Free A Matter of Time by Glen Cook

this was pointless, today of all days.
     
    "Hell. I'm going in there. Those bastards have been getting away with this shit for too long. Dunajcik. The programming theater."
     
    "Sir?" He could not stifle a sharp intake of breath.
     
    "You heard me. Wheel me in there where I can watch while those traitors sabotage the system."
     
    He was further gone than Dunajcik had suspected. He had begun to confuse his own interests with those of the State.
     
    No one-and there was an unexplained Special Advisory specifically banning Neulist-was allowed within the main programming theater without clearance from the Committee itself.
     
    What to do? Dunajcik wondered. He had his ass in a sling now. If he conformed to security directives, Neulist would devour him. If he did not, he would be explaining why to Committeewoman Bozada.
     
    He flashed a look of appeal at Helfrich.
     
    The sergeant nodded slightly. One finger tapped a nervous tattoo near his phone.
     
    Take a chance. Maybe Helfrich could place the State ahead of his old master.
     
    Dunajcik fingered a scrap of paper from the hypo kit, let it fall where the sergeant would see it.
     
    There was a number on it. The one Bozada had given Dunajcik.
     
    Helfrich acknowledged with a slight nod.
     
    Relieved, Dunacjik wheeled the colonel into the corridor. Now, if he could just stall…
     
    There was no way to restrain Neulist long enough. Even if Helfrich reached Bozada immediately, it would take time to poll the Committee, and to advise the Ministry. Then word would have to reach General Kulage, who would have to trace and convince Neulist's number two, Major Votruba…, With the comm systems in their present state, an Emergency Executive Action might take an hour.
     
    The lieutenant ran out of stalls and time-consuming stupidities much sooner.
     
    They pushed through a door guarded only by dread and respect for the importance of the work carried out behind.
     
    Today, of all days, Dunajcik thought, you'd think there'd be a sentry.
     
    "Stand by," Otho Zumsteg was saying. "It's coming. Marda, watch that…" He whirled. "Neulist. You idiot. What're you doing here?"
     
    Beyond him, his daughter's face reflected a lightshow of colors from the winking lights of the programming console.
     
    "Zumsteg, you traitor…"
     
    "Oh, damn. Now I see. Lieutenant, get that fool out of here! Don't you know what you're doing?"
     
    For an instant Dunajcik hated Zumsteg. Here was a man who could say what he thought and get away with it.
     
    He didn't know what to do. He was in the meat grinder now.
     
    He did a thing that was treason by everyone's standards. He said a silent prayer that Helfrich had indeed called Bozada. Then he began backing the colonel from the room.
     
    Neulist produced a pistol, obviously with the intent of using it. Dunajcik fled. Shots pursued him. One smashed into his right shoulder, spun him, hurled him to his knees in a half-faint.
     
    He did not feel the pain, only the horror of failure.
     
    "Oh, god," Stefan Zumsteg moaned. "Otho, this must be what the Neulist message meant."
     
    "You're right." Otho stared into the muzzle of the colonel's weapon. "Override and send the warning. Try to be more explicit this time." He stepped carefully toward Neulist, his intention to soothe the man. "Marda, help me…"
     
    Stefan managed exactly the same message they had received six months earlier, jammed into the weekly weather/agricultural program: "Neulist in theater…" It was the only explanation they had ever had for the fact that the future ended on 26 AUG 58.
     
    The colonel resumed firing.
     
    A bullet shattered the heads that recorded the information to be impressed on the tachyon stream. The result would be, or had been, a burst of white noise on January 4, and every point subsequent when an intercept of the particular program had been attempted. Messages received after that date had all been transmitted prior to the final program.
     
    Dunajcik recovered,