Time Patrol Quotes

“seemed about to say”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“That day the stale butt pile hadn’t grown. The teacup rested on the table, but the chair was gone. The root cellar door was open, amplifying the sound of the creaking rope, but even then, Moms had immediately known it was too loud, the house too still. She knew everything before she took the first step down into the cellar. And she stopped when she saw the loafers turning idly in the air, one half off, the other determinedly in place. She saw the piece of paper on the dirt floor and forced herself to walk back out without seeing too much or taking the note. She’d violated a Nada Yada before she even knew what they were. She didn’t look up. She didn’t want to see.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“coming?” “Kraken,” Sin Fen said. “They live near gates, usually staying deep, only rising when a gate opens. Which is why they’ve so rarely been recorded in history. Ships that encounter them either are destroyed by the kraken or sucked through the gate.” “Kraken,” Neeley said. “All right.” “You wanted to do this,” Sin Fen reminded her. “I’m always open to a new adventure,” Neeley said. Sin Fen gave her a hard stare. “There is darkness in you. A certain fatalism.” “Perhaps,” Neeley acknowledged.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“Earhart leaned forward. “When—I” but she paused and canted her head to the side. “There’s a disturbance.” Ivar couldn’t stop himself. “In the Force?” That one flew by Earhart by about a forty-year gap.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“The agent reported from 26 BC, but that’s four years after Caesarion was supposed to have died. He’s alive and Pharaoh in Egypt, having struck a deal with Octavian. Octavian, who by 26 BC was now Augustus, Emperor of Rome.” “Okay,” Nada said. “Lead with the headline. And?” Edith stared at him in shock. “History is very different and going to get more so accordingly. Four years different when the agent etched this message. The fact there is no update to the message means that in that agent’s time, things had gone off course enough that he could not access the Needle. Or perhaps he no longer lived.” She barely paused to take a breath. “It could explain why, in your man Eagle’s history, the Lateran Obelisk was still in Egypt, never having been brought to Rome. “The implications are staggering if this is left unchecked.” She looked at her watch. “We only have six hours to fix this. It’s just the beginning. It’s likely, if left unchecked, the obelisk will disappear and then . . .” Moms held up a hand as Nada began to say something. “Six hours to fix something that’s already gone wrong for four years in the past?” “Yes, yes,” Edith said. “That’s the way the Patrol works. Go back to the day Caesarion was supposed to have been killed, although I believe the exact date isn’t recorded. I’ll have to do research.” She closed her eyes in thought. “After the naval battle at Actium, when Antony was defeated by Octavian, he fled back to Egypt. Cleopatra was there with Caesarion, who she had claimed from birth was the son of Caesar and heir.” “Was he?” Moms asked.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“We killed the sonofabitch,” Roland said. “But then he just disappeared from the body bag.” He didn’t add that Neeley had kissed him, but his face flushed red at the memory. “So that’s two people disappearing,” Scout said. “Ivar and the sonofabitch.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“Moms summarized. “So we have someone who was Spetsnaz, who was exposed to radiation and should have died but didn’t, has had organ replacement and skin grafts at a level our science can’t do, and armed with a weapon with metal we can’t place.” “Great,” Nada muttered. “And he flies,” Roland said. “Yo,”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“Hold on,” Moms said, processing the information. “You’re saying he should have been dead based on your analysis, but he was still alive. And alive enough to attack us?” “Yes.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“There were two postmortem, ventilation wounds to the skull via the right eye,” the Acme said. “Nada’s double-tap after he was dead,” Mac interpreted for Roland. “Yeah, yeah,” Roland said. “We know we killed the S.O.B. Tell us something we don’t know.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“Cause of death, multiple wounds in upper right chest as well as severing of right arm, all leading to exsanguination.” “He bled out,” Mac said quickly as Roland began to open his mouth.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“Mac picked up a small saw and began cutting. The pathologist made a whimpering sound, like an artist who’d just seen someone take a can of spray paint to his masterpiece. “Yep,” Mac said, holding up something small and bloody in his hands. “A transmitter.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“That’s not proper Protocol,” the Acme complained. “Mac had a good point,” Moms said. “You put it in containment, but not us, which doesn’t make sense.” The Acme had no response to that. Mac appeared on-screen, leaning over the body. He pulled out a Leatherman tool from his combat vest and began prodding and poking. “Oh!” the Acme exclaimed in dismay. “He’s messing with the evidence.” “Where do you work?” Moms asked him. “City coroner.” “Don’t worry,” Moms said. “This isn’t ever going to see the inside of a courtroom, so don’t worry about the evidence. Our job is to kill things like your evidence. Obliterate them.” “Oh.” This time it was said with no exclamation point.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“He walked around the blast barrier to the entrance to the decontamination facility. “Wait!” the Acme called out. “You need to go through Protocol and wear a protective suit!” Mac ignored him. “Moms, if that thing is contagious with something, I breached containment with my forty-mike-mike round that blew its arm off.” “Roger that,” Moms said.