287

CAIN is silent for some moments before chiming, There is a correspondence between the names of members of the English nobility who were present at the battle of Crecy and the earliest of your known ancestors, Falcon. Sir Thomas Chandos, whose coat of arms is a silver falcon on a blue background may have been a distant ancestor of yours. I assume you know that a coat of arms is the picture carried on a knight's shield and surcoat in a battle of those times? If Sir Thomas Chandos is murdered before his time, Falcon, you will never have existed.'

Thank you CAIN,' you reply, 'and CAIN, has it ever crossed your memory banks that even you don't know everything? I have the information I need now.'

'If I may be permitted to add something, sir?' There is an almost wheedling note to the chimes of CAIN's voice synthesiser, rather than the usual slightly haughty tone.

'Now what?' you ask.

'I can compute no sure reason for a visit to Crecy to change history. A disease called the Black Death, a plague which killed between a quarter and a half of the population of Europe followed two years later, in 1348 AD. Its effects may dampen any changes that may be caused in Earth's timeline at this point.'

'Set coordinates for Crecy, 26th August, 1346 AD, CAIN,' you order brusquely. Turn to 322.

Turn to 322