The Time Paradox

We can only change the future, not the past or present. If I go back, then I have already been back.'


Murder was just another service that could be purchased.


When you decide to die, Artemis thought sluggishly, it doesn't matter how many people want to kill you.


That's wonderful. Opal Koboi. I knew this little trip was missing a psychotic element.


‘I bet,' said Mulch. ‘That you would set the world on fire, just to watch it burn.'


No, he decided. There were still people who deserved to be stolen from, or exposed, or dropped in deep jungle with only flip-flops and a spoon. He would just have to put more effort into finding them.


Artemis gazed up at his friend through a red haze.
‘I'm sorry I lied to you, Holly. Truly. You've done so much.'
Holly's eyes were distant.
‘Maybe you made the wrong decision; maybe I would have made that decision myself. We're from different worlds, Artemis. We will always have doubts about each other. Let's just carry on and leave the past in the past, where it should be.'


It's the big time paradox. If I had done nothing, then nothing would have needed to be done.


‘You know something, Fowl? You did a good thing here. For its own sake. Not one penny of profit.'
Artemis grimaced. ‘I know. I'm appalled.'


Angeline held him at arm's length. ‘I was in the diseased hell of that pixie's brain, Artemis. Don't you dare lie to me and say that I wasn't. I saw your friends almost die to help you. I saw Butler's heart stop. I saw you save us all. Look me in the eye and tell me these things did not happen.'