"'It was an especially difficult undertaking, the more so on such short notice.'" (p. 677)
Is there such a thing as "short notice" for a time traveller?
Vasquez reports that Tamberly and Castelar disappeared from within a treasure house. Later in the narrative, Everard relates that the Patrol returned the two men to the treasure house moments after they had been kidnapped by the Exaltationists. Thus, the Patrol replaced Timeline A, in which the men disappeared in the treasure house, with Timeline B, in which they did not disappear. Yet every time traveller who had arrived at a moment later than the disappearance in Timeline A continues to exist in Timeline B. This contradicts what we are told elsewhere.
In "Delenda Est":
in Timeline I, Rome wins the Second Punic War;
in Timeline II, Neldorians help Carthage to win the Second Punic War;
in Timeline III, the Patrol prevents Neldorians from helping Carthage to win.
Time travellers who existed in Timeline I do not exist in Timeline II but do exist in Timeline III. Why?
The Time Patrol has some way to know how temporal alterations affect time travellers.
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