MICHAEL CRICHTON

June 16,19791. TimelineIT WAS FARTHER ACROSS AFRICA FROM TANGIER TO Nairobi than itwas across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to London—3,600 miles, an eighthourflight. Ross spent the time at the computer console, working out what shecalled “hyperspace probability lines.”The screen showed a computer-generated map of Africa, with streakingmulticolored lines across it. “These are all timelines,” Ross said. “We can weightthem for duration and delay factors.” Beneath the screen was a total-elapsedtimeclock, which kept shifting numbers.“What’s that mean?” Elliot asked.“The computer’s picking the fastest route. You see it’s just identified a timelinethat will get us on-site in six days eighteen hours and fifty—one minutes. Now it’strying to beat that time.”Elliot had to smile. The idea of a computer predicting to the minute when theywould reach their Congo location seemed ludicrous to him. But Ross was totallyserious.As they watched, the computer clock shifted to 5 days 22 hours 24 minutes.“Better,” Ross said, nodding. “But still not very good.” She pressed another keyand the lines shifted, stretching like rubber bands over the African continent.“This is the consortium route,” she said, “based on our assumptions about theexpedition. They’re going in big—thirty or more people, a full-scale undertaking.And they don’t know the exact location of the city; at least, we don’t think theyknow. But they have a substantial start on us, at least twelve hours, since theiraircraft is already forming up in Nairobi.”The clock registered total elapsed time: 5 days 09 hours 19 minutes. Then shepressed a button marked DATE and it shifted to 06 21 790814. “According to81