Patchwork

The timeline guarded by the Time Patrol winds up being a combination of the history that leads to the Danellians with the Patrol activities necessary to maintain that history. Thus, when Komozino and Everard address the problem of the alpha timeline, they seal off the lodge for a limited period. Within that period, lodge guests and staff, plus other people and equipment brought in, work on the problem. Before and after that period, as far as possible, Patrol members are kept unaware even that there is a problem. The rest of history, including the history of the Patrol, must be allowed to proceed with as little disruption as possible.

Thus, several years later, Everard and Van Sarawak are on holiday at the lodge. They are not told then that, several years before at the same location, Komozino and Everard, had worked on a problem of this nature. Everard and Van Sarawak depart from and return to the lodge even though the period that they depart to and return from does not exist in the current timeline. The Patrol knows of these activities of Everard and Van Sarawak and must leave them untouched - not interfered with - because they are crucial to the maintenance of the current patchwork timeline.