"Clark, Brian - Dinoshift" - читать интересную книгу автора (Clark Brian)

"Not so much change, as create."
"I beg your pardon?"
"If we go back a couple of thousand years and arrange
for the--ah--removal of a certain itinerant preacher before
he started his ministry, Christianity would never have
happened. Right?"
"Of course. That is obvious."
"Obvious only in another continuum, Ms Sovergarde. Not
in our own--in which Christianity is an incontrovertible
fact."
"I see." After a slight hesitation, Sovergarde asked
thoughtfully, "You are talking about an alternate history,
aren't you?"
"Well I--" Degruton looked at the woman with dawning
respect. Never much interested in the comings, goings and
various scandals associated with the current crop of video
personalities, he came to the interview assuming this was
just another shallow, statuesque brunette with the gift of
gab and an astronomical clothing budget. But with the sudden
realization Sovergarde was more than just flesh-and-blood
cardboard, the scientist blushed and began to stammer.
"Y--yes, in a--ahemm--sort of--"
Her smile was disarming, and with an effort of will he
forced himself to meet her questioning gray eyes. Somehow,
her projection of innocent curiosity inspired confidence.
"You are familiar with the concept of alternate histories,
Ms Sovergarde?"
"In a science-fictional sort of way. As I understand
it, if someone from our time goes back and changes or
prevents some pivotal event of history; instead of altering
our past, the time traveller has by his action created a
branching alternate in which, for instance, Christianity
never existed. That alternate would be another timeline,
parallel yet separate from our own."
"Timeline is the popular word. I prefer continuum.
Anyway, in the greater multiverse of which our own cosmos is
but an infinitesimal part, it is conceivable that infinite
possibilities already coexist in an infinite series of
continuums. By the way, I erred in when I implied alternates
are created. Any manipulation of a past event, simply opens
the door to the most appropriate of those infinite
possibilities."
"But it is so theoretical."
"Not at all. In fact, my colleagues and I have already
demonstrated the concept in the laboratory. The partitions
are not impenetrable, you see. We set up an experiment in
which we changed an event in past time, returned to the
present, and then shifted sideways to observe the
consequences of our manipulation."
Sovergarde lifted both hands in protest. "Partitions?