Onan to do his work on earth, wouldn't it only make sense for me to
choose the way of Onan?"

The King answered me, saying, "You were sent by Temis, the God of Time,
Jehu, for Onan and Zimri are his children who do his work for him, but
they only have the powers that he gave them. Onan is the only one able
to speak to mortals, for he is in the past, while Zimri is in the
future, but Onan also speaks for Zimri, because he is told what to say
by Temis, whose agents they both are as much as you are Onan's. Isn't
that so, Wagner?"

Wagner sighed in the affirmative, and when he had done so, I asked him
pointedly, "Why didn't you tell me? You led me to believe that Onan was
the one who sent me, and by his own power."

Here the King put in, "He merely wanted to prejudice you to his own
side, Jehu. He attempted to by-pass our peace treaty of long ago when he
tried to attack us and capture this very temple for his own plans. We
agreed twenty-five years ago to do it this way, because enough blood had
been shed, and no good had come from it. He violated it when he took you
into hiding, using our pursuit after his treachery as justification. But
come, in the face of impending doom we cannot squabble over past wrongs,
but must move to prevent future disaster from striking."

"What is so important about this Temple of Time, though?" I asked.

Wagner and the King mumbled together that "It was an essential part of
the restoration of Daem", but would not elaborate, saying that it was
unimportant to the present troubles. They looked guilty as they said it,
though of what I did not know. I was reminded of my indignation at their