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“I assume I disappeared on my round-the-world flight?” “Yes,” Ivar said. Earhart gave a sad smile. “I think I disappeared in every timeline. Would have been nice to know I made it in one of them. That event seems to be a constant, except for those where civilization didn’t survive long enough to invent the airplane.” She shook her head. “A different timeline is a different world, even though it’s still Earth.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“Doc took a step forward. “That’s cutting it awfully thin, twelve hours. It would be easy to miss these ripples.” Edith shook her head. “Don’t you understand? That’s why the Patrol stretches all the way back to the beginning of mankind. We have twelve hours in the present, but all of history, after the initiating event of a ripple, to notice it. So any agent past the initiating of a ripple up until the present can report it.” She pointed toward the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “And that’s why we’re here. We have art in there from across the world. A series of ripples make it to a shift, it will show up in the art from some time and some place.” “Ingenious,” Eagle said. “The backup reporting system.” Edith nodded. “Yes. The Patrol disappearing, that wipes out any agent reporting in other than through the art.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“different era.” “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“He’s lying.” No one seemed surprised at Scout’s announcement about Foreman. “He’s a spook,” Nada said. “They lie every time they open their mouths, even if it’s just to breathe.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“The hour-and-a-half flight had given Nada time to get through his shock and realize this wasn’t the brightest idea, being a pod-test dummy. But it was a bit too late for that. Actually, he didn’t care much one way or the other. If he splatted in, so be it.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“Nada had his own theory, not quite a Nada Yada yet, that it should be a rule that whoever came up with something should have to test it personally.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“They’d shoved him in the pod and assured him he’d be ejected 35,000 feet above New York City, a drogue chute would open and slow the pod to a survivable speed, the pod would split and then he could HALO parachute the rest of the way to the ground. Seriously. Sounded good in theory. Often theories are postulated by those who don’t have to end up being the test dummy. Nada had his own theory, not quite a Nada Yada yet, that it should be a rule that whoever came up with something should have to test it personally.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“Nada had been picked up from Disneyland by a military helicopter and flown to Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert where the Blackswift awaited. It was the fastest way to get him to NY, and they were going to try something experimental. Nada had still been in enough shock from his memory opening up that he’d acquiesced, not that they were going to give him any choice. They’d shoved him in the pod and assured him he’d be ejected 35,000 feet above New York City, a drogue chute would open and slow the pod to a survivable speed, the pod would split and then he could HALO parachute the rest of the way to the ground. Seriously. Sounded good in theory. Often theories are postulated by those who don’t have to end up being the test dummy. Nada had his own theory, not quite a Nada Yada yet, that it should be a rule that whoever came up with something should have to test it personally.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“We’re down to nine hours.” “Until?” Scout asked. The Keep was expressionless. “Something bad happens.” “Right,” Scout said, as if she completely understood. “Bad.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“She had curly brown hair and there was something about her striking features that flickered a lightbulb in Ivar’s memory but didn’t turn it on. “Do you speak English?” she asked. Ivar felt a surge of relief. “Yes!” The woman smiled. “American?” “Yes!” “Excellent.” The woman extended her hand. “Welcome to the Space Between. I’m Amelia Earhart.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“A team box was tied down in the center holding everything from climbing ropes to arctic clothing to chemical/biological protection suits, parachutes, dry suits, spare radio batteries, two million in gold coins for barter, etc., etc.; someone with an extremely paranoid and inventive mind had packed it. Aka Nada.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“You’ve had three months of training, which is barely enough to get you in the Army, never mind the Nightstalkers. But you’ve already worked with the team. And you’re still alive, so that’s a pretty good test that you’ve passed. Twice.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“The Cellar had been founded by Presidential Decree in order to legally do the illegal.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“All these secret if-I-tell-you-about-them-I-have-to-kill-you-and-cut-your-head-off-and-stick-it-in-a-safe organizations”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“Not a title, because how do you give a title to someone who ran an organization that no one was supposed to talk about?”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“pages—“it appears a facility has disappeared. More importantly, the organization that was housed in the facility has disappeared.” “What organization?” the President asked. The Keep looked up from the papers. “The Time Patrol.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol

“The Keep pursed her lips. If the President had spent more time around her, she would have known that as a sign of extreme agitation, the equivalent of someone of lesser self-control running around in circles and screaming, “We’re all going to die!” “What is it?” the President asked, her mind racing ahead to having to go down to the Emergency Operations Center, open nuclear launch codes, start World War III, battle zombies, and who knew what else, given this was the Keep. After reading the Book of Truths, her imagination was open to anything. Or so she thought.”
― Bob Mayer, Time Patrol