The Sack Of Constantinople

There Will Be Time, IX.

While the Crusaders sack Constantinople, Jack Havig scouts for the Eyrie. If he sees Crusaders enter a building and emerge with loot, then he writes off that building. However, if he sees the approaching Crusaders cut down by machine gun fire, then he notes the building. The Eyrie can be told to guard that building and to take the loot for themselves. Havig has already seen the building guarded. Dressed as Crusaders, Eyrie commandos will carry the loot to a prearranged ship. Thus, the Eyrie gathers funds for its own activities in historical periods without upsetting history. This demonstrates how much time travellers would be able to achieve even in an immutable timeline. There must be a lot more that could be done that no one has thought of yet.

The hijacked loot would fund:

"'...a systematic search through the medieval period.'" (p. 92)

- for more time travellers to recruit to the Eyrie. The more agents the Eyrie has, the more it can influence its own mostly unknown future.

See also:

There Was Time