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Description
Jodi pushed open Jane's door, knocking while it was already swinging inwards and waited until it had closed behind her before speaking.

"Next Tuesday at quarter past noon he'll have stopped Bob McKibbon's heart." The announcement was followed by a left-handed flick of fingers down her right forearm towards Jane's desktop, the bits of data that comprised the intel briefing making the leap across the office to the mid-air display where it hovered for review.

"Christ, that's the third one of these this quarter," Jane scanned the document top to bottom, making notes in an action plan as she went. "We're going to have to go back a few years on this one too, increase junk food intake, sugar, closet alcohol consumption, we can't bend the timeline in any way that will require affecting anyone else's," She pushed back from the desk, turning her attention to Jodi, "do you have any idea how much of a pain in the ass this guy's becoming?"

"As long as he's in the pole position, we retroactively justify his futures. That's the gig, nobody said it was going to be easy." Jodi softened. "Look, I know it's a shitshow, but you're the best at this, if anyone can restring his timelines so he doesn't destroy himself and the party, you can."

Jane pulled up a list of pending events, spinning the display around so Jodi could see.

"It was bad enough when he was firing intelligence staff," she started, "re-engineering the history of spooks who are trained to recognize when their timelines have been distorted was an invitation for disaster, but that just needed to hold up to administrative review. Retroactively creating health conditions to cover deaths, that has to stand up to coroner scrutiny, and that's an entirely different level of sophistication and detail."

Jodi surveyed the office, noted the absence of anywhere to sit and so stood shifting her weight from foot to foot as she replied.

"This can't go on forever, you know that. His term will expire, the mantle will be passed to someone else, hopefully, someone who isn't just another petulant child, and we'll get back to reworking foreign governments, and de-escalating conflicts in far-off countries, just like the good old days." She smiled, not entirely confident he wouldn't somehow secure another term before common sense and decency made an inevitable return to the administration.

An urgent action item popped to the top of the list on Jane's display, and both women studied it in stunned silence.

"He can't really think he can push this through," Jane's voice was clearly strained, "aren't there safeguards on rewriting electorate laws? He can't honestly think we can just eliminate the term limit without anyone noticing."

Jodi stood silently for a long time before leaning close and whispering in Jane's ear.

"You should go back a few years and increase his junk food intake, and sugar, he doesn't drink publicly, so you'll have to make him drink in private, excessively, maybe late at night. Nobody will notice if he's drunk then, he doesn't make much sense at the best of times."

She straightened, fixed her suit jacket and read Jane's face as the realization of what she was suggesting swept over her.

"If you prioritize this, you can save McKibbon's life while you're at it." She smiled again, a genuine expression this time. "There's already a death event on the timeline for next Tuesday at quarter past noon, maybe it's time we reallocated that."

Jane's mouth tightened into a line. She held eye contact for a long minute, then nodded once and turned the display back and started working.

If she was successful, McKibbon might be just one of the millions of lives she'd save this week.

Description
Jodi pushed open Jane's door, knocking while it was already swinging inwards and waited until it had closed behind her before speaking.

"Next Tuesday at quarter past noon he'll have stopped Bob McKibbon's heart." The announcement was followed by a left-handed flick of fingers down her right forearm towards Jane's desktop, the bits of data that comprised the intel briefing making the leap across the office to the mid-air display where it hovered for review.

"Christ, that's the third one of these this quarter," Jane scanned the document top to bottom, making notes in an action plan as she went. "We're going to have to go back a few years on this one too, increase junk food intake, sugar, closet alcohol consumption, we can't bend the timeline in any way that will require affecting anyone else's," She pushed back from the desk, turning her attention to Jodi, "do you have any idea how much of a pain in the ass this guy's becoming?"

"As long as he's in the pole position, we retroactively justify his futures. That's the gig, nobody said it was going to be easy." Jodi softened. "Look, I know it's a shitshow, but you're the best at this, if anyone can restring his timelines so he doesn't destroy himself and the party, you can."

Jane pulled up a list of pending events, spinning the display around so Jodi could see.

"It was bad enough when he was firing intelligence staff," she started, "re-engineering the history of spooks who are trained to recognize when their timelines have been distorted was an invitation for disaster, but that just needed to hold up to administrative review. Retroactively creating health conditions to cover deaths, that has to stand up to coroner scrutiny, and that's an entirely different level of sophistication and detail."

Jodi surveyed the office, noted the absence of anywhere to sit and so stood shifting her weight from foot to foot as she replied.

"This can't go on forever, you know that. His term will expire, the mantle will be passed to someone else, hopefully, someone who isn't just another petulant child, and we'll get back to reworking foreign governments, and de-escalating conflicts in far-off countries, just like the good old days." She smiled, not entirely confident he wouldn't somehow secure another term before common sense and decency made an inevitable return to the administration.

An urgent action item popped to the top of the list on Jane's display, and both women studied it in stunned silence.

"He can't really think he can push this through," Jane's voice was clearly strained, "aren't there safeguards on rewriting electorate laws? He can't honestly think we can just eliminate the term limit without anyone noticing."

Jodi stood silently for a long time before leaning close and whispering in Jane's ear.

"You should go back a few years and increase his junk food intake, and sugar, he doesn't drink publicly, so you'll have to make him drink in private, excessively, maybe late at night. Nobody will notice if he's drunk then, he doesn't make much sense at the best of times."

She straightened, fixed her suit jacket and read Jane's face as the realization of what she was suggesting swept over her.

"If you prioritize this, you can save McKibbon's life while you're at it." She smiled again, a genuine expression this time. "There's already a death event on the timeline for next Tuesday at quarter past noon, maybe it's time we reallocated that."

Jane's mouth tightened into a line. She held eye contact for a long minute, then nodded once and turned the display back and started working.

If she was successful, McKibbon might be just one of the millions of lives she'd save this week.