Remember this: We hold these truths self-evident to be -

I say to you that all men are created equal, free

Rights inalienable assured by the Maker's attribute

Endowed with Life and Liberty and Happiness' pursuit.

O child! thou tapestried in time, strike home! Strike at the root!…

'By all that's holy,' Ben said, his heart hammering.

Julia smiled. 'Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. How delightfully gauche!'

'It seems I did it,' Rory said, his own eyes wide. 'These are my own words, cooked up in 1940, transmitted through the centuries, and now written down in this battered old history book. I never saw the proof before. I failed in my plan – Constantine survived – but the Loom works.' He laughed, but it was a brittle sound.

'You could not have done this,' Ben said weakly. 'I am an integral part of the Loom – my supposed precognition-'

'He drugged you,' Julia said simply. 'Drugged you, and used you in your sleep. Would you have stopped him?'

'Of course I would.'

'Why? Because you're a fan of Constantine?'

'No.' He looked at Rory with gathering horror. 'Because I have come to believe that the Loom, if ever operated, is a monstrous danger. The Loom is a weapon that destroys history, not creates it!'

'Yet it works,' Rory said flatly.

'Yes,' Julia said. 'Hitler despises Christianity, you know. He says it amounts to the systematic cultivation of failure. I think he'll rather approve of your attempts to destabilise the faith, Rory.'

'What do you mean by that?' Rory snapped.

'I really believe the Ahnenerbe is the place to carry forward this project of yours, don't you think? With proper funding and some decent researchers – not some half-trained Irish monkey and a mixed-up Jewish dreamer – with a better calculating machine than the antiquated gadget at MIT-'