Richard Wilson

“ Roy said later. He reached tentatively for the bottle. When the old man made no objection he poured a second stiff one.
"You want me to go back in time and wipe out all human life," Roy said. "I assume you'll tell me when and where. All right. That would destroy our ancestors and so we'd cease to exist, too. Wouldn't it be simpler to kill ourselves now? That is, if you see no point to our further existence."
Old Dr. Gar watched the other remnant of Earthly life twirl the brandy in the goblet. He looked at the viewscreen. It showed a panorama of rock dust and steam where Earth had been. ”

“ Gar said, gazing pensively at the screen. "Mankind, the animals, plant life and the tiny things that creep the earth or swim the waters. Your mission will be more selective."
"Selective? How?"
"You'll destroy man, but the rest will live. They may evolve into something better."
"If you say so, Doctor." Roy's devotion to duty was a well-worn path. "Assuming you have the machine and I can operate it."
"The machine is merely an attachment. It will plug into the instrument panel of your spacecraft. It operates automatically." ”

“ Garfield Gar.
"Noah's Ark?" Pilot Officer Roy Vanjan asked. "You mean during the Flood?"
"Yes, I've computed it exactly. You won't have to worry about getting there at the wrong time."
"You mean after the forty days' rain, so I'll have good visibility. Good-o." He agreed readily and he'd do as the doctor said, of course, but he permitted a trace of skepticism in his inflection and a searching look into his goblet.
"No, not the fortieth day," Dr. Gar said, "but in what we are told was the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month. The animals need dry land. ”

“ He had destroyed humanity and changed the future.
Or had he? He'd be dead, too, if he had, gone like the snap of a finger with the last gasp from the Ark. He had killed his ancestors. He had killed everybody's ancestors, but he existed still. Where was the paradox that Dr. Gar had overlooked?
The Ark had drifted closer to the shore. He circled it and counted the lifeless bodies lying in red stains on the gopher wood of the deck. Eight. ”

“ But not the animals, remember."
"I understand that. If you think the Ten Commandments don't apply. Whichever one of them it was."
"They were an element of the Mosaic Covenant. It, too, failed. Perhaps the Garic Covenant, if I may be so vain, will endure." ”