drpaladin

As I see it, Hugo has two basic choices here. He can play the game Dottie has set up or make her play his game by his rules. We already know there are only two to three hundred humans in the time streams, so the number of agents there is finite because watches are finite. They would likely be split between Kulai City and the Citadel when not in a dynamic time stream. There is also a limit to the total number she probably has at one time. Time travel as a reality is not something you want out there as common knowledge and the more people who know, the harder to keep the secret. Those agents are liabilities, not assets. The only place Dottie and her agents are relatively safe is Kulai City due to the peace bond and that safety is only relative. Just thinking out loud.

Even I used both worfs in my comment yesterday. Hence deja vu.

Both Bix and Tawni are fascinating characters. Their romance is well underway.

It's obvious our pair are already hooked up whether both know it or not.

Actually it is since you pointed out the difference between the two yesterday.

As mush as I'd like to see her die in some gruesome way, I also have visions of Stoker patting her on the head as she slurps from a doggie dish.

Actually, I had some visions of this. Since Hugo does know absolutely everything, he can also know how to turn them to his will.

Deja vu anyone?

I was a consultant, not a superior. I demanded and got positively obscene fees. I also put up $1,000 cash to anyone who could beat me. Nobody collected and they all knew what I was going to do beforehand. It's all a reaction time trick. It can't be beaten unless you screw up.

There was a demonstration I used to do to illustrate the illusion of being in control of a situation and the imbalance in reaction times. Keep in mind these were trained professionals. I would hand someone a revolver loaded with blanks. They would cock the hammer and hold me at gunpoint. They were instructed to pull the trigger the instant they saw me move. I was standing with my hands up and gun in my holster. Every single time I was able to draw and fire before they could pull the trigger. Every single time. Back then I could draw and fire accurately in 2/5ths of a second. It's within the range of the time it takes to blink your eyes.

I see lots of flaws in Dottie's 'perfect' trap. Only an utter and complete moron sets up an armed ambush with their men in a perfect circle around their target. They'll end up shooting each other. I may have said it before. If someone points a gun at me, I want them within my reach. Dottie's cold professional is an idiot to be so close to Stoker, with a rifle no less. It's the easiest weapon you can disarm and deflect at close range. It would seem even The Fiddler may be on Hugo's side. The puzzle here is very simple. In a room with 54 targets, only four are important; Dottie, Assassin One, Hugo, and Alec. I can see some solutions.

How little faith you have in Hugo

If in fact we can find something lowly enough to F-Dottie.

Ach so. (Channeling my best Sgt. Schultz from Stalag 17, a 1953 movie. Sig Ruman was a great Schultz.)

No, it doesn't change posting. It probably got lost in my notifications.

Somehow I missed this chapter when it was posted. Bix is certainly outgoing.

I do love puckish grins.

How to Complement Compliments: 30 Days to Better Fanny Kissing.

The apparent chaos is carefully and methodically scripted, better than Hitchcock with all of his intricate storyboards. It's all about finding the little flaws and exploiting each one.

I don't suppose Stoker's four times on top count the ones he won't remember.

The rhythm method is based on the idea of omission of the emission.

Love which transcends time and space is what Hugo and Alec share. It's effortless. And Stoker's mysterious out of time shotgun is ezplained, but becomes a paradox in a paradox.

Well, it did make the mag easier to eject with the extra weight.

Of course.

Dottie is using a version of a denial of service attack to overload Hugo. He couldn't have chosen a better place to regroup and plan or have better allies. This is where Hugo begins proving he is not merely a Master of the AOI, but the Ultimate Master. Knowing everything is one thing. Knowing how to use and weave knowledge together into new and unexpected combinations is an entirely new level. Hugo is still learning how to marshal all the resources at his command. He will only get stronger.