times, and maybe all at the same time, are you with me?” and she glanced from face to face, “could we use that fact to move from one time to another and bring some pressure to bear on this MacFarlane geezer to force him to mend his ways? not that I've any idea what, but in theory? could it work, Tavish?” and Tavish stroked his beard: “have you been thinking of that Theory that The Resurrection of Christ is an example of alternative universes converging, and that when we think we have seen ghosts, or apparitions of our dead mothers or such, those are the points in the multiplicity where the boundaries between one and another are stretched and become transparent, or in Jerusalem allow Jesus to step from one time line into another: from the one in which he was brought down alive from the Cross and recovered and the other in which he died and was put to rest in the cave, is that it?” and Tammy nodded, “what do you think?” and her father sighed, “before I woke up in this Cavern and found you and Bernie here, before Doubleday turned up, I would have dismissed all that as fancy, but now . . . . . unless you are all pygmies in my imagination, I have to admit that your theories sound uncomfortably promising – what a pity we don't have Google here, or even a decent encyclopaedia – it would be handy to have an idea of when Thomas showed up again, by The Eildon Tree; it might be worth trying to identify the precise location, and I’ve a good idea that he will know exactly where it is!”
“Let me get this clear in my head,” said Tammy, “this MacFarlane geezer formed a Paedophile Ring sometime in the 13th Century?” and Tavish nodded; “and it's still going strong, in our time?” and again, Tavish nodded; “and some of the members now, in our time, are descended from the original members from Thomas's time, the 13th Century?” and Tavish nodded for the third time; “these are Sinners against the Lord,” interjected Thomas, for the first time; “and against the laws of the Land,” cried Bernie; “well,” said Tavish with that distinctive gesture of his – his hand held out, fingers splayed, palm down, and rocked from side to side: “eloquently put, my friends, but in truth it all depends, for the Age of Consent as we know it in the 21st Century, was very different in the past;” “in my lifetime, you mean?” asked Thomas, still trying to grasp what future, past and present meant for his friends and the Cave people; “yes,” agreed Tavish, “the concept first arose in the 13th Century and slowly, over generations, the original age was raised to what it is now; but in the Middle Ages,” and Thomas laughed: “my lifetime is a Middle Age?” and Tavish nodded, “yes, Thomas, to us, that is; no doubt in many centuries yet to come, our own lifetime will be regarded as the Middle Ages and yours as some kind of Time before Time, it's all very subjective,” and Tammy asked: “knowing all of this, is there anything we can do to stop it? can we go back with Thomas to his own Time and kill MacFarlane and Doubleday, get them both with one slingshot and put an end to all of it?” and Tavish sighed, “you cannot do that, Tammy, for even if you managed to go back with Thomas, or if Thomas carried out the murders himself, think of the consequences: it is some seven centuries since Thomas' time, and that means something like twenty-eight generations; if MacFarlane had two children – and we know that he fathered many more than that, but don't know at what stage in life he is in Thomas's time, but if you kill him, then something like twenty-eight generations of his descendants won't have been born, or at any rate, not been born from his direct line, they'd be different people, and even if each generation produces two children on average, and so on, the result after twenty-eight generations is more than a million, and if I sound like a brass hat, please understand that I have to be mindful of the consequences arising from whatever action we take,” and Bernie spoke: “he's right, Tammy, it's more than that – it's 268,435,456: more than the population of Scotland now, in our time, in fact at the last census, the combined populations of the whole British isles was only 67,770,252 (that's you and me, the 2) – of course a lot of people went to America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and died in the two World Wars; but we're probably all descended from him, or from Doubleday, and all the others in his Ring,” and Bernie slumped, defeated, and began to cry, and while Tammy comforted her, Tavish spoke quietly to Thomas, who wanted to ask what all the things were that Bernie had mentioned: Tavish promised to tell him about some of them later, “but for now perhaps, when you return to your own time – as I know you will – there may be other ways of dealing with Sir Parlane MacFarlane that will not disturb the Space-Time Continuum, and please, don't ask me what that means, for I do not have the scientific knowledge,” and Thomas smiled, “perhaps not, Sir, but you have something even more valuable, you have a great knowledge of people, and if you will advise me, I will do my utmost to put a stop to this Ring, without causing harm to future generations, for I believe in the aeonian nature of the Spirit and that what we do affects the future of our children, and I would not wish to let the evil of these men you speak of corrupt that future” and Tavish clapped him on the shoulder: “well said, Thomas, you are a true Gentleman!” and that was when Tammy asked: “if this Cavern system operates in another dimension, and it can accommodate people from Thomas's time, and our time, and presumably other times, and maybe all at the same time, are you with me?” and she glanced from face to face, “could we use that fact to move from one time to another and bring some pressure to bear on this MacFarlane geezer to force him to mend his ways? not that I've any idea what, but in theory? could it work, Tavish?” and Tavish stroked his beard: “have you been thinking of that Theory that The Resurrection of Christ is an example of alternative universes converging, and that when we think we have seen ghosts, or apparitions of our dead mothers or such, those are the points in the multiplicity where the boundaries between one and another are stretched and become transparent, or in Jerusalem allow Jesus to step from one time line into another: from the one in which he was brought down alive from the Cross and recovered and the other in which he died and was put to rest in the cave, is that it?” and Tammy nodded, “what do you think?” and her father sighed, “before I woke up in this Cavern and found you and Bernie here, before Doubleday turned up, I would have dismissed all that as fancy, but now . . . . . unless you are all pygmies in my imagination, I have to admit that your theories sound uncomfortably promising – what a pity we don't have Google here, or even a decent encyclopaedia – it would be handy to have an idea of when Thomas showed up again, by The Eildon Tree; it might be worth trying to identify the precise location, and I’ve a good idea that he will know exactly where it is!”
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