"But it doesn't have to be Caesar. That was only an example, it could be anyone. Control anyone's destiny, _anyone at all_, and you've proven the point. We could select our man by means of a computer, by random sampling over which only the physical laws of the universe had control, thus eliminating determinacy in the selection." "But God could alter the laws of chance. After all, they are His laws. A second-rate miracle would force you into selecting His man." "You mean," Pendelton asked, "that if I selected a name every morning at 10:04-1/2 God would do a miracle at the same time?" "Ye-es," Shaheen answered. "But if one morning I changed my mind and waited until a quarter past two to select the name, He'd hold off and wait for me, wouldn't He?" There was rather a long silence. "He couldn't very well perform His miracle until I'd picked my name, could He?" "Hmmmmm," Shaheen said. "And if I decided to wait until 3:15, _He'd_ have to wait too. And if I decided not to pick a name we'd do _without_ a miracle that day. The fact is, _I'd_ be telling _Him_ what to do. Put me in the possession of a random sampling computer and a time machine and I, Leopold Pendelton, would be the bigger God!" _"And the point was well taken," Shaheen had to admit, pouring off some of Dr. Freylinghuysen's ice water. "We could for example use a computer to select at random any one of all the phone books in the United States, then a page in that one book, then a line. That one name would then truly be randomly selected." "Assuming of course," Blackburn said, "that you had first used the computer to randomly select the country whose phone books were to be used." "And also the particular year's edition," Freylinghuysen murmured. "It was fairly ingenious," Shaheen said, "especially when you consider that knowing how to do it meant you didn't have to bother. It was enough just to know we could. The only point that needed experimental verification was: could we in fact alter the past? Change something, anything at all and everything else followed, including the death of God." "You mean the death of the concept of God," Blackburn added. "Ah yes," Shaheen answered, glancing guiltily at Chaplain Rowan. "The question was, what were we going to change and how were we going to know it changed?"_ * * * * * Chaplain Rowan had been Shaheen's idea. It had occurred to him one day as he and Blackburn were crossing the campus and he had observed to his colleague that things were looking bad for God. "It's every man for Himself," Blackburn had replied. "If I'm not mistaken that's one of His own laws. After all, who invented survival of the fittest?" "Seriously," Shaheen said. "A, we've got a time machine. B, having A, there's no reason that I can see why we can't change the past. And C, if we do, well, they'll be using cathedrals for bowling alleys." "Maybe now we'll see what kind of a loser _He_ makes."